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I have little faith in the game and bought it because i had extra cash and i really wanted other games but all i could find was dubbed versions of the game i wanted or subtitles.

Can you imagine jack black in brutal legends dubbed by some really bad voice actor? it just sucks.

Thats like getting some shakespear actor and having steven seagal voice over or the guy from the room.

Its an insult to the actor and and usually results in things having to be rephrased in a way that may not have as significance.



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We are stardust.Our bodies are made from the guts of exploding stars.

Neil Degrasse Tyson.

You SHOULD have little faith in the game. It's the first Final Fantasy game I've played that didn't really give me that Final Fantasy feel. I sure hope FFXV is better than that, or even XIII Versus.

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My Final Fantasy Forum

^ Help me get started on my forum!

Quote (Fatal @ 4th October 2010 11:44)

You SHOULD have little faith in the game. It's the first Final Fantasy game I've played that didn't really give me that Final Fantasy feel. I sure hope FFXV is better than that, or even XIII Versus.

I already don't like sazh and i'm at the very beginning.

He seems to whine and complain alot.

What is lightning's problem?

She is so cold and heartless.

She treats sazh terribly.

If i was sazh,i wouldn't stand for her attitude no matter how pretty she may be.

AHAHA

There is a character who looks a lot like cloud strife and another who looks very similar to wakka.

he's the darker skinned character who goes with snowe.


This post has been edited by Magitek_slayer on 4th October 2010 16:20

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We are stardust.Our bodies are made from the guts of exploding stars.

Neil Degrasse Tyson.

I was shocked when my cousin returned the game. He owns every single one of them, and is a huge fan of the series. I hope Square is able to return to form the next time around.

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Praise Be To Helix!

I think that the gameplay is nothing special.

You got this sphere system involved for a ai system and you have to level them up for controlling your ai.

Ai system is like this:

Commando:great for damage can cause enemies to lose balance.
Ravager:a type of class that is high damage but not so good for breaking balance on enemies.
Synargist:Haven't tried it yet so can't say
Medic:Important healer.

What they eliminated:mana points or magic points.

It seems like my characters can cast infinite spells.

Is it a bad sign when Certain areas seem to last forever for you and drag on? there is this crystal area that seems to last so long and i am happy to finally get out of it.

I don't like the characters.

They just don't seem to do anything.

Snow reminds me of zell a little with his stubborn attitude and stupidity at times.

Vainille reminds me of selphie with that thing where she tries to be cute.
And well actually,i find that lightning reminds me more of barret.

She has this mean streak attitude and she seems rather cold.

She has opened up as all have,but she still is cold and distant.

I get a kick out of watching her beat up snow via punch in the face YEAH!!

Oh yeah hope!!

He's such a coward

I swear he has only said like 2 or 3 words in the game so far.

Also:

Vainille looks a little like selphie don't you think?

hope reminds me of raiden actually.

And what is with these 1 word names? Cloud Hope Lightning Snow.

What's next? Water? Earth? Fire? Ice? Chair? Stool?


This post has been edited by Magitek_slayer on 4th October 2010 21:38

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We are stardust.Our bodies are made from the guts of exploding stars.

Neil Degrasse Tyson.

Quote (Magitek_slayer @ 4th October 2010 16:33)

I think that the gameplay is nothing special.

You got this sphere system involved for a ai system and you have to level them up for controlling your ai.

Ai system is like this:

Commando:great for damage can cause enemies to lose balance.
Ravager:a type of class that is high damage but not so good for breaking balance on enemies.
Synargist:Haven't tried it yet so can't say
Medic:Important healer.

What they eliminated:mana points or magic points.

It seems like my characters can cast infinite spells.

Is it a bad sign when Certain areas seem to last forever for you and drag on? there is this crystal area that seems to last so long and i am happy to finally get out of it.

I don't like the characters.

They just don't seem to do anything.

Snow reminds me of zell a little with his stubborn attitude and stupidity at times.

Vainille reminds me of selphie with that thing where she tries to be cute.
And well actually,i find that lightning reminds me more of barret.

She has this mean streak attitude and she seems rather cold.

