Final Fantasy XIII Lightning Saga

[pppp]

The game leaked this wednesday. I have a modded 360 so I can play backups.

[KrazyBean]

The game leaked this wednesday. I have a modded 360 so I can play backups.

 

Oh. Fair enough.

[AlphaRuby]

The game leaked this wednesday. I have a modded 360 so I can play backups.

Ah, OK.

[KrazyBean]

IGN gave it a 7/10

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2014/02/11/lightning-returns-final-fantasy-xiii-review

 

Gamespot gave it a 5/10

http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/lightning-returns-final-fantasy-xiii-review/1900-6415657/

[T-Min]

http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-3/lightning-returns-final-fantasy-xiii/critic-reviews

 

Metacritic score so far is a 68.

 

Looks like I was right after all. Even the critics can't seem to get behind this wacky "experiment".

[pppp]

OK back to report my latest day in the cycle. First i got to the Dead Dunes, or as i like to call it, "Plastic Desert". I found a well known character from FFXIII and entered these ruins in search of....hum...something that I don't really know why we're searching.Here's what ruined the dungeon: Doors that are only open at certain parts of the day. What the shit? So not only is the clock impeding me from taking on most side quests to get stronger stats, but now you're asking me to just wait for each door to open so i can get to certain places? Fuck that! After getting lost in the annoying maze i decided to get back to Yusnaan and save Snow for real.

 

So i had to get fireworks to destroy a statue as a distraction to distract the Palace guards(Yeah Snow is a king now for some reason). Problem? There's so much padding in this part of the game. There's a pyrotechnician that is drunk and demands booze?....OK i guess i have to buy booze for him. Oh the director of the show wants Lightning in a pretty dress cause she needs to look the part of the savior?....Sure let's win a 3 battle coliseum tournament that reuses 2 normal enemies and the first boss of the game to get the dress. Are you sure this isn't Toriyama himself forcing me to put Light in a sexy dress?

 

OK so i get into the palace. Can i just redo that path i used in the demo to get to him? No too bad, you have to solve brainless puzzles that amount to nothing more than go around the room, press a switch and go through the now open door. Oh and by the way, you can only enter the palace at 3 am, so that leaves only 3 hours to beat all of this. After all that can i finally get to Snow? No, more padding! The door is closed by Shiva's ice and i need something that breaks it. To be fair, there's a good plot reason we need to get the object we need, but dammit Square, I'm already at 5 am, couldn't you just find another way to do this? I'm serious, this part is where the desperate padding to make the game artificially longer is the most obvious. You're absolutely gonna need to abuse the Chronostasis(Ability that allows you to stop the clock for a few minutes) when you get to this dungeon, It's impossible otherwise.

 

However.....I have a confession.....I actually thought the resolution of this part of the story was genuinely affecting. The writing was decent enough and Ali Hillis and Troy Baker did a pretty good job elevating the scenes with their talent. For the first time since that one FMV in FFXIII where Light and Snow had that talk about Serah, which i thought also worked pretty well for the same reasons, I actually gave a shit about a scene in this trilogy.....I just wish Lumina wasn't there to once again spell out why I'm supposed to feel something in these scenes

 

It goes to show how much of a waste of great actors these stories are.

 

Here's the plot summary:

 

Light finds the necklace that Snow gave to Serah as a wedding present and that is the thing that melts the ice. Turns out has been keeping the chaos in Yusnaan in his chambers, absorbing it to protect the people. He finally becomes a Cieth(Even though he only becomes half monster unlike the ones in the original game for some reason) and asks Light to kill him, since he still feels guilty for not being able to save her sister. This is where the game actually got good in my opinion, Light desperatly punching Snow(Wow a reference to my favorite moment in FFXIII, well played Square) and pleading to him that Snow needs to stop this and be here when Serah returns or else he'll really disappoint her felt genuine, again, mostly thanks to the very good voice acting. You can tell the actors were genuinely trying. Snow eventually comes to his senses and Light gains a new ally.

 

Oh also, over time the battle system really grew on me. I'm genuinely enjoying it quite a bit. It's not exactly great, but damn it's so good to play a battle system where i actually feel like I'm doing something and that doesn't make battles take way too long.

 

Honestly, this is the best game in the trilogy by far. Of course that's not saying much, since despite having its moments, the story is still garbage overall. Also the gameplay still has alot of problems.

 

Oh and the graphics, framerate and loading times suck, even with a full install.

 

Still, I have to admit, I'm enjoying this game far more than I ever enjoyed the previous 2 games. That's something i guess.

[pppp]

OMG sorry about the double post, but this has to be seen:

 

 

OMG Fang you can levitate? Clearly she is the real Messiah!

 

But yeah, goes to show how much "polish" this game has

[AlphaRuby]

OMG sorry about the double post, but this has to be seen:

 

 

OMG Fang you can levitate? Clearly she is the real Messiah!

