Final Fantasy

[Benji]

It's an avatar for X-Box IIRC.

[TKz]

Yeah, that's the one. I don't really know much about 360, so I was at a loss. If anyones interested in reading what you have to do, I'd be happy to post. (It's not really spoilery, just mentions the names of some enemies etc.)

[Trey]

Ok, so I'm having a problem making the crystal stuff go in the direction I want to. If I press the direction it just moves me to it, but if I go back to where I am and try to press X before pressing a direction it just seems to send me whatever way it pleases. I've also tried going to the one I want and pressing X but that just sends me back to where I am on the crystals. I feel like an idiot but it's quite frustrating wanting to develop one way and being sent the other.

[probablyoliver]

So I've played about 3/4 hours now, and yeah, it's better than I expected in parts, but I'm still not sold on other bits.

Pros:

- I'm loving the fact that Square have finally taken note of how an 'action' game should work, and that instead of having to go through hours upon hours of tutorials, boring cutscenes and very one-dimensional character design, you're thrust right into the middle of the action and made to pick things up as you go along rather than having everything given to you on a silver platter. Seriously, take X for example, you start off in Zanarkand and it's beautiful and then HOLY SHIT SIN and the first hour or so is so engaging because everything's happening and you have no idea why, then you meet Auron in Luca and the next 8-10 hours of gameplay is entirely dull and then HOLY CRAP STORY KICKS IN. X was a rollercoaster in the worst way imaginable, so it's good to see we've actually got some consistent action going on.

- The characters are, for the first time since IX, largely without fault. Snow's a badass of the highest decree, Lightning's got the 'mysterious lead' down to a tee (which I'd say is a first for the entire FF series), Hope's got the little-lost-boy Vivi role down beautifully, Sazh is wonderful as the comic relief and I'm actually intrigued to find out more about him (which only Steiner managed to pull off in the past), and then you've got the pink-haired girl who I went into a massive rant to Ruki about the other day and who's name I still haven't cared to remember. She's annoying. She's worse than Selphie, Rikku and Penelo put together, and I want to punch her in the face and seriously, what, is she British? or Australian? or has she just got the worst accent in the world ever. Seriously, fuck her. The only time that whole plucky-but-ignorant fem character has been done well in FF is Eiko and that's because she was SIX YEARS OLD and not rammed down our throats as a sex symbol. That, and she was a massive badass.

- The visuals. Oh man the visuals. I want to have sex with these pre-rendered backdrops. They're just sublime. Oh man, the visuals.

Cons:

- Okay, the battle system is, yeah, I'm still not really buying it. I love the class system, and I love being able to have multiple classes for each character, but holy crap I have no idea what's going on in battle. Benji said he liked it as a mix between Crisis Core and XII, but for me it's as if they combined the worst parts of each. It's just such a massive clusterfuck of everything all at once and I'm finding it more than a little hard to get into it. It seems to work for the bigger battles because there's now a major emphasis on strategy, but for the smaller buttons I seem to find myself button bashing and just hoping for the best. I know that since they started messing with the actual battle system circa X that each FF came with it's learning curve, and I'm sure I'll get used to it when my characters start to become a bit more unique, but yeah, for now it just seems like too much is going on with it all.

- The datalog is literally the most helpful resource ever seen in a FF game, and yeah, it's pretty wonderful, but it completely counter-acts the whole 'non-stop action' element of the first few hours of gameplay. It's a brilliant little tool, it really is, but through the first few hours I've found myself breaking up the action every two minutes to find out what is actually going on. I know I said I liked the fact we're not given everything on a silver platter from the get-go, but it'd be helpful to explain what a fal'Cie is during actual gameplay, because I'm being completely distracted by the datalog because without it the story would perhaps be a bit too baffling from the get-go.

No doubt I'll be back with more, but yeah, that's really my initial thoughts. It's a bit of a mixed bag so far, but in no way has that detracted from my need to carry on playing because god-damn, the story really grabs you by the balls from the very first cutscene.

[Rich]

So I've played about 3/4 hours now, and yeah, it's better than I expected in parts, but I'm still not sold on other bits.

Pros:

- I'm loving the fact that Square have finally taken note of how an 'action' game should work, and that instead of having to go through hours upon hours of tutorials, boring cutscenes and very one-dimensional character design, you're thrust right into the middle of the action and made to pick things up as you go along rather than having everything given to you on a silver platter. Seriously, take X for example, you start off in Zanarkand and it's beautiful and then HOLY SHIT SIN and the first hour or so is so engaging because everything's happening and you have no idea why, then you meet Auron in Luca and the next 8-10 hours of gameplay is entirely dull and then HOLY CRAP STORY KICKS IN. X was a rollercoaster in the worst way imaginable, so it's good to see we've actually got some consistent action going on.

