My initial reaction to FF13 is so far dominated by the fact that I've played 3.5 hours and only just gotten to the part where they expand the combat system noticably beyond "you can attack." They just dropped a tutorial that explains magic, roles, paradigm shifts, and the entire concept of charcter advancement (including learning new abilities). None of those existed up to this point. Three and a half hours into the game. I took a break after that, so I still don't feel I even have a sense for what combat is actually like in this game.
The auto-attack combats have (mercifully) been relatively fast, but they lost most of the time they gained there by having long transitions and complex end-of-battle information screens. I've been scored as finishing a battle in 3 seconds (not hyperbole) but between the fade-in, "preemptive strike" animation, victory animation, score screen, spoils screen, and fade-out, it probably took more like 20-30 seconds before I actually had control on the exploration screen again.
I need to remember not to overwrite my current save file so that if I ever want to replay the game I can start from the current point.
Video Games
Moderator: Moderators
-
NineInchNall
- Duke
- Posts: 1222
- Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm
Yeah, I was wondering how long it would take before I freakin' could advance my character. It really shouldn't have taken so long to add that layer to the game. I'm still waiting for the ability to upgrade my equipment.
Current pet peeves:
Misuse of "per se". It means "[in] itself", not "precisely". Learn English.
Malformed singular possessives. It's almost always supposed to be 's.
Misuse of "per se". It means "[in] itself", not "precisely". Learn English.
Malformed singular possessives. It's almost always supposed to be 's.
-
Ganbare Gincun
- Duke
- Posts: 1022
- Joined: Wed Mar 11, 2009 4:42 am
Based on what I'm hearing from everyone about Final Fantasy XIII, I don't think I'll be picking this one up anytime soon. Great soundtrack, though.Crissa wrote:I guess none of you have played games like Eternal Sonata, or other modern JRPGs... I swear, two hour opening sequences are becoming very common. They're less like movies and more like novels that you eventually get to interact with.
-Crissa
Only read the first part of that (didn't follow the link that said "spoilers"), but seems a bit unfair. I assume it's referring to fal'Cie, but I'm around 12 hours in and already very clear that:Crissa wrote:FF XIII gets panned by a political blog.
Okay, I take back any defense of the game itself.
-Crissa
- Fal'Cie are giant, flying, sentient beings of incredible power.
- People living in Cocoon like the fal'Cie that live there because they built the place, repair it, defend it, supply all sorts of essential services like power and light, and don't interfere with human affairs much.
- People living in Cocoon hate the fal'Cie from Pulse, because they launched a brutal war against Cocoon a couple hundred years ago that killed a bunch of people and destroyed huge swathes of territory.
- People are afraid of being turned into l'Cie because l'Cie invariably turn into either monsters or inanimate crystals.
- People are also afraid of l'Cie because they have lots of power, have incentives to fight on the side of the fal'Cie that turned them, and have a tendency to turn into monsters, as noted above.
-
CatharzGodfoot
- King
- Posts: 5668
- Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm
- Location: North Carolina
Just downloaded Arcanum from Good Old Games (GOG.com) for $6. I'm pretty psyched about it, and I'm thinking about getting Sands of Time.
The law in its majestic equality forbids the rich as well as the poor from stealing bread, begging and sleeping under bridges.
-Anatole France
Mount Flamethrower on rear
Drive in reverse
Win Game.
-Josh Kablack
-Anatole France
Mount Flamethrower on rear
Drive in reverse
Win Game.
-Josh Kablack
So, my sister made straight A's on her report card, pulling her math up to do so.
So, I told her I'd get her a game of her choice for her DSi.
She went with Pokemon Soul Silver.
She's heeded my advice (took Totodile, kept trying for a female).
BUT THE LUCKY SNOT CAUGHT A SHINY KAKUNA WITHIN TWO HOURS OF STARTING THE FUCKING GAME!
It makes me sick.
Still, she's knocking the game out. In part thanks to me knowing what to do and who has what and passing thing on, along with things like "That Abra's level 15? LEVEL HIM UP!"
Well, all in good fun.
So, I told her I'd get her a game of her choice for her DSi.
She went with Pokemon Soul Silver.
She's heeded my advice (took Totodile, kept trying for a female).
BUT THE LUCKY SNOT CAUGHT A SHINY KAKUNA WITHIN TWO HOURS OF STARTING THE FUCKING GAME!
It makes me sick.
Still, she's knocking the game out. In part thanks to me knowing what to do and who has what and passing thing on, along with things like "That Abra's level 15? LEVEL HIM UP!"
Well, all in good fun.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
So I've gathered.Koumei wrote:A word of caution: the gym leaders are all tougher this time round, as their Pokemon have been perfectly EV-trained.
