It's been a good 48 hours since I've completed Final Fantasy XIII, so it's given me some time for it to all sink in and for me to reflect how I really felt about the game. Truthfully, I'm still not sure. I tried really hard to love this game - I really, really wanted to. But I think at the end of the day most of the general criticism of it seen online and by critics worldwide is true. The game just falls short of anything epic and is a major disappointment for those that have played every iteration of a Final Fantasy title ever produced.
The things that most of the reviews were critical about weren't even the things that affected my judgment on the game. What the game really just lacked was memorable characters and a memorable storyline. I mentioned in a previous post that the whole "us against the world" theme was just bad. And even at the end of the game you sit there and wonder what really just happened. I mean the ending really didn't reflect what the main characters went through the entire game. For those that watch American Idol, as Simon Cowell always says, it just "lacked that moment". There wasn't anything to make you open your eyes and say, WOW; there were not plot twists or turns that really made an impact. Everything was very vanilla and I'd even argue that the game's storyline is really flat throughout. The first two hours are probably the most exciting, and the last two hours are probably a tidbit less. The rest of the 40 or so odd hours are pretty unrevealing, semi-dramatic and well, plain.
Read the rest of my thoughts after the break.