Something's wrong, and I'm gonna say it - FFXIII Spoilers abound

[Makoeyes987]

But what worked on X console takes more space on a next generation console. Those 50MB of cutscenes, push up to a HD resolution, might take up three times as much space/30-odd GB. But if that ratio worked for past games, why would it be that different on a next gen console?

Exactly, and that's why games today make use of that much more space. That ratio worked for past games, but is inexcusable for games of today. Because it doesn't measure up or lend itself to a game that meets the quality expectation of next gen console games.

How does FFXIII compare to other next generation games in that respect? What's something like White Knight Chronicles' ratio of CGI scenes to gameplay data (though I haven't played that so don't know if it actually has that many CGI scenes.

Not that I actually know anything about this shit

Well those are fair enough questions, but already other next gen RPGs have more gameplay content than FFXIII based on the facts we know now.

Are there. You just can't go back to the ones you visit.

The number of towns you do visit are hilariously small, and you don't do much in them. Compared to FFXII, there's basically no towns.

Are there (Hanged Edge, Palumpolum, Nautilus, Eden).

Again, the number of NPCs are so scant, that there's basically none when compared to all the interaction with people, to the point they become side characters, like in FFVI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, and XII.

Gran Pulse.

That's one place, and its basically like the Calm Lands.

Wut.

The numbers of items are small hito, compared to other games. I think you can count on one or two hands the number of battle items you use in the game.

Where have you been getting information from?

Is it not true that you don't buy weapons in this game? You basically just upgrade the stats and/or weapon itself?

Like a more advanced FFX?

Yes exactly. There's really no form of stat customization or character customization here.

There's like a dozen.

...You know what I mean. Buying stuff from save points does not count as a shop. XD

The missions.

That's like saying the Rare Marks of FFXII are optional bosses. They're unique monsters but they aren't the likes of Omega, Ozma, Ultima Weapon, Ruby Weapon, or Emerald Weapon.

In Gran Pulse.

There's an optional dungeon in Gran Pulse? What's it called, and how large is it?

 

[Cat Rage Room]

Gameplay alone doesn't make a game either; it just makes it a game. I don't know about you, but I never play a game, especially RPGs, simply for the gameplay. I expect my games to have a plotline and an interesting story.

Wrong. Dead wrong. Don't get me wrong, your personal preferences are your own, but nobody plays fighting games, first person shooters, sports games, action games, etc for the story over the gameplay, if for the story at all.

The gameplay makes the game. Period. The story isn't always necessary and can be entirely omitted depending on the genre. Even in the case of RPGs, fun gameplay can totally override the story. How many people enjoyed FFV for its 'wondrous' story? No, FFV gets most of its acclaim comes from its job system and balanced gameplay.

 

[shenron118]

That's what makes it inferior. They didn't evolve and take the genre or franchise further, they went backwards. That's a sign of laziness.

Considering this is SE first try on a next gen console, I'm willing to let this slide. They might not be so lucky next time.

It depends on the "chunks of gameplay." If the gameplay is repetitive, weak, and easy, then its basically worthless filler. FFXIII's gameplay can basically be compared to FFX-2's except in a prettier package.

From what I've seen, the in-between gameplay is as repetitive as any other game's in-between map-wandering battle parts.

....Um, considering dialogue is the main avenue where we see a character interact, and converse with the characters in the movie. Hell yes, dialogue is important. All he did was fight in the Bahamut Shin fight and get slapped on the head by Cait Sith.

And the other characters didn't get much more. If you're name wasn't Cloud, Tifa, Kadaj, or Rufus, you really didn't get that many lines.

...Are you serious? Again. A character not speaking at all in the film, basically makes them a fixture in the background. Dialogue is how a character interacts, converses, and interject themselves in the scene. I guess if dialogue isn't important.... Cloud could through the entire movie and not say a word and it'd be just as good. Or Tifa. Or Sephiroth. Or Cid.

Actions speak louder than words. If a character, hardly spoke, but demonstrated themselves with actions, they can still do just about everything you listed. AC just never gave the characters other than Cloud and a few others much of a chance interact with each other.

And tbh, the movie would have been better if Cloud just stopped talking and grew some balls.

You need dialogue. Especially in characters who've demonstrated speech before and were important, main characters to the story.

Which brings up characters like Cid, Barret, and Yuffie. Sure they had more lines, but the one line Red had was a hell of a lot more important than most the other three's lines.

The characters were introduced during a battle scene. That doesn't give them much of a chance to talk.

Towns, people, explorable environments, items, weapons, character customization, shops, optional bosses, optional dungeons and overall difficulty are pretty damn important elements that have been lost. The replay choice being optional doesn't make the game anymore difficult. The fact its a choice and not an inherent requirement to the difficulty and challenge of progression makes the game easier. And FFXIII's maps are already smaller than the previous PS2 installment of the franchise. That's a big problem.

Let's make a checklist:
*Towns - exists, but aren't really open to that much exploration
*People - exists, but don't interact with the characters
*Explorable Environments - exists, available eventually
*Items - exists, a PS3 trophy is devoted to collecting all the items and weapons
*Weapons - also exists, see "Items"
*Character Customization - exists, the 3D sphere grid thing and I do believe there are accessories
*Optional Bosses - exists, hunt-like missions
*Optional Dungeons - not sure about this one, but I think some of the missions have these

Oh, and I wasn't talking about the replay option; I was talking about the "choose the best attack" button. You can take the easy way out, but some people prefer to strategize alone.

There are lots of FPSs that have amazing stories, and even RPG elements. Furthermore, RPGs tell their stories through gameplay and player interaction. Ripping story from gameplay in an RPG is rather bizarre.

Yes, there are FPSs with amazing stories, few manage to tell those amazing stories in a single game that's as long as an FF. ODST, for example, was a beautiful game with a fun, chapter-based storyline, but the story was pretty short, and I wanted it to go on longer.

Okay, that's cool. Have you played any of the other past FFs before?

I've played the DS version of III and watched some of VI, but that's it. I've been thinking about getting IV, but I don't really play my DS, and I have games like Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days which I've been playing instead.

Well you could always play them now.

Once I find them somewhere cheap that doesn't make me pay shipping, I'm all for it.

That reputation for immersive stories started with FF1, IV, and VI. And that was back in the late 80s. And FF's RPG elements aren't enough to make a full game today? I'd have you look at FFT:A2, FFIV DS, and FF Gaiden. They've done it plenty of times.

But the ones with immersive stories were followed by the ones with less compelling plots. From VI on, they've consistently had great storylines, rather than SE throwing a title in there that didn't give as much spotlight to the story.

FFXIII still has FF's RPG elements, they're just not as in the forefront as before. And, to be completely honest, I've a lot people saying that this wasn't noticeable while playing.

Because it still doesn't excuse it. The fact of the matter is, they cut corners. And writing the story to justify it, still doesn't justify or give adequate reason to them cutting corners and being lazy.

I'm waiting for SE to release a statement that says: "Sorry guys, but we cba to do that stuff."

