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[Animator]

So, I'm with Sazh and the chick in some forest thing around ten hours in when I first get the ability to change the weather. When does the game start getting good? I was really enjoying it at first, but now all I do is press A and run to the next enemy. This is getting seriously boring.

It is going to be like that till chapter 11.

 

[leng jai]

It is going to be like that till chapter 11.

Incorrect.

 

[marathonfool]

So, I'm with Sazh and the chick in some forest thing around ten hours in when I first get the ability to change the weather. When does the game start getting good? I was really enjoying it at first, but now all I do is press A and run to the next enemy. This is getting seriously boring.

You will most likely die frequently in Chapter 7, 8, and 9 if you play mindlessly.

 

[Animator]

Incorrect.

Unless you played some special level that was not available in my game it is correct. You do run a corridor till you get to gran pulse.

 

[Dartastic]

You will most likely die frequently in Chapter 7, 8, and 9 if you play mindlessly.

Honestly, I don't even know what chapter I'm in. I haven't seen anything about chapter changes, and when they go from the different areas on that city where everyone was before the purge, they just jump back and forth. From the area where you learn to hit a switch to change the weather, how long until you get to Gran Pulse? That's where it changes it up somehow (I don't know how) right?

 

[User 10639]

Unless you played some special level that was not available in my game it is correct. You do run a corridor till you get to gran pulse.

He didn't say anything about corridors; he said all you do is press A and run to the next enemy. Which I guess is true if you're not using paradigm shifts or anything.

 

[Fun Factor]

I
I don't really miss them.

In fact, just about everything that was 'cut' from the FF mainline games are things that I'm glad to see gone. Sprawling world maps (with 80% locations blocked at most points in the game) that wear off their welcome after minutes, labyrinthine dungeons with random encounters, and shitty mini-games be damned. </hyperbole>

jRPGs were boring the hell out of me and I'm glad FF13 decided to cut (IMO) the flak and concentrate on making a fun battle system with mostly inoffensive trappings (such as the story and characters). It's probably not the game for die-hard FF fans (much in the same way as Mass Effect 2) as it makes some pretty drastic changes to the style of the previous game(s). A lot of people aren't pleased with these changes and I can understand their position. However, (like with Mass Effect 2) I am able to either look past these changes or appreciate them and I have been having a lot of fun.

The towns in the game are there and do their function well. Most jrpg towns run like this: you go to town, event gets triggered, NPC's have one liners, you leave town. In FF13, all the one liners are voiced and the NPC's are all there in front of you so you don't have to deviate from your path to visit a badly architectured single room house to get your one liner. The event that would get triggered by a certain npc is already happening when you enter the town and honestly, how many of you would revisit the towns in rpg's unless you absolutely had to?

FF13 constantly gives you new areas and NO backtracking, and this is considered a bad thing now?

Completely agree, jRPGs are were running their course for me.
Having FFXIII change it up a bit with the story being central to the game & everything was constantly advancing (mostly with the characters stories) was refreshing.

What I did not like is that you are basically playing a tutorial for the 1st 15 hours.
It's just way way way too slow to get to the real meat of the game. The character changing, plot progression, opening up the skills, bigger & better set pieces etc... are all completely absence for the length of an entire full length game.

 

[Animator]

I got the feeling he was complaining about the linearity.

 

[Houston3000]

Honestly, I don't even know what chapter I'm in. I haven't seen anything about chapter changes, and when they go from the different areas on that city where everyone was before the purge, they just jump back and forth. From the area where you learn to hit a switch to change the weather, how long until you get to Gran Pulse? That's where it changes it up somehow (I don't know how) right?

Open your Datalog and look at the Events section. You'll see what chapter your on - it would be the newest entry you have, I think you're in Chapter 6 right now. Basically, whenever there's a boss followed by a few cut scenes (usually a prerendered one in there) and a big character swap you're in a new chapter, it's pretty obvious... they even ask you if you want save during the loading screens between chapters.

