Played just under 3 hours of it and it's alright so far.
Story in a nutshell thanks to Wikipedia, as I sure as hell can't do a better job!
The plot of Final Fantasy XIII takes place in a world known as Pulse and revolves around the story of the fal'Cie, mechanical beings with godlike power created by a being called the Marker. Each fal'Cie has crystals residing inside them.[13] People who are marked by the fal'Cie are called l'Cie. Each l'Cie has a Focus, a goal the fal'Cie wants him or her to fulfill within a certain amount of time; however, the fal'Cie do not explicitly say what the goal is: l'Cie learn what their Focus is by interpreting visions that are given to them. L'Cie gain the ability to summon Eidolons (monsters who fight with the l'Cie), but this ability comes with a price: if a l'Cie dies before completing his or her Focus, fails to tame his or her Eidolon, or fails to complete his or her Focus within a set period of time, he or she becomes a monster known as a Cie'th. If a l'Cie does complete his or her Focus, the reward is not much better: permanent transformation into a crystal. For this reason, being chosen as a l'Cie is seen as a curse.
YEAH...
Main thing that they have seemed to have done is streamlined everything and made things less complicated. Battle system slowly is opened up to you in baby steps, and from the 3 hours or so I've played it, I can see the possible scope for it having a whole host of options and further strategies opening up.
Best thing about the battle system is just how fast everything is. Loading in and out of battle and the actual combat itself. Casting potions doesn't use up a turn or slot so you are free to do that and go instantly back into attack. Loads of other little things which save time and frustration such as just one potion healing everyone in the party automatically
It's turn based and you directly control the commands of one character. The other characters in your party assist you and their assistance type can be altered manually during battle with the press of L1. This ability has only just opened up for me and I am only able to select from one or two at the moment. Although the tutorial states more can be learnt. You can have all out Attackers, 1 attacker and 2 members that can aid you in battle with insta-potions and provide magic attacks. Once you feel that you don't need that particular strategy any more, switch it.
It's proven to be very helpful more then anything. Unlike the other FF games I've played, the pace of the battles is quite frantic. You don't have to wait your turn to attack, you just have to wait for a bar to recharge enabling you to stack a number of attacks.
Earlier on with the main character Lightening, I had two slots. Attack =1 and Blitz = 2. You can either do 2 "Attacks" or one "Blitz". I've just got her up to 4 slots now, so I believe you can mix and match the type of attack depending on the amount of available slots you have. I never got the chance to experiment with it as I've just been mashing through it with X, but on the odd occasion I did find some nice battle quirks that I myself have not encountered before, although I am a very casual JRPG player.
While you and your party can't freely move, the enemies on the battle screen move in, away and criss cross each other while they are waiting or attacking. I have timed certain attacks to be directly aimed at one of the enemies at the back of a group. This allows you to inflict collateral damage to any enemy in the way of an attack such as a grenade blast or a long ranged weapon attack. Had some fun with that.
The other is being able to interrupt enemy attacks. Also on some instances of me knocking out an enemy on the far side of the battle field. Enemies that are nearer to your party seem almost distracted. This allows you to attack them from behind while they are focused on your party members. Party members getting killed is not a big deal, you just have to make sure your leader doesn't bite the dust.
I've been killed once during my 3 hour stint and I instantly thought "NRRGGGH, I didn't save!" Thankfully a handy retry option came up and allowed me to carry on from the same boss battle. Yay.
Plenty of handy pre battle and during battle mechanics. "Stagger" which allows you to deal further damage to an enemy that has had a heavy onslaught of attacks. A bar in the top right fills up depending on the amount of damage it has had inflicted on it. More attacks in a shorter time span fills it up faster. Once it is full\breaks, that particular enemy is more prone to further damage. Handy against groups of enemies with a leader in or against bosses with multiple attackable parts.
You also have the ability to use a "shroud", which is basically a potion that allows you further in and out of battle abilities. They are short lived or have a 1 battle life expectancy. At the moment I've only had access to a shroud that gives you more or less invisibility during the over world. This allows you to sneak past or do a pre-emptive strike on enemies giving you a free hit on each target. The other one I have is a simple stat boost shroud.
Too knackered to play anymore of it...done a 12 hour shift and managed to get through 3 hours of this. Not bad going really!
