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Final Fantasy XIII |OT|

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Bauer91

Member
Dedication Through Light said:
Use Relenteless Assault, Combat Clinic when he does that Thanastonian Laughter, then Relenteless Assault, heal with the Technique RENEW, target time for me was 8 minutes, after 15 minutes, he'll cast Doom

expy said:
If you're having trouble staggering him at all, then just use a straight up turtle strategy... Turtle whenever he's about to shoot. and then just heal up quick and attack, rinse repeat. It'll take a long time but he'll go down easily.

Thanks, I used all the items (and had Haste, Protect etc at the beginning of the battle) and FINALLY managed to beat him. Got zero stars though. :lol

On to Disc 3.
 

Fuu

Formerly Alaluef (not Aladuf)
desverger said:
Just Deprotect him after his shield drops and go melee mad on him, he'll die in 10 secs :p
Haha yeah, he's not troublesome at all, I take him down with only RAV/RAV/COM. I'm playing with Lightning, auto-battle is usually ok for staggering enemies but I used it during his stagger out of curiosity to see how she would handle the resistance and yikes, got right back to manual input.
 

Fuu

Formerly Alaluef (not Aladuf)
What kind of point was
Barthandelus
trying to make by
turning into Serah and hugging Snow
before the fight at chapter 11? :lol What a creeper.
 
I was very hesitant to buy this initially. After years of waiting and hype, I decided screw it, I don't have the time, and people were bagging on it. After watching the video review on Monday, and then seeing my dorm neighbor playing it, I decided I needed it. I bought it on Tuesday, my PS3 had a corrupt file system, so I didn't end up getting around to it until Thursday at 2AM. Since then, I have put about 7 hours in, and I am absolutely loving it. It is pretty different from past RPGs, and I don't feel the grind yet(albeit I am only on Chapter 5). I look forward to the progression of the story, and the game is really grabbing me. It looks beautiful on my 32" 1080p TV, and the music is fantastic. All-in-all, at 7 hours in(still pretty early), I feel like the game is a terrific game.
 
I'm replaying the game, trying to create the perfect save file (I missed some enemy intel logs the first time around) and got up to the chapter 9 boss. I can't believe I never realised that you could attack
Barthandelus during the Destrudo charge up
. I wish I'd read the last few pages earlier, rather than in the middle of the battle, I might have even got 1 star for the rating.
 
Die Squirrel Die said:
I'm replaying the game, trying to create the perfect save file (I missed some enemy intel logs the first time around) and got up to the chapter 9 boss. I can't believe I never realised that you could attack
Barthandelus during the Destrudo charge up
. I wish I'd read the last few pages earlier, rather than in the middle of the battle, I might have even got 1 star for the rating.

A perfect save? But you get nothing in return after having 100 enemies in the data log?
 

Dries

Member
Thinking about buying... Can someone tell me what the general GAF-verdict is on FF XIII? I'm hearing a lot of mixed opinions.

also, is there a bestiary? Stupid question, I know.
 
Dedication Through Light said:
A perfect save? But you get nothing in return after having 100 enemies in the data log?

I know, but it just bugs me looking at the log and not seeing all ticks. I was like this long before achievements and trophies came about. Besides while everything up to chapter 11 isn't always great, there were definitely parts I wanted to playthrough again, namely chapters 5 through 8.
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
Dries said:
Thinking about buying... Can someone tell me what the general GAF-verdict is on FF XIII? I'm hearing a lot of mixed opinions.

also, is there a bestiary? Stupid question, I know.

I don't think there's a consensus really. You either love the new paradigm system or you don't.

Although, I think every will agree when I saw post-game grind is just ridiculous.

Also, yeah, there's a bestiary.
 
Just started Post-Game.

Didn't upgrade anything yet and never had to use any summons. The grind starts! I will do it while I watch some TV.
 
Die Squirrel Die said:
I know, but it just bugs me looking at the log and not seeing all ticks. I was like this long before achievements and trophies came about. Besides while everything up to chapter 11 isn't always great, there were definitely parts I wanted to playthrough again, namely chapters 5 through 8.

Yeah, lol, I found myself using the libra to get the info on every enemy even after I got that 100 enemy trophy (which seemed to occur in like chapter 9 or something, really early). The most annoying one to get and that I still dont have marked off is the targeting beacon X_X.
 
