Final Fantasy XIII

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » April 17, 2009, 1:52 am

I don't think we have a dedicated FFXIII thread yet!

Check out the first 40 minutes of the demo here:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_t ... st+40&aq=f

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » April 17, 2009, 7:21 pm

I can feel the excitement from the PS3 fanbois building in this thread!

miir · Post by **miir** » April 17, 2009, 7:47 pm

Screw FFXIII, I can't wait for Cross Edge!
NIS>SquEnix

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » April 17, 2009, 9:55 pm

miir wrote:Screw FFXIII, I can't wait for Cross Edge!
NIS>SquEnix

Watch your mouth!!

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » April 18, 2009, 3:40 pm

FFXIII will be released on 20+ DVDs for 360

miir · Post by **miir** » April 18, 2009, 4:50 pm

ROFL!

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » April 19, 2009, 11:14 am

I saw that one about 18 months ago before they announced the 360 version.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » April 19, 2009, 2:51 pm

Animalor wrote:I saw that one about 18 months ago before they announced the 360 version.

Pretty selfish of you to keep it to yourself then don't you think!?

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » April 19, 2009, 11:05 pm

I thought it was fanboyish and rather stupid.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » April 20, 2009, 3:18 am

I appreciate the funny stuff from both sides. The PS3 boosters have so little to make fun of with the 360 that when they manage to come up with something, it's worth posting.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » April 20, 2009, 7:47 am

If you want PS3 fanboys taking shots at Microsoft, head on over to http://www.sonydefenseforce.com.

That may actually be the site where I saw this originally..

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » April 20, 2009, 11:32 am

Animalor wrote:If you want PS3 fanboys taking shots at Microsoft, head on over to http://www.sonydefenseforce.com.

That may actually be the site where I saw this originally..

That site is beyond awesome. Here's a gem under the article titled "PSP 2 coming soon; iPhone, DS destroyed".

Well the DS and iPhone had a good run but it looks like, with this iteration of PSP, Sony will deal a crushing blow to both platforms.

They take fanboi to a whole new level. What a bunch of backslapping retards.

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » April 20, 2009, 11:49 am

Fairweather Pure wrote:
Animalor wrote:If you want PS3 fanboys taking shots at Microsoft, head on over to http://www.sonydefenseforce.com.

That may actually be the site where I saw this originally..
That site is beyond awesome. Here's a gem under the article titled "PSP 2 coming soon; iPhone, DS destroyed".

Well the DS and iPhone had a good run but it looks like, with this iteration of PSP, Sony will deal a crushing blow to both platforms.
They take fanboi to a whole new level. What a bunch of backslapping retards.

No shit, I looked at the first few of them, got as far as the DS/iPhone one and couldn't bear to read any further.

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » April 20, 2009, 11:53 am

If that really is the new PSP 2, it looks cool enough. I just won't be buying one for the same reasons I didn't buy the last one. I don't see anyone else suddenly changing their minds either. If anyone thinks otherwise, they are delusional.

miir · Post by **miir** » April 20, 2009, 12:13 pm

Most of the shit on that site is posted solely to get a rise out of PS3 haters.
Some of the posts are hillarious.

Canelek · Post by **Canelek** » April 20, 2009, 1:34 pm

OK, I am sick of all the PS3 bashing. I do not know why I prefer the PS3 over the 360. I was born being attracted to the PS3 and not the 360. Most of you were born loving the 360 and calling the PS3 an abomination under God; cursing those of us who find the PS3 form more pleasing and arousing than the 360.

Funny thing is, there are those of us who are bi-console as well, including me.

Ashur · Post by **Ashur** » April 20, 2009, 9:47 pm

Keep your hippie politics out of the game threads

BTW, what's so FINAL about this Fantasy that it needed a endless sequels ffs? Isn't that the OPPOSITE of FINAL?

Kaldaur · Post by **Kaldaur** » April 22, 2009, 9:29 am

Story time!

