Final Fantasy XIII

[Aetherfukz]

Got Final Fantasy XIII on saturday. It. Fucking. Rocks.

I really loved the combat system from the get-go. Reminds me A LOT of Persona's (3+4) combat system with Paradigm Shift having the part of changing Personas.

And the story, really nice start too. I always like the (evil?) empire vs (not-so-good?) rebels stories.

P.S. I agree on Pixeljunk Monsters from the PSN Store. That thing's addictive, especially in coop mode.

[Starnum]

Yeah, it just came out about 2-3 hours ago here in the U.S. I resisted for about four minutes before I immediately ran out and bought it, heh. So far I'm really liking it which is good, because I've felt there hasn't been a good FF in a long time. So hopefully this one turns out to be really good, and revives the series. I think that it being the first FF on an HD system is a big deal. Don't think I've anticipated a FF this much since VII. I was worried I wouldn't like the combat system or the character designs. So far I've been pleasantly surprised. I am a little concerned about the fact that you only have two major stats, strength and magic. Hopefully this doesn't become a major issue. So far the system does seem pretty basic, but I'm still just getting started. I like that the combat system isn't overly complicated so far, but I am hoping for at least a bit more complexity later. I haven't even gotten to the paradigm system yet though, so it's really still too early to say anything for sure.

[Shiva]

Yeah maybe it's too early to say that game is a failure (I'm still in Cocoon), but for me it's the first FF game that is so excessivly restricted. After 20 + hours of playing you still don't have ability to change which character you want to use, for the first time FF game is divdied into chapters without posibility of revisitng which gives you lack of free roaming, differences among the characters are again even smaller (Only six summons? Wtf?). On top of that game graphic is not so good and chara design is annoying, it seems that Lightning suffers from anorexia nervosa or something and those ugly hands.

Oh well i only hope that after getting to Gran Pulse everything will change for better?

[Femto]

I'll buy Final Fantasy XIII when it's down to 20 bucks.

I'm hesitant to buy a game that has a 12 hour entry fee.

[Starnum]

Okay, so the first half of the game is extremely linear. I don't really mind. I finally made it to Gran Pulse. It seems the side-quests are just monster hunts, for the most part. I don't know how extensive the free-roaming will be from here, but it would be nice if there were more to do than hunt monsters. More on that as I find out I guess. I don't know what you mean about the graphics Shiva, because I think they're gorgeous. I love how you can see as far the natural eye should be able to see, in great detail. The sceneries are pretty amazing. In graphics alone, I would have to say this is the best game I've seen yet. Okay so the game-play takes a while to develop as you slowly unlock new aspects and features, but I really don't mind the pacing. I like all of the characters too, so I was happy to play who ever they put me with. I thought it was kind of interesting they did it that way, because in the past I've had a bad habit of only playing with certain characters, and this way you're able to get familiar with all the characters before you get to chose your own party. Now that I can pick my own teams, I'm sure I'll continue to mix it up from here. So far the only issue with the game that I think some people will have a problem with are the things I just mentioned, the gradual development of the combat system and features, and the plot driven linear game-play that takes up the first half of the game. As I've said, it really hasn't bothered me. I've found it to be a welcome invite from the monotony of the required side-quest grinding of FFXII. I don't know about all this "failure" talk. Maybe I'm just easier to please, but I think it's turning out to be a great game. I still want to see what all Gran Pulse has to offer before I make my final call, but for the most part I'm pretty satisfied with this game. I do wish you had a bit more range of where you could go and stuff you can do, but if that's my only problem, than I can deal with that. So it's light on extraneous content, at least it's enjoyable and interesting while you're playing it. That's more than I could personally say for FFXII at least. I've really been enjoying the story too, and that's the most important part. It's not perfect, but it's a pretty good game so far, IMO.

Oh, and as for the summons, the Eidolons are more personal in this game. Also since you have to use TP to summon them, it also makes them more significant. I prefer it to the ability to constantly spam tons of flashy summons that don't make much of a difference and don't feel as if they have any real value because you can summon them all the time. Also, it may seem weird at first, but I think the Gestalt mode where they turn into vehicles or mounts that you can ride is pretty awesome too.