Initially I was thinking that there is no point in fighting enemies, as you don't level up, so I ran past a few "Ghouls". Game just opened up further as I got into the plot and it has provided me with new battle points system. Wasn't able to boosts anyone abilities prior to this, but so far it looks like simpler version of FFX sphere grid. You use the points you gain in battle to increase the battle, defensive and magic abilities of members in your party.
Hmmm, wonder if it will allow me to pick my party leader later on? Or allow me to attack different enemies in one turn with the attack stacking system. Anyone know?
Character List of Hits and Shits
Sazh (how are you meant to pronounce this?! No one in the game has yet! :lol) is awesome.
Was that bit where he tried to drop down off the bridge, he clambered down trying to limit the distance he fell (Jim Cornette style Wrasslin folks!) but ended up getting bopped by his mini flying Chocobo. Made me howl that did.
HOPE IS A STUPID NANCY SORA WANNABE NOB SPLASH.
Everyone else is fine so far...Snow...you soft shite! It's a good job you look cool and have stubble and a parrapa the rapper hat. 
I've never played a proper Final Fantasy game. The whole thing just confuses me and that synopsis doesn't make me want to start here. I should probably man up and play VII, but it pisses me right off that the series is basically a battle system overlayed on top of a bunch of disconnected and inconsistent stories/settings.
Having said all that I quite enjoyed FF Tactics Advance before the retarded card system and a momentary lapse of concentration resulted in the permanent death of half of my decent characters
. I'll probably give that another play through on my G1 using the Gameboid emulator.
Intriguing overview singh0
I've played through 7 and 8, had a crack at 4, 5 and 6, but haven't touched them since... I think I played the FFX demo that came with one of the PS1 remakes, and was really turned off by the CGI-heavy narrative.
My patience snaps at the 5 - 10 hour mark and I can't continue. I blame PSO making me all too aware of the simplistic award scheme these games tend to use to spread themselves more thinly:
http://www.cracked.com/article_18461_5-creepy-ways-video-games-are-trying-to-get-you-addicted_p1.html
I guess that means the story by itself is never enough to carry it for me. I have a similar aversion to Mass Effect.
I do want to play this but the American dub really gets on my tits. I'll either play through the Japanese version or wait in hope of one with a vocal/sub select. I loved FFVII so much, I proper lived in that game for years, Tactics was brilliant too. I played the Japanese version of FFXII to death, the story did nothing for me but the world itself and the Mob Hunts kept me hooked for ages, I loved the battle system in that and I know I'll lose the plot over this new one.
Sazh (how are you meant to pronounce this?! No one in the game has yet! :lol) is awesome.
It's pronounced "Saz" - at least in the original, no doubt there's a fucked up American take on the pronunciation of character names.
I played the Japanese version of FFXII to death, the story did nothing for me but the world itself and the Mob Hunts kept me hooked for ages, I loved the battle system in that and I know I'll lose the plot over this new one.
Totally, FFXII has the best battle system in any RPG I've ever played (not counting SRPG's). One thing I don't understand why the developers choose Vann to be the "main" character (well, the player you control most of the time) when characters like Balthier and Ashe are far more interesting. I do understand that way he was used in the story was more like an observer but going by his character design and personality, it seemed he only existed to cater for certain demographics.
Can't say much about FFXIII, but judging by the way people are buying the limited editions for both consoles, this could do some crazy numbers on consumer greed alone.
Definetly - Vann was a total non-issue, both Balthier and Ashe had so much more depth and backstory than Vann did. I would have loved to have a character from each race in the main party too (more than just Fran). I love the Ivalice world, the races and locations were amazing - those Mob Hunts and masses of other goodies to find totally took over my life!
I love the Ivalice world, the races and locations were amazing - those Mob Hunts and masses of other goodies to find totally took over my life!
I retract my earlier comment on consistency then as FF Tactics Advanced is also based in Ivalice.
Right you've convinced me I need to play one of these games, perhaps I should start with XII if it's based in Ivalice at least I can mentally link it with Tactics Advance, but the VII is supposed to be the daddy...
Play VII -
Then watch Advent Children. You can thank me later.
Okay's. Presumably I can dl this from the PS Store and stick it on my PSP. There's no way I'm going to get the time to play it on the big screen especially as Bayonetta is still sucking my sleep (2am last night - 38 hours total play time).
