Final Fantasy XIII Impressions

[Bond]

Wanted to separate our actual impressions of the game from the previous thread. Possible spoilers may follow.

[Typhoid]

I picked this game up today and I'm only about an hour in - and I love it so far.
One of the best looking games I've played, and the storyline actually doesn't seem too bad.
The transition from battle to 'world mode' is flawless. I like how you enter an oldschool FF-style battle in this one.


This game also has it's own Zell, Tidus, Cloud and Rikku.

[Bond]

What do you mean by "enter an oldschool FF-syle battle?"

[Typhoid]

What do you mean by "enter an oldschool FF-syle battle?"

A separate screen for battles. They don't just take place on the world map.

[TheSlyMoogle]

Totally decided not to get this right now, as too many of my electronic systems r failing right now.

[Typhoid]

Totally decided not to get this right now, as too many of my electronic systems r failing right now.

Bad choice.:mad:

[TheSlyMoogle]

Bad choice.:mad:

Meh need to fix my computer first.

[Typhoid]

Since I'm the only one who's actually played this so far, I'll share what I think so far.



So far, I like the storyline. You get thrown straight into it, so the whole thing feels much bigger than just you. The gameplay is fun. All enemies are on the world map, but when you get into a battle, it's in a seperate 'world map', like most other FF games, but immediate after the battle - and after you get graded on speed, and get your spoils, you're immediately back at the world map. No load times. It's very fluid. The battle system itself is pretty cool. I thought I would hate the fact you get healed after every battle, but the reason it's good is because that means battles can be more intense. The paradigm shift - the best way I can compare it - would be to the class system in FFX-2. You can change at any time (You have to have the paradigm created before you enter the battle), and in fact most battles need you to shift paradigms for success. There are roles your characters play in battle. I'm still early on, so they all haven't been revealed, nor unlocked for each character - but the ones you start with are Commando - typical attacking, Ravager - attacking with a bonus to chains (Chains help you stun enemies if you get the chain bar high enough, which then lets you cause a lot more damage to an enemy) Medic - self explanitory and Sentinel - purely defensive. You only control 1 character - your leader - for each battle, but the CPU's know what they're doing. They do exactly what their role is, and they don't do it stupidly. The leveling up system in it is best described as the Sphere Grid from FFX, but 3d.

Don't read this if you want the game to be a surprise. Major beginning spoilers:
The thing I like is that none of your characters - except for 2 - actually know eachother. This massive shitstorm just happens, and you guys get lumped together from time to time. It's a common goal, to a degree. A common goal with moral issues behind it. The basic premise that I've got so far is that it's basically a genocide taking place. Without getting too far into it - because it would be confusing as hell without playing the game, you all get targeted as what the genocide is...well, targeting.

[TheSlyMoogle]

Quoted from my friend Ryan Bill on the leveling system:

Meh it's not really like the sphere grid:

Grids don't overlap
As you defeat bosses you either improve your paradigms or unlock other branches
Your skills are capped and locked to each paradigm
Different characters have different paradigms unlocked, along with varied times for when they get certain skills or stat boosts
No branch jumping to other characters paradigms, at least not yet.

So that makes me semi ok with the paradigm system.

Luckily, he's going to send me his copy of the game when he's finished. Hooray.

[DarkMaster]

I'm about 3 or so hours in. I do love it so far, to play an actual RPG again is a great feeling. The game is insanely beautiful, and the combat very impressive thus far. Can't wait to have a final fantasy weekend this weekend.

[Bond]

Good to hear you are enjoying the game so far, Typhoid. I can't wait to start playing in about two weeks.

[TheSlyMoogle]

Don't know if you guys have Costco anywhere near, but FFXIII is only 49 dollars there.

I picked up a copy. Impressions to follow soon.

Also the costco I went to only had 360 games no PS3. SORRY!

[uber_paddler]

Put about 10 hours into it day one, absolutely love it. Unfortunately, I haven't had any time to go back to it since then. It's killing me.

[ZephyrFate]

This game has: amazing music, amazing graphics, and the best jRPG battle system I have ever played.

That said, the story is garbage.

[TheSlyMoogle]

This game has: amazing music, amazing graphics, and the best jRPG battle system I have ever played.

That said, the story is garbage.

I'm going to disagree about the battle system. At what I first thought was depth has turned into "mash a until hp is low, shift to healer paradigm, let heals happen, mash a again"

This probably slightly changes later, as I'm open to more abilities, but I'm a little over 5 hours into the game and it has yet to change.