Yeah, it's lazy and it doesn't justify their laziness, but they didn't just hand us the game and not give us a reason. As far as gameplay goes, the plot excuses that, and it pulls off the whole "people against the world" spiel they said earlier.

I think its either fear, lazinesss, or both, personally.

Maybe they care more about their brooding heroes in Versus than their lesibians in XIII?

A side-quest where you just kill shit, is not enough. That's basically a stripped down version of FFXII's Hunter/Clan HUnt Side Quest, except FFXIII's is not nearly as numerous, in depth, or amusing in terms of its interaction with people and understanding the world of the game. A side quest of just killing shit is pretty weak. How does a first era PS2 game (FFX) manage to have more side quests and exploration than a PS3 era game that took years to develop? Matsuno was able to squeeze so much content on a PS2 disc over around the same period, yet these guys spent the same amount of time, with a higher capability disc and technology, and gave us less? There's seriously something wrong.

I'll be honest, I can't come up for a response for this atm. Maybe I'll be assed later, when I'm not getting yelled at to go eat dinner.

Hey...if you read the initial post in this thread, I warned you.

I'm still excited for the game itself, but I'm becoming increasingly less excited about the fandom.

But the facts need to be said. An inferior product needs to be called out.

The way I look at it, it's not an inferior product unless it's not as fun as it predecessors . If it honestly sucks as much as you're saying, then yes, it's inferior.

Wrong. Dead wrong. Don't get me wrong, your personal preferences are your own, but nobody plays fighting games, first person shooters, sports games, action games, etc for the story over the gameplay, if for the story at all.

I said simply, which means I don't just take just gameplay or the story into account. We're at odds here, but I want more than just gameplay. I used to play FE just for the gameplay, and I hated it. Once I started following the story, it was so much better for me.


Damn, these tl;dr are like fucking marathons. I should have conditioned for this shit first.


EDIT: Now that I no longer have to worry about dying at the hands of my parents, I can go on.

The gameplay makes the game. Period. The story isn't always necessary and can be entirely omitted depending on the genre. Even in the case of RPGs, fun gameplay can totally override the story. How many people enjoyed FFV for its 'wondrous' story? No, FFV gets most of its acclaim comes from its job system and balanced gameplay.

At the same time, plenty of people hated FFV. Plenty of people will hate FFXIII, but if XIII is generally accepted by the public, though, it'll probably get its acclaim for the exact opposite: its "wondrous" story, instead of balanced gameplay.

 

[Strangelove]

Exactly, and that's why games today make use of that much more space. That ratio worked for past games, but is inexcusable for games of today. Because it doesn't measure up or lend itself to a game that meets the quality expectation of next gen console games.

Well those are fair enough questions, but already other next gen RPGs have more gameplay content than FFXIII based on the facts we know now.

FFXIII is actually the first next generation RPG I've played so far, so I wouldn't know

The number of towns you do visit are hilariously small, and you don't do much in them. Compared to FFXII, there's basically no towns.

I won't disagree with you there, there aren't many.

I didn't really

Again, the number of NPCs are so scant, that there's basically none when compared to all the interaction with people, to the point they become side characters, like in FFVI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, and XII.

The difference between those games and FFXIII is that in FFXIII, every NPC is voiced. If they as many NPCs as past games, that would mean they would have to either find (and pay) that many actors, or reused the same few (which they probably already did).

Or hire Koichi Yamadera. I think his name appeared in the credits of Birth by Sleep like, 5 times

That's one place, and its basically like the Calm Lands.

Except like over 5 times bigger

The numbers of items are small hito, compared to other games. I think you can count on one or two hands the number of battle items you use in the game.

The difference is that you don't need the other items as much in FFXIII. Since it uses an ATB cost instead of MP, you aren't going to need to use some item to cast an ice spell or Bio. What it has works fine for what's there.

Is it not true that you don't buy weapons in this game? You basically just upgrade the stats and/or weapon itself?

You can buy weapons (you'll probably find them all anyway), and you upgrade the weapons.

Yes exactly. There's really no form of stat customization or character customization here.

Except there is? There's not as many stats, but you still can still customise them and unlike FFXII and (maybe, I'm not sure now) FFX, you can customise the jobs/roles easier in FFXIII. You don't have to to go through Attacker skills to get a character to get Jammer skills (like you'd have to go through certain Licenses/Spheres), since they're separate paths.

You still can't just pick and choose skills, but there's a bit more freedom.

...You know what I mean. Buying stuff from save points does not count as a shop. XD

Same function, though

After a certain part of the game, where Lightning, Hope, Snow and Fang are broadcast on the news calling them L'Cei, having them just be able to walk into a shop and buy stuff like nothing's wrong seems a little strange

That's like saying the Rare Marks of FFXII are optional bosses. They're unique monsters but they aren't the likes of Omega, Ozma, Ultima Weapon, Ruby Weapon, or Emerald Weapon.

Wouldn't Gilgamesh and the like count as optional bosses?

There's an optional dungeon in Gran Pulse? What's it called, and how large is it?

I can't remember its name, I haven't gotten there yet. The difficulty is hindering my progress It's the Throne of Titan (or that's one of the places in it).

 

[Celes Chere]

Oh yeah, that's true. For some reason it slipped my mind that Crisis Core is on the PSP.

The number of towns you do visit are hilariously small, and you don't do much in them. Compared to FFXII, there's basically no towns.

Something I liked about FFXII also, is that you got to explore on your way to different towns/areas. You filled in the maps in as you went, found treasure, all that good stuff. I remember running from that fucking Trex in the very beginning. That was awesome. Maybe it's because I was freaking out like a tard, but it was still awesome. And, I like having NPC's around, because I like some of them. Some of them actually have some funny/interesting things to say, and if you talk to the right person you can score items just for listening.

That's one place, and its basically like the Calm Lands.

I hope it looks more interesting than the Calm lands, which was just a bunch of grass. xD

Gameplay alone doesn't make a game either; it just makes it a game.

But... it IS a game, lol. I think that there should be a decent balance. As much as I love story-line and characters, there needs to be a good amount of game play or else it's not a game, it's a movie, and therefore should just be made into a movie instead of having us waste our time 'playing' it, you know?
I play RPGs to get lost in another world, to really get into the story. However, if I'm not doing a fair share of interacting and actual playing, then it's just not going to hook me in. I think Lost Odyssey is a good example of an excellent RPG. That's a game with TONS of cutscenes and story-line, but there is a lot of people you can interact with. The battles are extremely fun, and so are the bosses. Damn that stupid snake All in all, there just has to be a good balance. I don't pick up a game and expect to just sit there and watch the story- I want to be a part of it.

God, I feel nerdy. <=/

How many people enjoyed FFV for its 'wondrous' story? No, FFV gets most of its acclaim comes from its job system and balanced gameplay.

LOL I know I didn't. The story-line sucked balls. I agree that the job system is what kept me playing. That, and Faris.

I prefer TLDR posts to one liners... they're more fun. If you type fast.

 

[Makoeyes987]

Considering this is SE first try on a next gen console, I'm willing to let this slide. They might not be so lucky next time.

