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Final Fantasy XIII |OT|

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Zoe

Member
jonnybryce said:
So is it worth it for me to fight everything I see or not really?

By fighting everything you'll see, you'll come close to maxing out the job levels in each chapter.

Cloudy said:
Wow, so I might as well give up on manual control? Fukk you, Square :lol

Manual control will be easier to do near the end of the game when you have more AP to work with.
 

Jeels

Member
george_us said:
The linearity makes perfect sense here imo. I'd lose my damn mind if I had to juggle all of the typical FF stuff with the amazingly fast battle system and all that. This is also feeling like the most logical FF to date with the way the characters all meet up. It seems like all of the characters are tagging along because they absolutely have to, even Vanille (you can definitely tell she's hiding something). Nothing about the way the characters met up feel contrived at all. Plus I'm strangely digging all of the characters. Vanille strange mannerisms and accent help enrich her positive demeanor and Snow's blind optimism actually makes sense here. Even Hope's whiny ass actually has a legitimate reason to be whiny.

Right, it's funny that weaknesses to some are absolute strengths to others. I'm getting further in (only a little bit past the demo portions), but I'm already stunned by everything.
 

neoism

Member
thetrin said:
Without doing ANY of the missions? You're going to have useless weapons and no ability to ride a Chocobo. If that sounds like fun, be my guest.
Well what is the minimum, spoiler tag it too please. I don't want to do everything before the last boss, and only have 1 level to up for the 6 classes after I beat the game. I'd rather save most of the missions for after I beat it! I'm still a little mad you have to beat the game to do "everything". I like to do everything, beat the last boss, watch the credits and think about the 2 months of awesomeness the game gave me and then put it up! That's why I'm changing to way I play it this time, seems like the best way for me the enjoy it the most!
 

BluWacky

Member
dark10x said:
Wait, what? Where?

Doc Evils is at the UK launch "do" at HMV on Oxford Street in London. Must have just started (it's running 5:30pm to 7:30pm UK time).

I've decided I can't be arsed so I'm just going home to play the damn thing when I get out of here. Traded in Darksiders and Dante's Inferno at GAME on my lunch break and got it for free, which was a nice surprise!
 

neoism

Member
Aeon712 said:
Just put it in my PS3 and first thing I notice is no background XMB wallpaper and music :(.
That is sad, but I just changed, my system to start up as soon as I turn it on. For the next two months my PS3 is FF13 player!:lol
 

Zoe

Member
neoism said:
Well what is the minimum, spoiler tag it too please. I don't want to do everything before the last boss, and only have 1 level to up for the 6 classes after I beat the game. I'd rather save most of the missions for after I beat it!

You don't have to spend all of the CP that you receive, and at that point the cost will be so high that you'd have to grind anyway.

I completed 50/64 missions before beating the boss. I currently have 5 or so missions left and I'm still not maxed out in the default levels.
 

-PXG-

Member
(regarding a mini-boss fight early in the game)

The
Myrmidon
looks almost exactly like the
Hunters from Halo.
:lol
 

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
This game is really amazing me so far! We heard all the pessimism for months, but what I didn't understand was that all of these "downsides" are actually consious design choices which carve out a completely new type of game which is excellent in it's own right. I really like that they cut out a lot of the fat of a traditional RPG, and while I hope to see that stuff come back in other games, XIII feels very pick up n play compared to it's predecessors. I see exactly what they were going for now!

Also, not having a demo was a hidden blessing: the entire opening sequence was fresh to me.. And despite spoiling myself silly with grainy Internet videos, seeing this up close in HD made my jaw hit the floor. I knew this game was supposed to look good, but even after four years of following it: I didn't know it would be this good looking.

I'm not too far into the game, but the game seems to drop you into the story in media res, and so far the cutscenes have not explained the plot, exactly, saving it for the menu lore. Reading about pulse and cocoon.. It made me re-interpret what I had been seeing in these trailers for all these years.. This world is more interesting than I had imagined! And also, I think this stiff must have been lost to a lot of importers with poor Japanese skills: the story isn't all revealed through cutscenes.

So I'm pleased :D in the final days leading up to it's release I was almost dreading this game. I thought it would be heavily flawed, and I had probably spoiled myself on the best parts: learning the general storyline, characters, music.... No. I didn't know shit about the actual game I was about to play. The reality of XIII is wowing me.

Oh and so far I love the characters: Snow, Vanille. Love em. :D
 

Cloudy

Banned
For folks wondering about battle ratings. I just saw on one of the tutorials that good ratings replenish your TP (technique points)
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
I'm shocked at how positive the reactions are thus far. After reading impressions on certain other forums, I was expecting one of the worst RPGs ever made. I mean, seriously, people weren't just disappointed in it...they seem to absolutely HATE it with a passion.

