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[DigitalDevil]

The

Spoiler

Odin

fight wasn't too bad. Once I realised the gimmick on my third try, it was just a matter of staying sharp.


It's a permanent bonus. The abilities (note: not techs) are class specific, though.

I don't know about you, but I consider this a spoiler.

 

[slaughterking]

Yeah, it doesn't really do anything else.

Oh, okay. It makes sense I guess, but I was hoping for a bit more. The game could at least tell how much better the bonuses are.

 

[Tom Penny]

X360 has a higher Metacritic score? Ok...

 

[Audioboxer87]

X360 has a higher Metacritic score? Ok...

More reviews for the PS3 copy, seems most outlets reviewed it.

Almost 2 times as many I think, 40 something, compared to 20 something on the 360. Higher chance for PS3 average to be lower, due to reception most outlets are giving the title.

In more important news, I'm really enjoying FF13, I'm taking a clear mindset into it, no it's not the FF I wanted, but regardless I'm enjoying it.

 

[00011000]

The screenshot you posted said the time to beat was 29 minutes to get 5 stars. You didn't even take 10% of that time.

yeah, but there is a countdown timer in that battle. last only roughly 4-5 minutes. the 29 minutes should be ignored.

 

[LiK]

I'm glad a lot of people are enjoying it now that they've had a chance to play it themselves. It's the longest time I've spent on a game in a long time and even if I'd agree with most complaints about the game, I still enjoyed it immensely almost the whole way through.

You know what's funny? This is like the true sequel to FFX for me. The devs seem to have kept the feel and look of their previous work. If you loved FFX, FFXIII should feel right at home.

 

[desverger]

I like this game. Has been a while since I was actually waiting at the end of the working day so I could go home and play!

 

[Thrakier]

You know what's funny? This is like the true sequel to FFX for me. The devs seem to have kept the feel and look of their previous work. If you loved FFX, FFXIII should feel right at home.

I liked FFX a lot. But there were towns. And a bigger sense of exploration and stuff to do besides the maingame. This one feels like an action game.

 

[K' Dash]

well, I hope ya'll enjoy the game I'm off this thread, now that most people got it the spoilertastic wave will start and I didn't stayed under a rock for many years for this game to get spoiled here :lol

Cheers

 

[LiK]

I liked FFX a lot. But there were towns. And a bigger sense of exploration and stuff to do besides the maingame. This one feels like an action game.

You mean FFX Versus?

 

[dark10x]

I liked FFX a lot. But there were towns. And a bigger sense of exploration and stuff to do besides the maingame. This one feels like an action game.

Where was all this extra exploration?

I just checked out a bunch of "Let's Play" videos for FFX just to refresh my memory, and it is completely linear with virtually no exploration. You just keep moving forward. There ARE towns, of course, but they are generally very small and limited.

XIII is more linear, but the difference doesn't seem all that significant to me.

 

[painey]

anyone who's beat the game, or at least got far.. a question I have.. how comes

Spoiler

Serah turns to Crystal, but Dajh just becomes encased in it

is it explained, or just a goof?

 

[inner-G]

You know what's funny? This is like the true sequel to FFX for me. The devs seem to have kept the feel and look of their previous work. If you loved FFX, FFXIII should feel right at home.

very true. And believe it or not, I really like X.

Spoiler

got major FFX vibes when they first saw the fal'Cie thing that had the "Song of Yevon"-esque opera chanting in the background.

XIII is just awesome so far.

 

[chicken_ramen]

Where was all this extra exploration?

I just checked out a bunch of "Let's Play" videos for FFX just to refresh my memory, and it is completely linear with virtually no exploration. You just keep moving forward. There ARE towns, of course, but they are generally very small and limited.

XIII is more linear, but the difference doesn't seem all that significant to me.

Don't forget the poorly implemented minigames. Freedomtastic. If anything this game is less linear than X. All X's hunts were in one location (the one single open area in the game aside from an optional dungeon), you spoke to a guy and then were teleported off to fight them.

Spoiler

XIII has most of it's hunts in basically the exact same location as FFX did but you have to walk between each fight

, freedom!

 

[Thrakier]

Where was all this extra exploration?

