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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:Did I miss where Lightning was branded? Everyone else showed a brand, she did not. (And she did mysteriously talk a door into opening.) Suspicious. IIRC her brand is a bit above her heart, it's why she holds her hand there at various points in the game.
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Apr 14, 2014 19:28
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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:What is the most popular sitcom in Cocoon? How I Met Your Fal'Cie just ended it's run, but a lot of people have been going to see the new hit movie 'The Purge'.
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Apr 14, 2014 19:46
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Mr. Soop posted:How I Met Your Fal'Cie just ended it's run, but a lot of people have been going to see the new hit movie 'The Purge'. I Love L'Cie. (Snow's a big fan.)
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Apr 14, 2014 20:06
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Instant Grat posted:Oh look it's the absolute best part of this entire video game Why is this slime monster wearing a siren anyway? Does PSICOM have a peace offer training division for monsters? Stabbey_the_Clown posted:I Love L'Cie. (Snow's a big fan.) There are no words. 
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Apr 14, 2014 20:29
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Artix posted:Believe it or not guys, we don't have to air every single mechanic of the system the second it's available. We have 5 more chapters where relatively little is added to the system, and I was planning on hitting some of the more interesting quirks like ATB resetting then.  Sorry boss
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Apr 14, 2014 20:33
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I like the Lightning vs Snow dynamic. They both want more or less the same thing, but have completely conflicting personalities and keep butting heads over it. As much as I want to say I'm in Lightning's side right now (Those punches. ) but honestly at this point Lightning is just being all brooding and fatalist about it. "How can we save Serah?! How can we complete our focus?! We can't, stop being optimistic!"  Meanwhile, Sazh. I just love watching him logic bomb all of Snow's poo poo. He also seems rather composed about whole L'Cie thing, the biggest reaction he had was more or less "Well... poo poo."
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Apr 14, 2014 20:39
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After hearing about the fact that you're not even given the ability to choose who you can put in your party yet, I don't have very high hopes for this. But is there anything like skits from the Tales Of series in this game? Any points where the people actually talk and try to work things out to the point outside of cutscenes that they're at least not at each other's throat instead of the: whatever's attacking them at this moment? Also, wow not only are levels all over the place and not matter- First boss is level 75!- but you don't get money from battling monsters!
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Apr 14, 2014 20:54
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RareAcumen posted:After hearing about the fact that you're not even given the ability to choose who you can put in your party yet, I don't have very high hopes for this. But is there anything like skits from the Tales Of series in this game? Any points where the people actually talk and try to work things out to the point outside of cutscenes that they're at least not at each other's throat instead of the: whatever's attacking them at this moment? Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
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Apr 14, 2014 21:03
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So our party is a complete rear end in a top hat, traumatized kid, a stiff "stoic" heroine, the queen of the anime club, and Sazh. No wonder people dislike these characters. I still don't get the paradigm thing. It keeps being touted as "interesting" but... is all you do pick some paradigms and then mash attack? Like do you have different attacks to choose from? Does positioning or choice of which enemies you target matter at all?
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Apr 14, 2014 21:03
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RareAcumen posted:After hearing about the fact that you're not even given the ability to choose who you can put in your party yet, I don't have very high hopes for this. But is there anything like skits from the Tales Of series in this game? Any points where the people actually talk and try to work things out to the point outside of cutscenes that they're at least not at each other's throat instead of the: whatever's attacking them at this moment? Very briefly, near the end. I think there's like 3 of them total.
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Apr 14, 2014 21:13
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Rita Repulsa posted:I still don't get the paradigm thing. It keeps being touted as "interesting" but... is all you do pick some paradigms and then mash attack? Like do you have different attacks to choose from? Does positioning or choice of which enemies you target matter at all? It gets a little more complex, but I believe just mashing attack and changing preset paradigms is about all you can do in the early game. Position matters because the person in the first slot will be the character you control, although once again I don't believe the early portion of the game allows it. There are however different attacks; buff and debuffing is the bread and butter of it in particular. However the AI will auto select the most situationally useful spells based on certain conditions. Artix will explain much more of this as he gets there. 