- The characters are, for the first time since IX, largely without fault. Snow's a badass of the highest decree, Lightning's got the 'mysterious lead' down to a tee (which I'd say is a first for the entire FF series), Hope's got the little-lost-boy Vivi role down beautifully, Sazh is wonderful as the comic relief and I'm actually intrigued to find out more about him (which only Steiner managed to pull off in the past), and then you've got the pink-haired girl who I went into a massive rant to Ruki about the other day and who's name I still haven't cared to remember. She's annoying. She's worse than Selphie, Rikku and Penelo put together, and I want to punch her in the face and seriously, what, is she British? or Australian? or has she just got the worst accent in the world ever. Seriously, fuck her. The only time that whole plucky-but-ignorant fem character has been done well in FF is Eiko and that's because she was SIX YEARS OLD and not rammed down our throats as a sex symbol. That, and she was a massive badass.

- The visuals. Oh man the visuals. I want to have sex with these pre-rendered backdrops. They're just sublime. Oh man, the visuals.

Cons:

- Okay, the battle system is, yeah, I'm still not really buying it. I love the class system, and I love being able to have multiple classes for each character, but holy crap I have no idea what's going on in battle. Benji said he liked it as a mix between Crisis Core and XII, but for me it's as if they combined the worst parts of each. It's just such a massive clusterfuck of everything all at once and I'm finding it more than a little hard to get into it. It seems to work for the bigger battles because there's now a major emphasis on strategy, but for the smaller buttons I seem to find myself button bashing and just hoping for the best. I know that since they started messing with the actual battle system circa X that each FF came with it's learning curve, and I'm sure I'll get used to it when my characters start to become a bit more unique, but yeah, for now it just seems like too much is going on with it all.

- The datalog is literally the most helpful resource ever seen in a FF game, and yeah, it's pretty wonderful, but it completely counter-acts the whole 'non-stop action' element of the first few hours of gameplay. It's a brilliant little tool, it really is, but through the first few hours I've found myself breaking up the action every two minutes to find out what is actually going on. I know I said I liked the fact we're not given everything on a silver platter from the get-go, but it'd be helpful to explain what a fal'Cie is during actual gameplay, because I'm being completely distracted by the datalog because without it the story would perhaps be a bit too baffling from the get-go.

No doubt I'll be back with more, but yeah, that's really my initial thoughts. It's a bit of a mixed bag so far, but in no way has that detracted from my need to carry on playing because god-damn, the story really grabs you by the balls from the very first cutscene.

Her name's Vanille and you can shut your pie hole

seriously though, play the game for another 5 hours and a lot of the problems you have go away pretty swiftly

[DMN in the House]

Only part-way through chapter three, but fuck this game is amazing. I'm trying not to use auto-battle, but I'm finding that I take too long to target things. I'm just annoyed at losing my Sentinel. Diversity just isn't the same as Solidarity.

[Benji]

Diversity is if you need to do something fast, Solidarity is if you need to do something right... saying that I tend to learn more on Diversity unless I'm having particular trouble with a group of enemies.

[Benji]

Ok, so I'm having a problem making the crystal stuff go in the direction I want to. If I press the direction it just moves me to it, but if I go back to where I am and try to press X before pressing a direction it just seems to send me whatever way it pleases. I've also tried going to the one I want and pressing X but that just sends me back to where I am on the crystals. I feel like an idiot but it's quite frustrating wanting to develop one way and being sent the other.

Press and hold X for at least a second before pointing in the right direction, also make sure to do a quick tap of X on the thing you're aiming for beforehand. It's not just you, the menu is very weird there.

[TKz]

Just started to find out what happened too Sazh in his first real flashback. Halfway through Chapter 6, I've heard the boss of this chapter is a bitch, any confirmation? I'm looking at you, Benji. >_>

[Benji]

Hah, no Chapter Six I wiped the floor with and then shit...

... right in the flowers on their back.

Use Libra first, then watch the damage spill out.

[probablyoliver]

So I've played about 3/4 hours now, and yeah, it's better than I expected in parts, but I'm still not sold on other bits.

