Quote Originally Posted by Loony BoB View Post
But just think! The sequels were better, right? May as well play them while t's an uphill moment for you!

I maintain that the biggest issue you're experiencing throughout this seems to be that you spent so much time trying to grind when you weren't even at the endgame. There's no need to grind beyond maxing out the Crystarium, really, unless you're wanting to 100% the game. It feels like you've deliberately extended the time you've spent playing a game you don't enjoy, and that certainly strikes me as peculiar to say the least.

Also, despite me enjoying FFXIII and you hating it, you've played it more often than I have. This amuses me xD I do want to play it again someday, but I can say that for so many games, I suppose.

I hope you haste your way through to the end, so it doesn't drain you much longer!
The irony is that I haven't really grind as much as you think. My long absences are often me getting distracted by other games because this one couldn't hold my interest for long, so I tend to take breaks between chapters to play MGS or BoF. Hell, I just finished BoF1 between Chapter 11 and 12. I have hit the Crystarium limit a few times, but honestly, it doesn't take that much grinding to do so, and after that point, battles are wastes of time unless you are trying to get certain item drops.

My longer time with the battle system was often to really explore all the options and discovering, to my dismay, that there really isn't much to the game mechanics. Like it sounds way more interesting on paper than in practice. As you point out yourself, too much of it is back loaded as well since the game really can't open up until you beat it, which I feel is an awful design choice. My biggest grind spot in the game was in Pulse, and it was just because I was frustrated that weapon growth was going so damn slow, so I farmed a specific Mark in order to farm Bomb Cores and the Teiatric Crowns it dropped, so I could get Sprint Shoes. Even then, I only farmed enough to get my main three the item. Funny enough, I have largely been ignoring the tertiary jobs, because smurf trying to max those out. It's not worth it until post game.

But I am also someone who likes JRPG mechanics most of the time, and I'm trying to give this game a chance to impress me, and instead it's just disappointment. I mean, the plot stopped mattering three chapters ago as well, and I'm currently just stuck wondering why we're even doing this farce anymore?