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[I'm an expert]

If anything I think people are disappointed that it takes over 3 years to get a new FF nowadays so if it's not something they like they don't feel like waiting another 3 years. I can sympathize with that sentiment, but as the few posters above me said, 13 is its own beast and I cannot wait to see what new direction they decided for this game. I've done the whole NPC/town/exploration thing in 12 games before it, I can live without it for one iteration.

 

[RPGCrazied]

the 2 month wait is gonna be extremely painful.

 

[RevenantKioku]

In the long run, why can’t people take it for what it is then, a cinematic FF. It’s not FFX-2-13, or FFXII+1 = FFXIII, it’s simply it’s own, standalone, style FF. There’s nothing wrong with that.

Eh, it kinda is, :lol. But that's why I'm loving it so much.

I think a game modeler who sacrificed facial geometry for nicer fingers should probably be fired.

Uh, did you not see the closeup of Sazh's fingers in that one scene? They were right near his face and it was kinda funny.

 

[Dragon]

the 2 month wait is gonna be extremely painful.

Not if you stay outta this thread and forget about it for two months

 

[hteng]

i think it's too early to say if the game is linear or not, no one has fully explore the game yet. Although i'll agree the first 20 hours or so you'll be following a pretty linear path but the story and gameplay will keep you busy.

Is there an airship in this game? i hope so, no FF would be complete without an airship.

 

[Y2Kev]

If anything I think people are disappointed that it takes over 3 years to get a new FF nowadays so if it's not something they like they don't feel like waiting another 3 years. I can sympathize with that sentiment, but as the few posters above me said, 13 is its own beast and I cannot wait to see what new direction they decided for this game. I've done the whole NPC/town/exploration thing in 12 games before it, I can live without it for one iteration.

Yeah, I guess. But there are many elements of the game that still feel so traditional. When I watched the attract reel for the first time, I was overcome with this sense of joy...almost like I was coming home to the game that I have been playing since I could read. Yeah, it's really different in a lot of ways, but in other ways it is everything you would ever have wanted from a Final Fantasy game.

Just...just believe. I am not guaranteeing you will love it, or even like it. But I think you will at least get it.

And I don't like the word "streamlined." That is a word Warren Spector uses when he tries to apologize for his complete and total creative sell-out.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

I honestly wouldn't mind the extreme linearity if the story wasn't such dogshit. I'm sure there are some people who might enjoy anime tripe filled with stereotypes, but it just isn't for me. The world they made does seem somewhat interesting, but we aren't given the option to explore it at all. The battle system is very cool to look at, but as I progress further the flaws of not having total control are becoming ever more apparent. The visuals and sound are excellent though and besides the fact that I have already invested so much time are pretty much the main two factors keeping me going at this point.

 

[BudokaiMR2]

While I totally get this, I really dislike large towns in RPGs. They often have terrible layout, don't serve much of a purpose besides buying goods, and the NPCs are mostly just in your way and have nothing particularly interesting to say.

I loved that back in the day, the things that DQ NPCs said were real rumors that gave you a clue where to go next. FF NPCs were always useless and said banal stuff that added nothing to the game for me. To be completely honest, if a town doesn't serve a purpose in the gameplay proper, I just want it to have four walls, a door and line of merchants.

I can see where you are coming from I suppose, but its not just the lack of towns. It is the lack of anything that adds any kind of substance to the world. The story is nowhere near interesting or told well enough to give me this feeling. If it were then maybe I could deal with this new formula easier, but it just isn't. I have gotten so sick of shonen style motivational speeches that I am going to be sick.

The game just feels bare bones, outside of the Balls to the Wall Action battle system.

 

[Blackace]

I honestly wouldn't mind the extreme linearity if the story wasn't such dogshit. I'm sure there are some people who might enjoy anime tripe filled with stereotypes, but it just isn't for me. The world they made does seem somewhat interesting, but we aren't given the option to explore it at all. The battle system is very cool to look at, but as I progress further the flaws of not having total control are becoming ever more apparent. The visuals and sound are excellent though and besides the fact that I have already invested so much time are pretty much the main two factors keeping me going at this point.

