Final Fantasy XIII-2‽ Catch-All

Xeknos wrote:

Gotta find some way to spend February, right?

I don't know if you're into any of these, but Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, Syndicate, and possibly Asura's Wrath (demo out) make up my gaming diet for that particular month.

CE on pre-order! Gonna be a huge nerd and take the next day off of work.

I put 90 hours into the first title. Kinda makes moot any complaints I've made, lol.

I'm done with you, Final Fantasy. I'm waiting until someone tells me this is actually good. How has the initial rumblings been? More of the same?

Vrikk wrote:

I'm done with you, Final Fantasy. I'm waiting until someone tells me this is actually good. How has the initial rumblings been? More of the same?

Skimmer!

Check out Clockwork's post toward the bottom of the last page. And download the demo. How much you like/dislike this will depend on your issues with FFXIII, really.

I was really looking forward to this... even preordered the collectors edition!

Unfortunately I played the demo.

They jazzed up the interface which I was very pleased by. You can increase the font size... important for smaller TV that's not 3 foot from my face.

Paradigms... you can save them now! It was SO annoying to make a change and they would wipe all your settings!

Crystarium (skills)... don't know what to say... they change it again and I'm not entirely sure what's going on... seems linear.

Gear... now it has some kind weighted value and you cannot exceed the value a character can have (you start the demo with 50 and an iron bracers is rated at 44).

Random Bloody Encounters. Seriously? Didn't we get rid of these damn things? Run 3 feet BAM fight... where was that thing I was looking for? Stop to talk to an NPC BAM (no, not kidding) Take a step BAM a fight... worst gaming mechanic ever used.

QuickTime is copyright Apple, Inc. PLEASE... give it back to Apple and get the QuickTime events out of this game! Oh yes, it's an Important part of the game... NOT kidding.. it lets you get better loot pulling them off... but to get a good score... to get a mob staggered... gotta do it. It wouldn't be so bad had they executed it better (they don't tell you what they want until your time is nearly up -- push rather than hammer the button, etc).

Autosave? Playing RPGs I like to have LOTS of save files so I can go back and do something over. Also, many files means corruption is limited to a file or two. Now... ONE file to be corrupted...

Not sure if this is good or bad.. perhaps and interesting mechanic. Now, not only can you take damage, you can take damage that cannot be healed -- you are "wounded" and you need a potion to clear it up (yes.. like the clap). Bosses that wield it... deadly.

Ok, back to a positive. I interrupted a cut scene... NO CONFIRMATION!! Also, conversations.. can be interrupted now!

Monsters you fight can be collected and become a party member, has their own Crystarium and... you unleash their fury on your enemy by... a QuickTime event.

Serah... you're adorable... but those matchsticks you call arms are NOT pulling back a compound bow that was a Moogle 10 seconds ago... c'mon!

Looting in XIII was stupid, you were froze in place until the animation was all done... not any more (minor perhaps, but hey, it's me).

I can only imagine they thought bringing back the old mechanics of the older games is the way to go.

I didn't care for XIII all that much, but it didn't lose as much momentum in the mechanics department as this game did.

You can get away from any of the random battles by just walking outside the little red line that pops up.

I don't really get the rest of what you're saying <,< particularly the "losing momentum in the mechanics department" bit. FFXIII never had any momentum, from my perspective. It took around 20 hours for the game to finish drip-feeding you all the combat basics.

Serious question though: why would you preorder the CE if you didn't like the game this is spinning off?

I'm almost done with my Done-with-this-franchise sidequest!!! I only have one more crystal to beat before I totally resign on FF, and I'd rather spend it on Versus XIII, whenever/if that releases. Spending it on this would seem rather dumb, and quite a waste of all my EXP pts I've earned through the decades.

Sorry to do this in yet another thread, but:

doogiemac wrote:

I'm also apparently weird in that I loved X-2, as well.

Wrong! It just means you were open minded enough to continue past the nausea inducing opening 10 minutes and thus got to experience the best combat system Square has ever created paired with an upbeat and fun yet surprisingly genuine second romp through the most creative and interesting world found in a Final Fantasy game to date. It's the most undeservedly maligned game of the last ten years.

But back on topic...

Autosave? Playing RPGs I like to have LOTS of save files so I can go back and do something over. Also, many files means corruption is limited to a file or two. Now... ONE file to be corrupted...

Really, autosave eh? I guess I didn't play long enough to realize that was going on. That's actually a bold and refreshing idea for a JRPG, I think. You are absolutely right, though, that it would still be nice to have the option of creating breadcrumb saves as you go through the game.

