First Impressions: 'Final Fantasy XIII'
The first big revelation about "Final Fantasy XIII" came to me before I even placed the disk inside my PlayStation 3: the game exists. For five straight years, Square Enix managed to shroud the latest in their prized franchise in a veil of secrecy. I always assumed it would stay just out of reach as some perpetually unattainable goal for this generation of consoles. For me, nonchalantly walking into a Best Buy, buying the game off a shelf and leaving with a copy in hand felt surreal and surprisingly anticlimactic.
Revelation No. 2 comes within minutes of booting the game up: It's a Japanese role-playing game, just like the 20 or so that came before it, and it needs to be held to the same standards. After the lengthy hype train riding off the pure legend and mystique of the "Final Fantasy" name, I and many others expected Square to kick the front door in with authority and take this generation of RPGs by the horns with "FFXIII." I can come up with a modest list of early likeable qualities just like any RPG, but the game hasn't asserted itself as a quantum leap of quality over its competition thus far.
For the record, that list of likeable qualities includes sharp and vivid graphics, interesting aesthetics and fiction, some charming characters and action that looks significantly more action-packed and dynamic than any turn-based RPG in recent memory.
Notice I only said "looks" more action packed. So far, the only input the game expects from my end involves little more than running in a straight line and telling my characters to automatically figure out and execute the best attacks. Eight hours in, the game still feels the need to slowly teach different combat mechanics to me through tutorials. RPGs have a track record of lengthy adventures, but it just seems crazy to me that the "real" "FFXIII" has not yet begun after eight hours.
Also notice I only said "some" charming characters. Ninety percent of the American voices sound well done and fit the characters, but that other 10 percent belongs to Vanille, the perky, up-beat cheerleader of the group. Even when she has nothing to say, she constantly makes high-pitched noises of happiness and wonderment in the most annoying vein of Japanese anime. I'd like to call myself a mature gamer, but I wouldn't be caught dead seen playing a game with this irritating child on screen.
I will continue to soldier through "Final Fantasy XIII" in spite of its reluctance to trust me, because I like where the story is going. But for my sake, and for the sake of every other potential customer who expects their games to entertain and engage them within the first hour, I hope it takes my training wheels off soon.
