Final Fantasy 13....
 

Why am I not excited?

It looks nice graphics wise, but that's about it. Nothing really makes me interested in the story or characters. The game play looks pretty fun, but I hate that you don't get to do some of the things from the older games. I enjoyed FF games not because of the stories but because of the many things you can do. That's what made them fun- for me.

I sorta regret pre-ordering it because God Of War 3 is coming out next week and if I get God Of War 3 next week, I'll put this game a side for a while. But I haven't pre-ordered God Of War 3 yet, so I might end up getting it a few weeks later. It depends how much extra cash I have.

I did enjoy FF 7-9 and 12- so hopefully I'll like this. I just don't see myself getting that into it.

I haven't played a FF since 10, do they use an open world map like 7/8 or do they have that stupid point, click, go shit they had in 10?

I heard it's more like 10.... just with no towns to explore... you go through towns but you don't really interact- which blows. There are side quests, but I think it's mostly killing monsters.

All I know is what I saw from a few videos and I just can't get excited about it. I loved exploring and getting super strong and shit. It looks alright, but not as fun as it should be. I guess I'll see. Supposedly it gets better after 25 hours...:wtf:

Been watching some peeps play on justin.tv this past weekend. Def picking this up now for sure

I guess no matter what boss battle you are in, (not enemy battle, but boss battle) you only get 20 minutes to beat it. After that you die

I don't really have an extra 25 hours to decide whether or not I like a game.

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Maybe that'll help...

Played through a bit of it and got sick of it really quick. Doubt I'll pick it back up.

Anyway, you control one member of your party, then click auto-battle, auto-battle.....

There is an abilities menu but it's pointless, auto-battle will sort out the right thing for you.

FFX killed the franchise for me, I have not played one since.

FF6, FF7, FF8, FF9

Best run of games in a series, ever.

I still don't know if I should end up getting it... it sounds like I could wait until it's 40 bucks or something.

HATED 8 so hard. Agree with the other 3 though.

I'm about 4 hours in and haven't messed around, haven't had a fight under 5 star rating yet and still no fucking magic. And controlling one member of your party in battle is fucking bullshit.

Also, there's these aerosols you can spray to give you stealth and things. IN A FINAL FANTASY GAME.

And Vanille's voice.... UGHHHHHHHH. When she said her name it sounded like she said venereal.

I do like the production quality and the fact that battles are still not random from FFXII though.

You forgot FF4 and FF5.

The story from 8, I tend to forgive as the battle system, gf's and magic system was one of my favorites

Never played them, so I cant commentate on them but I will take your word that they were good.

The only reason I will even be picking up this game is because I am able to get it for $9.99.

My friends xbox got the Red Ring and he decided to give up on xbox and gave me his games. Two of the games he gave me were on a list at Blockbuster where if you trade 2 in you get Final Fantasy for $9.99.

Oh, and for those still wanting to pick this up, but have both consoles. The PS3 has nicer looking cutscenes but the 360 can keep a steady framerate in the bigger battles *shrug*

Thanks. Pass.

KINDA. You have an active battle gauge and you sorta queue up your "abilities." Items don't reset your gauge. And you only control the leader of your party. Battles move pretty fast. You get rated on them based on how fast you complete them.

Rented this from Blockbuster today. Going to go home and play it when I get home. Going to play it with an open mind. Final fantasy 13 versus is where its going to be at

last FF i played was 10 (unless you count the FFIII DS game). So, lets see how it goes.

A lot like 10 stylistically. Blatant holocaust reference so far

Wait, a videogame that references the holocaust? Tell me more, Sir Man of Ass

The government purging an entire city because they are deemed a threat to the rest of the world so they promise to deport them all to this underworld thing and the rest of the world agrees, and then the army slaughters them all

What will make Final Fantasy 13 Versus different from this? I assume it takes place in the same 13 universe, but I haven't really looked into the articles.

I'm pretty sure it's in a different "world"

I'm suddenly interested

I just hope you could actually explore and level up with experience points in FF13:Versus... because that was usually more fun than the actual story lines in FF games.

Getting wasted and just mindlessly leveling up to powerful levels is fun.

The battle system in FF13 Versus will be a lot like Kingdom Hearts. Same team workin' on Versus anyways.

I'm loving it so far, (2 hours in)

The annoying happy chick suddenly turns British like an hour in

Yeah, I noticed that.

Was she like Aussie before that? I still want to punch her with that voice.

I dunno I think it was fine. "American" if you will. Fucking hate characters like her though. Keep calling her Rikku.

Nothing ANYONE has said in this thread is leading me to believe the franchise has gotten a single bit better since FFX.

Bout an hour in. Loving it so far. Definitely noticed the British change though as well.

Except that everyone has loved it so far that has played it? Most of us are only a couple hours in so far as well, sorry that us playing through the exposition of the story couldn't be more exciting for you.

