[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.

[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 Spoiler: 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.

[Aurongroove]

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER!!
genuinely don't read unless you've finished playing the game.

Spoiler: 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

[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 Spoiler: 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.

[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 Spoiler: 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

[ancapailldorcha]

Those are merely "What if?" endings. It means that Noel & Serah didn't solve the paradoxes or something. Take the Spoiler: 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.

[Aurongroove]

shocking.

It really looked like Spoiler: it was shaping up to be a "now go get the [I]good [/I]ending" sort of affair.

Spoiler: it dosn't for example make sense that they've failed to save the new cocoon and prevent the world from becoming Valhalla.
If Serah died and the world was saved then that would be fine, but why does she say "thank you" after having a vision and then die and then the world ends?
what was her vision? she saw the world ending and she said thanks? dosn't make sense.

[ancapailldorcha]

I read somewhere, maybe the FF wiki that the Snow and Lightning DLCs in May are going to be it for the DLC.
I'm assuming that she saw the world becoming Spoiler: Valhalla and she died because the timeline had changed so drastically. She probably thanked Noel for protecting and being with her throughout the game.

[Aurongroove]

well that makes sence.

Spoiler: the game as is desperately sets up the need for a sequel or even just extra chapters of DLC.

the amount of 'Lightning' time in the game was a joke and they've really only covered Serah, Neol, Caius, Yeul, Hope and through DLC Sazh (Vanille and Fang are of course not up to anything)

There has to be DLC which continues the story becasue for one, the Coliseum isin't used in the game, Snows adventures and L'Cie status are only mentioned and read in the fragment datalog with the gravitation cores. Lightning's chapter is nothing more then a fleeting one off battle with no alternative outcomes (shocked the paradox scope dosn't change something after the big schpeel Caius' give if you enter Valhalla through the crux with the scope switched on.

I'm holding out until this story is finished. FFXIII was a wonderful speed-based battle system with a story which did nothing once the intro had passed until after the last boss. I loved the ending in XIII, the sense of breaking out of one's doomed divine edict by the belief in one's humanity and causing a sort of miracle by human invention (that the girls used Ragnarok to save cocoon). I though the idea that "it was all Etro, she did all the funny things, was a painful cop-out unless of course they mean in a meta-contextual sense, like Etro is a force discovering her self though reality actualizing(i.e. that is wasn't just a "magic god fixing everything")


In my eyes, the elements of the story which need continuing are:

Large elements:
Lightning v Caius in Valhalla: why does she need Sarah in Valhalla?

Lightning: what is her relationship with Etro, and why is she being evasive when answering wither or not she can coem hoem with Serah("one thing at a time") e.g. is she becoming Etro, or is she becoming a permanent right-hand-angel/knight of Etro's will?

Serah: why do she have a gift similar to Yeul's? is Etro or lightning grooming her for a role (i.e. a divine role, or a role similar to Yeul or lightning etc or Etro's herself)

Etro: is she un-revivable

Neol: is he going to inherent the heart of Chaos and is he going to be Yuel's new guardian, or is is going to become a guardian for Serah in some other divine role?

Snow: why is he L'Cie again, and what Fal'Cie did he interact with/make a deal with, and what was the focus given.

smaller elements:
Why did Mog die when the goddess died. What happens to a person who becomes Cie'th or Crystallized L'Cie with regards Valhalla. i.e. if Valhalla is where you go when you die, then WTF?



right now I'm running around tying up loose ends and looking for the platinum so I can post it to Funky Penguin and let him chew on it to 'support his life'. (in joke)

[ancapailldorcha]

You're right, a lot of stuff does need to be clarified.

It's stated at the start that Lightning had a dream involving Noel, possibly travelling with Serah or just being sent back through time.

Spoiler: I don't think Lightning is allowed to leave Valhalla. Serah and Noel met her at the Void Beyond which seems to have different rules to normal reality. Just a guess. She chose to become Etro's guardian to protect the timeline. Some detail on their relationship would have been nice, IMO.

Spoiler: The Noel/Serah relationship is quite similar to that of Caius/Yeul. I don't think there was any info at all on why Serah started seeing visions of the future.

Etro's dead. I really can't imagine how they would go about reviving her since time was destroyed.

Spoiler: There's nothing mentioned at the end on the status of the Heart of Chaos. I think Yeul's previous guardians must have been mortal if Caius was the first wielder of it. It's not stated that Noel inherited it but it is in one of the paradox endings which is just confusing.

I'm assuming Snow sought out a Pulse fal'cie to grant him the power of a l'Cie so he'd be strong enough to go and find Lightning. It's stated that they kept to themselves after FFXIII's ending but he's getting a DLC so that's at least one thing that ought to be sorted.

I'm really annoyed at how heavily Lightning featured in the game's promotion and barely at all in the actual game. I hope SE tries to wrap it all up as I quite like these 2 games and leaving it in this mess would be a bit of a disaster.

[Aurongroove]

yeah if SE are going to make a habit out of making "sequil sequils" they need to be careful not to **** all over the original game in making their add ons.