DarkHalo003
July 11th, 2011, 08:32 PM
Yeah, if anyone remembers my review below:
http://www.modacity.net/forums/showthread.php?22832-Final-Fantasy-13-Review-Part-1&highlight=FFXIII
This is PART 2. Just thought I'd carry out something I said I would do for once. Part 2 involves Disc 3 to Post-Game (shortly though). Same format as last time.
The Good
-The game truly pics up once you insert Disc 3. Gran Pulse amazing and there is SO much to do before you're forced to press towards the final chapters (12-13) of the game. It changes from linear to expansive, giving the player some well deserved exploring to do. The side-quests on Gran Pulse are known as Cieth Stone Missions, where you hunt down monsters ranging from average to menacing. More on Gran Pulse and Cieth Mission stones later.
-Boss fights become reasonably frustrating utilize the need for strategy using the paradigm more. You can't just spam your way to victory now using Ravager, Commander, and Medic.
-Generally speaking, the Eidolon Battles end after Chapter 11, giving you access to some very cool and lifesaving summons.
-Your characters now have the potential and resources to be awesome. Unlike before, where grinding for CP was all about reseting the enemies, your first step into each new chapter reveals monsters that give you a generous amount of CP. More on this later though.
-Great, reasonably challenging final boss fights. To avoid spoilers, that's all I will say.
-Your characters' crystariums also expand and allow more job options (eventually). More on this later though.
-There is definitely a feeling of reward for winning battles now.
The Bad
-The simply distance required to travel to different mission stones, even with a Chocobo and teleporters, is colossal. Though running around on the Archylte Steppe Central Expanse is pretty cool, everywhere else is kind of an inconvenience simply because the Steppe is so damn huge and each area is on each corner of the level. Like I said, Chocobos and teleporters only help a small bit; sometimes I want to just get to the mission stones and not fight through hordes of monsters AGAIN to reach a just then activated stone I had visited already before. It was more or less annoying.
-As I said that each chapter presents monsters that gave you plenty of CP to level with, I should also mention that these regular encounters will utterly kick your ass upon entering each new chapter. It is notorious among a lot of players that entering Gran Pulse automatically begins the "regular encounter can kick your ass badly" vibe. Entering chapter 12 is much the same, where even stronger beasts will own you.
-Square Enix also decided to give major bosses the ability to doom your main character if you've taken more than, say, 20 minutes to defeat a majorly powerful boss. For progression and my wanting to advance further into the game, that's incredibly obnoxious.
-And that thing where your main character faints and it's game over is still utter bullshit. Feels like someone was just covering their laziness, which Square has been notorious for (*cough*balancing team for Dissidia/FFIV Compilation*cough*.
-Post-Game you gain the ability to expand into the 5th level of the Crystarium. This isn't so bad except A.) The point is to beat the Mission Stones and you NEED a maxed out Crystarium B.) It's at least 30,000 CP for one node, which mind you takes a lot of battles to reach C.) Besides the missions, there is really no other story, no other bad guys that encompass a reason to actually level up. So you accomplish each mission? Then what? You already beat the Final Boss....
The Not-So-Bad-But-Rage-Provoking (these things made me mad, but that doesn't mean they're broken)
-MINICHUS FFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU------------------------
-Adamantoise kills you in 1-2 stomps.
-Mission Stone Bosses randomly have super-attacks that will kill your party leader (damn raktivaji and neochu hurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr)
-Kind of boring after you beat the game, even after you have the expansion, you still have to grind for CP which takes forever considering how much each node costs (from 3000-30,000 least).
Basically, this game rocks. Not going to lie. It is a TON of fun. I had a lot of Cons, but the Pros definitely outweigh them. If you like Final Fantasy and are worried to play this game because of what some have said, don't fret; I recommend this game. Prepare to put in a lot of hours to complete it though; it may have linear portions, but you'll still be fighting for hours on end.
http://www.modacity.net/forums/showthread.php?22832-Final-Fantasy-13-Review-Part-1&highlight=FFXIII
This is PART 2. Just thought I'd carry out something I said I would do for once. Part 2 involves Disc 3 to Post-Game (shortly though). Same format as last time.
The Good
-The game truly pics up once you insert Disc 3. Gran Pulse amazing and there is SO much to do before you're forced to press towards the final chapters (12-13) of the game. It changes from linear to expansive, giving the player some well deserved exploring to do. The side-quests on Gran Pulse are known as Cieth Stone Missions, where you hunt down monsters ranging from average to menacing. More on Gran Pulse and Cieth Mission stones later.
-Boss fights become reasonably frustrating utilize the need for strategy using the paradigm more. You can't just spam your way to victory now using Ravager, Commander, and Medic.
-Generally speaking, the Eidolon Battles end after Chapter 11, giving you access to some very cool and lifesaving summons.
-Your characters now have the potential and resources to be awesome. Unlike before, where grinding for CP was all about reseting the enemies, your first step into each new chapter reveals monsters that give you a generous amount of CP. More on this later though.
-Great, reasonably challenging final boss fights. To avoid spoilers, that's all I will say.
-Your characters' crystariums also expand and allow more job options (eventually). More on this later though.
-There is definitely a feeling of reward for winning battles now.
The Bad
-The simply distance required to travel to different mission stones, even with a Chocobo and teleporters, is colossal. Though running around on the Archylte Steppe Central Expanse is pretty cool, everywhere else is kind of an inconvenience simply because the Steppe is so damn huge and each area is on each corner of the level. Like I said, Chocobos and teleporters only help a small bit; sometimes I want to just get to the mission stones and not fight through hordes of monsters AGAIN to reach a just then activated stone I had visited already before. It was more or less annoying.
-As I said that each chapter presents monsters that gave you plenty of CP to level with, I should also mention that these regular encounters will utterly kick your ass upon entering each new chapter. It is notorious among a lot of players that entering Gran Pulse automatically begins the "regular encounter can kick your ass badly" vibe. Entering chapter 12 is much the same, where even stronger beasts will own you.
-Square Enix also decided to give major bosses the ability to doom your main character if you've taken more than, say, 20 minutes to defeat a majorly powerful boss. For progression and my wanting to advance further into the game, that's incredibly obnoxious.
-And that thing where your main character faints and it's game over is still utter bullshit. Feels like someone was just covering their laziness, which Square has been notorious for (*cough*balancing team for Dissidia/FFIV Compilation*cough*.
-Post-Game you gain the ability to expand into the 5th level of the Crystarium. This isn't so bad except A.) The point is to beat the Mission Stones and you NEED a maxed out Crystarium B.) It's at least 30,000 CP for one node, which mind you takes a lot of battles to reach C.) Besides the missions, there is really no other story, no other bad guys that encompass a reason to actually level up. So you accomplish each mission? Then what? You already beat the Final Boss....
The Not-So-Bad-But-Rage-Provoking (these things made me mad, but that doesn't mean they're broken)
-MINICHUS FFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU------------------------
-Adamantoise kills you in 1-2 stomps.
-Mission Stone Bosses randomly have super-attacks that will kill your party leader (damn raktivaji and neochu hurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr)
-Kind of boring after you beat the game, even after you have the expansion, you still have to grind for CP which takes forever considering how much each node costs (from 3000-30,000 least).
Basically, this game rocks. Not going to lie. It is a TON of fun. I had a lot of Cons, but the Pros definitely outweigh them. If you like Final Fantasy and are worried to play this game because of what some have said, don't fret; I recommend this game. Prepare to put in a lot of hours to complete it though; it may have linear portions, but you'll still be fighting for hours on end.