Forum Overview :: Final Fantasy XIII
 
Save all your component loot. Also - Positive! by Fortinbras 03/10/2010, 11:27pm PST
You'll be tempted to sell it for money thinking that it's like the Bazaar system in FFXII BUT YOU WOULD BE WRONG. You'll get at least 25 phoenix downs by chapter 4, which is 20 more than you'll ever need, just sell them off to give yourself a decent margin. The components are used in lieu of buying new weapons every chapter to upgrade your weapons, which ups their stats: Strength and Magic. One's for physical attacks, the other's for magic. Other than HP these are the ONLY NUMBERS in the game. I really was nervous about this at first because I really wasn't in the mood to deal with some Dark Cloud bullshit where you have to print out a 100-page GameFAQ just to make sure you don't sell off critical components to late-game uberswords, but thankfully it seems they've explicitly marked items devoted solely for making weapon transformations as non-sellable/useable in upgrades.

Most of the characters are alright. Hope is grating, mostly because his range of emotions run from Insecure Weenie to Really Insecure Weenie. Even Milli Vanilli doesn't seem to grate on me like a Yuffie or Selphie might. The story concept is really interesting but you will have no clue what's going on for the first few chapters unless you read every Datapad entry that gets added to your Not-Codex.

The pacing of the game reminds me most of FFX, you're pretty much on rails the entire time, running along narrow paths with few branches, and the Crystalium levelling system is almost a carbon copy of the Sphere system. The hardest choice in exploration you'll have to make is whether you take the detour to a nearby dead-end which always yields a treasure chest (in case you're wondering the answer should always be yes). Also there's no talking to random NPC's on the roads, or shops. The only shops are located at each save station, which pop up fairly regularly Still, it's kind of weird to be in a Final Fantasy game with no generic NPC's to talk to and no shops. I've been told that (much like FFX) it opens up near the mid-late game allowing you to explore and do side quests and grind to your heart's content. As long as the levelling grind is able to keep me decently prepared to deal with the bosses I really don't mind, but it's like the only flaw some people could come up with. That, and they took a track from Leona Lewis's album to be the obligatory real-world music in the game. LEONA LEWIS.

Gameplay-wise, I have mixed feelings on the Paradigm system. I'm glad that they've retained the hands-off approach that made FFXII so enjoyable to play, but some of the archetypes really don't gel well. The dedicated buff/debuff archetypes are only useful for two turns, and they don't have any other skills they can use in that archetype-mode like attacking or casting damaging magic, so you're wasting valuable killing-time by keeping them in that mode. The whole point of the system was that I wouldn't have to do much meddling with individual commands, if you're going to force me to turn on/off my buffing and debuffing at the beginning of every round just give me back individual control, or better yet bring back the Gambit system. It was and still is the best system Square-Enix has ever come up with, but this may be because FFXII was the best Final Fantasy game yet created. The only other gripe I have is that when your "leader" character become KO'd it's an instant game over, even if your other two characters are perfectly alive and kicking. This threw me for a loop on my first major boss battle as I was trying to figure out why the FUCK I kept on getting a game over message when I was absolutely positive that at least two of my characters had more HP than said boss's mega-laser took off. You'll find yourself watching the leader's HP like a hawk, whereas while it might be a serious concern on another Final Fantasy title, you're not absolutely SCREWED if Squall Leonhart or Cloud Strife goes down in a fight.

Bottom Line: If you liked FFX, you'll like FFXIII, you might even like it more than FFX since it lacks both furries and obnoxious main characters who narrate like Fred Savage from The Wonder Years. If you liked FFXII, you'll find that FFXIII retains a lot of the no-bullshit facets of FFXII that I liked so much. There are no Gold Saucer minigames and no twitch-reflex minigames for dodging lightning bolts in exchange for ultimate weapons/accessories. If you liked FF7 and FF8 the most, you'll be pleased by FFXIII's futuristic styling. There's a lot to like here and not a lot to bitch about, other than Hope, because he really is just a fucking cookie-cutter weeaboo.

