Chapter 8...WHY!? (spoilers)

[Broso]

WHY can you just call your reserve party members to a guild house in an istant but YOU have to WALK EVERYWHERE YOURSELF? I understand this is probably supposed to give you a feeling of gravity for the current situation but for the love of god it's an awful design decision in terms of gameplay.

[Broso]

So immersion? Then why don't you have to move the inactive party members from guild house to guild house manually? And immersion may be a thing, but having to stand in a damn waiting line every time you want to cross a river is just unnecessarily tedious.

I love the game but I don't like the way this chapter is executed.

[Johnnykey]

Originally posted by Virsalus:

So immersion? Then why don't you have to move the inactive party members from guild house to guild house manually? And immersion may be a thing, but having to stand in a damn waiting line every time you want to cross a river is just unnecessarily tedious.

I love the game but I don't like the way this chapter is executed.

Yeah, there's too much "binding" between story and gameplay. Best thing to do is rushing those (like I said) 4 hours and forget what you had to go through to end the chapter.
The game is all nice and awesome after that.
I found this game to be highly inconsistent in quality. Lots of boring stuff to go through to get to an interesting part, and then you get bored again, and then you find it good or even awesome again, then bored to death again. The whole game is like that, not just this chapter, though in this regard this chapter stands out.

P.S. - And here I thought FC was inconsistent... I couldn't be more wrong xD

[Broso]

Oh yes after chapter 8 it gets a lot better again, I really loved the final chapter. Well, actually it gets better right by the end of chapter 8. Holy cow, those chapter ending scenes are just awesome.

[Letari]

Originally posted by Virsalus:

So immersion? Then why don't you have to move the inactive party members from guild house to guild house manually? And immersion may be a thing, but having to stand in a damn waiting line every time you want to cross a river is just unnecessarily tedious.

Because having to move the inactive members manually would be a terrible idea? Seriously, would you put that in a game or want someone to make you do that? And crossing the river takes what... 15 seconds? (That's what it felt like to me but someone should time it! :P)

The incomplete guides were being updated and pretty much completed within a week or 2 of the game being released. Even while using the incomplete guides, there was enough information to avoid using the boat enough times to end up hating on it for being in the game.

Don't get me wrong though, there are issues with the pacing(among other things). But my biggest peeve above anything else possible, is not being able to toggle spell and special attack animations in combat... after the thousandth time using them, you really, really wish there was a skip or fast forward feature.

[Johnnykey]

Originally posted by meginb:

Originally posted by Virsalus:

So immersion? Then why don't you have to move the inactive party members from guild house to guild house manually? And immersion may be a thing, but having to stand in a damn waiting line every time you want to cross a river is just unnecessarily tedious.

Because having to move the inactive members manually would be a terrible idea? Seriously, would you put that in a game or want someone to make you do that? And crossing the river takes what... 15 seconds? (That's what it felt like to me but someone should time it! :P)

The incomplete guides were being updated and pretty much completed within a week or 2 of the game being released. Even while using the incomplete guides, there was enough information to avoid using the boat enough times to end up hating on it for being in the game.

Don't get me wrong though, there are issues with the pacing(among other things). But my biggest peeve above anything else possible, is not being able to toggle spell and special attack animations in combat... after the thousandth time using them, you really, really wish there was a skip or fast forward feature.

Not true! I took a while to buy the game and only bought it 2~3 weeks after it got released. For a whole month there wasn't a single complete guide around, all were up to chapter 4~6 and then only covering BP bonus (and not much besides that) till the end of the game.
It was only near new year's eve that I noticed a complete guide, which only got complete at about halfway December or later.

Unless of course, you just count BP listing as 'complete'.
I missed a Gambler Jack volume because of this (the one on chapter 7, which really required a guide), not that I really needed the ultimate weapons, but... meh.

[Redzeth]

Originally posted by Cyrus:

Originally posted by Virsalus:

I still don't see a single good argument in here why this should be considered NOT bad from a gameplay perspective.

Because the point is to make you feel inconvenienced. Unless you're playing the game without a single care for the plot, I can guarantee most people on reaching Ruan will feel some sense of frustration, which conveys the feeling that you're supposed to be feeling.

Assuming you're just going from Bose > Ruan > Zeiss > Grancel > Rolent it's not even that much walking.

Well if you do the secret quest in zeiss I can understand why you'd hate walking just came from ruan quest says to go back trough the dark tunnel w/ nightgoggles which give eye aids +20 to get flipping fuel and the you have to go back again. However besides all the backtracking I did enjoy it alot

[Greyshm]

Originally posted by Virsalus:

I still don't see a single good argument in here why this should be considered NOT bad from a gameplay perspective.

How about because this game was designed (gameplay wise) over a decade ago, before modern gaming norms (i.e. quick travel) really solidified into mainstream gaming.

And yes I am well aware that even games from before the creation of this game had ways of quick travelling (worp spells, etc.). And since this games world doesn't have magic in the traditional sense that most RPGs have magic, it woudn't make sense for this game to have warp spells and the like. Of course since orbal technology is advancing at an alarming rate (as evinced by CS, I wouldn't be surprised to see warp technology introduced in the next arc of the series.)

But I understand what you are talking about though, you're aggravated that the game didn't funeel you from guild branch to guild branch like it was doing for the majority of the game. (via the green colored text that happens when transitioning from place to place). But as others have stated, thats most definitely done for dramatic impact.

Of course I personally like being stuck running around Liberl for a 3rd time, but hey, to each their own.

[Gosen]

I'm close to giving up the game and watch ending on youtube. This is ridiculous. Especially side quest with Elmo.

[Broso]

Originally posted by Gosen:

I'm close to giving up the game and watch ending on youtube. This is ridiculous. Especially side quest with Elmo.

Don't give up! This chapter is kinda dragged out but the game totally makes up for it with the ending scene of the chapter and the next chapter is great again!

[Gosen]

Originally posted by Virsalus:

Originally posted by Gosen:

I'm close to giving up the game and watch ending on youtube. This is ridiculous. Especially side quest with Elmo.

Don't give up! This chapter is kinda dragged out but the game totally makes up for it with the ending scene of the chapter and the next chapter is great again!

Ok, I probably won't. Just had to write about frustration. This problem has been iritating me since first game, but now I just play about 60 minutes and quit. Small steps, but probably end this madness in few days.

As someone said above: this games are mixed with ultra boring and very good moments. Not a great balance, though. I mean in FC status ailments actually worked, but in SC most bosses and their minions (this is my main issue) are immune to everything. Question - why then using them if during the regular combat they're not needed, and during the boss fights - useless. Ok, I admit that ending in FC was too easy, because confusing worked nice on robots, but in SC even taunt doesn't always work when it's really needed. Of course you can forget about petrify/freeze/confuse, etc. Abyss worms or whatever it's called during ch8 with one character able to cast arts, gg.

[Broso]

Well....SPD down works on almost everything, so that's at least something, lol.

[That's ich!]

The Bossfights would've been to easy if you could status ailment your way through.

[Johnnykey]

Use this as a motivation: The last dungeon is BEAUTIFUL! Possibly the best-looking one in the game.

[Broso]

Originally posted by Johnnykey:

Use this as a motivation: The last dungeon is BEAUTIFUL! Possibly the best-looking one in the game.

AND it has really good music throughout.

[Cid]

Originally posted by Gosen:

I'm close to giving up the game and watch ending on youtube. This is ridiculous. Especially side quest with Elmo.

I agree that Elmo is kinda ridiculous. To be honest, in my first playthrough I blew off the sidequests in Ch. 8 to keep the story rolling (and just came back and did them later)