Mr. Soop fucked around with this message at 21:16 on Apr 14, 2014 |
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Apr 14, 2014 21:14
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Rita Repulsa posted:So our party is a complete rear end in a top hat, traumatized kid, a stiff "stoic" heroine, the queen of the anime club, and Sazh. No wonder people dislike these characters. The interesting part comes building appropriate Paradigms and switching them dynamically in battle. This requires you to understand how each individual role works and which combinations are most effective against the specific monster you are fighting. For example, COM/RAV/RAV is your staple offensive Paradigm, but SAB/RAV/RAV can be even more effective against monsters vulnerable to debuffs. SEN/RAV/RAV on other hand is useful against enemies that need to be tanked. So for example, you can start the battle with SAB/RAV/RAV, then switch to SEN/RAV/RAV once debuffs stick and then let loose with COM/RAV/RAV when the enemy is staggered. (Or just use SEN/SAB/RAV. Whatever seems appropriate) There's a lot of useful combinations and you'll be switching in and out of them constantly to keep up with the game. The only problem with the Paradigm system is, you can't adjust them mid-battle.
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Apr 14, 2014 21:23
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Rita Repulsa posted:So our party is a complete rear end in a top hat, traumatized kid, a stiff "stoic" heroine, the queen of the anime club, and Sazh. No wonder people dislike these characters. For now - and let's never stop taking a moment to appreciate that "now" is the Third Chapter Of The Game - the game is still easing us in to the Primary Battle Mechanic, and the only roles we have access to right now are The One You Use When The Enemy Is Not Yet Staggered, The One You Use When The Enemy Has Been Staggered, The One You Only Use In Emergencies, and The One You Have Absolutely No Need For Yet. As you gain access to more and more roles, you start finding uses for more and more paradigms, and combat starts rewarding careful exploitation of paradigms. Once you get the hang of it you can switch so deftly between different specialization that you may as well be specialized at everything at once. We'll see a good example of specialization next video. E: derp Fedule fucked around with this message at 21:34 on Apr 14, 2014 |
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Apr 14, 2014 21:23
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Fedule posted:For now - and let's never stop taking a moment to appreciate that "now" is the Third Chapter Of The Game - the game is still easing us in to the Primary Battle Mechanic, and the only three roles we have access to right now are The One You Use When The Enemy Is Not Yet Staggered, The One You Use When The Enemy Has Been Staggered, The One You Only Use In Emergencies, and The One You Have Absolutely No Need For Yet.
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Apr 14, 2014 21:32
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Sydin posted:I like the Lightning vs Snow dynamic. They both want more or less the same thing, but have completely conflicting personalities and keep butting heads over it. As much as I want to say I'm in Lightning's side right now (Those punches. I think Lightning is basically grieving. As far as she knows, getting turned into crystal just doesn't get reversed - once you're that, you're basically a shiny blue corpse. So Snow jumping around and talking about saving her and being there when she wakes up sounds like talking about religion and miracles, which she doesn't believe in and so which gives absolutely no comfort or hope. I think she's justifiably angry and hurt by what Snow's doing, which really just interrupts her attempt to process her loss and her situation, and to try to keep going somehow. It doesn't help that Snow is being just as one-minded about what being a l'Cie means for them and their task which is supposed to be telling her what she's supposed to be doing right now. So my sister has literally just died, I only have a few weeks to live myself, and now this guy is telling me I can bring her back to life if I help him save the world? man gently caress him and his bullshit. While Snow is still living in fantasy land, which in a sense is fortunate since they live in a world of machine gods with not completely well understood rules, but is totally happy to make his decisions on the basis of whatever the best possible outcome might be, however remote or unlikely it is. The thing is, he really believes it. I like how Snow gets genuinely angry (though still restrained) at Lightning at this point, having been fairly tolerant of her shouting him down and hitting him, where she's going to walk away and there's nothing he can say to make her stay. It's a crack in his armour - things aren't starting well, and he knows it, even though he's determined to see it through.
