|
 COMING SOON TO STEAM! Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII If you pay attention to the internet even a little, you've probably heard about Final Fantasy XIII. The latest (non-MMO) entry in the franchise, it was released to... let's call it 'mixed reception' to put it softly. The combat system was generally praised but the plot, world design, and general linearity and hand-holding of the game upset a lot of long-time fans and reviewers alike. Despite this Square-Enix decided it needed not one but two sequels, each more insane than the last. Lightning Returns is the last of those sequels and the end of the mini-franchise. Why should I care about this? Final Fantasy XIII sucked! That's a good question. If you're going in to LR expecting to hate the game and everything in it, you're probably not going to have a fun time. It's a weird and rather janky game and the plot sure as hell isn't much better unless you like raw unfiltered incoherent JRPG injected directly into your veins. However, despite that, it has some things going for it. It has ditched the handholding of FFXIII almost entirely and instead gives you a relatively large world to explore, divided into four separate parts. (Two large cities, two wilderness areas.) The game is focused heavily around doing sidequests and exploring. There's no leveling system at all and instead you power up by finding equipment and doing sidequests, which alleviates any sort of JRPG 'grind.' Of course it sort of replaces it with an MMO-style quest grind but there you go. The combat system has also been revamped to be a pseudo-action combat system. It's somewhere in-between the original game, Valkyrie Profile, and Paper Mario. It's still, at heart, a menu-driven game but it has added in a number of action elements. It's pretty close to the best combat system the franchise has ever had and the general reception to it has been positive from even the harshest of reviewers. There's also now an in-depth customization system which allows you to alter everything about Lightning, from her attacks to her clothing. You can also make her wear a giant plastic beard or a pumpkin head because why not? Because this is Japan that means you can also make her run around in a catgirl outfit and the creators of the game were pretty vocal that was their intention. Fortunately they were kind enough to include a variety of non-lovely outfits, including cameos from previous Final Fantasy characters, for those of us who don't want to masturbate to a giant bobble headed anime girl. Because the game is so light on CGI cutscenes your costume and accessory choices will be reflected in pretty much every cutscene which does a lot for rendering the incoherent plot more tolerable.  What the hell is the plot of this game? Oh boy. Buckle down because you're in for a batshit insane ride. I'll link Square-Enix's own Retro-Spective but if you're actually expecting something a bit more coherent (but less funny) here is how it goes: In Final Fantasy XIII, a group of people were gifted with magical powers by a group of demigods known as Fal'cie as part of an elaborate and stupid plan to summon God. They rebelled against the demigods and won through a series of poorly-explained contrivances including a literal Deus Ex Machina from a different goddess known as Etro. Etro governs life and death and stepped in during the ending to help the heroes out. The good guys win, everyone is happy. Final Fantasy XIII-2 opens up with the idea that Etro kinda screwed things up. The protagonist of FFXIII, Lightning, vanished right after the end of the game due to Etro's bullshit. Her sister, Serah, sets off on a quest with a time-travelling hammerpants-wearing guy named Noel on a quest to fix time. The villain of this piece is named Caius and he wants to destroy time because his magical girlfriend is trapped in an infinite cycle of death and rebirth. (Again, because Etro screwed up.) Caius is in a position to do this because he was chosen by Etro to be her guardian. Basically Etro is remarkably bad at everything. Caius succeeds. He kills Etro. Serah dies. With the goddess of life and death no longer around, the world is also boned. See, turns out that humanity is made out of this stuff called Chaos, used more like the old "Primordial Chaos" meaning. Etro formed this stuff into new people and handled all the stuff involved reincarnation, including aging. So with her dead humanity has stopped aging and stopped having children. Instead they've just entered into a gradual decay where the human race slowly dies off to illness, accidents, and the occasional monster attack. This isn't helped by the fact that without Etro controlling it, Chaos has begun running wild and has devoured most of the world. It's been about 500 years since the end of XIII-2 when Lightning Returns starts. The game, as the title gives away, is about Lightning Returning. She sealed herself in crystal at the end of XIII-2 and fully intended to stay that way until the end of the world. Which, as it turns out, is in exactly 13 days. God Himself, as in the literal creator of the world, awakens her with a task: Start collecting souls for him because he intends to pull a reset-and-reformat on the planet in 13 days. Anyone left behind will be erased from existence forever. In exchange she gets to have her sister revived from the dead on the new planet. Lightning, of course, accepts and that is where the game begins. The Cast  Lightning: Protagonist of Final Fantasy XIII. Formerly an everyday soldier, she's somehow worked her way up to the position of Savior of the World. She's torn between stoic and quick to anger depending on the writing and the voice actress but is more likely than not to get pissy at someone if they don't do what she likes. She's remarkably good at killing drat near everything in existence. Her real name is Clare Farron (or Eclair if you're Japanese.) She chose to be called Lightning for reasons too goofy to state here.  