Final Fantasy, back in the 80s, was supposed to be Squaresoft's last game they made before closing up shop. They brought in their old composer, Nobuo Uematsu (who did 1-9's music), and a few other key personnel and designed the game. When the game was done, people started going home. It was supposed to be their 'Final Fantasy'. Then it sold a lot of copies. A lot of copies. So the company got back together, and the name went from being a bittersweet sendoff to ironic joke. Now it's gone from ironic joke to "Let's package this box of feces as Final Fantasy: Turd Basket and we'll sell 10 million copies".
When you and your company have designed Final Fantasy 6 and 7, you can basically do anything you want for the rest of time and people will still buy your shit. Especially if it's in a turd basket.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » April 22, 2009, 7:24 pm

I thought FFX was awesome..and that was on the crappy PS2 with the uber jaggies.

Kaldaur · Post by **Kaldaur** » April 22, 2009, 7:54 pm

Hmm, perhaps I wasn't clear. I am a Final Fantasy fan, and have been since I was four years old and fought Garland in the first castle. What I was saying was supposed to be a hypothetical--Square Enix could put a piece of shit in a box, package it, and sell it, and people would buy it. The name Final Fantasy is trusted that much.
I enjoyed 10, loved 12, made babies with 7, and ate pixellated ecstasy with 6.

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » May 5, 2009, 6:41 pm

Good news!

IGN.com wrote:May 5, 2009 - According to a report on VideoGamer.com, Final Fantasy XIII will hopefully be out in the US and Europe sooner than you'd first expect. Producer Yoshinori Kitase comments that while, traditionally, the English version Final Fantasy titles come out a half year after the Japanese version and then are delayed another half year for the European version, Final Fantasy XIII should hit store shelves in much more rapid succession.

Kitase comments: "We have already started recording English voices and also the text localization has been in progress, too. Normally we complete the Japanese version first, then move on to the US and EU versions, but this time there are some tasks that are happening simultaneously. So this time we're hoping to release sooner than a year later than the Japanese release."

This is great news for eager Final Fantasy fans, as other territories will be able to take part in the Final Fantasy love shortly after the Japanese audience sinks its teeth into the experience. Final Fantasy XIII is scheduled for a Japanese launch during Christmas of this year.

Source

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » May 5, 2009, 7:10 pm

FFXIII is already two years overdue, at this point, what's another year? You lose anticipation for a series when it takes 3-4 years between releases.

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » May 6, 2009, 11:02 am

Winnow wrote:FFXIII is already two years overdue, at this point, what's another year? You lose anticipation for a series when it takes 3-4 years between releases.

Not me! I'm really excited for the game and if it ends up being released at the end of this year or beginning of next year I'll be happy

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » May 6, 2009, 11:26 am

More new info!

Game Informer wrote:For RPG fans no game is met with a higher level of anticipation—not to mention hype—than Final Fantasy XIII. And deservedly so: for over two decades, Final Fantasy has been the go-to series for defining and reimagining what role playing games should offer. It’s been three years since fans were presented with a new chapter to the franchise, and for better or worse Final Fantasy XII set the bar dizzyingly high by taking the series’ formula in completely new directions. For hardcore fans, that’s been three years of fantasizing, speculating, and obsessing over what the next chapter will bring—can Final Fantasy XIII possibly live up to those kinds of expectations? After playing through the short and undoubtedly outdated Japanese demo, we can say definitively that it’s way too early to tell—but the demo does offer plenty of insight into what’s already working well.

Although it won’t surprise anyone, we’re obligated to mention how impressive the game’s visuals are. While the HD graphics are stunning in their own right, it’s the ambitious art direction that takes the player’s experience to a whole new level: in the same way Bioshock stunned gamers with its unforgettable atmosphere, Final Fantasy XIII delivers a one of a kind vision straight from the minds of some of the most talented designers in the videogame industry. And whereas past titles in the series have always relied on pre-rendered CGI to convey the heart of the story, FFXIII’s creators finally have a generation of consoles and a game engine capable of achieving the same level of quality from real-time rendering, leading to nearly seamless transitions between cutscenes, gameplay, and battle sequences. It’s an excellent platform for Square Enix to weave its next insane storyline for the series, and we can’t wait to play through it properly.

