Anyone with any commentary regarding FFXIII? I used to be a huge FF junky for a full decade and change but stopped when lolnomoney hit right after college. I understand the game has its downsides, but so long as it's a solid entry and not mired in gameplay and/or storytelling woes like 2 and 8 were it'll still be good enough for me.
I played it on the PS3. Don't believe the nuts who say FFXIII is the worst FF out there. It also was one of the best-looking games on the PS3 during it's release.
FFXIII is pretty solid, even though it's linear. Fair warning, as Garlyle said, unless you're in Chapter 9 and above, you're in for a steep enjoyment curve.
Once you get to Gran Pulse, it's a pretty sweet ride from there, you'll pretty much feel how an FF is supposed to be.
TBH, FFXIII had the best battle system I ever played, next to the Gambit System of FFXII.
It's probably the most adaptive battle system I've ever seen. One thing is, that it synergizes very well with the characters skills, and the monsters you fight. Every character is buffed by what paradigm they use.
Eg. fighting a Long Gui can go with different sets of paradigms. Mine ,with the highest damage hitters, in order from highest, Fang, Lightning, and Snow. One set routine I use is:
Sab/Sab/Sab
Syn/Syn/Syn
Sent/Sent/Sent
Med/Med/Med
Com/Com/Com
Com/Com/Com
Since you apply elemental advantage, you'll hit harder with COM than RAV. SEN provides a huge defense boost.
You could also use Vanille for Death spell. Ofc not all goes the same way, fighting Vercingetorix is another example how the battle system is better than traditional real-time ATB.
Do you know you could actually instantly fill up an ATB guage by switching to another Paradigm set once you executed an action? Eg. At COM, you attack, paradigm shift to another COM set, you can attack once again.
Although this only happens once after the other, basically every other turn. That's why I keep two sets of any Paradigm with the same role for various purposes(like the one above - 2 COM sets).
I can't really explain why I liked the game, but if it's to conclude. I didn't played it for the story, nor the characters, nor exploration(not really much there). I stayed for the Battle System. Which is fast-paced, and executed very well, I mean do you see how they move when they fight? Probably the most exciting movement you'll ever see in an FF game next to Dissidia(as much as I adore the Gambit System of FFXII. Standing and hitting something isn't really all that fun to watch, esp fighting high HP monsters like Yiazmat). Sure you can only control one character at a time, but it's more real-time than previous battle systems(except XII). Plus it shows how well you can adapt to controlling only a single character, and not relying entirely on your teammates.
Sad I can't say the same for the sequels. Sure, it has the same battle system, but the sequels ruined the story and the whole FFXIII in general. Although they added bit parts of exploration, and "Pokemon".
TL;DR: Buy it.