Hope Esthiem Annoying little kid in FFXIII. Pope of Science in FFXIII-2. In LR, Hope has inexplicably reverted back to his childhood form although he still acts like the Pope of Science, if the Pope of Science had suddenly decided God is pretty kickass. Hope is your support character, also chosen by God, and spends all his time at Lightning's home base of The Ark. He is there to be the guy Lightning talks to about pretty much everything. Much less annoying than his XIII counterpart but still kind of annoying.  Snow Villers: One of the playable six in XIII. Snow was engaged to Serah but was out looking for Lightning when Serah set out on her quest. As a result was unable to protect her and she died without him being anywhere nearby. He's pretty regretful about that. As of LR he's become a willing servant to the last living demigod Fal'cie. As such he's got magical powers that nobody else does and is probably the strongest person left alive besides Lightning. Together Snow and the Fal'Cie Panadomnium run the town of Yusnaan, which is basically a nonstop party town as people get ready for the end of the world. He's voiced by Troy Baker so he's got that going for him.  Sazh Katzroy Another of the playable six in XIII. Sazh is most defined by having a son named Dazh who he'd do anything to protect and for having a giant afro in which his pet Chocobo chick lives. As of Lightning Returns his chocobo chick is missing and Dazh is in an eternal coma, unable to live or die. Sazh is trying to find a way to free his son and isn't having much luck.  Chocolina Chocolina functions as the game's NPC quest giver. There are a number of "collect these item" quests that you can turn into her for minor prizes and stat boosts. As for what she is? It was revealed in the previous game's DLC but Lightning Returns kind of treats it as a reveal so I'll put it under tags to be safe. She is Sazh's pet Chocobo chick. She fell into a time hole and Etro (again!) gave her the power to turn into a human being. She is irrepressibly chipper and optimistic.  Oreba Dia Vanille Mostly known as Vanille, she's got one hell of a backstory. 500 years before Final Fantasy XIII, she turned into a giant monster at the request of a Fal'cie and attempted to destroy the floating city-world of Cocoon where most of the rest of the cast lived. She failed because Etro (her again) stopped her and shoved her in a crystal. 500 years later she woke up and accidentally set off the entire event chain of FFXIII. She and her partner Fang ended up turning themselves into crystal to save a bunch of lives. Well, it's been about 500 years again and she woke up. Now she has the inexplicable magical power to hear the screaming of the millions who died in those 500 years and the local church thinks she is their personal prophet.  Oerba Yun Fang: Vanille's best friend and heavily-implied-but-never-stated love interest. Fang is basically the competent member of the duo. While Vanille is being fawned upon by the church, Fang has set out to find a magical artifact supposedly hidden the in depths of the desert.  Noel Kriess: Surviving protagonist of Final Fantasy XIII-2. Came from an alternate future timeline where he was the last surviving human being on the planet. Still loves his goofy outfits. Currently living in Luxerion and working as a monster exterminator and part-time superhero.  Caius Ballad: Surviving villain of Final Fantasy XIII-2. It turns out that committing ritual magic suicide by killing the Goddess of Death doesn't help much to actually letting you die. Caius is now spending his time sulking because his plan worked pretty badly despite working. Voiced by Liam O'Brian so he chews enough scenery to make his inane plot ramblings delightful.  Paddra Nsu-Yuel: Infinitely-reincarnated love interest of Caius and Noel. She is the "Seeress" and is gifted with the power to see the future. This comes at the cost of her dying young every single time she reincarnates. She's reincarnated a lot. If FFXIII as a franchise has a dumbest character, Yuel is it.  Lumina: A mysterious young girl who looks similar to but not exactly like Lightning's dead sister Serah. Spends her free time going around trolling people, although Lightning seems to be her new favorite target. The game repeatedly refers to her as devilish so you can kind of get what they're going for here. Right, I don't care about any of those assholes. Tell me about the gameplay. The Doomsday Clock. When I mentioned earlier that the world dies in 13 days, I wasn't exaggerating. Unlike most JRPGs, this is a strict time limit. You have 13 24-hour days to finish everything you want to finish before God shows up and the world ends. To be precise you begin with closer to 6 days and gain one day each time you finish a major storyline quest. Time passes in the game world at the rate of minute every few seconds. Each day begins at 6 AM and ends at 6 AM the next day. During that time you're free to do basically whatever you want although many of the game's quests and areas are time-sensitive. Time does not pass in fights but there are certain activities (like riding a train) that