The Glade 4.0

Not really. I'd say 10 was more free roam than 8 once you hit that certain point. 8 was very, very linear. There's really only three optional "dungeons" in the game and that's about it as far as side content goes(card game aside). 10 has very stupidly lengthy quests for epic weapons, several Aeons in optional places, the monster arena, Omega's tomb thinger, the Chocobo races...and Blitzball. God damn Blitzball.

7, you might have a better argument for...but not by much. Instead of...Blitzball, you raise chocobos instead. As a matter of fact, unless you count Ruby and Emerald, Chocobo raising is the only real big side quest in the game.

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Los Angeles Kings 2014 Stanley Cup Champions

"I love this **** team right here."
-Jonathan Quick

It's not about cyberpunk versus classic fantasy. I'm sorry that that's how it looked. It's about eyepopping cgi, twitch gameplay, and minigames taking precidence over story and smooth gameplay..

7 had some good characters, but the plot was kinda hard to follow and the political undertone of the plot also got to me, but I got through it. What's done with the characters in later games (and movies!) shows that this game didn't reach its full potential and leaned heavily on eye popping cgi action to to make it famous. This is my beef with modern gaming that I alluded to earlier. It's strange when an FPS (the one with Vincent) has a better storyline than an rpg.

8 was even harder to follow, more irrelivant, and more relying on eyepopping cgi action than 7. I got fed up with it after about one sitting. 9,10, and 10/2 came out during my console deprivation phase and no one has ever given me a compelling reason to go pick them up.

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I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"

9 is more classic(people give this one **** due to character design, but I really like it both in gameplay and story). 10 is...well...I wouldn't put it in the classic category, but I also wouldn't put it in the 7 and 8 category, either. X-2 is even more difficult to categorize. 12 is rather political and not so much of a "Save the World" scenario that the others are. It was very refreshing. But that shouldn't come as a surprise considering my favorite JRPG series is Suikoden which always focus on the political overthrow the corrupt government or try to prevent the neighboring Kingdom from taking over the country the game is based in(With a lot of gray area instead of the cliche Black and White most RPGs follow) more than a global "Save the World" kind of plot.

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Los Angeles Kings 2014 Stanley Cup Champions

"I love this **** team right here."
-Jonathan Quick

I completely see your point but I think that I just missed being able to fly around the world map without having to select a specific location from a list to land. It gave the games more of a free roam feel to them for me.

Blitzball would be my personal hell I think.

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"Once we realize that imperfect understanding is the human condition, there is no shame in being wrong, only in failing to correct our mistakes."
- George Soros

I latched onto the "angsty teen saves the world" a bit more when I was an angsty teen myself. These days I don't mind a bit of political intrigue to color the story.

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"Once we realize that imperfect understanding is the human condition, there is no shame in being wrong, only in failing to correct our mistakes."
- George Soros

That is my biggest beef with 10 and 10-2 is the lack of a real world map. It makes the world seem much smaller than it actually is. Even 12 felt a little smaller in this regard, even though they just changed the world map into zones like in an MMO. It fit the combat system better. A game without random encounters doesn't work as well with a world map in the traditional sense.

_________________
Los Angeles Kings 2014 Stanley Cup Champions

"I love this **** team right here."
-Jonathan Quick

See, the world of 12 felt friggin huge to me compared to previous FF's. I mean, yeah, it didn't have a planet to free-fly around on like previous FF's. But chasing down some of those hunts sometimes involved a few minutes of running to get there.

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The Dude abides.

I would agree with that, there have been a few times that I've actually gotten frustrated at running to some various place (and drawing aggro the whole way). It was much in the same way that XI worked some places would take 5-10 min on foot but they also offer boat/airship/teleport to move around in order to cut the distance.

Not sure how familiar you guys are with XI but there were a number of quests (mostly job unlocks) that would take you from one end of the continent to another a couple of times. It would take 20 minutes just to travel one way. Some long days playing that game.

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"Once we realize that imperfect understanding is the human condition, there is no shame in being wrong, only in failing to correct our mistakes."
- George Soros

I remember that.


Rather, I remember sitting in your room waiting to go do something while you ran....