I just checked out a bunch of "Let's Play" videos for FFX just to refresh my memory, and it is completely linear with virtually no exploration. You just keep moving forward. There ARE towns, of course, but they are generally very small and limited.

XIII is more linear, but the difference doesn't seem all that significant to me.

Hm. I guess the difference is how it feels when you play it. When you first played FFX you had thise sense of a world which you are travelling and you know that there are towns coming. Even if they are small...(however I remember that I was a bit disapointed by the towns in FFX). In FFXIII you already know that there will be nothing but corridors and fights. I don't know why they went that route.

They could've made just ONE big city like midgar in FFVII with different districts where you also have to to some smaller quests etc...like a base from where you travel to your next destination. Not too much work I guess but it really changes the feeling of the game.

 

[Dra-Q]

Got my game today, great RPG. Best Final Fantasy since VI.

 

[desu]

So Worldwide Shipments = 5 million

http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2010/03/10/ffxiii_five_million_shipped/

Uh, I hope they get to sell all of them. Guess with with XIV or Versus 100m should be reached .

 

[Inferno313]

Hm. I guess the difference is how it feels when you play it. When you first played FFX you had thise sense of a world which you are travelling and you know that there are towns coming. Even if they are small...(however I remember that I was a bit disapointed by the towns in FFX). In FFXIII you already know that there will be nothing but corridors and fights. I don't know why they went that route.

They could've made just ONE big city like midgar in FFVII with different districts where you also have to to some smaller quests etc...like a base from where you travel to your next destination. Not too much work I guess but it really changes the feeling of the game.

I think that's kind of the point though. These characters are all on the run. There is nothing for them to look forward to but running and fighting. I think some towns would have been nice, but at the same time, at least this is all contextualized by the structure of the story.

 

[thefil]

Hm. I guess the difference is how it feels when you play it. When you first played FFX you had thise sense of a world which you are travelling and you know that there are towns coming. Even if they are small...(however I remember that I was a bit disapointed by the towns in FFX).

This.

Most of the locales in this game, at least as far as I am, serve no purpose besides to be a particular skin. You go through a forest area, a junk area, another forest/swamp area, a city area, and at no point do you have anything more than a vague goal in mind. That wouldn't be so bad except that the world doesn't have a lot of personality; in a few months, I'm not going to remember the city of Palumpolum the way I remember the locales of Spira.

Will somebody please tell me the plot speeds up at some point? 12 hours in, and all I know is that

Spoiler

we are now l'cie and l'cie can wake up in the other world

.

 

[borghe]

wow.. this may be the first FF that has actually inspired me to buy the soundtrack.

fake edit - WTF????? iTunes only has the songs available for individual purchase??? :lol :lol Yeaaahhh.. Not spending $80 on the soundtrack.

As for the game... Snow just got to the refugees (yeah, not that far I know). So far the game is brimming with potential, but I am literally pressing up on the left stick and in battle hitting auto-attack select.. can't wait for it to take off a little bit more.

but the soundtrack.... mann...... the first soundtrack that really feels and sounds like it comes out of the 16-bit gen... well, aside from being fully orchestrated and all.. LOVE the soundtrack. Now if only itunes would offer the god damn album for sale instead of $80 in individual songs. :\

real edit - it appears from itunes that Disc 1 Track 16 and Disc 4 Track 21 are what are causing the licensing problems on itunes.... bah......

 

[Empty]

Don't really like the way the game keeps splitting me in teams of two, it is good for the character stuff, but the battle system really excels when you are in threes and can really take advantage of the paradigm shifts strategically. Lightning is also a ridiculous badass in combat and the game is noticeably easier when you have her in your party, whereas before i opened up some of the classes for Sazh, it was getting a little tough. Combat is still way too much fun in this game, and i absolutely love the streamlining to that system, the auto-healing is wonderful, but i do wish the level design was more interesting, you can do a lot with linear corridor design to mix it up, but they haven't bothered yet.

As for the characters, Sazh is is by far the best so far, like him, Lightning is quite good but the personality jars with the teenager on a night out character design, Snow is still a 10 year old in the body of a 20 year old and looks like an asshole surfer dude but is growing on me a little now he has stopped saying the word "hero" every few minutes, then Hope and Vanille need to die fast.

