Final Fantasy XIII-2 Out

[Bond]

Also, the difficulty is a joke. Example: I never used the synergist role and used sentinel once for 5 seconds during the final boss.

[Typhoid]

Time to bring up an old thread.
My buddy lent me FFXIII-2 the other day, He also lent me the strategy guide - which I'm not fond of using, so I'm trying not to look at.

I'm in a tough spot of "Do I want to play this game 100% organically, and just see what happens when I do it when I do it (no guide), or do I want to do the 100% completion way, or do I want to follow the guide walkthrough so the game finishes with no paradoxes, and the story is fluid and how it 'should' be."

That thought pattern has stalled me from playing the game right now. I'm not sure if I want to play the game, or experience the 'proper' storyline it offers, (rather than playing it, and winding up with something), or if I want to complete the game. If I beat it organically, I might be frustrated I wasn't able to get the proper ending on my own, if I beat it using the guide, I might feel an empty hole inside of me that I just played the game through the eyes of a book.

It is very hard not to scan the guide while I am rolling an adult-adult cigaratte.

Anyways, I actually think this game is freakin' great. I like the cinematic cutscene-battle things. I actually think that's a pretty solid integration between real time battling, and watching a movie. Very Uncharted-ish.

And (so far) as far as FF storylines go, I'm not upset with what's presented. Apparent Main enemy, Apparent common goal, 2 characters who need constant explaining of surroundings considering everything is new to both of them, multiple paths that effect previous and future events. Plus I'm digging the whole demi-God aspect of certain characters and scenarios. I think it fits in pretty well with the last game.

And the battles don't seem to be too easy for me. I'm on "normal" mode, and I don't "Auto-battle", I actually battle. Select my attacks, enemies etc. Auto-Battle is a cop-out for people who just want shit to complain about. It doesn't force you to do that, hell - there is even an option so the cursor defaults on manual attack options rather than on the "Auto-Battle" icon. But I'm legitimately stuck at a spot right now, and nearly everything I touch destroys me. I just need to do a bit of farming, which I've avoided.

*shrugs and walks away*