Actually...it's not. The Last Remnant and Star Ocean 4 say hi.

From what I've seen, the in-between gameplay is as repetitive as any other game's in-between map-wandering battle parts.

No it's not. FFXII's gameplay was pretty damn intense especially with how it had combat take place in the real world and in real time.

...That's another thing. What the hell happened to the promise of combat being in real time and on the overworld, that was promised when the game was first announced?

And the other characters didn't get much more. If you're name wasn't Cloud, Tifa, Kadaj, or Rufus, you really didn't get that many lines.

...It's still more than one single line of dialogue. Even throw-away, movie only characters spoke more than one of the main party members of FFVII who's backstory and character was pretty important in the original game. Disproportionate dialogue.

Actions speak louder than words. If a character, hardly spoke, but demonstrated themselves with actions, they can still do just about everything you listed. AC just never gave the characters other than Cloud and a few others much of a chance interact with each other.

That's not necessarily true, and most movie directors and screen writers would tell you that well written dialogue and direction is one of the most important aspects that present a character and their importance to a store. Actions are important but in a medium that is a fusion of visual and aural stimulation, forsaking one form of presentation is basically showcasing half a character. Unless their a mime, mute, or animal, if they talk..they need to talk to convey their character traits and interaction with the characters.

And tbh, the movie would have been better if Cloud just stopped talking and grew some balls.

Well he does at the end once his issues are resolved, and tbh, if he didn't talk at all, people like you would still be complaining about him not saying enough and being boring/emo.

Which brings up characters like Cid, Barret, and Yuffie. Sure they had more lines, but the one line Red had was a hell of a lot more important than most the other three's lines.

"There are still children with the stigma."

...How the hell is that an important line?!?! He's stating the obvious!

Barret's hilarious teasing of Cloud and announcement of where he's been for the past two years, Vincent's explanation of the remnants of Sephiroth, Yuffie's comical jab at Cloud's character when he goes it alone against Kadaj, and even Cait Sith telling her to shut her damn mouth had just as much, if not more relevance than Red XIII stating the obvious of Denzel still having a big black mark on his head. There was no significance or importance to that line XD

The characters were introduced during a battle scene. That doesn't give them much of a chance to talk.

Yet they still managed to have more than one line of dialogue. That's pretty funny.

Let's make a checklist:
*Towns - exists, but aren't really open to that much exploration
*People - exists, but don't interact with the characters
*Explorable Environments - exists, available eventually
*Items - exists, a PS3 trophy is devoted to collecting all the items and weapons
*Weapons - also exists, see "Items"
*Character Customization - exists, the 3D sphere grid thing and I do believe there are accessories
*Optional Bosses - exists, hunt-like missions
*Optional Dungeons - not sure about this one, but I think some of the missions have these

For the town to be relevant, it has to be explorable and inhabited, otherwise its just graphical filler. It's not serving the function of a town in an RPG.

The people exist but again, you don't interact with them, and the ones you do are few and far between, and you only really talk.

The explorable environments exist but are few and far between.

The number of items are smaller than in previous installments. And I was under the impression there are no weapons. Just upgrading your current weapon.

The customization system of characters is a joke. It's basically a sphere grid except you don't control where the development leads, or how you build the stats. Which in the end is just basically the computer growing the characters how it wants. There is no customization.

Hunts don't count as optional super bosses because they are not super. It'd be the equivalent of saying all the rare marks of FFXII were optional bosses. They aren't. They're unique, moderately difficult palette swaps of monsters. I'm talking about the equivalent of Yiazmat or Omega Mk. XII. Are all the hunts in FFXIII that difficult and powerful?

Oh, and I wasn't talking about the replay option; I was talking about the "choose the best attack" button. You can take the easy way out, but some people prefer to strategize alone.

Ahh that one. Same criticism applies.

I've played the DS version of III and watched some of VI, but that's it. I've been thinking about getting IV, but I don't really play my DS, and I have games like Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days which I've been playing instead.

I seriously recommend trying out the older FFs. If for no other reason, than to see how the series evolved and to see its roots. It's interesting and you can find them for dirt cheap, or even play them online via roms and emulators.

But the ones with immersive stories were followed by the ones with less compelling plots. From VI on, they've consistently had great storylines, rather than SE throwing a title in there that didn't give as much spotlight to the story.

But they never sacrificed gameplay either. They treated it as just as important.

FFXIII still has FF's RPG elements, they're just not as in the forefront as before. And, to be completely honest, I've a lot people saying that this wasn't noticeable while playing.

The RPG elements are vestigial and forced. And I'd question how long those people have been playing FF games, RPGs, or if they've been playing any other games in their gaming history.

I'm waiting for SE to release a statement that says: "Sorry guys, but we cba to do that stuff."

LOL they pretty much already did.

Yeah, it's lazy and it doesn't justify their laziness, but they didn't just hand us the game and not give us a reason. As far as gameplay goes, the plot excuses that, and it pulls off the whole "people against the world" spiel they said earlier.

They could've done that and still kept it as an RPG. Look at Vagrant Story, one of the best action RPGs ever done by S-E. You don't have a single town and very, very few NPCs, but it still lends itself to its RPG roots by allowing you to talk to your party members, buying items, exploring the vast world you're in, and having one of the most unique battle systems ever.

And it was a PSone game. It blows FFXIII out of the water.

Maybe they care more about their brooding heroes in Versus than their lesibians in XIII?

FFXIII Versus is already going to be more of a game than FFXIII. Actual Airship flying, Airship battles, a fully explorable map, fully explorable cities, and an actual action RPG battle system that requires more than button mashing...I'm thinking Nomura's direction is whats needed. Because KH has more of an FF RPG feel than FFXIII does.

I'll be honest, I can't come up for a response for this atm. Maybe I'll be assed later, when I'm not getting yelled at to go eat dinner.

LOL okay.


[quoI'm still excited for the game itself, but I'm becoming increasingly less excited about the fandom.[/quote]

Well I'm sure the fandom will be nice...it just looks like the only thing people are mostly excited for here are the lesbians though. Which I find rather odd...and tbh, kinda sad. Because I sure as hell hope it has more to offer than that.

I said simply, which means I don't just take just gameplay into account. We're at odds here, but I want more than just gameplay. I used to play FE just for the gameplay, and I hated it. Once I started following the story, it was so much better for me.

I just don't get this divide between gameplay and story. I'm used to gameplay being an avenue for the story to tell itself and unfold. You play and your actions progress the story. Not just...Play...watch cutscene...play..watch cutscene, etc. That's what annoyed me about DC. You finished one chapter. Saw the cutscene. Rinse. Repeat.

Damn, these tl;dr are like fucking marathons. I should have conditioned for this shit first.

LOL

 

[shenron118]

But... it IS a game, lol. I think that there should be a decent balance. As much as I love story-line and characters, there needs to be a good amount of game play or else it's not a game, it's a movie, and therefore should just be made into a movie instead of having us waste our time 'playing' it, you know?