:lol

The story is reaaaaaaalllly bad. The writing is reeeeaaaaaallllly bad.

My wife is into more than I am. Mostly because this and LO are the only two next gen titles she has played (she is into the DS much more than the consoles) But there have been a few times when we just turned and look at each other and were like "WTF" when characters did something or said something..

 

[Deleted member 20920]

Maybe the problem here is that too many people can’t help but compare it to an older FF? What it comes down to is a lot of people (myself included) tend to look back at the older FF’s through nostalgia colored glasses, and thusly anything new comes along it must be similar to VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XII, or whatever your favorite FF is, otherwise it’s a cop out sell out piece of shit. I will admit, I would love to play VI, not VII in an update PS3 environment, but I also sat down and played that straight for 6 days when it came out, when I was 13 and in the 7th grade. Now I could barely be bothered to play the same style formula, as much as I love it, because we’ve become trained on and dependent on the shock and awe that the system upgrades and move to new generations of hardware.

So Square was honest, they have to think about the now as well as the old, and they tried something new, understanding that they may alienate the fans and fanatics. They did the same for DQ9, but for all the bitching of people wanting a carbon copy of their favorite FF/DQ game, they’re still selling like gang busters, so Square can laugh all the way to the bank.

In the long run, why can’t people take it for what it is then, a cinematic FF. It’s not FFX-2-13, or FFXII+1 = FFXIII, it’s simply it’s own, standalone, style FF. There’s nothing wrong with that.

I agree with you quite a bit. I'm not sure why people still hope that the new FFs will be like the older FFs that they played. If you look through the whole series, there's always quite a bit of drastic changes between each game. I'm sure when FFXIV comes we'll get another series of people complaining that it's not like FFXI.

I'm really enjoying this quite a bit. Unlike everyone who wanted to explore Pulse more when they reached the place and ignore the story for a while, I only walked around a bit. I went through 3 missions before deciding that I want to quickly rush back into the action of the story again and come back to do missions only after I completed the game.

 

[Ploid 3.0]

i think it's too early to say if the game is linear or not, no one has fully explore the game yet. Although i'll agree the first 20 hours or so you'll be following a pretty linear path but the story and gameplay will keep you busy.

Is there an airship in this game? i hope so, no FF would be complete without an airship.

New FF new rules.

Spoiler about possibility of a airship.

Spoiler

Isn't it just present in a cutscene and trashed?

.

Edit: FFXIV ugh so not looking forward to that. I hope it's nothing like FFXI, they mastered time sink. Almost everything puts you to sleep before you can do it. Gathering people to do stuff was the core game. Rewards have a drop rate of 2% naturally, and if it's a rare item take away 1.5% (exaggeration).

 

[RevenantKioku]

Maybe I'm just a sap but I'm really enjoying the story. Even the Snow/Sera love bits. What can I say?
We can argue all day about whether or not it is quality, but that doesn't prevent me from enjoying it. I doubt I'll be the only one in this position.

 

[BudokaiMR2]

:lol

The story is reaaaaaaalllly bad. The writing is reeeeaaaaaallllly bad.

My wife is into more than I am. Mostly because this and LO are the only two next gen titles she has played (she is into the DS much more than the consoles) But there have been a few times when we just turned and look at each other and were like "WTF" when characters did something or said something..

It's probably going to be one of the worst ones on my list. I mean sure FF and RPGs in general are notorious for bad storytelling. However,with some of the better ones at least they were imaginative. This one is....well it's just shit. Almost as bad as white knight.

edit:

Also about the gutting, and people claiming that change is a normal part of the FF series. Yes there are always a lot of changes between the games, and FF8/FF12 are both good examples of this.

However in this case it isn't just changes, those are fine. I have absolutely no problem whatsoever with the battle system outside of a few problems that happen when control is taken from you. BUT the problem isn't the changes, it is the absence of other things without anything to replace them. Maybe I am somehow ignoring some huge wealth of content that other people see, but I don't think so.

