Final Fantasy XIII [PS3, X360]

[Arwin]

Presuming that trophies initially just correspond with chapters, I'm five trophies in right now. Took me 6 hours so far, and the battling is getting more interesting

Spoiler

with the enemies fighting each other and not paying attention to me yet, and the various paradigms really starting to matter now

 

[Sigfried1977]

You travel to Grand Pulse after the tenth chapter. Also: god rays everywhere. Kinda hard to miss actually.
I just left Grand Pulse because I didn't want to get into the endgame too overpowered. The intro of chapter 12 had to be the most amazing looking CGI wizardry I've ever seen in a game.
(the in-game stuff looks fabulous as well)

Here's a more stereotypical version of Sazh. Probably an old hat by now, but I think it's hilarious.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MmG41Tllxo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG_Z0rd7eK0

 

[jlippo]

I'm at the Crystal Lake right now & I can confirm that the game has real Volumetric lighting with god rays [not just in cutscenes but while in gameplay during exploration too].

Really?
I'm was pretty sure that volumetrics were just post effect.
At least it looks like that, as there are scenes where light direction changes a lot when lightsource is near screen edges.

 

[nightshade]

Really?
I'm was pretty sure that volumetrics were just post effect.
At least it looks like that, as there are scenes where light direction changes a lot when lightsource is near screen edges.

yea I am dead sure that its real volumetrics & not just simple look alike.
You move your character/camera & the rays will interact accordingly.

All you need to do is just look towards the biggest light source in that area & then move the camera slowly so that you can see your character blocking the light & near your character's body outline there you can see those God rays.

 

[patsu]

Ha ha, I still didn't see any god rays. Finally beat the Chapter 9 boss. I thought I could go to Grand Pulse now, but

Spoiler

I have one more hurdle/level to clear.

Good thing the game keeps opening the combat system up. Now I think I get complete freedom to mold any of the characters, and use any of the team.

Is there a way to force the character/role to use certain spell like protect or shell, instead of leaving it up to the computer to decide ?

 

[Rolf N]

Got my copy yesterday, played all the way past the crystal lake.

Combat doesn't leave a great first impression at all. It's offensively easy and involves a lot of waiting. Also not happy about how extensive their tutorial is. You gain a grand total of nothing in the first few hours, because you don't even accrue skill points. It's unrewarding to play this way.

I did reach a few fights where I had to switch paradigms to survive, so I understand that this is going to be my main influence going forward. Still, "influence" it is. It feels incredibly dumbed down.

The reason I want to go on with the game is that it's gobsmacking beautiful and decently written. In terms of mechanics though, I'm thoroughly unconvinced for now.

 

[Shoujoboy]

I've been playing this game so much (pretty much done with the story just need to do the final chapter and I can return to Gran Pulse for side quests).
And I've been wondering does anyone else think Square could've benefitted from something like mega texure technology ?
I think Pulse or a future game with an area like that could look just as good as their confined areas !

 

[Sigfried1977]

Maybe, but I thought Grand Pulse looked great anyway with it's endless draw distance, all the flying critters and that big ass titan-thing in the background. Too bad you can't fight him apparently.
Also: chapter 12 and especially 13 - wow, just wow

 

[Shoujoboy]

We can't fight that titan thing ?
Sheesh I thought he would be a high ranking mark or something.
Oh well he looks cool !

 

[London Geezer]

Hey guys!
I remember from FF10 that there were all sorts of uber-powerful special enemies (the Dark summons? or anyway the Dark versions of Shiva, Behemut etc) in secret locations and also some sort of arena where you got to fight against more uber-powerful enemies...
Anything like that on FF13?

Those fights were friggin tough, a lot more than the end boss of the game!

 

[patsu]

Got my copy yesterday, played all the way past the crystal lake.

Combat doesn't leave a great first impression at all. It's offensively easy and involves a lot of waiting. Also not happy about how extensive their tutorial is. You gain a grand total of nothing in the first few hours, because you don't even accrue skill points. It's unrewarding to play this way.

I did reach a few fights where I had to switch paradigms to survive, so I understand that this is going to be my main influence going forward. Still, "influence" it is. It feels incredibly dumbed down.

The reason I want to go on with the game is that it's gobsmacking beautiful and decently written. In terms of mechanics though, I'm thoroughly unconvinced for now.

Don't worry. The combat will become complex enough that you'll appreciate these dumb-down mechanisms later.

 

[nightshade]

I'm at the area where Lightning & Co. Crash landed [really don't have much time for this game as I am busy with GOW3]. Anyways I don't like this area & I hate those jumping enemies who attack using their foot.

Also how long until I get into the first town ?

 

[patsu]

You mean you're in Chapter 10, like me ! (

Spoiler

Fifth Ark

?).

Or are you passed that ? [size=-2]How many times do they crash land ?[/size]

 

[nightshade]

Y[size=-2]How many times do they crash land ?[/size]

Heh !
Anyways no I probably shouldn't be anywhere even close to you, I'm still at the start.
I'm talking about the place where the party crash lands for the very first time. [Must be Chapter 4 or 5]

 

[patsu]

Oh, you mean the crystalized lake ? It's all a blur now. >_<

You will pass by 2-3 towns but really only pass through them. Fight all the way to Chapter 10 and beyond, just like GoW3.

Along the way, you'll learn more about the characters' backstory, and gain more power.

The exploration doesn't start until you get out of Cocoon. That's why I'm pushing through the game at "ferocious" speed. Had a 45 minute downtime last night because of GoW3.

 

[nightshade]

I'm past Lake Bresha, its the area right after that. Night Time, lots of scrap garbage here & there etc etc.

 

[patsu]

Unfortunately, the answer would be similar. It won't make much difference until you get out of Cocoon. The next town area is probably one or two Chapters away from where you're at.

Spoiler

The crew will split up to visit different towns.

For the most part, it will play like the past few chapters except with more open combat system.

 

[nightshade]

Playing it for a while does let me to believe that it'd have been much better if the linear areas up till now weren't so confined. Most of the times the areas are just 4-5 meters wide. Should've been a bit more spaced out.

 

[patsu]

Yes, I agree opening up a wee bit more will ease the claustrophobic feeling.

OTOH, I think they may be afraid we skip all the monster encounters if the walk area is too wide. There may be too much walking if the area opens up too much. A good mix of these would be an improvement. You'll see more of these larger battle areas later.

 

[patsu]

Yusuke Naora on Final Fantasy Agito XIII:
http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2010/03/20/ff_agito_xiii_on_twitter/

we turn to Yusuke Naora. The Final Fantasy VII, and more recently Chaos Rings, character designer is serving as art director on Agito. Recently, he had this to say on Twitter:

"At present, Agito is at long last taking shape. I'm in trouble -- in a good sense! Even though it's FF, it looks like it will be a bold and powerful game. I want to show it to everyone quickly, but we'll need a bit more time."

It's a Wonderful World co-director Tatsuya Kando said, "I'm presently hard at work on the overseas version of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep and Final Fantasy Versus XIII."

I am getting confused over Versus, Agito, and what not. They sound like Sushi and Maki dishes to me.

EDIT:
FFXIII sales:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/27750/FFXIII_Achieves_1_MillionUnit_FiveDay_Sales.php

Final Fantasy XIII, the latest installment in Square Enix's seminal franchise, has sold over one million units in North America in its first five days -- the company says it's the biggest first-week performance in franchise history.

...

In Japan, where the game is still PS3-exclusive, FFXIII launched December 17 and sold 1.8 million units by the end of 2009 -- 1.5 million of those in its first week alone. Despite releasing at the end of the year, it was the fifth top-selling game of 2009 in the country.