Final Fantasy 13

[ratbuddy]

Had a surprise in my inbox today. Too bad it's console only, for now...

Influential and always pushing new boundaries, FINAL FANTASY has transcended generations and cultures for over 20 years. Behind each entry in the series is a team of the most talented minds devoting years of their craft to create. Now, the creative minds that brought you FINAL FANTASY VII and FINAL FANTASY X take the acclaimed series into an entirely new realm with FINAL FANTASY XIII, an entry that touts the series' most impressive cinematic experience, once again setting the new standard in RPG gaming.

Square Enix is truly excited to announce that FINAL FANTASY XIII will be released on March 9, 2010. The much anticipated FINAL FANTASY XIII is the first FINAL FANTASY title developed specifically for high-definition consoles, and also marks the beginning of a brand new chapter in the franchise, FABULA NOVA CRYSTALLIS FINAL FANTASY XIII.

Dealt a fate that marks them a threat to Cocoon—humankind's floating haven in the sky—Lightning, Snow and the others must find the strength within themselves to break free of their curse and fight for what they believe in. An immersive story of destiny, decisions and faith is about to unravel.

The date has been set. The rest is up to you.

The site: http://na.square-enix.com/ff13/

[iaacp]

Still on the fence about this one. The last FF's I played were 8 and 9. Plus, I don't really like the main character from what I've seen (I wish they didn't go with a girl), and the supporting characters all seem a bit iffy.

I'm sure I'll pick it up to try it though. I mean, it's final fantasy! If it gives me a solid RPG experience, that can easily over come my few cautions about it.

[ratbuddy]

Still on the fence about this one. The last FF's I played were 8 and 9. Plus, I don't really like the main character from what I've seen (I wish they didn't go with a girl), and the supporting characters all seem a bit iffy.

I'm sure I'll pick it up to try it though. I mean, it's final fantasy! If it gives me a solid RPG experience, that can easily over come my few cautions about it.

Hell, you missed 10 and 12??? Grab em NOW.

[iaacp]

I dunno man, I heard 10 was just about an angsty emo kid and I herad 12 had a new fighting system that I'm not sure if I like. Is it turn based or no?

Is FF13 not turn based? It looks like its not.

[ratbuddy]

I dunno man, I heard 10 was just about an angsty emo kid and I herad 12 had a new fighting system that I'm not sure if I like. Is it turn based or no?

Is FF13 not turn based? It looks like its not.

No idea on 13, but 10 and 12 are some of the best PS2 games ever made, emo kid or no.

[shard]

10 and 12 definitely did not have any angsty kids. Annoy pricks? yes. But not angsty. I liked em both alot, and I usually dont get into JRPG's that much.

[iaacp]

Cool, I might pick them up then. They age well?

[ratbuddy]

Cool, I might pick them up then. They age well?

I still play both. Just don't try and run FF12 in the anamorphic widescreen mode on a big TV, it looks like crap :p

[zexmarquies01]

Cool, I might pick them up then. They age well?

FF10's voice acting SUCKS. it didn't age well, because it was never good to begin with.

FF12 has aged pretty well. They went with more textures and less polygons than FF10. I think it looks much better than 10.


Personally, I hated FF10. I can't stand Tidus. I hate his face, I hate his voice, I just hate his character. I hated the ending.

But then again, I LOVE FF8, but dislike FF9. So take my opinions with a grain of salt. :D

[Blue Jester_2112]

I was all amped for 13 until I saw one of the more recent trailers which had some dialogue it in it. It seemed like a bunch of whiney, emo garbage. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

[Kuroimaho]

Will get it as soon as it comes out, my sister comes home a day earlier it comes out here so probably we can play something together after a long time. Will be my second PS3 game I get on launch day.

[iaacp]

I was all amped for 13 until I saw one of the more recent trailers which had some dialogue it in it. It seemed like a bunch of whiney, emo garbage. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

That's like, 90% of JRPG's right there though.

[sandyduff]

Still on the fence about this one. The last FF's I played were 8 and 9. Plus, I don't really like the main character from what I've seen (I wish they didn't go with a girl), and the supporting characters all seem a bit iffy.

I'm sure I'll pick it up to try it though. I mean, it's final fantasy! If it gives me a solid RPG experience, that can easily over come my few cautions about it.

You also missed 7... how could you miss that one out?!?!

I didn't like 12 so much... it started off good but it just got to the point where i just wanted to finish it... 10 was brilliant... even tho tidus is an anooying whining child Auron more than makes up for it... he is 100% awesome...

[nightelph]

I haven't had some solid rpg action since Fallout3 crapped on me and Oblivion before that. That was for PC, but I DO have a PS3. This looks tempting.

[sephiroth_749]

ill give it a try and hope its better than the last 2 i ffs i played

[MattNo5ss]

I'll definitely get this, I have all the others...

I'm still waiting on a new Final Fantasy Tactics, it's by far the best FF in my opinion; It's followed closely by FF3/6 and FF7.

[Rydis]

10 is now here near as angsty/emo as ff7.

[sephiroth_749]

just saw new trailer to this game the new battle systme looks confusing and not final fantasy like at all

[ratbuddy]

Holy crap. Check out the trailers at http://www.finalfantasyxiii.com/#/content/Media

I only watched the international one so far but.. I need to get a PS3 or 360. The trailer makes it perfectly obvious why it took so long to get a current-gen FF title. It looks amazing. Gonna wait for a review to see which system plays it better, hopefully on launch day. Leaning 360 because I'd like to play Blue Dragon and a few other titles.

[Mother Goose]

Have you guys seen the hilarious IGN spoof (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG_Z0rd7eK0) of the Final Fantasy trailer?

Great voice actors, LOL.

[zexmarquies01]

Well, It's pretty much official. The 360 version got screwed.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-final-fantasy-xiii-face-off

It's 20 Gig's less than the PS3 version ( 18 gigs vs 38 gigs ). Runs at 1024x576 resolution vs 1280x720. Then resizing the 360 version to 720P doesn't help either. Just makes it look even worse.

Also, The video's were highly compressed. Also the lower bandwidth of the 360 causes tons of macroblocking and banding during scenes where a lot of stuff is going on. ( which is pretty much EVERY scene, knowing SquareEnix. )

Also, there's about 1 Gig of space unused on BOTH disc 1 and 2. You would think that they would have tried to use as much space as possible. The less you cut, the better.

But as this article says ( and pretty much every other article that talks about the whole PS3 vs 360 FF13 debate ), If you don't own a PS3, it's not like the 360 version is going to look like a crappy Generation 1 360 game. It's still going to look good, and still have the same story, same music, same gameplay. But if you own Both systems, You should get the PS3 version, for obvious reasons.

The only thing the 360 version has going for it, Is that it keeps the frame-rate closer to the 30FPS mark on average. Which should be expected, since the game is running at a lower resolution and all.

Check out the article. They go into a bit of detail, and it's a pretty interesting read.

[ratbuddy]

Yeah, I actually read that earlier. To be honest, I couldn't see much difference in the comparison videos they posted. I really hate macroblocking artifacts though, and if they're evident on the 360 version, I won't even consider it. Guess it's a slim PS3 for me.

[Kenshiro]

Well, it's a known fact since day one that 360 will eventually get "screwed" on the data since it's DVD vs Bu-ray disc, or unless they come out with a 4 - 6 DVD box set for the game.

Anyway, just like my previous comment about getting new games... I will get it until it's in the $20 bin :D

EDIT: Everyone wins in this case, since it is no longer PS exclusive.

[zexmarquies01]

Yeah, I actually read that earlier. To be honest, I couldn't see much difference in the comparison videos they posted. I really hate macroblocking artifacts though, and if they're evident on the 360 version, I won't even consider it. Guess it's a slim PS3 for me.

Did you play the video's in full screen? You can't really notice it when it's playing in a tiny box. But When full screen, Some of the video's are pretty bad looking.

That's not to say the FF13 for the 360 is as bad as Bayonetta for the PS3 was. Cause sega did a TERRIBLE job at porting that. But when viewed side by side, or looking at in-game screen shots, there is a NOTICEABLE difference. Like looking at hair, Necklaces, the edges of the models, the lighting, and the colors.