 

[hteng]

I honestly wouldn't mind the extreme linearity if the story wasn't such dogshit. I'm sure there are some people who might enjoy anime tripe filled with stereotypes, but it just isn't for me. The world they made does seem somewhat interesting, but we aren't given the option to explore it at all. The battle system is very cool to look at, but as I progress further the flaws of not having total control are becoming ever more apparent. The visuals and sound are excellent though and besides the fact that I have already invested so much time are pretty much the main two factors keeping me going at this point.

i agree, you can extort your control over the characters by using the Optimum change though. My templates are usually like this.

1.) Blaster Attacker Healer
2.) Blaster Attacker Blaster
3.) Attacker Attacker Blaster
4.) Healer Defender Healer
5.) Healer Jammer Jammer
6.) Healer Healer Healer

this almost work for all kinds of situation and the AI is smart enough to know what to do, if not you'll have to step in and heal them.

I think some of the fights drag on too long though, sometimes it even feels like Xenosaga II, where you are trying so hard to break the enemy for big damage.

 

[Robobandit]

nm..

 

[RPGCrazied]

I think I'll like it I liked SO4, many did not.

I'm easy to please I guess.

 

[Blackace]

It's probably going to be one of the worst ones on my list. I mean sure FF and RPGs in general are notorious for bad storytelling. However,with some of the better ones at least they were imaginative. This one is....well it's just shit. Almost as bad as white knight.

In just the opening storyline for Snow and Lightining there are about 8 really unnatural and funky moments from characters..

"hahatsuyoishi!"

cringe..

 

[Ether_Snake]

nm..

I'm sure Matsuno's original vision for FFXII was fucking great. It's not what FFXII turned out to be.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

:lol

The story is reaaaaaaalllly bad. The writing is reeeeaaaaaallllly bad.

My wife is into more than I am. Mostly because this and LO are the only two next gen titles she has played (she is into the DS much more than the consoles) But there have been a few times when we just turned and look at each other and were like "WTF" when characters did something or said something..

Yeah. I really just cannot get into any of these characters. They are all just so damn embarrassing to watch. I downright hate Hope and Snow. I mildly dislike Lightning and Fang (Feng?) and only sort of like Sazh and Vanille only because they don't spend the majority of their screen time moping around and having dramatic outbursts or spewing immature "I'm gonna save the world!" lines.

Not to mention all of the little annoying inconsistencies that the cutscenes are full of. For example, when running around the field Sazh will be jumping 20 feet into the air and leaping from platform to platform effortlessly, but in the cutscenes he is barely able to climb up little ledges and complains about how he's too old for all this running around stuff. Then there are all of the parts where the characters are afraid of guns and other weapons during the cutscenes for whatever reason, but destroy hordes of destructive foes in combat without a scratch. There are just tons of little things like the above that really take me out of the world and have me shaking my head.

The whole story (at least at chapter 11) makes little sense and is just really immature. (Chapter 10ish spoiler)

Spoiler

Seriously the goal of the Cocoon fal'Cie is to destroy the Cocoon and sacrifice billions of human lives to call back some god that had left the world? Why? Why would sacrificing so many human lives bring back a god?

It is just stupid as hell.

 

[BudokaiMR2]

In just the opening storyline for Snow and Lightining there are about 8 really unnatural and funky moments from characters..

"hahatsuyoishi!"

cringe..

I really really cringed at the

Spoiler

action escape scene with Sera/Snow

突き込むぞ！
お願い！

It's like dialogue that one of those Japanese girl-pillow otaku's would write....

 

[Ploid 3.0]

The game just feels bare bones, outside of the Balls to the Wall Action battle system.

Maybe SE should release a game based on this battle system. Call it FFXIII-2 Balls To The Wall Action Battle System. Basically you make your way through up to 100 unique battles. Throw in a random battle mode that generates a battle on the fly. Sell it on PSN for $30. Have leader boards to get the online sticker. Instant cash money, minimal need to translate things outside of awesome weapons, items, and the UI. No story, streamlining the game even more. You gain access to the computer store every 10 fights. Dantae makes a cameo at floor 50.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

New FF new rules.

Spoiler about possibility of a airship.

Spoiler

Isn't it just present in a cutscene and trashed?

