PixlBit

Auron is the BEST character in that game. lol I'm surprised that the LE is so rare. I snagged one from Gamestop used. When the game first came out, I didn't like it either. I thought it was too linear, the characters were cliche and boring, and the story wasn't interesting. So now I'm finding myself playing through it again with a more "forgiving" eye. I'll try to get to the third temple this weekend, but no promises! The beginning hours of this game are kind of a chore for me, especially since you can't skip cut scenes. I'm playing the International Sphere Grid, so I can tell you guys some stuff. The ISG version is more open, and confusing, fyi. There weren't any specific item grabbing moves in the original game, so you're good. The level up system did pigeon hole the characters, I agree. But no moreso than some of the other games. The theme of the game is water, which makes sense, because the setting is supposed to be an Asian based fantasy. Some peeps are being critical of the lip syncing and facial expressions, but overall, I'm glad that a new generation is getting to check it out. I'm a pretty big FF nerd too, so talk away, Julian! I'll be following. BTW, the LR game was cool to me! Don't be hatin' just because you don't get it! :end exclamatory controversial statement:

Okay...I'll bite. What about Lightning Returns was cool to you? I'm a HUGE Final Fantasy apologist, but the ten hours I've played of LR so far has been excruciating. I'll freely admit that perhaps I haven't gotten to the good parts yet and I do plan on finishing it (the only FF game I haven't finished is V), but I strongly dislike nearly everything I've seen in that game.

Okay, well I really like that the whole thing is open ended. It's about the most open world in a FF game yet. You can tackle the main quests in any order you choose, or even abandon one of them for a bit if you get bored or stuck. I also like the Schemata setup, which is pretty much the Job system on steroids. You can also tailor the combat to suit your playstyle. Like to turtle up? Or maybe buff/ debuff, then go all out. While I can see some people not liking the level up system, I like the fact that they did something different. Instead of grinding monsters all day, actually do some, whatchamacallit, ROLE PLAYING. Yes, it sucks that there are no parties, but I pretty much had my hands full with one character. Besides, if you think about it, there are really three characters to control in battle at the same time. The world concept was interesting, and the story kept me playing until the end, which was satisfying because it brought all the characters and events to a close and wrapped it all up. The last thing off the top of my head is New Game +, which let you restart the game with everything reset and levels/ items kept. It was the second best game in the series for me, next to 13-2.

Gamestop has this for 27.99 used right now, so it's prime time to snap this title up.

Big thanks to Julian for editing and posting this for me by the way. I've been completely tied up with personal stuff at home, so he stepped up and got it done for me. 

I ended up snapping up a copy of this so ill play along with you fellas

I'm super happy to know that at least one person is jumping on board with us for this! Hopefully more will follow suit, and I know a lot of people around PixlBit have been playing hot and heavy since the HD version came out.

Oh, and to give people an update: I am right at the cusp of where we said we'd play up to, and I've clocked 19 hours in. That's with a handfull of blitzball games and backtracking, so use that as a loose guide for the next episode.

Ive got about an hour in thus far. Ill be playing this throughout the week...gonna be tough for me though...its hard to pull away from Persona 4 :)

I'm slowly-but-surely getting to our stopping point. I'm about 6 hours in. I recently completed the Kilika Temple. And I just completed training for Blitzball, which I must say...I'm starting to think I'm going to hate playing it, but I'll reserve final judgement until after I play through it.

I may follow suit, but I won't play any more blitzball than I actually have to. :)

Gives me an excuse to replay another RPG. Damn Moogle made me do it. :)

Right now, I'm trying to recover from the angish and frustration that it is Blitzball. Needless to say, I'm not a fan.  I'll save the rest for part 2 of the podcast.

Very informative podcast guys, I really enjoyed it. I’m on my first playthrough of FFX and am actually currently in the Macalania temple which you are setting for the part 2 stop point. My challenge then I guess is to finish the game completely before you release part 3. Also, I’m looking forward to Julian’s Blitzball update on NWP as I’m totally useless at it myself.

