Final Fantasy XIII

Xluna

Final Fantasy makes its true next gen debut this Tuesday. Who's getting and what are the best high street prices?

jellyshot

id expect smyths to be doing a good price. they did a great price for bioshock 2 when it was released, cheapest i could find.

Moiph

Been looking forward to getting this for ages. I hope it lives up to the hype.

Slugs

After the terrible look of the trailers, i think I'm going to gladly give it a miss.

super_furry

€80 for the Collector's Edition in GAME. No idea whats in it.

RAIN

Edge gave it a battering-5/10 also eurogamer slated the xbox version in digi foundry. The first 20 hrs are terrible apparently followed by another 20 hrs of greatness.

Slugs

RAIN wrote: »

Edge gave it a battering-5/10 also eurogamer slated the xbox version in digi foundry. The first 20 hrs are terrible apparently followed by another 20 hrs of greatness.

I like Edge, they give decent reviews. But even without their reviews, I don't think I'd buy the game. After the fail of The Last Remnant, I'm beginning to feel the end of square enix is nigh. And with such dissapointing trailers, and what looks like some pathetic attempt at cyberpunk jap anime style, I'm determined to avoid this gam, for fear of ruining my high esteems of Square enix.

calex71

super_furry wrote: »

€80 for the Collector's Edition in GAME. No idea whats in it.

Saw the promo box the other day in the Dundrum shop along ones for splinter cell and just cause 2. If memory serves I remember thinking "thats a bit crap" In comparison to the other 2 . The have some art cards with it I "think" .

Edit: the splinter cell one had some kinf of Sam Fisher figurine, forget what just casse had.

NotorietyH

Fairly good review over at Joystiq, as in the review itself is good as well as their opinion of the game. Joystiq don't do scores so lets you make up your own mind. Again saying the first 15 hours are tedious but the last 30 are fantastic.

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/03/05/review-final-fantasy-xiii/

FreeOSCAR

I cant wait either way, the gametrailers review was pretty good, dont like how they gave the story a 7.9 when thats that the main reason I actually play them games.

http://www.gametrailers.com/game/final-fantasy-xiii/2649

Moiph

It has an average of 83 on metacritic so far which is pretty damn good.

Xluna

I tend not to take much notice of Edge,pretentious,anal retentive....

RealistSpy

I can't wait to play it. I also hope to hex the game save I hate grinding!

Blackdragon

Anyone aware of any midnight launches in Cork City tonight?

niallon

http://www.toys.ie/FINAL-FANTASY-XIII-COLLECTORS-EDITION-X360-!H00445-prod.aspx?qwSessionID=6b86712f-cd8b-43bd-a2bc-703317792078

€65 for Collector's Edition in Smyths. €50 for standard.

o1s1n

Blackdragon wrote: »

Anyone aware of any midnight launches in Cork City tonight?

On a similar note, anyone know of any midnight launches in Dublin?

ShaneU

€50 for standard in gamestop

me-skywalker

15hours and counting!! don don don.....

rizzla

€45 in HMV. Think I saw the collectors edition being advertised for €60 too.

ShaneU

me-skywalker wrote: »

15hours and counting!! don don don.....

already for sale in xtravision

Blackdragon

For real - Lovely, ill have to swing by when i finish up work at 10pm

me-skywalker

ShaneU wrote: »

already for sale in xtravision

damn ive it already paid for! dam nthem!!

docdolittle

Ah FFS! It's out tomo already!? I've waited for this game for ages, now I've so much college work I won't have the chance to play it! Still haven't even completed Bioshock 2 yet

...Now... back to doing more work... :mad:

Fringe

Anyone wanna comment on whether it's region locked? I have a Chinese Xbox and it looks like the NTSC-J version won't be released.

Soby

am i alone in having never played the series?

Moiph

Soby wrote: »

am i alone in having never played the series?

Yes :P

Captain Chaos

The FF series are like marmite, you either like em or you don't. I tried FF7 on the PS back in the day from all the rave reviews stating greatest game ever etc. I tried it and didn't like it at all. I rented it for a week and just could not get into it. Ever since I have not looked at another FF game, my brother loved 7 and 8 but he didn't like any of them after that. I just don't click with JRPGs but I like "western RPGs" generally so long as they are not too magicy and fantasy off the wall types.

amacachi

Soby wrote: »

am i alone in having never played the series?

