FFXIII

[Kiarax]

A decent portion of the ones I've played (which is a fair amount at this point) don't allow it. Same with Manual mode (although you generally get that right at the start anyway, character swap is usually a short bit in to the game).

[Charismatic]

You haven't played nearly as many (percentage wise) as you think apparently because most don't require you to get anything.
Well over half easily

[Kyo]

With 13 I really enjoyed the story and the game looked fantastic. I liked the battle system outside the complaints above, not being able to control each character is pretty lame and there were cases when fighting turtles lighting would be a bitch and get stuck under their feet and get trounced. Overall I really enjoyed the game.

[Charismatic]

Anything in that Rageaholic video that you disagree with other than his overall assessment of the game being terrible?

[Dmitry]

Chari why do you have to post Symphonia videos up in here making me want to play that instead of other games I have yet to beat

[Charismatic]

Necessary evil man.
I often find myself going back to some of those games instead of beating other stuff I've got on my plate.

I beat Tales of Eternia twice before beating Hexyz Force (last RPG I played on PSP)

[BerenTebogo]

I liked it when I played it, I liked it when Caiti played it. Story was good, gameplay was mediocre.

Really though, FF games are one of those things that if you aren't playing for the story (at least in part) you might as well just be playing Arc the Lad. I can't say it's an epic, mindbending tale of intrigue, but if you didn't like the story you probably weren't attempting to give a shit at any point throughout the game.

Battle system shines for the second half of the game when enemies get harder and then on into the hunts. How hard you get raped or how like-a-boss you stroll through fights is based entirely on how you set up your characters and paradigms. If you're mentally vacant (like apparently the reviewer in the video, lol) you'll spend more time dying than not.

This was Caiti's first ever console game. Ever. She has only ever played XI before this. With a bit of guiding from me (she's unfamiliar with the progression of games like this) and a bit of trial and error, she was able to get through about 95% of the game without needing me to step in and kill shit for her. Really, if we can say that indicates extraordinary difficulty and pure chance-based survival then I don't know what the fuck. It's fucking called Sentinel, use it.

[Charismatic]

He never said it was hard.
Just dumb luck.

This kinda thing is why I don't call games like FFIV DS 'hard' but when I got first Rydia in my party the first 2 battles I got in I was ambushed and she was killed before I even got to enter a command.
That isn't 'difficulty', that's just being unlucky since there is absolutely jack shit you can do about it (yes, I had her in the back row)

[Kiarax]

His 50/50 chance comment was dumb as fuck. I know you've seen enough of the game to know that shit ain't true. Saying the graphics are worse than other games games this gen is silly too, XIII was top notch graphically, just as good as Mass Effect (one of the games he tried to show looked better).

[Kyo]

Yeah it is easily one of the best looking games this gen, guy is retarded.

[Charismatic]

50/50 was obviously an exaggeration but perfect example was Ema Lovely's stream (idk if you were watching) several times throughout he'd play and then die nearly instantly and then go back with the exact same strategy and get 5 star victory.

To say that there's not a lot of luck involved just seems silly.

[Charismatic]

Normally in video games when you lose that is supposed to teach you something, you're supposed to have to try a different strategy than the one that didn't work... yet in FFXIII, you just keep trying the same one until it does.

[Qalbert]

sounds like how I pull pussy

[Qalbert]

sooner or later it'll work

[Charismatic]

But really, when you have to take an obvious exaggeration at face value to try to make a point... you know you're grasping at straws.

[Kiarax]

50/50 was obviously an exaggeration but perfect example was Ema Lovely's stream (idk if you were watching) several times throughout he'd play and then die nearly instantly and then go back with the exact same strategy and get 5 star victory.

To say that there's not a lot of luck involved just seems silly.