As best as we can tell from our import copy of the demo, the storyline of Final Fantasy XIII won’t disappoint fans of the series. The demo begins by announcing that the end of the world has begun, and after some introductory cinematics that more than lived up to our expectations, we were tasked with fighting pockets of soldiers threatening innocent civilians. Eventually a few of the citizens take up arms and attempt to fight back to protect their home, calling on the others to fight with them. The action is split into two distinct halves, which each half featuring a different playable character and additional non-playable characters that accompany you. To be honest we’re not exactly sure what the hell was going on, but the story included plenty of trendy youths, effeminate men, and even a gun-toting hot mom (though don’t get too attached), so we’re confident in stating Final Fantasy XIII’s storyline will be sufficiently weird. At one point Snow, the second of the playable characters, hands over a loaded machine gun to a little girl. Smiling, the girl points the gun back at Snow and pretends to shoot, causing him to feign injury and then laugh—we’ll see how that scene goes over with American parents…

Aside from the superb visuals and surreal storyline that could only come out of Japan, the rest of the demo was pretty straightforward. The first playable character was a girl named Lightning, who fights with a pistol and oversized sword during combat, and appears to have special powers that weren’t explained. She was accompanied by a military man named Sazh, who wields dual pistols. Sazh’s only real standout characteristics were a whiny attitude and an oversized afro that had a chocobo living in it, but with a decent voice actor for the English dubbing, we’re guessing he won’t be as obnoxious as he was in this version. Judging from their interactions, Lightning is definitely the stronger of the two—as well as the more interesting character.

During the second half of the demo we played as the aforementioned Snow, who was accompanied by two friends, Lebreau and Gadot. In battle we could only control our character: our fellow party members were controlled by the game’s A.I. which did a good job of healing us when we were in trouble. Despite carrying a machine gun of his own, Snow’s main attacks were all hand-to-hand moves, and somehow did more damage than Lightning’s sword and gun combination. Snow’s one magic attack that we could use was—surprise!—a freeze attack, which caused frozen stalagmites to shoot out of the ground in a powerful radius attack. The spells were visually impressive, but short enough in length to keep combat moving at a swift pace.

The battles are handled in real-time: players have a bar in which they can queue up to three actions at a time, with more powerful attacks taking up more than one slot. This bar is accompanied by a time gauge, which once full, allows you to perform the queued tasks. The basic mechanics seemed pretty standard: there were three main options to choose from, two for offense and one for defense. Both attack options performed exactly the same moves, and seeing as how Square Enix has stated the demo was based on a previous build, we’re sure this is one of the aspects that will change. Choosing either of the attack options led to a submenu with four attacks—some attacks focused on specific enemies while others were radius attacks, and timing radius attacks when enemies were clustered together made them more effective. There was no limit to how many times we could use any given attack, something we’re guessing will also change. Another interesting aspect was that you weren’t required to queue up all three moves at a time, allowing you to throw a quick heal spell in between powerful attack combos. Adding quicker single attacks also seemed to be the key to continuing combos, as having to wait for the time gauge to completely fill promptly ended our attack chains.

At the end of every battle sequence we were given a rating from one to five stars, based on the length of each battle, hit combos, and breaks. We don’t want to try to infer too much about the battle system because a lot of it is bound to change, but we were pleased with how fast the combat felt, and how simple the menus were to navigate. There seems to be a solid foundation in the combat for a deeper level of strategy than the demo allowed, but what offered was already enough to get us psyched for what the final game will contain.