Is it a big enough difference to go out and buy a PS3 if you already own a 360? No. At least, Not unless you already had it planned to get a PS3.

I can't wait for the game's release.

I have all next week off work. Using vacation days. I have to use up the rest of my vacation by the end of this month. So I figured that I might as well use it on the same week FF13 comes out. If I don't use up my vacation days, They just disappear. I don't get paid for them or anything. So If I have only a month to use the rest of them up, might as well have them coincide with a video game release date. :D

[zexmarquies01]

Well, it's a known fact since day one that 360 will eventually get "screwed" on the data since it's DVD vs Bu-ray disc, or unless they come out with a 4 - 6 DVD box set for the game.

Anyway, just like my previous comment about getting new games... I will get it until it's in the $20 bin :D

EDIT: Everyone wins in this case, since it is no longer PS exclusive.

Well as the article points out...This was less of a data storage problem, and more of a "square not really trying" problem.

Square didn't really try to use all the power of the 360. The article mentions how games like Uncharted 2 was able to do some of the stuff that it can do, and how square didn't come close to that. That their Crystal Tools engine isn't very friendly with the 360, And while square said that the Crystal Tools engine had to be remade for the 360, It appears to be the same engine, with only a few differences ( that are very noticeable ).

Had square decided to spend more time on the 360 version, Or if they hadn't spend 1.5 years originally making FF13 for the PS2, They may have been able to make the 360 version nearly identical to the PS3 version. But most likely, Time and money restraints forced them to release FF13 the way it is. It's been in development for 4.5 years. 1.5 of that was the PS2 version. And the game probably cost 30+ million dollars to make ( not counting advertising ).

Unless a game is being made by Blizzard, or it's an MMO, By the time most games get even CLOSE to those numbers, the publisher usually throws in the towel, and releases the game as-is.

[ratbuddy]

FF7 had a budget over $30 million. FF10 was something like $33 million, and FF12 cost over $44 million. Other than the PC release of 7, those were single platform titles. I wouldn't be shocked at all if you told me 13 had a budget over 75 million bucks.

Sales are just apparently just under 2 million in Japan alone, according to http://www.vgchartz.com/games/game.php?id=7727 (see attached pic for the chart) and over 1.5 million was first-week sales, followed by a very rapid dropoff. I'm not sure if they count a copy as 'sold' when it is sent out to retail, or when a consumer actually pays for it. The game was $102 USD at launch, bringing total sales (assuming paid copies, rather than excess retail inventory) to almost $200 million before it even launches outside Japan.

To put it another way, 1 in every 67 people in Japan bought a copy. Yikes. Worldwide, counting hint books and other random crap, I can see the game doing a billion dollars, even if it's not that great. I really doubt Squeenix put any money restraints on the development team at all :beer:

[SilverJag]

I wasn't a big fan of 12. I don't like the new battle system, and the story line I thought was mediocre at best (same with 10). 7 was my favorite, and I'm hoping a new FF game tops it off, but I don't think it will happen. Also, I don't like the idea of a girl as the main character :(

Just my opinions, though. I will, however, buy the game to try it out and hope it exceed my expectations.

I am looking forward to a possible PC version though!

[mage_x]

I pre-ordered this the other day at Gamestop and they ended up putting my preorder down for FF12 on PS2 :shrug: ... Had to get that fixed :)

I've got all week off next week and a brand new TV to power-session the game with :P

[darkknight187]

But if you own Both systems, You should get the PS3 version, for obvious reasons.

The only thing the 360 version has going for it, Is that it keeps the frame-rate closer to the 30FPS mark on average. Which should be expected, since the game is running at a lower resolution and all.

Apparently the 360 also has a Limited Edition console (http://www.joystiq.com/2010/02/11/final-fantasy-xiii-special-edition-xbox-360-bundle-includes-250g/) with one of the largest HDDs available for the system. This was learned after i accidentally made a friend angry by letting him know that nearly no 360 games, let alone ps3 games actually run at 1920x1080 then asked him if he would be playing ffxii on ps3 due to the lacking visuals on the xbox.

I didnt feel bad about crushing his and his brothers thoughts that the xbox was better than the ps3 for resolution when they are normally the same. However after i learned why he was getting it for 360 and that a mutual friend of ours was buying his old console to replace a broken one i felt like i had been a bit rude. :bang head

Anyways i might slap it on Gamefly to check it out but i'd much rather see them add a decent pc version. This crystal tools thing they have was supposed to make it pretty easy to build games that work on all platforms so if I'm lucky they didnt lie and we'll just get a late release which is fine by me.

[zexmarquies01]

FF7 had a budget over $30 million. FF10 was something like $33 million, and FF12 cost over $44 million. Other than the PC release of 7, those were single platform titles. I wouldn't be shocked at all if you told me 13 had a budget over 75 million bucks.

Sales are just apparently just under 2 million in Japan alone, according to http://www.vgchartz.com/games/game.php?id=7727 (see attached pic for the chart) and over 1.5 million was first-week sales, followed by a very rapid dropoff. I'm not sure if they count a copy as 'sold' when it is sent out to retail, or when a consumer actually pays for it. The game was $102 USD at launch, bringing total sales (assuming paid copies, rather than excess retail inventory) to almost $200 million before it even launches outside Japan.

To put it another way, 1 in every 67 people in Japan bought a copy. Yikes. Worldwide, counting hint books and other random crap, I can see the game doing a billion dollars, even if it's not that great. I really doubt Squeenix put any money restraints on the development team at all :beer:

Every game that is SHIPPED, is counted as a sale. It's the number of games that the STORES bought. Which in japan, every store bought SO MANY COPIES, that people are now only getting like $5 when they trade the game in.

Japan's prices are insane. So people there tend to buy a game, rush through it as quickly as possible, then sell it before the price of the game drops. Now, I have no idea how much Square sells the games to retail for. I don't know if those huge prices are due to the MSRP, or markup by retailers.

[zexmarquies01]

I wasn't a big fan of 12. I don't like the new battle system, and the story line I thought was mediocre at best (same with 10). 7 was my favorite, and I'm hoping a new FF game tops it off, but I don't think it will happen. Also, I don't like the idea of a girl as the main character :(

Just my opinions, though. I will, however, buy the game to try it out and hope it exceed my expectations.

I am looking forward to a possible PC version though!

Yeah, FF7 was my favorite as well. But honestly, I loved 12. Mainly, I loved the battle system, and I loved the Gambit system. You could play the game however you wanted. If you wanted to micro-manage all your characters, you could do it. Or, you could set the gambit to manage the other 2 characters for you, while you control one character. Or, You could have the game manage all 3 characters for you. Just get close enough to a monster, and the game would kick it's ass for you. :D

A girl being the main character doesn't bother me. Just as long as she isn't isn't the Damsel in distress type of girl, it's cool. Which lightning doesn't appear to be. Hell, you could say that lightning is more manly than a lot of JRPG's main male characters.

I'm mostly worried about the game being linear. Most reviews and people are saying the game is EXTREMELY linear, except one chapter where you get a large area to roam around ( or something like that. )

Apparently the 360 also has a Limited Edition console (http://www.joystiq.com/2010/02/11/final-fantasy-xiii-special-edition-xbox-360-bundle-includes-250g/) with one of the largest HDDs available for the system. This was learned after i accidentally made a friend angry by letting him know that nearly no 360 games, let alone ps3 games actually run at 1920x1080 then asked him if he would be playing ffxii on ps3 due to the lacking visuals on the xbox.

I didnt feel bad about crushing his and his brothers thoughts that the xbox was better than the ps3 for resolution when they are normally the same. However after i learned why he was getting it for 360 and that a mutual friend of ours was buying his old console to replace a broken one i felt like i had been a bit rude. :bang head

Anyways i might slap it on Gamefly to check it out but i'd much rather see them add a decent pc version. This crystal tools thing they have was supposed to make it pretty easy to build games that work on all platforms so if I'm lucky they didnt lie and we'll just get a late release which is fine by me.

