[360/PS3] Final Fantasy XIII-2 (Now with official review!)

[jersoc]

got around to finishing this the other day. the end boss was pretty epic.
i think may try to platinum this because i want the lightening theme. i left my ps3 on for hours and hour to get the damn casino one and got about 1k shy of winning. bah. will try again tonight.

[skystride]

I'm kind of in a slump.  I was loving the game but it slowed down a lot.  I hate those stupid trivia booths.  I should probably just move on with the main storyline because otherwise I risk being in a permanent slump and never getting back to the game.

[jersoc]

there's a guide from those somewhere. sadly i never bookmarked it.

still trying for this casino achievement. might just farm money and load up on tokens.

[skystride]

Ugh the quest to recover the fragments (the special kind that Hope makes you get) from different times is terrible.  The clues aren't always good and you have to find invisible items.  The quest does not seem to be optional.  You have to go back to lowbie areas and might have to fight mobs that are worthless.  Just a terribly designed quest.  I don't think I ever needed a guide to do a main quest in a FF game, I might have no choice here.

[jersoc]

if you goto fragments and locations then see the graviton ones they show a picture where they are. only one that really gave me trouble was oerba.

it's like that quest in the zelda game with the ship. where you gotta collect rubies or whatever it was. except i said fuck you, zelda and never finished that game.
so i agree, no matter what this is lazy design and just another stupid trend to extend a game's length with bullshit. like spaceports in swtor.

[Gratch]

So is recruiting monsters basically just random chance?  I read on an FAQ that it's pretty much mandatory to recruit a Pulsework Knight early in the game so you can create some of the SEN-based paradigms.  I've now fought about a dozen of them - most of those battles with 5-star ratings - but have yet to recruit one.  Not sure what I'm doing wrong.

[jersoc]

yes it is, you eventually get a skill that increases your capture rate.
It's not mandatory at all, you don't need a sen paradigm until the last boss, really.

[The Grue]

yes it is, you eventually get a skill that increases your capture rate.
It's not mandatory at all, you don't need a sen paradigm until the last boss, really.

I also thought the game mentioned that if you use a pet's finishing move to kill a monster, it ups the chance you will get them.

[skystride]

yes it is, you eventually get a skill that increases your capture rate.
It's not mandatory at all, you don't need a sen paradigm until the last boss, really.

I also thought the game mentioned that if you use a pet's finishing move to kill a monster, it ups the chance you will get them.

They said using a monsters special move increases the chances.  I'm not sure you have to finish them with it.  You can't with some monsters who have healing/buffing specials.

[faide]

So is recruiting monsters basically just random chance?  I read on an FAQ that it's pretty much mandatory to recruit a Pulsework Knight early in the game so you can create some of the SEN-based paradigms.  I've now fought about a dozen of them - most of those battles with 5-star ratings - but have yet to recruit one.  Not sure what I'm doing wrong.

It's not totally necessary, but if you can get the pulsework knight and then max out his level (20).  It makes most of the early encounters super easy.  He'll attract the attention of the mobs and soak all the damage.

[jersoc]

finally got the serendiptious achievement. left it over night again. came back with 2k left thought i got it, but nope. so i set it up again. about 30 mins later i turned on the tv to check it out and i had 27k in casino. boom.
bought all the stuff from the casino too and got the rest of the fragments. only about 58 left now.

[skystride]

Finished it last night.  Great story, great characters but mired with some really stupid design decisions.  I was really close to abandoning it at one point.  You can basically get stuck on the main quest if you don't pay attention to how you use the Wild Artifacts (which are like keys) you find.  I had used up all of my keys so I had to use a guide to find another (which can be a pain if you forgot where you looted the first keys).  Also the encounter system was frustrating me at one of the later stages.  I was supposed to solve this puzzle like jumping platform level (because FF games need more Mario style platforming!) but there is an encounter every 2 steps I take.

The ending was a bit of a WTF (not in a bad way).

Spoiler for Hiden:

To be continued?  so we are getting a FFXIII-3 and not a FFXIV next?

[jersoc]

what that really means is we're never, ever, EVER getting versus. EVER.

151 fragments, just the stupid beastiary one and the the paradoxes are left

[Scraper]

Ugh the quest to recover the fragments (the special kind that Hope makes you get) from different times is terrible.  The clues aren't always good and you have to find invisible items.  The quest does not seem to be optional.  You have to go back to lowbie areas and might have to fight mobs that are worthless.  Just a terribly designed quest.  I don't think I ever needed a guide to do a main quest in a FF game, I might have no choice here.