Pros:

- I'm loving the fact that Square have finally taken note of how an 'action' game should work, and that instead of having to go through hours upon hours of tutorials, boring cutscenes and very one-dimensional character design, you're thrust right into the middle of the action and made to pick things up as you go along rather than having everything given to you on a silver platter. Seriously, take X for example, you start off in Zanarkand and it's beautiful and then HOLY SHIT SIN and the first hour or so is so engaging because everything's happening and you have no idea why, then you meet Auron in Luca and the next 8-10 hours of gameplay is entirely dull and then HOLY CRAP STORY KICKS IN. X was a rollercoaster in the worst way imaginable, so it's good to see we've actually got some consistent action going on.

- The characters are, for the first time since IX, largely without fault. Snow's a badass of the highest decree, Lightning's got the 'mysterious lead' down to a tee (which I'd say is a first for the entire FF series), Hope's got the little-lost-boy Vivi role down beautifully, Sazh is wonderful as the comic relief and I'm actually intrigued to find out more about him (which only Steiner managed to pull off in the past), and then you've got the pink-haired girl who I went into a massive rant to Ruki about the other day and who's name I still haven't cared to remember. She's annoying. She's worse than Selphie, Rikku and Penelo put together, and I want to punch her in the face and seriously, what, is she British? or Australian? or has she just got the worst accent in the world ever. Seriously, fuck her. The only time that whole plucky-but-ignorant fem character has been done well in FF is Eiko and that's because she was SIX YEARS OLD and not rammed down our throats as a sex symbol. That, and she was a massive badass.

- The visuals. Oh man the visuals. I want to have sex with these pre-rendered backdrops. They're just sublime. Oh man, the visuals.

Cons:

- Okay, the battle system is, yeah, I'm still not really buying it. I love the class system, and I love being able to have multiple classes for each character, but holy crap I have no idea what's going on in battle. Benji said he liked it as a mix between Crisis Core and XII, but for me it's as if they combined the worst parts of each. It's just such a massive clusterfuck of everything all at once and I'm finding it more than a little hard to get into it. It seems to work for the bigger battles because there's now a major emphasis on strategy, but for the smaller buttons I seem to find myself button bashing and just hoping for the best. I know that since they started messing with the actual battle system circa X that each FF came with it's learning curve, and I'm sure I'll get used to it when my characters start to become a bit more unique, but yeah, for now it just seems like too much is going on with it all.

- The datalog is literally the most helpful resource ever seen in a FF game, and yeah, it's pretty wonderful, but it completely counter-acts the whole 'non-stop action' element of the first few hours of gameplay. It's a brilliant little tool, it really is, but through the first few hours I've found myself breaking up the action every two minutes to find out what is actually going on. I know I said I liked the fact we're not given everything on a silver platter from the get-go, but it'd be helpful to explain what a fal'Cie is during actual gameplay, because I'm being completely distracted by the datalog because without it the story would perhaps be a bit too baffling from the get-go.

No doubt I'll be back with more, but yeah, that's really my initial thoughts. It's a bit of a mixed bag so far, but in no way has that detracted from my need to carry on playing because god-damn, the story really grabs you by the balls from the very first cutscene.

Her name's Vanille and you can shut your pie hole

seriously though, play the game for another 5 hours and a lot of the problems you have go away pretty swiftly

It's the accent mainly. She has the worst voice. Ever.

And I think we can all agree that Eiko was a massive badass.

[Dan]

I found chapter 5 boss rather hard even with Libra. End of chapter 6 boss my mate had a problem with but I found them rather easy, nailing them first go.

Edited March 11, 2010 by Version Dan

[Rich]

So I've played about 3/4 hours now, and yeah, it's better than I expected in parts, but I'm still not sold on other bits.

Pros:

- I'm loving the fact that Square have finally taken note of how an 'action' game should work, and that instead of having to go through hours upon hours of tutorials, boring cutscenes and very one-dimensional character design, you're thrust right into the middle of the action and made to pick things up as you go along rather than having everything given to you on a silver platter. Seriously, take X for example, you start off in Zanarkand and it's beautiful and then HOLY SHIT SIN and the first hour or so is so engaging because everything's happening and you have no idea why, then you meet Auron in Luca and the next 8-10 hours of gameplay is entirely dull and then HOLY CRAP STORY KICKS IN. X was a rollercoaster in the worst way imaginable, so it's good to see we've actually got some consistent action going on.