I think you can, I need to get hold of it myself too. Not sure if PAL/NTSC is still an issue, but the PAL version of FFVII is SO damn slow! If you can, get it from the US PS Store just in case. I remember watching a friend fight one of the "Weapons" (a special boss fight) where you repeatedly use Summons to deal damages, these sequences went on for years in the PAL version.
I still have a US version on disc, no way to play it though ¬_¬ - gagging to play Xenogears again too, that was another one which totally blew my mind. It starts off so low-key and you have no idea where they are going with it, then it kicks off and you can kiss your social life goodbye.
PAL is still an issue for PS1 downloads on PSN, people went for the Asian International version from the JPN/HK shop I think when it was released.
I couldn't get through VII...I only managed to play it after FFX sometime in 2004/5 or something. I fucking loved Advent Children. Some great choreographed fight scenes in that.
I've never played a proper Final Fantasy game. The whole thing just confuses me and that synopsis doesn't make me want to start here. I should probably man up and play VII, but it pisses me right off that the series is basically a battle system overlayed on top of a bunch of disconnected and inconsistent stories/settings.
This is a lot friendly then the majority of other Square\Enix RPGs I've played. You can't go wrong jumping in with this one first. Things open up to you the longer you play so you are not swamped with various battle mechanics. It tells you just enough and locks other stuff out untill you've got some knowledge and grasp of the system. Just learnt that you cancel attacks in your stock by pressing Triangle, which then allows you to save that stock for the next chain of attacks. I'm sure that will become more useful when there are more dangerous enemies about.
They had this decent boss battle against the first Metal Gear Rex thing that turns up at the start of the game. Didn't allow you to mash X all the way through, it forced you to shift into your defensive line up when it unleashes it's big move.
I do want to play this but the American dub really gets on my tits. I'll either play through the Japanese version or wait in hope of one with a vocal/sub select. I loved FFVII so much, I proper lived in that game for years, Tactics was brilliant too. I played the Japanese version of FFXII to death, the story did nothing for me but the world itself and the Mob Hunts kept me hooked for ages, I loved the battle system in that and I know I'll lose the plot over this new one.
The english dub is quite good tbh. There is the odd thing that doesn't sound as cool or translate as well as it probably sounds to us in Japanese but it's a minor issue. Like in FFX when Yuna and Tidus were having their laughing contest.
Snow and his gang refering to each other as "heroes" and striking a pose for example. I've only seen it a few times but I hope he stops doing that.
There was also this bit a random woman joins in the rebels fight. Mother of one of the children in your party and she says...
"Moms are tough too"
All I thought was...WHORE! Shit sounded dumb, but as I said. It's the odd thing. Really impressed with how the english voices match the characters.
It's pronounced "Saz" - at least in the original, no doubt there's a fucked up American take on the pronunciation of character names.
Nah they done pronounced it like you did! ;D
Anyway, a further 2 hours and a hell of a lot X mashing later, I'm done for tonight.
The CGI and story has kept me just about entertained enough. There was the odd occasion that I had to think in the battle and switch my groups "Paradigms" to get health. Which is a lot easier to do in the midst of battle then waiting for the menu to pop up and throw a potion.
Got some new moves which kept me busy and I've almost maxed out the initial Crystalariumumumum grid for new abilities across my group. Plenty more roles to come, just opened a few new ones about half an hour ago for Sazh and Vanille.
Waiting to see some green fields or something. Been traipsing around industrial space areas, a very bright blue and white crystal lake and some temple.
Just seen some odd Star Wars Episode 1 Starfighter shananigans CGI movie with everyone "Wooing and wowing" as Sazh some how gets throw multiple hoards of enemy craft. For a minute I thought someone was gonna shout
"Now this is pod racing!"
...
Not bored of it yet, just a bit indifferent...or maybe I'm just getting to old for this shit. [/sazh][/Danny Glover]
Title screen Piano music is good...not as good as Final Fantasy X's one though.
[spoiler]YUNAAAAAA!!!!![/spoiler]
To Zanarkand is so lush. Search YouTube for this girl who's playing it on violin, she's amazing!
I caved in and traded a bunch of CEX vouchers for the UK version. The voice acting is just about bearable apart from Vanille, WTF is this bitch on? Whenever that stupid little shit opens her gob it ruins everything, Sazh is pure awesome (and NOTHING like Danny FUCKING Glover! Don't even go there, he's blatantly Mike Epps), Lightning and Snow are OK but Vanille manages to destroy every scene she contaminates. I HATE HER!!!!!
