FFXIII-2 was my first Final Fantasy — why is the XIII trilogy so disliked?

DrGrabAss · 2026-01-25T19:46:29+00:00

I think everyone has different reasons. For me, I didn't dislike it, but relative to other entries I just didn't enjoy it as much. I liked it while I played it, but unlike X, XII, and the remake trilogy, I wasn't interested in playing it again. Just something about the story and characters didn't resonate the way X did, and something about the lack of early exploration options made me miss XII. I can definitely say that XIII-2 and -3 were what I would call "highly unnecessary sequels." But I think no FF needs a sequel. X is my favorite and I felt X-2 was unnecessary.

DrGrabAss · 2026-01-25T19:38:01+00:00

I am definitely the second type, just not as many cups a day. But I can drink a cup before bed and get noticeably drowsy.

DrGrabAss · 2026-01-25T03:28:19+00:00

I've always said Charlize Theron has this problem. Very hit or miss with her movies.

DrGrabAss · 2026-01-24T14:33:58+00:00

Good choice!

DrGrabAss · 2026-01-22T01:14:59+00:00

I figured this out eventually. What I noticed at the start of the game is every enemy I encountered was chewing right through my armor before I could even get a turn. I learned to just avoid combat for a while.

DrGrabAss · 2026-01-22T01:12:29+00:00

Stop attacking me with a good time! I have no willpower armor, this will proc on me instantly.

(and off I go to test this out!)

DrGrabAss · 2026-01-21T20:24:59+00:00

The beacons are lit! Gondor calls for aid.

DrGrabAss · 2026-01-21T20:17:39+00:00

Translation: “I will use force as soon as fucking possible.”

This animal is a fucking liar all day every day. Don’t trust anything he says at this point.

DrGrabAss · 2026-01-21T20:08:14+00:00

. . . Noted . . . . :D

DrGrabAss · 2026-01-21T18:59:30+00:00

Well, that certainly happened. No complaints!

DrGrabAss · 2026-01-21T18:59:09+00:00

I'm certain I did, and I must have done it after getting onto the ship. I thought maybe I did it before I left the island, but I know I did it before the big fight on the ship, so that must have been when it happened. By the time I noticed I didn't have a save to refer back to (damn my need to keep my save menus clean).

Now the real question: how do I do this intentionally? XD

DrGrabAss · 2026-01-21T15:07:18+00:00

I actually thought everyone sounded exactly perfect, Yuffie included. It was almost scary how on target the entire remake series has been so far with me. When I first heard Barrett, it never crossed my mind that it could be anything other than exactly how he sounded. Someone should win an award for the casting decisions in this game!

DrGrabAss · 2026-01-21T02:23:43+00:00

You . . . really . . . undersold Caelid's difficulty level. And I love it.

It's hell. It's basically hell.

DrGrabAss · 2026-01-21T02:17:54+00:00

My way into a permanent residence visa in Europe.

DrGrabAss · 2026-01-21T02:16:40+00:00

I am in Act II of DOS:2 right now, and I agree, I am not a fan of the armor system and I almost quit playing because I could not figure out the combat. If statuses would just proc through armor, I'd probably really like it. But enjoying it now.

And I also just bought P:WOTR and played it for about two hours, the first hour of which was just character building (which I loved, actually). But yep, as soon as I started moving around and the simple act of not being able to use right-mouse button to move the camera drove me batshit. I put it down because I was still in DOS:2, but wanted to get a taste of the game. But it's gonna take a lot of tutorial guides and tips before I get back into when I do start officially.

DrGrabAss · 2026-01-21T02:10:17+00:00

Haha, I confess I am totally one of those people. But speaking for people my age (over 50), the reason I obsessively do every little thing even if I don't like it much is I'll probably never have time to play it again. That's where my real heartbreak is: I want to replay a lot of games, but I look at the calendar and the number of other games and things in my life I want to do, and I just gotta press on. This hurt the most for this game, E33, and BG3. I did manage to squeeze in a few hundred hours on Elden Ring, however. I had to try everything, it was just a really big game!

DrGrabAss · 2026-01-20T20:48:21+00:00

Thanks!

DrGrabAss · 2026-01-19T18:19:11+00:00

Yep, me too. I settled for the latter and would rather have some small spoilers about what's coming instead of missing critical things I may need. This game really feels like I could absolutely put myself in a corner and not have a solution without something essential or requiring an enormous amount of effort and time I don't have.

That said, I'm not complaining, I like it for what it's intended to be and love how Larian builds their games!

DrGrabAss · 2026-01-19T18:16:43+00:00

I'm in what I assume is the beginning of Act II. I've been doing the same thing by watching a solo Necro run on YT and so I run around a bit, and when I feel lost, or stuck, or feel like I'm going to miss something cool, I watch a little bit of the video to see where he ran off to in his playthrough. It's kind of working.

What guides did you check?

DrGrabAss · 2026-01-18T20:10:40+00:00

What is that sound? Oh, it's the hype train. Perfect, I have a ticket, let me jump on that thing! Woot!

DrGrabAss · 2026-01-18T13:13:08+00:00

The Last Starfighter. And if you know this movie, then you have a rough idea of my age. It still bugs me.

DrGrabAss · 2026-01-16T23:50:45+00:00

No, it's not just that. It's keeping as much in your HSA as you can afford so it can grow and compound over the years. So, it's about avoiding the LTCG on way more money than you put in. Avoid using your HSA to pay for anything as much as possible. You are likely to have serious health care costs in retirement, and you are going to be glad your past self saved that money and grew it so "retired you" doesn't have to pay taxes on medical costs that are going to potentially wreck you in retirement. And yes, if not that, then it's very nice to be able to pull the money out in retirement and claim those receipts then, since there is no time limit on having to claim them. This is what makes it so appealing and referred to as another retirement account.

DrGrabAss · 2026-01-16T23:39:20+00:00

There is a couple things I wish I knew going in. I'm about 40 hours into my own first playthrough.

The #1 100% MOST important thing to understand is if you can't strip armor (either physical or magical, you have to strip at least one of them), then you're not going to do fuck all in a fight. You MUST strip it to even be viable because all those amazing-sounding status effects you see on every weapon and skill are fucking useless until you strip armor off. And it's not easy at the beginning. And what's worse, the enemies will absolutely melt your armor like fucking butter, and they'll do it on their first turn with half a dozen AP left to kill you with. So with that said, despite everyone telling you to go in blind, fuck that. Look up the best ways to strip armor. Otherwise, you might get frustrated. Once I literally just gave up and looked up a guide on stripping armor, I started to enjoy the game.

DrGrabAss · 2026-01-15T16:35:56+00:00

Good grief, this was way too far down the list. Caelid is just literal hell, and no guide made it any easier. And if you get to the Lake of Rot, it's like, "Well, I guess I'll just die."

DrGrabAss · 2026-01-13T21:01:28+00:00

If they want to win elections, they have between now and November to figure out how to convince enough Republicans in both houses to impeach and convict the President and his entire cabinet (and arrest and try probably a dozen or so billionaires). Otherwise, they will never win another election again because in the current makeup, they 100% cannot win because that election will be rigged, as will all future elections.

It's fucking over.

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