She's still handling them by being overleveled and knowing her types. But some of the moves throw me for the loop...
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
-
Lago PARANOIA
- Invincible Overlord
- Posts: 10555
- Joined: Thu Sep 25, 2008 3:00 am
Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerebus.
What the fuck were they fucking thinking?
They took the literally least-interesting character that joins your party and made a game that revolved around him? Vincent is a complete toolbag. I mean, post-AC Cloud is a whiny git, but at least he has a vaguely interesting backstory and actually has, you know, a motivation. Why the hell would you do that, Square Enix?
You know who SHOULD have had a game, though? Barret. He's got a cute kid to protect, he's got a gun for an arm, he's got sass, and for those of you who care he has an angsty backstory.
What the fuck were they fucking thinking?
They took the literally least-interesting character that joins your party and made a game that revolved around him? Vincent is a complete toolbag. I mean, post-AC Cloud is a whiny git, but at least he has a vaguely interesting backstory and actually has, you know, a motivation. Why the hell would you do that, Square Enix?
You know who SHOULD have had a game, though? Barret. He's got a cute kid to protect, he's got a gun for an arm, he's got sass, and for those of you who care he has an angsty backstory.
Josh Kablack wrote:Your freedom to make rulings up on the fly is in direct conflict with my freedom to interact with an internally consistent narrative. Your freedom to run/play a game without needing to understand a complex rule system is in direct conflict with my freedom to play a character whose abilities and flaws function as I intended within that ruleset. Your freedom to add and change rules in the middle of the game is in direct conflict with my ability to understand that rules system before I decided whether or not to join your game.
In short, your entire post is dismissive of not merely my intelligence, but my agency. And I don't mean agency as a player within one of your games, I mean my agency as a person. You do not want me to be informed when I make the fundamental decisions of deciding whether to join your game or buying your rules system.
I played part of Dirge of Cerberus years ago. I don't remember any part of the story.
I do remember that the level design royally sucked. I recall after one movie, they suddenly cut to gameplay with you standing in the middle of a narrow corridor (that you've never seen, even in the movie), with no cover, and multiple enemies already shooting at you.
Make sure you don't accidentally use a Potoin instead of a Potion in the heat of battle.
I do remember that the level design royally sucked. I recall after one movie, they suddenly cut to gameplay with you standing in the middle of a narrow corridor (that you've never seen, even in the movie), with no cover, and multiple enemies already shooting at you.
Make sure you don't accidentally use a Potoin instead of a Potion in the heat of battle.
Barret. Really. REALLY.
Oh wait, that would be in line with your vidya game views, but still. He is the actual least interesting character. I never put him in the party when I had a choice in the matter.
Dirge of Cerberus is still shite, however, but for gameplay reasons. Controller + shooting game = HAHAHA NO. And even ignoring that, it generally handles really badly, and tries to be a close combat beat 'em up at the same time (hint: NO) and doesn't have the same difficulty slider (see: go back to somewhere else and powerlevel) as the others. Heck, doing well gets you more XP for the next zone, meaning the harder you find the game, the worse it's going to get as you get locked in a death spiral of sucking, not getting much XP, sucking harder...
Oh wait, that would be in line with your vidya game views, but still. He is the actual least interesting character. I never put him in the party when I had a choice in the matter.
Dirge of Cerberus is still shite, however, but for gameplay reasons. Controller + shooting game = HAHAHA NO. And even ignoring that, it generally handles really badly, and tries to be a close combat beat 'em up at the same time (hint: NO) and doesn't have the same difficulty slider (see: go back to somewhere else and powerlevel) as the others. Heck, doing well gets you more XP for the next zone, meaning the harder you find the game, the worse it's going to get as you get locked in a death spiral of sucking, not getting much XP, sucking harder...
Count Arioch the 28th wrote:There is NOTHING better than lesbians. Lesbians make everything better.
-
Count Arioch the 28th
- King
- Posts: 6172
- Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm
-
Lago PARANOIA
- Invincible Overlord
- Posts: 10555
- Joined: Thu Sep 25, 2008 3:00 am
Barret has a motivation beyond just the generic 'save the world' tripe, which makes him a more developed character than half of the party.Koumei wrote:Barret. Really. REALLY.
Oh wait, that would be in line with your vidya game views, but still. He is the actual least interesting character. I never put him in the party when I had a choice in the matter.
Barret has a backstory beyond events we see onscreen, which makes him a move developed character than almost the other half of the party.
I wouldn't mind a game that starred Cloud (not his whiny post-AC self, but we kind of already got it with Zack), but anyone else in the party? Fuck 'em. Especially Vincent. Not that it's a big deal, he's an optional character, but why the hell did Angsty McSadpants get his own game?
