My personal review about Final Fantasy XIII:


Final Fantasy XIII has lots of points people can argue about - I like this points. Of course you cannot do that much optional things and the few you have you can only do at the end of the story but finishing the story line shouldn't be that bad for RPG fans. And the story itself is really, really good - well, at least it is my opinion, I cannot decide what you think about it, that's your job. Final Fantasy XIII is definitely the most difficult Final Fantasy - and I have them all. So it is quite a challenge. You think using sneak smoke items - which you don't have limitless and which can only be bought at the end of the story line for 30000 Gil - or sneaking around your enemies is good for you? You will regret it one day when you are too weak for your enemies. Even when you use the Optima system properly it is still hard, you have to combine both of them - training and the Optima system. Of course upgrading your equipment is very useful as well - very, very useful. And I have never seen a Final Fantasy which forced me to buy and use that much Potions and Phoenix Downs, well more Potions than Phoenix Downs but you really need them because when you are unlucky your healer is not fast enough and Items don't need ATB bars as well as the Tactical Point moves (which are good as well because of the Summons or Full Cure, et cetera). You have a fair amount of save points including their shops and a very good restart option in case you get ko. You start directly before the battle you have lost and you can skip annoying scenes if you don't want to watch them again and again. Plus, I have never fought such a hard final boss as the second form of the final boss of Final Fantasy XIII. Not even Zeromus or Neo X-Death were that hard. 67800000 Hit Points and a gravity based attack which destroys you when you are in bio or an action which doesn't allow you to use ATB moves, hello o_O? Anyway - the battles - even the battle against this bastard are very funny and stylish. And I love the characters - while Final Fantasy XII was not that emotional, Final Fantasy XIII really shows what the characters feel. Sure there are some strange moments you think "Okay...that really was NOT necessary." but hey, even though it is very good, it is not perfect. And I don't think I have to mention the graphics. They are awesome.

Well, I can recommend Final Fantasy XIII. I have really enjoyed it. Even the linear aspect. At least I was able to understand the story better because I couldn't do optional things.