Final Fantasy XIII

Final Fantasy XIII  could be a role-playing computer game developed and printed by sq. Enix for the PlayStation three and Xbox 360, and later for Microsoft Windows. discharged in Japan in Dec 2009 and worldwide in March 2010, it's the thirteenth major installment within the Final Fantasy series. the sport includes fast combat, a replacement system for the series for determinant that skills ar developed for the characters referred to as "Crystarium", and a customizable "Paradigm" system to regulate that skills ar utilized by the characters. Final Fantasy XIII includes parts from the previous games within the series, like summoned monsters, chocobos, and airships.

The game takes place within the fictional floating world of Cocoon, whose government, the Sanctum, is ordering a purge of civilians World Health Organization have purportedly get contact with Pulse, the much-feared world below. the previous soldier Lightning begins her fight against the govt. so as to avoid wasting her sister World Health Organization has been branded as associate unwilling servant to a god-like being from Pulse, creating her associate enemy of Cocoon. Lightning is before long joined by a band of allies, and along the cluster additionally become marked by a similar Pulse creature. They rally against the Sanctum whereas making an attempt to find their appointed task and whether or not they will avoid being become monsters or crystals at the completion.

Development began in 2004 and therefore the game was 1st proclaimed at Electronic recreation exhibition (E3) 2006. Final Fantasy XIII is that the flagship title of the Fabula star Crystallis assortment of ultimate Fantasy games and is that the 1st game to use sq. Enix's Crystal Tools engine. Final Fantasy XIII received largely positive reviews from computer game publications, that praised the game's graphics, presentation, and battle system. The game's story received a mixed response from reviewers, and its one-dimensionality compared to previous games within the series was largely criticized. Selling 1.7 million copies in Japan in 2009, Final Fantasy XIII became the fastest-selling title within the history of the series. As of Jan 2013, the sport has oversubscribed over half-dozen.6 million copies worldwide. The Windows computer version has oversubscribed concerning five hundred,000 copies in step with SteamSpy golf shot it at seven.1 million copies oversubscribed worldwide before iOS & automaton sales. A sequel, titled Final Fantasy XIII-2, was discharged in Dec 2011 in Japan and in February 2012 in North America and PAL regions. A second sequel, titled Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, that concludes Lightning's story and therefore the Final Fantasy XIII heroic tale, was discharged in November 2013 in Japan and in February 2014 in North America and PAL regions.

Gameplay
The player directly controls the on-screen character through a third-person perspective to move with individuals, objects, and enemies throughout the sport. The player may also flip the camera round the characters, that permits for a 360° read of the environment. the planet of ultimate Fantasy XIII is rendered to scale relative to the characters in it; rather than a caricature of the character roaming around miniature tract, as found within the earlier Final Fantasy games, each space is delineate proportionately. The player navigates the planet by foot or by chocobo. Players might save their game to a tough Winchester drive victimisation save stations, wherever the player may also purchase things from retail networks or upgrade their weapons.associate in-game datalog provides a book and incidental data concerning the planet of ultimate Fantasy XIII. the ultimate Fantasy XIII final Hits International version of the sport, discharged in Japan, additionally contains associate "Easy" mode possibility.

Battle system
The Final Fantasy XIII battle system, with the "Paradigm Shift" possibility, the Active Time Battle (ATB) bar filling at a lower place it with 5 slots and 2 actions queued, and therefore the 3 active characters' health and roles displayed. The enemy's name and harm share ar shown within the higher right corner.
As in Final Fantasy XII, enemies ar integrated into the open field and may be approached or avoided by the player. once the player's character touches associate enemy, the screen transitions from the regular map to a separate battle screen the same as those utilized in previous Final Fantasy titles. A most of 3 characters could also be utilized in battles, that use a variant on the series' ancient Active Time Battle (ATB) system 1st featured in Final Fantasy IV. underneath this method, the player selects associate action from the menus, like Attack, Magic, and Item. in contrast to previous games within the series, the player solely controls the lead character whereas the remaining 2 characters ar controlled by the game's computing (AI). every action needs a selected range of slots on the ATB bar, that regularly refills to a collection most range of slots. The ATB bar step by step will increase in size throughout the sport from 2 slots to 6. The player might choose but the most range of potential actions or might stop the filling of the ATB bar and perform as several actions as may be finished this ATB quantity. The player might choose associate autobattle command, that fills the ATB slots with actions chosen mechanically. Actions can't be performed outside of battle, and therefore the characters' health is totally renovated once every battle.