Why did you feel bad? You told him that the 360 is in general, pretty comparable to the PS3 ( which as we have seen, the difference between the two is usually in the developer's hand's ). And that FF13 got screwed over by Square on the 360 is pretty much the truth. They didn't spend enough time on it, and it looks like it was more of a port, than a re-make. And if he bought the special lightning edition 360 before he heard that...well that's not your fault or problem. He didn't do any research on the game, which is his own fault. Hell, He can always cancel his pre-order of the special edition before the game comes out anyways.

Though, It was pretty lame of Square to release a limited number of special 360 editions WAY before they released any screen shots or video clips of the 360 version in action.

I hope Square eventually releases the game on PC. I would LOVE to see the game running like the early demo's showed. Originally, they showed us demo's that had MUCH higher polygon counts, much better textures and all that jazz. But then later on, they showed us how it would look on the PS3, and there was quite a noticeable difference.

Also, If square is going to be releasing more cross-platform games, I can only imagine that they are spending more time on the 360's version of the Crystal Tools engine so it makes better use of the 360's power. I wouldn't doubt if their next 360 game that uses the engine will have a lot of these problems fixed.

[ratbuddy]

I think I will wait for PC release. I waited for Mass Effect and The Last Remnant and both eventually made their way over. Hopefully Square saw enough sales from TLR PC that they'll think about porting over FF13.

[SilverJag]

I think I will wait for PC release. I waited for Mass Effect and The Last Remnant and both eventually made their way over. Hopefully Square saw enough sales from TLR PC that they'll think about porting over FF13.

I agree, I just hope it doesn't take them a long time to do so as I am pretty excited as it is :)

[nightelph]

Guess it's a slim PS3 for me.

Its also an excellent Blu-ray player. :)


I think I will wait for PC release.

Maybe it'll be the first PC title to come out on Blu-ray if its 38GB. But wait, don't ps3 titles have every language on them? Myabe thats why is 38GB..


BTW, I've never played a FF game. [prepares to find something as a shield]

[darkknight187]

Why did you feel bad? You told him that the 360 is in general, pretty comparable to the PS3 ( which as we have seen, the difference between the two is usually in the developer's hand's ). And that FF13 got screwed over by Square on the 360 is pretty much the truth. They didn't spend enough time on it, and it looks like it was more of a port, than a re-make. And if he bought the special lightning edition 360 before he heard that...well that's not your fault or problem. He didn't do any research on the game, which is his own fault. Hell, He can always cancel his pre-order of the special edition before the game comes out anyways.

apparently whenever i get about to seeing them it seems like i'm always baggin on one thing or another with him. but yea it was a pretty raw deal, then again i guess from what he said bayonetta was a very raw deal in the reverse. Either way i still prefer playing devils advocate for the ps3 i don't play mine much but they like to attach it too me so what the hell.

Either way we all still have great fun once rb2/GH*insert version here* comes up.

Maybe it'll be the first PC title to come out on Blu-ray if its 38GB. But wait, don't ps3 titles have every language on them? Myabe thats why is 38GB..


BTW, I've never played a FF game. [prepares to find something as a shield]

I won't lynch you then again i'm in the only really played ff7 and bits of 3 4 or 5 it's confusing with the J / US games having different numbrs for the same game.

[ratbuddy]

Any first thoughts? No spoilers please :beer:

[TheGreySpectre]

Its also an excellent Blu-ray player. :)




Maybe it'll be the first PC title to come out on Blu-ray if its 38GB. But wait, don't ps3 titles have every language on them? Myabe thats why is 38GB..


BTW, I've never played a FF game. [prepares to find something as a shield]

Assuming it comes out for PC at all I doubt we are at the point of seing PC games released on blueray. We have yet to see any games that are a large quantity of DVDs. Because the PC uses bigger installations and doesnt have to stream stuff from the disc you can have much higher compression on PC disks.

I am still torn on getting this game. I like RPGs, but I have always liked the american style more than the japanese style. Then gain I have not played any JRPGs since SNES. I picked up a used copy of Eternal Sonata and I think how I like that may determine weather or not I buy FF13.

I think the last FF game I tried was FF7 on its PC port, and I just could not get into it. I may just wait a year or two until I can get it much cheaper and try it then.

[mage_x]

I picked up a used copy of Eternal Sonata and I think how I like that may determine weather or not I buy FF13.

Err, don't base your purchase of FF13 on freaking Eternal Sonata. They are totally different.

I'm only 5 hours in, but so far I can say that it is a very good game. The linearity of the early game is offset by the perfect pacing of the story (so far). It's not that different from other games. Walking through the "linear" areas of the game really is not much different than running through say, a Mako reactor in FF7. FF7 just makes you think it's not linear. I guess the main difference is there's no overworld, but that isn't a problem, it's just different.

You don't have to go off your path to buy crap because everything is purchased from save points, and character upgrades are all done via the menu with points you earn from battle. It's all perfectly streamlined. Whoever worked on this system obviously spent a lot of time on it. I'm not really missing any of the normal JRPG features, but I still do prefer the traditional FF style, though.

The voice acting is very well done for the most part. Vanille's voice is pretty annoying sometimes, and Hope... I just ignore Hope (why do game makers always feel the need to include such annoying kids?). I would prefer having the original Japanese audio with English subtitles, though. The graphics, of course, are amazing too :)

[zexmarquies01]

Err, don't base your purchase of FF13 on freaking Eternal Sonata. They are totally different.

I'm only 5 hours in, but so far I can say that it is a very good game. The linearity of the early game is offset by the perfect pacing of the story (so far). It's not that different from other games. Walking through the "linear" areas of the game really is not much different than running through say, a Mako reactor in FF7. FF7 just makes you think it's not linear. I guess the main difference is there's no overworld, but that isn't a problem, it's just different.

You don't have to go off your path to buy crap because everything is purchased from save points, and character upgrades are all done via the menu with points you earn from battle. It's all perfectly streamlined. Whoever worked on this system obviously spent a lot of time on it. I'm not really missing any of the normal JRPG features, but I still do prefer the traditional FF style, though.

The voice acting is very well done for the most part. Vanille's voice is pretty annoying sometimes, and Hope... I just ignore Hope (why do game makers always feel the need to include such annoying kids?). I would prefer having the original Japanese audio with English subtitles, though. The graphics, of course, are amazing too :)


Agreed. I'm a bit into the game myself. I can now upgrade my Equipment, and just got odin.

Game's really fun so far. And you can tell they spent A LOT of time on the little things. They also really thought out the story ( at least so far, it appears they did ), because they are doing what Bioware does. You learn about a group, or an organization, and in your main menu, you can go to a section that is designed to give you more background information about said groups, people, places, history, and all that jazz.

Yeah, Vanille's voice is kinda...odd. I swear, It sounds like the character has 5 different accents! I don't really mind how peppy she is. But god, find ONE accent, and stick with it!

And yeah...I too ignore hope. WTF is with the japanese and always putting in some whiny-ass kid whom you want to stab in the brain with a pointy rock? Everyone hates them, their the least used characters, yet they never stop putting them into games! argg.

And while the game IS quite linear, it doesn't feel as linear as the maps, and reviews have made it seem. They partially accomplish this by having you take control of a different group every once in a while. So after a while of walking down a straight path of a specific area, you then end up controlling someone else who's in a totally different area, with different scenery, and different objectives.

I like how EVERYONE gains CP at the end of a battle. Whether you used them or not, or even if they died in battle. they still get the points.

Kinda annoying that you doing gain money from monsters anymore, and the drop rate of enemies doesn't seem like it's quite high enough. But I'm still quite early in the game, so that may change later on.

The Graphics are GREAT! They put a lot of time and polish into making everything look just right. The cut-scene's look flawless as well! Plus, it's nice that the cut-scenes are full 1080P. So there's no upscaling on any of the cinematics and cut-scenes. Though, the game itself runs at 720P and is upscaled to 1080. ( Has to be, or whenever the cinematics load up, your TV would fliker off for a second so it can change it's resolution. )

And for an RPG, there's quite a lot going on in the battles as well. And even though you can only control the leader of the party, you can't expect to beat most of the battles by ignoring the other 2 characters, and beating the crap out the enemy with the leader alone. So you're constantly doing Paradigm shifts, using potions ( which heal the ENTIRE party! YAY! ), attacking, while focusing on getting combo attacks on the enemies to make them stagger ( you do more damage when they are staggered ), and trying to beat the battle as fast as possible to get a 5 star rating. ( your rating affects the item drops. )

So while they threw out some of the traditional JRPG elements ( like towns, world maps, and exploring large chunks of land ), they beefed up the battle system so it doesn't feel as slow as most JRPG's. So far, It seems like it's been a pretty decent trade-off.

