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I know that I am late to the Final Fantasy XIII party, but I am going to talk about it anyway. What to fight about it? Before I continue I am going to talk a little about my history with Final Fantasy. Final Fantasy 6 or 3 in the U.S. was the first RPG I have ever played in any form. That being said it is what taught me about Hit points Mana Points, and things of that nature. So the series hold a lot of nostalgic value.

That is not to say there are ones that I do not like. Excluding the MMOs (11,14). I have played Final Fantasy (using Japanese numbers) 1,5,6,7,8,9,10.12.13. Of those I actually hated 8, and 12. I thought they were mediocre at best and most trash. Final Fantasy 7 is my favorite in the series. I was just about the right age when it came out(13) to become a huge fanboy. I mean what was there not to like an emo main hero who was 17. Who fought the system lost his love. Become a true hero and badass, and made plenty of friends on his way to save the world. Cloud is what ever 13 year old boy want to be. So subsequent installments have been hit, or miss. Though I really did like nine though most of the main stream gamers shunned it. Now let me digress.

Final Fantasy 13 is a story about a woman name Lighting. I guess they are sticking with the "Natural Phenomenon" theme Cloud, Squall, Tidus. Who is on a mission to save her sister on the way she is marked (along with people who by "fate" are with her who ends up being the party") on a mission by the mysterious beings who control the world they live in. I'll stop the story there since the rest is spoilers. How they all got there is told in a series of flashbacks from 13 days leading to the event.

Things I like :

The combat system is reworked, and has a turn based classic Final Fantasy feel. While it is streamlined and flashy to fit in the modern era.

Strong Female protagonist. Video game developers always get the female lead wrong in my opinion. With the notable exception of Female Shepard. They are usually made weak "needs to be saved" " I need other people to fight for me/ be rescued.", or " I have big tits and a gun/sword." While the latter is kinda cool sometimes it does not work in most story driven games. Lighting acts like what I assume a real life woman would act. She is tough, but not afraid to hug someone. She will cut your face off, and tell you to fuck off if your an enemy, but will rally her friends in a true motherly way.

Minority Protagonist : We have not had one of these in a Final Fantasy since 7 (Barret). I am sick of games being full of blond haired blue eyed pretty boys. I can not relate to that, nor do I want to. Shaz is a Strong male supporting character who does not speak in ebonics. He is not ghetto. And the fact that he carries a chocobo chic in his afro is kinda awesome to me.

Bottom line we need more strong female, and non thug minority Characters in video games.

Presentation : The Graphics Music and design are what you would expect from a Final Fantasy, but taken up to 11. Played on PlayStation it is amazing. Some of the Draw distances are insane.

Things I do not like

Hey we"re walking in a straight line...hey we"re walking in a line again. Hey look at that we are walking in a line. Yup pretty much all the dungeons are walking in a line.

Customization : While the talent trees seem like they have room for this it's well you guessed it a straight line.

Overall : It get's 8.5 Illogical Shits out of 10