Yeah, when I bought FFXIII we had the worst TV ever. The screen was totally warped. It was a standard 4:3 television, but the sides of the actual display was rounded stretched out to widescreen length so it made some weird sideways 0 shape. And it was blurry and often changed colors. So I couldn't see most of my character's health or the map legends or anything xD

The hopelite/box thing combo is tricky. Just beat up the box thing as quickly as you can, before it makes the other dudes too tough. A Sentinel doesn't hurt either.