My point was that gameplay is the main thing that separates from a movie. It makes it a game, rather than pretty pictures on a screen you can't do anything with. I'm not knocking gameplay, I'm just saying that it's not the only thing that's important when making a game.

I play RPGs to get lost in another world, to really get into the story. However, if I'm not doing a fair share of interacting and actual playing, then it's just not going to hook me in. I think Lost Odyssey is a good example of an excellent RPG. That's a game with TONS of cutscenes and story-line, but there is a lot of people you can interact with. The battles are extremely fun, and so are the bosses. Damn that stupid snake All in all, there just has to be a good balance. I don't pick up a game and expect to just sit there and watch the story- I want to be a part of it.

Agreed. You shouldn't have to cut out story or gameplay. I generally feel emptier when the story is lacking, is all.

God, I feel nerdy. <=/

Don't worry. You're not alone.

I prefer TLDR posts to one liners... they're more fun. If you type fast.

Typing fast is my main problem. I make too many typos.

 

[Celes Chere]

Yes, I would be lying if I said that it is easy to play a game where the characters or story-line are uninteresting to me. This is why I had trouble playing FFV or even FFVIII. VIII's shitty love story and Squall as the main character really pushed me away from playing it much. Seems like a lame reason but... T^T;; I understand what you mean when you say it's hard to get into a game, an RPG one anyway, where the story-line or characters are lacking. Playing as a character you hate is kind of irritating, lol.

 

[Makoeyes987]

The difference between those games and FFXIII is that in FFXIII, every NPC is voiced. If they as many NPCs as past games, that would mean they would have to either find (and pay) that many actors, or reused the same few (which they probably already did).

Why did they bother doing that though? What's the point of having a scant few NPCs with voices? I'd rather have a shit ton of well written, and interactive NPCs, versus a few hollow NPCs, that have the magic of voice acting.

Or hire Koichi Yamadera. I think his name appeared in the credits of Birth by Sleep like, 5 times

LOL

Except like over 5 times bigger

But its basically one big grassland!!! Whats the point?! It's pretty but if you're just sight seeing grass and shit, that's not that impressive. I'm talking about something like the Necrohol of Nabudis, or The Pharos of Ridorana, etc. Vast, expansive places that have numerous paths, places to explore, and rich history. Not just..a big open field.

The difference is that you don't need the other items as much in FFXIII. Since it uses an ATB cost instead of MP, you aren't going to need to use some item to cast an ice spell or Bio. What it has works fine for what's there.

Again, they could've had a rich collection of items that do things, or at least serve as key items, or whatever rather than basically having just potions and status healing items. It's just...so hollow.

You can buy weapons (you'll probably find them all anyway), and you upgrade the weapons.

Oh really? Do you see the weapons like you do in FFXII? Because from what I know of, you can't, so that's kinda disappointing and a downgrade.

Except there is? There's not as many stats, but you still can still customise them and unlike FFXII and (maybe, I'm not sure now) FFX, you can customise the jobs/roles easier in FFXIII. You don't have to to go through Attacker skills to get a character to get Jammer skills (like you'd have to go through certain Licenses/Spheres), since they're separate paths.

You still can't just pick and choose skills, but there's a bit more freedom.

Well if there's not as many stats, there's not much room for customization. How much can you customize? Can you make Lightning a total mage, and Vanille a beatstick tank?

The picking and choosing of skills is what I think is the crux of customization but I'll allow you to explain more just what this is. I'll concede the point about there being weapons, but unless you actually see them, that's still a devolution of what we've seen in FF's X through XII.

Same function, though

No

That's like saying the shops of FFXII and the shops of DC are equal and as well done.

After a certain part of the game, where Lightning, Hope, Snow and Fang are broadcast on the news calling them L'Cei, having them just be able to walk into a shop and buy stuff like nothing's wrong seems a little strange

Yet, Vaan and co...enemies of Arcades were still able to explore Arcadia and do shit. I see what you're saying but they still could've worked in some form of more human interaction than there is.

Wouldn't Gilgamesh and the like count as optional bosses?

Those are Elite Marks, and yeah, they count as optional bosses. They aren't your normal hunts. They're...elite and VERY hard.

I can't remember its name, I haven't gotten there yet. The difficulty is hindering my progress It's the Throne of Titan (or that's one of the places in it).

I certainly hope its more than a straight line, and a killing tube..or as Tres would like to say...an "action tunnel."

 

[Makoeyes987]

Oh yeah, that's true. For some reason it slipped my mind that Crisis Core is on the PSP.

LOL

Something I liked about FFXII also, is that you got to explore on your way to different towns/areas. You filled in the maps in as you went, found treasure, all that good stuff. I remember running from that fucking Trex in the very beginning. That was awesome. Maybe it's because I was freaking out like a tard, but it was still awesome. And, I like having NPC's around, because I like some of them. Some of them actually have some funny/interesting things to say, and if you talk to the right person you can score items just for listening.

Hell yes, agreed. I love some of the NPCs, and that's one of the things I love doing in FF. Going around and talking to every NPC and noticing how well the game shows that the storyline's events have an impact on the people of the world. FFVII was one of the best in terms of that.

LOL I know I didn't. The story-line sucked balls. I agree that the job system is what kept me playing. That, and Faris.

It's basically one big, air-headed, loveable dork, saving the world from a giant tree with a team of a crazy old man, and some badass chicks. It's not the deepest story by far, but its one of the best FF's of the SNES genre. It set a lot of the standard in terms of gameplay, FF lore, and recurring bosses.

 

[shenron118]

Actually...it's not. The Last Remnant and Star Ocean 4 say hi.

I meant FF games.

No it's not. FFXII's gameplay was pretty damn intense especially with how it had combat take place in the real world and in real time.

...That's another thing. What the hell happened to the promise of combat being in real time and on the overworld, that was promised when the game was first announced?

They made promises? Weird, I was under the impression they just gave the fans a trailer and let the do want they wanted with it.

...It's still more than one single line of dialogue. Even throw-away, movie only characters spoke more than one of the main party members of FFVII who's backstory and character was pretty important in the original game. Disproportionate dialogue.

Point.

That's not necessarily true, and most movie directors and screen writers would tell you that well written dialogue and direction is one of the most important aspects that present a character and their importance to a store. Actions are important but in a medium that is a fusion of visual and aural stimulation, forsaking one form of presentation is basically showcasing half a character. Unless their a mime, mute, or animal, if they talk..they need to talk to convey their character traits and interaction with the characters.

My only problem with this, is that silent characters can still have a major impact on the other characters, the story, or the enviroment without actually saying much. It all depends on the character is presented.

Well he does at the end once his issues are resolved, and tbh, if he didn't talk at all, people like you would still be complaining about him not saying enough and being boring/emo.

Movie would have been better without Cloud then.

"There are still children with the stigma."

...How the hell is that an important line?!?! He's stating the obvious!

Barret's hilarious teasing of Cloud and announcement of where he's been for the past two years, Vincent's explanation of the remnants of Sephiroth, Yuffie's comical jab at Cloud's character when he goes it alone against Kadaj, and even Cait Sith telling her to shut her damn mouth had just as much, if not more relevance than Red XIII stating the obvious of Denzel still having a big black mark on his head. There was no significance or importance to that line XD

I took as him reminding them that there was still work to be done when they were finished partying. "They won the battle but not the war" kind of thing.

