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[Kyoufu]

Your main party is similar to mine, though I use Sazh instead of Hope only because he's my favorite character in the game. What I'd probably do is

Spoiler

go with Lionheart for Lightning (early break), Hawkeye for Hope (for Magic power), and Taming Pole for Fang (it's her Stagger Lock weapon, and when fully upgraded it'll give a huge boost to both Attack and Magic); I upgraded Sazh's Rigels for myself (also a Stagger Lock) the thing about Stagger Lock weapons is that if you've got certain accessories equipped with these weapons, that character will gain the Lucky Break passive ability, which allows for a chance for an instant chain break.

Anyway, in regards to upgrades, the game gives you a ton of options. I'm not saying the above is necessarily the best one, but it's what I did and it's working great.

For Sazh I went with the one that enhances buffs, since the only reason to use him is for buffing lol. Went with your choices for Lightning and Fang too but for Hope I went with Otshirvani instead.

I am nearing 100 hours of playtime with a lot of sidequests still to do. I love this game.

 

[Kagari]

Supporting cast spoilers:

Spoiler

one of my biggest beefs with this game is how they did nothing with these people, or even the cavalry. I think the max any of these characters were in the game were for maybe 3 scenes for each of them, then thrown away for no reason. What a waste :/

Very disappointing, given what the pre-release trailers led people to believe.

 

[Metalmurphy]

So GAF... I've considering buying this (my, how times change, a few year ago I would have bought anything FF in a heart beat). I know lots of ppl here seem to dislike it cause its not linear/not a FF game/etc... but how is the game on its own, ignoring all the crap about being linear and etc? Is it still enjoyable?


Also, how is the voice over compared to, lets say, FFX? I've seen some clips that made me use the mute button, but hopeful it isn't terrible 100% of the time.

 

[DimmuBurgerKing]

Very disappointing, given what the pre-release trailers led people to believe.

I'd rather have Lebreau than Hope. :/

 

[Kyoufu]

Very disappointing, given what the pre-release trailers led people to believe.

Good thing I didn't watch any of the pre-release shit. I'm not disappointed.

Besides, they'll show up in FFXIII-2 anyway.

 

[Majine]

Where exactly am I suppose to get the Limit Breaker trophy? I tried it on a boss (on mission #5 in chapter 11), had him debuffed and staggered, but the damage only went to 50 000. So I figured the damage can't go beyond the enemy's HP pool. So where? Not the bigass turtles, I died pretty quick on them :lol

And yes, I am a trophywhore.

 

[Dead]

So GAF... I've considering buying this (my, how times change, a few year ago I would have bought anything FF in a heart beat). I know lots of ppl here seem to dislike it cause its not linear/not a FF game/etc... but how is the game on its own, ignoring all the crap about being linear and etc? Is it still enjoyable?


Also, how is the voice over compared to, lets say, FFX? I've seen some clips that made me use the mute button, but hopeful it isn't terrible 100% of the time.

The battle system is the best in the entire series and the voice acting is muuuuuch better than X, although not quite as strong as XII.

 

[FateBreaker]

The whole linear thing of the game does not bother me.

What bothers me is that there are just so many bad dungeon designs. It didn't really affect me in the first few chapters, but in ch 11, I think the only two places so far to have even slight deviations from a straight road are the ch 9 dungeon and some stuff in ch 11. Grandia Xtreme, linear and combat-focused as it was, had better dungeons than this.

Also, the boss in ch 11

Spoiler

Vanille's summon

is cheap. Cheap, cheap, cheap!

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

So GAF... I've considering buying this (my, how times change, a few year ago I would have bought anything FF in a heart beat). I know lots of ppl here seem to dislike it cause its not linear/not a FF game/etc... but how is the game on its own, ignoring all the crap about being linear and etc? Is it still enjoyable?


Also, how is the voice over compared to, lets say, FFX? I've seen some clips that made me use the mute button, but hopeful it isn't terrible 100% of the time.

