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[truly101]

Yeah, it seems to work well... the way the game started out in media res, and then didn't really spell it to you was pretty realistic. In FFVII, Barret would be explaining things to you that, in retrospect, Cloud really should have known about..

Sazh: The Fal Cie are killin' Cocoon Clou..errr Lighting. Don't you care?

Clou...err Lightning: Not my problem *gets moody*

Sazh: Shi'it, I gonna fry you, like I gonna fry dis bird in my harr.

 

[Shouta]

Yeah, it seems to work well... the way the game started out in media res, and then didn't really spell it to you was pretty realistic. In FFVII, Barret would be explaining things to you that, in retrospect, Cloud really should have known about..

It's a nasty crutch in the overall scheme though and helps to fuel a lot of complaints with the game's story.

 

[LiK]

That and the height difference - she comes up to like the middle of Snow's chest, ugh.

not that unusual. petite girls exist

 

[Diablos]

Its pathetic that the game doesn't allow you to adjust the sound levels for speech/effects/BGM.

Indeed it is...

 

[RPGCrazied]

I would play more.. but I put in 8hours today, I don't want to fry the xbox. I will tomorrow though

..but

When does pulse become playable? Im itching to explore that place

 

[LiK]

I'm sorry but no, the sound mix is mediocre at best. The volume levels are all over the place and the bass output is inconsistent as hell. Half the time you'll expect a heavy oomph from the sub and you'll get nothing. All the weapons/moves in the game have little impact and sound weak, and there is a noticable drop in quality between the cutscene audio and in-audio. Its pathetic that the game doesn't allow you to adjust the sound levels for speech/effects/BGM.

i noticed that too. no adjustment from stereo to surround etc either. for you guys playing the game in stereo, you guys missing out on any dialogue the characters speak when they're following behind you? i have a full surround setup and you could hardly hear them when they're saying random things during exploration.

 

[truly101]

It's a nasty crutch in the overall scheme though and helps to fuel a lot of complaints with the game's story.

To be fair though, a lot of FF games get caught up in a lot of metaphysical mumbo jumbo, and the terms in the game get so esoteric, it becomes difficult to really determine what they mean and what they're about. VIII and even X could have benefitted greatly from a codex, in case you get confused about Seeds or Sorceresseseseses, Sin and Fayth for example.

 

[7Th]

It's a nasty crutch in the overall scheme though and helps to fuel a lot of complaints with the game's story.

┐('～`)┌

You just have to read the prequel light novel, the in-game encyclopedia, the Scenario Ultimania and then

Spoiler

fill the still remaining blanks in your head

to get a full grasp of the story!

 

[aceface]

This game seems to be taking a lot of cues from persona...attacking from behind on the field for pre-emptive attacks, switching paradigms (Persona's anyone?) back and forth in the midst of battle, game over when the leader dies, AI controlled party members, vocal background music...

Anyways, I like Persona, so this is a good thing!

 

[jonnybryce]

i noticed that too. no adjustment from stereo to surround etc either. for you guys playing the game in stereo, you guys missing out on any dialogue the characters speak when they're following behind you? i have a full surround setup and you could hardly hear them when they're saying random things during exploration.

4/5 times, I can't hear them. I hear footsteps 10x louder than voices.

 

[Dragon]

This game seems to be taking a lot of cues from persona...attacking from behind on the field for pre-emptive attacks, switching paradigms (Persona's anyone?) back and forth in the midst of battle, game over when the leader dies, AI controlled party members, vocal background music...

Anyways, I like Persona, so this is a good thing!

I was playing Grandia the other day and that's how they did it...

 

[shouamabane]

Some of the footstep sound effects are pretty ridiculously loud.

edit: beaten.

 

[LiK]

4/5 times, I can't hear them. I hear footsteps 10x louder than voices.

ouch.

 

[Alex]

This game seems to be taking a lot of cues from persona...attacking from behind on the field for pre-emptive attacks, switching paradigms (Persona's anyone?) back and forth in the midst of battle, game over when the leader dies, AI controlled party members, vocal background music...

Anyways, I like Persona, so this is a good thing!

None of that started with Persona.

 

[Cloudy]

A lot of the backstory is being fleshed out in flashbacks to the "13 days" events so it makes sense that you'd be confused if you aren't reading the datalog. The character development is very Xenosaga-ish right now. I like it

 

[dreamer3kx]

Thank goodness for auto battle, during the harder foes I need to concentrate on health and paradigm, Id be getting my ass kicked if it weren't in the game, also if I had to apply other character moves Id really be getting spanked, I like that I only control one character.

 

[SleazyC]

The entire opening of the game felt like Square failing at trying something epic. The pace was all over the place and I really didn't have much of a clue of what was going on with all the jumping between characters.

