FF13: Anticipation Builds
I finally got around to officially preordering FF13 yesterday. The store may actually be having a midnight release party. Not sure if I will go; I'm not as young as I used to be and staying up all night playing is probably not a good idea. ;p
I got a mini-excerpt from the strategy guide when I preordered. Obviously, it's an advertisement for the full guide, but it's also a handy little way to look over some of the nuances of the battle system before actually playing. It seems like the game is designed to gradually ease you in, first getting you used to the AI battle system and the command bar segments, then letting you use the job system/Paradigm Shift and Crystarium (think along the lines of the Sphere Grid). As a note, it looks like you only get to control the party leader directly; the AI takes care of the rest of the party. It sounds like they've refined the system a great deal when compared to the Gambit system. On the other hand, if you're the sort who really cannot stand the idea of not being able to control the entire party directly, this is probably not the game for you (though it may be worth a rental to determine that).
I'm actually enjoying the little sneak preview of the first bits of the game. It reminds me of when I was younger and my brother and I would read his issues of Nintendo Power and drool over the screenshots and strategies for various upcoming games. It's an incredibly well-designed guide, too. I don't normally go for strategy guides (though I got the one for 12 for its artbook, the one for KH for its maps after I kept getting lost, and the one for KH2 for its maps and artbook) but I'm almost tempted, particularly as it sounds like it's been designed to resemble some of the really nice Japanese books.
I got a mini-excerpt from the strategy guide when I preordered. Obviously, it's an advertisement for the full guide, but it's also a handy little way to look over some of the nuances of the battle system before actually playing. It seems like the game is designed to gradually ease you in, first getting you used to the AI battle system and the command bar segments, then letting you use the job system/Paradigm Shift and Crystarium (think along the lines of the Sphere Grid). As a note, it looks like you only get to control the party leader directly; the AI takes care of the rest of the party. It sounds like they've refined the system a great deal when compared to the Gambit system. On the other hand, if you're the sort who really cannot stand the idea of not being able to control the entire party directly, this is probably not the game for you (though it may be worth a rental to determine that).
I'm actually enjoying the little sneak preview of the first bits of the game. It reminds me of when I was younger and my brother and I would read his issues of Nintendo Power and drool over the screenshots and strategies for various upcoming games. It's an incredibly well-designed guide, too. I don't normally go for strategy guides (though I got the one for 12 for its artbook, the one for KH for its maps after I kept getting lost, and the one for KH2 for its maps and artbook) but I'm almost tempted, particularly as it sounds like it's been designed to resemble some of the really nice Japanese books.