Wow! That was exactly my point when I saw a trailer of it. My roommate showed me on Xbox, I think maybe 2 months or so ago, and that was what I was telling him: "Heh, what's that? Am I 14? Again? Oh noooo!" (-> Heh, was ist das? Bin ich 14 oder was? Schon wieder? Oh neeein! [original]).
Early thoughts/impressions?
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Wow! That was exactly my point when I saw a trailer of it. My roommate showed me on Xbox, I think maybe 2 months or so ago, and that was what I was telling him: "Heh, what's that? Am I 14? Again? Oh noooo!" (-> Heh, was ist das? Bin ich 14 oder was? Schon wieder? Oh neeein! [original]).
7 hours into it and on chapter 4 and I still love it. Hope is the only character pissing me off, Lightning needs to open up more. And my fav 3 characters are Sazh, Snow and Vanille 
I dont miss leveling up as much as I thought I would. The whole Crystal idea is just like the Sphere Grid from X, which I enjoyed. You get to have more control over your characters abilities. Im loving the cutscenes also and the music is kinda growing on me. My fav piece of music is from the opening, if you leave the game running and you see the credits at the start.
Impressive
I dont miss leveling up as much as I thought I would. The whole Crystal idea is just like the Sphere Grid from X, which I enjoyed. You get to have more control over your characters abilities. Im loving the cutscenes also and the music is kinda growing on me. My fav piece of music is from the opening, if you leave the game running and you see the credits at the start.Impressive
So far, I'm loving it. Seven hours in, and up to chapter 4.
I really like it. I love the battle system, it's faster than XII's but it still feels like a traditional FF, it's not "sit and watch" at all, like I was worried it would be.
I like the Crystarium system, too. I like how it only lets you develop so far, it means you can get powerful enough to beat anything with ease, but not powerful enough to be game breaking, and I think it would be encouraging to new comers to the series too, so they're not thrown in at the deep end.
I like that the game seems to be more story-driven than FFXII, so far it feels more like a Final Fantasy game than XII did at this stage. I also love the characters, they all have excellent voice actors. Vanille in particular xD Although, Vanille and Fang sound nothing like what I imagined them too xD
I like the music too, the battle theme in particular is epic
So far...no real down points for me. It's pretty good. Excellent battle system + story. Just what I require from a FF game.
I really like it. I love the battle system, it's faster than XII's but it still feels like a traditional FF, it's not "sit and watch" at all, like I was worried it would be.
I like the Crystarium system, too. I like how it only lets you develop so far, it means you can get powerful enough to beat anything with ease, but not powerful enough to be game breaking, and I think it would be encouraging to new comers to the series too, so they're not thrown in at the deep end.
I like that the game seems to be more story-driven than FFXII, so far it feels more like a Final Fantasy game than XII did at this stage. I also love the characters, they all have excellent voice actors. Vanille in particular xD Although, Vanille and Fang sound nothing like what I imagined them too xD
I like the music too, the battle theme in particular is epic
So far...no real down points for me. It's pretty good. Excellent battle system + story. Just what I require from a FF game.
chrono trigger
ShinRa Guard
im at chapter five and im loving it.the only problem i have had is no towns which takes the sense of exploration out of the game.my fav characters are sazh,vanille,lightning
I've got strong opinions about this, lets break them down into positives and negatives shall we? I'm six hours in, upto Chapter 4 and understandably my views are blinkered to a small portion of the game. Make no mistake about it, I am hooked to the full, enjoying it (despite the negatives) and my opinions will undoubtably change over 25 hours of play...
Negatives
Negatives
- Lack of prologue gives the backstory & the world that surrounds it no soul, it offers nothing for emotional investment and immersion. I know the story obviously unfolds utilizing a few flashbacks here and there but it really gives you nothing to care about. I found myself questioning for the first hour or so: "What's a fal'Cie? What's Pulse? What's Cocoon? Who do Psi-COM represent? What's an l'Cie"... A two minute cutscene with a over-dub wouldn't have been a big ask to explain these, I didn't want to spend my time reading the story in the datalog, I want to play the game, not read a book.
