Final Fantasy XIII = awesome

I confess, I have a deep-seated love for all things Final Fantasy. It goes back to childhood, where I played the first incarnation of the game on my best friend’s brother’s Nintendo console, and it continued from there. I have proudly played all the versions (even the lame one that was online with those stupid rabbit things– sorry if you loved that game, I personally did not), played Kingdom Hearts et cetera– I’m a true fan.

Despite “fantasy” being in the name, FF is more a blend of fantasy & scifi. The most recent US title, released last week– Final Fantasy XIII  has a lot of SciFi elements incorporated into the narrative structure. We have a world where the main city of Cocoon exists above an actual planet– a planet called Pulse. Cool vehicles that make you think of airships that are pretty modernized exist, equipped with holographic television screens that deliver the news. This upper world exists as a kind of utopia ruled by the Sanctum along with a beneveloent group of protectors called the Fal’Cie. These Fal’Cie are pretty cool until one of them goes evil and starts corrupting humans with magical powers– making for a human-fal’cie hybrid known as the l’cie. All of that is kind of fantasy-based, but imbuing them with magical powers via a glowing tatoo through some kind of magical means might be a bit on the sci-fi side. The erradication of these l’cie– beings with magic that are human and have a “focus” (a task only they can complete, and once completed, they become a crystal being granted with eternal life) becomes the main focus of the elite of cocoon and the Sanctum.

The coolest thing about FFXIII is the host of characters–all regular, everyday peeps until one day they are struck down and made into l’cie. They aren’t totally sure what their focus is, but think it might be to protect Cocoon. From what? I’m only 13 hours into this 60 hour epic game, but I’m going to vote that it’s to take down the Sanctum.

If you’re looking for a game with great character development, excellent narrative structure, stunning visuals and stellar music, then you should check out this newest installment of FFXIII. It’s just scifi enough to keep you hooked if you’re a die-hard SciFi fan!