 

[burgerdog]

lucky!

i'm 0/3 on it so far
2/3 on platinum ingots though, which pushed me over 2mil, enough to by 1 trap
cept i won't have money left after to upgrade ; ;

Drops are so bad :/ I got my trap after 10 or so turtles, and that was when they would take 10 minutes to kill. I kill all of them now(4) and save/reset and have gotten very little amount of ingots and not a single other trap.

 

[User 10639]

I got the feeling he was complaining about the linearity.

Sure, I guess, but in Gran Pulse you also mostly run from one enemy to the next and press A/X, among other buttons.

 

[Dedication Through Light]

Honestly, I don't even know what chapter I'm in. I haven't seen anything about chapter changes, and when they go from the different areas on that city where everyone was before the purge, they just jump back and forth. From the area where you learn to hit a switch to change the weather, how long until you get to Gran Pulse? That's where it changes it up somehow (I don't know how) right?

You still have 5 chapters to go I believe. It should be maybe up to 10 more hours away from your grasp.

 

[Giolon]

The game is surprisingly consistent about things and it lets you take the time to examine things when you are not in a hurry and having your tails being chomped off by the Sanctum.

The towns in the game are there and do their function well. Most jrpg towns run like this: you go to town, event gets triggered, NPC's have one liners, you leave town. In FF13, all the one liners are voiced and the NPC's are all there in front of you so you don't have to deviate from your path to visit a badly architectured single room house to get your one liner. The event that would get triggered by a certain npc is already happening when you enter the town and honestly, how many of you would revisit the towns in rpg's unless you absolutely had to?

FF13 constantly gives you new areas and NO backtracking, and this is considered a bad thing now?

I think he's talking about badly designed non-combat hub areas that have a few (unneeded) shops, an (unneeded) inn, and dozens of NPCs that unrealistically spout exposition to you and ask you to chase a kitten down from a tree in exchange for a Hi-Potion.
I don't really miss them.
In fact, just about everything that was 'cut' from the FF mainline games are things that I'm glad to see gone. Sprawling world maps (with 80% locations blocked at most points in the game) that wear off their welcome after minutes, labyrinthine dungeons with random encounters, and shitty mini-games be damned. </hyperbole>

jRPGs were boring the hell out of me and I'm glad FF13 decided to cut (IMO) the flak and concentrate on making a fun battle system with mostly inoffensive trappings (such as the story and characters). It's probably not the game for die-hard FF fans (much in the same way as Mass Effect 2) as it makes some pretty drastic changes to the style of the previous game(s). A lot of people aren't pleased with these changes and I can understand their position. However, (like with Mass Effect 2) I am able to either look past these changes or appreciate them and I have been having a lot of fun.

Completely agree, jRPGs are were running their course for me.
Having FFXIII change it up a bit with the story being central to the game & everything was constantly advancing (mostly with the characters stories) was refreshing.

Wow! Three people almost back to back whom mostly share the same opinion of the game as I do. I thought I was alone in here playing the Sentinel holding aggro. :lol

 

[Dra-Q]

Damn, I'm at the end of ch.10 and can't wait for Grand Pulse, I beat

Spoiler

Cid Raines

and now heading to the last boss of this chapter.

 

[burgerdog]

:lol :lol
Got another trap while farming for ingots. At this rate I'll have 3 traps long before I have enough ingots to level up my shit.

 

[Dartastic]

I just basically want something to mix it up at this point. I'm really getting tired of the complete lack of strategy (go with default mode! Press A! Oh no, someone is getting hurt! Change paradigms real quickly to heal by pressing A, then change back to press A some more!) and how horribly linear everything is. Yes, everything is pretty. Yes, I'm enjoying the story so far. But the actual GAMEPLAY almost seems like filler at this point. It's really weird.

 

[dominuece]

I just want to say that this game is beautiful.