She has opened up as all have,but she still is cold and distant.

I get a kick out of watching her beat up snow via punch in the face YEAH!!

Oh yeah hope!!

He's such a coward

I swear he has only said like 2 or 3 words in the game so far.

Also:

Vainille looks a little like selphie don't you think?

hope reminds me of raiden actually.

And what is with these 1 word names? Cloud Hope Lightning Snow.

What's next? Water? Earth? Fire? Ice? Chair? Stool?

well...most names are one word: Locke, Lenna, Cecil, etc. but whatever.

to your remark about class strategies. commandos are terrible at building the break bar (or whatever its called). ravagers fill it up far quicker.

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Aujourdhui a commence avec toi.

Quote (dont chocobos rule? @ 4th October 2010 21:41)

well...most names are one word: Locke, Lenna, Cecil, etc. but whatever.

to your remark about class strategies. commandos are terrible at building the break bar (or whatever its called). ravagers fill it up far quicker.

Its not the fact that its one word.

Its just that they choose the strangest names.

Locke is a cool name

But snow lighting and hope just seem kinda i don't know.

I f iw as named hope,i would be one unhappy child.

As for commando:

I was using 3 ravagers to build the break bar.

With 1 person its really hard to raise the break bar though on ravaging.

Its probably harder on commando at this point since enemies will be stronger more resistant and such.

I'm at day 13.


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We are stardust.Our bodies are made from the guts of exploding stars.

Neil Degrasse Tyson.

It is currently a chore for me to play this game as I am stuck in a very boring area. But if you stick with it, you will see one of the hottest CG female characters I've ever seen. Does everyone know who I'm talking about?

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Chewbekah ^_^

Currently Playing: Final Fantasy XIV: ARR, Attack of the Firday Monsters, Animal Crossing: A New Leaf, Lego City Undercover, Kingdom Hearts 1.5 Remix

Recently Finished: Fire Emblem: Awakening

Favorite Game: Suikoden III

I'll be honest, I thought the gameplay was pretty cool. And while I wasn't very impressed with the game's plot, I thought that its characters were developed very well throughout the course of the game. If it wasn't for Orphan, I would like the game. It seems to me that a lot of the arguements against this game are a bit exaggerated.

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Currently Playing : Final Fantasy V
Most Recently Beat : Elder Scrolls: Skyrim
Favorite Game : Final Fantasy X

The newest CoNcast is up! Have a listen!

Quote (Chewbekah @ 4th October 2010 19:23)

It is currently a chore for me to play this game as I am stuck in a very boring area. But if you stick with it, you will see one of the hottest CG female characters I've ever seen. Does everyone know who I'm talking about?

I find it hard to believe that there exists something hotter than Quistis with a minigun on the Dollett beach...girls with guns and glasses...only thing hotter would be if she had a broadsword.

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"If art doesn't risk upsetting expectations and challenging its audience, it can only stagnate."

Quote (Death Penalty @ 4th October 2010 20:23)

I'll be honest, I thought the gameplay was pretty cool. And while I wasn't very impressed with the game's plot, I thought that its characters were developed very well throughout the course of the game. If it wasn't for Orphan, I would like the game. It seems to me that a lot of the arguements against this game are a bit exaggerated.

I agree entirely. I think the only reason we have such a broken fanbase is because it is significanlty worse than the other FF games.


Also, Slayer, are you actually enjoying this game? It's kinda hard to tell from your posts...

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"When we think there's no hope left, we keep looking until we find some!" - Claire Farron

Quote (trismegistus @ 4th October 2010 20:40)

Quote (Chewbekah @ 4th October 2010 19:23)

It is currently a chore for me to play this game as I am stuck in a very boring area. But if you stick with it, you will see one of the hottest CG female characters I've ever seen. Does everyone know who I'm talking about?

I find it hard to believe that there exists something hotter than Quistis with a minigun on the Dollett beach...girls with guns and glasses...only thing hotter would be if she had a broadsword.

Hmm, maybe I'm weird, but I liked Fran. Too bad that she didn't have much "character" other than that, lol. But, regarding FFXIII versus XII, I thought XII had a good story and some, or maybe one, strong character.