will unavoidably eat up time. Sounds overwhelming? It could be if not for one feature: Chronostasis. Early in the game you gain access this power. It stops time. Everyone in the world remains interactive but the clock stops. Stopping time costs 1 Eradia Point. You begin with a handful of Eradia Points but eventually can have around 8 total. You earn more EP from killing enemies or by chugging Ethers, although the latter is a fairly rare item. The thing about EP is that it is very plentiful. While regular enemies give about 10% of an EP per fight, there are several kinds of enemies who give 2 whole EP a fight, as well as "Chaos Zone" enemies who always give 1 EP in addition to their regular reward. Bosses will also drop 5 EP upon defeating them and your EP is refilled to full at the start of every day. In short, EP is plentiful and it is relatively trivial to keep time stopped effectively infinitely. As time progresses, new things are unlocked. Lightning gains a new power or a new Garb every day and the enemies get more powerful. Later-day enemies will also start showing up in new configurations with multiple kinds of enemies spawning together where previously they were alone. Certain boss characters will also gain special hard modes where they drop better items. Around Day 6 you gain the ability to synthesize your abilities together. Sidequests If you were upset about the lack of sidequests in the previous two games, LR has you covered. The game is based around sidequests. Pretty much every person in the game world needs help. Some of these are involved plotlines which can span the course of multiple days. Others amount to "Bring Me Three Rat Tails." Some involve fighting enemies while others just ask you to run from Point A to Point B and back again. They're fairly MMO-style sidequests but each other has its fair share of worldbuilding and goofy radio chatter which helps somewhat alleviate the tedium. It's up to you if the busywork adds to your immersion or gets in the way of your fun but either way it is something you've got to do. The reason being is that is how Lightning levels up. Every sidequest you do gets you a boost to your stats. Most are fairly small but they begin to add up very quickly. Several sidequests will give you new Garbs or useful items. Every single sidequest in the game has an associated Adornment. You can usually tell which one you'll get from a sidequest because the NPC who gave it to you is wearing it.  The Combat System Lightning Returns uses a modified version of the Paradigm Switch combat system found in the previous games. The biggest and most obvious change is that you only have one party member. Instead of switching Paradigms you're switching between three Schema. What the gently caress is a Schema, you ask? It's basically a complete equipment set, made up of the following: Garb, Weapon, Shield, Head Accessory, Arm Accessory, Adornment, and four ability slots.  Garb is your character's clothing. Most of the Garbs in the game have a special passive ability. These can range from a stat boost to special moves to altering the properties of certain attacks. Some garbs are flat-out better than others but the way the game is designed means that most garbs remain viable from beginning to end. Several that get outclassed get late-game upgrades. Most Garbs also come equipped with at least one "locked' ability that fills an ability slot. Garbs also determine how fast your ATB bar fills and how high it can go. Weapon is the thing you hit things with. Each weapon an attack and magic stat. Many also have special passive abilities such as boosting damage, making it easier to stagger, or causing debuffs to stick easier. Shield is what you use to block attacks. It determines your HP and how effectively you can block attacks. Head Accessory allows you to equip another passive ability specifically to that Schema. It does not apply to other Schema but tends to be powerful. It can be anything from starting with extra ATB to reducing all damage by 75%. It's probably the single most important inventory slot. Arm Accessory is a weaker version of Head Accessory. What makes it stand out is that Arm Accessories apply to all three Schema. Equip an anti-Deprotect and it works for anything you throw on. Abilities are your various attacks. One is bound to each of the four face buttons. These come in four types: Physical, Magical, Defensive and Debuff. Each has its own strengths and weaknsses and you'll quickly grasp the idea that it's better to specialize instead of trying to be a jack of all-trades. If you made a physical attack Schema you probably want to fill it with Attack and Heavy Slash. Adornments are silly accessories you can use to customize Lightning. There are hundreds of these suckers and not a single one has a mechanical effect. So wear whatever you want. I recommend beards. There are too many outfits! What do I wear? As I mentioned above you generally want to specialize your Schema. You can save multiple reserve Schema which allows you to easily swap between setups for various situations. However I'll give a quick overview of some useful 'all-rounder' types here: Defense-oriented Schema: A defense-oriented schema is the most important thing to have and most players should have this equipped at all times. Basically a defensive schema should be built around making your character as durable and tanky as possible. You should focus on giving it the best shield you can and Guard or Evade. I recommend Guard until you get comfortable with the combat system. It may be tempting