Sientir's Blog

I spent this week working my way up Taejin's Tower, only to be confronted by a rather frustrating boss fight. I spend most of the Friday episode analyzing the game's design, before very narrowly coming to the decision to take a hiatus from the game. There's a lot of combat in these episodes, as that's what's emphasized at this point in time with this game. Direct video links: Analyzing Mechanics while climbing Taejin's Tower—Final Fantasy XIII First Playthrough Ep. 51 - https://youtu.be/qMk5VfKrCE4 More Taejin's Tower Missions—Final Fantasy XIII First Playthrough Ep. 52 - https://youtu.be/ttXdc-vJibY To the top of Taejin's Tower!—Final Fantasy XIII First Playthrough Ep. 53 - https://youtu.be/34OGrYG5u1E Dahaka Roadblocka—Final Fantasy XIII First Playthrough Ep. 54 - https://youtu.be/b554k7YrKgQ Why I'm taking a break from Final Fantasy XIII—Final Fantasy XIII First Playthrough Ep. 55 - https://youtu.be/YJLE5cZTBQg

This week, I made my way into Taejin's Tower and began the process of ascending it. This results in a lot of battles, both as part of advancing, but also because my characters desperately need to be stronger, and getting CP from defeating enemies is an important part of that. I also find the balancing of this game to be very weird. Direct video links: Hunting CP—Final Fantasy XIII First Playthrough Ep. 46 - https://youtu.be/-sJhwUFx6bU Into Taejin's Tower—Final Fantasy XIII First Playthrough Ep. 47 - https://youtu.be/XfM2cYJapAw Giant Wheel Elevator Operator—Final Fantasy XIII First Playthrough Ep. 48 - https://youtu.be/NSkMUWaWxWY What would the golems do were it not for that fire?—Final Fantasy XIII First Playthrough Ep. 49 - https://youtu.be/x0VRYnvcwC8 Climbing Taejin's Tower—Final Fantasy XIII First Playthrough Ep. 50 - https://youtu.be/1jvw0C0sGsk

This week was all about exploring Gran Pulse, and getting familiar with it. A few new systems are introduced, I meet two Eidolons, and the difficulty curve feels out of control, with some enemies being very difficult and others being quite reasonable. Of course, we also get more backstory, especially about Vanille. Direct video links: Alexander—Final Fantasy XIII First Playthrough Ep. 41 - https://youtu.be/QeoU0zTp5V4 Wandering the Archlyte Steppe—Final Fantasy XIII First Playthrough Ep. 42 - https://youtu.be/sybwH3Icabw Box Phalanx—Final Fantasy XIII First Playthrough Ep. 43 - https://youtu.be/wndNZzJ9JoU Hecatoncheir—Final Fantasy XIII First Playthrough Ep. 44 - https://youtu.be/QAN7M13-yOs Journey to Taejin's Tower—Final Fantasy XIII First Playthrough Ep. 45 - https://youtu.be/kqKwFXTt-ck

I spent a lot of time in the Fifth Ark this week, making my way through groups of enemies and looking for plot. I find some from Cid Raines, then a massive amount of progress happens when the group defeats the Eidolon Bahamut and leaves Cocoon for Gran Pulse. What a way to end the week! Direct video links: How do we know this is the Fifth Ark, anyway?—Final Fantasy XIII First Playthrough Ep. 36 - https://youtu.be/anfAaqcTfvU Passing through the Hibernarium—Final Fantasy XIII First Playthrough Ep. 37 - https://youtu.be/j50gWVoe_4s Loremaster Cid Raines—Final Fantasy XIII First Playthrough Ep. 38 - https://youtu.be/CSGYWUOS5dU This Ark is built with Modular Design—Final Fantasy XIII First Playthrough Ep. 39 - https://youtu.be/dgzRjinhLEA Emerging from the Cocoon—Final Fantasy XIII First Playthrough Ep. 40 - https://youtu.be/XQPQzcrFGsM

The plot really ramped up this week, as the entire party finally got together (Fang, Snow, Sazh, Vanille, Lightning, and Hope) and the leader of Sanctum revealed himself to be a fal'Cie in disguise. He explains our heroes' focus to them, but not before beating them up a bit. The characters now have to figure out what to do with this information... Direct video links: The Captives Rescue Themselves!—Final Fantasy XIII First Playthrough Ep. 31 - https://youtu.be/ywHwKihSUQE This calls for CODE WHITE!—Final Fantasy XIII First Playthrough Ep. 32 - https://youtu.be/64Y-rlzOpYg Together again, at last!—Final Fantasy XIII First Playthrough Ep. 33 - https://youtu.be/qaUAZWPdOjg Wait, I'm supposed to WIN this fight?!—Final Fantasy XIII First Playthrough Ep. 34 - https://youtu.be/j0Z0mopLhlw Coming to Grips with Barthandelus's Lore Drop—Final Fantasy XIII First Playthrough Ep. 35 - https://youtu.be/8V_Bwij5wck