My only *REAL* complaint so far, is the music. So far, there's not enough diversity in the music. I keep hearing the same song over and over. And while the music I have heard so far is really good, It doesn't come even close to the music Nobuo Uematsu created for the previous Final Fantasy games.

Well, time to get back to the game! :D

[ratbuddy]

zex, you playing the 360 or PS3 version?

[nightelph]

I know this should go in the cyber deals section but newegg (http://promotions.newegg.com/NEemail/Mar-0-2010/DaylightSaving/index-landing.html?nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL030910&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL030910-_-EMC-IGNEFL030910-Index-_-E0C-_-SoftGame#Under100) is selling the game for $5 off w/ free shipping. 360: EMCYPYX75 PS3: EMCYPYX74

[ratbuddy]

I know this should go in the cyber deals section but newegg (http://promotions.newegg.com/NEemail/Mar-0-2010/DaylightSaving/index-landing.html?nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL030910&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL030910-_-EMC-IGNEFL030910-Index-_-E0C-_-SoftGame#Under100) is selling the game for $5 off w/ free shipping. 360: EMCYPYX75 PS3: EMCYPYX74

Ugh, Dell also has 360 Arcades for $164. So tempted, especially since I want to try Blue Dragon and a few other 360 exclusive RPGs..

[rainless]

Ugh, Dell also has 360 Arcades for $164. So tempted, especially since I want to try Blue Dragon and a few other 360 exclusive RPGs..

I don't know about "a few" other exclusive RPGs... Maybe more like "one other" RPG.

They've got Blue Dragon, Fable II and... what?

Not that I care really... I prefer my RPGs a little weirder than they come on the home systems. Like Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes or Dissidia: Final Fantasy.

Both the PS3 and the 360 are jokes compared to all the RPGs they've been putting out on the PSP and DS lately.

Playing Final Fantasy VII on the PSP as we speak...

[zexmarquies01]

zex, you playing the 360 or PS3 version?

PS3.

I mentioned the resolution of the game in my previous post. Those resolutions are for the PS3 only!

the 360 renders the game at 1024x576, and upscales it to 720P, and all the cut-scenes have been reduced down to 720P resolution.

Oh and for anyone wondering, The rumor that there are almost no load times in the PS3 version...Well that's true. The only times you see a "now loading" scene is when you load from a game-save, or when you die in battle and click "retry", which takes you back to right before you fought the enemy.

Saving is really fast, Going in and out of your menu is fast, opening and closing the map is just as quick as well.

Considering how many PS3 games either have long loading problems, or force you to install the game to help fix the loading problems, I'm quite surprised at how quick everything is. And no, the game doesn't have you install the game to the HDD. There's not even an option for it. And in all honesty, It's not needed.

[ratbuddy]

I don't know about "a few" other exclusive RPGs... Maybe more like "one other" RPG.

They've got Blue Dragon, Fable II and... what?

Not that I care really... I prefer my RPGs a little weirder than they come on the home systems. Like Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes or Dissidia: Final Fantasy.

Both the PS3 and the 360 are jokes compared to all the RPGs they've been putting out on the PSP and DS lately.

Playing Final Fantasy VII on the PSP as we speak...

Well, there's also Lost Odyssey. PS3 has White Knight and Valkyria Chronicles though, plus FF7. I've been trying like mad to get my PC version working under Vista 64 and just no luck. Still haven't played it.

I did get M&M:CoH and it's not really an RPG, more like a puzzle game with RPG skin, like Puzzle Quest.

[mage_x]

Wow, just played for 10 straight hours and it didn't even feel it. I don't care how linear it is, it's a good game.

[seamadan000]

Played to the first time you get to play the girl in the blue dress with the staff. Have to say, not really a fan so far. This is my first JRPG, so maybe it's not the genre for me (regular RPGs are my favorites, so I kinda figured I'd like this too). The battle system is OK, but the characters are awful. I don't think I've ever played a game where I hoped everyone I control dies at the end, but so far that's what I wish on these goons. Combine that with no real choice in any way (character progression or story) and dialog that is silly at best and ridiculous at worst and well... I guess it's not the game for me.

[Rydis]

yeah..the battle system in this is by far the worst I have ever seen. Its basically just mash the A button..comp takes care of the rest. Heal and do again. Back to lost oddysey

[mage_x]

I think the battle system is great, one of the best I've used:shrug:

You have the option to not use the autochain, you know. If you just use autochain/heal in the harder battles you're going to be seeing game over a lot. And it's not like the computer is doing everything for you. Anytime I need a spell casted (which I would normally choose myself), for instance , I can go to the correct paradigm and 90% of the time my character will do what I need in that situation. Pretty much the same thing, no? This keeps the battles at a really fast pace and it's more fun IMO.

Seamadan and Rydis, I'm curious how far you are into the game? You could say the "real game" starts at around 20 hours.

On another note, I'm at this ridiculous boss that I can't even dent before he ramps up his attacks and destroys me... and that's after I leveled my EQ and CP for two hours right before. >< edit: nm.. got it right after a few tries :)

[Niku-Sama]

mmm another final fantasy. never really got into it, FF with guns and future tech (no steam pumk junk) though, possible improvment.

would it kill them to make a new chrono game every 10 or less years?

[zexmarquies01]

yeah..the battle system in this is by far the worst I have ever seen. Its basically just mash the A button..comp takes care of the rest. Heal and do again. Back to lost oddysey

I think the battle system is great, one of the best I've used:shrug:

You have the option to not use the autochain, you know. If you just use autochain/heal in the harder battles you're going to be seeing game over a lot. And it's not like the computer is doing everything for you. Anytime I need a spell casted (which I would normally choose myself), for instance , I can go to the correct paradigm and 90% of the time my character will do what I need in that situation. Pretty much the same thing, no? This keeps the battles at a really fast pace and it's more fun IMO.

Seamadan and Rydis, I'm curious how far you are into the game? You could say the "real game" starts at around 20 hours.

On another note, I'm at this ridiculous boss that I can't even dent before he ramps up his attacks and destroys me... and that's after I leveled my EQ and CP for two hours right before. ><

I agree with Mage_X on this...

Rydis, how far did you get? Because "just hit the A or X button till the enemy dies" is pretty much the strategy for the first 15+ hours or so. After that, the monsters become quite a bit harder. They are now healing themselves, Buffing themselves, and de-buffing my characters. I'm having to paradigm shift ever 10 seconds to win some battles.

Honestly, This is one of the most fun battle system's I've seen in an RPG. Sure, It can be frustrating. Especially when they only give you 6 Paradigm slots. But for the most part, It works really well. My team's AI works really well, and usually casts exactly what's needed.

Also, Don't do the "Auto attack" stuff. First off, That's just cheap, and the easy way. and second, Later on, It's the worst choice you could make in a battle.

[zexmarquies01]

Played to the first time you get to play the girl in the blue dress with the staff. Have to say, not really a fan so far. This is my first JRPG, so maybe it's not the genre for me (regular RPGs are my favorites, so I kinda figured I'd like this too). The battle system is OK, but the characters are awful. I don't think I've ever played a game where I hoped everyone I control dies at the end, but so far that's what I wish on these goons. Combine that with no real choice in any way (character progression or story) and dialog that is silly at best and ridiculous at worst and well... I guess it's not the game for me.

Welcome to JRPG's. Ya know...actual RPG's. The idea of "regular" RPG's is kinda lost with me, because outside of D&D, JRPG's CREATED the RPG genre in video games. So by that sense, JRPG's *ARE* regular RPG's, and everything else is "Other" types of RPG's. Yes, there were RPG's out on older consoles and PC before games like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy were released, but those were the games that really created the genre.

