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Final Fantasy XIII-2

  • 03-02-2012 2:09pm
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 876 ✭✭✭


    This needs its own thread,

    I can't afford to buy this today. which is sad, but not that sad.

    Who's playing it?


«1

Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,897 ✭✭✭megaten


    Bought it today. I'll be playing it when I get home this evening.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,130 ✭✭✭ussjtrunks


    Where is the cheapest place to get it, Im thinking of getting it in smyths


  • Moderators, Computer Games Moderators Posts: 10,398 Mod ✭✭✭✭F1ngers


    It's sitting at home while I'm here in work - If MGS HD arrived today, I don't know when I'll get to play FF.
    If no MGS then I'll play some FF tonight.
    ussjtrunks wrote: »
    Where is the cheapest place to get it, Im thinking of getting it in smyths

    E45 in HMV. E50 in smyths.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,130 ✭✭✭ussjtrunks


    played through the start of the game and the framerate is really iffy in places, Im playing on the ps3 too which is supposed to have better performance than the 360 god help those on the m60 :(. Its a shame that the quality of Square has been reduced to this >.<


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 39,538 CMod ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    Got the limited edition yesterday. Comes with a whole pile of fun shiny crap.
    The story seems quite unnecessary and sloppy but I think Noel is a fairly likeable character. Gamespot were quite critical of this compared to XIII. I think the point Edge made about the paradigms and only having 6 slots is bang on. I'll give it a bit longer before I make a proper opinion. Caius is meant to be a decent villain but I wish Lightning had featured a bit more.
    Unfortunately, it's competing with Dark Souls for my attention so that might be a while.

    The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

    Leviticus 19:34



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 876 ✭✭✭Aurongroove


    Yeah. I was thinking the same thing only playing the demo!

    While 6 slots for FFXIII made sense. it dosn't for FFXIII-2
    there are already limitations for players (i.e. you're stuck with Sarah and Noel, and 3 monsters)
    why have a limitations on limitations?

    Paradigms in this should really be more like hot key-commands in strategy games; they really ought to put in the option to whichever one you need, within reason.


    or in liu of that, have 6 paradigms, but you can switch freely between your three monsters separately. Not only 6 paradigms assignable, Only three monsters assignable from your stock, and one monster permanently assigned to one paradigm.

    in XIII, setting paradigms before a fight was part of the fun, but in XIII-2, even in the demo it just feels like a silly thing to have to do considering where they went with the system.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 876 ✭✭✭Aurongroove


    @ ancapa.

    ghghghghGHGHGHGHGHGHGghghghgh... Limited edition Shiny things...


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,066 ✭✭✭elekid


    I'm really enjoying it, the gameplay is a lot better than XIII's with more of a focus on sidequests and exploration (no more empty corridor effect). I'm also finding the battles more fun, they seem less drawn out so far and being able to tweak the paradigm targetting and monster party adds some extra depth to it (plus the leader dying no longer means Game Over!)

    I haven't noticed any framerate issues so far (on 360) and haven't felt too limited with 6 paradigms yet either - I have one set for random battles and one set for bosses. The plot isn't bad either, it's an interesting concept and Serah is growing on me despite being an odd choice of main character.

    I definitely feel that they've addressed a lot of the problems with the first game anyway.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,897 ✭✭✭megaten


    Having a chocobo on your party is amazing.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,027 ✭✭✭Lantus


    The reviews I've read seem to say the gameplay is better but the story and characters are poor. Given that the story and characters in 13 were a total let down this is very worrying. I'm a huge FF fan but 'my story' ends here until this series delivers on the pillars that once made it king.

    I cannot believe that these games are scoring so highly although edge seems to have grown man parts these days. honesty isn't a characteristic were used to seeing in mainstream game reviews but without it whats the point.

    FF has become the phantom menace. crammed to the gills with FX, wonder and pizzaze but lacking in basic compelling story telling that just leaves you empty and underwhelmed.