It's definitely enjoyable in my book. The battle system is great and requires a lot of quick strategies, and the Crystarium is basically an improved Sphere Grid with job choices. I'm also really enjoying the story and characters, as well as the lore created for the world. I think they did a great job at crafting a really unique and interesting universe for this game. Also, while the game is linear, I think most of the sets you go through are very well designed. There are so many truly memorable locations I've visited already, and I'm not even close to being done with the game.

The voice acting has been pretty good in my experience. There may have been a few places where it felt weak, but nothing that's forced me to dwell on it for any time.

 

[Kyoufu]

So GAF... I've considering buying this (my, how times change, a few year ago I would have bought anything FF in a heart beat). I know lots of ppl here seem to dislike it cause its not linear/not a FF game/etc... but how is the game on its own, ignoring all the crap about being linear and etc? Is it still enjoyable?


Also, how is the voice over compared to, lets say, FFX? I've seen some clips that made me use the mute button, but hopeful it isn't terrible 100% of the time.

Seriously, fuck the haters. Yes, the game isn't perfect, it has plenty of cheese but at the end of the day, the battle system, music and presentation are some of the finest. My 100 hours of playtime isn't there for no reason.

Besides, I've seen you play far worse games on PSN

 

[desu]

That's probably my favorite thing about JRPGs, leveling up by an unnecessary, ungodly amount and then wiping the floor with all the enemies. There's just something so satisfying about it.

Well the game really limits you in that aspect. You can level up a bit, but in the end the Crystarium blocks you from becoming really uber before beating the game.

 

[DimmuBurgerKing]

Where exactly am I suppose to get the Limit Breaker trophy? I tried it on a boss, had him debuffed and staggered, but the damage only went to 50 000. So I figured the damage can't go beyond the enemy's HP pool. So where? Not the bigass turtles, I died pretty quick on them :lol

I did it on Chapter 11 during one of the Missions. I was surprised when it unlocked, because I didn't think I did that much damage, but then it struck me that I finished the battle with Snow's Sovereign Fist area attack. I could be wrong and simply underestimated my damage (they were packed together nicely, which would've made it hard to see how much damage I dealt) but I suspect it counts towards the HP total if you hit multiple enemies with one attack/spell for a total of 100,000+.

Of course, shortly after that, I did it on yet another Mission boss by staggering and using Fang's Highwind attack for over 200k. At any rate, it'll probably come in the course of the game without any real effort on your part.

 

[Kyoufu]

Where exactly am I suppose to get the Limit Breaker trophy? I tried it on a boss (on mission #5 in chapter 11), had him debuffed and staggered, but the damage only went to 50 000. So I figured the damage can't go beyond the enemy's HP pool. So where? Not the bigass turtles, I died pretty quick on them :lol

And yes, I am a trophywhore.

I got mine with Bahamut's megaflare attack or w/e. Did 540k damage with it.

 

[DY_nasty]

The whole linear thing of the game does not bother me.

What bothers me is that there are just so many bad dungeon designs. It didn't really affect me in the first few chapters, but in ch 11, I think the only two places so far to have even slight deviations from a straight road are the ch 9 dungeon and some stuff in ch 11. Grandia Xtreme, linear and combat-focused as it was, had better dungeons than this.

Also, the boss in ch 11

Spoiler

Vanille's summon

is cheap. Cheap, cheap, cheap!

He was a cakewalk. When I found out that dual SABs run up the score faster than dual RAVs, I was in business.

 

[Metalmurphy]

Ok, consider me convinced. I did actually find the battle system interesting, kinda like the B-spec mode of JRPGs, in a good way that is.

I'll buy it as soon as I get some cash to spare. So many games, so little time/money.

Besides, I've seen you play far worse games on PSN

Really? Like what?

(Resistance 2 was borrowed so that doesn't count )

 

[DimmuBurgerKing]

He was a cakewalk. When I found out that dual SABs run up the score faster than dual RAVs, I was in business.

Pretty much. I've found that having a versatile Paradigm deck makes most of the Eidolon fights cheese. Buff/heal at the beginning, then experiment with different paradigms when I can. This makes it easy to figure out what they "yield" to.

 

[Lost Fragment]

Spoiler

Genji glove

get Thanks for the tips, folks.

