Xbox 360 Console Elite Final Fantasy XIII Bundle

The Xbox 360 Final Fantasy XIII Special Edition Bundle is the total entertainment experience. This special offer includes Final Fantasy 13, two Xbox 360 Wireless Controllers and a 250GB Hard Drive. "There are many people talking about this bundle, saying that it's not worth it because the console has no special design. That's not a big deal at all. You have to look at the overall value you get with this bundle. The console itself has the Jasper chipset built-in, the hard drive is the largest available (250GB) with a custom Final Fantasy XIII engraving, there are two controllers (always safe to have a back-up), and the game itself is fantastic. I do feel that it would have been nice if they could have replaced the second controller with either HD or HDMI cables, but the value you get with this bundle is still worth it." (consumer review)

What’s in the Box
• Xbox 360 Console
• Final Fantasy XIII (Rated “T” for Teen.)
• Xbox 360 250GB Hard Drive
• 2 Xbox 360 Wireless Controllers
• 1 Xbox 360 Wired Headset
• 1 Ethernet cable
• 1 Standard definition Xbox 360 Composite A/V cable

Final Fantasy 13 - Xbox 360

Final Fantasy 13 is a Role-Playing game for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 consoles which was released by Square Enix and rated Teen by ESRB. The first chapter there is no exploration at all. You walk down a straight path with a couple of [-shaped detours on the map for obstacles, with perhaps one treasure chest "hidden" at a dead end immediately before or after one of the bends. There are no avoidable battles. The graphics were extremely great, but the linearity was horrifying! There wasn't even anything resembling an experience point system. I thought I was in for a well-designed adventure game.

When the story starts out, you control Lightning, who is accompanied by Sazh. As far as the storyline goes, you have no clue what's going on. It's almost as clueless as the start of Chrono Cross. Two unintroduced characters start fighting after some amazing graphics showing a clueless storyline. Sazh is mainly an accompaniment at this point. You see in the menu that you may have an opportunity to change his equipment, but other than that, there is nothing you can do to him.

Lightning isn't much different, though you do get to control her actions during battle. There is no hint at an experience point system, or even of levels, new abilities, or anything like that. You get a rating at the end of the battle, somewhat like Devil May Cry with a whole lot more technicalities, but there does not seem to be any means of advancement or meaning to this at this time.

Chapter 2 introduces a means of playing with new characters. You at first take the lead with Snow and with Vanille, though we really dont' know who they are and don't have much introduction to the story. So we see we get to control new characters, but that's it. Still very straight forward, although chapter 2 does introduce a few more turns and loops in the map, all of which are still obvious and nearly unavoidable.

In chapter 3, the role system is introduced. What this means is that Lightning has, for example at this point, a role of a Commando. The battles you've been fighting you've been accumulating CP, Crystarium Points. Similar to Limit Points in Final Fantasy XI, these Crystarium Points can be used to further develop the individual roles of the character. Each new crystal in the Crystarium will either unlock a new ability, increase your attributes by a specific amount, or give ou an option to equip an additional accessory. Later to be introduced are also Role Levels, which simply improve the character's overal performance of the role, though it does not specify how. So there isn't an experience point system to level up your characters. Rather, there is a Crystarium Point system in which to add attributes, abilities, and accessories to your character.

One thing I find extremely nice is that there is no MP: magic can be cast at any time. Your HP is restored after every battle, and your TP is slowly regenerated up to 5 points at the end of battles, and sometimes during battles. If you loose a battle and get a "Game Over," you can immediately retry and start up immediately prior to that battle without any loss of previous unsaved data. Also, every battle you can pause the game and hit select to "retry" the battle. It is the equivalent of escape, and never fails. I know it is available at the beginning of chapter 3. It may be available before that.

I believe it's at the end of chapter three that you get access to the workshop. Here you can upgrade your equipment, which does bring in an experience points system, though it is very much unrelated to the previous 12 games. It may be related to XIV, but I haven't played it yet, so I cannot determine that. Each mob drops treasure. Some of this treasure are components for upgrading your equipment. Each component is worth so many experience points, plus it also has a positive or negative hidden multiplier value.

In chapter 4 the Crystarium is expanded and we see that each character will also be able to play different roles, eventually obtaining up to three roles each, and I believe a total of 6 roles:

The Commando is mainly physical attack, though it does employ magic. I believe it is more meant to incur single instances of physical damage.

The Sentinel is your tank, with no offensive abilities as of chapter 10 other than a counter attack.

The Ravager is mainly magical attack, I think, though it definitely is more like physical magic than your traditional Black Mage. I believe the Ravager is meant to increase chain attacks.

The Synergist casts offensive and defensive status enhancements and en- spells, adding a magical effect to physical attacks (plus a nice graphical enhancement of the weapons).

The Saboteur enfeebles your enemies.

The Medic is the healer, and as of yet can cast cure, esuna, and raise. Esuna removes the latest debeff from one of your party members.

There is also an "Erase" type spell to remove a buff from your enemies, though I don't recall the name or the role which casts it.

Each character has a different set of crystals for their role, and each character can develop different levels of roles. It is important to figure out which characters you want to develop at which role. My recommendations thus far are to max out Lightning as a Commando, Snow as a Sentinel, Vanille as a Medic, and Sazh as a Synnergist; though the player's guide has different recommendations, I will not mention the other 2 characters by name, as they come into the storyline later, but I'd recommend a Synnergist and a Medic for the former, and a Sentinel and Commando for the latter.

Also in chapter 4 there are hidden areas, which you have to do something later in the chapter to unlock something earlier on the map that isn't obvious. Another thing that is not outright obvious, though it is fairly common sense, is that most chapters and many waypoints, when you start off, go backwards a few feet on the map for a treasure sphere.

Late in chapter 9, all 6 members of the party are together and you finally get to decide who is party leader and who is in your party. Up until that point, the party leader and who was in the party was predetermined, with all 6 having been leader at some point, and a variety of combinations of members for the party. Even though you have 6 members in your party, only 3 can be active, and they cannot be switched during battle like they could in XII, nor can the leader be switched during battle as in Star Ocean The Last Hope. In addition, you only control the actions of the party leader, although an "auto-heal" or "auto-attack" option for the party leader is also available and frequently comes in handy. You do not have to do so, but using Libra or a Librascope on the enemy will allow the AI to take over when using auto-attack. If you fail to use Libra, your other party member or two party members may cast spells that will heal the enemy.

In Chapter 11, from what I have heard, it ceases to become so much of a JRPG and more of an adventure RPG. Side quests become available, and places may be revisited. I'll try to update this review later after I have played through the entire game. So far, I am at 60 hours and three second at the beginning of chapter 10, the "midpoint in the storyline," but by far not the midpoint in the game.

250GB Elite Final Fantasy XIII bundle - Product Features
Xbox 360 250GB Hard Drive: The 250GB detachable hard drive allows gamers to save their games and store television shows, movies, music, pictures, trailers, levels, demos and other content available from Xbox LIVE Marketplace.

Two Xbox 360 Wireless Controllers: These award winning, high-performance wireless controllers feature the Xbox Guide Button for quick, in-game access to friends and music. They have a range of up to 30 feet and a battery life of up to 30 hours on two AA batteries.

Xbox 360 Headset: Strategize or trade taunts while playing games and send voice messages to friends on Xbox LIVE.

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