Topic: Final fantasy discussion thread

I really loved the line "I can finally rest and return to my normal day to day activities."

Where do we stand on FF 13 remake/remaster?.
unreal engine 5 Or the same team As demon souls remake.

@Mr-Elusive would it work or sell if they don't touch the story? and characters? and level design? and some voice acting? and...
I don't care about Vanille, Snow was insufferable!

Yes to everything above only if they release it on PS4 as well As PS5

@Malaise games were HD PS3/360
so upscaling them shouldn't be impossible remake remaster might take long time (FF7 says hello) so 1st upscale it see if it works if not than put Demon souls team on it. @CthulhuFhtagn

I’ll be starting Final Fantasy XIII tomorrow and am pretty excited to play it having enjoyed XV, VII Remake and XVI these last few years. I do have a slight concern though… obviously the FF’s I’ve played have real-time action combat, while XIII (& pretty much all the others afaik) are turn-based, something that I’ve historically struggled to connect with.

If anyone has any advice/tips… or any information at all really, it would be appreciated.

Prepare for a lot of jargon to be thrown at you @colonelkilgore. I think it even has a glossary if I remember correctly... Which often tells you of events the game doesn't outright tell you about? I dunno it's been a while.

It may be turn based but XIII's battle system is incredibly quick. Maybe a bit too much given the auto battle option is the first thing you cursor hovers over once you start a fight.

This is also where stagger system originally comes from I believe and... You'll be making a lot of use out of that.

Not much I can really think of... Just good luck I guess!

@HallowMoonshadow okay cool, well I’m familiar with the stagger system at least 😅.

So mucho exposition-reading… not my favourite thing to do while gaming but from my brief dalliance in the FF universe (or multiverse?) I do like to fully immerse myself in the world and lore, so I think I’ll be getting my reading specs out for this one 🤓.

Really hoping this is the first turn-based rpg I see through to the end… let alone the platinum!

@colonelkilgore I don't mean to discourage you Colonel, but the combat should be the least of your concerns. I hope you like the characters sir!
I personally put XIII over XV on my FF list (down below).

@CthulhuFhtagn I have no doubt that I’ll like the characters snd story well enough but… as a general rule (but not exclusively) the actual moment-to-moment gameplay (competing against an adversary… vis-a-vis - succeeding in a combative scenario) is something I weigh heavily in the overall tomatometer.

It’s why I’ve been at pains to abandon Divinity: Original Sin 2 and Persona 5 even though I’m well aware I’m missing out on something special by doing so. I just… for what ever reason find turn based combat an enigma (in both terms of enjoyment and a lesser extent understanding). Without wanting to offend aficianados… it’s always just seemed some unnecessary game of chance when action-combat feels like taking the bull by the horns and every decision being rewarded/punished in real-time and without any element of doubt (dependent on hit-boxes etc 😉).

Look, the last thing I wanna be is a turn-based combat antagonist… I actually want to get into the genre/sub-genre. There are a multitude of turn-based games in my backlog that I’m eager to enjoy… I’m just hoping that I will find that one game that will click with me. Then I can embrace a whole sub-genre I’ve been waiting to gorge myself on.

Yeah I didn't wanna colour your expectations @colonelkilgore any more then you've probably already heard about XIII hence why I just stuck to a few key points.

I will say this though... I think the overall plot of XIII is interesting, and it has a neat premise on paper.

To be honest I haven't actually played many FF's, only a few more then you and I actually never really liked J/RPG's myself beyond getting addicted to Pokémon as a teen when it first released.

It was actually Final Fantasy X-2 that made me like the genre (which at the time was the most reviled FF) and Japanese media as a whole really (Well that and Persona 3 but that's a different story).

I only bought it at the time because it was dirt cheap from Argos and thought I might as well try one.

I was not prepared for how corny and cheesey it was and how it didn't take itself too seriously (which I always assumed they were, especially seeing all those FF VII adverts with Cloud on the motorbike back in the day).

So... Yeah. I do genuinely hope you end up liking the genre even through XIII. I'll be able to relate in some way even if both X-2 and XIII have had more balanced views nowadays.

@colonelkilgore FFXII is my favorite in the franchise but I remember it took me 2 years to finally tried to understand the combat mechanics.
it doesn't matter if you don't enjoy a game (big or small) for whatever reason. play what you enjoy. ✌️
did you start Alice? I never finished it... 🙁

@HallowMoonshadow I’m gonna try and play a Final Fantasy game each year moving forward and X (part 1 anyway) might well be the one I play after XIII.