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NDD plays FF13: the first hour and a half. by Noi Dau Don 03/10/2010, 9:32am PST NEW
    Black people telling them it's ok to call out fictitious black people as cliches NT by Stuff White People Like 03/10/2010, 10:49am PST NEW
        Yeah, no matter what I'm wrong. by Noi Dau Don 03/10/2010, 11:11am PST NEW
    Save all your component loot. Also - Positive! by Fortinbras 03/10/2010, 11:27pm PST NEW
        LOL Milli Vanilli NT by Morons everywhere 03/11/2010, 4:00am PST NEW
    Hour 9 by Noi Dau Don 03/12/2010, 11:58am PST NEW
        A bishounen appears. by Noi Dau Don 03/13/2010, 11:10am PST NEW
            Sorry, I can't shut up about this. The bishounen SPOILERS by Noi Dau Don 03/13/2010, 3:34pm PST NEW
                I knew it. by Fortinbras 03/13/2010, 3:38pm PST NEW
                    Oh, did you want to have a discussion about bishounen technicalities? by Noi Dau Don 03/13/2010, 4:14pm PST NEW
                        I...I guess? NT by Fortinbras, terribly confused 03/13/2010, 5:01pm PST NEW
            Re: A bishounen appears. by motherfuckerfoodeater 03/13/2010, 4:53pm PST NEW
    Hour 28: we finally get to play the fucking game by Noi Dau Don 03/30/2010, 12:10pm PDT NEW
        Did it ever get better? by Lizard_King 04/07/2010, 9:40am PDT NEW
            Depends on what you mean by better. by Noi Dau Don 04/07/2010, 2:35pm PDT NEW
                RIPLEY NT by Noi Dau Don 04/07/2010, 2:36pm PDT NEW
                Ah, thanks. by Lizard_King 04/07/2010, 2:48pm PDT NEW
        fanart that ISN'T gay? what is going on here? NT by Sword of Justice 04/07/2010, 5:50pm PDT NEW
            A Brief Explanation Of A Seconary Foundation Of Yaoi by Noi Dau Don 04/07/2010, 6:15pm PDT NEW
                Fat, unattractive, single woman who lost only man fantasizes about dreamy boys NT by The summary 04/08/2010, 10:49pm PDT NEW
                    I want you to know: this brings me no joy. But you asked for it. by Noi Dau Don 04/09/2010, 12:16am PDT NEW
                        Isn't this the plot to Naruto? NT by Entropy Stew 04/09/2010, 10:01am PDT NEW
                    That's not fair. That's not fair at all. NT by Souffle of Pain 04/11/2010, 1:00am PDT NEW
                        we recently caused some people on this site to lose their shit NT by Sword of Justice 04/12/2010, 1:41am PDT NEW
                            Re: we recently caused some people on this site to lose their shit by Noi Dau Don 04/12/2010, 3:31am PDT NEW
                                Spinster still struck with incurable craving for cock, won't kill herself NT by the summary 04/16/2010, 1:57pm PDT NEW
    Winning, verdict: not unless you already like this kinda shit by Noi Dau Don 04/16/2010, 1:09pm PDT NEW
        Alternatives by Lizard_King 04/17/2010, 5:01am PDT NEW
            I DON'T HAVE A DS OR A PS3 THERE I SAID IT by Noi Dau Don 04/21/2010, 11:47am PDT NEW
                I will mail you a DS lite by Lizard_King 04/21/2010, 4:40pm PDT NEW
                    let's play some tin pin NT by Sword of Justice 04/21/2010, 5:56pm PDT NEW
                    JUST SEND ME YOUR ADDRESS NT by Charity Man 04/21/2010, 6:14pm PDT NEW
                        I forgot about this shit NT by Lizard_King 04/21/2010, 6:21pm PDT NEW
                    O-oh my god LK thanks but by Noi Dau Don 04/21/2010, 7:56pm PDT NEW
 
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