 

[njean777]

HAs anybody else had the problem of not knowing WHAT THE FUCK the characters are talking about most of the time? The only way i figured out what most of the stuff they were talking about was reading the datalog and reading a wiki. WTF? i like the game but square what happened to your story telling department?

 

[Dartastic]

HAs anybody else had the problem of not knowing WHAT THE FUCK the characters are talking about most of the time? The only way i figured out what most of the stuff they were talking about was reading the datalog and reading a wiki. WTF? i like the game but square what happened to your story telling department?

The whole l'cie, Pulse l'cie, fal'cie, whatever'cie thing really confused me for a bit, honestly.

 

[Zoe]

It's so nice getting 6 trophies at once.

 

[User 10639]

I just basically want something to mix it up at this point. I'm really getting tired of the complete lack of strategy (go with default mode! Press A! Oh no, someone is getting hurt! Change paradigms real quickly to heal by pressing A, then change back to press A some more!) and how horribly linear everything is. Yes, everything is pretty. Yes, I'm enjoying the story so far. But the actual GAMEPLAY almost seems like filler at this point. It's really weird.

I'm sorry, man, but pressing A is how you perform actions. Would it be better if it required you to press more buttons and threw in a QTE? The battle system opens up a lot more later on, and requires more strategy but you'll still be pressing A throughout. A A A A A.

 

[knitoe]

Drops are so bad :/ I got my trap after 10 or so turtles, and that was when they would take 10 minutes to kill. I kill all of them now(4) and save/reset and have gotten very little amount of ingots and not a single other trap.

Think I have killed almost 30 of them and still no drops. I may have only gotten 10 ingots during that time. Must have the worst luck or drop rate is insanely terrible. Only bright side is my characters are almost max out from killing those bastards.

 

[Dartastic]

I'm sorry, man, but pressing A is how you perform actions. Would it be better if it required you to press more buttons and threw in a QTE? The battle system opens up a lot more later on, and requires more strategy but you'll still be pressing A throughout. A A A A A.

...I think you get my point. I don't even have to really pick my actions. The game is practically on auto pilot.

 

[mr_nothin]

I just basically want something to mix it up at this point. I'm really getting tired of the complete lack of strategy (go with default mode! Press A! Oh no, someone is getting hurt! Change paradigms real quickly to heal by pressing A, then change back to press A some more!) and how horribly linear everything is. Yes, everything is pretty. Yes, I'm enjoying the story so far. But the actual GAMEPLAY almost seems like filler at this point. It's really weird.

I feel the same way. There's no variety so far. It's like completely automated battle w/o the gambits. I find that there's no reason to to battle manually. It's actually more tedius to do it manually....All I'm doing is "attack/attack/attack/" for the most part anyways. It makes more sense to just use Libra and auto-battle all the way. (I already know the counter-arguement for this but it's weird to explain). Battle system seems like it would have been nice but it lacks any kind of depth. I'm tired of being FORCED to play as characters that I want to use for support roles. I dont want to be forced to play as a medic or a sentinel......ESPECIALLY if I cant command anyone else.

I'm not really enjoying the story much at all either.

 

[Alex]

FF13 decided to cut (IMO) the flak

Well, if by flak you mean they stripped away every last element of the series besides the combat engine, then yes. I'm not sure how you hope to dismiss the very, very large amount of content and variety in earlier titles by calling it "flak" and referring to a few static NPCs like its some sort of all encompassing example.

Wrapping up my missions earlier, I don't understand what anyone is really seeing in the combat system to the point of saying that the game can stand on it alone.

At least those who have seen most of the game through. I thought it had potential, until I finished everything and nothing had changed and the only interaction I was still doing was swapping around appropriate characters (not hard with a massive six) and hitting Paradigms when needed..

It's not the WORST combat system ever or anything, but it's certainly the worst of the modern series and to tie that up it also contains some of the worst character development systems trying to prop it up. There's nothing to it outside of shitting in CP and Mats/Gil until theyre full.

I seriously have to question what people are getting out of this game when they cite genre fatigue, I mean what is so refreshing exactly?

