Final Fantasy XIII

[Grey Nightmare]

With the european release of FF XIII less than a fortnight away, I thought i'd see what people are thinking about it

I'm confident theres more than a few FF fans on the hive

So... opinions? Here are some questions you could answer if your not sure:

1.Do you think they should have stopped making them at FF VII?

2.Will FF XIII live up to it's predecessors or even surpass them?

3.What do you think of the tweaked action/fast-paced battle system?

4.Whose looking to be your favourite character and why?

oh... plz, plz don't turn this into an xbox 360 vs ps3 exclusive argument
Were all fans of the "SAME" game here, whatever console.


Oh almost forgot.. my opinion!

I think it looks great, tbh i've only played 7,8 and 9.

I still play 7 to this day, 8 was awesome and 9 i found a bit too 'childish/cartoonish'... still good though (god i loved vivi)

XIII looks promising especially since RED XIII is out of ff vii
The graphics look great, i love the new take on the battle system to liven it up a bit and the characters look varied and believable.

My favourite character is probably Sazh just because of his chocobo... otherwise it's a toss up between Lightning (gunblades ftw), Snow and Hope.
Not sure i'm too keen on snow being weaponless though... meh it worked with Tifa

 

[Joe-black-5]

1- FF IX > FF VII every sane person know that.
2- That is called Dragon quest those days, FF is no longer the same game it used to be, Dragon Quest which is made by the same company took it's place
oh and Dragon Quest VIII > FF
3- Like I said before it's no longer a FF game in my opinion
4-

 

[Grey Nightmare]

Okaay
Thanks for your input!

 

[TwistedImage]

Snow or Lightning.

Probably Snow seeing as Cliff from Star Ocean was awesome.

I don't really have any more proper input; I loved XII (it's the only recent FF I've played, aside from it I've only played I and II) and I think this one will be even better. I guess I'll know in 6 days >_>

 

[Dr Super Good]

The combat system looks to be less annoying and repetitive that other FFs, an advancement on FFXII if you ask me which was getting that way.

The major problem with older FFs is it gets very boring killing enemies again and again having to press the same buttons and stuff. FFXII fixed this by having some form of AI to help you with generic actions. Even setting it in 12 to just attack unless you order something specific really made it a lot less repetitive. In 13 the whole low level dirty combat plays itself for 2 characters meaning you only have to focus on your main characters actions (more than enough to use items and such) and even that is easier due to order ques and the ability to repeat the last issued block of actions.

Do not worry about your allies being dumb, you can change their class at will to a certain class set to give you that needed edge at times. The action AI is also highly advanced, making sure to only use effective spells on enemies and automatically keeping you buffed. Also the combo system means you have to time your damage, swithcing to defensive healing and buffing or cursing teams while you build up their combo score and then switching to a full out DPS team while the combo limit is draining.

Each class will buff all team members in a certain way. Defender reduces damage all alies take, healer increases health regen. Attacker increases combo gain on the enemies. Blaster increases the damage of the team. (note japenese names as the english ones are more obscure).

Lineararity of this game does seem like it could be quite a problem, but so was it for all FFs but FFXII. Even 7 suffered from on the tracks feel until near the end (disk 3?) where you could get the ultimate materia and other side quests although it had atleast one side quest most of the time. I believe this game mirrors FFX and FF9 as far as linearality goes, meaning there is little to do until the very end where that is mostly powering up and 100% ing.

The reason why I believe a FFXII approach was not taken was they wanted the result to look impressive. FFXII had its cities and tons of side quests but it also suffered from the horriable problem of rather poor environments at times which they wanted to avoid, these were the fact far off characters were invisible, distant civilians were low res billboards and the cities were actually rather small and lifeless if you looked closely with whole areas blocked off.

Creating a next generation city would have to beat FFXII's cities in size, activity and graphics which is even beyond the PS3 and the development time. There would be 100-500 people in view at a time wich would have to be walking and each one would have to look simlar in detail to the main character and different. Possible in PC games due to DX11 and hex core processors but beyond the 360 and PS3.

