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Final Fantasy XIII


AJ-enova
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A lot of the reviews for this game were B.S., and I don't mean me. This is why I don't trust reviews, because if I did, I never would have bought this but I ended up loving it. It is a really fun and interesting game. I'm actually excited about maxing out my Crystogens and I've never been excited to finish a sphere grid before. :-)

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17 hours into the game and I can officially say that I'm in love with it. The story and characters just keep getting better, and the battle system more intricate/fun. Exploiting enemy weaknesses, careful paradigm shifting, and staggering are musts, having control over the camera in battle is nice as well. Also, they didn't really get rid of towns so much as modify their purpose in the game, which I find doesn't detract from the overall(great) experience. If anything, it cuts away the fat so to speak in my opinion. I should probably point out that my friends who are usually into western-styled RPGs actually want to play FFXIII based on the first two hours of the game I demoed for 'em last night. That should say something about the game's appeal.

It's funny that it took about 4 games before I understood why the sphere grid in FFX was so great. Even though it's sort of linear, you still don't have to wait for an actual "level up" per se, and can keep increasing stats throughout battles, although in FFXIII's Crystarium, it's a bit more intricate as you have to pick how you'll balance all the characters throughout all their available classes.

I just reached Nautilus, and since there's a shitload going on, there's a bit of a stagger in the framerate, nothing TERRIBLE, but it's there.

Onward to more adventure!

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Speaking of reviews, I happen to run by this:

http://features.metacritic.com/features/2010/how-does-final-fantasy-13-compare/

I find this pretty surprising in a number of ways, not the least the fact that Final Fantasy IX is the highest rated Final Fantasy game ever apparently (not that I disagree, but I wouldn't have guessed that for all the chocolate in China).

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Eh whatever, considering how many posts I've seen about XII being liked the least around here (I actually liked it enough) it's all meaningless.

i think the thing about this is that final fantasy games are something that stick around for awhile, like people still play the older ones and stuff and part of how we remember them is not only how well they played when they first came up but also how they held up over time. so its hard to be like "oh yeah this one's not as good" until a few years later

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Heads up for anyone who is wondering why the hell they need the shitty monster components for upgrading equipment. They're needed to build up xp bonuses, whereas machine components offer lots of xp, but take away said bonuses. The best strategy is to use monster components to build up to a x2 bonus, then use machine parts sparingly after that. Lather, rinse, repeat.

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I was surprised last night when I started the game up and saw that I had already logged 10 hours. I'm now around 14.

Also, I did some running back and forth at one point in that forest/research facility area and got my characters maxed out to the point where next time I beat a boss, I had enough leftover CP to max them out AGAIN. And it didn't take me long at all to do that grinding, maybe around 20-30 minutes. It seems pretty easy to stay constantly maxed out as far as the crystogenesis stuff goes.

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I'm still about six hours in. One thing I'm definitely very disappointed about is the quality of localization. After the very impressive work put on FFXII's English dialogue and theatrical voice overs, I'm surprised that Square-Enix USA took the mediocre JRPG/stereotypical anime route with this one. Vanille and Snow are extremely annoying first off. The former is just too perky and that accent is unidentifiable, while the latter is obsessed with the word "hero" for some dumb reason. "Heroes don't run from fights." Seriously? Is that the best you can come up with, Square-Enix? Are we stuck in the late 90s or something?

So yeah, the audiovisual production is one of the best ever, but the storytelling simply doesn't back that up thanks to the poor dialogue and "okay to bad" voice overs. Lots of needless grunting and yelling too...characters like Vanille are constantly having orgasms for no reason whatsoever. Lost Odyssey was a much more believable game in terms of cut-scenes and storytelling...at least most of the characters put some emotion into their voices. Those kids can be annoying at times, but not as annoying as Vanille.

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Lost Odyssey was a much more believable game in terms of cut-scenes and storytelling...

Strangely enough it blew dead poodles. :lol:

For the overuse of the hero bit, I kinda saw it as something that was thrust upon Snow rather than him actually taking up the role or title and simply masquerading within the role to keep that image up for a variety of reasons; even if it means contradicting himself at times on certain situations. As far as I've played, it just seems he does not know what kind of hero he wants to be, or even be a hero in the traditional sense.

As for Vanille, again I'm surprised I'm not even bothered by her unidentified accent. I actually like that as it keeps me interested, though not sure about the spontaneous orgasmic sounds unless we've just have different experiences? :lol:

I think the biggest reason I'm rather easy going on FFXIII is basically because it's rated for Teens rather than some one in their early to late 20s or even mid 30's that are still gaming and playing Final Fantasy games.

Would FF13 be any better or worse had it earned the Mature rating for adults?

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I'm still about six hours in. One thing I'm definitely very disappointed about is the quality of localization. After the very impressive work put on FFXII's English dialogue and theatrical voice overs, I'm surprised that Square-Enix USA took the mediocre JRPG/stereotypical anime route with this one. Vanille and Snow are extremely annoying first off. The former is just too perky and that accent is unidentifiable, while the latter is obsessed with the word "hero" for some dumb reason. "Heroes don't run from fights." Seriously? Is that the best you can come up with, Square-Enix? Are we stuck in the late 90s or something?