Spoiler

Atticus was a bitch with his 9 mil hp

:lol

 

[Majine]

I got mine with Bahamut's megaflare attack or w/e. Did 540k damage with it.

Yes, I know that. But on what boss/enemy?

 

[Meier]

Just came from there. I don't think it's worth the trouble, felled like it was more a way to avoid the

Spoiler

wyverns or those huge beasts (forgot the name).

I'm at chapter 7 now, 15 hours in. Playing with

Spoiler

Snow as sentinel is really boring.

. Still really like the game but i'm kinda getting tired of these linear 2 man fighting parts, the game should open up already.

No kidding.. I'm ready for at least 3 people in my party again already, sheesh! I just got to Palumpolum (sp?) with Lightning and Hope.

I ended up fighting a wyvern and got it to less than half, cruising along slowly but surely.. then Vanille got 1-hit and died. I was fortunately able to run out of range quick enough to not get stuck in an infinite fight loop.

 

[levious]

No kidding.. I'm ready for at least 3 people in my party again already, sheesh! I just got to Palumpolum (sp?) with Lightning and Hope.

I ended up fighting a wyvern and got it to less than half, cruising along slowly but surely.. then Vanille got 1-hit and died. I was fortunately able to run out of range quick enough to not get stuck in an infinite fight loop.

yeah, I felt the same way, but the next time you get to fight with three is pretty awesome, there was a rather nice build up to it... assuming you don't hate the story though.

 

[DY_nasty]

yeah, I felt the same way, but the next time you get to fight with three is pretty awesome, there was a rather nice build up to it... assuming you don't hate the story though.

I thought it was a nice touch. When I finally got my group back together, I think I was as happy as they were.

 

[DarkAngelYuna]

I'd rather have Lebreau than Hope. :/

She was so cool and then we get emo loser hope =\ I can't stand him. Worst ff character ever.

 

[FateBreaker]

He was a cakewalk. When I found out that dual SABs run up the score faster than dual RAVs, I was in business.

I can't do it, and I tried your method. gerrr

 

[DY_nasty]

I can't do it, and I tried your method. gerrr

I was also pretty overleveled at that fight so I could probably take a little more abuse than others. Make sure Fang has some HP items as well as something that ups her physical resistance.

Start off Sab/Sab to get the chain started
then med/com whenever you need to heal (DONT USE SENTINEL IN THIS FIGHT)
rav/rav or com/rav *only when you have a couple of status ailments inflicted
rinse repeat

edit: be sure to use Libra to so that Fang doesn't waste moves doing dumb/useless shit

 

[K' Dash]

She was so cool and then we get emo loser hope =\ I can't stand him. Worst ff character ever.

I couldn't stand him, but I have to admit SE developed him well trough the game, now I'm on chapter 11 and I really don't mind having him in my party, besides he's a FANTASTIC Ravager/Synergist.

 

[Salz01]

I couldn't stand him, but I have to admit SE developed him well trough the game, now I'm on chapter 11 and I really don't mind having him in my party, besides he's a FANTASTIC Ravager/Synergist.

oh god... I have to wait 5 more chapters with him growing up?

 

[CruxisMana]

oh god... I have to wait 5 more chapters with him growing up?

He's developed really well in Chapter 7.

 

[DY_nasty]

I couldn't stand him, but I have to admit SE developed him well trough the game, now I'm on chapter 11 and I really don't mind having him in my party, besides he's a FANTASTIC Ravager/Synergist.

Hope is actually okay once you get to chapter 11. I didn't think they'd be able to fix him without jumping 10 years into future, but he turns out to be a good character.

He's got the best summon in the game too btw.

 

[ksamedi]

I'm at chapter 8 and I'm liking this game way more than I thought I would. Yeah its linear but the battle system is very well done and the game is very polished overall. Really loving it so far.

 

[Mandoric]

I did it on Chapter 11 during one of the Missions. I was surprised when it unlocked, because I didn't think I did that much damage, but then it struck me that I finished the battle with Snow's Sovereign Fist area attack. I could be wrong and simply underestimated my damage (they were packed together nicely, which would've made it hard to see how much damage I dealt) but I suspect it counts towards the HP total if you hit multiple enemies with one attack/spell for a total of 100,000+.

