8 more days...

As mentioned in another thread, I went ahead and cancelled my Amazon preorder and plan on picking this up locally on Tuesday so if I get buyer's remorse I can just return it. Aside from the rest of my huge backlog, I still have ~20 hours of Magna Carta 2 left, and that's a lot of JRPGing in a fairly short time span. Initial hype and the "screw it I'll buy and play it right away anyway" effect have worn off for me.

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Originally Posted by Kamakazie

While running or just walking? I've begun going to the gym again and I'm looking for things to keep me occupied while on the treadmill; I've just been listening to podcasts/music. It seems like there'd be too much bouncing around to effectively play any games if you're doing anything but walking. Tell me your secrets!

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Can't speak for the treadmill, but when I have a lot of reading I want to do I often switch from the treadmill/elliptical to a stationary bike, particularly those reclining types that have your legs just about parallel to the ground at full extension. Not as much of a full body workout as the others, since it's mostly just legs and minimal abs/core, but decent enough for a change of pace and it doesn't jostle you very much.

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Originally Posted by monroeski

I still have ~20 hours of Magna Carta 2 left

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Does that game get any better? I got about 10 hours into it but I dropped it and finished Blue Dragon instead and am now on disc 3 of Lost Odyssey.

The characters in MC2 just seem a little weak. How many hours do you expect it to take to finish it?

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Originally Posted by Soul Assassin

Does that game get any better? I got about 10 hours into it but I dropped it and finished Blue Dragon instead and am now on disc 3 of Lost Odyssey.

The characters in MC2 just seem a little weak. How many hours do you expect it to take to finish it?

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I think I've heard it just about the 40 mark or so, and I'm at 21 or 22.

The game itself isn't particularly amazing, but I've put far more hours into it than I put into Blue Dragon (didn't like it) and Lost Odyssey (liked it, but just stopped for some reason). I did finish Eternal Sonata, which was about 20 to beat, but I don't think I would have gotten that far with ES if I hadn't KNOWN it was that short as the battle system was quite repetitive in it (though the GORGEOUS art kept me going).

So, basically, MC2 is my favorite HD gen RPG so far, which I guess is more of an indictment of the genre's health these days than it is an endorsement of a great game. There's enough character development and a decent enough story to keep me going, though if I didn't like the battle system as much as I do it would be easy to drop it. It's starting to get annoying when my characters kill basic enemies too fast for me to get a skill off (to complete the chain) and end up with two overheated characters, though.

Still also have Folklore, Valkyria Chronicles, and Disgaea 3 unplayed, as well as the rest of Lost Odyssey, so with FFXIII coming out I could see myself dropping Magna Carta 2 unfinished at some point since, as I said, I'm merely enjoying it but I'm not particularly enamored with it.

Let me know what you think of Folklore. I'm thinking of picking that up. I thought the demo was decent.

Folklore is worth $20. No more.

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Originally Posted by monroeski

I did finish Eternal Sonata, which was about 20 to beat, but I don't think I would have gotten that far with ES if I hadn't KNOWN it was that short as the battle system was quite repetitive in it (though the GORGEOUS art kept me going).

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Hmm, I've got about 5 hours into ES but it just couldn't keep my interest. I keep thinking about going back to it but it's probably been 6 months since I played and I'm not sure I remember the story thus far. Might give it a go since you say it's so short.

Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey are both just 'alright' for me. But I've been on a JRPG trip and they fill that role.

I think my favorite of this gen so far is Star Ocean. I've still got Last Remnant, Enchanted Arms, Infinite Undiscovery and the ones we've already talked about on my shelf though.

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There's enough character development and a decent enough story to keep me going, though if I didn't like the battle system as much as I do it would be easy to drop it. It's starting to get annoying when my characters kill basic enemies too fast for me to get a skill off (to complete the chain) and end up with two overheated characters, though.

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Thanks for reminding me what I didn't like about it -- the battle system. Forgot about the overheating thing until you mentioned it. Having to pull off limit breaks all the time to keep from getting demolished because of double overheated characters was getting tiring.

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Originally Posted by Soul Assassin

Thanks for reminding me what I didn't like about it -- the battle system. Forgot about the overheating thing until you mentioned it. Having to pull off limit breaks all the time to keep from getting demolished because of double overheated characters was getting tiring.

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I'm enjoying getting it to work now. I'll use one character up until right before they overheat (pretty much just one combo), then switch to another and do a combo + a skill to overheat. When I switch back to the first, they are still pretty close, so sometimes I only do one standard attack (or even none) before a special and the Chain Break is completed. The annoying thing was when I would hit an enemy once or twice and they would die before I could pull off the special, so now sometimes I whiff on a move or two on purpose just to build up exhaustion.

