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[PigSpeakers]

Just finished this today. I generally enjoyed most of it, maybe it was just anti-hype-backlash... if there is such a thing. I didn't think it was nearly as bad as people were saying.

-Yes, the map design was pretty linear, but hey... I don't think I've played a non-linear final fantasy since... 6 I think? 7 through 9 just covered up the linearity through pretty prerendered backgrounds. Not saying this makes it right, but its what I've come to expect with the series.

-Great graphics, music, art, and I even thought that the clothing design wasn't too stupid for once.

-Mostly unlikeable cast... which is every Final Fantasy I've ever played.

-Story wasn't as hard to follow as I thought. Pretty straightforward for the most part, and I didn't even bother to read most of the datalog. I just didn't care about all the things that happened before, but got the main meat of the story. I don't know if that's good for the story or not, but I generally have trouble following game stories and tend to lose my interest pretty quick (someday I'll beat XII).

I wouldn't put this really high on my list of final fantasies, but I enjoyed it up until near the end where battles just took insanely long to beat and you got really crappy rewards for it (12 minutes to beat two monsters, and I only get like 1000 CP? Really?). It's certainly flawed, and I would never go out of my way to defend most of it other than to say that its the victim of a lot of hyperbole. 6/10, I'll most likely play the sequel.

 

[The Xtortionist]

-Yes, the map design was pretty linear, but hey... I don't think I've played a non-linear final fantasy since... 6 I think? 7 through 9 just covered up the linearity through pretty prerendered backgrounds. Not saying this makes it right, but its what I've come to expect with the series.

Older FFs used non-linear town areas as palette-cleansers instead of throwing the player forward through the same repetitive formula (fight cutscene repeat) for 40 hours.

 

[TheJollyCorner]

Kitase said he liked Toriyama's work and they work really in the same say (putting story as a major element in a game). So it's pretty much a given that most main FF titles will be directed by Toriyama until he eventually takes Kitase's job as producer.
I kinda miss Kitase as a director as he made the best FF games for most people (VI and VII) but I'm not against Toriyama.
I wonder if he will also be the writer of the next FF games or if they will get Nojima again ? He is a lot better than Toriyama at writing a story.

Yeah- I was sad to see Kitase move to a more 'executive' role. I also love what Kitase did with FFVIII (and don't forget Chrono Trigger, which he was a co-director on).

Considering Kitase started out as a filmmaker, I would have loved to see him take on more creative positions. Evidently that was Sakaguchi's plan- but we all know what happened to The Gooch.

 

[PigSpeakers]

Older FFs used non-linear town areas as palette-cleansers instead of throwing the player forward through the same repetitive formula (fight cutscene repeat) for 40 hours.

Hey, man. Calm down. No need to get defensive.

 

[H_Prestige]

Just finished this today. I generally enjoyed most of it, maybe it was just anti-hype-backlash... if there is such a thing. I didn't think it was nearly as bad as people were saying.

-Yes, the map design was pretty linear, but hey... I don't think I've played a non-linear final fantasy since... 6 I think? 7 through 9 just covered up the linearity through pretty prerendered backgrounds. Not saying this makes it right, but its what I've come to expect with the series.

-Great graphics, music, art, and I even thought that the clothing design wasn't too stupid for once.

-Mostly unlikeable cast... which is every Final Fantasy I've ever played.

-Story wasn't as hard to follow as I thought. Pretty straightforward for the most part, and I didn't even bother to read most of the datalog. I just didn't care about all the things that happened before, but got the main meat of the story. I don't know if that's good for the story or not, but I generally have trouble following game stories and tend to lose my interest pretty quick (someday I'll beat XII).

I wouldn't put this really high on my list of final fantasies, but I enjoyed it up until near the end where battles just took insanely long to beat and you got really crappy rewards for it (12 minutes to beat two monsters, and I only get like 1000 CP? Really?). It's certainly flawed, and I would never go out of my way to defend most of it other than to say that its the victim of a lot of hyperbole. 6/10, I'll most likely play the sequel.

7-9 are no more linear than 1-6. It's the exact same formula.

 

[PigSpeakers]

7-9 are like intestines, man. They're all bunched up and stuff and wind around, but its still a tube. Final dungeon design of 4 compared to the final dungeon design of 9. 4 had tons of hidden rooms and little side passages. Still going from point A to point B. Final dungeon design of 9 was room-room-boss-room-room-boss. But that's not what this is about, and I think I probably upset someone by talking bad about 9 (I liked that game for the record), so I'm just gonna leave it at that. Sorry for hurting anyone's feelings with that last statement.

