[Game Complete] Pushing It to the Thirteenth Hour: My Step by Step Impressions of Final Fantasy XIII.

[Cat Rage Room]

Tres, can you split these posts into the FFVIII topic for me?

 

[Strangelove]

FFVIII posts moved.

I haven't played the English version (I liked the voice acting I had, though), few people would want my Japanese-only copy even if I would sell it/don't sell any games ever, and cba making ranking lists, so I won't really do anything about that.

But I would have said the high points for me were the characters and the world. I didn't go into it with much of an opinion on the characters but came out liking the main cast, and liked the concept of the fal'Cie and all that. Also, while there's stuff missing that I'd liked to have seen implimented (like being able to switch characters at will/when your main was OK'd), I liked the battle system. I'd be up for a FFXIII if what Kitase said about being able to focus on the story, etc. holds true.

But some other things to do would have been nice. Like a playable section during the Eden opening scene or something.

 

[Vendel]

So can you give me the cliff notes version of this thread?

Like one or two paragraphs?

 

[ForceStealer]

Basically Mog more or less enjoyed it but wouldn't recommend paying $60 for it.

 

[Vendel]

Or one sentence.

 

[Joker]

loldysley

 

[Joker]

My own update: 32 hours, 14 minutes

Just reached the beginning of Chapter Ten, and I gotta say, even though I kiiinda figured that what was revealed at the end of Chapter Nine was coming, I was still impressed and thrown slightly off-balance by it. Very nice.

Still waiting to make it to Gran Pulse, because I happen to like grinding and development into uber status. However, finally being able to freely select my party members is very nifty, and finally having the stuff I need to do some upgrading helps, too: I maxed out Hope's weapon aaaages ago and have been dying to pick up its catalyst and move on.

Also, reaching this point means the most important part of the game is finally starting - the part where I have Fang around at all times

 

[Cat Rage Room]

In hindsight, I think I would have enjoyed FFXIII a lot more if the story/narrative was written to be Sahz and Friends.

He even has the best musical theme. Damn, son.

 

[Cat Rage Room]

Quoted from another forum;

I've completed the game and I still do not understand the appeal behind the Crystarium System.

You'd think that Ravager (Black Mage) would have a load of Magic Nodes with a few Health Nodes dotted around, but we've got a mixed amount of Magic, Strength and Health in here; with the exception of skills every role is very similar give or take a few stat differences. Until Chapter Ten (?) you can only advance along three roles for each character and because the game constantly level caps you, you alway fully develop all the roles before the end of the dungeon anyway.

Once you've chosen a role to advance along there are no branches or different paths to follow, just one path with a few Nodes sticking out. Like I said above, since you always get enough CP to max out before it is expanded again, there is no reason why you would skip these bumps in the path. It just ends up as leveling up you have to do manually.

 

[ForceStealer]

Well it is leveling up manually and they could have done away with the pomp and circumstance of it, but just leveling it up normally would kind of preclude you from pick where you want your points to go. They may as well have made it a straight line, yes, but when people say you should just level up normally they're forgetting that you do have choice as to how many points go to which role.

 

[Cat Rage Room]

That's true, but the point cost for roles outside of a character's 'niche' (for example, Snow being a Medic) is so high that you may not as even bother. I don't mind the game steering characters in certain directions (to me that's a lot better than ANYONE CAN BE ANYTHING), but when there's an illusion of a choice because of too high point costs and no stats but Strength and Magic, well...

 

[Joker]

I do rather like the way the Crystarium was done, in that sense, because it does give you a bit of guidance in how to use the characters and form a party and all. But I don't like that it's literally IMPOSSIBLE to have, as you said, Snow become a competent Medic. I'd much rather that it was possible, and just really hard and time-consuming, as opposed to "he's never going to learn all the spells so you will never set him up that way, ever, but enjoy some stats at ridiculous costs".

My other Crystarium complaint is how it looks. Can't stand that retarded multi-level circular bullshit. Give me a giant Sphere Grid ANY day (although the Sphere Grid was fucking boss)...even the License Board had a better layout better than this...mess. =/


Also, update: 51 hours, 44 minutes

I've just reached Taejin's Tower, having spent several hours screwing around leveling and farming and so forth upon reaching the Archylte Steppe. I've managed to do a fair bit of the hunts, and I've now got two second tier weapons (poor Lightning is still sitting on a Blazefire Saber, even if it is at level *). I've almost maxed out the Crystarium for my characters' current stage of progression, as well, but I'm annoyed that I can't find something to farm for money to buy upgrading components with =/

Also, the scene with Sazh and the cactuar, which I just saw and paused the game to type this message about, is possibly my favorite scene of the entire game, with the trip to Gran Pulse being the only other contender. All I can say is this: o my fucking roffle. Sazh talking shit brings me joy.

 

[ForceStealer]

I do rather like the way the Crystarium was done, in that sense, because it does give you a bit of guidance in how to use the characters and form a party and all. But I don't like that it's literally IMPOSSIBLE to have, as you said, Snow become a competent Medic. I'd much rather that it was possible, and just really hard and time-consuming, as opposed to "he's never going to learn all the spells so you will never set him up that way, ever, but enjoy some stats at ridiculous costs".

I partly agree, but not unilaterally. Some characters learn some useful skills even in roles they will never be completely useful in. For example, Fang will never make a top-tier synergist, at least not in the same league as Sazh. However, she can learn Haste sooner than...whoever the other character is that learns it (Hope?). And since Haste is damn near crucial, Fang was the first character that I diverted points to a role separate from their starting 3 to teach her Haste.