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  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 39,538 CMod ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    Plenty of the older games have serious storytelling problems. Doesn't stop them from being fun, getting good reviews and selling.

    The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

    Leviticus 19:34



  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 39,538 CMod ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    @ ancapa.

    ghghghghGHGHGHGHGHGHGghghghgh... Limited edition Shiny things...

    ??

    The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

    Leviticus 19:34



  • Registered Users Posts: 877 ✭✭✭Mario007


    Lantus wrote: »
    The reviews I've read seem to say the gameplay is better but the story and characters are poor. Given that the story and characters in 13 were a total let down this is very worrying. I'm a huge FF fan but 'my story' ends here until this series delivers on the pillars that once made it king.

    I cannot believe that these games are scoring so highly although edge seems to have grown man parts these days. honesty isn't a characteristic were used to seeing in mainstream game reviews but without it whats the point.

    FF has become the phantom menace. crammed to the gills with FX, wonder and pizzaze but lacking in basic compelling story telling that just leaves you empty and underwhelmed.

    Actually most reviewers agree that Serah and Noel (especially Noel) are very good characters.

    Edge gave FFX a 6, a game which is considered by the fanbase at large the second best FF game created so I wouldn't take Edge's word for anything. They also forced themselves to give Infamous 2 a low score as they 'predicted' the game was going to be bad and when it launched and amazed everyone Edge still went on to give it a six.

    Also lots of games get great reviews with bad stories, even RPGs (for example Skyrim) so singling out FFXIII-2 story to be bad and then docking marks just for this game is a bit silly.

    Ultimately the reviewers seem to be very concerned with pleasing the fanbase, when the fanbase is iffy about the game the review will be saying the game is so-so no matter how good the game is. If the fanbase is hyped for the game the review will say that the game excels at everything.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,276 ✭✭✭Memnoch


    The 'Twilight' of JRPGs?

    I'm about 14 hours into the game now and all I can say is it's distinctly underwhelming.

    Gameplay: This was a lot of fun at first and I liked the tweaks as well as the paradigm system which I enjoyed a lot in FFXIII. But now, only about a third of the way into the game, (based on the destinations I've unlocked so far) I'm finding the shine has worn off. I'm playing at normal difficulty and the challenge isn't really there. In the last area, most of the fights I did little else apart from hitting X and then X again and I was getting five stars in every fight, no need to even change paradigms. I haven't really powerleveled or anything, just explored a couple of optional areas but my characters are already very overpowered.

    On top of the that character development (in terms of gameplay) is useless too. Serah is already a level 96 ravager and a level 30+ something medic. There are no new skills to learn and no where really for the character to go apart from uping stats. Yes, I can unlock a few other roles and level them up but it's totally pointless since the game is already too easy. I don't know, maybe the next area will prove more challenging but I'm not holding out much hope.

    Story: Also started out as promising but has quickly generated into a convoluted mess. It wasn't as bad as 13 at the first as I was actually enjoying the cutscenes but now I have reached the point where I'm just waiting for them to end and am getting very close to even skipping them the first time around if it wasn't for the fact that I might miss information that is required to clear the area (though I doubt that would be the case.)

    Characters: This ties in to the above. Initially they seemed a lot better and mature. But they are back to being superficial and paper thin and I find the a lot of the dialogue really cheesy and puke worthy. Like I said, my patience with the cutscenes is wearing thin.

    Bottom line 14 hours in and I'm bored and not sure I have the drive to bother finishing the game.

    I've always been a fan of the FF series and the JRPgs. I think the people who talk about the stories being a mess in other games have it wrong. They weren't perfect, but the story in 7 felt very authentic to me and 10 had one of the best and most affecting stories I've seen in video games.

    The problem with the story in 13-2 isn't that it's a mess it's that the whole thing, the story, the characters, the dialogue feel utterly phony, contrived and formulaic in the most obvious and superficial way. I have no attachment to any of the characters and I don't care what happens to them or if they win or lose.

