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[luxarific]

Fang's dumb as fuck AI (I let her dispell the boss' buff. Instead, she kept casting slow and kept failing).

It really does suck. She has a tendency to only cast slow and then cast it repeatedly, instead of the other Sab spells she knows. Such a terrible AI for her.

 

[Dead]

I can agree with this. Only person I kind of liked in 8, was Laguna. FF10 was all about Auron to me, though for some reason, I liked Rikku.

Never Finished 12. While Balthier and Basch were cool characters, nothing really stood out in the game. I find the total praise for the VA in the game to be odd. I think the quality of performance to be ok and well written, but the whole thing sounds "tinny" to me, like they recorded it on bad mics or something. Which brings the whole thing down for me.

while the casts of 8 and 10 are ones I flat out disliked, the problem with 12s was they were just completely and totally uninteresting, Balthier being a medievel Han Solo only went so far. 12 was just a phenomenally unengaging game for me.

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

If the only way to present the world in game is through datalog then it's epic fail IMO.

There are of course elements of the world presented in the story, particularly in places where it makes sense. But there's plenty more information that simply wouldn't fit naturally in dialogue, so it's expanded in the datalog, just like how games like Mass Effect and Dragon Age use their codex.

What do you want them to do? Have Morrowind-esque dialog where every NPC talks in encyclopedia entries?

 

[linsivvi]

The reason it has such bad pacing is that there's nothing to do in the game. It is battle, battle, battle, cutscene, corridor dungeon, battle, battle, battle, cutscene. In other Final Fantasy games, you could deviate and do something else if you wanted to. But in this, if you get bored the only thing to do is to turn the game off.

This is the exact formula they used in Kingdom Hearts 2. For most of that game it's just fight, fight, enter new room, watch a cutscene and repeat. Doesn't help that 90% of the cutscenes in FFXIII contain cringe worthy dialogues that just drag on and on, and more often than not just a variation of a previous scene. How many fucking times do the characters have to say "we have to believe" or "nothing can stop us" until it's enough? It's like the writers have watched way too many shitty animes for their own good.

 

[Peff]

It really does suck. She has a tendency to only cast slow and then cast it repeatedly, instead of the other Sab spells she knows. Such a terrible AI for her.

Saboteurs only cast spells that they know the enemy is weak against and then stop acting. It takes a while for Fang to learn debuffs like AntiShell and such, whereas those are the first Vanille learns, which means she is more useful at first.

 

[LowParry]

This is the exact formula they used in Kingdom Hearts 2. For most of that game it's just fight, fight, enter new room, watch a cutscene and repeat. Doesn't help that 90% of the cutscenes in FFXIII contain cringe worthy dialogues that just drag on and on, and more often than not just a variation of a previous scene. How many fucking times do the characters have to say "we have to believe" or "nothing can stop us" until it's enough? It's like the writers have watched way too many shitty animes for their own good.

You forgot "yeah" "ugh" "-sex sound-" or "ya know".

 

[gamergirly]

This is the exact formula they used in Kingdom Hearts 2. For most of that game it's just fight, fight, enter new room, watch a cutscene and repeat. Doesn't help that 90% of the cutscenes in FFXIII contain cringe worthy dialogues that just drag on and on, and more often than not just a variation of a previous scene. How many fucking times do the characters have to say "we have to believe" or "nothing can stop us" until it's enough? It's like the writers have watched way too many shitty animes for their own good.

There were alot of optional Worlds and sidequests to do in Kingdom Hearts 1/2 in btw "Saving The World"

 

[Castor Krieg]

It really does suck. She has a tendency to only cast slow and then cast it repeatedly, instead of the other Sab spells she knows. Such a terrible AI for her.

That's because Slow takes priority on her list as Sabouteur spells go. I don't think others can learn that. I'm doing the same - I will not cast Slow once because sometimes it takes a few tries for it to stick. I will fire 5xSlow and if I succeed I will cancel the rest.

 

[teh_pwn]

Alright, just jumped onto that

Spoiler

giant ship thingy

at the beginning of chapter 9. Before I venture much deeper, I think I need a bit of advice, should I be 'grinding' more? I had a lot of trouble in the last fight involving

Spoiler

Vanille and Sazh

and I feel as though Snow is kind of... weak. I think I am over focusing on Lightening, and now that I have

Spoiler

Fang

I think I am focusing too much on these two characters in general. They have the best equipment, their stuff is level 15+ on weapons, and level 5+ on accessories.

