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[RPGCrazied]

Just beat it. Tears.

Spoiler

But not because it was sad OR "so bad it's sad"... I think there's tears because this is the game I've lived to hype since TGS 2006. I remember it back then, my god I got so hyped.

Sigh. I guess I'll try finding something else to hype now... for four years ;_;

why not get RoF this Tuesday?

 

[ZeoVGM]

It might've been better if Snow didn't yell every line in ridiculous melodrama and have his voice break during every sentence.

Just rewatched it. Didn't hear "voice breaking" at all.

 

[Cloudy]

You folks needs to stop posting spoilers about the end in here. There's a thread for that. All it takes is one typo to ruin if for the rest of us >_<

 

[RustyNails]

I got to the second gestalt fight:

Spoiler

Odin. How do I beat his crap? The gestalt meter doesnt rise fast enough for me in the medic/ravage paradigm.

 

[Yoshichan]

VERSUS XIII HYPE FORCE.

I'm on. I'm fucking on.

In fact by the time Versus is released, it'll probably have been 6 years of hype.

why not get RoF this Tuesday?

Not the same thing as hyping something for 4 years

Credits is really good.

You folks needs to stop posting spoilers about the end in here. There's a thread for that. All it takes is one typo to ruin if for the rest of us >_<

Sorry, it wasn't really spoilers though <,<

 

[Cloudy]

I got to the second gestalt fight:

Spoiler

Odin. How do I beat his crap? The gestalt meter doesnt rise fast enough for me in the medic/ravage paradigm.

Spoiler

Use Libra on enemies I believe it says he responds to people who can chain attacks. Just keep healing Hope and auto-chain his ass

 

[Fimbulvetr]

Vanille in FFIII?

Yeah I know that's just because of a job change, but the resemblance is just uncanny. Minus the fact that the FFIII character is not perpetually smiling.

 

[RustyNails]

Spoiler

Use Libra on enemies I believe it says he responds to people who can chain attacks. Just keep healing Hope and auto-chain his ass

I'm doing that but the gestalt meter wont rise.

 

[Zeni]

Not sure if this is the best place to ask, but I'm gonna try here.

FFXIII is the first PS3 game I've purchased (i've used my ps3 slim as a blu ray player for months). I just want to make sure I have everything configured on my ps3 to ensure I'm getting the full audio and video experience. I've read somewhere that for playing videogames as opposed to blu ray, the "BD/DVD Video Output Format" should be set to RGB (and not Y Pb/Cb Pr/Cr). Is this correct? As for audio, my PS3 is connected to an AVR (that does decode lossless), so I normally have it set on bitstream mode. While I'm playing the game, the AVR has multi-channel PCM on its display. Is this what I should be seeing? I'm a novice at this AV stuff, please excuse any misuse of terminology, etc.

 

[Dresden]

I actually died first time around on chapter 5's boss. Holy shit are the summons useless. I get

Spoiler

that plant monster thing

down to 30%, when

Spoiler

Hope

gets owned by the thing's smash attack because I couldn't keep up with the heals, thanks to me accidentally switching to Com/Med instead of Med/Med. So I'm like HEY GESTALT and I bust out Odin, and you have this epic scene and I'm like FUCK YEAH YOU'RE GOING DOWN--and Odin does like 600 damage and disappears. Even worse, your buffs get taken off after you use a summon. Needless to say, I died after that because I couldn't rebuff in time.

Second time around, I just pop a Phoenix Down after Hope went down and curbstomp it. Lame.

 

[MetatronM]

I got to the second gestalt fight:

Spoiler

Odin. How do I beat his crap? The gestalt meter doesnt rise fast enough for me in the medic/ravage paradigm.

Spoiler

You can't just stay in one paradigm for the fight. Try bouncing back and forth between rav/rav and med/rav (or med/med even, that way you can always have it so Lightning heals Hope or vice versa...Odin does like people who heal OTHERS, after all). Odin likes people who heal AND who drive up chain boosts, so you should be unloading attacks on him whenever possible and healing after his major attacks. Staying in rav/rav as much as possible should do the trick.

