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LttP: Final Fantasy XIII

V

viciouskillersquirrel

Member
I picked this up the other day when it was on clearance at my local Target. It was $14.88, so I figured that even if I didn't like it, it would at least not be a waste of money. I'd heard not-so-great things from GAF, so I started the game with some trepidation.

Fast forward a few weeks and I am up to chapter 7 (just over 17 hours in), the bulk of the party has just bailed from Hope's house in Palompolum and Sazh and Vanille have just arrived in Nautilus.

Anyway, I'll just break down my thoughts here:

The Story

It's literally like watching an anime series re-enacted by puppets. It's all complicated happenings with weird made-up names.

Also, the name Palompolum makes me think that the game takes place on the same planet as FFIV, but thousands of years into the future.

The Characters

Lightning - She's actually kind of OK. A bit in appropriately dressed for a soldier, but a leather jacket and a mini-skirt are pretty tame by FF standards.

Sazh - I would honestly buy a spinoff game starring him. He's mature, likeable, relatable and has an excellent voice actor. Seeing art of him with the afro and the chocobo in his hair made me worried he'd be just an endless barrage of ignorant racial stereotypes like Barrett was. Pleasantly surprised that wasn't the case.

Hope - He's an emo kid with a girl's name. He's annoying, but not unbearably so. His mother was unusually busty in a way that made me shake my head at SE a bit. Also, "Mums are tough" hahaha

Fang - She has the accent of a bogan who has spent too much time in the US. For people outside of Australia, a bogan is our version of a redneck. Shielah sounds like she could drink Bob Hawke under the table while Hawkey only has a yard glass of VB and she's skulling Bundy rum. Also, they're both wearing double pluggers, footy shorts, Akubras and wife beaters.

Vanille - She sounds like another Aussie who has spent too much time stateside, only from a more middle class family than Fang. She also speaks and acts like she has a severe learning disability that with Fang's help, she's bravely trying to overcome. This quality actually makes it hard to hate her because I can't help but think "Wow, Vanille, you're being so very brave! Your big sister Fang would be so proud of you! Here, have a colouring book!"

Snow - Wanker. F*ckwit. Douchebag. He's basically an unlikeable version of The Fonz in that he has this gang of younger kids who think he's the greatest, when in fact, he's just a pathetic loser who hangs out in the bathroom of his local diner. On top of that, he wears like eight layers including a ski hat, a hobo scarf and a lacy singlet when he lives at a freaking ski resort. Also, I'm pretty sure he's a pedophile. How old is Serah supposed to be anyway (in the Japanese version, not the bowdlerised localisation)?

The Battle System

This is the best part. People complain about the game "playing itself", but what it really does is to take care of the busywork of playing JRPGs. Let's face it, mostly you're just mashing A anyway, except when something unusual happens that requires your attention, at which point, you switch tactics. It's simultaneously relaxing and at the same time makes battles blisteringly fast.

One thing I don't get is the weapon upgrade system. It's obvious that each character has an optimum weapon and that Lightning's is the Gladius. Unfortunately, I can't figure out anyone else's. Hope and Vanille's ought to max out magic, but what about Fang's and Snow's? Should they max out attack or balance these with defense bonuses? What about Sazh?

Also, what should I prioritise vis a vis stats? At the lower levels it's easy to max out all the ability trees, but it's getting pretty clear that I'll have to specialise. Any advice on that?
 
C

Combichristoffersen

Combovers don't work when there is no hair
You're about at the point where I stopped playing the game (Sazh and Vanille gets to Nautilus). I liked the game, I guess, despite Hope and Snow being horribly annoying characters, and those shitty Eidolon battles. I should pick it up again and finish it.

Also, Sazh is the best character in the game.
 
M

Marlowe89

Member
Aside from Sazh and maybe Fang, I thought both the story and characters were an absolute mess. It really is the spiritual successor to everything I hated about VII, including the fact that Squenix is less about fantasy these days and increasingly more about FUTURE ANIMU shit.

And yeah I hated this game in general.
 
A

Anteater

Member
viciouskillersquirrel said:
Snow - Wanker. F*ckwit. Douchebag. He's basically an unlikeable version of The Fonz in that he has this gang of younger kids who think he's the greatest, when in fact, he's just a pathetic loser who hangs out in the bathroom of his local diner. On top of that, he wears like eight layers including a ski hat, a hobo scarf and a lacy singlet when he lives at a freaking ski resort. Also, I'm pretty sure he's a pedophile. How old is Serah supposed to be anyway (in the Japanese version, not the bowdlerised localisation)?
Click to expand...

