[Johnnyakiba]

Yo everyone,

I know that toy collecting is the gateway drug to more haneous things such as videogames, so I know that a handful of you may find this review helpful! (Plus I really want to gloat!) I remember the day I picked it up the day it came out in Akihabara, I waited in line, there were a lot of people. 20 minutes later it was in my possesion, along with the Lighting Play Arts!

I beat Final Fantasy XIII today!

I logged in about 76 hours of gameplay since I returned from Japan back in Janurary. Let me tell you, it is a really great game. The graphics are amazing along with the story. The game delivers a good mixture of interesting gameplay that is not too hard or too easy. It combines the best of what has been loved in the Final Fantasy series. The leveling up has been simplified and they leave the end user to worry more about the grid system that they implemented simular to Final Fantasy X. The also reverted back to arena style battles.

We all know what is good, but what people look forward to is what is bad or what could be changed.

I belive that this game is such a hybrid of all Final Fantasy's that it looses a bit of the core qualities that people have come to know and love. The worst is the Summoning system. Each of the 6 characters have only 1 summon and the gameplay really leads you to never use them. They are not powerful and barely do any damage to characters and leave you confused when you come back to the battle.

They eliminated the need for stores or shops, which was something that I enjoyed. Walking into a shop and buying potions was entertaining. Instead, every save point allows you to acess the store. (Which was an ability you had to unlock in FF8)

They eliminated excess Gil......it's very limited and you can barely afford ANYTHING! So save up!

Beyond that....it's worth it.