So yeah, the audiovisual production is one of the best ever, but the storytelling simply doesn't back that up thanks to the poor dialogue and "okay to bad" voice overs. Lots of needless grunting and yelling too...characters like Vanille are constantly having orgasms for no reason whatsoever. Lost Odyssey was a much more believable game in terms of cut-scenes and storytelling...at least most of the characters put some emotion into their voices. Those kids can be annoying at times, but not as annoying as Vanille.

This, plus I keep wanting to shoot myself in the head every time one of those vocal pop tracks plays in the background.

You can sleep well tonight knowing that the game only gets better from there voice acting and dialogue wise, but the quality of the voice work is insulting after FF12 practically rewrote the book on how to properly voice act a JRPG. :( At least the character development is dece.

I normally would've threw my hands up and just stopped after a few hours of playing through a game with a story and dialogue like this, but I can't because Sazh and Dajh are awesome characters and this battle system and these game mechanics are the bees knees.

As for Vanille, again I'm surprised I'm not even bothered by her unidentified accent. I actually like that as it keeps me interested, though not sure about the spontaneous orgasmic sounds unless we've just have different experiences? :lol:

You don't hear Vanille making random, unwarranted "ohh", "ahh", "ee", "ooh" noises every 2 seconds? She does something as pedestrian as breathing and her vag is practically a slippery-slide.

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...though not sure about the spontaneous orgasmic sounds unless we've just have different experiences? :lol:

Weird that you haven't noticed the amount of grunting and awing in the game, for the tiniest of things, too. Vanille is guilty of this the most. In my case, there's one recent scene when the team first discover the Temple in Lake Bresha, just before the boss fight...Vanille just overdoes it there.

http://www.youtube.com/user/DarksydePhilFFXIII#p/u/43/dmXzgcuXAnM

Go to 7:45. SPOILERS.

I guess it all depends on one's comfort zone with such games. I mean...take FFX for example, I was just so impressed with the audiovisuals back then I did not notice the amount of awkwardness in some scenes. I recently went back to playing it a year ago...definitely didn't stand the test of time in some parts. FFXIII feels stuck in those times to me. You've kept me optimistic though, Necrotic. It may take awhile for the game to pick up the pace.

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I normally would've threw my hands up and just stopped after a few hours of playing through a game with a story and dialogue like this, but I can't because Sazh and Dajh are awesome characters and this battle system and these game mechanics are the bees knees.

Definitely...and yes, Sazh is perhaps the best character in the game. Not stereotypical at all (unlike FFVII's Barret) and his voice work is pretty good. I feel an aura of maturity from him compared to the rest of the characters...maybe it's because he's the oldest and he does act like one. His humor is good, too. I like the surreal comic relief regarding the Chocobo living in his afro...that's just charming and creative. I've yet to meet Dajh (don't know who he is yet), but I'm sure he'll be just as cool.

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And this is bad... why?

He likes going in dry? :lol:

As for the small sounds, considering how far I'm in, and they're hopping over rather steep mountain sides and rubble I'm not really surprised or bothered.

Then again I have a high tolerance for quite a few things. I'd sooner complain about the squeaking noise that El Fuerte makes in SFIV before I start raging about grunts from a woman.

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hmm, I'm playing X at the same time, and honestly I'd say that Rikku's VA does the happy girl thing better than Vanille's

was it x or x-2 that rikku's VA got an award for how well they did? i think it was x-2, but it was the same girl, wasn't it? yuna was the only voice that carried over who wasn't the same VA. even barkeep crossed over (from the guy who ran the shoopuf, originally).

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Weird that you haven't noticed the amount of grunting and awing in the game, for the tiniest of things, too. Vanille is guilty of this the most. In my case, there's one recent scene when the team first discover the Temple in Lake Bresha, just before the boss fight...Vanille just overdoes it there.

http://www.youtube.com/user/DarksydePhilFFXIII#p/u/43/dmXzgcuXAnM

Go to 7:45. SPOILERS.

I guess it all depends on one's comfort zone with such games. I mean...take FFX for example, I was just so impressed with the audiovisuals back then I did not notice the amount of awkwardness in some scenes. I recently went back to playing it a year ago...definitely didn't stand the test of time in some parts. FFXIII feels stuck in those times to me. You've kept me optimistic though, Necrotic. It may take awhile for the game to pick up the pace.

Hahah!!! I remember laughing at that boss encounter on IRC, because you see Sazh "safety-gropes" Vanille as the encounter is taking place. Very funny. xD

And watching that, wow. I guess the PS3 graphics ARE better. Not so much better that it makes me regret having it on the 360 though.

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was it x or x-2 that rikku's VA got an award for how well they did? i think it was x-2, but it was the same girl, wasn't it? yuna was the only voice that carried over who wasn't the same VA. even barkeep crossed over (from the guy who ran the shoopuf, originally).

Rikku was voiced by Tara Strong in both games. Dunno whether she got any awards for it, but she damn well should.

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