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“The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.” - Thomas Paine

For those interested there is some gameplay footage of XIV currently on youtube

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"Once we realize that imperfect understanding is the human condition, there is no shame in being wrong, only in failing to correct our mistakes."
- George Soros

I saw nothing there that interested me.

So, aside from the graphics(which are pretty damn impressive) how is that any different from XI? It even has the same lame *** races.

_________________
Los Angeles Kings 2014 Stanley Cup Champions

"I love this **** team right here."
-Jonathan Quick

Mainly in that it completely ignores how XI played, and seems to be using more of the WoW demographic (XIV looks to be a lot more accessible, casual, soloable, etc than XI.)

And with Square realizing how much they screwed up on XI in the early days, and the overhaul they've done to it to make it more accessible, I have faith that XIV will turn out pretty good. I'm pretty eagerly looking forward to it...a fair bit of what I've seen seems to make it seem almost like a single player FF game in a lot of ways, just online.

I had to get back to town to log-out, finish quest, etc. I always appreciated your patience.

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"Once we realize that imperfect understanding is the human condition, there is no shame in being wrong, only in failing to correct our mistakes."
- George Soros

I get this same feeling. I believe that it has to do with the weapons based skill system versus the job class level system. I just hope that they learn that the NM (Notorious Monster) system from XI was a load of crap and good drops should be exclusive quest items to effectively combat gil farming.

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"Once we realize that imperfect understanding is the human condition, there is no shame in being wrong, only in failing to correct our mistakes."
- George Soros

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2009/09/final-fantasy-xiii-preview/#more-16632

This article talks slightly more in depth about the combat system that will be the backbone of XIII. As much as I love the summons I found that I hardly used them in X or XII (never did the quests in XI so no experience with that one). What are your thoughts? Will this fix something that felt broken for you or make it even more beyond repair?

I...don't like that. I preferred it when summons were basically stronger versions of Black Magic, not...you know, summons that take the place of your other characters.

The Optima thinger sounds fine, though. Not what I would prefer, but it's not as bad as the summons part.

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Los Angeles Kings 2014 Stanley Cup Champions

"I love this **** team right here."
-Jonathan Quick

The game will be $95 in Japan? What the heck?

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The Dude abides.

Yeah, that kinda surprised me as well.

_________________
Los Angeles Kings 2014 Stanley Cup Champions

"I love this **** team right here."
-Jonathan Quick

$95 and PS3 only in Japan. I hope for their sake it is some sort of "special edition" with extra stuff.

The optima systems sounds like improved gambits that could make the grind a bit less sour with the added bonus of button mashing summon drives for kicks when you get bored.

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"Once we realize that imperfect understanding is the human condition, there is no shame in being wrong, only in failing to correct our mistakes."
- George Soros

It probably won't be any kind of special edition; just with Final Fantasy games tending to sell more in Japan alone than in the rest of the world combined, they probably know it's safe enough to sell it at that price and they'll buy it.

Kinda sucks for me though, when I import it this December hehe.

I just watched a video on the marketplace. Came with a release date of 3/9/10. As in March. For those of you interested.

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Los Angeles Kings 2014 Stanley Cup Champions

"I love this **** team right here."
-Jonathan Quick

I work with a guy who has a friend at Square working on the game. He says that the PS3 version is done and they expect to have the 360 finished by Christmas. Only caveat is that they want the 360 and PS3 to be essentially the same and have limited the 360 release to 3 discs.

So it basically still will look and run a bit better on the PS3 but for full content/less compressed quality the Japanese version will be optimal. I have no idea what will be different (or missing should that be the case) but we'll find out. I imagine that whatever (if anything) is cut will show later as DLC. Microsoft must have paid a lot of money to get this title, a whole lot of money.

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"Once we realize that imperfect understanding is the human condition, there is no shame in being wrong, only in failing to correct our mistakes."
- George Soros

Well, I was very impressed with the last couple vids on XBL. I'd really like to get this for 360, but am worried about taking a chance on differences in content.

Seriously though, I can't wait for this game.

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The Dude abides.

I doubt there will be much difference in content. I would like to get this for 360, but I feel like I should get it for the PS3 for a couple of reasons. Native programming and a bigger HDD being the main two.