Final Fantasy 13 General Discussion Thread

[Pagan's Mind]

There was a 60% resist death accessory behind one of those Tyrant enemies but unfortunately you can't go back after reaching the final boss. If you picked it up then it would be a great help against the death attack. Also his ultimate attack (Merciless Judgment I think it's called) is percentage based so it can't outright kill you even if you have low HP so don't stress healing before he does it. This is an offensive battle so don't worry too much about healing. Good luck and don't give up

[Peveus]

I forgot to warn you about Death. You can buy resist-death items from the shops and upgrade them a lot to be quite resistant, and if you equip two of them you'll have I think about 85% resistance.

Just equip two of them on the player character, dont worry about anyone else. I had one upgraded and one fresh from the store on Lightning, though in my case the boss never cast Death anyway.
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Currently Playing: Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii)

[Kyle Clarthy]

Thanks to Peveus, Pagan's Mind, Adam and dloiscute.

I managed to beat the game last night. Poison really helped, and the boss actually died during a point where he was using his major attack that takes a percentage of health away, so I was all prepared to heal up from the damage, but I didn't even need to bother. I got the achievement, too.

The winning combination was using a party of Light, Vanille and Sazh, two characters I never really bothered using until that battle.

I guess that at the end of the game I was trying to avoid as many battles as I could, so I missed that accessory.

I thought the ending was really quite sad, personally.

I'm just trying to decide whether to bother with post-game stuff now.

I'm just glad that battle is over.

He was a terrible villain, in my opinion.
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[cloudpkk]

Ok i just got this game! Played it for 8 hours and the Story is Extremely Linear I cant even wanderer away from the main quest.. Currently up to disc 2 and still nothing i like...

I was a big final fantasy fan but this game i think cant even push myself to continue playing..

Overall, this game should not be in the final fantasy series.

[pandabear190]

[Adam]

Sazh is very versatile - he's the only one who can easily be a Commando, Ravager and Synergist, as well have a basic Medic level without wasting too much CP.

While his magic isn't as high as Hope, or his strength as high as Fang, he's a good all-rounder that you can count on to get everyone buffed up, help with healing, build up the stagger gauge and then deal out damage while a target is staggered in the Aggression or Cerberus paradigms.
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[LeonJ]

I just rolled into Chapter 11, coming in at 30 hours. I have taken my time and upgrade my weapons slowly, deliciously. It's actually nice to play a FF game with a weapon/upgrade/shop system that makes sense for once.

While some parts was a bit slow, I've really enjoyed the strict slow build up to opening up the game. I understand everything perfectly, the story is set and it's just a great game.

The battle system is magic. It takes away the grind and makes you more of a commander in battles instead of a micro-manager.

I can probably say that because I've haven't been power gaming this title (due to having a very busy personal life in the last few months). So the hour or two every couple of days keeps it fresh for me.
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Shin J Leon.

XBL - LeonJ
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[Scrav]

[THEMAN]

USA NPD:

FINAL FANTASY XIII PS3 SQUARE ENIX Mar-10 828.2K

FINAL FANTASY XIII 360 SQUARE ENIX Mar-10 493.9K


About 1.3 million units all up. I wonder if square enix is happy. Took forever to make.
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[dloiscute]

I'd say they would probably be happy.

Adding EU, AUS and JP figures to that and it would easily pass the (combined) 2 million sold.
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☑Tekken

[Luketheman5]

I'm up to chapter 11, about 20ish hours in. I'm liking it so far, it's a lot better than 12, but it doesn't have that charm 8 did that kept me glued to my seat always playing.

Last night I did a few missions at around 10pm and got so carried away it was 2am before I thought I better get some rest, I don't know what but this game just attracts me more than 12 ever could.
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Now playing: Binary Domain
Now Replaying: Mass Effect 2

[emech]

Ok so I've just finished chpt 9. Boss fight sucked much eh. I HAVNT been hunting down the accessories in side branches, nor upgrading weapons (advise says wait till later chapters for that) and was getting so bored with the lineraty that I was just walking past most encounters to get on with the story and get the game done.

well I obvioulsy was playing it all wrong. So after a couple of hours if mindless grinding I max-out the crystals but I'm STILL beaten by him due to not having strong accessories, and (despite the lineraty) you CANT BACKTRACK to get them and with no stores to buy them from it was another 2 hour repeatitive battle feast to progress. Couldn't they have like a "story" mode that removes the challenges put in for paddding? Also would it have killed them to have a sky battles game(ala skies) So far the ship to ship cutscences have been about the most exciting thing about the game so far.

Ok so they have me hooked now, and I will continue plugging through, but it will be a once play title for me..............
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[Peveus]

emech grinding has very little effect on that battle, the key to victory is simply to attack like crazy when he starts charging his main attack, NOT defend like you would think to.