Such an awesome character

Serah is 19 I think, she just happen to be half the size of a normal human being, doesn't help that Snow is a giant gorilla.
 
S

SLV

Member
Speaking about FF XIII, after trying the FF XIII-2 demo, i just had to go to ebay and get a cheap copy of FF XIII, to finally finish the game, had borrowed it from a friend for the PS 3, and played it somewhat on the X 360 before it crapped out on me, i have never got to chapter 11, it just got boring, the story that is, and the combat system did not do much for me either, if it would be ala FF VII or even Last Odyssey like, i think it would appeal to me more, thankfully, the battles seam more engaging and interesting judging by the FF XIII-2 demo, which i will buy come February for collections sake alone. Hope i get to chapter 11 at least when the copy comes, as i understand that is when the "real" game actually starts ?

EDIT:
Carlov said:
Aside from Sazh and maybe Fang, I thought both the story and characters were an absolute mess. It really is the spiritual successor to everything I hated about VII, including the fact that Squenix is less about fantasy these days and increasingly more about FUTURE ANIMU shit.

And yeah I hated this game in general.
Click to expand...

WUT ? In what ways is it exactly like FF VII, like, at all ? Spiritual successor even ?


Trent Strong said:
Best part of FF 13 were the sex noises Vanille made while fighting.
Click to expand...

Agreed
 
T

The Praiseworthy

Member
The only thing the game was missing IMO is towns and NPC and enjoyble Side missions.... With that the game would have turned out to be so much more better.
 
V

viciouskillersquirrel

Member
Anteater said:
The nipple rendering is also among the best in the industry

Snow's nipples
Click to expand...

I was impressed with the texture work on him actually. They lovingly rendered in little details like the veins on his skin, the goose pimples on his areolae and even the stretch marks on his armpits.

But why did it have to be Snow?
 
B

Blablurn

Member
i think, the story is just boring and heartless. it's not so much the gameplay what bored me. the world, the character and the story that connects them. it's just a mess and it didn't get me at all.
 
R

Rahxephon91

Banned
Pretty good game. Playing FFX again makes me realize it really is FFX with a lot of filler cut out. Actually, XIII has bigger levels then X, but they both are pretty much the same when it comes to linearity. But X is a much better game.

As far as story, I think XIII has a great premise and lots of pieces are in place for a great fighting fate theme, but the game kind of falls a part. Yeah a lot of crazy terms and the game does not bother to explain its world that great. Vannile really should have been the character that asks questions as she is the fish out of water. I mean she almost is, but the bad execution does not capitalize on her. Fang then should have shown the Pulse view of things. Either way it's still an interesting world and theme, but the execution is bad.

I still like the cast. I like the idea of somewhat regular people caught up in something bigger and how a lot of the drama is more personal and less epic. I think it was a solid effort. I like Light, as she's flawed and yet strong willed. I like that she wasn't some epic character with epic problems. While her issues with Snow and Searah can be a bit melodramatic, I like that's it more of a family drama then some huge identity crisis or something. I like Hope, but then again I like Shinji characters. I think he has a good arc and while Snow's role at the end is kind of dumb the entire arc made for some good scenes later in Palapolum. Szah's is a great character, he has no annoyances and reallly is the most relatable. Fang and Vannile don't bother me, but I have nothing to say about them.

The villains suck and are underused. They easily could have been fleshed out more as examples of other views or just how bad Coccon hates Pulse. Or how those who refuse to fight destiny suffer. What's there is too little to late.

That's a problem. This dual world thing was not explored as well as it should have been.

The ending is terrible and the story pretty much stops and seems to go against itself after the Pulse chapter. But for me the beginning was interesting and involving. It just seems to lose steam and the characters resolve themselves to quickly. It was an uneven story.

The battle system is great. Very fast and has a great use of timing attacks and switching of setups. It's great.

It's a good game. Pretty flawed. Could have been a lot more, but at the end of the day I've played it more then any other game this gen, because FF games still offer the most interesting and visually cool things on consoles.
 
T

Thoraxes

Member
Rahxephon91 said:
The villains suck and are underused. They easily could have been fleshed out more as examples of other views or just how bad Coccon hates Pulse. Or how those who refuse to fight destiny suffer. What's there is too little to late.

That's a problem. This dual world thing was not explored as well as it should have been.
Click to expand...

For any unsuspecting readers, my spoilers are post/end-game spoilers! Read at your risk!