That paragraph probably sounds really tedious and annoying to many (most?) people, but in practice it actually touches a few buttons for me and I really enjoy it.

::edit::
Crap, Resonance of Fate comes out in a week? Bad move on their part releasing so close to FFXIII. Not generally a fan of Tri-Ace games, but something about the setting in that one has me intrigued.

Anyone pick it up? I've got bioshock 2 to play so i'm holding off

I'm waiting until Friday, otherwise I wouldn't be going to work all week.

Got FF13 and I'm loving it. I'm really surprised I liked it this much, given that I didn't like the last few FF games I played. I feel that the 1up review pretty much described it perfectly (1up has been one of the most accurate review sites recently, IMO).

My thoughts and past experiences:
I tend to like overly linear games. My main reason for playing games is the story - in fact I play a lot of "PC adventure" games. I also don't have much time anymore, so a game that gets me to the story and battles with as little overword roaming/dungeon exploring/town wandering as possible is a plus in my book.

I played the NES and SNES FF games when they came out and they were some of my favorites.

I thought FF 7 was ok, but I didn't like how un-heroic the hero was. I also thought the graphics hurt the game due to the technology they had back then, and I'm usually the last person to complain about graphics.

I really didn't like the direction FF 8 went in terms of gameplay or story. Didn't get past disk 1. I unfortunately missed out on 9, which I was told by friends that I'd probably like.

FF10 was the last FF I played, and the hero was too much for me to take. I want to play as somehow who is *more* heroic than I am in real life, not less.

I picked it up a few days ago. I'm liking it. I don't find the story too interesting so far, but the characters are cool except for the hope and vanille. Does anyone else think snow is a pedo for hooking up with serah? She looks about 13 lol.

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Originally Posted by Timman_24

I picked it up a few days ago. I'm liking it. I don't find the story too interesting so far, but the characters are cool except for the hope and vanille. Does anyone else think snow is a pedo for hooking up with serah? She looks about 13 lol.

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lol, I was thinking the same about snow. I am playing the 4th chapter at the moment and loving it. The new combat system is a joy to use. I got the PS3 version and it is by far the best looking game for the console out there.

Also found out that if you happen to have both consoles, then there is no point whatsoever in getting it for the 360 since the obvious 3 discs versus 1 disc debate has not been flogged like a dead horse. However more interestingly, the 360 can only play the game at 576p for both the cutscenes and the game itself. Unlike the PS3 which does 1080p for the cutscenes (which look breathtaking btw) and 720p for the game. A bit of a no brainer which console has the superior version.

Edit; Forgot to say, the English voice acting is surprisingly good. I would have still liked the option of having the Japanese track, but it is now much less of an issue considering that Square has done a very nice job.

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Originally Posted by Trunks

I only have a 360 so, that'll be it. It comes on THREE DVD's. Crazy. Not a big deal for me though. Since I always remove the disc from the system when I'm done playing, and the fact that the disc will only need to be swapped once every 20-40ish hours of game-play, who cares. The graphics won't be quite as nice as the PS3 since, on the PS3, the game is rendered natively at 720p and the CGI's are rendered at 1080p...and on the 360 it's 576p (i think) for game and 720p for CGI. Plus the image and audio compression...but every review I have read say it's damn near impossible to detect the differences. Especially since I play on a 32" 720p LCD, I'm sure I won't even notice (although i game and watch blurays at 1080i).

Although if you have a PS3, pick it up on there. Uncompressed audio+video = teh win.

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Was in the first page of the thread ;)

Been playing it for a few days, just finished chapter 6. It’s ok so far not spectacular, but still worth playing.
-Story is ok, this could go up or down depending on how it turns out. Nothing in the story has really grabbed me yet, so it’s no better then ok.

-Characters are fine, except Hope who is one of the most annoying I’ve seen in a FF game. Snow is mildly annoying as well

-I don’t like the combat at all. Other then choosing when to change paradigms you don’t really get to do much except click the button to let the AI choose attacks. They could get rid of user input altogether for everything but paradigm changes and it would barely change anything.

-It’s completely linear so far. I don’t really mind that, I think it’s something that has it’s place. It’d be nice if we saw some less linear games once in a while though.

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Originally Posted by Moridin

-I don’t like the combat at all. Other then choosing when to change paradigms you don’t really get to do much except click the button to let the AI choose attacks. They could get rid of user input altogether for everything but paradigm changes and it would barely change anything.

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There is actually an auto-pilot mode so you don't have to do anything during the combat from what I understand.