FFXIII - First Impressions *probable spoilers*

Burning Eclipse

I've 40 hours put in now, just left Chapter 11 behind.

Highwind and Army of One are amazing... makes it difficult to choose one party leader and stick to her!

Out of interest, once you have a choice in the matter, who was your leader?

Did anybody answer something other than Lightning or Fang to that question?

Raze_them_all

I swapped between snow and vanille/hope tbh

Burning Eclipse

Raze_them_all wrote: »

I swapped between snow and vanille/hope tbh

Any reason in particular? Snow as a Com and the other two as Rav, I presume?? I found sentinel more useful if someone else was using it, not my party leader. Fang is the best Com in the game from what I hear, not sure who the best Rav is?

Raze_them_all

I never used fang tbh,

I'll try to remember, I'd swap snow between commando,rav,sab and sentinal depending on the fight, lightning would me rav/com/medic and vanille/hope would be sab/synergist(depending on which I'd use) then medic, then rev then commando

If vanille/hope was my partyleader it meant I was using their eideloin

Burning Eclipse

Raze_them_all wrote: »

I never used fang tbh,

I'll try to remember, I'd swap snow between commando,rav,sab and sentinal depending on the fight, lightning would me rav/com/medic and vanille/hope would be sab/synergist(depending on which I'd use) then medic, then rev then commando

If vanille/hope was my partyleader it meant I was using their eideloin

Oh ya, good call!! Hecaton is very strong!! Any tips for me on getting death to work??;)

Raze_them_all

Yeah he was my strongest for ages, next thing I know alexander had over 4000 strength so started using hope.

If yer fighting an adamntoise go in as a sab, summon Hecaton straight away, this'll knock him down,use his finishing move straight away, have another sab in the team, cast defuffs on him then spam death, apparently when he's down and debuffed the success rate goes up.

If it's neoochu have healers and one sab and spam like fook!!

jamescd

Burning Eclipse wrote: »

Out of interest, once you have a choice in the matter, who was your leader?

Did anybody answer something other than Lightning or Fang to that question?

Hope FTW Sometimes I swap Snow for Fang because he is a better Sentinel or Vanille for Lightning because she is a better Medic etc., but I rarely take off Hope. I prefer to control him myself so that I can pick and choose what buffs to put on, what spells to cast and all that. This helped me a lot on Mission 54 (Gigantuar). The AI controlled Hope just kept casting Cure even though there was hardly any need to and with Snow unable to defend, Fang and Hope just kept dying soon after. So I decided to manually control Hope and as soon as that 10,000 Needles attack lands on Snow, I'd immediately cast Esuna so he'd be ready to block the next attack. Didn't even have to use Cure once because Snow has massive HP but the stupid AI kept casting it anyway :pac:

Raze_them_all wrote: »

If it's neoochu have healers and one sab and spam like fook!!

Funny you mention that cause that's exactly what I did . I used a Sentinel and Medic though with Vanille just spamming Death. Took me a couple of tries because Death just wouldn't land on that bugger, but on what seemed like my 100th try Death finally worked in like after 2 casts.

Thanks to that Growth Egg, I get 80k CP for each Adamantoise kill . I can kill them much faster now because I don't have to use Death anymore so I'm getting CP like crazy :eek:

Did you get everything done before you traded it in btw (missions, achievements, etc.) ?

Raze_them_all

jamescd wrote: »

Did you get everything done before you traded it in btw (missions, achievements, etc.) ?

Nope, I hated the game all the way through, Hell Gran pulse only provided about an hour of not boredom, I told myself I'd get 1000 GS in it but after 74 hours I couldn't stick it, I had to get rid of it. It disturbs me that I loathe this game and has gone on my top 5 list of worst games ever played and number one on regret paying full price for!

Xluna

Raze_them_all wrote: »

So disappointed with Square enix as of late, While last oddessy was a good game it was boring with all the reading and had no characters you cared about, FF was my last hope for SE, It saddens me that they've basterdised the series for money since X-2 rather than make the games for gamers like they used to.

Lost Odyssey was'nt made by Square though. Personally I like the literture in L.O. Nicely presented and not too much to read,unlike Dragon Age.
I agree though that the semi porno that was FFX-2 was a bad sign of things to come.