Second question! should I be focusing more on accessories? I think I am pumping too much in weapons, and not enough in accessories, in fact I think I barely even put any effort in accessories, most of them are level 1 on my characters, and I can't even tell you what they are wearing. I think it's an accessory stigma I have.

Last question! Are there any tricks or tips to grinding at the point of the game I am at? Wouldn't mind leveling(?) up quite a bit more before I go further, but maybe I am still too early to really get a good grind going?

I recall grinding on chapter 9 a bit for CP. I also made quite a bit of money (relative to the chapter) from incentive chips and credit chip looting.

I invested in accessories mostly because they're character independent. My tanks/fighters had accessories for strength, and magic had magician accessories.

I found that in chapter 11 onward, accessories/weapons weren't that important. A bunch of new crystal nodes pop up with +20-40 strength/magic and +100-200 HP. When I got really good components, I would just buy animal parts to get a X3 multiplier, then use the component, but I wouldn't worry about it. By the time I maxed out a Strength/Magic accessory, the newer model would show up at the shop with a Lvl 1 rating just a hair below the maxed old model.

And don't forget that stats aren't everything. Make sure you have good paradigms. Typically I swapped most frequently between COM/RAV/MED, COM/COM/MED, SYN/SYN/SYN, MED/SEN/MED, and RAV/RAV/RAV.

A lot of bosses stagger much faster with magic, so I tend to most frequently swap between:

COM/RAV/MED
RAV/RAV/RAV

 

[Lonestar]

while the casts of 8 and 10 are ones I flat out disliked, the problem with 12s was they were just completely and totally uninteresting, Balthier being a medievel Han Solo only went so far. 12 was just a phenomenally unengaging game for me.

Pretty much.

It was medieval Star Wars. Vaan and Penelo were the 2 Robots, though Vaan had a dash of Luke in him, just not the Jedi (i.e. interesting) part. You've got your Han, you've got your Leia. Basch doesn't fit in, unless perhaps Obi Wan. You even got 3 or 4 Darth Vaders (in visual only)!

 

[Dead]

The thing is, FF10 had a world full of lore and culture and history and all that good stuff. We knew about their religion, their hobbies, their past times, their history, their government, who they worship (in terms of idoltry, not in terms of god/s).

And yet all of that stuff was completely and utterly uninteresting and the game was populated by the most awful cast since FF8, so hoo-rah.

 

[WanderingWind]

I really don't think you are playing FFXIII at all. Read the Datalog, the world is one of the best ones crafted in a Final Fantasy game. And don't complain about RSS feed, it's a legitimate way to present the story..

No, it's not. Especially since the writing in the feed is overwrought, eye-rolling nonsense. There is an old writing adage that rings true here. "Show your reader, don't tell him." This game is the biggest offender of that rule I think I've ever seen. "Cocoon's largest city is a magical place full of wonder."

Really? Then show me. Don't tell me how awesome something is and then not let me see it. That's bad writing, bad planning and makes for a bad plot development. They do the same thing with the way the characters are feeling, and that's why the characters fall flat as well.

 

[Justin]

I really don't think you are playing FFXIII at all. Read the Datalog, the world is one of the best ones crafted in a Final Fantasy game. And don't complain about RSS feed, it's a legitimate way to present the story.

HAHA

 

[ronito]

While I have some huge complaints about FFXIII so far, I personally think they've learned a lot of lessons from FFXII. I know that GAF likes to say "Mash X LOLZ!" but the problem with FFXII in letting the computer do it all it lead to the player feeling detached. It's like the cake mix thing, when they just said "add water and mix" no one would buy it because it felt cheap. Then they found if they said to people "Add an egg, add water and mix" suddenly people thought of that as "cooking a cake" not just cheating their way out of it. Complain about mashing x all you want but I like having the egg to crack, however unnecessary.

Also I like how they've removed the micro-management from the game. It's funny just how many gaffers think that micro-management = game. "What I don't have to tell him what hat to wear?! Where's the fun in not telling him what hat to wear?!"