.

Regarding airships =

Spoiler

as of chapter 11 there have been multiple occasions where the characters are riding some sort flying device. Pretty much each time they take to the air they are attacked and crash land somewhere

 

[hteng]

In just the opening storyline for Snow and Lightining there are about 8 really unnatural and funky moments from characters..

"hahatsuyoishi!"

cringe..

yea same here, even when i know minimal japanese, the way they present the characters and scenario is kinda whacky.

Spoiler

The beginning part where Snow failed to save the lady and when he came back it's like he forgot that he just let someone die (he was laughing and making funny comments, in a war zone)

. Snow's character definite sucked, his the loudest of the bunch and has the most screwups as well, even his name sucked.


edit: I think i've heard the word "Mamoru" which means "protect" like.... countless times.

 

[Oichi]

yea same here, even when i know minimal japanese, the way they present the characters and scenario is kinda whacky.

Spoiler

The beginning part where Snow failed to save the lady and when he came back it's like he forgot that he just let someone die (he was laughing and making funny comments, in a war zone)

. Snow's character definite sucked, his the loudest of the bunch and has the most screwups as well, even his name sucked.


edit: I think i've heard the word "Mamoru" which means "protect" like.... countless times.

Yeah, Snow and Hope pretty much suck. I'm actually glad that

Spoiler

Lightning punched that little bitch's face in twice lol. I was hoping she'd do the same with Hope, but... gotta let those doujinshi writers have some mother/son incest style content lol

 

[Blackace]

I really really cringed at the

Spoiler

action escape scene with Sera/Snow

突き込むぞ！
お願い！

It's like dialogue that one of those Japanese girl-pillow otaku's would write....

Snow and his Shibuya "hot boys" are so lame and the writing is so forced.. I know some of those Shibuya boys and they don't talk like that... It is like hearing bad "gangsta" writing.

"We gonna haf ta bust a cap aren't we?"

But it is pretty!

 

[MechaX]

When concerning towns and NPCs, I'm a little bit torn. On one end, NPCs and Towns can definitely liven up an RPG and have the environments not so samey. Plus, it gives a sense of progressive exploration rather than being wagon-wheeled from plot-point to plot-point. On the other hand, I haven't seen NPCs handled well for ages. For every Megami Tensei game where an NPC would either list a humorous anecdote or actually shed some light on some very crucial story-points (I have two specific examples for Nocturne and Digital Devil Saga 2 that I won't get into here), there's a lot of other RPGs with filler "It sure is hot today!" NPCs.

The recent batch of impressions addressing the linearity is slightly unsettling. At first, I thought this would be more like FFX-style linearity. However, given the impressions of people here and viewing multiple streams, most parts are "hold up on the analog stick & win the dungeon" bad. Pulse sounds rather fun, however. It sounds like the Amala Labyrinth in SMT: Nocturne, actually. Especially when considering that all of the side-quests seem to be focused in Pulse.

I'm not going to spoil myself to find out for myself, but the negative impressions on the story and characters is rather... soul-crushing. Hopefully this is just a case of a love-it-or-hate-it even divide, but who knows. I've really, really had my fill on bad story-telling and characters in this generation of RPGs alone. So until more end-game impressions and post-game impressions come in, this is really resembling something like Grandia 3. It has a balls-to-the-wall battle system, but a rather suspicious everything else. For a game that I waited my entire college career for, I really was expecting the game to be good in all or most qualities. But let's see what time can tell.

 

[hteng]

Yeah, Snow and Hope pretty much suck. I'm actually glad that

Spoiler

Lightning punched that little bitch's face in twice lol. I was hoping she'd do the same with Hope, but... gotta let those doujinshi writers have some mother/son incest style content lol

wait what? are you saying

Spoiler

hope treats lightning like a surrogate mother? that's a little fucked up

.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

my decision to play in a language I don't understand continues to be validated :lol

 

[hteng]

When concerning towns and NPCs, I'm a little bit torn. On one end, NPCs and Towns can definitely liven up an RPG and have the environments not so samey. Plus, it gives a sense of progressive exploration rather than being wagon-wheeled from plot-point to plot-point. On the other hand, I haven't seen NPCs handled well for ages. For every Megami Tensei game where an NPC would either list a humorous anecdote or actually shed some light on some very crucial story-points (I have two specific examples for Nocturne and Digital Devil Saga 2 that I won't get into here), there's a lot of other RPGs with filler "It sure is hot today!" NPCs.

