Final Fantasy XIII

[Star Ocean 2]

(Yes, we take home new games. Yes, we then sell you that new game for full price. Don't start in on how evil Gamestop is, I could honestly care less after working for three years at Starbucks and seeing / doing worse)

You get to take the coffee home to try it out, spit it out, and then sell it?

 

[FLAM]

Got an email from Amazon stating my copy has shipped out. I should be getting it tomorrow. The $10 credit was my incentive, so I could get God Of War III next week. I ended up paying an extra $5 for shipping to get this bad boy shipped tomorrow though, so I'm not really saving much money but whatevvvs.

 

[Mik]

I only played about 45 minutes last night, but I really think I'm going to like this a lot. Fighting is not really fun yet but from everything I've read it really doesn't pick up until you can start specializing... right now all you can pretty much do is attack.

Lightning seems cool as the lead right now, badass on a mission... again I'm not very far. Szash and his chocobo could either be funny or annoying and I just started up with Snow.

I like the addition of the datalog, similar to the Codex in Dragon Age. It's nice to read and catch up on things and hopefully it won't be as overwhelming as it is in DA:O.

Cutscene graphics are really top of the line.

 

[FLAM]

I'm not going to my night class to play this. I got it in the mail 30 minutes ago. I almost put it on now, but I gotta leave for class in two hours. UGHHHH.

 

[AndrewTS]

Some peeps who have the game say that you can punch Snow in the face early and often.

This is a very good thing.

 

[ericmm]

Has anyone else heard anything about Xbox 360 bugs?

 

[HSJ]

I'm thinking about picking it up, but I want to hear reviews first. What does everyone think so far?

 

[Mik]

Most of the reviews say it takes about 10 hours for the training wheels to come off... so I can let you know for sure in a few days.

I have to say, the linearity isn't bothering me yet and I'm finding the battle system pretty fun. I can't wait until it gets more challenging/in-depth.

 

[Broward83]

Made it to disc 3 last night before going to bed. About twenty hours of gameplay in and I'm not even down on fuckin Gran Pulse yet.

Lightning's story arc has been pretty fun to watch right now as with Snow's. Hope I want to just hand him a knife and tell him to just cut himself already and in a weeks time, I'm not looking forward to the Vanille / Sazh slash.

 

[FLAM]

I'm about three hours in and I'm liking it a lot. I'd play all night if I didn't have to be up at 7am tomorrow. Won't get a chance to play it until Friday. This is going to be a tough few days.

 

[Star Ocean 2]

Hey hey, no positivity! Remember, Square enix is irrelevant!

 

[Mik]

Yeah, I finally got to paradigm shifts and crystarium, which happened sooner than I was expecting based on the reviews... took about 3 hrs of gameplay. It's already a lot more fun.

 

[FLAM]

Yup. That's exactly where I got up to. I've only been in one fight while learning the paradigm shifts, but I thought it was pretty neat. The Crystarium tutorial came right after that if I recall correctly. I'm loving Lightning.

 

[ViciousFish]

I'm just not really feeling it...

 

[Broward83]

Made it to Gran Pulse last night before going to bed. Five Eidolons down, one more to go. I'm debating rather or not I want to just fuck around on GP and grind for CP or just continue on with the main story.

 

[Mik]

Segment I played today has solidified my love for the game. I just cruised into Chapter 4 and acquired Shiva... now that I'm unlocking multiple levels of Crystarium and the battles are requiring me to think a little bit I'm really liking it.

 

[AndrewTS]

Hey hey, no positivity! Remember, Square enix is irrelevant!

Not as irrelevant as Star Ocean.

(Nice strawman fallacy, too!)

