Played the game for few hours yesterday. It starts out pretty slow and it's very linear and for first 2-3 hours the battle system is just bashing X for auto-battle. After 2-3 hours it the battle system starts to make sense as new game play mechanisms are opened, and it seems pretty good that far (the general focus for most battles isn't at micro managing each command, which I like since you can get past regular fights very quickly because of this).

The dialogue and voice acting is terrible at times, but if you can get past the first few hours you might actually enjoy the game! I don't really have much more to say yet because I'm only 4 hours into the game, but I hope it starts to pick up.

the first chapter was so fucking dull that if it wasn't for the production values and the fact i had read the game's first hours are basically one long tutorial, i might have quit playing the game altogether, it was really pretty bad barring the visuals and presentation.

the game gets better once you reach chapter 3 when the battle and leveling systems open up and the story starts to pick up and start making some sense. the story is pretty simple so far but i like how you're thrown in middle of everything without really knowing anything about the story and the cast and it all starts unraveling from there. it keeps an air of mystery around you and even though it's way too early to say if the story is actually any good or not, at least it's mostly well presented and the pacing has been good. it's a shame that there are a few too many cringeworthy moments and that vanille is one of the most annoying characters ever but at least rest of the cast is better than your average ff cast and sazh is cool, easily the best character so far. and upside is that the game has been getting better the further you get minus chapter 4 being pretty uneventful.

basically it's been entertaining so far and the linearity hasn't bothered me too much past the first chapter (which was just ridiculous, it really was nothing but a straight line) but i still think i would be enjoying the game a lot more if you could actually get to explore a bit. cocoon seems like a cool world and i like its design and it's a shame that you don't actually get to explore it and that there's no world map because done right it could be pretty damn cool with the whole spherical world idea. it's true that the linearity and short, spread-out cutscenes help the pacing and there aren't many boring moments but still, ff13 tries too much to be like games like uncharted 2 and it doesn't work out quite so well with an rpg, if you can even call ff13 that. another thing which is ridiculous is that the game pretty much baby feeds EVERYTHING to you. battle tutorials i can understand but why in the fuck do you need to have a map which shows you every little path there is? hunting for treasure chests would make a lot more sense if there was even a little challenge in finding hidden paths and chests but nope, instead it's a challenge to miss a single chest unless you intentionally don't explore the short optional paths. with the exception of winning a few tough battles with a good rating, ff13 is completely missing the feeling of accomplishment. but at least it's nice that there have been some tough battles already and there is some strategy involved in the battles but it's still all pretty simple but based on what i have read, i'm sure it'll get better the further you get. it's a shame the game takes way too long to give you enough freedom in battles to get the most out of them.

i'm enjoying the leveling system and even though weapon upgrading is really simplified, it's a nice little addition. visuals and presentation are top-notch, the soundtrack so far is good and way better than ff10's and 12's were. doesn't reach the level of uematsu's best work (ff6 and 9) but it's pretty fresh and definitely on par with some of uematsu's other work. voice acting is mostly good, considering jrpg standards. also, the game is really fast-paced unlike almost every jrpg out there and it's a really welcomed change. all in all, ff13 has taken a somewhat different approach and i suppose you can give some props to square for not going with the tried and true jrpg formula.

all in all, i think ff13 has its fair share of flaws (or some not flaws but directing decisions i don't completely agree with) and even though i have only played for around 10 hours, i'm sure this is not going to be one of the better ff titles for me. but still, there are many good things about it too and so far it's been a pretty good and enjoyable game minus the beginning.

yo if you haven't gotten up to the end of chapter five prepare yourself for what I thought was a fucking HUGE difficulty spike. i mean it took me four-five shots to just think "oooook what do i have to do here", it's not as if things had been gradually getting harder, this one was out of nowhere. ahhh well.

also DS, I agree with your post for the most part, but honestly i'm hoping they go with something a little more traditional for their next outing. mad props to square for trying something new, like you said, but in some cases this feels ridiculously streamlined (the fact that you can only control one character in battle is a bit of a killer; i'd really like an AUTO MODE or a MANUAL MODE at times (hope is god damn useless, even moreso on AI)). i dunno, i guess it's just a little too simplified! at least it's nice to look at.