 

But yeah, goes to show how much "polish" this game has

OMG! She's a Jedi!

[KrazyBean]

I was planning to get this at launch, but now I'd rather get a PS3 with Ni no Kuni. I'll buy this at some point though.

[Solkia]

http://moonbeam13.deviantart.com/journal/Lightning-Returns-FF-XIII-Contest-431630794?utm_source=elnino&utm_medium=messagecenter&utm_campaign=%20021114_ADV_LightningReturns&utm_term=title

 

DeviantART is having a contest. Draw a shitty costume idea of Toriyama's waifu and win $1000.

[pppp]

So i finished the main quest in Plastic Desert. Dear lord, and i thought Yusnaan's padding was the worst. So i need to find 3 crux pieces to open the dungeon's final door. How? Well, i can find them in 3 special chambers. OK, acceptable. Oh wait, there's a certain door that is closed, but to open it I need to do a long fetch quest. Since there could be a path i need to take behind it I guess I have to do it. I get 2 of the objects I need and then OOPS, turns out one of them is behind a sand tornado. That means I have to go look for a key that allows me to use my savior powers to stop the tornado, more time wasting. OK i get the final object, complete the fetch quest, and turns out there's nothing behind the door, as the path is blocked. Fuck you game, just why? This is a mean thing to do to the player.

 

So i finally reach the first of the 3 chambers. OK can i get the crux piece? NO! Before that I have to go back outside and go into a shrine to get a special tablet that activates whatever mechanism the room uses. In fact I have to find 3 shrines that are in separate points in this huge desert. One for each chamber.

 

My god, why is there so much annoying padding? You're that desparate for making this short game feel falsely huge?

 

Sigh, so I finally get into the fucking chamber, beat the boss and I finally get what I'm supposed to do at the final day of the cycle.

 

OK so here's what happened plotwise:

 

So in Luxerion i found out Vanille is now a messiah at the cathedral. Turns out she can now her the cries of the dead for some reason. The Order of followers of God is using her to calm the souls of the dead. Apparently they want to use Vanille to destroy all those souls to stop their suffering. Fang is in the desert looking for a magical Mcguffin that will allow Vanille to do that. When we find it, turns out she wants to destroy it, cause the ritual will kill Vanille. Vanille already knows this, but she's willing to go through with it to atone for her past sins. But then turns out the order got the mcguffin thanks to Lumina and Fang is going back to Luxerion to try to stop the ritual on the final day. After that i ended some side quests for the rest of the day.

 

Oh and Lumina is still useless and insulting to my intelligence blablabla.

 

So the only character I still haven't found is Sazh. Fortunately I still have 5 days so I'm good.

[Balding Spider]

Saying a special prayer for you PPPP.

[pppp]

Saying a special prayer for you PPPP.

 

Thanks

 

Well to be fair despite the humongous padding, I'm still enjoying this game a hell of a lot more than the previous two, mostly cause of the infinitely better combat system, so don't worry too hard

[Xenos]

So how exactly does equipping the skills on different costumes work? I thought certain skills would be sort of "set" onto one specific costume so you would have a reason to switch between them.

[pppp]

So i completed the final Main Quest where i save Sazh. Gameplaywise I don't really have nothing to say, it was a decent enough quest.

 

So here's what happened plotwise:

 

So Sazh is sad cause Dajh has lost his soul for some reason......Sigh, I am so sick of these forced problems that come out of nowhere. Why can Vanille hear the dead? Why did Dajh just lose his soul? START MAKING SENSE GAME! START MAKING SENSE! Sigh, so I basically get 5 soul fragments, then turns out the reason Dajh won't wake up even though i got his soul back is...huh....Sazh is not smiling.....This is according to Lumina btw. So after hearing this Sazh starts playing with a toy train, then Dajh wakes up. It's not charming or funny it's just awkward to watch and having Dajh wake like this just comes off as heavy handed.

 

All main quests done and 5 days left. I'm gonna stream the game later, see if I can finish it today, If you want to watch the end send me a PM.

 

Almost done

 

As for what Xenos asked yes, certain outfits have one set skill. For example the default outfit always has Attack LV1 set to the B/O button. But most of them allow free customization, So you can just pick 3 outfits that you like and just customize them in anyway you want. That applies to weapons and shields too btw.

 

So as far as you customize stuff the way you want you'll never have to look at the stupid fanservice.

[pppp]

Sigh, so i finished Lightning Returns. So here's something that has always been a problem but only in the final dungeon did it become incredibly obvious: Certain enemies and bosses are literally impossible to defeat unless you know its specific weakness or use a very specific strategy. The final boss is included in the latter category.

