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[Shadowman]

Skyrim

Did the mission for the grey beards and proved to Dalphine that I'm the dragonborn. Joined the thieves guild, went to the house with the bee gives and the meadery by Whiterun. Now I'm I'm about to finish the mission where I have to tail the argonian and then back to the guild. I'm trying to get the skeleton key so I have that and the thieves armor throughout the game.

Solid plan there. What I did was everything up until the final mission for the Thieves Guild, so I had both the Skeleton Key and the pimp-ass Nightingale Armor.

[Renne]

Skyrim

Did the mission for the grey beards and proved to Dalphine that I'm the dragonborn. Joined the thieves guild, went to the house with the bee gives and the meadery by Whiterun. Now I'm I'm about to finish the mission where I have to tail the argonian and then back to the guild. I'm trying to get the skeleton key so I have that and the thieves armor throughout the game.

Solid plan there. What I did was everything up until the final mission for the Thieves Guild, so I had both the Skeleton Key and the pimp-ass Nightingale Armor.

also if you're not interested in levelling the lockpick, it's totally worth keeping the skeleton key and just never finishing the thieves guild questline until you get bored of playing

that way you can still lockpick but not waste putting anything into that skill tree (and if you have & you want to reclaim those perks once you've gotten the skeleton key, you can do the dragonborn dlc and empty the skill tree out with one of the black books)

[Shadowman]

Skyrim

Did the mission for the grey beards and proved to Dalphine that I'm the dragonborn. Joined the thieves guild, went to the house with the bee gives and the meadery by Whiterun. Now I'm I'm about to finish the mission where I have to tail the argonian and then back to the guild. I'm trying to get the skeleton key so I have that and the thieves armor throughout the game.

Solid plan there. What I did was everything up until the final mission for the Thieves Guild, so I had both the Skeleton Key and the pimp-ass Nightingale Armor.

also if you're not interested in levelling the lockpick, it's totally worth keeping the skeleton key and just never finishing the thieves guild questline until you get bored of playing

That's literally what we were suggesting. The trick is to keep the Skeleton Key until you've got 100 in lockpick and you can grab the Unbreakable perk, then you can finish the Thieves Guild questline and meet Nocturnal and her amazing legs.

that way you can still lockpick but not waste putting anything into that skill tree (and if you have & you want to reclaim those perks once you've gotten the skeleton key, you can do the dragonborn dlc and empty the skill tree out with one of the black books)

Yeah, but the skill point wiping only becomes available after beating Miraak, and it costs Dragon Souls to work.

[Renne]

Yeah, but the skill point wiping only becomes available after beating Miraak, and it costs Dragon Souls to work.

yeah, but it's really not hard once you get into the game to get dragon souls, so that's hardly a dealbreaker.

[SKYWARPED_128]

Anyone played Lightning Returns : FF XIII yet? Recommendations to buy or not to buy? Still kind of on the fence with this one.

[The Happy Locust]

Prototype 2
Game is addicting. I haven't touched the other games since starting it. Being uber-powered flying shapeshifting good guy who consumes enemies for health and mass is very liberating.
Story-wise, cleared all the challenges and collectibles (I think) in the yellow zone. Managed to trick enemy leader into thinking I'm a soldier, then accepting missions which I then sabotage. Took down an enemy super-soldier project, only to find that the guy who gave me the mission had ulterior motives. Long story short, I ate him. Yummy.
If I'm guessing right, my next mission will take me to another island.

[SlyTF1]

Anyone played Lightning Returns : FF XIII yet? Recommendations to buy or not to buy? Still kind of on the fence with this one.

I played it. Got to the final boss, but quit because I didn't feel like trying to fight him again. The gameplay was fun, but the story was complete ass. So much so, that it almost ruined the rest of the game. I'd wait for the price to drop.

[Shadowman]

Anyone played Lightning Returns : FF XIII yet? Recommendations to buy or not to buy? Still kind of on the fence with this one.

I played it. Got to the final boss, but quit because I didn't feel like trying to fight him again. The gameplay was fun, but the story was complete ass. So much so, that it almost ruined the rest of the game. I'd wait for the price to drop.

"Good gameplay, terrible story" is at least a step-up from FF13 itself, which was just terrible across the board.

[SlyTF1]

Anyone played Lightning Returns : FF XIII yet? Recommendations to buy or not to buy? Still kind of on the fence with this one.

I played it. Got to the final boss, but quit because I didn't feel like trying to fight him again. The gameplay was fun, but the story was complete ass. So much so, that it almost ruined the rest of the game. I'd wait for the price to drop.

