Final Fantasy

[Trey]

Oh it's definitely worth it and honestly, if they hadn't changed so much of the game play and had still went the same route I wouldn't have been upset in the slightest. It's the first game in a long, long time that I got into enough to actually give a shit about the characters thanks to a pretty solid story

[Avenged Probably]

My only complaint the the later section (which is essentially just one long final quest) is that chapter 13 was maybe slightly too long, other than that it's still great even it is slightly different. 

Plenty of options to return back to the world too. It is made very clear when an npc literally says "If you do 'insert thing that happens' you will not be able to return to the open world." It doesn't say "for a while" it is very clear, which is why I laughed a little at people going past that point and being surprised that they couldn't go back and do more stuff until the story was concluded. 

[Ruki]

1 hour ago, Avenged said:

My only complaint the the later section (which is essentially just one long final quest) is that chapter 13 was maybe slightly too long, other than that it's still great even it is slightly different. 

Plenty of options to return back to the world too. It is made very clear when an npc literally says "If you do 'insert thing that happens' you will not be able to return to the open world." It doesn't say "for a while" it is very clear, which is why I laughed a little at people going past that point and being surprised that they couldn't go back and do more stuff until the story was concluded. 

I think I ran into that in Chapter 6 or whatever, and I decided to finish up a bunch of quests. 

[Quom]

1 hour ago, Avenged said:

My only complaint the the later section (which is essentially just one long final quest) is that chapter 13 was maybe slightly too long, other than that it's still great even it is slightly different. 

Plenty of options to return back to the world too. It is made very clear when an npc literally says "If you do 'insert thing that happens' you will not be able to return to the open world." It doesn't say "for a while" it is very clear, which is why I laughed a little at people going past that point and being surprised that they couldn't go back and do more stuff until the story was concluded. 

I knew I could go back, it was more the story made going back seem weird, like sitting in a hospital watching your wife die and reminiscing. Like the entire tone of everything had changed, I enjoyed it because it was care-free.

Nor was I upset that I couldn't go back for a while, it was more that it turned into an entirely different game which was way less fun than the rest of it.

@Benji, I'd sunk 40+ hours into the game before moving to the bits I disliked. In my opinion it's the best value I've had out of a AAA game in years as far as fun to dollars goes. Like there were small things that annoyed me in those 40 hours, but it's some of the most fun I've ever had in a video game. So like wait away or whatever, but I totally had a blast in comparison to most games I spend full price on, price wise I feel like a thief.

Having said that I disliked previous FF games, so it might also be that the bits I like will be weird to you and the bits I hated are more in line with what FF normally is (since I felt more like I was playing a FF game during them) so I dunno. 

Right now I'm just hoping the expansions are more like the start than the end, but I have a bad feeling they won't be. I'd happily pay full game price for a decent expansion that added more missions and stuff to do in the first part (especially multiplayer for that bit).

[Benji]

Oh yeah, I was just fucking around. I adored FFXIII-2, it was just the awful non-ending I hated, but the experience was fantastic.

[Ruki]

Holy. Shit. Castlemark Tower. It says to be around level 55 when you go there.....make sure you're higher than that. And bring a lot of healing items...like 60+ elixirs, 60+ hi-elixirs, 20ish Phoenix Downs and whatever else you can spare. It is a LONG dungeon....and you can end up in a loop if you're not careful (I had to follow a guide).

 

But! With that dungeon down and a bunch of other side quests done, I am now level 67. Not sure how it's possible to afford the 333/555/999 AP skills.

[Benji]

I'm guessing it probably won't be if you already spent a lot until the DLC is released.

[Ruki]

4 hours ago, Benji said:

I'm guessing it probably won't be if you already spent a lot until the DLC is released.

Saw a video last night of how to farm for AP....get 900-1500 in an hour.

[Avenged Probably]

You just buy the skills first which allow you to gain AP faster, no problem. 

[Ruki]

I have made it to Chapter 13.

Still liking it so far. Chapter 9 was epic and then 10 got sad.

Also! A piss off: Before the end of chapter 9 I had about 200k xp....and I didn't know where the x3 Hotel was in Altissa. Turns out, there is only one, but there are two counters. Want to make a shit ton of XP?

 

Take 8 or 9 rare coins, put them into a spell (I JUST learned, 35+ hours in that you can use more than one item).....each cast will give you about 20k. Go do the hunts around the city and make sure to eat the 8000 gil food from the restaurant, it will double your XP gains. Then, once you use the spell, do all the hunts, you should be loaded with enough XP and money to afford the hotel and get ALL the experience.

[Ruki]

I beat it!

 

Chapter 13 went on for a bit too long, but overall....I enjoyed the game. One of the best Final Fantasy's...and likely the best in the past 10 years. 

[Avenged Probably]

9 hours ago, Ruki said:

I beat it!

 

Chapter 13 went on for a bit too long, but overall....I enjoyed the game. One of the best Final Fantasy's...and likely the best in the past 10 years. 

My thoughts exactly, glad to see someone else enjoy it. Best since IX for me. I've also put another 12 hours in since completing the game, doing extra stuff (and some post game only quests).

[Benji]

@Ollie said it'll be cheap in PS Store 12 days of Xmas, so I'll be jumping on the wagon soon. Glad to feel optimistic about this after all my pessimism.

Any tips appreciated.

[Avenged Probably]

2 minutes ago, Benji said:

@Ollie said it'll be cheap in PS Store 12 days of Xmas, so I'll be jumping on the wagon soon. Glad to feel optimistic about this after all my pessimism.

Any tips appreciated.

Before the game starts you get a chance to do some optional tutorial stuff, I would recommend it no matter how eager to jump in you are... I did it, I feel if I didn't it would have taken me a long while to get a grasp on the combat.

[apsham]

I did it AND it took me a while to get a grasp on the combat, but yeah - if I hadn't done it then for sure I would've had issues.

[Ruki]

9 hours ago, Benji said:

@Ollie said it'll be cheap in PS Store 12 days of Xmas, so I'll be jumping on the wagon soon. Glad to feel optimistic about this after all my pessimism.

Any tips appreciated.

Change the control scheme to, I think it was B.

Do hunts and side quests....you'll get plenty of XP/gil, and some pretty solid items.

If possible, save up a large chunk of XP and then go spend the night at a motel/hotel to get bonus XP.

Experiment with magic. It's a lot of fun! And you can add more than one item to the creation process.

Fill up your magic whenever you can. If it's full? Make 

Save up 7 or 8 Rare Coins (Gladio will pick them up on occasion), and put them into a spell. Ideally, do this after you've eaten something that gives you an XP boost.

To change soundtracks while in the car, hold right or left on the D-Pad. That way you don't have to skip through the ENTIRE CD to get to the next. Also, press down on the D-Pad to set it to normal, repeat or shuffle.

Get Ignis' 'Regroup' ability....it's a life saver.

Take your time. Enjoy the world and the music and the scenery and the friendship between the main 4. 

[apsham]

I'm dying because I made the mistake of playing through this with my girlfriend watching - so I'd just do side quest stuff when she wasn't around and advance the story when she was. I thought I had more to do in the middle of Chapter 9 and to a pretty big part of the start that was basically 45 minutes of no breaks or saves and I can thankfully go back to the start of that, but I can't do any side stuff until I get past that. With the holidays being what they are we haven't had much time to game together so god dernit.

[Benji]

1 hour ago, Ruki said:

Change the control scheme to, I think it was B.

Any particular reason for this one?

[Quom]

It makes the controls similar to all the other games with open combat. 

[Benji]

Oh good, I hated the control scheme in platinum demo so hopefully that is more up my street. Ta.