This has got to be one of the strangest games I've ever had to write about. This is a Final Fantasy game like no other. If you think some of the other departures in the series were shocking than FF13 will put you directly in your grave. The two hour long battles on FF8? That's kid stuff. The side scrolling portions of FF10? This game makes that one look as traditional Dragon Warrior 1. How about those non random battles on FF12? Well actually you're getting warm on that one. Still, no other Final Fantasy game even comes close on the crazy factor.
So how crazy is this game? Well how about this: You don't make it to the overworld for 30 hours. That's right, 30 hours! And I thought slogging through Midgar was tedious. Until that point it is basically an on the rails combat game with a few RPG elements thrown in. There's not even MP in this one. Sure, you gain levels in a way, but even these are restricted by your progress. So much for every gamer's favorite time waster. Once you get to the overworld there's not even that much to do. You do get to go on hunting missions though. I was so relieved to be able to walk around freely that I worked on those for a dozen hours before I let any more story line sneak in. That was actually my favorite part of that game. I got to ride around on chocobos fighting larger and larger monsters in a beautifully rendered world. I would play a game that was just that. Is there a game like that? If not there should be.
Oh and how about those characters? No knights or wizards in this one. Instead you have mercenaries and unlucky civilians with names like Lightning, Hope, and Snow. It's like your normal RPG characters got replaced by the American Gladiators. They also have some of the goofiest dialogue heard in a game in some time. The whole time we were playing it, my girlfriend and I kept shouting things like "Moms are tough!" and "Here comes your hero!". This is much different than your typical cast of brooding heroes, dark and mysterious magicians, and rough but lovable engineers from games past.
And how about the story? There's this mysterious force out that the turns people into superhumans. Since there are two competing worlds that means that pretty much everyone wants you dead. Oh, and each one of these superhumans has a special task that they don't know which turns them into crystal if they complete it. if they take too long they get turned into grotesque beasts. It's a weird story. It's weirder than Final Fantasy 10, and in that game people could only truly be dead if someone waved a special stick in front of them.
So it sounds like I'm blasting this game, but it all works in a strange sort of way. Sure it's mostly waking in a straight line fighting things, but the combat system is one of the most unique and challenging I have seen in an RPG. The shifting job classes really requires you to think. I also know that there are no towns to visit, and you are stopped by dialogue every fifteen minutes, but I like the directness of the game. There are hardly any side quests, and even though the story makes no sense it's fairly easy to keep up with. Your group gets turned into supernatural beings while trying to save your sister, and then you have to run from the evil government while trying to save the world. What could be simpler? The characters also have a directness about them which is refreshing. There's a couple of dark secrets among them, but not too many. They seemed more like real people than most video game characters, and I enjoyed the way they interacted with each other. Plus Sazh is cool. If you thought that Barrett was a little racist with his gun arm, Sazh makes up for it by having a chocobo in his fro.
So this game is kind of a contradiction, but for the most part a fun one. I really enjoyed playing it, but I have no idea why. It was certainly easy on the eyes, and unlike most FF games it even had a good ending. This one was a major departure in the series, so I wouldn't be too surprised to see the next game in the regular series take a more traditional approach. Of course after this game it wouldn't surprise me if the next game was a racing sim. You gotta love those guys over at Square. They certainly know how to make their fans angry.