 

[LiK]

^^ yea, I got the LE OST. cost me more than the game :lol

 

[DMeisterJ]

I feel so bad that I've been neglecting this game for BFBC2 D:

 

[Fuu]

Various aspects makes the game feel like a mix of FFVII + FFX + X-2 in my eyes so it's clicking with me in many ways. I'm also enjoying the Lost-like narrative and the fact that it's divided in chapters.

The lack of traditional RPG towns isn't detrimental to my enjoyment but I'm getting a bit tired of

Spoiler

only going through wastelands and forests

. It looks like there will be a change in this since I'm near

Spoiler

Palumpolum and Nautilus with the two groups

.

I got to the

Spoiler

port before Nautilus with Vanille and Sazh

and I haven't found any fight to be hair pulling difficult so far. Died once against some bosses but the second time on each was smooth by having the paradigms right and focusing on staggering.

The gameplay is really entertaining in the harder fights, it's fun playing around with timing the attacks, paradigm shifts and such. I'm finding poison to be quite useful in some instances too (like against the Wyverns and

Spoiler

Enki/Enlil

), I like how you can spam debuffs until they stick.

Btw, am I supposed to be filling every Crystarium path without grinding even once for CP? I find myself having almost all upgrades in every section before more are unlocked. At first I thought it would force me to specialize characters in a certain paradigm but for now it's just like a 3D sphere grid with subsections.

 

[Zeliard]

Heh, yeah, he's actually my favorite character at this point. Outside of the Chocobo in his fro, he is definitely the most down to earth character in the game and seems to act more like someone in his situation. I also love his voice work (much better than the Japanese voice).


I dunno, most of FFX seemed just as linear to me. You were still stuck on small paths across various landscapes. If anything, the free camera in XIII allows the environments to feel much larger and less constricted. I suppose the inclusion of small towns in FFX allowed it to feel a bit more open, but the majority of the time spent playing the game as just as linear as XIII.

I think the difference is that in FFX and other games of the sort, they're linear in that you go from point A->B->C, etc, with no real divergence for a lot of it. FFXIII is shocking to so many people because it's literally linear. It takes the "line" part of linear and totally runs with it, drip-feeding tutorials and new combat options at a snail's pace, which only emphasizes the linear level design.

Even after having constantly heard about and fulling expecting the linearity and the slow going, and telling myself that I was already over it, the first couple of hours have still been a struggle for me, to be honest. Basically an act of holding up and pressing X. Nowhere to go but forward, nobody to chat with, and nothing to do in combat but auto-battle and use the rare pot. Nothing else to do but read the Codex. It's a transparent combat/cutscene/combat/cutscene structure with no variety so far. The sheer visual and aural beauty of the game and the fact that I know it gets much better is mainly what's propelling me forward.

 

[BuRT!]

Btw, am I supposed to be filling every Crystarium path without grinding even once for CP? I find myself having almost all upgrades in every section before more are unlocked. At first I thought it would force me to specialize characters in a certain paradigm but for now it's just like a 3D sphere grid with subsections.

The further you progress the harder it will be to fill up all 3 main classes.

 

[drhankmccoyphd]

I played a few hours last night, and so far I'm enjoying the ambiance. I honestly don't even mind all the reading in the datapad, surprisingly. But I want to ask, does anyone else get a real Phantasy Star vibe from the story? Not complaining at all, since PS is one of my favorite franchises of all time. The similarities I can see are the futuristic art direction, primal lower world and society's caste system.

 

[squall211]

I'm on chapter 3 now. I felt the first couple chapters were "meh", mostly because the fighting limited you to 1 or 2 attacks. Now that the crystarium system has opened up, it's much, much more enjoyable.

And the music is every bit as epic as I expected Hamauzu to create.

 

[Dedication Through Light]

AT only an hour in, I must say the battles rush by so fast. And team nora "The Army's No Match for Nora" love that pose, lol.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

real edit - it appears from itunes that Disc 1 Track 16 and Disc 4 Track 21 are what are causing the licensing problems on itunes.... bah......

Those are the Japanese vocal tracks removed from the NA/EU versions in favor of My Hands.

I imported the Japanese OST and I'm glad I did now. It comes in this big fucking box too, with a huge version of the CD insert booklet and some foil wrapped thing I haven't opened yet.

