re: Final Fantasy XIII

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FF13 plays like a action rpg per the reviews.

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IMO it is much more like the old turn based system of older FF games mainly because you can not move your characters during combat phases. The combat is completely different from anything else previously in the FF series, but it is quite fun and pretty challenging when you are in a boss fight. You definitely have to get use to the speed of combat and you can hardly blink while playing due to all the paradigm switching you have to do. Switching paradigms allows you to attack more quickly as your gauges charge seperatly for each paradigm. If you stay in one paradigm the recharging is quite slow. But it is definitely not an "action rpg" by any means.
I was lucky enough to pick this game up back on saturday and am about 10-12 hours in and am just starting to get into it and enjoy it. The eidilons are a great element to the combat and are much more useful than those shitty Espers in XII. The most important aspect of combat is chaining attacks that the enemy is weak to so you can "stagger" them. Once the enemy is staggered their life bar depletes at 5-10x as fast as attacks when they are not staggered. Some enemies simply cannot be beat unless you find out how to stagger them in combat. You could battle a boss for 10 minutes if you stagger them, and it would take like an hour if you never stagger them, or they may just kill yo arse.

I made a thread a few days ago with a few aspects of the game if anyone who is a fan gives a shite about any of this stuff.

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I don't mind it being linear as long as it opens up towards the end. That's what I loved about FFX, it was completley linear until the last 1/3 of the game, when you could explore whatever you wanted and you found lots of cool stuff that you overlooked during the linear part.

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I'm pretty sure VIII opened up quicker than any of the others.

I've pretty much played most of the FF games and other Square Enix games.
FFXIII was made like a movie, and yes, it does open up somewhat towards the end. This installment doesn't have cities to explore or an airship to fly, but from what I've read the visuals, action and story are all very impressive.

I recommend if you haven't played a game like this, then at least try to rent it and give it a chance. This games have great stories and interesting characters.

I also would like to point your attention to Final Fantasy Versus XIII which is a completely separate game from the FFXIII game coming out today. Versus XIII is made by the same Square-Enix team that made Kingdom Hearts which is a highly underrated game.

At least give them a chance before dismissing them.

Yeah, not sure how Kingdom hearts games are "underrated" when they have nearly all been best sellers...

Me too. I'm surprised they're folks who will admit to playing FF here, much less Disney JRPGs.

just got my copy and still working through the 39-page instruction book

I've gotten to chapter 5 so far and while the first 3 chapters were fairly linear, the game gives you more and more freedom with things as you move on. I'm still not in complete control, but I can feel that I should be getting there soon. You can start developing your own strategies as soon as chapter 3 though.

yeah i got to play it for about an hour. i'm really enjoying it so far--not turned off by the linearity or by the battle system. though it feels like the system will get more complex with roles, abilities, and paradigm shifts, etc.

plus my wife likes the chocobo in sazh's fro.

its made in japan. they do whatever they want.

ive only played about 2 hours into it and i really like it. i love how detailed the backgrounds are and not simply a 2D or blurry 3D picture.

anyone beaten it yet? there always seems to be that one or two people who buy it the night it comes out and have it done within the next 36 hours.

I finished DA twice and ME2 once but I was playing it again on insanity when I bought this yesterday. I really want to finish ME2 again though because the only 2 achievements I have left are beating it on insanity and getting lvl 30 and I pretty close to finishing, but I moved on to FF and I'm really digging it. So I totally get your rule finish before starting new policy.