A Bust or Must? | Final Fantasy 13

Well I'm back with my second post of the week like I said I would. There are two more posts I plan to put up after this. The reason I'm putting them up so fast is because I will probably forget later on. Anyway I played lots of different types of games throughout the years and enjoyed most of them. I say most because I also played some stupid ones like Too Human. I shudder just remembering that painful experience. However this post is not about that. No, this post is about one of the best RPG series out there. That game is the Final Fantasy Series. So sit back and relax and get ready to read about the latest game in a series that has been around since the Nintendo era and is still going strong....

The Final Fantasy Series has been around for a long time and has always managed to deliver a great story. They have also have had a variety of different gameplay mechanics making each game new and refreshing in a different way. However, what everyone wants to know is, can they once again deliver the same thing with the newest title to the series Final Fantasy 13? The story of Final Fantasy 13 revolves around the fal'Cie , beings created from crystals residing inside them. People who are marked by the fal'Cie for greater purposes are called l'Cie. Each l'Cie has a Focus, a goal the fal'Cie wants him or her to fulfill within a certain amount of time; however, the fal'Cie do not explicitly say what the goal is. l'Cie gain the ability to summon Eidolons (monsters who fight with the l'Cie), but this ability comes with a price: if an l'Cie runs out of time or dies before completing his or her Focus, he or she becomes a monster known as a "Cie Corpse."

Some thirteen centuries ago, a fal'Cie constructed a paradise for humanity: the shell-like city of Cocoon, which floats high above the surface of the world known as Pulse. Both Pulse and Cocoon are maintained by their own fal'Cie. Cocoon's fal'Cie created life forms and machines for its inhabitants to use, and humanity flourished. Over time, the people of Cocoon began to fear for the safety of their world, and they worried that it would be cast down from the sky into the hell that they saw Pulse to be.

In the present day, the wilderness of Pulse has strange effects on people, and the theocratic government of Cocoon, known as Sanctum, quarantines and exiles anyone who has been influenced by Pulse from Cocoon with the help of its mighty army, PSICOM. However, as Snow leads Team Nora in a vain attempt to stop the purging of civilians, the mysterious Lighting fights her way past PSICOM soldiers to find Pulse's fal'Cie with the aid of Sazh. Through a chain of events, these three, along with two exiles, Vanille and Hope, are chosen by the fal'Cie of Pulse against their will to become l'Cie, and with that become enemies of humanity who are tasked with bringing about the downfall of Cocoon.

They have added some new gameplay elements as well. Now your character can stack attacks in slots to form a combo you can even pick your attack while you wait for that characters next turn to come around. This of course allows players to do more damage. The number of slots will increase as you go up in level. Another new feature is how your summons work. Unlike previous games your summon takes the place of the summoner. Unfortunately you can't have multiple summons. Each person is assigned a certain summon. I don't think it will hurt the game too much, but that probably means I will have to use other characters I don't like to get the advantage in a fight. Then there is also the fact that once again experience points are gone. Thats right just like in Final Fantasy 2. Instead you get CP ( Crystalium Points) these points are used to level up your attributes or skills. So basically to get stronger or have more HP you will need to have the CP. However despite that one little thing your character will now heal after every fight. Imagine all the money you can use on weapons now instead of inns.

How all this is going to play in the game I cant say. From what I've seen of the newest trailer I have to say the game looks amazing. Also one thing of note is that the theme song is amazing. Check out the trailer below to hear it. However before you do if you are one of those people that complain that there is too much romance in this series. Go back and read the story again. This is mainly a character trailer. The romance is more of a sub plot. Seriously, the day I play Final Fantasy and it makes "plan a date for the girl" or something then I will agree with you. Besides I think it makes a greater impact on certain scenes as you will see in the trailer. Anyway enjoy and I'll give my review come spring 2010.