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Final Fantasy XIII |OT|

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ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
icarus-daedelus said:
edit: also, Lightning's hair. What's up with that? Serah's is like an exaggeratedly worse version of the same concept, too.

Her hair looked pretty good before (CGI-non-final build etc):

hatima_ff13_risou2.jpg


Compared to the final build:

hatima_ff13_rekka2.jpg


Is this the final build? :lol
 

BeeDog

Member
Dedication Through Light said:
End of Chapter 12 opens teleportation point to base camp vallis media.

Alright, this is what was said, but I have now entered Chapter 13 (
directly after The Proudclad Pt. 2 fight
), but I didn't see a teleport back to the Ch. 11 areas. Anyone? :( I hate these chapters and want to free-roam.
 

Arjen

Member
BeeDog said:
Alright, this is what was said, but I have now entered Chapter 13 (
directly after The Proudclad Pt. 2 fight
), but I didn't see a teleport back to the Ch. 11 areas. Anyone? :( I hate these chapters and want to free-roam.

Just head a tiny bit further to trigger the cutscene.
 

Gattsu25

Banned
ULTROS! said:
Her hair looked pretty good before (CGI-non-final build etc):

http://blog-imgs-18-origin.fc2.com/h/a/t/hatimaki/hatima_ff13_risou2.jpg[img]

Compared to the final build:

[img]http://blog-imgs-18-origin.fc2.com/h/a/t/hatimaki/hatima_ff13_rekka2.jpg[img]

[spoiler]Is this the final build? :lol[/spoiler][/QUOTE][spoiler]No. It's a red X[/spoiler]
 

BeeDog

Member
Arjen said:
Just head a tiny bit further to trigger the cutscene.

Oh, all right, thanks for the fast answer!

Also have a follow-up question (minor spoilers):

I have heard that when progressing to a certain point, some very hard enemies either replace regular enemies, or show up at certain parts of Gran Pulse. Is this true? And if so, when does this occur?
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
BeeDog said:
Oh, all right, thanks for the fast answer!

Also have a follow-up question (minor spoilers):

I have heard that when progressing to a certain point, some very hard enemies either replace regular enemies, or show up at certain parts of Gran Pulse. Is this true? And if so, when does this occur?

That happens much later on, when you finish missions 56-62.
 

ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
Help

Tried using Vanille's death + Malboro wand on Neochu, can't seem to kill him. Does death happen very very rarely?
 

Pooya

Member
ULTROS! said:
Help

Tried using Vanille's death + Malboro wand on Neochu, can't seem to kill him. Does death happen very very rarely?
it's pure luck, it has 1% chance of happening apparently, if Neocu casted screech, hit start and retry, buffs and debuffs increase the chances of success, retry until it hits, same for turtle farming.
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
miladesn said:
it's pure luck, it has 1% chance of happening apparently, if Neocu casted screech, hit start and retry, buffs and debuffs increase the chances of success, retry until it hits, same for turtle farming.

Yeah. Also, remember to have an offensive paradigm set up (a lot of people forget to do it and have to restart) and just keep trying and pray to the RNG gods that you get lucky.

Sadly, you'll need to do this one more time in order to 5 star another similar encounter.
 

Mikey Jr.

Member
I come from a heavy FF background. Played every single FF out there. I thought I was the master of Final Fantasy.

But this game I cant get my head around.

I'm about 4 hours in, and I guess I understand combat, but according to the post battle screen, I only get like max of 3 stars; 0 is not uncommon for me. I'll get a 5 here or there, but thats mostly if I beat an enemy thats really low level.

So was there a learning curve for everyone else too? I'm beating the battles easily, but I guess not getting those 5 stars pisses me off.

edit- Sometimes I'll be under the target time and still not get 5 stars.

Also, the camera piss off anyone else in battle? Wish it was higher so I can see the entire battle.
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
BeeDog said:
Thanks! Could you perhaps specify the changes that occur after those missions?

All that happens is that the Adamanchields and Adamantortoises will "evolve". One of the trophies/achievements is based on defeating the new enemies.
 

