I like FFXIII as well... (Destiny)

by Cody Miller , Music of the Spheres - Never Forgot, Friday, August 08, 2014, 01:09 (3549 days ago) @ uberfoop

That I like FFXIII is mostly because I don't really agree that the "opening up" makes a huge difference on fun. Sure, the game is (usually) not very challenging just to get through it, but if you aren't just autobattling the whole time, it gives you things to do to try and optimize, even if the impact is minor.

And that's really ultimately the problem. The battle system is certainly more complex than previous Final Fantasy games, but even it ultimately is not that complex a system. You can pretty much get through the game with the same paradigm decks, maybe switching one or two special ones in there for certain bosses.

Many paradigm combos are just so good, they completely outshine others. Mystic Tower, Relentless Assault, Smart Bomb, Combat Clinic, Aggression, and Hero's Charge as your deck will get you through the vast majority of the game. Once you start unlocking additional roles you can roll in stuff like Rapid Growth. Any optimizations really give you minor gains. Maybe this isn't as true in the after game optional stuff, but I didn't play that because I did not want to grind for level, gear, and weapon parts.

The idea though of a game opening up and becoming fun after you put hours into it is bogus. A game should be fun immediately. This is my worry for Destiny since it has no difficulty selector. I'm sure I will have fun doing all the story missions, but once I am level 20, getting gear with light will be a must to do higher level missions, which you'll have to undertake if you actually want challenge. But unlike a difficulty selector, you can't just roll into a level 30 raid at level 20. You'd do 1 damage. So you have to play the game of working the random drop system to get either the loot you want, or the exotic currency to buy the loot you want. THEN you can have the fun on the difficult stuff.