Final Fantasy XIII. Release: 3.9.2010.

[-=[Tork]=-]

Yeah I think it would be sweet to find new towns and explore... <3 exploration.

[Sosa]

Well, and that's the thing... I'm willing to grant it certain concessions if they make sense for the game. Not being able to run around towns in Cocoon shopping is probably a decent example - it would be pretty implausible to do given the events that happen in the story. Forcing players into dungeons that consist of narrow hallways without even so much as a branching path, on the other hand, doesn't have the same kind of justification.

Omissions like reoccurring elements of the series (chocobos, bombs, etc.) may not have as much of an impact on gameplay, but they're still very important to our perception of the game. It's like playing a Castlevania game where you don't fight Dracula, or a Zelda game where bombs, boomerangs and heart pieces are just mysteriously absent. Some things are so important to the identity of a series that they become iconic.

[McClebby]

Your a fugitive...you want to shop around town the normal way... -.-

@tork Versus XIII will have a normal world map and airship

[Sosa]

That's not what I said, Clebby. I said I can understand why you can't go shopping in towns, and I'm okay with that.

What I'm not okay with is that everything else[/b] about the game is just as linear. There is not a logical, justified reason for making all of the dungeons in the game a straight hallway. The "Crystal Point" upgrade system is more of the same problem. The combat system basically plays on auto-pilot and the only decisions you'll make that have any real strategic weight are the precise moments you want to use paradigm shifts.

[mirowr]

Maybe if you keep playing you will find that there is more[/i] to do.

[Markus]

I hate you all except for kitty!


>.>


<.<


The game is really good imo. It is missing a lot of FF themes, that I too, wish were still present. But it's still a fucking awesome game imo. I am not bored or disappointed at all. It's just different *shrug*

I'm still on Ch9 though. Been busy and I refuse to play on any TV at all.


You guys are like me I guess. High expectations of SE. Highly critical of them. Probably because we have each given them thousands of dollars. Idk, it's like the Habs... I love them to death but I talk a lot of shit.

[plague]

I finished this last week and here are my thoughts about this game.

The game is not so bad, but it is not a 10 either. I finished it last week and IMO it was rather short, hell when I finished it I didn't believe I had finished it, I was watching the credits and still couldn't believe it was done. I guess since it was so linear, there wasn't much exploration to be done, and hence the game felt extremely short(I logged 56 hours total and I was afk for 6 of those hours at the very least.) I also grinded a certain spot in chapter 7 and 11 for about an hour each. In other words, there was really no down time in this game. If you died you simply try again from the very spot you died. There is basically no penalty for dieing. All of these things are considered ( a grind) and this game has no grind at all, which is what people now a days want and what SE gave them, thus adding to their fan base(I can bet on that)

I also found it extremely easy....I mean extremely. (I didnt even have the strategy guide and I'm saying that) I guess again the reason for that is because you practically have a save spot every 10 minutes and before any major stuff goes down. Remember the old school FF?? Hell I remember in 2(IV officially) the last save before the last boss was about 1/2 hour of fighting away before you even encountered the last boss lol. I'm pretty sure this was all done so they could have a larger fan base, make the game simpler and wala you have a much broader audience.



About the lv system.....Another total disappointment. FFXII all over again imo. They need to stop fucking around with these stupid hybrid jobs. It's boring as hell having every character do mostly everything. I want my classic jobs back, I wan my war/rdm/blm/whm etc etc. It's just fucking dumb to have every member in your party with very very similar skills. I finished the game everyone was on Lv4 of the w/e the fuck they call the lv wheel or w/e. Why did I lv up to 5 after defeating the final boss???(who was a joke btw) After the credits are over you can save an return to the last save spot, this time for me as a lv 5. WTF would I wan't to play anymore or lv anymore when the guy was a pushover at lv 4? I don't get that if someone can explain that to me.

The combat system I wonder about....Will XIV employ something similar? I didn't think the para shifting was a bad thing at all.

All in all if I had never played a FF before, beside the PSP version (FFVII crisis core) I would of thought the game was based on that one. It feels more like that, an action RPG.

The story and the music was very good, as usual. The game is not "bad" but it's far from "great". The seamless transitions from battle/cut scene to gameplay was great and in the future most games will probably have very little loading. If I rated games, this one gets 7.5/10.

IMO DAO was a better game, more intense, a much bigger challenge and things just "worked" better overall. (If you can over look the little bugs like slowdowns etc)

Talking about DAO I hear the expansion is WEAKSAUCE. About 8hrs of gameplay for 40 bucks....NO THANKS.

[Sosa]

I pretty much agree with everything plague said.

There are things that the game does well. The characters have excellent development, you really feel like each one of them grows through their pain and suffering. The plot is what it is. Love it or hate it, it's presented well. Around the 15-18 hour mark, the plot finally takes a few levels in badass, and starts ramping up rather quickly (if predictably.) Even though you'll spend more than 80% of the game running through hallways, those hallways are usually gorgeous to look at.

The "no real dying" thing does make the game easier, but it's a good feature IMO. On the other hand, they made some baffling decisions that affect the difficulty, too. I've died several times because of brain-dead healing AI. The combat is fast-paced and pretty to look at, but basically boils down to selecting "auto-attack" and changing your paradigms occasionally.

I've had three different people (not in this conversation) try to defend FFXIII's upgrade system by telling me customization is possible, but frankly every single character has maxed out their upgrade paths (in all of their available roles) before every level upgrade I've gotten. Even if they dramatically reduced the number of CP you earned for fighting, it wouldn't fix the system. It's more linear than the sphere grid (which I actually enjoyed) with none of the interesting diversions. Your choices are: straight line to role class level upgrades, then go back and fill in gaps... or fill in gaps on the way. Either way, you're going to max out everything.

[Markus]

I'm going to hold out on commenting further until I complete the game. Doubt I have much new to say.





I like the Orphan references though



Nobody on the corner got STAGGER like us! Stagger like us, stagger like us, stagger like us...

[mirowr]

Mar 28, 2010 3:05:25 GMT -5 mirowr said:

Maybe if you keep playing you will find that there is more

[/i] to do.[/quote]

I totally take it back. I thought the missions were going to be a little more than just marks, and that the area of exploration was going to be a lot bigger, but I was wrong. I'm in the final dungeon and I have to say that though it was a beautiful ride, the characters and story really lacked depth. I honestly don't really care about finishing the game, though I'll probably get around to it sometime next week. I've played through the whole endgame with the same 3 characters too and have capped everybody in their primary jobs (though that took a little grinding). Doesn't break my top 5 Final Fantasy installments, though it is definitely the most aesthetically pleasing.

[Sosa]

No worries. I didn't want to turn anyone off that was already playing it, but I got to the point that people were telling me the game would "turn around" and I was just... really underwhelmed. I tried to give it a chance and let it prove me wrong, but it just never happened. Found myself in the same situation you're in now: really unmotivated to finish the game.

It's still worth playing imo, but frankly I'm glad I rented it.

[Markus]

Haven't had the chance to play much. So I'm way behind.

[mirowr]

lol.
www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/1569-Final-Fantasy-XIII

[mirowr]

beat it today.... meh.