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[sdornan]

And I'm sure you're the most qualified person to make this judgment. You've obviously played all of the FF games.

HINT: The series didn't start at VII.

To be fair, there's no need to play any other Final Fantasy to judge whether you like this game or not.

 

[Jeels]

Spoiler

Ch6

. I know you can avoid those giant flying monsters by

Spoiler

changing the weather

, but I want to attempt them for challenge's sake. Any tips?

 

[thetrin]

To be fair, there's no need to play any other Final Fantasy to judge whether you like this game or not.

There is a need to play every other FF to call it the worst one, though.

Spoiler

Ch6

. I know you can avoid those giant flying monsters by

Spoiler

changing the weather

, but I want to attempt them for challenge's sake. Any tips?

No tips needed. They're not particularly hard. They're just kind of a pain. Run with at least one HLR/ATK/HLR paradigm in case of emergencies and you'll be fine.

 

[Windom Earle]

Massive crying over Odin by DSP: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUFsXHJCjxo

 

[sdornan]

There is a need to play every other FF to call it the worst one, though.

I suppose that's true.

BTW, I don't understand all the Snow hate. He's not that bad, certainly not as bad as Hope and the Xanax girl.

 

[Jeels]

There is a need to play every other FF to call it the worst one, though.



No tips needed. They're not particularly hard. They're just kind of a pain. Run with at least one HLR/ATK/HLR paradigm in case of emergencies and you'll be fine.

Are you sure we're thinking of the same thing? I only have

Spoiler

sahz and vanille

in my party.

 

[tapedeck]

What FF are you playing exactly? You're most certainly not playing XIII.

ZOMGLOLLOL

I slipped and called him Ifrit. You need better things to do.

 

[thetrin]

Are you sure we're thinking of the same thing? I only have

Spoiler

sahz and vanille

in my party.

Sorry, it's been 3 months since I played the game. In that case, start with a HLR/ENH paradigm and have sazh haste and buff the team like bad. Then switch to a BLA/JAM and have Vanille debuff the bird.

Run with a BLA/ATK to keep up break. I wish I had a save near there so I could refresh my memory.

ZOMGLOLLOL

I slipped and called him Ifrit. You need better things to do.

No need to get all pissy. I was just poking fun.

 

[zero margin]

Spoiler

Ch6

. I know you can avoid those giant flying monsters by

Spoiler

changing the weather

, but I want to attempt them for challenge's sake. Any tips?

Those were not hard. They have one attack that hurts but other than that, pound away.

 

[Zeliard]

Auron is the all time greatest.

This...is your world now.

Auron was a great character. He was the cliched silent and wise badass, but everything from his character design to his voice acting was excellent. If you're going to go with a cliche, that's how you do it.

 

[Jeels]

Sorry, it's been 3 months since I played the game. In that case, start with a HLR/ENH paradigm and have sazh haste and buff the team like bad. Then switch to a BLA/JAM and have Vanille debuff the bird.

Run with a BLA/ATK to keep up break.

Thanks for the tips, I wasn't using Sahz at the beginning to buff. The thing is, the bird does so much crazy damage, shame on me for not realizing I needed protect, haha.

 

[thetrin]

My apologies for giving you guys the japanese class names when offering advice :lol

I don't actually know all the US names. :S

Thanks for the tips, I wasn't using Sahz at the beginning to buff. The thing is, the bird does so much crazy damage, shame on me for not realizing I needed protect, haha.

Do you have any accessories that cast protect in a pinch? That can be helpful on Vanille.

 

[Magnus]

I'm almost as enormous an FF fanboy as anyone, and most of you rallying against the dude above, claiming he only played an hour or two to acquire such a foul opinion of the game aren't on particularly solid ground either. I'm in Chapter 7, ten hours in or whatever, and most of his complaints are valid. Aside from a couple bosses where you had to think about paradigm shifts for more than 2 seconds, the game truly has been a steady stream of mindless (albeit insanely pretty) battles and vapid, brutally written cutscenes with absolutely no deviation from one linear path. Crystarium looks cool, but isn't anything new in the slightest.

I'm sure things open up dramatically as you go, but let's be real: mashing autobattle with limited paradigm shifts (aside from 2 or 3 boss battles so far) can get anyone to this point in the game. No minigames, deviations or distractions in sight.