The game looks good but the opening has really turned me off.

 

[kagete]

Just finished the first fight with the bike. goddam. the stupid gestalt and pose by snow sucked my braincells... terribad

 

[Cloudy]

That and the height difference - she comes up to like the middle of Snow's chest, ugh.

To be fair, Snow is a pretty big guy...

 

[neojubei]

I think I'll replay the game in English after I finish the Japanese version. :lol

 

[aceface]

None of that started with Persona.

Ok, take my post and replace "persona" with "game x which started those things." The point was to point out that I like those aspects of both games.

 

[Shouta]

To be fair though, a lot of FF games get caught up in a lot of metaphysical mumbo jumbo, and the terms in the game get so esoteric, it becomes difficult to really determine what they mean and what they're about. VIII and even X could have benefitted greatly from a codex, in case you get confused about Seeds or Sorceresseseseses, Sin and Fayth for example.

A lot of previous games eventually spell it out for you though or do enough to allow you to piece it together well. I don't disagree a lot of previous FF games could use a nice codex though. 13 just really screws it up badly.

┐('～`)┌

You just have to read the prequel light novel, the in-game encyclopedia, the Scenario Ultimania and then

Spoiler

fill the still remaining blanks in your head

to get a full grasp of the story!

Thanks for the help =b

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

To be fair, Snow is a pretty big guy...

DUDE PUNCHES ROBOTS! TO DEATH!!

 

[sloppyjoe_gamer]

Un%$^&ing believeable...

Square-Enix's biggest release in a long time and they dont have the common sense to prepare enough to have their registration site be prepared for people registering the game. For the last several hours the damn member.square-enix.com url that came on the little card with the game is unreachable. Nice job guys....

 

[Teknoman]

Just started the game and I'm still up to chapter 1. Despite the impressive presentation I have to say I'm really disappointed in this so far. My main annoyances being:

1.) Mediocre battle music. Ever since FFX the music in the FF series has really gone downhill. This is probably the worst battle music for a mainline FF game in a long while.

Whoa time out. I wouldnt go that far.

 

[LiK]

DUDE PUNCHES ROBOTS! TO DEATH!!

he's Tifa's brother

 

[BocoDragon]

It's a nasty crutch in the overall scheme though and helps to fuel a lot of complaints with the game's story.

Sure, but the classic videogame staple of having a character in a cutscene tell you about the world, or more commonly picking up bits and pieces of history lessons from townspeople, was just as much of a crutch.

Many stories, particularly fantasy and sci fi, leave you in the dark about many aspects of the world. I wish I had a lore section when I was watching LotR.. ( where did sauron come from? Who's that king? Why's he fighting those guys?) of course that stuff was probably settled in the books, or some spinoff, and that's what FFXIII is like except you have "the book" in the pause menu, which is not that unreasonable for an RPG. And what's the alternatives? Pandery dialogue? More lengthy council expository council scenes? Like a lot of things XIII cuts out the fat, puts the backstory in a menu to pursue at your leisure, much like the shop is just a menu.

I am too early to make a final judgement of the story though. I could agree with you in the end.

 

[Pachinko]

I caved and bought it today, on ps3.

I don't even think I finished a chapter yet, I'm wandering around a fal'cie with a tittering nancy girl and shinji ikari at the moment.

Seems alright when the game actually lets me do anything. Even the fighting seems largely devoid of input- auto-battle tends to pick the best combos faster then I can punch them in manually.

 

[Cloudy]

Thank goodness for auto battle, during the harder foes I need to concentrate on health and paradigm, Id be getting my ass kicked if it weren't in the game, also if I had to apply other character moves Id really be getting spanked, I like that I only control one character.

I think this system of controlling only one character is a lazy way for SE to speed up the battles. Thing is, it leads to the contrived "splitting-up" scenarios which are forced into the plot as incentive to use the other characters. Bring back the FFX battle system. It's the best one IMO..

That said, it's not as annoying as FF12 since ether isn't a factor here and the medics can spam spells all they want. Nothing worse than running out of MP on an AI healer in a tough fight.. >_<

 

[DualShadow]

I was playing Grandia the other day and that's how they did it...

Was going to say the same thing

 

[UntoldDreams]

Just started playing...

Whoah I had no idea there was a free form 3D camera.

This is the first Final Fantasy with a free camera right? Looking around at the environments is an interesting change.

 

[ZeoVGM]

I am so in love with the battle music and I heard it like 3 years ago. :lol

Took a break and just got into my first fight with Vanille. I can't decide if I like or hate her yet but her weapon is awesome.

 

[hateradio]

1.) Mediocre battle music. Ever since FFX the music in the FF series has really gone downhill. This is probably the worst battle music for a mainline FF game in a long while.