The game is beautiful. BTW all those screenshots from the 360 version, I don't see any of that blurry lines bullshit. The only problem is, when the game does the soft load stuff like when you're running and stuff through the areas, it will sometimes give a little jump similar to when you lag online for a split second, but not as bad even. I wouldn't call it a problem, and not sure if it happens on PS3 or not. I did however catch a glimpse of the loading times on PS3... Jeezus christ.

Baby Chocobo is super kawaii uguu! (That means super cute in Japanese!)

I've got this strange feeling I aint seein any moogles in this game.

Uhm I find I'm not entirely hating the Crystal grid. Even though everyone has a ravager class right now, each of them learn different spells and abilities which is pretty cool.

The other thing that bothers me is Preemptive strikes in this game. It would have been nice if it just said "Preemptive strike" instead of you actually going around with your leader and attacking each enemy. I got into a battle with 10 enemies earlier and managed to preemptive strike them, and found myself wishing I hadn't. Took like 2 minutes for lightning to go around and whack them all with her sword.

Surprised to say the voice acting is actually pretty good. Snow and Sazh have great voice actors, and lightning isn't so bad.

Absolutely hate Leona Lewis and the fact that her song is in this game makes me feel a little nausea when I hear it. Also when I see the commercial.

For the most part find myself hating all the characters in this game so far except Sazh.

Vanille's Voice actor is fucking terrible, but I enjoy her character so far.

Snow isn't so bad I guess.

Mostly just Lightning and Hope really bug me.

Also lightning's hair just looks stupid.

Oh and I agree with the story being garbage.

[Typhoid]

Vanille's Voice actor is fucking terrible, but I enjoy her character so far.

Nobody likes Australians, eh?
Just me?

I don't think the voice actor for Vanille is bad at all. In fact, I quite like the voice acting for her. She's just sounds like a peppy Australian who lived half her live there, and the other half in the UK.

I'm about 13 hours in, and I like the game a lot.

I also haven't noticed any framerate issues, load issues, graphic issues or anything. Maybe I'm just not looking for things to dislike.

[uber_paddler]

Yeah, I don't mind Vanille at all. I can see why some would find her annoying, but I think her voice is perfect for the character. Overall, I think all the voices are pretty good, which I wasn't expecting. Snow's great, of course, since Troy Baker is a voice acting God.

I've not noticed any graphical issues either, it's been running smooth as butter the whole time for me.

Also, I think this is probably my favorite iteration of the ATB system. Once it opens up it feels really fluid and dynamic.

[TheSlyMoogle]

Nobody likes Australians, eh?
Just me?

I don't think the voice actor for Vanille is bad at all. In fact, I quite like the voice acting for her. She's just sounds like a peppy Australian who lived half her live there, and the other half in the UK.

I'm about 13 hours in, and I like the game a lot.

I also haven't noticed any framerate issues, load issues, graphic issues or anything. Maybe I'm just not looking for things to dislike.

Yeah but I'm playing the 360 version, which was supposed to have some problems.

You kids and your PS3.

None of the little 360 quirks make it unplayable though. It's noticeable, just not that big of a deal.

[Typhoid]

How many discs is the game on for 360?

[BreakABone]

How many discs is the game on for 360?

3.

One of the reasons would lean towards PS3 version.

[Dylflon]

Yeah, I grabbed it for the PS3.

Like it so far. The story isn't bad. I find the story and backstory to be very interesting (especially when I'm baked), but it's the dialogue that's not that great.

A lot of the characters lack subtext in the things they say. Everything seems too on the nose. Also hearing Snow say the word "hero" thirty times is kind of grating.

[Typhoid]

Yeah, I grabbed it for the PS3.

Like it so far. The story isn't bad. I find the story and backstory to be very interesting (especially when I'm baked), but it's the dialogue that's not that great.

A lot of the characters lack subtext in the things they say. Everything seems too on the nose. Also hearing Snow say the word "hero" thirty times is kind of grating.

What chapter are you on, though?

[DarkMaster]

In the first few hours, I had no idea where I was (pulse or cocoon) or what was going on, why these characters were in that same place at the same time, was very confused. But a lot is being revealed now, especially the past events, and so the story is actually becoming interesting instead of bizarre.

I was watching my roommate play, he's very near the end of the game, and the battle system becomes batshit insane. looking forward to that.

thus far I have no problems with most of the characters, the exception being Vanille who is a ridiculous anime stereotype. People are dying and shit's going down, and she's just giggly and bubbly, I want Lightning or someone else to punch her in the face. Her "in the future narrative voice" sounds a lot more humble and mature, so maybe she changes a bit. Really hope so.