I'll find out for myself later, I suppose, but it's kind of interesting to see the praise. In a way, it seems like the negative impressions may actually result in others enjoying the game more. So many people were expecting a terrible game as a result and I think they are being surprised by it.
 
I thought the ratings affected how quickly the TP gauge fills up.

Chp3 really is a step up from the first 2. And I loved turning the corner in the
frozen lake and coming across the ruins.
 

jon bones

hot hot hanuman-on-man action
dark10x said:
I'm shocked at how positive the reactions are thus far. After reading impressions on certain other forums, I was expecting one of the worst RPGs ever made. I mean, seriously, people weren't just disappointed in it...they seem to absolutely HATE it with a passion.

I'll find out for myself later, I suppose, but it's kind of interesting to see the praise. In a way, it seems like the negative impressions may actually result in others enjoying the game more. So many people were expecting a terrible game as a result and I think they are being surprised by it.

20 bucks says those dudes like complaining about games more than they like playing games
 
Vamphuntr said:
At least you are lucky you will get it. I think I just got ripped of by gamestop.ca. Purolator came an hour ago with ''my package''. From the box it was clearly evident that it was only the preorder poster (thin long box). The delivery guy showed me that it was only one box, hence the label clearly shows carton 1 of 1. My tracking number shows that the game, poster and mini guide were all delivered (same tracking number for all three). Packaging slip shows it's only a poster.

Customer service is clearly run by incompetent. They made me check to be sure the game is not in the box. Pfffff try fitting a game case in this box. They are saying it was clearly delivered. :( I'm done with gamestop forever.
Time to kick over their magazine rack and use Amazon from now on. Get Amazon Prime and then you'll have unlimited 2 day shipping. Fuck Gamestop.
 

Jeels

Member
dark10x said:
I'm shocked at how positive the reactions are thus far. After reading impressions on certain other forums, I was expecting one of the worst RPGs ever made. I mean, seriously, people weren't just disappointed in it...they seem to absolutely HATE it with a passion.

Most of the people hating on it had not played it. There were people (such as Kagari), not as impressed with the game as they thought they would be, ending up with disappointment. But the flat out hate came from fan boys and trolls reacting to import impressions.

In the end, this became a good thing for us, it leveled our own impressions with the game, and we came into it with clearer minds - allowing us to better appreciate with FFXIII is about.

Edit: Also, my guide still hasn't shipped from Barnes and Noble.
 

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
dark10x said:
I'm shocked at how positive the reactions are thus far. After reading impressions on certain other forums, I was expecting one of the worst RPGs ever made. I mean, seriously, people weren't just disappointed in it...they seem to absolutely HATE it with a passion.

I'll find out for myself later, I suppose, but it's kind of interesting to see the praise.
The thing is that the changes made to XIII are the things which would sting a hardcore traditional fan the most.. And they were vocal about it. Also I think the language barrier did it no favors.

So far I think the changes have been a good choice in making the game more accessable to a wider audience.. But we shall see how that shakes out.

So far I'm loving it.. But I suppose I should get further before completely declaring the naysaying as "bunk".

^ jeels: I agree. The 3 months of "warnings" really prepared us to appreciate XIII for what it was.
 
Die Squirrel Die said:
Chp3 really is a step up from the first 2. And I loved turning the corner in the
frozen lake and coming across the ruins.

End of Chapter 3 spoiler/trivia:
I noticed that part of the game makes sense now too. In the demo Square had, you played as Snow even though he wasn't in any of the cutscenes.
 

Gwanatu T

Junior Member
You SOBs made me want this. The icing on the cake is Gamestop's "get this game for $20 when you trade in 2 games" promotion. Sheesh, just give me the game, they are starting to make trade-ins feel worthwhile.
 

lljride

Member
Aeon712 said:
Just put it in my PS3 and first thing I notice is no background XMB wallpaper and music :(.

That's lame.

Grabbed my copy and the guide at lunch, now I get to stare at it for the next 4 hours. Glad to see more positive impressions roll in, really getting excited about playing it tonight.
 

jon bones

hot hot hanuman-on-man action
Dresden said:
Don't talk about GAF like that.

it's true. i rarely come to the gaming side because so many people complain. even the street fighter thread sometimes gets shitted up.
 

sdornan

Member
Okay, I've only played for 20 minutes, but I'd like to know why everyone walks so loudly. Sounds like they all wear steel boots. So much so that I can't hear any dialog outside of cutscenes.
 