BeeDog

Member
firehawk12 said:
All that happens is that the Adamanchields and Adamantortoises will "evolve". One of the trophies/achievements is based on defeating the new enemies.

Ouch, and I find the -chields to be hard enough; can't even let off a fart before a -tortoise kills my whole party. :/ Thanks!
 

ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
Thanks guys!

Fortunately
I killed the 2 Neochus from Mission 45 and 55 with death and 5-starring them on the first try. :lol
 

Arjen

Member
Mikey Jr. said:
I come from a heavy FF background. Played every single FF out there. I thought I was the master of Final Fantasy.

But this game I cant get my head around.

I'm about 4 hours in, and I guess I understand combat, but according to the post battle screen, I only get like max of 3 stars; 0 is not uncommon for me. I'll get a 5 here or there, but thats mostly if I beat an enemy thats really low level.

So was there a learning curve for everyone else too? I'm beating the battles easily, but I guess not getting those 5 stars pisses me off.

edit- Sometimes I'll be under the target time and still not get 5 stars.

Also, the camera piss off anyone else in battle? Wish it was higher so I can see the entire battle.

This is my first FF and i never managed to NOT get a five star rating in the first 4 hours.
You just have to use auto battle the entire time :lol
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
BeeDog said:
Ouch, and I find the -chields to be hard enough; can't even let off a fart before a -tortoise kills my whole party. :/ Thanks!

As you slowly build up your characters and get the genji gloves, you'll soon find them fairly trivial. When you unlock the new enemies, you'll witness the utter cheapness of two of the hardest enemies in the game. :lol
 

Mikey Jr.

Member
Arjen said:
This is my first FF and i never managed to NOT get a five star rating in the first 4 hours.
You just have to use auto battle the entire time :lol

Ughhh..........auto battle? I refuse to use that.

I mean.....auto battle? Are you kidding me? Is there any game left after that?
 

Arjen

Member
Mikey Jr. said:
Ughhh..........auto battle? I refuse to use that.

I mean.....auto battle? Are you kidding me? Is there any game left after that?

Well there's paradigm switching later on. :lol
 

see5harp

Member
Mikey Jr. said:
Ughhh..........auto battle? I refuse to use that.

I mean.....auto battle? Are you kidding me? Is there any game left after that?

Dude you are playing an RPG. If the AI was a bit more programmable, the game wouldn't really be that different from the gambits in FFXII. Much of FFXIII's "game" is already gone. Even the Crystareum is like a fucking corridor.
 

Mikey Jr.

Member
see5harp said:
Dude you are playing an RPG. If the AI was a bit more programmable, the game wouldn't really be that different from the gambits in FFXII. Much of FFXIII's "game" is already gone. Even the Crystareum is like a fucking corridor.

This is sad......

No wonder all my Call of Duty friends love this game.

Just fought some flying dragon boss. Spammed auto battle. Got 5 stars.

Fuck this game.
 

Arjen

Member
Mikey Jr. said:
This is sad......

No wonder all my Call of Duty friends love this game.

Just fought some flying dragon boss. Spammed auto battle. Got 5 stars.

Fuck this game.

:lol :lol :lol
 

Mikey Jr.

Member
Arjen said:
:lol :lol :lol

No seriously, this is Final Fantasy?

I really dont want to troll, but this is devastating. Presentation and graphics are amazing and story seems good so far, but I'm being treated like a fucking baby. "My first Final Fantasy" should be the name of the game.
 
Think I'm done with the game now. Got all the trophies I can be bothered to get. Done all Rank B quests and below plus maxxed out one of each role.

Levelling up now is too time consuming and tedious to do anymore.
 

Zoe

Member
Mikey Jr. said:
No seriously, this is Final Fantasy?

I really dont want to troll, but this is devastating. Presentation and graphics are amazing and story seems good so far, but I'm being treated like a fucking baby. "My first Final Fantasy" should be the name of the game.

You don't HAVE to use Auto. But good luck keeping up with the enemies near the end of the game.
 
Mikey Jr. said:
Ughhh..........auto battle? I refuse to use that.

I mean.....auto battle? Are you kidding me? Is there any game left after that?