I thought the whole
crash Cocoon into Pulse in order to kill everyone as sacrifices to get the Maker to return to re-originate everything was pretty awesome for me.
Like it wasn't much
Pulse vs. Cocoon as much as it was shit got fucked up, we need to start again, and unless everyone dies, it's not going to happen and regardless, you are going to have the option of watching everyone die, or watching everyone die because this is going to happen either way
was pretty cool to me too. Also, with all that in mind, the ending was fantastic and made sense.
 
F

Flying Wonkey

Member
Thoraxes said:
was pretty cool to me too. Also, with all that in mind, the ending was fantastic and made sense.
Click to expand...

That ending was just bizarre; I got what happened to that point but the thing that stumped me was that
un-crystallization of the cast bit. I thought it was going to end right there at Lightning's crystal face then all of a sudden they weren't crystal anymore.

(sequel spoiler)

I now see why they did that because lol sequel.
Ohhhh..... Is that why in the sequel they made it easier to "get" the ending and spelled it out for you with the ol' To be continued sign? :p

I still had fun with the game though, just thought a few things like the weapon upgrade system and crystarium CP requirements were a bit silly. Don't worry too much about Snow, you'll see through the IMMA HERO thing later Silly me you already went past it OP. ;)
 
0

06nbarnhill

Member
I enjoyed the game. However, it was my first final fantasy game that I actually finished so my opinion is probably not representative. First half of the game was too slow.
 
B

Box of Bunnies

Banned
I'm in the majority that enjoyed the game more or less the whole way through but it definitely had some missed potential, especially in terms of the villains.

FFXIII_Jihl.jpg


We hardly knew ye.
 
cj_iwakura

cj_iwakura

Member
I really loved this game. The story kept my interest, it didn't falter or go off the rails, I liked the cast, it's fun to play and keeps a steady scale of difficulty, and my god is the game beautiful.

Sometimes linearity is okay, if the game understands exactly what it whats to achieve with it.


By the by, my endgame party was Lightning/Hope/Fang.

<~ Haters
 
B

Bauer91

Member
06nbarnhill said:
I just really.....really hated Snow. The whole game. Took half the game for me to get over it.

Only reason I liked Hope is because for most of the game he also hated Snow.
Click to expand...

I played it when it came out, I don't remember particularly disliking Snow but I thought that Hope was annoying most of the game. Didn't care too much for the story anyway, it was all about the gameplay and the great battle system for me.
 
ULTROS!

ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
Trent Strong said:
Best part of FF 13 were the sex noises Vanille made while fighting.
Click to expand...

Not to mention her orgasmic screams after her summon's special attack.
 
D

Dedication Through Light

Member
Trent Strong said:
Best part of FF 13 were the sex noises Vanille made while fighting.
Click to expand...

Thats why I never used her, so random and awkward.

Always used HopeLight and Fang. two ravagers and a commando or sentinal if I recall. After awhile in the game only seemed like three paradigms were even worth using. Though I just went for which ones could keep me doing the flashiest attacks.
 
R

RS4-

Member
Speed running through the game right now in preparation for 13-2. I'm at uh, chapter 11, just got to the Archlyte Steppe? I don't remember how I felt about the game a few years ago when I played through it normally. I think I was just annoyed with a few boss fights.
 
S

sammyCYBORG

Member
Dedication Through Light said:
Always used HopeLight and Fang. two ravagers and a commando or sentinal if I recall. After awhile in the game only seemed like three paradigms were even worth using. Though I just went for which ones could keep me doing the flashiest attacks.
Click to expand...

Yup mainly how I played. That set-up could get you through most things. I occasionally switched in Sazh as my lead as he had a slightly better Synergist set-up. (I think he gets Haste first). I also loved using Blitz on enemies when the were Staggered with Sazh, it seemed to decimate them.

RS4- said:
I think I was just annoyed with a few boss fights.
Click to expand...

The only boss fights that annoyed me when I first played through were the Eidolons and the Enki and Enlil boss fight when you had Vanille and Sazh. I gave me so much trouble the first time I played through.
 
P

panama chief

Member
122736992815.jpg


got to this part and basically ran in circles just to keep hearing the music. after a while i stopped playing cause i got bored of the grind. came back to it one day and finally made it to gran pulse.

4724572.jpg


oh the FREEDOM!!!! sometimes i boot up the game just to show Long Gui im not to be fucked with.....
 