Haven't unlocked much of the system yet, it's a bit strange the way they've structured this. Like everyone mentions, it's just one long corridor which drip-feeds you the battle system a little at a time. You can't grind for levels nor stray off the path and explore any of the areas yet, but once you can I can see this being really engaging. I just can't wait to see if there's an equivalant to the FFXII Mob Hunts, then I can just enjoy the system without having to endure the hellish torture known as Vanille.
20 hours in and I still can't do anything...
It's such bollocks that you can't level up. You can upgrade weapons, but there's no way for you to farm the components or money needed to do so yet (or at all, I don't know). For 20 hours I've been going in a straight line and whenever I get to an enemy which is tricky I can't beef up my party to deal with it. You're just stuck there until you find out the one meth needed to win, you can sit there and retry the battle over and over. This isn't an RPG, I don't know what the fuck they're trying to do with this, but it doesn't work - it's not even remotely fun. The story does nothing for me either, Vanille is such a fucking crackhead bitch I switch my mind off whenever the dialogue kicks in.
Right, fuck this - I'm offloading this garbage tomorrow.
Like the cake, this "game" is nothing but a lie. If this is what Final Fantasy is going to be from now on then I'm not interested.
Was hoping this would be my first FF game, but sounds like I should avoid.
At GDC, Final Fantasy XIII producer Yoshinori Kitase mentioned that he is interested in producing Final Fantasy XIII-2, a direct sequel to refine what the team has already built. However, this depends on how well the game performs in the west. He also expressed that the team is very excited to see how gamers respond, they have modelled every object with extensive detail, so you would believe these things are real and existed somewhere.
- Final Fantasy XIII director Motomu Toriyama mentioned that the series will continue to change for each product, but ultimately it will remain a magnificent global story centred on human drama. That the central concept of the series and will apply to every Final Fantasy story. Toriyama also mentioned that he is interested to add interactive cutscenes in future FF games.
Fuck off.
This thing is the biggest load of shit I have had the misfortune of playing in a long time. The "story" they bang on about has all the emotional content of a Saturday morning cartoon, they've already stripped out all the RPG elements leaving the whole thing little more than an "interactive cutscene anyway - and they want to push this concept further?
Not suprised they want to make a direct sequel because it seems like they spent most of their time and money just making the game beautuful and now they need to re-used the assets for it to have been financially worth it.
they've already stripped out all the RPG elements leaving the whole thing little more than an "interactive cutscene anyway - and they want to push this concept further?
Where kind of already seeing this with not just FFXIII but with games like Heavy Rain and it just seems to be moving in line with the obsession that "hardcore", "core" gamers (or what every they call themselves) have with graphics and narrative. You just need to read some of the comments why one of the reasons people prefer God of War 3 over Bayonetta and it has to do with the "story".
I mean really, Bayonetta actually pushes the action genre forward by offering some of the most advanced mechanics seem in a action game, and yet people only talk about the narrative. Also how people can prefer a character like Kratos, the equivalent of a bald space marine in a Greek mythological setting over Bayonetta, blows my mind.
Some people smoke cigarettes while others smoke crack...
Where kind of already seeing this with not just FFXIII but with games like Heavy Rain and it just seems to be moving in line with the obsession that "hardcore", "core" gamers (or what every they call themselves) have with graphics and narrative. You just need to read some of the comments why one of the reasons people prefer God of War 3 over Bayonetta and it has to do with the "story".
I mean really, Bayonetta actually pushes the action genre forward by offering some of the most advanced mechanics seem in a action game, and yet people only talk about the narrative. Also how people can prefer a character like Kratos, the equivalent of a bald space marine in a Greek mythological setting over Bayonetta, blows my mind.
THIS really does amaze me and is the reason I don't have anything to do with shitholes like NTSC-UK etc. They're brainless fuckwits the whole lot of them. It's going to be many years (if/until) other devs catch up with the system in Bayonetta, the game pushes the 3D action game concept in directions nobody else has even considered. But the stupid cunts out there refuse to see it, they actually directly compare it with stuff like God of War - it's like comparing 3rd Strike to Mortal Kombat. Seriously, how fucking stupid are these twats? They have no knowledge, no skill and no appreciation of gaming whatsoever - yet they're the loudest voice.