"Good gameplay, terrible story" is at least a step-up from FF13 itself, which was just terrible across the board.

I couldn't even finish 13. I got to chapter 7 or 8, the one after you meet Hope's dad and kill this giant gunship thing. Every time I destroy the gunship, I get a bug and the whole game just freezes and I can't progress at all. I don't know how the hell a developer could possibly make a game and have a bug that literally renders most of the game unplayable. And it's nothing wrong with the disc, I looked it up. So yeah, it's a step up, but still.

I watched the rest of 13, and I thought the story was much better. Convoluted as hell, over complicated, and just plain boring, at least that game had a badass ending, I thought. That was probably my favorite ending in the history of endings. Lightning Returns has the dumbest ending I have ever seen in my life. And all of it just comes out of nowhere. The entire story plays out like some random mentally challenged kid was tasked with writing it. At least 13 was coherent to a point.

[SKYWARPED_128]

Anyone played Lightning Returns : FF XIII yet? Recommendations to buy or not to buy? Still kind of on the fence with this one.

I played it. Got to the final boss, but quit because I didn't feel like trying to fight him again. The gameplay was fun, but the story was complete ass. So much so, that it almost ruined the rest of the game. I'd wait for the price to drop.

"Good gameplay, terrible story" is at least a step-up from FF13 itself, which was just terrible across the board.

I couldn't even finish 13. I got to chapter 7 or 8, the one after you meet Hope's dad and kill this giant gunship thing. Every time I destroy the gunship, I get a bug and the whole game just freezes and I can't progress at all. I don't know how the hell a developer could possibly make a game and have a bug that literally renders most of the game unplayable. And it's nothing wrong with the disc, I looked it up. So yeah, it's a step up, but still.

I watched the rest of 13, and I thought the story was much better. Convoluted as hell, over complicated, and just plain boring, at least that game had a badass ending, I thought. That was probably my favorite ending in the history of endings. Lightning Returns has the dumbest ending I have ever seen in my life. And all of it just comes out of nowhere. The entire story plays out like some random mentally challenged kid was tasked with writing it. At least 13 was coherent to a point.

Thanks for the heads-up!

I probably wouldn't even consider buying Lightning Returns if I hadn't already played XII and XIII-2. Frankly, I don't know if Lightning Returns' ending could be any worse than XIII-2. Basically, I'm buying it to see the trilogy to its end. In retrospect, I should have just stopped at XIII, but I thought XIII-2 would redeem it somehow. It did the opposite.

Speaking of XIII, the final boss battle came this close to making me quit. F**king level caps made life hell for me. Took me four whole hours starting from a save just before the final battle to kill the boss.

I'm glad the gameplay is good--that way, even if the story does blow, at least I'll enjoy the journey. Thankfully, Tetsuo Nomura's back in charge as director for FF XV, or at least that's what I heard.

BTW, if you want to talk about freezes and glitches, Splinter Cell - Blacklist is infuriating. After a certain time has passed in a mission, the game sometimes slows down and usually just freezes.

Thankfully, a patch was released and successfully fixed the problem.

[SlyTF1]

Anyone played Lightning Returns : FF XIII yet? Recommendations to buy or not to buy? Still kind of on the fence with this one.

I played it. Got to the final boss, but quit because I didn't feel like trying to fight him again. The gameplay was fun, but the story was complete ass. So much so, that it almost ruined the rest of the game. I'd wait for the price to drop.

"Good gameplay, terrible story" is at least a step-up from FF13 itself, which was just terrible across the board.

I couldn't even finish 13. I got to chapter 7 or 8, the one after you meet Hope's dad and kill this giant gunship thing. Every time I destroy the gunship, I get a bug and the whole game just freezes and I can't progress at all. I don't know how the hell a developer could possibly make a game and have a bug that literally renders most of the game unplayable. And it's nothing wrong with the disc, I looked it up. So yeah, it's a step up, but still.

I watched the rest of 13, and I thought the story was much better. Convoluted as hell, over complicated, and just plain boring, at least that game had a badass ending, I thought. That was probably my favorite ending in the history of endings. Lightning Returns has the dumbest ending I have ever seen in my life. And all of it just comes out of nowhere. The entire story plays out like some random mentally challenged kid was tasked with writing it. At least 13 was coherent to a point.

Thanks for the heads-up!

I probably wouldn't even consider buying Lightning Returns if I hadn't already played XII and XIII-2. Frankly, I don't know if Lightning Returns' ending could be any worse than XIII-2. Basically, I'm buying it to see the trilogy to its end. In retrospect, I should have just stopped at XIII, but I thought XIII-2 would redeem it somehow. It did the opposite.