To me, I mean I was able to cut through this game like butter, I beat it a lot faster than most games in recent years. But I don't think of that as really anything great or refreshing.

I was able to do that because the game offered absolutely no resistance or no elements to really make me think at all. It's very easy to consume something on such a very basic level like this.

When the strong majority of what you're presented with is hallways, cinematic and battles that can effectively fight themselves if you wish them too. And not even in the XII AI programmer kind of way, where you would at least set up a lot of conditions and parameters and the hunts challenged you and you still had plenty of input, as broken as XII was in the end, you can make it through anything in this game with just autobattle with your only input being to tap a button when its necessary to debuff again or to shield up and heal.

The further you get, the more tedius that gets also, for as speedy as the engine is almost every tougher encounter in this game is some crazy HP tank.

I was just very dissapointed the more it sunk in, even this very specific team is better than this. It really just feels, in the end, like a four year accumulation of engine work and art direction

 

[Dresden]

...I think you get my point. I don't even have to really pick my actions. The game is practically on auto pilot.

It's about macro management. The battles get tougher as you go, and it's about shifting to fit the flow of battle.

That said, I do think it's ultimately a pretty shallow system, but it's no worse than what the last five or six Final Fantasy games had.

I was just very dissapointed the more it sunk in, even this very specific team is better than this. It really just feels, in the end, like a four year accumulation of engine work and art direction

I agree with you for the most part, but you should just start copy/pasting your replies, since it's the same reply to the same question every time.

 

[burgerdog]

It's so nice getting 6 trophies at once.

Job seals I assume?

 

[User 10639]

...I think you get my point. I don't even have to really pick my actions. The game is practically on auto pilot.

Oh, that. Well, auto battle is optional, and paradigm shifting does get more interesting later on, but if you're not enjoying things by midway through chapter 7 or so then you'll probably just find this game a slog until Pulse. And maybe after that if the battle system is doing nothing for you.

 

[mr_nothin]

I just basically want something to mix it up at this point. I'm really getting tired of the complete lack of strategy (go with default mode! Press A! Oh no, someone is getting hurt! Change paradigms real quickly to heal by pressing A, then change back to press A some more!) and how horribly linear everything is. Yes, everything is pretty. Yes, I'm enjoying the story so far. But the actual GAMEPLAY almost seems like filler at this point. It's really weird.

I feel the same way. There's no variety so far. It's like completely automated battle w/o the gambits. I find that there's no reason to to battle manually. It's actually more tedius to do it manually....All I'm doing is "attack/attack/attack/" for the most part anyways. It makes more sense to just use Libra and auto-battle all the way. (I already know the counter-arguement for this but it's weird to explain). Battle system seems like it would have been nice but it lacks any kind of depth. I'm tired of being FORCED to play as characters that I want to use for support roles. I dont want to be forced to play as a medic or a sentinel......ESPECIALLY if I cant command anyone else.

I'm not really enjoying the story much at all either. And this is why:

HAs anybody else had the problem of not knowing WHAT THE FUCK the characters are talking about most of the time? The only way i figured out what most of the stuff they were talking about was reading the datalog and reading a wiki. WTF? i like the game but square what happened to your story telling department?

The whole l'cie, Pulse l'cie, fal'cie, whatever'cie thing really confused me for a bit, honestly.

It's like wtf...is this crap good or bad....wtf is the underlying plot of the story? What's going on?! Where are we headed and why?

They're trying the whole "tell the story in reverse" method w/o showing us the ending 1st AND having the present running in parallel with the past.

 

[Dresden]

Oh, that. Well, auto battle is optional, and paradigm shifting does get more interesting later on, but if you're not enjoying things by midway through chapter 7 or so then you'll probably just find this game a slog until Pulse. And maybe after that if the battle system is doing nothing for you.

By the way, I see four people with that same avatar! Fang-force is out of control.

 

[Houston3000]

The whole l'cie, Pulse l'cie, fal'cie, whatever'cie thing really confused me for a bit, honestly.

