Final Fantasy XIII (PS3, XBOX 360)

Release Date: March 9, 2010

Platforms:

Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: Square Eni
Gamesite: Click here
Genres: Action RPG
ESRB: T

In Final Fantasy XIII, players will embark on a journey through the cityworld of Cocoon and the outerworld of Pulse, encountering and fighting alongside a diverse group of allies. Execute powerful attacks with weapons and magic, and summon the enigmatic Eidolons with an evolved Active Time Battle system. Experience seamless transitions between real-time gameplay and in-game cinematics. Do you have the courage to face your destiny?

Final Fantasy XIII​ (ファイナルファンタジーXIII Fainaru Fantajī Sātīn^?) is a console role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix and is the thirteenth installment in the Final Fantasy series. It was released for the PlayStation 3 entertainment system in Japan on December 17, 2009 and is due for release in North America and PAL regions on March 9, 2010 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. First appearing at E3 2006, Final Fantasy XIII is the flagship title of the Fabula Nova Crystallis collection of Final Fantasy games and is the first game to utilize Square-Enix's Crystal Tools engine. The game features both futuristic and natural elements; it is set between a land of wilderness and the high-tech world above it.

Gameplay

The concept for Final Fantasy XIII's battle system is to maintain the strategic nature of command-based battles. The system stemmed from a desire to create battles similar to those found in Final Fantasy VII Advent Children. Like those in Final Fantasy XII, enemies are integrated into the world environment. However, unlike Final Fantasy XII, battles do not take place in the same "dimension", instead there is a short transition and players are transported to a new battle screen, separate from the main playing world. The Active Time Battle(ATB) system will return, but it will work differently from its predecessors. Users will be able to chain large numbers of commands together in order to achieve attack bonuses.

The Final Fantasy XIII battle system, with the option to use "Paradigm Shift"

The first battle system was shown during the E3 2006, but it was only a prototype. A new interface was shown in September 2009 by Square Enix in various Japanese magazines and trailers (depicted in the image adjacent). In battle, the player can only control one character at a time out of a party of up to three.

Multiple commands can be stacked into slots per turn and released at the same time to form a combo. The number of command slots increases as the characters grow in strength. These commands include series staples such as Attack, Fire, Blizzard and Cure, as well as new ones such as Ruin, Ruinaga, and Radial Strike. The difference between XIII's battle system and the ATB gauge is that these commands can still be placed in the slots even though the bar has run out, and the actions will be executed once the required slots are filled up. The game does not make use of MP but introduces "cost points" for each command, which determine how many times the commands can be used per turn. Because magic cannot be used outside of battle, the Hit Point (HP) of the party is completely restored after each battle.

When engaging an enemy, the camera moves to another position and the battle menu appears, making the battle transitions nearly seamless. The after-battle victory screen in XIII holds information such as the time it took to finish the battle, the highest number of combos executed, the number of break attacks and the quality of battle which is determined by a ranking of one to five stars. The party will be able to purchase new weapons in the game for use in battle.

A "Break State" is one of the new features of the Final Fantasy XIII battle system. The breaks refer to the times an enemy enters a state of reduced retaliation. This occurs when a chain combo has been maintained for a certain period of time on an enemy, filling a bar to maximum. When a high level combo has been achieved, the enemy will glow red and enter this state, during which the player will be able to inflict high amounts of damage and knock some enemies high into the air. The chain bar will gradually deplete during this period; when it becomes empty, the break state ends.

Uploaded on February 17, 2010