One thing I loved, the difficulty

[GuitarGuy1181]

I just finally finished xiii, and while it is probably my least favorite of the series (aside from II), there was one thing that I love, and that is the difficulty. I know a lot of people found this to be one of the easier games in the series, but I found it to be one of the more difficult. I thought it was right there behind the original NES version of the original FF. Never since that game in the series have I died so many times at a boss. I think not being able to overpower your characters too much in this one really turned up the difficulty, and in the end I enjoyed the challenge. In most of the previous games I would do everything I could before finishing the game, resulting in defeating the final boss in only a few hits, so this was a nice change of pace. Did anyone else find this one more difficult than the others?

[Mirage]

Exactly which difficulty are you talking about?

[Mo-Nercy]

What FFXIII in stepping up the battle difficulty relative to other recent FF games, it evens out with the lack of exploration. You don't even have to think about where to go next because there's a big arrow guiding you down a path without diversion.

I don't think boss fights were any harder than they've been in the past, really, but it was a nice change of pace to see that even regular monsters can give you a bit of grief. Once you've worked out the right role setup for every combination of enemy in a particular area though, it's much easier.

[Sefie1999AD]

Here's something I wrote in my LiveJournal:

*WARNING: Possible spoilers for FFI, FFIV and FFXIII!*

Some people say FFXIII is the hardest FF, especially by the time you reach Pulse. While some of the battles were quite hard, I didn't really think FFXIII was the hardest game in the series. Your party is fully restored after every battle, and even if you lose a battle, you can always retry the battle without having to load the game. I thought FFI and FFIV were a lot harder with their long, grueling dungeons, where any battle could lead to your party dying and forcing you to start the whole dungeon all over again (*cough* FFI's Ice Cave, FFIV's Sealed Cavern and Lunar Subterrane *cough*).

So while FFXIII probably had the highest number of Game Overs I've had in the series, it doesn't really matter since you can always retry the battles.

[Future Esthar]

FFI is really the hardest and the most annoying on the battle section.

[Jessweeee♪]

Here's something I wrote in my LiveJournal:

*WARNING: Possible spoilers for FFI, FFIV and FFXIII!*

Some people say FFXIII is the hardest FF, especially by the time you reach Pulse. While some of the battles were quite hard, I didn't really think FFXIII was the hardest game in the series. Your party is fully restored after every battle, and even if you lose a battle, you can always retry the battle without having to load the game. I thought FFI and FFIV were a lot harder with their long, grueling dungeons, where any battle could lead to your party dying and forcing you to start the whole dungeon all over again (*cough* FFI's Ice Cave, FFIV's Sealed Cavern and Lunar Subterrane *cough*).

So while FFXIII probably had the highest number of Game Overs I've had in the series, it doesn't really matter since you can always retry the battles.

There's a difference between being difficult and being tedious.

[black orb]

>>> The game is easy, but you get a "hard mode" after you beat it right??..

[Rad Bromance]

I thought it had just the right amount of challenge. Some bosses were actually hard, and FFXIII hands down has the most difficult final boss fight, mainly because the game won't allow you to get so powered up that you kill him in three turns.

I dunno, I really love the battle system in this game. I just wish I could control my entire party, or at the very least have some sort of gambit type system where I can tell my characters what to do.

[VeloZer0]

I found FF13 boss fights to be incredibly poorly balanced. When fighting bosses I clearly had no idea how to fight I never came close to a game over, the fight just drew on forever. It's like they wanted you to fight, die and then go back in with a properly tweaked paradigm deck. Giving you the ability to change paradigms in battle would have gone a long way to balancing. Or at least make it so you get a game over if you are ste up wrong, not a painfully long battle.(Make it a 1AP technique so it isn't exploited).

I found FF13 to be a very easy title. Most of my adversity came from me trying to go to fast and over extending myself.

[Cortez]

mainly because the game won't allow you to get so powered up that you kill him in three turns.

Well, I killed (SPOILER)Orphan's final form in 1,5 minutes during the first stagger and got the 5-star rating on the first attempt, so it is possible (with tier2 weapons, of course, but you can get them after chapter 12, cause at that time you should have enough gil from the drops).

[Elly]

i'm finding XIII to be far more difficult than previous enteries because you're limited to how high you can advance your characters at any given time, meaning i can no longer power level then steamroll over everything in my path, never in the past of FF have i ever seen the Game Over Screen more than once, with XIII i see it at least 3 times a day, even with proficient use of the paradigm system...

[VeloZer0]

Did most people really find over leveling to be a problem in other games? I know you could always be really overpowered if you wanted to spend the time grinding, but I wasn't aware people tended to go through chronically over leveled. If anything I found FF13 easier because you are never under leveled unless you go out of your way to avoid fights.

[Jessweeee♪]

I think after playing enough RPGs you develop the mentality that you NEED TO GRIND LIKE CRAZY.

[Elly]

yup, normaly i just grind an area untill i can kill everything there in one hit then move on, can't do that on FFXIII... i don't consider it being chronicaly over leveled, i see it as being prepared for the worst...

[VeloZer0]

i don't consider it being chronicaly over leveled, i see it as being prepared for the worst...

Admitting you have a problem is the first step towards the solution

I think after playing enough RPGs you develop the mentality that you NEED TO GRIND LIKE CRAZY.

I always wanted to blaze through games to see what was coming up next. Most people I knew were the same way. I knew some people plowed through the games overpowered, but I thought that was a slim majority.

Personally I think criticizing a game for being too easy because you can over level is a bit like saying a FPS game is too easy because they included an easy mode. Just because it gives you the option to make it easier doesn't make it an easy game.