Speaking of XIII, the final boss battle came this close to making me quit. F**king level caps made life hell for me. Took me four whole hours starting from a save just before the final battle to kill the boss.

I'm glad the gameplay is good--that way, even if the story does blow, at least I'll enjoy the journey. Thankfully, Tetsuo Nomura's back in charge as director for FF XV, or at least that's what I heard.

BTW, if you want to talk about freezes and glitches, Splinter Cell - Blacklist is infuriating. After a certain time has passed in a mission, the game sometimes slows down and usually just freezes.

Thankfully, a patch was released and successfully fixed the problem.

I forgot to mention that Lightning Returns basically FORCES you to buy the strategy guide. The entire game is just a bunch of random side missions with only 5 main missions. One of which you probably won't even find on your own. And none of the side quests tell you what the hell you're supposed to do, so you have to look it up. Every mission is cryptic as all hell. I just used the internet to look every mission up, but they made the game so damn cryptic so people would buy the strategy guide.

[Shadowman]

XIII-2, I felt, was a step up, not in the story, but in the storytelling. They actually explained what was going on in cutscenes, instead of telling you to look it up in an encyclopedia that may or may not actually explain it. Character motivations were reasonable and didn't clash with what was actually going on. (IE, they don't say they'll save Cocoon while doing literally the exact thing that will destroy it) That, and Noel is a way better protagonist than anyone from 13.

[SlyTF1]

XIII-2, I felt, was a step up, not in the story, but in the storytelling. They actually explained what was going on in cutscenes, instead of telling you to look it up in an encyclopedia that may or may not actually explain it. Character motivations were reasonable and didn't clash with what was actually going on. (IE, they don't say they'll save Cocoon while doing literally the exact thing that will destroy it) That, and Noel is a way better protagonist than anyone from 13.

Character motivation was probably the worst thing about Lightning Returns for me. Halfway through, Lightning's motivation is so stupid, selfish, and just plain childish. Along with every other damn character in the game. And you have to go along with the ****. It was just dumb as all hell. I seriously don't know how someone could have possibly thought that was good writing.

[SKYWARPED_128]

I forgot to mention that Lightning Returns basically FORCES you to buy the strategy guide. The entire game is just a bunch of random side missions with only 5 main missions. One of which you probably won't even find on your own. And none of the side quests tell you what the hell you're supposed to do, so you have to look it up. Every mission is cryptic as all hell. I just used the internet to look every mission up, but they made the game so damn cryptic so people would buy the strategy guide.

There are plenty of free walkthroughs on youtube and gamefaqs.com. But yeah, I know I'm missing the point.

BTW, I just couldn't resist. Bought the game last night when I walked past the local game store. 3 hours in, so far, and I adore the gameplay. Schemata is definitely a step up from the paradigm system. Very addictive.

XIII-2, I felt, was a step up, not in the story, but in the storytelling. They actually explained what was going on in cutscenes, instead of telling you to look it up in an encyclopedia that may or may not actually explain it. Character motivations were reasonable and didn't clash with what was actually going on. (IE, they don't say they'll save Cocoon while doing literally the exact thing that will destroy it) That, and Noel is a way better protagonist than anyone from 13.

True, it was infuriating in XIII, having to read through all those pages to wrap my mind around what was happening.

XIII-2's ending sort of ruined the game for me, though. Technically, any story is allowed to end in a sad way, but for reasons I can't explain, XIII-2 ending just felt anti-climactic and incomplete, as if it's meant to be continued in a sequel game.

...and it did.

I agree about Noel. He's optimistic and has a strong can-do attitude, but not so much that he becomes annoying.

I never liked Lightning much in either XIII or XIII-2, but I started hating her in XIII-2, when she basically threw Serah to the wolves by sending her to save the world, knowing what it would do to her.

In XIII, didn't she love her sister more than anything else in the world?

It humanizes her in a way, having to make a hard decision by choosing between the world and her sister. But still, it failed to make her sympathetic to me. Maybe it's because XIII-2 focuses so little on her that she feels alien and distant.

Character motivation was probably the worst thing about Lightning Returns for me. Halfway through, Lightning's motivation is so stupid, selfish, and just plain childish. Along with every other damn character in the game. And you have to go along with the ****. It was just dumb as all hell.