 

[Skilletor]

7-9 are like intestines, man. They're all bunched up and stuff and wind around, but its still a tube. Final dungeon design of 4 compared to the final dungeon design of 9. 4 had tons of hidden rooms and little side passages. Still going from point A to point B. Final dungeon design of 9 was room-room-boss-room-room-boss. But that's not what this is about, and I think I probably upset someone by talking bad about 9 (I liked that game for the record), so I'm just gonna leave it at that. Sorry for hurting anyone's feelings with that last statement.

I see nothing but rational comments. Why do are you posting as if people are exploding over your statements. lol

 

[PigSpeakers]

I see nothing but rational comments. Why do are you posting as if people are exploding over your statements. lol

Damage control, brah. People get their feelings hurt easily when it comes to the PSX era FFs. Gotta be careful with that stuff.

 

[Yaweee]

Damage control, brah. People get their feelings hurt easily when it comes to the PSX era FFs. Gotta be careful with that stuff.

Gotta be careful while you're still a junior, too.

 

[Bukana]

I beat the 360 Version, and I purchased the PS3 version for 10 bucks back in 'Black Friday'.

I want to make sure that I can get the Treasure Hunt Trophy, can anyone tell me the weapons and the accessories that are "MISS-ABLE" during the story !?, I don't want to miss anything important. Also, if anyone could tell me the best strategy to earn this trophy, I simply use Evernote to cross out the weapons I have, is there any tip that makes this trophy easier !?

Thanks,

 

[ULTROS!]

I beat the 360 Version, and I purchased the PS3 version for 10 bucks back in 'Black Friday'.

I want to make sure that I can get the Treasure Hunt Trophy, can anyone tell me the weapons and the accessories that are "MISS-ABLE" during the story !?, I don't want to miss anything important. Also, if anyone could tell me the best strategy to earn this trophy, I simply use Evernote to cross out the weapons I have, is there any tip that makes this trophy easier !?

Thanks,

Just don't sell the charms and the aqua ring.

 

[Onion_Relish]

I beat the 360 Version, and I purchased the PS3 version for 10 bucks back in 'Black Friday'.

I want to make sure that I can get the Treasure Hunt Trophy, can anyone tell me the weapons and the accessories that are "MISS-ABLE" during the story !?, I don't want to miss anything important. Also, if anyone could tell me the best strategy to earn this trophy, I simply use Evernote to cross out the weapons I have, is there any tip that makes this trophy easier !?

Thanks,

As long as you dont sell anything and keep track like you said you are doing, there isnt anything that should slip by. Really the only thing worth pointing out is that there is a bangle in one of the stores that can be purchased at any time in the end game but doesnt drop in the world/field.

 

[Bukana]

^

Thanks guys for replying so fast.

One more thing, is there any missable trophy I should be aware of !?

Again, thanks.

 

[ULTROS!]

^

Thanks guys for replying so fast.

One more thing, is there any missable trophy I should be aware of !?

Again, thanks.

Just the Treasure Hunter trophy.

 

[mattiewheels]

I saw this for 17 bucks at gamestop and I just wanted to ask if my tastes might align with this game or not:

- Love The Last Remnant and appreciate the combat-over-story approach since I like a good dungeon crawl.

- Like a good dungeon crawl, like I said, especially if the battle system is unique and fun

- Never liked any FF game past VII and VIII, barely finished those, more into the simplicity of the old games

- Cant stand being bombarded with characters I don't like, and flipping through the manual and seeing youtube vids make this cast seem really unbearable

So getting this shouldn't make me too regretful hopefully, anyone have a better suggestion if this is a bad choice for me?

 

[Aru]

Just came back from the Hamauzu concert in Paris.
It was good but not what I expected.

I mean, half the concert was piano only (FFX&XIII Piano Col., Saga Frontier 2 Piano Pieces, and new tracks from Hamauzu that aren't from a game or whatever) and I don't really like the arrangements he made for those albums. I prefer the original tracks.
The second half was better (arrangements from Yume Duo and Imeruat), because there were other instruments (violin and some ainu instrument I don't know the name) and vocals (Mina sang for the 2 last songs).