Each enemy features a meter, referred to as a series counter, consisting of a share beginning at one hundred that will increase once the enemy is stricken by attacks or spells. Attacks by totally different|completely different} roles have different effects; some raise the chain by a bigger quantity whereas others provide the player longer before the chain counter resets. the quantity of injury performed by associate attack is increased by the chain share before it's applied to the enemy. once the chain counter reaches a planned quantity, totally different for every enemy, the enemy is placed into Stagger State. during this mode, the enemy has down defense and will be embarked on the air. The Paradigm system permits the player to program six totally different roles that the characters will then assume to perform bound formations in battle in response to the precise conditions. The roles incorporates Commando, a warrior-type role; Ravager, a black mage-type role that uses damage-dealing magic; Medic, a White Mage-type role which might heal and take away negative standing ailments; Saboteur, that use magic to weaken enemies by inflicting negative statuses; drug, that uses magic to strengthen allies by giving positive statuses; and lookout man, that has protecting and defensive skills the same as a defender. every of the characters will at the start battle solely 3 roles, however the player has access to any or all of them later within the game (although the opposite 3 roles ar restricted in their skills for those players that select them). The player will choose that roles the controlled character and therefore the AI characters ar victimisation each outside and through battle, that is that the solely approach that the player will management the AI characters throughout battle. The player will solely choose between specific sets of paradigms that the player has created beforehand outside of battle.

Each character will summon a selected Eidolon into battle. These summoned creatures embody series staples Odin, Shiva, Alexander, and Bahamut, and newcomers Hecatoncheir and Brynhildr. once summoned, the Eidolon stays in combat whereas the characters incidental the summoner leave the party. whereas associate Eidolon is summoned, the player will trigger a feature referred to as pattern Mode, within which the Eidolon transforms into {a totally different|a special|a unique|a distinct} kind and performs different attacks whereas the conjuration character rides them.

Crystarium
The Crystarium could be a leveling system consisting of six crystals and resembles the Sphere Grid from Final Fantasy X. every crystal within the Crystarium represents one among the six Paradigms, and is split into 10 levels. every level contains numerous nodes that offer bonuses to health, strength, or magic, or give new skills and accent slots. These nodes ar connected by a semi-linear path. The player might advance down the trail by feat Crystarium Points, that ar awarded once defeating enemies. the total Crystarium isn't accessible to the player at the start of the game; at specific points within the game's plot, the player gains access to new crystals or levels.

Synopsis

Setting
Final Fantasy XIII is ready on the planet of granny Pulse (often merely referred to as Pulse). Central to the story is Cocoon, an enormous artificial sphere that floats higher than Pulse's surface and is dominated by the Sanctum, a form of government government. the 2 worlds ar controlled by fal'Cie /fælˈsiː/, beings with godlike power. The Cocoon fal'Cie ar answerable for keeping Cocoon floating, additionally as providing lightweight and water to the people who live within. every fal'Cie handles a selected task. The fal'Cie have the potential of marking the humans that board Pulse and Cocoon as their servants. These servants, referred to as branded with an emblem representing either Pulse or Cocoon and ar given a "Focus"—a task to complete. If the l'Cie complete their task in time, they're reworked to crystal and in step with legend gain eternal life; otherwise they become mindless monsters referred to as don't seem to be expressly told their Focus, however ar instead given visions that they need to interpret.

Several hundred years before the events of the sport, a battle called the War of Transgression transpire between Pulse and Cocoon. throughout the battle, l'Cie from Pulse attacked and ripped an outsized hole in Cocoon. Eventually, the l'Cie completed their focus and were turned to crystal. the outlet was patched with material raised from Pulse, and Cocoon's voters have since lived in worry of another invasion; this worry is employed by the Sanctum to stay in power. The Sanctum oversees 2 military branches: the Guardian Corps, answerable for keeping order on Cocoon, and therefore the peace and Intelligence command (PSICOM), the United States Army Special Forces guilty of handling any threat associated with Pulse. The fal'Cie have given the humans advanced technology, together with flying airships and mechanical creatures, and a type of magic additionally exists. This magic is often solely accessible to l'Cie, fal'Cie, and numerous monsters in Cocoon and Pulse, although distilled chemical forms may be utilized by traditional humans through the employment of Manadrives.

