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Five Things We Love About Final Fantasy XIII

Final Fantasy XIII has finally arrived, and it is proving to be quite controversial. The game has many positive and negative qualities, making it a hard one to review with a single numerical score (which also explains the wide range of critical opinions). We prefer to highlight the aspects that we love and the things that annoy us in the game, and let readers make up their own minds. If you are looking for an overview of the game's flaws, be sure and check out our list of five things we hate about FFXIII. But here, be ready to put on your rose colored glasses as we run down the five things that we absolutely loved about Square Enix's masterpiece of a totally perfect game.

The Battle System
The changes that Square Enix has made to the battle system in this installment for the most part made it better. We still have the Active Time Battle (ATB) gauge, but now there are combos and the ability to line up commands even when the gauge is empty. The Break State is a great new addition and mastery of it is key to defeating some of the game's more challenging encounters. Even though you can only control one character at a time during battle, the fast pace of the action means that you are never really left out of the loop. The fact that you can assign very specific roles to each character means that you never feel a loss of overall tactical control, either.

Cinematic cutscenes
While fans have reason to complain about the length of non-interactive cutscenes in other games, in Final Fantasy XIII we actually wish there were more of them. If you are the type of gamer who doesn't mind watching some of the action unfold before their eyes in a passive way, there is lots of it to watch here. The animation is top quality, as is the English language voice work, a rarity in Japanese RPGs. They even re-animated character lip movements to match the spoken English in the translation. Nicely done, Square Enix.

Musical score
The production values for this entire game are stellar, including the graphics, animation, textures, voice acting and writing. However, one subtle place where Final Fantasy XIII is in the musical department. The score composed by Masashi Hamauzu is not overpowering, but it definitely adds to the atmosphere of the game and complements the action on screen. The international versions of XIII feature the song "My Hands" sung by English singer Leona Lewis, which has proven to be a controversial choice, but we like it.

The Game World
Every great RPG needs a vibrant world to give it life, and Final Fantasy XIII definitely has an interesting setting. The two areas of Pulse and Cocoon feel very distinct from one another, with art design that connects well with what we know about these places from the game's plot. It was also cool to see dynamic animation taking place in the world around the player: animals run freely across wide open plains; Shadows of winged dragons are cast on the ground as they fly overhead, blotting out the sun; Colossal Adamantoises walk at their own leisurely pace. One gets the sense that they are interacting with a real living environment and it definitely adds to the immersive quality of the game.

Battle Ratings
A new addition to the series is the battle rating system in Final Fantasy XIII. This gives the player a certain number of stars at the end of a fight sequence depending on the skill and technique used during the fight. Basically, chaining together good combos and dispatching enemies in the shortest time possible will result in a higher ranking. The system could have been improved, but it is nice to see Square Enix innovating in this area.