[TheSlyMoogle]

So just started chapter 9 and here's what I have to say:

The AI is fucking dumb when it comes to spellcaster classes. Just fucking dumb.

And at the same time it's dumb to make your party leader one of the main spellcasters because of their low hp values, but at the same time you can't stop them from doing dumb shit like casting thunder on monsters when they're weak to fire, or like the ra spells do slightly more chain gauge add on, but instead they'll cast 3 fires instead of a fira and a fire for like 2 more percentage points on the stagger meter. Fucking shitty AI ravagers.

Also synergist pisses me off in the same sense. For example Hope:

He had shell and protect. Well eventually he moved up and got barfire and barfrost(fire and ice resist of a pretty small percent), well I ran into a soldier who had a pretty crappy fire attack that did like 50 damage, well after being barfired it did 49 damage and Hope wouldn't do the one thing I needed him to which was cast protect because the soldiers rarely do the fire thing. But the entire battle he just stood there and cast barfire over and over. This has happened several times since and it almost makes the synergist useless if the enemy has an elemental attack. Seriously.

I mean it's not like the game is that hard anyway, but it would be nice if there had been an option for me push a button and make my AI cast a spell or something. Or that you could control the way they generally flowed (Like setting them to do the most damaging option.)

[Typhoid]

The AI is fucking dumb when it comes to spellcaster classes. Just fucking dumb.

Dude, use Libra.
If you libra an enemy once, every other time you fight that enemy they'll cast on it's weaknesses.
Reading the manual is for winners.


All this thread tells me is that you like to find things to complain about.
I've had no problems with the battle system, nor with the way people cast things.
I find synergists highly useful, as well as Sabateurs.
As long as you have your enemies intel, they won't cast random shit on it, or you.


If I was Earl, this game would be my Nintendo.


Also:

Dear the end of Chapter 9: What the fuck?

[ZephyrFate]

I'm going to disagree about the battle system. At what I first thought was depth has turned into "mash a until hp is low, shift to healer paradigm, let heals happen, mash a again"

This probably slightly changes later, as I'm open to more abilities, but I'm a little over 5 hours into the game and it has yet to change.

The game is beautiful. BTW all those screenshots from the 360 version, I don't see any of that blurry lines bullshit. The only problem is, when the game does the soft load stuff like when you're running and stuff through the areas, it will sometimes give a little jump similar to when you lag online for a split second, but not as bad even. I wouldn't call it a problem, and not sure if it happens on PS3 or not. I did however catch a glimpse of the loading times on PS3... Jeezus christ.

Baby Chocobo is super kawaii uguu! (That means super cute in Japanese!)

I've got this strange feeling I aint seein any moogles in this game.

Uhm I find I'm not entirely hating the Crystal grid. Even though everyone has a ravager class right now, each of them learn different spells and abilities which is pretty cool.

The other thing that bothers me is Preemptive strikes in this game. It would have been nice if it just said "Preemptive strike" instead of you actually going around with your leader and attacking each enemy. I got into a battle with 10 enemies earlier and managed to preemptive strike them, and found myself wishing I hadn't. Took like 2 minutes for lightning to go around and whack them all with her sword.

Surprised to say the voice acting is actually pretty good. Snow and Sazh have great voice actors, and lightning isn't so bad.

Absolutely hate Leona Lewis and the fact that her song is in this game makes me feel a little nausea when I hear it. Also when I see the commercial.

For the most part find myself hating all the characters in this game so far except Sazh.

Vanille's Voice actor is fucking terrible, but I enjoy her character so far.

Snow isn't so bad I guess.

Mostly just Lightning and Hope really bug me.

Also lightning's hair just looks stupid.

Oh and I agree with the story being garbage.
There's your problem. Play longer than 5 hours. The battle system is just unparalleled.

[Bond]

There's your problem. Play longer than 5 hours. The battle system is just unparalleled.
Welcome to the forums, ZephyrFate!

[TheSlyMoogle]

Dude, use Libra.
If you libra an enemy once, every other time you fight that enemy they'll cast on it's weaknesses.
Reading the manual is for winners.


All this thread tells me is that you like to find things to complain about.
I've had no problems with the battle system, nor with the way people cast things.
I find synergists highly useful, as well as Sabateurs.
As long as you have your enemies intel, they won't cast random shit on it, or you.


If I was Earl, this game would be my Nintendo.


Also:

Dear the end of Chapter 9: What the fuck?

Actually whether you libra or whether you defeat an enemy 1 time will gather you the enemy intel. ;) Which is a nice way to save your tp for bosses. Also pretty much every enemy has a hidden libra point which only shows up after you defeat it. In effect making Libra basically useless.