I

ihearthawthats

Banned
viciouskillersquirrel said:
One thing I don't get is the weapon upgrade system. It's obvious that each character has an optimum weapon and that Lightning's is the Gladius. Unfortunately, I can't figure out anyone else's. Hope and Vanille's ought to max out magic, but what about Fang's and Snow's? Should they max out attack or balance these with defense bonuses? What about Sazh?

Also, what should I prioritise vis a vis stats? At the lower levels it's easy to max out all the ability trees, but it's getting pretty clear that I'll have to specialise. Any advice on that?
Click to expand...
upgrading the weapons you get at the start doesn't make much sense tbh. you'll constantly be getting newer weapons. if you don't care about "spoilers" in terms of the kind of weaponry you get, i'd suggest you check out a weapons list and see which weapon you'll want to save upgrading for. weapons have special abilities, and some also hidden special abilities when combined with accessories. a weapon may also appear to suck at first, but after upgraded it actually turns out to be better. you can't just look at the initial strength/magic stat alone.

lightning's gladius does indeed have the best strength, but at the cost of crappy modifiers. i personally prefer the axis blade for her. the hauteclaire/lionheart are also extremely useful for certain battles. there are multiple "viable" weapons for each character that are each good for a different purpose. depends on what you want for the character and also for the team composition. really, look at a weaponlist to save yourself wasted mats upgrading a weapon you really didn't want.
 
P

Phonomezer

Banned
OMG

I finished it, end credits rolling... holy easy last boss, Batman!

and it looked like the baby headed sun from teletubbies
 
T

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
viciouskillersquirrel said:
I was impressed with the texture work on him actually. They lovingly rendered in little details like the veins on his skin, the goose pimples on his areolae and even the stretch marks on his armpits.

But why did it have to be Snow?
Click to expand...

For some of us that are into that sort-of-thing. >_>


Dedication Through Light said:
Always used HopeLight and Fang. two ravagers and a commando or sentinal if I recall. After awhile in the game only seemed like three paradigms were even worth using.
Click to expand...

That's something I noted in the FF13-2 thread. Shame they didn't fix it from 13 then.

Because otherwise it's:

Warrior/Warrior/Warrior
Mage/Mage/Mage
Medic/Medic/Medic
Balance
Balance

with maybe a Haste buffer type thrown in to quickly hast so you can go back to WWW/MMM/MeMeMe.
 
cj_iwakura

cj_iwakura

Member
My loadout of choice:

Com/Rav/Rav
Com/Com/Rav
Com/Rav/Syn
Com/Med/Med (if things go real bad)
Com/Syn/[Debuff] (usually my starter)
Rav/Rav/Med (if not all Ravs)


I play offensively. Never used Sentinel much.
 
H

hamchan

Member
Snow - Wanker. F*ckwit. Douchebag. He's basically an unlikeable version of The Fonz in that he has this gang of younger kids who think he's the greatest, when in fact, he's just a pathetic loser who hangs out in the bathroom of his local diner. On top of that, he wears like eight layers including a ski hat, a hobo scarf and a lacy singlet when he lives at a freaking ski resort. Also, I'm pretty sure he's a pedophile. How old is Serah supposed to be anyway (in the Japanese version, not the bowdlerised localisation)?
Click to expand...

Yes... YES! Fuck Snow, that pedo! The new guy in FFXIII-2 is better by default because I can't imagine him being worse than Snow. Snow actually made me like Hope much more as a character, as I could relate to his hatred and disdain of Snow.
 
RPGCrazied

RPGCrazied

Member
Pedo? Snow is 21, Serah is 18. I wouldn't call him a pedo. Sure he is annoying with his save the world motto, but I liked the character. Hell, I liked the game, but some of the difficulty spikes were annoying. And the weapon upgrade system is the worst thing about the game.
 
K

kswiston

Member
I think that the majority of people's team near the end was Lightning/Hope/Fang. There was an extended section of the game where you were forced to use that team, and that section was one of the best places to work up (and build your stash of credits) before the game actually opened up. By the time you gain control of all characters, Hope, Fang and Lightning are overpowered.

The game sort of pushes you towards them. Buffs are more useful than debuffs, and Hope had the best selection of buffs. You need a commando in most situations, a role filled by Lightning, Fang or Snow, and Snow is available for like an hour of the first 15 (at least it seemed that way). Also, Lightning is the most well rounded character in the game. She can tank, heal, and DPS. She is not the best at any of those, but she is at least capable in a pinch, making her the most versatile.

I did use Vanille at the end. S-E stupidly made the final boss weak to poison. It kills itself when poisoned.
 
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