 

[Conspiracy_Victim]

Getting through it at a decent pace. In chapter 5 now. I like the Crystalium and the paradigm shifts do a good job of keeping me interested in the fights. The camera is a different story. It swoops way too much when it's panning around, and I don't like how it snaps back to behind the main character every time you move. I can't keep track of which way the bad guys are facing when I'm trying to get the initiative and hiding around a corner. Although with most of the enemies it doesn't matter because they'll either sense you and turn around at the last second or you can't tell which way they're facing anyway (Bombs, I'm looking at you!) The only real negative so far are some of the characters. Snow's not as bad as a lot of the previews made him out to be, and Bazh(sp?) is pretty good. However, I feel like decking Hope whiny passive-aggressive ass, Vanille's vaguely Australian teeny-bopper accent can only taken in small doses, and Lightning is a bitch with verry little emotion and no sense of tactics. Why constantly try to ditch the group of well armed people who are very able fighters when you've got the world's most powerful military force chasing you? You think they might come in handy at some point?

 

[Haws Bah Gawd]

I know I might be jumping the gun a little here, but is there any word on Super Optional Bosses yet? Like Yiazmat from 12 that had something like 50 mil HP?

 

[Kageho]

My impressions through 5 Chapters.

What I liked:
The way the story is delivered - I like the fact that it literially drops us into the middle of the story as its happening and every so often flashes us back to previous things so that we aren't totally overwhelmed by the story and it actually keeps the pace going. I suggested that some RPG try this, since I haven't met one that did, but this works beautifully and I really don't think it would've been as good if it did the tried and true formula.

I also like the fact that it doesn't seem to have any problems so far with plotholes or things that don't make sense. Everything has made sense and plausible for the world they are in. Nothing seems out of the ordinary (for that world), and with the way they are pacing it, its given to me in such a manner that I can digest it without being overwhelmed.

Even romance aspects like Snow and Serah, as well as Hope and Lightning, don't seem forced. Before someone goes, "there is no way Lightning and Hope are in a romantic relationship", I'll just say its got all the signs of "strong and silent female finds cowardly male, but finds him cute and adorable and keeps him close to herself". Well I'm kinda side tracking. Its been moving along great and I find it enjoyable.

The graphics - The Show is now in second place in terms of realism from a game. There are some instances in this game that I go "the amount of detail is ridiculous". Everything from the way the hair looks, to the faces, to the different running styles, even the way Vanille's hips shake around as she's in combat ... not that I specially look there, but when you had her as main character its kinda hard not to stare. Also, I damn well know you guys were looking there too.

The music - When I heard that Uematsu wasn't going to be doing any of the music of Final Fantasy XIII, I was kinda let down. Obviously, it was going to be good, but not up to what I expected out of the series with him still there. I need to take that back. While there are certain songs that I'm not fond of, just listening too, for the most part it all works. I know I haven't heard all of them yet.

And yes, right now, the battle theme is the so awesome that I never avoid battles. I'm of the opinion this might be the best battle theme of the entire series. I'm talking regular battles, One Winged Angel still owns us all.

The battles - I actually need to plan out what moves I'm going to do (if I decide not to auto-battle) in split seconds, make sure I remember what shifts to run at the appropriate time, and just play it out. If there's anything I could ask for from Square-Enix is to keep this ATB, as I find its probably the most rewarding battle system in an RPG in a long time, as nothing can be taken as being easy if you don't realize what shift to run.

Paradigm Shifts - This pretty cool concept allows for mighty flexability. If you need someone to be a medic, switch the Shift and away you go. Highly flexible and allows you to switch into whatever you need to keep the team alive and well.

Crystalium - Allows for so much flexability within reason. It allows you to collect the first stage of everyone's starting stage, then you'll need to specialize from there, or so I've heard. However, I'm finding that if I spread the points around, I've managed to build up my team pretty well and build them well. I do realize that I'm probably at the point where I'm going to need to start specializing people so as to save points, but for right now, I enjoy the flexibility.

Upgrading Weapons - While a crafting system would've made the equipment a lot better, the Upgrading system is quite interesting. I've already built up my beginning weapons to Level 5, and as soon as I probably max those out, I'll go onto the next weapon. Surprisingly it didn't make battles any easier, so they've scaled it accordingly.

The World - I really love the world of Cacoon, as it has its own flavour and feels very unique and wonderful. Its been a treat going from locale to locale and seeing the many different places. Its an amazing piece of work that the people of Square-Enix did, and I'm appreciating the fact that this spent so much time in development.