It took me a long time to turn off the change animations. But when I did, combat became very fluid.

Blind_Evil wrote:

You can get away from any of the random battles by just walking outside the little red line that pops up.

I don't really get the rest of what you're saying <,< particularly the "losing momentum in the mechanics department" bit. FFXIII never had any momentum, from my perspective. It took around 20 hours for the game to finish drip-feeding you all the combat basics.

Serious question though: why would you preorder the CE if you didn't like the game this is spinning off?

In some cases you can get away from random encounters... but to fight.. you have to wander around until they occur... still the same crappy mechanic.

No, as far as momentum I meant Square Enix getting away from using random encounters and moving forward by getting away from things that were a staple 10+ years ago.

Like I said... I ordered the CE and was excited until after I played the demo...

I liked X-2, i thought it was a great spin-off of FFX.

Given all the critical acclaim heaped on Final Fantasy XII and all the love for Final Fantasy X and X-2 in this thread, you'd think there'd been a longer string of bad games in the franchise than just the one. I'm a bit surprised by all the "I'm done with you, Final Fantasy!" comments here and elsewhere given that, at worst, the series flubbed a single entry. Is it all the sh*tty spin-off games that have "Final Fantasy" in the name? Was XIII really just that franchise-wreckingly bad?

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Is it all the sh*tty spin-off games that have "Final Fantasy" in the name? Was XIII really just that franchise-wreckingly bad?

Spin-offs, superfluous sequels, numerous enhanced ports/remakes, and 4-5 year dev cycles on the last two major entries I think. Oh and XIV being a giant mess at launch. I think those are the major complaints.

The hardcore Final Fantasy fan base is notoriously hard to please and often doesn't know what on earth it wants.

But we sure know what we don't want.

Clocky hit the nail on the head as to why I love the series. Each is so different. If I didn't like Gears of War, chances are I'll dislike Gears 2 and 3. The same is not necessarily true of Final Fantasy. Each is a unique experience for me. As such, each gets a try at the very least.

shoptroll wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

Is it all the sh*tty spin-off games that have "Final Fantasy" in the name? Was XIII really just that franchise-wreckingly bad?

Spin-offs, superfluous sequels, numerous enhanced ports/remakes, and 4-5 year dev cycles on the last two major entries I think. Oh and XIV being a giant mess at launch. I think those are the major complaints.

The hardcore Final Fantasy fan base is notoriously hard to please and often doesn't know what on earth it wants.

I don't know, I'd definitely allow myself to be labelled a hardcore FF fan, and FFXIII is the only entry in the franchise that hasn't made me happy. But it made me so unhappy that, if it's a sign of the direction they want to take the franchise in, I'm concerned.

That said, on paper FFXIII-2 looks far better than FFXIII did to me, but some of the impressions have me concerned. I'm also not thrilled about the return to random encounters rather than how FFXIII and FFXII handled it, but it's not a deal-breaker for me.

The Final Fantasy fanbase still thinks VII was a good game. They're clearly insane.

Grenn wrote:

But we sure know what we don't want.

Given people's responses on other forums, I think at this point I'm convinced FF fanpeople just don't want a new game in the series. Square just can't make enough of them happy without peeing on the wheaties of everyone else.

Clocky hit the nail on the head as to why I love the series. Each is so different.

+1 to this.

shoptroll wrote:
Grenn wrote:

But we sure know what we don't want.

Given people's responses on other forums, I think at this point I'm convinced FF fanpeople just don't want a new game in the series. Square just can't make enough of them happy without peeing on the wheaties of everyone else.

I think they're like Zelda fans: they just want an HD remake of their favorite game from '97.

I really want the soundtrack and artbook from the CE, but I dislike that it's bound into the packaging. I also didn't play XIII yet. I'm still very tempted.

EDIT: Bah, I'm weak. Yosh*taka Amano artwork on the cover sold me. Now I have 2 weeks to finish XIII.

EDIT 2: Seriously? Language filter can't identify that I was typing a name, and not an expletive? >_<

Minarchist wrote:

The Final Fantasy fanbase still thinks VII was a good game. They're clearly insane. :P

I'm gonna disagree with that. New FF fans may occasionally think that, but very few longer term fans would agree, at least in my experience.

As for the franchise itself, it's definitely a big hodgepodge. There have been games which were phenomenal(VI), and games which were markedly less so(XIV) but to me, they're all FF games, regardless of the chassis they sit on.