Yet they still managed to have more than one line of dialogue. That's pretty funny.

And as amusing as the pointless scene about "man's talk" was, it wasn't necessary at all. And I still feel Red's one line was more important.

For the town to be relevant, it has to be explorable and inhabited, otherwise its just graphical filler. It's not serving the function of a town in an RPG.

The people exist but again, you don't interact with them, and the ones you do are few and far between, and you only really talk.

The explorable environments exist but are few and far between.

The number of items are smaller than in previous installments. And I was under the impression there are no weapons. Just upgrading your current weapon.

The customization system of characters is a joke. It's basically a sphere grid except you don't control where the development leads, or how you build the stats. Which in the end is just basically the computer growing the characters how it wants. There is no customization.

Hunts don't count as optional super bosses because they are not super. It'd be the equivalent of saying all the rare marks of FFXII were optional bosses. They aren't. They're unique, moderately difficult palette swaps of monsters. I'm talking about the equivalent of Yiazmat or Omega Mk. XII. Are all the hunts in FFXIII that difficult and powerful?

@towns and people: I can't say much on this until I've played the game myself, but while this may not placate you, I hear they aren't exactly missed.

@explorable environments: I've heard that while playing the game, it feels like you're just choosing the most efficient path, rather than walking in a straight line. And that's all I can say until I experience more myself.

@items and weapons: Once again from hearsay, there aren't as many items, true, but collecting them all is extremely difficult. I do believe there are new weapons, or the FFwiki lied to me.

@customization: Yeah, I can't say anything about this either. lol.

@hunts: I saw a video of a hunt when the player went after an adamantoise. It killed the entire party in one hit.

Ahh that one. Same criticism applies.

It may just be me, buy I don't mind being able to choose my own difficulty in the middle of the game.

I seriously recommend trying out the older FFs. If for no other reason, than to see how the series evolved and to see its roots. It's interesting and you can find them for dirt cheap, or even play them online via roms and emulators.

I plan on it. I just need to be able to find them first, and I only use emulators for things never released in the US.

But they never sacrificed gameplay either. They treated it as just as important.

I can't honestly believe SE would just kick gameplay off to the side completely. If they considered story more important this time, they're allowed to give it a whirl and see how pissed off it makes the fans.

The RPG elements are vestigial and forced. And I'd question how long those people have been playing FF games, RPGs, or if they've been playing any other games in their gaming history.

Most of the reviews I've seen came from devoted FF fans.

LOL they pretty much already did.

The next one will be "LOL! We've totally been trolling you!"

They could've done that and still kept it as an RPG. Look at Vagrant Story, one of the best action RPGs ever done by S-E. You don't have a single town and very, very few NPCs, but it still lends itself to its RPG roots by allowing you to talk to your party members, buying items, exploring the vast world you're in, and having one of the most unique battle systems ever.

And it was a PSone game. It blows FFXIII out of the water.

I'm under the impression you can talk to your party while on the field, but I may be wrong.

FFXIII Versus is already going to be more of a game than FFXIII. Actual Airship flying, Airship battles, a fully explorable map, fully explorable cities, and an actual action RPG battle system that requires more than button mashing...I'm thinking Nomura's direction is whats needed. Because KH has more of an FF RPG feel than FFXIII does.

Versus has failed to catch my attention due to its lack of exciting characters. Maybe they'll have someone who catches my eye later, but right now it's meh.

LOL okay.

I'm full now, but nothing's coming. You win for now.

Well I'm sure the fandom will be nice...it just looks like the only thing people are mostly excited for here are the lesbians though. Which I find rather odd...and tbh, kinda sad. Because I sure as hell hope it has more to offer than that.

To the non-Japanese speaking fanbase, lesbians are the only thing we know the game has for sure.

I just don't get this divide between gameplay and story. I'm used to gameplay being an avenue for the story to tell itself and unfold. You play and your actions progress the story. Not just...Play...watch cutscene...play..watch cutscene, etc. That's what annoyed me about DC. You finished one chapter. Saw the cutscene. Rinse. Repeat.

That was why I never play DoC. I heard it was crap, so I stayed far, far away. I've yet to hear anything that bad about FFXIII, so I'm still cool with it.

 

[ForceStealer]

@towns and people: I can't say much on this until I've played the game myself

That certainly hasn't stopped Mako.

The number of items are smaller than in previous installments. And I was under the impression there are no weapons. Just upgrading your current weapon.

You mean like...FF8? You remember that VIII didn't have shops either, right?

By the way did you ever play Xenosaga? That's known for its ridiculous amount of cutscenes - but they're good ones, and that game has plenty of fans that appreciate its movies and gameplay.

Seriously, I understand that there are some things you just aren't going to be happy about, but a lot of the complaints you keep saying you really couldn't know without playing it, as proven by hito. How do you know they don't nail the townless-atmosphere like Vagrant Story did. And by the way, innovative or not, Vagrant Story's combat sucks ass.

Then there's the complaints you have that aren't unusual for an FF at all. See FF8's shops. And how many optional dungeons aren't "killing tubes?" And paths leading to dead ends don't make it freely explorable. The Via Purifico, the secret dungeon in Tactics, the dungeons in the 4, 5, 6 Advance ports. They all only have one way to go.
And I'd rather have fewer items that I actually USE than billions that I never touch. Seriously, how many items just sit in your inventory for an FF. Do you actually use them all? Do you ever use the magic items in FF7 ANYWHERE outside Wutai?

 

[Strangelove]

Why did they bother doing that though? What's the point of having a scant few NPCs with voices? I'd rather have a shit ton of well written, and interactive NPCs, versus a few hollow NPCs, that have the magic of voice acting.

So what, they should downgrade to the level of a PS1 or PS2 game now?

But its basically one big grassland!!! Whats the point?! It's pretty but if you're just sight seeing grass and shit, that's not that impressive. I'm talking about something like the Necrohol of Nabudis, or The Pharos of Ridorana, etc. Vast, expansive places that have numerous paths, places to explore, and rich history. Not just..a big open field.

That's the Archylte Steppe. Which also leads to:

- Vallis Media
- Mount Yaschas
- The Mah'habara Subterra
- Sulyya Springs
- The Faultwarrens (the Titan dungeon)

Among some others.

Again, they could've had a rich collection of items that do things, or at least serve as key items, or whatever rather than basically having just potions and status healing items. It's just...so hollow.

Again, where do you get this information? There are key items, plus all the items used for upgrading weapons/selling.

Oh really? Do you see the weapons like you do in FFXII? Because from what I know of, you can't, so that's kinda disappointing and a downgrade.

You're just hoping for disappointments and downgrades now

You do see the changes in the weapons' appearance. I think the Battle Ultimania has images of all the weapons.

Well if there's not as many stats, there's not much room for customization. How much can you customize? Can you make Lightning a total mage, and Vanille a beatstick tank?

