Because if you read the reviews and played the game, you then realize it.
Also because I'm sure no one got the time to sit and play 60 hrs of a jRPG nowdays. So if you're not an honest writer, like Edge's reviewers are, you're gonna screw for sure. And they did screw big this time, alot of them. For the sake of clicks or of their ego. Luckily a great part of players, that have more time with them and are for the most more honest people (for obvious reasons), are widely liking LR:FFXIII. It's a typical game downvoted by "critics" (lol) and appreciated by the community. I anticipated this in the past: it's like NiER and Demon Souls, nothing less, nothing more.
The community in question may disagree with that statement (unless you are willing to go as far as dismissing the opinion of NeoGAF members who do not share your view on the subject).
Also, a big script doesn't necessarily mean a good plot. There is no correlation here.
haha yeah, I noticed Yuna's Elementa was quite powerful, but cool.
So when can I get Mediguard? I'd like to get it ASAP as it looks useful to restore HP without wasting gil. I'm still on the first Day and waiting until 6am basically for the numbers to appear. It said I could leave, but I'm just exploring Luxerion for the time being. Not sure if I can leave to get Mediguard now or not.
Money, like time, shouldn't be a problem (on your first run at least, I heard NG+ is very gil expensive with all the forging to do).
If you really want it, the sorta big hedgehog in the desert drops it I think.
haha yeah, I noticed Yuna's Elementa was quite powerful, but cool.
So when can I get Mediguard? I'd like to get it ASAP as it looks useful to restore HP without wasting gil. I'm still on the first Day and waiting until 6am basically for the numbers to appear. It said I could leave, but I'm just exploring Luxerion for the time being. Not sure if I can leave to get Mediguard now or not.
It's a pretty common drop at some point. I got a ton of them. It kinda sucks though cause the guard is ass, even at max level. You can still take massive damage if you don't perfect block. It is good for replenishing the tiny chips of damage from trash mobs that build up over time though.
I appreciate two of you needed to quote me when I just said the same thing... "the script is huge, but that doesn't tell anything about the quality of it". Maybe the "crap" part was missing so you felt the urge to let us know again how much you hate the game. We all know, we all know by now.
That is some terrible logic. So you're saying my review is invalid even though I played the entire game?
I don't like your review for other reasons, first and foremost because I know you as a player, as a final fantasy fan and as a neogaf writer, so everything is filtered by me through all you said during these last years. I like the efforts you did put there in writing it, but the final score and what you wrote here in general, your prior opinion/review on XIII and especially XIII-2 (and for what it counts, ARR: FFXIV review too)... makes it easy for me to dismiss it easily.
It's a pretty common drop at some point. I got a ton of them. It kinda sucks though cause the guard is ass, even at max level. You can still take massive damage if you don't perfect block. It is good for replenishing the tiny chips of damage from trash mobs that build up over time though.
Do man-made enemies ever "go extinct"? I'm fighting a lot of those um.. Gertrude enemies in Luxerion at night. I don't want to make them go extinct too early lol.\
Also, about the numbers... I know The Warren has a timed gate - is it possible to be there on Day 1 (like that's the area you are when it gets 6:00am) and then you'll start there on Day 2 so you don't have to wait around all day to continue the main mission? Or do you return to the city via the trains again on Day 2?
Well, shit. We may as well ignore reviews of nearly every JRPG - heck, nearly every RPG in general - because surely no one would have been able to put in 60 hours into each of them in the window space between receiving a review copy and the deadline of the write-up for the editor.
Besides, if the average reviewer has to dedicate that much time to finally be able to enjoy a game enough to write a glowing review about it, then that says a lot about the way the game is designed, no?
Do man-made enemies ever "go extinct"? I'm fighting a lot of those um.. Gertrude enemies in Luxerion at night. I don't want to make them go extinct too early lol.\
Also, about the numbers... I know The Warren has a timed gate - is it possible to be there on Day 1 (like that's the area you are when it gets 6:00am) and then you'll start there on Day 2 so you don't have to wait around all day to continue the main mission? Or do you return to the city via the trains again on Day 2?
Some of them do become extinct. Press R2 in battle. On the top left there will be a "Distribution" section for creatures that can become extinct (it changes from Common to Rare to Extinct). Alternatively, you may look in the Bestiary.
