Final Fantasy XIII

miir · Post by **miir** » March 5, 2010, 3:28 pm

Like many Final Fantasy games, the first 7-10 hours is usually completely linear.

I recently played through the 'best' Final Fantasy and I think it was close to 12 non-challenging hours before I even got out of Midgar and on to the world map... but instead of watching a bunch of nicely rendered cutscenes, I was clicking through hundreds of dialogue boxes.

Winnow, maybe you really just don't enjoy the FF style of RPGs anymore.
From the reviews I have read, it seems like nothing was drastically changed for this game.
Anyone who still likes Final Fantasy games will probably like this one.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » March 5, 2010, 4:45 pm

Looks like square penis purposely sabotaged the 360 version to help their Japanese buddies.

The obsessives over at Digital Foundry, who do this kind of thing for a living, have compared the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of Final Fantasy XIII in agonising detail. The results? Not so good for 360 owners.

While acknowledging that the most important thing - that game itself is the same (of course) - and that in some instances cinematic sequences are better than expected, in many other areas the 360 version "isn't anywhere near as impressive as it is on PlayStation 3".

Making things worse is DF's assertion that it didn't have to be this way; that much of the 360 version's (relatively) poor performance in CGI sequences is down to "amateurish" video encoding on the part of Square Enix, with around 1GB of storage space left unused on two of the game's three discs that could have been put to work improving the look of the game's cutscenes.

Things aren't all bad for the 360 version. Digital Foundry notes that the game's framerate is consistently smoother on Microsoft's console, the 360 better able to stick to the game's target of 30 frames per second than the PS3.

Words can of course only describe so much, so for the full details on the breakdown and a big collection of comparative galleries and in-game clips, hit the link below.

Leonaerd · Post by **Leonaerd** » March 5, 2010, 5:28 pm

I recently played through the 'best' Final Fantasy and I think it was close to 12 non-challenging hours before I even got out of Midgar and on to the world map... but instead of watching a bunch of nicely rendered cutscenes, I was clicking through hundreds of dialogue boxes.

[Show]: weak

It should only take half as long as it took you. And as soon as you leave Midgar you can wander to several places, including:
- Kalm, a town with much to do, including the option to continue the main (dialogue filled) quest at the inn
- the chocobo farm
- the midgar zolom area and neighboring cave
- several different patches of ground (forest, desolate wasteland, grassland, beach) with lots of enemy diversity

I'm sure you ran straight to Kalm, where you bitched about polygon count as you followed the rest of your party into the inn on your own will, despite the opportunity to explore.

maybe you really just don't enjoy the FF style of RPGs anymore.

Maybe you don't know FF style. Though, the game really isn't very challenging.

miir · Post by **miir** » March 5, 2010, 5:46 pm

It should only take half as long as it took you

My save game at that point was a little more than 11 and a half hours.
I may have put down my PSP and left it running for 60-90 minutes of that time in total.

I rushed through it on my first playthrough many years ago and this time I checked every nook and cranny, I spoke to everyone (multiple times) and got every possible ounce of enjoyment out of the game.

I'm sure you ran straight to Kalm, where you bitched about polygon count as you followed the rest of your party into the inn on your own will, despite the opportunity to explore.

What the fuck are you talking about?
I'm not the one who's been spamming this thread with inane anti-FF horseshit.

I actually enjoy JRPGs.
Final Fantasy is probably my favorite video game franchie.
I played through 7 and most of 8 in anticipation of 13.

Maybe you don't know FF style.

I think maybe I do.
Winnow seems to be obsessed with criticising the game for being a FF game

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » March 5, 2010, 6:13 pm

Leonaerd is correct! Mirr is the true anti FF plague on this thread.

I love me some Chocobos!

miir · Post by **miir** » March 5, 2010, 6:24 pm

Winnow wrote:Leonaerd is correct! Mirr is the true anti FF plague on this thread.

I love me some Chocobos!

Haha, fuck you!

Canelek · Post by **Canelek** » March 5, 2010, 7:34 pm

You ladies sure have a lot to say about anime crap!

PS: FF VII was rad.

