Ok, so Final Fantasy XIII or Resonance of Fate?

[Gamerforlife]

The character development in FFXIII is a better version of the sphere grid; you can actually decide how to focus your characters in terms of class development, though going outside their three primary classes is expensive.

I disagree, moving along FF13's version of the sphere grid is mostly linear. It's all laid out for you. The path veers sometimes, but only for like one or two nodes than it's back to the linear path. As for class development, the game clearly emphasizes two or three classes that it WANTS you to use for each character, with the other classes giving you crappy stat bonuses and fewer abilities

FF13 is VERY good at giving you the ILLUSION of freedom.

Also, the game does not open up at the halfway point. It happens in chapter 11 in a game with 13 chapters. So like 90% of FF13 is all linear.

[Veno]

Hmm...another interesting thought. Thanks Gamerforlife and MrPopo. But now I'm back to the equilibrium.

And MrPopo, unfortunately, my PC is crap for playing games. This is why I can't go back and play System Shocks 1 and 2, or Deus Ex. I also can't play newly released games like Dragon Age because my PC, though not too old, doesn't have the necessary specs to run new games, but has technology new enough to not be compatible with old games. Sigh...oh well.

[MrPopo]

The character development in FFXIII is a better version of the sphere grid; you can actually decide how to focus your characters in terms of class development, though going outside their three primary classes is expensive.

I disagree, moving along FF13's version of the sphere grid is mostly linear. It's all laid out for you. The path veers sometimes, but only for like one or two nodes than it's back to the linear path. As for class development, the game clearly emphasizes two or three classes that it WANTS you to use for each character, with the other classes giving you crappy stat bonuses and fewer abilities

The difference I see is that in the X sphere grid it's restrictingly linear because of the unavailability of unlock spheres. While each job in XIII is a very linear path you're free to decide which jobs you want to focus on for each character.

Also, the game does not open up at the halfway point. It happens in chapter 11 in a game with 13 chapters. So like 90% of FF13 is all linear.

The chapters are not of equal length, though. From a gameplay perspective it's the halfway point.

And MrPopo, unfortunately, my PC is crap for playing games. This is why I can't go back and play System Shocks 1 and 2, or Deus Ex. I also can't play newly released games like Dragon Age because my PC, though not too old, doesn't have the necessary specs to run new games, but has technology new enough to not be compatible with old games. Sigh...oh well.

Ok, so sell someone else's kidney to get a better PC, THEN play Dragon Age on it.

[Gamerforlife]

The character development in FFXIII is a better version of the sphere grid; you can actually decide how to focus your characters in terms of class development, though going outside their three primary classes is expensive.

I disagree, moving along FF13's version of the sphere grid is mostly linear. It's all laid out for you. The path veers sometimes, but only for like one or two nodes than it's back to the linear path. As for class development, the game clearly emphasizes two or three classes that it WANTS you to use for each character, with the other classes giving you crappy stat bonuses and fewer abilities

The difference I see is that in the X sphere grid it's restrictingly linear because of the unavailability of unlock spheres. While each job in XIII is a very linear path you're free to decide which jobs you want to focus on for each character.

Also, the game does not open up at the halfway point. It happens in chapter 11 in a game with 13 chapters. So like 90% of FF13 is all linear.

The chapters are not of equal length, though. From a gameplay perspective it's the halfway point.


We'll have to agree to disagree. I don't remember there really being all that much game left after chapter 11. By the time you reach that chapter, you've seen most of what the game has to offer. If the next two chapters seem long it's only because of how cheap and anoying and numerous most of the fights become past that point

I think FF X's sphere grid was FAR better. Not only did you have way more freedom in navigating(once you unlock the parts that are closed off), you could even completely redo it by replacing stat nodes with better ones. That's the kind of depth you just don't see in FF13, where everything is so streamlined and stripped down. Also, I like how you could make any party member in FFX uber. Characters in FF 13 all have weaknesses you can never undo. Like everything else in FF 13, your characters strength and weaknesses are pre-determined and that's all there is to it. Lightning will always be the fastest character and best ravager, Fang will always be the best ommando with the highest damage, unless you use Sazh's blitz, which is only good against some enemies, Vanille is the only character who can use death, etc, etc, etc.

[MrPopo]

Also, I like how you could make any party member in FFX uber. Characters in FF 13 all have weaknesses you can never undo. Like everything else in FF 13, your characters strength and weaknesses are pre-determined and that's all there is to it. Lightning will always be the fastest character and best ravager, Fang will always be the best ommando with the highest damage, unless you use Sazh's blitz, which is only good against some enemies, Vanille is the only character who can use death, etc, etc, etc.

See, I personally like how each character has something that makes them unique. It gives you a reason to ever have more than three playable characters. Compare with FFV, where all four characters are fully interchangable, but as a result they don't introduce any more characters. One thing I disliked about FFVII and VIII was that all the characters were essentially identical aside from their limits, because all your abilities were inside the Materia/Junctions.

[Veno]

Ok, so I almost have enough money. Just 20 bucks to go...but my friends, who are supposed to give me a good input on things, still kept things equal on both sides.
One of my friends though, just said to wait till things get cheaper, but we all know how long that takes nowadays.
I think I'll just end up getting Resonance of Fate though. I'll wait till FF13 drops to about 50 bucks, so thanks for the inputs ya'll.

[jfrost]

Yeah, honestly I would buy RoF, since it seems to be more unique and it's probably gonna be more expensive than FFXIII in the future. You are probably gonna have the chance to buy it later on (and honestly, flawed as both games look, I would get both, since there aren't many JRPGs around this generation, and I'm a sucker for those).

[ZeroAX]

I'd buy FF13 right now, cause RoF is going to drop in price dramatically when it doesn't sell (JRPG with minimal exposure going head to head with FF13.... man I should become a video game industry analyst, I can state the OBVIOUS), and a few months later it will probably start being expensive.

[Bradtemple87]

ffxiii was meh, as far as resonance of fate, get ready to grind