[Aetherfukz]

Okay, so the first half of the game is extremely linear. I don't really mind. I finally made it to Gran Pulse. It seems the side-quests are just monster hunts, for the most part. I don't know how extensive the free-roaming will be from here, but it would be nice if there were more to do than hunt monsters. More on that as I find out I guess. I don't know what you mean about the graphics Shiva, because I think they're gorgeous. I love how you can see as far the natural eye should be able to see, in great detail. The sceneries are pretty amazing. In graphics alone, I would have to say this is the best game I've seen yet. Okay so the game-play takes a while to develop as you slowly unlock new aspects and features, but I really don't mind the pacing. I like all of the characters too, so I was happy to play who ever they put me with. I thought it was kind of interesting they did it that way, because in the past I've had a bad habit of only playing with certain characters, and this way you're able to get familiar with all the characters before you get to chose your own party. Now that I can pick my own teams, I'm sure I'll continue to mix it up from here. So far the only issue with the game that I think some people will have a problem with are the things I just mentioned, the gradual development of the combat system and features, and the plot driven linear game-play that takes up the first half of the game. As I've said, it really hasn't bothered me. I've found it to be a welcome invite from the monotony of the required side-quest grinding of FFXII. I don't know about all this "failure" talk. Maybe I'm just easier to please, but I think it's turning out to be a great game. I still want to see what all Gran Pulse has to offer before I make my final call, but for the most part I'm pretty satisfied with this game. I do wish you had a bit more range of where you could go and stuff you can do, but if that's my only problem, than I can deal with that. So it's light on extraneous content, at least it's enjoyable and interesting while you're playing it. That's more than I could personally say for FFXII at least. I've really been enjoying the story too, and that's the most important part. It's not perfect, but it's a pretty good game so far, IMO.

Oh, and as for the summons, the Eidolons are more personal in this game. Also since you have to use TP to summon them, it also makes them more significant. I prefer it to the ability to constantly spam tons of flashy summons that don't make much of a difference and don't feel as if they have any real value because you can summon them all the time. Also, it may seem weird at first, but I think the Gestalt mode where they turn into vehicles or mounts that you can ride is pretty awesome too.

I wholeheartedly second that.
The graphics are top notch. On some scenes I even had to look specially at the hair to ascertain if I was looking at a prerendered cutscene or if it was still ingame.

And damning it for having a rather slow start (although the action itself is pretty much in medias res) is like damning the Fellowship of the Ring for spending so much time in the shire. Epic stories need to be told in a specific way, and as far as I am (chapter 9) I am really loving the story. Outcasts against a fascist regime always makes for a grippling plot and I honestly don't know why people bash the characters that much. I liked Lightning from the get go and she only gets more likable the further the story advances. And Snow is pretty much Great Teacher Onizuka, he even does the whole running down a house to save a falling kid schtick. And how can you dislike that?

[Shiva]

Huh nice one. I've finally started to feel that game after the unexpected plot development in chapter 9 and after getting the ability of changing party members. And if i only could plunge deeper into FFXIII universe and fly there and back again and again into every dungeon, i would be content. But no some "Wanna be new Sephirot boss" must stand in my way! Oh well anyway is there anyone who can justify usage of eidolons? There attacks are actually pretty weak just like in XII even if you stagger any opponent, and on top of that they are expensive - 3 tp bars. It seems that the best aspect of using those entities is for healing the whole party after completing their summonig. Any ideas?

Anyway about characters design i mean the look of Lightning and Serah's legs and arms, well it looks awkward especially in Serah's case. They are long and very thin but maybe that's just me again ....

[Aetherfukz]

Concerning Eidolons: I usually get them out for huge mob packs because pretty much all their attacks are aoe. And they up the combo counter by a lot so I usually get mobs staggered much faster than with the normal 3 man party. Yeah their damage could be better, but you can summon them while your party is almost dead and then the eidolon will usually be the only on attacked by mobs and after that you get a fully healed party, like you said.

On the damage side though, the ultimate of Shiva seems like the most impressive, all the time I got them out the ultimate did something like 25k damage to all mobs, instantly killing them.

And what else besides Libra are you gonna spend those TP on anyway?

[Shiva]

On the damage side though, the ultimate of Shiva seems like the most impressive, all the time I got them out the ultimate did something like 25k damage to all mobs, instantly killing them.

You mean staggered opponents gets that much? Pretty impressive if only boss could be hit that hard and what about their ultimate attacks, it seems that mine are on 2nd lvl? And if thier power in any way coressponds to characters attributes?

And what else besides Libra are you gonna spend those TP on anyway?

You are right but if i could use them more often that would be very nice since i'm impressed with Shiva sisters appearance (that's why i pointed that they are too expensive).

