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Scott – Being the huge Final Fantasy fan that I am, this is easily the most anticipated game release of this console generation for me. Much has been said about how this game plays, how it unfolds, and just the overall feel of the game. However none of it means anything until you actually get your hands on it, and play.

First off, these are very early impressions of the game, VERY early. Though I have already noticed some things about the game that have me both very excited, and a little disappointed.

First of all the look of the game is absolutely stunning. The last (new) Final Fantasy game that I played, apart from the very very short time with FFXI (blech!) was Final Fantasy X. This latest release (obviously) stands head and shoulders above that. In-game characters and their cut-scene renditions are virtually indistinguishable. Movements are very fluid, and very natural, everything moves just as you would expect it to in real life. With a lot of the more recent Final Fantasy releases they have talked about the transition to and from battles as being almost unnoticeable. Before that was a lot of fluff, but here it is truly close to being invisible.

The little differences and subtleties of the games menus and interactions are really nice. Walking around the first stage I bumped into Sazh, and not only did he react physically, but he said something along the lines of “hey no need to be pushy” or something to that effect. Also I like that when you go into the main menu during a game, and look at your character, there is a slight animation. Sure, it isn’t much, but it brings much needed life into an otherwise dull section of the game.

Also, there are the differences in battles. For starters, NO MORE RANDOM ENCOUNTERS! Yes, they have had this in XI and some subsequent games but as I said before, the last game I spent any time with was Final Fantasy 10 which did have random encounters. I like being able to see when an attack will be coming ,so I can better prepare myself. Which is made all the easier by my next point; No more healing/curing between battles. Once a battle concludes, no matter how low on HP you are, or what status ailment you have, you are healed free and clear. Awesome! Also, during a battle should you start to get low on health, simply use a potion and your ENTIRE PARTY is healed, AND it doesn’t cost any of your ATB gauge.

It’s not all roses and sunshine though. There are a few issues I can see for the future. First off is the linearity of the game. From what I am hearing, there is very little if any free roaming/side questing to be done. That is slightly disappointing for me. I always loved going off and doing the random things that the people of town X wanted me to do. Though I guess this will do better to keep myself and others on track to finish the game this time instead of getting what I call “Sandbox Syndrome”. This is where you are given to much freedom, and end up goofing off so long that you no longer have the desire to complete the main quest.

Second, I have issues with the camera already. Simply put, having to much control over the camera is a bad thing. I don’t want to have to babysit the camera the entire game. It should know where I need to look and adjust itself accordingly, not forcing me to do it’s thinking for it.

Finally the half-assed platforming. Why is it there, and why limit me to certain places that I can climb over obstacles? While I appreciate the fact that I actually CAN climb on things, don’t limit it to one certain area where I need to stand in order to climb/jump over a pile of rubble. Isn’t one place just as good as any?

Again, these are just VERY early impressions of the game. Things may change over time, be that the game itself, or my opinions of it. Either way I felt the need to say something about them. Now if you will excuse me, I have much more that I need to discover about the story of these characters.

James – Disc One complete, and I don’t much care for this FF. I can’t think of a Final Fantasy that I’ve played that I didn’t like (yes, even 11), having skipped out on X2 and the FF7 spinoffs.

The combat system in this one is the biggest obstacle to my enjoyment. You need to constantly adjust the party’s roles on the fly, and while that looks fine (and fun) on paper, the overly restrictive nature of the Paradigm (read: Job) roles in FF13 lead to serious problems with maintaining efficiency in battle. Certain roles don’t even have an ‘Attack’ option, and with the AI running most of your party members, it’s easy to lose a Chain on an enemy while healing or the like. I should note here that Chains (racking up consecutive attacks on a single enemy) are the only way to do respectable damage to many foes. If you let a Chain buildup falter, it can bugger your whole battle strategy and cost you points.

Yes, points. You get a score after each fight, and how well the game thinks you did translates to how many Technical Points (the game’s closest thing to MP) you get refilled. The whole idea of ‘Great Job Star Sticker’ in my FF just irks me. I’m not playing Tekken or Killer Instinct, and yet I’m seeing Ultra Combos and Perfect Bonuses. Not good.

Scott covers some key points above, so let me just offer a truncated opinion on things he already mentioned.

• The camera does indeed suck. Hard.
• The background quips are neat at first, but they are repetitive and quickly get old. Also, I swear, Vanille never shuts up.
• The short (really short) animations in the menu are fine, but the real addition is the plot recap upon loading your game. How many times have you loaded a save, and completely forgotten what had been going on in the story the last time you played? For me, it’s quite a lot of times, and the recap is a helpful reminder.
• As far as climbing over certain obstacles and not others, it seems to me that even though the levels are narrow valleys, directing you to the destination without fail, they are so cluttered with aesthetic knick-knacks that the designers felt they had to add little blue circles/highlights to show you EXACTLY where to walk to move forward. Seriously, people had trouble figuring it out? It’s like walking down a hallway. How do you get lost?

So, after Disc One, I’m not looking forward to the next two discs. This game seems to be based around everything previous Final Fantasys did wrong. No XP, no MP, horrible Job variety, technology instead of fantasy, outrageous character design, bland cliched storyline; you name it, this game sucks at it.

Also, I’m playing the Xbox version, while Scott has the PS3 version. His is in nice, pretty 1080p, but mine, not so much. I have an older Xbox that uses component cables, so the cutscenes look alright to me; nothing jaw-dopping. A friend of mine (and this is hearsay, mind you) tells me that through an HDMI cable, the game looks like decaying ass warmed over. The 360 apparently upscales so as to fit its content on a modest three discs, and artifacts like a mother during playback. So I can’t, in good conscience, even say that the game looks all that nice.

I am having trouble wanting to play this game. I will actively search for television shows to watch instead. That’s just sad.

And notice, I said television. Because TV is a nickname, and nicknames are for friends, and television is no friend of mine. (p.206, Cross & kirk)