After XIII, Lighning started to become less and less likeable, personally. I guess it humanizes her by making her do things for bad reasons, but so far, I just don't find her all that sympathetic. In XIII-2, she more or less sent Serah to her death. Then again, it was to save the world, and she had to make a difficult choice.

I'm just 3 hours into the game, so I don't really know anything other than the fact that she's signed on to gather souls in return for Bhunivelze's promise to bring Serah back to life. I suppose it's an act of redemption.

BTW, WTF happened to Caius Ballad? He won the battle in XIII-2 and stopped time, but fast forward 500 years (if time even means anything anymore) and there's no mention of him. Maybe he'll be mentioned later?

I seriously don't know how someone could have possibly thought that was good writing.

Motomu Toriyama did--he wrote it, actually. I'll say it again; thankfully, Tetsuo Nomura is back as director for FF XV.

[SlyTF1]

Character motivation was probably the worst thing about Lightning Returns for me. Halfway through, Lightning's motivation is so stupid, selfish, and just plain childish. Along with every other damn character in the game. And you have to go along with the ****. It was just dumb as all hell.

After XIII, Lighning started to become less and less likeable, personally. I guess it humanizes her by making her do things for bad reasons, but so far, I just don't find her all that sympathetic. In XIII-2, she more or less sent Serah to her death. Then again, it was to save the world, and she had to make a difficult choice.

I'm just 3 hours into the game, so I don't really know anything other than the fact that she's signed on to gather souls in return for Bhunivelze's promise to bring Serah back to life. I suppose it's an act of redemption.

BTW, WTF happened to Caius Ballad? He won the battle in XIII-2 and stopped time, but fast forward 500 years (if time even means anything anymore) and there's no mention of him. Maybe he'll be mentioned later?

Lightning was probably one of my favorite video game characters until halfway through Lightning Returns. I actually started to hate the piss out of her then. Just stupid. I also thought the concept of LR was cool, too. Right until halfway through the game.

And Caius is there. I really didn't understand his purpose, though. I only ever played the intro mission in 13-2.

[SKYWARPED_128]

And Caius is there. I really didn't understand his purpose, though. I only ever played the intro mission in 13-2.

Been ages since I last touched the game, but here's the gist of XIII-2: there was a cult that was headed by a "seeres" named Yuel, who could tell the future, at the cost of her life. She keeps reincarnating and dying at a young age because of this ability, or something like that.

Caius and Noel were two of the chosen guardians tasked with protecting the Oracle. Caius felt sorry for Yuel, and decided to end time itself, freeing her from this vicious cycle--no time = no past, present or future = no future for Yuel to see = no dying.

Caius obviously won in XIII-2, leaving Serah dead because Lightning screwed her over by giving her Yuel's ability, which leads us to the situation in LR.

[SlyTF1]

And Caius is there. I really didn't understand his purpose, though. I only ever played the intro mission in 13-2.

Been ages since I last touched the game, but here's the gist of XIII-2: there was a cult that was headed by a "seeres" named Yuel, who could tell the future, at the cost of her life. She keeps reincarnating and dying at a young age because of this ability, or something like that.

Caius and Noel were two of the chosen guardians tasked with protecting the Oracle. Caius felt sorry for Yuel, and decided to end time itself, freeing her from this vicious cycle--no time = no past, present or future = no future for Yuel to see = no dying.

Caius obviously won in XIII-2, leaving Serah dead because Lightning screwed her over by giving her Yuel's ability, which leads us to the situation in LR.

Oh, ok. I understood Yuel's purpose in LR. It seems like this entire series is plagued with stupid selfish character motivations that absolutely would do more harm than good.

[Shadowman]

Caius obviously won in XIII-2, leaving Serah dead because Lightning screwed her over by giving her Yuel's ability, which leads us to the situation in LR.

It wasn't Lightning who did that, it was the result of Etro uu-crystallizing everyone at the end of XIII. That also caused the break in time that pulled Lightning into valhalla.

Basically, everything bad that happens is the result of Etro's good intentions having nasty side-effects.

[SKYWARPED_128]

Oh, ok. I understood Yuel's purpose in LR. It seems like this entire series is plagued with stupid selfish character motivations that absolutely would do more harm than good.

Yup, a lot of the characters in the FF XIII universe are either selfish bastards or just stupid and reckless.

I hardly remember anything about FF XIII after so long, but I recall even Sazh sold Vanille out early on in the game to save his son.

It wasn't Lightning who did that, it was the result of Etro uu-crystallizing everyone at the end of XIII. That also caused the break in time that pulled Lightning into valhalla.