Given the short length of the demo and the fact that Square Enix has supposedly changed a myriad of things since its release, we’re cautious to try to intuit too much from our first taste of Final Fantasy XIII. There’s plenty of time for any bad aspects of the demo to be fixed, as well as for the good aspects to be made even better. And judging from the jovial atmosphere that was apparent in the office as various staff members played through the demo, Final Fantasy XIII is already doing more things right than it’s doing wrong, leading us to believe it’s on the right track. We’ll have more on this highly anticipated title as soon as possible—even if it means stumbling our way through another Japanese import.

Source

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » May 13, 2009, 6:00 am

The English voices are sounding good so far:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG_Z0rd7eK0

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » May 13, 2009, 12:36 pm

I'm looking forward to playing this, but I'm not super-duper excited like I am for something like Diablo 3 or SC2.

Kaldaur · Post by **Kaldaur** » May 13, 2009, 10:49 pm

That was hilarious. "X...i...i...i"

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » September 28, 2009, 11:26 pm

Here's a 7+ minute new video from TGS showing off FFXIII

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zfl36IiYkJo

It's long, they're talking in Japanese so don't think it will ruin much but it does show a lot, and even a little actual combat.

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » September 30, 2009, 10:48 am

Yeah I saw that the other day, pretty cool looking. I'm giddy for this game to come out.

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » September 30, 2009, 2:49 pm

That trailer needs a hell of a lot more gameplay footage and a shitload less emo japanese CGI.

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » September 30, 2009, 2:51 pm

Fairweather Pure wrote:That trailer needs a hell of a lot more gameplay footage and a shitload less emo japanese CGI.

I don't think it's too off base considering how CGI heavy FF games are

I honestly don't want too much detail given away about game mechanics, this is one of the few games that I know I'll like no matter what and would rather wait to really dig into it.

Kaldaur · Post by **Kaldaur** » September 30, 2009, 10:15 pm

Funkmasterr wrote:I honestly don't want too much detail given away about game mechanics, this is one of the few games that I know I'll like no matter what and would rather wait to really dig into it.

Leonaerd · Post by **Leonaerd** » October 1, 2009, 2:48 am

I caved.

[Show]: ff7 - best adventure, best memories (gelnika, midgar, ruby weapon, aqualung, final attack, movers [$10 in VVs if you know how much AP a battle against movers gives], chocobo racing / breeding, tauros, morph, condor battles, password on rocket for huge materia, "i'll be stand there", nibelheim, KotR, magic breath, master summon, 4x cut, ribbon, getting cloud into the hot tub with a bunch of dudes in midgar, seto's tears, midgar cannon)
ff8 - best battle system, best card game, best bosses (ultima weapon, speed bonus, strength bonus, island closest to heaven / hell, omega weapon, tonberry king)
ff9 - best lore, most difficult progression, best immersion, best gear system, best side quest in treasure hunting, option to play battles with two people IRL
ff10 - monster arena (they should re-release every final fantasy with one of these), blitzball (!), ultimate weapons (!!!!!)
ff12 - uhh bounty hunting? easily the worst FF but still really good, especially near the end when the real side quests open up.

best characters: Red, Reno, Auron, Freya, Quistis, Heideggar, Barret, Cait Sith, Rude, Tseng, Sephiroth

best songs: jenova's theme, ff7 boss battle, freya's theme (~splode), wutai theme, city of the ancients (gives me the chills just thinking about it), edea's theme, laguna's theme, opening music in FFVII when you first leave the train

Disappointments? Generally, as technology improved, the games became more linear.
FFX was so shockingly 3d and i did not feel like the move away from pre-rendered backgrounds was good for the immersion, and what the FUCK happened to the world map.
FFVII became easy after the 39th time through.
FFVIII had such an unwelcoming world map.
FFIX had four characters in the battle screen. whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. Also limit breaks became lame.

Kaldaur · Post by **Kaldaur** » October 1, 2009, 9:26 am

VII was good, but VI rules my heart forever and forever. Was the first game/story I got teary-eyed over. Poor Locke!