- The characters are, for the first time since IX, largely without fault. Snow's a badass of the highest decree, Lightning's got the 'mysterious lead' down to a tee (which I'd say is a first for the entire FF series), Hope's got the little-lost-boy Vivi role down beautifully, Sazh is wonderful as the comic relief and I'm actually intrigued to find out more about him (which only Steiner managed to pull off in the past), and then you've got the pink-haired girl who I went into a massive rant to Ruki about the other day and who's name I still haven't cared to remember. She's annoying. She's worse than Selphie, Rikku and Penelo put together, and I want to punch her in the face and seriously, what, is she British? or Australian? or has she just got the worst accent in the world ever. Seriously, fuck her. The only time that whole plucky-but-ignorant fem character has been done well in FF is Eiko and that's because she was SIX YEARS OLD and not rammed down our throats as a sex symbol. That, and she was a massive badass.

- The visuals. Oh man the visuals. I want to have sex with these pre-rendered backdrops. They're just sublime. Oh man, the visuals.

Cons:

- Okay, the battle system is, yeah, I'm still not really buying it. I love the class system, and I love being able to have multiple classes for each character, but holy crap I have no idea what's going on in battle. Benji said he liked it as a mix between Crisis Core and XII, but for me it's as if they combined the worst parts of each. It's just such a massive clusterfuck of everything all at once and I'm finding it more than a little hard to get into it. It seems to work for the bigger battles because there's now a major emphasis on strategy, but for the smaller buttons I seem to find myself button bashing and just hoping for the best. I know that since they started messing with the actual battle system circa X that each FF came with it's learning curve, and I'm sure I'll get used to it when my characters start to become a bit more unique, but yeah, for now it just seems like too much is going on with it all.

- The datalog is literally the most helpful resource ever seen in a FF game, and yeah, it's pretty wonderful, but it completely counter-acts the whole 'non-stop action' element of the first few hours of gameplay. It's a brilliant little tool, it really is, but through the first few hours I've found myself breaking up the action every two minutes to find out what is actually going on. I know I said I liked the fact we're not given everything on a silver platter from the get-go, but it'd be helpful to explain what a fal'Cie is during actual gameplay, because I'm being completely distracted by the datalog because without it the story would perhaps be a bit too baffling from the get-go.

No doubt I'll be back with more, but yeah, that's really my initial thoughts. It's a bit of a mixed bag so far, but in no way has that detracted from my need to carry on playing because god-damn, the story really grabs you by the balls from the very first cutscene.

Her name's Vanille and you can shut your pie hole

seriously though, play the game for another 5 hours and a lot of the problems you have go away pretty swiftly

It's the accent mainly. She has the worst voice. Ever.

And I think we can all agree that Eiko was a massive badass.

I guess....

[TKz]

I found chapter 5 boss rather hard even with Libra. End of chapter 6 boss my mate had a problem with but I found them rather easy, nailing them first go.

Chapter 6 boss (and Chapter 6 in general) was made 10,000 times easier with the Undermine Paradigm. I worked on Enlil (the green one) first, poisoned it and DeProtected/DeShelled it, then wailed on it with Slash & Burn until the Stagger Bar was at about... 40-50%. After that, switch to Dualcasting every so often with the occasional War & Peace where needed and they're pretty much easy pickings. Once the first one falls, the other one is pretty much just a Scalebeast with an attack that actually deals some damage.

I really can't sing the praises of Saboteur enough, once you've got Poison, DeProtect and DeShell, it becomes your essential starting Paradigm for most encounters.

Also what the fuck Ruki? Scalebeasts were easy. Granted, it took a bit longer to kill them, but by the end of the second Stagger I had pretty much been healthy through the entire battle and it only had like... 1000 HP left. I mean, I can understand if you were talking about the battle where you take on both a Scalebeast and a bunch of Gremlins, but on it's own the Scalebeast is easy to kill.

edit: Also Ollie, I'd wait a while before condemning Vanille forever. I wasn't fond of her at first, but once she starts off on her own with Sazh and you get to dig a little deeper into her past, you'll grow fonder and fonder of her.

[probablyoliver]

I might be overweight, but I'm not Ruki. :@

[TKz]

I have no idea what you're talking about.

[Rich]

My Lord.

How do the Psicom guys get work done when Colonel Nabaat has her chebs out like that

[Benji]

If you'll notice, she's actually got clothing their, it somehow hugs her cleavage >_<

[Rich]

If you'll notice, she's actually got clothing their, it somehow hugs her cleavage >_<

I noticed eventually, but still....

I am on to chapter nine now and

MY LORD (again) that air ship looks awesome, This is turning out freaking great!

[TKz]

I'm about a third/half the way through Chapter 7. Just acquired Fang and about to take a break before I proceed with her and Lightning. Eagerly awaiting what is apparently the 'mid way' point of the game, where I'll be able to choose whichever party members I want. (Though, I have to ask, does that mean you can pick who is in command also?)