Confession time.
I did read some of the Bayo thread on ntsc-uk and there were a reasonable number of people in there who were singing the games praises even "game of this generation" type stuff. I think the problem is that all too often this is a minority voice because the forums in there are swamped by the sort of idiots that you're referring to Saur. Here, well there's just a few of us and whilst we all have our different tastes I think we all have sufficient smarts to appreciate games to a high degree, whether we like the release in question or not.
Please no links to the Stranglehold thread
making me look stupid. I still enjoyed that game despite its many many flaws.
I think the vast majority of people there are a complete waste of time. I spent ages on there trying to keep a positive attitude and countering their garbage with posts about play mechanics, but what's the point? It's exactly the same story whenever I work on a guide too, every single game which is truly remarkable fails. We could have skipped Bayonetta and produced something for God of War III instead, it would have been a real struggle to pad the system related stuff out to make it look substantial but even so, despite being shallow it would have done so much better.
I played Bayonetta solid for 6 months, never once did it cease to amaze. Even after text was submitted a huge number of changes had to be made because we were still constantly finding more and more amazing little bits and pieces. How these dicks can't appreciate something so special is utterly baffling. It was the same with Viewtiful Joe, there were only 2 other people I've ever spoken to who understood how to play the game - Spags and the guy who hired me to write these things! XD - and don't get me started on God Hand...
I never understood how to play God Hand...
That's because you're not manly enough. (and I bet you STILL haven't read Jojo)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_L47b_1yrc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zafcC85MJag
lol, looks like people are having fun in this thread! ^_^
How on earth can you pile in 20 hours into it in 2 days, MACHINE! I am only through it about 12 hours and can't muster it for more then 3 hours a day on it so far.
SAUR: I was down your ends on Saturday at SHMUP HILL. xD Had to do a fly by down to one of my random mates. Also...Harrow. GHETTO. Went restaurant, drinks dropped on us, HAIR IN FOOD. £73. Fuck off London! Didn't pay.
URGH, too much to reply to but...
Not really enjoying it at the moment but not really hating it either. I find some of the things they've done to remove some of the tedium that previous RPGs had is a nice welcome tbh, although some things that have changed may remove other aspects that people enjoyed.
*Grinding...not really a fan of it tbh, went through too many RPGs in the SNES days and then the odd one on PS1. Just feels like I am wasting my life sitting near a save spot, loaded on potions hoping I survive a battle then going back to save. I like being able to see the enemies on the map, and being able to prepare for them or just, run away. At least in this it seems like the enemies gradually get tougher at a similar rate as you.
I remember quitting FFX for 2 years as I found that beating Sin comfortably required a LVL90 character. I was already LVL60 with 70 or so hours on the clock. Bullshit. Went back and finished him off with LVL65 characters after many, many deaths.
*But then, it limits you to the l00t. I have found that enemies respawn if you go back in the map, but, its not the same. Enemy variety only exists to what is on that actual area. That shitty wood with Lightning and Hopeless. Dogs, soldier manz, Turkeys and Green gorilla.
Battle System: For now 12 hours in, I'm still enjoying it. Lots of handy shortcuts, lots of things which remove tedium. Such as the replenishing health bar after each battle. You know you would just stock up on hundreds of health or blast through MP in the old days. Glad it's gone. The amount of times in FFX and things you would just sit there after a battle to try and recover your entire party from near death to make sure they last the next one.
Automaticness: Just the same as whacking X in the old days. I don't know what RPGs people have been playing here with depth, but from my experience. Hitting X with grinding can get you through most RPGs. DQVIII, FFX, FFX2, Blue Dragon (got bored of BD quickly though). Theres always a method in destroying a certain enemy quicker with certain spells and attacks, but thats just exploiting weaknesses. Once you know them, easy.
Although...the Quick Retry removes the FEAR. The fear of dieing nowhere near a save point. Don't know if it's my old age, but I think the last couple of RPGs i've played, the killer has been that one or two deaths. Where you spent an hour or two battling across a massive land, only to get merked by a rabbit with holding a banjo or something. Oh God the feeling of rage that brings.