to make every schema have a defensive option but it's far more effective to have one defend-oriented Schema you switch into whenever the enemy is attacking. It frees up other slots to use on your other schema and makes them more effective. In addition to Guard you should also use this schema as your debuffer. Since many of the defensive-oriented Garbs don't do much for damage, you can instead load up your defense schema with all kinds of debuffs with work the same regardless of your stats. There are low-damage weapons you can equip which boost debuff hit rate and duration such as the Femme Fatale Magic-oriented Schema: You have two significant choices for a magic schema. All-rounding or specialization. All-rounding generally involves equipping three or four elements so you can hit any possible enemy weakness. This is generally a good idea for areas with a variety of enemy types or where you're unsure of what enemies you're going to face. The reason I say "three or four" is that it actually is arguably more effective to have three element and the Imperil debuff that all four elements. Imperil reduces enemy elemental defense by one level. (Absorb -> Immune -> Resistance -> Normal -> Weakness) This can allow you to full damage with elements. I strongly recommend at least one of the spells be Aeroea because Aeroea is great at building up the stagger meter for an enemy who is vulnerable to repeated magic attacks. You generally will have to build this around a garb with a pre-equipped magic spell .(Midnight Mauve, for example, always has Fira.) Specialization is generally best used for bosses or strong enemies who have a specific weakness. In this case you want a strong spell of the element they are weak to, Deshell (if you don't have it on another Schema), and Imperil. Aeroea is, again, a good all-around spell if the enemy isn't vulnerable to any specific kind of magic. Physical-oriented Schema These are a bit more flexible and you have a lot of options there. The (element)Strike spells are great for exploiting enemy weaknesses and go well with Imperil on a magic-oriented schema. The Light Slash/Attack/Heavy Slash trinity is a bit flexible depending on what you're looking to do. The lighter an attack the worse it is at staggering but the less ATB it uses. If you use a 'spear'-type weapon (i.e: One that comes with Jump), the Beat Down ability can transform into the immensely damaging Jump attack which is great for dealing damage during an enemy's stagger or for staggering the enemy themselves. There are several unique physical attacks tied to special Schema which are worth using and in some cases incredibly OP. Find a setup you're comfortable with and it can carry you through most of the game. Right, but what about fighting? In combat you can swap between all three equipped Schema at any time with the shoulder buttons. Each Schema shares an HP pool, although they only share the percentage of your health bar that is full instead of the total HP, so you can have a schema with a ton of HP and a schema that is fragile as glass. HP does not recover after combat and there are no healing spells in the game. Instead you can only restore HP via limited healing items, the Curaga spell which costs 2 EP, or certain passive abilities like Mediguard. This means not taking a lot of damage is pretty essential unless you like wasting time going back to town for more potions.  Each attack you do takes up a section of the ATB bar. The ATB bar refills but very slowly. However each schema has its own independent ATB bar. If you swap to a different Schema the ATB bar of your standby schema begins to refill very quick. So combat involves swapping constantly to balance schema usage and ATB recovery. There is an action element to combat but it's fairly light. You can move Lightning around to avoid attacks, time your attacks to hit enemies during vulnerable times, and use various Guard or Evade moves to defend against attacks. Guard moves have a "just defend" mechanic where timing it perfectly will eliminate all damage from an attack and can knock an enemy down. Evasion moves negate damage entirely but certain attacks are unavoidable. There is also the Stagger system. This system appeared in previous FFXIII games but it is a little different here. Basically each enemy has a weakness that you can exploit. It depends on the enemy. A wolf creature that charges at you can be staggered by Just Defending just as they attack. A giant flan monster made of fire can be staggered by using repeated ice spells. Most enemies have multiple stagger conditions. Staggering an enemy will give them a unique debuff depending on the enemy and the stagger condition and leaves them more vulnerable to damage and debuffs. The aforementioned Flan, for example, will be frozen solid by your ice attacks. That leaves it more vulnerable to physical damage. A Goblin will be confused and attack his allies. A heavily armored robot may lose their armor. Some enemies are just knocked over. Repeatedly staggering enemies increases the debuffs and may allow the enemy to be Launched into the air which leaves them entirely helpless and extremely vulnerable to damage. Death is slightly harsher in Lightning Returns compared to previous games in the franchise. If you die in combat you'll respawn outside of the fight in the exact condition you were in before the fight but lose an hour of time. Escaping from a fight also has the exact same effect. As such it's a bad idea to get into a fight unless you're comfortable you can win it. Savescumming is a