In what way is the combat unique? Cuz I gotta say, I've really grown tired of the button smashing that's so common in games :P Perhaps I should give TLS a chance anyways? I wish you could download a demo of sort!

No, I haven't played any thing at all the last few days... I've been busy with bear and stuff ^^ And besides, my girl is always hogging the game! But she loves it :D

The combat system shows you the battlefield in advance. You can pick off far-away enemies with a crossbow and special bolts (e.g. Wizard killers) to ease your path slightly. Then you can go in and attack. You can use 'Gathering', which takes all aggro away from your other party members, doubles casting speed (normally 20 seconds, goes down to 10 seconds), and you gain HP from your attacks. 

When mages cast a spell, a magic circle remains. You can stand is this magic circle to gain that element for you weapon, or the heal. Or, you can use Gale to dispatch this magic circle, with varying effects (e.g. Ice causes enemies to fall over, Fire negates defence etc.). 

There's other, minor stuff, like mega attacks, and skill links, but I don't wish to confuse

Hehe yeah, those things are better left to experince for oneself ^^

It's certainly a novel battle system, but sadly most fights devolve into using Gathering, auto-attacking, and using Gale on any magic-circles. There's little else to do :/

Well, as long as I don't have to button smash 'em I'm good ;)

But how come it's better than Pandoras? In what way is it better?

I meant this new girl Melia I don´t like her. I don´t understand why everybody is saying that FF XIII was not good I liked it very much, and I liked Lighting she is my favourit Final Fantasy Charackter.

let me throw this out before going into hater mode: Final Fantasy XIII is far from beeing a bad game, the visuals are stunning, and a lot of little details made me chuckle.

BUT.. while i hated on XII for a long time for beeing not a real Final Fantasy (Who am i to judge, i know, but i think you guys catch my meaning - it was just drastically different.. but not a bad game, the gameplay and World was superb, only the story lacked)  but with XIII, you could really see how content and variety was lost due to beeing more shiny. while i do not dislike a game for beeing shortened, i dislike it for the lack of variety.  it was really just fight-fight-fight-fight-scene-fight-fight-fight-fight-scene-repeat ..(Oh and dear god, the battle system.. a.) making placing on the battlefield important, without giving the player the ability to actually change your parties' position: Stupid. / b.) making 70% of the battles semi-automatic (just hit X until u win).. stupid. / c.) giving enemies insta-kill abilities, while a dead leader alone means game over.. meh. / d.) IMO, the "Roles" were far to limited.. even White Mages from FF1 could still "attack".. / e.) there was always "the 1 perfect strategy" for harder battles, meaning that customization caused you to redefine your setup to where the system wants it to be in order to get the 5 stars - and once reached that point, the difficulty becomes non-existent / .. and so on.) there was nothing in between, and this is where especially Xenoblade simply shines - Wide open fields (Something i wouldnt dislike about FFXIII if it offered at least some variety), tons of Sidequests, towns, crafting that is actually fun, a lot of secrets, and beeing able to have your party your own way, with the only requrement beeing that you kinda need to use your brain while optimizing your setup.

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PS @ everyone who isnt used to using spoilertags:

when replying to someone, there are 2 Boxes in the upper row of options (where B/I/U is).. click on the one that says "Styles", highlight written text and then choose "Spoiler".

I do not think using Melia's name is much of a Spoiler, but other things are - and we do not want to ruin the fun for others, eh?

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i couldnt really play much the last 2 day's, but today i'll invest a couple of hours again..

i am at that Mechonis Factory now, shortly after defeating Gadolt. .. if i remember correctly, i am around 40 Hours in.

Yeah, it's the same person. Give her a chance! She's a very, VERY good character, and far superior to Reyn and Sharla IMO. The other characters have their own strengths, and should fight enemies accordingly. 

And my reason for disliking FF13 is for the same reason as what is written below me. Too linear, story made no sense for most of the game, no sidequests, no option to change main character, too short etc.

It was also drastically overhyped. Not a bad game, infact, it's a great game. BUT, it is not a Final Fantasy game.

is there any site with a good Sidequest guide?

Am I the only one that has notices how Reyn swings one of his arms in almost every single cutscene that he has appeared in?