Dedication Through Light said:
Yeah, lol, I found myself using the libra to get the info on every enemy even after I got that 100 enemy trophy (which seemed to occur in like chapter 9 or something, really early). The most annoying one to get and that I still dont have marked off is the targeting beacon X_X.

The targeting beacons got me too the first time around. This time I wasn't going to miss it, as soon as it popped out I Libraed that bastard.
 

careful

Member
So I just did mission 24 in Taejin’s Tower. I heard people talking about repeating this mission, but I don't seem to have the option at this point.
 
I'm still in Chapter 11, grinding on the Behemoth's getting 6.6k CP each time. When should I move on with the story? I so far have maxed out my characters 3 jobs at least as far as I can go now. I have 100k CP stored up. Would it be easier if I just kept grinding to get more CP or is it easier to get later?
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
careful said:
So I just did mission 24 in Taejin’s Tower. I heard people talking about repeating this mission, but I don't seem to have the option at this point.

You can only repeat it after you beat the Chapter 11 boss.

Big Papa Husker said:
I'm still in Chapter 11, grinding on the Behemoth's getting 6.6k CP each time. When should I move on with the story? I so far have maxed out my characters 3 jobs at least as far as I can go now. I have 100k CP stored up. Would it be easier if I just kept grinding to get more CP or is it easier to get later?

Yeah, at this point you should move on and beat the boss, then go back and get the Growth Egg. Otherwise, you're almost wasting time at that point.
 
You know, this battle system is fantastic. The only thing, the only thing I can think of that would improve it would be the ability to create macros for oft-used battle commands.

For example, in parts of GP, the blitz command is extremely functional. It would be nice to be able to program one of the shoulder buttons to run a specific set of commands, wouldn't it?
 
can anyone tell me which accessories should i spend components on? i feel kind of overwhelmed, so many that i could upgrade but im not sure... i just reached Gran Pulse so i only have stuff from previous chapters. gimme some tips, please!
 
astroturfing said:
can anyone tell me which accessories should i spend components on? i feel kind of overwhelmed, so many that i could upgrade but im not sure... i just reached Gran Pulse so i only have stuff from previous chapters. gimme some tips, please!

I wouldn't waste any resources on upgrading any bangles you got in previous chapters. You can get a platinum bangle +450 HP in the first few hunts. Other than that I don't have any real advice for you, sorry. I've been focusing on upgrading my main 3's weapons to * status.
 
DigitalDevil said:
I wouldn't waste any resources on upgrading any bangles you got in previous chapters. You can get a platinum bangle +450 HP in the first few hunts. Other than that I don't have any real advice for you, sorry. I've been focusing on upgrading my main 3's weapons to * status.
I burned a Mnar Stone on a Platinum Bangle upgrade from Mythril as I had 2 of 'em burning a hole in my wallet and had no need for 'em apart from using one to create a Connoisseur Catalog.

Probably should have just sold the extra stone, though. :p

I'm actually happy with myself for not grinding away on anything JUST for CP. Played through Mission 7 a bunch of times for Tetradic Crowns to load up on Sprint Shoes and phase out my Auto-Protect / Shell / Veil / Vigilance accessories.

5-starred Missions 1-15, upgraded all my elemental rings, have a quality 2nd tier weapon for each of my guys... courtesy of some Gold Nugget runs on my trusty chocobo. Even maxed out on Ribbons via breaking down my Entite Rings. All this without feeling overlevelled (haven't even maxed out any character's 8th stage jobs - although I'm getting close on abilities).

So I should still have plenty of challenge ahead. (I suppose I should play the rest of Chapter 11 now... just heading into the battle with
Hecatoncheir
).
 

MrDenny

Member
I'm trying to get my first trap, but no luck so far.
Is it okay to keep both the connoisseur and collectors catalog on at the same time or should I just keep the connoisseur catalog on and unequip the collectors catalog.
Will traps become more frequent after their first drop?
 

Yoshichan

And they made him a Lord of Cinder. Not for virtue, but for might. Such is a lord, I suppose. But here I ask. Do we have a sodding chance?
MrDenny said:
Will traps become more frequent after their first drop?
No.
 

Drame

Member
Just got to chapter 9 and things are starting to get really interesting, and best of all, only two more chapters to Grand Pulse.
 

edgefusion

Member
MrDenny said:
I'm trying to get my first trap, but no luck so far.
Is it okay to keep both the connoisseur and collectors catalog on at the same time or should I just keep the connoisseur catalog on and unequip the collectors catalog.
Will traps become more frequent after their first drop?