Raze_them_all

Xluna wrote: »

Lost Odyssey was'nt made by Square though. Personally I like the literture in L.O. Nicely presented and not too much to read,unlike Dragon Age.
I agree though that the semi porno that was FFX-2 was a bad sign of things to come.

Sorry you are right I was thinking of last remnant!
FFX-2 was a a badish game, 12 gave me hope till i played it, also a badish game....13 was just dreadful

Xluna

Raze_them_all wrote: »

Sorry you are right I was thinking of last remnant!
FFX-2 was a a badish game, 12 gave me hope till i played it, also a badish game....13 was just dreadful

Oh yeah Last Remnant was unplayable and don't forget those awful two secret of mana games for the DS. Way to kill two of my favourite RPG franchises Square. I'd be happy now if they just keep on remaking their good older games on the portables and if a Dragon Quest and a Suikoden game comes to the 360/PS3.

Memnoch

Burning Eclipse wrote: »

Any reason in particular? Snow as a Com and the other two as Rav, I presume?? I found sentinel more useful if someone else was using it, not my party leader. Fang is the best Com in the game from what I hear, not sure who the best Rav is?

End game Fang has the highest str and makes the best com, Hope make the best rav/healer + he can buff so he's a must. The last slot usually goes to lightning for her chain building goodness, but obviously you need vanille for death spam if your farming adamntoise.

The tips regarding death above are right... a couple more pointers... wait till chapter 13.

Level both VANILLE AND FANG to Role level 5 as sabateurs (this helps A LOT). Start with the Espionage paradigm, i.e. Vanille and Fang as sabs and Hope as synergist. Summon, then (on ps3) his select to skip the sequence. Hit Square to go gestalt, select again then hit triangle to use finishing move and dismiss eidlon. Now spam death with vanille and let hope and fang do their thing. IF you haven't killed it by then, it will probably stand up a little after hope finishes putting 6 buffs on each character. Now, if you want you can just retry the fight at this point, though I usually keep going. You'll have to use the attrition paradigm most of hte time, vanille as sab, hope medic, fang sent.

I did find that initially it was very hit or miss and could take ages to kill him. Since I got both fang and hope to level 5 sab, and have good stats on them I'm killing it within 1-3 minutes pretty much every time.

bokkenspiel

hi

ShaneU

This thread is for "first" impressions, not post spoilers from the last three chapters without a spoiler tag :rolleyes:

Burning Eclipse

ShaneU wrote: »

This thread is for "first" impressions, not post spoilers from the last three chapters without a spoiler tag :rolleyes:

The game has been out for over a fortnight now, and this thread has clearly become a general discussion thread.

Memnoch

ShaneU wrote: »

This thread is for "first" impressions, not post spoilers from the last three chapters without a spoiler tag :rolleyes:

Sorry, I was using spoiler tags initially, but then it did seem to turn into a general discussion thread, so I gave up

joe123

How many levels of the crystarium thing are there?

I hate how its locked untill you progress into the story.

Im just at cocoon now for the second time think im at stage 9....

jamescd

Just one more level, it will be unlocked after you beat the final boss

joe123

Is there any point in me warping back to gran pulse? Ive maxed out three roles for each character so theres not much else to do untill I unlock the final crystarium stage...

Raze_them_all

nope the final boss is piss easy

Burning Eclipse

Raze_them_all wrote:

I loathe this game and has gone on my top 5 list of worst games ever played

Why is your gamerpic of Hope if you really mean the above... something is amiss?! I don't mean to be shitty about it, but it seems strange to be advertising one of the games characters when you dislike it so much.

jamescd

Lol my gamerpic is Hope as well

I have Hope, Vanille and Sazh gamerpics unlocked, anyone know how to unlock the rest?

GothPunk

I really don't get the hate for this game going on here, it has one of the greatest battle systems to grace an RPG, the soundtrack is fantastic, the characters actually develop into something likeable and the art direction of the entire world, from the enemies to the environments, is top notch. FFX is one of my favourite Final Fantasy games, I can see FFXIII trumping it.

jamescd

Only Raze _them_all hates it.......everyone else in this thread seems to love it (in the last few pages at least lol) :P

Raze_them_all

Burning Eclipse wrote: »

Why is your gamerpic of Hope if you really mean the above... something is amiss?! I don't mean to be shitty about it, but it seems strange to be advertising one of the games characters when you dislike it so much.