How is using auto-battle as a COM any different from spamming attack in older FFs, or auto-heal as a MED any different from spamming cure spells? Jesus, some people are easily lead by a fucking name. SE should have called it 'Quick Select' or 'Suggested Course Of Action' and I bet most of the complaints would go away.
 

Arjen

Member
Mikey Jr. said:
No seriously, this is Final Fantasy?

I really dont want to troll, but this is devastating. Presentation and graphics are amazing and story seems good so far, but I'm being treated like a fucking baby. "My first Final Fantasy" should be the name of the game.

I don't know dude, like i sad it's my first Final Fantasy, so i have now idea how it compares to the rest.
It does get a bit deeper later on where you have to switch paradigms at the right time, but i'm in chapter 13 now, and you can basicly use auto battle the entire time.
 
Finally Platinumd this bitch! Yeah! :D

I searched for an hour for the last missing item for "Treasure Hunter" and it was Titanium Bangle... apparently you can't find it anywhere in the game and HAVE to buy it...
 
Just wanted to say thanks Himuro and Magnus for the indepth reviews / writeups. Have been on the fence on the game due to what I've read and because I have a pretty hefty backlog to go through, but your posts gave me a really solid idea as to what to expect if I do give it a shot in the future.
 
Die Squirrel Die said:
How is using auto-battle as a COM any different from spamming attack in older FFs, or auto-heal as a MED any different from spamming cure spells? Jesus, some people are easily lead by a fucking name. SE should have called it 'Quick Select' or 'Suggested Course Of Action' and I bet most of the complaints would go away.

Interactivity. There, your difficult puzzle has been solved for you.
 
Katana_Strikes said:
Sorry, but what is different about the 2nd play?
Nothing, just like any other FF and most games. If I really like a game I like to replay through it. And in my playthrough of FFXIII I actually found the gameplay a lot better.

In my first playthough the part where you play as Vanille and Szah sucked. I could hardly kill those turtle things without battles taking forever. Not so this time as I realized that if I make Szah a commando and just allow him to do one turn of attacks that would keep the stagger netter from following to fast. Allowing me to make them both ravengers and stagger the enemy much faster. I also figured out that perhaps playing as Sab wasn't bad since it kept the stagger meter up. These two things made that part incredible faster and much more fun. I honestly don't see the complaints people have with the 2member party parts. Since I realized that just one turn as commando was good enough for the stagger netter, it made me invest more into using Lightnning as a raveger this time.

I really played my 2nd playthrough a lot diffrently. Before I was all cautious and slow, but 2nd playthourgh I was all about quickness. I know people think there's not strategy to this game, I gotta disagree on that. As I was banned here I read a lot of tips that people gave only to realize they were different from what I used to defeat the enemies in this game. People said you needed a sentinel to beat the Proudclad for example. Hardly, I was able to do it with my party of Light,Vannile, and Hope easily.

I've played through FFX about 3 times and FFXII 4 times and each playthrough was also mostly the same .but I enjoy those games. So I'm not sure why I can't replay FFXIII even if there is little change? It was a really enjoyable game.
 

Kai Dracon

Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
People who are still saying the game is mindless and for n00bs in terms of combat haven't gotten out of the first 5 hours of the game. Granted, I agree with a lot of critics that the pacing is very bad and it holds your hand for like 8 hours too long.

However, "auto battle" is not really automatic fighting. Once you have to manage paradigm shifts and begin using techniques strategically at the right time there's just as much manual player involvement as in FFX or older FFs. Look at it this way: hitting a button and selecting a paradigm at the right moment is the same thing as hitting a menu and telling a character to use a particular spell or tech instead of just continuing to attack.

And to be fair, it's a bit more involved because you have to build strategies around what all three characters will do, not just one, when you select a new order.

When you get to Gran Pulse (aka, the real game), the game will instantly begin kicking your ass and you will be using auto battle as your default.

It's true, they shouldn't have called it auto battle :p

Having said that, I still like FFXII's system better, and it's far deeper (ironically a game whiny players also said is for n00bs because it plays itself OMG even though that is a complete lie. People really like to be fooled that they're making the game work by spamming a menu choice that says "attack", don't they?)
 

