The Energon Pub

[mechabooks]

I got mine a few days ago. Its been a busy week for me, but I'm hoping on playing it today. Then I'll be playing it to its beaten.

[Cyberstrike]

I really wanted to love Final Fantasy XIII but I can't. This game is boring.

I wanted to explore Cocoon and talk to people and shop in stores not at save points. I wanted a leveling system similar to Mass Effect, Dragon Age: Origins, Fallout 3, Oblivion, or Final Fantasy 7 not dealing with crystals and spheres. I want to control more than one character and a battle system that doesn't let me decide on how I want to fight.

But mostly I want to connect to and care about the characters, sadly I don't find Lightening, Snow, Hope, and the rest very interesting. The cutscenes, graphics, and voice actors are all very good (much better than the last 2 or 3 single player FF games) and the world is an interesting one, but I can't interact with it.


This game is a bore.

[Grahf]

I really wanted to love Final Fantasy XIII but I can't. This game is boring.

I wanted to explore Cocoon and talk to people and shop in stores not at save points. I wanted a leveling system similar to Mass Effect, Dragon Age: Origins, Fallout 3, Oblivion, or Final Fantasy 7 not dealing with crystals and spheres. I want to control more than one character and a battle system that doesn't let me decide on how I want to fight.

But mostly I want to connect to and care about the characters, sadly I don't find Lightening, Snow, Hope, and the rest very interesting. The cutscenes, graphics, and voice actors are all very good (much better than the last 2 or 3 single player FF games) and the world is an interesting one, but I can't interact with it.


This game is a bore.

If you can stomach it enough to get to chapter 8, the story gets a lot more interesting. Chapter 9 is epic, and once you make it to Gran Pulse, the are a few holy **** moments right away. The battle system clicks a whole lot better once your party has access to all possible roles. If you use Libra on all enemies, the rest of your party will act accordingly targeting the enemy's weakness.

[Counterpunch]

I really wanted to love Final Fantasy XIII but I can't. This game is boring.

I wanted to explore Cocoon and talk to people and shop in stores not at save points. I wanted a leveling system similar to Mass Effect, Dragon Age: Origins, Fallout 3, Oblivion, or Final Fantasy 7 not dealing with crystals and spheres. I want to control more than one character and a battle system that doesn't let me decide on how I want to fight.

But mostly I want to connect to and care about the characters, sadly I don't find Lightening, Snow, Hope, and the rest very interesting. The cutscenes, graphics, and voice actors are all very good (much better than the last 2 or 3 single player FF games) and the world is an interesting one, but I can't interact with it.


This game is a bore.

If you can stomach it enough to get to chapter 8, the story gets a lot more interesting. Chapter 9 is epic, and once you make it to Gran Pulse, the are a few holy **** moments right away. The battle system clicks a whole lot better once your party has access to all possible roles. If you use Libra on all enemies, the rest of your party will act accordingly targeting the enemy's weakness.

Agreed Grahf. It sounds like you aren't very far into the game Cyberstrike.

It's interesting how RPGs were originally meant to be storytelling devices that used numbers and math to make them longer. Now people want the grind over the story.

[Grahf]

I'm on chapter 11 right now, and damn, I'm avoiding so many fights towards the begining its crazy. I can't wait to come back to this area with a fully developed party and top tier weapons and teach these beasts whos boss. The huge dinosaur things wipe out my entire party with one stomp of a foot. Even after that point, I've now come to realize that are a lot of enemies that you're just not ready to face yet in this chapter.

Even the smaller fights now can require a good deal of strategy. I love the fact that the game now is intentionally encouraging you to try new and different party and battle setups. The battle system may seem simple at first, but it is flat out awesome now.

[Hairball178]

I'm a little way's into Chapter 3 at the moment. I'm not a fan of how I can't control all of my party members like in the older FF games, and only focus on the lead member...I'll give Square/Enix credit on changing the focus of who the lead member is, so that way I'm more invested in a sprawling cast as a whole (except Hope--sorry kid, you're too whiney).

