Final Fantasy XIII

[Victoria]

So is anyone else playing this game? What do you think so far?

I'm really enjoying it, i think I'm on chapter 9 now, and the graphics are soooo pretty. I read that there's no minigames though, and no new game plus, but still, the combat is so awesome.

[Super Buu]

I've been pretty addicted, just hit disk 2. But for Vanille, it really does seem like they looked for the person with the most annoying voice they could find.

[Victoria]

I kind of like her voice, i think its cute.

Disc two? what chapter is that? i got it on ps3

[Super Buu]

Like chapter 5, I think. Where you get to lead as Hope for the first time.

[Kaden]

Aww man. Definitely not looking forward to leading as Hope. Having to be a Ravager (been leading as Sazh) is not nearly as cool as leading as a Commando.

[Super Buu]

I just wish they'd let me play as Snow again.

[Victoria]

You get snow after a bit, but tbh, the ravager is really fun! Once you get more cool abilities, its like being a blackmage, only more cool.

[Kaden]

Yeah, I partially take it back. I should have said "I don't like playing as Sazh." His Synergist abilities are really cool, and he's got a nice bit of diversity to him, but in the "he should be in my party" kind of way... not "man I want to play as him" way.

Hope is a total badass. Which is good, because his name is Hope. Poor kid.

[Sage]

Hope is a total badass. Which is good, because his name is Hope. Poor kid.

Ahahahaha! I totally bitched about him having a girl's name to Victoria.

By the looks of things I may have been wrong to naysay the game, huh?

[Kaden]

I kept telling you you shouldn't hate.

The story so far is fine (some of their ex machina are straight-up laughable) but the story telling is phenomenal. I'm greatly enjoying all the cut-scenes and dialogue and extra "datalog" entries.

Combat is pretty straight forward. You'll mostly use an all-encompassing "Auto-Battle" command that queues up actions for you based on the situation. It sounds awkward and easily worthless, but the game does an amazing job of knowing what you'd want to use when. Even better, once you've scanned an enemy, it'll automatically queue things that are extra effective and leave out anything that's not. You can also trigger effects early if you don't want to launch the whole queue (there's rarely ever a reason to do it, but... y'know... impatience).

The big new mechanic for combat is the "Paradigm Shift" system. There are a hand-full of classes (attack warrior, defend warrior, white mage, black mage, buffer mage, debuffer mage) and each character has access to a few of them (they're also different, mostly, from character to character, so you'll have one buffer mage who does defense-related buffs and another that does offense stuff). A "Paradigm" refers to the current class selections of your party. The "Relentless Assault" Paradigm (they have names for all the different combinations of classes) for example is an attacking warrior and two black mages. You can have, I think, six different Paradigms in your "Paradigm Deck" and you can flip through them freely during battle, changing the classes of your entire party (that's what a Paradigm Shift is).

The only drawback is that, when you're working with a party of three people (the max size, it looks like) it's pretty easy to go "oh yeah, I forgot to have a Paradigm where Hope is a Ravager" when you look through your Deck in the middle of combat. You have to set all of the Paradigms before entering combat. It makes for a little more work getting things set the way you like them (which is only irritating in the beginning because you're constantly having your party members changed on you) but it definitely makes combat more interesting.

[Super Buu]

Snow's reentrance = fuck yeah. My biggest complaint is that a lot of the time the game feels just a tad too easy, even this far in. Also I don't mind not being able to choose my party for the purpose of story but I wish they'd mixed them up a bit more and let us use three-person groups more because with three people, it's just a lot more strategic and fun IMO.

[Josh]

Snow's reentrance = fuck yeah. My biggest complaint is that a lot of the time the game feels just a tad too easy, even this far in. Also I don't mind not being able to choose my party for the purpose of story but I wish they'd mixed them up a bit more and let us use three-person groups more because with three people, it's just a lot more strategic and fun IMO.

Appearently about 20 hours in is when everything opens up and you get to go bananas. So far from what I've read, Chapters 10-14 is where most of the shit happens.

[Victoria]

Yep, I hit chapter 10 last night and I can change my party up now.

[Alexander Trafford]

Is this game better on the PS3 or the XBox, or does it not matter. I was originally planning on purchasing a PS3 because i thought that FXIII versus (release date unknown?) is rumored to only be available on the PS3. But my brother already has an xbox. So my options are play FXIII on the 360, than, when i can actually afford it, purchase a PS3 when versus comes out (or try and leach one from someone). Or i can further my debt and buy a PS3 now, which i would only do if it was like... so much better on PS3.

[Android-18]

If you happen to own both a PS3 and a 360, make sure to snag the PS3 version. Both run well and the content is identical, but the 360 version has a noticeably lower resolution and it's also spread out across three discs. With such a beautiful game that contains some truly remarkable environments (including a crystal forest and some awe-inspiring cities), you'll definitely want the best visual fidelity possible.

Also, the other day (a day after it came out) a guy came into our store and said his 360 fell over when he was playing and he got a big 'ol ring in his first disc. Shitty for him, since that ring is VERY hard to fix.

So be warned, if you do get it on 360 PLEASE put your box laying down, not standing up, that is the worst thing you can do with your xbox. Even just touching the damn thing while its on can ruin a disc.

My vote goes for PS3, though, one of the reasons I bought my PS3 (plus it plays bluray).

[Kole T. Merr]

Also, you don't have to switch discs on the PS3 version.

Just started the game, so I'm sure it will get explained later, but the fact that Sazh or whatever keeps a Chocobo in his afro is a little disturbing.

On the plus side, the opening cutscene was retardedly pretty.

[Josh]

Also, you don't have to switch discs on the PS3 version.

Just started the game, so I'm sure it will get explained later, but the fact that Sazh or whatever keeps a Chocobo in his afro is a little disturbing.

On the plus side, the opening cutscene was retardedly pretty.

I like the baby Chocobo it's cute.

About the cut scene, that's nothing, wait till you get to Chapter 3 I think.

[Super Buu]

Just got the ability to change out my party members (apart from the leader) and the ensuing boss, and I think if the game continues down this road then it'll be set as my favourite Final Fantasy. The best moments are always the eidolons though, I'm deliberately avoiding finding out about any more so that I can look forward to the reveals. Sazh's gestalt mode = FUCK YEAH

[Kole T. Merr]

So I'm like an hour and a half into the game. At what point do I actually start earning Crystallium so I can level people up?

[Josh]

So I'm like an hour and a half into the game. At what point do I actually start earning Crystallium so I can level people up?

You don't get to do that until chapter 2 I think, what have you done storywise so far?