THE BORE

General => Video Game Bored => Topic started by: SpeedStats on September 16, 2014, 11:55:18 PM

Title: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: SpeedStats on September 16, 2014, 11:55:18 PM: Grabbed this on my lunch hour but only got to start it this evening. So far, it's done a lot to rectify a lot of the issues I had and what I didn't like about the first game, but we'll see how it goes when it gets harder. The last game kinda flubbed its difficulty curve to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKT6pLKhQjI

FAQ:
- Free DLC is available! Two songs: Final Fantasy V - Battle 2; Final Fantasy IX - Rose of May

- If you play the demo, you get more characters to choose from when you're unlocking stuff for the first few times.

- If you're on the fence about grabbing this or the previous version of Theatrhythm, just go with this one. It has most of the songs anyway, and even more. Plus you can go with button input on modes you feel more comfortable with it on. I usually go for a hybrid or one mode over the other.

- All of the difficulties are unlocked from the get-go for songs, so you don't have to work your way up as much as you did in the previous game.

- Pick your first four characters carefully (ie: pick the albums you want to hear the most for the first few times you do it to accrue Rhythmia) because you'll have access to only those albums until you accrue a bit more Rhythmia.

- Want to get more shards and faster than grinding Rhythmia? Do the quests! You earn more shards from defeating the boss monsters there, and the rarer the quest, the rarer the shard.

- This game has a Versus mode. No, no... not the vapourware that Nomura's been "working" on for the past near-decade. You can fight against the CPU or other players via local play or online play. For online mode, you could select if you'd like to play against a friend on your friend list or against anyone in the world.

- What do stats in these games freaking do?
HP/CP/M.Def/P.Def are self-explanatory, so...
Strength - affects the damage done whenever you score a GOOD or higher during the BMS, and it can boost any physical attacks or abilities.
Magic - determines damage done by magic-type attacks like Fire or Thunder. Higher magic means that more damage will be done by a summon as well. It has no role in FMS or EMS.
Agility - determines the travel speed of your characters during FMS. It also affects your ability to evade attacks in BMS.
Luck - Increases the chance of getting items in all modes. It also affects your ability to evade attacks in BMS.

Recommendations for leader characters per mode at the beginning of the game:
FMS: Zidane, Onion Knight, Butts. Zidane is the best character since he has the highest agil stat in the game (and this was true for the previous game as well). He gets better agility boost abilities much earlier than everyone else like Earth Blues and Haste March. He also gets Treasure Hunter early which helps with getting more stuff for your party to use.

BMS: Depends on how you want to tackle it.
Terra and Shantotto are your go-to people for magic. Shantotto will help out as soon as you start up with the game because she just has higher stats to begin with. Terra gets stronger later because of her limit break.

Cloud, Zack, Warrior of Light, and maybe Lightning are more of your physical assets. The first three get the essential Focus skill (more damage when you score a GOOD or more on a note) and Added Cut. Lightning's more like an all-arounder and balanced enough that she doesn't necessarily stand out as much as the rest. She gets counter skills early enough, and gets Added Cut later. She also gets Armour Break if you need it for tougher enemies.

- You can configure the sounds that are made whenever you hit a note or turn it off like I did!

I think that's about all I can say for now, but I'll say more if required. Hope others picked it up too.
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: Himu on September 16, 2014, 11:56:30 PM: will wait for the mobile version :larry
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: SpeedStats on September 16, 2014, 11:59:46 PM: I looked at the price on the Canadian eShop and it came up to FIFTY FREAKING DOLLARS because tax. Thank goodness I had an EB gift card to spend. :/

So maybe mobile is a good call if it's free.
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: The Legend of Sunblade on September 17, 2014, 12:03:01 AM: I've been using the different modes a lot more than I expected. Sometimes Im just lazy and dont want to whip out the stylus.

