The game is definitely getting its claws into me, spent a fair chunk of time playing it just before and have hit 20 hours. I kind of wish random encounters were a little more demanding, though - although if they were I don't know when else I'd poke around on my phone.
I miss having a party that grows as you progress but the monster system is pretty great.
Oh, I also think the last dungeon was pretty relaxing and not stressing at all. Jumping mechanics are nothing will be remembered about, but the funny thing is that here jumping works better than in games like LBP that are real platforms. This to say that Square managed to do something decent with that. I'm actually sad there's no other place where that is needed, I guess that's an idea that came later in the game development and has been implemented in hurry. I enjoyed the last dungeon.
That's because everyone saying it's easy has level 99 in every role probably, in which case it IS easy =P
edit: I have to say I'm really disappointed in the bonus themes you get for unlocking trophies in this game. The XIII themes had much better wallpapers, and they didn't even change the icons for this game.
Oh, I also think the last dungeon was pretty relaxing and not stressing at all. Jumping mechanics are nothing will be remembered about, but the funny thing is that here jumping works better than in games like LBP that are real platforms. This to say that Square managed to do something decent with that. I'm actually sad there's no other place where that is needed, I guess that's an idea that came later in the game development and has been implemented in hurry. I enjoyed the last dungeon.
The last dungeon was relaxing... Kinda. The problem is that the progression is terribly slow and boring. That's not really interesting when you have to wait between 10 and 25 seconds in order to go forward every single time. It's not even remotely fun. This is bad game design for me.
I hate the time puzzles but for some reason I can't stop doing them all in the future
Oerba
spots. It's like some horrible addiction.
Btw, please tell me at some point in the game you can get good EXP per fight. I find it annoying still amassing 200 on average per fight. Then again, I have got 3 roles maxed per character.
I don't really care for the platforming; even with the Fragment skill, the platforming was still unsatisfying. But this isn't a platformer; I don't expect an RPG to be especially good at platforming (and to be fair, I'd been playing a ton of platformers in the months leading up to FFXIII-2's release, so I'm probably more critical of the jumping in this game than I should be; and I don't like the floaty jumping animations in this game at all.)
At least the difficulty went up a little bit.
Perfo said:
but the funny thing is that here jumping works better than in games like LBP that are real platforms.
If they have good jump animations and they serve a good purpose in an area which balances the platforming with doing other dungeony stuff, sure. I'm thinking in terms of stuff like in the Mario RPGs, since jumping wasn't automated there. I really loved it in Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, and it's partially because it somewhat increased movement speed.
Sometimes it could be meh. For example, the jumping animations and English jumping voice sample for Xenoblade made my boyfriend laugh so much that he sat there for a few minutes making Shulk jump over and over.
If they have good jump animations and they serve a good purpose in an area which balances the platforming with doing other dungeony stuff, sure. I'm thinking in terms of stuff like in the Mario RPGs, since jumping wasn't automated there. I really loved it in Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, and it's partially because it somewhat increased movement speed.
Sometimes it could be meh. For example, the jumping animations and English jumping voice sample for Xenoblade made my boyfriend laugh so much that he sat there for a few minutes making Shulk jump over and over.
Xenoblade had some awesome jumps you had to make on Mt. Valak when running across the ice that you could only make the jump if you had +movement speed gems equipped. It was good stuff
Xenoblade had some awesome jumps you had to make on Mt. Valak when running across the ice that you could only make the jump if you had +movement speed gems equipped. It was good stuff
Yeah, the momentum stuff was handled really interestingly in that game at times, meh voice clips/jumping animations aside.
Edit: I know I had proposed the idea for a Final Fantasy platformer in the FF Community Thread. I think it'd work if good ideas were put behind it. >.>
If you don't mind the bad writing, the story gets pretty cool from episode 4 on. Always if you like convoluted stories that is. Convoluted but entertaining
If you don't mind the bad writing, the story gets pretty cool from episode 4 on. Always if you like convoluted stories that is. Convoluted but entertaining
I don't mind bad writing at all, I try to see through bad writing and still enjoy the story within. I was in the middle of Episode 4 before my PS3 died, my new one should arrive this week so I'll be back to play!
It's like waiting for the games launch all over again lol.
This is why I think each DLC Story release for XIII-2 is gonna feel like waiting for the game all over again
I'm trying to get the Serendipitous Achievement... what is the best way to acquire it? I've read that it needs to be pure profit, so just buying the coins will not do it. Is there a counter somewhere?
People saying the game in general is easy is confusing me as well,besides the regular fights,all the Bosses and the fragment searching and the time travelling is confusing and pretty hard to me...I think I will start over without the crazy idea that this game is easy,maybe I will be better at it...I'm stuck anyway now in grinding if I want to progress on the Crux road.
Only SEN I have is the silver chocobo. Gonna fuse him with the Pulseworker Knight today. My Serah and Noel are both 99 SENS. Pretty soon they both will have maxed all roles. Yes I play to much.
I got this in a couple of days ago having not played XIII. I think FF has got to be one of the franchises that deal with some of the most jaded players. I'm not saying some of the criticisms aren't valid and it's obvious SE has gotten complacent but not having played a FF game for quite some time XIII-2 is a pretty impressive effort.
Story: The story is definitely serviceable. Not saying it's fantastic or quality but after playing XIII, XIII-2 will seem like "oh hey, the story is OK". Sure there are loopholes and cheesy dialogue though, but Serah and Noel are actually interesting characters, especially Noel.
Gameplay: This game has a lot of content, in fact if I group together my top FF games with good content, this game would be one of them. Content isn't too much nor is it too little. There are a lot of reused monsters from FFXIII. There aren't that much actual new worlds in this game.
The game uses the same battle system as XIII but with quirks such as the monster catching. It's a nice quirk and it's pretty cool that you can add crazy accessories to these monsters but I would have preferred a 3rd character instead.
Music: Some tracks are fantastic such as Noel's Theme but there are a number of tracks that have come from XIII. The OST has a number of voiced tracks too and they're pretty fantastic.
Visuals: Definitely not as a pretty as XIII nor does it perform much better but I have to give a thumbs up on Academia. It has one of the biggest towns (haven't fully played XII though) I've encountered and it looks great but it can get very confusing.
Summary:
+ Gameplay + great is fun and great, if not one of my most favorite this generation.
+ Characters are likable.
+ Academia looks great.
= Story is serviceable.
- Not as pretty as FFXIII.
- Cheesy dialogue.
-
The ending is terrible because of the to be continued portion.
Trophies: The trophies are easy to get and obtainable under 55 hours. The trophies can be fun except for the Serendipitous trophy because you're required to obtain 10k from your initial pot. You can quit and save but I recommend that you do both the Chocobo Races and Slots. The only thing that bothered me with the Fragment portions are the Monster Hunts and Lucky Coin fragments because the former requires a lot of hard work, location grinding, and tracking the rare monsters and the latter requires personal luck. The trophies are much easier to get and less time consuming that FFXIII's (which can take 90-110 hours).
I actually got all FFXIII achievements in 82 hours. I would say that it can take 75-100 hours. Agreed on the easier trophies/achievements in XIII-2 though. I thought they were a lot more fun to get and I got all of them in 58 hours.
Which is quick for a Final Fantasy game, but with Armalur coming out at the end of this week this is not a bad thing for me.
Just checked the DLC thing in game. Its working. Wow, this thing is sexy. I can see them adding weapons, monsters, outfits, and story DLC to this thing. Still not buying Light though.
Really don't get the love for the voiced tracks in this game. The singing is all so awful. Just about no music in the game is offensive, but it's more like enjoyable elevator music in my opinion.
