Final Fantasy XIII

[bilcliff]

Yep, it's pretty clear that the xbox just isn't up to the challenge of playing FF13.

good thing my ps3 works and my xbox doesn't : :thumbs-up:

 

Gamespot gave it an 8.5 on ps3 & 360. both reviews were almost word for word identical

Edited March 9, 2010 by bilcliff

[cirro]

is there going to be a pc version?

[Silverfox]

No PC version in the near future.

 

I'm not so fussed about CGI sequences, but more about the seemingly linear A to B gameplay that has crept into the FF series. Will wait and see ... possibly a rental?

[Deathmineral]

Has anyone here had any trouble with the terminology or understanding what's going on in the game? I've seen some people complaining a lot about how they don't understand what the characters are talking about and I just don't even understand how it's hard to understand, maybe those people just have poor reading skills and don't follow context clues but uh... I don't know, I've just been seeing a lot of unnecessary and silly argument against the game and that kind of bugs me.

[WhenKittensATK]

No PC version planned.

 

This game is pretty awesome. I'm about 10 hours into it and half way through Ch 4. So far I liked all the changes to the game.

 

If you're getting this on the 360, don't fret. The 360 version looks fine even at 576p. I sit back like 6-7 ft from a 32" 720p HDTV.

 

From what I played the game is extremely linear in travelling and leveling.

If you ever played Guild Wars the maps are kinda like that. You're on a one-way path (sometimes side roads to lead back on the path or to hidden items). Leveling stats/abilities are kind of the same way. You have 3 trees each per Paradigms (classes). The game gives you enough monsters to max out each class per level at the start of the game. Then the amount of Crystarium Points (CP, like EXP) needed to unlock each node gets higher. I don't mind it so much as I just absolutely love this game. If you're not a FF fan then maybe it will bother you.

 

 

Combat System:

 

The combat is all real-time. You can only control the Party Leader and the other two are controlled by the AI. But don't get discouraged the AI is very suitable for the challenge. You have two options of how you want to fight a battle either use the auto-attack (recommended, takes less time to initiate) or you can manually input attacks. You always want to use Libra (scan enemy for stats/weaknesses) you and you're AI will automatically change their auto-attacks based on that new information (awesome ). Since the combat is real-time you attack when the ATB meter fills up. Each block equals one attack. Let it fill up all the way and you can chain attacks at at once. If you're in a rush you can just cancel items in the ATB Queue and use whatever you want. Almost all the attacks/abilities use the ATB system. Some like summoning Eidolons and using techniques like Libra will cost Technical Points (TP). Technical Points don't instantly recharge at the end of battles. They slowly recharge after each battle. The better you do in a battle the more it will recharge. So use them wisely.

 

The game ends if the Party Leader dies. So make sure they are healed first. If it so happens that you die. You don't need to start at a previous save. You can Retry the game right before that battle and with all the items you had. A very nice feature, in case you were scratching your nose and you're whole party got killed by a 1 hit kill attack (didn't happen to me in this game, but in WOW lol ).

 

The game uses a Stagger mechanic. Each mob has a meter. You can build up that meter by focus firing on that single target or sneaking up on a group thus starting an Preemptive Strike. Which means you only need to hit them once to get them Staggered. While enemies are staggered they take more damage from your attacks. So it's imperative that you Stagger them as quickly as possible. The faster you kill them the better the rewards. Most of the monsters are different on the speed that you can stagger them. So use Libra to find their weaknesses. The Stagger meter will drain. So if you stop attacking a mob before it get's staggered it will drain to zero and you have to start all over again. Once you stagger an enemy it will continue draining. So go all out on the enemy while it's still staggered. Great for boss fights and enemies with a lot of HP.

 

 

Paradigms (classes):

 

Each character has 3 classes (preselected). They can only use spells of that class when that class is selected as active, meaning they can no longer use the spells of the other two. But what's a nice thing about it is that you can change classes almost instantly during combat. You basically customize presets of group compositions based on their Paradigms. Let me explain the classes so you can better understand this.

 

Commando is your Melee DPS. They slow the amount of drain dramatically of the stagger meter. You will want at least one and no more than two.

 

Ravager is your Caster DPS. They do all the elemental attacks. They build up the stagger meter fast, however without a commando the stagger meter drops extremely fast. You normally two of these in your party.