Characters
The six main playable characters of ultimate Fantasy XIII ar Lightning, the most protagonist of the sport, a former soldier and older sister to Serah; Snow Villiers, Serah's fiancé and leader of NORA, a paramilitary group; Oerba DIA Vanille, the game's storyteller associated an exile World Health Organization is later unconcealed to be a l'Cie from Pulse; Sazh Katzroy, a civilian pilot and father to a young boy, Dajh; Hope Estheim, a young boy World Health Organization is troubled inside the relationships he shares along with his parents; and Oerba Yun Fang, a l'Cie from Pulse World Health Organization is functioning with the Sanctum's Cavalry branch. different characters embody Galenth Dysley, the ruler of the Sanctum and main antagonist; CID Raines, a Sanctum general officer within the Cavalry World Health Organization doesn't trust the government; and Serah Farron, Lightning's younger sister and Snow's fiancée.

Plot
The playable forged of ultimate Fantasy XIII. From left to right: Sazh Katzroy, Snow Villiers, Hope Estheim, Lightning, Oerba Yun Fang, and Oerba DIA Vanille
Final Fantasy XIII begins in Cocoon because the voters of the city of Bodhum ar being evicted, or Purged, from Cocoon once coming back in-tuned with one thing from Pulse. Over the course of the sport, the player is shown flashbacks of the events of the previous thirteen days, that began once a fal'Cie from Pulse was discovered close to Bodhum. Lightning's sister Serah had found the fal'Cie from Pulse and been become a l'Cie by it. Lightning and Sazh derail a Purge train sure for Pulse in an effort to avoid wasting Serah. within the ensuant battle, Snow leads his resistance cluster, NORA, to rescue the Purge exiles. many of them ar killed, together with Hope's mother. As Snow heads to the fal'Cie self to avoid wasting Serah, he's joined by 2 of the exiles: Hope and Vanille. the 2 teams meet at the fal'Cie, and notice Serah even as she turns to crystal. self then brands all of them as l'Cie and that they ar forged out into a distinct a part of Cocoon. throughout this transformation, the freshly crested l'Cie all have a similar vision: a monster referred to as Twilight of the Gods. The cluster, contestation over the ambiguous nature of the unreal Focus, notice Serah in her crystallized form; Snow remains along with her because the others leave.

Snow meets CID and Fang once being captured and detained aboard the dirigible Lindblum. Meanwhile, the others throw off PSICOM, however ar separated throughout associate air strike; Hope and Lightning jaunt Palumpolum, whereas Sazh and Vanille jaunt Nautilus. In Lightning's state of affairs, she accidentally supports Hope's goal of killing Snow as revenge for his mother's death. In Vanille's state of affairs, Sazh discusses however his son Dajh was become a l'Cie by a Cocoon fal'Cie and was taken by PSICOM to find his Focus. At Palumpolum, Lightning tries to influence Hope to not bear along with his revenge and meets Snow and Fang. Fang reveals that she and Vanille were l'Cie from Pulse World Health Organization were become crystals; they were turned back to humans thirteen days before the beginning of the sport, sparking the Purge.Hope makes an attempt to murder Snow, however once Snow saves him from associate airstrike, he decides to not bear with it.[41] The party then escapes the town with Cid's aid. At Nautilus, Vanille reveals herself to Sazh as a l'Cie from Pulse, and indirectly the explanation that Dajh was become a l'Cie. PSICOM then captures Sazh and Vanille and detains them on board the dirigible Palamecia.


Development
Director and state of affairs designer Motomu Toriyama at the 2010 Game Developers Conference.
Development of ultimate Fantasy XIII began in February 2004, shortly once the discharge of ultimate Fantasy X-2 International + Last Mission in Japan. in the past, the project was internally remarked by the codename "Colors World". Over the primary year, director Motomu Toriyama and state of affairs conceptor Kazushige Nojima planned ideas for the plot. Nojima thought up the crystal mythology that became the idea for the Fabula star Crystallis series, together with ideas like the fal'Cie and l'Cie. Toriyama then created a story premised on this mythology. He needed to portray "characters at the mercy of a preset, unjust fate" World Health Organization "belong along however collide heavily". so as to realize this, every of the story's 13 chapters was created to specialise in totally different protagonists. Chapters seven and eight were to mark a turning purpose within the social relationships of the party.