Quest/Versus mode alone are giving me some nice variety in what to do. One nice change from the first game is that playing songs outside of the normal "song select" mode actually saves your record (except Versus for obvious reasons), so I don't feel like playing the other modes is a waste of time.
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: Himu on September 17, 2014, 12:03:17 AM: I will likely be free*

* - IAP

Which I'm fine with. If I can get the entire for 30 bucks on ios, I'm fine with that. Likely it won't be that bad this time because of the bad press they got from the first entry, and they're scared of another Tales of Phantasia situation.
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: AdmiralViscen on September 17, 2014, 12:18:13 AM: This game takes big shits on the first one. Loving it
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: fey on September 17, 2014, 04:15:59 PM: I'm loving this game. So happy Cloud Smiles made it from the shit FF7 movie. Haven't played the online yet, but I heard it's addicting omg
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: The Legend of Sunblade on September 17, 2014, 10:29:31 PM: Man, Added Cut is sooooooooooooo broken. Got this super long ability chain going using Zack and WoL, I've never seen creatures die so quickly. :rejoice
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: SpeedStats on September 17, 2014, 11:28:21 PM: Quote from: The Legend of Sunblade on September 17, 2014, 10:29:31 PM
Man, Added Cut is sooooooooooooo broken. Got this super long ability chain going using Zack and WoL, I've never seen creatures die so quickly. :rejoice

See, I put these things in the OP for a reason.

I ended up unlocking most of the modes last night but I'm still behind on a few more unlocks I didn't think of. It's all right. I wish they'd added the English versions of some songs since that's what I grew up with in general aside from a few exceptions. It's not like they'd have to do a ton of changes to note progression, either, because much of it is based on some parts of the instrumental melody as opposed to the lyrics. I also think the game's a little more forgiving than the first game because I'm SS/SSS-ranking stuff more easily than expected.

I love that you get to unlock things more easily in this game than the first game, though. It makes the game less of a grueling task and a chore, and more like you're playing for fun. The quest system mostly assists in that, and it also helps to make skills more important to party builds and setups where the last game made it feel mostly interchangeable.

EMS is still the weakest link of the bunch. I've never ever liked that mode.
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: The Legend of Sunblade on September 17, 2014, 11:37:54 PM: The best change, imo, is that this time around you're actually encouraged to equip and experiment with character abilities without being penalized for it. In the last game, you were completely locked out of getting the highest possible ranks on stuff unless you unequipped every skill your character had, which I really disliked.

The EXP modifiers on the Quest Medley maps give you so much EXP that I don't mind the expanded roster at all, since I can level them up to a usable state in no time. :hyper
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: Joe Molotov on September 18, 2014, 09:40:30 AM: Everything I'm reading in this thread sounds good. I need to get in on this.
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: demi on September 18, 2014, 09:41:09 AM: I probably wont get this only because I bought the first and NEVER played it. So... my bad
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: Howard Alan Treesong on September 18, 2014, 01:42:19 PM: I got this last night and played a bit - pretty fun, and all songs + difficulties are unlocked after about 30 minutes...

...EXCEPT for the best mode, Quest Medley, which continues to gate you to fuck-easy Basic at the start.

:goty2
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: SpeedStats on September 20, 2014, 04:56:14 PM: Yeah, that stuff is dumb. Wish they'd let you pick between the modes instead of limiting you to Basic.

I get the weekend off, so I ended up playing a bit more at the gym and figured a few more things out. I really appreciate that different characters do some different stuff, even if it's still kind of homogenized like the first game. But it's nice to be able to level people up fast right out of the gate instead of feeling like all the new characters are behind.

I still don't like that it switches up between instruments on some modes because I'm paying attention to one instrument since I have chimes off, then it switches to another melody/rhythm in the same line and it's weird sometimes. I guess it's their way of keeping you on your toes, but it's odd going between brass to percussion because they need to continue the line.

Cecil is good at damage mitigation at the start. Even better than Cosmos is because her attacks and defense are weak, while Cecil can facilitate between healing, attacking, and defense quite well. So if you find yourself trying to get through an ultimate mode song and you aren't doing too well, he's a pretty good choice.

With respect to higher-level FMS characters when you've unlocked a boatload, it's good to have characters who have Sight as an ability to unlock more frequent Fat Chocobo sightings during those (and moogles too, I noticed). Stacking Sight Lv 2-3 allows for a greater chance % for getting more items, up to at least 15-25% (especially if you have everyone with Sight Lv 3). The only characters I think who have Sight Lv 2-3 are Locke, Rikku, Y'shtola, and Serah. So those four would be a pretty decent FMS party if you're looking for items and a higher tactical score.

