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[Hesemonni]

Chapter 10.

The game is growing on me and I enjoy the game more as I take the game as it is: a fancy corridor battler with awesome CGI. That being said, the one thing that's been bothering me the most is the weapons upgrade system. They streamlined the experience and then tried to make this fancy system which eventually ends up in grind :/ Get 3x exp in a weapon -> super conductor its ass. Rinse and repeat. Hell, why couldn't they just make equipment gain levels by usage and be done with it.

Also, Fang.

 

[SykoTech]

Yeah, the game grew on me the same way. Enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would judging by the first few hours.

And I absolutely agree that the Weapon Upgrade System is terrible. In fact, it was probably the worst thing about the game to me. It was just such a bother to do. That weapon/accessory trophy was the only one I didn't get.

 

[Lumpy Onion]

I decided to go back and start a sixth (or so) playthrough of this game yesterday. Partly because FF XIII-2 really disappointed me in a lot of ways. Especially where it concerns difficulty. I rarely felt any satisfaction from winning a battle outside of the final bosses and a few of the later optional bosses. It was frustrating because there were so many different monsters to capture for your party, offering great flexibility, but I didn't really feel the need to explore it because of the low difficulty. Hope there is a hard-mode patch some day. Although I have been thinking of some "low crystarium level challenges". I figure one could be forcing yourself to cap your crystarium levels at whatever level your last ability is for that role. ie: if Jinx is your final ability for that role, you can't level up that role anymore. That way you have a numerical value to stop at for the two characters...while monsters could be raised normally. Thank god that game doesn't level you up automatically.

To get over XIII-2's pathetic challenge I decided to do a few things in XIII differently this time. Using an old save I got to start off from the beginning of Gran Pulse before Hope gets his summon. My party till the end of the game will be Hope, Sahz, and Vanille. I figure that should make for some interesting situations and challenges. So far every battle has really put me to the test in the best way possible.

It's amazing how the variations in the battle system and party choice can make me play the game through again. Surprising when many will say you can press X to beat the game. There is also the absurdly nice eye candy which still amazes me to this day. XIII-2 looks pretty rubbish in comparison.

 

[Liferebooted]

I actually enjoyed this more than ffxiii-2 >.>

 

[Hesemonni]

Chapter 12 here. I'm at the point where I can warp back to Gran Pulse. Was it so that after finishing the game I get to go to Gran Pulse anyway to tackle the missions?

 

[ULTROS!]

Chapter 12 here. I'm at the point where I can warp back to Gran Pulse. Was it so that after finishing the game I get to go to Gran Pulse anyway to tackle the missions?

Yup. You can't complete the missions without finishing the game though.

 

[Hesemonni]

Yup. You can't complete the missions without finishing the game though.

Ok, thanks. I'll try to tackle the Boss and then proceed to missions after that.

Nice new Avatar btw

 

[TheSeks]

I started this on the second of this month and... uh... yeah... it's not good. But it's not bad either. It's just... there. If you get what I mean.

First: The art design is nice. It's really too bad that you can't explore it at all. I'm up to Chapter 12 and we're in "Eden" and it's a futuristic town that I was hyped to see because "OMG FF8 WORLD DESIGNER IS MAKING THIS GAME! *HYPE*" but the hype deflated because it's once again a linear push-forward-forever area unlike Gran Pulse. :/

The characters are a mixed bag. I like Fang the most. Sahz isn't bad, but sits on the bench now that I have sprint shoes. Lightning is disappointing after all those videos of her kicking ass and we only see that in like... three sections. Mostly toward the end. (Hell, one of the screenshots on the box art is right in chapter 12. Nice :/). Hope is whiny until Snow lightbulb.jpg's and goes "OH YOU'RE THAT KID THAT MOM (THAT IS TOUGH!) SAID TO PROTECT! LOL XD!" and attempts to stab him. Only for Snow to save him and "OMG WHY DID YOU SAVE ME I ATTEMPTED TO KILL YOU!"

"Because your mom said to."