Also ravager just is something I would rather control, but not have to worry about the fact that the death hammer is going to drop every 5 seconds.

And Zephyr, I'm now 20 hours into the game, in chapter 10, and the battle system still lacks anything complex or interesting. Mash attacks until stagger, heal hps when low, repeat. The only difference is now I start battles with a synergist in my starting paradigm. Although will say game got a hell of a lot better once you weren't stuck in 2 person parties with the game telling you who the party leader was.

Also Sazh is da man. As well as snow. Oh and Fang is badass too. Oh hey, what do you know, that's my final party. FUCKING YEAR!

Also Shiva is a total whore in this game, and I enjoy how when you summon shiva, snow pops up between the 2 like a pimp and he's all "Sup"

[ZephyrFate]

Every game has you mash x... i don't see how that's a complaint. EVERY FINAL FANTASY GAME HAS DONE THIS. If you're not using Saboteur with your Synergist, or changing up Paradigms, then you're willfully ignoring most of the strategy of the game.

[TheSlyMoogle]

Every game has you mash x... i don't see how that's a complaint. EVERY FINAL FANTASY GAME HAS DONE THIS. If you're not using Saboteur with your Synergist, or changing up Paradigms, then you're willfully ignoring most of the strategy of the game.

Lol you have to change paradigms to heal. Also didn't complain about mashing x, complained about mashing attacks. I'm just finding this game takes less thought than previous FF installments.

It would be slightly different if the game didn't reward you for doing things as fast as possible for better drops.

The fastest way to do things is to start the battle casting haste and then Relentless Assault paradigm to build a fast attack chain. You're also rewarded with that thanks to launch which takes 1 enemy out of the battle, thus reducing the damage dealt to you.

I did start the battle with synergist, saboteur and commando for a while, but found there were too many enemies who either negated status effects, or midway through battle would change and negate status effects plus get a buff.

The only time I switch to saboteur now is for dispel, or for the few enemies that seriously need to be poisoned or slowed in order to get 5 stars.

Other than that subbing out other classes just takes away from the precious time you have to get 5 stars, which is about the only thing that makes battles in this game challenging. I mean you could slowly beat the game very easily with 2 medics and a commando. You would never die, but you also would never 5 star a battle.

[Typhoid]

I'm just finding this game takes less thought than previous FF installments.

If you stick to the given path and just follow that - then yes, you can just mash away most of the time given you level up accordingly to your mash-tactics.

However once you (This part doesnt need to be read to get what I'm saying)get to Pulse and feel like battling tough enemies - then good luck just mashing attacks. It takes actual strategy and timing, as well as a lot of shit inside your pants.

[TheSlyMoogle]

3.

One of the reasons would lean towards PS3 version.

Also I meant to address this ages ago, but forgot...

Why?

What does it matter if the game is 3 discs or 1 disc?

I'm confused? I mean other than for sheer laziness...

I guess you could lose a disc? However don't know why that would matter, because if you lost 1 disc in FFXIII 360 version, or you lost the 1 disc in the PS3 version, it still makes it unplayable lol.

Confused.

[Bond]

Am I the only one who actually enjoyed changing discs during the FF Playstation days? It gave me a physical sense of accomplishment.

[Fox 6]

Am I the only one who actually enjoyed changing discs during the FF Playstation days? It gave me a physical sense of accomplishment.

well then you'll love ME2

[ZephyrFate]

I switch between Relentless Assault, Combat Medic, and Bully. Synergist-Saboteur-Commando is a damn good combo. But there are others. You don't have to restrict yourself and many of the combos out there can still net you five stars. Plus, even with five stars you can still get terrible drops, or none at all.

[TheSlyMoogle]

I switch between Relentless Assault, Combat Medic, and Bully. Synergist-Saboteur-Commando is a damn good combo. But there are others. You don't have to restrict yourself and many of the combos out there can still net you five stars. Plus, even with five stars you can still get terrible drops, or none at all.

yeah but you really don't get drops with below 3 stars, and 5 stars usually nets a rare drop for me.

Also I finally upgraded my weapons during chapter 11, and figured out the most cost effective way to do so thus far in the game with the spoils available to me. So I max upgraded my best weapons, and lol did the game get hella easy. Upgrading essentially doubled my damage output (In the case of Snow it almost tripled it.)

Also, Exp multipliers for weapons and accessories don't go over x3 btw.

I spent about 2 and a half hours messing around with different stuff, taking notes and reloading the game. So if anyone wants to know anything, I guess ask, and I'll tell you if I know.

Am I the only one who actually enjoyed changing discs during the FF Playstation days? It gave me a physical sense of accomplishment.