Aardor · Post by **Aardor** » March 5, 2010, 11:16 pm

http://books.google.com/books?id=qmDT1M ... q=&f=false

My guild's MT in wow wrote that!

miir · Post by **miir** » March 7, 2010, 12:07 am

I have my copy sitting on my desk...
I'm afraid to play it before tuesday.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » March 7, 2010, 12:15 am

About six hours into the game the combat challenge improves slightly.

This game is mostly "walk in the park"easy, moving from cut scene to cut scene with zero diversion from the linear path. Production values are high.

Odd story so far. Don't care much about the characters yet.

The lamest thing about FFXIII is only being able to control one character during the fight. You can't switch between characters. All you can do is assign roles.

You can auto attack your way through most stuff. There's no difficulty setting. If I'm cruising through this game with no speed bumps, you gamer nerds should be concerned.

Some positives:

-Managed to get a look up Vanille's skirt. With the hellish camera in FFXIII, there should be an achievement for this. It takes some serious maneuvering to accomplish.

-I think you can see nipple through top. It may be lack of anti aliasing that's causing the effect. Will need someone on PS3 with HDMI to confirm.

-other than those highlights, the music is nice, I especially like one track about 6 hours in. While the architecture is even more outlandish than you've come to expect with FF games, it's still nice to look at. I find myself laughing at the implausibility more than previous FF games though. I know, I know...suspension of belief...but sheesh.

-lotta save points. decent load times. easy scene skips. No disk swaps so far...no surprise considering you're on autopilot the entire time.

-it's visually appealing and the voice acting is ok, except for all the "grunts" and "surprised squeals" from the characters you've come to expect in Japanese games...I can't help but think how much better Mass Effect 2 is. Game Play, Story, interaction, scope, voice acting...top to bottom, Mass Effect Trumps FFXIII with no need to even debate it (pretty sure 99% wil agree after playing FFXIII)

-while most will be disappointed with FFXIII, I can still see the worth of playing through it for the visuals although I hope the story improves.

miir · Post by **miir** » March 8, 2010, 11:04 am

I'm about 6 hours in myself and agree about the difficulty, but as with previous FFs, the game starts easy and the difficulty tends to ramp up as the game goes on.

I love the battle system.
The Paradigm system is brilliant, as is the the way your characters 'level up'.

The characters are a mixed bag.
I like Sazh a lot. He doesn't really seem to fit in with the rest of them at all. I'm curious to see what his agenda is.
Vanille is awesome. She's completely bonkers.
Snow is typical angsty/emo.
Lightning annoys me.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » March 8, 2010, 1:56 pm

miir wrote: Lightning annoys me.

Yeah, Lightening does nothing for me. I find it hard to care much about her and she seems to play the "tough guy" a little too much. Snow seems to be legitimately in love with her sister and did nothing wrong that I can tell yet Lightening is a total bitch.

Oh well. Vanille is a fun character, just don't like the way she walks/runs. Hope is a little annoying so far but there will be more character development for him later I'm sure.

miir · Post by **miir** » March 8, 2010, 1:58 pm

just don't like the way she walks/runs

That fucking cracks me up.
I could watch her run around for hours laughing at how retarded she looks.

From the reviews I've read, the first 10-15 hours of the game are the worst, but I've been nothing but entertained.
It's a very easy game to like.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » March 8, 2010, 3:17 pm

miir wrote: I love the battle system.
The Paradigm system is brilliant, as is the the way your characters 'level up'.

I still don't like this system. I feel like I should be more in control and that I waste time switching back and forth and then waiting to see my Saboteur cast the debuffs before I can switch back...the system makes me watch the screen for the little spell pop ups instead of letting me do other things that would be more constructive. I also can't make that player cast the debuffs on multiple mobs. I've watched them just sit there when I want both mobs debuffed (unless it's a group debuff and Im not understanding it correctly but I dont think it is as the Libra shows exact same mobs with different resist stats after a debuff so I'm pretty sure it's per mob) They could have easily avoided this by letting the player switch to any of the three characters in the battle and take control of them while the remaining two continue with their scripted assignments.