"OMG YOU MAY NOT BE SO BAD AFTER ALL!"

(Also the fact that Snow doesn't acknowledge the fact that he is supposed to protect a kid right in the opening until then is completely bonkers insane as well)

Battle system is... uh... not good. Of course, I'm a FF12 fan (ZFateandRaphgonnahate.jpg) so following up on that act with this is... a bad taste in my mouth.

Square meeting:

"Hey guys. It's 2008! A little JRPG called Shin Megami Tensai: Persona 3: FES is completely rocking our asses. What should we do!?"
"Copy it's battle system, but instead of giving players complete micromanaging the AI control, we have the AI do dumb things with the roles!"
"BRILLIANT!"

Me: "Lightning, please raise Sahz so he can haste us again since you're medic and I'm ravager!"
Light: "MARA KARIN!--ER--LOL WRONG SERIES!--CURA!"

Death is a hunter unbeknownst to it's prey
One is always aware that it lies in wait.
Though life is merely a journey to the grave, it must not be undertaken without hope.
Only then will a traveler's story live on, treasured by those who bid him farewell.

But alas, my guest's life has now ended, his story unwritten...

Whoops, wrong game again. I mean "LOL GAME OVER. RETRY!?"

One thing it has going for it is the shrouds. Too bad the shrouds is completely useless for the majority of the game since you can't buy them and have to save them for when you're really screwed. Which isn't too often because for the most part the AI works minus the idosyncrasies.

And that leads into: The AI is dumb and completely useless but auto-battle is the way to go for the majority of the game. Literally. You can five star the battles if you have the paradigms set-up to be reasonable and just auto-battle xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx all day erryday.

Why? Because PROTIP: Five-starring battles = suicide runs. That's all. Healing? That's for pussies! ATTACK MORE DUMBFUCKS OR YOU'LL GET A FOUR STAR!

Also grinding CP is completely stupid and the fact you have to wait until 40 hours in for the full job choices only to be forced to continue to focus on the "primary jobs" because the CP grind gets tedious unless you spend an extra 20 hours to get to mission 55 to grind CP for Vanilla to unlock "Death" and then spend an hour to get death to land so you have the Growth Egg (2xCP gained from battles) is moronic. WHY ISN'T THIS AVAILABLE SOONER!? WHY ISN'T THE FULL JOB CHOICES AVAILABLE SOONER!? Why isn't the CP required to start those a la the primary jobs for the characters in the Stage 1-4 Crystarium reasonable!? Paying 10000 a pop for abilities and stat ups starts to add up to boring grind after a bit.

That said, the highlight of the game is the hunts a la FF12. Unfortunately, you have to bend over backwards to worry about the time limits if you do these later because the stronger you get the shorter the time becomes, which, while logical is just poor design because why should I be penalized for becoming stronger to ensure I get a five star on these hunts? That's like FF12 penalizing you for not doing Yaizmat until you were level 99 and could guarantee you would be able to stand because you didn't do him at level 1 (which is possible, but insane for most people).

So uh... yeah... I'm disappointed with the game and I really hope FFXIII-2 fixes the issues FFXIII has because the cast of characters themselves isn't too bad and the art direction isn't too bad but the gameplay is just poor. Then again, I knew this would be a repeat of FFX (but I hated everything but Auron in X so...) after all the complaints with linearity but I continued to want the game because "hey, the FF8 world director is in charge and I loved FF8! *WHEE!*" :|

 

[itzknickknac]

I just wanna say, I love FF13.

I'm attempting to replay FF7 or complete my play through of FF8. But I honestly feel like I could replay FF13 instead, for the 3rd time.

 

[falconzss]

Platinum at last. Glad the negativity surrounding FFXIII didn't stop me from playing it. Yep, the story is mediocre and nowhere near FFX for example but the fast paced battle system is already one of my favorites in terms of RPG's. Good thing i went wit the Chinese version since the English voice track seems to be annoying (mildly put).

 

[LogicStep]

So I've been playing this little by little the past couple of months. Right now I'm at the part after fighting that priest looking guy and the team got on a ship that flew itself and escaped.

