Challenging Hunting Missions

[Fuzz]

With much talk about how 'linear' Final Fantasy XIII appears to be - looks like there are still challenging hunting missions that even producer (Kitase) had a hard time completing. According to the lead Battle Planner, Daisuke Inoue, these side quests were created with 4 rules:


1.) They should never force the player characters to equip any specific accessories.

2.) They should never require players to use TP abilities* to defeat them.
*(TP abilities are special skills such as Quake, Libra, and summons.)

3.) They should never require the player to use healing items to defeat them.

4.) They should never require the player to use shrouds* to defeat them.
*(Shrouds or smokes are buffing items you can use before encounters.)



“I can assure you that the mission monsters were designed first and foremost to present players with a real challenge,” said Inoue. “So much so, in fact, that our producer Mr. Kitase even came to us complaining he could not beat some of them and had no idea what to do, despite fighting with none of the handicaps mentioned above.”

We can always expect a solid amount of side-quests content but this is reassuring.


Source: Silicon Era

[Dodie16]

These "hunts" may not require the use of those four things mention in the rules, but from what I understood, you'd either be crazy not to use them or just really really good with the game to where you don't have to use that stuff.

I did hear that these are basically the only side quests in XIII, so if you didn't like the hunts in XII, you probably won't care for these very much. I liked the hunts in XII, and wasted a lot of hours doing those, so hopefully these hunts/missions in XIII will be just as fun and addicting for me.

[Yang's bald head]

The hunts in FFXII I think were the best feature... realy loved the gameplay in that game but just hated the story.

Happy to see the return of the hunts!

[Ernest]

Totally did not get the marks in Final Fantasy XII, despite thoroughly loving the game. I did a few of them, just got tired of having to find the person who'd given me the job a poultry reward.

If they can make it more rewarding and less of a hassel, I'll be into it. I did spend some time in Dragon Quest VIII finding the Arena monsters.

[smurphy]

A poultry reward? I dont remember being given chickens as a result of a successful mark.

I wasnt too fond of marks in XII as I felt it was too much hassle going so many places. A more streamlined system would make me love getting marks again.

[Ernest]

A poultry reward? I dont remember being given chickens as a result of a successful mark.

I wasnt too fond of marks in XII as I felt it was too much hassle going so many places. A more streamlined system would make me love getting marks again.

Whoops. Meant "Paltry".

[Yang's bald head]

Was it only me that loved the hunts? I remember that stupid white chocobo, I think I tried around 30 times to kill it due ti my levels being so low. Hunts were a way for me to test my skill against much much stronger opponents and get rewarded for it.

[Dodie16]

^ No, you're not the only one. I loved them a lot. I thought it was fun to look at the board and see a new mark was up for the hunt, or go check out Clan Centurio to see if some elite marks have popped up. Finding the mark was half the fun, especially when you had to wait on certain conditions for it to actually appear. I still haven't gotten the one in the Paramina Rift where you have to wait on the blizzard conditions to be high before it appears. Fafnir, I think it is. Oh, well. Keep trying I suppose.

[Zargabaath]

If Kitase had a hard time beating withouth "cheating" (so to say) than those marks/hunts must be pretty difficult. Especially after seeing how the development team tried to incorporate those 4 rules. Hopefully the "marks" in FFXIII will be in different areas of Gran Pulse (I would assume that all are in that area) to possibly get a scenery change.

The only bad thing for me may be that I don't do all the hunts because I'm not a big player of after-game content. I kind of lose the drive to further play the game after I've beaten it; I move on to another RPG. Though FFXIII may be different for me, it looks fun, and if it is extremely fun to play then I may give the after-game content a spin.

[DragonHeart]

Sounds fun to me, I love epic battles. I never did do all the hunts in XII; it's on my to-do list. I do wish they'd include other sidequests, though. I like having options. I'd really love to see a new version of Triple Triad or Blitzball in one of these next gen games, especially if they enable an online version of it.

~DragonHeart~

[theblackmonster]

the hunts in XIII are going to be awesome, and they should be challenging to see how your taking care of your characters, and if you lose it will make you want to keep leveling up and improving your characters. I'm sssuuurrre they will throw in some rare items if you complete the hunts. cant wait.

[Belugn]

Really wish for something in the style of FFXII (just got three more to complete in that game), but I have a hard time imagining that now, now that I've had a taste of actual FFXIII. I'm not going to be sceptical until I've seen how it is though.

I was hoping for other kind of side quests though. Acquiring crazy items or something, doing optional quests that gives extra cutscenes and ties to the characters' pasts, etc.

[antryg_winrose]

I loved the hunts in XII. Did them all. I am half way thru XIII hunts and they are not all that hard. Sometimes you get sent on what amounts to the same hunt. Only difference is that the second time the marks got mates. There is no tryin to get the weather to co-operate thank the gods. I spent 8 hours tryin to get that big dragon/tyrant thingy in the winter area to show. One cool thing is there is a trophy for doing every mark and earning five stars. You don't have to do it the first time. You can rehunt the thing. The primary award for the hunt is not repeated but the secondary one is. There is one hunt that the primary award is a collectors catalog and the secondary is 3 bomb shells. You won't the another collectors catalog but you can get the 3 bomb shells as many times as you like.