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Apr 14, 2014 21:33
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Nihilarian posted:Is it three or four? Technically four, but our ability to use Sentinel left with Snow, so we're stuck with Ravager, Commando, and Medic (which are the "before stagger", "after stagger", and "emergency" roles, respectively).
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Apr 14, 2014 21:41
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I think the real tragedy of Lake Bresha is the environmental damage. That area used to be full of all kinds birds, fish and other animals. Now all that's left are the l'Ciegulls.
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Apr 14, 2014 22:01
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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:I think the real tragedy of Lake Bresha is the environmental damage. That area used to be full of all kinds birds, fish and other animals.
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Apr 14, 2014 22:18
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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:Now all that's left are the l'Ciegulls.  Was your focus to make the best possible pun? If so, you totally completed it.
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Apr 14, 2014 23:25
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Artix posted:As previously mentioned Snow and Lightning are 21. Hope is 14, Vanille is 19, Serah is 18, and Sazh is like 40-ish? He's 42 in 13-2. Vanille is 19? Vanille is an adult  I thought she was around Hope's age. WhatAnd who though the lack of character switching/control was a good idea? But you can say that about most of FFXII
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Apr 15, 2014 03:04
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DOOP posted:Vanille is 19? Vanille is an adult I don't think thought was used much during development. Alternatively, too much thought was used which is why you get tons of poo poo that shows up once and never again.
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Apr 15, 2014 03:11
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DOOP posted:Vanille is 19? Vanille is an adult 1stGear posted:Forget it Jake. Its anime. 1stGear fucked around with this message at 00:39 on Apr 16, 2014 |
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Apr 15, 2014 03:17
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So far Snow getting punched has been the highlight of the whole game for me.
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Apr 15, 2014 15:38
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Regy Rusty posted:So far Snow getting punched has been the highlight of the whole game for me. I like this game and Snow getting punched is always a highlight!
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Apr 15, 2014 17:05
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We haven't seen the full combat system yet (a deliberate choice on Artix' part which I applaud), but I still have things to say about what has been presented so far. This makes for shorter posts! I think I've said it before in this thread, but I really, really like how stripped-down the system is. It has always annoyed me a little in many past RPGs where you have a stat screen which might as well stretch over 2 pages, with stuff like Constitution (regulates damage reduction!), Defense (surprise! It's your dodge chance), Speed (actually doesn't affect how fast you act but due to some hilarious mix-up in programming only the damage your Axes do!), Magic Resist (doesn't work at all!) and three separate resources for Techniques, Magick and ThisGame'sGimmickSkills. In almost all examples, you can safely ignore at least half of these numbers (concrete example: Final Fantasy 6, where you will only ever look at Vigor [which is not Strength but still affects physical damage!] and Speed for Locke and completely ignore everything else), or all of the numbers (Final Fantasy 5, every skill will transfer ideal stats to use it anyway, so there is zero reason to look at the stats at all). It is therefore very logical and sensible to boil it down to the three things which really actually matter: two attack types to balance and decide between, and The Defense Stat (in this case HP). For all of them, more = better. Still, the devil is in the details, and you can easily spend a lot of time fiddling around with equipment setups, as limited as your choice might seem at first glance. This is very good and removes clutter in the best of ways, in that it doesn't really cost the player anything. Even better is the removal of the MP demand for Magic. I have never been fond of the attrition idea, because there usually are just so many ways to circumvent it. The age-old adage of "stock up on potions before venturing into the dungeon" just exemplifies that - buy tons of healing, then you won't need to spend MP on Cure, then you can Fire everything in the face before the dungeon ends. It's more complicated if healing is limited or expensive, but that just means that you need to grind more - either money