They still have certain jobs they're better at. Even once all the jobs open up for every character, Snow can't make as good a healer as Vanille or Hope (less skills). Even characters who have the same jobs for the same amount of time have different skills, I think.

The picking and choosing of skills is what I think is the crux of customization but I'll allow you to explain more just what this is.

I mean you still can't just skip Cure to get Cura, like how with FFX or FFXII you would have to go through the different Licence/Sphere to get to them. Except for nodes on side paths, you'll have to go through the rest to get to them.

No

That's like saying the shops of FFXII and the shops of DC are equal and as well done.

You're typing and typing but all I can hear is this:





I don't what to say except, like the lack of towns, not having traditional shops didn't really bother me when playing the game.

Yet, Vaan and co...enemies of Arcades were still able to explore Arcadia and do shit. I see what you're saying but they still could've worked in some form of more human interaction than there is.

But does that make sense, except to provide you with items?

Also, AFAIR Vaan and his lot weren't plastered all over TV as enemies of humanity

Those are Elite Marks, and yeah, they count as optional bosses. They aren't your normal hunts. They're...elite and VERY hard.

Hey. Jumbo-Cactuar is pretty bloody hard

I certainly hope its more than a straight line, and a killing tube..or as Tres would like to say...an "action tunnel."

It's not a straight line

http://kouryakutsushin.com/ff13/map-dansou.htm

 

[ForceStealer]

You're just hoping for disappointments and downgrades now

You're typing and typing but all I can hear is this:

&#12402;&#12392;&#12289;&#24859;&#12375;&#12390;&#12427;&#12424;&#12290;

 

[Makoeyes987]

You mean like...FF8? You remember that VIII didn't have shops either, right?

Uh, yeah it did dude. Did you forget the Esthar City shop that was run by a man named Cloud who wrapped up your items in a pretty pink bow? The Balamb Gift Shop? Etc? It most certainly did have towns.

Seriously, I understand that there are some things you just aren't going to be happy about, but a lot of the complaints you keep saying you really couldn't know without playing it, as proven by hito. How do you know they don't nail the townless-atmosphere like Vagrant Story did. And by the way, innovative or not, Vagrant Story's combat sucks ass.

Are you reading my posts? I'm complaining about content (or lack thereof) and given by what I've watched, seen, and played myself through the FFXIII demo, no. I don't need to play it from start to finish to fully grasp what it is I'm upset about there not being. The damn battle system is basically the same as the demo. There was a promise of more, but that's it. How the hell is that not a valid criticism?

Given the wealth of world history and content that was packed into Vagrant Story and how it borrowed from FF Tactics' world history, I'm a bit dubious. The fact there is so little to do in FFXIII until late game, and its already told through a chapter-by-chapter format already limits the amount of exploration and interaction to begin with. Stop trying to deny that, its silly.

And no sir. Vagrant Story's combat was awesome. Filth and lies.

Then there's the complaints you have that aren't unusual for an FF at all. See FF8's shops.

FFVIII's shops had you at least walk up to a counter and see someone. I have no idea how you can compare it to DC's or FFXIII's going to a save point and just shopping from a menu, sans town.

And how many optional dungeons aren't "killing tubes?" And paths leading to dead ends don't make it freely explorable. The Via Purifico, the secret dungeon in Tactics, the dungeons in the 4, 5, 6 Advance ports. They all only have one way to go.

You're seriously going to call the Pharos of Ridorana a killing tube? The Via Purifico was a damn puzzle and endurance dungeon crawl that required you to know and remember each floor's layout, which was randomized. That was a challenge. The Deep Sea Research Center was also challenging in terms of its puzzles which were necessary to solve in order to progress. The advance ports are ports of SNES/NES games. I don't know why you're comparing that to a next gen console.

And I'd rather have fewer items that I actually USE than billions that I never touch. Seriously, how many items just sit in your inventory for an FF. Do you actually use them all? Do you ever use the magic items in FF7 ANYWHERE outside Wutai?

I guess you never heard of item collection challenges, or the thrill of finding or hunting for rare items and key items.

And materia-less gameplay challenges you can use them, and sometimes the items you find are of a higher level than the magic you may have, and they can be a powerful one hit attack in a tough boss fight. Also, some of the magic items have amazing properties that you can't find in materia. Hero Drinks, Vaccines and the like come to mind. Hero Drinks boost your stats to godly levels and are a must for optional boss fights like the weapons.

So what, they should downgrade to the level of a PS1 or PS2 game now?

You're funny. Who the hell needs to have a voice for EVERY NPC, dude? That's just excessive.

That's the Archylte Steppe. Which also leads to:

- Vallis Media
- Mount Yaschas
- The Mah'habara Subterra
- Sulyya Springs
- The Faultwarrens (the Titan dungeon)

Among some others.

And what do you do there?

Again, where do you get this information? There are key items, plus all the items used for upgrading weapons/selling.

You do see the changes in the weapons' appearance. I think the Battle Ultimania has images of all the weapons.

Orly?

So I'll concede and say at least FFXIII seems to have its weapon system and customization down. That's a relief.

They still have certain jobs they're better at. Even once all the jobs open up for every character, Snow can't make as good a healer as Vanille or Hope (less skills). Even characters who have the same jobs for the same amount of time have different skills, I think.

So it's still fixed. I see.

I mean you still can't just skip Cure to get Cura, like how with FFX or FFXII you would have to go through the different Licence/Sphere to get to them. Except for nodes on side paths, you'll have to go through the rest to get to them.

In FFX you could skip entire parts of the sphere grid if you were savvy, or skip skills you didn't want. If you really wanted to, you could make Lulu as strong as Tidus. It seems as though FFXIII puts you on a set path in terms of stats, and makes you stick to it. But you're given a little freedom in terms of the skills and customization of how the character behaves in battle.

I don't what to say except, like the lack of towns, not having traditional shops didn't really bother me when playing the game.

Pfeh.

But does that make sense, except to provide you with items?

Also, AFAIR Vaan and his lot weren't plastered all over TV as enemies of humanity

It made sense within the game.

And I just find it hard to believe that every single person on the planet hates you and is out to kill your guts. The world of FFXIII must be filled with assholes.

Hey. Jumbo-Cactuar is pretty bloody hard

That's probably the only optional boss I'm looking forward to.

It's not a straight line

http://kouryakutsushin.com/ff13/map-dansou.htm

That's not bad actually. So what's in there? Well you probably can't tell me since you haven't fully beaten it.

 

[Strangelove]

&#12402;&#12392;&#12289;&#24859;&#12375;&#12390;&#12427;&#12424;&#12290;

&#12424;&#12367;&#35328;&#12431;&#12428;&#12390;&#12356;&#12427;&#12373;&#12288;

 

[Alessa Gillespie]

HitoForce is my new OTP. Man, Tres is gonna be mad...

 

[Celes Chere]

HitoForce... I could get into that.

 

[Strangelove]

You can't make a post without being pair off with someone these days.

You're funny. Who the hell needs to have a voice for EVERY NPC, dude? That's just excessive.