    Contrast this to Skyrim where I logged in almost 200 hours of gameplay on the ps3 and to me that says it all. And once upon a time I used to decry 'western,' RPGs. What a shame that FF has come to this.


  • Registered Users Posts: 227 ✭✭hypersquirrel


    Memnoch wrote: »
    Contrast this to Skyrim where I logged in almost 200 hours of gameplay on the ps3 and to me that says it all. And once upon a time I used to decry 'western,' RPGs. What a shame that FF has come to this.


    Funnily enough as a big Elder Scrolls fan I would have described Skyrim in almost the exact same manner. Bored within 15 hours of the dull landscape and massively reduced lore.

    I'm finding 13-2 to be quite good. The battle system is highly enjoyable albeit a bit too easy, however I don't think I have ever been truly challenged by a FF unless fighting super bosses. I'm still dubious about having monsters fighting for you though. I think Caius is one of the most interesting villains I've seen in a final fantasy for a long time. He actually seems somewhat relatable as opposed to the "I'm going to destroy the world simply because I'm not a very nice guy" that tend to make the usual FF antagonist.

    I can't say that Serah and Noel are the most interesting of characters but then again looking back on it if Squall was any more brooding he'd have been easily mistaken for a character bron of Stephanie Meyer. Cloud was utterly void of all personality and the less said about Vaan or Tidus the better.

    I'm not a fan of time travel plots because you can never make it make complete sense and this certainly doesn't manage it but I am enjoying the progresion, love seeing how your affections take effect in the alternate realities and I'm very intrigued with Caius' motivations.

    It's not a perfect game by a long shot but it's highly enjoyabel and a very clear attempt to fix what the fans complained about in 13.


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 39,538 CMod ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    I don't get why people keep saying it's too easy. I've gotten Game Over a few times now and I'm stuck on Caius in Oerba at the moment. Really starting to enjoy it though.

    The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

    Leviticus 19:34



  • Registered Users Posts: 227 ✭✭hypersquirrel


    Caius killed me the first time I fought him but a quick touch up of my paradigms sorted him out. I'd recommend having Med/Syn/Sen to give you a quick boost if he starts hitting hard.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,897 ✭✭✭megaten


    Yeah your first fight with him is the first one you really have to think about how you've set up your paradigms.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,276 ✭✭✭Memnoch


    The first time I had to look at my paradigms was when I took on the behemoth at night in the place with all the lamps. But that was because I had levelled Noel as a commando and ignored his sentinal tree.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,066 ✭✭✭elekid


    I'm still dubious about having monsters fighting for you though.

    I was too, until I started experimenting with Infusion to transfer skills which gets very addictive once you figure it out. Also, the Pokémon fan in me wants to "catch 'em all". I also spent over an hour this evening playing Chocobo racing and learning how to make my Chocobo faster. I'm really enjoying this game :)


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,027 ✭✭✭Lantus


    Mario007 wrote: »
    Actually most reviewers agree that Serah and Noel (especially Noel) are very good characters.

    Edge gave FFX a 6, a game which is considered by the fanbase at large the second best FF game created so I wouldn't take Edge's word for anything. They also forced themselves to give Infamous 2 a low score as they 'predicted' the game was going to be bad and when it launched and amazed everyone Edge still went on to give it a six.

    Also lots of games get great reviews with bad stories, even RPGs (for example Skyrim) so singling out FFXIII-2 story to be bad and then docking marks just for this game is a bit silly.

    Ultimately the reviewers seem to be very concerned with pleasing the fanbase, when the fanbase is iffy about the game the review will be saying the game is so-so no matter how good the game is. If the fanbase is hyped for the game the review will say that the game excels at everything.

    totally agree about reviews and the forces that push and pull them in different directions. That was my point (I'm not saying that Edge was entirley right in this one case!) Just that they did produce a review that deviated from the norm.

    X was a cracking game and the story was immense. I played the entire thing again last year and it was just as good (if not better) than the first time I played it.