 

[Melhisedek]

Any tips on weapon upgrades? I mean weapons to upgrade and what to skip? I tried doing some trial & error with upgrades but it seems random... Like Cie'th tear gave me x1.5 exp upgrade on one go. I restart the game and try it again an nothing happens. Same thing with a few other items I tried. I haven't experimented a lot but so far I only leveled Lightnings 2nd weapon (one with STR)

Any ideas or tips?

 

[lljride]

I'm about 3 hours in (just past where you unlock paradigm shift/crystalarium(sp)). I had pretty high expectations going in, but holy crap if the game didn't exceed them all so far. Love everything about this game, all of the characters are awesome in their own ways (esp Snow and Lightning), the story so far is great, and the graphics and music are incredible.

That's all without even mentioning the battle system, which seems like a perfect evolution of X-2's (my favorite in the series). I understand where people are coming from with the linearity concerns, but so far it hasn't bothered me at all, and as was discussed on the last page doesn't strike me as any worse than FFX in that regard.

I enjoyed FF12 somewhat, although to me it was a good game on it's own, just not as good as almost every other FF, so in a lot of ways I feel like I've been waiting for a new FF since 10. This game has delivered everything I want in a FF (again, only 3 hrs in though), and I can't wait to get home from work and play more.

 

[teh_pwn]

Nearly 2 hours in. So far I like it.

The only 2 criticisms I have so far:

1. Leveling up disabled in the beginning. I can't wait for battles to get a bit more complex.

2. They should have spent a little bit more time translating stuff into English. I remember reading reviews about the acting being bad. I think some of the voice actors did a fantastic job, it's just some of the mannerisms and sayings in Japanese just don't translate directly into English. For example, tone down the "oh, uh, agh" noises all the time and instead of "A mom's tough" say "I'm one tough momma".

Not to say I don't like the game. Everything else is fantastic, and as I expected the press was overly negative.

 

[LiK]

Nearly 2 hours in. So far I like it.

The only 2 criticisms I have so far:

1. Leveling up disabled in the beginning. I can't wait for battles to get a bit more complex.

2. They should have spent a little bit more time translating stuff into English. I remember reading reviews about the acting being bad. I think some of the voice actors did a fantastic job, it's just some of the mannerisms and sayings in Japanese just don't translate directly into English. For example, tone down the "oh, uh, agh" noises all the time and instead of "A mom's tough" say "I'm one tough momma".

Not to say I don't like the game. Everything else is fantastic, and as I expected the press was overly negative.

Yup, the cuteness just ain't the same from Japanese to English. It just makes them look retarded

 

[slayn]

Got around 3 hours in. The little grunting sounds the characters make is so, so stupid. I feel like I'm listening to bad porn.

And hope thus far is the worst character ever. Sazh is great, and Lightning has some good moments.

Overall I'm liking it.

edit:
I really don't like the single character control in battle though. Controlling all 3 would require crazy fast decision making but I think would be a lot more fun.

 

[dark10x]

Nowhere to go but forward, nobody to chat with, and nothing to do in combat but auto-battle and use the rare pot.

Regarding the chats...

I actually think XIII handles this very well. Previously games would have you walking to each person to get one or two lines in a text box. XIII delivers all of these things without taking you out of the game. If you walk up to people they usually have something to say and what they say is just about as important as any other random NPC in previous FF games. I think this looks much nicer than cutting to dialog boxes. Your party also has things to say while running around.

It's an elegant solution that feels more natural.

but the soundtrack.... mann...... the first soundtrack that really feels and sounds like it comes out of the 16-bit gen... well, aside from being fully orchestrated and all.. LOVE the soundtrack. Now if only itunes would offer the god damn album for sale instead of $80 in individual songs. :\

I knew it would be amazing since the composer was first announced. Masashi Hamauzu is one of the best composers in the business and this is one of the first times he's had the chance to shine in a BIG game. If you haven't heard some of his previous work, I recommend checking it out as a lot of it is fantastic.

These are all shitty games, but the music is pretty fantastic...

