A Brand New Day

Hours played: 3.02
Played up to Chapter 3: A Vision Shared

I got paradigms bitches! That's right. While I enjoyed hitting auto-battle so the "game" could continue, I'm pretty excited about this whole, playing a combat system thing. Well sort of, if I understood it. But let me get back to that.

First some quick notes:

• Where did Hope get that boomerang? The game made a point of showing us where Vanille got her weird antler fishing pole thing, but then Hope just pulls a fairly sizable boomerang out of his ass. Seriously, I don't know where else it could have come from.
• What's up with Vanille's antler fishing pole thing. I know she's a caster but this thing's weird.
• While on the topic of Vanille, this bitch runs like a damned fool.
• Does Snow have a rock soundtrack? Is this because he is indeed a douche-nozzle?
• Did Lightning hurt that door's feelings? Why does she have to apologize to it?
• When trying to destroy a potentially giant metal machine thing, try C4, NOT A SWORD!

So, before I talk about finally getting my first little taste of game system, I'd like to talk about how much I hated the part of the game where all the characters come together in the Pulse Vestiage (yes I had to look that up). This had to be the most annoying part of a game I've played recently (possibly an untrue statement, see resource mining in Mass Effect 2). I mean I love the full five minutes I spent with each group as I guide them through an obligatory level containing only boring enemies and filler narrative. That hour of my life felt like humouring FFXIII. Game, you could have just showed a cutscene of everyone running into each other and saved me a lot of useless busywork. And don't tell me you had to teach me pre-emptive strikes and shrouds, because we could have done that in the previous section while I was walking endless miles of sky highway.

What's even more annoying is that there's no experience yet. Actually, Meg told me as I began to grind in a certain level that their was indeed no XP to be gained at the moment. So, I asked her, you're telling me I've been fighting all this time in the game for nothing? I could have just ran by everyone up until this point (aside from the baddies guarding chests) and lost nothing? Guh. So the next section flew by, as I likewise, flew by every enemy possible. No XP, no fighty.

And after some showy plot stuff, (those zombie things are actually pretty unsettling), I fought the robot lobster and fell down to Hoth. And SHABAM! now I get to play a game. Sweet. I've been waiting for this. Oh this is going to be soooo much fun.

Then I begin fighting the fights and I get a nagging feeling that I'm not really sure about what I'm doing. Yes, I understand paradigms and how some are more defensive and others more offensive, but I'm not really clear on this whole chaining thing. The game seems to indicate to me that certain moves/abilities in certain orders are better at building the stagger bar than others, but I don't think it really laid out the particular reasons why. So, you're going to hold my hand, but when it comes to the most IMPORTANT PART of the combat system, you're just going to reference that it exists? Jeezus. I'm pretty confused. Luckily Meg can explain (and has) and I can hit up a wiki, but I'm pretty irked that FFXIII just forgot to tell me how to properly chain things. Bah.

Anyways, hopefully once I can get a handle on this chaining thing, then I'll feel more comfortable in battles, and in, you know, the game.

Oh, and that robolobster is the first time I died. It wasn't too hard of a battle, I just fucked up and got nuked before I could take a potion. I wasn't paying enough attention and boom. It was nice of the game though to offer to play the entire cinematic buildup to the fight for me again. So thrilled to check that out a second time.