Final Fantasy XIII (PC) -> My 1st Impressions
I've got about 8 1/2 hours into the PC version of Final Fantasy XIII. Here's some thoughts.
This game's beautiful, artistically. I just love to see every frame + every detail in this game, in its glory on my PC. This is one of the most beautiful games that I've ever seen - period. Even with FFXIII PC stuck at 720p currently - it's still beautiful. It just currently doesn't live up to its possible potential on the PC, until Square's upcoming patch comes that'll fix the lack of higher-resolutions and add some graphical features; or gamers actually decide to use the fantastic program GeDoSaTo. In the meantime, until we see what the official patch brings us - GeDoSaTo does a fantastic job of making this game look extremely beautiful and actually live up to its potential. If you're looking to to push the game to 1080p or above - GeDoSaTo is currently a must to have, just to do so. And it looks simply amazing in 1080p.
Performance on my PC (i7 950; 16 GB of RAM; 1 GB VRAM GeForce GTX 560 Ti; Win 7 64-bit) was all over the place w/ GeDoSaTo - when downsampling to 1080p and some graphical features turned on or at some higher setting. Depending on whether you're in battle or just roaming the game-world, the game fluctuates its maximum cap either at 30 frames per second or 60 frames. Turning some GeDoSaTo's settings off or to lower settings helped a lot - but wasn't enough. When above 30 frames (when the game goes capped at 60), the issue was trying to get something solid. It would be a bit all over the place, b/t 35 frames to 60. But, still - it took locking the game's VSync to half-rate (30 frames) at all times via NVidia Panel to end all of my issues with bouncing frame-rates and to give me something slick and as smooth as silk.
Gameplay is quite different, compared to older FF games. Granted, I haven't played a FF game since FF9 on the original PlayStation. FF13 is not entirely turn-based, either - even though you have menus with skills, attacks, items, and whatnot to pick from. Combat is faster-paced, as you have a timed-meter and you can queue-up moves to use before the bar is full. Once it's full, whatever you queued-up will happen or you can attack right there on the fly. Whatever move you use, it uses up a certain amount of the bar. Some attacks take up more of the bar, some (like a regular attack) take up much less. You do NOT control the entire party directly, either. Anyone else in the party - they're NPC's, controlled by the game and its AI. You only can control entirely the character designated at the leader for the game's chapter, section, or whatever the case is. The better you do in combat, the more spoils and/or the better the spoils you get from battle will get.
Early on, this seems like a very easy system to learn - which it is, as a good deal of the first few hours of the game is teaching you a lot of the game's systems and mechanics. It teaches them to you in a pace that's slowly, but surely. It might even take a bit too long, for some players to get. Then, things later get more complex and way more interesting - once more characters, Classes and Paradigms are introduced. Once these are introduced - for any other party members: you basically tell them their specific role to play. Once this stuff gets unlocked, when your character has more Classes behind them and more Paradigms to switch between, the game can get more difficult + constantly keep you on your toes. When leveling-up happens and certain events happen, you can then push what directions you want the character to go in. The further you go along - the more Classes and their skills, abilities, and whatnot are available for you to decide to level-up with. Most characters have more than one Class - and you'll need to switch between those classes on the fly when facing certain enemies or at the right time to succeed in combat. Once the game introduces the Paradigm system around some 3-4 hours into the game - more Classes, and more skills are available to the player, turning the game's combat into this fast-paced; quick-thinking needed; strategic; and extremely fun + addictive combat system.
There's a lot of story; characters; events; and FFXIII-created jargon + terms here going on. If you don't have a clue what's going on with the stories, characters, terms, and anything they're talking about - make sure you read the DataLog, once the game tells you it got updated. The Log explains pretty much anything & everything that you likely have no clue about and/or have questions about - as often the game feels like it's just putting you in the midst of something with little to no much explanation; or there's something you just want more information on. DataLog pretty much expands on this, cluing the player in on just about everything the player needs to know. Just like reading a Codex feels necessary in a Mass Effect game, the same can definitely be said about the DataLog here in FFXIII.
The game itself constantly is switching b/t stories, characters, who's the lead in this chapter that you're controlling, and whatnot. The game's story is nothing short of epic in scope. With such a cast of characters, one can't help but feel attached to most of them, as the game is constantly dishing out story, cut-scenes, and events to make you really care about these characters. Sure, some of the game's story is absolutely ridiculous, over-the-top, and melodramatic - but, we expect that from Final Fantasy. Above all, there's so much humor, charm + personality to this game and its characters, one still can't help but still be swept off their feet by the magic.
One thing that might seem jarring is even after 8 1/2 hours of this game, especially from fans of the FF series: your access to the game-world is extremely linear. We're talking Call of Duty linear here, as the game goes in order pretty much from chapter-to-chapter, in one direction without little to no side-directions, side-quests, or anything of the sort. The game-world, at least so far, is not open at all to explore. Everything here happens from chapter-to-chapter, playing out in a mostly linear A-to-B funneled straight and tunneled right down a corridor type of fashion. Since the game's so linear and feels like you move in one corridor or maze from Point A to B - don't expect to run into towns, either. In some ways, the game so far feels like a big dungeon crawl - as after my approximate 8 1/2 hours with this, I haven't ran into any towns. This JRPG feels like it also took FF into the dungeon-crawl realm, but with checkpoint saves thrown in-between. At these save points, you can also access the game's shops - where you can buy + sell any equipment that you have.
It's hard to say if this linearity here is for better or for worse b/c its huge emphasis on story + character is one of the best that I've seen in the series (keep in mind, I've only played FF1 on t he NES; and FF5,6,7,8 and 9 on the PSX). It'd definitely different in a FF game, that's for sure. Whether this linearity is for better or worse - that's of course, as long as immediacy of the story + character development doesn't fall apart anytime down the road. Let's hope for the best - b/c after 8 1/2 hours, I'm having a hard time putting down FFXIII especially b/c of its story + characters; and finally with the combat system turning its tide some 3-4 hours into the game.