Not hating on the game, just marveling at the defense force that isn't justified in the face of a very closed first quarter (or half?) to this game.

Game is proving to be immensely divisive at work among customers. It's extremely love/hate, and I haven't heard many unjustified complaints. Those of us enjoying the game so far are just able to overlook them, or prefer things like speed, linearity, and absolutely retarded dialogue. Anyway...I'm having fun with it.

Question: Does acquiring a "Role Level" on the Crystarium actually do anything for you, or is it just a mandatory CP-sink every now and then on a role path?

 

[Teknoman]

Ah yes very true

Add me too, game plays like a dream after FF12

Yes. I mean I liked XII, but like XIII so much more.

 

[Zzoram]

My apologies for giving you guys the japanese class names when offering advice :lol

I don't actually know all the US names. :S

BLA = RAV
ATK = COM
HLR = MED
ENH = SYN
JAM = SAB

I think

 

[thetrin]

BLA = RAV
ATK = COM
HLR = MED
ENH = SYN
JAM = SAB

I think

and DEF = SEN. That makes sense.

(I like the Japanese names better)

Question: Does acquiring a "Role Level" on the Crystarium actually do anything for you, or is it just a mandatory CP-sink every now and then on a role path?

It's an arbitrary CP sink, unfortunately.

 

[Fuu]

Spoiler

Ch6

. I know you can avoid those giant flying monsters by

Spoiler

changing the weather

, but I want to attempt them for challenge's sake. Any tips?

Iirc they're susceptible to poison.

 

[Jeels]

I'm sure things open up dramatically as you go, but let's be real: mashing autobattle with limited paradigm shifts (aside from 2 or 3 boss battles so far) can get anyone to this point in the game. No minigames, deviations or distractions in sight.

Right, because it was the minigames and towns that prevented people from getting further in previous Final Fantasy games. :lol

Do you have any accessories that cast protect in a pinch? That can be helpful on Vanille.

Nope, and I don't see any in the store. There's something called "veil".

Thanks for the tip Fuu, you're right!

 

[Castor Krieg]

Question: Does acquiring a "Role Level" on the Crystarium actually do anything for you, or is it just a mandatory CP-sink every now and then on a role path?

It increases that role's bonuses (you can check those in Status screen).

45hrs, almost done, went back to do some hunts. Loving this game.

 

[kyo_daikun]

Those were not hard. They have one attack that hurts but other than that, pound away.

This, I think slow works on them as well if you want to make them easier.

 

[sdornan]

I'm almost as enormous an FF fanboy as anyone, and most of you rallying against the dude above, claiming he only played an hour or two to acquire such a foul opinion of the game aren't on particularly solid ground either. I'm in Chapter 7, ten hours in or whatever, and most of his complaints are valid. Aside from a couple bosses where you had to think about paradigm shifts for more than 2 seconds, the game truly has been a steady stream of mindless (albeit insanely pretty) battles and vapid, brutally written cutscenes with absolutely no deviation from one linear path. Crystarium looks cool, but isn't anything new in the slightest.

I'm sure things open up dramatically as you go, but let's be real: mashing autobattle with limited paradigm shifts (aside from 2 or 3 boss battles so far) can get anyone to this point in the game. No minigames, deviations or distractions in sight.

Not hating on the game, just marveling at the defense force that isn't justified in the face of a very closed first quarter (or half?) to this game.

Game is proving to be immensely divisive at work among customers. It's extremely love/hate, and I haven't heard many unjustified complaints. Those of us enjoying the game so far are just able to overlook them, or prefer things like speed, linearity, and absolutely retarded dialogue. Anyway...I'm having fun with it.

Totally agree with all of the above.

 

[Magnus]

Question: Does acquiring a "Role Level" on the Crystarium actually do anything for you, or is it just a mandatory CP-sink every now and then on a role path?

It's an arbitrary CP sink, unfortunately.

God damn it, that's retarded. For real?

 

[FortunateSon]

Right, most of his complaints only apply to the first and second locations in the game. Some can be extended to the third. Some of the things said are just flat out wrong.

Dude, come on. Who are you kidding? I love FF games. I don't want to bash this game, I WANT to like it. But this isn't working.