completely viable options however and you can just save before a tough enemy if you're not sure if you can beat it. There are a relatively limited number of enemy species in the game. (Around 30 distinctive ones.) Each species, however, is part of a measured whole. Killing a Flan permanently removes one Flan from the ecosystem. Kill all but one Flan and the final member of the species becomes a Last One. A Last One is a brightly glowing pink monster with massively boosted stats. Killing it earns you a special item and permanently removes that species from the game. That's right, forever. You just rendered a monster extinct. Most species in the game can be rendered extinct. There are several exceptions, usually human-type enemies or the chaos-born Anubys, both of which can't be rendered extinct for obvious reasons. It's entirely possible to end up with a game world with no enemies to fight at all although you have to do a lot of extincting to pull that off. There's a Beastery available here with more information. Alright. What about permanently missable poo poo? This is a JRPG, do I have to have a guide open 24/7 to play it? Every quest in the game is given to you by a clearly marked NPC. Some only appear at certain times of the day but it's pretty trivial to do a few loops of whatever area you're in to find them. There are, however, several permanently missable items. Blue Mage Garb: A pair of Diviners will ask you to return to their shop around noon on the day after you talk to them. Failure to do this fails the quest and renders the Blue Mage garb permanently unavailable. Dark Knight Garb: During one quest you're given the choice to read a journal or not. The game emphasizes this very heavily so you can't miss it. Choosing not to read the journal will lock you out of a sidequest permanently. If there's anything else easily missable that I, uh, missed, let me know and I'll add it. What about New Game +? Optional Dungeons and bosses? Anything else? Lightning Returns does feature a NG+. It allows you to start the game in Hard Mode and unlocks the weapon crafting system. All enemies get a massive boost to their stats in Hard Mode but you retain your equipment and items (aside from the Ultima Weapon) in the NG+. There are two optional bosses in the game. One begins appearing in the Desert around Day 7 and will show up as a giant glowing ball of death. The other is located at the bottom of the game's optional dungeon. The optional dungeon only unlocks on the last day of the game if you've done the majority of sidequests. When it unlocks you'll get a free bonus day to explore it. It's a fairly minor dungeon and mostly serves to give you a way to fight Last Ones without grinding enemies. The big gimmick is that time does not stop during fights so you have relatively less time to clear it. ImpAtom fucked around with this message at 20:22 on Dec 5, 2014 |
#
?
Feb 13, 2014 20:26
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 20, 2024 04:21 |
|
|
There's apparently 1 quest you can only get if you fail another. Not sure if that's the same as the journal one you mention.
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2014 20:46
|
|
|
Aphrodite posted:There's apparently 1 quest you can only get if you fail another. Not sure if that's the same as the journal one you mention. That's the one.
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2014 20:48
|
|
|
I'll stick with Final Fantasy 6, thanks.
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2014 20:48
|
|
|
CowboyAndy posted:I'll stick with Final Fantasy 6, thanks. Just don't make it the iOS/Android version!
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2014 20:56
|
|
|
FFVI is a bad game, please play better ones like FFV, thanks. Anyways, I screwed up the quest with the fortune teller dude in Yusnaan, any chance that leads to another quest or am I just gonna have to wait for a second playthrough for that to bear any fruit?
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2014 20:58
|
|
|
CowboyAndy posted:I'll stick with Final Fantasy 6, thanks. You're welcome. I'm in the middle of day 4, having done both parts of Luxerion on day 2 and Yusnaan on day 3, and I've found the large cyclopses outside of the palace grounds an easy way to farm up EP. They don't move particularly fast, and their big attacks are stupidly telegraphed, and once you stagger them they have the defense of wet tissue paper. It takes maybe a minute per fight for two EP. The only sidequest I've failed thus far is Louise's (  ), though I can't imagine the reward was anything particularly special.
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2014 20:58
|
|
|
Sex_Ferguson posted:FFVI is a bad game, please play better ones like FFV, thanks. That is the Blue Mage Garb quest I mentioned in the OP. It's lost, I'm afraid. If it helps the Blue Mage Garb is kind of lovely. It doesn't actually have Blue Magic as an ability.
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2014 20:59
|
|
|
For the portion of the game that takes place in the demo, what Schema would you actually have for that moment? I assume just the three (if that) that you start equipped with?
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2014 21:01
|
|
|
Phantasium posted:For the portion of the game that takes place in the demo, what Schema would you actually have for that moment? I assume just the three (if that) that you start equipped with? That is the tutorial. You only have the Savior and the Muse costumes and neither is as well equipped as they are in the demo.