Rather than more NPCs, I'd rather they had more of the text fragments after you beat the missions. Like one for every mission.

And what do you do there?

Go around and kill stuff in an Action Field

Except Mah'habara, which is another Action Tunnel.

In FFX you could skip entire parts of the sphere grid if you were savvy, or skip skills you didn't want. If you really wanted to, you could make Lulu as strong as Tidus. It seems as though FFXIII puts you on a set path in terms of stats, and makes you stick to it. But you're given a little freedom in terms of the skills and customization of how the character behaves in battle.

You have about three main jobs which gradually open up, but if you really didn't want to you're not forced to customise the ones you don't want. If you don't want to bother customising Lighting's Healer role, you can just leave it and focus on the Attacker/Blaster.

I guess I didn't really notice because I just want everyone to have the best stats they can and every skill they possibly can

And I just find it hard to believe that every single person on the planet hates you and is out to kill your guts. The world of FFXIII must be filled with assholes.

The second they find out you're a L'Cei, they either run away screaming or run away then come back with friends to kill you

There are some (major) characters who won't, but most regular people are brought up to think that L'Cei/anything to do with Pulse is evil.

That's probably the only optional boss I'm looking forward to.

So you should be.

Now stop being so pessimistic and look forward to the rest of it

That's not bad actually. So what's in there? Well you probably can't tell me since you haven't fully beaten it.

From the looks of it, it's full of the high level monsters for you to kill some more

 

[ForceStealer]

Uh, yeah it did dude. Did you forget the Esthar City shop that was run by a man named Cloud who wrapped up your items in a pretty pink bow? The Balamb Gift Shop? Etc? It most certainly did have towns.

What? I said it didn't have shops, not towns. Although, frankly, it didn't have much in the way of explorable towns either with the exception of Esthar. But regardless, they still were not traditional shops and you only upgraded weapons, why you'd be fine with that there but not in 13 is what I don't get.

Are you reading my posts? I'm complaining about content (or lack thereof) and given by what I've watched, seen, and played myself through the FFXIII demo, no. I don't need to play it from start to finish to fully grasp what it is I'm upset about there not being. The damn battle system is basically the same as the demo. There was a promise of more, but that's it. How the hell is that not a valid criticism?

You wouldn't have to play from start to finish to grasp things like items, final dungeons, and weapons and you appear to wrong about each of them.
And I've complained elsewhere about only being able to control one character, I haven't liked that from the start.

And no sir. Vagrant Story's combat was awesome. Filth and lies.

Are you going off memory or played it recently? It didn't age well.

You're seriously going to call the Pharos of Ridorana a killing tube? The Via Purifico was a damn puzzle and endurance dungeon crawl that required you to know and remember each floor's layout, which was randomized. That was a challenge. The Deep Sea Research Center was also challenging in terms of its puzzles which were necessary to solve in order to progress. The advance ports are ports of SNES/NES games. I don't know why you're comparing that to a next gen console.

Well as hito's map clearly pointed out, you don't know what the optional dungeon is like and neither do I, so I won't argue it. But while the advance ports were ports of SNES games, the dungeons were new.

I guess you never heard of item collection challenges, or the thrill of finding or hunting for rare items and key items.

Hito already said there were key items and stuff, but regardless, I don't know anyone who ever cited collecting 99 Tissues as one of FF7's strong points. And no-materia games are boring as hell. You get rid of all the cusomization, which I believe you're also complaining about here:

In FFX you could skip entire parts of the sphere grid if you were savvy, or skip skills you didn't want. If you really wanted to, you could make Lulu as strong as Tidus. It seems as though FFXIII puts you on a set path in terms of stats, and makes you stick to it. But you're given a little freedom in terms of the skills and customization of how the character behaves in battle.

And in XII you couldn't REALLY customize anybody on the first playthrough as you had to get them through the all the same parts of the board to get somewhere and the damn board didn't let you plan ahead by making distant spaces visible. You had to really try (or buy the International Version) to get a party of distinct members.
In VIII all the characters were completely blank slates of boringness in battle. Squall was no stronger than anyone else, it all depended on what was junctioned. I, for one, much prefer characters with affinities. Like 6 and 7, you could customize everyone, but Aeris was always going to be a better mage than Barret; Sabin was always going to be stronger than Relm.
IX didn't have an overwhelming amount of customization either, every character had a certain set of moves they could learn and that was it. You could miss certain abilities, but not change what the character actually played like.

And I just find it hard to believe that every single person on the planet hates you and is out to kill your guts. The world of FFXIII must be filled with assholes.:

Mako, from what I understand, they don't hate you, they're terrified of you, there's a distinct difference there.

 

[Makoeyes987]

What? I said it didn't have shops, not towns. Although, frankly, it didn't have much in the way of explorable towns either with the exception of Esthar. But regardless, they still were not traditional shops and you only upgraded weapons, why you'd be fine with that there but not in 13 is what I don't get.

That's what I'm saying. How can you say FFVIII didn't have shops? It did. It had shops just like FFVII and FFIX. And the towns were at least there, unlike FFXIII. Not every town is going to be a sprawling metropolis, but at the very least you have interaction with people and get a feel for the world.

Are you talking exclusively about Weapon shops? Because if you are, that's not the same thing as FFXIII and you know it. FFXIII has no type of interactive shop, period. I'm not care about the weapons system here.

You wouldn't have to play from start to finish to grasp things like items, final dungeons, and weapons and you appear to wrong about each of them.
And I've complained elsewhere about only being able to control one character, I haven't liked that from the start.

I was wrong about there being weapons and an optional dungeon. I don't see how I was wrong about there being a lack of useable items out side of just potions and the like.

And yeah that sucks too.

Are you going off memory or played it recently? It didn't age well.

Recently, and I didn't have a problem with it. But I guess to each their own. But I wouldn't say it was "bad." Different yes, but not...bad.

Well as hito's map clearly pointed out, you don't know what the optional dungeon is like and neither do I, so I won't argue it. But while the advance ports were ports of SNES games, the dungeons were new.

If FFXIII has a decent final dungeon that's interestnig, engaging and full of cool shit and bosses, then I'll concede that point too.

And yeah, the dungeons were new in each Advance port, but they still have to work within the limits of the GBA/SNES/16 bit medium.

Hito already said there were key items and stuff, but regardless, I don't know anyone who ever cited collecting 99 Tissues as one of FF7's strong points. And no-materia games are boring as hell. You get rid of all the cusomization, which I believe you're also complaining about here:

Well that's cool at least. But I'm not keen about the lack of items and it basically being a shop system in the vein of CC. That bothers me a lot.

No materia games aren't everyone's cup of tea, but after replaying FFVII so many times, it does offer a decent, and fun challenge. You lose the customization but it definitely makes the game a shitload more difficult.

And in XII you couldn't REALLY customize anybody on the first playthrough as you had to get them through the all the same parts of the board to get somewhere and the damn board didn't let you plan ahead by making distant spaces visible. You had to really try (or buy the International Version) to get a party of distinct members.