Every FF main line (single player) game is different, and that's what I love about the series. I disliked XII to the point where I couldn't finish it, but I've completed all of the rest. When it comes down to it, I'll play any game that has "Final Fantasy" directly followed by a roman numeral, so long as it's not an MMO.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Given all the critical acclaim heaped on Final Fantasy XII and all the love for Final Fantasy X and X-2 in this thread, you'd think there'd been a longer string of bad games in the franchise than just the one. I'm a bit surprised by all the "I'm done with you, Final Fantasy!" comments here and elsewhere given that, at worst, the series flubbed a single entry. Is it all the sh*tty spin-off games that have "Final Fantasy" in the name? Was XIII really just that franchise-wreckingly bad?

Final Fantasy XII was great... they made it more like an MMORPG... but it was single player.. i loved it! You could see mobs.. engage them or not... run and disengage the fight... simple straight forward mechanics.

The problem with Final Fantasy is that Hironobu Sakaguchi left to start Mistwalker Corporation, leaving people at Square that apparently don't know what they're doing.

Sakaguchi-san's latest game is a Wii-only game: The Last Story

I played his other games made by Mistwalker - Blue Dragon and Last Odyssey... the latter being a classic Final Fantasy type game.

I like JRPG's, I'm not beholden to only Square games... but the JRPG's just aren't coming out like they used to.

zeroKFE wrote:

Sorry to do this in yet another thread, but:

doogiemac wrote:

I'm also apparently weird in that I loved X-2, as well.

Wrong! It just means you were open minded enough to continue past the nausea inducing opening 10 minutes and thus got to experience the best combat system Square has ever created paired with an upbeat and fun yet surprisingly genuine second romp through the most creative and interesting world found in a Final Fantasy game to date. It's the most undeservedly maligned game of the last ten years.

Totally agree. I put more time into FFX-2 than any other FF game I've played, because of it's great combat system. I feel like XIII was an attempt in that direction, in spirit at least.

zeroKFE wrote:

Sorry to do this in yet another thread, but:

doogiemac wrote:

I'm also apparently weird in that I loved X-2, as well.

It just means you were open minded enough to continue past the nausea inducing opening 10 minutes and thus got to experience the best combat system Square has ever created paired with an upbeat and fun yet surprisingly genuine second romp through the most creative and interesting world found in a Final Fantasy game to date.

I find it amazing that this sentence doesn't contain a single comma, but - despite its length - still makes perfect sense. Bravo, sir.

(I'd consider posting something more meaningful to follow, but I've just looked at the clock and can't afford to miss the bus to work >_< )

I feel like XIII was an attempt in that direction, in spirit at least.

Agreed on that count too -- after the overly long tutorial was finally over and the player was let loose to play with it, the combat system in 13 was one of a few things about the game that I would say was an unqualified success.

zeroKFE wrote:

Agreed on that count too -- after the overly long tutorial was finally over and the player was let loose to play with it, the combat system in 13 was one of a few things about the game that I would say was an unqualified success.

I'm glad to see someone else like the combat system, because I liked it too. I wouldn't want every JRPG to control that way, but it's very intense and exciting, especially during boss fights. I felt really engaged with having to switch team roles on the fly. It was surprisingly close to being an action RPG while still being menu based.

Or maybe the fact that I was switching paradigms every thirty seconds just meant that I was playing it wrong.

I loved the combat in X-2. Save+ added about 60-70 hours on my already 80 hour game. As for XIII, I liked it a lot better once I found you could instantly queue up previous actions. That only took 10 hours to figure out.

Grenn wrote:

I loved the combat in X-2. Save+ added about 60-70 hours on my already 80 hour game. As for XIII, I liked it a lot better once I found you could instantly queue up previous actions. That only took 10 hours to figure out.

How do you do this? I'm about to go back to playing, and I would really like to know. Tell me!!!!!

Demyx wrote:

Or maybe the fact that I was switching paradigms every thirty seconds just meant that I was playing it wrong.

Yeah, you were doing it wrong. Tense boss fights led to me switching paradigms every 4 or 5 seconds.

ahrezmendi wrote:

How do you do this? I'm about to go back to playing, and I would really like to know. Tell me!!!!!

I know the datalogs in the FFXIII-2 demo mention a way to do this as well. I can't remember what it said off the top of my head, but it should be possible in the XIII-2 as well.

ahrezmendi wrote:

How do you do this? I'm about to go back to playing, and I would really like to know. Tell me!!!!!

I think it's left on the d-pad. I'm not sure, though. It's been a while.