Never played any myself but tempted to pick this up to keep me occupied over the summer.
Anyone any idea what I might get for MW2 on trade in? :P

chrislad

I've been playing them since Mystic Quest on the Game Boy but since FFX, I've really been losing interest. FFXII, I played for about 4 to 5 hours and was bored out of my mind. I'll be giving this a pass for a little while, especially since the first 20 hours are apparently tedious. I'm 8 hours into Mass Effect 2 and I'm gripped, so I don't see why this game should have such a long 'intro'.

FutureGuy

15-20 hours of tediousness...I don't care how good the next 20 hours are, I'm going to pass. Which is disappointing really; it was going to be my first FF-related purchase since X2

Xluna

It's nagaffs.*


Not as good as final fantasy seven.

Evolute

Xluna wrote: »

It's nagaffs.*


Not as good as final fantasy seven.

Gotta say I never played 7 for more then 10 mins just got really bored of it although I did play number 8 before it and expected the graphics to be on par with it.
I'm definately gonna have to pick this up soon and see what its all about because from looking at the trailers it looks good

DARK-KNIGHT

ok guys can someone advise? should i buy this game and is it any good?

Raze_them_all

Buy it if you can sludge yer way through 20 15-20 hours of boredom. I love FF series but this game is even testing me Am on the third disk just leaving

the ark to get Bahamut

and have yet to have the chance at one side quest or optional mission.


Gotta say it's very meh so far which I expected from reviews. The next 20 better amaze me

RealistSpy

The game came out yesturday and you are on the third disk? I you dont love it? Why did you play it all day and night?

RealistSpy

Personally its ok the only thing is I have no reason to do battle since you dont get exp points? am only 2 hours into the game!

Raze_them_all

RealistSpy wrote: »

The game came out yesturday and you are on the third disk? I you dont love it? Why did you play it all day and night?

I got my hands on it monday. I don't have to love a game to finish it. Just hit Gran pulse. Can safely say the game is picking up. Adamanoise, I will have you!

Moiph

I'm only a couple of hours in and I'm really enjoying it. So I can't wait for when it supposedly picks up!

Battleflag

Going to get this Friday once I get payed, can't wait - the boozing can wait until Sunday. Theres 3 discs in it??

Moiph

Yup it's quite a big game.

kdave

The linearity of many games on the current generation consoles is such a dissappointing element in this current generation of gaming .It seams that games companies are buying into the new crop of the post FPS, Gears of War gaming community.
Games such as Metal Gear Solid 4, Resident Evil 5 and now Final Fantasy 13(all watered down games in relation to their predecessors) are just three examples of how previously great series have been affected by the current trend in the gaming industury where abominations like call of duty and gears of war can succeed over other more creative well structured games

Magill

kdave wrote: »

The linearity of many games on the current generation consoles is such a dissappointing element in this current generation of gaming .It seams that games companies are buying into the new crop of the post FPS, Gears of War gaming community.
Games such as Metal Gear Solid 4, Resident Evil 5 and now Final Fantasy 13(all watered down games in relation to their predecessors) are just three examples of how previously great series have been affected by the current trend in the gaming industury where abominations like call of duty and gears of war can succeed over other more creative well structured games

what a load of bollox....ppl play these games because they're fun.. and more importantly... because they're awesome when playing with friends ! hardly "abominations".


There are also an insane amount of non-linear styled games about (GTA,Fallout,dragonage,masseffect etc) and a bunch on the way(Red dead, alan wake,justcause,mafiaII etc)

p.s MGS4 was exactly what it needed to be, im sure any fan will agree that it finished off the story amazingly.

Captain Chaos

Magill wrote: »

There are also an insane amount of non-linear styled games about (GTA,Fallout,dragonage,masseffect etc)

Fallout 3, watered down over the older games.
Mass Effect 2 was designed to appeal to Gear of War players rather than expand on what Mass Effect 1 created.

Look back at the older games from the mid '90s and compare to now. Games are getting more basic gameplay wise but they look alot better. If they expanded properly on the older games the quality should be far better today. Today its just, make a game look pretty, make so anyone can pick it up and finish it in 8hrs without having to even read the manual.

