Game

[Don Flamenco]

Resonance of Fate >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> cancer >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>FFXIII

[Smooth Groove]

I'm starting to worry if even the forty dollars I paid were a bit too much for FF13.  At the least, it's pretty right?

[Don Flamenco]

I'm starting to worry if even the forty dollars I paid were a bit too much for FF13.  At the least, it's pretty right?

that's what I was telling myself, but then I was like "fuck pretty."  I also liked the battle system for a bit when it opened up, but that too ended up just being flash based around guessing. 

I went through the tutorial in RoF and fought a ton of battles...that's a fucking battle system.

[demi]

FF13 > RoF

[TakingBackSunday]

I don't see how guessing is a key component in XIII.  You should know how to beat every single enemy of that game within the first minute of the battle, if not earlier.  You're doing it wrong.

[Don Flamenco]

I don't see how guessing is a key component in XIII.  You should know how to beat every single enemy of that game within the first minute of the battle, if not earlier.  You're doing it wrong.

"does this job set up hurt it?"
"nope"
"does this?"
"nope"
"oh, so it must be this then."
"got it."

then repeat every single time you fight said enemy.  SNORE. 

MOMS ARE TOUGH.

[Don Flamenco]

you find a paradigm that hurts them or makes them weak to phy/mag attacks, keep using it (i.e. autlol battle, go make a sammich) until they start hurting you, then switch to a healing paradigm, then switch back. 

oh, but i didn't put in the requisite 40 hours before the game supposedly gets good.  Singles are not as tough as moms. 

XIII sucks.  Shining beacon of what's wrong with the world.

[WrikaWrek]

I would play more. But then i heard the game becomes grinding heavy in later parts.

I finished Tales of Vesperia without having to grind, so fuck that. Shitty game design if you have to grind. Even shittier if the game is more linear than Call of Duty.

[TakingBackSunday]

you find a paradigm that hurts them or makes them weak to phy/mag attacks, keep using it (i.e. autlol battle, go make a sammich) until they start hurting you, then switch to a healing paradigm, then switch back. 

oh, but i didn't put in the requisite 40 hours before the game supposedly gets good.  Singles are not as tough as moms. 

XIII sucks.  Shining beacon of what's wrong with the world.

wow, you're really terrible at this game then.  and el oh el at you thinking auto battle was really "make a sandwich" autobattle.  Did you even play XII?  Are you confusing games here?

[TakingBackSunday]

Hope's mah boy.  Sure, fairly uguu, but he ain't Vanille.

Sazh, Lightning and Fang are fucking awesome.

[demi]

I would play more. But then i heard the game becomes grinding heavy in later parts.

I finished Tales of Vesperia without having to grind, so fuck that. Shitty game design if you have to grind. Even shittier if the game is more linear than Call of Duty.

It's not grind heavy at all to finish the game. But I guess it's impossible if we can't do it

[WrikaWrek]

I would play more. But then i heard the game becomes grinding heavy in later parts.

I finished Tales of Vesperia without having to grind, so fuck that. Shitty game design if you have to grind. Even shittier if the game is more linear than Call of Duty.

It's not grind heavy at all to finish the game. But I guess it's impossible if we can't do it

Wouldn't know about it. Haven't left the the initial stages out of fear really, i hate grinding.

[demi]

At most you'll have to do a little beefing up to get your main 3 jobs up a bit, but after that you can beat the entire game easily. Only the heavy grinding is for the after-game

[Don Flamenco]

you find a paradigm that hurts them or makes them weak to phy/mag attacks, keep using it (i.e. autlol battle, go make a sammich) until they start hurting you, then switch to a healing paradigm, then switch back. 

oh, but i didn't put in the requisite 40 hours before the game supposedly gets good.  Singles are not as tough as moms. 

XIII sucks.  Shining beacon of what's wrong with the world.

wow, you're really terrible at this game then.  and el oh el at you thinking auto battle was really "make a sandwich" autobattle.  Did you even play XII?  Are you confusing games here?

saw the game over screen about twice at the beginning of my 15 hours.  and I didn't have any super long battles like others experienced. 

[demi]

If repetition really bothered you I'd hate to read your experience with Resonance of Fate

[Himu]

Himu, you gonna try Resonance of Fate?