 

The final boss can only be defeated if you abuse the hell out of the Overclock ability, which at the cost of 2 energy points can just stop time and give you unlimited ATB for a few seconds. It's the only way you can stagger him and then kill him, cause after he's staggered his hp goes down amazingly fast. If you don't stagger him he's immortal. Now this was also the case with Orphan's last form in FFXIII, but in that game it was simpler to stagger enemies. The only way to stagger enemies in Lightning Returns is to cast spells rapidly, as if you stop, the stagger wave goes down. Since the final boss has attacks that throw you into the air, it is literally impossible to beat him unless you stop him from attacking, which is where the overclock comes in.

 

But I know what you want me to talk about, the ending, well, let's talk plot:

 

So Serah's soul appears to tell me that the reason Light doesn't feel emotions is cause God took them away from her. OK. Then we have Cid telling us that the Soulsong is a farse, as it will make souls be forgotten, which will make it impossible for them to return. So on the final day, Light and Fang break into the cathedral, tell Vanille thre truth and stop the ritual. We also learn that Lumina has been keeping Serah's soul safe. Why? How? We'll learn about that in the ending. If it seems like I'm rushing through this incredibly moronic plot it's only because I am. Sigh. Honestly there's nothing i can say that truly describes how bad the ending is. Just watch:

 

 

 

This is without a doubt the worst ending I've ever seen in any work of fiction. It's nonsensical, it's written horribly, it comes out of nowhere, it's unbelievably pretensious etc. It's not even so bad it's funny, It's just painful to watch.

 

The only positive thing I can think of is that now it's over.

 

I would talk more about this, but honestly, I just don't think i have the strength to go on.

[AlphaRuby]

Well, what matters is that you've finished it. 

 

OK, that's done, onto Final Fantasy XV!

 

When it comes out, and after the X/X-2 HD Remaster.

[pppp]

Well, what matters is that you've finished it. 

 

OK, that's done, onto Final Fantasy XV!

 

When it comes out, and after the X/X-2 HD Remaster.

 

Oh and one more thing: Unless you played the other 2 games and definitely need closure like KrazyBean, please, i took this bullet for you: DO NOT SPEND A SINGLE CENT ON THIS PIECE OF GARBAGE. Just get Bravely Default instead.

[AlphaRuby]

Oh and one more thing: Unless you played the other 2 games and definitely need closure like KrazyBean, please, i took this bullet for you: DO NOT SPEND A SINGLE CENT ON THIS PIECE OF GARBAGE. Just get Bravely Default instead.

I already have Bravely Default! 

[Teoskaven]

Oh and one more thing: Unless you played the other 2 games and definitely need closure like KrazyBean, please, i took this bullet for you: DO NOT SPEND A SINGLE CENT ON THIS PIECE OF GARBAGE. Just get Bravely Default instead.

 

 

You don't have to tell me, mate: i said a long time ago that i have no intention to let this abomination on my PS3 (and since i'm getting soon -hopefully- a 3DS, i've already planned to get Bravely Default), not even if someone gives me the game for free.

In fact, the next Square-Enix game i will get is most likely Drakengard 3 (plus the 2 KH HD Collections), so for now, i'm done with the FF series unless Square will anounce something actually good (Theathrytm Curtain Call doesn't count).

[pppp]

You don't have to tell me, mate: i said a long time ago that i have no intention to let this abomination on my PS3 (and since i'm getting soon -hopefully- a 3DS, i've already planned to get Bravely Default), not even if someone gives me the game for free.

In fact, the next Square-Enix game i will get is most likely Drakengard 3 (plus the 2 KH HD Collections), so for now, i'm done with the FF series unless Square will anounce something actually good (Theathrytm Curtain Call doesn't count).

 

Final Fantasy XV looks fantastic. If you like Kingdom Hearts(Since you're getting the HD collections I'm guessing you do) that is definitely worth looking forward to.

[AlphaRuby]

Final Fantasy XV looks fantastic. If you like Kingdom Hearts(Since you're getting the HD collections I'm guessing you do) that is definitely worth looking forward to.

I have KH 1.5 HD, and it is a bit slow for me.

 

Maybe I'll pick it up again soon, but I have other games to play for the time being.

[pppp]

I have KH 1.5 HD, and it is a bit slow for me.

 

Maybe I'll pick it up again soon, but I have other games to play for the time being.

 

If speed is what you want, don't worry, as every game after KH Chain of Memories got you covered:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5Tuhf230VM

 

[AlphaRuby]

If speed is what you want, don't worry, as every game after KH Chain of Memories got you covered:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5Tuhf230VM

 

Might give it a shot at some point.

[Teoskaven]

Final Fantasy XV looks fantastic. If you like Kingdom Hearts(Since you're getting the HD collections I'm guessing you do) that is definitely worth looking forward to.

 

Eh. It's not that i don't like action (also, i like the gameplay in the KH series), but i don't like the fact that this is the direction the FF series is taking. I especially hate when guys like AngryJoe say that "FFXV is what the series needs now": it infuriates me since what the series needs now is more games like Bravely Default instead of Jonas Brothers wannabes that jumps around at the speed of sound.