Final Fantasy XIII-2 (360/PS3)
- Thread starter Dead Blue
- Start date
I didn't care for the first game because it wasn't what I expected from a jrpg. No towns, minimal sidequest (shit there were none), linear plot and movement (going straight for 70+ hours), hand holding til the end of the game, no shops, weak npc's and no mini games.
The graphics, sound (minus voice acting) and battle system (minus the wepon upgrading thing) was cool.
The graphics, sound (minus voice acting) and battle system (minus the wepon upgrading thing) was cool.
Im not going to lie. I loved XIII for getting rid of all the BS towns and having to talk to 30 random people or even running from one side of the town to another to do shopping. I hate that shit. However it is back in XIII-2 by popular demand, and while I haven't got that far yet I did hear that there is sidequests and minigames up the ying yang. There was plenty to do in XIII. Maybe there wasn't a bunch of completely obvious sidequests but there certainly were some, I think the problem is a lot of the sidequests were presented through achievements rather than NPC's in towns so people had the impression that there weren't any. (even though when you do them, they're clearly more than doing something just for an achievement)
But see it's hard to have a jrpg without those things. Those things take me back to the golden era of jrpg's the SNES/Super Famicom and the PS1. I told you this, but after I beat the game I quit. I didn't bother with trying to find the marks, max out weapons, etc. To me they did a lot of shit backwards and focused on a very convoluted story. It just didn't have that FF feel to it. I hope VS 13 isn't like these two games.
BTW, The Binary Domain will be up on live tommorow. It should be on psn so I'll snag it and let you know how it feels.
BTW, The Binary Domain will be up on live tommorow. It should be on psn so I'll snag it and let you know how it feels.
^^^ i'm also curious about the gameplay of Binary. i was disappointed when i saw that they seem to be trying to take themselves seriously in the cut-scenes. i enjoyed the self-aware cheesiness of vanquish, & loved playing through that game.
on topic (& i couldnt care less about FF), i have heard that this new game has appeased some fans who hated the first XIII.
on topic (& i couldnt care less about FF), i have heard that this new game has appeased some fans who hated the first XIII.
I'm not sure why you're saying "like these two games", they're nothing alike. All those elements you're saying were missing are back in XIII-2. I think that's the biggest problem, people judge 13 by what it's not rather than what it is. I have to say having the two side by side to compare, I much prefer XIII system compared to XIII-2's. I am enjoying XIII-2 a lot but I hate having to wonder around and figure out where to go or where to find things.
What's your thoughts on BD? I'll wait to read what you have to say before I decide to or not to download the demo.
...as for XIII-2, my thoughts so far...
I like the game so far, it assumes you've already played XIII so the story really picks up right away instead of wasting a bunch of time introducing the gameplay and characters. I'm about 8 hours in and it's kept up a good pace, It's easy to get absorbed into the world. The battle system itself is just like XIII except prior to battle creatures are no longer displayed on map; (downside) Instead they randomly appear and you have a brief time to either strike and engage them or flee. If you attack them quickly enough you will get a preemptive strike giving you haste for the first minute of battle and a slight boost to the enemies chain gauge (not nearly as much as XIII). There is a ton of exploring to do and maps are huge, another cool aspect is you can visit the same location in different time periods (a la chrono trigger) and things appear differently.
What's your thoughts on BD? I'll wait to read what you have to say before I decide to or not to download the demo.
...as for XIII-2, my thoughts so far...
I like the game so far, it assumes you've already played XIII so the story really picks up right away instead of wasting a bunch of time introducing the gameplay and characters. I'm about 8 hours in and it's kept up a good pace, It's easy to get absorbed into the world. The battle system itself is just like XIII except prior to battle creatures are no longer displayed on map; (downside) Instead they randomly appear and you have a brief time to either strike and engage them or flee. If you attack them quickly enough you will get a preemptive strike giving you haste for the first minute of battle and a slight boost to the enemies chain gauge (not nearly as much as XIII). There is a ton of exploring to do and maps are huge, another cool aspect is you can visit the same location in different time periods (a la chrono trigger) and things appear differently.
When I say these two games I'm talking about the style, certain gameplay elements, story and feel of FF 13 and FF 13-2 and I don't want Final Fantasy Versus XIII to be like them. And these two games, 13 and 13-2 aren't carbon copies of each other but they are alike. Three members in your party (monsters or dlc characters), paradigms, etc.
I understand but it doesn't justify a day one purchase from me.
I judged it by what it is which is a linear, handholding jrpg with a convoluted story and gameplay elements that weren't fleshed out. I put 70+ hours in, so I enjoyed it for something, but it just didn't have that FF feel to it. Honestly, I prefer Tales of Vesperia over FF 13.
And the majority of people who played XIII feel the opposite.
OK, here are my impressions.
Gameplay: This is just like any third person shooter. You take cover but cover gets destroyed quick so you have to constantly be aware of your surroundings, where you can go, etc. Ammo is plenty and I think I ran out of ammo once. Fans of Gears or any third person shooter will feel right at home with this. Now the voice thing, it's tricky because I don't know where in the hell my bluetooth is so I can't comment on that part. However, the game lets you use the R2 button instead of using your actual voice, so you can just press R2 and select the appropriate button for what you feel is the best answer. Enemy AI is rather intelligent, and they didn't feel like damage sponges to me. I like the sniper rifle in this game, the shotgun was useless but the pistol was ok. I also used a rocket launcher and two different types of machine guns. Also, there are stores in this game. The game has this vending machine and you can use it to buy health packs, upgrades for your weapons, upgrades for yourself and upgrades for your squadmates and their weapons (some of the upgrades are exclusive to certain characters.) I didn't notice any adverse side effects of directing the partners to do the wrong or right thing, but who knows how it will play out in the full game?
