(Chapters 1 & 2 thread) Well, the opening cutscene is hella rad

[Raistlin]

Thoughts on the first two chapters:

(SPOILER)So far, the story telling is iffy. I wouldn't have understood as much if not for reading the Datalog, which is very useful. I knew Hope's mom was the one that died, but the game itself said NOTHING, as far as I could tell, about hating Snow and wanting revenge; in fact, Vanille's cheery attitude might have suggested Hope simply wanted to join up in the fight. The Datalog fills in a lot of exposition as well as fully explaining wtf has happened, though it is very repetitive at times.

I'm still a bit skeptical about the battle system, but so far it's been very quick and easy. I'm hoping with more abilities and the paradigms it will be a little more engaging.

I'm also hoping the world opens up a little bit, so I'm not just following narrow paths.

[Loony BoB]

I could tell Hope was pissed pretty quickly. Pretty much immediately, actually. As for the world opening up, I'm told that it happens when you get to chapter 11 spoilerPulse. So you'll just have to be patient with that one, I suppose.

[NeoCracker]

The only real complaint I have is the damned unresponsive Camera. It's a bit of a bother to use, but really it isn't a big problem, just a minor anoyance.

And yes, Sahz is awesome. His lines are excelent, and his character is actually well done.

I'm pleasantly un-annoyed with hope so far, don't really like him, but don't hate him either.

Snow is, as I thought, looking like my favorite so far, the Sahz is really close. Hey may be the comic relief, but he's also a rather deep character from what I can tell.

Here's to what looks like a beautiful game.

[Shlup]

EDIT: Ha. I just went off the main path and got an Iron Bangle for my troubles. Linear my ass.

I got that too. Bangle twins!

EDIT: Hux and I are going to play through this rather slow, we think. We're sharing a save file and we're trying not to play it without the other one there. We switch off every so often. It's kind of better that way, to be honest!

One player games are surprisingly fun with two or three people. My brother-in-law played through RE4 with myself and my sister-in-law as his sidekicks and it was good times.

So, I have died a bunch. You?

Inside the thing with the stuff there was the first big-ish baddy I ran into, I had gotten complacent and BJ was talking to me and I wasn't even looking at the screen and I tots died and I was like :ohnoes:.

Thoughts on the first two chapters:

(SPOILER)So far, the story telling is iffy. I wouldn't have understood as much if not for reading the Datalog, which is very useful. I knew Hope's mom was the one that died, but the game itself said NOTHING, as far as I could tell, about hating Snow and wanting revenge; in fact, Vanille's cheery attitude might have suggested Hope simply wanted to join up in the fight. The Datalog fills in a lot of exposition as well as fully explaining wtf has happened, though it is very repetitive at times.

OFMFT. I feel compelled to read every entry in the Datalog lest I miss something, even though most of the time it's really repetitive.

[Rad Bromance]

I'm loving it so far! Even though I don't know what chapter I'm on!

I think Lightning is my favorite right now. But all the characters are pretty likable so far.

Vanille is such a [strawberry]blonde.

[Raistlin]

Inside the thing with the stuff

Yeah, there were like, things in there.

[Shlup]

There were kind of a lot of things. I'm still in there. I may have started chapter three though... I haven't checked.

[Future Esthar]

(SPOILER)The exploration get´s less linear at the Vestige but is still too much strict.I am right after Serah crystalizes.

[Crowseye]

The following are my opinions:

Linearity is not really about how the pixels on the map line up, whether the path turns or there are little offshoots with "hidden treasure" (though to be honest, most of the maps so far are far more like hallways than they are "rooms," and every map thus far has exactly one meaningful entrance and exit).

Linearity is about player choice. It's about the player's ability to choose where he wants to go in the game world. It's about choosing when and where he wants to take on side quests, and how powerful he wants to be when he chooses to take on those quests or continue with the main story. This game so far is very limiting from the perspective of player choice in those respects.

That said, the linearity seems to fit with what the designers have apparently wanted to accomplish in terms of an uninterrupted story. Rather than "linearity" being a negative here, I consider it more of a feature of the game. It's not necessarily how I like my games in general, but I think it works in this case.