I don't understand what I'm supposed to do with the weapon upgrade system and how I'm supposed to even have enough materials for everyone. For Lightning I have been upgrading the starting weapon, the blazefire, and it's lvl 22. Everyone else's weapons are around level 1 except for mayb one at lvl 7.

Game started off slow and boring but for a little bit now, mostly since Hope and Snow got in good terms, it has gotten interesting.

Anyways, I find myself skipping enemies as much as I can, is this a bad decision? Any tips for the weapon upgrading system? I haven't upgraded any accessories.

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

So I've been playing this little by little the past couple of months. Right now I'm at the part after fighting that priest looking guy and the team got on a ship that flew itself and escaped.

I don't understand what I'm supposed to do with the weapon upgrade system and how I'm supposed to even have enough materials for everyone. For Lightning I have been upgrading the starting weapon, the blazefire, and it's lvl 22. Everyone else's weapons are around level 1 except for mayb one at lvl 7.

Game started off slow and boring but for a little bit now, mostly since Hope and Snow got in good terms, it has gotten interesting.

Anyways, I find myself skipping enemies as much as I can, is this a bad decision? Any tips for the weapon upgrading system? I haven't upgraded any accessories.

The weapon upgrade system is goofy. The materials break down into two separate types:

- Organic materials (high bonus, low points)
- Synthetic materials (bonus reduction, high points)

To maximise your bang for buck then, you first load up a weapon/item/whatever with 36 Vibrant Oozes to get a 3x bonus on the next upgrade, then upgrade with a high value item like Ultracompact Reactors (I think, it's been a little while). That'll bring your bonus down to 1x.

There are charts and stuff that let you know what transforms into what, but you can get away with ignoring weapon upgrades until about Chapter 11, when you're able to farm materials on the steppe.

One word of advice though - spam the panthers for sprays while you can, because they get rarer later on.

 

[DryvBy]

I've tried this game two times and failed to get past the 10th hour. So boring and unrewarding.

 

[jiggle]

So I've been playing this little by little the past couple of months. Right now I'm at the part after fighting that priest looking guy and the team got on a ship that flew itself and escaped.

I don't understand what I'm supposed to do with the weapon upgrade system and how I'm supposed to even have enough materials for everyone. For Lightning I have been upgrading the starting weapon, the blazefire, and it's lvl 22. Everyone else's weapons are around level 1 except for mayb one at lvl 7.

Game started off slow and boring but for a little bit now, mostly since Hope and Snow got in good terms, it has gotten interesting.

Anyways, I find myself skipping enemies as much as I can, is this a bad decision? Any tips for the weapon upgrading system? I haven't upgraded any accessories.

you've just reached the point where you can start giving it some serious focus
you will soon be able to do hunt missions(repeatable) that drop materials you can craft with or sell, as well as good accessories
mission 7 fight with bituitus was a good one worth grinding, iirc (drops multiple bomb cores that sells for good money you can use to buy good mats with, i think)

 

[Andrew.]

Somewhat of a major bump.

I just picked this up yesterday for cheap. I hadn't played and finished it since its initial release. I know I'm one of about a half dozen people on here that really love this game, blemishes and all, but the fighting system is incredibly refreshing to me and the soundtrack is one of the best this gen easily. Snow's theme was my favorite, easily, no matter how corny of a character he is.

I've also played most of the previous classic entries like 3, 7 and 9. This one didn't burn me like it did most. It was just such a nice change of pace for the series to me and I appreciated SE to really take a risk like this. Once again, I'm well aware I'm in the minority for this feeling.

 

[I'm an expert]

Somewhat of a major bump.

I just picked this up yesterday for cheap. I hadn't played and finished it since its initial release. I know I'm one of about a half dozen people on here that really love this game, blemishes and all, but the fighting system is incredibly refreshing to me and the soundtrack is one of the best this gen easily. Snow's theme was my favorite, easily, no matter how corny of a character he is.

