Topic: The everything Xbox thread

@Grumblevolcano Yeah but that's all year 2 had..... Year 1 had a ton of third party stuff. Some of it old ports, some of it day and date. And most of it more interesting than the ridiculous junk PSXBox had ported during that time It had ACIII day and date. For Nintendo, that's something. Yeah one had MH3U, Lego City, Pikmin 3, and W101. I mean what else do you need?

My PS4 had......Knack (which I still love), and...a bunch of EA stuff....and stuff WiiU got. And a mediocre Killzone.....and really nothing else. I spent a whole lot of time awaiting greatness before I finally accepted WiiU & 3DS were going to be the generation for me and the PS collected dust. Then WiiU went dormant and 3DS became the sole real console. Then PS finally started looking interesting....riiiight when Switch was landing and taking my interest. And then XBox finally decided to enter the generation. 5 years in.

@FragRed I haven’t used game pass but I will still buy crackdown day one. Nothing else on the horizon anyway.

@grumblevolcano @blueocean Woohoo! FFXIII is now available for purchase on the MS Store!!! Already purchased (pre-ordered? Release day is tomorrow.) That leaves DX:HR Director's as the only game of interest to me not digitally available (standard is, which I have, and have my 7 year old saves from near the end of the game still, but I'd double dip if it came to digital. Standard looks REALLY REALLY ugly (yes, I mean ugly this time.)

@ryu_niiyama I know, I know you're laughing hysterically at me given how much I detest XIII...why would I be so hyped for it? The answer is I never played the sequels because I couldn't get over my dislike for the base game, but I hate playing sequels without having the base game fresh in memory, so I wasn't really thrilled about getting 2/3 of a trilogy to play instead of starting from 0. Plus XV has turned into such a joke that it's starting to make XIII look really good. I thought XII was the last real FF when I played XIII until I tried XV.... Plus the actual battle system gameplay in XIII I recall was really really good. It's just the world, story, and characters, sans Lightening were horrid. Still hyped I can finally add it to the digital collection along with the new-to-me sequels and no longer have it trapped on the sandboxed PS3. I'm a little bummed this kills hope for an HD Trilogy Switch collection, or at least pushes it into the future, but I'll take it. Plus it's only $55 for the whole trilogy with X enhancements. I wonder if I can get a refund on my PS3 limited edition that I wished I hadn't bought at the time....

Also, regarding FFXIII, I love how the store for DLC also has merchandise, and I was disturbed to find the below. I mean, after all the controversy Vanille stirred the first time around, why, Squeenix, WHHYYY is this a thing?

@NEStalgia

For saying so many people badmouth FF13, it does still seem to sell quite well whenever it's put up for sale. It's like the third best selling FF game on Steam. Sold more than FF10 last I checked.

My only real problems with the game is that the story is incomprehensible nonsense and the game is incredibly monotonous. People always say the problem is the linearity. I don't think that's true. FF10 was just as linear and no-one complained about it. The problem is it's monotonous. The entire game of FF13 is run forward, battle,cutscene, repeat. Whereas FF10 had some towns, it had more mini-games, it had temples with puzzles, etc etc.

@Dezzy If FFXIII didn't have sequels I'm not sure the base game would sell so well. I sure as heck wouldn't rebuy it. But from what I've heard the sequels were much better....so if you're going to play the trilogy you may as well play the whole trilogy. The older games are, well...old. They're classics, but they age kind of so-so. I'm surprised 10 doesn't sell as well on PC though. I mean 13 hasn't been available for sale on any current gen console until now (and is technically XBox console exclusive now) so PC is the only way to get it, which probably has a lot to do with it. I'd guess most of X's sales are on PS4/Vita, not Steam, while all of XIII's sales have been on Steam if you don't want it on last gen consoles.

Well for an FF game to have an incomprehensible nonsense story....that's a huge problem right there. But you're right about the monotony. I never cared for mini-games in RPGs and kind of gagged when Square thought that's what people missed. But otherwise you're right. Towns, NPCs, dialogues, path finding/decision making, are staples of RPGs. SIDEQUESTS. 13 is one long hallway until you get to Pulse. There's no path choices to make, you always just hold forward. I think the tension of a classic RPG (using WoFF and Octopath as current examples) is choosing which way to go....the constant worry of risk/reward of trying path b over path c to find treasure, or a surprise quest.