But then I think, I might as well just watch the game on Youtube and fastforward it to the cutscenes. I felt like that about DQVIII and FFX. Liked the story, hated the actual game part as I don't think hitting X and choosing some options from a menu is that fun. The depth that comes from those battle systems were also so so anyway too.
Atleast in FFXIII I feel like I am constantly doing something because of the nature of the fast paced battles. Even though it is shortcut based menu selecting with the Paradigm system.
At the minute, I'm kinda thinking I should've got Yakuza 3. I'll plough some more hours into this and I'll see if I can hate on it totally. I think boredom might get to me.
Oh and the other thing that I think this game is missing...as of 12 hours in, is any sense of urgency or panic. It's just this little crew of people that have some how ended up together and are now working towards saving themselves. With FFX for example, you knew you had to save the world from a great big fuck off flying whale. FFXIII so far is a bit too much background politics and ethnic cleansing.
Character Tier List of hate
1.HOPELESS: FUCK OFF.
2.Vanille: I live in hope that Sazh will put her in a camel clutch, break her back and MAKE HER HUMBLE.
3.Snow: ...*sigh* Not representing.
Just got to some area with Sazh and Vanille. Green forest, rolling hills and a nice sky. It's the best looking part of the game so far.
Oh and replacing shops and towns with that save station hub is dumb. Atleast with the odd shop or merchant they could bring some type of random funny character into the mix.
All I feel like I'm doing on this at the moment is going down a 1080p corridor and vanquishing enemies by flipping Paradigms, triggering cutscenes, prance to next area or enemy. Pretty much like the majority of all turn based rpgs i've played.
I wished they brought that other RPG out, can't remember it's name. Actual command moves in battle! Think it was the same dudes that made Namco X Capcom game with the ace 2D sprites. I'll find a vid...
lol...uncanny!
I'm getting too old for this shit...[/glover]
You see I could proper derail this thread as I do with pretty much every RPG thread, by mentioning 1 game... The only RPG I've ever finished, a game with a dynamic battle system a consistent universe, brilliant characters and story and a system that allows for an anlogue and switchable strategy on the fly. A game that is unique in so many regards. It's my yardstick against which all other RPG's are judged even though it's well over a decade old.
Just thinking about it is giving me goosebumps
Arc the Lad?
arf.
I did actually play through and finish Saga recently. Hell of a game.
I'm glad you did. It does start slowly, which can be a little difficult at first, but I think in part that is deliberate to convey a sense of isolation and cement the bond between Edge and the Dragon. You need to go and play through Zwei again certainly and probably the first game to see how it all fits together. There's something neato about coexisting save games too that unlocks stuff in Zwei and Saga iirc.
I never did get the Light Wing
Go on then Mad, link me somewhere that sells this amazing game please.
I'm glad you did. It does start slowly, which can be a little difficult at first, but I think in part that is deliberate to convey a sense of isolation and cement the bond between Edge and the Dragon. You need to go and play through Zwei again certainly and probably the first game to see how it all fits together. There's something neato about coexisting save games too that unlocks stuff in Zwei and Saga iirc.
I never did get the Light Wing
I did. I got the Dragon's true form too, I love that game so much T_T
It's so depressing that with today's technology and massively overblown budgets, nobody can get anywhere near how amazing stuff like this is. The battle system was a million times better than the utter shit of FFXIII, the characters felt real and you were given a huge amazing world to explore right from the start.
Sega Europe not having the budget to dub the hell out of it was a nothing but a blessing. It's still 'dubtitled' though, Azel does NOT say "I love you" (she says "I understand"), that's a pretty major change of dialogue for no reason at all.
Go on then Mad, link me somewhere that sells this amazing game please.
Oh allright then.
http://shop.ebay.co.uk/i.html?LH_Auction=1&_nkw=panzer+dragoon+saga&_dmpt=UK_PC_Video_Games_Video_Games_JS&_trksid=p3286.c0.m301
I couldn't bring myself to list the buy it now options (there are many) as the price is completely over the top.
Singho if you're serious about playing it then I'm happy to lend you my copy. Do you have a Saturn?
I knew'd there be a catch.
No. ;/
http://listings.ebay.co.uk/aw/plistings/category3665/index.html?from=R11
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SEGA-SATURN-32-BIT-CONSOLE-BOXED_W0QQitemZ150422866499
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SEGA-SATURN-CONSOLE-17-GAMES_W0QQitemZ140390022648
Well if you pick one up the offer is open. PAL Console is probably around the £25 mark and is fairly easy to mod to play all regions at 50 and 60Hz through RGB.