Are you fucking kidding me? VP2 is one of my favorite rpgs. Trying RoF is an obligation and I wish I got that instead of FF13.

[Ichirou]

Shoulda gotten Sakura Wars.

Himurowned.

[demi]

Jinfash... its not worth bothering. FF13 is easily one of the best in a looong time as I said in that quote. I dunno why they're hating. I dont think its the best JRPG, as I also said - THE LAST REMNANT - but compared to the offerings given, FF13 is easily top tier.

If you like FF13's Paradigm system, TLR will get your pussy moist and quivering.

[WrikaWrek]

Starting to have fun with this game.

[TakingBackSunday]

 

[WrikaWrek]

Should i develope Shaz as a ravager or synergist early on?

Fuck i hate these kind of choices that will surely bite me in the ass later if i didn't choose the roles right.

[MCD]

your ass won't be bitten no matter what you choose.

here is something i did: instead of mastering a whole crystal, just try to master abilities (like thundara, blizzara...etc) you can get to in every role, better than HP/Attack+.

anyway, don't think too much about it and just have fun.

[Himu]

you find a paradigm that hurts them or makes them weak to phy/mag attacks, keep using it (i.e. autlol battle, go make a sammich) until they start hurting you, then switch to a healing paradigm, then switch back.

Wait, isn't this every battle system of every FF and almost all JRPGs? try whatever everything until you expose the weakness then spam, when you're low on health, heal?

In 13 instead of issuing to each character a command, you giving it to the whole team; instead of attack/magic/defend/heal menu you have the the paradigms, which are basically six customizable commands.

The other menu with auto-battle/abilities/techniques/items is just a bonus in case your leader needs to react to a sudden development. That's how I view the system.

Next.

The problem is that the game takes forever to get "challenging" and when battles are the only thing going for it, the game will be boring until it is "challenging".

Since the battle system is the highlight in this entry, the game should be tougher than usual. Instead, it's just as mindless, except this time it takes 25 hours to get good. This is yet another problem with pacing in FF13 and the game should have been 15-20 hours long.

Taking 25 hours for the battles to get interesting? That's not worth it. Having to wait until post-game for you to get to do the fun stuff? Even double not worth it. But then again, this is why I stick with SMT games. SUPERIOR

[Don Flamenco]

you find a paradigm that hurts them or makes them weak to phy/mag attacks, keep using it (i.e. autlol battle, go make a sammich) until they start hurting you, then switch to a healing paradigm, then switch back.

Wait, isn't this every battle system of every FF and almost all JRPGs? try whatever everything until you expose the weakness then spam, when you're low on health, heal?

In 13 instead of issuing to each character a command, you giving it to the whole team; instead of attack/magic/defend/heal menu you have the the paradigms, which are basically six customizable commands.

The other menu with auto-battle/abilities/techniques/items is just a bonus in case your leader needs to react to a sudden development. That's how I view the system.

Next.

No.  This is all there is to FFXIII's system.  There are no important status changes aside from putting an enemy in break, there's no real danger to your characters (why can't your characters break or get dangerous ailments other than poison.)  Once you figure out an enemy, there's nothing to do.  Considering there are like 3 types of enemies in each section, it's boring as hell after the first couple fights.

S-E got seriously lazy on enemy creation. 

[MCD]

my characters got silenced couple of times and come on, figure out an enemy, there is nothing to do? WELCOME TO VIDEO GAMES!?

and i stopped at the tower place (taking a break and playing lunar psp) but i can honestly say i had more fun in the first linear 25 hours than this "challenging ff12 like garbage place".

fuck off himu.

[Don Flamenco]

yes, when you figure out an enemy the game is reduced to pretty menu navigation, like most bad RPGs without enough interesting battle mechanics or challenge.

[Himu]

you find a paradigm that hurts them or makes them weak to phy/mag attacks, keep using it (i.e. autlol battle, go make a sammich) until they start hurting you, then switch to a healing paradigm, then switch back.

Wait, isn't this every battle system of every FF and almost all JRPGs? try whatever everything until you expose the weakness then spam, when you're low on health, heal?

In 13 instead of issuing to each character a command, you giving it to the whole team; instead of attack/magic/defend/heal menu you have the the paradigms, which are basically six customizable commands.