- Lack of CLEAR antagonist - For at least the early portions of the game. I still have no idea who exactly I'm rebelling against and for that simple fact I have little investment in the efforts at hand to bring who or what to justice. (spoilers on possible antagonists)
It comes over as this half revenge / half public service mission to do the right thing and I'm all lost up in this shit. And even if the "fal'Cie" are the main antagonists, what's their story? who fucking knows! At least in the olden days of XII you knew that it was a civil and territorial war with a background of deceit and treachery behind all of the resulting happenings in the story-world. XIII, not so. It's a muddy mess of vague areas, vague worlds... Not alot of richness in the storycraft.fal'Cie for fucking with your sister? The armies for butchering the public? Hello? Anyone?
- Australian VAs - It's distracting as hell, nitpicking here of course.
- Battle System - Holy fuck. I've never been one to pay attention to the workings of a game as far as its balanced gameplay and how its core mechanics work. I'm a story guy. But this, this is something special. As soon as you begin to wrap your hands around the Paradigm Shift system, making it your own, you're hooked. Mark my words.
- Rich design - GORGEOUS! No other words. Even the little things such as the character transition within the menu with a flicker of movement in colour and it fading to a black & white still, beautiful. I must've spent a good while clicking back and forth from character status to character. Of course then there's the level design, environments, buttons, character design, it's all stunning. The best looking game you've EVER seen.
- Music design - Iteration on the word design there. For anyone to create a track that plays continuously almost every battle scene and not be grating to the earholes. Well played Hamauzu
The Crystarium system has disappointed me a little. I expected something similar to the vein of FFX's Sphere Grid system - but after a brief half an hour using it, I just realised how limited to start off it is. Other than Lightning and Vanille (at least I think it's these two - I can't remember exactly), I seem to have filled up the only layer I have already. There's no other layer - so I assume that you get more as the chapters go along. I find that rather disappointing because I was eager to explore the augments and abilities.
Which brings me to another point - the beginning chapters lack the need to grind like you would have to in the earlier FF games. There seems to be no point in staying around finding monsters to kill over and over again. I can see why SE have done this - to make the story flow quicker - but I still anticipate for a bit of grinding. Thanks to Paradigm Shift, the battles are surprisingly enjoyable. I never thought I'd find the battle system of a FF game addictive! xD
Which brings me to another point - the beginning chapters lack the need to grind like you would have to in the earlier FF games. There seems to be no point in staying around finding monsters to kill over and over again. I can see why SE have done this - to make the story flow quicker - but I still anticipate for a bit of grinding. Thanks to Paradigm Shift, the battles are surprisingly enjoyable. I never thought I'd find the battle system of a FF game addictive! xD
-I thought it was a very weak opening hour or two, given that all you have to do is bash X, with the exception of bosses, where all you need to do is use a potion. I have just now unlocked the Crystarium, so now the whole game should have a whole new strategic dimension to it.
-I hate that HP is restored after each battle. It removes a whole facet of FF gameplay, essentially removing the need to plan ahead, especially for dungeons and so on.
-Vanille is super hot.
-I hate that HP is restored after each battle. It removes a whole facet of FF gameplay, essentially removing the need to plan ahead, especially for dungeons and so on.
-Vanille is super hot.
I understand where youre coming from. I too had to rack my brain as to whom meant what with the whole fal'Cie, l'Cie, Pulse, etc. It can get so damn confusing and I think it could have perhaps been explained better.
MVP
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About ten hours into the game now and its decent, a lot of walking around and fighting and nothing much else at the moment.
I wish the characters were better, seriously.
Lightning - She is a fine main character and similar to past heroes (Squall, Cloud). I likey.
Sezh - He's okay nothing special, he is entertaining, but at times hes annoying.
Snow - Is extremely annoying, Serah this, Serah that. Okay I know your obsessed with her but please can you say a sentence that doesn't include Serah in it?
Vanille - Shes supppppppper hot and she reminds me a lot of Rikku and I don't mind it. She brings joy to a somewhat "dull" game.
Hope - His change of attitude is too sudden for me, and I don't really like it.
Fang - Don't know enough about her yet
Oh and Serah is very annoying, she always seems super sad and is about to cry everytime.