  • Registered Users Posts: 877 ✭✭✭Mario007


    Lantus wrote: »
    totally agree about reviews and the forces that push and pull them in different directions. That was my point (I'm not saying that Edge was entirley right in this one case!) Just that they did produce a review that deviated from the norm.

    X was a cracking game and the story was immense. I played the entire thing again last year and it was just as good (if not better) than the first time I played it.

    In this case, though, I would say that Edge did go with the whole 'no one asked for this, it's SE and FF that we all love to hate nowadays so let's give it a bad score'. To be honest the most honest review I've found on the game is at RPGSite (both the import and the localised version reviews actually tell you everything about the game, about every aspect of it as I know the person who did the import review actually 100% the game before she wrote the review).

    I completely agree on X, it's my favourite in the series and I am so happy that we're getting a HD remaster for it soon. To me, X is the perfect Final Fantasy as it has an epic and yet simple story, a protagonist who actually develops during the game, a very nice love story (which I actually consider to be a staple of FF and am disappointed that XII and XIII, to an extent, didn't include one), a great world with brilliant mythology and likeable characters all around. Also the fact that it has a nice tie to VII is a nice Easter egg.
    This is partly why I am excited for Versus as that has Nojima also as the writer.


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Computer Games Moderators Posts: 51,827 CMod ✭✭✭✭Retr0gamer


    I really enjoyed FFX but looking at Spoonys review I can see that the story in retrospect is a bit crap and nonsensical in places. However he is a bit too harsh and it's great in some and I really like how it didn't wuss out at the end.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 945 ✭✭✭padr81


    This is a good game. Stories a bit lacking but the characters imho are the best since 10. Both are interesting. Lots of nice little bits here and their and theres 1 point that made me happy only for it to be taken away.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,041 ✭✭✭✭chopperbyrne


    Does it use the same battle system as XIII?


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 39,538 CMod ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    Does it use the same battle system as XIII?

    Largely. You just have 2 characters now; Noel & Serah. The third member is a monster which can be obtained from winning battles.
    The mechanics have been tweaked a bit so that staggering is a bit less important. I felt that in XIII, too much emphasis was placed on staggering an opponent before attacking.

    The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

    Leviticus 19:34



  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,066 ✭✭✭elekid


    For anyone concerned about the difficulty, there are some really tough enemies and boss battles towards the end of the game. I'm currently stuck on
    Proto-Behemoth in Academia 500AF
    and although my party is level 99 in 5/6 of the Crystarium roles and level 50 in the final one, I'm still being destroyed. Some of the random battles in that area can be tough going as well.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 945 ✭✭✭padr81


    elekid wrote: »
    For anyone concerned about the difficulty, there are some really tough enemies and boss battles towards the end of the game. I'm currently stuck on
    Proto-Behemoth in Academia 500AF
    and although my party is level 99 in 5/6 of the Crystarium roles and level 50 in the final one, I'm still being destroyed. Some of the random battles in that area can be tough going as well.

    Complete crystarium here, 3 top monsters as support and its 50/50 whether I win or lose. Bascially if I get on top of him early I'll win, If he gets health down on one party member early and I have to switch to defensive paradigms I'll inevitably fail.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,066 ✭✭✭elekid


    A good Sentinel and Synergist did it for me in the end. I'm finished the game now with all the fragments, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.


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  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 39,538 CMod ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    Sazh DLC coming out on the 28th for Xbox360 (29th for PS3) for anyone who is interested.

    http://uk.ps3.ign.com/articles/121/1218883p1.html

    The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

    Leviticus 19:34



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 345 ✭✭panevthe3rd


    Just saw this game on thehut.com for 25. I already paid my 45 but i think it was worth it anyway


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 39,538 CMod ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    Just bought the aforementioned Sazh DLC. I bought it for 2 reasons: Sazh and poker. It fails tremendously on both counts. The "story" consists of
    Sazh flying his ship before being mysteriously getting sent to Serendipity where he must win coins to see his son again.
    That's all I've played so far.
    As far as the poker goes, it's Texas Hold 'Em and the rules are quite well explained. Square thought it would be helpful if Sazh gave audio cues to help new players decide what to do. I consider myself to be a decent card player and the cues would have you throw out good hands and ruin your chances.
    In short, please don't buy this.

