vidiot

Good read. 
 
I have such conflicted feelings about this one. I don't like how it's usually dragged through the mud by fans. It's probably one of the weakest in the series, but I never found it overtly horrible. It is systemic of something that's been problematic of the series for a while that was touched a bit with the QuickLook of Downpour: It's almost like they ran out of ideas or something. 
I get the feeling that this was problematic for the developer that wanted to be faithful, but instead of going out on it's own trail, made an experience that felt like a rehash of ideas and concepts that had been around forever.  
 
I get why people don't like the combat though. That being said, combat was a big issue in this series since it's inception. By the time the 4th rolled around, I remember reviewers and fans flipping out over how combat was awkwardly utilized in that game. Homecoming seemed like an over-the-top response to the series issues though. 
 
If you pump up the difficulty and just be prepared to see things again you've already seen in the series: It's not bad, or crushingly horrible. Just...average. I enjoyed it more than The Room though.

@Encephalon said:

@Hailinel: Hmm, sorry? Could you repeat that? I couldn't hear you over all this JOB SYSTEM!

Have fun fighting an evil tree with a ridiculous name and a shallow reason for villainy. And also a shit plot and poor characters in general. Seriously, I'd rather play Final Fantasy II than V.

I think the DLC slots in nicely as the time travel angle allows them to play around with the story in ways a lot of other games can't.

@bartok: Thats not true AT ALL. There are over 70 hours worth of gameplay if you want to really dive in. Its vastly improved from the previous game. And the time travel mechanic lets them do some fun things with the story. The game is hardly bare bones unless you count 70+ hours as bare bones.

The announcers even have to mask how boring the sport is by shouting "TOOOUCHDOWNNNN!" and holding the word for a whole minute to try and make it like some exciting thing since absolutely nothing else ever happens in a game of American Football, except for maybe the occasional instance where an American Football player starts crying because he got kicked in the shin.

I'm not a fan of American Football: But the assumptions and language in that post is hilarious. 
 
SISSY PROTECTIVE CLOTHING I SAY!

I would love to either S-Rank Chronicles of Riddick, The Darkness, or Condemned 2 but can't because the remaining achievements are online and it's pretty damn difficult to find people willing to help you. 
I've always wanted to go back and sink my teeth into the remaining Halo achievements I have. 
 
There's also Prince of Persia (2008) with it's remaining DLC I never really tried out. Also I need to finish off Ico under two hours or something. I have lot's of B's that I should try to beef-up.

This was the game that drove me to hack my Wii. 
Yes, I have it pre-ordered, I'm ecstatic to support this phenomenal game. Well worth it.

Good. I would have lost respect for Bioware if they changed the ending. It is what it is. Good or bad that is the ending they released with the final product. Changing it to meet consumer demands ruins the product's creative credibility. Plus it builds in an expectation for Bioware, and other developers, that if consumers make enough noise they get whatever they want. That's bull-shit.

@brehonia said:

@PixelPrinny said:

Really not sure how XIII-2's ending was a big "fuck you" to people that bitched and moaned about the first one. I really liked the first one and didn't like 2's ending at all.

A dark ending does not immediately make for a good ending.

It's not really about it being dark, it's about it being a huge, ballsy swerve away from what turned a lot of people off before.

The other game (fantasy the first, thirteenth and final) built up this whole impossible scenario where the party struggles to defy their fate, then in the end they just bring down Cocoon like they were told and catch it with magic and the power of love. I didn't hate it myself, but it was a little disappointing how neat and pat it was.

This game seemed like it was doing the same thing, ignoring all the stuff about Lightning and the heart of chaos and everything going back to where it should be, I guess it was all overcome by faith in the goddess or the power of the human spirit or some crap like that?? No it's actually an incredible fake-out - the impossible situation really was impossible, now Caius has won and everything is boned. It's not cool just because it's grim; it's cool because it's shockingly grim, and consistent with the rest of the story.

Except for, yknow, Caius could have just won from the very start by stabbing himself in the heart and ending it. And he certainly wasn't averse to suicide, as that's how the whole thing ends anyways with him forcing Noel to kill him (not to mention killing the goddess supposedly would have screwed him over regardless, but he just wanted the cycle to end so he and whats her face could find peace). But he decided not to do that and draw you out on a long, pointless quest, why exactly? If something stopped him from doing it himself, why didn't he just let Lightning win?

No, the ending wasn't cool; It was a stupid, contrived piece of shit that's only reason for existing is so they can sell you a "true ending" in the form of DLC or a sequel (which they deny atm, but business is business so we'll see). But i if you enjoy empty stories that are nothing more than, as you said -- an incredible fake-out -- where the characters are doomed from the start and the entire journey is absolutely pointless, well, all the power to you. Personally, I always hate stories that end with "Let's reset everything so you don't remember any of it happened!" or "Yay, everyone's dead and this was pointless. The end!" In video games, it's especially silly, as it's the equivalent of basically making a story out of a random game over. Like "Hey, you lost to Lavos and got the end where he destroys the world. Guess what? That's the true ending! Thanks for playing! Roll credits!" OMG it's shockingly grim they would end the game like that! How avant-garde!

But let's not kid ourselves -- that's not even what's going on here. There's going to be a "true" ending through DLC or another game. Maybe Serah will stay dead, Lightning will remain stuck in Valhalla, Noel will cease to exist because his timeline is gone, and everyone will be forced to rebuild their destroyed cities. (Had that been the ending, I'd be totally content with it because at least it's an ending). But more than likely it'll involve another contrived scenario where they'll defeat the bad guy, save the day, and the timeline will magically reset back to before Lightning was kidnapped and they all live happily ever after.