Thoughts on XIII so far… that opening CGI movie was frikkin’ beautiful 🤩!

@CthulhuFhtagn not yet mate, it is something I’ll get to before the end of the year but I’ve just made a start on FFXIII this morning, so that will take up my gaming time for a while.

In regards to playing what you enjoy, of course that’s what gamings about… but I just feel that I’m missing something with turn-based JRPG’s… something that if I persist with, that I’ll eventually click with and really enjoy. ATM I feel like I’m missing a portion of gaming that I like in all aspects apart from the combat. I love the visuals and OST’s… from what I know of the narratives they are also up my street. It’s just the combat that I’m missing something with. I mean take my morning with XIII… now given it is still extremely early so things will undoubtedly change and evolve but so far, every time I get into a combat scenario I just hit X until the enemy (or enemies) die. It just feels very uninvolved.

@colonelkilgore it happens in every turn-based, one button victory! like you said, patience. I hope it works for you this time.
I have a similar problem with modern action rpgs. outside of Fromsoftware games, everything is quite button mashing. Granblue Fantasy, Ys VIII, Visionsof Mana, Tales of Arise... they lack the depth. you still need to dodge but everything gets boring quickly. I feel lost in the chaos on display. all those visuals, music and characters that never shut up in middle of the combat. sometimes I can't tell what's happening 😵‍💫.
I love From's games for the thoughtful approach.

So probably got around 6/7 hours done on FFXIII today and overall quite enjoyed my first session. While the turn-based combat still feels a little uninvolved, the introduction of paradigm shifts, techniques and the like has given it a bit more oomph. I’m really liking what I’ve heard of the OST so far and the game still looks pretty good considering its age.

I’m interested in the narrative if a little unclear on what exactly is going on… but the vague understanding of rebellious group going all David on the Empires’ Goliath ass is enough to hold my attention rn. Overall, I’m finding it a real chilled out experience, which is a nice change of pace following Dead Space impossible run and Alpha Protocol’s overly complex trophy list.

@colonelkilgore I’m glad to see FF13 is keeping you engaged so far.

I liked the game back in the day. I do remember the battle system being a bit simplistic and ‘mash X to win’ type of situation. The big complaint at the time was the excessive linearity of the game, and I think that time has been kind to the game in that regard since a lot of people have open-world fatigue nowadays with all these huge long games (as was manifest by the latest FF game, Rebirth). But back then openness of game flow was all the rage and so the sequel XIII-2 changed the format to be more open and it was okay, but just never really won me over and I never finished it. It’s one of my gaming regrets, because I hear XIII-3 was quite good, but of course I never got to it because I never finished #2. I’ve been holding out for the eventual remastered trilogy with all three games.

@Th3solution yeah I think the furore over its linearity has actually helped set my expectations with FFXIII. I’ve gone in knowing that I’ll be running corridors for the first 2/3’s of the game so haven’t felt aggrieved by that. I do however think I would’ve felt disappointed by it if I didn’t already know tbh.

I do have FFXIII-2 and Lightning Returns but am not planning on playing those. I say not-planning, there is always the possibility that FFXIII hits so hard for me that I simply have to play them… but I doubt it.

Still, I’ve woke up this morning, keen to start my next session which is always a good sign. As I said in an earlier post, there’s something very chilled about the game… which is not always something that I’m looking for. That chilled-out experience is working for me rn though, so I guess I got lucky with when I’ve started it.

@colonelkilgore yeah agree with everything said here. In a lot of games, it’s the preconceived notions that ironically help you form a nicer perspective. I was actually able to focus more on the combat system and treasure exploration which I both liked. I also happen to just enjoy the story in general, in spite of its occasional silliness be that as may be.

@Yousef- yeah I actually feel like I’m starting to click with the combat now. I think it helps that although it isn’t action combat, it isn’t really turn-based either as it’s real time. It’s like a fusion of the two I suppose.

Had my first difficulty spike this morning where I had to fight the Odin Eidolon. I honestly had no idea quite what I was supposed to do for the first few attempts but finally beat him on the sixth or seventh attempt.

@colonelkilgore it’s also got a baby easy plat! Only missable trophy is the treasures.