The recent batch of impressions addressing the linearity is slightly unsettling. At first, I thought this would be more like FFX-style linearity. However, given the impressions of people here and viewing multiple streams, most parts are "hold up on the analog stick & win the dungeon" bad. Pulse sounds rather fun, however. It sounds like the Amala Labyrinth in SMT: Nocturne, actually. Especially when considering that all of the side-quests seem to be focused in Pulse.

I'm not going to spoil myself to find out for myself, but the negative impressions on the story and characters is rather... soul-crushing. Hopefully this is just a case of a love-it-or-hate-it even divide, but who knows. I've really, really had my fill on bad story-telling and characters in this generation of RPGs alone. So until more end-game impressions and post-game impressions come in, this is really resembling something like Grandia 3. It has a balls-to-the-wall battle system, but a rather suspicious everything else. For a game that I waited my entire college career for, I really was expecting the game to be good in all or most qualities. But let's see what time can tell.

you will be less annoy if you play it in a language that you know little hahaha... yea the story is pretty meh but the gameplay will defintely make you want to progress. The world and universe is spectacular though.

edit: lol Rez, beaten

 

[I'm an expert]

I really really cringed at the

Spoiler

action escape scene with Sera/Snow

突き込むぞ！
お願い！

It's like dialogue that one of those Japanese girl-pillow otaku's would write....

Before I lived in Japan, playing JRPGs with scenes like that was a breath of fresh air from all the 'dudebro' stuff in American gaming. Having lived in Japan for over 3 years now, though, I can't stand that crap either. My life is practically a JRPG, so I don't need it in my gaming. But still..I keep torturing myself..

 

[Volcynika]

my decision to play in a language I don't understand continues to be validated :lol

High five!

 

[Shouta]

Maybe I'm just a sap but I'm really enjoying the story. Even the Snow/Sera love bits. What can I say?
We can argue all day about whether or not it is quality, but that doesn't prevent me from enjoying it. I doubt I'll be the only one in this position.

Yeah, I'm enjoying it myself too. I think there's a few things that are annoying like I'm not particularly liking Hope much at all even after all of his story stuff but I really like the rest of the characters. Quality is another argument and that's a whole different matter.

 

[BudokaiMR2]

Yeah, I'm enjoying it myself too. I think there's a few things that are annoying like I'm not particularly liking Hope much at all even after all of his story stuff but I really like the rest of the characters. Quality is another argument and that's a whole different matter.

I just don't get it. What am I missing? Even in Duckroll's impressions he praised the characterization and how their backgrounds are revealed. err...what?

What characterization? What backgrounds?

Snow....a guy in a trenchcoat who spouts shonen nonsense
Hope....a mother-con
Lightning....ummm soldier girl who takes care of her sister?
Vanilla....Girl running from her past
Fang....no idea
Sazh.....is well awesome. I will give you that.

I basically just pull my laptop into my lap and surf the web when any of the dozen shonen "We gotta have hope" speeches start....

 

[Oichi]

wait what? are you saying

Spoiler

hope treats lightning like a surrogate mother? that's a little fucked up

.

No, I'm saying that

Spoiler

h-doujinshit writers will play up a mother/son complex bullshit in their manga lol

 

[BudokaiMR2]

Honestly it's not horrible(okay i still think the story is unimaginative shit) but it just feels lacking. The first 20 hours just feel like a prologue to me.

I think it does work, but it just ends up lacking in content. I have no problem with doing this as a new kind of way to tell a story, but it shouldn't sacrifice meanigful content to do it.

Part of my disappointment comes from the fact that I read about how it was supposed to open up, so I held out hope for some kind of sense of exploration.

Unfortunately I am not finding that. Sorry but one big open field is not the game 'opening up'. It is a big open field.

