I was on a blackout for this game, wasn't until last month when I heard about the crystal edition...tried looking for it but they ran out of pre-orders everywhere. Now the only way to get it is to pay double the price which would be around 150 quids....I'm not paying that much. Atleast I was able to get a hold of the CE.
[PS3,360] Final Fantasy XIII-2
- Thread starter nightshade
- Start date
I started in on this over the weekend. Very much enjoying it so far. Although the levelling system is needlessly obtuse, in typically JRPG fashion. The two major problems:
1) The in-game interface really doesn't do a good job of explaining that there's only one "track" that you follow common to all roles. This is particularly confusing because it's visually similar to the old system, but looks completely different.
2) There's absolutely no reason for it not to tell you what the stat impact of choosing each role is going to be *before* you choose it. It just leads to always having to go look up "Wait, do I need SYN to be even or odd before I use this?" all the time.
The battle system is still great though, and I enjoy that they seem to routinely be willing to throw fights at you that you're not "supposed" to defeat, but that are clearly possible with the right setup (rare spawns that are much higher than the normal curve, Bohemoth fight in the dark area, etc).
I wish I had today off of work so that I could play more.
1) The in-game interface really doesn't do a good job of explaining that there's only one "track" that you follow common to all roles. This is particularly confusing because it's visually similar to the old system, but looks completely different.
2) There's absolutely no reason for it not to tell you what the stat impact of choosing each role is going to be *before* you choose it. It just leads to always having to go look up "Wait, do I need SYN to be even or odd before I use this?" all the time.
The battle system is still great though, and I enjoy that they seem to routinely be willing to throw fights at you that you're not "supposed" to defeat, but that are clearly possible with the right setup (rare spawns that are much higher than the normal curve, Bohemoth fight in the dark area, etc).
I wish I had today off of work so that I could play more.
Sigfried1977
Legend
Yeah, the workings of the Crystarium are a indeed needlessly obtuse (but then this sort of thing is a jrpg trademark. A genre which often leaves one with the impression like it wants to sell you both the game and the guide book), but ultimately it's pretty pointless to waste a lot of thought on it unless you want to min/max your characters. Not only does the game never reach a point of difficulty where that kinda stuff would ever really matter, it also gives you endless opportunities to fill that third character slot with a monster that outclasses both Noel and Serah in every conceivable way. My primary damage dealer is a Golden Chocobo I raised with nothing but power materials, no infusion, no nothing, and that chicken owns.
Sigfried1977
Legend
Combat system aside (which has been sped up some) it's a very different game. It's about as non-linear as it gets. I thought the story was actually pretty good too. It's about time travel, so it's most likely gonna come apart if you poke it a little too hard, but it actually does make perfectly good sense (a lot more than FFXIII's did) and is very entertaining if you decide to just go with it. It also sports a bunch of really powerful moments. The protagonists are pretty good too, Noel in particular, and Caius is one of the best villains the series ever has ever seen imo. I could actually emphasize with his plight, but I still absolutely intended to stop him. A bit like Sephiroth then. Sephiroth with a much better script and impeccable voice acting that is. (it's the same actor who lent his voice to Nier's charismatic book buddy Grimoire Weiss)
There's no real equivalent to the Grand Pulse in FFXIII-2, but you do spend most of your time on that very planet (Cocoon is kinda messed up after all). The Steppe is still there (with 4 different weather conditions you get to control yourself), but it's been shrunken down a lot.
There's no real equivalent to the Grand Pulse in FFXIII-2, but you do spend most of your time on that very planet (Cocoon is kinda messed up after all). The Steppe is still there (with 4 different weather conditions you get to control yourself), but it's been shrunken down a lot.
I also think the mechanic that allows you to reset stages and do certain things again in "hard mode" was a really great idea. It's like NG+, but doesn't require you to replay the entire game to get to the bits you care about.
I know that this isn't the first time that this has been done (it's not entirely disimilar to say the system in the Otogi games back on XBox, and I'm sure there are older examples still), but it's blended very nicely with the flavor of the game and I think it's cool that they give you interesting stuff to do for going back.
I know that this isn't the first time that this has been done (it's not entirely disimilar to say the system in the Otogi games back on XBox, and I'm sure there are older examples still), but it's blended very nicely with the flavor of the game and I think it's cool that they give you interesting stuff to do for going back.
Sigfried1977
Legend
FFXIII just had a more steady framerate because there usually wasn't an awful lot of things going on. FFXIII also had more clean looking pre-rendered cut-scenes where XIII-2 uses real time ones. Otherwise the two games look more or less identical imo.
XIII-2 also isn't quite as front loaded with the stunning vistas as XIII was (crystallized lake Bresha is probably my favorite environment in FFXIII). The game reserves its most impressive environments such as Academia for much later.
It does come across as slightly less polished, though.
XIII-2 also isn't quite as front loaded with the stunning vistas as XIII was (crystallized lake Bresha is probably my favorite environment in FFXIII). The game reserves its most impressive environments such as Academia for much later.
It does come across as slightly less polished, though.