or levels to survive better - which doesn't add any strategy to the endurance run, just more tedious preparation time. I never felt that attrition added much except for frustration: your cool poo poo spells were ultimately to expensive to use on anything but the boss or the toughest random encounters, you had to run away from many things you couldn't afford to fight, which always kind of feels bad and cowardly, you get poisoned halfway through and realize you forgot to bring an Antidote and curse as you make your way back, et cetera. It rarely matters in a way that adds fun challenge. Still, that really only applies to the MP thing in relation to this particular game. Because without attrition, as has been mentioned before, repeat encounters are completely pointless. The star system seems to try and address that, as it offers you an incentive to try and improve in repeat fights; for example, you fight three Goblins, get three stars in 50 seconds, realize that next time you can just roll with Com/Com/Rav because you have many enemies and therefore two guys who can Blitz them are a good thing, and the next three Goblin fight next you the five stars in 30 seconds. Satisfaction! It works. Sometimes. But if you already five-starred the first fight, it immediately crumbles. It's a far safer bet to not repeat encounters at all if you don't want to frustrate your players, or maybe if you make former bosses into regular encounters later on which you then crush to show how much stronger you have gotten, also an old and cheap but effective tactic. As it is? Actually, the game could use random encounters! Especially as they have something very substantial to be gained from almost all of them, I think that's a huge improvement in the sequel. Not to say that the XIII approach of monsters on map is necessarily bad - hell, look at Chrono Trigger for how to do it. The thing is, Chrono Trigger is a Really loving Good Game, and FFXIII is just...not.
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Apr 15, 2014 17:32
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1stGear posted:
I realize this is a Final Fantasy thread and shouting nonsensical bullshit is the norm, but you've just misquoted and then quoted your own misquote. It's "Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown."
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Apr 15, 2014 21:53
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MartianAgitator posted:
Forget it, Jack. It's the Internet. thanks I'll fix it once I'm not phone posting
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Apr 15, 2014 22:08
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derra posted:I like this game and Snow getting punched is always a highlight! Couldn't agree more. SE has done plenty in an attempt to force us to like Lightning. None of it is as effective as SNOWPUNCH!
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Apr 15, 2014 22:46
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Bregor posted:Couldn't agree more. SE has done plenty in an attempt to force us to like Lightning. None of it is as effective as SNOWPUNCH! SNOWPUNCH 2 is just as good. But admittedly it seemed very rushed for a sequel. Not saying I don't like the sequel hooks being thrown around, be they lefts or rights.
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Apr 15, 2014 23:00
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Wild Knight posted:I'm sorry to be jumping ahead to future games, but did XIII-2 change this? I thought Pro StratzTM for this game (inasmuch as there is a Pro StratTM) involved doing stuff like setting up two of the same Paradigm so you switch to the other when you deplete one and have that ready. Neither game lets you know when you can switch with a full ATB bar, but I remember reading in a FAQ that it's about 7 seconds before you can do it. The way I would always do it is to switch out every other "turn". Also, since I'm not sure anyone's mentioned this yet, the length of time that an enemy stays staggered can change as well. If the bar is draining slowly when the enemy is staggered, it stays staggered for much longer than if the enemy is staggered while the bar is draining quickly. Both states are actually shown in the boss battle at the end of the latest video, but I don't think they commented on that. In fact, using both of those Pro StratzTM, it's possible to take that boss down in one stagger.
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Apr 16, 2014 07:01
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I've got a great idea for a new thread drinking game: When watching our videos, drink every time we mention something we chose not to mention in a previous video - because we have to carefully ration interesting tidbits lest we run out of things to talk about because this is Final Fantasy XIII we're playing here - only to have someone bring it up in the thread immediately afterwards by way of expanding on what we did say in that video.
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Apr 16, 2014 09:04
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The twist is to play this game with Ether only.