I keep two connoisseurs and one collectors for an increased chance of Platinum Ingots, otherwise you're gonna spend a whole heap of time getting absolutely nothing.
 

Magnus

Member
I'm in Chapter 11, and haven't yet reached
this tower everyone's talking about
. Is it even remotely feasible that I could finish this game today?

Also, am I generally safe to press on with the story if I've only reached the top Crystarium level for only one primary role with each character? I think Light or Hope are Level 4 with more than one role, but that's it.

Also, I'm still appalled at how many people are content with a battle system that doesn't let you assign commands or gambits to your AI party members. That's still the cardinal sin this game commits for me. 'Best battle system yet' my ass.

edit- additional question. I honestly don't understand the tooltips for the -Sa spells. What the hell does Curasa do? I watch Vanille use it in battle, and functionally, it appears to be identical to Cure.

And did anyone else laugh at the spell name, "Fogga"? :lol
 
Fuu said:
Here you go, all of these play in one or more battles iirc. I probably missed some and since I'm on ch.11 it's missing final boss music and any other that's exclusively on chapter 12-13:

-Blinded by Light (Ryo Yamazaki)
-Saber's Edge (Masashi Hamauzu)
-Eidolons (Masashi Hamauzu)
-Desperate Struggle (Junya Nakano)
-Defiers of Fate (Mitsuto Suzuki and Ryo Yamazaki)
-Test of the L'Cie (Mitsuto Suzuki)
-Fighting Fate (Masashi Hamauzu)
-Eden Under Siege (Masashi Hamauzu)
Thanks, Fuu!
 

mr_nothin

Banned
Magnus said:
Also, I'm still appalled at how many people are content with a battle system that doesn't let you assign commands or gambits to your AI party members. That's still the cardinal sin this game commits for me. 'Best battle system yet' my ass.
If it had gambits/command assigning and the ability to attack/heal/buff/debuff different enemies/allies on the same command line then it could have been one of the best.
 
Jeels said:
Paradigms are gambits on steroids. I feel more in control of my party than I did in XII.

Agreed. Gambits was just a bunch of pre-battle planning to me and it never felt like I was actually playing the game. Here, I can actually narrow down what everyone can do so they're doing what I want 99.94% of the time.
 

Fuu

Formerly Alaluef (not Aladuf)
Man, not even gonna lie, felt kind of awesome to see Lightning
getting in that tunnel and finally playing in the area full of soldiers shown in that old ass trailer years ago
(Ch.12).
 

mr_nothin

Banned
cosmicblizzard said:
Agreed. Gambits was just a bunch of pre-battle planning to me and it never felt like I was actually playing the game. Here, I can actually narrow down what everyone can do so they're doing what I want 99.94% of the time.
How the hell?...it's the opposite.

Paradigms are pre-determined battle strategies. They're higher level gambits, all pre-configured. If gambits had profiles then this would be the default profile for a set of gambits (and not a very well put together set imo). How can you narrow it down when all you're doing is choosing what you want them to do on the high level? I cant tell my character to always use ESUNA before she uses CURE....UNLESS the health is >20%...and in that case, use CURE before ESUNA. That's narrowing it down.

I dont know how many times I've had my medic character using Cure when it wasnt needed. I'd be silenced and not be able to attack or cast magic and my Medic would just be curing all the time, without a care in the world and then she would get silenced and not be able to cure and we would all die.
 

darkwings

Banned
mr_nothin said:
How the hell?...it's the opposite.

Paradigms are pre-determined battle strategies. How can you narrow it down when all you're doing is choosing what you want them to do on the high level? I cant tell my character to always use ESUNA before she uses CURE....UNLESS the health is >20%...and in that case, use CURE before ESUNA. That's narrowing it down.

I dont know how many times I've has my medic character using Cure when it wasnt needed. I'd be silenced and not be able to attack or cast magic and my Medic would just be curing all the time, without a care in the world and then she would get silenced and not be able to cure and we would all die.

I agree, why the fuck doesnt the game let you control your allies? There should be a mini gambit system for that. It is retarded that everyone has summons but only the leader can use it.
 
mr_nothin said:
How the hell?...it's the opposite.