I know the words are kind of weird but I really can't understand why this is confusing to people. Baring anything I haven't learned yet (I'm in Ch. 8), there are two "factions" on Cocoon - Sanctum and Pulse and each of them are helped by god like entities called fal'cie. Fal'cies have the power to "curse" humans by turning them into l'cie, teach them magic, and order them to do stuff. If the l'cie accomplishes his/her task they're turned into crystal, if they fail they're turned into zombies (aka Cie'th). It's really not complicated when you get down to it and I think the game does a good job of explaining it without the Datalog.

 

[Alex]

It's about macro management. The battles get tougher as you go, and it's about shifting to fit the flow of battle.

That said, I do think it's ultimately a pretty shallow system, but it's no worse than what the last five or six Final Fantasy games had.


I agree with you for the most part, but you should just start copy/pasting your replies, since it's the same reply to the same question every time.

Nah, I like to do my huge replies, because for as much as I rant, I still like the game even as purely disposable entertainment, and I care about the series. If they do a XIII-2, I have sincere hopes for that, I look forward to XIV a lot, and I hope Ito is who gets to make XV.

I also have but one close friend who plays these games anymore also, so it gives me time to dwell and collect my thoughts after digesting a giant game.

As for the Fal'cie/L'cie thing, I think it's presented to you OK, except they kind of purposefully lead you in the dark for awhile which some people really dispise (and I can understand)

The big problem is how little they did with the story beyond that, for most of the game you're really just recycling the same plot points and struggles from the first chapter. They have this really cool dual world setup and try to do this character drama (which is probably why they picked fewer characters, even though the best FF got with character drama and backstory was VI and that game had like... what 14?) but it's sad because you still just dont know that much about any of it when the game is over.

So much untouched history and plot points left to rot and Cocoon in general just felt like levels in a Mario game. Going into the game I expected Cocoon to be kind of like a new take on a Midgar like area. Small, sci-fi, repressed with a greater world at the end of the road there, but exiting it the majority of the way through I'm not sure what they were even going for.

 

[Dartastic]

I know the words are kind of weird but I really can't understand why this is confusing to people. Baring anything I haven't learned yet (I'm in Ch. 8), there are two "factions" on Cocoon - Sanctum and Pulse and each of them are helped by god like entities called fal'cie. Fal'cies have the power to "curse" humans by turning them into l'cie, teach them magic, and order them to do stuff. If the l'cie accomplishes his/her task they're turned into crystal, if they fail they're turned into zombies (aka Cie'th). It's really not complicated when you get down to it and I think the game does a good job of explaining it without the Datalog.

No, I totally understand it now; it just took way too long for me to understand it. When the game starts they're just throwing those words around like you automatically know what the hell they mean. All it did was confuse me.

 

[Mandoric]

I feel the same way. There's no variety so far. It's like completely automated battle w/o the gambits. I find that there's no reason to to battle manually. It's actually more tedius to do it manually....All I'm doing is "attack/attack/attack/" for the most part anyways. It makes more sense to just use Libra and auto-battle all the way. (I already know the counter-arguement for this but it's weird to explain). Battle system seems like it would have been nice but it lacks any kind of depth. I'm tired of being FORCED to play as characters that I want to use for support roles. I dont want to be forced to play as a medic or a sentinel......ESPECIALLY if I cant command anyone else.

That's basically the point, to be honest. 10-13 have all been reactions to the standard critique of "press O to attack"; 10 paused ATB and shoved all its implications in your face, 11 is still rare among MMOs in giving significant bonuses for multiple players synchronizing their timing, 12 removed the act of pressing O entirely, and 13 moves what was traditionally FF's character customization to a new layer of the battle system instead.

Especially by endgame, it's deliberately paced too fast for a normal human to keep up with command attacking. The option is in as an emergency AI override, with the assumption that in most cases the player is there to choose "how" rather than "what".