 

[ivysaur12]

I think some of the fights drag on too long though, sometimes it even feels like Xenosaga II, where you are trying so hard to break the enemy for big damage.

Well, that sends the red flags up. Care to explain?

 

[PuppetMaster]

The story is fine. Just as an excuse to take you to brilliant places and see amazing things and fight epic fights the story works flawlessly. People who are complaining, I don't know what they were expecting-- Shakespeare? It certainly isn't worse than any other FF game I have played. Characters are very well written and well defined and character development is very strong.

The writing is fine too, I would even say great at times. There are some lines characters delivered that will make you cringe they are so corny. But its not because the writing is bad. Every line is very deliberate and intentional. They know what their target audience is in Japan, and this version of the game is created for them. The US version will no doubt have major translation differences to make it more Americanized as with basically every Japanese game.

People who are complaining are likely the same type of people who will write off all anime and jdramas and movies as bad just because they don't get it. Especially people admitting they don't understand Japanese, but are still complaining I really just have to laugh at.

 

[hteng]

Fight, move forward, fight, watch cutscene sounds like a pretty uh..ballsy formula.

It could be awesome if they pulled it off right.

What they are doing here, is basically dwarfing rpg (not just jrpg but also wrpg) conventions: no towns, hardly any npcs, hardly any quests, or any sense of freedom for the majority of the game. Sure, you could say FF10 did it, but that would be wrong: FF10 was full of towns and locales and places to explore despite the linear nature.

It could end up being a massive disappointment...or the complete opposite.

Either way, it's something to look forward to. I respect ballsy approaches like this.

Either the guys are Square are batshit retarded insane or something else entirely.

Can't wait to try it out later this week.

i take it you haven't play the game? there are indeed alot of NPCs whenever you are in town, they can be interact with but just don't really offer you any quests, there are towns but its kinda pointless since you can access the stores from the any save points (yes even in

Spoiler

Gran Pulse, where you are suppose to be cutoff from cocoon

). There are no quests so far, other than the hunt missions.


anyway, can anyone tell me about equipment upgrade? Is there a point in upgrading the accessories? I see a Lv. * at my accessory and there are no increase in the effect or stats.

 

[Shouta]

I just don't get it. What am I missing? Even in Duckroll's impressions he praised the characterization and how their backgrounds are revealed. err...what?

What characterization? What backgrounds?

Snow....a guy in a trenchcoat who spouts shonen nonsense
Hope....a mother-con
Lightning....ummm soldier girl who takes care of her sister?
Vanilla....Girl running from her past
Fang....no idea
Sazh.....is well awesome. I will give you that.

I basically just pull my laptop into my lap and surf the web when any of the dozen shonen "We gotta have hope" speeches start....

Have you been paying attention to what they're saying, how they the character is moving, how the voice actors are doing the voices? I mean, if you break it down into sound bites, you'd be right but the characters are have a bit more to them.

I mean Snow

Spoiler

loves to spout random crazy stuff but he's also very much troubled with the burdens that all of his actions have. He looks like he didn't care about what happened to the people that were killed because of his antics but Snow very much knows that he has a responsibility for what has happened to some of the innocent people. It sometimes shows up in how he broods and how he talks and it showed all out when Hope confronted him in Parum-Porom. He doesn't know what to do and the best thing he can do his to move forward, go for his dream and live long enough to find a way to make amends.

The other characters have stuff too and it's all there. I'll probably touch on it when I do my personal review after I finish the game. Definitely agree that Sazh is the best character overall.

 

[PuppetMaster]

Well, that sends the red flags up. Care to explain?

If battles are talking too long or not getting 5 stars, he is playing it wrong.

The went to the trouble of putting in a ranking system to tell if you you suck or not. People need to pay attention to that and improve their strategy when they get a low score, not persist in mediocrity.

For some boss fights they even put on a death curse on you if you are taking too long, overly turtling, or playing very cheaply. This is to encourage you to find the more effective way to beat the boss not turtle him to death.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Well, that sends the red flags up. Care to explain?