When you're going through an FMS, you want a character with the highest agility in front so you can get through faster for more loot. Out of that party, I'd say Rikku might have the highest agility. She also gets Sight Lv. 3, Dash Lv. 3, Haste Lv. 3, Wind Rhapsody Lv 3 (adds 40 agil + 60 agil during FMS), etc. Locke has something like Treasure Hunter Lv 1-3 so I'd equip all of those on him. Serah gets Sight and Luck Up skills, while Y'shtola gets Sight, Luck Up and the Thoroughbred skill (which summons a faster chocobo during those sequences).

The point is to amass as much loot as possible to try to unlock chests for items, cards to use with the crystarium, or shards, etc. That way you can try to augment your characters' abilities as much as possible to try to max them out.

I'm not sure about BMS yet because I haven't unlocked a few characters who I'd like to try with it.

I know Sunblade's played this more than I have since he has more time to himself (:P), so I wonder what he thinks of all of the customization. I personally like it waaaaay more than the first game's. It actually feels as though it matters a little more than it did originally. I'm actually feeling like I want to unlock stuff and play around with this game, whereas with the first game, I just dropped because the little things I didn't like added up to the point where I didn't want to play it anymore.

I also really really like that you can reset your characters' levels when they hit Lv 99 so they can get more CP. CP eventually maxes out at 50 when you're at Lv 99, so you'd want to get more CP by using the crystarium, or by resetting the characters' levels when they max. Abilities and stats reset, but they have more starting CP than at the beginning of the game, and they get to retain anything that they got when you used the crystarium.

It's just neat that you can play around with character stats even more than before. It makes it feel less like a rhythm game with RPG elements and balances them a little better than they were in the first game. It isn't perfect, but it's a better start then the first game.
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: The Legend of Sunblade on September 20, 2014, 07:47:49 PM: The game still doesn't have as much character branching off as I'd personally like, but it's still a marked improvement over the original. A big issue with TR1 was that you'd be intentionally gimping your party if you used any characters that weren't the series' main protagonists, cause only they would get the unique, game breaking abilities. But in CC, even Agrias, Cosmos and Prishe have boss-killer reaction abilities, greatly expanding the "valid" number of super good high level quest medley cleaners. You mentioned a few of the really good FMS characters, but Yuffie (DLC) has a really high natural agility and even comes with skills that boost the party's luck and changes of getting rare items. They've basically done a better job of giving each character an identity and role, even if there's some overlap.

Being able to reset character levels once they get to lv 99 is really nice, but man its gonna make me obsessive over being able to have charactrs with the perfect skill loadout. :lol I used to just compromise before since 50 CP was the hard cap, but now I can break the game as I see fit, which isn't a bad thing at all for a rhythm game.
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: Joe Molotov on September 28, 2014, 05:41:58 PM: Started playing this afternoon. I unlocked all the basic stuff, and then bought a few songs* with my $5 of credit I had from my MK8 freebie game. Got the two free ones while they were still free (till 9/30).

spoiler (click to show/hide)
*Shuffle or Boogie :lawd
[close]
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: Bebpo on September 28, 2014, 07:16:26 PM: So the first one was cool, but it got boring within a week or two because of lack of content and motivation to keep playing (especially if not buying DLC). Is this game more meaty? Is this the Dissidia 012 of Theatrhythm?
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: The Legend of Sunblade on September 28, 2014, 07:23:28 PM: You're going to be just as bored if you don't enjoy the act of playing the game to the FF soundtrack, cause that's ultimately all there is to it. Quest Medley does a nice job of integrating the song selection into an RPG-style adventure, but the music continues to be the meat of the game. There's also a Versus mode (with online play), but I don't do that too much cause songs played there aren't saved in your records.

If you aren't interested in a 220-ish song FF jukebox with ~60 characters to fuck around with, you may as well pass on it.
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: Joe Molotov on September 28, 2014, 07:52:29 PM: lawl, why is Aerith's Theme a BMS? It's way too mopey.