The game never requires you to have any magical accessories, you could beat the game without any.
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Currently Playing: Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii)

[Pagan's Mind]

[embersilvermoon]

I know I'm a very late contributor to the scene... just finished FFXIII myself and thought I'd add my two cents to the contribution. Most of it though is likely to be a rehash of what other people have mentioned. As a warning, minor spoilers do lie ahead

Story, Characters and Plot
I thought the plot was done well and giving insight as to what happened prior to the events leading up to FFXIII is a great idea in my opinion. The plot got a little hazy at the end although the datalog helped to make sense of what happened to some extent.

Graphics
I don't believe I need to say much more than it's absolutely gorgeous

Soundtrack and voice acting
Pretty good soundtrack in my opinion. The soundtrack that plays during the fight scenes is literally stuck in my head. Voice acting was very good, although a number of people say that Vanille's accent and voice was really annoying. I personally didn't mind it too much.

Gameplay
The one thing that stands out to me as a flaw is the linearity. You are in a tunnel from the start to approximately chapter 11, where you have a bit of freedom. Little side branches offer you treasures or more monsters if you decide to fight them. Once you continue on the storyline from chapter 11, the tunnel continues till the end of the game. FFXIII only offered one fight after another on an extremely linear path. It felt like one massive gauntlet scattered with cutscenes.

Nautilus was a great place to allow for some diversions part way through the story. I enjoyed the little chocobo diversion and I thought it would've been nice to offer a minigame or two at Nautilius. Unfortunately it was an extremely linear place. I think the linearity was helped by the fact that the map tells you to go here next...

I'm a person that prefers a 'sandbox' environment and enjoy little distractions here and there so to have FFXIII be so linear felt quite restrictive.

To its credit I believe FFXIII has one of the best fight systems... with one irritating factor for me. To get the negative(s) out of the way first, I dislike systems where if the leader dies, the game is over - Why can't my friends raise me from KO like I do for them? Never really something I enjoyed in Persona 3, 4, Baldur's Gate Saga and now FFXIII. Add to that the instant death move, and you can perhaps understand why it gets frustrating (80+ % death resistance and I still got killed by instant death against the final boss towards the end... unlucky ). Ok, that's my rant out of the way...

Now for the positive, I thought the combination of the Crystarium, Paradigm Shift and battles was done really well, and I commend them for implementing such a system. The systems when put together worked really well for what they were aiming, which was a faster paced battle system. The only thing I'm trying to imagine is Hope or Vanille taking on the role of a sentinel as I can't imagine either of them taking on that role >_>... a bit unusual that everyone has access to all roles towards the end although I'm not complaining about it. I like the freedom of allowing everyone access to all roles.

Overall it's a fairly good game although I wished it allowed for more opportunity for exploration.
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Recently Finished: Legend of Heroes - Trails in the Sky (8/10)

[Cerebral]

Been spamming death on Neochu for the last hour. The only time it lands was just as Screech goes off.

*Furrows brow, turns off Xbox*
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My play-asia affiliate link (I may as well be honest about this)

[hotmustardsauce]

Just started playing and I must say this game is pretty weak.

Whats with the long cut-scenes and the cheesy character dialogue?

Graphics are good but not amazing and its getting awfully boring and linear. I do nothing but mash x once i get into the fight, apart from that i'm just watching cutscenes.

Also, why on earth can't I jump ?whats with having to find a specific circle thingy before being able to jump?

Pretty lame game so far. Not sure if its worth sticking around till it gets better (i heard it takes 20 hours or so to get better?)

[Cyph]

I honestly don't get people's problem with this game. I'm only up to chapter 10, but from the experience so far I can quickly say this;
a) the graphics are awesome, likewise with the cutscenes (on PS3 that is)
b) the sound track is good for an rpg, voice acting is top notch (very rarely is it over acted)
c) the plot is simply sublime
d) although the start of the game (well, up to chapter 11 apparently) is linear, it does not even affect the game play if you invest in the plot (read, datalog). Also, the swapping in and out of characters (and paradigms) keeps things interesting early on, e) and in response to hotmustardsauce, why do you need the ability to control jump? It ain't counter-strike, it's an RPG.
What the above points culminate in is that FF13 is still an old school RPG, but with pretty graphics and a fresh combat system. You get what you put in.

[hotmustardsauce]

Its just intuitive. When you see a ledge, you press "X" to jump over it. Why do i have to wander around till i find some stupid circle so i can jump?

Graphics are good but nothing special. I just finished uncharted2 and gow3 and this really isn't that exceptional.

[hotmustardsauce]

I also don't like the combat system, its more button mashing akin to an action game. I'm more of a fan of traditional turn based battle systems especially those in strategy RPGs.

[Pagan's Mind]

[Kyle Clarthy]

[THEMAN]

[Cerebral]

The plot had a good concept was so poorly executed they had to add a huge datalog just to understand the basic concepts of the game world. Wouldn't call that sublime by any length of the imagination.

[Pagan's Mind]