The other menu with auto-battle/abilities/techniques/items is just a bonus in case your leader needs to react to a sudden development. That's how I view the system.

Next.

No.  This is all there is to FFXIII's system.  There are no important status changes aside from putting an enemy in break, there's no real danger to your characters (why can't your characters break or get dangerous ailments other than poison.)  Once you figure out an enemy, there's nothing to do.  Considering there are like 3 types of enemies in each section, it's boring as hell after the first couple fights.

S-E got seriously lazy on enemy creation. 

rav/rav/com auto battle

so funnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

btw there is one good status effect and I think it's silence? It doesn't let you use ANYTHING, even attacks.

[WrikaWrek]

Stuck at the Odin battle.

Have fought every character available in the game so far....the guy kills Hope so quick so pretty so furious, the fuck should i do.

[MCD]

make hope use protect/shell right from the start while lightning cure/ravage then switch to medic/medic and cure like a mad homo.

next ravage his ass with lightning and medic with hope. you can go ravage with hope too if there is an opening.

[WrikaWrek]

Worked, Ravanger combo + Medic combo, seemed like a game of ping pong between the two.

Gonna mess my A button with this game for sure.

[WrikaWrek]

I think this game should look much better than it does, at least on 360. Sometimes it looks like a PS2 game.

I also miss the time when developers were really worried with small graphical effects like water. Seems like water has stayed exactly the same quality since Blood Wake.

[Stoney Mason]

I think this game should look much better than it does, at least on 360. Sometimes it looks like a PS2 game.

I'm not a graphics guy and they don't really matter to me much at all but I sort of agree. As I was playing it people kept saying how gorgeous it was and I wondered if I was playing the same game as them. The cutscenes look great (outside of the bad 360 video rendering they used) but the actual game was far less attractive to me. I didn't think it animated especially well either. Don't get me wrong, there are certainly parts of it that look attractive but I certainly wasn't blown away. Maybe it looks sharper on the PS3 or something...

[WrikaWrek]

I think this game should look much better than it does, at least on 360. Sometimes it looks like a PS2 game.

I'm not a graphics guy and they don't really matter to me much at all but I sort of agree. As I was playing it people kept saying how gorgeous it was and I wondered if I was playing the same game as them. The cutscenes look great (outside of the bad 360 video rendering they used) but the actual game was far less attractive to me. I didn't think it animated especially well either. Don't get me wrong, there are certainly parts of it that look attractive but I certainly wasn't blown away. Maybe it looks sharper on the PS3 or something...

The most i was impressed with the game so far, was in this sort of ancient ruins level. And the reason why it was the most impressive was because there were some blue crystals casting some lightning that reminded me of ZOE2. A Ps2 game.

[demi]

Sucks that u couldn't enjoy this great game, doubling the dose of your antidepressants may help.

[Smooth Groove]

Demi, you think I should just use someone else's save and skip to when the game supposedly opens up?  I got the PS3 version so it should be possible. 

[demi]

No

[tiesto]

I think this game should look much better than it does, at least on 360. Sometimes it looks like a PS2 game.

I'm not a graphics guy and they don't really matter to me much at all but I sort of agree. As I was playing it people kept saying how gorgeous it was and I wondered if I was playing the same game as them. The cutscenes look great (outside of the bad 360 video rendering they used) but the actual game was far less attractive to me. I didn't think it animated especially well either. Don't get me wrong, there are certainly parts of it that look attractive but I certainly wasn't blown away. Maybe it looks sharper on the PS3 or something...

Did you make it to Eden? That area looks absolutely unbelievable... then again I am playing on PS3. There are some areas (the caves) that have muddy textures that don't look too great... but areas like Eden, Palumpolom, and the final area look incredible. And thankfully it doesn't resort to shaders and excessive bloom lighting like a lot of games this gen. It's certainly one of the best looking games I've ever played.

BTW, all that remains for me to do is:
-Finish grinding the Crystarium (just gotta get one more role leveled up for each character)
-Beat the Vercinetrex (sp?) with 5 stars - any advice on doing this, folks? Do I need lv3 weapons fully upgraded to stand a chance?
-Beat a Long Gui

and I am done with what I want to do with the game.