Seriously if you've never owned a Saturn it's definately a console worth investing in as there are some real stonkers on there. It's a bit of a shame it never really competed effectively against the PS in Europe, but what it lacks in bredth of catalogue it more than makes up for in quality. It's probably my second favourite console after the Dreamcast and the first home console I purchased. Build wise they're virtually indestructible too
Sold it, mans killed it for me.
14 hours in, asked my mate about how different it gets.
"It opens up 30 hours in!"
That killed it for me. I asked further and apparently by opening up, bigger and larger corridors to run through. Then they introduce a wall of Grinding as the enemies get tougher. I'll wait till it's cheaper and then go through it, can't be dashing 35 notes out on stuff I don't want to play.
Story didn't grip me either, atleast FFX I wanted to know what happened.
Despite all that, I do like the combat system. It gets rid of a lot of tedium in places and I like the pace of the battles. Team members auto selecting best attacks, energy topping up after each battle, instant strategy changes and quick load times. Although as I said earlier, the threat and hardly any penalty for dieing, kinda makes you feel you can just watch a run through on youtube.
Thanks for the offer Madbury, but I can't justify getting another console. I'll just end up buying tons of stuff on that too that goes unplayed.
Don't sweat it man.
I've still not bitten the bullet with FFVII.
I'm going to start this tonight.
I know it'll be shit.
I just want something to flame, and Blue Dragon doesn't have as many fans that I can offend.
This game is REALLY going to do your head in man...
Blue Dragon wasn't too bad, far from a classic but it's not even remotely as much of a disaster as this. It least there was a sense of adventure and wonder at what was going to happen and how your characters would evolve. The anime series I thought was great, really love how the shadows are actual characters rather than just the silent servants the game had them as.
Not once did I feel that Final Fantasy XIII was engaging me as a player. I have no problem repeating tasks as long as there is a clear reward, I think of it as the equivalent of going to work - what you put in you get out. Like I played Disgaea for over 1000 hours, I used to spend whole evenings levelling to around 1000-odd and Transmigrating the character. My party was absolutely insane!
This Final Fantasy does away with any sort of reward for the player. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I'm serious that it's auto-pilot broken up by cutscenes. I had no interest in the story, had no locations to explore, and had barely any control over the battles - even when you attain summons it just lays on yet another auto-pilot!
Also have to re-state the fact that Vanille is a fucking disease.
You don't realise how much I DIDN'T want to start this game after the opening cinema, terrible stuff.
5hrs in. Yeah, most of it's crap, although the environment and music are enough to keep me plodding along whilst I'm baked for the time being. I'm also semi-interested to see if the Monk defrosts his Mrs.
The rest is throwaway. Spam 'A' to win so far, spam the crystal shit because they all end up maxxed anyway (why have it there?), spam 'up' on the stick because why bother running all the way down there to retrieve that chest when it's only going to give me something I've already got equipped, ignore the save points because it lets you retry when spamming 'A' fails anyway and because the shops are bare.
I can see some scope here if all this opens up eventually, which I hear is towards the end of the game. Let's just hope the few things I like are enough to keep me occupied until then. I gave up on FFVII around three times because Midgar bored me, it wasn't until after the bike chase that I realised the greatness.
At least the cut scenes give me time to make a bifta.
I feel like I'm playing a game for girls. The drama is really bad, how grown men can endure it and claim to be fans is beyond me. Grow some balls ffs.
spam the crystal shit because they all end up maxxed anyway (why have it there?)
This. What's the point? It's a completely linear set of upgrades. You can't adjust how the character develops, they all gain points whether they are active in the team or not and you can't control your support characters directly anyway.
Another thing which really rubbed me up the wrong way was "Libra". Cast Libra to discover the weakness of the enemy, and you party will automatically use the spells/attacks it's weakest against. Why can't *I* do it? Am I too thick to be trusted to analyse and attack enemy weaknesses myself? It's shocking how "My 1st Videogame" this thing is, I hate being treated like I'm thick!
12hrs in.
The weapon upgrade system has to be a joke... upgrade equipment by simply bonding it with the shit you pick up? Who thought of that?