Paradigms are pre-determined battle strategies. They're higher level gambits, all pre-configured. If gambits had profiles then this would be the default profile for a set of gambits (and not a very well put together set imo). How can you narrow it down when all you're doing is choosing what you want them to do on the high level? I cant tell my character to always use ESUNA before she uses CURE....UNLESS the health is >20%...and in that case, use CURE before ESUNA. That's narrowing it down.

I dont know how many times I've has my medic character using Cure when it wasnt needed. I'd be silenced and not be able to attack or cast magic and my Medic would just be curing all the time, without a care in the world and then she would get silenced and not be able to cure and we would all die.

I'll admit, medics are a huge problem but other than that, the A.I. always doe exactly what I want it to do while the gambits felt incredibly limited and made it so I was very reluctant to use them over choosing everything manually.
 

darkwings

Banned
cosmicblizzard said:
I'll admit, medics are a huge problem but other than that, the A.I. always doe exactly what I want it to do while the gambits felt incredibly limited and made it so I was very reluctant to use them over choosing everything manually.

gambits were limited? wtf?! The gambits had perfect control over your party, which cannot be said about the paradigm system.
 

mr_nothin

Banned
darkwings said:
I agree, why the fuck doesnt the game let you control your allies? There should be a mini gambit system for that. It is retarded that everyone has summons but only the leader can use it.
Yea it's so dumb. They could at least allow you to switch which character you have control over while in the battle. Basically "real-time party leader switching". Whenever you switched then the other 2 characters would be AI controlled. (this isnt my ideal setup but it would have been TONS better than what's in place now)

If they combined this system with FFXII's gambit system then I'd be in heaven.
Just imagine being able to define the different paradigms ala FFXII's gambit system. Customize them exactly how you want them and have them be specific for each character so Medic for Lighting would be a completely different set of parameters than Vanille's Medic. THEN you'd be able to switch them on the fly during battle. That would rock so hard.

I thought that FFXIII's battle system would be like that....and evolution of the gambit system. Sadly it's not. The only thing that was missing from FFXII (IIRC) was gambit profiles. Being able to save different setups for different characters. The paradigm system overlayed onto the gambit system would have "fixed" that.


EDIT: I dont see how gambits were limited? How can you say the paradigm system allows more freedome/flexibility than gambits? That makes absolutely no sense to me. There were at least 100 different gambits (IIRC). They had a gambit for pretty much any given situation and then they specified %'s.

For example, "cure if health is >50%" and "cure if health is >10%". You can have your main medic curing everybody if anyone's health got below 50% and your other characters would still be attacking. If you got to a critical point (any or everyone's health below 20%)...you could then have everyone prioritize curing each other over attacking. You cannot do that with the paradigm system alone.

If you looked at FFXII and FFXIII from a "programming" standpoint then I could see how you would think that you'd have more control. Basically, FFXII is for the "low-level" and "down to the metal" programmers and their thought process. While FFXIII is more for the "higher-level/overview" programmers.

I personally like to get IN THERE and specify everything myself.
 

Skilletor

Member
Paradigms are shit. They need gambits to supplement them instead of the characters going down a list of what an AI thinks is most important based on the situation. If they're going to have AI control my characters, they should at least be intelligent. If not, let me set what I want the character to do within the restrictions of the job I have chosen for said character.

No, hope, I don't want you to cast Barfira. I want you to cast PROTECT. Just because the enemy MIGHT cast a fire spell doesn't make it more important than the fact that the enemy IS pounding me, at this moment while you are casting your useless spell, with PHYSICAL ATTACKS.

More control, lol. How is choosing what your character might do in a situation more control than telling your character exactly what to do in a situation?

Gambits > Paradigms

/rant

Still like the battle system, though.

Edit: And FUCK whoever didn't think the ability to save paradigms would be a good idea.
 

Magnus

Member
It's not even worth arguing this. If you actually think XIII offers a greater amount of control over the individual actions of your characters than XII did, then you don't properly understand how either battle system works. I'm glad XIII's illusion of control is working for you, and the speed and flashiness of the battle system are certainly exciting to experience for awhile, and take your mind away from the fact that you aren't really in control. Gambits were micro-control, planned in advance, alterable on the fly, interruptable on the fly. XIII paradigms are macro-control, pre-structured gambits by Square, unalterable, uninterruptable.
 
darkwings said:
gambits were limited? wtf?! The gambits had perfect control over your party, which cannot be said about the paradigm system.