I just completed this quest over the weekend and I can honestly say it is the worst quest line in any Final Fantasy RPG. I don't even know how I would have completed it if it weren't for the internet guides. It really just seemed like a giant time filler, as if the devs finished the game, then said "Oh shit you can beat this game in 15 hours, better add in something!). Ugh, I'm past it now, but it easily took the game from an 80% to a 70% for me. It's especially bad if you haven't unlocked the areas where the cores are located and don't have wild artifacts to open the gates. Add in the stupid numbers puzzles and it's a giant fail.

[skystride]

The early number puzzles were tolerable.  The clock puzzle though.. wtf!! You basically have to be Kasparov or extremely lucky to solve the last one.  Or you can cheat, people have written apps to solve it.

[Scraper]

The early number puzzles were tolerable.  The clock puzzle though.. wtf!! You basically have to be Kasparov or extremely lucky to solve the last one.  Or you can cheat, people have written apps to solve it.

I didn't cheat to beat the clock ones, but once they get up to having 6 numbers they get really ridiculous. There isn't just one spot with these either, which makes me wince any time the clock puzzle comes up in a  paradox.

[jersoc]

the clock puzzles would be some what bearable if they weren't random or timed. the few ones that were static and not timed were pretty fun, but once i reached the timed ones I just said eff it and cheated.

I got my platinum on this over the weekend too. first game ever i finished all the trophies/achievements. total clock was about 74'ish. the beastairy and fragments weren't that time consuming as i thought they would be. the paradoxes a bit were because you have to play 4xx af like 4 times and sometimes you can't skip scenes.

[Scraper]

I made it to the jumping section last night. It's not as bad as people make it out so long as you have the jump upgrade. Anyway at this point I just want to finish the game so I can say I beat it, but it's not holding my attention much past that.

[Scraper]

It's official I really despise this game. The last boss is so cheap.

Spoiler for Hiden:

I have no problems breezing through the first three forms of Gaius, I can beat each of them in about 2 minutes. Then I start on the 3 Bahumets, I can kill the two, then get the main one down to 50%, no problems, then the other two respawn, and inevitably after killing one or both of them I get hit with an insta kill. I can have full fucking health and I still die. The worst part is I can see him winding up for the attack, but they don't let you switch to an all Sen setup. After my 6th insta death to this boss, after I was easily handling him, I ejected the game and promised never to come back to it. Fuck FFXIII-2.  

[jersoc]

just switch when it says 1

[Scraper]

just switch when it says 1

 I would try that but I made a promise. 

[skystride]

just switch when it says 1

 I would try that but I made a promise. 

I don't blame you.  I went from loving the game (see my initial impressions) to just playing to get it over with near the end.  I wish Square would stop trying to invent new shit that doesn't work and just make a game with FF12 mechanics.

[jersoc]

just switch when it says 1

 I would try that but I made a promise. 

I don't blame you.  I went from loving the game (see my initial impressions) to just playing to get it over with near the end.  I wish Square would stop trying to invent new shit that doesn't work and just make a game with FF12 mechanics.

at that point the fight is won. that very last form is ridiculously easy. not sure you can blame SE for not using the tools given to you. just restart the battle and set up a sen/sen/sen and it's auto win. that one attack is literally the only thing that can come close to killing you. if you're waiting until the animation is off you're doing it wrong.  you have 3 count downs to get ready to switch. this count down mechanic is pretty staple in FF games that shit is about to go down.

it's fine. this is the only boss fight in the entire game that you actually have to pay attention and keep switching paradigms, the rest are beyond easy.

[EddieA]

Here's a look at FF6's infamous Ultros in FF13-2, as well as the N7 armor for Noel and Serah.

[metallicorphan]

Final Fantasy XIII-2:Digital Contents Selection


seems its Japan only at the moment,hopefully it will come to our shores as well as i have yet to pick this up

In Japan, Square Enix just announced Final Fantasy XIII-2 Digital Contents Selection for the Xbox 360 and the PS3. According to Square Enix, the version is FFXIII-2 plus a selection of the game's post release DLC items. Packed in an original box, this version goes on sale July 18 in Japan.

As someone posted on Kotaku,why not just release a GOTY style edition..why a selection of the games post release stuff?


This is the list of DLC currently available for FFXIII-2,lots of outfits,accessories and weapons
http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Final_Fantasy_XIII-2_Downloadable_Content


Hopefully this new edition will focus on the scenarios DLC,rather than that other crap

The combined cost of all DLC is 5440 MSP for the Xbox 360, and about $67 for PS3.