Final Fantasy XIII and versusXIII - new info

GothPunk

I figured it was time we had a dedicated Final Fantasy XIII thread with there being more info due between now and March (Jump Festa coming up and the FFXIII demo in March the two biggies).

Today, some new trailers were made available from the 'RE: Final Fantasy XIII' DVD by Famitsu magazine. Linky.

I think these trailers give a nice feel for the art direction, which I think is impressive. The music is pure awesome, especially for versusXIII.

ec18

balls i'm going to have to buy a ps3 now

ghouldaddy07

Really like the modern style of versus 13, reminds me of FF7.
13 itself looks impressive but the direction their taking reminds me of 12.

Retr0gamer

Very impressed with the art style of FFXIII, looks quite like the art for FFX, I hope whats left of the FFX team are working on it. Love the music in both trailers. However FF versus XIII looks like typical moody over the top Nomura bull****.

GothPunk

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Very impressed with the art style of FFXIII, looks quite like the art for FFX, I hope whats left of the FFX team are working on it.

Kitase has said the battle systems takes the best of FFX and XII and 'evolves' them. So I'm thinking that means it's going to have a jazzed up version of the superior FFX battle system and you can see enemies in the field like in FFXII.

I just can't get over the fact that the moon has water on it that drips down onto the planet below. I've never seen a concept like that. XIII really does have a very interesting and impressive art style.

Retr0gamer wrote: »

However FF versus XIII looks like typical moody over the top Nomura bull****.

Yeah I know, I can't wait!

tread_softly

Retr0gamer wrote: »

However FF versus XIII looks like typical moody over the top Nomura bull****.

well if you don't like the look of it, you won't be missing out on much.
The only thing XIII and Versus XIII have in common is the world in which they're based

GothPunk

For some reason I can't edit the OP (wasn't that always possible on Boards?) so I guess I'll post new info here.

Shonen Jump have a couple of new shots of FFXIII in game, battle screen, from early in the game (i.e. the part that's in the demo). Looks so awesome. Apparently the battle system is like FFX/FF12, except each turn you get to chain together commands using command points (like Valkyria Chronicles for example). So I'm imaging it's like ATB, except instead of just choosing 'Attack' or 'Magic -> Firaga', you'd select 'Attack -> Fire+Slash+Sweeping Kick' and spend command points on these moves - larger special moves might cost more command points from what I can tell in the scans. Maybe you can save up command points during each turn too, I dunno. So I imagine in practice it'd look a little like Tifa's limit break, except faster paced with different combos giving different results. Certain combos give a bonus like in Valkyrie Profile - you can make this out in the middle pic of the scan.

The style of the world to me seems more like FFVI,FFVII with a little FFVIII and FFX thrown in. I approve of this.

Sephiroth_dude

Id say this wont be out this year will it?

Retr0gamer

Battle system does indeed sound interesting. Sounds a bit like a Valkyrie Profile or Tri Ace battle system married to Phantasy Star IV's excellent Macros system.

As for when to expect it, well it's anyones guess. My guess Summer in Japan at the earliest with an american release just before christmas. More than likely it will be a late 2009 release in japan. Then there's the 6-9 month delay before the american version and the 9-12 month delay for the european version.

Kiith

Why it takes them so long to do a terrible translation, i dont know.

AlmightyCushion

Why can't they release the american and irish/uk one at the same time? There's nothing else that would need to be done to it for ireland/uk.

Vokes

they need to change all the Z's to S's and such

Fringe

Aren't Square trying to do more simulataneous releases now? They started with The Last Remnant. I'm hoping they do it for FF13 too.

Retr0gamer

Fringe wrote: »

Aren't Square trying to do more simulataneous releases now? They started with The Last Remnant. I'm hoping they do it for FF13 too.

I'll believe it when I see it.

seraphimvc

nothing really interesting there ,just some add on of the early relesased videos but i guess thats the most looking-forward RPG of this new gen so far.(damn Lost odysey why dont ya use a better 3D character designer) the robot gundam+starwars feeling of this XIII didnt float my boat at all which is odd because i have always loved airship.

same old pretty face boys/girls design that i am not longer fancy/maybe thats too much from Square after all these years:( but thats the selling point for most potential buyer i guess .

same FF12 battle system??now i am disgusted .Have got this feeling again this is another pretty looking apple empty inside.

The versus XIII is clearly using FF7/Cloud as basic model......modern city/car etc...zzzz i am really sick of that sort of thing now,was hoping it is something different since the first sword fight scene - is the rich/clean/imba Cloud version?

