Hero-of-Time Posted June 17, 2014 Author Posted June 17, 2014 I really need to play this as well hear nothing but good things. Judging by the rate the sequels are localised, I'm not in that much of a hurry. Yeah, the second is on it's way but aren't there another 2 to go? You want to play with a bunch of TitS? Don't think we haven't spotted this thinly veiled confession. Who doesn't?
Ike Posted June 17, 2014 Posted June 17, 2014 Yeah, the second is on it's way but aren't there another 2 to go? Well there's also part 3 of this trilogy and then there're like 4 other games in the series after (with new characters/story). We're massively behind at this point and seeing how long it takes XSEED to localise these we might never catch up. Unless they all end up with PC ports.
Hero-of-Time Posted June 17, 2014 Author Posted June 17, 2014 Well there's also part 3 of this trilogy and then there're like 4 other games in the series after (with new characters/story). We're massively behind at this point and seeing how long it takes XSEED to localise these we might never catch up. Unless they all end up with PC ports. This is why I haven't rushed out to play the thing. I want to finish the story and don't want to be left hanging. It would be Shining Force 3 all over again.
Hero-of-Time Posted June 18, 2014 Author Posted June 18, 2014 I played a bit more of this last night. It's just not drawing me in and i'm finding more and more tedious. The whole thing where you have to take Egil to his new home, then travel back to your home, then go and pick Egil up and then travel back again was just annoying and flat out boring. It just felt really padded out and didn't really move anything forward. I then had some sort of shoddy murder mystery quest to do to obtain the Ninja job. This again lasted far too long and had too much dialogue, even if the boss did talk really fast. I will probably reach chapter 4 tonight but given that i'm not even halfway through yet and i'm already tiring of the game it's not a good sign. I've read that the second of the game is so much shorter than the first, with a lot of it just being boss fights. To those who have finished it, is this true? I'm hoping the second half of the game runs a lot quicker than the first.
Glen-i Posted June 18, 2014 Posted June 18, 2014 I've read that the second of the game is so much shorter than the first, with a lot of it just being boss fights. To those who have finished it, is this true? I'm hoping the second half of the game runs a lot quicker than the first. Yeah, it is. Although it depends on whether you go for the sidequests or not. (I wouldn't bother going for the sidequests in chapter 5. Chapter 6 and onwards, maybe...)
Sheikah Posted June 18, 2014 Posted June 18, 2014 I've read that the second of the game is so much shorter than the first, with a lot of it just being boss fights. To those who have finished it, is this true? I'm hoping the second half of the game runs a lot quicker than the first. The second half of the game has the ridiculously cheap plot mechanic so I'd say it's far worse.
Mr_Master_X2 Posted June 18, 2014 Posted June 18, 2014 Yes, I know I've wrote a lot, but bare with me, I'd really like a chit-chat. Well, I finally finished this game. yes, I started months and months ago. I actually did EVERYTHING in the game. But then I put it down do do something else, waiting for a quiet moment to do the final bit and watch the ending in peace, days and days past and then other things took my attention, and then well many months had passed! As you know, doing everything is a massive task... Did every blue quest in every world. Every entry in the books got and read. All levels/jobs maxed. Adventurer dungeon done etc. The only thing I didn't do was all the Norende bosses because I didn't have access to them all. I know a lot of these blue quests seem the same, but every so often you'd get a new one with new insight into the characters, and even some of those early ones what seem like repeats give new info. As for Tiz and Celestials. Clearly the Celestials is YOU in our world. I think the thing he put down was one of those pendants and it contained the summoned power of, well, YOU.. (Like Agnes summons from other worlds.) You were "summoned" by that Agnes prayer which I assume is what saved our Tiz (could be wrong). The final battle was so cool, with all the spotpass/streetpassed worlds. The world they all went back to was the starting world...I think. Still, it's a SERIOUSLY gimped world with 3/4 of the main cast of the game dead. As for were everyone ended up. Why was Ringabel all alone on the ship? Also, when it was skipping about and showing the other worlds, I thought they'd all split up for a minute until we saw them together at the end, except for... But still...why was Ringabel on his own? Was who the Adventurer was ever explained? I forget what his bio (assuming he had one) said. Same goes for his fox...his talking fox. He seemed top be able to get places he really shouldn't have been