But yeah, A closed story, with no ability to make an impact on your choices or the outcome. Basically, A book with visuals.

Sound like Regular RPG's aren't your style, and you are probably more of a fan of the American RPG's. Different games for different people.

And I'm loving most of the Characters. I still don't really like Hope all that much, but other than him, The characters are done really well in this game. Their stories and personality's are really flushed out.

[Rydis]

Yeah im not that far into it, just seems compared to other systems from previous games..this ones just so uninteractive. Im only on chapter too. So far autobattle hasn't done nothing I wouldn't of done choosing myself, aside from cancelling the ATB at 1 slot to kill an enemy instead of filling it up.

Im not going to stop playing it because of it though, I like the games mostly for the story. However when you compare it to the Gambit, Junction or Materia system..you can't say this isn't lacking. Has nothing to do with just having 1 person either..i was pretty content with FF11 battle system ;)

Good to hear it gets a little better though.

[zexmarquies01]

Yeah im not that far into it, just seems compared to other systems from previous games..this ones just so uninteractive. Im only on chapter too. So far autobattle hasn't done nothing I wouldn't of done choosing myself, aside from cancelling the ATB at 1 slot to kill an enemy instead of filling it up.

Im not going to stop playing it because of it though, I like the games mostly for the story. However when you compare it to the Gambit, Junction or Materia system..you can't say this isn't lacking. Has nothing to do with just having 1 person either..i was pretty content with FF11 battle system ;)

Good to hear it gets a little better though.

oh yeah, Plus a little later you get the Crystarium. Basically, you gain Crystal points after every battle (CP), then spend the CP on stat boosts, skills, and abilities. Early on, each character is stuck with a limited number of classes they can be. But later on, extra classes unlock, then much later on, any character can be any type....but at a major cost. The cost of learning skills of a class that isn't native to that character ( aka: the class wasn't given to the character via the game itself ), is SIGNIFICANTLY higher. It's insane at the CP cost for some simple stat boosts!

Also, you will eventually be able to level up your equipment as well. Very helpful. Just find a weapon you like ( For lightning, I'm using the Gladius, since it starts with a high base Strength, and low base Magic. That way, as it gains levels, The Strength stat will go up MUCH faster than the magic. Usually double the rate. ( every level usually gives about +6 strength, and +3 Magic. )

But yeah, the game gets much more involved later on. But if you like to use lighting as a Commando, and mainly do physical attacks, Your choices of attacks are very limited. So Lightning's attack pattern won't become more complicated at all. But you will be doing A LOT of paradigm shifts for your other 2 characters. If you have lightning use more magic ( for attacking and healing ), then the combat will become MUCH more involved, and I would imagine, become quite a bit harder as well. Since you only get 6 Paradigm slots. So if you have lightning switch between Ravager and Medic, that leaves you with less options of how the other 2 character's paradigms are set up.

All depends on your play style, and how hard you want to make it. Personally, I *ALWAYS* leave lightning as commando, and have my other two characters each specialize in two classes, Except for vanille, who Specializes in 3 classes. My current setup is this..

-Lightning- - Sazh- -Vanille-
Commando Ravager Ravager
Commando Ravager Saboteur
Commando Ravager Medic
Commando Synergist Ravager
Commando Synergist Saboteur
Commando Synergist Medic

This way, All my bases are covered. And I can shift my paradigm to whatever I need. And in case of monsters that are resistant to physical attacks, Sazh's Synergist class has spells that add elemental damage to my attacks. And the AI always picks the element that the enemy is weak to.

The only flaw with my party is that I don't have any protective spells. No Protect or Shell. But the increased damage from Sazh's Synergist spells "Brave" and "Faith" offsets the lesser defense with offense. Also his Haste skill is INVALUABLE!

[SuperMiguel]

is this a ps3 release?

[mage_x]

Also, you will eventually be able to level up your equipment as well. Very helpful. Just find a weapon you like ( For lightning, I'm using the Gladius, since it starts with a high base Strength, and low base Magic. That way, as it gains levels, The Strength stat will go up MUCH faster than the magic. Usually double the rate. ( every level usually gives about +6 strength, and +3 Magic. )

Same here. What level do you have it at? I morphed mine to the next weapon and leveled it a few more after that.

Also, do you know if its possible to morph accessories to the next type (ie. iron bangle->silver bangle)?

[zexmarquies01]

Same here. What level do you have it at? I morphed mine to the next weapon and leveled it a few more after that.

Also, do you know if its possible to morph accessories to the next type (ie. iron bangle->silver bangle)?

My sword is only level 18 at the moment. I'm out of materials, And I'm too cheap to buy any more from the shops. There's an Item in the shop I want, but it's pretty expensive at the moment. So I'll work on upgrading my EQ a little later when I can find a good spot to farm.

Honestly, I don't know if they upgrade to the next type or not. But in all honesty, I would be easier to just buy a Gold bangle ( or whatever one is the best in the shop ) and upgrade that instead.

[zexmarquies01]

is this a ps3 release?

yes, PS3 and 360.

[Rydis]

Ill probably stick to using Snow. Im not a fan of Lightning. GOod to know though

[killem2]

This is coming for the pc? It'll more than likely be a horrible port. Too bad really, anyone who really likes this game, would love to see how awesome it would look on a PC, when properly optimized.

[Kenshiro]

Not sure if it will be ported to the PC, since everyone out there either owns a 360 or a PS3. May not be profitable to port to PC for Square.

[SuperMiguel]

yes, PS3 and 360.

umm i tough FFS was a playstation/pc only game

[Kenshiro]

It used to. Well, it's more like PS3 only. Very few of the FFS made it to the PC version. this is one big major title that Sony lost it's exclusive rights.

As of today, both sony and microsoft have a fairly even share of the market in terms of console. I won't count on any third party publisher to allow a major title to be exclusive to one type of console. The only games that are guaranteed to be exclusive are titles that are pubished by Microsoft and Sony themselves.

[ratbuddy]

This is coming for the pc? It'll more than likely be a horrible port. Too bad really, anyone who really likes this game, would love to see how awesome it would look on a PC, when properly optimized.

I gotta disagree, based on The Last Remnant. Square did a wonderful job on the PC version. I hope they do bring out FF13 for PC, maybe they're just waiting for console sales to fizzle out to discourage pirate scum from waiting to steal it.

[SuperMiguel]

how does a company loose the rights of a game?

[Kenshiro]

I gotta disagree, based on The Last Remnant. Square did a wonderful job on the PC version. I hope they do bring out FF13 for PC, maybe they're just waiting for console sales to fizzle out to discourage pirate scum from waiting to steal it.

One of the reason it went to PC was because Last Remnant wasn't available to PS3. I'm not sure they will even bother releasing the PC version.

[Kenshiro]

how do a company loose the rights of a game?

The first quesiton should be, how does a company gain exclusive rights in the first place?

You have to pay to gain exclusive rights. It's not free. Lets put it this way. If you can sell 100 copies of a game - 50 on the PS3 and 50 on the Xbox. If PS3 wants exclusive rights to that game, Sony have to pay you extra $ for the 50 copies you are not going to sell on the Xbox.

It was easy with the playstation 2, because it has 80 - 90 % of the market share. Right now, it's fairly even with the PS3 and 360. If I remember correctly, there are more 360 than PS3 out there today. Sony will have to pay millions and millions just to keep that title exclusive to them.

[zexmarquies01]

The first quesiton should be, how does a company gain exclusive rights in the first place?

You have to pay to gain exclusive rights. It's not free. Lets put it this way. If you can sell 100 copies of a game - 50 on the PS3 and 50 on the Xbox. If PS3 wants exclusive rights to that game, Sony have to pay you extra $ for the 50 copies you are not going to sell on the Xbox.

It was easy with the playstation 2, because it has 80 - 90 % of the market share. Right now, it's fairly even with the PS3 and 360. If I remember correctly, there are more 360 than PS3 out there today. Sony will have to pay millions and millions just to keep that title exclusive to them.

Bingo!