Games that have been ruined and watered down in this generation.

Deus Ex
Rainbow Six
Ghost Recon
System Shock 1&2
Operation Flashpoint
Far Cry
Fallout
Mass Effect
Command & Conquer

...thats off the top of my head.

OctavarIan

kdave wrote: »

The linearity of many games on the current generation consoles is such a dissappointing element in this current generation of gaming .It seams that games companies are buying into the new crop of the post FPS, Gears of War gaming community.
Games such as Metal Gear Solid 4, Resident Evil 5 and now Final Fantasy 13(all watered down games in relation to their predecessors) are just three examples of how previously great series have been affected by the current trend in the gaming industury where abominations like call of duty and gears of war can succeed over other more creative well structured games

I haven't played FFXIII yet, in what way is it watered down?

As for the linearity comment, that has been around in most FPS games since the very birth of them. It's a core game mechanic, the only difference between titles is how well they cover it up. To make an FPS non-linear is to detract from the gameplay, unless you can hide it behind a fluffy RPG curtain like Borderlands did. As for RPGs, I'm actually glad of the switch to more linear, action-oriented mechanics. The traditional JRPG format has been stagnant for a long time, any attempts at reinventing the genre should be met with open arms tbh.

@Captain Chaos: Mass Effect was trimmed down because the original one just didn't work. It was a mongrel child of rpg and fps, nothing in it gelled together. The customisation in the first was superfluous and nothing more than dressing. An obvious design decision was to cut the fat and enhance the formula with gameplay that has already been proven to work.

'Hardcore' gamers, you're being ignored because the money isn't to be made from you anymore.

Magill

LIGHTNING wrote: »

I think you should take off the rose tinted glasses. Lets look at your list:

Deus Ex B]Deus Ex 2 came out in the last generation[/B
Rainbow Six B]The vegas titles while being less sim like are still fun[/B
Ghost Recon B]The original ghost recon games on the PC werent that great, trust me go back and play them again.[/B
System Shock 1&2 B]Their hasnt been a sequel in this or the last gen[/B
Operation Flashpoint B]Ok OP flash 2 is a disgrace[/B
Far Cry B]Farcry 2 is far better than the first game which was just a tech demo, open enviroments, proper weapons modelling[/B
Fallout B]Fallout 3 is an excellent game, still not as good as 2 but i wouldnt say its watered down[/B
Mass Effect B]Mass effect came out in this generation so it shouldnt be in this list [/B
Command & Conquer B] the new C&C games are much better than the originals which were just build as many units and assault the base[/B

As for being able to finish games quickly much more easier again thats untrue. I just recently finished journeyman project in under 30 minutes and I am nearly through Full throttle in just under 3 hours. I think you are just being nostalgic, there were just as many crappy games back in the day as there are now.

^ Couldnt agree more.

Nostalgia is a bitch.

Captain Chaos

LIGHTNING wrote: »

I think you should take off the rose tinted glasses. Lets look at your list:

Deus Ex B]Deus Ex 2 came out in the last generation[/B
Rainbow Six B]The vegas titles while being less sim like are still fun[/B
Ghost Recon B]The original ghost recon games on the PC werent that great, trust me go back and play them again.[/B
System Shock 1&2 B]Their hasnt been a sequel in this or the last gen[/B
Operation Flashpoint B]Ok OP flash 2 is a disgrace[/B
Far Cry B]Farcry 2 is far better than the first game which was just a tech demo, open enviroments, proper weapons modelling[/B
Fallout B]Fallout 3 is an excellent game, still not as good as 2 but i wouldnt say its watered down[/B
Mass Effect B]Mass effect came out in this generation so it shouldnt be in this list [/B
Command & Conquer B] the new C&C games are much better than the originals which were just build as many units and assault the base[/B

Either way all these are watered down. Rose tinted nothing.

Deux Ex 1-2 is like what happened Mas Effect 1-2. 3 will be watered down too.

The Rainbow Six games are gone to the dogs. I still have the first 3 on the PC. This auto re gen heath, 3 man teams instead of 8. No more mission planning. Using LMGs in CQB situations. Pure tosh.

Ghost Recon, same as Rainbow Six.

The Bio Shock games are a follow on to the System Shock games in spirit. I still have SS 1 and 2, not a patch on the Bio's.