Josh Kablack wrote:Your freedom to make rulings up on the fly is in direct conflict with my freedom to interact with an internally consistent narrative. Your freedom to run/play a game without needing to understand a complex rule system is in direct conflict with my freedom to play a character whose abilities and flaws function as I intended within that ruleset. Your freedom to add and change rules in the middle of the game is in direct conflict with my ability to understand that rules system before I decided whether or not to join your game.
In short, your entire post is dismissive of not merely my intelligence, but my agency. And I don't mean agency as a player within one of your games, I mean my agency as a person. You do not want me to be informed when I make the fundamental decisions of deciding whether to join your game or buying your rules system.
-
Count Arioch the 28th
- King
- Posts: 6172
- Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm
Actually, a logical lead for a side-story would be Red XIII. He's got the requisite young male energy (for a certain value of young) he's well-liked as far as I know (whereas Barret does annoy some people) and he's different enough (what with being a quadruped) that a game centered around him could benefit from the lack of the other party members by building the mechanics around being a dog.
-
Lago PARANOIA
- Invincible Overlord
- Posts: 10555
- Joined: Thu Sep 25, 2008 3:00 am
Red XIII is a horrible idea for a lead for a spinoff game. He has absolutely no plot hooks or motivations remaining after the end of FFVII and all of his issues revolve around a single locale that have no bearing on the metaplot (unlike Vincent / Cloud / Barret / even frickin' Cait Sith). He'd have to have a character do-over on the level of Lex Luthor to make it work. But once you get to that level why not just make a new character?
Josh Kablack wrote:Your freedom to make rulings up on the fly is in direct conflict with my freedom to interact with an internally consistent narrative. Your freedom to run/play a game without needing to understand a complex rule system is in direct conflict with my freedom to play a character whose abilities and flaws function as I intended within that ruleset. Your freedom to add and change rules in the middle of the game is in direct conflict with my ability to understand that rules system before I decided whether or not to join your game.
In short, your entire post is dismissive of not merely my intelligence, but my agency. And I don't mean agency as a player within one of your games, I mean my agency as a person. You do not want me to be informed when I make the fundamental decisions of deciding whether to join your game or buying your rules system.
Neeek wrote:I think I'd like a Yuffie/Red game. She's a spunky teen ninja, he's a wise, quadrupedal escapee from a mad scientist's lab. THEY FIGHT CRIME.
My son makes me laugh. Maybe he'll make you laugh, too.
The original Diablo has 3 difficulty levels: Warrior, Rogue, and Sorcerer.
Sorcerers are screwed in the early game because they don't have enough magic to rely on it. It's quite easy to consume your entire mana bar without clearing a single room, and your mana doesn't regenerate--you need to use up potions to get it back (they won't even restore it for free in town). You can use staves, but they've also got limited charges, and replenishing them is either quite expensive or permanently reduces their max charges. I don't think you can complete the game as a Sorcerer without doing a large chunk of your killing with conventional weapons, which attack significantly more slowly when you use them (compared to other classes).
Sorcerers are also screwed in the late game because the monsters all get resistances to magical attacks, so a large percentage of your spells (which still burn money) pass right through them without effect. And don't forget that your spells can be interrupted if you get attacked, and there is no such thing as "running".
I read a strategy guide that not only said in no unclear terms that Sorcerers would have by far the hardest time beating the final boss (including testing all your spells at random to see which ones actually work on him), but even suggested that they might want to melee him. Diablo has a ranged attack that is actually better at interruption than his melee attack.
Warriors, on the other hand, can pretty much just waltz through the dungeon and whack things and win the game.
Sorcerers are screwed in the early game because they don't have enough magic to rely on it. It's quite easy to consume your entire mana bar without clearing a single room, and your mana doesn't regenerate--you need to use up potions to get it back (they won't even restore it for free in town). You can use staves, but they've also got limited charges, and replenishing them is either quite expensive or permanently reduces their max charges. I don't think you can complete the game as a Sorcerer without doing a large chunk of your killing with conventional weapons, which attack significantly more slowly when you use them (compared to other classes).
Sorcerers are also screwed in the late game because the monsters all get resistances to magical attacks, so a large percentage of your spells (which still burn money) pass right through them without effect. And don't forget that your spells can be interrupted if you get attacked, and there is no such thing as "running".
I read a strategy guide that not only said in no unclear terms that Sorcerers would have by far the hardest time beating the final boss (including testing all your spells at random to see which ones actually work on him), but even suggested that they might want to melee him. Diablo has a ranged attack that is actually better at interruption than his melee attack.
Warriors, on the other hand, can pretty much just waltz through the dungeon and whack things and win the game.