But at the same time location seem to be the big problem and as Himu said it does feel a lot like "walk through the corridor to get to the cut scene: the game" Really I hope they learn from this and let things progress more organically next time. It seems to me that FFXIII was more caught up in doing it because it could be done without real "Gametelling" wisdom behind it. But if they took what they've done with it and focused on fixing what's wrong FFXV could be huge. Still despite that I'm still a FF fanboy at heart and can't tear myself away. Still most enjoyable main FF since X.

 

[Dead]

No, it's not. Especially since the writing in the feed is overwrought, eye-rolling nonsense. There is an old writing adage that rings true here. "Show your reader, don't tell him." This game is the biggest offender of that rule I think I've ever seen. "Cocoon's largest city is a magical place full of wonder."

Really? Then show me. Don't tell me how awesome something is and then not let me see it. That's bad writing, bad planning and makes for a bad plot development. They do the same thing with the way the characters are feeling, and that's why the characters fall flat as well.

There is no reason whatsoever to show that. The plot is focused on relentlessly pursued fugitives that have no time to walk around and admire the marvels of a town.

How is it bad writing(not that the game is the paragon of writing, but its certainly more accomplished than 7-12)? What exactly does the wonder of Cocoons cities have to do with what the game is focused on?

Its simply extrenuous information, nothing more.

And im sorry, again, if you need the datalog to tell you how the characters are feeling...:lol is all that needs to be said.

 

[luxarific]

That's because Slow takes priority on her list as Sabouteur spells go. I don't think others can learn that. I'm doing the same - I will not cast Slow once because sometimes it takes a few tries for it to stick. I will fire 5xSlow and if I succeed I will cancel the rest.

She'll cast it repeatedly when the target is already slow and WAY before there's any possible chance that it will come off. She'll even do it before she gets Jinx.

Not the best AI in the game, that's for sure.

 

[WanderingWind]

There is no reason whatsoever to show that. The plot is focused on relentlessly pursued fugitives that have no time to walk around and admire the marvels of a town.

How is it bad writing? What exactly does the wonder of Cocoons cities have to do with what the game is focused on?

Its simply extrenuous information, nothing more.

And im sorry, again, if you need the datalog to tell you how the characters are feeling...:lol is all that needs to be said.

Ugh. You don't really understand examples, do you? I'm really not going to respond further to somebody who is that lacking in basic English comprehension. But it sure does explain why you think FFXIII is so fantastically written.

 

[bigdaddygamebot]

Gran Pulse girls are teh hottarz than Cocoon girls.

That is all.

 

[ronito]

I posted this in my Xenogears thread years ago. Something like one of the cardinal rules of writing/movies is "Don't tell the audience, show them." Likewise for games it should be "Don't show the audience. Let them play through it/experience it."

 

[Dead]

Ugh. You don't really understand examples, do you? I'm really not going to respond further to somebody who is that lacking in basic English comprehension. But it sure does explain why you think FFXIII is so fantastically written.

Its a shit example of a shit arguement :lol

Im sorry but if you cant follow the plot and characters of the game without the datalog, then you have severe comprehension problems.

Everything that the game needs to show, it does. Anything else is purely extrenuous. FF13 is a purely narrative focused. If it were designed as a more traditional RPG, those extrenuous details would be expected to be shown.

 

[LowParry]

Gran Pulse girls are teh hottarz than Cocoon girls.

That is all.

This is true.

 

[teh_pwn]

Not sure if it was posted, but Siliconera talked with everyone's favorite VA, the one that did Vanille's voice!

http://www.siliconera.com/2010/03/14/siliconera-sounds-off-voicing-ffxiiis-bubbly-anime-girl/

All of the voice actors recorded over 6 months without every seeing each other? I'm impressed the voice acting was good as it was. No wonder Uncharted 2 stood out over other games.

 

[7Th]

When I said ignorant, I meant "get in people's face and tell them how she thinks they should live their life."

She only did that with Hope and Sazh. And she had reasons to do it.

Spoiler

With Hope, she wanted to get into Anima's lair to see if Fang was waiting for her in there, with Sazh, she was trying to get as far away as possible from Eden as the closest she is to it the more danger there will be of she becoming Ragnarok and destroying Cocoon.

Also, that's a dumb wah wah backstory.

