[Gunloc]

Why? The art style is great, and really well-suited to this game in particular.

I have nothing against cutesy stuff at all, I just don't like this particular take on it. The female characters look particularly awful.

[TranceKuja]

I wonder why in Chaos Shrine mode it seems the entire game consists of only ten songs or so. If it is randomly picking songs from a roster of about 70, why does it recycle the same ones all the time?

Out of the 18 Dark Notes I've played, 5 times I've had FFII battle 2 and 5 times I've had Something To Protect, at one time appearing three times in a row. I love that song but it's starting to outstay its welcome like this :/

[The Broken Ska Record]

I think I've hit my wall in this game on Ultimate. The songs are quite a bit hard, but not easy enough to where I can slowly get better without replaying songs over and over and over.

Still, I'll probably buy some DLC to have more songs to play.

[Jucksalbe]

If it is randomly picking songs from a roster of about 70, why does it recycle the same ones all the time?

It's not. It's randomly(?) picking out of 20 songs. But it seems to be very common that you get the same songs over and over (but the song differs for every person), so I guess it's probably not completely random.

[teeny]

I have nothing against cutesy stuff at all, I just don't like this particular take on it. The female characters look particularly awful.

In my opinion, it would be a lot better if the characters had a range of expressions rather than the creepy dead marionette look they currently have. Other than that, I quite like it, reminds me of the papercraft cutscene at the beginning of Phantom Hourglass.

I have no emotional investment in Final Fantasy at all - the only game I have played in the series is XIII, which I understand isnt considered the best ;) Still, Im having a blast playing this. Hopefully SE do this for some other franchises. People have already mentioned it but a Thetrhythm: Legend of Zelda would be amazing.

[MaverickHunterAsh]

Anyone know whether or not the "preferred" Dark Notes out there -- like the ones with a bunch of Magic Pots to grind EXP on -- have specific names? I'd imagine that most people who get one and know it will be kind enough to attach it to their ProfiCard, and I'd like to know what to look for, seeing as I just got about 80 Dark Notes from ProfiCards at Comic-Con last week... but I'm not about to play all of them.

[kiryogi]

I wonder why in Chaos Shrine mode it seems the entire game consists of only ten songs or so. If it is randomly picking songs from a roster of about 70, why does it recycle the same ones all the time? Out of the 18 Dark Notes I've played, 5 times I've had FFII battle 2 and 5 times I've had Something To Protect, at one time appearing three times in a row. I love that song but it's starting to outstay its welcome like this :/

->

My bad. Actually it presents itself as No. 35, Score 45.. The first set of numbers determines the difficulty, the next 2 determine what songs it'll be. Which it picks from a set of 9 field and 9 battle. This is also the only mode you can listen to VI's "The Fierce Battle". So in this case, Score 45 means the first song will be "Tina's theme", and the battle song will be "The Man with the Machine Gun" Here's the listing: FMS: 0 Gurgu Volcano 1 Eternal Wind 2 Dungeon of the Giants 3 Mambo de Chocobo 4 Tina's Theme 5 The Last Day 6 Blue Fields 7 To Zanarkand 8 Vana'diel March 9 Sunleth Waterscape BMS: 0 Battle Scene 2 1 Battle 1 2 Big Bridge 3 Fierce Battle 4 J-E-N-O-V-A 5 The man with the Machine Gun 6 Something to Protect 7 Seymour Battle 8 Ending Movie 9 Struggle Against Fate

[Vaati]

I tried playing Ultimate mode last night and wow was it tough. If I didn't have work today I would have spent all night playing it. So far I've only beaten the FF1 FMS on Ultimate. The BMS just overwhelmed me right away.

[TheChillyAcademic]

So anyone have any suggestions for alts to Cloud and Squall. By that I mean characters that have good boss fighting abilities.

[XiaNaphryz]

So anyone have any suggestions for alts to Cloud and Squall. By that I mean characters that have good boss fighting abilities.

I like Cecil and Shantotto. They often drop bosses right away from just the two of them once they're high enough level.

[Vyse The Legend]

I like Cecil and Shantotto. They often drop bosses right away from just the two of them once they're high enough level.

Cecil took a long, long time to become useful to me. Now, he's pretty great (at level 81).

[Roto13]

So anyone have any suggestions for alts to Cloud and Squall. By that I mean characters that have good boss fighting abilities.

Basically anyone with a "Limit Break" that specifically damages bosses is a reliable boss-murderer. Zidane and Vaan both have attacks like that, though their general strength stat won't take down regular enemies as quickly as Squall and Cloud will.