[naff]

Demi, you think I should just use someone else's save and skip to when the game supposedly opens up?  I got the PS3 version so it should be possible. 

You'll be a little over your head once you first jump in and the game isn't really all that different once you get to pulse. Sure the world opens up but everything else is exactly the same. You may as well play someones 100% save and just roam around checking things out.

edit: I tried this, you can load up other peoples saves but you can't get trophies or save the game again... You can just load it up and play around in it but Sony have gone to lengths to make sure people can't exploit this feature to get trophies.

[demi]

Use Lightning and cast Poison on it. From there just have Fang be Sentinel, Hope/Vanille heal and Lightning just casts Thunder over and over (always hits even on flying enemies). When it does its shield, turn into a medic / med / syn and buff up and heal. Then cast Poison again and repeat. When it does its super move (forgot the name, its a tornado attack), go immediate to Sen Sen Sen. Dont be afraid to use an Elixir or something. But Poison is the key move

[MCD]

quick question:

i'm at chapter 11 (tower) and never upgraded anything but i am curious about the collector catalog.

should i upgrade it and transform it to connoisseur catalog? or should i just upgrade it only and find a connoisseur catalog in a mission if it's available, you know, just to have them both.

[iconoclast]

You can get two collector's catalogs, though I can't remember where from. I'd say just keep it as a collector's catalog until you want to start farming trapezehedrons from the turtles, then you'll want to have a connoisseur catalog. It really doesn't matter much before then.

[MCD]

so just give it a star for now.

thanks.

[MCD]

now that is some god tier cg but the whole time i was watching, i was like "what the fuck is going on? are they racing, fighting OR FUCKING WHAT?"

yeah, the story needs some work but i guess it is enjoyable anyway.

[TakingBackSunday]

I'm at the point in Chapter 11 where I'm getting my shit raped by normal enemies.  In those M'habra caves or whatever, that Dreadnought...fuck  :'(

[MCD]

grind for a bit.

[Himu]

Do marks. Piss easy.

[TakingBackSunday]

I did all the marks up until this point.  Yeah I'ma just grind.  I don't think I've been smartly upgrading my characters the past chapter, I've been avoiding HP spheres and just trying to continue down paths that give strength and magic bonuses.

[Trent Dole]

XII is fucking gay and unplayable on current TV sets. About two hours into XIII's nonsense and liking it so far. Uguu overload.

[naff]

I played it on an HD TV. Hence it's playable. It's also far better than FFXIII...

[demi]

NOPE

[MCD]

I played it on an HD TV. Hence it's playable. It's also far better than FFXIII...

AUTO FUD

[naff]

I played it on an HD TV. Hence it's playable. It's also far better than FFXIII...

AUTO FUD TROLL

[Rman]

Demi, I'm going for the treasure hunter trophy.  Do you know if the expensive weapons sold in Gilgamesh Inc. are available elsewhere? I'm going to have to grind from some ingots to get those it seems.

[demi]

The Gilgamesh weapons can only be bought there, but there is a small percentage chance that the bosses from Titan's Trials drop one of each. If you are grinding Ingots its no big, just buy the weapons.

[TakingBackSunday]

Hope is my fucking tank.  Not even halfway through Chapter 11 and his magic skill is at 1124.  Hope

[Rman]

Hope is always in my party.  He's an awesome medic.

[MCD]

hope is the best rpg character since kos-mos.

[TakingBackSunday]

I don't usually have Hope as my medic, that usually goes to Lightning (or just double team medic with Combat Clinic).  There's seriously no better team than Lightning, Fang, and Hope.

[Rman]

I don't usually have Hope as my medic, that usually goes to Lightning (or just double team medic with Combat Clinic).  There's seriously no better team than Lightning, Fang, and Hope.

Where are you up, BN?  Later on it becomes apparent that Hope surpasses all at the medic class.  Since healing potential is based on the base magic stat, which Hope has the highest.  Vanille's an awesome medic too.  They are only ones with Curaja.

[TakingBackSunday]

I only just finished stage 8 of the Crystarium for each character, and I'm about to tackle the tower in Chapter 11 after doing 20 missions.  I usually keep Hope as a ravager no matter what unless I'm desperate, in which case I switch into Combat Clinic with Light and Hope as medics and Fang as a sentinel.