Well the fact you can, is what makes it so fun. It's worth the hardwork if you want it.

In VIII all the characters were completely blank slates of boringness in battle. Squall was no stronger than anyone else, it all depended on what was junctioned. I, for one, much prefer characters with affinities. Like 6 and 7, you could customize everyone, but Aeris was always going to be a better mage than Barret; Sabin was always going to be stronger than Relm.
IX didn't have an overwhelming amount of customization either, every character had a certain set of moves they could learn and that was it. You could miss certain abilities, but not change what the character actually played like.

FFIX was a throwback. As for VI and VII, you really could customize a lot of them, but yeah, there were affinities. But even with those affinities you were given a great deal of lattitude in terms of how you wanted your characters to be and how they played. That was fun to me.

And I loved FFVIII's..."blank slate of boringness" because that was total control of how you built your characters from the ground up. A lot of people give FFVIII's junction system crap but it was definitely one of the best systems in terms of customization, period.

Maybe it was too customizable

Mako, from what I understand, they don't hate you, they're terrified of you, there's a distinct difference there.

Every single person? Again, storyline reason is fine. But the fact they were gonna include towns and people originally then scrapped kinda shoots that reasoning in the face.

Rather than more NPCs, I'd rather they had more of the text fragments after you beat the missions. Like one for every mission.

Explain, plz.

Go around and kill stuff in an Action Field

Except Mah'habara, which is another Action Tunnel.

LMAO, so you basically go there to grind?

You have about three main jobs which gradually open up, but if you really didn't want to you're not forced to customise the ones you don't want. If you don't want to bother customising Lighting's Healer role, you can just leave it and focus on the Attacker/Blaster.

I guess I didn't really notice because I just want everyone to have the best stats they can and every skill they possibly can

That still sounds kinda limiting.

The fun with continuing FFX and maxing everything out is making Yuna as strong as Auron and watching her lightly tap a fiend on the head with a staff and it go flying several feet back, in an overkill.

The second they find out you're a L'Cei, they either run away screaming or run away then come back with friends to kill you

There are some (major) characters who won't, but most regular people are brought up to think that L'Cei/anything to do with Pulse is evil.

LMAO, wtf?

I just am so floored by that. Every single person in the world hates your guts and fears you. Just...damn.

So you should be.

Now stop being so pessimistic and look forward to the rest of it

I can only look forward to what I like, and there doesn't seem to be a lot

I'm looking forward to Lightning kicking ass, Sazh, whatever optional stuff there may be, and the challenge of completing all the trophies.

I'm basically going into this expecting an experience akin to RE5. Good, but no where near the level of expectation it should be.

From the looks of it, it's full of the high level monsters for you to kill some more

Jesus, you basically just go around murdering shit in Pulse.

 

[ForceStealer]

Well that's cool at least. But I'm not keen about the lack of items and it basically being a shop system in the vein of CC. That bothers me a lot.

Just for the record, I don't think its super awesome that shops are that way, but I'm not really sure how its that big a deal. I can understand your arguments about exploring towns and stuff, but who really cares where you buy all your potions. Buying stuff at save points doesn't really make sense but neither does every weapon shop carrying a better megaphone.

No materia games aren't everyone's cup of tea, but after replaying FFVII so many times, it does offer a decent, and fun challenge. You lose the customization but it definitely makes the game a shitload more difficult.

My ex tried it once and it got pretty boring just attacking all the time, even with the items. Single character challenges, on the other hand, make a lot more sense to me.

Maybe it was too customizable

Yeah that's what I always thought it was

Every single person? Again, storyline reason is fine. But the fact they were gonna include towns and people originally then scrapped kinda shoots that reasoning in the face.

Yeah well these guys seem to be really bad at interviews. Just like the shitstorm around Lightning being a female Cloud. They need to get better at this.

The fun with continuing FFX and maxing everything out is making Yuna as strong as Auron and watching her lightly tap a fiend on the head with a staff and it go flying several feet back, in an overkill.

Well of course that was fun, but one, it's not what made the game what it is and two, FFs have been good without that level of customization.

I just am so floored by that. Every single person in the world hates your guts and fears you. Just...damn.

Eh, fiction kinda does that a lot with oppressive lifestyles/governments. The entire populace are always mindless. Unrealistic, but common.

 

[Strangelove]

Explain, plz.

Completing certain missions adds a bit of text to the AutoClip/database section, talking about the world and history. But there's only 13 of them, but 64 missions.

If I had to choose, I'd choose more of those over some kid telling me how great his puppy is or how much he wants to be a Blitzball

LMAO, so you basically go there to grind?

You've got the missions to do, looking for Chocobo treasure, looking for normal treasure, some grinding.

That still sounds kinda limiting.

The fun with continuing FFX and maxing everything out is making Yuna as strong as Auron and watching her lightly tap a fiend on the head with a staff and it go flying several feet back, in an overkill.

That's why you have accessories and upgrading them.

That's how I've gotten Hope's magic stat over 2000

LMAO, wtf?

I just am so floored by that. Every single person in the world hates your guts and fears you. Just...damn.

It was the cause of one my favourite scenes in the game, but I won't spoil that because it was probably only a favourite of mine and no one else

I can only look forward to what I like, and there doesn't seem to be a lot

I'm looking forward to Lightning kicking ass, Sazh, whatever optional stuff there may be, and the challenge of completing all the trophies.

I'm basically going into this expecting an experience akin to RE5. Good, but no where near the level of expectation it should be.

I guess the difference is that I didn't really go into it with any expectations (except maybe some slightly lowered ones from people complaining about it), and came out pleased with it overall.

It's not like there's nothing I would change. The idea that they cut out enough areas to make a whole other game is disappointing (though I'll wait until I find this other stuff about towns myself before taking it in). I said I wasn't that bothered by the lack of towns, but I wouldn't be bothered by having them either. Then there wouldn't be threads moaning about them not being there But I still enjoyed what I got, so I'm happy.

Jesus, you basically just go around murdering shit in Pulse.

There's lots of things to kill down there

Buying stuff at save points doesn't really make sense but neither does every weapon shop carrying a better megaphone.

IIRC, it's something to do with matter transfer/materialisation/replication/some kind of fancy high-tech deal.

I thought of it like Xenosaga where KOS-MOS can pull weapons out of the air. I forgot how they explained that now

But it does at least have an explanation, as opposed to something like Crisis Core.

It doesn't explain what save points with access to the latest Cocoon shops are doing inside centuries old Pulse structures, though.

 

[ForceStealer]

I thought of it like Xenosaga where KOS-MOS can pull weapons out of the air. I forgot how they explained that now

Did they explain that?

I was pretty worried when everyone was complaining about it, and I'll never like that you only control one party member. I didn't like it in XII, even with gambits. But the fact that hito seems pretty pleased with it and has poured 70 hours into gives me substantially more hope. I'm really eager to play it.

 

[Strangelove]

I'm sure they did, in one of the three games worth of databases (or four, I don't remember if 2 had one now but I thought it didn't).

I'm tempted to load up the DS game and just check that now