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Apr 16, 2014 09:29
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Fedule posted:I've got a great idea for a new thread drinking game: When watching our videos, drink every time we mention something we chose not to mention in a previous video - because we have to carefully ration interesting tidbits lest we run out of things to talk about because this is Final Fantasy XIII we're playing here - only to have someone bring it up in the thread immediately afterwards by way of expanding on what we did say in that video. I'm guessing you would suggest we drink only the finest fullest bodied, 1963 vintage Chateau Ombriand Select bottles of STFU?
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Apr 16, 2014 10:58
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The crystals are very pretty  E: I see Fedule has read the Action Button review a few times Instant Grat fucked around with this message at 11:49 on Apr 16, 2014 |
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Apr 16, 2014 11:45
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FeyerbrandX posted:I'm guessing you would suggest we drink only the finest fullest bodied, 1963 vintage Chateau Ombriand Select bottles of STFU? Well this is The Dilemma, isn't it? It's not reasonable to expect people to always keep quiet about every little thing that might come up in a video. Besides, maybe sometimes we'll legit forget something and it'll be down to y'all to point it out. All I can really ask is, just keep in mind that we're rationing mechanics tidbits. I don't think Artix is gonna lock the thread because someone ~spoiled~ that stagger time varies based on how fast the gauge is emptying when the enemy is staggered (we mention this next video).
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Apr 16, 2014 11:52
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Fedule posted:Well this is The Dilemma, isn't it? [...] The other factor is, as you yourself have said as the justification for holding back on the info, there is not much to talk about regarding the game until a good solid chunk through.
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Apr 16, 2014 12:28
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I tried  .Again, I still really don't mind Vanille. She is responsible for driving everyone forward, which is the only direction to go in anyway because lol corridorville, but I am deeply thankful for her choosing "gently caress reason let's go" over "let's mope some more and develop the deep drama blossoming between these interesting characters". Basically gently caress I'M A HERO BUT ALSO poo poo AT IT and give me more GUYS GUYS I'M BUBBLY AND OVER HERE FOLLOW ME!
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Apr 16, 2014 12:48
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Simply Simon posted:I tried Funny, I see it in the exact opposite way: not minding Snow but getting murderous twitches whenever Vanille shows up. Maybe it's because I haven't played this so I have no idea how their characters unfold.
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Apr 16, 2014 12:53
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Instant Grat posted:E: I see Fedule has read the Action Button review a few times Oh god you have no idea how much willpower it's taking to not just quote entire swaths of it verbatim. Later I'm probably going to start quoting entire swaths of it verbatim. It's such a good review.
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Apr 16, 2014 13:15
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anilEhilated posted:Funny, I see it in the exact opposite way: not minding Snow but getting murderous twitches whenever Vanille shows up. Maybe it's because I haven't played this so I have no idea how their characters unfold. Of course, after knowing what becomes of Snow, I can cheer like the other guys. Still - from the beginning of this disaster (aka the beginning of the game, not being facetious, it HAS been a total catastrophy for the party), Snow did nothing wrong to affect Lightning, unless I am already forgetting scenes. She knows jackshit about his failure to protect Hope's mom on the bridge and probably wouldn't even care that much. Her punching him is purely for backstory reasons, which at the moment we can only interpret as "she doesn't want her sister to be together with Snow", and after we have seen Snow and Serah be so disgustingly happy together, it is just incredibly petty. You can explain it by Lightning being in full-on grieving mode at the moment and needing someone to vent her frustration on, but that doesn't necessarily make her sympathetic. From who I haven't mentioned, Hope is whiny but thanks to Vanille not excessively so, it's fine so far; and Sazh is of course great. Future future talk, incredibly vague, and still my opinions: I actually think Vanille will get a little more annoying but also more interesting, and these developments make her even better at this early point in the game. Don't want to say more about other characters.
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Apr 16, 2014 16:35
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