When you return from the Ark, you can choose to return to a teleport point or where you were last. So if you go into the Warren and return to the Ark from there, you can choose to go back to exactly where you were in the Warren. Note that some of the quest NPCs are only available at certain times though. Also you won't be stuck in the Warren. There are ladders out by the doors for this reason.
I appreciate two of you needed to quote me when I just said the same thing... "the script is huge, but that doesn't tell anything about the quality of it". Maybe the "crap" part was missing so you felt the urge to let us know again how much you hate the game. We all know, we all know by now.
I don't like your review for other reasons, first and foremost because I know you as a player, as a final fantasy fan and as a neogaf writer, so everything is filtered by me through all you said during these last years. I like the efforts you did put there in writing it, but the final score and what you wrote here in general, your prior opinion/review on XIII and especially XIII-2 (and for what it counts, ARR: FFXIV review too)... makes it easy for me to dismiss it easily.
Some of them do become extinct. Press R2 in battle. On the top left there will be a "Distribution" section for creatures that can become extinct (it changes from Common to Rare to Extinct). Alternatively, you may look in the Bestiary.
When you return from the Ark, you can choose to return to a teleport point or where you were last. So if you go into the Warren and return to the Ark from there, you can choose to go back to exactly where you were in the Warren. Note that some of the quest NPCs are only available at certain times though. Also you won't be stuck in the Warren. There are ladders out by the doors for this reason.
Oh okay, gotcha. Well, I don't see a way into the Warren on Day 1 anyways. The door is shut and I don't see a way to get in there unfortunately. Was hoping to get a head start on that number that is in there on Day 2.
EDIT: Nevermind, maybe I was in the Warrens afterall, lol. I thought I was in Old Town.
Oh okay, gotcha. Well, I don't see a way into the Warren on Day 1 anyways. The door is shut and I don't see a way to get in there unfortunately. Was hoping to get a head start on that number that is in there on Day 2.
I'm still astonished about the design of the 4 areas, the Wildlands in particular. I've been spending almost the whole 5th day on it and am just about to enter the castle. That place has so many varied spots, they're all connected so well together and well thought out. It feels great when you first enter the moogles village or that area with the scientists.
Progress:
All main quests complete besides the ones from the Wildlands.
Side quest 31 complete.
Canvas of the Prayers 37 complete.
I got the chocobo as a riding pet atm. I went to the other town, chased down sheep and got a little milk to feed him. I can't find anything else easy to get to heal him more, I found some strange flowers that a girl in town told me about, yuel flowers I think. But it won't let me pick them even when I'm on the chocobo so they aren't healing her. I have no idea what else to do.
I got the chocobo as a riding pet atm. I went to the other town, chased down sheep and got a little milk to feed him. I can't find anything else easy to get to heal him more, I found some strange flowers that a girl in town told me about, yuel flowers I think. But it won't let me pick them even when I'm on the chocobo so they aren't healing her. I have no idea what else to do.
That doesn't makes sense, you should be able to pick the flowers while riding on the chocobo. Did you complete the quest with the girl first time?
Also you can make a chocobull quickly if you fight certain monsters to get the material and collect mushrooms at day time in the jagd woods. You need to bring the stuff to the doctor in the jagd village near the woods.
Then you can plant gysahl greens at the farm after completing the quest with the father first.
I felt the same thing especially during the side quests. Every single quest that is multiple stages, each time you pick up an object Hope chimes in and is like "Lightning, you found a hat. Remember how the guy said you needed to find 5 hats? I bet that hat you just found is the one he's looking for. Since he said to find 5, and you found 1, you need just 4 more hats."
It's like SHUT THE FUCK UP HOPE. I FUCKING GOT IT, ALRIGHT?
You're a special case. If it goes on that every review below a 7 is fake because the reviewer didn't play the game but you played the game through its entirety, then the logical conclusion is you're not a real person.
I got the chocobo as a riding pet atm. I went to the other town, chased down sheep and got a little milk to feed him. I can't find anything else easy to get to heal him more, I found some strange flowers that a girl in town told me about, yuel flowers I think. But it won't let me pick them even when I'm on the chocobo so they aren't healing her. I have no idea what else to do.
there is a mushroom collecting quest in the town in the forest for chocobull and a trainiee on a chocobo outside of the forest which gives u chocobull as well.