RPGs are road trips stories. You go from town to town, settle in for a while, get to know the locals and terrain, and live a brief life there, questing, grinding, crafting, then you move to the next destination on teh trip. That's the formula that has always worked (or one hub town your whole adventure is based in.) 13 shed sidequests completely, shed path finding and decision making. You just go straight through the only pre-laid path available to the next scheduled battle. It's not a road trip, it's a high-speed train ride. Next stop: Shibuya. Or Pulse. Or something.

I hated that experience. So did everyone else. But the battle was actually really polished and flashy. I'm hoping going into it again with my expectations for what it is instead of what it was supposed to be will make me like it more. I periodically have random moments from the game pop into my head over the years....so that says something. Mostly it's a vehicle for two much better sequels. There's a reason it's $16 and the sequels are $20.

@NEStalgia

And when you get to Pulse it doesn't even change the gameplay at all. You're still doing the same thing of running, fighting, watching cutscenes.
The only thing Pulse actually changes is that there's now a sense of discovery. And still no actual towns, unless you count that old abandoned place.

@Dezzy True, but even the sense of discovery/direction choosing made a huge difference. Trouble is it felt like it wanted to become a turn based MH at that point, and I was by then so burned out I was like "yeah, pretty, ok new game time."

Go figure, RPGs aren't just turn based combat games. Who knew? I'm wondering why I'm so excited to try it again

Hm. Amazon MX has the Xbox one S bundles for about 300 dollars (20% off regular price).

I wonder if this will be it, or if it's a pre big sale trap.

@Dezzy It also doesn't help that the typical Square staff collissions were everywhere. The director cut towns because they weren't as graphically impressive as the rest of the game, and cancelled the quest area DLC because of PSN/MSStore differences.

And the producer went on record saying they weren't actually trying to make an RPG but to create a new type of genre, and said it was more of an FPS than an RPG......

When you hire a producer to pilot a mainline Final Fantasy game, and he openly states that he's not actually making an RPG at all, and is basing it more on shooters......you've got a problem. And then XV is just an ARPG.

Imagine hiring a producer for the next DOOM game that later says he was really trying to make it more like an RTS.....

@Yosheel

I'll be very interested to see how you get on with the sequels to 13 NES', I bounced off XIII-2 after a few hours and never went back. Had similar feelings at the end of XIII the first time I played, but after reading an article a while later it convinced me enough to go back and do all the end game content which I enjoyed a lot more than the base game. That said though it still hasn't restored it (in my mind) to anywhere near the level of others in the series (but still place it above XV like you).

I guess that's why the series is always so good for a discussion (and i'm naturally mindful that this is the xbox, not FF thread!) as there are people who find something to love in each of them; I share a similar viewpoint to NES' in that I didn't enjoy XIII much, yet given a choice I'd take it over XV any day which in itself is interesting (for me) as I'd (casually) argue that XV has the better characters (at least no Hope or Vanille) with XIII (at least post-corridor/game) taking the gameplay crown...? Guess it shows just how much disdain I had for the overall 'drive around/waste my time' aspect of XV? Fwiw, I also agree with the suggestion others have proffered that XV does have all of the ingredients/potential to have been truly epic, just for lots of reasons it misses the mark and whilst there are certainly a few high spots it ultimately fails to deliver anything truly satisfying? At least for me anyway.

Glad they're all being ported across to all of the systems now regardless, obviously I share the "where's VIII?" wondering but it's VI I most want to see appearing everywhere; post-Octopath it's the one I want to replay more than any - there are lots of rumours about a remake though so if we're going down that road then I can 'wait and see', but I'll also then expect a shiny Chrono Trigger (not like that PC thing that turned up not so long ago!) and a proper 'Cross release!