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Praise Be To Helix!

I didn't like the game. But Sahz was awesome. An great take on an 'everyman' character.

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//www.rpgmaker.net/
We make games. Period.

Quote (trismegistus @ 5th October 2010 00:40)

Quote (Chewbekah @ 4th October 2010 19:23)

It is currently a chore for me to play this game as I am stuck in a very boring area. But if you stick with it, you will see one of the hottest CG female characters I've ever seen. Does everyone know who I'm talking about?

I find it hard to believe that there exists something hotter than Quistis with a minigun on the Dollett beach...girls with guns and glasses...only thing hotter would be if she had a broadsword.

What about tifa and her huge knockers?

Yeah yeah i know,but its true.

She is sexier and more interesting than aerith,or at least for me.

My favorite still remains rosa

One thing confuses me,wouldn't having a chicken/chocobo in your hair be dangerous?

I mean:If you get attacked and it misses you cutting your hair it could hurt that animal on your head.

Also:wouldn't it be easy for the chicken to fall off your head while jumping?

It makes no sense

This post has been edited by Magitek_slayer on 5th October 2010 10:02

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We are stardust.Our bodies are made from the guts of exploding stars.

Neil Degrasse Tyson.

Quote (BlitzSage @ 4th October 2010 20:07)

Quote (trismegistus @ 4th October 2010 20:40)

Quote (Chewbekah @ 4th October 2010 19:23)

It is currently a chore for me to play this game as I am stuck in a very boring area. But if you stick with it, you will see one of the hottest CG female characters I've ever seen. Does everyone know who I'm talking about?

I find it hard to believe that there exists something hotter than Quistis with a minigun on the Dollett beach...girls with guns and glasses...only thing hotter would be if she had a broadsword.

Hmm, maybe I'm weird, but I liked Fran. Too bad that she didn't have much "character" other than that, lol. But, regarding FFXIII versus XII, I thought XII had a good story and some, or maybe one, strong character.

I liked Fran too. I always enjoyed controlling her as the leader of my party. lol.

Also, while I tend to trash FFXIII, there's no doubt Fang was pretty damn hot. And Vanille was cute.

My favorite female of the series would either be Celes or Terra.

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My Final Fantasy Forum

^ Help me get started on my forum!

what stopped me from liking the characters of ff xiii is that, by the amount those people gasped, you'd think they all had asthma. seriously, every scene someone does that special brand of anime acting where the gasp at everything. its so annoying.

not to mention the character development is horrendous.

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Aujourdhui a commence avec toi.

Quote (dont chocobos rule? @ 5th October 2010 13:34)

what stopped me from liking the characters of ff xiii is that, by the amount those people gasped, you'd think they all had asthma. seriously, every scene someone does that special brand of anime acting where the gasp at everything. its so annoying.

not to mention the character development is horrendous.

I'm glad i'm not the only one.

I dislike most characters YES MOST!!

Especially hope lightning and snow.

Snow annoys me because of his stubborn attitude and his cheesy lines.

Lightning is just plain cold blooded and even though she warms up a little to hope,she still is annoying.

Hope is like a little child,i wish he would grow up and act a little tougher.

He seriously doesn't do much except cower in fear.

Vainille is ok i guess,she kinda reminds me of selphie.

She has that cuteness going on.

I'd say lightning has some similarity to cid and cloud strife from ff7.

She's nasty in that way and cold.

Sazh is a negativist and i don't find his humor funny.

The story seems like more of the same:

Le ci or whatever they are called are feared and hated for being creatures because some are genuinely aggressive.

There are of course le'ci who aren't and those are the ones saving the world.

The most amusing part for me was when lightning kicked snow's wimpy butt.

I would have done so too.

Another thing:

Some of the music sometimes reminds me of breath of fire 3 for some reason.


This post has been edited by Magitek_slayer on 5th October 2010 16:09

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We are stardust.Our bodies are made from the guts of exploding stars.

Neil Degrasse Tyson.