"I'm supposed to be cutting enemies, but instead I'll just cut myself." /emo
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: SpeedStats on September 28, 2014, 08:48:49 PM: EMS are the worst part of Theatrhythm.

And yeah, if you quickly got bored of the first one, you'll likely get bored of the second one even if it tried to mitigate the repetitiveness with quests. Doesn't help that some of the songs in the entire list are repeats or arrangements of other songs in the game either!

Quote from: Joe Molotov on September 28, 2014, 07:52:29 PM
lawl, why is Aerith's Theme a BMS? It's way too mopey.

"I'm supposed to be cutting enemies, but instead I'll just cut myself." /emo

u were supposed 2 cry evrytiem

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxaleJKMpew
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: Joe Molotov on September 28, 2014, 09:01:38 PM: Yeah, the EMS's are :yuck.
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: The Legend of Sunblade on September 28, 2014, 09:08:24 PM: I really wouldn't mind EMS as much if they didn't have these Slide notes placed at super weird directions that aren't just the normal 8 directions. They always trip me up and the worst times, with Answers being the only one I do alright at by virtue of knowing the song really well (though its weird that they decided to use the extended version of Answers when the shorter one from the trailer would have fit better for the EMS AND not require to be cut as awkwardly).
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: MrAngryFace on September 29, 2014, 12:33:57 PM: This game and Dissidia Duodecim = my portable jam
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: Joe Molotov on September 30, 2014, 11:25:05 AM: Got my starter party to Lv. 99 (Terra/Cloud/Onion Knight/Cecil) now it's time to get serious. All FF7 party (Cloud/Tifa/Aerith/Yuffie). :rejoice
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: Joe Molotov on September 30, 2014, 12:10:24 PM: Also, why is the credits music not playable in the actual game? ???

spoiler (click to show/hide)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jxm4hA_Gios
[close]
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: Howard Alan Treesong on September 30, 2014, 01:00:52 PM: Is it better to grind Short, Medium, or Long Quests? I would think it would be Long, but the ROI doesn't seem to be particularly better ... and grinding Short will let me level up to L99 Chaos Maps faster.

I find the game EXTREMELY tedious on anything less than Ultimate Score...
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: MrAngryFace on September 30, 2014, 01:04:35 PM: Man- I need to get crazy with Dissidia again- that end game shit is RABBIT HOLE CENTRAL
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: The Legend of Sunblade on September 30, 2014, 04:01:37 PM: Long maps are good for exp cause of the bonuses. Remember that the longer you take to clear a map day-wise, the higher your multiliplier will be.
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: AdmiralViscen on September 30, 2014, 11:03:43 PM: There is a shareable map that gives monster xp, almost to lvl99 in one run from lvl1
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: Lucretius on October 01, 2014, 12:43:55 AM: It also has the craziest song ever in all of FF music.
"Good King Moggle Mog XII" from FFXIV!

http://youtu.be/_2oxO129TJI

I hope they add Ramuh's theme from FFXIV too!

http://youtu.be/MDG1rIz1S7k
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: Joe Molotov on October 02, 2014, 11:58:45 AM: I can't wait for Pop Up Duel, which has already been released as DLC in Japan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ_-JjuiFaU
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: MrAngryFace on October 02, 2014, 05:31:04 PM: Army of One and Final Heaven in a boss fight :obama
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: Joe Molotov on October 03, 2014, 10:18:16 AM: This game has crashed three times on me now when coming out of sleep mode. :beli
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: Joe Molotov on October 03, 2014, 03:17:34 PM: Maxed my FF7 party (Cloud for the 2nd time), hit 40,000rm, and unlocked (I think) the last song, Chaos Shrine. I'm getting a little better at Expert, I can at least get S & SS most of the time instead of A's and B's. Ultimate is still too far away.
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: Joe Molotov on October 07, 2014, 08:56:18 PM: I still just can't with these Ultimate Songs. I've got this Lv. 54 Short Map that throws an Ultimate Battle With The Four Fiends at me right off the bat and it just kills me every time. :noah
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: Joe Molotov on October 11, 2014, 07:33:11 PM: Unlocked all the chars and got 100,000rm. I can SSS most songs on Expert, but still only A or S Ultimate songs. It burns me on those really short holds with directional endings; sometimes it throws a hold then a touch then another hold all in a really quick succession and I get out of sync and wind up with a dozen bads before I can get back in a rhythm.
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: demi on December 22, 2014, 09:25:17 AM: Dat Cross Promotion

Quote
The following tracks will be available on Dec. 24 in NA (EU probably the same day), for 0.99$.