I started playing the other day. Started from the top again. It's amazing how I only remember bits and pieces. I definitely remember not being able to execute Overdrives with any degree of success and I may have gotten worse. I completely failed at Auron's OD. The button pushes came up on the screen and I realized they were there but failed to even make one correct choice. LOL. As before I'm going with brute force rather than fancy QTEs which ODs are a form of.

Anyway I'm only at Besaid in the temple right now so you guys will probably be finished the whole game before the old man is 20% done. :)

Good thing these episodes will still be here when you finish!

I couldn't even start playing it until today, so don't worry, there's plenty of time.

I've been playing for at least 5-6 hours...and was having an alright time with the game.  After that first blitzball match I've tried to get myself back into it twice without success.  I'm not going to say throw an opinion on the game yet as I've surely not experienced enough of it to get a feel for the package on the whole.

worth mentioning though is the levelling.... the sphere grid system doesn't grab me like I was expecting it to.

And that blitzball defeat is the worst possible way to introduce someone to a minigame.  I think one of you fellas said so in the podcast.  You hit the nail on the head there, for sure.

Then again....Dark Souls 2 is soaking up lots of my attention.  Hard to play anything else.

FFX is a great game in my opinion. If you can endure passed Tidus's awkward laughing scene the rest of it is golden and I found it to be one of the best FF stories ever told. I know somke people diss X-2 but I enjoyed it simply because it allowed gamers to get a "true happy ending" (Though it's difficult to get) and it was a nice return to the job system. (With sexy eye candy to boot with all the dress spheres) 

PS: Only other thing I could not stand was the blitz ball nonsense. At least much of that was optional. lol.

Says Ben as he Cosplays as Lulu. :)

I'm loving this new playthrough but then at my age things that happened yesterday are new to me and I only need one book.

Blitzball sucks! end of. 

Ok guys, I don't remember this from my PS2 game lo so many years ago but I cannot for the life of me how to make a team member defend so that I can defer action to the next person. It says to press the left directional button but that does fuck all unless you have overdrive available. 

Also how do I switch magic to hit all enemies/allies?

I've managed to make it past the Chocobo Eater. That battle was a yawn since Lulu was too powerful for it but I'm obviously way behind.

I'm about to ride the Shoopuf. I still can't defend/stand by or make magic hit multiple people but I'm stayin' alive.

I know that you press right on the menu battle screen to Defend. =) I don't think this game has single/multiple hit, though. It depends on the spell.

I've tried left and right and neither seems to do anything but move from one menu to another. Now I've just been told it's Triangle.

From what I've read magic does depend on the spell.

I must be mistaken, then. So confusing! Have you tried to scroll down on the different battle menus?

Yep. I've been all over both pages. First I was told to press left when I don't have overdrive available but that does nothing, then I tried pushing the right directional control while in the second menu but that does nothing. I haven't tried pressing Triangle yet. I'll let you know how that goes.

I've just been swapping people out if I don't want them to act.

So Triangle it is.

When you want a character to pass on their turn, or if a character is particularly injured, you can have them initiate a defensive stance by pressing Triangle. While in a defensive stance, your character cannot attack; however, they also receive considerably less damage. Magic attacks are not affected by defensive stances. This action cannot be used in some battles.

Yeah, did it last night. I've been having some aggrivation with the International Sphere Grid. Too many dang side paths. I have done the Mi'hen Highroad more than once because I wasn't satisfied. But I did make sure to swipe Lancet for a few characters before advancing. Having some trouble with Kimahri. I want to take him down Rikku's path for awhile, then swing over to Tidus and Auron's paths. But I think he'll still be behind the power curve later on. Plus there are a lot of locks, and I don't know if I'll be able to find enough of them.

Yep, I picked the expert sphere grid and I'm trying to plan but it is all over the place and a lot of those locks lead to single spheres so is it worth backtracking

I just realized that I missed two more Al Bhed primers (making 4 I've missed so far). Now I've gotta go back at some point.

I completed Macarena. :) I'm now in the desert so I guess I got to where I was supposed to get. Yay me!