I have it changed, except i don't have live in my house so it won't appear till i get onto live(I live in the fookin sticks)

jamescd wrote: »

Lol my gamerpic is Hope as well

I have Hope, Vanille and Sazh gamerpics unlocked, anyone know how to unlock the rest?

You have to beat the suped up version of adamantoise,(happens after the last ceith stone) have the all items achievement(or else all crystilarium achievement) and then all the achievements unlocks serahs

GothPunk wrote: »

I really don't get the hate for this game going on here, it has one of the greatest battle systems to grace an RPG, the soundtrack is fantastic, the characters actually develop into something likeable and the art direction of the entire world, from the enemies to the environments, is top notch. FFX is one of my favourite Final Fantasy games, I can see FFXIII trumping it.

I think I'm honestly one of the few to prefer the battle systems where you get the menu to choose what to do, in this i just constantly hit auto battle, It didn't make me feel that just spamming a was negative, didn't give me the impression that what I did had that big of an effect

jamescd wrote: »

Only Raze _them_all hates it.......everyone else in this thread seems to love it (in the last few pages at least lol) :P

I think I just expect more from FF, It's by far my favourite series of any game, I've easily clocked up over 800hours playing the series and for the most part I've loved the characters, the story and have felt a connection to the games, not with this one though.

Burning Eclipse

GothPunk wrote: »

I really don't get the hate for this game going on here, it has one of the greatest battle systems to grace an RPG, the soundtrack is fantastic, the characters actually develop into something likeable and the art direction of the entire world, from the enemies to the environments, is top notch. FFX is one of my favourite Final Fantasy games, I can see FFXIII trumping it.

Me too. I have my issues with it, fair enough, but I can say that about just about every RPG I've ever played (except Final Fantasy IX and Skies of Arcadia - they are flawless ). I couldn't agree more about the battle system; it is utterly satisfying, so much so that I can't see how people would objectively fault it. Music is the best in the series with the exception of VIII imo (love that score), and the characters actually developed in a meaningful way, especially in comparison to XII. Well, maybe not Vanille

jamescd

Raze_them_all wrote: »

You have to beat the suped up version of adamantoise,(happens after the last ceith stone) have the all items achievement(or else all crystilarium achievement) and then all the achievements unlocks serahs

Cheers mate

Raze_them_all wrote: »

I think I just expect more from FF, It's by far my favourite series of any game, I've easily clocked up over 800hours playing the series and for the most part I've loved the characters, the story and have felt a connection to the games, not with this one though.

Yeah I can understand that, I felt the story was a little lacking too. Although for the most part, I enjoyed the game while I was doing the missions/main storyline. Now that I'm just going for the achievements, the game is just one big grind so I'm hella bored. God knows how many adamantoise's I've killed at this stage :pac:

Raze_them_all

jamescd wrote: »

Cheers mate



Yeah I can understand that, I felt the story was a little lacking too. Although for the most part, I enjoyed the game while I was doing the missions/main storyline. Now that I'm just going for the achievements, the game is just one big grind so I'm hella bored. God knows how many adamantoise's I've killed at this stage :pac:

You have to hold every weapon and item, which means evolving the ones that do, also there's a missable item in the game (afaik) which means it gets crazy repetitive going for that achievement

joe123

GothPunk wrote: »

I really don't get the hate for this game going on here, it has one of the greatest battle systems to grace an RPG, the soundtrack is fantastic, the characters actually develop into something likeable and the art direction of the entire world, from the enemies to the environments, is top notch. FFX is one of my favourite Final Fantasy games, I can see FFXIII trumping it.

Speak for yourself. Of all the Final fanasy games ive played this battle system is my least favourite.

First of all its really hard to see how much damage each specific attack does.As most of the time it looks like numbers on top of numbers and you cant make anything out.

Secondly its really annoying having to redo paradigms EVERY time when you change your battle team.

Thirdly Id much rather have control over all my members and know what exactly im doing.

Fourthly I HATE how the majority of the time each time you change paradigm mid battle it does the animation of going through each member switching to the new system.

I Really think its over rated and alot of battles are so boring because of this system.

I also think the Cyrstarium system is the worst levelling up system ever and I really dislike the upgrading weapons craic. I like change during a game this long but ive been using the same weapon from the start as its more powerful than any other ive picked up along the way.

And....