Yeah i'm aware of soles that restore party's TP but still they are hard to find


Oh and for e.g. Dispelga tech, though i don't have enough CP yet ....

[Starnum]

I do wish the Eidolon's did a bit more damage, since summoning them is limited by TP. However, like I said before, I like that you can't constantly spam them all the time like in some of the other games. I just think they should be a little more powerful because of it. However, if you use them just right and time things correctly, you can actually do a decent amount of damage with them. I've even finished off a couple of bosses that were giving me trouble, thanks to my Eidolons. I like to wait until the very last second before they vanish to change to Gestalt Mode, then use up nearly all the points doing their special moves, and then save the super move for the very end. Of course it's important to stagger the foe first, and then switch to Gestalt at about 1/3 of the stagger meter or right before the summon's normal energy bar runs out, which ever comes first. That's how I've been doing it anyway, that way I get the most bang for my buck.

One thing I like about this game, is that it's not all about grinding so that you can get uber powerful, not to say you can't do that. However, if you're having trouble with a boss or enemy, generally all you need to do is keep changing strategies until you find the one that works best, and then you can usually defeat the enemy. I don't like to grind a lot, so I think you should be able to continue playing through the game and level progressively as you move through the plot. You're able to do that with this game and that's the main reason why, for me at least, it's a relief from the disappointment of FFXII. Anyway, it appears there are 64 Cie'th Stone missions, which is plenty for me, and so far I've completed 10 of them. You're pretty much able to free-roam on Pulse as much as you like, as far as I can tell, but I'm still not sure how much extra content there's going to be, besides these monster hunting missions. This does worry me a bit, but in light of how awesome the rest of the game is, I can't really make a big deal about it. I do know that you can get a chocobo though, so there is that, which is cool. Though, if you want to be able to go all over the place, I did read you have free rein to continue playing after you beat the game, which is interesting. We've seen this a lot in next gen games, but this is the first time I think you've been able to do that in a FF.

I am curious about this "wannabe new Sephiroth" boss you mentioned though, Shiva. I haven't done much besides the Cie'th missions since I got to Gran Pulse, are you talking about something later in chapter 11 or something from before? So far I haven't found any bosses that remotely remind me of Sephiroth, so I'm curious as to whom you speak. If it's someone from before chapter 11, maybe tell me who you're talking about and put it in a spoiler tag? If it's something from after chapter 10, then just say so, and I'll see what you mean when I get there. I'm sure Gran Pulse will be open for exploration after the game's over, but hopefully Cocoon will be too. At least the game switches to free-roaming once you get to Pusle, so I can't really complain about that. One thing I think people forget is that most of us were children when we first began to enjoy Final Fantasy. Things have to change or else the series will get stagnant. You've got to rock the boat a bit to usher in new innovation, and I think they've done a really good job with it this time, unlike some of the other more recent incursions like FFXII. We shouldn't really expect every FF game to be the same, or else the series will grow static. I encourage their bravery at trying new things. They've got to balance out the innovation and the franchise staples, and I think they've done their best with this game. Naturally you have to expect that some things may have to be left out for each game. They can't include it all in every game, but that doesn't mean they can't focus on those aspects again more in other games later. Considering their having to program the game for a console they've never been on before, I'm just trying not to be overly critical of the game. It's really not that hard to do either, when you consider all of the other great aspects of the game. Graphics aren't really as important as story and game-play, but they've definitely delivered in that respect. I do enjoy the game-play, and so far I think the story and characters are great! Snow is easily my favorite character from this game. As for the character designs, I actually like them. The girls are really thin, but it doesn't really bother me. I guess I'm just used to seeing that kind of design in anime or something, but I can see how it may be unappealing to some people, so I can understand where you're coming form there, Shiva.

[War Machine]

FFXIII has me a bit disappointed when it comes to the battle mechanics because there's very little thought involved other than changing to a defensive paradigm whenever you think you might get heavily attacked and to an offensive paradigm to attack. It's a little more complicated than that, but that's what it boils down to. Also, it's quite problematic to having to depend on the AI for the other 2 characters, it doesn't always do what I want them to do.

Outside of battle, the game seems to mirror FFX with nice environments that have one single path forward (with treasures hidden along the way). Story wise, I haven't seen that much yet (I'm around chapter 6, I think), but so far I have no complaints. Sahz is definitely the most likable character.

[Starnum]

Hope you guys don't mind, I went ahead and split the FFXIII conversation into its own topic.