In March 2006, once the structural a part of the narrative began to move, lead state of affairs author Daisuke Watanabe joined the team. Toriyama gave him a rough define of the primary eight chapters, including many cornerstone scenes that required to be unbroken, like once party members were separated or reunited. He told Watanabe what he needed to specific with the state of affairs and asked him to flesh out the story and to strengthen however the points in his define connected. for instance, Toriyama's rudimentary directions within the document would say "Snow and Hope reconcile". Watanabe had to make a decision concerning however the scenes with this reconciliation would play out, then write the state of affairs that approach. to emphasise what the story tried to specific, Watanabe adjusted the personalities Toriyama had given to every character. for instance, he felt that the party mustn't have a "reliable and calm leader type" at the start of the story, so as to additional accurately show the confusion and unease once the protagonists remodel into l'Cie. Toriyama has aforesaid that one among the storytelling challenges was the despair of the characters and therefore the several points at that they're ostensibly treed. He mentioned the scene wherever Sazh tries to kill in concert such example: though Toriyama felt it absolutely was "almost slightly too dark", he needed to incorporate one thing find it irresistible within the game. In distinction, he aforesaid that lightsome parts like Sazh's Chocobo chick helped maintain a decent balance.

At the start of the event, the sport was meant to be discharged on the PlayStation a pair of. In might 2005, however, once the positive reception of the school demo of ultimate Fantasy VII, the team set to maneuver the sport to the PlayStation three and developed it with the new Crystal Tools engine, a seventh generation multiplatform game engine created by sq. Enix for its next generation games. sq. Enix believed that developing a replacement engine would speed up development time later within the project, although it'd at the start cause a delay within the game's development. However, the delay was longer than originally anticipated because the engine had to accommodate the necessities of many different games additionally to XIII. Another consider the platform move was the delayed unleash of ultimate Fantasy XII, that came out a awfully short time before the discharge of the PlayStation three. A computer port was thought-about throughout development, however was set against because of however sq. Enix saw the computer game market state of affairs at the time additionally as further complexities that sq. Enix didn't have expertise with associated with the computer platform, like security problems. Final Fantasy XIII was 1st shown at the 2006 E3 convention. The trailer shown was a creative conception that didn't represent the ultimate conception for the sport, since at the time there was no playable type of the sport. proclaimed aboard the sport was Final Fantasy Versus XIII, later retitled as Final Fantasy XV, and therefore the PlayStation moveable game Final Fantasy Type-0, originally titled Final Fantasy Agito XIII, the 3 of that kind the Fabula star Crystallis Final Fantasy series. sq. Enix explained that though all 3 games ar thematically joined, they're ultimately connected in terms of story.

The developers for Final Fantasy XIII were divided into multiple areas, with every developer or team focusing solely on a selected task like developing a selected in-game space or modeling characters. every physical space of the sport was developed separately; once associate initial style was approved, groups were appointed to a selected location and crammed in details while not reusing assets from different areas. many of the game's developers had worked on previous installments of the series. Director Motomu Toriyama had worked on Final Fantasy X and X-2; producer Yoshinori Kitase had worked on V through VIII and because the producer for X and X-2; main-character designer Tetsuya Nomura had performed a similar role for VII, VIII, X, and X-2, and battle-system director Toshiro Tsuchida reprised that role from Final Fantasy X. As XIII was the primary Final Fantasy game for the PlayStation three, the event team's internal goal was for the sport to own a similar "gameplay and craftmanship" impact that Final Fantasy VII and X had because the 1st games of the series on their several consoles. They aimed to sell 5 million copies of the sport. Toriyama needed the sport to be "the final single player RPG".

Tsuchida's conception for the battle system was to take care of the strategic nature of command-based battles. The system stemmed from a need to make battles the same as those found within the film Final Fantasy VII: Advent kids. Magic points (MP), that had been a neighborhood of the battle system in previous Final Fantasy titles, were removed within the game's battle system as Tsuchida and therefore the different designers felt that it gave players associate incentive to not use their most powerful magic attacks because of the MP value, successively creating battles less attention-grabbing. The Paradigm system was designed early within the battle system's development, with the intent of constructing battles think about quickly dynamical ways and feel fast-moving. Originally there have been solely 5 roles, however the Saboteur was later value-added because the designers felt that its skills were missing from the sport and didn't work with the opposite roles. in conjunction with the most of 3 characters in a very combat state of affairs, the groupings of enemies were designed to force the player to change Paradigms to stay them engaged within the battles.