SmileyPaul

seraphimvc wrote: »

nothing really interesting there ,just some add on of the early relesased videos but i guess thats the most looking-forward RPG of this new gen so far.(damn Lost odysey why dont ya use a better 3D character designer) the robot gundam+starwars feeling of this XIII didnt float my boat at all which is odd because i have always loved airship.

same old pretty face boys/girls design that i am not longer fancy/maybe thats too much from Square after all these years:( but thats the selling point for most potential buyer i guess .

same FF12 battle system??now i am disgusted .Have got this feeling again this is another pretty looking apple empty inside.

The versus XIII is clearly using FF7/Cloud as basic model......modern city/car etc...zzzz i am really sick of that sort of thing now,was hoping it is something different since the first sword fight scene - is the rich/clean/imba Cloud version?

while I too have waited for XII as long as anyone else..... I have a strange feeling that seraph has hit the nail on the head... I really hope he is wrong but i dont think he will be, and I've gotta say I truly despised the battle system in XII..... give me back proper turn taking battles any day.... Im not sure which one I'd be more inclined to buy... XIII or versus?
XIII has the same feel to it as XII which isn't too good in my books.... and versus at the moment looks too bland for me to bother
believe this is truly upsetting and like before i hope that all this will end up being one of the posts you look back on and say.... "wow how wrong was I?! hahaha" fingers crossed

seraphimvc

lol of course i hope i am wrong - who would say no to a good game especially a good RPG nowadays

GothPunk

seraphimvc wrote: »

same FF12 battle system??now i am disgusted .Have got this feeling again this is another pretty looking apple empty inside.

Dude, did you even read what I posted about the battle system? It's nothing like FFXII, apart from the fact that XII and XIII both don't have random battles. Here's a link to a blog that explains the battle system more clearly than I tried to. It also includes higher resoluton scans of gameplay.

Unless someone is going to start hating on the awesomeness that is FFX's battle system, I don't really see where the FFXII comparisons are coming from. XIII takes most of it's inspiration from FFX and the fast pace of Advent Children's fight scenes by the look of things.

SmileyPaul, seeing as from the screenshots you can see an ATB bar, XIII most likely uses a fast paced turn based battle system kind of like ATB. This is probably what Kitase means when he refers to it as an 'evolved' version of FFX's battle system.

Anyway, in other news, the official websites are now up!

Final Fantasy XIII
Final Fantasy VersusXIII

Kiith

Ah i'll wait till we get some proper info about the plot/gameplay. Getting hyped up for a Final Fantasy game can leave a bitter taste in ones mouth...which can last a long time.

GothPunk wrote: »

...and the fast pace of Advent Children's fight scenes by the look of things.

This isnt a good thing.

seraphimvc

GothPunk wrote: »

Dude, did you even read what I posted about the battle system? It's nothing like FFXII, apart from the fact that XII and XIII both don't have random battles. Here's a link to a blog that explains the battle system more clearly than I tried to. It also includes higher resoluton scans of gameplay.

Unless someone is going to start hating on the awesomeness that is FFX's battle system, I don't really see where the FFXII comparisons are coming from. XIII takes most of it's inspiration from FFX and the fast pace of Advent Children's fight scenes by the look of things.

SmileyPaul, seeing as from the screenshots you can see an ATB bar, XIII most likely uses a fast paced turn based battle system kind of like ATB. This is probably what Kitase means when he refers to it as an 'evolved' version of FFX's battle system.

Anyway, in other news, the official websites are now up!

Final Fantasy XIII
Final Fantasy VersusXIII

not really tbh - atm since no one will get exactly what they are selling this time unless you have tried a demo.

from the look of it and this sorta info 'If there are other members in the party, they will help you out with moves such as follow-up attacks on enemies' ,i bet it doesnt smell like the good old ATB system :pac: and in fact FFXbattle system is basically the same thing from the previous ones,just a few small changes if you might add - while FFXII is something like MMORPG battle field style,the info 'there will be no battle screen transition.' confirms this.

Meaning that the battle system could only be alike FFXII/FFCC ,logical guess?Using the ATB term could be just a pretty name they want to use since they know many players dislike FFXII battle system lol

well,just a guess,even if it is alike FFXII i dont mind too - only they improve it and make me comfortable

nice theme song by the way of the official site,the art works are still as beautiful as always:p

Machismo Fan

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/943/943940p1.html?RSSwhen2009-01-12_084800&RSSid=943940

Final Fantasy XIII Battle System Detailed
Famitsu.com shows off some real gameplay shots.
by John Tanaka

January 12, 2009 - Following the opening of the Final Fantasy XIII official site on Friday, Famitsu.com has posted a huge update on the game. Most of the information was shared in the site's print version a couple of weeks back, but the online posting at last allows everyone to see the screens for themselves.

You can see the screenshots by browsing over to the original Famitsu.com article. Here's a screen-by-screen analysis, from top to bottom.

