It’s the music that you play, using the 3DS' stylus to execute timed taps and swipes, and building a party of classic FF characters and building them up is the aesthetic background giving the game depth and flavor. Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call inverts the relationship between music and game to great effect. “Prelude,” the series’ famous theme song by Nobuo Uematsu, embodies both the delicate thoughtfulness and brassy spirit that makes Final Fantasy itself. The aural tapestry of these games, from their earliest entries on, informs every moment you’re playing.

There’s a damn good reason that orchestral performances run around the globe for years on end. The excellent battle system, which admittedly isn’t fully utilized soon enough in the game, was given proper room to grow in 13-2 and Lightning Returns.įinal Fantasy’s music is essential to the experience of the games. Embracing the alienness of Final Fantasy 13, though, reveals a gorgeous piece of science fiction with sumptuous art, Masashi Hamauzu’s best soundtrack ever, and a cathartic ending that gives the game a beating heart. The world of Cocoon and Gran Pulse is as cold and unforgiving as as the crystals that dominate its landscape, and the crew of burdened misfits we guide through it provide little warmth or insight into its culture to humanize it.

Final Fantasy 13’s biggest crime, and potentially the root of its notorious rep, is that it’s a very chilly game. Final Fantasy 4 and 10 are just as restrictive in terms of exploration, Final Fantasy 8 is just as oblique in its storytelling, and the abominable Snow and Serah are no more or less annoying than Yuffie. Here’s the reality: most popular criticisms of Final Fantasy 13 are also applicable to the series’ most-loved entries.

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