By doing it this way, they are not letting the player be as efficient as they could be and also causing it to unnaturally be a twitch game of sorts.

Jice Virago · Post by **Jice Virago** » March 8, 2010, 3:45 pm

Uh, no FF since the first has been challenging in the first dozen hours. The beginning of the game is always training wheels time. Really, FF8 was the only one in the series since the beginning to have actual difficult stuff in the first act. Even then, it is generally only the optional crap that ends up being difficult. The FF series is more about visual and story appeal than actual gameplay challenge (tactics aside).

As for SE supposedly sabotaging the Xbox version, consider for the moment that every other multiplatform port has generally been a Xbox game that got ported to the PS3, with generally iffy results due to the differing hardware. This is the first game by a major studio that actually took a full blown PS3 game and had to dumb it down to work on the 360, which has inferior hardware. Ports always suffer from general hardware differences and developer laziness, but when porting "down", it is always going to look a lot worse than when porting "up". Had this been a PC game, I would be willing to bet that the 360 version would have looked and behaved superior to the PS3 one, like every other game to go that route.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » March 8, 2010, 11:59 pm

Hmmm, Odin was kind of a bitch to beat...but I got'em!

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » March 10, 2010, 11:44 am

I've played ~3 hours now. Loving the setting and the characters. Much more engaging overall than a lot of the JRPG's I've played recently.

I'd rate my level of enjoyment of this game to be about on par with Lost Odyssey when going Apples to Apples.

I'm enjoying this leveling up system quite a bit more than the spheres in FFX. The battle system/paradigms seems to be a great, well thought-out hybrid of what they had previously and what they were attempting to do in FFXII.

I've already been taught a lesson on caution by a boss battle. I was positive that I was safe to finish him off without healing but he got a blow to Lightning that ended the battle.

I think they have the learning curve about right for this. Hasn't gotten tedious yet.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » March 10, 2010, 2:12 pm

I demonstrated my support for this game by purchasing the Strategy Guide yesterday. I still may buy the PS3 version but really don't want to lose my progression. I already signed up for possible beta on FFXIV so it sucks if Square Enix ignores normal apps in fovor of FFXIII PS3 peeps.

Guide seems well done. Not compiled by Brady or Prima.

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » March 10, 2010, 6:23 pm

Why did I buy this game at release? Into the backlog it goes.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » March 12, 2010, 12:48 pm

I'm starting to come around on Hope/Lightning which is my favorite combo to play.

I can't stand playing "Rahz" as my main. He sucks (so far). I prefer to play a caster with all element spell attacks available with a secondary that has the medic skill.

I like Hope/Litghning because I put every last XP/Resource into Lightning's Weapon to upgrade it so she's a beast, and Hope has all the spells. (both can be medics as well)

miir · Post by **miir** » March 12, 2010, 1:12 pm

Rahz?
Litghning?
Lightening?

What game are you playing?
FF XII has no characters with those names.

I've found a couple of good spots with groups that have a high CP return and can be respawned.
I maxed out my Hope/Lightning combo and they are pretty badass now.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » March 12, 2010, 1:48 pm

I don't pay a whole lot of attention to Fantasy Name spelling. "The Black Guy". I don't like his stats/skill set.

I do Like the whining insecure kid and the bitch warrior lady combo.

How's that?

And yes, there are some spots that return great CP from easy battles. The Scrapyard is good for that, although that part is the Black Guy and the Spastic girl which isn't a great combo.

miir · Post by **miir** » March 12, 2010, 1:49 pm

Winnow wrote:II do Like the whining insecure kid and the bitch warrior lady combo.

the Black Guy and the Spastic girl which isn't a great combo.

Perfect!

Jice Virago · Post by **Jice Virago** » March 17, 2010, 2:28 pm

Once you get to Pulse the difficulty curve gets a huge fucking ramp up. I was so happy to be able to put the three competant characters in the group, finally. Then its Behemoth Kings everywhere who can one shot the leader as yard trash. Oh, and the wimpier shit summons them in in case you were trying to grind at all....
Kind of bizarre how after being so linear for the bulk of the game that they suddenly go sandbox in the third act, but at least I don't have to use the useless ass Snow and Hope anymore if I don't want to. I actually liked Sahz, but there just is no reason to ever use him over the vastly superior Fang or all around ass whoopingness that is Lightning.