No I totally enjoy it. In fact I haven't had to do it since skies of arcadia on the gamecube, so when I did it with FF13 I was pretty pumped. Brings back old memories *tear*

[magus113]

The last RPG that's been released recently that I've had to do disc swapping for was Lost Odyssey and that was a pretty nice feeling. I have FF8 from the PSN, so I have the discs there but there's no physical switching. Still feels like a milestone though.

I really want to play this, but something about it makes me feel like I'm just not gonna like it. I don't know if I'm gonna like, rent it or something to try it out like I did with Demon's Souls (which despite it's difficulty is pretty awesome). I've heard more good than bad, but there's something about it that I just don't feel right about and I can't put my finger on it.

[Typhoid]

I've never liked disc switching, really. I mean it's sort of nostalgic, sure. But despite how obvious the storyline of (fictional game) may be, if you switch a disc in a 2 disc game, you know you're at least half way through. I prefer not knowing.

[magus113]

I've never liked disc switching, really. I mean it's sort of nostalgic, sure. But despite how obvious the storyline of (fictional game) may be, if you switch a disc in a 2 disc game, you know you're at least half way through. I prefer not knowing.

That's not always the case necessarily. The older FF games had most of the content on the first few discs and the last one was all end-game stuff. So there's really nothing else to do besides finish the game on the last disc. I think Xenogears was one of those games that had an assload of content on it from either disc.

[BreakABone]

Also I meant to address this ages ago, but forgot...

Why?

What does it matter if the game is 3 discs or 1 disc?

I'm confused? I mean other than for sheer laziness...

I guess you could lose a disc? However don't know why that would matter, because if you lost 1 disc in FFXIII 360 version, or you lost the 1 disc in the PS3 version, it still makes it unplayable lol.

Confused.
Sheer and utter laziness honestly.
If I'm playing a game, I hate having to switch discs, and nothing ever does it seamlessly.

well then you'll love ME2
Don't remind me, and for the life of me, I still can't figure out what the hell they did with the discs, you needed it for the beginning, and then could use the second disc for most of the middle, but then needed the first for like the end. :lol:

[TheSlyMoogle]

Sheer and utter laziness honestly.
If I'm playing a game, I hate having to switch discs, and nothing ever does it seamlessly.


Don't remind me, and for the life of me, I still can't figure out what the hell they did with the discs, you needed it for the beginning, and then could use the second disc for most of the middle, but then needed the first for like the end. :lol:

What FF games have always done it pretty well.

[Bond]

What FF games have always done it pretty well.
I agree. Disc changes in 7 through 9 always seemed quite fitting to me.

[TheSlyMoogle]

I agree. Disc changes in 7 through 9 always seemed quite fitting to me.

Err actually I don't think I've ever seen a bad disc change in any game really. Pretty much not the hardest thing to do. Oh hey, you just finished a big part of the game, would you like to save? Yes... "Ok, please switch to disc #x, kthnx, resume play"

[Typhoid]

Err actually I don't think I've ever seen a bad disc change in any game really. Pretty much not the hardest thing to do. Oh hey, you just finished a big part of the game, would you like to save? Yes... "Ok, please switch to disc #x, kthnx, resume play"

The disc changing in Mass Effect 2 is retardediculous.

[uber_paddler]

The "disk change" in MGS4 was pretty great.

[magus113]

I thought the MGS4 "disc change" was pretty funny. Although if you play MGS: Twin Snakes and not the original MGS it doesn't make sense. The disc swap point was changed, although I can't remember where to.

[Acebot44]

If anyone's interested in the weapons upgrades for each character

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48263855@N04/4422702471/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48263855@N04/4423467724/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48263855@N04/4423466578/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48263855@N04/4423466066/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48263855@N04/4423465518/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48263855@N04/4423464950/

[TheSlyMoogle]

That quality is terrible on the guide scans. To be honest the easiest way to level weapons for any weapon and anyone is to pump vibrant oozes until it gets the x3 exp multiplier and then pump whatever spoil gives the most exp. The only thing you need to know then is the amount of exp the weapon needs to max level, that way you can pump that many spoils onto it at once while it has the exp mod. Then it's a matter of figuring out what ore allows it to upgrade to the next weapon form.

Just beat the game.

All I have to say is really square? Really?

I'm not done with the game thanks to the most awesome of achievements that it has, but other than that... Meh.

Perhaps the prettiest game I've played this generation even with all the graphical quirks and screw ups on the 360, and yeah it got a lot worse starting with chapter 9, to the point sometimes I would just laugh as the game lagged and had serious lines and zigzags.