Magnus

Member
Die Squirrel Die said:
How is using auto-battle as a COM any different from spamming attack in older FFs, or auto-heal as a MED any different from spamming cure spells? Jesus, some people are easily lead by a fucking name. SE should have called it 'Quick Select' or 'Suggested Course Of Action' and I bet most of the complaints would go away.
Interactivity. It selectively adapts and incorporates attacks that cater to enemy weaknesses over time and optimizes group attacks when facing groups. The game's speed favors auto battling versus manually queueing up attacks, so you're shooting yourself in the foot if you don't use it. It's in a different league than auto-selecting Fight in other FFs which is never the right strategy for as great a percentage of battles as Auto-battling is here.
 

wud

Neo Member
Himuro said:
People keep defending the game's story with "I like it, so it's great!" and "it isn't so different from past FF's!" (which would be wrong).

It's the morning after I posted my review and I still have not seen one valid argument in support of this game's story. Is there anyone who likes the game's story willing to defend it?

i like trying to figure out what the shit its about
 
heh, so much hate on the last few pages. made me all tired just reading all that criticism, phew! (lots of good points that i agree on though).

so here's my take, not that anyone should care but...

i adore this game. the absolutely gorgeous visuals and beautiful places the game takes you to (massively important to me in a FF game), the battle system, great music, very interesting and unique setting/story (IMO), overall polish... for me it all just clicks right. before i started playing i was really worried about the linearity and lack of towns (many years ago FFX shocked me with it's linearity, and i hated it for a long time), but i found it extremely easy to forgive these omissions. i was literally hooked to this game right during the marvellous intro with the haunting prelude track, and i havent stopped loving it since. for me it feels like Square-Enix really did their best with it, even if sometimes it kinda feels like they ran out of time... i truly believe they did their best. and i can't hate on them for the choices they made, like making the game more approachable to newcomers (you know they HAD to do that, and even still the game still has its fair share of challenges).

i honestly think FFXIII is better than the main PS2 Final Fantasy games, and i'm quite fond of them too. for the first time since the PS1 iterations i am drawn into the game 100% without having to force myself at all and can't wait to see what's next. i don't understand why that isn't happening to more people. does the linearity or lack of minigames really bug people that much? i mean it's still a HUGE game! and it's so awesome and refreshing when the game finally opens up more.. i simply love that kind of design, when a game suddenly changes totally and knocks you off your feet. (talking about Chapter 11 of course).

for me this has been the perfect game to sit down and play after a soul-crushingly depressing day at work... booting the game up takes my cares away just like that. i can't commend Square-Enix enough for pulling that off.

is it really just me that feels this way? :( i love this game
except for Vanille of course
and don't want to be alone :(

coming from the horrendeously frustrating buggy mess that is Fallout 3 DLC on PS3 straight to this might have influenced me a bit, such an incomprehensibly large gap in quality lol.
 

Eliciel

Member
astroturfing said:
heh, so much hate on the last few pages. made me all tired just reading all that criticism, phew! (lots of good points that i agree on though).

so here's my take, not that anyone should care but...

i adore this game. the absolutely gorgeous visuals and beautiful places the game takes you to (massively important to me in a FF game), the battle system, great music, very interesting and unique setting/story (IMO), overall polish... for me it all just clicks right. before i started playing i was really worried about the linearity and lack of towns (many years ago FFX shocked me with it's linearity, and i hated it for a long time), but i found it extremely easy to forgive these omissions. i was literally hooked to this game right during the marvellous intro with the haunting prelude track, and i havent stopped loving it since. for me it feels like Square-Enix really did their best with it, even if sometimes it kinda feels like they ran out of time... i truly believe they did their best. and i can't hate on them for the choices they made, like making the game more approachable to newcomers (you know they HAD to do that, and even still the game still has its fair share of challenges).