Dregor Thule · Post by **Dregor Thule** » October 8, 2009, 7:28 pm

FFXII "easily the worst"? Jesus, less drugs!

Psyloche · Post by **Psyloche** » October 12, 2009, 8:57 am

Dregor Thule wrote:FFXII "easily the worst"? Jesus, less drugs!

Is 12 the one where I programmed the characters to play themselves? I wrapped a sock around my dog's paw so she would push the directional pad to induce "random" encounters for leveling up. I was disgusted with having to play cabby in that game when I realized I could just script almost every encounter. I'm sure there were some kind of gimmicky fights where you had to wait to attack or use some special move instead of just regular attack/magic, but I really did not enjoy that installment of FF. At some point, I'll punch myself in the face, I mean go finish that game.

Since having bought that game and quitting it, I went back and played the games with Terra/Lock/Celes and Cecil/Kain. I thoroughly enjoyed playing those again. I was thinking of trying 7 or 10 again. I never did the super duper weapons of 10, but I'm not so sure I want to after reading some of the requirements.

I'm thinking of begging a friend to let me borrow their PS3 so I can play XIII, since convincing the wife that I "need" a blu-ray player (PS3) so we can watch our HD movies of our kid isn't working. Also, less outfit/dress swapping plz.

Leonaerd · Post by **Leonaerd** » October 13, 2009, 2:04 am

Dregor Thule wrote:FFXII "easily the worst"? Jesus, less drugs!

Speak for yourself, thanks. Easily the worst.

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » October 13, 2009, 12:17 pm

I'm sorry, FF8 was the worst. Because of the stupid ability to siphon special attacks out of the bosses, which I didn't think of doing until 1/2 the way through the game (I quit playing at this point). I am actually dubbing the FF8 effect, which is currently causing me to start over in Demon's Souls due to a similar gay mechanic that is equally as unexplained.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » October 13, 2009, 12:22 pm

Stupid board gave me error 500 on this hence the duplicate. See message under this one.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » October 13, 2009, 12:23 pm

I thought that X and X-2 were easily the worse of the Final Fantasy games. The only onces I never bothered completing.

XI doesn't count cause it's an MMO I didn't even bother trying.

Psyloche · Post by **Psyloche** » October 13, 2009, 2:04 pm

I didn't mind 8 that much, but it definitely wasn't one of my favorites. Not knowing you could siphon abilities from bosses isn't the games fault! Also, is this the one where you could go through the game and beat it at like level 10 or something stupid because mobs scaled with player level? Also, timing attacks with gun blade so you got crits was somewhat humorous to me.

What didn't you like about X, Animalor? I didn't mind that one so much, I think the card game and water polo soccer were obnoxious, so I basically ignored them except for where it was necessary. I definitely didn't like the main character until maybe the last 15-30min of the game, because I thought he was way too whiny.

X-2 I didn't like because I felt like it was Power Puff Girls Fantasy, but it didn't stop me from finishing it. That reward lands squarely on FF 12 for me.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » December 16, 2009, 10:45 pm

FFXIII out in Japan

can watch someone playing it here for a sample:

http://www.justin.tv/popos6

looks polished

Can usually find most games being played in Justin TV

WoW channel:

http://www.justin.tv/catreina

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » December 17, 2009, 2:34 am

Psyloche wrote:I didn't mind 8 that much, but it definitely wasn't one of my favorites. Not knowing you could siphon abilities from bosses isn't the games fault! Also, is this the one where you could go through the game and beat it at like level 10 or something stupid because mobs scaled with player level? Also, timing attacks with gun blade so you got crits was somewhat humorous to me.

What didn't you like about X, Animalor? I didn't mind that one so much, I think the card game and water polo soccer were obnoxious, so I basically ignored them except for where it was necessary. I definitely didn't like the main character until maybe the last 15-30min of the game, because I thought he was way too whiny.