I truly hated this game. I was annoyed with the battle system. I dont like the fact that you can only control a single character in battle. The Transformer like summons pissed me off. Hopefully XIII Versus turns out to be a much better game.

Quote (Chaos163 @ 7th October 2010 04:44)

I truly hated this game. I was annoyed with the battle system. I dont like the fact that you can only control a single character in battle. The Transformer like summons pissed me off. Hopefully XIII Versus turns out to be a much better game.

Yeah, the transforming summons were really stupid. They're straying too far from the basics, which made the series great in the first place.

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My Final Fantasy Forum

^ Help me get started on my forum!

I found that the character i like the most ended up being sazh.

I'm ending up liking sazh more than the others so far.


The others haven't grown all that much.


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We are stardust.Our bodies are made from the guts of exploding stars.

Neil Degrasse Tyson.

I grew tired of the battle system immediately. The characters piss me off cause they're annoying. I think the only one that's actually normal is sazh. He just kinda got thrown into the bs. I reall dont like that you have to prove to the summons that you're worth being with. it's annoying and very difficult. I'm stuck on getting odin. hes freakin insane. 3 hits and you die.

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"Now! This is it! NOW is the time to choose. Die, and be free of pain; or LIVE, and fight your sorrow! Now is the time to shape your stories. Your fate is in your hands!"
- Auron, FFX

"I'm telling you, people who eat pickles are nice people!"
--Short Guard, FFIX

Quote (FinalFantasyFreak @ 10th October 2010 15:56)

I grew tired of the battle system immediately. The characters piss me off cause they're annoying. I think the only one that's actually normal is sazh. He just kinda got thrown into the bs. I reall dont like that you have to prove to the summons that you're worth being with. it's annoying and very difficult. I'm stuck on getting odin. hes freakin insane. 3 hits and you die.

Really? I got Odin on my first try and didn't even know he was difficult to other people until I read reviews after that.

Bahamut was a pain, though.

I got kinda tired of the battle system quickly too. I miss random encounters and the active time battle. I prefer a slower, calmer strategy-based battle system, instead of the "rush and just go all out with what you got" battle system of FFXIII. XII was kind of a combination of both. I liked it's battle system less than the earlier FF games, but alot more than XIII's.

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My Final Fantasy Forum

^ Help me get started on my forum!

Quote (FinalFantasyFreak @ 10th October 2010 20:56)

I grew tired of the battle system immediately. The characters piss me off cause they're annoying. I think the only one that's actually normal is sazh. He just kinda got thrown into the bs. I reall dont like that you have to prove to the summons that you're worth being with. it's annoying and very difficult. I'm stuck on getting odin. hes freakin insane. 3 hits and you die.

If you think odin is hard,wait till you get to grand pulse.

There is this big enemy that looks like a mammoth,its called shao guai or something like that and its ground stomp does up to 10 or 12.000 dmg.

The enemy also casts earthquake which does huge damage and ultima.

Ultima can insta gib you so you need to be maxed out in stats.

The other enemies are nothing compared to the shao guai.

The adamantoise are the weak version of shao guai.

Quote

Fatal

Really? I got Odin on my first try and didn't even know he was difficult to other people until I read reviews after that.

Bahamut was a pain, though.

I got kinda tired of the battle system quickly too. I miss random encounters and the active time battle. I prefer a slower, calmer strategy-based battle system, instead of the "rush and just go all out with what you got" battle system of FFXIII

I did bahamut on my first try.

Odin was annoying as hell with his stupid chain physical attacks.

Of course,i'm not going to complain about it.

I am mostly bored now as the exp growth isn't really needed.

I got maxed out stats and its easy.


This post has been edited by Magitek_slayer on 11th October 2010 16:02

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We are stardust.Our bodies are made from the guts of exploding stars.

Neil Degrasse Tyson.

I loved this game. *awaits shitstorm*

also, in b4 " FF n00b! "
and " I bet you haven't played the old ones! "

So far I've played I, V, VI, VII, X and XIII . 6 is undoubtedly my favourite, which should earn me some kudos, no?