At least I have to heal myself and throw the occasional buff in battle now, the thing is they've tried making it look all smart and clever with the class/job/paradigm shift when infact it's dumbed down even more. I look at my paradigm list and see all this technical stuff with explanations about each system and everything... :
Slash + Burn
Super Soldier
Yin + Yang
Duelcasting
When infact I actually read:
Attak!
buff meh!
heal meh!
magic!
...And that's as complex as it seemingly gets for near enough every party setup.
I don't mind about the missing level-up aspect, as it's still there really, it's just that they disguise it under all this crystal "Choose your path! (lol)" and weapons upgrade bullshit in order to make it look fresh, and over-simplify it in the process.
Did anyone notice the braindead response times on certain actions at times? One of your guys is almost fucked at 40% hp so you toss them 2/3 heals... the caster then pisses around rotating to face the victim, stops for a few secs, decides to kick in the casting animation but by that time it's too late and their mate is dead, all because the character model couldn't get its head around the concept of being commanded into a medic support role and being required to actually FOCUS on who they're supposed to be helping out as soon as you specify the paradigm shift. I've spent ages on some really easy battles because I've been wanting to tip the stagger meter (as to not let a fight last an unnecessary 15mins) and then fit a comfortable heal in, only for the CPU to fuck it at the last second and end up standing there like a lemon, so I have to raise with a Phoenix Down and then start the chain (of spamming A) all over again and pray that my characters can mash up to 100% again without any interupts.
The music has started to become repetative, extremely so. They keep bringing back the same shit themes... I'm starting to hate the characters now as well, each time the story switches to another group I find myself thinking "Oh no, not these two again!? :(", and then "oh no, this music again!? :s".
It could all be saved right now if they just all stopped pissing around being emo, kissed and made up, sorted their shit out, realised they are actually hard as fuck because they can summon these big invincible bastards out of thin air that they've blatantly been gifted with, and then waded straight in for the enemy. All this drama is totally uncalled for and it's just there for the sake of it, it was starting to wind me up last night - I've even fallen out with the whole crystalised Mrs. angle, I couldn't care less what happens now as long as I don't have to sit through YET ANOTHER fairground cutscene with fireworks and the shitty melody from that shitty song going on over and over and over and over......
I think I'm wasting my time, and more importantly my weed on this game. But there IS something that's making me carry on against my will, and I don't know what. I was close to snapping last night though.
You're having the exact same issues with the system I was having....
I'm curious to see how long you can endure this for. There's something making you carry on....for now. I had the same thing, then around 20-odd hours in I realised it wasn't there any more and I had no desire whatsoever to play the "game" again.
The battle system as you say is just one giant lie. There is nothing to it other than the stagger meter, you spam to increase the meter - which allows you to spam while dealing more damage. It's just auto-pilots layers onto auto-pilots but dressed up to make it look clever as you say, Paradigm is nothing more than Attack, Magic, Enhance or Heal and you're totally at the mercy of the fumbling nature of the character behaviour.
- and Vanille is herpes tainted AIDS personified.
20hrs in.
I've never felt this with a game before, at the end of each night I feel like I want to just quit however when I wake up the next day I can't wait to carry on. The story is on the up at the minute and the characters attitudes are maturing.
The 'battle system' is still poor and a total no-brainer. I start with a volley from one paradigm, switch to another for a few seconds, and then just spam the last one... switching back to the second once the stagger wears off. And that's the same for EVERY fight.
I'm hoping the actual story is over in 30hrs or so, with the remaining time being spent hunting these big monsters I hear people talk about, providing the system picks up. I feel like the classic formula is about to kick in any minute but I'm also worried that that's just another dangling carrot.
Sounds like an ideal candidate for a programmable controller - put it on auto-pilot until you reach the actual game.
How does this compare to FF12?
Well, I'm 25hrs in now and the actual game has begun, I'm just on with trying to figure out if it's been worth the slog. I'm going to push ahead without getting side-tracked too much.
Things are still piss easy, I've been 5*ing the D+C rank missions so far with the same old 3x paradigm switch.
Soz pal, I've not played FFXII.
Done and dusted. I'm not going back for the missions... too much spamming/backtracking and not enough reward, and I also can't stomach the thought of having to grind everyone's jobs up to full.
I wouldn't recommend anyone to play this game. >_<