Honestly, I wouldn't be at all surprised if many reviewers didn't finish LR. If they started on Normal, there's a decent chance they couldn't even make it to the end on their first playthrough and would have to play the game twice. A ton of reviewers skim games like this; and I don't see a genre more vulnerable to this than JRPGs which are long. In addition, this is also difficult. In addition, this already had a ton of negative baggage going into it.
Kryptonite to reviewers comes in two forms 1) long games, 2) difficult games. This is both.
Jim Sterling famously was caught not finishing a huge amount of games he'd reviewed, even specifically FFXIII, which is a whole lot easier than LR. People saw his gamer profile and he had written reviews after playing for only 2 hours on some games, getting many details wrong.
In the end though, there's no real way to prove it. But it is not illogical to suspect it in some cases if it's particularly blatant. Just think of all the skilled gamers in this thread that talked about failing the boss at first. You really think most reviewers made it through all that?
That said, I'm sure Kagari played it. Her whole site is only dedicated to the FF series, so it's kind of an exception, and more of an enthusiast site than a general all purpose gaming site.
While I'm not usually a fan of open worlds that much, this was okay. It was the time limits I don't like. I'm the kind of person who likes to section of areas one at a time. So I don't really like the fact that I can't finish of Luxerion completely and then move on to Yusnaan land the like. Especially since the only quests I have active there are the ones that require me to come back and talk to them again in the following days.
Having said all that though, I have gotten better at managing it all. Time limit isn't really a factor as much anymore. You can always get enough EP to spam Chronostasis. In fact as long as you have 2 EP, you can practically get back to full whenever you want (bar a small window) via the sidequest in Yusnaan that spawns constant Chaos. It just feels like a waste though burning a couple of hours doing nothing for a sidequest.
I'm on day 3 and have cleared main quests and practically all sidequests (as far as I know) in both Luxerion and Yusnaan. Just need to finish off the Arena womans elixer (who poisons you?), The Last Niblet and a few that I need to come back the next day.
The battle system is pretty fun, if a bit easy once you get DeShell and DeProtect. The only complaint is that I have to play dress up. I want to use her XIII-2 outfit, but I'm forced to use Midnight Mauve for Fira Lvl 3..;
Well, I'm 5 hours, 20 minutes into the game and I just started Day 2, lol. I was surprised how long I could prolong Day 1 in Luxerion. Those machine enemies do not go extinct apparently and they give 0.20 EP even on Normal, so 5 of those is one chronostasis and they spawn constantly in the Warren. I hope they spawn even in the day - anyone know? I also did the most bizarre sidequest I think I've ever done in a game.
Boy traded souls with a dead cat and then the cat talked to him after he got his body back...... wat? The cat was scary looking with those eyes it had, too - I don't remember them ever closing while it was talking to me. xD
I made like 10 different save files in case I made a mistake and wanted to go back. I'm really enjoying the battle system so far. That big dragon sidequest in Luxerion wasn't as bad as I thought it was gonna be. I watched videos of people doing it and it took them forever. I don't know if it's just because I had Yuna and Cloud and they are OP, but it went down really quickly and only had to use a potion. How long does Yuna's Elementa remain so good? It's the best form of damage for me so far, does a shit ton with Deshell on.
Also, question about shields.. so let's say I have the choice between:
Which would be better? 3000 HP is a lot, but it has lower guard defense and makes my ATB slower. First one has a lot less HP, faster ATB, but better guard. So basically does HP or Guard defense take priority most of the time?
Well, I'm 5 hours, 20 minutes into the game and I just started Day 2, lol. I was surprised how long I could prolong Day 1 in Luxerion. Those machine enemies do not go extinct apparently and they give 0.20 EP even on Normal, so 5 of those is one chronostasis and they spawn constantly in the Warren. I hope they spawn even in the day - anyone know? I also did the most bizarre sidequest I think I've ever done in a game.
Boy traded souls with a dead cat and then the cat talked to him after he got his body back...... wat? The cat was scary looking with those eyes it had, too - I don't remember them ever closing while it was talking to me. xD
I made like 10 different save files in case I made a mistake and wanted to go back. I'm really enjoying the battle system so far. That big dragon sidequest in Luxerion wasn't as bad as I thought it was gonna be. I watched videos of people doing it and it took them forever. I don't know if it's just because I had Yuna and Cloud and they are OP, but it went down really quickly and only had to use a potion. How long does Yuna's Elementa remain so good? It's the best form of damage for me so far, does a shit ton with Deshell on.
