"We waited three years for a battle system?"

[crysis]

Here it is, a big ol' 6/10 from me:

www.honestgamers.com/reviews/8734/Final-Fantasy-XIII.html

[Samildanach]

My housemate's been playing it, and his thoughts are more or less the same as yours, though he seems less negative about them. I know he found the narrowness of his path through the game irritating, and was deeply relieved when he finally reached that area with the lumbering dinosaur thing. He's spent at least eight hours just wandering around there.

He also remarked on the repetitiveness of the enemies, but he described it as "that old Final Fantasy trick, different colours of the same enemy" and didn't really mind it.

Nice reference to Ultros, by the way.

[zipp]

Did some posts get erased here? That's weird, I swore I responded to this one.

Thanks for the read, Sam!

[Samildanach]

No problem. I find your reviews get stronger each time I read one.

I fully intend to play FFXIII at some point, but not until it's come way down in price. I still need to finish XII anyway. I only got as far as looking for nomads on the rainy Giza Plains.

[crysis]

XII isn't worth finishing. It's a fun game, but there's nothing about the end that makes it incredible. Once you've gotten past all the scenes with Cid, there's no reason to beat it, storywise.

XIII on the other hand, doesn't get good until the end. And, as I said... by then I didn't care.

Good to hear I'm improving!

[eviltb]

Im starting to not care about this game too. Too much linear stuff, now Im out "in the world" and having grind my characters to get enough CP to take on the monsters that roam the world. Not to mention the Gil farming needed to upgrade the weapons I need! But Ive started it, so Im gonna damn well finish it!!

[zipp]

I never did finish, making it the second FF (alongside FF8) that I have not beaten.

[eviltb]

The thing is about this game right... Im at the end of Ch 11, which is from what I can see the end of the free-roam section. I did start the beginning of Ch 12 but restarted my save from the end of 11. The reason? Going into Ch 12 I got my arse severly handed! So now I need to grind grind grind up those CP points so I can pretty much max out everyone in their 3 main roles before continuing. After all the hand-holdy of the first 10 chapters, to just shoot the enemy difficulty level up like that is unrealistic. In other FF games, you didnt have to be top-level max'ed out Omega weapons all round to beat them. It seems in FF13, you do! I dont know wether this is Squares new idea to make everyone uber so you can just cake the end game, but it doesnt feel right. The last JRPG I played (Lost Odyssey), you only had to be "max level" to be one OPTIONAL boss, an even that boss you didnt meet unless you got the DLC! You could still be a healthy level 75-80 and still finish the game. I enjoyed LO a lot more too, even though it took me around 18months and 100+hours of on/off play to get done. Thats what I reckon will happen to this game too..
Anyway, I shall do what I can to finish this game up as I hate leaving things undone. Got a couple of weeks before new StreetFighter, then a couple more weeks before Lost Planet 2, I should get it done by then ;D

[Samildanach]

Funny you should mention Lost Odyssey. I just bought it as a dissertation-finishing present for myself. I haven't played it yet though. As unfortunate timing would have it, I'm getting dragged back into Morrowind.

[Izziel Darkblade]

Funny you should mention Morrowind. I'm getting back to Oblivion, and this time I might actually follow the main quest.

[zipp]

Funny you should mention your dissertation. I'm starting preliminary work on mine. How'd yours go?

[Samildanach]

It was quite hard work, but the hardest part was editing it down to size. I had to lose thousands of words to get it within the maximum permitted count. I really enjoyed it though. Not the editing so much, but the whole thing overall.