XIII however has been lampooned by most FF old hands before it was even released, the poor game never stood a chance. Most of its hyperbolic criticisms are from people condemning it after just a couple of hours gameplay. I know a prevailing argument is that a game shouldn't have to take several hours to prove itself, but I wonder, what is wrong with that? In this age of screaming kids demanding instant gratification it's nice to see something taking its time. The payout seems worth it, as the story, gameplay and the general package really does blossom.

That's right, I said blossom.

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www.youtube.com/blinje
The victor sacrificed the vanquished to the heavens

Quote (Blinge Odonata @ 25th December 2010 14:13)

I know a prevailing argument is that a game shouldn't have to take several hours to prove itself, but I wonder, what is wrong with that?

I'll put it this way:
I have not played this game beyond...I don't know, 10 hours of gameplay and within those 10 hours almost everything was bad.
The cast was horrible, the character design was...I don't know how to put it, Nomura recycling and cross-breeding his old characters and pretending they're new, the story made no sense at first and then it was completely uncompelling when it started to make a semblance of sense, the combat was boring, the music did not give me the feeling that I was playing a FF game at all. Add to that that the game takes as much control away from the player as possible. Exploration? Engaging level design? Nope, walk down this corridor. This part looks like a platforming segment? It just LOOKS that way, just press forward. Using stealh to sneak up on enemies? Of course, if you call using an item so that the enemies don't see you "stealth". Everything except the landscapes either made me cringe or bored me...
...
...okay, I admit I initially liked Snow and the "Moms are tough" moment was pure awesome, but that's just too little for the ten hours, especially since the rest is, well, a pile of bovine feces.

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"I fell off the mountain of words at around the 10,000ft mark. Tell my family...they owe me money." -Narratorway

"If you retort against this, so help me God I'll shove any part of your anatomy I can find into some other part. Figuratively, of course." - Josh

"We have more, can deliver tuesday." - Del S

Good old CoN

I love final fantasy so much an i tried an tried so hard to give this game a chance....even tho i hated everyminute of 13 i played ..i stopped around 35 hours...after every scene It was like ok maybe it will get better?
15 hours later im still saying "i know this game cant possibly be that bad im sure it will get good soon!"I didnt even attempt to finish it i stopped right after getting the final summon i think it was vaniles Hecatoncheir ?
all i kno is i want the old battle system back .... ...Like ff7 ,8 ,9 and 10.. ...i dont like button bashing rpgs

Quote (Blinge Odonata @ 25th December 2010 13:13)

I loved this game. *awaits shitstorm*

...

In this age of screaming kids demanding instant gratification it's nice to see something taking its time. The payout seems worth it, as the story, gameplay and the general package really does blossom.

That's right, I said blossom. 

I'm not replying to this because I'm surprised you like it. I'm sure lots of people do. What I want to know is why you like it. You've given a few reasons for why other people shouldn't not like it, but I want to know what's really good about this game, other than that it miraculously gets better overall after what appears to be 10-15 hours of gameplay. For me that can't be a plus.

This game might pretend to be a slow burning masterpiece, but then it paradoxically shunts you down corridor after corridor of the same tileset until you reach a cutscene. That, to me, is proof that this game is for the 'instant gratification, can't read a map, can't think for themselves' base.

Everything about this game really is as bad as everyone says. Most criticisms and praise I've read here I agree with. I think the battles are the best thing in the game. Still if anything I felt SE were trying too hard to keep it within the classic RPG mould. The battles would've been a lot better had they just assigned attacks to buttons and let you run around freely. Instead we're left with something that isn't an action-RPG or a classic RPG either. It just doesn't work. Too much repetitive auto-selecting and there are nowhere near enough attacks or spells of any use. The battles do look very nice and are frequently quite satisfying to fight in, unfortunately after about 10-15 hours this novelty wore off for me. The game did indeed get worse the more I played it. As I've said so many times, I thought the battles and the world exploring were excellent in FFXII. This is so far removed from that and suffers for all the reasons that FFXII was good.

