Gaming Final Fantasy Saga (FF7 Rebirth Spoilers TAGGED)

Man, between the demo and everything they've showed off in promotional materials FFXV is going to be a blast to play. Shame the story will probably be hot ****.

Also, FFIX is out on iOS/Android and Square Enix put in the work, so it actually controls well. Madness.

 

I wish they made the demo of FFXV available to everybody. I'm not sure if I'm going to get the game right away otherwise. I am currently playing FFXIV, and am enjoying it.

 

FFXIII angered me so much, that I still cannot bring myself any of the games - new or old.

 

I know I'm among the minority in liking the FFXIII saga. The thing I liked the most was how it was really the first (non sequel/spin-off) game of the franchise where the lead protagonist was female. I liked Lightning as a character. She had her flaws, and she wasn't necessarily OP; at least compared to the other characters in the original game. Not to mention the games have among the best CG scenes of any game on the PS3. I'm a sucker for games like that.

 

What I enjoyed on FF13, while I could see the flaws - and it certainly had some bastard-hard bosses - was seeing a battle system rendered at the then new-gen tech level. Dropping a Firaga spell on an ice enemy had never looked so good.

The sequel I didn't mind, except that Caius was a weak and cheap villain.

I just couldn't be sold on the third one though.

 

Well the saga needed closure. That's what Lightning Returns was. The thing I've always appreciated the most from Final Fantasy games is that you're always rewarded with an epic cinematic ending that is unrivaled by other games. Just sit back, relax, and grab your popcorn 'cause you're usually in for a treat.

 

Lightning Returns is now cheap enough I may consider it as a gamble buy.

Tried the demo ages ago and really didn't like the changes they'd made. Not least as whatever else can be said about XIII, its combat system was very good - the only big flaw it had was leader dies = instant fail, which was changed in the second. The new visual stagger gauge didn't work for me either, got on far better with the numbers version.

That and Lightning on her own just didn't work as well, she was better in a group.

 

In LR they make her OP enough to stand on her own, without a group. It takes some getting used to, but switching outfits (kind of like a jobs system) does work well IMO. You can switch from a debuffer, to a synergist, to a warrior on the fly.

 

What I found far more difficult in the LR demo was processing the info at the speed I needed to - the various visual bars instead of numbers made it far harder so in the end I said stuff it.

 

The objective is to pay attention to the ATB bar. Certain spells and actions cost more or less than others, so you have to make sure there's just enough to get off what you want from the certain job/outfit, then switch to a new one. And while you're on the new one, the ATB slowly recharges from the ones you're not using. The video I posted before didn't really show everything. This one is better.

 

You're not quite following me - I get the concept, I get how it works, the theory isn't the problem, it's the practicing of it.

What I found extremely taxing was literally taking in that amount of info, processing it, analysing it to see the effect, while responding to what's happening on-screen. And I have to do that on 3 bars and have an eye on the visual stagger indicator.... Everyone's got their limits in this respect, I hit mine on this one.

In contrast, I found that easier in FF13 and FF13-2, because I'm better with numbers.

(This is a very individual and likely unique to me problem!)

 

Well you're right that I'm not following you with regards to the numbers. This is what shows on the ATB bar for the first two games?

 

Think I've found something that illustrates what I'm getting at:



The numbers are there but the timeblocks aren't - or rather there's far more of them! I found it far harder to quickly establish how much of the bar a technique would take, which then distracts me just enough from what's going on on the screen. Amplify that same effect across 3 bars, all recharging at different rates and there's a bit too much juggling of info for me.

In contrast, FF13:



And then there was the visual stagger indicator in place of the % status:



There's an awful lot I liked about the battle system in the FF13 games, but in LR I felt too overloaded by it.

Don't know if that's any clearer?

 

Oh yeah I get it now. The percentage thing. That faint purple "lifeline" on the enemies in LR was hard to get used to. It took me awhile; well past the somewhat brief demo and into the game after I bought it.

 

Thanks, that's kind of reassuring - that it's not just me.

Going to be interesting to see how XV builds on what they did in XIII.

 

From the gameplay I've seen on Youtube and such, it looks like it's fairly Real Time Battle; similar to LR.

 

Back to LR for a mo', as you played your way through it - how does the finite time aspect work and the various quests? Does it always reset completely?

 

It's essentially a countdown. If I remember correctly, you get half a dozen days to complete missions and tasks before the end of the world. Depending on how much you can get done, you may earn a full day - up to 13 days total. Killing fiends gets you EP, which gives you abilities; and one of these abilities is called "Chronostasis", which temporarily freezes the countdown for a short amount of time. The end of the world is when you fight the boss battle, so if you know what's good for you, you'd want to complete as many missions and tasks before. You level up by completing these tasks; not by grinding fiends.

 

Wonder if the feed will crash tomorrow?

 

I'm still more anxious in anticipation of the FFVII remake than I am with XV.

 

You'll probably have to wait a bit longer for more news of that one, but you never know.

 

We'll see. I never bought into the hype of Type-0; the only part of it I was at least curious about was the demo of XV that came with it.

 

Well, a new FFXV demo is out, downloading it now, along with a bunch of FFXV news (anime prequel, movie, etc.). Including, at long last, an official release date- September 30. Now to see if they can actually keep to that schedule. Oh yeah, I should probably go pre-order it somewhere. Here's hoping they succeed at the worldwide launch, its been far too long for this game.

 

I'll have to download that. Previously the demos were only available to those who bought Type-0.

 

Thanks for the tip-off about the demo - too bad it was a piece of crap at the end. What the hell are games designer thinking these days?

Yes, let's immediately warp you to an adult, change your equipment options and layout, stick a life bar in that you haven't had before and have a very aggressive enemy. There seems to be some no die rule in the demo, which is just as well because that HP went in smoke. Can't say it felt like an accomplishment, just blundering through to no real end or benefit.