Basically, everything bad that happens is the result of Etro's good intentions having nasty side-effects.

How did Serah come about her "seeress" powers? Was it granted by Etro or something? I could have sworn it was something along those lines.

BTW, 6 hours into this game; the battles are not easy. The whole system creates a challenging environment that renders traditional level grinding impossible, since you don't level up via battles.

While completing quests does level you up, you're always looking at the clock, rushing for time to complete them as quickly as possible, and even when you're done, some of them require revisits and only appear at certain times. And Sly, you're right. The lack of hints is pissing me off. Some quests require you to run around looking for NPC's to ask for hints; with each region being so f**king large, I sometimes waste the better half of a day wandering around.

Some of the monsters at Luxerion are too tough to take on early in the game. That giant mech thing at the graveyard totally owned Lightning.

Still, it's all pretty damn addictive. I just can't stop playing!

[Shadowman]

How did Serah come about her "seeress" powers? Was it granted by Etro or something? I could have sworn it was something along those lines.

Yup. After everyone was brought out of crystal stasis, Serah was left with the Eyes of Etro. It's why she's the only one to notice Lightning is gone.

[SKYWARPED_128]

How did Serah come about her "seeress" powers? Was it granted by Etro or something? I could have sworn it was something along those lines.

Yup. After everyone was brought out of crystal stasis, Serah was left with the Eyes of Etro. It's why she's the only one to notice Lightning is gone.

I think I remember now. Serah gains the Eyes of Etro, and Lightning "recruited" her to set the course of history right again. And by changing how things would happen, Serah is made to see different paths of the future--each time she sees a different future, it shortens her life.

I guess no matter how you cut it, Lightning is still partly to blame.

[Wigglez]

Skyrim

I finished the mission where you confront that argonian. Told Mercer it was Karliah. That's it for the thieves guild for now. I joined that companions too. Did that first mission with the one guy (I forgot his name already) and then spoke with Skjor. Now I'm a mutha f***in werewolf. Hell yes

[SKYWARPED_128]

Lightning Returns - FF XIII

Completed main quests up for Luxerrion, Yusnaan, Dead Dunes and Godess's Temple.

As I understand it, the difficulty of the quests are ranked by number--the higher the harder. Caius (quest 3), though, was infuriatingly difficult. I actually found the boss fight at the Dead Dunes (quest 4) easier than him. It was only through the combined level ups of the previous 3 boss fights that I finally managed to take him down, using up all my Hi-potions and almost all of my EP.

And why is it that the tree is getting so "skimpy" in giving me more days after the first main quest? I completed Yusnaan and Dead Dunes on the same day, and it only added another 2 days.

And before I completed any of those main quests, I'd collected a crapload of Eradia from side quests, but the damn tree refused to add a single day.

[SlyTF1]

Lightning Returns - FF XIII

Completed main quests up for Luxerrion, Yusnaan, Dead Dunes and Godess's Temple.

As I understand it, the difficulty of the quests are ranked by number--the higher the harder. Caius (quest 3), though, was infuriatingly difficult. I actually found the boss fight at the Dead Dunes (quest 4) easier than him. It was only through the combined level ups of the previous 3 boss fights that I finally managed to take him down, using up all my Hi-potions and almost all of my EP.

And why is it that the tree is getting so "skimpy" in giving me more days after the first main quest? I completed Yusnaan and Dead Dunes on the same day, and it only added another 2 days.

And before I completed any of those main quests, I'd collected a crapload of Eradia from side quests, but the damn tree refused to add a single day.

Side quests don't begin to add up until the final day. And I think you have to do about 50 of them to get an extra day. There's only one day you can get from side missions and that's it. The rest, you get from the main quests. And with Caius, yeah, he's the hardest boss in the game. Well, until the end.

[SKYWARPED_128]

Side quests don't begin to add up until the final day. And I think you have to do about 50 of them to get an extra day. There's only one day you can get from side missions and that's it. The rest, you get from the main quests. And with Caius, yeah, he's the hardest boss in the game. Well, until the end.

It all makes sense now. I kept wondering why, after working so hard completing side quests, that the tree refuses to grow and add more days.

I hope I'd have leveled up enough to deal with the final boss, considering I'd just barely won in that fight with Caius. Those weapons the stores offer so far are pretty average. At least Caius dropped a nice weapon. Snow dropped some useless accessory that basically reduces your attack and magic to zero, and only makes you 75% immune to physical attacks. Even if you used one of the three schemata for pure defense, if a boss starts using magic, you're still sunk.

Can't remember what the Dead Dunes boss dropped.