    The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

    Leviticus 19:34



  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,066 ✭✭✭elekid


    Are there any battles or new areas to explore in it? It definitely doesn't seem worth it if there's not.


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 39,538 CMod ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    None so far but I haven't played a lot of it. I do know that Sazh joins the party as a Synergist if you finish it though.

    The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

    Leviticus 19:34



  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 39,538 CMod ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    Just finished it, you don't even need to leave the one room it starts in There are no battles and no exploration. You get fortune tokens or something from winning games and getting enough of those nets you a cutscene and you get Sazh as an addition to your party.
    That's it. The whole thing.

    The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

    Leviticus 19:34



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  • Registered Users Posts: 227 ✭✭hypersquirrel


    I dunno about it being all bad. I nealry died laughing when I was able to infuse my purple chocobo with Sazh.

    Unfortunately that was the only enjoyable part of the experience. Chronobind is dreadful and the AI on the poker was just plain bad. Possibly worth 200 points but definitely not 400.


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 39,538 CMod ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    It's the audio cues on the poker that really got me. Throwing out top hands while keeping crap ones? I hit a straight and Sazh started moaning about the cards and how folding was the only way to go.
    Basically, get good hole cards and go all in. The AI seems to always want to go all in for some reason.

    The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

    Leviticus 19:34



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 997 ✭✭✭tread_softly


    Just finished the game there, onto gathering the remaining fragments etc.

    One thing I'm still stumped on though, maybe I'm just really thick, but could someone explain it to me.
    Hope and the Academy created the fal'cie Adam in order to re levitate Cocoon, but obviously that didn't work out.
    We know the crystal pillar is eventually going to crumble and Hope wants to save Fang and Vanille and the people living on Pulse.

    When Cocoon falls, it's going to destroy Pulse, as we see from Noel's world in the future. So Hope decides that instead of trying to support the old Cocoon, creating this new Bhunivelze is a great idea even though it will take 100 years and Cocoon might fall in the meantime.

    Noel and Sarah then get the Graviton cores that will levitate Bhunivelze. But why bother with the new planet at all!? Why couldn't they put the Graviton cores into Cocoon? This would take the weight off the pillar, saving Fang and Vanille and there would be no danger of it crashing into Pulse at all.

    Why the need for the new planet?

    From playing the game, everyone seems happy to be living on Pulse. Fair enough, there is some danger from monsters, but looking at places like Academia, Pulse has become their new home and there isn't much talk of wanting to live on Cocoon again. So it's not like you could say Hope wanted the new planet to give the humans somewhere to live because they hated life on Pulse.

    Can someone explain it to me?!

    Oh and thanks for the cop out ending SE, money hungry for more DLC!?


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 39,538 CMod ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    Right, my thoughts on this:

    It's well established in the FFXIII universe that Pulse is crawling with monsters. Cocoon was a technologically developed safe haven while Pulse is a primitive and dangerous land. Noel states that, Fang & Vanille's pillar eventually becomes unable to support Cocoon and it falls, wiping out all life on Pulse. Living on Pulse is therefore, not a long term option. I'm guessing that Hope was afraid that testing the Graviton cores on Cocoon might break the pillar, killing Fang & Vanille. Creating a new Cocoon gives him the opportunity to perfect his model as well as meaning he would not need to rely on any fal'cie. Also, it doesn't state how his invention would work or what it's form would be, only that it would be powered by the cores. So, if he gets it wrong, Cocoon would fall and everyone on it would perish.

    Hope this helped. The writing in this game was truly horrific. I like thinking about things like this but it's way too subtle.