I think I would prefer a concert playing the original versions of the tracks when possible (some arranged tracks can't be played by someone IMO, they have to be programmed) and with all the instruments.

 

[Trumpets]

I've played both versions up to Ch 11 and I'm amazed how much better the PS3 version looks. You can see where all the dev time went.

 

[MechaX]

I saw this for 17 bucks at gamestop and I just wanted to ask if my tastes might align with this game or not:

- Love The Last Remnant and appreciate the combat-over-story approach since I like a good dungeon crawl.

- Like a good dungeon crawl, like I said, especially if the battle system is unique and fun

- Never liked any FF game past VII and VIII, barely finished those, more into the simplicity of the old games

- Cant stand being bombarded with characters I don't like, and flipping through the manual and seeing youtube vids make this cast seem really unbearable

So getting this shouldn't make me too regretful hopefully, anyone have a better suggestion if this is a bad choice for me?

The problem with the battle system is mostly the fact that you don't really get unique enemy encounters that really require you to tinker with the Paradigm (job class) system a lot outside of bosses here and there and one particularly big area in the last quarter of the game. For most of the dungeons (in which you've probably heard on how linear most of them area), you'll fight the same enemies in each with almost no variation. It's not that bad in the beginning, but there is one mid-game dungeon where this becomes glaring as you fight damage sponge after damage sponge. At a certain point near the end of the game, I just started running from normal enemies (which actually becomes a lot harder to accomplish when considering dungeons start going for the "narrow passage + huge impassable enemy" approach).

I found that the huge area that I referred to really contains the best parts of the game with varied and challenging enemies and bosses. Unfortunately, you have to wait 25 hours to get there.

And characters... well... If putting up with a cast that you don't like is a deal breaker and you already don't really like the cast from what you've seen, XIII will be a miserable experience for you; certain characters only get worse and you'll have to put up with each and every single one of them two at a time (for the first half of the game) and in very long increments.

 

[mattiewheels]

Interesting stuff, thanks. Wish you could play with Japanese voices somehow.

 

[Ashes]

Chapters 12 and 13 are both fairly lengthy but enjoyable, I found. Probably 6-8 hours left depending on your pace.

How long is this game anyhow? approximately speaking of course...

 

[Kagari]

I've played both versions up to Ch 11 and I'm amazed how much better the PS3 version looks. You can see where all the dev time went.

That's been obvious for some time now. It'll be interesting to see what happens with XIII-2 in that regard.

 

[Appollowexx]

Really hope we see XIII-2 at E3. Also hoping it launches pre chrtistmas outside of Japan, but have a feeling that's unlikely.

 

[Kagari]

Really hope we see XIII-2 at E3. Also hoping it launches pre chrtistmas outside of Japan, but have a feeling that's unlikely.

It's going to be March again.

 

[sixteen-bit]

I've played both versions up to Ch 11 and I'm amazed how much better the PS3 version looks. You can see where all the dev time went.

Agreed. Image quality on the PS3 version is so damn good.

 

[Shadowlink]

I'm going to assume I'm already half-way through the game, but I'm not sure if I should continue or not. -_-

 

[Appollowexx]

It's going to be March again.

I know

I still have no idea how the sequel will play. I'm assuming a similar but refined battle system, and maybe a large overworld with different linear areas branching out from the main hub.
Pure speculation, but I think it will feature a multiplayer component (eg. co-op).

I'm going to assume I'm already half-way through the game, but I'm not sure if I should continue or not. -_-

For the music and CGI yes, absolutley. Also Gran Pulse is amazing and one of the best areas to grind in the game, the sub quests are enjoyable and personally I found it easy to just sink hours messing about there. The game really opens up at that point. It's fantastic. That isn't until Chapter 11 though.

 

[sixteen-bit]

I'm going to assume I'm already half-way through the game, but I'm not sure if I should continue or not. -_-

Were you enjoying yourself? The battle system is nice, but everything else was meh to me. Even so, I still found it worth finishing.

 

[Shadowlink]

Were you enjoying yourself? The battle system is nice, but everything else was meh to me. Even so, I still found it worth finishing.

I actually think the battle system is decent. OST is nice too! But the story is annoying.

 

[Rpgmonkey]

Has Square Enix confirmed that FFXIII-2 will show up at E3?