Since I always wanted (if not needed) haste in every battle, having only one character that knew it kind of restricted my party building. So it was very useful to put some of Fang's points into Synergist.

 

[Cat Rage Room]

MONTHS LONG AFTER THE FACT RETROSPECTIVE OPINION:

Final Fantasy XIII is awful.

 

[Vossler]

MONTHS LONG AFTER THE FACT RETROSPECTIVE OPINION:

Final Fantasy XIII is awful.

Well to be quite honest I didn't think it was a bad game story line wise but it seemed awful short. Did anyone notice that the FF series seems to be getting shorter and shorter when it comes to the story lines? There seems to be more of the side-quests then anything.
I also noticed that some of the game play reminded me of FF X. Personally I still think that FF 12 has the best game play when it comes to map demographics. You could explore more.

 

[ForceStealer]

MONTHS LONG AFTER THE FACT RETROSPECTIVE OPINION:

Final Fantasy XIII is awful.

Fine. Now go continue your Towns of FF7.

 

[Lord Noctis]

Fine. Now go continue your Towns of FF7.

 

[looneymoon]

Some rambled disjointed thoughts off the top of my head. Major spoilers btw

Spoiler

The game was really, really short. I beat the main game a little under 45 hours, when a typical FF game would take me from 50 to 60 hours at least. Plus, after the end I really had no motivation to go back and do the side stuff. So yeah, length was a mitigating factor imo.

As for the story... The story is intriguing, but I think the length makes it suffer from some narrative weaknesses. It seems very fragmented somehow, relying too much on the datalogue for proper coherance. Not to mention, they built this really intriguing political-social-cultural setting but it sort of goes to waste. We are only allowed to know the biggest generalities of the setting, just so we can follow what's going on. Details pretty much go out the window. The focus was too much on the characters. I mean, it's great to focus on the characters and all - I can't fault it in that regard, because I did care what happened to them. But, there needs to be a balance y'know? Especially in a video game, where world building is arguably the essential aspect to the experience.
In this regard, it's sort of the antithesis of FFXII. In that game, the world had a whole lot of emphasis but it was hard to care about the characters. XIII made a better "movie" than XII, but XII was imo a better gaming experience, as the emphasis were on the more game-related things. Hopefully after the last two experiences, Square can find some sort of middle-ground, so as to not split the fandom further.

Just another thought: it maybe because Sahz's eidolon scene was so powerful, but I felt the ones that came after his were a little... lackluster. I dunno, Fang+Vanille+Hope's eidolon scenes seemed less emotionally engrossing than Light+Snow+Sahz's imo. Like the writers were like "well... they need to get them at some point." Idk, seemed half-assed in comparison. Of course, could just be me.

Also, starting in media res did not work for the narrative AT ALL in retrospect. It would have been a stronger narrative if you actually got to play through those 13 Days leading up to the critical events. Not to mention it would make better game as a whole, as that would allow you to see firsthand more of Cocoon/development etc.

the ending was something I really enjoyed made me feel a little weepy :<

 

[Cat Rage Room]

FFXIII is not necessarily awful because of itself. The graphics are gorgeous, the music is stellar, the character narrative is refreshing, and the story in itself, well, it isn't bad.

It's just...hard to really like given the fact that it's such a regression as a game. The only Final Fantasies that don't have more depth to its gameplay and how it plays are the first three, and that's saying something. Almost every single Square game in the past 15 years has more content than FFXIII, and compared to what some games can offer nowadays? FFXIII can't even compare.

 

[looneymoon]

I liked the game while playing it but... I think pretty much every aspect of it just could have been better; especially for such a long-awaited release. This isn't even hype talking as I really did not even think much about the game until about a week before its release. Maybe in a months time I'd be calling it awful too, but as of now I'll say it's average. Plus, I really liked its characters and story even though I feel there were problems in its narrative execution.

Like Mog says, it just isn't top-notch as the Final Fantasy series tends to be. The only things I felt were up to par were music and graphics.

 

[Vossler]

FFXIII is not necessarily awful because of itself. The graphics are gorgeous, the music is stellar, the character narrative is refreshing, and the story in itself, well, it isn't bad.

I concur when it comes to graphics wise and with my PS3 hooked through a HD cable it's even more stunning. Especially the monsters and inhabitants of Gran Pulse. The music was beautifully done. The thing that was frustrating to me is the leveling weapons system and the amount it takes to do it. Although I find it challenging,if they were to do it that way then they should limit the number of weapons that are able to be synthesized. It seemed to get confusing and half of the accessories I found I didn't even use. I plan on experimenting more with the upgrading shit but as far as game play the only thing I found revelent when it came to upgrading and leveling were the weapons. I didn't do much with the accessories.
I liked the Crystarium Idea, reminded me of the sphere grid of FF10. Just not as complex. The paradigms were cool and the fact you could customize who could do what interesting but even in that aspect your limited to just one job class and can't have them do anything else but whatever paradigm class you have on. Such as a ravager can only do ravager and medic can only do medic.
In the long run it wasn't a bad game to play just a short story line and it did seem rather easy compared to other FF series. However as far as length goes they seem to now concentrate on the hunt system that was popular with FF12 and placed it on steriods in 13. To be frank I would rather have a long story line like FF7. The side quests now seem to be irrelevant to the game.