    The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

    Leviticus 19:34



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 997 ✭✭✭tread_softly


    Hmmmm, it does seem like the only explanation, albeit a tenuous one.

    That's one of the things I disliked about FFXIII, that half the story was told through the datalogs; I hate that getting to grips with the stories in these games involves research!!

    Poor Pulse, it really does get a bad rap. I loved that they explored more about it's people and past in this game, I was left wanting to learn so much more about it after XIII. But now it seems that all the humans on it want to feck off back to an alternative Cocoon again!
    I was confused about something else as well, we were told that if Cocoon were to fall, it would destroy life on Pulse, another reason why I wondered why Hope wasn't trying to re levitate it again.

    It was only until I replayed Academia 4XX to get the paradox ending that I chose another option in the live trigger with Hope. I asked what would happen if Cocoon were to fall. He said that they are going to be able to control the fall, so that it doesn't fall as fast. Therefore, there will be less damage from it falling.

    I thought this was pretty integral to know, it means that Pulse isn't going to turn out like Noel's future. But the only way you'd find this out, is by choosing that particular option in the live trigger. It's ****!!!


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  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 39,538 CMod ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    Spot on. The storytelling is some of the worst, if not the worst in the series. It's a shame because I really enjoyed the world the gave us with FFXIII. There was just no way to find out about it except for the datalog. Now they removed the linearity they also lost the momentum of the story. There are some brilliant moments (mostly featuring Caius) but it's essentially MGS2 all over again.
    And this nonsense with the DLC has got to stop. I caved and watched all the paradox endings on youtube and it turns out collecting all those fragments is a complete waste of time.

    The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

    Leviticus 19:34



  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 39,538 CMod ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    Anyone get Jihl Nabaat? She's tough so be warned.

    The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

    Leviticus 19:34



  • Closed Accounts Posts: 28 bleeding_souls


    how long is the story roughly, i heard it was pretty short


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 39,538 CMod ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    I'd say about 20 hours. It's not long. That's if you completely ignore the sidequests mind.

    The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

    Leviticus 19:34



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 876 ✭✭✭Aurongroove


    the following contains nothing close to any spoilers.

    I'm currently playing through it. It's full of it's not bad 'but'.

    so, The **** Bits, (roughly in degreeof severity)

    I find the Moggle hardly sufferable. The traditional FF mog endearment "kupo kupo" was charming when it was written down and not whiinneed at you pokemon-stylee ever second of ever minute of gameplay, AND interrupting all the ****ing dialogue. I spent 5 minutes in Academia throwing him into oblivion with a semblance of satisfaction that the little **** was gone for a few seconds. I hope he, Chocolina and the staff in Serendipity all die infected, radioactive deaths.

    So far I dont like how Snow has been portrayed and I;m keeping a close ****ing eye on some of the other FFXIII roster, for me it's a cardinal sin to misrepresent a character in a Sequel like this but I will hold my breath. It's also so far not as awful as some of the alien abductions and replacements committed against some of the FFX-2 roster.

    It's a little too easy to become over powered. FFXIII capped the players strength because the time sensitive battle system dosn't really work if you can just bulldoze a group of baddies off the face of the planet in 4 seconds. FF's ugly habit of letting you become too strong to need to think has reared it's ugly head again.

    A lot of the plot devices and game system devices whiffs of "cheap excuses" such as mog being all of the sub system for preemptive strikes, every weapon Serah has, all of the interesting-things-to-do-while exploring such as treasure chests i.e. the bomb/long-reach/ocarina/radar". Everyone including children suddenly discover they can learn magic. They go to even less trouble then Radiant Historia did in masking the "go to another time line and get/do this for me" format of every single side quest. And last but not least basically everything unusual and all the things to do in the game so far are neatly wrapped up star trek style as being "something something paradox"


    GOOD bits:

    the presentation is breathtaking. there were some places I arrived too and I just wanted to literally explore for the sake of looking around. I wish they' let me go to a decent first person, I've sometimes got to grab that stupid **** if I want to have a right look up and down.

    the music is actually great, I laughed at the heavy metal when you're fighting the giant flan, it was awesome. and inclusion of brave new genres besides the music picks up where the (in places brilliant) FFXIII sound track left off.

