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Final Fantasy XIII, out 12/17 in Japan
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I've never understood this sentiment, as even the first 9 FF games with overworld maps didn't tend to have much of anything *in* them, other than the next place you were supposed to go. Maybe one or two "secret" areas that you didn't just go to in the natural course of playing the game. It's not like say...Dragon Quest 8, which actually did have a huge overworld worth exploring with nooks and crannies that had hidden monsters and treasure and whatnot.
And even then, DQ8's overworld isn't any different than FF12's.
DQ8 can suck my tit. Yeah, I said it. I'm a blasphemer. The random battle every two fucking steps while traveling on foot was beyond annoying and ruined exploration for me. The story was also terrible, but that's another topic altogether.
Anyway, if FFXIII really is fairly linear with no large world map, I don't think I care too much. Most JRPGs don't really have that much to do in the world map, even if they provide one. You can find a few treasure chests, maybe fight a secret boss in a secret dungeon, but it's generally nothing too extraordinary or that memorable. I mostly play them to get to the next story segment. A big map is icing on the cake, of course, but it's not my personal priority for JRPGs.
There are a few I can name with amazing side content that really pulled me in, however. I'm just saying, in general that doesn't seem to happen that often. More than not it's just really shitty padding, and painful if you're a completionist. Fuck you, Star Ocean Last Hope.
I just hope it doesn't turn into Eternal Sonata, where every time one of those Precious Moments dolls started to talk about being unfairly taxed, I wanted to skip every cutscene and further loathe that game.
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See, now that's something I can complain about. Simply being linear and lacking lots of side-content or a giant world map, though, I don't really care about.
I just hope most of these people are still early on in the game. FFXIII could be a 50-60 hour JRPG, right? Maybe it does blossom as it goes along? Even if it doesn't, it's not as if I could stop myself from getting the game. It's Final Fantasy for crying out loud. I have to have it regardless of disappointment!
Putting it that way, I suppose I approached FF12 the wrong way. You can play it like a Bioware game! Just set your dudes to do what you want them to do. Either way, I still preferred turning them completely off and micromanaging the whole affair.
The artist? Leona Lewis.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zlt57Q7ZVU
I'm suddenly more excited about having her in FFXIII.
Alright, the song you linked isn't that bad, but the one for FFXIII? Urgh.
Of course we've had like a ten page discussion on that song before.
I still haven't heard the XIII one...I heard the one that someone initially linked that wasn't actually the XIII song.
/starts looking up more Leona Lewis
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Not like it matters that she "did" that song. She didn't write it. Jonathan Rotem and Andrea Martin wrote it, and they wrote precisely 0 of her other stuff. Her albums are a veritable army of different writers. She only helped on two songs on her first album. As a side conversation, it's "artists" like her that make me despise the music industry as a whole.
Elton John.
There goes that stupid argument. Sometimes talented singers can't write, and sometimes talented writers can't sing. Collaborations.
I don't think you can compare that. From what I know Elton John writes his own music for the most part, and he gets someone else to do lyrics. So he does write the "songs," and he can play instruments, obviously. And even so there's a pretty big fucking difference between that sort of collaboration and the shit that's going on with Lewis. I mean seriously go look up the songwriting credits. It's fucking insane and disgusting. It's not collaborating anymore when 4-5 different people write each song, and each song is another 4-5 different people. That's just a clusterfuck orgy of writers, and it's a wonder they can keep any sort of semblance of coherency on her albums. And then on her debut CD her fucking name isn't even listed anywhere on those credits for all but TWO songs. She's not an artist. She's nothing but an overproduced "product" and a piece of shit showpiece for a shitty music industry and I absolutely abhor the fact that FF has included tripe like that.
Vow, maybe you should go look at the credits of classic Elton tunes, because he has writer's credit on...well, all of them.
On topic: I thought Jeremy Parish wrote a pretty good analysis on how he feels the removal of MP and other aspects of "dumbing down" the system has led to better and more exciting battles.
By all means, she is an artist.
And yes, as it "officially" goes, Elton John wrote his music and Bernie Taupin wrote the lyrics. But guess what happened when they split? Both his music and the lyrics went to absolute shit when he had to write for himself.
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Yeah, we're absolutely done with this tangent. Discuss the song for all I care, but discussion about the recording industry can go to D&D.
I obviously can't rate the score at 15 hours in, but so far it's mostly good...but not very memorable. I'd say it's like FFX, in that there's one or two tracks that've just kinda sucked, but it's been mostly good with only a few really awesome songs so far.
I know there's some amazing combat tracks later in the game though.
I mean, I figured out how to do it, but I feel like there must be certain items that are meant to be used for upgrading certain weapons or accessories. And of course I can buy some upgrade items as well, but I haven't a clue which ones I should buy for what.