As for the graphics, story and sound, they didn't help the cause. The graphics were good but the character design and landscapes were really unappealing. Sometimes in games (all the time in FFIX) I like to just sit back and enjoy the surroundings. FFXIII has a rich graphical detail but absolutely nothing of any interest. It's amazing how badly the game fails here. A lot of top or medium quality games include some impressive scenery, or some epic situations. FFXIII is remarkably bland in this area. The story kept me in the dark for a long time, I nearly lost all interest and was contemplating skipping everything, and then a few things started to make sense, but by that point I was more interested in the battles than the lives of these ridiculous people. The sound is quite good in places. My friend likes the battle theme a lot, I personally don't, but there are a lot of levels that I liked. And I really like the boss battle music.

Looking back at the game now, I don't even think of it as mediocre, it really is worse than a lot of mid-range RPGs. There was a lot of potential, the battles and music could've carried the game. However SE didn't build on their early success in these areas and eventually I found both to weaken as the game went on.

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Scepticism, that dry rot of the intellect, had not left one entire idea in his mind.

Me on the Starcraft.

Quote

That, to me, is proof that this game is for the 'instant gratification, can't read a map, can't think for themselves' base.

The thing is, insulting FFXIII for its linearity is fair enough but what the old guard of FF seem to forget is that JRPG's are inherently linear. Its just a fact; games like VII, X and V give you the illusion of thinking you can go where you want, but there's no real reason to do any of this. The bottom line is; to advance the game you have to complete goals in sequence, through dungeon crawls which usually end with a bossfight.

What FFXIII has is pacing. The pacing is damn near perfect throughout, and if stripping down some of the tired JRPG tropes helps to achieve this, then I'm cool with it. If someone misses running around towns and talking to NPCs, staying in Inns and shopping for weapons at their leisure then they can just play the old Final Fantasy games, and surely they will. Obviously there are a couple of exceptions to this, one of them being Lake Bresha near the beginning, I'll admit that did drag on a bit.

I'm afraid the battle system of any game gets tired after being played for 30 or so hours, who can say this isn't the case for any RPG with menu based combat?

Quote

FFXIII has a rich graphical detail but absolutely nothing of any interest

This is completely subjective, most of your argument is rooted in decent observation but this is just opinion and as such my own subjective view takes the opposite side. I stopped walking many times while playing the game just to take a look at my surroundings with the right stick.

Quote

The story kept me in the dark for a long time

The problem with beginning the story In Medias Res I'm afraid, however I and many people I know didn't seem to have a problem with it. I enjoyed reading all the datalogs on the story and various environs of cocoon/pulse as they were unlocked but that's just me, other people left that and took the story as it came to them. It probably did require more concentration than other games storylines but again, I fail to see what's wrong with that.

Gotta admit I'm starting to see the folly in taking on all comers from this forum in such a highly subjective arena...


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www.youtube.com/blinje
The victor sacrificed the vanquished to the heavens

Quote (Blinge Odonata @ 28th December 2010 12:50)

Quote

That, to me, is proof that this game is for the 'instant gratification, can't read a map, can't think for themselves' base.

The thing is, insulting FFXIII for its linearity is fair enough but what the old guard of FF seem to forget is that JRPG's are inherently linear. Its just a fact; games like VII, X and V give you the illusion of thinking you can go where you want, but there's no real reason to do any of this. The bottom line is; to advance the game you have to complete goals in sequence, through dungeon crawls which usually end with a bossfight.

Not at all I'm sure we're all well aware that most JRPGs are linear. There's a big difference between being linear and being a series of corridors, however. FFXIII is just that, a series of corridors with a bit of exploration at the end. Building on what I said before, FFXII was hardly linear, it offered a lot of exploration, hunting and so on aside from the main quest. After XII, XIII was really disappointing in this area.

Quote (Blinge Odonata @ 28th December 2010 12:50)

I'm afraid the battle system of any game gets tired after being played for 30 or so hours, who can say this isn't the case for any RPG with menu based combat?

FFXIII relies on its battles more than the other games and once this is gone it's lost it. And FWIW I don't remember getting bored of any other FF battle system. There was never an auto-attack function that attacks the enemy's weakness negativing any need for real contribution from the player.

