I just got to the first part where you play as Hope.

Sorry for the lack of updates, guys, I had to take an extended break to play some games where I felt more in control, and which were more focused on the power of rock-solid mechanics. Fire Emblem has fixed me right up.

Anyway.

I'm really kind of enchanted by the appearance of Cocoon. All those streets in the backgrounds, green lights acting as tiny artificial suns, the population density suggested by how vast this place must be for there to be millions of people but none of them being visible from where I can see. This would be a really cool place to explore.

I couldn't help thinking, while I was playing, that JRPGs are one of the genres that benefit from two things:

1. The ability to explore.

2. Navigation itself being relatively simple.

Added layers of complexity for navigation makes JRPGs worse, not better, which is why I still like 2D overworld and 2D town structures best. Adventure games are a bit different in that vertical map design can be a boon, but I don't think it would have worked well in FFXIII. THat said, I kind of wish they had.... they had made it a map I could traverse, divided into multiple levels. Maybe give me an elevator or something? Come on.

I'm playing the game in Japanese so I have no idea how the English voices measure up, but Vanille's voice is way too damn cutesy. I'm sure this has something to do with my entrenchment in my own culture's storytelling tropes, but everything about how she behaves is irritating the piss out of me right now. Hopefully that changes.

The battles here are really just feeling like a way to buffer out what you're doing. It's not particularly engaging in and of itself, the combat, so it feels like a way to string out the time between the cutscenes (which are still much too numerous and much too long).

I'm going to try playing through the rest of the game without looking at the Datalog, to see how well I get what's going on. This whole Fal'cie thing sounds kinda interesting. Some kinda benevolent/malevolent gods who designate mortals to carry out their will? That could be cool. Hope it carries out on the promise of the hints they're dropping about it.

God this game is silly, though, STOP RUNNING LIKE THAT VANILLE PEOPLE DON'T RUN LIKE THAT

Vanille's voice is unreal too. Actually several things about this game are. It is a Japanese made RPG right? XD

The battles can be very boring but you just have to try to get over it. Some of the bosses can take forever to defeat you just need to make sure you have good paradigms and a good team... wait, are you even on that part yet? Which chapter are you on?

Hm, while I don't always share your opinions on what we like about games....

I do think we generally share an idea about the things we dislike in games.

This so far has been an interesting and useful thread... and this is coming from somebody who usually hates these kind of threads.

I haven't heard "paradigm" once so far in this long-ass tutorial. Which is weird, because by now in FF12 I had a few gambits to use.

And battles being "very boring" it not something one would merely "get over". I hope I end up disagreeing with you.

Pretty sure you made that joke weeks ago, it is still awful

I hated Vanille at the start too, but then she grew on me and ended up being one of my favorite characters

Holy damn does this game have nice environments. Lake Bresha is some crazy beautiful shit right there. Whew.

Just unlocked my paradigms. Apparently I can create my own - just made up Tri-Disaster. We'll see how well this serves.

The growth system in this is a lot more linear than the license board was. THat's fine, I guess. Hopefully it means they're going to be careful about how they handle the difficulty curve.

I liked the Fal'Cie. Definitely had that otherworldly devil-god quality I was looking for.

Lightning sure does... sure does take out her feelings of powerless on other people a lot

So you do have your paradigms now! Told you.

Yes they have GREAT Enviroments! They are pure beauty. Trust me, they'll keep blowing you away. The growth system is actually pretty good. You'll get used to it and it'll grow on you. It's very easy to use. The fal'Cie l'Cie and all the other stuff they add in latter can get a tad confusing. Just make sure to try to sort out the story and you'll get it.

Lightning's back story is REALLY interesting. Make sure to pay attention to it because they'll use a lot of refrences on it later on.

I don't believe we've met before

In order for a story to confuse me in particular, it would have to be communicated very, very poorly