able to. The girl. On some worlds a girl is found in the water temple area and is adopted. Future water vestal? On OUR starting world, why did Edea not know who Ringabel was? This starting world's Dark Knight had been raised by the Templar Braev as a brother to Edea like on other worlds. Was this ever explained...? Man that special movie was badass! Now a few theories from what we've seen... Bravely Second. that's the second game and a special from this. It freezes time. The sequel I believe is time travel. It looks like Tiz has awoken from his "coma" quite a few years in the future, especially with new girl talking about him getting to experience the "age" she's in, and the base/uniforms looking like something from early 20th century. I believe the game will start off in the future and travel further back to a point after Tiz's defeat of Orouboros, where Egil and the new water vestal (the girl from up there?) have grown up. Egil will be the new Tiz, water vestal girl the new Agnes, and new girl the new "Ringabel mystery". I also believe we may travel back to the "Ancient Land of Wu" all the item descriptions keep going on about. I believe the new girl will be attempting to change history (she's from further in the future) and travels back to stop them from messing with Tiz in that weird laboratory and causing some sort of calamity. The game will be about solving some sort of apocalypse involving Tiz and Celestial power growing in him.
Hero-of-Time Posted June 18, 2014 Author Posted June 18, 2014 Oh, you can sod right off! I have to back and see Egil...AGAIN! This is getting beyond a joke now. Awful, awful padding of the game. *closes 3DS*
Mr_Master_X2 Posted June 18, 2014 Posted June 18, 2014 Oh, you can sod right off! I have to back and see Egil...AGAIN! This is getting beyond a joke now. Awful, awful padding of the game. *closes 3DS* What's so funny is, is that you think THIS is the padding part.
Hero-of-Time Posted June 18, 2014 Author Posted June 18, 2014 What's so funny is, is that you think THIS is the padding part. I honestly think I could be done with the game. I simply can't be bothered to keep going back and forth for what seems to be nothing more than to lengthen the game.
Sheikah Posted June 18, 2014 Posted June 18, 2014 What's so funny is, is that you think THIS is the padding part. Haha, so agree. Hero, believe me, flush this turd down the toilet. I know what you mean by how the game feels drawn out by that point, but you will be beside yourself at how ridiculous the game becomes. Might even be worth you playing actually just to see what I'm talking about. :p
Debug Mode Posted June 19, 2014 Posted June 19, 2014 Man, I always insisted that you guys weren't going to like the second half, but I didn't think it'd be this bad! Nintendo definitely dodged a bullet by waiting for For The Sequel to be finished before localising, you guys would have hated the original version even more! What I hated most: The gameplay of the second half. There was no problem with the game or the story at any point during this time, but I'm a completionist and there's something specifically about this complaint that I can't elaborate on because it would be very spoilery. One thing is certain though, once it gets localised and you guys are playing it, if you're a completionist like me you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. Ahh March 2013, how I miss thee.. Freezing my utter bollocks off in a -10 degree apartment with a shitty electric fan to prevent my hands from freezing on to the 3DS.
Mr_Master_X2 Posted June 19, 2014 Posted June 19, 2014 Man, I always insisted that you guys weren't going to like the second half, but I didn't think it'd be this bad! Nintendo definitely dodged a bullet by waiting for For The Sequel to be finished before localising, you guys would have hated the original version even more! Ahh March 2013, how I miss thee.. Freezing my utter bollocks off in a -10 degree apartment with a shitty electric fan to prevent my hands from freezing on to the 3DS. While yes, there was always something new story/dialogue wise each world, sometimes it was something incredibly small (Thief's true motives, fending for his children), I always thought the story/dialogue from a few worlds should have been fused to make one whole world of new dialogue/story/alternate Earth. I honestly believe they should have kept the amount of times you visit a new Earth, but they should have all had properly fleshed out worlds regarding story/dialogue. The reason the first world is son long was because it was meant as a template/reference point so that later on you'd notice changes and how things went differently. But then it seems they gave up trying to make other worlds different. You don't even bump into yourselves from other worlds! I mean, a whole world could have been about your battles with an alternate group like yours trying to stop you awakening the crystals... If every world had offered new masses of new story, it would have been different.