Of course, shortly after that, I did it on yet another Mission boss by staggering and using Fang's Highwind attack for over 200k. At any rate, it'll probably come in the course of the game without any real effort on your part.

Behemoth types during the endgame are good. Go with Light/Sazh/Fang, ABJ, BBJ, AEJ, HEJ, AAD, AAA. Bring it near break, then maintain it without breaking while you buff up. When you're ready to go, H/E/J it to break, unload in B/B/J until it hits 999%, then swap to A/A/D, wait for Fang to get its attention, quickswap to AAA, and unload with Light's added 30% or so damage from Sneak Attack.

 

[Tideas]

can ppl please stop bitching abut the linearity? Name me an RPG that's not Fallout/Oblivion that isn't linear.

 

[DY_nasty]

Behemoth types during the endgame are good. Go with Light/Sazh/Fang, ABJ, BBJ, AEJ, HEJ, AAD, AAA. Bring it near break, then maintain it without breaking while you buff up. When you're ready to go, H/E/J it to break, unload in B/B/J until it hits 999%, then swap to A/A/D, wait for Fang to get its attention, quickswap to AAA, and unload with Light's added 30% or so damage from Sneak Attack.

?

 

[Dresden]

can ppl please stop bitching abut the linearity? Name me an RPG that's not Fallout/Oblivion that isn't linear.

Let's not start this again.

ffffuuuu see what you have done, asshole. No one was even bitching about it this page.

?

He might be talking about the Japanese names.

 

[Bob White]

can ppl please stop bitching abut the linearity? Name me an RPG that's not Fallout/Oblivion that isn't linear.

Come on, man. Stop acting like former FF's handled linearity as bad as 13. The older ones were linear TO A POINT. While the map in most of the older gamer were still closed early on. The skill trees were open. And that's the most important part.

When I can have free will over how I develop my crew early on, it makes the mindless "press x" gaming fun and unique to my play style. Limiting ALL the ways you play for the first 20 something hours was just bad design that WAS NOT in older FFs.

 

[sazabirules]

Are there any particular weapons or items I should be upgrading? I don't know where to start.

 

[Kyoufu]

Come on, man. Stop acting like former FF's handled linearity as bad as 13. The older ones were linear TO A POINT. While the map in most of the older gamer were still closed early on. The skill trees were open. And that's the most important part.

When I can have free will over how I develop my crew early on, it makes the mindless "press x" gaming fun and unique to my play style. Limiting ALL the ways you play for the first 20 something hours was just bad design that WAS NOT in older FFs.

Oh noes, <insert FF here> isn't like <insert FF here> god damnit it must suck.

Are there any particular weapons or items I should be upgrading? I don't know where to start.

No real need to do any upgrading until post-game content.

 

[levious]

Come on, man. Stop acting like former FF's handled linearity as bad as 13. The older ones were linear TO A POINT. While the map in most of the older gamer were still closed early on. The skill trees were open. And that's the most important part.

When I can have free will over how I develop my crew early on, it makes the mindless "press x" gaming fun and unique to my play style. Limiting ALL the ways you play for the first 20 something hours was just bad design that WAS NOT in older FFs.

you are not limited in ALL the ways you play for the first 20 hours. The skill trees open up much earlier than that. And the battle system is certainly not mindless.

This game has thrown away a lot of the silly stuff from past RPGs like rummaging through people's homes.

Spoiler

Although I was disappointed to not find an item box in Hope's dad's place!

I'm also surprised that "no random battles" isn't getting more praise from people on this board.

 

[lljride]

How high do your stats need to be to handle mission 55 (using death)? I think everyone has around 4500-5000 HP, not sure if that's enough or if I should grind some more CP before taking him on.

 

[DarknessTear]

It's funny how this group and my friends differ. I have a lot of friends who love this game and think the writing is great, then a lot of people on NeoGAF think otherwise. I personally rank this game high in the series. I wouldn't even mind a spinoff at this point.

I'm at Chapter 13 now. Lovin' it!