Fights that happens in are very rare (pretty much the eidolons and the occasional boss/bullshit enemy you're obviously not supposed to fight yet but can), but it certainly is silly. But that's not to say it's entirely luck. If shit fucks you up you can change your strategy and (more often than not) beat it no problem. Or you can try the same strategy (which you already know might not work) and risk getting killed yet again... it wasn't quite as bad in previous FF games but you could still do the same dumb shit and hope for the best just like you can in XIII.

As a whole the game was too easy and zergy though. It was pretty much stagger to 900%~ > smack the fuck out of things constantly. The battle system was still a ton more fun overall than standard bland turn based stuff, but it definitely could use (and should have got) several improvements.

[#686578]

It wasn't the greatest game ever but the amount of bandwagon hating it got was absolutely ridiculous.

I'm still looking for one legitimate reason people hate this game so much. "hurr you can just hit auto-attack" is a gross exaggeration and not even counting the Gran Pulse endgame will start getting you killed on trash mobs about halfway through the game. "durr you don't get to backtrack" is retarded, as if backtracking was ever fun. I remember all the people bitching about how they got rid of all the backtracking in the MGS series by MGS4. Oh wait, no I don't, because no one enjoys backtracking.

One? We have a habit of posting nine around these parts.

[BerenTebogo]

Fights that happens in are very rare (pretty much the eidolons and the occasional boss/bullshit enemy you're obviously not supposed to fight yet but can), but it certainly is silly. But that's not to say it's entirely luck. If shit fucks you up you can change your strategy and (more often than not) beat it no problem. Or you can try the same strategy (which you already know might not work) and risk getting killed yet again... it wasn't quite as bad in previous FF games but you could still do the same dumb shit and hope for the best just like you can in XIII.

As a whole the game was too easy and zergy though. It was pretty much stagger to 900%~ > smack the fuck out of things constantly. The battle system was still a ton more fun overall than standard bland turn based stuff, but it definitely could use (and should have got) several improvements.

This. Aside from Eidolons, there were maybe 2? Fights of I can think of in the entire main story that really may test your skill. Everything else is just common sense.
"Full attack not working?" hmm
"rav med com not working?" hmm
"sen med rav working but not enough?" hmm
"sab rav sen building stagger well and keeping it safely enfeebled at all times?" hmm
OH SHIT I DIED ON SEN AND MED LOL IT MUST BE UNPOSSIBLE
"Oh, wait, if I switch to sen sen med or sen med med during the disproportionately long charge time for super attacks that bosses have I'll never die!"

It most certainly is trial and error. If you don't wanna use certain jobs you'll have a harder time, if you aren't willing to rework your paradigms you'll have a harder time, if you couldn't stun bomb toss in FFXI, you'll probably have a hard time in FFXIII.

The luck comment is fucking stupid, really.

[Charismatic]

If shit fucks you up you can change your strategy and (more often than not) beat it no problem. Or you can try the same strategy (which you already know might not work) and risk getting killed yet again... it wasn't quite as bad in previous FF games but you could still do the same dumb shit and hope for the best just like you can in XIII

You can only really usually use bad strategies and 'hope for the best' in the other games in the series when you're overleveled or glitched your way through to somewhere and gotten better equipment than you're supposed to have or are exploiting some bullshit the devs didn't intend for you to. And
None of those are even possible in FFXIII. Even if you DO just try to battering ram your way through a fight you're definitely not going to do it fast/easy enough for the game to award you with your precious 5 star rating because... well, it's not a good strategy! (Speed being the only thing involved in that is just dumb)

It really isn't the same sort of thing in my opinion as it's not even really the same sort of game as the others in the series which make them harder to compare. That aside, in the other games where dying in one attack (or dying very very quickly) is a threat, it's not like you are awarded a game over screen instantly if the 'main' guy goes down. I shouldn't even have to talk about how ridiculous that is.

[#686578]

I wouldnt say it's really trial and error, I wouldnt say it's exactly strategy either. For everything that's not a boss fight it's just do whatever the fuck you want (or spam death), otherwise you'll see right away what you need after a couple of rounds of attacks.