Debug Mode Posted June 19, 2014 Posted June 19, 2014 While yes, there was always something new story/dialogue wise each world, sometimes it was something incredibly small (Thief's true motives, fending for his children), I always thought the story/dialogue from a few worlds should have been fused to make one whole world of new dialogue/story/alternate Earth. I honestly believe they should have kept the amount of times you visit a new Earth, but they should have all had properly fleshed out worlds regarding story/dialogue. The reason the first world is son long was because it was meant as a template/reference point so that later on you'd notice changes and how things went differently. But then it seems they gave up trying to make other worlds different. You don't even bump into yourselves from other worlds! I mean, a whole world could have been about your battles with an alternate group like yours trying to stop you awakening the crystals... If every world had offered new masses of new story, it would have been different. Exactly what I was hoping for, but at best you can get slightly new dialogue by doing things in a different order and even then it's limited. But the problem with the Japanese original is that there was literally nothing to do but repeat the world after chapter 6 with nothing new. Nothing. No new personalities/intentions/stories like they did in 7 and 8 for the version Europe got (known as For the Sequel in Japan).
darksnowman Posted June 27, 2014 Posted June 27, 2014 Does the late game compare to anything in other games? Like is it just a case of Bravely Default being retro like an early FF?
Hero-of-Time Posted December 26, 2014 Author Posted December 26, 2014 I started playing this again the other day and have been picking away at it nicely. I think it's chapter 4 ( maybe 5? ) I'm on and I've made some good progress. I have now nabbed the Growth Egg and have been putting it to good use. I've just reached Eternia and my characters are sitting on level 61. I've been using the area just outside the village to do some grinding. I've maxed 4 jobs for each of the characters and will continue to do some more. I absolutely LOVE the tune that plays in Eternia. It's very haunting but beautiful at the same time. Audio I'm determined to finish this game. Feels like Xenoblade all over again!
Ike Posted December 26, 2014 Posted December 26, 2014 Man, can't believe I got this game 1 year ago and still haven't finished it. Need to get back to this at some point. Tried the Japanese demo for Bravely Second, Anges' Japanese actor is so much better. The music in the sequel isn't as good though unfortunately.
Hero-of-Time Posted December 28, 2014 Author Posted December 28, 2014 Spent some time hanging around outside Eternia. My team are all level 86 and have 9 jobs mastered. I have a team of Ninjas, all with the Acrobatics job command and Hasten World ability. I think it's time to move on and steamroll the bosses in my way.
Hero-of-Time Posted December 28, 2014 Author Posted December 28, 2014 (edited) @Sheikah It's finally happened. This has to be the worst case of padding in a game I have ever seen. How did a developer even think this was a good idea? I don't even know where to begin to start slagging this off. At this point in the game I was in the high 80s in terms of level. I also learnt the best jobs and have become a killing machine by simply using Jump. This being the case I have zero incentive to fight random battles. This means I just fly to a temple, enter it, kill boss in a few turns and then repeat. It's baffling. Having to do this once is bad enough but having to do it another 4 or 5 times is just beyond ridiculous. What makes it even worse is that with each crystal that you free you have to go through that stupid, pointless scene of hammering the X button. At this point it should just be automatic. I do enjoy what is developing in the story and the way the title screen reveals Airy Lies was absolutely brilliant. All of these things could have added up to something really special if not for the chapters essentially repeating. There must have been a better way to get the story across, surely? I also enjoyed the side quest for getting the Conjurer job class. The alternate reality was quite sad. I'm on chapter 8 now with a team in the mid 90s who are just destroying everything in their path. I may just do a final push and get this finished tonight. Edited December 28, 2014 by Hero-of-Time
Sheikah Posted December 29, 2014 Posted December 29, 2014 Yeah, crazy shit, isn't it? Fucking madness that some people have heralded this as some sort of Square Enix return to form. This is one of the worst games they've ever made, when you consider the game as a whole. The gulf between this and old school FF couldn't really be any bigger.