i honestly think FFXIII is better than the main PS2 Final Fantasy games, and i'm quite fond of them too. for the first time since the PS1 iterations i am drawn into the game 100% without having to force myself at all and can't wait to see what's next. i don't understand why that isn't happening to more people. does the linearity or lack of minigames really bug people that much? i mean it's still a HUGE game! and it's so awesome and refreshing when the game finally opens up more.. i simply love that kind of design, when a game suddenly changes totally and knocks you off your feet. (talking about Chapter 11 of course).

for me this has been the perfect game to sit down and play after a soul-crushingly depressing day at work... booting the game up takes my cares away just like that. i can't commend Square-Enix enough for pulling that off.

is it really just me that feels this way? :( i love this game
except for Vanille of course
and don't want to be alone :(

coming from the horrendeously frustrating buggy mess that is Fallout 3 DLC on PS3 straight to this might have influenced me a bit, such an incomprehensibly large gap in quality lol.



At least one single person thanks for this :D NOW I am going to buy FF XIII and I think I will love it too ! :)
 
Himuro said:
It's the morning after I posted my review and I still have not seen one valid argument in support of this game's story. Is there anyone who likes the game's story willing to defend it?

I like the actual story. I just don't like the way it's written or presented. That's a big strike for me, but that's something that varies between every person. To answer your question, I like the story, but I won't defend it because of how badly it plays out.
 
Himuro said:
People keep defending the game's story with "I like it, so it's great!" and "it isn't so different from past FF's!" (which would be wrong).

It's the morning after I posted my review and I still have not seen one valid argument in support of this game's story. Is there anyone who likes the game's story willing to defend it?

yeah, i personally think it's the best story in a FF game so far, that i've played. worth noting though that i haven't actually finished the game yet so i don't know the ultimate conclusion :p but i'm pretty close and can pretty much guess it's going to be some weird shit, and i'm fine with that. (also i've read some spoilers sadly.)

for me it's the setting that makes the story rise above the other FF games, the idea of this artificial planet-like place Cocoon hanging above a mysterious lower world... infinitely more interesting to me than anything FFVI or FFVII or FFX for example had to offer. for once it feels like they actually put thought into where the story takes place.

i also loved the idea of the Fal'Cie.. very interesting "other" in a game. the vagueness of what they actually are kept me interested... are they gods? are they alive or mechanical? what the f*ck are they and what are their motives? i had no idea and i loved the mystery. no FF game that i've played has had this element... not nearly as strong anyways.

being branded fugitives on the run and in the middle of all this Fal'Cie weirdness was awesome too. much better than exploring dungeons for no reason IMO.

for me all of the above have made the story great. (so far, pretty close to the end).

dialogue and characters are a whole other story though... but i don't expect much from a FF game lol, so i was pleasantly surprised that i actually liked the main character a lot. after the incredibly annoying and forgettable Tidus and Vaan, Lighting is just fantastic.
 
Magnus said:
Interactivity. It selectively adapts and incorporates attacks that cater to enemy weaknesses over time and optimizes group attacks when facing groups. The game's speed favors auto battling versus manually queueing up attacks, so you're shooting yourself in the foot if you don't use it. It's in a different league than auto-selecting Fight in other FFs which is never the right strategy for as great a percentage of battles as Auto-battling is here.

From my experience with FFXIII and the series as a whole, I'm going to have to disagree with you on these points. Auto-battle/heal/hinder/etc tended to focus on single enemies, and very occasionally threw in group attacks. Now the fastest strategies in a lot of cases was to focus on a single enemy to stagger, but there were definitely mobs where you weren't going to get a stagger anyway and focusing on group attacks would serve you better, which auto-battle wouldn't do. Then of course there's maximising pre-emptive strikes, where you could stagger multiple opponents with a single 3 tier spell. Now if you want to tell me that auto-battle would do that, then sir, I must call you a liar.

As for interactivity, if between paradigm shifting, initiating combos early, cancelling combos early and timing attacks to maintain juggles, you think auto-battle took away from the interactivity then you are a fucking loon.
 

Pappasman

Member
I think the characters and the world are interesting, but nothing is ever explained. I went through a 50 hour game not exactly sure what my characters motivations were and who the enemy was up untill the last quater of the game.

who else was dissapointed by the lack of an MGS4 style wedding scene at the end? :lol
 
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