Only other rabbit-hole then is where to re-buy the earlier games? They just smack of ideal switch titles for me but - as with Vita - I suspect I'll be re-buying them again in 4-5 years on whatever replaces it if I do... With the way MS are doing their thing now I'm pretty confident that anything I buy will still be playable on the Aardvark etc. but am I really going to sit in front of a big TV playing a 20+ year old JRPG? Hmm.

Lol that's the sort of idea that teaches you quickly why so many games fall into very specific pre-existing genres.
Most new ideas suck.

Amazon had the battlefield V special edition console bundle for about 100 dollars for like half a minute (the amount in pesos was missing a 0, 10899 -> 1899).

I wonder if anyone managed to buy it... And if they honored the price... Maybe it was a scammer or something.

All Final Fantasy XIII games are available for digital purchase already but they are not backwards compatible until later today, this is the first time that Final Fantasy XIII is available digitally on consoles.

http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-gb/Product/FINAL-FANTASY-XIII/...

FINAL FANTASY XIII £11.99
FINAL FANTASY XIII-2 £14.99
LIGHTNING RETURNS FFXIII £19.99

BlueOcean 2 - @NEStalgia 0

@BlueOcean lol. Hey, i didn't bet against, i just said it was extremely unlikely but i want giving up on it . Last time i said that jax bet against me, and we got game sharing on switch

Glad you got it right though!

Wonder what time it goes live. I bought it this morning, but it's invisible on x1 still. Does ms do midnight local or Pacific time?

@NEStalgia I only do this because I know that you are a good person deep inside. The other thing was Final Fantasy VII coming to Xbox One. It's nice that you were wrong both times. So yep, lots of Final Fantasy on Xbox now.

By the way I am getting used to Chain of Memories. The gameplay is starting to click except in boss battles because they mix turn-based strategy with sound-speed real-time battles, it doesn't work. Now I understand why people just grind and spam cards, it's the only way. Outside boss battles I am enjoying the gameplay now (I am at Hollow Bastion). The whole game is recycled but the script is funny.

I wanted to wait for Final Fantasy VII Remake. I played the original on PC when I was a kid but I never finished it because I could not find the last CD, family... Square Enix cancelled the remake because they didn't like what they were seeing (what studio was making it?) and they confirmed that they had been busy with Kingdom Heart III until now, so I don't think that we'll see this remake in the near future (no way this is released for PS4 as they originally announced), which means I'll buy the original on Xbox next year and wait 5-10 years for the remake. It was the first Final Fantasy game that I played...

They're dumb with their uncompetitive pricing. I paid £3 for 13-2 on ebay.

@Yosheel The official Black Friday on Xbox.com starts on Thursday and includes $100 or equivalent currency off on both Xbox One S and X bundles, which is amazing because the X bundles that I've seen lately cost the same as the console. I don't know about retailers though but you should check them too.

@NEStalgia I just checked the comments on this page including wall texts. I haven't played all the FF games but I like that they are independent and different. That makes them more divisive but it's better than if all of them were the same, in my opinion. For instance, I like the Dragon Quest games (haven't played them all either) but they are more homogeneous and not that memorable. I want to play all the Final Fantasy games but I'm not sure that I need to play all the Dragon Quest games. I played FF X and FF X-2 on PS4. I really loved X but X-2 is mediocre yet enjoyable (for me). I like that when they want to expand a game they make a sub-sequel but it's interesting how different they can be anyway. They get a lot of hate but I really respect and admire Square Enix.

They are not as expensive as Mario Kart 8 DX or Tropical Freeze "DX" though.

I prefer to have them digitally and the X enhancements (4K and smooth performance at the very least) and the fact that I almost bought a PS3 for the FF games makes the price quite reasonable!

@BlueOcean
Right now they (Amazon) have several bundles for ~270 US dollars. Yes this is actually almost exactly 100 dollars cheaper than the normal full price here in Mexico.

I'm reading this is the same price they had for prime day earlier this year. So I'm not sure if they'll go lower for the "good weekend" (Mexican equivalent of Black Friday) this week.

But I guess there's nothing wrong with waiting three-four days.

Edit: I've looked around and everything points to it going down a little more. If not on amazon, at least on the few retail options I have. So... I'll sit here waiting.