I'm going to start over in Final Fantasy XIII

I'm going to start over in Final Fantasy XIII

Pro Tip: Don't.

" Pro Tip: Don't. "

I really need to finish that game, I think I stopped playing on the airship thingy. Haven't touched the game in months.

" @LordXavierBritish said:

" Pro Tip: Don't. "

I MUST "

" I really need to finish that game, I think I stopped playing on the airship thingy. Haven't touched the game in months. "

I don't even have the patience to purchase FFXIII. 

I'm not a huge proponent of Final Fantasy XIII for its linearity and simplicity (Crystarium and battle system) but I found the story tolerable.  By no means do I mean that as a negative trait of the game, I thought it was visually amazing and all else fell flat, but obviously I should stop there since I shouldn't be reviewing the game here.  You know, on a game site.
 
Anyways, I'd suggest you purchase a turbo controller.  Sure, maybe you'll press L1 or LB every once in awhile but if you're going to grind?  You're gonna need the turbo controller.  Also, you might enjoy the ending since I believe you like this Vanille.

" @LordXavierBritish said:

I don't even have the patience to purchase FFXIII. 

Then how can you talk shit about it? You don't see me insulting Halo: Reach, do you? Pro tip: do. Advanced pro tip: you were definitely playing wrong. You're generally not supposed to make a habit of running away from battles in JRPGs, a realization I came to one day while playing Breath of Fire II. "

Let me guess, you're at Barthandalus. So am I, and I've been there for two months. I need to pick this one back up again.

" @LordXavierBritish said:

I don't even have the patience to purchase FFXIII. 

Then how can you talk shit about it? You don't see me insulting Halo: Reach, do you? Pro tip: do. Advanced pro tip: you were definitely playing wrong. You're generally not supposed to make a habit of running away from battles in JRPGs, a realization I came to one day while playing Breath of Fire II. "

" Let me guess, you're at Barthandalus. So am I, and I've been there for two months. I need to pick this one back up again. "

" @LordXavierBritish:   Are those the same reviews that use the phrase "30 hour tutorial?" If so, they're Glenn Beck. (I use that term whenever I think something is wronger than wrong.) I'd say it gets pretty good about 8 hours in (I think)(it's a 50 hour game, it's not that long).  That's my point: if you haven't played a game, you can't talk crap about it, since you have no idea what it's like. Video doesn't cut the job, because trust me, watching somebody play a game is VERY different from actually playing. Reading about it is worse, since you don't have anything that can be called experience with the game on any level. You also can't talk crap about it if you play the game only so you feel justified about talking crap about it. "

Be ready to grind a lot in preparation for some of the later bosses.  It gets a little tedious.

" @Video_Game_King said:

" @LordXavierBritish:   Are those the same reviews that use the phrase "30 hour tutorial?" If so, they're Glenn Beck. (I use that term whenever I think something is wronger than wrong.) I'd say it gets pretty good about 8 hours in (I think)(it's a 50 hour game, it's not that long).  That's my point: if you haven't played a game, you can't talk crap about it, since you have no idea what it's like. Video doesn't cut the job, because trust me, watching somebody play a game is VERY different from actually playing. Reading about it is worse, since you don't have anything that can be called experience with the game on any level. You also can't talk crap about it if you play the game only so you feel justified about talking crap about it. "

I'm not talking shit about it, I'm saying it is long.  And 8 hours is kind of a long fucking time for it to get "good", which you just said yourself.  So I guess you are Glenn Beck. "

" The day Square Enix releases a Final Fantasy that exceeds Final Fantasy VI, a game released in the early '90s, I will shit my pants because god damn, that's some heavenly mana right there. "

Can't we all just get along?

" @Hailinel: Okay.  I still don't understand why you are pissed off at me. "

I seem to recall the game doing a very poor job of establishing itself at the beginning, so coming back to this after putting it down for a while and being completely lost sounds about like the thing that would happen. Some say it takes about 8 hours for the game to get good, others say its closer to 30. Either way, it is a lot to play through. Could be longer if you don't remember what some things are and have to go and read the walls of texts the game provides for you. So if you are going to go through all of this again then I hope you really like the combat system. It is going to be the only interesting thing going on for a long while. Now, if you are on the fence about the whole battle thing then...oh boy. The story isn't really that impressive and the characters are somewhat...bad. In my opinion, at least. 
 
If you really want the story that bad then allow me to suggest you look it up on youtube or some place.

" @Hailinel: I can't say the tutorial period is long without playing the game? "

" @LordXavierBritish said:

" @Hailinel: I can't say the tutorial period is long without playing the game? "

I find all the complaints about the "tutorial period" absurd, given that I thought that the game was well-paced.  And no, I don't feel you can justify any complaint regarding any section of the game in terms of its length without experiencing it for yourself. "

I started my game up today too after taking a 2 or 3 month break. I kinda regret quitting at the last chapter, because now there's only a few hours left when I want more, and it'll be hard to give a shit about what happens in the ending since so much time has passed. But I don't have the balls or time to restart a 50 hour game. Gran Pulse (Chapter 11) is the worst grindfest in recent memory. It's basically 10+ hours of running from place to place killing specific monsters for these quest things. It's only "open world" in that you can take on grinding missions in slightly different orders, or wander around doing nothing. Hopefully you can make it through that, 'cause Chapter 12 is pretty cool. 

