Review by: Cole Jones

For a series that's long prided itself in changing characters and battle styles over the years (not to mention all those brawlers, dungeon crawlers, and mini-game parties occasionally borrowing its name), Final Fantasy has largely adhered to the leisurely JRPG experience that it (and Dragon Quest previously) inspired. Final Fantasy XIII – the latest canonical addition to the series -- is unique in that it feels like both a natural transition and a radical departure from the genre's core elements. It removes most of the "busywork" RPGs are known for, and shifts its focus to the cutscenes and the narrative that ties its seven main characters together. Even though it may take a little time to get a feel for the changes, Final Fantasy XIII still has that classic aura about it that longtime fans will grow to love.

Final Fantasy 13 introduces us to the tumultuous worlds of Cocoon and Grand Pulse; two worlds separated by distance and technology, but ultimately brought together by the fal'Cie: mysterious mechanical beings comprised of unthinkable power. While there exists fal'Cie on both Pulse and Cocoon, the Pulse fal'Cie have a nasty habit of imparting crystals into people and turning them into l'Cie -- magical beings who must fulfill an unspoken purpose or go mad trying. Out of fear of contamination, the government of Cocoon (known as the "Sanctum") has vowed to abolish all people "infected" by fal'Cie or l'Cie back to Pulse -- and that's precisely where our heroes' story begins.

FFXIII is the first title in the Fabula Nova Crystalis series (which includes Agito and Versus XIII in the future), and is arguably one of the most linear RPGs seen since Final Fantasy X first made pathways passé. Even though the game "opens up" once you reach the endless plains of Pulse, the first 30 hours or so spent in the (aptly named) Cocoon may scare off purists who enjoy exploring environments on their own terms. Open spaces and expansive towns have been replaced by corridors and save points sporting virtual storefronts, and you don't even have to heal your characters after battle this time around.

All of those "little changes" to the genre that Square-Enix collectively created come from trusted sources within the Final Fantasy canon, and writing it off as "linear drivel" is to utterly miss the point. At a lecture I attended back at GDC about FFXIII's Crystal Mythos, Designer/Writer Motomu Toriyama explained that instead of branching out with a huge, interactive world (akin to Ivalice in Final Fantasy XII), they wanted to focus on "doing a single thing well."

To him, that meant ramping up the graphical presentation and focusing on the multitude of cutscenes that truly define each chapter. Toss in the artistic streamlining found in Crisis Core (via Tetsuya Nomura, who had his hands in character and art development), and Final Fantasy XIII starts to falls right into place.