I think the worst part is that this story and pretty much these characters had already been done before, not just in a game, but in another final fantasy game. Just wow.

I think it's pretty safe to say this will be my last Final Fantasy game, and perhaps my last RPG for a long time.

I mean they had a really good run though. From 4-9 they were mostly amazing games, but they just rehashed a game I already fucking played, and made it easier.

Also once you get to chapter 11 the game is so broken easy that it's silly. Thank you square for giving me the easiest grind to max level I have ever had. Well actually when the game ended... well spoilers so wont say anything.

Anyway I'm looking forward to the Omega and Ultima weapons/ some extreme bosses in this game, and hope that they don't play out like the last few bosses in this game.

Also at the end of the game I used fang, lightning and hope as commando, ravager, ravager and occasionally to heal I switched to saboteur, medic, medic or synergist, medic, medic. That was the only time I took the time to use buffs or debuffs. Severely unfortunate that synergist and sab were useless starting around chapter 11.

While I will say this game had probably the best AI I've ever seen in an RPG, it was still pathetic, but without it the battle system couldn't have worked. I think the most frustrating part of the game was a boss battle at the end of chapter 11 and it was extreme status effects, and like my characters all had 5k hp, and we were down to like 4-4.5k hp each and I switched to medic to get esuna going to remove poison and all the medic kept doing was curing us when we weren't in danger of dying at all, and all I wanted was esuna. It got to the point that I actually stopped the fight, ran to the save point/shop and bought 30 antidotes and proceeded to just antidote the team myself.

I feel like the way the high level spells were done was a bit pathetic imo. Having the level 3 spell as an AOE instead of really doing anymore damage was just silly. Also the fact that your AI would choose to ever do anything other than cast 4-5 of the same spell at an enemy because that does the most damage, is just beyond logic and I have no idea how they ever programmed that in good conscience.

Ruin is perhaps the most useless thing ever, why that spell was created I do not know, and Ruinga was so fucking useful it was retarded. Oh hello chance to launch and a chance to daze at the same time.

Overall it turns out that the best way to 5 star every fight is Rav,Rav, Com. The only difference in the ranbats is whether you use blitz or attack basically.

Also if you want this game to be a challenge *do not* upgrade your weapons until chapter 11, and don't upgrade them past 1st level cap.

I feel like this was basically the game for people who can't play games for more than 30 minutes at a time or something. I would say without grinding I probably could have finished the game in around 30 hours, as it stands I finished it with no problems at 43:48 on first run. It's terribly fast to grind out levels in this game, fairly easy to acquire maxed out weapons and items, and the game is one big straight line. Nuts to the reviews that said it wasn't as the only part that's not linear is the optional 50 or so missions available starting chapter 11 and on. (There are 64 missions and I believe a total of 14 are mandatory.) This is absolutely the most linear final fantasy I have ever played. Even 10 was better in this aspect.

I think my final words on this are:

It was a good RPG, but a terrible final fantasy. Oh and it was a lot more enjoyable than 10.

[Typhoid]

I'm stuck in Chapter 11, and it's really pissing me off because it seems completely impossible for me to win.

[TheSlyMoogle]

I'm stuck in Chapter 11, and it's really pissing me off because it seems completely impossible for me to win.

Hmm? Stuck on what exactly? A boss?

There are two places I can think you might be having trouble! SPOILERZ ABOUT BOSSES!:

The first place I can think of is in the mine with the juggernaut that is guarding a Treasure orb. Basically the damn thing takes a beatdown and even with tier 8 maxed out it took 3 staggers to kill. The main thing is to have hope in your party and have him cast protect, barfire and shell. This will eliminate a lot of the damage the thing can do with its big fire swing. After that switch to RAV/RAV/RAV and let spells fly to stagger it quickly, then shift to COM/COM/RAV or COM/RAV/RAV to do a lot of damage in the stagger.

The next place I can think you're stuck would be the last boss of the chapter, which is Barthandalus's second fight. Basically he spends the entire round being a huge douche, but the shining light is that he's really easy to stagger. So start the round with a synergist casting buffs (Preferably Hope since he has the good defense buffs), and then switch to rav/rav/rav again to rack up the chain. When bart is stunned I switched to Com/Com/Medic to recover and pound on the damage as much as possible, however Com/Com/RAV was used if I was in good health to continue to crank the chain to do more damage. If it ever looks like you're getting into a really hairy spot (AKA everyone under 700 HP and you aren't in a paradigm with medic), please summon your eidolon because it will heal you and the team, rack up some decent damage, and if you happen to die while you and the eidolon are killing shit together, then the Eidolon will revive you. Also this was the fight I was talking about where I bought Antidotes and used them to get rid of poison because the AI would never cast ESUNA even though my hp was almost full. SHITTY AI!!!