They've got like six months left for Japan and a bit more for NA/EUR, and there's still nothing on it. :/

I actually think the battle system is decent. OST is nice too! But the story is annoying.

Well if you're not OCD about cutscenes you can treat the game as a generic action game, fighting stuff and turning your brain off during cuscenes (or skipping them).

By Chapter 10 or so I realized I didn't care about any of these people or their story, so I kinda started doing that.

 

[Kagari]

The story is garbage, Shadowlink. It never gets better.

 

[Shadowlink]

Has Square Enix confirmed that FFXIII-2 will show up at E3?

They've got like six months left for Japan and a bit more for NA/EUR, and there's still nothing on it. :/



Well if you're not OCD about cutscenes you can treat the game as a generic action game, fighting stuff and turning your brain off during cuscenes (or skipping them).

By Chapter 10 or so I realized I didn't care about any of these people or their story, so I kinda started doing that.

I started not caring as soon as I opened the game.

The story is garbage, Shadowlink. It never gets better.

So basically a typical FF story, right?

 

[Rahxephon91]

The story is'nt garbage, but if you don't like it now then you won't like it when it gets bad.

 

[Shadowlink]

The story is'nt garbage, but if you don't like it now then you won't like it when it gets bad.

I think the problem with the story is that they're trying to hard. If they actually had the decency to look over the story before releasing the game, then we could have at least had something more decent. Make me wonder if the Versus XIII story will be any good.

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

I enjoy the story, even if the plot kind of gets weird towards the end. I think the characters are all really enjoyable (and all change and grow), there are some great moments, and I think this game uses flashbacks as a narrative device better than any other game I can remember.

The story isn't amazing, but it's certainly not shitty.

 

[Rahxephon91]

I think the problem with the story is that they're trying to hard. If they actually had the decency to look over the story before releasing the game, then we could have at least had something more decent. Make me wonder if the Versus XIII story will be any good.

I think the problem for me is that it just kept on adding things and then at the end the writers had all this shit they couldn't explain and where just like whatever. But until the end I enjoyed it and thought the cast was decent and involved in the plot enough.

As for Versus XIII. I have no real hope for that game considering who is involved. And that trailer they showed was hardly exciting other then "oh pretty graphics".

 

[Shadowlink]

I think the problem for me is that it just kept on adding things and then at the end the writers had all this shit they couldn't explain and where just like whatever. But until the end I enjoyed it and thought the cast was decent and involved in the plot enough.

As for Versus XIII. I have no real hope for that game considering who is involved. And that trailer they showed was hardly exciting other then "oh pretty graphics".

Going to have to agree with you. So far from what I have played, they keep coming up with something more. The story is almost as confusing as the MGS series.

 

[Appollowexx]

The story isn't terrible, it's enjoyable enough and the amazing CGI work and ingame cinematics carry it.

 

[edgefusion]

I really enjoyed the lore and the world(s) they built up but I just absolutely despised every single one of the characters except Rygdea, whom I love and cried over the underuse of. The most unlikable, unrelatable bunch of complete numbskulls yet featured in an FF. And the story they wove just didn't go anywhere and didn't make any sense, which is a shame considering the backstory they built up which I found so interesting.

I feel like based on XIII there is hope for XIII-2 unless they haven't learnt from their mistakes and screw it all up again. Ironically Versus-XIII is looking like the game XIII should've been.

Also; Rygdea Rygdea Rygdea.

 

[Dark Schala]

Just came back from the Hamauzu concert in Paris.
It was good but not what I expected.

I mean, half the concert was piano only (FFX&XIII Piano Col., Saga Frontier 2 Piano Pieces, and new tracks from Hamauzu that aren't from a game or whatever) and I don't really like the arrangements he made for those albums. I prefer the original tracks.
The second half was better (arrangements from Yume Duo and Imeruat), because there were other instruments (violin and some ainu instrument I don't know the name) and vocals (Mina sang for the 2 last songs).

I think I would prefer a concert playing the original versions of the tracks when possible (some arranged tracks can't be played by someone IMO, they have to be programmed) and with all the instruments.

IIRC, Hamauzu went to school for piano and vocal music, so it's more likely that he'd demonstrate more piano work than anything. Fun trivia: his father was an opera singer, and his mother was a piano teacher. It's nice that he did some work from the FFX Piano Collections. That's one of my favourite Hamauzu albums. Did he do any work from Sigma Harmonics at all?

