new PS3

[moonwise]

Last weekend, our 4-year-old 60GB PS3 decided that it didn't want to read games any more. It would play a game for a while, and then freeze up. Or, it wouldn't read games at all. Asking the almighty Internet about the problem pointed towards something unfixable for the amateur, so my husband and I bought a new slim PS3.

I thought that copying the saved games over would be an easy thing. Just plug in a memory stick, copy the games, and go, right? Wrong! Some saves would load, but then the game wouldn't let me save a new game from there; in other cases, like Gran Turismo 5, the system would flatly refuse to load data from another user. My husband was understandably distressed, as he has sunk a huge amount of time into GT5. I wasn't too happy either, because I did not want to start FFXIII over from the beginning.

Asking the almighty Internet oracle once again, I found a data transfer procedure that was supposed to move all data from one PS3 to another. Great! thought I. Easy peasy, and then we'd both have all our saves. I spent a fair amount of time plugging in cables and messing about with remote controls to get it to work, but for whatever reason, the two PS3s would not talk to one another no matter what I did.

As an aside, we have two methods of dealing with problems in our household. There is the Q method, which is preferred by my husband's family and amounts to "Do/Fix it yourself." This method has saved us quite a lot of money, because husband is very handy around the house and can do many advanced Homeowner Projects. Then there is the M method, which is preferred by my parents and boils down to "Throw money at it."

With all my Q options failing, I resorted in desperation to the M method and bought a three-month subscription to Playstation Plus, which brings 150 MB of online storage with it. Since you have to sign in to PSN to use it, I theorized that the problem of using save data that the new system interpreted as being from a different user would be circumvented. If not... well, I'd be out $17.99, and my husband would give up on Playstation gaming in disgust.

Thank the gods of pixels, it worked. Husband is downstairs right now, thrilled to death that signing into PSN before he played gave him the opportunity to purchase a GT5 Formula 1 car, and I don't have to start over from scratch in FFXIII. I don't think I can take a whole lot more of Snow as it is.

Comments

[toffeethesnob.livejournal.com]

Thank heavens that bullet was dodged. I've lost hard earned FF save data before (near the endgame boss for my only FFVI file, my level 80 something FFVII party, my right next door to Ultimecia FFVIII savefile and one or two hard worked FFIX files too), needless to say it's an experience that made me want to hurl the console through the window. If that had happened with FFXIII then I simply wouldn't have played the thing again. Even though I like Hope and Fang all those hours of slugging through corridors for the most tedious levelling system ever known to man... GAH!!! I would've foamed at the mouth and tried to gnaw my own hair off if I had to do it over.

[arafel.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I can't say that I like this stat bonus thing with the weapons. It's a nuisance, and everyone says that you can't really level properly until much later in the game. We've seen that Crystarium thing before with FFX's Sphere Table, fine, and customizable weapons are nice, but constantly being gil-deprived and experience-poor is getting on my nerves!

[toffeethesnob.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't mind the crysarium or the customizable weapons if they just made it possible for us to earn cash/EXP without having to bust our chops EVERY SINGLE CHAPTER. I'm one of those players who likes to grind early on ingame (sort of after the first two dungeons) getting my characters about 10 levels higher than they need to be and setting up a nice little nest egg so I can make swift work of the newer enemies I come by and have enough cash to buy valuable equipment once it becomes available. With XIII you just can't do that. I tried. Believe me, I tried... Aaaaaaaaaaaarrrrgggh....

[arafel.livejournal.com]

Even with the Sphere Table, you could get pretty far before you hit a key sphere you couldn't unlock. I remember whining with other players about Lvl. 3 Key Spheres, which you couldn't find until you could access the Omega Ruins. But you could still overlevel, and you could get gil! With the Crystarium, there's no point in grinding, because you hit a wall after a while.

Also, can I take a moment to lament the SEVERE LACK OF AREA SPELLS/ATTACKS at least early on? Seven against two is manageable when you have area attacks. When you don't, it's frustrating!

[toffeethesnob.livejournal.com]

Exactly. You could have a back up black mage, white mage and tank with X by the time you got to the Omega Ruins (I also remember being able to swipe them from some mooks in the Zanarkand Ruins but I'd have to check) and you get all the cash you needed. With XIII it's as you said, you put all that effort in and you hit a wall. Not only that but said effort is pointless 2 chapters later.

Oh you certainly may. Gaaaaah...The impossibility of some of those battle set-ups... I mean I understand that with the stagger mechanic you're supposed to take them down one at a time but area spells/attacks are quicker in the long run and give you a chance to maintain the offensive while one character heals you up unlike the 'nick one at a time' system they've got going on. Ugggh.