Musashi: Samurai Legend
Unlimited Saga
SaGa Frontier 2
Sigma Harmonics
Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII
...plus some of the best tracks in Final Fantasy X

 

[Castor Krieg]

Any tips on weapon upgrades? I mean weapons to upgrade and what to skip? I tried doing some trial & error with upgrades but it seems random... Like Cie'th tear gave me x1.5 exp upgrade on one go. I restart the game and try it again an nothing happens. Same thing with a few other items I tried. I haven't experimented a lot but so far I only leveled Lightnings 2nd weapon (one with STR)

Any ideas or tips?

(potential game mechanics abuse incoming)

THe idea is to use 36 Virulent Oils (80gil a piece) on a given item, that will give you 300% EXP bonus. If you apply anything else the bonus will decrease so the basic idea is to buy some high EXP items (like Turbojets, etc.) and apply them all at once, maxing the weapon or doing at least 10-15 levels. Be careful if you reach the cap - remaning exp will not spill over to the new version of the weapon.

What I want to say: the system is confusing and better to have a guide:lol (which I'm sure will list the amount of EXP needed to max items).

Regarding the chats...

I actually think XIII handles this very well. Previously games would have you walking to each person to get one or two lines in a text box. XIII delivers all of these things without taking you out of the game. If you walk up to people they usually have something to say and what they say is just about as important as any other random NPC in previous FF games. I think this looks much nicer than cutting to dialog boxes. Your party also has things to say while running around.

Yes, I think the system of talking to NPCs is way better in FFXIII. It's the same as on any other jRPG, you just don't have to press X button to talk.

 

[hamchan]

Wow, 6 hours in and if the game keeps it up at this pace it will make it into my top 3 FFs easily.

A couple of things:
- The cast is excellent with the only bad character being Vanille. She acts like a retard at the most inappropriate times plus her voice acting seems odd. At least she she looks hot. Other than her everyone is super interesting and I like all of them. Yes, even "Essence of Man" Snow and "Emo Kid" Hope, they're all good.
- Besides Vanille, the voice acting is surprisingly good!
-For the battle system, the first two hours of the game are horrible. It's pretty much just autoing each battle against enemies who don't even give you rewards of any sort. Much better to just run past enemies in this part. Later on, once you get paradigms and the game becomes more strategic, the battle system becomes amazing. One of the best battle systems the series has ever had.
- Linearity seems the same as FFX, a game which I love.
- The world and story seemed incomprehensible until I started reading the datapads. Now I'm hooked. These are a must read.
- Music is great so far. Battle theme will be stuck in my head for a while.

So yeah I loving this game so far. I disagree with a lot of the bad reviews it has received. Looks to be another game in the series that people
will either love or hate.

 

[Diseased Yak]

Got around 3 hours in. The little grunting sounds the characters make is so, so stupid. I feel like I'm listening to bad porn.

And hope thus far is the worst character ever. Sazh is great, and Lightning has some good moments.

Overall I'm liking it.

edit:
I really don't like the single character control in battle though. Controlling all 3 would require crazy fast decision making but I think would be a lot more fun.

Came here to post this. My wife was sitting in the same room as I was, yet not watching what I was playing, and during any scene where Vanille has to climb something she grunts and huffs like some serious porn action going on.

Finally the wife goes: "Are you playing some Japanese porn game?"

Other than this, and the ultra fucking loud footsteps of Snow, I have no other annoyances, and the game is really impressing me. The graphics are simply stunning. I find myself just sitting and staring at the detail on the characters, it's just incredible. The fast loading is nice, too.

Oh, and the cut scenes are to die for. Very, very sharp looking and of course high quality in every aspect.

 

[Wolf Parade]

After years of aniticipation I was severly disapointed with the impressions/reviews of the import version, to the point where my anticpiation for the game dropped from "For sure I will take a week off when this game comes out, can't wait!" to "meh, I'll still buy it but, damn Squeenix, way to let us down..."

However, I think many here will agree with me that lowered expectations have actually been a blessing in disguise - because I'm genuinely surprised to that I am having more fun with FFXIII than any game in recent memory! I am loving the look and sound of the game, the character and enemy design, the battle system etc. Really looking forward to the game opening up, but I appreciate having the time to gradually learn the new system.

So yeah - Final Fantasy is still relevant - in fact it's stellar fun.