Took me two tries, I believe.

 

[User 10639]

The old school one I like best is the one we never got in the US (FFV). :lol

It came out in a set called Final Fantasy Anthology released for the PS1. That counts, right?

 

[Cloudy]

I'm doing that but the gestalt meter wont rise.

Don't attack till the ATB gauge is full IIRC. Also, heal Hope...

 

[MrDenny]

I wouldn't say it's hard even though I've been KOed several times. It's just that even random monsters require specific strategies or you'll die/take forever to beat them. They really wanted folks using "Libra" :lol

In some ways, it's not as annoyingly hard as FF12 because ether/MP isn't an issue but I don't like how it's "game over" if the leader dies. That is seriously LAME and has made me have to redo one or two boss fights even though I was a few hits away from winning >_<

That said, the retry system should be standard in RPGs from now one. Really takes the tedium out of things

Gameover after the leader dies is a good thing imo.
Otherwise you can endlessly just revive each other.

 

[7Th]

I honestly see no reason at all to hate or dislike any FFXIII character. They aren't particularly original or interesting, but they're completely justified in their actions and have a well-defined personality that distinguishes them from each other.

I think it's the accent and voice pitch... don't take my word for it, though, I've only played FF13 for about two hours even though I've had it since Wednesday. D:

It is the terrible voice acting, easily as bad as X's.

 

[ULTROS!]

Vanille in FFIII?

Yeah I know that's just because of a job change, but the resemblance is just uncanny. Minus the fact that the FFIII character is not perpetually smiling.

Smart Vanille. :lol

 

[Dresden]

I honestly see no reason at all to hate or dislike any FFXIII character. They aren't particularly original or interesting, but they're completely justified in their actions and have a well-defined personality that distinguishes them from each other.

Even Vanille's voice grows on you/gets better after a while. She only sounds sickeningly simpering in the beginning.

 

[K' Dash]

You should have a crystal item thingy... I forget what it's called. It allows you to evolve the weapon.

You get this on the road or is a missable item?

 

[MetatronM]

I actually died first time around on chapter 5's boss. Holy shit are the summons useless. I get

Spoiler

that plant monster thing

down to 30%, when

Spoiler

Hope

gets owned by the thing's smash attack because I couldn't keep up with the heals, thanks to me accidentally switching to Com/Med instead of Med/Med. So I'm like HEY GESTALT and I bust out Odin, and you have this epic scene and I'm like FUCK YEAH YOU'RE GOING DOWN--and Odin does like 600 damage and disappears. Even worse, your buffs get taken off after you use a summon. Needless to say, I died after that because I couldn't rebuff in time.

Second time around, I just pop a Phoenix Down after Hope went down and curbstomp it. Lame.

Why would you go straight into Gestalt? And then why would you go straight to his Zantetsuken?

Fighting and building up chains alongside the eidolon increases your gestalt meter, and once you enter Gestalt you can unload a bunch of different attacks before going for his final gestalt attack. I used Odin in that fight too, and he helped quite a lot.

 

[Thaedolus]

Has always been. Maybe the presentation/full VA makes it more apparent.

I can't disagree with this enough. Final Fantasy has had its ups and down, and the ups are games where the characters are generally awesome and I can care about them. FFIV, V and VI all had great characters and stories. FFVII was awesome because it introduced very flawed characters, and Aeris was great because she was the carefree type but knew deep down what she had to do, and there wasn't any of the loli giggly wanna kill her factor. FFVIII sucked because it was FF90210, but its battle system and soundtrack made up for it. FFIX had AMAZING characters. God I love that game. FFX had a shitload of flaws, but I'm kind of a sucker for an outsider in another world type stories...still the worst FF in a long time. FFXII was a big step in the right direction, and had a really fun battle system. FFXIII (so far) feels like a big step back. Linear doesn't begin to describe the gameplay; only FFX is even in the same league in terms of linearity. Annoying hardly describes the characters...seriously folks, they are THAT bad. I'm still holding out hope(lulz) they'll grow on me.