First screenshot
That hood may deceive at first, but the green eyes should leave no question: that's pigtail girl! Her full name is actually Oerba Dia Vanille. It was revealed a while back that she's a resident of the Pulse underworld. She was banished there by the religious government that governs the overworld of Cocoon. The governing body banishes anyone it believes to have been influenced by Pulse to the world below, although it seems that with Vanille at least, the reason for her suspicion was never shared.

Second screenshot
This shot shows Lightening in a train -- presumably that same train that she's been infiltrating since the first FFXIII trailer from years ago. Lightning, while once a soldier of the Cocoon government, now fights against the government. She's infiltrated the train in order to free people who are being banished to Pulse. She's not alone, as Famitsu.com says that she's being accompanied by a male character (this may or may not be in reference to Snow, aka bandana guy).

Third screenshot
There isn't really any solid information provided by the Famitsu.com text for this shot, so you can guess for yourself what it is that Lightning is investigating. The the male character in this screenshot is another unidentified character.

Fourth screenshot
That menacing-looking character is an officer in the Cocoon army. As you might expect, officers like this guy have far greater power than regular soldiers. The Famitsu.com text also notes that the Cocoon army has, in addition to standard soldiers, powerful weapons and monsters under its command.

Fifth screenshot
This shot is from prior to battle. In FFXIII, you can see your enemy in advance, and can evade them if you don't want to fight. The transition to battle is said to be seamless.

Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth screenshots
These shots are all from the heart of battle. The FFXIII battle system is command based. You select commands from a command palette, adding the commands to a stock. The moves in the stock are executed all at once. The resulting actions differ based off the selected commands and their ordering.

The commands you can select are your typical Final Fantasy commands for attacks and magic. Also shown in the screenshots is a "launch" command, which sends the enemy flying into the air and allows Lightning to show off her acrobatics. The Famitsu.com text does not specify if there are any limitations on the ordering for your commands, although it seems like placing two launch commands in succession would be a bit silly.

Each command has an associated cost. In the screenshots, the commands for attack, fire, launch, and cure all have a cost of 1. The Firaga spell, however, has a cost of 3. Lightning can perform a total cost of 3, meaning you can have three of the cost 1 moves or just one Firaga. It's unclear if Lightning is permanently limited to a cost of three, or if she'll be able to expand as her character develops.

There are still plenty of mysteries with the Final Fantasy XIII battle system -- notably the mysterious gauge and "bonus" reading in the upper-right side of the battle shots. These will presumably be detailed in a future update.

With the Final Fantasy XIII demo due to hit Japan in March through the Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete release, solid gameplay and story details are at long last starting to emerge on the game. It's likely that the information will continue to flow in over the next couple of months, so Final Fantasy fanatics should definitely check back periodically.

F1ngers

ec18 wrote: »

balls i'm going to have to buy a ps3 now

Or you could buy the game on the 360.:rolleyes:

Not a PS3 exclusive anymore.. http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3168704

ec18

is versus XIII coming out on 360 as well?

seraphimvc

i think is just the normal version

YoungPayters

Isn't it FFXIII on PS3 and Versus is on the Sexbox and the PS3? I'm not really sure but it will be a long time before I get it (unless I get my Japanese - English dictionary out )

I wish they went like ICO and just left the Japanese and just threw some English subtitles and that as an option or something (they should really get a better localisation team in Square, get the ball rolling alot quicker, lazy bitches)

Retr0gamer

YoungPayters wrote: »

I wish they went like ICO and just left the Japanese and just threw some English subtitles and that as an option or something (they should really get a better localisation team in Square, get the ball rolling alot quicker, lazy bitches)

Ico wasn't in Japanese, it was it's own language made especially for Ico and Shadow of the Colossus.

YoungPayters

Didnt know that, just assumed it was cause I didnt understand it, ha!

Vokes

Tis confirmed now this won't be hitting Japan till late '09, which means a EU date of mid 2010 at the earliest I reckon.

It's FFXII's release all over again...

Retr0gamer

Vokes wrote: »

Tis confirmed now this won't be hitting Japan till late '09, which means a EU date of mid 2010 at the earliest I reckon.

It's FFXII's release all over again...

It's confirmed that it won't be getting an american or european releas until 2010. Hopefully there will be an asian version with english subtitles at least that we can import.

eVeNtInE

This post has been deleted.

Headshot

i really hope they do some justice to Final Fantasy XIII and versusXIII

I was really disappointed with ff12 and that some of the crap before that

If the real time battling is done like rogue galaxy id be happy but i taught ff12 battling system was crap

im not a fan of the real battling system but i can understand ff has to evolve but i still rather the old way

i just hope theres some interesting characters this time