Toriyama needed Lightning to be a replacement form of feminine character with associate athlete's body and a less female nature than a number of the previous feminine characters of the series. His guideline to Nomura was to create her "strong and beautiful", and she or he was meant to be harking back to Final Fantasy VII's Cloud Strife. Fang was at the start meant to be a male character, however the gender was modified to coincide with the updated character styles throughout the latter a part of development. The graphics capabilities of the PS3 and Xbox 360 compared to previous consoles allowed Nomura to use additional complicated parts within the character styles than before, like Lightning's cape and elaborated facial expression. This successively meant that the art team had to try and do far more work for every character or space than in previous games. Nomura didn't take associate concerned role within the creation of the non-playable characters.

Unlike previous games within the series that were additional galvanized by Asian locations and culture, Final Fantasy XIII was meant by the art team to be harking back to the u.  s.. Pulse was supported landscape pictures the team took from across the country, and Cocoon was meant to be a "melting pot" of various ethnicities. The setting was additionally given a phantasy aesthetic to create it stand out additional as compared with different entries within the series.stage director Isamu Kamikokuryo unconcealed that a lot of further situations like Lightning's home, that were functioning in associate suppressed build throughout development, were not noted of the ultimate version because of considerations concerning the game's length and volume.Kamikokuryo aforesaid the content they cut was, in itself, enough to create another game. in step with Toriyama, the cuts were created in "various stages of [the game's] development", which a number of the content was removed simply before the game's completion. the sport, in contrast to previous titles within the series, includes no explorable city areas; Toriyama aforesaid in associate interview that the team was unable to create them as diagrammatically appealing because the remainder of the sport and selected to eliminate them. Toriyama meant to own a bit of downloadable content accessible for the sport that will embody a replacement space, weapons and quests, however was forced to chop it additionally because of quality considerations therefore late within the project and difficulties with the various systems for further content on the 2 gambling consoles.

A playable demo of ultimate Fantasy XIII was enclosed within the Japanese version of ultimate Fantasy VII Advent kids Complete, discharged on Gregorian calendar month sixteen, 2009. Toriyama expressed that the discharge of the demo, that wasn't within the original development schedule, helped the team acknowledge a shared vision for what the sport ought to look and desire, a haul that had been plaguing the event aggroup till then. It helped the team place the work that also required to be done, that magnified the event speed for the rest of the project. the sport was meant to attractiveness to each Western and Japanese audiences, and focus teams from each regions were used. a people localization began whereas development was still ongoing to minimize the delay between the japanese and worldwide releases. the sport was at the start reaching to be discharged entirely for the PlayStation three, however associate Xbox 360 version was proclaimed late within the game's development cycle. The Xbox version, because of technical limitations, runs at a lower resolution (720p maximum) than the PlayStation version and is unfold across three discs.

Music
Masashi Hamauzu composed the game's sound recording. His previous work on the series was as a co-composer for Final Fantasy X and because the main musician for threnody of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII. the sport was the primary main-series Final Fantasy game to not embody any compositions by original series musician Nobuo Uematsu. though Uematsu was originally proclaimed to compose the most theme of the sport, this role was seized by Hamauzu once Uematsu signed on to compose the sound recording to Final Fantasy XIV. The score options some items musical organization by Yoshihisa Hirano, Toshiyuki Oomori, and Kunihito Shiina, with the capital of Poland Philharmonic Orchestra. The song "My Hands", from British singer Leona Lewis' second album Echo, was chosen to interchange Final Fantasy XIII's original theme song, "Kimi ga Iru Kara" by Sayuri Sugawara, for the game's international unleash. sq. Enix President Yoichi Wada later aforesaid that it'd are higher if the yank branch of the corporate had created an issue song from scratch, however a scarcity of employees junction rectifier to the choice of licensing associate existing song.

Music from the sport has been discharged in many albums. sq. Enix discharged the most sound recording album, Final Fantasy XIII Original sound recording, on four Compact Discs in 2010. The album oversubscribed sixteen,000 copies the day of its unleash. sq. Enix discharged choices from the sound recording on 2 acoustic gramophone record albums in 2010: W/F: Music from Final Fantasy XIII and W/F: Music from Final Fantasy XIII mild Reveries. associate album of organized items from the sound recording, Final Fantasy XIII Original sound recording -PLUS-, was additionally discharged by sq. Enix in 2010, as was associate album of piano arrangements. always Music printed one of the theme song for the japanese version of the sport,