Final Fantasy XIII

[TAT]

Well, I have now 20+ hours into the Final Fantasy XIII Game and I can say that I completely dislike the game. Now don't get me wrong, it is a visual masterpiece and the soundtrack is epic. As far as being a traditional FF game; it is not. Only control of one character, and if that character falls in battle you lose the game. So then, why really have Phoenix Downs? The Monsters are no longer any challenge. the entire game thus far is nothing but grinding. I fear they have made the same mistake as Konami did with MGS4, and have turned it into a movie. For that is the only reason I am still playing it, because the Story and the Character development is very very good. I know a few of you have also been playing it as well. What are your thoughts?

[Jdubbs]

I'm at about 15 hours maybe, and I'm enjoying it so far. I understand why you say it's not a 'traditional' FF, but really, what was the last one that would truly fall into that category?

I don't have any major issues with the battle system, it's an interesting twist. Though I also really enjoyed the way they setup the battle system in XII. I've never really found any of the FF games difficult, so I can't say there's anything different about XIII in that regard.

I do agree that it does seem like more of an interactive movie to some some degree, definitely not on the level of MGS4 though. 1 path, 1 direction, not much 'exploring' to do. Though I have read that it opens up a bit in the last few chapters.

All in all I'm happy with it so far. It's a good change of pace from MW2.

[Captain Funbags]

Not that I've played XIII yet (I'll probably borrow it when one of you gentleman finish) but I am more interested in a story that doesn't involve massive back-tracking and searching for story-advancing events. Other than that, I haven't played a FF game since X pissed me off a few years ago, so I can't relate it to anything. I honestly wish they'd do a bigger-scale FF Tactics, which has more customizable character options. (Although the problem I had with FFT:Advance I and II were lack of wireless battle options against friends.

Also, TAT got beat at MarioKart DS!!

[Codec]

I haven't played it yet but Heavy Rain has been running my life for a while now.