Queen's Blood (Final Fantasy Thread)

[Benji]

I'll shoot a few tips, since I'm a bit further, about the benefits of each class:

- Synergists are a smart use at the start of a tough battle, keep an eye on your characters benefits and shift back into a lineup with a Synergist whenever they time out, they're no good as a regular role, not that anyone would think about it.

- Saboteurs are, again, a good idea at the start of the battle, but almost totally useless beyond that, it's a good idea to use Libra a couple of times before sending them away again because it can reveal weaknesses that the Saboteur can exploit.

- Medics are essential to use in a tough battle, but the second you're near back up to three quarter health, switch out to a full attack force, otherwise you're just wasting your time (if it's a boss, it's a judgement call when it comes to sending them away, some heavy hitters just aren't worth losing your medic for too long).

- Commando's are essential for building a decent chain, but they can't do it alone, they keep the chain up high, adding stability, essential for use with a Ravager.

- Ravagers aren't a whole ton of use by themselves unless the foe is already staggered because they can't maintain the chain long enough to get the stagger, but they build the best chains so try to keep one around whenever you're on the offensive.

- Sentinels are more useful than they initially seem, the Provoke ability combo'd with Steelguard is important against enemies that hit strong single attacks (especially when you get the Snow/Hope combo, since Hopes HP is about as useful as having a pre-KO'd party member). Sentinels can be useful if you need to hold a stagger for a bit longer, they actually delay the fall of the stagger gauge (enough to justify not having a third person on the attack) and can help if trying to chain against multiple mid to high HP foes since they pull the attacks away from the other characters preventing them from being delayed.

[RoyWill Rumble]

Vanille is a refreshing character because she's not a melodramatic cunt (read: Hope, nearly every male lead ever) or a tough tomboy chick (read: Lightning), but Jesus H. Christ is her voice ANNOYING AS FUCK. I like that she's upbeat, because again, it's refreshing, but her voice is SO GRATING.

And yes, the whole 'lead character dies, whole party dies' thing is mind-numbingly stupid. I could complain about linearity, I could complain about dumb hairstyles and two-party member systems and the game switching perspectives every five damned minutes at the beginning (seriously, I activated a pillar with Snow, fought one fight, then got switched), but the leader dying causing the whole party to die is so, so, so, so, so, so dumb. It's not game-breaking, but holy Christ does it get annoying fast when it does happen.

[Rich]

Vanille is a refreshing character because she's not a melodramatic cunt (read: Hope, nearly every male lead ever) or a tough tomboy chick (read: Lightning), but Jesus H. Christ is her voice ANNOYING AS FUCK. I like that she's upbeat, because again, it's refreshing, but her voice is SO GRATING.

And yes, the whole 'lead character dies, whole party dies' thing is mind-numbingly stupid. I could complain about linearity, I could complain about dumb hairstyles and two-party member systems and the game switching perspectives every five damned minutes at the beginning (seriously, I activated a pillar with Snow, fought one fight, then got switched), but the leader dying causing the whole party to die is so, so, so, so, so, so dumb. It's not game-breaking, but holy Christ does it get annoying fast when it does happen.

You need to get out more Will

[LUKIE]

Possible spoilers about Vanille, but not really, but don't read it. Just me thinking.

I have some interesting theories on who Vanille actually is. So early in the game, her demeanor and the flashback give quite a lot away, if you think about it.

[TKz]

Not real spoilers, just a bit of musing about the setting and info about one characters lack for a while:

What I don't get about the story is it's occasional switch to a narrative.

It makes me very confused if i'm playing through something that's already happened (ala the first like 6 hours of FFX) or if it's just a characters thoughts or what!? The way the story is presented is so much more like an actual film this time around, especially the fact that you lose Snow for a long amount of time. I think the only other time a character has gone missing for this long is when Cloud goes full retard in FFVII.

Had myself an early night because I only got 2 hours sleep the night before FFXIII arrived (Not because of FFXIII, just couldn't get back to sleep after being woken.) so I'm not as far ahead as I'd have liked, but I plan to pull another 7 hours through right now, at least.

