Final Fantasy XIII Lightning Returns

imitation

Anybody else pick this up yesterday ? I'm enjoying it at least.

The combats really enjoyable, they finally got rid of the auto ability spam that always felt a bit wrong with the paradigm system, it feels more skillful, but not overwhelming. I actually liked paradigms as well just to note, but in the old system what individual spells you used wasn't really vital, you could mash auto and the game would use the most effective.

Character advancement is markedly different, theres no xp, its mostly rewarded from side quests. Tough to tell at the start if that's a big deal or not, but the time based thing has a big effect.

As for the time based thing, I'm not sure about it, you get 6 days at the start, with bonus days unlock, there is loads of time dependent stuff going on. Time flows very rapidly, its like 2 or 3 seconds for one game minute. You can pause time with points rewarded from monster fights, but it takes 6 or 7 trash packs for one pause, which feels like its 30 to 60 game minutes. If your wandering through a quiet spot its easy to miss monsters, so if your going for completeness its tough to get the time, I have the guide with sample schedules and I'm finding even keeping to that is tricky. Its definitely unique and adds pace and urgency, but if your coming home from a day at work of scheduling and remembering things, well its a bit stressful.

The game is a lot more openworld now with many side quests and you can diverge from main quest after the prologue , were not talking elder scrolls though in size though, its not unlike the open world sections in the previous games. The time thing also robs from open world and free choice sadly.

Still, I'm only 4 hours in so ill see how it goes !

ancapailldorcha

I'm thinking of picking it up at the end of the month. I hope they do a better job of the sidequests instead of the padding that XIII-2 got.

ancapailldorcha

Jeremy Parish seems to like it so that's good enough for me:

http://www.usgamer.net/articles/lightning-returns-ps3-review-the-future-of-final-fantasy-no-but-definitely-an-intriguingly-weird-present

Aurongroove

I'll try it once I have two new platinums under my belt from X/X-2 HD

I also need to return to my XIV account at some point in the future, and play the Kingdom hearts collection.

WTF are SE doing, nothing for Ps3 then an Avalanche of releases.

Aurongroove

BTW, it's Lightning Returns, not Lightnung.

A correction will help topic searching and what-not.

imitation

I can't rename it seems.

After finishing it (and damn near 100% it), I didn't really enjoy it as much as any of the other FF games I've played, the combat is pretty fun and its got its plus points, but I feel after trying to follow the guide and do everything in one playthrough, it kind of ruined the pacing of the (weird even by FF standards) plot.

Interestingly the HD remaster of X has combined sales of 1.14 million vs 0.97m for LR, probably not great encouragement for trilogy's in FF games.

Retr0gamer

I renamed it there.

dlm

Disclaimer: I've only played the first 3 hours

I found the first and second installments relaxing to play as you could sit back and enjoy the spectacle and engage with character setup as much or little as you please. This one has you rushing about the place doing quests so if you're a perfectionist without a guide you won't enjoy it.

The combat and combat setup seems interesting which has been one of the main draws of all of this trilogy but even that, for me, can't overcome the constant time pressure and (by most accounts) weak story this time around.

ancapailldorcha

I'm playing it after a long break. I have to say that it's quite good.

The battle system is a bit more restrictive this time around. You have access to much fewer abilities in battle so a little planning is required. I like some of the sidequests but the NPCs are so tedious to engage with that I'm using a guide to skip over the diaglogue. They've neutered Lightning's character as well which is a shame. She's lost the fire which made her so compelling to begin with.

I have mixed feelings about the countdown. It punishes you for excessive exploring which is what the developers were clearly focusing on when designing the areas. It streamlines the proceedings meaning you have to pick and choose sidequests as some are definitely more time-consuming than others. I'm not sure if I'll beat it on my first run. It's quite difficult and the bosses pack a wallop. It's infinitely superior to Crisis Core at least but then, so was my last trip to the dentist.

elekid

I finished it over the weekend and thought it was great. I agree the npcs were a bit of a drag but I liked the overall atmosphere and story. The battles were fun too, I enjoyed trying out different garb to find the best way to beat enemies.

I played on easy and still had trouble with some of the bosses, moreso towards the start of the game. I was also able to keep Chronostasis going almost constantly so the time limit wasn't a big deal. I actually ended up sleeping the last few days away because I overused it and had nothing left to do!

ancapailldorcha

I used a guide in case I didn't get everything done. I also did the Luxerion main quest first which was a big mistake as I didn't realise you could travel to and from the other areas as you please.
I'm not far away from the end but I think I'll have to discard the last few days as I've so little left to do with them.

Moneymaker

I finished it there on Hard mode a few days back.

Good lord some of the boss fights(especially the optional superbosses) are brutal.

I ended up having to fight Bhunizelve+ too. 17,500,000HP :eek:

I liked the game overall, lots of freedom, lovely wide open areas. Yes the quests can get repetitive but I enjoyed every second of it.

elekid

Yeah, with the amount of freedom you have in this and XIII-2 it really feels like they listened to the criticisms of the "corridor" level design from the first game.

ancapailldorcha

elekid wrote: »

Yeah, with the amount of freedom you have in this and XIII-2 it really feels like they listened to the criticisms of the "corridor" level design from the first game.

People seem determined to hate the Final Fantasy XIII series regardless of what they do, sadly.

imitation

elekid wrote: »

Yeah, with the amount of freedom you have in this and XIII-2 it really feels like they listened to the criticisms of the "corridor" level design from the first game.

I didn't mind the corridor environments of FF XIII, simply because it let them do some amazing looking levels and graphics. Ultimately it also got rid of some of the frustration I get with open world games that often leaves you directionless. I liked the sequels, although LR is probably my least favorite of the 3, it feels a bit rough around the edges in some parts...

ancapailldorcha

imitation wrote: »

I didn't mind the corridor environments of FF XIII, simply because it let them do some amazing looking levels and graphics. Ultimately it also got rid of some of the frustration I get with open world games that often leaves you directionless. I liked the sequels, although LR is probably my least favorite of the 3, it feels a bit rough around the edges in some parts...

I think that the engine wasn't designed with open worlds in mind which would certainly explain the framerate drops and dip in graphical quality when compared to the original.

FGR

Just finished this. Really enjoyed it. I noticed that to make the most of the series you have to do a lot of reading via datalogs and online wikis to understand the mythology behind the story - but it's worth it. I have more questions about FFXIII 2 than Lightning Returns..but I think that's the nature of the beast when it comes to plots regarding time travel.

I hope I'll like FFXV...For some reason I never got on with the medieval like, non sci-fi FFs.