So he didn't have a full orchestra backing him, eh?

 

[Kagari]

I started not caring as soon as I opened the game.

So basically a typical FF story, right?

The problem is the characters are largely uninteresting. The mythology is fine, but the over all plot tried too hard to be deep and it just didn't really amount to anything. It doesn't help that the writers aren't exactly great either.

 

[Appollowexx]

The problem is the characters are largely uninteresting. The mythology is fine, but the over all plot tried too hard to be deep and it just didn't really amount to anything. It doesn't help that the writers aren't exactly great either.

I dunno, I found the characters pretty interesting for a long time, toward the end of the game things sort of fell apart a bit and spoilt what had come before, but for the majority of the game the characters were compelling enough to keep me interested in the story.

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

I dunno, I found the characters pretty interesting for a long time, toward the end of the game things sort of fell apart a bit and spoilt what had come before, but for the majority of the game the characters were compelling enough to keep me interested in the story.

I agree with this. I really felt like the characters were all pretty interesting.

It is to the game's credit that each character noticeably changes over the course of the game; they aren't just static cyphers who act one way the entire time, but people who grow and develop. Additionally, I feel like one of the things the game got very right was in the relationships between each of the characters. Each character had a clearly defined (but also fluid over the course of the game) relationship with each other member of the cast. That's pretty rare in video games.

 

[Ashes]

so how long is a typical walkthrough, would you guys say?

 

[colinp]

I dunno, I found the characters pretty interesting for a long time, toward the end of the game things sort of fell apart a bit and spoilt what had come before, but for the majority of the game the characters were compelling enough to keep me interested in the story.

I'm at Chapter 7 or 8 and am still enjoying the characters so I guess I have a bit of time before things get crazy.

And I agree with KuwabaraTheMan in that the characters actually have shown growth even so far now.

Good stuff, I love the battle system, too.

 

[Grisby]

so how long is a typical walkthrough, would you guys say?

I think I completed half of the 'side quests' (you get them when you get to a certain point) and finished at about 40 or so odd hours. I did a bit of grinding for an hour during that too.

If you try and platinum your going to be there for a while.

 

[Mister Wilhelm]

The only Final Fantasy game I ever played was X but I loved it despite the few incredibly horrible parts.

Spoiler

HA HA HA HA HA

Should I even bother with this game? I generally don't enjoy JRPGs because I find the combat mechanics off-putting.

 

[edgefusion]

The only Final Fantasy game I ever played was X but I loved it despite the few incredibly horrible parts.

Spoiler

HA HA HA HA HA

Should I even bother with this game? I generally don't enjoy JRPGs because I find the combat mechanics off-putting.

I'm going to say no. But I think the battle mechanics are the last thing you'll find off-putting about this game.

 

[cosmicblizzard]

The only Final Fantasy game I ever played was X but I loved it despite the few incredibly horrible parts.

Spoiler

HA HA HA HA HA

Should I even bother with this game? I generally don't enjoy JRPGs because I find the combat mechanics off-putting.

You might want to give it a shot since this is more similar to X than any other FF. Doesn't mean you'll like it though.

 

[matmanx1]

I really liked the battle system once the game opened up and I could freely travel to Gran Pulse any time I wanted. I also give props to Hamauzu for the OST as I really love it. Also, gorgeous graphics on the PS3 version.

Those 3 things, the look, battle system and the music, kept me going until the end of the game and beyond. I enjoyed myself but the game still has a long list of flaws and was easily one of the weaker FF games.

Also <3 Lightning! I have a poster of her on my wall and the Lightning Edition PS3 sitting in my entertainment center mostly because I think she's a great iconic piece of design. So yeah, there were definitely some good things to come out of FF XIII.

 

[Grinchy]

Hey, man. Calm down. No need to get defensive.

I don't think he was being defensive, he was just pointing out the argument that the other 98% of us have against FFXIII. You say it's linear just like all the other FF games, but the rest of us think it's linear unlike the rest of the FF games.

It's literally just

• Run down highway
• Fight things as you go
• Cutscene
• New hallway and enemies
• More cutscenes
• Horrible weapon upgrade system you can start using after 40 hours

Then to top it all off, the story isn't even very good plus the characters suck. The battle system was pretty good IMO, and the graphics are fantastic. But neither of those things make a game great to me. That's coming from a guy who played it for 80 hours btw.