If you're stuck on something else let me know, also there is a lame sidequest at the end of Ch. 11 that I highly suggest you take the time to complete as it nets you about 600k gil. I got stuck on a part of this quest for about 20 minutes.

To be honest chapter 11 is all about farming up the 8th tier of the Crystarium, here is why:

There are 3 really good places to do so on the Archlyte Steppe.

When you first get there, there's a behemoth that drops about 4k CP a fight, it's one of the lesser behemoth's and pretty easy to tackle.

After that there's a place in the Western edge of the map where there are two battles with chicken mages (Rangas and something else) but they're all chicken mages. The first battle is where the chicken mage is standing on a rock and 3 other chicken mages are running around in a circle around this chicken mage. That battle is worth 2700 cp, and the next is on a cliff with 5 rangas. The trick to doing these fights really fast is to get fang, lightning, and snow out and make sure all 3 are commandos and know blitz. A couple of rounds of blitz and the chickens are roasted. In the second fight with the 5 rangas, hold your blitz off until you see them start to cast Aeroga which hurts really badly. Eventually you'll move up on the Crystarium so far this wont be an issue and chickens will die in 10-15 seconds. That battle nets you 3500 cp. You can quickly run back and forth between these two fights and gain about 12400 cp a minute. In an hour and a half I had maxed tier 8.

The last battle is right before the cave. The giant wolf and the king behemoth who are fighting each other. They never notice you and you always preemptive strike the fight. COM/RAV/RAV as you enter the fight and target the behemoth first so he doesn't stand up. Hopefully your COM has launch. Anyway he's at half life, so doesn't take long to kill him. Then just keep on the wolf who is also at half life. this battle nets you 6400 cp and takes about 35 seconds to win. You can reset the battle by running back to the save point and almost to the other behemoth, then turning around and running back to the battle. I racked up a good 600k CP here before progressing the game, and was able to max all 3 innate classes when I opened up tier 9 on the Crystarium.

[TheSlyMoogle]

Oh finally someone posted the scans of the accessories chart and the dismantle charts.

I was kind of worried the first one might get pulled due to the first link.
So, here they are again, this time, just the photobucket links.
Enjoy!

Accessories Chart
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o113/rsfevildead/AccessoriesChart2.png
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o113/rsfevildead/AccessoriesChart1_2.png

Component List
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o113/rsfevildead/ComponentList2.png

Dismantle Chart
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o113/rsfevildead/DismantleChart2.png
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o113/rsfevildead/DismantleChart1_2.png

[Bond]

So, I am a little over three hours into FFXIII and here are my very brief impressions:

- The production values are amazing: graphics, voice acting, menu system, they are all superb.

- I like the reintroduction of the ATB system. I was quite partial to it in FFVII, and seem to equally like it in this game.

- The linearity has not been an issue for me at all. While it would annoy me if it carried on for long stretches of path with nothing to break up the action, this is not how it is handled. Cut scenes and NCP break up the walking bits nicely. It certainly isn't anything like the traditional towns, but I think it is somewhat similar.

- I like how the annoying parts of FF have been simplified in this game. Maybe it is because I have less patience for videogames, or maybe it is because I am no longer in middle school and actually have a life, but I just don't have time to fully master a complicated RPG and feel as though I had a productive day. I like this compromise.

[Ginkasa]

I finished the game about a week ago or so. I have mixed thoughts on the game as a whole. If I were to rank the core FF games XIII would be right on the line of the games I like and the games I don't really like (say, right before VIII).

I thought the story started out really strong. Not having a clear antagonist and have the cast just stuck in an awful situation was a different direction and a good change of pace. I liked thinking that I wasn't going to be able to tell how things were going to play out. I also like the high moral ambiguity with the main cast; they weren't really "good guys" in the beginning of the game. They were doing whatever they needed to do to accomplish their own personal goals and survive, not save the world.

Unfortunately the whole thing falls apart when the "main villain" is revealed. The reveal is completely wasted since you don't really get to know the character at all. Its just, "Oh, yeah, and this is the big bad guy." The same goes for pretty much any character beyond the main cast. Nobody is developed at all beyond whatever very minor role they play in the story. They have no real character or personality.