Overall I look foward to it. I will have to get the 360 version though as I do not have a PS3. Fortunatly its about as good ingame, only worse cutscenes.

 

[TwistedImage]

I found that FF12 wasn't repetitive at all!

To be honest, I just made Vaan way rigged. That way, I could set his gambits to something clever and let him do the fighting when I didn't want to fight.

 

[Aeroblyctos]

I'll buy the game and I really hope the story will be a lot better than XII's. The story of XII's was so horrible it made me cry. Even I could do a better one. X_X

The linear of the game will not be a problem for me, if the game is good in other ways. Story, characters, emotion, atmosphere and game-play are the ones I really care. I want the game to be interesting, even after I have finished the game.

 

[Deleted member 157129]

Haven't looked so much into it, I've seen a couple trailers and some announcements, but I prefer to leave most of it to discover when I buy it. Final Fantasy has been a must-have for me since FFVII, except for XI which isn't the same seeing as it is an MMO. I know Square won't let me down.

 

[TwistedImage]

Favourite character in combat: Snow for bare-handed awesome or Lightning for killing 2 soldiers per attack string.

Favourite character for personality: Lightning or Vanille. Yeah, I know that they're exact opposites, but hey.

Least favourite character: Hope. Whiny brat who also fails in combat.

Plot: Don't quite get it, didn't read enough datalog. D:<

 

[Dr Super Good]

Hope is not that weak, his ravenger is pretty good.

 

[TwistedImage]

Vanille's is much better when I focused on upgrading her medic D:

 

[Dr Super Good]

Medic is only needed when you are taking a lot of damage, and generally you switch to medic for short periods of time only when your health is running low. It is better to have a synergist buff your team with shell, protect and haste as then you only need healing 50% as much and can do it faster. Additionally getting a sabotur to curse tough enemies is also an advisible strat if they can be cursed (which unlike most FFs, in this game a good deal can).

In the end, you should be using dual ravanger + commando most of the time in battles. The commando keeps the chain up (as they slow chain degradation on targets they hit) while the 2 ravangers quickly power the chain up to stagger point. At high percentages you are after switching to 2 or 3 commandos if it is a single strong target to deal insane damage.

Another effective stratergy is to hit a unit with 1 attack volly (3+ hits) while 2 ravangers blast it and then switch to 3 ravangers to quickly power it up. After about 2 vollies of attacks from this or before the chain breaks, switch back to commando and 2 ravangers and so restabalize the chain by unleashing an attack volly. You can keep repeating this again and again and it will deal serious damage. Best used on medium tough enemies which do not deal fatal damage but also take a while to kill.

 

[TwistedImage]

Don't indoctrinate me. I just go with commandos and ravagers most of the time. I'm still at the point where Vanille and Sazh are by themselves, thus I need healing quite often.

With commandos and ravagers, however, the enemies die before I even need healing, so hey.

 

[Dr Super Good]

Thats cause their parts were easy? I seldomly got under 5 starts for the battles and only died a couple of times due to being too offensive.

Just wait until you fight the emperor guy or Cid, or meat the insanly alloying super flan creatures from on the Ark.

 

[kevin1gamer]

I want this game so bad.

 

[light bolt30]

This FF XIII is really good; from the graphics to the original game-play. Has over 50+hrs of game-play and has loads of new features like upgrading your weapons and accessories. Although there are no towns like FF-XII, this game tells the story really well and is straightforward. Some boss fights maybe very easy depending on your build while others you may need to make up new strategies. The AI really helps you from buffing to healing, tanking and also if you use Libra the AI will adapt to the weaknesses of the unit you've used Libra on. With the new paradigms system in the game, you can experiment all your characters and their roles to unlock unique and powerful teams.

Although you said not to turn this into a xbox360 vs ps3 debate, there are down sides for the xbox360 although both games are exactly the same; the xbox360 has the game on 3cd's so you'll be switching Cd's with every 4-6 chapters, while the ps3 has it all on one CD.Overall I give this game a rating of 95/100. This game is the best looking game in the Final Fantasy Series.