Typical Final Fantasy backstory.

No person who has gone through that would act like that unless they are insane or retarded. Someone needs to check her into the local Cocoon Retarda'cie Clinic, preferably Sazh or Fang.

Her happiness was all an act to get things to go "her way".

 

[linsivvi]

There were alot of optional Worlds and sidequests to do in Kingdom Hearts 1/2 in btw "Saving The World"

Very true, and it makes it a lot easier to forgive the nonsensical story.

 

[WanderingWind]

It's a shit example of a shit argument :lol

I'm sorry, but if you can't follow the plot and characters of the game without the datalog, then you have severe comprehension problems.

Christ, dude. Punctuation. Get you some.

You're still not quite understanding, so I'll leave you to it. But you're basically alone in thinking the game is a modern masterpiece of games writing.

 

[Scythesurge]

Very true, and it makes it a lot easier to forgive the nonsensical story.

Not when it's a "mash x-athon" which FF XIII is not.

 

[Cep]

I posted this in my Xenogears thread years ago. Something like one of the cardinal rules of writing/movies is "Don't tell the audience, show them." Likewise for games it should be "Don't show the audience. Let them play through it/experience it."

Ding, ding, ding!

Nothing pisses me of more than this.

 

[Dedication Through Light]

Wow the Loremaster Trophy is a Gold one; Im shocked at getting it at the beginning of Chapter 10, lol.

 

[burgerdog]

So I'm in chapter 11 and still haven't upgraded a single weapon :lol Any pointers? I don't get the upgrading system at all.

 

[Dead]

Christ, dude. Punctuation. Get you some.

You're still not quite understanding, so I'll leave you to it. But you're basically alone in thinking the game is a modern masterpiece of games writing.

lol

resorting to "lol punctuation" and saying that ive said something I not only didn't say but actually mentioned the opposite of!

awesome!

 

[Amneisac]

What the fuck games have you guys been playing? I love video games, but I don't remember any Pulitzer Prize winning scripts in any of the games I've played recently. I think you're thinking back with fond nostalgia to some of the older FF games, which is okay, because they're fun, but they're not exactly high literature.

Okay, so no more hyperbole in this post. I don't find the writing / characters in this game to be any more ridiculous than past entries in the series. I actually think that Hope (as a character) shows remarkable restraint for an angst-ridden Final Fantasy teenager. This may not be the best game in the series, but it's by no means the worst and I think it compares very favorably to other JRPGs released recently.

 

[Cep]

I'm pretty sure that if I played my favorite FF's today (FF5, 6, 8) with voice acting, I wouldn't like them as much.

Which is why when we get our inevitable remakes of FF5 and 6, they cannot be on a console.

 

[Firestorm]

Thousand Years of Dreams in Lost Odyssey = best writing in a jrpg

 

[_Xenon_]

Saboteurs only cast spells that they know the enemy is weak against and then stop acting. It takes a while for Fang to learn debuffs like AntiShell and such, whereas those are the first Vanille learns, which means she is more useful at first.

No, she got dispel way earlier than Vanille (not deprotect or deshell). Actually she was doing pretty well dispelling those huntress in Ch9. No idea why she suddenly became brain fucked when facing Ch10 boss.

 

[teh_pwn]

So I'm in chapter 11 and still haven't upgraded a single weapon :lol Any pointers? I don't get the upgrading system at all.

Basically use animal parts (fangs, etc) to boost the multiplier before using expensive components. If you use 40 Wicked Fangs, you get an X3 multiplier. There's probably more too it, but that's all I did.

 

[darkressurection]

Hey guys, quick question. I just started in Gran Pulse and have been wondering if I would be okay skipping the missions and stuff and just head straight for the next story event or is it necessary to grind a bunch before moving on?

 

[expy]

Hey guys, quick question. I just started in Gran Pulse and have been wondering if I would be okay skipping the missions and stuff and just head straight for the next story event or is it necessary to grind a bunch before moving on?

It would be advisable to grind a bit before proceeding.

 

[Zalasta]

Another day, another round of the same handful of people putting the game down. We already know you dislike FF13, what else are you trying to prove? Converting more people to your side? You guys are just as bad as the fanboys. This game has problems, but there are plenty to like.