I've also played most of the previous classic entries like 3, 7 and 9. This one didn't burn me like it did most. It was just such a nice change of pace for the series to me and I appreciated SE to really take a risk like this. Once again, I'm well aware I'm in the minority for this feeling.

There's more than a dozen of us! The criticisms held against this game are so wildly uneven that it's hard to have a good convo about it - especially when most of the reasons boil down to "it's not like my favorite xyz rpg". There are definitely problems with the pacing of the first half, definitely problems with how the story is unveiled, definitely problems with the lack of ability/party customization. Still, the game is, as you said, a risk of trying out a fresh coat of paint on the franchise. And, again as you said, the battle system is downright fun.

If you liked 13, you'll love 13-2.

 

[The Mana Legend]

The game grew on me until I got to Gran Pulse, which brought the game to a screeching halt that it never recovered from.

People say Chapter 11 is when the game gets "good," but it so completely breaks the pacing and flow of the game it's ridiculous. They should have really saved it for a post-game world, rather than throwing it in at the worst goddamn timing.

But I enjoyed the game until that point. It wasn't great, but once I got over its quirks and stuff, I began enjoying it. Then it goes downhill once you get to Chapter 11.

 

[I'm an expert]

The game grew on me until I got to Gran Pulse, which brought the game to a screeching halt that it never recovered from.

People say Chapter 11 is when the game gets "good," but it so completely breaks the pacing and flow of the game it's ridiculous. They should have really saved it for a post-game world, rather than throwing it in at the worst goddamn timing.

But I enjoyed the game until that point. It wasn't great, but once I got over its quirks and stuff, I began enjoying it. Then it goes downhill once you get to Chapter 11.

The only reason this criticism doesn't make sense is because most of everything is still locked on Pulse in Chapter 11 when you get there. It's not till after you beat the game that everything is available. The only difference from the chapters before is the area isn't designed as a corridor but a wide area, but the goal is the exact same - get to the entrance of the cave. After that the entire game goes back to exactly what you had from chapters 1-10 - all the way till the end of the game. Tell me you didn't actually stop there, which amounts to basically 10 mins of the game (if you don't do a few of the optional stuff) lol..

 

[nOoblet16]

Ah... Sazh !
I would've never been able to platinum the game if it wasn't for Sazh, because if it wasn't for his Cold Blood skill I'd have never been able to defeat this prick:

But anyways I loved the Cie'th stone missions, they were so much fun to finish.

 

[Andrew.]

For good measure. Love this fucking track:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FaZQoZf4OY

 

[I'm an expert]

Other than the required portions I don't think I used Sazh once.. I feel like he was just a rehash of Barret, right down to the ranged attacks. Why couldn't they give him a sword? Probably my least fav char in the game. I ran the three girls with Fang as my main.

 

[MikeE21286]

I agree with you on Hope and Snow. I hated them both. I can stand Vanille. I liked Fang. Sazh is probably my next favorite. I really dug Lightning.

The story ends up making sense but it is convoluted for the sake of being convoluted, which is the worst.

The weapon upgrade system I never really understood the ins and outs of it. I mean, yeah, certain items give your weapons stat upgrades, but I never felt the need to stop upgrading one weapon that I had begun upgrading and move to another weapon to begin upgrading (seemed like a proposition that only made sense if you were grinding for items/materials).

The battle system is really where this game shines. Once you get later into the game it will all be about the Paradigms Shifting.


The funny thing about this is that I think everyone can agree on lots of the points about this game (characters = range from terrible to good, graphics = awesome, story = convoluted, battle system = amazing) however everyone interprets the overall quality of the game differently.

 

[I'm an expert]

To this day I don't get the "story is convoluted" argument. It's probably the most one dimensional story of the franchise.

Bad people, gotta save my sister
Twist
The real bad people behind the bad people, gotta save my sister
End

If you want convoluted..look at 12.. actually 13 is almost 12 simplified. Bunch of pirates/terrorists/l'cie on the run, government corruption/revolution against, ancient/mythological civilizations, immortal gods pulling all the strings... actually..this looks a lot like 6..or 7..or 10..