Well I haven't played it since 2006 and then quickly forgot it so maybe I'm mistaken. I didn't like the game at all so maybe I'm just making it out to be worse than it actually was.
 

darkwings

Banned
Skilletor said:
Paradigms are shit. They need gambits to supplement them instead of the characters going down a list of what an AI thinks is most important based on the situation. If they're going to have AI control my characters, they should at least be intelligent. If not, let me set what I want the character to do within the restrictions of the job I have chosen for said character.

No, hope, I don't want you to cast Barfira. I want you to cast PROTECT. Just because the enemy MIGHT cast a fire spell doesn't make it more important than the fact that the enemy IS pounding me, at this moment while you are casting your useless spell, with PHYSICAL ATTACKS.

More control, lol. How is choosing what your character might do in a situation more control than telling your character exactly what to do in a situation?

Gambits > Paradigms

/rant

Still like the battle system, though.

agreed with the rant, also I want it to cast Thundara, but instead the AI is casting level 1 spells :(
 

MetatronM

Unconfirmed Member
I've always found it odd that Dragon Age gets praised for having an amazing battle system when it basically has the EXACT SAME battle system as FF XII, which gets crapped on for its battle system all the time.


(Not that it's odd that it would get praised. The gambit system is pretty awesome. I'm also in the "merge paradigm + gambit system for super awesomeness" camp. :lol )
 
MetatronM said:
I've always found it odd that Dragon Age gets praised for having an amazing battle system when it basically has the EXACT SAME battle system as FF XII, which gets crapped on for its battle system all the time.

FFXII gets crapped on by JRPG-only fans. They wouldn't be playing Dragon Age in the first place.
 

Jeels

Member
Magnus said:
It's not even worth arguing this. If you actually think XIII offers a greater amount of control over the individual actions of your characters than XII did, then you don't properly understand how either battle system works. I'm glad XIII's illusion of control is working for you, and the speed and flashiness of the battle system are certainly exciting to experience for awhile, and take your mind away from the fact that you aren't really in control. Gambits were micro-control, planned in advance, alterable on the fly, interruptable on the fly. XIII paradigms are macro-control, pre-structured gambits by Square, unalterable, uninterruptable.

Oh ya, 300 hours and mostly completed optional game content is not understanding the battle system, k.
 

darkwings

Banned
MetatronM said:
I've always found it odd that Dragon Age gets praised for having an amazing battle system when it basically has the EXACT SAME battle system as FF XII, which gets crapped on for its battle system all the time.

FFXII didnt get crapped on for its battle system. It got criticized for crappy characters and story. Though I admit that FFXII was an amazing game now a couple of years later.
 

commish

Jason Kidd murdered my dog in cold blood!
MetatronM said:
I've always found it odd that Dragon Age gets praised for having an amazing battle system when it basically has the EXACT SAME battle system as FF XII, which gets crapped on for its battle system all the time.


(Not that it's odd that it would get praised. The gambit system is pretty awesome. I'm also in the "merge paradigm + gambit system for super awesomeness" camp. :lol )

Wow, people actually praise DA for its battle system? I must admit I was not aware that it was so highly regarded...
 

Jeels

Member
Anyway, before all this BS started, can anyone answer my question. I wanted to have my ultimate weapons before the final boss, but it doesn't seem worth all the effort since it's near impossible to beat an Adamantoise. Should I just beat the game?
 

mr_nothin

Banned
Skilletor said:
Edit: And FUCK whoever didn't think the ability to save paradigms would be a good idea.
:lol
Yea, who would do that to us?
It's almost like they dont want us to switch our party around.

Jeels said:
Anyway, before all this BS started, can anyone answer my question. I wanted to have my ultimate weapons before the final boss, but it doesn't seem worth all the effort since it's near impossible to beat an Adamantoise. Should I just beat the game?
Why dont you choose? lol
If it seems like too much effort to invest into then dont. If you really want those ultimate weapons though....go for it :D

You can always go back and grind after you finish the story though....
 
cosmicblizzard said:
I'll admit, medics are a huge problem but other than that, the A.I. always doe exactly what I want it to do while the gambits felt incredibly limited and made it so I was very reluctant to use them over choosing everything manually.

Medics worked perfectly on my team/paradigms. Usually if I needed to "RAISE" a character or use ESUNA Hope was always immediately on it. When I controlled as medic then I just focused on curing if it was applicable, otherwise they got it.

I like paradigms better than those gambits of old though ( you had to unlock more gambits X_X)
 
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