Starting with chapter 11 (22ish hours for me) it seems a lot of the enemies gain a massive amount of HP. Up until I got to chapter 11 most battles were over very quickly and played out quite smoothly, but I too am getting Xenosaga 2 vibes from the most recent content. Maybe this is just the game telling me that I need to grind a ton of crystal points before advancing or something.

 

[RevenantKioku]

I just don't get it. What am I missing? Even in Duckroll's impressions he praised the characterization and how their backgrounds are revealed. err...what?

What characterization? What backgrounds?

Snow....a guy in a trenchcoat who spouts shonen nonsense
Hope....a mother-con
Lightning....ummm soldier girl who takes care of her sister?
Vanilla....Girl running from her past
Fang....no idea
Sazh.....is well awesome. I will give you that.

I basically just pull my laptop into my lap and surf the web when any of the dozen shonen "We gotta have hope" speeches start....

For me it's the way the characters interact that does it. I doubt you're missing anything insofar much as it doesn't entertain you? Maybe you've overloaded yourself on shonen nonsense prior so you're tired of it but personally I'm not. For me, there is a time and place for it and FF is definitely one of those.

See, now people are throwing out Xenosaga 2 comparisons and that is getting my naughty bits juicy.

 

[hteng]

Well, that sends the red flags up. Care to explain?

the fight goes like this.

enemies will usually have a fuck ton of HP, there's a bar call the "Break Bar", which starts at 100%, certain enemies will have certain break points. Let's say an enemy will "break" at 150%, once they are in break stat, you'll do 150% damage and will continue to increase to 999% (if you're good), and you'll usually kill them off at that point, bosses will take several breaks to kill since they have really really fuck ton of HP, i'll talking about several million HP.

The problem is getting the enemy into the break state, you MUST use a combination of Magic and Physical attacks to increase the break value. The bar will go down if you do not attack, physical attack will be responsible for maintaining the bar while Magic attacks will increase the bar little by little.

Some bosses or monster has 300% break points, the fucking behemoth has a 600% break point, which takes forever. And while you are busy trying to break one enemy's bar you are constantly being harrassed by other enemies (remember, even normal monsters have fuckton of HP, make that 5 monsters). you have to switch around healing and attacking, let say you've got a monster to near break point but some fucker disrupt your flow, you have to switch to healing stat to keep yourself alive, you switch back to attack and find that the monster previously engaged has reset to default break point.

this is just me but i think every monster has at least 100k HP.

edit: some enemies have incredible resistance to magic and physical attacks, like the turtle and the robots, you don't do real damage unless you break them.

some have both high break points, HP and resistance, that's when the battle will drag on.

 

[PuppetMaster]

Have you been paying attention to what they're saying, how they the character is moving, how the voice actors are doing the voices? I mean, if you break it down into sound bites, you'd be right but the characters are have a bit more to them.

I mean Snow

Spoiler

loves to spout random crazy stuff but he's also very much troubled with the burdens that all of his actions have. He looks like he didn't care about what happened to the people that were killed because of his antics but Snow very much knows that he has a responsibility for what has happened to some of the innocent people. It sometimes shows up in how he broods and how he talks and it showed all out when Hope confronted him in Parum-Porom. He doesn't know what to do and the best thing he can do his to move forward, go for his dream and live long enough to find a way to make amends.

The other characters have stuff too and it's all there. I'll probably touch on it when I do my personal review after I finish the game. Definitely agree that Sazh is the best character overall.

I like Sazh a lot too. At first he seems like a very superficial token character for comedy relief. But they did such a great job with making him a real human being.

Even characters I really hated at the beginning like Vanille I start to be sympathetic for once I understand the reason for her ditsy carefree attitude.

Even with Hope,

Spoiler

some of those scenes with his father

really worked for me. Maybe it will be too cheesy for some of the macho men here. But it worked on me.

 

[Blackace]

Sazh.....is well awesome. I will give you that.

fuck that..

 

[PuppetMaster]

edit: some enemies have incredible resistance to magic and physical attacks, like the turtle and the robots, you don't do real damage unless you break them.

some have both high break points, HP and resistance, that's when the battle will drag on.