Gonna go play now lol
I'm enjoying it and the story seems interesting. Good game so far! Can't wait till it opens up, I want it to get more interesting as well.
I think thats the mutual feeling for almost everyone that's playing it. There are still concepts from the past Final Fantasy game so almost no one can hate it, except for a select few. Some will like it, some will really like it.
I wish the characters were better, seriously.
Lightning - She is a fine main character and similar to past heroes (Squall, Cloud). I likey.
Sezh - He's okay nothing special, he is entertaining, but at times hes annoying.
Snow - Is extremely annoying, Serah this, Serah that. Okay I know your obsessed with her but please can you say a sentence that doesn't include Serah in it?
Vanille - Shes supppppppper hot and she reminds me a lot of Rikku and I don't mind it. She brings joy to a somewhat "dull" game.
Hope - His change of attitude is too sudden for me, and I don't really like it.
Fang - Don't know enough about her yet
Oh and Serah is very annoying, she always seems super sad and is about to cry everytime.
Gonna go play now lol
I'm enjoying it and the story seems interesting. Good game so far! Can't wait till it opens up, I want it to get more interesting as well.
I think thats the mutual feeling for almost everyone that's playing it. There are still concepts from the past Final Fantasy game so almost no one can hate it, except for a select few. Some will like it, some will really like it.
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Lightning definitely has the background of Cloud and Squall put together. The game didn't hook me as much as it did and hasn't yet. The graphics are just eye candy. After seeing how well the graphics look, I can't wait to see the finished product of Gran Turismo 5 lol. Back on track, I'm about 6-7 hours into the game and it's been eye candy all the way. I dislike the linear gameplay but the graphics/storyline keeps blowing me into the game
chaostheory
ShinRa Guard
I'm in Ch.2 where Lightning and Szah dealt with those ghoulish thingys. So far, just do not know what to make of this. Seems more like an action game with rpg elements, rather than a straight RPG.
The battle system is a little odd to me, but its so far not complicated. Just didn't know about the time limits of battles and the number of stars given on how quickly you did.
Once I figured out how to do a pre-emptive strike without using a shroud, I find it great.
With the characters, so far I have not any real issues with them. Snow's comments are corny at times. Vanille's running is hilarious. Lightning is the 'serious' one. Szath so far has the best comments.
The presentation looks nice, but can see 'square' shapes on the main character's hands for example.
Music is excellent. I really like how Japanese composers make such great pieces. MGS4 and LoZ also have really good music pieces.
The battle system is a little odd to me, but its so far not complicated. Just didn't know about the time limits of battles and the number of stars given on how quickly you did.
Once I figured out how to do a pre-emptive strike without using a shroud, I find it great.
With the characters, so far I have not any real issues with them. Snow's comments are corny at times. Vanille's running is hilarious. Lightning is the 'serious' one. Szath so far has the best comments.
The presentation looks nice, but can see 'square' shapes on the main character's hands for example.
Music is excellent. I really like how Japanese composers make such great pieces. MGS4 and LoZ also have really good music pieces.
I've just gotten to the part where you get a semi in-depth look at Serah and Snow's recent past in a cut-scene. I gotta say that this games FMV's and cinemas are reminding me of FFX big time right now. Even the music during the scenes hints at FFX. Especially during the wishing fireworks scene.
The graphics are amazing...!
The graphics are amazing...!
Well, after playing for what seemed like an eternity, I got to the "exploration" of the game. I found that my assumption of Pulse was correct.
It's a huge, and I do mean huge map, with a few paths that branch off to more linear paths. There are huge monsters to see, and a few people to talk to, but at the end of the day, it's pretty empty. There is no way to get lost in Pulse because you have a map telling you exactly where you are, so that one reviewer who said he had gotten lost, must have been a moron.
I did a couple of side-quests and got no satisfaction out of them. They were meaningless, dull, and boring. Run down a linear path to complete a goal, kill a monster in Pulse, run down a linear path to kill a monster. All in all, those are pretty much what the side-quests are. I cried a little inside.
Stack this up in front of everything I was saying earlier, and you can basically see that I despise this game. I would rather play FFX and that's quite a bad thing. FFXIII doesn't do the series justice, in fact, it kills what little hope I ever had of the series making a grand comeback. It also kills just about everything that made the FF series great.