I don't mind is linear - The streamlined process is actually probably the most beneficial thing that this game has going for it. I know where I'm going, what I'm doing, and how to get there. The only thing stopping me is story, battles, and the occasional pause to look at some scenery.

I don't need towns - We're trying to save a world or two. Do you know the last time I talked to people in a town? In an RPG that wasn't made by BioWare? ...I honestly don't recall. Which means we are talking early SNES days here, probably from Final Fantasy IV. I haven't missed towns, and you know, I don't mind at all if we just stop in, chat, maybe buy some potions, and then go back to saving the world.

I use items - I have used items and I use them quite a bit. Even after getting medic, I'll still toss out those potions to bail me out if I can't make a Shift in time to save someone's life with a medic. I probably have used more potions and items that I have ever done in any RPG in a long time.

Things I don't like:
The voice actors - This isn't a slight against the voice actors themselves, but whoever decided how to do who's line is what is currently driving me nuts. There are occasions in which a line is said by the actor, but it is done in such a way that it doesn't convey the correct emotion or give the correct feel. The biggest problem is, all the main VAs are guilty of this. The least offending is Sazh, the rest have this problem to varying degrees but are tollerable, but the highest offender is Hope in that his character is supposed to be about a young kid trying to come to terms with how his world is continually falling down around him and he's feeling lost and afraid.

If I were to use a > rating, it would be as follows: Sazh > Lightning > Serah > Snow > Hope

Also its quite disappointing that Troy Baker, Snow's VA (at least I'm quite sure its him), sounds like he's just saying his lines. I think Snow wouldn't be so offending if it didn't sound like he's phoning it in.

Before someone asks, yes I consider Serah a main character because a lot of the story revolves around her so far, and she's a pretty big reason the lead character and supporting lead get involved. As for you know who...

Vanille - Yes, I said I like each and every character. I don't like what they did to Vanille as a whole voice actor wise. She comes off as this bubbly twit that should be the main character of any shounen manga (fight comic, more or less). The problem is, that's exactly not how she's supposed to come across and its driving me up the wall. It also doesn't help that on quite a few occasions she goes from sound like a teen to "cracking" and sounding like a mature adult, and that the mature sounding voice that comes across sounds ten times better than the teen sounding voice. Its not that she's a bad character, but rather her VA just totally fails at accomplishing the feel to her character, and as I said, that's probably more the person who's telling the VAs how a thing needs to be acted out, but still. Utter failure here.

The story that isn't told - A lot of things about the characters aren't being told via monologues like the old days. I had to go into the Datalog to find out about what the hell exactly Hope wanted to tell Snow. I almost put "or he felt", but I already said that above, so I'll just focus on how there's some cases in which you need to read the Datalog to understand certain things about certain people. This was done quite well in Mass Effect's "Datalog" but here when you need a Datalog in some cases to get across story points, you made a mistake.

The missing classics - From the music, I haven't heard a single classical music piece yet. I figured they would update them and put them in. Before someone asks, I'm talking about Prologue and Fan Fare. I could deal with Prologue missing, because if its not here, they'll probably use it as an "Epilogue" instead at the game's end. Fan Fare though blows my mind because you fight so many battles, you would think at the end of it you would get an updated version that goes along with the battle theme, but no. There's none there.

And if someone tells me there is, then my copy isn't playing it and I'll be a sad Final Fantasy Fan.

The linearity of it - I don't know whether I want to say "I don't like how linear it is" or its more of "Its way to linear to its goal, I wish I could stop and smell the roses". There are many instances in this game where I want to just roam the world and take it in. The game has a beautiful world to behold, and we only get to see a small sliver of it. This is probably the very first game that I wanted to see the world as a whole. I really don't think people have a problem with how linear it is, but its more "geez, I wish I could see more of this world" type of deal.

Datalog = Townspeople - Take the Datalog and you've got the random conversations of a normal towns person in a town of Cocoon. Only problem is, the Datalog feels so "well, we could've had someone say it in a town, but this saved us money" type of deal. I'm just thankful its always updating so that I can keep up to date on the little things that make the world have a bigger impact.

