The Quarterly JRPG Club - Q2 2016 - Final Fantasy X-2

Cmon guys, what happened to the April start :p.

I'll be starting close to or in April, myself. Not so much to be a rule-abider as it just kind of works for me.

I'd just like to be able to keep up with the discussion, haven't installed the game yet though.

I'll be starting April 1. I don't even own a copy yet. Well, not one I can play.

Kind of hoping to squeeze in a non game club game between now and then, will have to see how that goes :).

Mr GT Chris wrote:

Cmon guys, what happened to the April start :p.

Don't worry, I'm waiting until April too. Playing Fire Emblem Awakening from my backlog until then!

Started this up since it came in the mail. Oh my, the super important magical item is called...whatttttttt!?!?!?!

This game as designed is extremely difficult to get 100% completion in your first playthrough, and very easy in a New Game+. The difference it makes to the ending is pretty minor: like, it adds a few seconds to the end. If that is really important to you (unlikely unless you played FFX and were really emotionally moved by it), and you don't want to do a New Game+, you're going to want to use a FAQ and follow it very carefully.

I started early because I know DS3 is coming out and I'll inevitably end up falling behind

I started early because I am slow. Everyone will pass me by soon enough. It is the only way I will maybe get done on time. I don't really get this game yet, but I am only two missions in so that is kind of a meaningless observation.

I mostly started because I know I won't be able to play during the first two weeks of April, but after playing maybe an hour of it, I went back to Toukiden Kiwami this weekend instead, so I will probably be behind schedule for a little while when I resume playing in three weeks.

I just started Steins Gate. Not sure if I can knock it off before April but I'll do my best.

Encounter rates in this game are weird. They've been fine so far until I hit

Spoiler:

Mushroom Rock Road

and then they spiked, to where I'd finish a battle, take a step, and another would hit. The elementals can suck to fight - they can just take a minute or two. Then again I'm not really using skills much, just mashing X.

Wembley wrote:

I started early because I am slow. Everyone will pass me by soon enough.

This. Only 1 TV and so my time to monopolize it is limited, need to give my wife some time to use it too.

Huh. Got these when they released on PS3 as I had never played them. Still wrapped all nice and new. Guess I could crack them open and join the fun. Feel like I should play X first, so I'll probably end up way behind even if I start now.

beeporama wrote:

Speaking of the "original" game, a digression for some advice: the remasters contain some new (to us) content that include the "Fiend Arena." The "Fiend Arena" should probably be treated as content for a New Game+ for reasons of balance, time, and lack of narrative content. Much like the Dark Aeons in FFX, their inclusion is great for completionists who want to spend an extra 100 grinding hours on the games, but for most people I think they will detract from the experience rather than enhance it.

Wait, so this whole Creature Creator system is new content for the re-issue? Of just the creature tournament pieces. I kind of blue screened when the tutorials for the creature creator were going on, coming as it did so early in the game.

AFAIK unless you really want to keep playing, the creature creator thing isn't required in a lot of ways. I think, and I speak for myself here, that the only thing you need to do for a trophy is to max out one creature and see their fiend info / history / whatever. If that's your motive.

aspect wrote:
beeporama wrote:

Speaking of the "original" game, a digression for some advice: the remasters contain some new (to us) content that include the "Fiend Arena." The "Fiend Arena" should probably be treated as content for a New Game+ for reasons of balance, time, and lack of narrative content. Much like the Dark Aeons in FFX, their inclusion is great for completionists who want to spend an extra 100 grinding hours on the games, but for most people I think they will detract from the experience rather than enhance it.

Wait, so this whole Creature Creator system is new content for the re-issue? Of just the creature tournament pieces. I kind of blue screened when the tutorials for the creature creator were going on, coming as it did so early in the game.

All "new." None of that was in the original release. Japan got it back on the PS2 a year later as "Final Fantasy X-2 International + Last Mission" but we didn't get it until the remasters.

Oh cool, I'm never touching that then. =) Feed them my items indeed.

I did like the idea of assigning a dressphere to each monster though.

I'm in! Great timing for me, I never finished this. I played some of it around the time when XIII came out and it always struck me how the XIII battle system seemed like an evolution/streamlining of the dress sphere system.

In terms of extra content, I also think there's one extra class that wasn't in the original (fabulist or something?), I'm not sure if it has a big balance impact on the core game or not.

steinkrug wrote:

For what it's worth, Rikku bounces like she had 20 cups of coffee in FFX as well.

And when she's hasted.....

NormanTheIntern wrote:
steinkrug wrote:

For what it's worth, Rikku bounces like she had 20 cups of coffee in FFX as well.

And when she's hasted.....

Something stronger than coffee.

NormanTheIntern wrote:

In terms of extra content, I also think there's one extra class that wasn't in the original (fabulist or something?), I'm not sure if it has a big balance impact on the core game or not.

There are two, Festivalist and Psychic.

I played through a couple missions of the remaster. You get Festivalist really early, and it's pretty well balanced. I think it's a nice addition because it's unique for each party member and gives you access to some elemental attacks, encouraging a little more strategy.

Psychic you get for doing the fairly easy "Standard Cup" of the Fiend Arena. (I know I advised ignoring the Fiend Arena your first time through, but since I've already played through the game, I was eager to check out the new content.) If you work on getting it early it feels more powerful than your starting dresspheres, but I'm guessing it becomes more balanced as the game goes on. The time you spend getting it might also be spent powering up other dresspheres, though.

I may end up skipping or delaying my playthrough of FFX-2. Fire Emblem Awakening is taking longer than I expected, thanks to the combination of my OCD-ish tendencies (collect all the characters, level them all up to be on par with the existing army) and the large amount of side content that plays into that. I'm at just shy of 30 hours played so far in FE:A and only a little past the halfway point of the main storyline.

Then Dark Souls 3 drops next week, and I am a total junkie for that franchise.

And I'm still working on Divinity Original Sin on the PC when I have a solid hour or two chunk of time to dedicate to that.

That's more than enough to occupy my gaming time right now, unfortunately.

I started this super early and am only up to the point where I should be toward the end of this month. However, I haven't played in a couple weeks because other things have been occupying my gaming time. So, no new impressions to jump onto. How's everyone else doing?

I was excited to participate, but I am going to have to pass. I probably won't have my PS3 until mid-may.

Edit: If I do have access that quickly, I will jump in late. I can continue my recent play through which has already made it into Chapter 3.

Okay I've started this a few times over the years and never realized you're basically supposed to go visit the non-hotspots - following the critical path generally leaves you under leveled and makes the start way harder than it needs to be. Random thoughts:

1) Blue magic remains cool

2) "You scored x" when you open a chest is the worst

Forgot this was happening. Gotta get caught up. Now I just have to find my copy of the game....

Steins Gate is taking longer than I expected!

NormanTheIntern wrote:

Okay I've started this a few times over the years and never realized you're basically supposed to go visit the non-hotspots - following the critical path generally leaves you under leveled and makes the start way harder than it needs to be.

Wait, what? I went to the first Hotspot as soon as it showed up. Well, one of the first two. Was that wrong? Am I shooting myself in the foot here?

You can just hit the hotspots, but I was getting my teeth kicked in by the second or third and couldn't figure out why - I visited and did some exploring around some of the lower-difficulty star destinations (some of these will also spawn missions with rewards) and now I'm off and running.