I was pissed when FF12 did away with random battles, because I liked level grinding to get my unique items & level my party up. For years every time I read people griping about random encounters popping up I groaned; my thoughts were that if you set it up to where you could see where the enemies were on the map you would limit the number of enemies available to level up with, and you'd have to do crap like leave the area & come back to make them reappear again.

At the moment I don't have a good grasp of how to incorporate Paradigm Shifts into combat, because most of the time I can't remember who I have set for what--but that'll get easier as time goes on as I remember where I have the shifts configured. I just hope this doesn't turn out like FF12 for me; I just got to a point where I quit caring about the game and I set it on the shelf and never touched it again. I'm liking the story so far, and I do want to see what comes of these guys who all have different opinions of what they've become are going to progress.

[Cyberstrike]

I really wanted to love Final Fantasy XIII but I can't. This game is boring.

I wanted to explore Cocoon and talk to people and shop in stores not at save points. I wanted a leveling system similar to Mass Effect, Dragon Age: Origins, Fallout 3, Oblivion, or Final Fantasy 7 not dealing with crystals and spheres. I want to control more than one character and a battle system that doesn't let me decide on how I want to fight.

But mostly I want to connect to and care about the characters, sadly I don't find Lightening, Snow, Hope, and the rest very interesting. The cutscenes, graphics, and voice actors are all very good (much better than the last 2 or 3 single player FF games) and the world is an interesting one, but I can't interact with it.


This game is a bore.

If you can stomach it enough to get to chapter 8, the story gets a lot more interesting. Chapter 9 is epic, and once you make it to Gran Pulse, the are a few holy **** moments right away. The battle system clicks a whole lot better once your party has access to all possible roles. If you use Libra on all enemies, the rest of your party will act accordingly targeting the enemy's weakness.

Agreed Grahf. It sounds like you aren't very far into the game Cyberstrike.

It's interesting how RPGs were originally meant to be storytelling devices that used numbers and math to make them longer. Now people want the grind over the story.

If I have to fight sleepiness when playing a game it's not a game I'm going to make it through, I just got the first Assassin's Creed game, think I'll give it some attention.

[Shadowman]

If I have to fight sleepiness when playing a game it's not a game I'm going to make it through, I just got the first Assassin's Creed game, think I'll give it some attention.

You mean the game where you have to replay the same three missions over and over and over? With a story that doesn't answer any questions it brings up and only creates more? Where going out of your way gets you nothing but lost? Where the combat is nothing but "Counter, Counter, Counter"? And don't get me started on Altair's personality...mostly because he doesn't have one.

Sure, it's still a good game, but everything you said you didn't like about FF13 is also there in Assassin's Creed, times ten.

[Grahf]

If I have to fight sleepiness when playing a game it's not a game I'm going to make it through, I just got the first Assassin's Creed game, think I'll give it some attention.

I would have suggested getting Assassin's Creed 2 instead. The first came is as about as repititious as you can get. At least it's sequel breaks it up a lot with all of the side missions you can do. In the first game you are likely to be doing the same 3 or 4 missions over and over again. By the time you get to the end of the game, if you have the patience to get there, there isn't that sense of satisfaction you'll hope for.

[Kibble]

Assassin's Creed 2 is on sale at Best Buy for $30 right now...

So is FF13 open world the majority of the game after the beginning? I got bored with X and never finished it and I think the linear game style had a lot to do with it...

Here's a question, would one be better off just skipping FF13 and going with Dragon Age instead?

[Counterpunch]

Assassin's Creed 2 is on sale at Best Buy for $30 right now...

So is FF13 open world the majority of the game after the beginning? I got bored with X and never finished it and I think the linear game style had a lot to do with it...

Here's a question, would one be better off just skipping FF13 and going with Dragon Age instead?

Here's the facts, you can decide for yourself.

FF13
-The open world aspects of FF13 occur approximately 22-25 hours into the game. They are there however.

-FF13 is very story driven, that being the case...

-The first 8 Chapters, or the first 18 Hours dictate your teams and slowly bring in the game elements (this is kind of necessary as there's potentially a lot to digest)

-This may be, graphically speaking, the best game ever. It's amazing. Seriously. The difference between in-game and cut-scene is nearly indecipherable.

