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[tanod]

I'm just starting chapter 5 and throughout Chapter 4, I could see why some people complain about only having two vs. three people here. Playing with two people flat out makes the game harder and challenges people to learn more about the paradigm system.

Chapter 4 gameplay spoilers:

Spoiler

I find myself paradigm shifting at least three to four times in a battle. Going through chapter 4, I'd use a commando/ravager combo until I got the robots' chain gauge up to about half. Then, I'd paradigm shift over to a ravager/ravager to break them. You have to wait until the gauge gets high enough that it's not resetting with your dual ravager attacks. Bombs are a pain in the ass. Those optional battles were seriously tough but engaging. The optional sections and the robot mini-game was a nice change of pace.

The paradigm shifting kind of seems second nature to me now but it felt good figuring it out and understanding better how the game works. I'm starting to really enjoy the battle system a lot more.

However, I'm not really a fan of the crystarium system. It's better than FFX because the upgrade paths and the roles seem to make more sense but I much prefer the traditional style leveling and equipment system that FFXII has. The upgrading is pretty mindless at this point.

 

[edgefusion]

Any tips for the 6th eidolon

Spoiler

Hetcatoncheir

? I've died many, many times and it's on the verge of totally breaking the game for me, I'm actually at a point where I'm ready to just put it down and not touch it again. I get utterly raped within a minute of the fight starting.

I'm using:

Saboteur/Saboteur
Medic/Sentinel
Ravager/Commando

As soon as it attacks my health is destroyed so badly I spend the whole of its recharge phase just healing up. By the time I'm done it's attacking again and raping me even worse than last time. I am absolutely at a loss, it doesn't seem like there's anything I can do to get past this fricking ridiculous boss fight.

EDIT: Barely managed to fill the gestalt meter halfway before the doom counter ran out. Fuck this game.

 

[zero margin]

I am just trying to get a rough idea how long the game is, it sounds like I will probably wrap it up around 40 hours then.

I edited for sounding d-bag on my part, I would want to know where I was in a game as well.

 

[Silent Death]

I'm fairly sure that I'm at the end of chapter 9, but anyway... should I feel inclined to select abilities manually yet? I mean, I've so far really found auto-whatever to be more than helpful enough. Also, is it not possible to have your allies focus on certain spells (not attack spells, but protect, shell, dispel, poison, etc). Or are they already focusing on what's important dependent on the enemy you're facing? Say an enemy have a strong magic attack, will my ally focus on casting shell, or will they randomly go through the list or start with the first and then move on to the next?

Anyway, main question is: do people use the Auto-abilities, or choose the abilities manually? It kinda feels like cheating, probably because of the name.

From what I've seen they will cast spells that counter a target's spell first, then cast protect, shell, and whatever else. If you are fighting an enemy that uses fire attacks they will cast barfire on everyone, then cast protect, shell, ect..

 

[LiK]

"it's party time lil lady" :lol

my goodness,

Spoiler

Nautilus Park

is beautiful *_*

 

[StarEye]

You know, I love how upgrading is done in FFX and FFXIII. It almost guarantees that you can't really do anything wrong, and you will never need to reload or start over again just because you simply didn't "get it" the first time. I've played so many games where the levelling system overwhelms me, and when I'm at the 10-15 hour mark, I'm dissatisfied because of the way I upgraded and the mistakes I made in the learning process.

And FFXII is way too random to be a good system, much more random than anything out there. I'd like to know what upgrade I buy before I buy it, not afterwards. Not to mention start moving in the wrong direction, and you're screwed, unless you quit and reload. Any game that requires you to quit and reload to get things done the right way are badly designed, imo. I loved a bunch of things in FFXII, but the license board system certainly wasn't one of them.

From what I've seen they will cast spells that counter a target's spell first, then cast protect, shell, and whatever else. If you are fighting an enemy that uses fire attacks they will cast barfire on everyone, then cast protect, shell, ect..

Ah, that's good to know. Thanks!

 

[DY_nasty]

From what I've seen they will cast spells that counter a target's spell first, then cast protect, shell, and whatever else. If you are fighting an enemy that uses fire attacks they will cast barfire on everyone, then cast protect, shell, ect..

I actually like it.