I'm also hoping the next one would be a bit more traditional in some ways. I would like to have a world map again (just take a look at Dragon Quest 8; a world map in that style in a current generation RPG would rock) or at least a world something similar to FF12, just with more story and maybe less random huge mmorpg-esque areas. Basically I wouldn't mind some more RPG elements but other than that, I'm fine with the new gameplay tweaks. I like the battle system a lot and I don't mind that you only control one character. I'm already enjoying the battle system more than anything else in the series except FF10 but I think this one might be better once you get full control over the system.

Actually, it's kinda interesting how FF13 takes a completely different approach than FF12 did and in many ways they feel like polar opposites. Most things FF12 did really well FF13 doesn't and vice versa. Square needs to mix the best of the two and they could have a really good game.

Hey DS, I read the GamePro review and they said that FFXIII is basically just "a continuous straight line" with a few bends here and there up until the free roaming parts far, far, far in the game. Does this seem true to you? I read how you felt about the first chapter, but does all just feel like a "point A to point B" sort of exercise afterwards?

That's exactly how it is. The thing is that the first chapter was literally just a straight line and it was just, you know, TOO MUCH. After that the areas do branch out a bit and there is some variety but it's still pretty much a straight line just as GamePro review says. You do not get to explore at all and the game is extremely linear just like FF10 was. FF13 takes it to a new extreme though as there are no shops, towns or anything like that. It can sound really bad but really, once you start playing it hasn't bothered me too much, just like Uncharted 2 being linear didn't bother me. I still think it's not the best decision to go with as I said earlier though, I would definitely prefer more exploration over this and that's one of the main reasons I prefer FF12 over FF13. In addition of completely missing exploration, there are no side-quests or anything to do besides from running forward and progressing the story. I loved how you had a lot of optional stuff to do in FF12 right from the beginning and beating challenging hunts and hunting for hidden treasures felt really rewarding. FF13 is missing all that, and it's a shame. I have read that it's going to have similar hunting system later in the game when it opens up but it sucks that it's only some end-game content.

enemies respawn if you leave the area or quit at save point (i think) but you can't grind too much because the crystalium board has a level cap and only certain events will let you access further boards. some grinding is needed if you want to reach the level caps but you can't grind much. since there are no optional hunts/bosses so far, it's a good decision because the game stays challenging and you can't just overpower your enemies and need to use battle system the way it's meant to be used. but yeah, you can do little grinding (not only for exp but also for items you can use to level your weapons) if you feel like it but that's all.

Well.

Final Fantasy XIII seems to be a very hit and miss sort of title, and reading about some of the game features or lack thereof really made me want to stray away. I bought the game regardless, and that's "What I'll be playing" when I finally have time tonight.

Do any of you guys know if the characters get new roles as the game progresses? Like, right now for me Sazh only has one role: ravager. Does he ever get any more?

ok cool. Also, I really wish they just used initials for paradigms instead of coming up with stupid names that you have to memorize what they are. Like instead of "Relentless Assault", it should be called 'CRR'

It's not as fancy but it would be a lot more convenient.

Maybe I was too young at the time but I never understood the hate for FFX, I really loved it. I thought the characters were badass especially. FF12 is pretty much unmemorable in comparison.

You don't have to look at the names when you pick paradigms, since you always see the roles on the right (at least I don't).

FFX was a major shift in gameplay and style. Suddenly we went from a pre-rendered 3D perspective with text boxes to a full 3D perspective with voice acting. Such a dramatic change will always cause automatic hate from "fans". See 'Celda' the Windwaker and Fallout 3 for other examples.

You don't have to look at the names when you pick paradigms, since you always see the roles on the right (at least I don't).

yeah i just noticed that while playing. im dumb for not seeing that before. for some reason i kept looking at the far left of the screen.

People hate Fallout 3? o_o

Uh yeah a lot of the "hardcore" fans of the original fallout games hated it because of how much it differs from the first 2.