I liked XII. This is a turd though.

What I am hearing about it, does not in fact, excite me in any way shape or form.

Why they couldnt revert to the much loved world maps,ATB systems and such is beyond me.

Moms are tough.

Hoping to get this for my birthday on friday

Meh, fuck my reservation. I'll wait a few months until this gets cheaper and probably get it then. I'm just not that excited about it.

The battle system is even more simplified from 12. It feels like it was designed for a 3 year old.

12 is awesome... took away the monotony of mindlessing hitting attack in every fight and let you control the way you wanted to. The battle system in 13 is cool but it's back to slightly turn based and hitting attack a bunch, and you only control the party leader, and you get game over if that person dies. Feels like Chrono Trigger sorta.

Anyone encounter the Flandragora yet? So awesome

assman, since you are usually an expert of final fantasy games and we usually share opinions about which ones are good and which ones are not, what is your overall take on htis game so far based on music, storyline and the battles

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10240371-1.html

Fuck Square. I still haven't forgiven them for this.

Well I hated 10 but this one looks a lot like it, except every level looks amazing. They started the game right by starting it in the middle of things, and they take a long time to explain everything. The music is good too, especially the battle music and I like the "main theme" that they have a bunch of different variations of. Also the battle system is crazy, it's like really fast paced Chrono Trigger and you have to complete them as fast as you can by using "paradigm shifts" to get items to upgrade your stuff with. They sorta brought back the sphere grid thing which I didn't like, and I still don't understand that completely. But this game is good. Worthy of the hype I guess.

Thanks for your take

I like it better than 12 and 10 thus far.

The Sphere Grid is probably the one of the best features in the Final Fantasy series.

Nah it is stupid. It halts you when you get too far. Regular leveling up is way better.

A bit disappointed that the Crystarium system isn't like the Sphere Grid in the sense that all the characters share one board or grid

I must disagree. I find the fact that you have freedom to decide how every character develop is way better than just plain leveling up.

The Grid was one of the reasons I wasn't that into FFX. I actually liked the game, but hated the water grid thingy.

The Sphere grid was ahead of its time

If you want a good way to decide how each character develops then play Final Fantasy 5 (or Tactics) because the job system is the ultimate way to do that. The Sphere Grid or "crystarium" is filled with a bunch of strength, magic, and HP nodes and you are pretty much forced to complete it a certain way.

I'm not too familiar with those titles, but correct me if I'm wrong. I don't think you can switch in between jobs during battle (again not sure) but even if you could that it still wouldn't matter because the grid does away with that concept. Each job probably has a limited set of abilities and tech. and there must be others you can't learn because that certain job won't allow it. that is simply not the case with the grid. (hope that made sense)

Nah because you assign your character a job and he learns the abilities for it, then when they master it they get to keep the secondary ability that comes with it while they learn another job. So you can have a samurai casting black magic or some archer using geomancy or anything. Way more customizable.

Ah i see. But its still kind of the same don't you think? How did you get the jobs btw?

If I may interject, and I have not played the game, I have read many accounts of how this game was deliberately linear and streamlined. A more focused and to-the-point ability system may be there intention. From what I know it seems FF13 has a straightened way to the top of a certain 'class', but multiple ways to get there - while other games have many classes but one way to maximize them.

I have found FFX's system elegant, but I loved FF8's Junction system much better (call me a stat nazi).

The crystarium system is pretty linear... kind of a bummer for me

Going by looks, I like the Crystarium system better than the Sphere grid. Not gonna be able to rent it till next weekend, stupid car needing gas.

EDIT: Agree'd

love this game.

They put lyrics to the chocobo song

After having watched a friend play this for a while, I can safely say my interest in the game is nill.

Seems hugely overrated and very linear.

Linear isn't a problem at all for a story driven game like this, in fact all the other non-linear parts of old FF's were just smoke and mirrors.

However; a shocking story and battle system do totally ruin the game.

I had no idea people had such issue with linearity. It's one of those 'damned if you do...' cases, I guess.

Idk. I was never a fan of how in old FF games, you just had to run around killing things for hours to level up. I liked FF12's battle system though, and places generally seemed 'open' and able to be explored.

This game though, there doesn't seem to be anything to explore. Just places to -go-. Point A to Point B. Same with the character advancement. You have 'classes' which aren't really classes, with really only one way to advance them.. they just get 'better'.. they don't really behave differently.

Seems like they made the combat the way they did just so players would feel like they have some input over what they're doing.. If all your characters do is get better, and you only go from Point A to Point B over and over again... are you really even experiencing a game, or are you just watching a series of cut-scenes as you walk through maps that look pretty?

Also, the ming-numbingly slow story got old after watching two dozen cutscenes and still having no idea what was going on.

Whatever. I'm not the one playing it, and I've certainly got no urge to play it after seeing all that it has to offer.