I also got really annoyed with the datalog. At first it very handily filled in the information that all the characters would know (what is Cocoon and Pulse, what's a fal'Cie and l'Cie, who are the Guardian Corps, etc.). It brought me into the world without resorting to silly forced exposition. Once the big villain is revealed, however, it starts giving out essential plot info that was not revealed in the cutscenes or game proper. I would be reading the newest datalog entry and I'd come across something and think, "Wait, what? Since when?" At first I thought I had missed something or maybe it was a mistake; they programmed the datalog to be unlocked too early or something. It kept happening and I realized it was just really bad storytelling.

Ultimately I was left dissatisfied with the story.

I did, however, like the battle and Paradigm system. Mostly, anyway. I was annoyed by the "Party leader" thing. Basically, if the Party Leader dies the game is over. This doesn't make sense from a gameplay or story perspective. Any character can be the party leader and eventually you can decide who is the party leader, so there's not some silly "in-game" explanation for it. I can't think of any "real world" reason behind it either. Its just frustrating. I also don't like how the different paradigms/jobs grow differently for the different characters. I felt like the game expected me to be able to use "Haste," but only one character had it despite having two well-developed synergists. It basically prevented me from having exactly the team I wanted until near the end of the game.

Overall, though, I enjoyed playing it. I didn't mind the linearity itself, although I would have liked some "downtime" in between the constant flow of battles. It got especially tiring when there constantly enemies that could a while to wear down and defeat. Near the end I just started avoiding the battles.

Anyway...

[Bond]

Did everyone wait until Chapter 9 to start upgrading weapons? I'm sort of stuck in Chapter 7 (I think?) with Snow and Hope... thinking I need to upgrade?

[DarkMaster]

You could upgrade, but you really don't need to I think. Wait until chapter 11. If you're stuck it's probably a matter of figuring out proper paradigms and when to switch during battle.

[Typhoid]

I got to Orphan's Cradle, and opted to go back to Pulse so I can do as much, if not all of the 'hunts.' Currently I'm doing Titan's Challenge, and it's pretty cool.


I wanted to do the hunts before I finish the game in order to have it seem more fluid. I'm 55 hours in and not even half way through the quests. Such a great, huge game.

[Bond]

Well, glad I didn't upgrade any of Sahz's weapons.

Edit: Nevermind, haha.

[Bond]

Moogle, can you tell me about how to do the upgrading part in Chapter 9? I am at the hallway you talked about and have been defeating the soldiers diligently.

[TheSlyMoogle]

Join my party and I'll tell you about it. Don't feel like typing it out again :p

[Typhoid]

I was looking to try find this last night but I couldn't, so I'll try here.

When it comes to accessory's that improve chance of shrouds, items, or rare items dropping - do they just have to be equipped on 1 of the 3 people in the battle, or do they have to be on your party leader to count?

[TheSlyMoogle]

Just 1 of the 3 people. Same goes for the Growth Egg when you get it.

[Vampyr]

Just got this game and started playing it over the weekend.

Only a couple of hours in and I just got to the point where I can use the crystal system...I haven't spent too much time with it, but so far it has confused the heck out of me. Not sure if I need to min/max anything, or can you just max everything?

Also Vanille is so annoying she has almost made me give up on the game.

But I'm going to keep going and try to mentally block out anything she says/does.

Which isn't too hard since her voice actor is so terrible I can't understand most of what she says.

[Typhoid]

Which isn't too hard since her voice actor is so terrible I can't understand most of what she says.

That doesn't make her terrible.
That makes her Australian. :p

[Vampyr]

That isn't an Australian accent.

It's an Australian accent ran through a wood chipper, and then the pieces that came out were raised by about 8 octaves.

[Typhoid]

That isn't an Australian accent.

It's an Australian accent ran through a wood chipper, and then the pieces that came out were raised by about 8 octaves.

The girl who did the voice is a 23 year old Australian...so, you know...

[Vampyr]

The girl who did the voice is a 23 year old Australian...so, you know...

I know, I looked it up right after I started playing. Couldn't really believe that it was a real Australian making that noise.

She has to be doing something, though. I refuse to believe any real human sounds that way.

... after writing that I looked up a youtube video of her:

<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/e0YaQnUOu4k?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/e0YaQnUOu4k?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>

That is not what Vanille sounds like, so, yes, her voice is either digitally altered or she is doing it herself.

[TheGame]

I don't mind Vanille... the person who fustrated me is the emo kid. When you get deep into the game you'll find out a lot about vanille, she's a pretty complex character.

[TheSlyMoogle]

I don't mind Vanille... the person who fustrated me is the emo kid. When you get deep into the game you'll find out a lot about vanille, she's a pretty complex character.

Well Hope is probably the most complex character in the game as he goes through the gamut of human emotion. LOL.