Final Fantasy XIII

[Kor]

same shit, different type of airship

Very succinct!

I suppose I'll wait for the PC version(It's inevitable, even if its just a 360 port).

[Ianki]

Caff, i'm fairly sure that you'll like the game a bit.  The story is epic from the get go the voice acting is top notch for the main characters (except for one little girl, who i think is supposed to be Australian, but the accent is so intermittent that either the acter is australian and forgets to throw on a mid-Atlantic accent every so often, or the actor is american and only remembers the australian accent every 6th word.  Either way, it makes the person a bad actor)

The charecters motivations seem plausible (no "find crystal and immediately accept quest, it's more like "find crystal and immediately question quest and the nature of free will") and the characters themselves are three dimensional (for exception, see previous said australian girl)

The combat takes a bit of getting used to.  Mostly because it is very faces paced, and there are alot of things you have to worry about at once (your parties health, your action gauge, enemy health, and your character's roles, and your enemy's "chain gauge" which basically causes them extra damage as they take combos but will lower if you slow down or focus on other enemies.  Overall though, once you get used to it, you start earning extra skills, and the battles become varied enough that you don't can no longer just spam attack to win, it's an extremely tactically system.  On top of this, your health is restored after every battle.  At first this seemed like a bad thing, but it changes the role of items from healing inbetween battles towards being a tactical part of battle.  Your health is seeming lower and slower to level than other FF games, but damage from enemies are quicker and it's easy to simply forget to pay attention to your parties health in battle.  Using items also breaks up the flow of your attacks, so their use in the battle has not only become essential for most battles as they become harder, but also one that needs to be used tactically.  It's a very engaging battle system.

[Squishy3]

[quote author=Ianki link=topic=4254.msg141252#msg141252 date=1268469094]
same shit, different type of airship

Very succinct!

I suppose I'll wait for the PC version(It's inevitable, even if its just a 360 port).
[/quote]Except there hasn't been a FF PC port since Final Fantasy VIII.

[CaffeinePowered]

I might pick it up at some point, but not unless either someone buys it for me, or I get it as a part of a buy 2 get 1 free on used at gamestop, or if I get off my ass and mod my 360.

I did not enjoy the battle system in 12 because I didn't have control, and this system seems to have more of that, which I do not like. The best systems were VI, IV, V, and X (oddly enough).

[Spore]

[quote author=Kor link=topic=4254.msg141263#msg141263 date=1268497834]
[quote author=Ianki link=topic=4254.msg141252#msg141252 date=1268469094]
same shit, different type of airship

Very succinct!

I suppose I'll wait for the PC version(It's inevitable, even if its just a 360 port).
[/quote]Except there hasn't been a FF PC port since Final Fantasy VIII.
[/quote]

Square Enix has a hardon for Steam right now and their engine, like Capcom's MT Framework 2, pretty much works with PC out of the box. We'll see it on PC soon enough.

[[fr31ns]Karrde]

Saw my friend playing it last night.  Looks ok.  I'll probably pick it up used some time.

[Ianki]

the game had me convinced that selling the items that the enemies drop was the only way to make money in the game, and then around the end of disc 1 they drop the bomb shell on that those items are used to upgrade my weapons and accessories.  I, of course, had sold them all by this point to afford new bracelets and outrageously overpriced phoenix downs.

I don't necessarily mind grinding for powerups (in fact, i love it), but the respawn time for mobs make it hard to grind in some levels.

[beep beep diglett]

ugh i hated the mechanic similar to that in tactics 3

[Surf314]

the game had me convinced that selling the items that the enemies drop was the only way to make money in the game, and then around the end of disc 1 they drop the bomb shell on that those items are used to upgrade my weapons and accessories.  I, of course, had sold them all by this point to afford new bracelets and outrageously overpriced phoenix downs.

I don't necessarily mind grinding for powerups (in fact, i love it), but the respawn time for mobs make it hard to grind in some levels.

disc 1??? Does the 360 version have more than 1 disc? Also if you get a PS3 caff I'll send you mine when I am done with it  :-*

So far I've decided the combat revolves more around using proper roles at the proper times. I pretty much use autobattle all the time to free up my mental energy to keeping track of what they are throwing at me and what my health bars are like and what roles I should be in.

[Squishy3]

[quote author=Ianki link=topic=4254.msg141386#msg141386 date=1268594469]
the game had me convinced that selling the items that the enemies drop was the only way to make money in the game, and then around the end of disc 1 they drop the bomb shell on that those items are used to upgrade my weapons and accessories.  I, of course, had sold them all by this point to afford new bracelets and outrageously overpriced phoenix downs.

I don't necessarily mind grinding for powerups (in fact, i love it), but the respawn time for mobs make it hard to grind in some levels.

disc 1??? Does the 360 version have more than 1 disc? Also if you get a PS3 caff I'll send you mine when I am done with it  :-*

So far I've decided the combat revolves more around using proper roles at the proper times. I pretty much use autobattle all the time to free up my mental energy to keeping track of what they are throwing at me and what my health bars are like and what roles I should be in.
[/quote]360 version has 3 discs. Auto battle is actually a must in this system, with everything that's going on I really couldn't see it working any other way. Especially later in the game. I love that when you scan the monsters, your party members actually adjust to their weaknesses. It's so nice not having party members that are dumb. (I'm looking at you, Persona 3. I love you Persona 3, but Mitsuru, don't use Diarama on yourself when the next hit from a monster would kill me and give me a game over.)

[Ianki]

I'm finding the battle system to be a lot for tactically inclined than this. the wrong paradigm combination at the wrong time can add like 30 seconds to the battle, and using the wrong paradigm for the entire battle can add minutes.

[copulatingduck]

did not realize anyone else read rl comics

[Surf314]

I got my ass handed to me by those bots with electro kicks until I had my douche-boy cast protection on both of us. Most battles in the beginning have been pretty easy though. I find the paradigm system to be a definite keeper overall, but it unbalances the rest of the battle mechanics into what the comic portrayed. I hope the next game figures out how to keep the paradigm system, the speed and add in a way to manually select your attacks that is in any way worthwhile. Either that or just take out that part and replace it with something else that makes more sense.

[Surf314]

did not realize anyone else read rl comics

I read it for like a year and then dropped it when I whittled down my daily reading list.

[Maxon]

I'm 3 hours in and liking the game.  The combat is easy to use and it all flows so well.  No more stuck on one side, your character actually moves around, stagger doesn't seem to be too bad, and leveling up your abilities seems familiar to the sphere system of FFX that I actually liked.  And so far no annoying characters...Well the two kids are annoying and dumb, but they aren't intolerable yet lol

[Surf314]

Playing VI and XII alongside each other. So far they are both good  Some of the melodrama in XIII is annoying me though. Get over it Hope, quit being a douche.

[Squishy3]

Btw the part where it opens up feels really, really daunting and makes you want the linearity back because there's so much to do there

[Surf314]

Btw the part where it opens up feels really, really daunting and makes you want the linearity back because there's so much to do there

Haven't made it there yet. Off to play VI.

[Squishy3]

[quote author=Squishy link=topic=4254.msg141602#msg141602 date=1268705917]
Btw the part where it opens up feels really, really daunting and makes you want the linearity back because there's so much to do there

Haven't made it there yet. Off to play VI.
[/quote]I mean it's really cool, but it sucks because there's king behemoths that when they change form they'll almost always one-shot you.

[Vandamguy]

looking forward to that , but no moar spoilers.