[War Machine]

Ok, help me understand weapon leveling, should I just use whatever item makes it level up faster or is there something more to this? Can I even know how they're gonna level up? I'm thinking I should stay away from this until later on when the weapons are stronger and leveling them is a a good idea in the long run.

[Aetherfukz]

Ok, help me understand weapon leveling, should I just use whatever item makes it level up faster or is there something more to this? Can I even know how they're gonna level up? I'm thinking I should stay away from this until later on when the weapons are stronger and leveling them is a a good idea in the long run.

Waiting to level, dunno.

I'm in chapter 9 btw.

I still have the very first sword I found equipped with Lightning, and Snow still has his starting weapon. Lightning has Gladius level 15, Snow (dunno remember the name) Level 8 or so. I also still have the starting staff equipped to Vanille, leveled up to 10.

The gladius for instance was relatively easy to level. First level needed something like 400 points, then 600, and so on, and now at level 15 it needs 2300 points. The more and the better stuff you "give" to an items the more XP bonus it gets, so for instance at level 10 my gladius had X3 XP bonus, so an item that would normally give 100 XP gave it 300XP instead.

I usually reserve the really expensive (i.e. giving lots of XP) materials for items that already have a x2 or x3 bonus to XP, because when I use the material (I still have some computer thingamagic in my inventory which gives 1000 XP, which would of course then double and triple for a good item that already got lots of material in it).

Be wary though that dropping lesser stuff like coins and hide into an item can and will lower the XP bonus.

There aren't really much weapons to chose from, accessoires on the other hand are plenty. I think I got 3 weapons for each character now, maybe 4? And for Lightning for example, everything but the Gladius pretty much sucks. Lifegiver gives more HP when you rez your party but has shit stats on it. I don't try to rez my party so it's a no go for me. I like the gun for Sazh that prolongs the stagger status whenever he attacks. Other than that I'm going straight for stats though mainly.

[Starnum]

Yeah, I'm still using the Gladius too (because it's a good weapon), but now it's been transformed into the Helter Skelter. Here's the deal. You don't get a ton of weapons, like in the other FF games. In fact, in this one, some of the first ones you get are some of the best. Here's how the upgrading system works. If you look, you'll see that there are three kinds of components. There are organic materials, mechanical, and mineral. The minerals, like Rhodosite and stuff are used as catalysts. You have to have a specific mineral to transform your weapon. Once you get the weapon maxed out for its initial stage (which is generally either level 21 or 26, depending on the weapon), then I recommend you look up which catalyst you need to get your weapon to transform. Here's the best way to level your weapons though. The organic materials don't give you much exp, but they do increase your multiplier. So use any organic materials you have first, one at a time so that you get the most bonus from each component. Keep using the organic materials one at a time until you get the x3 bonus, which is as high as it will go. Then find the mechanical material that gives you the most points, and then use several of them all at once to get the biggest bonus. For example I like using Particle Accelerators, because with a x3 bonus they usually give me over 10k points. That's pretty much the trick to upgrading the weapons. Just be sure to use the organic components one at a time, until you get the x3 bonus, then use all or several of your best mechanical component all at once, since they decrease your bonus. You'll get the most points if you use them all at once, unlike the organic materials, which you want to use one at a time. Essentially the organic materials are for increasing your bonus, but don't give very many points. Whereas the mechanical components give lots of points, but decrease your bonus. Just go to the shop and buy a bunch of the best organic materials that you can, then use your best mechanical components once your bonus is at a x3. Well, I hope that makes sense. Good luck! Just let me know if you guys have any more questions on weapon upgrading or anything.