I don't much care for the combat system so far. I do not like how it puts the onus on completing battles as fast as possible, how tactical decisions have largely been taken out of my hands. Trying to micromanage battles -- even just having access to my main character's commands -- typically seems to make battles take a bit longer, thereby negatively affecting the battle score. I know that 99% of fans will laud this system as the best ever, but I like being able to micromanage the spells and abilities used by my party without having the game judge me negatively for doing so. /shrug

Lightning is awesome -- love seeing a female character who is not submissive, not a flake, and not unnecessarily melodramatic. She benefits from some excellent voice acting too, not to mention some great animation.

Sazh is a great sidekick. He and Lightning are really the high points in the game so far.

Snow: dude looks cool and his resolve is a lot better than throwing temper tantrums, but every time I start to like him he starts showing hints of Tidus. I hate having to be thinking to myself "please don't ruin the game for me..." when I see him on screen.

Hope: I thought the Datalog entries were sometimes inconsistent with the actual portrayal and the whole Hope-Vanille thing is odd because her character has had just about zero backstory and development so far, but overall I have a lot of hope for this guy when it comes to positive character development. His mom was a highlight of the early chapters too, though I thought the "Moms are tough" line was more corny than cool.

Overall, I'm enjoying it so far. Playing it in hi-def widescreen is certainly not hurting.

[Moon Rabbits]

"Moms are tough."

I almost don't feel like playing further than where I've gotten because I'm pretty sure that was the best part of the game.

The Vestige falling and turning all that to crystal was pretty coolz tho.

[finaloblivion]

im lovin this game so far!!! all the complaints...the whining...the criticisms...make me think that people don't remember FFX or any FF game for the matter when they put you on a straight path so the story shines through more in the beginning stages. and every FF game is supposed to be different - different themes, gameplay, attributes, that sort of thing. i mean, the linearity is no more linear than any map in FFX. battle system shows a lot of promise and it's awesome to watch. voice acting is awesome, expecially sazh and lightning! donkey to her shrek...lmao hilarious and true

[Lightening]

I totally agree finaloblivion. the character build up and focus is awesome in this game, everybody is interesting! everybody is interesting! I really have no idea why this game gets criticism. and I love that nobody gets forgotten along the way, unlike Freya who got pushed aside after the cleyra/burmecia stuff early on. Amarant and Irvine, the latecomers barely got any screentime other than directly after they joined in. outside gagazet, kimahri was pretty useless too, but FFX was another game that did characters right, so that's good too. anyway my point is, characters are awesome and totally make this game.

[Shlup]

I don't see much whining at all.

Personally, I like that it's linear. I like RPGs that aren't linear too, but when I play an FF I basically just want a pretty and interactive movie.

[Shoeberto]

I'm loving it so far.

The only beef I have is that the lack of towns/hubs (thus far, at least) don't give much of a break in the action for breathers. But the cutscenes do a pretty admirable job of making downtime. Every time something new unlocks in the battle system, I feel like more of a badass.

I don't know what chapter I'm on, so it's hard to know what to and not to say in spoilers. I don't think it's a spoiler that Shiva is in this game, though, and I just got her. So, there's that. Called a break for tonight, but I'm sure I'll be putting in a lot more time tomorrow. I'm hooked.

And, yeah, liking this way more than I ever did FFXII. I couldn't make myself care about anything that happened in that game for the four or so hours I played it. On the other hand, I already love basically every character. Especially Sazh. "Do not shake the slippery pipe" is my favorite line so far, aside from "Moms are tough."

Anyways, I love that they took a more FFVI approach of not identifying one central character, and instead making everyone intricately interconnected. Everybody is so damn interesting and has something to like about them so far.

[Shlup]

You can find out what chapter you're in by going to "Events" in the Datalog or by looking at your save file.

I agree about the character focus; every character is absolutely central to the story. I love it.

The only beef I have is that the lack of towns/hubs (thus far, at least) don't give much of a break in the action for breathers. But the cutscenes do a pretty admirable job of making downtime.

Spoiler?Get used to it.