Also, I'm sure it didn't help that square spend 1.5 years developing the game for the PS2. That's quite a bit of time and money. Had sony been faster at getting the PS3 out to launch ( thus, the developers getting their dev kits much sooner ), Square may not have burned up so much time and money early on, and there's a chance it may have been a PS3 exclusive.

Actually, the game originally was set to be a PS3 exclusive. With the 360 doing terrible in japan. But most likely, Microsoft paid Square a ton of money to make it multi-platform. It's blindingly obvious. The Crystal Tools engine was developed strictly for the PS3. It had to be pretty much re-made from the ground up to work for the 360. As I said, the 360 has next to no market share in japan either. They weren't even looking at the 360 early in the development of FF13.

But hey, when a game takes 4.5 years to make, costs over 50 Million dollars to make, and a company comes up to you and throws a giant wad of cash on the desk, You don't say no. It gives you more development money early on, and guarantees that your game will reach more people.

Makes sense that Sony had the Final Fantasy series as an exclusive for so long anyways. Just from an economic point of view. During the PS1 days, there was no competition. Square left Nintendo due to the limitations of cartridges. Nintendo and Square suddenly didn't get along, as nintendo wasn't too happy with Square's decision. So early in the PS2 days, Square wasn't even looking at nintendo. It wasn't until the PS2 and GameCube were at least half-way through their life cycle that Square and Nintendo made up. That's when square started making all the Crystal Series games ( Crystal chronices...etc..).

But the vastly superior market share of the PS2 ensured that Square stayed with sony. Simply due to the economcs, and time restraints. The Xbox was hardly being looked at until VERY late in it's life Cycle. That, and Microsoft wasn't trying to gain market share with the Xbox. They wanted to get their foot in the door, and create a large and dedicated fan-base.

So now here we are. A brief bit of info on the recent history of square over the past few years, in a very very condensed version, with some details overly simplified. ( Very simplified. Lost of stuff left out...etc..etc. )

[SuperMiguel]

good explanation both of you :attn:

[Kenshiro]

As for the 360 consoles owner, take it easy on the FF13 looks crappy on mine compared to the ps3. Just like Zex01 explained, it takes time to develop the tools to make the games look right and the time development for 360 is much less than the PS3.

Just like when PS3 first came out, there is such a big learning curve on the PS3, and most multi-platform games looks worse on the PS3 and with lousy frame rates as well. I'm sure the next multi-platform title from Square will look much better.

For all I care, even being a PS fan, I dont want xbox to go away. Competition in the market is good for the consumer. Remembered how long it took for the PS2 to come down in price. Not only that, the games cost $50 for a long time before a price drop. Now, new games will drop price in like 6 months.

[SuperMiguel]

good of war still sony exclusive right?

[Kenshiro]

good of war still sony exclusive right?

Yes, and it will never go over to Xbox, since it is published by Sony. Same as Halo which is exclusive to Microsoft.

[zexmarquies01]

As for the 360 consoles owner, take it easy on the FF13 looks crappy on mine compared to the ps3. Just like Zex01 explained, it takes time to develop the tools to make the games look right and the time development for 360 is much less than the PS3.


Oh yeah. I firmly believe that the main reason that FF13 on the 360 doesn't look as good as the PS3 version is simply due to time. If square had more time, They would have been able to fully utilize the 360. I had posted a link on the 1st page of this thread to an article that talks about the differences much more in depth, and in a much more technical manner.

But that's the main reason. Honestly, the other reason is Blu-ray. Uncompressed Audio ( if the game uses it, not sure. ). 1080P video's...well...20 gigs worth of stuff was cut from the 360 version, due to the limitation of DVD.

Maybe with more discs, or requiring an install on the 360 they may have come close. But REQUIRING an install to the HDD on the 360 isn't something I expect to see...at least not any time soon. ( Due to the number of Arcade units that were sold. ) But I don't see Square ( or anyone ) releasing a game that's more than 4 DVD's. ( Lost Oddyssey used 4 discs, And I think blue dragon did too. ). So its either use a ton of disc's, or use A LOT of compression. Neither of which are very favorable options.

But just sayin, If square had more time, I bet they could have gotten the quality MUCH closer. And I expect the next game on the 360 that uses the Crystal Tools engine to look better, and have some of the problems fixed. This was the 1st game they created with the Crystal Tools engine, on both platforms. So hopefully both consoles will see an improvement in the coming years. It's obviously quite a powerful engine, yet amazingly, Keeps loading times down to the literal bare minimum. That's hard to do. It's a lot of time and money.

[ratbuddy]

But just sayin, If square had more time, I bet they could have gotten the quality MUCH closer. And I expect the next game on the 360 that uses the Crystal Tools engine to look better, and have some of the problems fixed. This was the 1st game they created with the Crystal Tools engine, on both platforms. So hopefully both consoles will see an improvement in the coming years. It's obviously quite a powerful engine, yet amazingly, Keeps loading times down to the literal bare minimum. That's hard to do. It's a lot of time and money.

Last I heard, Crystal Tools ran on PC hardware. That gives me hope for a PC release some time in the not-too-distant future :shrug:

[mage_x]

I just tried fighting a King Behemoth which has around 750k HP, and I got it to around 100k (after about 20 minutes of grinding on it) and then it does its most powerful attack twice in a row right after another. GRR!

edit: LOL okay this game is getting hard as hell. One (apparently optional at the moment) boss I just ran into had 1.5M HP and I'm having major trouble fighting even the regular monsters in the area...

[zexmarquies01]

I just tried fighting a King Behemoth which has around 750k HP, and I got it to around 100k (after about 20 minutes of grinding on it) and then it does its most powerful attack twice in a row right after another. GRR!

edit: LOL okay this game is getting hard as hell. One (apparently optional at the moment) boss I just ran into had 1.5M HP and I'm having major trouble fighting even the regular monsters in the area...

Where are you at?

I'm in the Giant plains area of the game. I decided to attack an Adamantoise for fun. There's like 5 versions of the Adamantoise in this game. I happened to bump into the 2nd hardest one...That has over 5 MILLION HP.

He kill all 3 of my party members without even touching me. He just stomped his huge foot on the ground, and the shock wave killed my party. :D

I'm just traveling around, looking at stuff, and doing a lot of farming in this area.

OH, and I found and fought a Cactuar! 777,777 HP! Happy to say that I beat him as well. Though, he only gave me 5,000 CP. As long as that battle took, I could have fought 4 or 5 battles against a couple flying enemies that give 3,500 each time. He was easier than I expected. Kinda sad about that. I hope that if the tonberry is in the game, he will be more of a challenge.

[mage_x]

Yeah I'm at the same place. I just continued on with the story since it doesn't seem like I'll be able to do much out in the plains at my current level. I wasted 2 hours walking around trying to kill monsters I can't kill yet.

Yeah, the first thing I did was attack an Adamantoise lol :)

Cactuar only giving 5k CP is pretty lame. Traditionally they give the most ability points/sp/etc in FF games.

[zexmarquies01]

Yeah I'm at the same place. I just continued on with the story since it doesn't seem like I'll be able to do much out in the plains at my current level. I wasted 2 hours walking around trying to kill monsters I can't kill yet.

Yeah, the first thing I did was attack an Adamantoise lol :)

Cactuar only giving 5k CP is pretty lame. Traditionally they give the most ability points/sp/etc in FF games.

Well, I looked it up in the Guide, and there are like 5 versions of the Cactuar. I'm probably just fighting the weak ones.

I found some enemies in the area that I can beat in around 20 - 30 seconds, and give between 1500 - 3700 CP per battle, Depending on how many Blue versions of them there are ( 5 blue guys give a total of 3700 CP. ) So I farmed them for a while. I'm just about to continue on with the story, and I have everyone's "main" class maxed out ( at level 4 ). So I'm putting their points in other classes until the the Crystarium expands, letting me get to their level 5 stuff. If I had to guess, I probably farmed over 200,000 CP. Because my 3 non used characters each had over 150,000 before I decided to spend them, Then I continued to farm a little bit longer.

