DCEmulation

Just got done with it. I liked XIII more than I like to think I do, but this looks much improved:

- I explored an early dungeon, not a corridor
- Quality battle system returns, but much sooner (the demo is set quite early on)
- Simple skippable tutorials rather than 10 hours of slow practice
- NPCs milling around with stuff to say and side-quests to offer
- Levelling up monsters to fight with you! One of my favourite RPG mechanics and this one looks pretty in-depth
- Puzzle areas somewhat similar to the FFX trials adding a bit of variety
- Noel is nowhere near as much of a nobber as I thought he'd be from how he looks
- The area was wrapped up in an 60-90 minutes and it was obviously going to move me on to somewhere else. One of y biggest XIII complaints was location fatigue so this was nice.
- I always get a boner for time-travel related stuff

Then there's a trailer that showed me minigames and Tonberry.

Some things I didn't like:
- Camera clipped a few times. One of XIII's biggest strength was its near-perfect presentation
- QTEs. I don't hate them, but have never thought they add anything

Also...really long and open demo, well worth the download.

Overall, SE have sold me. Definitely getting at release now. For all the faults SE games currently have, there's a slick level of polish that still impresses me.

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Nope.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

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"He who cannot draw on 3,000 years is living hand-to-mouth." -Goethe

Yeah, as shit as XIII was, I'm not touching this game even if it was game-of-the-year material. They would have been better off just putting XIII behind them and moving on to something else rather than trying to fix their mistakes with a sequel. I'm more interested to see sales numbers on this game.

Really? Why would you not want to play a potential game-of-the-year FF game? Of course, it won't be, but if it was, why would you not play it? And you won't even give the demo a chance on the back of BoneyCork's quality recommendation? My heart is broked

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Because I never even come close to beating XIII, and I hate picking up sequels without playing the original first. It ruins the story if I would ever go back to play the original and it usually has elements that reference the original that would be completely lost on me. Not to mention the fact that I really don't want to give SE more money to support this saga as I'd rather them just move on.

Truth be told, probably what's going to happen is this game will probably price drop sometime mid summer, I'll see it somewhere for $20 and give in, end up trying the original again and either make it through both games or get pissed at XIII again and sell them both out of hate for the series.

That's kinda how I feel about it, but I doubt I'd sell them in the end (as I tend to never sell any games I buy). After how much I hated XIII, I just can't see myself getting through it to go onto the sequel. I can't see myself playing the sequel first because I know it will spoil the story of XIII.

Ah, didn't realise you didn't finish it. It's a shame because the second half is so much better than the first, but I wouldn't say it's worth drudging through the first 20 hours or whatever to get there. The thing I dislike most about XIII is I'm never ever ever going to replay it (unlike every other FF) because of how awful it is for so much of it.

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I liked the demo I never really played the original that much (prob half an hour) but it does seem very fun I really like those little action sequences kinda like God of War seems like cool to watch. Will get back if I liked the game or not.

Wow. Sure is surprising to see you dropping in.

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"He who cannot draw on 3,000 years is living hand-to-mouth." -Goethe

ZOMG Hyped for this!!!

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I just saw that it leaked online.

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I just saw the Collector's Edition at work today. And I also saw that it comes with a book that tells the entire story of the first game. Damnit, I'm falling into SE's trap to buy this game.

...damnit.

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"He who cannot draw on 3,000 years is living hand-to-mouth." -Goethe

So yeah, I finished Assassin's Creed Revelations and don't have my tax money to build my new computer yet to play Skyrim. So I started playing XIII again.

...and preordered XIII-2's collector edition.




...I'm Square's bitch...

This version of final fantasy until it is good but in my opinion FF died in Final Fantasy 8
FF7 marked the end of the generation being the best in fantasy and gameplay enrredo
eight in the visual
the rest is just a failed attempt to revive the square of the FF
am I right? or wrong?
By: final fantasy seven Fan Forever XD

Ehhhhh was really looking forward to this game and the list of features reads like a checklist of everything I wanted fixed in 13, but somehow in the process they lost everything good about 13 too. The whole game's set-up feels like a kids TV show. The "find lightning" objective is just treated as a throwaway premise to justify the games existence, and then focus is put on travelling to different periods and completing inane tasks, simply because you can't travel to the next period if you don't - and that's just the way it is.

The whole middle portion of the game is so irrelevant it could be one gate or a thousand gates and it wouldn't make a difference to the plot - and that's not good for the meat of an RPG. When Caius appeared I got a bit more excited, but then found myself finding three different kinds of wool from wild sheep for a bunch of nameless strangers so they'd let me use their weather machine.

I enjoyed 13 and I find myself missing it a little more with each hour of 13-2. As dull as the endless corridors were, at least there was a point to everything and you were exploring a world to an extent.

I've not even mentioned the crap graphics, broken battle system (no libra, too easy) and rubbish music (Archylte Steppe with dance music...oh dear)

Putting this on the backburner for Kingdoms. Maybe I'll finish it one day. I kinda wanna replay 13 instead though.

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Wow. If this game can't even get the Boney seal of approval, then it must be bad. I bought it, but I never even opened it once I saw some of the reviews rolling in that didn't paint it in the best light. Now I think I'm just going to return it and use the money on a better game. I'll probably still buy it someday when the price is $20, but not at full price.

Poor sales is the only way Square-Enix will ever learn.



And even then, they'll probably blame piracy and continue the shoveling process.

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QFT.

Dang. Am I that easy to please?

Anyway, I'd say return it. There's so many great RPGs coming out in the next month that I don't think it's worth paying full price for this. I was expecting a goofy quick-fix sequel but the demo really impressed me - I wouldn't have bothered otherwise. Sadly despite all the good ideas, the game just becomes incredibly lazy.

It doesn't help that they've watered down the battle mechanics. I'd shoot anyone down who moans about the Autobattle button and AI in 13 - once the game got going there was a lot to think about (balancing healing, buffs, debuffs, guarding and the stagger guage meant some serious multitasking at times). 13-2 has none of that. 9 hours in with no grinding and I already had a couple of job roles maxed, with Autobattle spamming AoE spells getting me through everything from that point. The gameplay pretty much fell apart for me from there and no number slot machines and random fetch sidequests is going to save it.

To put it another way: all the numbered FF games, no matter how much they rock or suck, feel like "proper" FF games. That's what makes 13 worth playing. 13-2 is just another crazy spinoff much like X-2 that would've felt more at home on the PS Vita.

I'd still do Serah up the ass though.

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