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 (
), 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.