Two-thirds of the group had met up at Hope's father's place by the start of the week, but they didn't get to rest long before PSICOM caught up with them and the game transitioned to focus on the remaining one-third of Sazh and Vanille. Massive stuff goes down with them involving Dajh, Sazh's son, and the events surrounding the boy becoming a l'Cie. However, Sazh and Vanille ended up captured. The rest of the team learned of this and went to rescue them! Direct video links: Tactical Regrouping—Final Fantasy XIII First Playthrough Ep. 26 - https://youtu.be/WaekxCkS6r4 Chocobo's at Nautilus Park—Final Fantasy XIII First Playthrough Ep. 27 - https://youtu.be/snp9R7hKf58 Dajh's Focus Fulfilled—Final Fantasy XIII First Playthrough Ep. 28 - https://youtu.be/IeDthIBT-Cs Flying into a Trap!—Final Fantasy XIII First Playthrough Ep. 29 - https://youtu.be/fh4NFETJaow This is less an infiltration and more an assault...—Final Fantasy XIII First Playthrough Ep....

This week saw part of the party united in Palumpolum, as Snow and Fang rescue Hope and Lightning from the military. I also spent a bunch of time trying to figure out why I have been disliking the combat system so much. Direct video links: Final Fantasy XIII—Ep. 21: Weather Controlling Orbs - https://youtu.be/IgopzDqlmb0 Final Fantasy XIII—Ep. 22: Philosophical Revelations in the Hydroponics Facility - https://youtu.be/2PE6DGPloDo Final Fantasy XIII—Ep. 23: Snow punches the military over and over again. - https://youtu.be/5ubRUb-Px4Y Final Fantasy XIII—Ep. 24: A Design-Based Rant about the Combat System - https://youtu.be/Qu9Wo0X9U10 Final Fantasy XIII—Ep. 25: Stealthing to the Plot! - https://youtu.be/n_K9BFlgikg

I spent a lot of time this week making my way through the Gapra Whitewood. I also spent a lot of time talking about my thoughts on Final Fantasy XIII's design. Direct video links: Final Fantasy XIII—Ep. 16: Analyzing the Battle System - https://youtu.be/AjXn3T-_PZo Final Fantasy XIII—Ep. 17: A Special Knife - https://youtu.be/rNU4V0J4I7M Final Fantasy XIII—Ep. 18: How does the Nora/NORA thing work in Japanese? - https://youtu.be/xcUYCwxRl9U Final Fantasy XIII—Ep. 19: Out of the woods, and into the water(scape)! - https://youtu.be/xujC10Ox6mY Final Fantasy XIII—Ep. 20: A Father's Tragedy - https://youtu.be/VKloj--r-k0

This week, the party slowly made its way through the Vile Peaks. Sometimes they were together, more often they were apart. Also, the game is continuing to introduce new mechanics. To be clear, this is fine, but it does feel like it takes a while for it to add all of the core combat mechanics. Direct video links: Final Fantasy XIII—Ep. 11: Endless Junk Valleys - https://youtu.be/JE5wF0YEAAw Final Fantasy XIII—Ep. 12: Dreadnought Upgrade Tech - https://youtu.be/VxaHBG3aKVg Final Fantasy XIII—Ep. 13: Why is Odin a Horse? - https://youtu.be/Udp_0sakJ1Q Final Fantasy XIII—Ep. 14: Generator Start-Up Sequence - https://youtu.be/L3gQxdJ4SdY Final Fantasy XIII—Ep. 15: Checking in with Snow - https://youtu.be/6CisZVs-RFs

Final Fantasy 13 continues this week (and likely for many, many weeks to come). Most of this week takes place on the crystallized Lake Bresha, but I do eventually leave there by the end of the week! Direct video links: Final Fantasy XIII—Ep. 6: A Fateful Disagreement - https://youtu.be/vvyPN2MEzrY Final Fantasy XIII—Ep. 7: At least we know what happened to Serah now! - https://youtu.be/UHAg4RFWsp8 Final Fantasy XIII—Ep. 8: Oh, so THAT'S what the orange crystals were! - https://youtu.be/XGSZ2qFxmMU Final Fantasy XIII—Ep. 9: Eidolon Introduction—The Motorcycle Sisters - https://youtu.be/6hJUv-VthN0 Final Fantasy XIII—Ep. 10: This game has a very long tutorial phase... - https://youtu.be/pLKiuq_iygM

This week, I started playing Final Fantasy XIII for the channel. This is a game I've been wanting to play for a while now, so I'm glad to finally get started playing it! Direct video links: Final Fantasy XIII—Ep. 1: This is pretty, but what is HAPPENING?! - https://youtu.be/rc5SwHF0ZDY Final Fantasy XIII—Ep. 2: "Mother" is not the name of a character with a future. :( - https://youtu.be/PPK5pN69_Pc Final Fantasy XIII—Ep. 3: Uniting the Party! - https://youtu.be/1gIC41oFkgU Final Fantasy XIII—Ep. 4: Who wants to live forever (as a crystal)? - https://youtu.be/HIZ5ZenPL_k Final Fantasy XIII—Ep. 5: Magically Binding Indefinite Objective - https://youtu.be/7mHNwP4Zv6E