12 didn't even have battle music (it did have a boss battle though), and its OST is wonderful, imo, very atmospheric.


---

This game reminds me too much of FFX, I can see remnants of that team all over this game, which I don't like.

 

[jiggle]

Just started playing...

Whoah I had no idea there was a free form 3D camera.

This is the first Final Fantasy with a free camera right? Looking around at the environments is an interesting change.

FFXI and FFXII

 

[Captain N]

I just did it now.

I shall now describe what happened in excruciating detail.

Registered at site.
Got email with activation for membership.
Activated membership.
Got email saying congratulations for not being a bot.
Logged in.
Entered registration code into the game shelf.
Waited three minutes.
Got another email giving me the codes (one male, one female).
Entered in the female outfit code.
*Bzzt* "you're not a female. how bout you give your code to a nice lady eh"
Entered in the male outfit code.
*Bading* "success"
Put outfit on avatar.
Realised that it looks like total shit and I just wasted a good amount of time.
Took outfit off avatar.

I still haven't gotten an e-mail with my two avatar codes.

 

[aryies]

Whoa time out. I wouldnt go that far.

each to their own, but i completely with him.

 

[BocoDragon]

To be fair though, a lot of FF games get caught up in a lot of metaphysical mumbo jumbo, and the terms in the game get so esoteric, it becomes difficult to really determine what they mean and what they're about. VIII and even X could have benefitted greatly from a codex, in case you get confused about Seeds or Sorceresseseseses, Sin and Fayth for example.

You forget... FFVIII DID have a codex! That's the only place you learned about things like the Great Hyne (the first sorceress and mythological creator of the world), why underground HD cables were used to communicate instead of radio, the history of the Dollet Empire and their war with Esthar... That game used it VERY interestingly IMO.

 

[LiK]

need to clarify that if you just started the game, the battle system is pretty simple at first cuz it's a pretty long tutorial. play for about 4-5 hours then you'll see where the battle system is going.

 

[ZeoVGM]

I still haven't gotten an e-mail with my two avatar codes.

You're not supposed to get an e-mail. It's right on the website after you register.

Edit: :lol @ Vanille's running animation.

 

[Classic_Gs]

I'm sorry but no, the sound mix is mediocre at best. The volume levels are all over the place and the bass output is inconsistent as hell. Half the time you'll expect a heavy oomph from the sub and you'll get nothing. All the weapons/moves in the game have little impact and sound weak, and there is a noticable drop in quality between the cutscene audio and in-audio. Its pathetic that the game doesn't allow you to adjust the sound levels for speech/effects/BGM.

Spot on. I too am disappointed that the BGM cannot be adjusted, and the game's overall volume with my sound system is too low. I have to turn the volume up more with FFXIII than any game in recent memory that I have played.

 

[Teknoman]

need to clarify that if you just started the game, the battle system is pretty simple at first cuz it's a pretty long tutorial. play for about 4-5 hours then you'll see where the battle system is going.

Thats about the same for...well all FF games isnt it? Couldnt do much in IV besides attack, jump, and dark wave until things really ramped up.

 

[LiK]

Thats about the same for...well all FF games isnt it? Couldnt do much in IV besides attack, jump, and dark wave until things really ramped up.

yea, but many guys here are sorta dismissing the battle system only after an hour of gameplay. and i assume this might be the first FF game some guys are playing here.

btw, not sure how i feel about the way it lvls up my guys in this game.

 

[leng jai]

How the fuck can I stagger Pulsework Soldier's?

Commando + Ravager spam. Takes ages.

 

[Einbroch]

How the fuck can I stagger Pulsework Soldier's?

Ravager.

It just sucks. The whole Sazh/Vanille section just sucks.

 

[MvmntInGrn]

Commando + Ravager spam. Takes ages.

This is what I did, Ravager/Ravager wasn't fast enough.

No wonder. I have no commando in my party. I'm rolling as Zazh and Vanille.

You should be able to set Sazh as a commando.

 

[LiK]

No wonder. I have no commando in my party. I'm rolling as Zazh and Vanille.

i went commando! HEYO!

 

[neojubei]

This whole Square-member id stuff is confusing. Why is this like konami id?

i went commando! HEYO!

oh my.

 

[leng jai]

Ravager.

It just sucks. The whole Sazh/Vanille section just sucks.

The section where you're controlling Hope is equally terrible.

 

[saunderez]

How the fuck can I stagger Pulsework Soldier's?

Best way I found was Commando + Ravager for approximately 2 turns (gets stagger up that goes down slower) then into a Dualcasters role (Ravager + Ravager) and just wail on it. And if you haven't already use Libra on them.

 

[LiK]

I would if I could have a commando!

dammit, you missed my joke