Also, I know some people don't like the voice acting, but I love it. They all have their own voices that aren't really common in FF's (apart from Snow and Hope). I love Vanille (who's accent I can't figure out at all) and the bird in blue clothes who I've yet to meet.

[Benji]

Vanille's is australian, or at least the voice actress is, whether she's putting it on a bit I don't know. The voice acting is grating initially, but like I say, the game really starts at Palompolum, when you get there it turns into "all systems go", all the voices stop sounding like they're forced and start sounding like actual actors.

[TKz]

I can tell that, but it feels like she's half trying to hide it, if you get what I mean? Almost like the director was like 'yeah, don't worry about the accent', but she decided 'eh, I might try and fade it out a little'.

[ZJ Penn]

So before I get this tonight, on a scale of 1 to 10, how much has this game taken over your lives?

It's just I have a 10,000 word dissertation due in May and I don't think learning about Paradigm Shifts counts as mitigating circumstances.

[TKz]

Quite a lot, but not entirely. It's a wonderful game, but I do find myself taking a few hours off after playing it for ages. If you've got enough self control and you're not a total addict to the game, it should be no problem. (Though if I'm watching a show or something, I do find myself thinking 'hmm. sure would like to play some more FF right about now. >_>' so that might be a slightly bigger problem if it's something you don't actually want to do.)

[Benji]

I can tell that, but it feels like she's half trying to hide it, if you get what I mean? Almost like the director was like 'yeah, don't worry about the accent', but she decided 'eh, I might try and fade it out a little'.

Again... there's a reason if that's what you truly believe, and that would've made sense...

... though to be honest with you, it doesn't sound like she's fading anything to me, the entire cast of Neighbours combined has less of an accent than she does.

[TKz]

If at any point any one else gets confused, I recommend you load up the Datalog and read up on the chapter you're in. Makes some of the motivations behind certain actions simpler to understand. I now get why Lightning wants to attack Eden and why Hope is coming with her.

[LUKIE]

She sounds like Nicole Kidman. Coming from one Australian, and talking about the Australian accent, it only seems to show up on a few people. Most people just sound... "normal" to me.

[The Mask of Norro]

Lorina's enjoying this before me

Picked it up at my work's midnight launch but had to go out of town for a few days for school. Won't even be able to touch the game until Thursday night/Friday, and Lorina's already gotten some serious game time in. Yesterday she sent me a text saying it had been six and a half hours of nonstop playing for her and she thought it'd only been two. I'm excited, but damn it, I AM SO JEALOUS :( :(

[Benji]

If at any point any one else gets confused, I recommend you load up the Datalog and read up on the chapter you're in. Makes some of the motivations behind certain actions simpler to understand. I now get why Lightning wants to attack Eden and why Hope is coming with her.

What he said, especially since if you don't, you miss out on finding out that the reason Sazh hasn't yet named the chicobo is...

... that uttering its name would bring about the end of the world itself!

I'm not joking, that's what it said

[TKz]

Every cutscene should have some amount of Sazh & Vanille interaction.

This cast has to be the most evolving yet. Usually it's just the main character that changes over time, with the occasional side character getting a bit of development, this time around it's pretty much every character.

[Benji]

Oh man. I don't want to spoil what's coming up, but I will say this... awesome. Just... this games story, battle system and character development gets better and better the more you play it.

EDIT 1.1: Actually I'm removing that edit in the hopes no-one saw/will remember it when they get there, I don't want to spoil your expectations.

[Dan]

Oh you bastard Benji :@

[Benji]

Oh you bastard Benji :@

What chapter did I say? In spoiler tags if you do remember

[Dan]

Anyways, just onto the second disc, surprised myself, quite enjoying it so far

[Benji]

Anyways, just onto the second disc, surprised myself, quite enjoying it so far

I saw you in the thread at the time, you almost had me worried there

What chapter is the second disc?