-Grinding is not necessary or really possible until either Chapter 11 or post game.

-Combat for a RPG is unlike anything you've played except perhaps Magna Carta (poopy game). FF13 takes the Magna Carta system and perfects it (read: makes it fun).

-Voice Acting is superb.

-The Bad: There's nothing bad to say except that you choices are somewhat limited in the game. People make a big deal over it, but it is there and it's not as big a deal as some will say. All the women are skinny and malnourished.

-The Good: Having a chicken in your afro. Shiva. Combat...god the combat is great. It will take 4 chapters to open it up, but it's good. The story, it's really all about experiencing the story.

Dragon Age
-Think typical DnD.

-The game is semi-linear. You have 4 big tasks to accomplish then three follow-up tasks. Order doesn’t really matter.

-Role Play is excellent. Your choices matter. They matter frequently.

-Party Characters are interesting and develop well.

-Unfortunately, your character is an emotionless lump who just throws out the important choices you do make.

-There is an open world, kind of. You can do things in any order, but the open world is more like a Mall. Large, but you go from store to store and never mind the in-between.

-You will have to spend $21 on DLC to fully enjoy the game.

-The very good: The characters and the script, both great. I hated Alistar at first but grew to love him. Leliana and the rest are incredible. The story is actually quite good. The things you are told have relevance. It’s not always cliché DnD either. “Wooo Mages are bad…wooo” Bloodbath ensues due to Mages…”Hrm, maybe those stogy guys who said Mages were bad were correct.”

-The two main points of “Bad”: The graphics. Fights and character faces will look really bad at times. The fights are so poorly animated it’s sad. You can tell it’s a computer game essentially. Character models will look constipated when they aren’t looking retarded. Combat…I always felt it was “Cheaty”. Your party is retarded…re…tarded. I know that you can set Tactics to regulate their behavior, but you have to tend to them like 3rd graders because the archer will stand next to the Ogre, the mage will cast the least useful thing and Alistar will probably stab himself. I call it Cheaty because combat eventually became: “Hold Party back, Sneak up on enemy, Cast Blizzard, Cast Tempest, Wait, Cast Trap, Release Party, Melee, Clean up, xN (where N is equal to 50,000). No other strategy was necessary. :/ Also, there are times when combat is maddening. I turned the difficulty down on a few occasions.

[Kibble]

Didn't expect such a detailed reply...thanks.

[Grahf]

You will have to spend $21 on DLC to fully enjoy the game.

If you're talking about the Awakening DLC, its $39.99. The Stone Prisoner DLC came with my copy of Dragon Age, and I bought the Warden's Keep DLC just so I could have a place to store stuff and to be able to make a badass sword.

[mechabooks]

Wow. Final Fantasy is sooooo pretty. I'm in love with it. I can't believe how good the graphics are.

[Grahf]

Wow. Final Fantasy is sooooo pretty. I'm in love with it. I can't believe how good the graphics are.

Agreed, especially some of the larger enimies and bosses. The Behemoths are my personal favorite at the moment.

Some of the enemies now take a long time to kill, their hp range is between 300,000 and 1.5 million. Still fun though.

[Shadowman]

Wow. Final Fantasy is sooooo pretty. I'm in love with it. I can't believe how good the graphics are.

Agreed, especially some of the larger enimies and bosses. The Behemoths are my personal favorite at the moment.

Some of the enemies now take a long time to kill, their hp range is between 300,000 and 1.5 million. Still fun though.

Good God, are those Bosses or just regular enemies? Because that HP range is usually reserved for end-game Bosses.

[Grahf]

Good God, are those Bosses or just regular enemies? Because that HP range is usually reserved for end-game Bosses.

[/quote]
I'm on chapter 12 right now, about mid way through the chapter. The Behemoths their start with around 500,000 but once you wittle down to about half of that, he stands up, auto regains his health all the way up to around 700,000.

The big dinosaur things in the srea same area have about just under a million hp.