X-2 I didn't like because I felt like it was Power Puff Girls Fantasy, but it didn't stop me from finishing it. That reward lands squarely on FF 12 for me.

I never connected with the characters in X. I thought most of them were whiny bitches and none of them were particularly compelling.

I thought the story was weak too. I actually got to the final boss fight and gave up after a few attempts when it was apparent that I would have to go do some leveling.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » December 17, 2009, 2:47 am

I never played a FF game so I don't get the whole Final Fantasy Fever that everyone else seems to have. Isn't it basically just another JRPG only with better graphics?

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » December 17, 2009, 3:18 pm

Aslanna wrote:I never played a FF game so I don't get the whole Final Fantasy Fever that everyone else seems to have. Isn't it basically just another JRPG only with better graphics?

Well they are highly polished games. Quality counts. The stories are usually good (depends on preference, I liked FFX)

They are hyped, but usually for good reason. I wish Kyoukan was still around with teh 2007 release date talk. This game lost a little polish with the 3 year delay but is still highly anticipated. Shame PS3 sucks so much to develop for.

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » December 17, 2009, 3:39 pm

Aslanna wrote:I never played a FF game so I don't get the whole Final Fantasy Fever that everyone else seems to have. Isn't it basically just another JRPG only with better graphics?

If you like JRPGS at all, I would suggest giving this a shot. As far as I'm concerned, since FF7 every JRPG made has just been trying to be as good as it was. The story is always very good, the gameplay is the best in it's genre, the graphics (particularly in the cut scenes) are generally some of/if not the best at the time, they are very long games with tons of optional side quests. Well worth the time, IMO. I just didn't like 8, or any of them after 9 so far.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » December 20, 2009, 12:45 am

Bummer

No Spoilers:

The whole game is completely linear until halfway through [approximately 20 hours].

There are hardly any towns.

The party is always fixed. The whole game just repeats the movie-battle sequence over and over [In fact the progression is closer to movie-run-battle-run-movie-boss-movie-run-battle…].

There are rather a lot of movies.

Moving around is like a long marathon.

The whole game system is just a clone of FF10.

You can’t flee battles [You can’t avoid most battles either as there is no sneaking past enemies, including weak ones].

Your party is completely healed after each battle.

If the main character in your party dies it is game over [There are only ever 3 characters in battle, often less, and often fixed].

The best tactic is almost always endlessly attacking. There is next to no strategy or skill involved.

The summons’ transformation scenes are a joke [i.e. Odin turning into a horse].

The story is rubbish… [Spoilers omitted, but complaints centre on Snow’s constant and cringe inducing insistence that he is a hero and will “protect” whatever it is the antagonists are menacing this time]

Shopping is only done at “online” shops on save points, with no proper shops to be found.

However, this doesn’t matter as you hardly ever get any money [and you can never buy anything more powerful than what you already looted].

There have been next to no changes from the demo.

The status screen displays no real information.

There are only 8 items usable in combat [For that matter, there are hardly any weapons or accessories, and the “crafting” system mostly consists of spending drops to upgrade their 2 stats].

There are no levels.

With all their advertising money, just how was it they failed even to get Famitsu to give full points?

Looks like Square Enix is done as a top notch company. The only positive I saw was the battle system is like FFX, I liked that game : ) Plus I like movies so it won't be a total loss,

Leonaerd · Post by **Leonaerd** » December 20, 2009, 2:31 am

Somewhere along the line (FF X-2) they lost sight of the fact that technological advances do not a great RPG make.

Kaldaur · Post by **Kaldaur** » December 23, 2009, 2:31 am

WTF? That sounds like utter rubbish.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » January 14, 2010, 1:25 am

The theme song video/trailer to Final Fantasy XIII:

http://kotaku.com/5446456/new-final-fan ... ice-acting

Song isn't very good. If you try to block out the song, you can almost see a storyline for the game although not really.

Square Enix has talent but it's been misguided.

The female character with the aussie accent looks the most interesting.