On the upside are graphics (I'm playing the PS3 version,) a fair amount of the music, world lore/plot and I can see myself warming to the battle system. I totally agree with people saying the writing is bad...it really does range from terrible to sometimes mediocre. The continually awkward and poorly paced cutscenes just ruin any sort of flow that it starts to get going. The characters are pretty much all archetypes, except Sazh...well shit, even he has a nice fro. The demographic argument doesn't fly with me...look, attempting to appeal to children or teenagers is not excuse for shitty writing. Harry Potter is meant to appeal to children, but that doesn't mean it's not completely accessible to millions of adults. And do you know what one of its greatest appeals is? Even with the occasional helping of teenage angst, the characters are likable! Imagine that.

 

[RustyNails]

Spoiler

You can't just stay in one paradigm for the fight. Try bouncing back and forth between rav/rav and med/rav (or med/med even, that way you can always have it so Lightning heals Hope or vice versa...Odin does like people who heal OTHERS, after all). Odin likes people who heal AND who drive up chain boosts, so you should be unloading attacks on him whenever possible and healing after his major attacks. Staying in rav/rav as much as possible should do the trick.

Took me two tries, I believe.

Will try this!

 

[hamchan]

I honestly see no reason at all to hate or dislike any FFXIII character. They aren't particularly original or interesting, but they're completely justified in their actions and have a well-defined personality that distinguishes them from each other.

Maybe there's no reason to hate any of them once you finish the game and their backstory is explained. However I've only played 12 hours and currently Vanille's personality is annoying. If they do explain and her justify why she's nutso then my opinion of her might change.

 

[jaundicejuice]

Are loot drops your primary form of earning gil in this game? I just don't want to start selling off components now only to find I've screwed myself out of the as-of-yet-unrevealed crafting feature.

 

[Kagari]

You get this on the road or is a missable item?

You can always buy it in the shop, but I think I found it somewhere. I can't remember where though.

 

[Scythesurge]

Well, Chapter 7 was definitely awesome. The pacing in this game is extremely uneven, but the quality of the combat has been great so far, even with just two people. I'm also enjoying the crystarium, being able to allocate points across the different roles to my liking is enough for me.

It seems like they are finally trying to accomplish some plot development now, which is nice after the many hours of character progression.

 

[Alex]

It came out in a set called Final Fantasy Anthology released for the PS1. That counts, right?

Yeah, that's when I first played it, although that version is trash really. The GBA release is really great, new localization job on it is perfect.

Would love to get a DS remake of FFV, they stopped at IV which I loved as a kid but feel it's just too dated to do much with nowadays, but FFV holds up great, gameplay is still really good.

the characters are likable!

In Harry Potter? SIGNIFICANTLY DISAGREE. Fuck, I'll take Vanille's ear rape over that. Ok maybe not, but still. Really disliked those books (never even bothered with the flicks)

 

[dramatis]

I'm on. I'm fucking on.

In fact by the time Versus is released, it'll probably have been 6 years of hype.

Not the same thing as hyping something for 4 years

Credits is really good.

Sorry, it wasn't really spoilers though <,<

I'll give you a hug, I was in the same boat.

 

[RustyNails]

Will try this!

BS.

Spoiler

Odin now kills me within first 5 seconds without letting anyone of us heal.

 

[LiK]

from the last few pages, Chapter 7 is the winnah!

btw, i'm still upgrading my weapons and accessories randomly. it's not hurting me so far

 

[Papercuts]

I got to the second gestalt fight:

Spoiler

Odin. How do I beat his crap? The gestalt meter doesnt rise fast enough for me in the medic/ravage paradigm.

I cheesed one of these fights, would probably work for that one though I didn't try:

Spoiler

Apply the stat buffing shrouds on the field before the battle. They will be in effect for the fight, and haste in particular make it really easy to just attack constantly and chain the bar up.