“He of the Name” (Bravely Default)
“Evil Wings” (Bravely Default)
“The Serpent That Devours the Horizon” (Bravely Default)
“Ultima” (FINAL FANTASY XIV)
“Hard to Miss” (FINAL FANTASY XIV)
“Zero” (FINAL FANTASY TYPE-0 ™)
“Ardent Rhythm” (Romancing SaGa ® : Minstrel Song)
“Battle #4” (SaGa Frontier)
“Meridian Dance” (Secret of Mana)
“Chrono Trigger” (CHRONO TRIGGER)
“Horizon of Light and Shadow” (Bravely Default)
“Title Screen” (Romancing SaGa 2)
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: Joe Molotov on December 22, 2014, 12:35:12 PM: Definitely gonna get Chrono Trigger and those Bravely Default jams.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O89JPyx5swc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk-9ihcy2R8

:noah
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: demi on December 22, 2014, 12:36:21 PM: Get Meridian Dance, fakkit
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: The Legend of Sunblade on December 22, 2014, 01:19:43 PM: Looks like they listened to me bitch about how few FF14 songs there were. Both Ultima and Hard to Miss are songs that were sorely missed in Curtain Call, great picks.

http://youtu.be/EZZDnlAg3Pk

http://youtu.be/IQGUA8juwxQ
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: Joe Molotov on December 22, 2014, 01:20:56 PM: Quote from: demi on December 22, 2014, 12:36:21 PM
Get Meridian Dance, fakkit

I'll probably get all of them, tbh. :hyper
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: Cheddahz on December 22, 2014, 01:40:34 PM: Finally getting into the 3DS game and decided to pick this up as well

As someone who likes Final Fantasy music and music games, this game should be up my alley, right?
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: AdmiralViscen on December 22, 2014, 05:17:10 PM: Holding out for Time's Scar
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: SpeedStats on December 22, 2014, 05:24:16 PM: Waiting for more SaGa tuuuuunes

And fuck yeah, waiting for Chrono Cross. :hyper
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: Joe Molotov on December 22, 2014, 07:55:16 PM: Quote from: Cheddahz on December 22, 2014, 01:40:34 PM
Finally getting into the 3DS game and decided to pick this up as well

As someone who likes Final Fantasy music and music games, this game should be up my alley, right?

Gameplay-wise, it isn't as good as Ouendan, but if FF music gives you a nostalgia boner, you'll like it. It's got a ton of tracks (210 on the cart + like 60 DLC or something) and it's got the RPG elements to keep you engaged. I got a solid 50 hours out of it before I started getting bored.
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: Cheddahz on December 23, 2014, 03:06:15 PM: Quote from: Joe Molotov on December 22, 2014, 07:55:16 PM
Quote from: Cheddahz on December 22, 2014, 01:40:34 PM
Finally getting into the 3DS game and decided to pick this up as well

As someone who likes Final Fantasy music and music games, this game should be up my alley, right?

Gameplay-wise, it isn't as good as Ouendan, but if FF music gives you a nostalgia boner, you'll like it. It's got a ton of tracks (210 on the cart + like 60 DLC or something) and it's got the RPG elements to keep you engaged. I got a solid 50 hours out of it before I started getting bored.
FF music gives me a nostalgia boner, so looks like I'll be cool with it then (and the news of more FFXIV music coming to the game is nice too)
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: Positive Touch on December 23, 2014, 03:20:16 PM: is there any reason to pick up the first one now that this is out?
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: The Legend of Sunblade on December 23, 2014, 03:22:39 PM: This one has every song and DLC from the first one and greatly streamlines a lot of the clunky aspects of the first one, so nope, no reason at all.
Title: Re: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Post by: demi on December 23, 2014, 03:33:45 PM: Ya, just get this one. I already threw the original in the garbage.