The AI is yet to screw me. I was upset at first with how they handled healing with Esuna, but then I realized that Esuna isn't the ultimate cleansing spell it used to be. It can only get rid of one ailment at a time. I do wish that I could set priorities sometimes though.

DeProtect/DeShell is a sentinel killer

 

[shwimpy]

For those who are on Chapter 11 or above, how many missions, if any, did you guys do before moving on to the main plot?

 

[DY_nasty]

For those who are on Chapter 11 or above, how many missions, if any, did you guys do before moving on to the main plot?

I've only done 4 so far... I'll probably be enjoying the scenery for quite a while before I move on. Just so much to do and see. The enemies are a lot of fun too.

 

[Alex]

I dont really like a lot of the whole biomech style of the enemies but the flans with siren hats are really, really awesome.

 

[ProudClod]

So, how bad is the story this time aroumd?

 

[Styles]

Tried Lightning/Snow/Sazh egh.... hated it. I need two healers with me at all time, Lightning can't do jack shit at being a healer.:lol Guess I'll try Lightning/Sazh/Hope. Don't ask me why I put Lightning in all of my party set ups. She's just too awesome to let me ditch her.

 

[DY_nasty]

So, how bad is the story this time aroumd?

Its not 'bad'. I'm still waiting to call it good though.

 

[RPGCrazied]

fuck you heconatcheir.

hardest boss so far, I just can't get passed it.. best effort was a half gesltat gauge

 

[Silent Death]

I actually like it.

The AI is yet to screw me. I was upset at first with how they handled healing with Esuna, but then I realized that Esuna isn't the ultimate cleansing spell it used to be. It can only get rid of one ailment at a time. I do wish that I could set priorities sometimes though.

DeProtect/DeShell is a sentinel killer

Yeah this is the major hangup with me about the system. I wish you could exclude certain members from having certain spells cast on them. For instance it's a wasted spell everytime Vanille gets Bravery cast on her as I don't rely on her to do physical damage.

 

[Regulus Tera]

So, how bad is the story this time aroumd?

Chapter Six here, Not as bad as FFX-2.

 

[Alex]

Significantly better world mythology and layout than anything else by this team, at least. Datalog really adds a lot. That and three characters I like opposed to 0 from FFVII, 0 from FFVIII and 1 from FFX.

I'm sure it'll tank in the second half, they all do, but I'm at least interested in some of the character backgrounds and motivations and the general worldview. So, IMO, it's above average for the genre.

I'm not a guy who plays for story though.

 

[DY_nasty]

Tried Lightning/Snow/Sazh egh.... hated it. I need two healers with me at all time, Lightning can't do jack shit at being a healer.:lol Guess I'll try Lightning/Sazh/Hope. Don't ask me why I put Lightning in all of my party set ups. She's just too awesome to let me ditch her.

I'm still not set on a party yet. I tried using Lightning as a healer too, omfg... got worked so fast. I hated it, but I had to put her on the sideline for a while. Fang is just too good.

Right now I'm rolling with Fang/Vanille/Sazh. The Assassination paradigm (sab/sab/rav) is the just amazing.

Significantly better world mythology and layout than anything else by this team, at least. Datalog really adds a lot. That and three characters I like opposed to 0 from FFVII, 0 from FFVIII and 1 from FFX.

I'm sure it'll tank in the second half, they all do, but I'm at least interested in some of the character backgrounds and motivations and the general worldview. So, IMO, it's above average for the genre.

I'm not a guy who plays for story though.

Actually, it only gets better. I was pretty vocal about my hate for Sazh, but he's actually a pretty good character. Midway through disc 2, everything picks up and its twice the game it was in disc 1.

 

[Y2Kev]

fuck you heconatcheir.

hardest boss so far, I just can't get passed it.. best effort was a half gesltat gauge

Try using one of the smoke buffs.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

So, how bad is the story this time aroumd?

conceptually great, but let down by poor dialogue, bizarre characters and ham-fisted cliches

so it's basically a better FFX. they do some interesting things with structure and the like. it's interesting enough for me to want to see what happens next.

 

[RPGCrazied]

as I said 2 pages ago, I dont have any. used them all

unless a chest has one around pulse, im screwed.