Both Vaan and Zidane are great to have in your party anyway, just because they're great for FMS and good for bosses.

[Nista]

Right now I'm using a party of Terra, Lightning, Bartz and Zidane all around lvl 25.

I'm having trouble killing off bosses during Dark Notes, should I swap one of them out for a new character at this point? Also should I swap my leader around, since Terra is basically specced for healing at this point?

[cw_sasuke]

:lol

[Roto13]

Right now I'm using a party of Terra, Lightning, Bartz and Zidane all around lvl 25. I'm having trouble killing off bosses during Dark Notes, should I swap one of them out for a new character at this point? Also should I swap my leader around, since Terra is basically specced for healing at this point?

Terra's not going to be very good for killing off bosses. Your party leader should be someone fast, because your party leader order only really matters during FMS and faster is better for that.

[Hollywood Duo]

Can anyone tell me what the rhythmia totals are to unlock all the particular extra songs? I have unlocked the first 2 already

[Prinny]

Can anyone tell me what the rhythmia totals are to unlock all the particular extra songs? I have unlocked the first 2 already

You need 45000rm to unlock all of them.

[Hollywood Duo]

You need 45000rm to unlock all of them.

Thanks!

[Roto13]

Can anyone tell me what the rhythmia totals are to unlock all the particular extra songs? I have unlocked the first 2 already

Encore songs:
Blinded By Light (FFXIII) (BMS) 15000 PTS
Dancing Mad (FFVI) (BMS) 10000 PTS
Searching for Friends (FFVI) (FMS) 20000 PTS
Those Who Fight (FFVII) (BMS) 25000 PTS

Chaos Shrine songs:
Battle 1 (FFIV) (BMS) 30000 PTS
Dungeon of the Giants (FFIV) (FMS) 32500 PTS
Gurgu Volcano (FFI) (FMS) 27500 PTS
J-E-N-O-V-A (FFVII) (BMS) 40000 PTS
Mambo de Chocobo (FFV) (FMS) 37500 PTS
Something to Protect (FFIX) (FMS) 45000 PTS
The Fierce Battle (FFVI) (BMS) 35000 PTS
The Last Day (FFVII) (FMS) 42500 PTS

[Napalm_Frank]

I love the game itself but I seriously wish all the menu and info stuff would be faster. For example after finishing a song I don't want to see how much exp my lvl 99 characters got and I don't need 10 sec animation to inform me that my rhytmia has increased. Also if I fail a song just let me retry right away instead of showing useless info I want to see only when I have completed the song or given up.

[linko9]

I love the game itself but I seriously wish all the menu and info stuff would be faster. For example after finishing a song I don't want to see how much exp my lvl 99 characters got and I don't need 10 sec animation to inform me that my rhytmia has increased. Also if I fail a song just let me retry right away instead of showing useless info I want to see only when I have completed the song or given up.

Yeah, it especially sucks when you reach the rhythmia cap. But at this point I'm spending most of my time hitting retry, so I don't see much of that stuff anyway :D

[Roto13]

Yeah, it especially sucks when you reach the rhythmia cap. But at this point I'm spending most of my time hitting retry, so I don't see much of that stuff anyway :D

Ugh. I would like to never, ever see the Rhythmia screen again once I hit the cap. :P

[Napalm_Frank]

Ugh. I would like to never, ever see the Rhythmia screen again once I hit the cap. :P

But the crystal is so shiny :3

[TheChillyAcademic]

Basically anyone with a "Limit Break" that specifically damages bosses is a reliable boss-murderer. Zidane and Vaan both have attacks like that, though their general strength stat won't take down regular enemies as quickly as Squall and Cloud will. Both Vaan and Zidane are great to have in your party anyway, just because they're great for FMS and good for bosses.

Without spoiling what the exact abilities are...any secret characters have decent limit breaks?

[lazybones18]

Finally exhausted my initial party (WoL, Cecil, Zidane, Vaan)

Gonna try out Cloud, Seph, Vivi, and Lightning next

Without spoiling what the exact abilities are...any secret characters have decent limit breaks?

Secret characters don't have limit breaks

[Noi]

Is there a reliable way to see Boss #1 and #2 on Dark Notes that doesn't involve going Stoic? Whenever I fail notes on purpose to try and do so, I tend to go overboard and lose the whole whole thing...

[lazybones18]

Go less overboard on failing notes?