Quote (Blinge Odonata @ 28th December 2010 12:50)

Quote

FFXIII has a rich graphical detail but absolutely nothing of any interest

This is completely subjective, most of your argument is rooted in decent observation but this is just opinion and as such my own subjective view takes the opposite side. I stopped walking many times while playing the game just to take a look at my surroundings with the right stick.

Let's make it objective. If we compare the amount of things in FFXIII to look at, (buildings, a lake, a city) to VII or IX you'll see XIII falls flat. XIII has tilesets. Nothing changes but what could very well be a randomly generated sequence of corridors. And that's it for the whole level. VII and IX in particular had unique (almost always) rooms with a lot to look at in each of them. Forget aesthetics, you actually need something to look at other than a murky horizon in order to appreciate anything.

Quote (Blinge Odonata @ 28th December 2010 12:50)

Quote

The story kept me in the dark for a long time

It probably did require more concentration than other games storylines but again, I fail to see what's wrong with that.

Well that's one way of looking at it. Another would be that having to read through datalogues rather than actually getting a real exposition to the world is probably the weakest form of storytelling.

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Scepticism, that dry rot of the intellect, had not left one entire idea in his mind.

Me on the Starcraft.

I'd like to admit, that, despite being a huge fan of this game, it's biggest strength is that it's so bad it's good.

...No, that's not right. It's more like junk food for your Television: it doesn't do anything for you, but it feels OH SO GOOD going down. And beyond that, the story was just a few tweaks away from being awesome.

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

For example, give Vanille amnesia. For real, I mean. This way, she could ask things like "What's a fal'Cie? What's a l'Cie? What is a Focus? Cieih? Pulse? Where are we? So you mean Cocoon is thousands of feet in the sky? Don't you think it's strange that although everyone hates Pulse, Cocoon is actually just a Pulsian continent floating in the sky?" She could still be guilty about lying to Fang about amnesia, as she wouldn't GET amnesia until afterwords, like maybe she hit her head escaping from Euride Gorge. Oh, and she wouldn't hide this fact - when asked why she knew so little, she'd respond "I have amnesia."

Next, create a group that the party meets early on that ACTIVELY helps them out. Honestly, the cavalry just didn't cut it. This is a group that knows the truth. This a group that is not known to be anti-Pulse, and doesn't spit drabble about how "hopeless everything is we can't do it waaaaaaaaah" every two cutscenes. This is a group that's actually getting somewhere. Heck, Bartholomew could be apart of this organization, and that was the reason he wasn't spending any time with Hope!

Next, show that good ol' Bart isn't one dimensionally EVEIL. Maybe show him caring for a hurt fal'Cie, or doing something kind and heroic EARLY ON to aid his fal'Cie brethren. Honestly dude, as it is, your evil plan is something like "WE DON'T LIKE THAT MOMMY MADE US MOVE OUT SO WE'RE GONNA BLOW UP THE WORLD SO SHE COMES BACK TO GIVE US A TIME OUT HERP-DERP HURR!" Yeah. NO.

Next, don't write every single line of dialogue with such SCREAMINGLY EMOTIONAL PASSIONATENESS! C'mon, Lightning change up the mood, crack a joke every now and again, poke fun at yourself! LAUGH! SHOW US THAT YOU'RE PEOPLE! YOU HAVE SUCH POTENTIAL! UTILIZE AND BE A MULTI-DIMENSIONAL CHARACTER!

Next, make some fal'Cie who DON'T agree with Barthendelus! Maybe they meet a village of fal'Cie on Pulse who were "rejects" or something. It's implied that the fal'Cie are robots, and confirmed in supplementary material from Japan, so maybe they didn't come out right. Their magic wasn't strong enough, so they didn't get a Focus, and in turn, were shunned by the three Gods while they remained on the planet. Therefore, they aren't so keen on "R3TERNING TH3 MAK0R!" They might even tell the group how to undo being a l'Cie. Point in case? Supplementary material reveals that l'Cie are made when fal'Cie implant a VERY small crystal shard into the l'Cie's body, the part of the body where said crystal is placed where the brand appears. So, they maybe the rejected fal'Cie agree to remove the Crystal shards once the group stops Barthendelus, as they aren't as strong as the normal fal'Cie, and the l'Cie are the only people strong enough to do so. As they were going to do this anyway, they just have another incentive!