 

Sentinel is your Tank. They aren't very useful at the start of the game, but will be very useful later on.

 

Saboteur is your Debuffer. They weaken enemies with debuffs. Things like Slow, Deprotect, and Deshell. Useful on long fights.

 

Synergist is your Buffer. They are the opposite of Saboteurs. They buff your party. Things like Shell, Protect, and Faith. Also useful on long fights. However if an AI has this class its really annoying. They only focus on one ally at a time and cast things unnecessary at times.

 

Medic is your healer. At least 1-2 in your party is good.

 

Now to talk about the group composition. In battles you can hotswap character classes (called Paradigm Shift). When your not in combat you can customize the builds for the group. You can set up to 6 or so presets.

 

Now this is where Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin character on 30 Rock) would love. This is where synergy happens. You want to have a Commando + Ravager + Ravager as your main attack party. Well maybe they are taking a little too much damage so you switch to say Commando + Ravager + Medic or etc. You want the commando to stay in there to keep the Stagger meter from draining fast, but you still need a medic to heal. There are other combinations that are pretty straight forward, just use your imagination. Also note that changing classes in battle will cancel out any queued attacks/abilities. So don't change classes when you know you need an important heal is about to cast. Wait until after it's casted.

 

Edited March 9, 2010 by Krazyxazn

[bilcliff]

Has anyone here had any trouble with the terminology or understanding what's going on in the game? I've seen some people complaining a lot about how they don't understand what the characters are talking about and I just don't even understand how it's hard to understand, maybe those people just have poor reading skills and don't follow context clues but uh... I don't know, I've just been seeing a lot of unnecessary and silly argument against the game and that kind of bugs me.

i'm sort of having a bit of that problem. maybe because i'm not paying enough attention. but at the same time there was one scene with 2 of the characters and they explained something. but it happened in about 3 seconds and i was sort of "what? say that again" . i've only played for about 2hrs so far so someone else maybe able to vouch yay or nay.

[Avinexis]

is there going to be a pc version?

This is what really pissed me off. Wikipedia listed a release for Windows for around the same time as the consoles, but then only about a month or two ago it completely vanished, and only being removed 2 months before release and over 4 years in the making, I'm not at all sure what happened.

 

Inb4 "Don't trust wikipedia", because I'm aware it's edited by everyone but that listed windows as a platform for at least a year <_<

[WhenKittensATK]

If you really get lost, read the datalog. It pretty much sums up what happens scene by scene. I read it anyways, the story is not hard to follow. Maybe I'm just used to these ideas from all the Japanese games/animes I've seen.

 

@ Danrik

 

The reason it showed up for PC was because a video leaked of them playing it on a PC (it was just the development software they were using). So people instantly thought it was coming to the PC when it never was. As far as I remembered Square Enix never released a PC version of any of its Final Fantasy games close to the console release.

Edited March 10, 2010 by Krazyxazn

[Avinexis]

@ Danrik

 

The reason it showed up for PC was because a video leaked of them playing it on a PC (it was just the development software they were using). So people instantly thought it was coming to the PC when it never was. As far as I remembered Square Enix never released a PC version of any of its Final Fantasy games close to the console release.

I am a sad panda, but at least now I know why. Cheers Krazy.

[Deathmineral]

If you really get lost, read the datalog. It pretty much sums up what happens scene by scene. I read it anyways, the story is not hard to follow. Maybe I'm just used to these ideas from all the Japanese games/animes I've seen.

 

@ Danrik

 

The reason it showed up for PC was because a video leaked of them playing it on a PC (it was just the development software they were using). So people instantly thought it was coming to the PC when it never was. As far as I remembered Square Enix never released a PC version of any of its Final Fantasy games close to the console release.

Final Fantasy 11 was released on PC, as well final fantasy 7 and 8.

Edited March 10, 2010 by Deathmineral

[WhenKittensATK]

I think you misread my post. I stated that they usually don't release PC versions at the same time as the console version. Not that they don't ever release a PC version.

 

FF 11 came out on PC first, because its a MMO. FF 7 came out a year after PS. FF 8 came out at the end of the year.

Edited March 10, 2010 by Krazyxazn