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2014 21:02
|
|
|
CowboyAndy posted:I'll stick with Final Fantasy 6, thanks. I too like to post in threads of games I have no intention of playing.
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2014 21:02
|
|
|
ImpAtom posted:That is the tutorial. You only have the Savior and the Muse costumes and neither is as well equipped as they are in the demo. That's about what I figured, thanks.
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2014 21:03
|
|
|
In spite of your self-deprecation in the main FF thread, that's a great OP and covers pretty much everything that anyone wanting to pick up the game might be interested in. Nice job! There is a small typo in the thread title (Returns). You didn't mention spoiler policy so I've spoilered the specifics of my comment. The only quest I've managed to gently caress up so far is the one with the girl looking for her green Carbuncle doll. You can actually get a red one, and if you give it to her she goes batshit crazy. As far as I know, the rewards don't provide a major boost so I'm not that fussed. I'll maybe restart when my guide finally arrives. It's been stuck in a Purolator facility for 3 days.  e: You might want to add some discussion of how to optimize Schemas; you had some good stuff in the other thread. Kalenn Istarion fucked around with this message at 21:40 on Feb 13, 2014 |
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2014 21:33
|
|
|
Good OP! Just a couple quick things to add for anybody just starting out: 1. Seriously, don't worry about the time limit. It feels overwhelming at the beginning of the game but you end up with plenty of "buffer" days to finish everything. If you want an idea of what to do each day check out the Road Map in this guide at ps3trophies. You'll see if you actually sperged out and packed the main quests into the first 5 or 6 days you'd have about a week of buffer time. So don't fret! 2. The basic flow of the game is to be working on a single Main Quest, but those usually make you wait for certain times of day so you work on a few Side and Board quests while waiting. Even if you don't complete a main quest on a given day, doing enough (I think I read 6?) side quests will still give you the amount of god energy stuff you need to gain a day for the world. 3. The fourth number for the stupid cult code in Luxerion can't be found until much later than the other 3. If you want it totally spoiled because it's dumb and Hope won't shut the gently caress up about finding it: It's in the Warrens, in the big middle area. The gates open at midnight. Thankfully, no other quests I've come across since have been as annoying as that one. Also, while you can start NG+ in Hard Mode you don't have to. And if you want to get all the trophies/achievements you can do so with two Easy mode runs.
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2014 21:38
|
|
|
Kalenn Istarion posted:In spite of your self-deprecation in the main FF thread, that's a great OP and covers pretty much everything that anyone wanting to pick up the game might be interested in. Nice job! There is a small typo in the thread title (Returns). Yeah, I'll try to get that fixed. Sorry! I'll add some stuff about Schema-optimizing to the OP, that's a good point.
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2014 21:42
|
|
|
Good OP, but you forgot to mention Chocolina (well, sort of).Static Rook posted:3. The fourth number for the stupid cult code in Luxerion can't be found until much later than the other 3. If you want it totally spoiled because it's dumb and Hope won't shut the gently caress up about finding it: It's in the Warrens, in the big middle area. The gates open at midnight. Thankfully, no other quests I've come across since have been as annoying as that one. That was actually the first one I found since I farted around in that area all through the first night. The one on a random wall in the arcades took me basically the whole goddamn second day.
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2014 21:46
|
|
|
So i've found two of the four cult numbers and i'm halfway through day 2 so far i really like this game but some of these sidequests make me kind of regret not grabbing the strategy guide since i don't know where to even begin looking for some of this stuff, like the girls doll for instance. Also is there any reason for me to not skip town and go check out some of the other areas of the game?
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2014 21:50
|
|
|
Smornstein posted:So i've found two of the four cult numbers and i'm halfway through day 2 so far i really like this game but some of these sidequests make me kind of regret not grabbing the strategy guide since i don't know where to even begin looking for some of this stuff, like the girls doll for instance. Also is there any reason for me to not skip town and go check out some of the other areas of the game? Most items are found just lying around. Remember to smash crates and stuff. There's absolutely on harm in going to another town and poking around unless you're on a time-sensitive quest. It's recommended you visit each area at least once early on so you can unlock Teleporting to that place and start certain sidequests early. I've added some basic Schema-hints to the OP as well. ImpAtom fucked around with this message at 22:00 on Feb 13, 2014 |
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2014 21:57
|
|
|
chumbler posted:Good OP, but you forgot to mention Chocolina (well, sort of). She's been added.
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2014 22:06
|
|
|
Bah, got Noel down to about half health before he took me out in a war of attrition. He's not hard per se, and I can see what I'm doing wrong but when I gently caress up and get his by his Javelin attack or the follow up attack afterwards and they knock off 400 HP a pop, it really adds up.