 

[User 10639]

That said, I do think it's ultimately a pretty shallow system, but it's no worse than what the last five or six Final Fantasy games had.

Honestly, it's not like this series has ever had a super complex battle system, though.

And not even in the XII AI programmer kind of way, where you would at least set up a lot of conditions and parameters and the hunts challenged you and you still had plenty of input, as broken as XII was in the end, you can make it through anything in this game with just autobattle with your only input being to tap a button when its necessary to debuff again or to shield up and heal.

I found programming the AI in 12 to be tedious, and in any case, once you're done, that game asks for little other than pushing the left stick forward and occasionally entering a manual command when your party is getting really beat up, or something. Flawed as the AI is in 13, I'd rather just hit up libra and have my party cast fire when an enemy is weak against fire than input "fire weak->firaga" or whatnot. But YMMV, I guess.

So much untouched history and plot points left to rot and Cocoon in general just felt like levels in a Mario game. Going into the game I expected Cocoon to be kind of like a new take on a Midgar like area. Small, sci-fi, repressed with a greater world at the end of the road there, but exiting it the majority of the way through I'm not sure what they were even going for.

They did a poor job on the worldbuilding, yeah. The datalog is worse than the bestiary in 12, and 12 had other ways of conveying culture and the like in Ivalice in the first place.

By the way, I see four people with that same avatar! Fang-force is out of control.

It's a force of nature. It can't be controlled.

 

[mr_nothin]

That's basically the point, to be honest. 10-13 have all been reactions to the standard critique of "press O to attack"; 10 paused ATB and shoved all its implications in your face, 11 is still rare among MMOs in giving significant bonuses for multiple players synchronizing their timing, 12 removed the act of pressing O entirely, and 13 moves what was traditionally FF's character customization to a new layer of the battle system instead.

Especially by endgame, it's deliberately paced too fast for a normal human to keep up with command attacking. The option is in as an emergency AI override, with the assumption that in most cases the player is there to choose "how" rather than "what".

Well I hate the route that they took. If they at least added FFXII's gambit system to the support characters and allowed you to choose your party (MUCH earlier in the game) then it would actually be decent.

I would say that FFXII was the better implementation of "HOW" as they actually allowed you to choose how in just about any/every scenario. It had depth and substance. FFXIII is basically..."you're the attacker...you heal...you're defense guy! no go!" and you sit back and wait. I cant really customize the "How" aspect of the game. I guess that's where most of my "lack of depth" comments and feelings come from. I actually find myself just pressing "A" (360 version here) throughout the whole fight just to keep picking auto-battle. It's like pressing a button during a chat that you've already had before in a Zelda game. You're just pressing "A" to bypass the parts where you have to press a button to advance.

It's like FFXII-Lite.

Also, does anyone else feel like the weapons are an afterthought too? I've come across maybe 3 different weapons for each character and I've only changed their weapons once. After that, I just kept upgrading the same weapon. There's no reason for me to use any other weapon right now.

There's also no armor in this game right? Just "accessories"?
GAAAHHHH, the more I think about it....the more I realize how much has been cut.

 

[zewone]

Do I need 5 or 6 Dark Matters?

I already got 5. So I hope that's the answer.

Procyons
Ribbon
Weirding Glyph
Adamant Bangle
Power Glove
(I already got an Imperial Armlet from a drop)

Am I missing something?

The drop rate for dark matter isn't bad at all. I got 5 in an hour.

 

[Fun Factor]

I feel the same way. There's no variety so far. It's like completely automated battle w/o the gambits. I find that there's no reason to to battle manually. It's actually more tedius to do it manually....All I'm doing is "attack/attack/attack/" for the most part anyways. It makes more sense to just use Libra and auto-battle all the way. .

The game gets significantly harder mid way through.
You'll probably be wishing the game was as easy as it was in the start.

 

[Crash Station]

Mission 62 was a major pain. Needed 6 witch's bracelets maxed out to not die. Those damn turtles weren't annoying as this.