    I love the little montage when you load your game, I think it's a lovely touch!

    They do fix a few things in the fighting system.


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 39,538 CMod ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    I liked the game but it had some serious problems. The story only really worked for me when it involved Noel's background and/or Caius. Those elements were the only reason I cared about the story at all. FFXIII might have been chokingly linear, but at least there was a packed, tight, well paced narrative. Without that, everything just falls apart.
    I don't get Chocolina at all. People wanted merchants but why go so far as to create such an annoying character. O'aka in FFX is a good example. Likeable but brief exchanges. Apparantly, she's
    Sazh's chick who was turned into a merchant by Etro
    .
    The thing was too easy and the sidequests were just generic kills or scavenger hunts. They just felt tacked on. Exploring the areas was fun but the maps just felt completely recycled. Too many battles can by won by just using relentless assault, especially if you get a preemptive strike which is also quite easy (hint: Just press X).
    Snow & Lightning are getting DLC packages in May for anyone who cares. The game just feels half finished and I'm never buying a enw SE game again unless it's under £15. The colosseum is a nice touch but the enemies cost an average of about £3 to unlock.
    On the upside, Noel and Caius are great characters. Serah isn't too bad herself. Noel's theme playing constantly in A Dying World nearly had be in tears. Unlocking Odin was nice, even if he is completely useless. The soundtrack is amazing (except the Jpop of course). The final battle is one of the best I've seen in a long time in FF. They enabled you to change party leader anytime in battle which is something FFXIII should have had.
    A decent game all round but I'm starting to loathe this new "high-fares and extras" model companies are beginning to adopt.

    The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

    Leviticus 19:34



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 876 ✭✭✭Aurongroove


    SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER!!
    genuinely don't read unless you've finished playing the game.
    I've just finished and got what i assume is the bad ending... WHAT A ****ING ENDING!!!!

    It's all going lovely, Sazh is there 'Nice catch', Hope's launching the new Cocoon, Fang & Vanille are resqued then,
    music stops, Sarah dies, Mog dies, (lol, every cloud...) the Hope starts whinging just like old times, and then the whole ****ing world ends!!! YES!!! then you catch a glimpse of a crystalized Lightening, ****! the whole thing was a giant punch in the tits and the game just went about 8% higher out of 100 because of that


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 39,538 CMod ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    That's the game's ending I'm afraid. There's a clip you can view if you get all the fragments but it's just a monologue by Caius.
    I really liked Caius, he basically
    wins at the end. Reminds me of Kefka
    a bit. SE have registered FFXIII-3 as a trademark but say there won't be a sequel, just a new game's worth of DLC for this one.

    The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

    Leviticus 19:34



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 876 ✭✭✭Aurongroove


    are you SURE that's the ending? surely it isin't I just got the paradox scope thing and I'm looking to "challenge history"

    Sarah hasn't even properly got to Valhalla.

    I was going on the theory that
    If Noel becomes Yeul's new gardian properly then he will inherit the Chaos heart (thus the chaos heart won't have been destroyed thus Etro won't have been destroyed) and that there is a way to save lightning from losing the eternal battle with Caius, by travelling back in time


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 39,538 CMod ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    Those are merely "What if?" endings. It means that Noel & Serah didn't solve the paradoxes or something. Take the
    Caius battle in Oerba for example. The first time you beat him once. The Paradox Scope means his Heart of Chaos brings him back and he is tougher. So, if you beat him then, he's dead and the game ends if you know what I mean. Noel wasn't meant to beat Caius in A Dying World. He gets tired fighting a superior opponent and Caius laments that he's not able to kill him. With the scope active, Noel kills Caius and the game ends, giving you what would happen but not the game's true ending.

    The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

    Leviticus 19:34



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