So far I've managed to advance 4 of my main weapons to their second of three forms. Snow's Power Circle became the Battle Standard, and now I've got it up to level 55. At level 61 it will be at max level for its second form. The only problem is I need a Tetrahedronite, or whatever it's called, as the catalyst to transform it, and that thing cost 2 million gil. So far the most gil I've had at once is over 600k. You can farm for treasure on Pulse with the chocobos though, so that's useful. Yeah, you will make a lot more money once you get to Pulse. Mainly by finding valuable items which are just good for selling. Also, the cool thing is that any of the weapons will transform into the character's ultimate weapon, in their 3rd form. So it doesn't matter which weapon you decide to upgrade so much, as they will all eventually become an ultimate weapon. Just pick the one with the stats and/or abilities that you want to have. For example Sazh's Procyons have "stagger maintenance", so by upgrading that and transforming it into his ultimate weapon, then his ultimate weapon will have that ability. Yeah, a friend of mine explained all this to me the other day, and it really helped, so I just thought I should pass on the information. Hopefully you guys have been like me, and haven't been upgrading too much and wasting materials. I wasted a little bit before I found out, but once he explained it to me, I went to town on the upgrading. When you know how to do it properly, you can make some pretty good leeway with your weapon upgrades. So I'm still in chapter 11, on Pulse. I've now logged about 55 hours of game play, which is pretty sweet, because there are still 2 chapters left, and I haven't finished messing around on Pulse yet. I could move on to chapter 12 now if I wanted, but for now I want to stay on Pulse and continue doing the side-quests. I'm not sure if I'm going to do them all before I beat the game yet, because you can always come back and do them after you beat the game. However, so far I've done 34 / 64 of the missions, and I'm starting to get fairly beefy, which is nice. If they start getting too absurd I may just move on and come back later for the rest, but as of yet they're not giving me too much trouble. I still want to farm some treasure too so I can finish upgrading all my weapons, and at least get the ultimate weapons for my main party. Though I do like to switch out characters frequently. Last night I even managed to beat one of the smaller of the giant ass turtle monsters you'll see on Pulse. That made me feel pretty good, but I don't think I'm quite ready to take on the big ones yet. The babies are still over two stories tall though, heh. Also there's this titan, or Fal'Cie thing you can see in the background on Pulse. You can't really get to it because it's actually in the background, but that thing has got to be at least 300 ft tall! I wonder if we'll ever have to fight that thing. Part of me hopes so, but the other part of me hopes I never have to face that thing, cuz it's fuggin' HUGE!

*edit*

Holy crap! It IS Titan, the Fal'Cie! I was just kidding before. I didn't expect that to actually be his name. After you beat the damn tonberry (hate that thing!), you get access to a new area, where you get to actually talk to Titan. Apparently he's got some kind of challenges for you to go through. Man, are we going to have to fight him at the end, WTH! He is seriously huge, this is kind of crazy.

[Aetherfukz]

Sweet, you really got it figured out man

I always thought which material gave you +bonus or removed some of the xp bonus was either random or tied to the price of the material. Sweet guide Starnum.

[Shiva]

Nice one Starnum. You are right, I've only upgraded weapon initial weapon for Lightning. Since mulitplier can easly be decreased after using best components i've abandoned upgrading altogether. I'm in the same chapter as you but still money is a biggest issue almost like in FFVIII. So gold nuggets are only worth for selling? And what about that weird chocobo treasures? Some hints about that?

[Starnum]

Always glad to be of help! Yeah there's lots of stuff that's mainly only good for selling, such as the incentive chips, gold nuggets and gold dust. Basically anything that says "sells for a premium" in its description, such as the Moogle Doll, and the Chocobo Plush. Also, the great thing about the chocobo treasures is that they respawn! So just leave the area and come back, and you can find more treasure in all the same spots. Essentially there's a drop rate for different items of value, so you have a random chance to get a different treasure each time. So if you want to you can just farm the area for treasure, leave the map for a second and then come right back, and then repeat. It's actually kind of fun. So by doing this there is no end to the amount of money you can make, it just takes a while, but it's worth the effort.

Also, here's something else I just learned tonight. You need a trapezohedron to transform all the weapons into their final form. However, that thing cost 2 million gil, like I was saying before. However, here's a trick my friend just told me about early this evening. Just buy one, and use it to make Fang's ultimate weapon, which is called a Kane's Lance I think. Use her basic weapon to do this as it upgrades the quickest. Then dismantle the Kane's Lance and you'll get 3 trapezohedrons! So that way you only have to buy one, and then you can just make more by yourself for the rest of your weapons. Just remember to always save one to make a Kane's Lance, until you get all your weapons into their final forms. Then you can just starts selling the things if you want, or whatever, heh.

[War Machine]

So any weapon can evolve into the ultimate weapon? Hmm, good to know.

Thanks for all the tips.

[Starnum]

Yep. No prob.

*edit*

A couple of quick tips. There are some pretty good weapons in chapter 12, and the Sacrifices you can fight in chapters 12 & 13 are good for farming for gil. They drop scarletite, which sells for 7k and Perfume, which sells for 12.5k.

*double edit*

Well I finally beat the game. I thought the ending was pretty good actually. Now I just need to get my last few ultimate weapons, and complete the Cie'th missions. I'm gonna try for the trophies too. Yeah, I never played any of the FF's before VII, but I would have to say this is my second favorite now. It's not perfect, but there's just a lot of stuff I really like about it.