They mythology that surrounded the series is gone, and all of the original concepts in the FF world and it's surrounding mythos has been brutally murdered. The game feels like playing an action game, I'm still able to win all my battles without doing anything more than mashing "A". It's pathetically easy.
In my honest opinion, the game is targeted towards people that like things made simple, easy, and can't stand a challenge. Unfortunately, people are going to buy into it. Despite the fact that this game can't hold a candle to any previous FF game. In fact, I could promise you that without the title of "Final Fantasy" no one would buy this game. It's sales alone and the inevitable fanbase is only going to be there because it's the first FF game on a next gen console. (FFVII, FFX, FFXIII)
It's a sad day for me, it really is. It's the day I watch an old friend die after being on his death bed for the last few years. It's the day I make a commitment to never play a main series FF game again (except for XIV, and that's only because I like MMO's).
I'm done, I'm not even going to bother to beat the game. I hate it that much. I have no wish, nor desire to ever see the game again, and I couldn't careless about anything that this game brought forward. Even the plot, which looked so good on paper, was disappointing. In fact, I believe that even a Tom Clansy book brings more plot to the table.
I'm going to go play FFIX and cry while eating a bucket of ice cream now.
It's a huge, and I do mean huge map, with a few paths that branch off to more linear paths. There are huge monsters to see, and a few people to talk to, but at the end of the day, it's pretty empty. There is no way to get lost in Pulse because you have a map telling you exactly where you are, so that one reviewer who said he had gotten lost, must have been a moron.
I did a couple of side-quests and got no satisfaction out of them. They were meaningless, dull, and boring. Run down a linear path to complete a goal, kill a monster in Pulse, run down a linear path to kill a monster. All in all, those are pretty much what the side-quests are. I cried a little inside.
Stack this up in front of everything I was saying earlier, and you can basically see that I despise this game. I would rather play FFX and that's quite a bad thing. FFXIII doesn't do the series justice, in fact, it kills what little hope I ever had of the series making a grand comeback. It also kills just about everything that made the FF series great.
They mythology that surrounded the series is gone, and all of the original concepts in the FF world and it's surrounding mythos has been brutally murdered. The game feels like playing an action game, I'm still able to win all my battles without doing anything more than mashing "A". It's pathetically easy.
In my honest opinion, the game is targeted towards people that like things made simple, easy, and can't stand a challenge. Unfortunately, people are going to buy into it. Despite the fact that this game can't hold a candle to any previous FF game. In fact, I could promise you that without the title of "Final Fantasy" no one would buy this game. It's sales alone and the inevitable fanbase is only going to be there because it's the first FF game on a next gen console. (FFVII, FFX, FFXIII)
It's a sad day for me, it really is. It's the day I watch an old friend die after being on his death bed for the last few years. It's the day I make a commitment to never play a main series FF game again (except for XIV, and that's only because I like MMO's).
I'm done, I'm not even going to bother to beat the game. I hate it that much. I have no wish, nor desire to ever see the game again, and I couldn't careless about anything that this game brought forward. Even the plot, which looked so good on paper, was disappointing. In fact, I believe that even a Tom Clansy book brings more plot to the table.
I'm going to go play FFIX and cry while eating a bucket of ice cream now.
I'm mainly curious about how long the game is. I'm about 11~ hours in and I don't want to beat it to quickly, nor do I want to prolong beating the game, either. As for first impressions...
1. @ those who were confused about the l'Cie, fal'Cie, etc., there's a reason that they notify you when your datalog (or whatever it's called) is updated. It's basically an encyclopaedia for FFXIII. I was confused a bit at first, too, but then I checked out the datalog and read about the information I was oblivious to. As the game progresses, however, it becomes less and less essential to read the datalog as you pretty much know what's going on. I also don't want to spend the free time I have reading when I could be playing the game unless I'm really lost about something.
2. Whaaat? How can you guys hate on Hope? He's my favourite character. I like his fiery hatred and anger, and his desire for revenge. This, combined with his childish perception of things, makes him an interesting (albeit cliched) character to me.