The trick to beating both "turtles" and robots is to have a Jammer in your party.

 

[Corran Horn]

Ugh my copy is about an hour away from my house Damn you UPS for not delivering on Sunday nights.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

The story is fine. Just as an excuse to take you to brilliant places and see amazing things and fight epic fights the story works flawlessly. People who are complaining, I don't know what they were expecting-- Shakespeare? It certainly isn't worse than any other FF game I have played. Characters are very well written and well defined and character development is very strong.

The writing is fine too, I would even say great at times. There are some lines characters delivered that will make you cringe they are so corny. But its not because the writing is bad. Every line is very deliberate and intentional. They know what their target audience is in Japan, and this version of the game is created for them. The US version will no doubt have major translation differences to make it more Americanized as with basically every Japanese game.

People who are complaining are likely the same type of people who will write off all anime and jdramas and movies as bad just because they don't get it. Especially people admitting they don't understand Japanese, but are still complaining I really just have to laugh at.

Of course I am not expecting Shakespeare from a Final Fantasy game, but in my opinion this definitely has the worst story of any of the post-FFIV main entries. I still have a few chapters so maybe something awesome will reveal itself and redeem the story, but so far it is pure shit. I really can't see how you can praise the writing at all. Most of reads like it is ripped straight out of some cheesy Manga. No one talks like the way most of these characters do. It wouldn't be so distracting if the graphics didn't look so damn good and realistic.

I've enjoyed a lot of cheesy Jdramas in my time, but the dialogue here is just terrible and juvenile. I do wonder how they are going to localize some of the more culturally Japanese lines and scenes, though. Particularly, what are they going to call シ骸? Also, I wonder how they will handle the scene

Spoiler

where Vanille and Sazh are waiting at the platform and Vanille steps out into the rain so Sazh says "風邪引くよ？" and Vanille replies "引かないよ。馬鹿だもん。"

or the scene

Spoiler

at Hope's house with Snow apologizing

. It seems like there are a lot more culturally Japanese things and more playing with Japanese words than there have been in past Final Fantasy games and it will be interesting to see how those play out in the localization. Maybe English audiences will get lucky and they will improve the dialogue so it won't be so cringe-worthy.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

For me it's the way the characters interact that does it. I doubt you're missing anything insofar much as it doesn't entertain you? Maybe you've overloaded yourself on shonen nonsense prior so you're tired of it but personally I'm not. For me, there is a time and place for it and FF is definitely one of those.

See, now people are throwing out Xenosaga 2 comparisons and that is getting my naughty bits juicy.

Wait... does that mean you liked Xenosaga 2 (story aside).

 

[hteng]

Of course I am not expecting Shakespeare from a Final Fantasy game, but in my opinion this definitely has the worst story of any of the post-FFIV main entries. I still have a few chapters so maybe something awesome will reveal itself and redeem the story, but so far it is pure shit. I really can't see how you can praise the writing at all. Most of reads like it is ripped straight out of some cheesy Manga. No one talks like the way most of these characters do. It wouldn't be so distracting if the graphics didn't look so damn good and realistic.

I've enjoyed a lot of cheesy Jdramas in my time, but the dialogue here is just terrible and juvenile. I do wonder how they are going to localize some of the more culturally Japanese lines and scenes, though. Particularly, what are they going to call シ骸? Also, I wonder how they will handle the scene

Spoiler

where Vanille and Sazh are waiting at the platform and Vanille steps out into the rain so Sazh says "風邪引くよ？" and Vanille replies "引かないよ。馬鹿だもん。"

or the scene

Spoiler

at Hope's house with Snow apologizing

. It seems like there are a lot more culturally Japanese things and more playing with Japanese words than there have been in past Final Fantasy games and it will be interesting to see how those play out in the localization. Maybe English audiences will get lucky and they will improve the dialogue so it won't be so cringe-worthy.

isn't one of the demo from ACC in english VO? or was it one of the trailers that had english VO, it was average so I won't expect much in the final product. I'm more concern with the protect lines, Snow: "I'll Protect Sera!", Lightning: "No! I will!", Snow: "Ok, I'll protect the world lol!"