If your party is at a high level, missing 2-5 notes on purpose should be good enough to force Boss #2 to show up

[Noi]

If your party is at a high level, missing 2-5 notes on purpose should be good enough to force Boss #2 to show up

It's not! Highest level character is in the 20's, though reading up on it now, Boss #2 is a lot easier to get since it's based on remaining HP. Now I just need to figure out how many to fail to not trigger the chocobo during FMS.

[ActStriker]

For Boss 1 just use someone with really bad Agility as your leader. Skip the Chocobo to if that helps.

I think you can fail if you miss at least half the notes.

[Famassu]

A way they tried to introduce difficulty in this game, which I've addressed before, was to switch instruments in the middle of a BGM, which really screws around with you. They want you to play around with the ensemble as opposed to a singular instrument, when in reality, certain instruments' time signatures are more difficult to replicate on a touch pad, so perhaps a smarter idea would have been to stick with a certain instrument for certain difficulties. This constant shifting makes it feel like the levels have little consistency. For a game that concentrates on music, it's very strange; it's like you have one page of sheet music dedicated to your choice of instrument, and then when you get to the second page, some silly fellow seems to have mixed in sheet music for another instrument (like hi-hats, for example). Of course, this is likely done to mix things up a bit over the course of a 1-2 minute beat experience, but I can't help but to feel that this inconsistency adds to the lack of cohesion that the game seems to have, imo.

No, that is actually GOOD game design, which is why so many rhythm games do it one way or another (force you to play different instruments of the song). I don't really understand what's your problem with it, there's no need for consistency in this particular area (though, yeah, I agree the game overall could've used a clearer structure, now you have a bit too much freedom, especially considering how much there is to do in the game).

EDIT: I will add, however, that the switching between instruments isn't always well done (in a few songs I have some trouble figuring out what, exactly, am I playing).

[cosmicblizzard]

Woo, all characters obtained! Now I guess the only thing left to do is SSS all the courses. Or is there some kind of secret to the no.99 Dark Notes beyond just playing them?

[linko9]

No, that is actually GOOD game design, which is why so many rhythm games do it one way or another (force you to play different instruments of the song). I don't really understand what's your problem with it, there's no need for consistency in this particular area (though, yeah, I agree the game overall could've used a clearer structure, now you have a bit too much freedom, especially considering how much there is to do in the game).

Well said, that's one thing I really appreciate about this game.

[Dark Schala]

No, that is actually GOOD game design, which is why so many rhythm games do it one way or another (force you to play different instruments of the song). I don't really understand what's your problem with it, there's no need for consistency in this particular area (though, yeah, I agree the game overall could've used a clearer structure, now you have a bit too much freedom, especially considering how much there is to do in the game). EDIT: I will add, however, that the switching between instruments isn't always well done (in a few songs I have some trouble figuring out what, exactly, am I playing).

Well, yeah, that's part of what I'm getting at. You're concentrating on one single thing, and then the instrument switches in a strange sort of context.

I think part of my problem is being overly familiar with the BGM in a listening context and a performance context (thus having prior knowledge of the patterns of several instruments and anticipating them). Like, I can see how they can make it easy at first with the held stuff, and then incorporating hits, then incorporating arrows, and then mixing it up a ton, and then build it up over the course of the song by making it more difficult. But then the obvious difficulty scaling for some of the difficulty settings (ex: the division between basic, expert and ultimate) might be thrown off if they do that. Ah well. It's really the thing that bothers me the most, so I still sorta disagree, but I won't let it deter other people's enjoyment of the game.

[linko9]

Well, yeah, that's part of what I'm getting at. You're concentrating on one single thing, and then the instrument switches in a strange sort of context. I think part of my problem is being overly familiar with the BGM in a listening context and a performance context (thus having prior knowledge of the patterns of several instruments and anticipating them). Like, I can see how they can make it easy at first with the held stuff, and then incorporating hits, then incorporating arrows, and then mixing it up a ton, and then build it up over the course of the song by making it more difficult. But then the obvious difficulty scaling for some of the difficulty settings (ex: the division between basic, expert and ultimate) might be thrown off if they do that. Ah well. It's really the thing that bothers me the most, so I still sorta disagree, but I won't let it deter other people's enjoyment of the game.

Beyond the first or second playthrough of a song, I don't see how you can be surprised by the "instrument switching." Can you imagine how dull it would be if every song just had you following the melody?

[Roto13]

You're not playing the song, anyway. You're playing a game to the song. It's like dancing.

[Dark Schala]

Beyond the first or second playthrough of a song, I don't see how you can be surprised by the "instrument switching." Can you imagine how dull it would be if every song just had you following the melody?