Anyway, only one mission left. After that, I'll probably fight the last boss again just to see how easy it is and then be done with this game.

 

[mr_nothin]

The game gets significantly harder mid way through.
You'll probably be wishing the game was as easy as it was in the start.

Im almost to chapter 7 and I'm about 15, or so, hours in. The most fun/challenge I've had so far is when I was playing as Vanille with Sazh as the 2ndary character...in the part where you're suppose to avoid certain enemies because they're sooo strong (the lizard moles and the flying bird/dragon things). I'm actually fighting those enemies just to get a challenge. That part reminded me a little of FFXII. It also gave me a little freedom too after basically holding the UP button and fighting enemies for a couple of hours. They actually had branching paths and such.

Or am I in chapter 7 already? I forget...
I'm playing as Snow now (Sentinel). Is this chapter 7?

 

[User 10639]

I'm playing as Snow now (Sentinel). Is this chapter 7?

Yes.

edit:

That's basically the point, to be honest. 10-13 have all been reactions to the standard critique of "press O to attack"; 10 paused ATB and shoved all its implications in your face, 11 is still rare among MMOs in giving significant bonuses for multiple players synchronizing their timing, 12 removed the act of pressing O entirely, and 13 moves what was traditionally FF's character customization to a new layer of the battle system instead.

Especially by endgame, it's deliberately paced too fast for a normal human to keep up with command attacking. The option is in as an emergency AI override, with the assumption that in most cases the player is there to choose "how" rather than "what".

This post is good.

 

[Lost Fragment]

Alright, Cold Blood is overpowered when combined with random chain fill equipment.

 

[flake]

So happy i had some deceptisol for chapter 10...i lost patience and just speed ran it :lol

 

[grumble]

I really just want to give square money to get me a five million CP and twenty million gil. I'm not a fan of tedious grinding: that is extremely not fun.

 

[grumble]

Yes.

edit:

This post is good.

I also agree with that post. The micromanaging isn't really that fun. The macromanaging is far more entertaining.

 

[Zen]

I'm about 11 hours in at chapter 6, and I'm really enjoying the game so far. As the combat system has gotten more complicated, I'm constantly switching tactics mid battle and mixing and matching between auto battle and manual control. Although the linear nature of the game, so far, means that I'm playing it in shorter bursts (like 1 hour at a time), it's not like the game wasn't designed with this in mind, what with all the frequent save points.

There is a lot of on the fly strategy to consider and implement. It feels a little 'higher level' than previous FF games, as in you're more so affecting your overall strategy, but you have to evaluate that strategy a lot.

 

[Gamer @ Heart]

Is it worth upgrding my malboro wand to nirvana if they both have improed debuffing II or does nirvana have higher behind the scenes stats on casting death?

 

[Rpgmonkey]

Seeing a Cactuar fall to the ground after being Launched is hilarious. :lol

 

[jiggle]

Is it worth upgrding my malboro wand to nirvana if they both have improed debuffing II or does nirvana have higher behind the scenes stats on casting death?

nirvana does not have any enfeebling bonus since all her weapons upgrade into it

 

[mr_nothin]

Yea, this is exactly where there's a split on this game..I think.
I'm more of a micro-managing fan than the macro/higher level stuff. I like to get down in there and customize and manage my characters exactly how I want them. I want them to wear a certain armor and be strong in a specific area and fine tune them. The higher level stuff just feels like a limitation to me. Wish they could have had 2 different versions of the game. Sort of like the MGS series in the way they asked "Have you played MGS1 or MGS2?". This could have asked "Did you like FFXII?" and the ppl that said yes would get more of the micro-management stuff and the ppl that said no would get the macro.

I wouldnt mind it as much if they allowed me to control all of the characters and if they made the battle system have a little more depth. Why cant I command a character to attack him, heal teammate, cast deshell on this other enemy, then cast Fira. NOOOO, I'm stuck on focusing on 1 enemy at a time. It would have been a lot more dynamic.