13-2 is just as unbelievably simple. I actually felt a bit insulted by the "secret" ending. Like no fuckin shit. The paradox endings were more interesting.

 

[leadbelly]

I just wanna say, I love FF13.

I'm attempting to replay FF7 or complete my play through of FF8. But I honestly feel like I could replay FF13 instead, for the 3rd time.

Society is doomed.

 

[Midou]

Society is doomed.

Just the gaming industry, don't be so over dramatic.

Replaying Xenogears and FF6 now, could probably replay any FF before 10 but including 12, one hundred times before I'd play XIII again.

 

[Toth]

Society is doomed.

Wow. How dare someone have an opinion different from yours!

 

[leadbelly]

Wow. How dare someone have an opinion different from yours!

lol

You need to be careful you don't get a brain haemorrhage. Relax, it's a joke.

 

[Midou]

I actually enjoyed this more than ffxiii-2 >.>

XIII-2 had better mechanics I would say, and something that was closer to resembling a town, even if it was just NPCs standing around typically with nothing interesting to say. Yet the story, being forced to use mostly monsters and inferior technical achievements contributed to making it worse.

 

[I'm an expert]

actually, nm lol, do not want

 

[Andrew.]

You want a good reason why this game is awesome?

Because I can grab a beer or make a fucking sandwich, not be in front of the television and still win battles with a few pushes of a button.

 

[coolasj19]

So here's the story. I've played this game about 3 times. Each time roughly up to the point in the story right before the super uber Aeon cutscene. Right before you leave Pulse. I finally picked this and FFXIII-2 both used for $11 during Black Friday. God help me. I even still have the save files that have a 50 hour timestamps on them. But me, being the idiot I am, have decided to completely start over. For the 4th time. What is wrong with me?

The only reason I'm playing is so I can play as Sarah in XIII-2 because she's voiced by Laura Bailey. Ohhhh the bad games I play so I can hear the characters she voices.

This game is less charming than I remember it being the first 3 times... 5 hours in.

 

[dhlt25]

I've just bought a PS3 earlier this month in prep for persona 5 and have been playing through this for the first time. Currently about 27hrs in and at gran pulse. I have to say I'm rather disappointed with gran pulse. May be I was over hype but I find gran pulse to be quite boring, sure there's a large open field to run around but it just seems so plain. There're tons of side missions to do but they add nothing to the story and just feel like your typical MMORPG fetch quest. It feels like the entire purpose of gran pulse is to be a grind area before you can proceed with the story. Some of the larger foe battle are fun I'm currently on mission 13, but in between those battles are a bunch of boring, mindless grind.

 

[Jazzy Network]

One of the worst purchases I made. I gave it more than 1 shot. I fell asleep everytime. Main character is about as interesting as a bag of bricks.

 

[Joei]

Thread: Rise from your grave!


Awful game that I couldn't stop playing. Awful cast, except I really liked Vanille. I liked Sazh for most of the game, but he wore on me like the others. Awful story and story presentation. You had to read those side notes (can't remember the name, it's been so long) to get any idea of the nonsense the dope smoking writers were trying to tell. Worst game I ever completed.

 

[Gaaraz]

Only near the start but damn the above post is a huge warning for me. Not enjoying it at all but can see me playing it to completion :/

So far I've literally just mashed X for each battle and got 5 stars each time anyway.

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

Only near the start but damn the above post is a huge warning for me. Not enjoying it at all but can see me playing it to completion :/

So far I've literally just mashed X for each battle and got 5 stars each time anyway.

I'm sure you've heard it before, but the battle system really starts to sing when you're doing optional quests around 20 hours in. Prior to that is mostly eye candy and the impenetrable nonsense story.

I thought it was worth it in the end, but only keep playing if you're having fun.

 

[Gaaraz]

I'm sure you've heard it before, but the battle system really starts to sing when you're doing optional quests around 20 hours in. Prior to that is mostly eye candy and the impenetrable nonsense story.