Also, question about shields.. so let's say I have the choice between:
Which would be better? 3000 HP is a lot, but it has lower guard defense and makes my ATB slower. First one has a lot less HP, faster ATB, but better guard. So basically does HP or Guard defense take priority most of the time?
You have cheap restaurants all over in Luxerion and easy access to EP. Go with Guard Defense I say. Or, switch shields once you get to 75% HP. If you're not at max, it's doing nothing for you.
+ATB Rate is basically haste also, which is pretty much the best stat to boost in my opinion.
You have cheap restaurants all over in Luxerion and easy access to EP. Go with Guard Defense I say. Or, switch shields once you get to 75% HP. If you're not at max, it's doing nothing for you.
Ah, that's a good point. Inns aren't hard to get to, and I could always switch out the shields once I got less than 75% HP anyways. But how about for bosses - which would you recommend? The guard defense one?
Yeah, I figured ATB Rate would be a really nice stat to have. xD
Ah, that's a good point. Inns aren't hard to get to, and I could always switch out the shields once I got less than 75% HP anyways. But how about for bosses - which would you recommend? The guard defense one?
Yeah, I figured ATB Rate would be a really nice stat to have. xD
If you are confident that you can guard well, guard defense gets more and more useful.
If you are a little sloppy and want more room to work with mistakes, HP gets more useful.
They're both good stats to have, and more useful in specific situations. But I think Guard Defense is ultimately the one I would recommend.
You should save before a boss fight anyway just in case and see how it works out for you. I got through my first boss on day 2 without even having to heal, so HP would have done nothing for me in that specific situation. Other people have died repeatedly on bosses and may have benefited from additional HP.
Avoid any gear with an ATB speed penalty like the plague. They're situational at best and early on are some of the worst gear in the game. ATB recovery is huge.
If you are confident that you can guard well, guard defense gets more and more useful.
If you are a little sloppy and want more room to work with mistakes, HP gets more useful.
They're both good stats to have, and more useful in specific situations. But I think Guard Defense is ultimately the one I would recommend.
You should save before a boss fight anyway just in case and see how it works out for you. I got through my first boss on day 2 without even having to heal, so HP would have done nothing for me in that specific situation. Other people have died repeatedly on bosses and may have benefited from additional HP.
Ah okay. Yeah, I plan on saving before every boss/hard/big enemy because I don't want to have to Escape and lose an hour of time. That'd be annoying. I honestly wish this game had more customization in the difficulty settings. I wish you could choose Normal battle difficulty, but Easy everything else (like having the option to let Escape not take away an hour or to have your health regen after battle like it does on Easy).
I'm pretty good at guarding overall, but I'm not that great at Perfect Guarding just yet... It takes a while to learn the animations for enemy attacks, so by the time I've gotten used to one enemy type, I move on and have to learn all new things, lol. Perfect Attacking/Magic is also kind of awkward. Sometimes, I can get like 4-5 Perfects in a row, but that's rare. I'm just not certain on the timing just yet - the game says for attacks, you press the next button when the previous hit connects to the enemy (I think that's what it said). And magic, after you cast the previous one or something. *shrug* I need more practice.
Avoid any gear with an ATB speed penalty like the plague. They're situational at best and early on are some of the worst gear in the game. ATB recovery is huge.
Yuna's shield seems really good. I'm not sure how the Prayer thing works with it just yet, though. Do you have to Guard enemy attacks and it'll trigger, or just hold down the button in battle for a few seconds (regardless of if an enemy is currently trying to hit you)?
Yuna's shield seems really good. I'm not sure how the Prayer thing works with it just yet, though. Do you have to Guard enemy attacks and it'll trigger, or just hold down the button in battle for a few seconds (regardless of if an enemy is currently trying to hit you)?
Yeah, her shield is extremely good. And even the ones with very low guard ratings can be effective if you do perfect parry guards. Or just as stat boosts for a schema devoted only to attacking. Some setups recommend only putting guard on one job, and just switching rapidly. You'll get better over time. I'll never fully master it, but I can get perfect guards a fair amount. Eventually you can try dodge instead of block, which requires more precise timing, but avoids all damage.
Brave and Faith are triggered by holding it down continuously for 75-90% of your ATB bar, without letting go.
Aerith has one like that too that heals you. Both are pretty handy early on.