7Th

Member
dark10x said:
I'm shocked at how positive the reactions are thus far. After reading impressions on certain other forums, I was expecting one of the worst RPGs ever made. I mean, seriously, people weren't just disappointed in it...they seem to absolutely HATE it with a passion.

I'll find out for myself later, I suppose, but it's kind of interesting to see the praise. In a way, it seems like the negative impressions may actually result in others enjoying the game more. So many people were expecting a terrible game as a result and I think they are being surprised by it.

Lack of hype works wonders.
 

Zeliard

Member
dark10x said:
I'm shocked at how positive the reactions are thus far. After reading impressions on certain other forums, I was expecting one of the worst RPGs ever made. I mean, seriously, people weren't just disappointed in it...they seem to absolutely HATE it with a passion.

I'll find out for myself later, I suppose, but it's kind of interesting to see the praise. In a way, it seems like the negative impressions may actually result in others enjoying the game more. So many people were expecting a terrible game as a result and I think they are being surprised by it.

Well, we've all been hearing about the linearity and such for a while now. I think expectations have been checked to a reasonable degree, so instead of people being disappointed when they play the game, they're actually finding that their expectations are being exceeded in some cases.

I can personally tell you that if I had played FFXIII completely blind with no prior knowledge of anything, I would have been stunningly disappointed by the linearity and the lack of player agency for the first, what is it, 25 hours? But since I'm fully aware of these things and I'm expecting them, I've basically already gotten over it and am now curious to see in what other ways the game will wow me (and I'm fully receptive of whatever it'll throw at me).

The apparent fact that it absolutely nails the combat system is already a huge plus for me, though if anything is likely to bother me while playing it's that it seems like it takes a while for the game to finish drip-feeding tutorials/abilities and give you full access to the combat. If the environments are visually appealing and diverse enough, the linearity won't bug me as much. But blatantly restricting the player in combat for such a lengthy period of time isn't cool, even if we know it's coming.
 
I love the monster design and mechanics in this game. Honestly where else you will have
a mob with 20k HP that can summon a monster that has 500k HP
:D
 

zaryn

Member
The positive impressions in this thread are making my work day super hard to endure. Once the wife gets to bed, it should be a FF13 night (well, mostly... it is Lost night, after all.) Can't wait to dig in.
 

InfiniteNine

Rolling Girl
Just got my CE guide in just now, but I'm unsure if I should open it or not. :lol I wish FedEX was shipping my game too. -stares at guide-
 

Cloudy

Banned
dark10x said:
I'm shocked at how positive the reactions are thus far. After reading impressions on certain other forums, I was expecting one of the worst RPGs ever made. I mean, seriously, people weren't just disappointed in it...they seem to absolutely HATE it with a passion.

I'll find out for myself later, I suppose, but it's kind of interesting to see the praise. In a way, it seems like the negative impressions may actually result in others enjoying the game more. So many people were expecting a terrible game as a result and I think they are being surprised by it.

Its funny, FF12 got so much love here and I thought it was mediocre. This game is great so far (5 hours in). I never got the "don't wanna put the controller down" feeling with FF12 but this game oozes of it..

Key difference is the FOCUSED plot (or "linearity" as the haters call it lol)
 

Snaku

Banned
My shipment from Amazon just arrived. And now I have to run errands in preparation for my trip to meet M. Night tomorrow. Fuck.
 

thetrin

Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
I'm glad you guys are liking the game. It makes me feel slightly less insane for loving the JP version.
 

george_us

Member
dark10x said:
I'm shocked at how positive the reactions are thus far. After reading impressions on certain other forums, I was expecting one of the worst RPGs ever made. I mean, seriously, people weren't just disappointed in it...they seem to absolutely HATE it with a passion.

I'll find out for myself later, I suppose, but it's kind of interesting to see the praise. In a way, it seems like the negative impressions may actually result in others enjoying the game more. So many people were expecting a terrible game as a result and I think they are being surprised by it.
There really wasn't any evidence that FFXIII was a bad game. All of the negative impressions I read merely cited the lack of traditional RPG elements as reasons for the negativity, not that the game did anything wrong. The linearity, lack of towns, and overall streamlining only served to get me further hyped since those were things that I had been complaining about for years. The only things that had me worried were the characters and the story but so far I'm really liking them. Of course things could completely tank later on.
 

JORMBO

Darkness no more
Only got to play for 30 minutes last night. I can't wait to get home and play some more. Kind of strange because I already finished the JP version :lol
 
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