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » March 17, 2010, 2:36 pm

Jice Virago wrote:Once you get to Pulse the difficulty curve gets a huge fucking ramp up. I was so happy to be able to put the three competant characters in the group, finally. Then its Behemoth Kings everywhere who can one shot the leader as yard trash. Oh, and the wimpier shit summons them in in case you were trying to grind at all....
Kind of bizarre how after being so linear for the bulk of the game that they suddenly go sandbox in the third act, but at least I don't have to use the useless ass Snow and Hope anymore if I don't want to. I actually liked Sahz, but there just is no reason to ever use him over the vastly superior Fang or all around ass whoopingness that is Lightning.

I could be wrong because I don't even remember where I read it, but I think the game opens back up for like 2 or 3 chapters and then goes back to not being open again, so you want to get all your exploring/etc done while you have the chance.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » March 17, 2010, 3:17 pm

I'm still running around the world's straightest maze that is Cocoon. Don't get me wrong, I'm quite entertained by the game and I love the story/characters (much more than fucking Tidus anyways) but fucking Super Mario Brothers is less linear than this...

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » March 17, 2010, 5:11 pm

I stopped playing right after the switch to the second disc. Hope was looking pretty good with his magic abilities but Lightning was definately a primary group member. Snow did seem mostly useless with his gey gran-aids. I don't have the aussie accent lady in my group yet, so can't comment on her.

So far, the sound track is the best part of this Final Fantasy game. Worth downloading off the newsgroups.

Gonzoie - Luclin · Post by **Gonzoie - Luclin** » March 17, 2010, 8:23 pm

Winnow wrote:I stopped playing right after the switch to the second disc. Hope was looking pretty good with his magic abilities but Lightning was definately a primary group member. Snow did seem mostly useless with his gey gran-aids. I don't have the aussie accent lady in my group yet, so can't comment on her.

So far, the sound track is the best part of this Final Fantasy game. Worth downloading off the newsgroups.

Lightning is easy to replace once you get Fang. However, I don't plan on replacing her since I invested so many components into getting her Gladius to a high level. The first disc is all training wheels, with even some tutorials still taking place on the 2nd disc so far. You really stopped at the wrong time!

Edit: Adding that this game wants people to continue playing once it is beat. Supposedly after you beat it everything opens up with plenty of things to do. Most of the side quests aren't available until you already beat the game. Like most FF games, the end boss is not the most difficult part of the game.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » March 17, 2010, 10:55 pm

You're welcome!

Guide 145mb

Good resolution, nice chapter/titles for pdf. Nice artwork.

I'll have you know I paid for this book!

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » March 22, 2010, 11:19 am

30 hours in at the moment and on chapter 11. I'm really enjoying FF13. Massive amount of linearity aside, the story is decent, graphics and exposition are mind-blowing and combat is enjoyable.

What I find interesting is that the construction of the story is very reminicent to Final Fantasy X.

The characters also have a level of appeal to me that SE hasn't managed to pull off since FF9. I'm not done with the game yet but it ranks up there in terms on one of my favorite FF games.

Avestan · Post by **Avestan** » March 23, 2010, 1:19 pm

So far, the three toughest fights for me have been, in order

1. "Juggernaut" - I beat him before I was supposed to fight him. Fight took 34 minutes and target was 5

2. Boss of the airship (won't spoil)
3. Vanille's Eidolan(sp?)

I think the game is great. I have skipped a couple FF's because I did not have a PS2 so there is a lot in this one that is new to me (grid based leveling for one). I

Kluden · Post by **Kluden** » March 24, 2010, 10:13 am

whenever someone is done, I'll buy your copy...don't trade it in

Psyloche · Post by **Psyloche** » March 24, 2010, 10:24 am

Kluden wrote:whenever someone is done, I'll buy your copy...don't trade it in

I'm actually borrowing it from a friend who has a long queue of games to play before this. He tends to sell games back to Gamestop (or wherever he goes) when he's done. I'll ask him if he'd be interested in selling it to you, I vaguely remember you being local to me (Northern VA). Ofcourse, this probably won't happen for quite some time though, as I'm taking my sweet ass time with it, and I bet he will too.