3. Australian voice actors = hot. Something about that accent tickles me in ways an English accent doesn't.
4. VANILLE IS SO EFFING ANNOYING, GOD. I don't know how you guys can tolerate her obviously forced cheeriness and overly bubbly attitude, as well as those frequent squeaks she makes that make it sound like she's playing with herself.
5. The soundtrack is... lacking. This is one of the only things I was disappointed about in FFXIII. I loved the music of every FF game I've played, but I never found myself going "Wow, this track is awesome/really fits the mood of the environment/gives me goosebumps," so boooooo to that. Uematsu, why did you abandon us? :c
6. Game is very linear. Quite literally, too, but I'm not complaining. I'm still enjoying the game, so I guess it shouldn't matter. It does lack the BIGness of the other FF games I've played, though.
Besides the few qualms I have, I'm really liking the game so far.
1. @ those who were confused about the l'Cie, fal'Cie, etc., there's a reason that they notify you when your datalog (or whatever it's called) is updated. It's basically an encyclopaedia for FFXIII. I was confused a bit at first, too, but then I checked out the datalog and read about the information I was oblivious to. As the game progresses, however, it becomes less and less essential to read the datalog as you pretty much know what's going on. I also don't want to spend the free time I have reading when I could be playing the game unless I'm really lost about something.
2. Whaaat? How can you guys hate on Hope? He's my favourite character. I like his fiery hatred and anger, and his desire for revenge. This, combined with his childish perception of things, makes him an interesting (albeit cliched) character to me.
3. Australian voice actors = hot. Something about that accent tickles me in ways an English accent doesn't.
4. VANILLE IS SO EFFING ANNOYING, GOD. I don't know how you guys can tolerate her obviously forced cheeriness and overly bubbly attitude, as well as those frequent squeaks she makes that make it sound like she's playing with herself.
5. The soundtrack is... lacking. This is one of the only things I was disappointed about in FFXIII. I loved the music of every FF game I've played, but I never found myself going "Wow, this track is awesome/really fits the mood of the environment/gives me goosebumps," so boooooo to that. Uematsu, why did you abandon us? :c
6. Game is very linear. Quite literally, too, but I'm not complaining. I'm still enjoying the game, so I guess it shouldn't matter. It does lack the BIGness of the other FF games I've played, though.
Besides the few qualms I have, I'm really liking the game so far.
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wehttamrd
Chocobo Breeder
I completely agree with the vagueness of the story. If I didn't already know the basic story from following the game so much before release, I think I'd be completely lost.
I know this and readily ignore it. Forty quid was spent to play, not to read. It's bloody lazy & awful storycrafting within the gaming genre to rely on a slew of text that has to be accessed through a menu interface to garner more understanding for the story. It cuts up the storytelling on screen well & truly. What a shameful shortcut to make.
It would be unthinkable to even entertain the thought of pausing a movie to quickly filter through additional reading (not that there ever is any)
Obviously, there is additional reading featured in the RPG genre very often and if you are endeared to the story, you're endeared to learn more and the intricacies around the story. This was never the case from the get-go with XIII sadly.
Damn I've not been able to sit down and post in like 4 days now. 
My sister has been visiting from out of town, but they're heading home today and I'm gonna spend allllllllll fucking day playing! xD Anyway, off topic there. Sorry about that. I'm about 7 hours into the game right now and I must say it's just incredible! I absolutely love it and don't understand all the complaints, but then again I'm not difficult to please and I think people expect way too much shit out of a game.
I think people need to not expect so much. @_@ Give it a chance. It's something new for goodness sake. Sorry for going off on a rant there. I just don't like that people are so quick to hate and expect things to be exactly the same as other FF games. It's new and different. Try and accept that not everything is going to be the way you want it. The characters are awesome and the combat system is a BLAST! I love the whole idea behind Pulse, fal'Cie and l'Cie. It's really quite sad about the l'Cie though. I really enjoyed the scenes with Serah. She's my favourite character by far. She was though before the game even came out, so I was definitely overjoyed to see her. One scene in particular almost moved me to tears tbh. They're so beautifully done so far. I won't say anymore, but I'm honestly not disappointed. This game is wonderful.