I thought it was worth it in the end, but only keep playing if you're having fun.

Thanks! I think I'll give it another hour or so and re-evaluate, to be honest I'm not sure I can justify playing for 20 hours until the game gets good any more

 

[Inuhanyou]

Thread: Rise from your grave!


Awful game that I couldn't stop playing. Awful cast, except I really liked Vanille. I liked Sazh for most of the game, but he wore on me like the others. Awful story and story presentation. You had to read those side notes (can't remember the name, it's been so long) to get any idea of the nonsense the dope smoking writers were trying to tell. Worst game I ever completed.

same here. I beat it 4 times myself and have started numerous saves. Its a trainwreck i can't look away from. the game is polished, the music is great, the graphics, the mo cap all hold up, the battle system is fun...but the game...its just a shallow experience i don't want to see repeated.

 

[UberTag]

Thanks! I think I'll give it another hour or so and re-evaluate, to be honest I'm not sure I can justify playing for 20 hours until the game gets good any more

I found the battle system to be incredibly rewarding once the training wheels come off.
The challenge offered by all of that optional content provided me with some of the most rewarding encounters I've had in any Final Fantasy game.

 

[Reineldinho]

I enjoyed a lot FF XIII, specially the story and the second half of he game. Optional bosses were so fun to fight against too. Call me edgy, but the was far from terrible. Not my favorite FF game but the hate was (is) IMO unjustified.

(I enjoyed too FF XIII-2. I liked it more than XIII gameplay wise, but the story was meh)
(Still waiting for Lighting Returns to be blackguards compatible to play it)

 

[Gaaraz]

What makes the optional stuff so much better than the main story btw?

I mean... I love optional stuff in games sometimes (the post-game Dragon Quest VIII, all of the secrets in Demon's Souls etc) but when people seem to prefer it to the actual game itself it doesn't fill me with confidence. I don't even like this game right now, let alone love it to the point of wanting to do all of the optional content.

 

[NHarmonic.]

I have memories of an atrocious storyline and character dialogue. The battle system was satisfying though, it was clever.

 

[CoffeeExpress]

better prelude than ff15, but thats about it.

 

[ethomaz]

I will never understand a LTTP opinion without finish the game.

But at least it is better than LTTP threads before start to play the game lol.

The game is a mixed bag... it does somethings good and others things bad just like the recent FFXV but the bad things in XIII is enough to make it a mediocre game while XV is a good game overall.

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

What makes the optional stuff so much better than the main story btw?

I mean... I love optional stuff in games sometimes (the post-game Dragon Quest VIII, all of the secrets in Demon's Souls etc) but when people seem to prefer it to the actual game itself it doesn't fill me with confidence. I don't even like this game right now, let alone love it to the point of wanting to do all of the optional content.

The game is filled with eye popping scenery, imaginative monster designs, wonderful music and the battle system is really good once you've mastered it. Some of those missions are like puzzles, having you figure out the best way to take down difficult bosses / beasts. I suppose the appeal is the same as MMOs and Monster Hunter, hunt->loot->hunt.

When you finally take down those huge monsters that seemed impossible only a few hours before, it's such a great feeling.

The story leaves a lot to be desired unfortunately.

I will never understand a LTTP opinion without finish the game.

But at least it is better than LTTP threads before start to play the game lol.

The game is a mixed bag... it does somethings good and others things bad just like the recent FFXV but the bad things in XIII is enough to make it a mediocre game while XV is a good game overall.

I did finish the game!

 

[Gaaraz]

Sounds good, thanks vicious! I'll keep it up for now then, I really loved some of the old FF games, so hoping this one can be the same in that regard

 

[Gaaraz]

The dialogue is so bad

 

[Unknown One]

The FF with the worst cast for me. I never had a game where I wanted all of them to die other than this game.

 

[John Kowalski]

better prelude than ff15, but thats about it.

One of the best Preludes tbh.

 

[Irishonion]

I enjoyed it. No towns irritated me to no end though.

And I hated grinding to upgrade to ultimate weapons. I gave up after first one :/