 

[7Th]

Maybe there's no reason to hate any of them once you finish the game and their backstory is explained. However I've only played 12 hours and currently Vanille's personality is annoying. If they do explain and her justify why she's nutso then my opinion of her might change.

I don't see it.

Spoiler

Wasn't it genuinely obvious there was something wrong with her?

 

[Hcoregamer00]

Fixed. At least Vanille sometimes says things that make sense, this guy is just a mentally deficient moron with a hero-complex. Every time he opens his mouth the game gets a million times more stupid. Remove Snow and the story wouldn't be half bad, yes I am blaming Snow for single-handedly ruining the story.

*High fives*

Vanille isn't that bad compared to Snow and emo boy, changing their roles and their lines would have made the gave far more enjoyable.

 

[Arpharmd B]

Just picked up the 360 version.

I absolutely love the art direction. Something about Final Fantasy just sucks you into the huge world right away, so fresh and imaginitive. Square has still got it.

Also I think the voicework is extremely well done. Really ace English voicework, better than Lost Odyssey, and on a level or better than Capcom's work this gen. I'm really impressed so far.

Game is absolutely beautiful. It strikes me odd that the game uses prerecorded scenes with the game engine mixed with actual real time cutscene. If you ask me they could have done these in engine, and I'd have preferred that, even if it had some framedropping (think Lost Odyssey or Blue Dragon). However, they do do a great job of making it all as seemless as possible, so I'm not complaining.

Can't wait to play more.

Oh and I couldn't pass up the 35$ book. It was too pretty and I just had to have it. Don't care that I probably don't need it. For me a strategy guide/art book is just a ritual, I always buy the books with a Final Fantasy.

 

[LiK]

*High fives*

Vanille isn't that bad compared to Snow and emo boy, changing their roles and their lines would have made the gave far more enjoyable.

Vanille is hurt by her voice actor but Snow is manageable because of his voice actor. pretty funny.

Just picked up the 360 version.

I absolutely love the art direction. Something about Final Fantasy just sucks you into the huge world right away, so fresh and imaginitive. Square has still got it.

Also I think the voicework is extremely well done. Really ace English voicework, better than Lost Odyssey, and on a level or better than Capcom's work this gen. I'm really impressed so far.

whoa whoa whoa, let's not go crazy.

 

[makingmusic476]

I'm on chapter 8 and I'm loving the game. Two minor things have been bothering me since the start, though. Why is Snow's jacket different in and out of battle? And why is the mini-map stretched??

The stretched map is something I'm only used to seeing on 4:3 ps2 games stretched to 16:9 (or games that simply stretch the icons when running in 16x9, like God of War II or Final Fantasy XII).

And yeah, these are totally trivial things, but they're the type of things I notice. :lol

 

[Scythesurge]

from the last few pages, Chapter 7 is the winnah!

btw, i'm still upgrading my weapons and accessories randomly. it's not hurting me so far

I haven't even put 1 exp into any weapon or accessory so far because I really just don't know where to even begin at this point. I also decided that I wouldn't experiment until I was having trouble in battles before I start upgrading. I expect to start probably soon, but still I have no clue what I'm going to do.

 

[Papercuts]

I don't see it.

Spoiler

Wasn't it genuinely obvious there was something wrong with her?

Spoiler

Chapter 6: I only thought that during the rain scene at the end of this chapter. Before this she just seems like a ditz.

 

[Alex]

Fixed. At least Vanille sometimes says things that make sense, this guy is just a mentally deficient moron with a hero-complex. Every time he opens his mouth the game gets a million times more stupid. Remove Snow and the story wouldn't be half bad, yes I am blaming Snow for single-handedly ruining the story.

He's a lot of talk and def got the hero complex, but I like em. Chummy guy, OK dialogue, well voiced. I appreciate the optimism and friendliness of the character, certainly no real problems otherwise. Kind of lines around the "cool, older guy" routine for the archetype but younger and far more naive. I can dig it.

Vanille remains the retard of the game to me. I've played so, so, so, so many JRPGs over the years and I've never hated a character like I hate her. Which is sad that she gets so much pairing time with the best character in the damned game. Talk about the Odd Couple.