Back in chapter 11, the same type of dino things had 5.3 million for it's body, plus each of his front legs have 350,000 to 560,000 each. The highest I've seen so far has been 16.2 million. They are pretty easy to avoid, and there is no possible way to beat them in that chapter. Later in the chapter, you can grind for cp points to help with the upcoming battles. By the time I reached chapter 12, each character had around 600,0000 cp each.

[Shadowman]

Good God, are those Bosses or just regular enemies? Because that HP range is usually reserved for end-game Bosses.

I'm on chapter 12 right now, about mid way through the chapter. The Behemoths their start with around 500,000 but once you wittle down to about half of that, he stands up, auto regains his health all the way up to around 700,000.

The big dinosaur things in the srea same area have about just under a million hp.

Back in chapter 11, the same type of dino things had 5.3 million for it's body, plus each of his front legs have 350,000 to 560,000 each. The highest I've seen so far has been 16.2 million. They are pretty easy to avoid, and there is no possible way to beat them in that chapter. Later in the chapter, you can grind for cp points to help with the upcoming battles. By the time I reached chapter 12, each character had around 600,0000 cp each.

Well that's terrifying. Emerald Weapon, one of FF7's superbosses, only had 1,000,000. Minerva, the superboss from Crisis Core had 10,000,000. And most final bosses don't ever reach those levels of HP, and OH MY GOD what have these enemies been injecting into themselves?

[Amelie]

Well that's terrifying. Emerald Weapon, one of FF7's superbosses, only had 1,000,000.

Although you can kill Emerald Weapon with only one command used, then you counter-attack it death. *yawns* :\

[Grahf]

Well that's terrifying. Emerald Weapon, one of FF7's superbosses, only had 1,000,000. Minerva, the superboss from Crisis Core had 10,000,000. And most final bosses don't ever reach those levels of HP, and OH MY GOD what have these enemies been injecting into themselves?

Emerald has nothing on some of the Gran Pulse beasts. I usually start out with a Com/Syn/Med paradigms. Some of these battles would take forever without haste. I haven't even leveled up my equipment that much yet. I have one sword for Lightning thats lvl 14, a rod for Vanille thats lvl 6, and one Accessory thats maxed out.

[Shadowman]

Emerald has nothing on some of the Gran Pulse beasts.

That's even more terrifying, considering Emerald has that attack that does 1111 damage for every piece of materia you have equipped.

[Amelie]

Shadowman - if Emerald is doing anything other than Revenge Stamp - you're doing it wrong.

Anyone here looking forward to Dragon Quest 9?

[Shadowman]

Shadowman - if Emerald is doing anything other than Revenge Stamp - you're doing it wrong.

You know, when I fight Emerald, I never actually lose? Fun fact, playing it on PS1 and pressing "Home" pauses the game, but allows you to see everything on the screen. To be more precise, it makes Cait Sith the deadliest thing in any Final Fantasy ever. You know how easy everything is when you get a Limit Break (One hyper, a mastered Cover Materia, and a steady stream of Cure and Potions speed that up nicely) that kills absolutely every enemy in the game, and also you can use it as many times as you like, removing the Luck factor entirely?

[Grahf]

That's even more terrifying, considering Emerald has that attack that does 1111 damage for every piece of materia you have equipped.

It isn't really all that bad. By the time you get these enemies you should have mastered the combat system. It does feel good though to destroy something that you had to avoid constantly earlier in the game.

[Amelie]

You know, when I fight Emerald, I never actually lose? Fun fact, playing it on PS1 and pressing "Home" pauses the game, but allows you to see everything on the screen. To be more precise, it makes Cait Sith the deadliest thing in any Final Fantasy ever. You know how easy everything is when you get a Limit Break (One hyper, a mastered Cover Materia, and a steady stream of Cure and Potions speed that up nicely) that kills absolutely every enemy in the game, and also you can use it as many times as you like, removing the Luck factor entirely?

That actually sounds like more hassle than just getting a Gold Chocobo (only takes 30mins) and leveling up Knights of the Round once... plus cheating removes the very little challenge there is there. :\

HP Absorb w\Knights of the Round + W-Summon + Counter w\Mime = Put pad down and eat some lunch. I actually went shopping up the road once.