But wait, there's more! CHANGE THE ENDING. Don't make it so that their brand just vanish, because there was no need. If you look hard enough , you can tell that they turned white just before they fought Orphan. That's good enough! Heck, you could take my idea of the "reject fal'Cie" and have them remove the crystals! What would make this even better? Have Orphan NOT want to die! Have him hate Bart for wanting kill him before he got a chance to live! The, Bart would fuse with Orphan to create the first form of Orphan you face in the game, which would then attack the party and have THAT be the last encounter. Oh, and if not, make it clear that the reason they got a new Focus was because the Goddess intervened.

There's probably more you could do, but I can't think of anything else, so here are the gameplay tweaks I would have made.

First and foremost: MAKE IT AN ARPG. This game is all but pleading to be that. Not only would it justify the "one-character" thing, but it would also speed up the overall pace of battles. It would work something like this: You'd move with the left analog stick, and of they many attacks you'd learn, you could bring in eight per character, per said character's role. Each attack would be mapped to a certain face button - one for each d-pad button, one for square, one for circle, one for triangle, and one for x. So, for example, Lightning might have thunder, fire, water, blizzard, flamestrike, icestrike, sparkstrike, and thundaga for a ravager role. If she switched to say, medic, she would have a different moveset. Like maybe cure, cura, curaga, curasa, esuna, revive.

Now, you ask, how do you change paradigm? Simple! With the right joystick! During battle, you could tilt it up or down to scroll through paradigms, then press x to shift. Oh, and when everyone poses, THE ENEMIES STOP WHAT THEY'RE DOING. They just freeze, as well as all their projectiles. Then, when the shift has completed, everything starts moving again.

Next, how would you use items? Simple again! Just press the L1 button to bring up a menu. Think like what you did in "Tales of Symphonia." The battle would pause, and you'd have plenty of time to choose which item you wanted, Furthermore, you'd be able to use techniques like restore, and you'd be able to check the enemy info screen, with their weaknesses and descriptions. (There would also be no libra spell, so you'd have to TRY and get their stats.) You'd also be able to summon from this menu, and you wouldn't be limited to the character your controlling. So, if your team was Lightning, Sazh, and Hope, and if you were controlling Lightning, you could summon Odin, AND Brynhildr, AND Alexander. Control would switch over to whoever's Eidolon you summoned, and then back to Lightning when it left.

This would also open up room for multiplayer, letting other people control other characters during battle.

Next, to add some elements of exploration! You know how everyone HATED that there were NO secrets to discover until about 20 hours in, and then the secrets that WERE there were either painfully obvious or entirely unrewarding? That can be fixed! When walking through Cocoon, you might come to a spot that looks a little off in some way - I haven't figured out yet what "off" constitutes - and you think it's worth checking out.

TRANSFORMING EIDOLONS TO THE RESCUE! For example, maybe the Shivacycle can can cross narrow steel beams, or thin stretches of rock, and maybe Hecatoncheir can clear away walls of rubble with a laser blast. On the other side, there'd be a little star. There would be five stars per chapter - one for each Eidolon except Bahamut, which would act as an airship to take you back to previously visited areas - and when you got all five stars, you could face an extra boss. Like, a really HARD extra boss. Which you would give you powerful gear, and item components. And uh, maybe they could flesh out the story a little? Like maybe they each guard some sort of Pulsian artifact, like say, a piece of the Analects, and you'd get it for beating them. And in addition to that maybe they'd drop a video game that you could play on your datalog. I'm not so sure about that last one, but it could work!


Next, NPCs! Maybe early on you meet a group of anti-Sanctum rebels, you actually aid from the very start, and you'd run into their various bases as the game went on, where you could buy stuff you can't get online, and maybe get hints as to where to get the stars for each chapter. You could also maybe keep up to date with the Sanctum's latest and greatest acts of devilry or something.

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"When we think there's no hope left, we keep looking until we find some!" - Claire Farron