Oh, and not only did I kill a Behemoth Kings, I also Killed the Kaiser Behemoth ( for a mission in the plains. ) The trick is to set everyone up to attack ( magic or physical, whatever their best at ), then sneak up on the behemoth and get a surprise attack on him. Then get him to stagger ASAP. Once he's staggered, Beat the hell out of him, and hope you kill him before the stagger wears off. ( I used Aegisol, Fortisol, and Deceptisol so I was fully buffed, and couldn't be detected. )

Oh, and The guide also mentions that if you get 0 stars, your chance of one of the 'sol items dropping increases by 8! ( yes, 8x ). It's not guaranteed by ANY chance, because I tried doing that like 3 battles in a row, and I didn't get one. But it's nice to know, especially for later when I will do some MORE grinding and farming.

I just need more money to buy buy better components.

Also, a tip on upgrading...

Use Organic materials to raise the multiplier, then use mechanical materials to take advantage of the multiplier.

Organic materials help raise the multi, while mechanical mats lower your multi ( but mechanical gives you MUCH more EXP. )

A good choice of Organic materials to buy are Sturdy bone, Barbed Tail, and Vibrand ooze. 36 of them puts you at the 3x multi. and 36 of them only costs around 3000 gil ( they cost 80 each. ).

Some good mechanical mats to buy are...

They are listed in Material - EXP - PRICE - Format

Ultra Compact Reactor - 40,000 - 50,000 Gil
Particle Accelerator - 4,000 - 10,000 GIL
Tesla Turbine - 823 - 1800 GIL
Turboprop - 768 - 1600 GIL
SuperCharger - 774 - 1600 GIL
Perfect Conductor - 751 - 1600 GIL

As you can see, The Ultra Compact Reactor with a x3 multi will give on average, 120,000 EXP. OH, and the higher rank your Equipment is, the less EXP items will give you. So while the Reactor gives 40,000, on a highly upgraded weapon, it may only give 30,000 ( or whatever ). But as you can see, that's still a TON of EXP ( also a TON of Gil as well. But what else are you gonna buy in this game? Every game needs a Money-sink. )

There's a few others the guide mentions, but those are the best 6.

Then use the Mechanical Mats in one go. Use a bunch at once. If you do it one at a time, you'd lose your x3 multi after using only a few. By using them all ( or as many as you want ) at once, so your x3 Multi is applied on all of them, not just the first few. Your multi will then drop back to 0 ( maybe even go negative, not sure ). Then use the Organic MATS to raise it back up to x3 again.

You're farther, so you may have access to the items I listed above. I wasn't. So I ended up buying a bunch of Crankshaft's. That allowed me to upgrade Lightnings Gladius from level 20 to a level 26 Helter-Skelter.

If there's anything specific you want to know about the game, Just ask. I bought the Collectors Edition Strategy Guide, So I can quickly look up whatever ya need. Though, I've only used the guide to look up the map for the plains, look at info about some of the missions in the plains, Character stats and info, which weapon's I want to spend my time upgrading, and upgrading info.

I've only had to use the guide on a couple of the annoying Eidolon battles. But I have looked anything else than that up. I don't want anything even slightly important ruined.

[ratbuddy]

I don't want to know anything about the storyline but I do have a general question about the game. Is there anything similar to the FF12 bazaar system? How about the bounty hunts? I'm a side quest junkie :beer:

edit: - No towns.
- No shops.
- No conversable NPCs.
- No side-quests.
- No mini-games.
- No airship.
- No world map.

That's gotta be wrong, please tell me they are thinking of a different game???

[MattNo5ss]

I'm ~15hrs into FF13, and here's what it's been like so far:

There isn't a world map. There isn't a user controlled airship since there isn't a world map. I haven't come across any side-quests or mini-games. There are towns, but I dunno if you get to a point where you can revisit areas, I haven't. There are shops, all shops are accessed through save points and more shops become available as you progress. I've come across a few "conversable" NPCs, but usually you just walk up to someone and start listening to them (no actual dialog between the NPC and the party).

Here's what I like:
- Story
- Battle System
- Leveling System
- Some equipment gets bonuses from other equipped items (bonuses are hidden from the description until the items are equipped together)
- The equipment upgrading systems look like it could be nice, I haven't upgraded anything yet...I haven't needed too.

[Rydis]

I don't want to know anything about the storyline but I do have a general question about the game. Is there anything similar to the FF12 bazaar system? How about the bounty hunts? I'm a side quest junkie :beer:

edit:

That's gotta be wrong, please tell me they are thinking of a different game???

dont forget there are no traditional levels for the characters either ;)

[mage_x]

Yeah Zex I looked a few things up on the guides on Gamefaqs.com. Mainly weapon levels and items. I got the Helter-Skelter all the way back on the Palamecia from farming guys that dropped incentive chips (2500gil) like 90% of the time. Later I sold all the weapons I had picked up because I know I won't use them, the weapons I have are going to give the max stats I want for each char. Unfortunately I ended up spending the money on some stupid accessories I thought would help with a hard enemy I was obsessing over for a few hours. I really need to work on farming CP for a while though, even the regular monsters are tough.

[zexmarquies01]

I don't want to know anything about the storyline but I do have a general question about the game. Is there anything similar to the FF12 bazaar system? How about the bounty hunts? I'm a side quest junkie :beer:

edit:

That's gotta be wrong, please tell me they are thinking of a different game???

There are mini-quests in the game. But you can't do them until MUCH later in the game.

Not really any mini-games though. Sad, but oh well. And while you can't talk to NPC's, if you get close to them, they will start talking on their own, with voice acting ( and text if you have sub titles on )

Everything else is pretty much correct.

[Rydis]

I suggest you turn subtitles on. Sometimes they are hard to hear.

[deathman20]

Well im roughly 6 hours in, little more but going back a few saves since I, well went crazy on upgrades and didn't save before I did them (DOH).

Got to say im really enjoy it. It doesn't seem like its been 6 hours of game play but looking forward to the 25ish hour mark where it opens up a little more.

BTW is it worth it to get the playerguide? Seems like some of you have it or is there websites with this info on it?

Edit: Then again after re-reading above maybe I won't go back and do it. If I can farm later I can just carry on currently and worry about upgrades later.

[MattNo5ss]

I don't want to know anything about the storyline but I do have a general question about the game. Is there anything similar to the FF12 bazaar system? How about the bounty hunts? I'm a side quest junkie :beer:

edit:

That's gotta be wrong, please tell me they are thinking of a different game???

I'm ~15hrs into FF13, and here's what it's been like so far:

There isn't a world map. There isn't a user controlled airship since there isn't a world map. I haven't come across any side-quests or mini-games. There are towns, but I dunno if you get to a point where you can revisit areas, I haven't. There are shops, all shops are accessed through save points and more shops become available as you progress. I've come across a few "conversable" NPCs, but usually you just walk up to someone and start listening to them (no actual dialog between the NPC and the party).

Here's what I like:
- Story
- Battle System
- Leveling System
- Some equipment gets bonuses from other equipped items (bonuses are hidden from the description until the items are equipped together)
- The equipment upgrading systems look like it could be nice, I haven't upgraded anything yet...I haven't needed too.

There are bounty hunts, just got started on them.

I finally started upgrading some items after about ~25hrs of gameplay, so no more Lv.1 weapons :D

[SilverJag]

Any updates regarding gameplay, haha?? I'm really excited to try this game, even moreso for the PC. :grouphug:

[sHape oF gReY]

Just started playing last night, only got to chapter 3 or 4...whatever the frozen lake level is. So far love it, but then again, I haven't played any of the previous FF games so...:chair: My only gripe with the game is Hope, he's such a little b*%$&, I absolutely can't stand him. Also, not a huge fan of the voice overs, would have preferred to have the option for Japanese voice with English subs.

Quick question, are the story/characters supposed to be tied to previous FFs? Wondering if I should scour the internets for some back-story to fill in any blanks.

[deathman20]

Just broke into the plains yesterday. Finally time for some hard core grinding and a little open free range roaming. Think I hit it with 23-24 hours of play, think now up to 26 hours now.

I haven't played many FF titles before this. FFX for Xbox was the first, followed by one on the PSP though I never finished any of them. This one by far has caught my intrest or I've grown accustomed to hey I got a game im going to beat it now type deal.