 

[Dedication Through Light]

Significantly better world mythology and layout than anything else by this team, at least. Datalog really adds a lot. That and three characters I like opposed to 0 from FFVII, 0 from FFVIII and 1 from FFX.

I'm sure it'll tank in the second half, they all do, but I'm at least interested in some of the character backgrounds and motivations and the general worldview. So, IMO, it's above average for the genre.

I'm not a guy who plays for story though.

The datalog is helpful, however, I guess after experiencing Mass Effect, I would wish that the one in FFXIII reads to us, instead of having the user read it.

 

[Alex]

conceptually great, but let down by poor dialogue, bizarre characters and ham-fisted cliches

so it's basically like FFX.

I keep thinking the whole thing would flow a lot better without the bullshit from Vanille and Hope. I'm fine with some melodrama but they are extremely forced, and nothing is worse than forced angles and dialogue on a fucking child character.

I really like everyone else though, especially Sazh and Snow (who I expected to hate but love), but they put way too much focus on the obnoxious, awkward kids.

The datalog is helpful, however, I guess after experiencing Mass Effect, I would wish that the one in FFXIII reads to us, instead of having the user read it.

I agree, for all of the presentation onslaught in the game I find some bits lacking. Like the inability to scope out actual models in the viewer as well.

 

[BertramCooper]

I loved Vanille's line, "It's almost like a village!"

I could almost hear the diehard FF fans' collective nerd rage in my head.

 

[Natural]

Just started it, onto Chapter 2 so far. First impressions is that I am liking it; but it hasn't really grabbed me yet. Hoping things pick up soon.

 

[Crash Station]

I loved Vanille's line, "It's almost like a village!"

I could almost hear the diehard FF fans' collective nerd rage in my head.

I thought the same thing :lol

 

[scotcheggz]

The AI has been pretty great so far, but I was fighting a boss earlier, can't remember which one and he had a frontal attack that was pretty harsh. Now if the two AI characters had stood say, 10 paces either side of me, they would have avoided this attack. One of them was doing this and was fine and dandy, but fuckin hope wouldn't move and stuck to my side, I suppose to cast Cura. If he had just moved a few paces away from me, he would have only had me to heal though. One turn of cures could have got me back to health and I could have switched back to damage roles... Instead I had to figh the boss in a really inneficient way and dragged it out forever.

That pissed me off.

/cool story bro

Still loving it overall though, I think I'm about halfway through chapter 9 and I'm glad the last few chapters have been dropping lots of money, I was so poor until now. I still haven't started upgrading weapons yet, the whole system sort of freaks me out. :lol

 

[Alex]

Just started it, onto Chapter 2 so far. First impressions is that I am liking it; but it hasn't really grabbed me yet. Hoping things pick up soon.

The game starts off like ass, the battle system is COMPLETELY locked at first. I think they went a little too far in easing you in. It's an oddball system, but it's not THAT complex.

Once you get the Paradigms it really opens, and it keeps opening for awhile with tougher enemies and better class usage.

I dont think the game is super difficult so far, but it is different in that you can get some good challenge and mileage out of a lot of normal battles which is nice, bosses have face planeted me more than a couple times, some out of trial and error but I'm happy its not an overly easy game at least.

I hope that maintains, people have a tendency to really exaggerate difficulty IMO.

 

[survivor]

Just started it, onto Chapter 2 so far. First impressions is that I am liking it; but it hasn't really grabbed me yet. Hoping things pick up soon.

Just wait until chapter 3 where the battle system will really pick up. After chapter 4 you should have more options and more variations for battles instead of just mashing X button.

 

[Chris R]

Got the game and LE Guide (omg soooooo nice) yesterday and have since put in like 90 minuets. Combat has been kinda button mashy so far with no real strategy involved, but I'm betting that changes once I get a little farther into the game. Story is decent so far too.

 

[DY_nasty]

30+ hours into the game and not once have I ever effectively used a summon :lol

 

[Alex]

They seem ok in a pinch, since they heal you up and protect you, but they cost too much and I havent really noticed any big damage from anything but the ol' typical Diamond Dust, etc finishers.

 

[scotcheggz]

30+ hours into the game and not once have I ever effectively used a summon :lol

It was only when Snow used his in chapter 7/8(?) that I remembered there even were summons and then I didn't even know wtf to do with it :lol

Maybe i'm just doing it wrong, but they seem quite downplayed in this game. I take it they don't get any more prominent later on then?

 

[zero margin]

30+ hours into the game and not once have I ever effectively used a summon :lol

Yeah I dunno either, I just drop the thing watch the meter fill but not too far then start smashing fools. I DO know not to use it too early as it resets basically everything for the enemy.

 

[dragonballjoseph]

30+ hours into the game and not once have I ever effectively used a summon :lol

I haven't even used it yet (outside of the required segments).

And I love Snow's and Hope's reaction when Fang

Spoiler

checked Vanniles mark

in chapter 9. :lol
And "Let's make it rain." :lol

 

[Clocian-IGN]

WOW, just how much hp does

Spoiler

barthandelus

have on chapter 11, I swear I've been fighting him(still am) for like 20 min now and he's not even really at 75% health yet lol, it's only a matter of time before I start to get tired and make a mistake!

 

[DY_nasty]

They seem ok in a pinch, since they heal you up and protect you, but they cost too much and I havent really noticed any big damage from anything but the ol' typical Diamond Dust, etc finishers.

You know whats horrible though? I was fighting this behemoth for a good 5-10 minutes already and he was just tearing through my group (only had 1 healer, lulz etc). So I'm last man standing and figured I try it out again. Gestalt, go.

So while my Zord is making all these loud noises and flashy moves I have to keep my guard up the entire time because if I leak out of the sentinel class for more than 5 seconds I get slapped. So anyways, the chain bonus is just mocking me and my meter is draining so I push it into gestalt mode thinking I could at least get some damage in.

These numbers and buttons... ???? I guess I should've done my homework :lol

screw it, pushed A a couple of times then pushed Y. Did a lot of damage (I bet it would've been awesome if I had found a way to make this bastard stagger) but ultimately nothing happened.

Then my crew came back to life and we all got put down in seconds.

Moral of the story: Curse + Haste >>>>>>>>> Summons.

 

[painey]

the worst thing about the summons is everyone gets just 1 .. but I always play as Lightning so I only ever see Odin.. useless!

 

[Community Forum]

the worst thing about the summons is everyone gets just 1 .. but I always play as Lightning so I only ever see Odin.. useless!

Variety is the spice of life!

 

[Kagari]

Alexander is the best summon.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

the dialogue in every post-FFX game would be so much better if I could turn off voices and read text only.

 

[DY_nasty]

Alexander is the best summon.

Well thats too bad because I'm never playing as Hope. :lol

 

[Dresden]

the dialogue in every post-FFX game would be so much better if I could turn off voices and read text only.

I thought the voice acting in XII and XIII are fine. Good, or great, for some characters. Any fault in dialogue usually stems from flawed writing.

 

[Kagari]

Well thats too bad because I'm never playing as Hope. :lol

Your loss.

 

[remz]

the dialogue in every post-FFX game would be so much better if I could turn off voices and read text only.

It'd be the same, but you could fool yourself into thinking it was better.

 

[DY_nasty]

Your loss.

I like him as a character, but I just can't go from calling shots and controlling tempo as a sentinel and then go to a feeble healer/synergist.

Its a playstyle thing.

 

[scotcheggz]

It'd be the same, but you could fool yourself into thinking it was better.

It would be the same minus all the wierd sexual grunting at least.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

I thought the voice acting in XII and XIII are fine. Good, or great, for some characters. Any fault in dialogue usually stems from flawed writing.

yeah, but when you mute it and read subtitles only, it's like: oh, neat, I remember FFVI, that was awesome.

It also makes me realise how abhorrent a large-scale, VA inclusive remake of any of the pre-FFX FF games would be.

Vanille would be a bearable Selphie-esque character if it wasn't for the VA. Even the decent VA (like, say Lightning or Fang) is shitty compared to the little voice in my head.

Oh god, I think my hair is turning grey.

 

[Crash Station]

Is there any way to keep paradigm decks when switching out party members and back in again? I'm getting tired of having to customize every time I switch.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

It'd be the same, but you could fool yourself into thinking it was better.

Bring back pre-rendered background, while I'm at it. They had so much more personality.

All aboard, everyone. It's time to visit the 90s!