Graphics: They're hit and miss. Some of the enemies like the boss on the first stage and the gorilla boss you barely get to fight on the other stage look really good. The standard grunts (the green ones) look ok, but the others are so so. I didn't encounter any enemies that did things different except for some enemies with shields. The stages look very plain and flat and to me it doesn't compliment the premise of the game at all.
Sound: I was expecting Japanese voice dialog as well but it isn't present in the demo. However, the voice acting is reasonable and that french sounding robot did start to get on my nerves a bit. The guns sound ok, but I didn't see an option to turn the music off. It's like some dubstep fast paced shit which isn't my cup of tea. Then the music goes into some very MGS sounding shit which is ok, vut still I wanted to turn it off. Also, some of the enemies sound like car alarms (play it and you'll hear what I'm talking about.)
I'm trying to see if I left anything out, but I think that pretty much covers it.
PLAY or PASS? Play. However, I can't recommend a day 1 purchase.
See I have my eye on it, just not ready to dig in yet. You know they're coming with Sazh dlc right? Its hould drop soon and you can also use him as a party member once you complete his mission.
I understand but it doesn't justify a day one purchase from me.
I judged it by what it is which is a linear, handholding jrpg with a convoluted story and gameplay elements that weren't fleshed out. I put 70+ hours in, so I enjoyed it for something, but it just didn't have that FF feel to it. Honestly, I prefer Tales of Vesperia over FF 13.
And the majority of people who played XIII feel the opposite.
OK, here are my impressions.
Gameplay: This is just like any third person shooter. You take cover but cover gets destroyed quick so you have to constantly be aware of your surroundings, where you can go, etc. Ammo is plenty and I think I ran out of ammo once. Fans of Gears or any third person shooter will feel right at home with this. Now the voice thing, it's tricky because I don't know where in the hell my bluetooth is so I can't comment on that part. However, the game lets you use the R2 button instead of using your actual voice, so you can just press R2 and select the appropriate button for what you feel is the best answer. Enemy AI is rather intelligent, and they didn't feel like damage sponges to me. I like the sniper rifle in this game, the shotgun was useless but the pistol was ok. I also used a rocket launcher and two different types of machine guns. Also, there are stores in this game. The game has this vending machine and you can use it to buy health packs, upgrades for your weapons, upgrades for yourself and upgrades for your squadmates and their weapons (some of the upgrades are exclusive to certain characters.) I didn't notice any adverse side effects of directing the partners to do the wrong or right thing, but who knows how it will play out in the full game?
Graphics: They're hit and miss. Some of the enemies like the boss on the first stage and the gorilla boss you barely get to fight on the other stage look really good. The standard grunts (the green ones) look ok, but the others are so so. I didn't encounter any enemies that did things different except for some enemies with shields. The stages look very plain and flat and to me it doesn't compliment the premise of the game at all.
Sound: I was expecting Japanese voice dialog as well but it isn't present in the demo. However, the voice acting is reasonable and that french sounding robot did start to get on my nerves a bit. The guns sound ok, but I didn't see an option to turn the music off. It's like some dubstep fast paced shit which isn't my cup of tea. Then the music goes into some very MGS sounding shit which is ok, vut still I wanted to turn it off. Also, some of the enemies sound like car alarms (play it and you'll hear what I'm talking about.)
I'm trying to see if I left anything out, but I think that pretty much covers it.
PLAY or PASS? Play. However, I can't recommend a day 1 purchase.
See I have my eye on it, just not ready to dig in yet. You know they're coming with Sazh dlc right? Its hould drop soon and you can also use him as a party member once you complete his mission.
Yea, Sazh, Lightning, and Chocolina (which in the demo is possibly worse than Vanille as far as voices but in the JP voices sounds totally awesome) all pretty much have confirmed DLC and I think I heard something about Fang & Vanille as well. ...as far story DLC I mean. I heard they're adding a bunch to the arena stuff.
lol I have to be honest, I never liked Sazh ...or Hope ...or Fang ...or Vanille ...just pretty much Lightning & Serah ...though I thought Snow was kind of cool.
lol I have to be honest, I never liked Sazh ...or Hope ...or Fang ...or Vanille ...just pretty much Lightning & Serah ...though I thought Snow was kind of cool.
Finally completed the story. I loved pretty much everything about the game and it was well worth the purchase.
...except the ending. I absolutely fucking hate the ending to this. Possibly the worst video game ending this generation. What the fuck was Square thinking. Seriously, WTF!?
WARNING: Skip the rest of my post if you don't want to know...
Mog dies, Noel dies, Caius dies, Etro dies, chaos is unleashed upon the world, you never see Lightning again and worst of all... Serah dies :/ That's it. Not even a fragment of a happy ending. There is a secret ending but if you youtube you'll see it doesn't change a damn thing. Every one dies in the end and Cocoon isn't saved.
...except the ending. I absolutely fucking hate the ending to this. Possibly the worst video game ending this generation. What the fuck was Square thinking. Seriously, WTF!?
WARNING: Skip the rest of my post if you don't want to know...
Mog dies, Noel dies, Caius dies, Etro dies, chaos is unleashed upon the world, you never see Lightning again and worst of all... Serah dies :/ That's it. Not even a fragment of a happy ending. There is a secret ending but if you youtube you'll see it doesn't change a damn thing. Every one dies in the end and Cocoon isn't saved.