ScuzzBlog: Diaries October 2019
Entry 22nd October 2019: Post 01: Final Fantasy XIII-2 - Boxed Art.
Final Fantasy XIII-2 - Boxed Art.
So having decided to press pause on my MMO activities I reactivated
the PS3 and am back to where I was in 2012. At that time I had been
playing Final Fantasy XIII and XIII-2. Neither were that appealing
though the sequel had a bit more going for it. However I was in the
throws of playing SWToR, Rift and Warcraft and so my allegiance at
the time was to the MMO games rather than the single player console
games of the period.
However, I have grown a little weary of Warcraft as they seem to
have lost a little steam, and I just can't go backwards to Classic.
In Tera I got to 70 but cus the drudge was so boring I just had to
have a break. So I consulted the diary and checked out what I had
been doing the last time I was on the PS3. The date was actually
April 2013 and I basically had chucked the controller out the
window with the way the games developer had relaunched Lara Croft.
The game was sickly dark and became an action shooter, much like
all the games of the period. Scuse the French but ' piss poor '.
Over the intervening period only one game caught my attention on
console and that was Nier Automata with Yorha 2B. The story is
just brilliant, but, it would mean buying a PS4. Sadly there is
no justification for a games console that requires a subscription.
I know I pay for Warcraft but I just don't want to be held to a
sub so that I can use kit. It's different to just a game.
Anyway... maybe I was a bit harsh on Final Fantasy so I decided to
have another go.
First thing to remember about Final Fantasy is that you cannot play
the game without some kind of guide. The best guide is the one they
publish for the game. This was sure to get hot and heavy and I
didn't want to destroy my best copy. So I bought another. Man was
I surprised by the size of box it came in. One good thing to come
from that was having a good box for my A4000T front door panel
which I keep separate from the computer. And the copy of the book
I received was left in its plastic and put straight into store.
The game book is just beautiful and the art work is second to none.
It really is worth buying these books just for the art work.
Anyhoo I started a new game and I was off ...
You play basically only two characters... Noel and Serah. The young
Serah was in the previous game and pretty much played a bit part.
She is the sister of Lightning the star of XIII. Thankfully she was
for the most part disentangled from Snow her fiance and so was able
to develop her character a bit more.
To the Story, and Lightning is battling the big bad boss cus the guy
appears to be sick of having to watch this young girl die as she
tries to prevent twists in the time line. The whole game is based
around various paradox events that impact on time. And you guessed
it our two hero characters simply venture through gates to various
time lines and find further gates to other places and do battle
with monsters and try to outwit the big bad guy and meet up with
Lightning for the big final battle.
The game is like FF XIII insomuch that it uses the same fight mechanics
which are time based and not turn based as with previous games. Me,
I prefer turn based but hey. The system works on three paradigms
that you can customise to give you the basic healer/tank/damage
formats that you play in most games these days. You start with
a builder using Ravage and then when you get your yellow bar on max
you swap over to damage or Commando and then flick over to Medic
when you need a bit of heel.
Advancement is by Crysterium which are a series of skills that you
can attain by building your CP or crystogen points as you win battles.
The can earn up to five stars per battle which helps. The third
member of your team is a captured monster and there are good and
bad ones in the game which you have to go hunt. I was able to get
the best of each which was pretty cool.
I levelled my chars to 99 which is the highest level and took them
all the way to the final boss fight. I then saved my position at
that point and then went back through the game to find all the
hidden stuff. For me if I defeat that final boss battle I will
get all moody and miserable and kick the game back to the shelf.
I now complete the fragment challenges to complete the zones. I
just killed the three cacti bosses and now unlocked another gate.
Those gates are displayed on the Historia Crux which you can access
at any time and revisit places albeit at differing time lines.
Sounds complex, well that is what Final Fantasy is all about.
During the gaming search for the manual I discovered that they
released a third version of the XIII-3 or Lightning Returns. So
I bought the game and it arrived today. Looks promising though
the main character is one of the reasons I didn't like XIII. But
I forgive her and I'll give the game a try. One thing that you
do learn when watching the opening sequence of the newer game
is that you discover that Serah appears to have died. Spoiler.
And just when I was getting use to her ways. Never mind.
Watch SuperButterBuns and her fun guide
So there you have it, I'm back on the PS3 but for how long ?
Final Fantasy XIII-2 - Boxed Art.
Yorha - 2B is still waiting .. poor thing.
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