Because once you get into the zone, you don't really get out of it out of force of habit? I personally become really focused on something when I start really concentrating on it. :lol

I kind of feel like following the top melody would be the easiest setting for the game. Even the easiest setting of EBA generally generates a touch set that isn't the main melody of the song, but it fits into the song. You can follow the percussion bpm or the bassline time signature or the backing guitar, or something else in other difficulties just as long as they build up to a more difficult swipe/touch set, making it harder almost like a curve. If they insisted on switching up the instrumentation pattern mid-BGM, then it would be okay if it was done in phases (because the themes do loop sometimes).

Look, I still like the game. There are just little personal annoyances that were adding up that simply snapped me out of the honeymoon phase a week ago. I'd certainly take a second Theatrhythm because I know they can improve upon the formula.

Edit: On-topic, mostly. Rainbow Shards are giving me nightmares. Urrrrgh...!

[WiiredShawn]

All of a sudden, the game started throwing high-level Dark Notes at me (maybe because of all the Ulimate Scores I've finished?), and boy, did I not expect the rotating arrows! I'm pleased that the game strives to maintain a gradually increasing challenge, though. 37 hours in and it's still enjoyable. Thanks to the people above for explaining how the Dark Note song and boss selection works, that will be helpful for obtaining more of the shards I desperately need, ha.

I wonder if Square would ever continue this franchise with a "Square Classics" follow-up (Chrono Trigger/Cross, Xenogears, etc.). The most likely candidate would be a Theatrhythm: Dragon Quest, but I'm not as familiar with that series' music.

[PixyJunket]

I left my .xls at work, but I put my sixty Dark Notes into a spreadsheet today to play with some numbers and was kicked in the stomach. My goal is to find a Dark Note with Movement 10 (chiptunes, yay), but out of sixty Dark Notes, I've gotten the Final Fantasy III FMS zero times and the Final Fantasy II BMS has only shown up three times. I've gotten the Final Fantasy X FMS and Final Fantasy XIII BMS twelve times each.

I'm starting to wonder if there's something to how these are generated or if I've just had some, ahem, odd luck.

[ActStriker]

All of a sudden, the game started throwing high-level Dark Notes at me (maybe because of all the Ulimate Scores I've finished?), and boy, did I not expect the rotating arrows!

The level of the Dark Note you get is the average level of your party when you get the new Note.

[WiiredShawn]

The level of the Dark Note you get is the average level of your party when you get the new Note.

Ah, thanks for explaining. No wonder, I usually taken a BAMF team of three 99'ers plus one rookie to level up with Experience Hound, ha.

[linko9]

Whoa, just checked the DLC list here:

http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/T..._Final_Fantasy

and see that only one song from FFVI has come out in Japan? That's pretty crazy, that game's got an amazing soundtrack, and it's very popular to boot. We at least need the Veldt overworld music. And also Gogo's theme. Is DLC still coming out weekly in Japan? Maybe there's still hope...

And only 2 songs from VII? I personally think that soundtrack's a bit weak, but you know you'd make a lot more money selling songs from that game. And why so many songs from X and XII? Got no problem with those soundtracks, but I don't consider them standouts for the series.

Yes, I know there are a disproportionate number of songs from 6 and 7 in the game, but still, pretty baffling.

[Wolf Akela]

Completed my first Ultimate -- FFXIII's Saber's Edge.

Probably the easiest out of all the Ultimates I tried. Only took me a few tries in practice to avoid dying. I got an S on a real game. It helps that the song kicks so much ass.

[WatTsu]

Finally got my copy of the game and I love it. I've finished 6, 7, and 10 and three or four Dark Notes. Really happy.

Plus I got the stylus and sticker set, so score.

[Javier]

FINALLY Perfect Chained a Dark Note. I was fearing I was never going to get that trophy.

[pyrandes]

<snip for images> :lol

omg, those are awesome. id play it <.<

[Famassu]

And why so many songs from X and XII? Got no problem with those soundtracks, but I don't consider them standouts for the series.

Except they are. :)

[Kagari]

When does the DLC typically go live?

[Zeer0id]

Just realized that all four of North America's DLC this week are BMS :T

[linko9]

When does the DLC typically go live?

If I remember correctly, they were up by midnight eastern time last week.

[cosmicblizzard]

Phew, finally SSS'd all the basic courses. Don't know if I have the patience to do them on higher difficulties, but I'll at least try. Seriously though, fuck EMS stages.