One of the few games that I can spend hours on and play and enjoy it which has got to mean something.

Curious what people use for there battle teams at this stage in the game? Do you switch it up or do you keep trying to use 3 of the same characters all the time. Currently using Lighting, Fang and Hope as the team, though sadly Hope does have the lower HP it hurts sometimes.

[don'tknow]

Quick question, are the story/characters supposed to be tied to previous FFs? Wondering if I should scour the internets for some back-story to fill in any blanks.

Nope, every Final Fantasy has a different story, except for a few like FFX-2 which is a sequel to FFX, and Crisis Core: FF7 which is a prequel to FF7.

All FF games have similar things like chocobos, moogles, many of the spells and items/armor are basically the same but look more improved, story and characters look different though; seems more like each FF is a 'parallel universe' rather than a 100% new environment. Gameplay varies, as many are saying FF13 is a lot more linear than previous series. And FF11 is an MMO which I hardly consider a Final Fantasy, since the gameplay is very different and has some very annoying issues such as reliance on a full party of the proper classes to advance at later levels (which might sound like it's the same in the single player games, but online it is very different since much of your time is spent looking for players of the right class instead of playing and they could leave at any time, they could suck pretty bad, they could be total ********, etc.), very slow gameplay/travel combined with lots of grinding and the endgame is basically spamming a macro to claim HNM mobs and hoping to get lucky vs the zerg of 5-10 other guilds camping the same mob.

FF games can range from very good (most of them are) to bad (11), or just decent (Mystic Quest, Crystal Chronicles).

Hard to say if 13 will come to the PC though, don't expect it. Square has been too quiet about a PC release (something they don't do unless they aren't releasing) and since it shouldn't really take them long (it's already made with a PC engine), if they don't announce something soon then it's not looking promising.

[ratbuddy]

Hard to say if 13 will come to the PC though, don't expect it. Square has been too quiet about a PC release (something they don't do unless they aren't releasing) and since it shouldn't really take them long (it's already made with a PC engine), if they don't announce something soon then it's not looking promising.

Sadly, they cannot announce a PC version until console sales completely flatline. Too many pirate jerks out there who would wait for the 'free' edition.

[deathman20]

Sadly, they cannot announce a PC version until console sales completely flatline. Too many pirate jerks out there who would wait for the 'free' edition.

If it came out for the PC, I wonder how many DVD's it would be on? Considering there is a lot of high quaility movies in there though yes there can be compression on the actual game itself.

[don'tknow]

Sadly, they cannot announce a PC version until console sales completely flatline. Too many pirate jerks out there who would wait for the 'free' edition.

Yes, assuming they will release it on PC, that would be the main reason they're keeping quiet. They might wait up to 6 months before even announcing the PC version, hope it's less though.

[mage_x]

If it came out for the PC, I wonder how many DVD's it would be on? Considering there is a lot of high quaility movies in there though yes there can be compression on the actual game itself.
Probably 4-6 since the everything could be installed to the HD unlike the 360.

[darkknight187]

Sadly, they cannot announce a PC version until console sales completely flatline. Too many pirate jerks out there who would wait for the 'free' edition.

My only thought to add to all of this is. If it doesnt show up before FFXIV i don't expect to see it come to pc. I'm not sure why, as I have no ground to stand on, it's just a personal thought.

[deathman20]

Ok got a question for you guys that have progressed further in the game. Im at the open plains where I can wonder around and do missions and such. Though I have moved into an area which seems to be a 1 way road or continues the story.

Do you get a chance to go back to the plains? Or should I be considering sticking it uot a bit long in the plains and finishing the quests if I can before venturing forward? There is a 1 more I know I need to complete but definatly need more CP to complete that for my guys.

That damn huge cactus is a PITA. Is there an easy way of taking him down besides just lvling up and getting as much HP on your characters as possible to withstand his attacks? The baby ones are piece of cake but I just can't get anywhere with the large one. Similar to those really large creatures too. Even some troubles with a few others that roam around the plains.

[Careface]

Ok got a question for you guys that have progressed further in the game. Im at the open plains where I can wonder around and do missions and such. Though I have moved into an area which seems to be a 1 way road or continues the story.

Do you get a chance to go back to the plains? Or should I be considering sticking it uot a bit long in the plains and finishing the quests if I can before venturing forward? There is a 1 more I know I need to complete but definatly need more CP to complete that for my guys.

That damn huge cactus is a PITA. Is there an easy way of taking him down besides just lvling up and getting as much HP on your characters as possible to withstand his attacks? The baby ones are piece of cake but I just can't get anywhere with the large one. Similar to those really large creatures too. Even some troubles with a few others that roam around the plains.

Okay buddy, to answer your questions about the plains...

Yes, you do get to go back to the plains post-game. In fact, its almost a requirement if you want to platinum the game as Crystarium lvl 10 makes 5-starring the missions easier.

And with regards to your tagged question, more/worse spoilers :P

there's not much you can do about him. You could get high-ish stats, then go COM/SEN/MED [or RAV/SEN/MED], or, like most people I've talked to have done, get decent stats, then use item-pairs that have the "Random: Instant Chain" ability on it (I believe it's called "Lucky Break" in the Jap/US version). What it does is give you a chance on hit to instantly fill the chain gauge.

I did it by pairing Speed Sash + Energy Sash on Sazh, with his Procyon weapon (Stagger Maintenance - stagger lasts longer). What you'd want to do is have Sazh as your leader in COM, and whoever you prefer as your SEN/MED. Keep spamming Blitz with Sazh, as each attack counts as 4 or 5 hits = greater chance to proc. Once staggered, you're now doing ~800% damage to the guy, switch to RAV/RAV/RAV and tear him a new one.

It does kinda rely on luck though :( Took me a while to get it, but as far as I know, its pretty much the only way to 5 star him..

Good luck!

[deathman20]

Okay buddy, to answer your questions about the plains...

Yes, you do get to go back to the plains post-game. In fact, its almost a requirement if you want to platinum the game as Crystarium lvl 10 makes 5-starring the missions easier.

And with regards to your tagged question, more/worse spoilers :P

there's not much you can do about him. You could get high-ish stats, then go COM/SEN/MED [or RAV/SEN/MED], or, like most people I've talked to have done, get decent stats, then use item-pairs that have the "Random: Instant Chain" ability on it (I believe it's called "Lucky Break" in the Jap/US version). What it does is give you a chance on hit to instantly fill the chain gauge.

I did it by pairing Speed Sash + Energy Sash on Sazh, with his Procyon weapon (Stagger Maintenance - stagger lasts longer). What you'd want to do is have Sazh as your leader in COM, and whoever you prefer as your SEN/MED. Keep spamming Blitz with Sazh, as each attack counts as 4 or 5 hits = greater chance to proc. Once staggered, you're now doing ~800% damage to the guy, switch to RAV/RAV/RAV and tear him a new one.

It does kinda rely on luck though :( Took me a while to get it, but as far as I know, its pretty much the only way to 5 star him..

Good luck!

Excellent man thanks. That answers the questions with that perfectly.

Guess maybe I'll wonder back to the plains if I can for a little bit and at least max out the main 3 skills (brain fart can't think of the proper name). Then stock up on a little CP at least then move forward.

As for the lovely cactus guy, wonderful. Guess I'll have fun with him later. The little guys are easy just takes roughly 3min for me to kill them. Course there are other guys out there that earn more CP in less time. Just fun taking the stupid little cactus's out.

[sHape oF gReY]

Bit off topic here, but I have to ask....How do you guys do the whole hide/show spoiler thing?

[deathman20]

Bit off topic here, but I have to ask....How do you guys do the whole hide/show spoiler thing?

The Spoiler tag. Its like a quote but instead of QUOTE with the [] and [/] its SPOILER.

You can also see how to do it if you quote one of our posts, you'll see exactly how to do it. Its one of the better newer features thats been added in the past few months that definatly is nice. Better then saying hey don't look or trying to change the color to match the background which doesn't work.

[sHape oF gReY]

Heh, that's pretty dang neat. Thanks for the info.:thup: