Final Fantasy 13 - Impressions

[Zenn3k]

I've played a lot of RPGs, and every FF with the exception of 12 (yup, even the online only 11 for awhile).

For reference purposes I am at the very start of Chapter 7

The music in 13 is painful to listen to, for one its basically feels like I'm listening to the same song over and over again, there is no hard song switch, even for battles. I've yet to hear anything that I'd consider "Boss Music" and as such the boss fights don't get me very excited as they would generally; if it wasn't for the creature being 200 feet tall I wouldn't even know I was fighting a Boss.

The combat system is getting better (although the summons are pretty lackluster and impossible to use if you aren't 5 starring every single fight it seems) and more interesting. It kind of has become slightly tedious and repetitive in some instances. Com/Rav, Rav/Rav, Com/Medic, Rav/Rav, Stagger, destroy.

My CP system is overflowing in points, BUT, I'm completely broke with little to no upgrade items in my inventory (no strategy guide, so I basically spent like crazy, not really caring). At times I feel very overpowered, and at others I feel like I'm getting randomly killed due to my AI being slow on the healing or using the wrong spell at the wrong time. I'm finding the lack of GIL very annoying, whos idea was it to not have the enemies every drop any money? The stuff I get from fighting I'm suppose to use to upgrade my weapons and items, but those are the only things dropping that I can sell for money. Once in awhile you find something useless you can sell (Doctor's Code), but oddly enough, even if I DID have a ton of GIL, there is basically nothing to buy! Its strange.

The general gameplay at this point is rather bland. Run from Point A to Point B, fight stuff in between, don't miss any of the floating bouncing eyeballs along the way.

The story is kinda confusing, I blame some of that on the characters being hard to hear over the terrible music (yes I know I can turn on subtitles, but I find those distracting), I have no idea what Snow is doing at this point and the only plot like I really care about is Lightening and Hope. From what I can tell,

Spoiler

They are all L'Cie, but there are two kinda of L'Cie, I dunno which is "good" and which is "bad", I THINK Pulse is good. Either way, Snow is captured and "forced" (use the term lightly) to work at hunting his own kind...I think. Hope wants to kill Snow. Lightening wants to go to the thing in the sky to do something for some reason. Sazh and Vanille are running away from everyone else. Thats pretty much what I can tell is going on so far...the story is down right weird.

 

[Mykonos]

I for one love the music. The battle system (I think) is interesting and complex enough to keep you wrapped in the action instead of mashing x to insta-kill everything. Story is lolz crazy but I like that sort of thing. Also, Sazh is black so he's instant win in my books.

That's just my opinion, no need to go spreading it out to anyone.

 

[-BloodRush-]

i love this game. that is all i will say on the matter.

 

[Sassafrass]

I shall tell you my feelings of the game by copying yourself, OP.

I enjoy the music in FF XIII. I find myself listening to it quite a bit and I think it matches the game perfectly. When I'm in a fight, I do really take note of the music as I'm too busy scrambling to stop a monster making a snack out of my face.

This is the best combat system of any FF I've played. (Which for the record is VII to X-2) It flows nicely and when you unlock the Launch ability, the fights just get better, even more so if you can get a nice little air-juggle going.

The CP system does throw points at you but I feel that is needed as you do max out the roles quite quickly so you need to branch out and fill in the other roles. I find it gives you more choice on the battle field if you like to make your own Paradigms which I've dabbled in. In response to the Gil comment, remember, you are on the run in this game. It matches up with that quite well, I think. As for the components complaint, I think that's just because you're new to the game. I did exactly the same thing and now I'm struggling to get more components and upgrade weapons. I'll give you a tip, breaking down unwanted accessories and weapons will yield some more.

That pretty much describes every FF game I've every played. Most don't open up 'til late on so I'm not that bothered by it. The scenery more then makes up for it. It's quite stunning.

And I'll agree, the story is slightly confusing. I have no problems hearing them but I always put subtitles on in any game as...I don't now why, actually. Meh. I'll now try and explain the story for you, OP, but I'm not sure about nit myself.

Spoiler: Spoilered for possible spoilers for those who haven't played it yet and linked to OP

I shall try and help your confusion now, OP. I'm 80% sure the Pulse l'Cie are bad, as that is what the party is turned into after fighting the Pulse fal'Cie, Anima and you are running for your lives from there on in. Not sure on Snow's situation but I think he's working with the PSICOM as he is willing to do anything to save Serah. Lightning, I'm not sure about, I'll have to play a bit more and Sazh and Vanille are going their own way as Lightning ditched them. Or at least, that's what I managed to make out.
A second play-through after this one should help me clear it all up.

So to sum up, I'm loving it if a little confused by the story too.

[sup]EDIT: Massive grammar fail in the first sentence.[/sup]

 

[Cinnonym]

I honestly don't know why I'm reading this, I'm just going to buy it anyway...

 

[Sassafrass]

Scissors, I choose you! Use Snip Attack! ...Sorry.

Good guess but not quite. There are some awesome revelations that will come to you soon enough.

I sort of knew I missed something. But I'm only on Chapter 6 or 7

Spoiler: Again, more spoilers, don't read if you want to keep the game unspoilered

where Lightning and Hope are sneaking into Palumpolom [sp?]

so I'm probably not too far into the story anyway. Was I right on the l'Cie, though?

 

[Wolfram23]

I'm really liking the game. Would be nice if there was a more intense boss fight music, but generally I'm pretty impressed with the music. I also find it interesting how little focus there is on Gil... I'd expect at least human enemies to drop some. I've started some upgrading, wasted a bunch on Hope's weapon (lvl4) and then found the one in the crystal forrest that is SO much better for him... bit upset with that but meh it's all good. Would be nice to have extra Gil to buy more upgrade items tho.

I'm actually liking the story and sub plots quite a bit. Took me a while to figure out but reading the Datalog helps (particularily in reference to l'Cie, Pulse, and Fal'Cie). I like how Hope is developping as Lightning took him under her wing... tho he's still pretty immature and hating on Snow... anyway, I like it a lot. Looking forward to playing this weekend.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

i love the game so far, haven't had a chance becuz of projects and tests but now im on break and am gonna pour an easy 70 hours into this awesome deity =]

i love the music, except for i noticed what you said about not changing much, i wish it was a bit more hardcore or faster paced for the boss battles, otherwise its great, i love the characters and the story, i really dont think its that confusing...i mean sure it hasn't opened up much but big deal, your not supposed to know everything from the get go!

 

[Ben Legend]

Have they bought back the world exploration from FF1 to FF9?

If not, i'm already disappointed. =(

 

[MrLumber]

To OP; First off I'd like to say that music is a matter of opinion, and while I like some tracks (essentially all of the ones without singing) there are others I find annoying.

I'm really loving the combat system as it is essentially a more in depth version of all the previous combat systems rolled into one. I also liked what they did to summons, making them take skill to use as well as being sort of the last ditch effort mode. Not sure what you mean by the 5 starring comment, I suppose your talking about TP. I feel that the reason you haven't been impressed with any of the bosses is essentially they're aren't any major bosses until the end of chapter 8. If you haven't noticed the game is structured so that until you get control over your party its all tutorial preparing you for the real difficulties.

I find the game really starts to pick up once you get to the second city, not sure what chapter it is, maybe 7.

I also blame you for not being able to hear the chars, as I have not had that problem ever. The smaller focus on gil I enjoy as it means it actually has a point instead of just amassing and sitting there, and if your wondering what to spend it consider buying components. I generally buy a good quantity from creature comforts for the multiplier and then buy around 10-20 mechanical parts. This will consume almost all your gil that you already don't have. If you need money try selling credit and incentive chips.

For anyone thinking about buying the game do it, its a great title with a lot to offer.

 

[Nothankyou]

I love the game, and the battle system is the best in all of the games so far. IX is still my favorite, but I just love this game already.

 

[Zenn3k]

To OP; First off I'd like to say that music is a matter of opinion, and while I like some tracks (essentially all of the ones without singing) there are others I find annoying.

I'm really loving the combat system as it is essentially a more in depth version of all the previous combat systems rolled into one. I also liked what they did to summons, making them take skill to use as well as being sort of the last ditch effort mode. Not sure what you mean by the 5 starring comment, I suppose your talking about TP. I feel that the reason you haven't been impressed with any of the bosses is essentially they're aren't any major bosses until the end of chapter 8. If you haven't noticed the game is structured so that until you get control over your party its all tutorial preparing you for the real difficulties.

I find the game really starts to pick up once you get to the second city, not sure what chapter it is, maybe 7.

I also blame you for not being able to hear the chars, as I have not had that problem ever. The smaller focus on gil I enjoy as it means it actually has a point instead of just amassing and sitting there, and if your wondering what to spend it consider buying components. I generally buy a good quantity from creature comforts for the multiplier and then buy around 10-20 mechanical parts. This will consume almost all your gil that you already don't have. If you need money try selling credit and incentive chips.

For anyone thinking about buying the game do it, its a great title with a lot to offer.

Don't misunderstand, I am enjoying the game, despite my negativity to some aspects of it.

 

[Primus1985]

I've played a lot of RPGs, and every FF with the exception of 12 (yup, even the online only 11 for awhile).

For reference purposes I am at the very start of Chapter 7

The music in 13 is painful to listen to, for one its basically feels like I'm listening to the same song over and over again, there is no hard song switch, even for battles. I've yet to hear anything that I'd consider "Boss Music" and as such the boss fights don't get me very excited as they would generally; if it wasn't for the creature being 200 feet tall I wouldn't even know I was fighting a Boss.

The combat system is getting better (although the summons are pretty lackluster and impossible to use if you aren't 5 starring every single fight it seems) and more interesting. It kind of has become slightly tedious and repetitive in some instances. Com/Rav, Rav/Rav, Com/Medic, Rav/Rav, Stagger, destroy.

My CP system is overflowing in points, BUT, I'm completely broke with little to no upgrade items in my inventory (no strategy guide, so I basically spent like crazy, not really caring). At times I feel very overpowered, and at others I feel like I'm getting randomly killed due to my AI being slow on the healing or using the wrong spell at the wrong time. I'm finding the lack of GIL very annoying, whos idea was it to not have the enemies every drop any money? The stuff I get from fighting I'm suppose to use to upgrade my weapons and items, but those are the only things dropping that I can sell for money. Once in awhile you find something useless you can sell (Doctor's Code), but oddly enough, even if I DID have a ton of GIL, there is basically nothing to buy! Its strange.

The general gameplay at this point is rather bland. Run from Point A to Point B, fight stuff in between, don't miss any of the floating bouncing eyeballs along the way.

The story is kinda confusing, I blame some of that on the characters being hard to hear over the terrible music (yes I know I can turn on subtitles, but I find those distracting), I have no idea what Snow is doing at this point and the only plot like I really care about is Lightening and Hope. From what I can tell,

Spoiler

They are all L'Cie, but there are two kinda of L'Cie, I dunno which is "good" and which is "bad", I THINK Pulse is good. Either way, Snow is captured and "forced" (use the term lightly) to work at hunting his own kind...I think. Hope wants to kill Snow. Lightening wants to go to the thing in the sky to do something for some reason. Sazh and Vanille are running away from everyone else. Thats pretty much what I can tell is going on so far...the story is down right weird.

im only into the first 2 chapters and it was confusing as hell.

Answer me this if every Final Fantasy is different, only a couple happen in the same world, why dont they oh I dont know explain the story?

Every Bioware and Bethesda title goes to great lengths to explain the history and backround of your gaming world, while still telling a great story. Squareenix has the story, settings, and themes down, but why coulndt they give us like a history or resource in game to referance all whats going on.

I just want to know where I am and What the hell's up, not to much to ask is it?

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

im only into the first 2 chapters and it was confusing as hell.

Answer me this if every Final Fantasy is different, only a couple happen in the same world, why dont they oh I dont know explain the story?

Every Bioware and Bethesda title goes to great lengths to explain the history and backround of your gaming world, while still telling a great story. Squareenix has the story, settings, and themes down, but why coulndt they give us like a history or resource in game to referance all whats going on.

I just want to know where I am and What the hell's up, not to much to ask is it?

They did that in FFXII, nobody liked it.

*sigh* Poor FFXII, nobody loves you...

Nobody cares that you have the most original story in the series, or that you have the best writing in the series, or the best music, or the best voice acting, or the most realistically designed world with the most consistent culture/cultures...

As far as I can tell the one time Square gave a shit about building a realistic world nobody paid any attention to it and complained anyway.

 

[PhantomCritic]

I DID like the music but I've been playing FF13 so much now that the music has been incredibly tedious to me. Otherwise great game XD