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2014 22:18
|
|
|
Smornstein posted:So i've found two of the four cult numbers and i'm halfway through day 2 so far i really like this game but some of these sidequests make me kind of regret not grabbing the strategy guide since i don't know where to even begin looking for some of this stuff, like the girls doll for instance. Also is there any reason for me to not skip town and go check out some of the other areas of the game? It's directly opposite the sorcery shop. Make sure you get the green one, there is a red one located nearer the girl as well but if you bring that one instead of the green one the little girl pretty much loses her poo poo
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2014 22:59
|
|
|
Good OP. Now if my copy would just arrive already... Some additional information for people just starting: You can start on Easy mode or Normal mode. Easy mode replenishes your health after battle, reduces enemy stats by 25%, has enemies give more EP but less money and slightly weaker ability drops, and reduces the cost of some EP abilities. Also, you can escape from battle without losing an hour of time. Beating the game on Easy still unlocks Hard mode. Many reviews have recommended starting on Easy, as apparently a lot of bosses can feel like brick walls if you're not good with the battle system. If the worst happens and you run out of days before completing the main questlines, you can keep all your stuff in a sort of NG+ lite. You don't get some options that open up by beating the game (like weapon upgrading), but you should start off stronger and richer with all your items, garbs, etc. already acquired. All quests reset though; if you complete them again, you'll typically get a reduced stat reward and probably extra money instead of garbs or accessories or whatever.
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2014 23:33
|
|
|
OP needs this gif in the recap section. http://mkerala.com/u/di/R0LB/6hxhi.gif
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2014 23:37
|
|
|
Call me stupid, but despite not caring that much about FF13 and not playing the sequel, this sounds compelling by JRPG standards. Do we get to punch Snow's stupid face in? Because he is the worst.
|
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2014 00:53
|
|
|
Unlucky7 posted:Call me stupid, but despite not caring that much about FF13 and not playing the sequel, this sounds compelling by JRPG standards. Yes and it's a really great boss fight too.
|
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2014 00:54
|
|
|
I enjoyed the Chocobo lady's fireworks password.
|
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2014 01:04
|
|
|
Squallege posted:I enjoyed the Chocobo lady's fireworks password. Tabechow nya~ (weeaboo alert) This game's a little harder than I thought it was gonna be but that's cool. It seems like once you start getting a good mix of abilities you get a bit more freedom to mess around.
|
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2014 01:09
|
|
|
I never really bothered to follow the first two games' plot outside of just watching the story cutscenes, but there's supposed to be this mythology shared between the XIII series, Type-0/Agito, and Final Fantasy XV. Does XIII-2 or Lightning Returns actually do anything with it, or do they go off on a tangent? I was thinking about this since the translation patch for Type-0 is coming out soon, and from the looks of it they involve the mythology into the story a lot more seamlessly than XIII, that explained basic concepts like "Pulse l'Cie, enemies of Cocoon" over and over again, while not even mentioning the major Gods and Goddesses involved in the story. XV uses it too, but apparently with the slight difference that someone who has a near-death experience can talk to the dead or something, presumably something both Noctis and Stella have experienced. This whole shared mythology stuff was inspired by the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, but has failed spectacularly since XIII did a terrible job of getting people interested in it, XV has kept us waiting for nearly a decade, and Type-0 may never see an official English release. Some people may have bought FFVII expanded universe games to see more story crowbarred into the gaps, but no-one cares what Etro and Bhunvelise or whatever are up to.
|
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2014 01:17
|
|
|
That loving Sned posted:I never really bothered to follow the first two games' plot outside of just watching the story cutscenes, but there's supposed to be this mythology shared between the XIII series, Type-0/Agito, and Final Fantasy XV. Does XIII-2 or Lightning Returns actually do anything with it, or do they go off on a tangent? There is supposed to be a shared mythology. The original plan was that they would all be the same world but that seems to have been changed at some point. Things like l'cie and the Goddess Etro however are referenced in all three games but it's pretty much impossible for them to be in the same world now. They basically appear to be treating the mythology like FF treats Cid and Chocobos and Moogles: They exist but their exact context depends on the game. I can go into more detail but it involves Type-0 spoilers. ImpAtom fucked around with this message at 01:26 on Feb 14, 2014 |
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2014 01:18
|
|
|
Well, that plot recap was pretty dumb. I bet Lightning is gonna kill god, isn't she.