The last levels design is absolute muck

Edit: And the eidolins are a waste of time. Im at the final boss and used them about 5 times in the whole game.

GothPunk

joe123 wrote: »

First of all its really hard to see how much damage each specific attack does.As most of the time it looks like numbers on top of numbers and you cant make anything out.

Then press R1 to bring up the enemy info screen - you can see how much HP the enemy has remaining and it's total HP there.

joe123 wrote: »

Secondly its really annoying having to redo paradigms EVERY time when you change your battle team.

More annoying than having to re-jig your accessories and weapons after a battle team change like in other FF games and JRPGs?

joe123 wrote: »

Thirdly Id much rather have control over all my members and know what exactly im doing.

Fair enough, but I would have thought most JRPG fans have gotten used to this system by now from playing Persona 3 etc. This is why the paradigm system is so good, because it makes the AI work the way you want it to. It rewards you for using Libra, setting and using the right paradigms. It's not like you're sitting there praying for Hope to use Thundara; if you've used Libra and you have him set as Ravager he'll be using Thunder and Thundara where appropriate. The paradigm system gives you control over your party, just not direct control. Besides, the battle system is too fast paced for you to be able to control more than one character.

joe123 wrote: »

Fourthly I HATE how the majority of the time each time you change paradigm mid battle it does the animation of going through each member switching to the new system.

It does the each member view once per battle and then the single character focus each subsequent time. Sure your ATB is usually filling up whilst it does the paradigm shift camera animation so it's not like you're missing out on game time while it happens.

These 4 examples are a bit of a stretch dude, it's like you're looking really hard to find fault with a battle system that is really very good.

joe123 wrote: »

I Really think its over rated and alot of battles are so boring because of this system.

If there is one thing that the FFXIII battle system is most definitely not, is boring. The paradigm system keeps you on the edge of your seat when you're fighting any half way difficult enemy. Constantly juggling buffers, debuffers, chain builders, tank/mage combo's etc is what makes the battle system so much fun. There's also the fact that unlike most FF games, status effects actually mean something and can impact battle, and not every enemy is weak to a specific element, but sometimes a specific debuff. The Eidolon battles and the Juggernauts are an example of what I mean by this. Based on your skill a battle can last 30 seconds or five minutes. In fact the entire game is structured so that you win battles by having the right strategy and knowing the enemies weakness and executing it all quickly.

joe123 wrote: »

I also think the Cyrstarium system is the worst levelling up system ever and I really dislike the upgrading weapons craic. I like change during a game this long but ive been using the same weapon from the start as its more powerful than any other ive picked up along the way.

Each weapon has unique status effects and such, and becomes much more powerful as you upgrade them. So you could very easily change your weapon, spend your upgrade items and end up with something kickass and very different from the starter equipment.

I can see why someone like you who has stated their love for grinding and over leveling their characters would hate the Crystarium system, but I think it works. By enforcing a level cap throughout the game it makes battles more interesting and challenging. I think it's a much better way to achieve this than what Persona 3 or Lost Odyssey have used.

The battle system in FFX is one of the most praised of all the FF games. I think that FFXIII takes it and makes it much more interesting, more dynamic and more punishing. Instead of switching characters in and out during battle, you switch paradigms, a much deeper system. Instead of aiming for an 'Overdrive', you try to build up your chain bonus and stagger the enemy. The FFXIII battle system is more complex than that of FFX, and yet they haven't taken away any of the fun or the challenge from that battle system. Sure you can sit there with one or two characters as healers and chip away at the enemy for ages, but the system rewards you for finishing battles as quickly as possible.

Final Fantasy XIII takes the ATB system from previous games and gives it a right good kick up the arse. It has improved on it in almost every way.

Your complaints seem to be focused on wanting Final Fantasy games to stick to a specific formula. This is a terrible thing to wish for. If there's one thing that'll kill a game series for sure, it is sticking to a very specific formula. It's like those people who complain when every FPS isn't like Call of Duty.

The fact that the Final Fantasy games are always trying something different is what keeps bringing me back to the games. Whilst I'm sure they upset a few die hard fans, I'm surprised at how many people I know or on my PSN friends list who haven't played a JRPG in a really long time or don't like JRPGs and yet they bought FFXIII and are loving it. JRPGs need these new fans.

Do you know what I hear them praising? The excellent fast paced battle system.