 

[LiK]

I haven't even put 1 exp into any weapon or accessory so far because I really just don't know where to even begin at this point. I also decided that I wouldn't experiment until I was having trouble in battles before I start upgrading. I expect to start probably soon, but still I have no clue what I'm going to do.

really? it only makes the weapons stronger. doesn't seem to affect them any other way. you might be making the game harder for yourself by hoarding the components.

 

[Scythesurge]

Why is Snow's jacket different in and out of battle?

It's apparently his weapon or something, I was like WTF when I saw his jacket change too, but then it makes "sense" when you see the names of his weapons.

 

[Dresden]

He's a lot of talk and def got the hero complex, but I like em. Chummy guy, OK dialogue, well voiced. I appreciate the optimism and friendliness of the character, certainly no real problems otherwise.

Vanille remains the retard of the game. I've played so, so, so, so many JRPGs over the years and I've never hated a character like I hate her. Which is sad that she gets so much pairing time with the best character in the damned game. Talk about the Odd Couple.

Agreed about Snow.

But I have a feeling you've yet to play any Tri-Ace games released over the last four years, if you think Vanille is the worst you've seen so far.

 

[RustyNails]

HOORAY! Just beat his ass. Thanks guys

 

[Dresden]

HOORAY! Just beat his ass. Thanks guys

I thought the boss in chapter five was harder. This game is awesome, the challenge keeps going up.

 

[Hcoregamer00]

Vanille is hurt by her voice actor but Snow is manageable because of his voice actor. pretty funny.

I agree with you there, Vanille would be far better if her voice actress just did a full on aussie accent like Fang instead of halfwaying it. Square could have also just hired a British or an American voice actress also. Snow was definitely more tolerable because of the great voice actor, I can't imagine how much more I would hate his character if the character was as whiny or as annoying as Tidus.

 

[Scythesurge]

really? it only makes the weapons stronger. doesn't seem to affect them any other way. you might be making the game harder for yourself by hoarding the components.

If I'm not having much difficulty with the battles right now then shouldn't I just save the upgrades for weapons I will eventually use later? I feel like someone was saying that you need to wait in order to get the best weapons, but then again I wasn't really paying attention.

 

[Kagari]

Snow is still the worst character. Hate everything about him, especially his stupid design.

 

[Lion Heart]

Question about Ch 4 (or 5?)

Spoiler

So when you restore power to that thing (Sazh and Vanille), you can either head through the tunnel and sleep or carry on and continue. When you sleep though the game goes to Lightning. Does it matter which you do?

 

[Thaedolus]

In Harry Potter? SIGNIFICANTLY DISAGREE. Fuck, I'll take Vanille's ear rape over that. Ok maybe not, but still. Really disliked those books (never even bothered with the flicks)

Eh, your place to disagree, but I didn't read all seven books because I hated the characters. I found something very endearing about them.

 

[Hcoregamer00]

Snow is still the worst character. Hate everything about him, especially his stupid design.

I would high five you, but I hate Hope far more than Snow.

If I was stuck in an Elevator with both of them, I would probably smack Hope first.

 

[LiK]

If I'm not having much difficulty with the battles right now then shouldn't I just save the upgrades for weapons I will eventually use later? I feel like someone was saying that you need to wait in order to get the best weapons, but then again I wasn't really paying attention.

i didn't bother really upgrading until a few chapters in, but if you're not having any problems, then go with your instinct. some of the later enemies have uber high def and i upgrade just so i can stagger them quicker get it over with.

Snow is still the worst character. Hate everything about him, especially his stupid design.

I would high five you, but I hate Hope far more than Snow.

If I was stuck in an Elevator with both of them, I would probably smack Hope first.

:lol
i like them both now. they come off terrible in the early chapters but i got used to them. now that i sorta like Vanille too, i can't say i hate anyone from the main cast.

but give it up to Sazh, best character imo, and the English voice actor for him is top notch.