My first review on this blog! I don't know if I'll do any more, it just comes down to whether I feel like doing one which probably I will when I get to try Skullgirls and Tales of Graces F.
This review will contain no spoilers of the demo.
I played the first FFXIII and I quite liked it as a nice easygoing RPG. Not too difficult only the extra stuff can be tricky like getting 5 stars on every battle in the labyrinth (which I don't think I ever did) and getting the best equipment in the game. It had a very in depth story, a little confusing at times because of the terminology but I got it at the end. Visuals are beautiful as half of it is CG film while the other was quite well done with the in game 3D models.
Now I was never a big Final Fantasy fan as this is the first one I've sat and played through till at least the ending (I tried to do every side quest but PSN came back on :p). The demo this review is on is the PAL PS3 version.
Let's start with the controls. Compared to the first one, it will feel very familiar but one thing that is a bit weird but easy to get used to after a short while is pressing circle to jump. Now I know this might sound a bit silly but in the first one, you couldn't jump so having a button to jump is a little weird. The other change is that when you press R1, you use your little aide character or 'pet' called Mog in place of taking drugs who is used for finding hidden items (which was a really unnecessary feature imo). Now I haven't been keeping up with all the changes with FFXIII-2 but I think he is used as well for grabbing items which can't be reached by you however there wasn't an opportunity to do so in the demo. As for all the other controls, it still is the standard left stick to move character, right stick to move camera, X as an action button, triangle for menu, square for map.
In battle, the controls will feel right at home if you have played the first FFXIII. They say that it has been improved but the only thing I have noticed is that the time from pressing X to the character actually attacking is slightly quicker otherwise it really is the same without the summons. There is still some delay when pressing the action and the character actually going to attack which is annoying.
Now onto the graphics. The demo is introduced with a cutscene showing off the town you will be in using the CG video which still looks brilliant. They have really set the standards on what they can produce in the first Final Fantasy XIII. The opening cutscene shows that they can still keep up the standards of what they did before. After the first cutscene, you are taken into another one which leads to a boss battle and it is a big one. They have in the middle of the battle some QTE (quick time events) where you have to do a certain action in the middle of the battle and if successfully done, it leads to another mini cutscene where you can take off more damage on the opponent or avoid attacks. However, one thing I noticed was that the frame rate drops during these cutscenes so the fluidity of the battle does kind of slow down.
Once the battle is finished, there is a small town in rain. The rain effects are alright but not amazing as the characters don't really change with the water effects like soggy clothes and the lighting of the scene does make it slightly hard to see (but that could be because of my TV) so you may need to change the brightness accordingly. There is also access to a dungeon where enemies would appear after you travelled a certain distance and a pretty cool timer effect in a red zone appears which is pretty cool. The battle effects in a small battle are the same as FFXIII so it is to a high standard but a little disappointing that it isn't updated. Still looks cool none the less. There is one part when you get far enough in the demo where you go into this maze which is set up really well as if you are in a dream place which was set out really well. The menu has been changed slightly so you now see bigger portraits of both characters however, one of the most prettiest parts of the first game in terms of graphics was the crystarium system which unfortunately they have changed completely so it doesn't fill up a track leading to another stone which you can do bit by bit or by holding the X button.
Now the sound. The first one used an orchestra (or sounded like one) doing their music but now they have gone for more electronic sounds which I think is a downgrade. The music isn't very nostalgic at all however that may be because it is just the demo and in that part of the game, it isn't very far into the story as it is only Chapter 2 so no familiar music will be heard.
Now time for the remaining gameplay features which I have missed out. There are many changes that have been made which you can mess about with through the menu. For a start, you can change your leader. In the first one, you couldn't until near the end of the game which is great for employing specific tactics. The crystarium system which was how you got new abilities or changes in stats have also been changed where you have to have at least the right amount of CP in order to get the upgrade otherwise you can't fill it up even part way which you could have done before. This makes it quicker to get through levelling up and things but at the cost of making it all pretty and nicely animated.
Also there is a Pokémon system where you can capture monsters and you can use them in battle as your third character. Each monster has its own class like Ravager, Medic, Sentinel, etc which is an interesting addition as you can level them up through making them take certain things. At first I thought it was like the weapon levelling up system but it actually is that items give certain amount of experience and stat boosts and you need enough of the 1 item to use it on the monster to level it up. Personally, I think it is quite interesting system which can develop a lot of tactics as each monster has different stats, moves to learn, etc which is why I nickname it the Pokémon system.
And finally before the conclusion, monsters drop gil, the currency used in the game which makes acquiring money easier for getting potions, etc instead of getting items of enemies and selling them which was annoyingly tedious especially trying to get high value items that have a low drop rate.
So all in all, it has some improvements and some downgrades but it is overall an improvement. I look forward to seeing and trying out for myself some of the more advanced battle mechanics and tactics.
Out of 10 I give it 8/10 but that is mainly because the first FFXIII had really set the standards especially with the graphics and music so it is very noticeable that they had focused that little bit more on the game mechanics.
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