I arrived at the point of fighting the last of the Eidolons that shows up (Vanille's) and after getting kicked in the teeth by it several times, I decided that this was not the Final Fantasy I know and love, and that's what I went out to buy this game for. I am simply not a fan of the way this game works, and it has taken me over 35 hours of playing it to come to that conclusion. I feel your pain.

DON'T! Just read the codex. It's all documented there, but the story's nothing to write home about anyway.
 
You can just do a bit of grinding to get reacquainted with the battle system, not that's it's even fully unlocked where you are. On top of that you'll then be able to beat the boss.

" DON'T! Just read the codex. It's all documented there, but the story's nothing to write home about anyway.  You can just do a bit of grinding to get reacquainted with the battle system, not that's it's even fully unlocked where you are. On top of that you'll then be able to beat the boss. "

" I arrived at the point of fighting the last of the Eidolons that shows up (Vanille's) and after getting kicked in the teeth by it several times, I decided that this was not the Final Fantasy I know and love, and that's what I went out to buy this game for. I am simply not a fan of the way this game works, and it has taken me over 35 hours of playing it to come to that conclusion. I feel your pain. "

I actually didn't grind a lot in the game. I battled every enemy I came across and that was enough to keep progressing in the story.  
 
The only place where I did any grinding was in Gran Pulse, but that was mostly because of all the quests and because I really wanted to be able to defeat those really large dinosaur things (I never did though, lol).   
 
Ehhh, actually maybe I do remember doing a little bit of grinding. I was really obsessive about filling out the sphere grid. Or, whatever it was called in XIII. Crystarium?

You got stuck on a boss before Gran Pulse? ...yeah maybe starting over would be a good idea. Even if you got past the boss you're stuck at now, the bosses of Chapter 11-13 are rough. Like, REALLY rough. Another option would be to run back and fourth on the level your on right now and just grind a bunch, that wouldn't take as long. And the story is great, it would be a shame if you pressed on though the rest of the game without understanding what's going on. So yeah, it's up to you, but restarting FFXIII sounds like the right thing to do. I'm on my second playthrough right now and loving it. It's a fantastic game, in my opinion.
 
EDIT: Is this the boss you're stuck on?

" @Video_Game_King said:

" @LordXavierBritish:   Are those the same reviews that use the phrase "30 hour tutorial?" If so, they're Glenn Beck. (I use that term whenever I think something is wronger than wrong.) I'd say it gets pretty good about 8 hours in (I think)(it's a 50 hour game, it's not that long).  That's my point: if you haven't played a game, you can't talk crap about it, since you have no idea what it's like. Video doesn't cut the job, because trust me, watching somebody play a game is VERY different from actually playing. Reading about it is worse, since you don't have anything that can be called experience with the game on any level. You also can't talk crap about it if you play the game only so you feel justified about talking crap about it. "

I'm not talking shit about it, I'm saying it is long.  And 8 hours is kind of a long fucking time for it to get "good", which you just said yourself.  So I guess you are Glenn Beck. "

"

  (Only problem is that I'm getting Persona 3 FES next week which will might take up a lot of my time....hmm)  

Good luck, man.  I pretty much had to take a break after the boss battle we both had trouble with, or else I was going to be in serious danger of OD'ing on XIII.  I should get back into it, but it's not callin' my name quite yet.

I went on hiatus a few months back at the airship, I've just returned and I'm really enjoying it.

Why can't we say something about a game unless we've played it? If we honestly shouldn't give our opinion on something unless we've played it, then these forums would be a very quiet place.  
 
If 90% of people who played the game say, "it takes a long time to really get going," then, hey, the game probably takes a while to really get going. I don't need to have played the game to come to that conclusion. It's simple logic. If you don't care that it takes several hours before it gets to the really awesome stuff (which is pretty subjective), then that probably won't deter you from playing it. If it does bother you, then you probably shouldn't buy the game.  
 
Personally, I don't like games that take a long time to get to the good stuff, so this game isn't for me. And I see nothing wrong with voicing my opinion about that.  
 
I mean, come on, isn't the point of reviews so people can make an informed decision about games without having to buy every single one of them?

Already made my peace with FFXIII, not even going to get back into it. But, OP, I seem to remember that during the GDC presentation that some guy said the number of enemies in an area and their placement were modulated precisely to get you through the boss at the end of said area. I assume that, to some degree, every RPG with non-random encounters is this way, but it seemed more concrete in FFXIII simply due to the fact that you'll never return to most of those maps, which means the expectation is that you won't grind until CH 11. So yeah, fight everything. Or most of everything.

I wish you the best of luck with this, Nate. Final Fantasy XIII is, for all its faults, a great game that is worth experiencing. If you take your time and take on every enemy you come across, you should definitely be sufficiently prepared to take on Barthandelus come the end of Chapter 9. The game puts a limit on how far you can advance along the Crystarium in each chapter, so use that as a guide - if you're near the end of all your open Crystarium paths, then it's safe to say you've probably got a good chance of taking down the end-of-chapter boss. If you've still got a way to go, it might be worth backing up and farming some more CP. This was the tactic that I ended up employing, and it served me pretty well right up to the end of about Chapter Eleven.
 
My advice, not that I'm sure it's worth much, would be not to pick up multiple JRPGs at once. It's a surefire way to burn yourself out on both games, and it can also get pretty confusing trying to wrap your head around two lengthy stories and two battle systems at once. As a result, I'd recommend you to leave Persona 3 until you've wrapped up FFXIII, or vice versa. 
 
Once again, good luck. I hope you get to see the end of Final Fantasy XIII some time soon.