 

[teh_pwn]

Lightning voice actress talks about their work conditions. Basically reading from a script in small room in solitude.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao9zIEmgyZY

 

[Scythesurge]

Then again, FF4 remake...I loved the game even more and that had voice acting.

Maybe because the story is simplistic and not completley fucking bonkers?

Or is it because of my own nostalgia?

No it's because IV is fucking awesome.

 

[WanderingWind]

I posted this in my Xenogears thread years ago. Something like one of the cardinal rules of writing/movies is "Don't tell the audience, show them." Likewise for games it should be "Don't show the audience. Let them play through it/experience it."

Some people get it.

I also have to echo the guy who said he thinks he might be growing out of Final Fantasy. It's a definite possibility that I, myself will have to consider.

But, more than likely, I think I've just grown out of giving crappy things a pass, just because I once liked them. FFXIII is crap, but I'll still try to keep an open mind about FFXV. It's a series that has engendered so much goodwill in me, that it'll take more than one terrible entry to dissuade me from trying it out.

 

[Skilletor]

Thousand Years of Dreams in Lost Odyssey = best writing in a jrpg

Wasn't it a book that they shoehorned into the game as scrolling text?

It's not like the stories had anything to do with what you played. The stories were actually interesting.

And please, "Good writing for a videogame" is like saying "It's good writing for a D & D novel." That's just a nice way of saying it's shit.

 

[YYZ]

Lightning voice actress talks about their work conditions. Basically reading from a script in small room in solitude.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao9zIEmgyZY

Is that good or bad? Pretty sure it's bad.

 

[_Xenon_]

There are of course elements of the world presented in the story, particularly in places where it makes sense. But there's plenty more information that simply wouldn't fit naturally in dialogue, so it's expanded in the datalog, just like how games like Mass Effect and Dragon Age use their codex.

What do you want them to do? Have Morrowind-esque dialog where every NPC talks in encyclopedia entries?

The thing about Mass Effect or Elder Scroll is, they don't require you to read codex or library books (for ME2 maybe, if you didn't play ME1). From the main plot and side quests you can still get an idea what the game world is and what is going on at the moment. For FFXIII, it seems SE spent way more effort on 1080p CGI than writing a solid story. Plus the stupid japanese-french hybrid names in the game (l'cie, fal'cie, wtf?) only made the story even harder to understand.

 

[depths20XX]

You're dumb and/or haven't played many jrpgs.

"You're dumb" good one. I'm sure I've played just as many as you have.

 

[Firestorm]

Is that good or bad? Pretty sure it's bad.

Terrible. All high-budget games should follow the production process Naughty Dog used in Uncharted.

 

[marathonfool]

Hey guys, quick question. I just started in Gran Pulse and have been wondering if I would be okay skipping the missions and stuff and just head straight for the next story event or is it necessary to grind a bunch before moving on?

I did the first couple missions then tried to follow the yellow arrow. I got my ass handed to me in the next area.

Terrible. All high-budget games should follow the production process Naughty Dog used in Uncharted.

Just about every animated or CG film has actors working by themselves. The VA performance is fine. The script on the other hand.....

 

[Regulus Tera]

This is the exact formula they used in Kingdom Hearts 2. For most of that game it's just fight, fight, enter new room, watch a cutscene and repeat. Doesn't help that 90% of the cutscenes in FFXIII contain cringe worthy dialogues that just drag on and on, and more often than not just a variation of a previous scene. How many fucking times do the characters have to say "we have to believe" or "nothing can stop us" until it's enough? It's like the writers have watched way too many shitty animes for their own good.

This post makes way too much sense.

Goddammit Kingdom Hearts why you gotta shit up FF too?

 

[levious]

Because we are critical, that means we dislike it. Get over yourself.

you don't dislike it? Didn't you just say you've outgrown the series or something? Which I find interesting, since I never gave these sorts of games a second glance until IX came out, when I was in my early twenties I believe. I guess we're on opposite paths of patience/tolerance levels.

 

[WanderingWind]

Another day, another round of the same handful of people fawning over the game. We already know you like FF13, what else are you trying to prove? Converting more people to your side? You guys are just as bad as the detractors. This game has problems, but there are plenty to like.

See how that works? Discussing the game negative points is just as valid as discussing the positives.