My sister has been visiting from out of town, but they're heading home today and I'm gonna spend allllllllll fucking day playing! xD Anyway, off topic there. Sorry about that. I'm about 7 hours into the game right now and I must say it's just incredible! I absolutely love it and don't understand all the complaints, but then again I'm not difficult to please and I think people expect way too much shit out of a game. I think people need to not expect so much. @_@ Give it a chance. It's something new for goodness sake. Sorry for going off on a rant there. I just don't like that people are so quick to hate and expect things to be exactly the same as other FF games. It's new and different. Try and accept that not everything is going to be the way you want it. The characters are awesome and the combat system is a BLAST! I love the whole idea behind Pulse, fal'Cie and l'Cie. It's really quite sad about the l'Cie though. I really enjoyed the scenes with Serah. She's my favourite character by far. She was though before the game even came out, so I was definitely overjoyed to see her. One scene in particular almost moved me to tears tbh. They're so beautifully done so far. I won't say anymore, but I'm honestly not disappointed. This game is wonderful.
Apparent Amarant
Blue Mage
I disagree about the sound. I thought it was going to be more poppy in this game and it's not so I'm happy. The voice acting isn't great but the voices themselves are fine. They aren't the high excited voices like Tidus's (except Vanille's) that tend to annoy the hell out of me.
I agree about Lightning. She's a huge ***** who doesn't try to relate to anyone and continuously takes shots at Snow even though he didn't do anything wrong. She says the exact things that will hurt him for no other reason then hurting him. She abandons Hope and basically is cold-hearted towards everyone. That's probably why her sister couldn't tell her her secret.
Hope is kind of a pussy but he isn't as bad.
I thought I was going to hate Snow's character but so far him and Sazh are by far my favorite, and I believe they are the most relate able characters. Sazh probably the most relate able. Snow is cocky but he is't arrogant and always means well. I didn't expect him to be more righteous than self-righteous and I'm glad he is. I'm still on disc one though.
Also it's already gotten monotonous which is my least favorite things for RPG if I want repeating battles I'll play GoW and if I want mindless monotony I'll play Halo I want in depth involvement which is why I'm at least pleased with the number of cutscenes separating the monotony to keep me attached to the story.
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The only thing that I really expected (before I read up on the game) was for it to bring great FF gameplay back to an HD console and to be totally win. Then (after reading up) I noticed that once again my hope and be shot through the heart with a flaming arrow and that I now hated this game.
That's exactly what I did. O_O I was offered the chance to play it without having to pay for it, and I did. Instead of not playing the game at all like I said I would, I gave the game the benefit of the doubt. I tried to look at it through a, "It's new, give it a chance" approach, but "new and different" doesn't always mean good. I just couldn't get into it, no matter how hard I tried and I played it up to Chapter 11, and after doing a couple of side-quests, every negative thing I had ever thought about this game was confirmed, and I died a little inside.
No problem, I rant for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Personally, I think they should have stuck with things that made the old FF's great, while throwing some new and different things in there. Now, that, could have been epic win. O_O
Very true, but in this case, nothing was the way I wanted it. I asked for a cheeseburger and they gave me a tofu sammich.
But then again, I'm a difficult person to please and I went in knowing I wasn't going to like it. But hey, at least I gave the game a chance, and at least now I can safely say that all of my original assumptions on the game were correct... But I'm sad about it. T_T
Apparent Amarant
Blue Mage
Sorry but if you got confused between L'cie and Fal'cie you just weren't paying attention well or you are slow. It's pretty obvious there is a huge difference after you fight the first Fal'cie, and it should be obvious to anyone person that point when there are huge talks about how l'cie are slaves of fal'cie. You won't got lost if you pay attention. If you dont want to pay attention to dialog buy a game that's main selling point doesn't completely revolve around you paying attention.
I haven't accessed the log once yet and seem to have absoutely no problem keeping up with the story. I plan on reading every entry though at some point near the end of the game as long as my interest is still peaking.
Playing on some 42" TV you can see the compression =/
cant complain with the CGI at the start though they look great
I love sazhhe makes me laugh every cutscene
Wow really I'm playing on a 42" 1920.1080 120htz and I think they are absolutely amazing in game graphics. What exactly are you comparing them to?
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