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Even when you get the airship, it's still linear. There's only one place to go to advance the story.
It's only really non-linear in WoR, given how much optional content there is.
From what I'm understanding, though, in 13 you really don't even get a chance to interact with any NPCs or explore a town or something. I realize the whole series has been linear, but this apparently pushes it much further than it has been before. And from what I've seen not only is it linear in dungeon design, but it FEELS extremely linear to the point where it seems like it'll really take me out of the experience. Again, though, I've only seen a bit of streaming from the Japanese version, and maybe it does change later.
I think some people are getting confused here, yeah. There's a difference between linear plot and linear gameplay, and maybe "linear" isn't even the right word for it.
Mandated, might be more the word. You are mandated to go down the single, tightly constrained path in the area that eventually leads to the next cutscene. In previous FFs there were sections like this, but there were also plenty of sections where you go around talking to people or solving puzzles or exploring areas and moving on when you were ready. Think of the first village after Tidus wakes up and meets Wakka. Linear in plot, yes. Linear in that you can only move forwards along a single path, no. You can go talk to different people, go into different huts, and so on. And then when you're done you go talk to the right people and move the plot along.
If you look on the map, there's barely any side-passages to go down, or anything. It's a straight run from boss to boss, cutscene to cutscene.
To be clear, it seems like there are more open, town-like areas this in the game - just very very very few of them, and none in the first six hours of the game, it seems.
I get why people are bitching...but the problem is that people are asking for something "just because" when it doesn't serve the story of the game.
There is no stopping, shopping around, talking to some dudes and doing a few sidequests because none of that fits with the story that is being told. You and every other character are on the run from the beginning of the game on (at least to the point I'm at). A story event early on makes it so that you won't be interacting with people because for lack of a better comparison, you're walking around with a scarlet letter on your chest.
I think the bulk of the problem with FFXIII isn't anything that is actually wrong with the game so much as it is that people want something else, and FFXIII isn't that game. My understanding is that FFVersus XIII will be more along that route, with towns and shopping and a world to explore.
This isn't like that though, nor should it be.
It's a fantastic game with solid gameplay, amazing graphics and sound, and a great set of characters who interact far more than in any previous FF title. The story itself is pretty cool, although nothing too unusual for an FF title. Almost every complaint I've heard about the game so far (which is largely from people not playing it) seems to be based around what they want the game to be, rather than taking issue with the game that is there.
That's not someone just hearing about the game and being disappointed, this is someone who's playing it right now and says that.
Personally, I know I'll still really like the game. Hell, I'll love the game. I did like the Bouncer, and I don't mind linearity sometimes. The thing that bothers me, though, is that it seems like this game really REALLY won't scratch that same itch that other FFs have, and it's an itch I was really REALLY hoping to get taken care of with this game, seeing as how the RPG field this gen has been dwindling.
As it stands, it seems like I'll enjoy the game more as a sort of Uncharted 2 like experience rather than a Final Fantasy one, which is cool, it'll just take a bit to get used to that fact, seeing as my hype was obviously for a new Final Fantasy.
And FFXIII has all of those things. The world *is* big, the dungeons are expansive and feature plenty of treasure and combat. I think the map linearity is largely an issue of perception, because they really don't feel like one long straight line at all while playing the game.
That reminds me.
As best I can tell, no. Chests are what they were in all previous non-XII FF games. You get money, items, occasionally a good accessory or weapon, the usual.
You can bet that chests which are guarded will have something pretty sweet in them, but sometimes the fights to get them are fucking nuts.
The only thing I'm kinda iffy on in the game is the itemization. Once you open up upgrading, 9 times out of 10, a new weapon will be weaker than one you've upgraded a level or two, so you'll rarely want to switch to it. Lightning has been using the same weapon (2nd one I found) for the last 12 hours or so because switching to even the next most recent one is a *huge* drop in power.
I wager this will be less of an issue once things open up and I can farm for upgrading materials, but for now, there's just not enough stuff to do much more than upgrade what people currently have equipped.
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I have no idea. I'm sure there'll be something that requires metagame knowledge to do...it's almost a tradition at this point (see also, Zodiac Spear, Excalibur 2, Golden Chocobos, etc)
Granted, the chocobos *could* be done without a guide, but it took so goddamn long that I can't believe anyone would have gone through with it.
I don't mind the meta quests. I just feel that XII's approach was the wrong way to go. I understand a time sink quest like chocobo breeding, and a speed run quest like Excalibur 2. Even the lightning dodging and butterfly catching make sense to me. But avoiding four generic chests? I dunno... to me, it would've made more sense if it was an avoid ALL chests challenge.
Eh, it wasn't that bad. I did my first Gold Chocobo without any sort of guide. And not from Ruby Weapon either.
The Chocobo Sage gives you all the information you'll need to get a gold if you listen to everything he says.
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