I'm looking forward to the FF-XIII versus which I've heard has a game-play like Kingdom Hearts, exclusively for the ps3. Also FF-VI will be coming out in the coming years with online game-play like FF-VI.

 

[Grey Nightmare]

Creating a next generation city would have to beat FFXII's cities in size, activity and graphics which is even beyond the PS3 and the development time. There would be 100-500 people in view at a time wich would have to be walking and each one would have to look simlar in detail to the main character and different. Possible in PC games due to DX11 and hex core processors but beyond the 360 and PS3.

Overall I look foward to it. I will have to get the 360 version though as I do not have a PS3. Fortunatly its about as good ingame, only worse cutscenes.

Your totally right, the only place that even comes close to that is 'Nautilus Park' and it caused my xbox to grind to a halt every 5mins, while walking around in the first area. Well not literally, but I assume the fps dropped by 10 or more, only game I've seen a real problem on, luckily it's only in Nautilus and it isn't action/combat area so it's all tolerable

 

[TwistedImage]

Eh, last boss was pretty BS and piss easy. Good cutscenes though.

To be honest, killing 3 Sacrifices is harder than killing Orphan..

 

[Dr Super Good]

The last boss was the reward and more a person pleaser than a challenge. Basically you had won so they let you have fun totally owning his head.

The actual final boss was orphan sword form, aka the second to final boss. Although still easy, he totally rips some teams appart. His merciless judgmenet is a pain to stop (can be reduced by sentinals I heard, which you lack) and needs fast healing (only hope and vannile can do this) thus limiting your team choice. Additionally he does high damage from time to time and loves to debuff you badly (needing a synergist). He also is extreemly tough so you will need to debuff him or face your demise. He also will start to OHKO people after time (100% chance, unavoidible), so you better be fast or you will lose if he hits your leader.

So what does this mean?
Lightnings out, as her healing sucks and she cant really buff or debuff well at the time of first fighting.
Snows out as he is only offensive.
Sazze seems good, his buffing is great but thats all he can do which will not win the fight easilly.

This believe it or not, the winning team is....
Hope, fang and vannile. (play as fang due to highest HP of lot and highwind can really pawn as a chain is about to end).

Hope is a good medic which can quickly heal, best ravenger in the game and will be your buffer. Vannile is the best debuffer in the game, very good ravanger and will also heal you very well. Fang is a brillient sentinle and debuffer and is the strongest physical attacker in the game. This coveres EVERY area needed.

Your attack formations? Well you have commander ravanger ravanger for actual damage dealing (maybe tripple commando as an option if you ranked it up and the damage gauge is high). Sentinle medic medic for surviving his merciless judgement. Sabotur *2 + synergist to do your buffing and debuffing and thats about it. The remaining should be variations of the above with medics to keep you healed at the right times or extra commandos if you have them ranked. Tripple ravanger is VERY good to rank up that gauge, fang is one of the best ravangers in that when ranked up she will use all elemental stikes which take full advantage of her insane attack ratting).

Basically, debuffs hurt the sword form a lot, as he becomes noticably weaker. Buffs make you a lot stronger and will distract him by trying to remove them as well. The remaining time you kick his head in with commanders and ravangers. When hes about to use merciless judgement, prepare to switch to your defensive formation as the sentinle will lower damage and the tripple medics will have you at high health fast.

If you used any of the above (which will always work for most battles) you would find him no problem and easy. The problem arrises if you try and use other characters as they behave differently and are not that well suited to the battle.

 

[TwistedImage]

As "last boss" I was referring to the 3 last fights, e.g Barthandelus, Orphan and, um, Orphan.

My team was Fang, Lightning and Hope. Hope became significantly better around mid-game, so I started using him. I used the same team for everything, and I didn't really die a lot. Played as Fang.

For Orphan fight, I had a Saboteur, Synergist, Medic setup in the early part. Then I switched to full offensive when I was fully buffed. When he used that "Oh my God I'm so gonna die now" attack, I went Sentinel, Medic, Medic or Commando, Medic, Medic.

Simple fight, really.