My complaints are valid because I played up to the point where Snow gets on the bike, the twin sisters or what not. Not sure what chapter that was.

What are you trying to tell me? That the game drastically changes? Dude, whatever it's at now, the game elements aren't going to change much going further. I had paradigm shift and I was still button mashing. Yeah, you might get killed here and there, but most of the time, you will succeed. :lol :lol

You are trying to tell me that; that isn't far enough to judge a game? I just put down the game because all I was doing was battle > cutscene > battle > cutscene? The fuck is this shit? I paid $70 for this. SE went cheap on this game. Streamlining every single thing that makes FF and cutting it down to this shit. Just because they made a more "fun" battle system, everything is forgiven? That is bullshit.

I get the game is missing a few FF elements but it's missing nearly very FF element.

- Towns
- Npc's
- Sidequests
- Mini-games
- Overdrives/Overlimits
- Levelling
- Ultimate weapons
- Secret dungeons/bosses
- Fanfare
- Controlling all your characters


Etc....

Give me a break. This was a cutout by SE and you can definitely see it. Even the damn battle system doesn't save it.

And then there's the crystarium and they went cheap on that too. Where's the love for deep customization? It was just a very basic and I mean basic version of the sphere grid.

People even dare compare FF10 to this shit, you guys are being way too harsh on FF10.

Someone bring Matsuno back, please.

Then I wonder why all your complaints are only valid for the first couple of hours?

I did not play for he fist couple of hours, and even then, the game was retardedly boring, the pacing of the game is ATROCIOUS.

I am glad for on one hand that this game is reviewing poorly, is because it deserves so.

Doesn't the game rewarding you for being fast -encourage- strategy? Your strategic thinking is pretty damn shitty if pounding auto-attack is better DoT.

This can be argued back and forth, I can simply say it encourages the person to just button smash his way through. Definitely button smash, it encourages that for sure. Because when I firts heard of the rating system, I told myself, so they want me to rush through the battle as fast as I can? And I'm like WHAT THE FUCK? So I can't enjoy the battle system, I can't even be given some time to think and input moves for my characters because I have to beat this battle in 1:30 seconds.

Thank you SE for taking my money and giving the worst FF of the generation.

If someone can really convince me that this game just gets absolutely beastly later on, I'm really hoping someone does because I want to play it and give it a chance.

Jesus. What an atrocious game.

My score for it, 5/10.

 

[thetrin]

Look at it as the toll to get to the next role level.

EDIT: Worst FF of the generation? What other FF is it battling against? Gaiden? That's not even out in the states.

 

[Oyashiro]

I don't understand why people in this thread put the chapter in spoilers. You're supposed to put the chapter that the spoiler belongs to out in the open so people will know whether or not to look at the spoiler.

Ex:
Ch. 9

Spoiler

I still can't beat the damn Pope fal'Cie

My strategy guide just came in the mail, so lets see what it says about it...

 

[Digital-Hero]

Assumptions.

PS3 -> Brother
360 -> Me

Congratulations, you are an asshole.

Original Post: I actually have both and I really don't see much of a difference. Sure the hair is obvious but not much else is that big of a deal.

"


Oh, so you don't have both. :lol

Lighten up, I was joking.

 

[DevelopmentArrested]

Chapter 7 spoilers

Spoiler

Hope finally says something! And the ending of that cutscene was totally badass. Also LOL @ Lighting bitch slapping Fang

I'm really not sure why people shit on Hope.. as the game progresses his voice acting gets better and better also he's one of the strongest characters in the game (ravager esp.)

 

[The Wise Old Man]

OK, so I own a 360 and a PS3. I'm a bit of an achievements whore on the 360.

Somebody just fucking tell me which console to buy this for. Are the graphics really as bad on the 360 as everyone is saying?

 

[archnemesis]

Does acquiring a "Role Level" on the Crystarium actually do anything for you, or is it just a mandatory CP-sink every now and then on a role path?

It's an arbitrary CP sink, unfortunately.

If you look in the status screen it tells you the ability of the different paradigms. Increasing role levels make these abilities stronger, e.g. increasing the medic role level increases your character's healing ability.

 

[Jeels]

My complaints are valid because I played up to the point where Snow gets on the bike, the twin sisters or what not. Not sure what chapter that was.

Is this a troll post? That's chapter three, that is like getting out of the freaking prologue of this game.

What are you trying to tell me? That the game drastically changes?

Yes, yes it does.

And the rest of your post is invalidated by your previous statements.

 

[Magnus]

Right, because it was the minigames and towns that prevented people from getting further in previous Final Fantasy games. :lol

I didn't imply they did. Two parts to the same argument that XIII is one linear, easy, disappointingly simple path through Chapter 7. Part A: simple battles, few shifts necessary. Part B: Lack of deviations distractions from the one, central path.

 

[Digital-Hero]

OK, so I own a 360 and a PS3. I'm a bit of an achievements whore on the 360.

Somebody just fucking tell me which console to buy this for. Are the graphics really as bad on the 360 as everyone is saying?

You may want to go back to the old comparison thread. Or check this site.

 

[kyo_daikun]

I'm almost as enormous an FF fanboy as anyone, and most of you rallying against the dude above, claiming he only played an hour or two to acquire such a foul opinion of the game aren't on particularly solid ground either. I'm in Chapter 7, ten hours in or whatever, and most of his complaints are valid. Aside from a couple bosses where you had to think about paradigm shifts for more than 2 seconds, the game truly has been a steady stream of mindless (albeit insanely pretty) battles and vapid, brutally written cutscenes with absolutely no deviation from one linear path. Crystarium looks cool, but isn't anything new in the slightest.

I'm sure things open up dramatically as you go, but let's be real: mashing autobattle with limited paradigm shifts (aside from 2 or 3 boss battles so far) can get anyone to this point in the game. No minigames, deviations or distractions in sight.

Not hating on the game, just marveling at the defense force that isn't justified in the face of a very closed first quarter (or half?) to this game.

Game is proving to be immensely divisive at work among customers. It's extremely love/hate, and I haven't heard many unjustified complaints. Those of us enjoying the game so far are just able to overlook them, or prefer things like speed, linearity, and absolutely retarded dialogue. Anyway...I'm having fun with it.

Question: Does acquiring a "Role Level" on the Crystarium actually do anything for you, or is it just a mandatory CP-sink every now and then on a role path?

Thoroughly agree, I wish I didn't but it is almost impossible to deny the game is missing important stuff that makes an FF game.

 

[Zeliard]

The game is slow, restricted, and overall just shitty for the first five chapters. There's no way around that. If you can get past it, it gets much better, but I can't blame people who don't have the conviction to slog through 10 hours of tedious shit.

Sad but true. I'm at the point now where the combat has become much more enjoyable, but holy fuck at the first several hours. :/ It's like Bayonetta's very easy auto-combat mode, with the game basically playing itself for you. Or some improbably gorgeous on-rails shooter.

That's going to be a huge obstacle whenever I feel like popping this game back in for a replay, especially the first two chapters, where combat is entirely useless and tedious since you don't have access to paradigms and can't level up.

It's also frustrating because the game is by a large margin the prettiest console game I've seen. They could have given us something truly majestic as a total package.

 

[Castor Krieg]

- Towns
- Npc's
- Sidequests
- Mini-games
- Overdrives/Overlimits
- Levelling
- Ultimate weapons
- Secret dungeons/bosses
- Fanfare
- Controlling all your characters

1. Towns - there are towns, just not in traditional FF sense. It wouldn't work given the story. Shops are available at save points, it is also explained in the Datalog why shops are like that.

2. NPCs - you mean the one you can talk to? Walk next to an NPC and they will tell you things, you don't even need to press X anymore.

3. Sidequests - there are hunts, same as in FFXII.

4. Minigames - ok, nothing here.

5. Overdrives - one ultimate attack per character in the end game + Eidolons.

6. Leveling - there is leveling, Crystalium takes care of that.

7. Ultimate Weapons - there, even a number of them for each character!

8. Secret dungeons/bosses - no dungeons, but secret bosses = hunts. Or if you want to be picky, secret bosses =

Spoiler

the Undying Cie'th

9. Fanfare - Nautilus? Chapter 12 opening? WTF are you playing?

10. Controlling all your characters - wouldn't work given the battle system. Persona 3 did it as well. I give you 0.5 point here.

In the end your complaints are valid 1.5 out of 10. GG, bye bye.

 

[Rpgmonkey]

Chapter 10 so far. Ch. 9 boss was really easy, buffs are OP in this game.

Can't wait to get to chapter 11 though, the game is beginning to become more of a chore than fun.

 

[Magnus]

Is this a troll post? That's chapter three, that is like getting out of the freaking prologue of this game.

Woah woah, is he talking about the actual Chapter 3, where the event he describes happens for the very first time, or Chapter 7, where

Spoiler

Snow and the cavalry arrive with Shiva Bike in tow?

If it's the former, I agree, it's too early to truly judge the game. But if it's the latter, 10-12 hours better be enough time into any game to decide if it's worth your time.

 

[Zzoram]

- Towns
- Npc's
- Sidequests
- Mini-games
- Overdrives/Overlimits
- Levelling
- Ultimate weapons
- Secret dungeons/bosses
- Fanfare
- Controlling all your characters

And then there's the crystarium and they went cheap on that too. Where's the love for deep customization? It was just a very basic and I mean basic version of the sphere grid.

the pacing of the game is ATROCIOUS.

I am glad for on one hand that this game is reviewing poorly, is because it deserves so.

I definitely find myself sorely missing towns/minigames a lot. The lack of them is why the pacing of the game is atrocious. The combat is fun, but I need a break from it, and right now my "break" is to not play more than 2 hours a day because I can't stand more.

The Crystarium is basically linear, they just curl the line around a central point. All my characters can max all the things they can put points into during every chapter. Zero real decisions required except maybe the order of getting them, but if you always go for Abilities first, then HP/Mag/Str bonuses after, that's already the optimum path.

Item progression is SLOW. Buying a new unlock in the Crystarium ever 3 fights doesn't feel very satisfying either.

I HATE how the game has been 95% just 2 party members at a time. They were even all together early on, like Chapter 2 or 3, but senselessly split up so you are forced to use pairs of weaklings for hours upon hours.

I think the game should be reviewing DIVISIVELY. This game is like the Assassin's Creed situation all over again. Pretty graphics and 1 gameplay element that is good (in AC it's the movement, in FFXIII it's the combat), surrounded by a boring samey level design with nothing to do but constantly fight endless hordes.

I'm on chapter 5 btw.

 

[Crash Station]

Finally able to form my own parties. Gonna try out a few times and see which works best starting off with Lightning, Vanille and Sazh.

 

[Einbroch]

Well, in terms of Final Fantasy, this ranks right now as number two. I'm pretty sure I'm not biased because nostalgia goggles and the new toy syndrome kinda balance eachother out.

1. FFVI
2. FFXIII
3. FFIX

etc etc.

 

[D6AMIA6N]

So I played this game, and wow, what a horrible game it is. Now, let me explain. I have it for the Ps3. Maybe I had such high expectations?

Gameplay, first and foremost doesn't excite me because you can't choose your party members, you can't have control over your party members, it's just a game of button mashing (auto-battle) every single darn time. You can't switch out members back and in. It's going from one battle to the other, nothing new. And if you die, the game is over. Here's the best part, the game awards you for being fast? What kind of a decisions is that? Isn't it about stratey, taking your time to make some killer combinations and not just smashing on the (x) button every second in every battle. All you FF fans, traditional ones a least, you guys are going to dislike this game as much as I did. Crystarium is basically a sphere grid but a much lesser one and not as fun. Paradigm shift, people talk so highly about is still button smashing, lol. :lol :lol

Characters, none of them stood out to me. Lightning probably stood out a bit to me, as she was the one I cared for a little. The rest, I could careless (Snow, Hope, Vanille etc...), hell; to be really honest, I cared about the Hope's mom the most, I really felt for her. The rest are meh characters. Vanille's annoying walk/run is just atrocious. Va's all around were okay, I really like snow's va. That is the one that stood out as wow, well done.

And the comes the whole issues about linearity, yes. This game is linear and not like other FF's before. It's linear in such a bad way. This is how it goes guys; battle > cutscene > battle > cutscene. Who wants that? It's such a drag and boring. This game has no side quests, no towns, no npc's, no explorations, no mini-games. It's a freaking streamlined, cut down to the max FF game.

Story is okay. Nothing too interesting, nothng that wanted me to keep going and playing more and more. Music on the other hand was great, but not excellent.

Like I said, this review is for all those fans that wanted a clear picture of how the game is.

And I could be wrong on some of this stuff, but for the most part, I'm right.

Edit: Forgot to add, that everything you buy in this game is just through an online-esque type of thing. You go to it and touch it, and you do everything from there. And that's it.

I was totally hating like you after the first say 3 or so hours, but keep playing, the game definitely opens up. I'm hooked now!

 

[Magnus]

10. Controlling all your characters - wouldn't work given the battle system. Persona 3 did it as well. I give you 0.5 point here.

I'm not a fan of this defense for the argument against AI-controlled characters. The point of the person arguing is that they don't like that they're out of control of the characters. The fix isn't to say "it just won't work in this battle system". The real fix would be, "give me a battle system where I am in control." I can't fault any player whatsoever for complaining about any game where they lack control of their main characters, particularly a mainstream sequel in a series as venerated as Final Fantasy where such control was permitted for the twelve previous installments. One can't help but feel like they've been stripped of power, and after all, isn't that the worst sin a developer can commit against a gamer? Stripping them of control?

Anyway, I'm not trying to derail positive discussion here with a hate-fest on the game. The production values are insane, visually and aurally, and I've trusted in Square many times and been satisfied many times, so you bet your ass I'll give this game time to grow on me and will almost certainly finish it as I have every previous installment (except II, III and V )

 

[Jrmint]

Gotta add my admiration for Chapter 7, that was so good.

Not looking forward to going back to a Sazh/Vanille only chapter though =/ hopefully it's fast. And I think that should be the last one, amirite?

So what kind of development paths and parties are you guys using who are at the point to customize it?

I really like having Fang and Lightning together, but I really want to play them both as Commdandos with 1 Ravager for the attack phases, will this work or would the chain gauge go up too slow? I really don't want to play Lightning as a Ravager primarily.

Edit - Oh I forgot, whoever said Role Levels are an "arbitrary point sink" is completely wrong. For example the first Commando role level doubles your damage and increases damage for all your allies by 1.05.

 

[Bob White]

20 hours in. This game is fucking trash. Just BAD design. One of the worst I've ever seen. But the "it lets you play at the end!" talk keeps me going.

Never again will I buy an FF blind. Square just....jesus, man. Did anyone play test anything OTHER than the battle system?

 

[TheCardPlayer]

- Towns
- Npc's
- Sidequests
- Mini-games
- Overdrives/Overlimits
- Levelling
- Ultimate weapons
- Secret dungeons/bosses
- Fanfare
- Controlling all your characters

Wow...did you...even play the game? There aren't towns in the normal sense, yes, but you can talk to NPCs...and they are sidequests...and overdrives...and levelling...and ultimate weapons...and secret bosses.

I mean, you can hate the game all you hate, but come the fuck on, don't invent lies to trash it. Now that's goddamn stupid.

 

[Scythesurge]

Finally able to form my own parties. Gonna try out a few times and see which works best starting off with Lightning, Vanille and Sazh.

Damn, so I must have a long way to go before I get to that point.

 

[Digital-Hero]

20 hours in. This game is fucking trash. Just BAD design. One of the worst I've ever seen. But the "it lets you play at the end!" talk keeps me going.

Never again will I buy an FF blind. Square just....jesus, man. Did anyone play test anything OTHER than the battle system?

It can't be that bad. The overall design is basically the same as every other Final Fantasy game.

 

[Bob White]

Wow...did you...even play the game? There aren't towns in the normal sense, yes, but you can talk to NPCs...and they are sidequests...and overdrives...and levelling...and ultimate weapons...and secret bosses.

Posts like this...I hope you're not lying to us, man. I need this time sink to pay off.

 

[Slacker]

20 hours in. This game is fucking trash. Just BAD design. One of the worst I've ever seen. But the "it lets you play at the end!" talk keeps me going.

Never again will I buy an FF blind. Square just....jesus, man. Did anyone play test anything OTHER than the battle system?

What is it that's bothering you?

 

[DarknessTear]

I need halp if anyone can. The normal enemy Boxed Phalanx in Chapter 11, any strategies on taking it down? It's driving me NUTS. It's a big robot with other small brown ones. I wanna go back so I can get more CP because

Spoiler

Hecatoncheir

is giving me a hard time.. I feel stuck.