 

[Scythesurge]

I'm a good amount into chapter 3 so far, and I feel like though things started off slow, it's getting very good now. I avoided as many battles as I could in the first 2 chapters because I wasn't getting any CP for it of course. Paradigm shifts and the crystarium seem very interesting and I can't wait to play around more.

Surprisingly, I really like all the characters so far except Lightning. What the heck is her problem? :lol

 

[Fuu]

The further you progress the harder it will be to fill up all 3 main classes.

I see, thanks. I guess it makes sense that the game would go easy on the restrictions since the party is so limited during these chapters.

Regarding the chats...

I actually think XIII handles this very well. Previously games would have you walking to each person to get one or two lines in a text box. XIII delivers all of these things without taking you out of the game. If you walk up to people they usually have something to say and what they say is just about as important as any other random NPC in previous FF games. I think this looks much nicer than cutting to dialog boxes. Your party also has things to say while running around.

It's an elegant solution that feels more natural.

Agreed. The party talking during running around is a nice solution to avoid expository scenes where gameplay is interrupted for a few minutes of random talking with the characters standing around. The datalog helps too, details that are usually shoehorned in RPG conversations end up there.

 

[borghe]

Regarding the chats...

I actually think XIII handles this very well. Previously games would have you walking to each person to get one or two lines in a text box. XIII delivers all of these things without taking you out of the game. If you walk up to people they usually have something to say and what they say is just about as important as any other random NPC in previous FF games. I think this looks much nicer than cutting to dialog boxes. Your party also has things to say while running around.

It's an elegant solution that feels more natural.

agree 100%. The little ambiance added like this feels 100% more natural than the 16-bit era. And you should (I thought I read) even be able to turn on subtitles and still get the written versions of even the ambient talking.. definitely an awesome step forward for the genre.

I will also be crucified, but I also don't have any problem with Vanille's voice actor. Kind of cute actually (though the visual aspect on the character helps with that as well).

 

[LiK]

Came here to post this. My wife was sitting in the same room as I was, yet not watching what I was playing, and during any scene where Vanille has to climb something she grunts and huffs like some serious porn action going on.

Finally the wife goes: "Are you playing some Japanese porn game?"

Other than this, and the ultra fucking loud footsteps of Snow, I have no other annoyances, and the game is really impressing me. The graphics are simply stunning. I find myself just sitting and staring at the detail on the characters, it's just incredible. The fast loading is nice, too.

Oh, and the cut scenes are to die for. Very, very sharp looking and of course high quality in every aspect.

If you're annoyed by Snow's footsteps, wait til you have a bunch of guys following you around. :lol

 

[impirius]

I hope this will change once I'm more than a couple of hours into it, but I just can't take this game seriously any time Vanille speaks.

 

[Skilletor]

Okay, just unlocked paradigms. That was a very boring first hour gameplay wise.

Sazh is still the only character I like.

 

[LiK]

I hope this will change once I'm more than a couple of hours into it, but I just can't take this game seriously any time Vanille speaks.

"HUH, WHAT" *moans, grunts*

 

[MomoPufflet]

Half the script:

Ah
hmm
unn
ah!
mmm
gnnn
rrrgg
Oh...
Mmmm
Eh
a..
eng..
ugh
hmph
onnnn
nnnnn
annn
eee
mmnph!
oh!
eh?
.....



It got old in the first 5 minutes.

 

[luxarific]

Your party also has things to say while running around.

Invariably they start talking JUST when I'm about to initiate a fight though - I've missed lines from Sazh, Vanille, and Snow that way because the game cuts them off when the battle animation starts. Hope what they had to say wasn't important. I actually think PoP 2008 did a better job of this, since you could choose when to converse with Elika.

Someone above mentioned that battles feel like you're changing clothes - so very true.

I hate how I can't even watch the battle and enjoy the animations because the health bar is so thin and hard to see that I have to stare at it to make sure I don't accidentally die.

This x1000. I really miss the lack of a pause - would be extremely helpful when switching paradigms, particularly if you'd like to try something other than hit autobattle.

Right now, FFXII's Battle System >>>>>>> FFXIII's for me. Hopefully it'll get better

 

[Relix]

What the hell?!?!? Does the first boss at the end of the Crystal level have a one KO attack? Even with Lightning in full HP he still kills her with the Crystal Rain attack.