Hero-of-Time Posted December 29, 2014 Author Posted December 29, 2014 I ended up finishing it last night. I steamrolled the last boss with the setup I had. High Jump is soooooo broken. I never even got hit once! Firstly, why didn't they stop Airy before it was too late? They all looked surprised when she turned on them, despite Ringabel and the sage dude warning them a few dimensions ago. The Airy transformations had me thinking I was watching DBZ. It was like when Freiza kept changing form and his final one was all smooth and slick, just like what happened to Airy. Despite the final battle being a pushover I did really enjoy it. Getting help from other dimensions, which were your friends or bots in the game, was s nice touch. The ending was decent but left me wondering a few things. Having searched the net it seems what happened to Tiz is open to debate. Was the player the Celelstial or was it Airys sister? The movie that you got at the end was awesome. I really enjoyed how they used the gyros to make you look around in the tank. I'm happy I finally finished the game but I dunno how to feel about it. On the one hand the music was fantastic and the battle system options such as encounter rate, auto attack etc. we're awesome. On the other hand the middle of the game completely falls apart and the inexcusable padding completely kills any momentum the game has. Their are some good ideas in the game, for sure but the negative points drag the game down to the point where it's a difficult pill to swallow. The game could be half the length ( final time was just under 50 hours ) and it would be a far better experience for it. Will I buy the sequel if it arrives on these shores? Possibly. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for what the thoughts on what importers and Japanese players have to say about. If it ends up pulling some of the same BS that happened in this game then S-E ain't getting my money.
Grazza Posted December 29, 2014 Posted December 29, 2014 Really good description of the game, H-o-T. I really liked the same two points about the ending as you. Bravely Default was a reasonable experience - I don't hold a grudge against it or anything like that (if you know what I mean!) It just saddens me that we get this, and probably the sequel, but don't get Dragon Quest any more. It's as though they're thinking Westerners will accept something in the Final Fantasy visual style, regardless of the quality of the game, but not DQ.
Captain Falcon Posted December 29, 2014 Posted December 29, 2014 Seeing this thread get bumped reminded me that I haven't finished it yet either so I played a bit this morning and am now on Chapter 8. When Tales of the Abyss put me off to the point I took a long break, I started from the beginning but there is little chance of me playing through this again from the beginning, so onwards it is, even if I'm struggling the remember where I came from... or not I'm definitely struggling to care though - I know that for certain. I'm just glad you can turn off battles and adjust the difficulty on the fly - makes getting through certain areas so much easier and less time consuming. I don't think I've ever played a game that started so well and then went downhill this badly.
Hero-of-Time Posted December 29, 2014 Author Posted December 29, 2014 I don't think I've ever played a game that started so well and then went downhill this badly. I think that is the general opinion of most who have played it. Shame really as it does have some real high points. You should keep going as you are practically at the end now. You've been through the roughest part of the game. You may as well push on and at least get to see the ending.
Captain Falcon Posted December 29, 2014 Posted December 29, 2014 I think that is the general opinion of most who have played it. Shame really as it does have some real high points. You should keep going as you are practically at the end now. You've been through the roughest part of the game. You may as well push on and at least get to see the ending. That's the plan. My team are about level 88 so most enemies fall over quite easily. In all fairness, the last couple of chapters probably didn't take that long to finish in the grand scheme of things, especially given all the time put in by the end of No. 4, it was just that it was so dull. I think this is one area where the story telling suffers as a result of this being in a game format. If this was a film, vast chunks could have been montaged easily with a focus on the important bits instead of having to do it as it has been done.
Recommended Posts