Far Cry 2 is a mess, 1 was better in every way except graphics. Far Cry 2 is a graphics tech demo in itself.

Fallout 3 is the Elder Scrolls RPG dressed up to look like Fallout. Good game yes, but lazy. Could have done alot more with it.

The Command and Conquer games were going somewhere with Tiberium Sun on the PC but got stuck in a rut. WestWood went bust and EA stepped in to keep the masses happy not the fans. Stripped away more advanced command options so they can port over to consoles.

So, I'm sorry no rose tinted here. I still have all these oldies on my 10 year old PC, games these days are designed to cater for the lowest common denominator. At one time it was about the hard core gamers but not anymore.

I still play the stuff coming out today and hope it will go back to when game developers didn't care so much about the graphics and lightning effects and got back to actual substance, gameplay mechanics.

mayordenis

Look I think your mixing up watered down, with refinded controls.

Dues Ex 1 of the best games of all time, aged horribly, ask people who can't complete it because of game breaking bugs just how much they enjoyed it.

Rainbow 6? Rainbow 6 in reality was never that ****ing good, Raven Shield was ok if I remember correctly but that's all just ok.

Ghost Recon - convoluted bull****e the whole series was - at least the new ones were borderline fun, as I say though borderline.

System Shock 1&2 - Spiritual succesor? We know that they're flimsily related, and even so both Bioshocks are very good games, they can be pretty difficult, if you play at the harder modes, but they weren't devised to make people freak out over difficulty they were made to tell a brilliant story, through enjoyable gameplay, great visuals, characters, mood and setting. Which they did. Fan-****ing-tastic.

Operation Flashpoint - I'll give you that.

Far Cry - 2nd one is about 5000 miles better and bigger than the original. The first one was a buggy heap of ****e, It looked good, that's all, nothing else, stupid story, stupid AI, Stupid everything.

Fallout - We can argue which ones are better but to dismiss fallout 3 in such an off the cuff manor is stange - you whine on about games these days being 8 hours long - when this game is an absolute bohemoth, you can sink a life time into this.

Mass Effect - Right wtf? BOTH GAMES WERE THIS GENERATION. I loved both of these games and the 1st one is the better, barely, but only based on story, The characters work fantastically in both, the gunplay is better in the 2nd, and it looks marginally better, they are much of a muchness, watered down? never.

Command & Conquer - Yea I don't care for the new ones really at all - I haven't cared since Generals, but you seem to be including that in your little tirade so I might as well call you on that too - fantastic multiplayer, supremely balanced, an absolute bucket of fun to play - and of course with multiplayer it's as hard as your competition so if you can play people good enough you'll find all the difficulty you need.

RealistSpy

Is this still the final fantasy thread?

chrislad

Friend got FFXIII. Couldn't stand it so I gave him Mass Effect 2 for it! Nice! Had a massive playthrough on Mass Effect 2, so just had to do it on Insanity, which I will do later on. Only played the first little tutorial. Seems interesting so far but I'm literally 10 minutes in so we shall see.

RealistSpy

chrislad wrote: »

Friend got FFXIII. Couldn't stand it so I gave him Mass Effect 2 for it! Nice! Had a massive playthrough on Mass Effect 2, so just had to do it on Insanity, which I will do later on. Only played the first little tutorial. Seems interesting so far but I'm literally 10 minutes in so we shall see.

The game is actually good but the tutorial last for 3 hours :P

Xluna

kdave wrote: »

The linearity of many games on the current generation consoles is such a dissappointing element in this current generation of gaming .It seams that games companies are buying into the new crop of the post FPS, Gears of War gaming community.
Games such as Metal Gear Solid 4, Resident Evil 5 and now Final Fantasy 13(all watered down games in relation to their predecessors) are just three examples of how previously great series have been affected by the current trend in the gaming industury where abominations like call of duty and gears of war can succeed over other more creative well structured games

I agree with this,though I can't see the link to call of duty and gow(Japanese gamers practically never play fps games). I'm relieved that at least Street Fighter IV remained true to old school values. Games are more popular now so companies want to target mainstream/casual gamers. So to make maximum profits they will alter their franchises to appeal to the mainstream. O.K. if you like a more pretty albeit shallow experiance but not my tastes tbh.