Kluden · Post by **Kluden** » March 24, 2010, 2:31 pm

hurry up, I'm in NoVA (reston4lyfe). (ps, take your time, and his, I'm in my que at the moment too). thanks.

Lynks · Post by **Lynks** » March 30, 2010, 7:31 pm

Winnow wrote:You're welcome!

Guide 145mb

Good resolution, nice chapter/titles for pdf. Nice artwork.

I'll have you know I paid for this book!

Thank you!

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » April 5, 2010, 7:32 pm

Finished the game just now. What a fantastic experience. Linearity by damned, the story and characters were great. This one is up there as one of my favorite FF games.

The guide was a great help.

Gonzoie - Luclin · Post by **Gonzoie - Luclin** » April 8, 2010, 9:16 pm

I just hit 80 hours played. Beat the game at roughly 64 hours. I don't think I'll get the 140 hours played out of this like I did FF X, but I still enjoy doing all the end game things in this one. A lot of it is really fucking challenging too.

This is definitely up there with 7 as my favorite FF games of all time.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » September 9, 2010, 11:51 am

Square Enix’s decision to release Final Fantasy XIII on the Xbox 360 in Japan, after repeatedly promising it would be a PS3 exclusive, has driven fans into a frenzy, with some becoming so angry as to begin delivering death threats to Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada on his own Twitter account.

Square Enix rocks!

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » September 9, 2010, 12:13 pm

That's not what you said in the FFXIV thread!

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » September 9, 2010, 1:33 pm

Maybe he was sending them death threats referring to throwing rocks?

Dregor Thule · Post by **Dregor Thule** » September 9, 2010, 1:54 pm

I don't get why they're so fucking bent out of shape. Most of them would have bought it for the ps3 anyways. Silly super fans.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » September 9, 2010, 9:45 pm

What a minute.. Who's pissed off at this? PS3 fans in Japan? 360 fans in Japan?

I don't get it..

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » September 9, 2010, 11:17 pm

I didn't really pay attention because it involved FF... But I think it's PS3 fans in Japan because SE apparently said FFXIII would never be released in Japan on the 360. And then it was (or will be). It might also be US fans (360 and PS3) because the JPN 360 version is getting some content updates that wont be released anywhere else. Or something.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » September 10, 2010, 5:24 am

I would think it was 360 fans that were forced to buy shoddy PS3s to play FFXIII which ended up sucking anyway so they were out the money for the game and lame console.

Dregor Thule · Post by **Dregor Thule** » September 10, 2010, 5:27 pm

I'm 99.9% sure there aren't Xbox fans in Japan!

Kluden · Post by **Kluden** » September 10, 2010, 9:59 pm

we got soldiers stationed there, son! you bet your ass they roll team green.

Dregor Thule · Post by **Dregor Thule** » September 10, 2010, 10:38 pm

Are bases considered U.S. soil? Regardless they don't count!

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » September 10, 2010, 11:35 pm

Dregor Thule wrote:I'm 99.9% sure there aren't Xbox fans in Japan!

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » September 11, 2010, 12:08 am

Dregor Thule wrote:Are bases considered U.S. soil? Regardless they don't count!

No. The only places in other countries that are considered "American soil" are embassies and consulates. Military bases are generally on land leased by the host country.

Hesten · Post by **Hesten** » October 10, 2010, 5:20 pm

Ok, finally got time to start playing FFXIII.
I am 120+ hours into FFXII on the PS2, and still not finished, because i was doing the "follow this completist guide, farm stuff, farm more stuff, buy all the items you can unlock by selling stuff" way.

Are FFXIII a game you can just sit down and play though without any guides, or should you have a laptop ready with guides and documents and checklists at all times to get the most out of it and get the best weapons?.