 

[Giolon]

Come on, man. Stop acting like former FF's handled linearity as bad as 13. The older ones were linear TO A POINT. While the map in most of the older gamer were still closed early on. The skill trees were open. And that's the most important part.

When I can have free will over how I develop my crew early on, it makes the mindless "press x" gaming fun and unique to my play style. Limiting ALL the ways you play for the first 20 something hours was just bad design that WAS NOT in older FFs.

Did somebody skip over FFX? That sphere grid was just as much of a straight line as the Crystarium until about 2/3 the way through the game when you got the L3 lock spheres to bust into other character's branches. I'd say the Crystarium is even better in that regard b/c most FFXIII get three classes available to them within the first third of the game.

 

[Bob White]

I gotta disagree on the skill trees being open before the 20 hour mark. I mean, they kinda fake the funk with what you can pick. Yeah, you can lean your guys more one way than the other in the early chapters. But still, if you look close enough, you can't do anything too drastic from what square thinks your crew should be.

Basically, when I hit chapter 10, the game became fun for me. And it's all because I actually had to think and plan out how to spend my CP. Which make grinding and all the fighting worth it, since now, CP means something.

 

[Zoe]

I gotta disagree on the skill trees being open before the 20 hour mark. I mean, they kinda fake the funk with what you can pick. Yeah, you can lean your guys more one way than the other in the early chapters. But still, if you look close enough, you can't do anything too drastic from what square thinks your crew should be.

I dunno. I've been watching a friend play, and his job use is completely different from what mine was.

 

[wonkafest]

Personally, I wasn't to thrilled with the plot of the game.

Spoiler

Let's save Cacoon! No wait, we should destroy it! Hmm... not really sure what we should do, aww fuck it lets just go with the flow and see what happens.

 

[BocoDragon]

She was so cool and then we get emo loser hope =\ I can't stand him. Worst ff character ever.

I loathed Hope at first.. But as I played through the game I realized he wasn't just some shell of a bad jRPG character... They actually developed his introspective self-doubting ass through a legimate character arc. Damned if he isn't quite likeable towards the end!

 

[Tideas]

I loathed Hope at first.. But as I played through the game I realized he wasn't just some shell of a bad jRPG character... They actually developed his introspective self-doubting ass through a legimate character arc. Damned if he isn't quite likeable towards the end!

That is why I said the character development of FF13 is seriously one of the best I've seen of ANY RPGs.

For the people bitching abuot Hope, how would you react if you were just 14 in his age and u experienced all that he experienced in the first chapter?

It seems like all you guys want are cookie cutter emotions.

 

[DY_nasty]

Personally, I wasn't to thrilled with the plot of the game.

Spoiler

Let's save Cacoon! No wait, we should destroy it! Hmm... not really sure what we should do, aww fuck it lets just go with the flow and see what happens.

Would you prefer to not even have an impact on anything like in FFXII? :lol

I'm starting to become a fan of not having everything laid out in front of you these days. No one can do it well and its become really, really old.

 

[ElFly]

Hope's character development is pretty good, except that it ends in the typical "we must believe in ourselves!" jrpg character.

 

[Widge]

Come on, man. Stop acting like former FF's handled linearity as bad as 13. The older ones were linear TO A POINT. While the map in most of the older gamer were still closed early on. The skill trees were open. And that's the most important part.

When I can have free will over how I develop my crew early on, it makes the mindless "press x" gaming fun and unique to my play style. Limiting ALL the ways you play for the first 20 something hours was just bad design that WAS NOT in older FFs.

What about 9 and 10 though, where your skills were pre-determined by your character? Which I think was the best thing to happen to the series. Much preferred it to the jack of all trades approach that 7,8 and 12 put upon you.

 

[Dra-Q]

OH, I love those little Sheep-babies in chapter 8, they're so Kawaii ^_^

 

[DY_nasty]

Hope's character development is pretty good, except that it ends in the typical "we must believe in ourselves!" jrpg character.

He's a kid.

Spoiler

they let him talk because when he's doing the talking, they don't have to - and whenever they talk, someone gets hit in the face. Everytime he speaks it distracts them from how fucked up everything really is. Let the kid talk... No one wants to hear Vanille's shit anymore

:lol