|
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2014 01:26
|
|
|
Great OP! Just finished the prologue and the first main quest, and I'm liking it so far. Had to redo the stealth section in the next part since during the first time, the cultists spawned right around me as I ran around, and I didn't want to have to fight them. The one fight I did try against a couple of them was pretty awesome. Perfect-guarding, using magic to dodge attacks, and switching around Schemata reminded me of something like DMC 3. So for anyone else, when the music changes as the quest begins, start hiding around the stalls or around there. You'll know you're hidden when Lightning kneels on the ground.Brumaldo posted:I bet I wouldn't expect anything else. Would be justified in this case, since the gods in XIII are jerks. PunkBoy fucked around with this message at 01:46 on Feb 14, 2014 |
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2014 01:42
|
|
|
A YEUL WHO COULD NOT GET BEYOND THUNDERDOME! A YEUL WHO COMPLAINED ABOUT TIME BEING AN ISSUE IN A GAME WHERE YOU CAN INDEFINITELY STOP TIME! A YUEL WHO LOVED THE BOMB! I have known them all! They have all died right before my very eyes!
|
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2014 02:39
|
|
|
Gologle posted:A YEUL WHO COULD NOT GET BEYOND THUNDERDOME! A YEUL WHO COMPLAINED ABOUT TIME BEING AN ISSUE IN A GAME WHERE YOU CAN INDEFINITELY STOP TIME! A YUEL WHO LOVED THE BOMB! I have known them all! They have all died right before my very eyes! It was a dumb bit, but Liam O'Brien owned the hell out of it. His voice is kind of one-note but he can really act, no matter what the quality of his script. After playing through the first two games and learning the end of this one, I like to think that the whole FFXIII series is just a tale of (spoilers obviously) Lightning getting increasingly fed up with how unbelievably motherfucking stupid the gods of her world are. I mean, in XIII we have: Fal'Cie: We will kill everyone in the world because it will make our own god come back, maybe, because reasons! But first our representative the Space-Pope will troll you constantly, also because reasons! Lightning: siiiiigh Then in XIII-2 we have Etro, Goddess of Death and Severe Head Trauma. Etro: I made this one man immortal so he can watch his girlfriend die forever, and also if he dies I will die and the universe will end. because reasons. And I did you guys a solid but it made me super tired so just fight that immortal guy for eternity until you lose and the universe ends, 'k? Lightning: fffffff And now we have this game, which to my understanding has Bhunivelze in the driver's seat and initially has him coming off as kind of reasonable until: Bhunivelze: Surprise! My master plan was to make a universe where nothing ever happens, so basically like the old one except more obvious. Also I tortured a twentysomething-year old for thousands of years until he became a kid again and now I will possess his tender young body, because REASONS! Lightning: AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH And then our heroine makes everything France, the end.
|
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2014 03:43
|
|
|
Oops, I just did 2 main quests in 1 day. Guess it's true you will have time to spare!
|
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2014 03:58
|
|
|
I'm about three hours in and I think it might be time to delete my save and let the girlfriend play this poo poo instead so I don't feel that ripped off. Hope is the new Navi. I am one of the few people who really liked 13
|
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2014 04:06
|
|
|
ghostinmyshell posted:I'm about three hours in and I think it might be time to delete my save and let the girlfriend play this poo poo instead so I don't feel to ripped off. Hope is the new Navi. I thought 13 was okay so that comparatively makes me one of it's biggest fans! I never bothered with 13-2 but I might get this when it's cheaper.
|
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2014 04:07
|
|
|
gently caress some of the side-quests in this game. Farming last ones (last of a monster species aka Omega monsters) is so goddamn painful, especially with no real indicator of how many more of some monsters you have to kill. I mean you have the bestiary, but lets be honest. It only gives you a vague hint. Under distribution, it says Common - Uncommon - Rare. If its rare, it means the Last One will show up soon. Other than that, you will be killin the dudes forever (by that, I mean I've heard anywhere from 30-180 kills). At least they drop good stuff. 
|
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2014 04:17
|
|
|
DarkstarIV posted:gently caress some of the side-quests in this game. There is a bonus dungeon at the end of game which lets you instantly access every Last One. You can deliver the sidequest after finishing that.
|
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2014 04:19
|
|
|
That was a surprisingly accurate plot recap  If you're like me and like to experience as much of games as possible while spending as little time as doing so as possible and spend so much of your life having to make your own decisions that just for once you want to have a break, sit down and follow something step-by-step like building a Lego Super Star Destroyer, this is the guide for you: http://www.trueachievements.com/walkthroughpage.aspx?pageid=5914
|
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2014 04:28
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 20, 2024 04:21 |
|
|
So what happens if you do run out of time?
|
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2014 04:33
|
|