Square-Enix commented on how town exploration slowed the game down, and it was a point of reference for many 'critics' when they talked about 'pace' in JRPGs (many of which I've read through personally through the years). So I was very interested in the reaction to this FF's development style. I mean, I never heard people say how much they loved talking to NPC's and exploring world maps in FF before - although these were traditional mechanics, they were never hailed as popular 'mainstays'. Everything I remember attributed to FF most is exactly what Square-Enix focused on, and stubbornly so. Story, CGI cutscenes, streamlined battles (with less number crunching), and straight forward level up system. Now these are points of issue for people.

Personally, in terms of how JRPGs work, FF13 is kinda wild - and closer to an action adventure game of sorts. I suppose we can call it moderate. In this way I can see why people reacted this way. Moderate ideas don't polarize people as much, they are safe ideas. This is why traditional JRPGs have love it or hate it reactions. Even in threads here, people seem to get (and love it) or don't (and hate it) - very little in between. SquEnix taking the safe route came at a smart time, with the game being available for another console. People won't hate it, but will people love it? And it puts anybody in either camp in vicarious positions... I'd say it's harder to explain loving a game like this, with it being un-JRPG. But it would also be harder to explain hating it, with the old JRPG complaints are nearly gone.

tl;dr: Gamers are a finicky bunch, who never know what they want.

i like it, i mean yes its linear, but by no means is that bad. And its not even the story or exploration that i have a problem with, its the lack of strategy in the development of the character. In older FFs, you had to decide WHEN and HOW to develop...do you save up XP for that powerful spell? Or split it up for some bits and pieces of strength and magic.

Taking those things away and streamlining a game too much makes the world feel less like a world, and simply like a series of levels, IMO.

Tough no less a game. IMO.

Huh?

Exploring the towns were the best. If it doesn't have that, then no-go for me.

Agreed. I liked exploring more than following the story. If I wanted to kill a few hours, I'd have fun by leveling up and exploring, finding cool stuff... The world map with the airship was always my most anticipated part of any FF game.

The reason I put 120+ hours into Fallout 3 is...(and it was one of the only very few games that I started over and wasn't bored) EXPLORATION and variety!

i stopped reading at "stereotypical black guy playing final fantasy"

Well I'm only at Chapter 10. I will say that I do like the game as a whole so far but criticisms include: Complete forward progress, no back tracking, no Limits, only 4 Eidolons, complexity of the Crystarium, inability to control or switch characters in battle.

Everything else is fine for me.

Although i'm on Disk 2 and seriously loving the game.
I'm missing the fact that there's nothing for me to do other than story.

I want to train choccobo and stuff...

game is only 1 disc

How many disks does it come on, its the littlest thing ever but games that come on more than one disk infuriate me.

Ah well thats good Assman, nicely timed.

XBox 360: 3 discs

PS3: 1 disc

How the fuck can a game come on more than one disc anymore. Does the 360 really suck that much

Oh well thats a load of gay

How is it even a problem? Just waddle your arse over there and swap the disc big whoop.

8.5gb should be enough for any game bar interactive movies like FF13 or dialogue heavy games like ME2.

No I mean how can a game be too big for a console in the "modern era." Thought that ended with PS2

lol what? Do you really not realize WHY games just keep getting bigger and bigger? This generation is the first that even needs to use such large discs.

We're talking high-definition graphics and audio now. The files for extremely high quality graphics and audio are HUGE.

Sorry, but your Wii doesn't have that so they'll never have a game that needs to be more than one disc.

PS3 doesn't need more than one due to blu-ray storage size.

The 360 will never be able to drop multi-discs if it is that large of a game, because their discs just aren't capable of it.

What I'm trying to say is that the 360 is a piece of shit

FF games on PS and PS2 had multiple discs. No one complained. ME2 came on multiple discs. People here fapped over the game.

Stop. Being. Gay.

Plenty of other much more valid reasons to crap on Red Ring 360.

There are plenty of reasons to shit on all 3 consoles and every consumer electronics product ever.

The 360 needs multiple discs to hold its higher quality media, while the Wii only uses single discs because the games on it don't have high enough quality of content to demand the use of multiple discs, because the system itself can't handle it.

I await an explanation on how that makes the 360 shit. I certainly won't hold my breath over it though.

And taking one's lazy ass and swapping discs (which installing renders moot anyway) shouldn't be one of them. One of the weaker sauce arguments I've heard over the game.

It's hardly being used against the game, people are trying to use it as shots against the 360.

I'd personally take the multiple discs over a slow blu-ray drive and mandatory installs, but that's personal choice. Doesn't make the PS3 a terrible console in my eyes.

Why doesn't 360 use HD DVD for it's games? I thought that they did. They have more storage than dual layer DVD's... Just because bluray 'won' doesn't mean they can't use HDDVD for games.

That makes an iota of sense. Gonna look that up.

Probably has something to do with there being no HD-DVD drive in the 360.