Yes, I think the images look more "rough" this time round, perhaps due in part to the real-time cutscene.
The cutscene where the crew returned to
fight in their homeland
Final Fantasy XIII-2′s Jihl Nabaat DLC Is Out In English Next Week, See It Inside
http://www.siliconera.com/2012/03/0...lc-is-out-in-english-next-week-see-it-inside/
http://www.siliconera.com/2012/03/0...lc-is-out-in-english-next-week-see-it-inside/
Just beat the first boss, and opened up more portals. If you got burnt by FFXIII, you might want to take another look at FFXIII-2. This should have been The FFXIII game. 
Loved the monster comrade in the new combat system. The time travel opens up the game without boring traveling, although they should make the time travel effect even shorter ^_^. I play 30 minutes every day. It should last me for a while.
Loved the monster comrade in the new combat system. The time travel opens up the game without boring traveling, although they should make the time travel effect even shorter ^_^. I play 30 minutes every day. It should last me for a while.
No one on B3D playing this game now ?
I was skeptical at first but it looks like ban25's comment is accurate. They have beefed up the gameplay by a fair margin. All the cutscenes can be skipped. Basically I jump through a network of time portals to unravel the mysteries in the FF world. The portals are not too far from each other, so I don't have to travel too much. Yet there are enough portals to make time travel interesting (You can visit the worlds in different order).
Even within the worlds, I can find teleporters and swings to shorten walking. I also find in-game mechanics to regenerate different kinds of monsters in the wild.
I was skeptical at first but it looks like ban25's comment is accurate. They have beefed up the gameplay by a fair margin. All the cutscenes can be skipped. Basically I jump through a network of time portals to unravel the mysteries in the FF world. The portals are not too far from each other, so I don't have to travel too much. Yet there are enough portals to make time travel interesting (You can visit the worlds in different order).
Even within the worlds, I can find teleporters and swings to shorten walking. I also find in-game mechanics to regenerate different kinds of monsters in the wild.
I finished the main story a while back and did all of the optional bosses except whatever the dude is that you apparently fight on the Archylite Steppe at the end (couldn't figure out how to get him to show) and the DLC ones.
It was quite cool. And I really enjoyed the fact that you could pretty reasonably max out your party without having to do a lot of grinding (well, unless you want to max out your monsters with lvl5 materials, which seems like i'd require a lot of grinding, but also isn't necessary).
It's also kinda cool to go and do some of the paradox endings. I'm probably going to go back and pick up a few of the ones that I didn't do yet sometime.
My only complaint with the game relative to XIII is that there really aren't any particularly tricky fights in the entire game. There are almost no places in the game where not switching to SEN/SEN/SEN will result in an instant party wipe, and very little in the way of "do this, then apply these buffs, avoid damage by using this ability here" style things that also showed up a fair amount in XIII.
Or more simply... better combat system... but less interesting combat to do with it.
I would also kill for the strategy (Cross vs Spread) to be a combat-time setting, and not part of the paradigm. You want cross almost all of the time, but once in a while it's actually terrible and there's nothing you can do about it if you have the wrong configuration.
It was quite cool. And I really enjoyed the fact that you could pretty reasonably max out your party without having to do a lot of grinding (well, unless you want to max out your monsters with lvl5 materials, which seems like i'd require a lot of grinding, but also isn't necessary).
It's also kinda cool to go and do some of the paradox endings. I'm probably going to go back and pick up a few of the ones that I didn't do yet sometime.
My only complaint with the game relative to XIII is that there really aren't any particularly tricky fights in the entire game. There are almost no places in the game where not switching to SEN/SEN/SEN will result in an instant party wipe, and very little in the way of "do this, then apply these buffs, avoid damage by using this ability here" style things that also showed up a fair amount in XIII.
Or more simply... better combat system... but less interesting combat to do with it.
I would also kill for the strategy (Cross vs Spread) to be a combat-time setting, and not part of the paradigm. You want cross almost all of the time, but once in a while it's actually terrible and there's nothing you can do about it if you have the wrong configuration.
I'm stuck !
doesn't want to open its doors for me. >8^/
I *think* I have completed all but one paradox in the earlier levels. What else do I need to do to proceed ?
Now what ?
Serendipity
I *think* I have completed all but one paradox in the earlier levels. What else do I need to do to proceed ?
The only paradox/time portal I have not resolved yet is to kill the dragon tortoise in the hunters' world.
I have opened all the portals in the Ruins (3 portals into 3 different times), Sunleth forest (3 portals), Hope's world (1 or 2 portals). I visited The Void Beyond once and then it's locked again. Also went to the Colisseum but nothing there so far except for the artefact. Finally, Oeba is still broken.
I have opened all the portals in the Ruins (3 portals into 3 different times), Sunleth forest (3 portals), Hope's world (1 or 2 portals). I visited The Void Beyond once and then it's locked again. Also went to the Colisseum but nothing there so far except for the artefact. Finally, Oeba is still broken.
Now what ?
Where are you at in the story? Which chapter?
You probably just need to open a gate to progress to the next area, likely with a wild artifact. Do you have all the graviton cores?