You know I originally said that I would go into this game thinking it wasn't called Final Fantasy XIII, but by the series, Fabula Nova Crystallis. Yes, I know that it still feels like a Final Fantasy, but I found by doing that, I wouldn't try comparing it to the older games. Could the game have been better? Perhaps, but I think it could've been better in its execution, rather than adding or subtracting from what is already there.

I'm going to say I highly recommend this for anyone who is sitting on the sidelines from the Japanese reports of "failure".

 

[Mik]

It's becoming painfully obvious to me just how little into the game I am. I was reading about weapon upgrades and The Gladius sword is the main thing I'm working on upgrading. It doesn't max out until Level 26, then it goes to another sword, which also goes to Level 26 before you get Lightning's Ultimate Weapon.

I currently have it on Level 6.

 

[Kageho]

Wait, so if you build up the Gladius, you can get ahold of Lightning's Ultimate weapon?

...aw dammit. I've been leveling up the original weapon.

 

[Mik]

To be honest I think you can do it from either sword. The key component to the ultimate weapons is the evolution items you get... but I don't think they come until much later in the game.

 

[Conspiracy_Victim]

Yeah I've got to figure out the whole upgrading thing. Apparently the organic elements (wings, bones, etc.) can actually multiply the exp given to a weapon or accessory depending on how many you use at the start of the upgrade. I don't uite understand the whole thing, trust Sqeenix to make the whole thing more complicated than it should be. Getting ready to start chapter 8 and things are starting to get a bit more difficult. Need to start improving my weapons at least.

 

[Mik]

Yes, I had no idea how I did it but I got one multiplier up to x3... I think the goos are good at that.

Most annoying battle ever this morning. It was Chapter 6 with Sazh and Vanille, the shell-beasts they tell you to avoid because they are difficult for two people (especially these two sucky people - no leader in that group!)... but you had to fight one of them if you wanted the treasure orb. It took 7 minutes and every paradigm shift with Vanille as leader was like "c'mon old man", "follow me old man", "you can do it old man"... many paradigm shifts were needed due to its good attacks taking like 3/4 health so yes... very annoying battle.

I enjoy the game x10 more when Lightning is in the party because she's so good. I don't know if everyone feels the same but she's my favorite character for battles by a large margin.

 

[Kageho]

Lightning is the all-rounder, and considering Paradigm Shifts require rotations, she's a very much needed commodity. Because she is so good at anything, you can switch her into many different roles without having to worry "ok, can I afford to have <insert name> doing this job?".

The only things I haven't figured out so far is how exactly to work Sentinel into the equation. Its only for Snow so far, but I really don't understand how to get it to work for him on a consistant basis. I kinda realize that sooner or later I will, and thankfully since I havent' continued Chapter 6, I don't need to worry about it, but I do realize I'll eventually need to.

And am I the only one not missing any battles? I've been fighting everything and anything simply to get the CP points.

Edit: Also good to hear about the Weapons, cause I thought I screwed up.

 

[Mik]

The item required for ultimate weapon upgrading costs 2,000,000 gil... so it's going to take a ton of hard work to get there.

Apparently from some things I've skimmed... don't even worry about trying to do any of this stuff until you get to Pulse.

 

[Kageho]

I haven't even tried buying anything. Cash is like uber rare to get, so I've been saving it for a rainy day.

Besides, if you fight all the battles enough stuff will drop that you don't need to worry about it. And when you get medics, well, let's say I'm not worried.

Though a million gil? Shit, just me hitting a couple of thousand made me happy. I don't even wanna know what it takes to get higher than that.

And we do eventually get to Pulse? Nice. I kinda figured that's where it was heading.

 

[Mik]

Yeah... I think the bulk of the game takes place there actually. All of the side missions, etc.

One more note about upgrading; using Lightning as an example... you will end up with her Omega weapon no matter what weapon you start with but the properties of the weapon are different depending on what you started with. Start with a sword with higher attack, the attack is very high...higher magic, higher magic. Etc. So that's pretty neat.

 

[Kageho]

I see. So eventually I want to use a better weapon to obtain the epic weapon?