90% of this game is bullshit. The main gameplay is bullshit. World is ending, gotta go find this chick's dog! Side quests felt like main quests and main quests felt tacked-on. In the end though working for that 10% of story was worth it. I need that ending CGI in my video collection forever. Those tears from Lightning omg.
I'm also glad we got a separate little ending for FFXIII-2 thrown in there two with closure for Noel/Yuel and some empathy from Caius.
I just read about the secret ending which I'm assuming I didn't get for being on easy mode so I youtubed it. So dreamy and corny but perfect. Its the ending to end all endings that we never seem to get.
Looking back I feel good about the FFXIII series. You gotta make mistakes to improve. Square was definitely in need to try new things. Hopefully they can see what they got right and wrong and learn from it. I'm happy to have been a part of that process.
I don't like your review for other reasons, first and foremost because I know you as a player, as a final fantasy fan and as a neogaf writer, so everything is filtered by me through all you said during these last years. I like the efforts you did put there in writing it, but the final score and what you wrote here in general, your prior opinion/review on XIII and especially XIII-2 (and for what it counts, ARR: FFXIV review too)... makes it easy for me to dismiss it easily.
Regarding defensive commands, I have been quite happy with a magic user w/Evade and Magic boosted shield, a tank w/Heavy Guard and guard efficiency shield, and a physical attacker with either Mediguard or Counterblow (evade with a physical attack) and ATB-beneficial shield. The magic user also has the accessory that pumps 2 ATB blocks instantly onto the other grab when attacking but makes her vulnerable. Needless to say I've gotten good with the timing on evasion by necessity. And quite fun to make enemies whiff left and right.
This isn't a real conclusion to the story WTF. All I saw was flashy ass particles and attacks.
When they said this is the final entry in the series, I expected a real ending. You know, seeing Snow getting married, Fang and Vanille sucking each other all night etc, Hope in HIS FUCKING ADULT FORM.
Instead I got some C-tier animu ending.
Maybe this is why this isn't called FF13 because quite frankly, it isn't.
This isn't a real conclusion to the story WTF. All I saw was flashy ass particles and attacks.
When they said this is the final entry in the series, I expected a real ending. You know, seeing Snow getting married, Fang and Vanille sucking each other all night etc, Hope in HIS FUCKING ADULT FORM.
Instead I got some C-tier animu ending.
Maybe this is why this isn't called FF13 because quite frankly, it isn't.
This isn't a real conclusion to the story WTF. All I saw was flashy ass particles and attacks.
When they said this is the final entry in the series, I expected a real ending. You know, seeing Snow getting married, Fang and Vanille sucking each other all night etc, Hope in HIS FUCKING ADULT FORM.
Instead I got some C-tier animu ending.
Maybe this is why this isn't called FF13 because quite frankly, it isn't.
Are you sure? I feel like this was the most Final Fantasy-y ending ever.
Oh my god lifestream tentacles ripping out of the ground the world is saved! Oh wait gotta kill sephiroth I mean bhunivelze with some new, arbitrary magic!
FF8 kinda did what you wanted with the "home video" reel during the credits but
I think lightning walking out of a train onto fucking earth is a better, less cheesy way of showing that everyone lived happily ever after.
Has anyone else here had a problem completing the "voices from the grave" quest? I've spoken to the sentry to get the quest (I must have, because it shows up on my list of side-quests). I've spoken to the three residents that you need to speak to, but when midnight hits none of the ghosts show up. Do you have to complete the quest the same day you get it? If so, that really blows, because I got the quest on Day 2, but now I'm on Day 12 and want to complete it.
I would probably like Hope's interactions with Lightning more if I didn't have to worry about cutting him off mid-sentence by exploring more or talking to a NPC. If the game had no time limit, I would just stand around waiting for him to finish talking, but with a constant ticking clock, I want to keep exploring or starting quests. I feel like that aspect was poorly done. At least when you return to the Ark, they can talk without worry.
I actually had more trouble with the final boss's last form than any other. It took me a few tries, but I managed it by using the setup suggested by the strategy guide - Splendid Admiral, Dragoon and Equilibrium+ all with very specific equipment and skills.
I actually had more trouble with the final boss's last form than any other. It took me a few tries, but I managed it by using the setup suggested by the strategy guide - Splendid Admiral, Dragoon and Equilibrium+ all with very specific equipment and skills.
Sorry this has nothing to do with the game, but does anyone have that "Where's Lightning?" Poochy parody, where Toriyama is presenting his ideas to the board?
