Final Fantasy XIII and versusXIII - new info

noodler

carbonkid wrote: »

The final fantasy vii compilation is a major marketing exercise.

What was that?

Or do you mean the spin-offs?

Aurongroove

I played FFX-2 and I was sorry I did (despite getting 100% and seeing the lovely ending, which I though was nice if not quite worth the misery) and decided not to bother with all the FF7 add-y-on-y stuff least it be so bad as to ruin the origonal experience (like X-2 did)

the only FF7 related thing I ever wanted to see anyways was a updated (and in some minor instances fixed) version for a modern console, and perhaps for those who've already played the game through, a challenging but non-pretentious-internet-loser difficult mode; not difficult as in the first Boss's tail lazer wipes 9999hp, 999mp and deal death, doom and confusion, but just something to make a re-player thread carfully.



so far the only spin off FF game I enjoyed and felt didn't compleatly ruin the origonal was FFXII Revenant Wings.

This time they're being clever; Releasing the games under the big "Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy XIII" make them feel less like a good movie with increasingly dodgy sequils.
and rather, more like a balanced overarcing project which produced more then one game.
I'm more excited about versus then the origonal tbh, but having seen them I cant wait to play, there are loads of things I love about the old FF's (random battles, turn based fighting, fantastic, rather then realistic visuals, Uematsu's music) but at the end of the day I don't really care so long as they deliver a game I like and that they don't throw away their magic (like suikoden did)

carbonkid

noodler wrote: »

What was that?

Or do you mean the spin-offs?

LOL...yea im talking about just the spin offs. Altogether theyre officially called the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII and read on that wiki page that there might be more to come till FFVII's 20th anniversary and then no more.

I loved FFVII, think its a game that means alot to many gamers and think this adding to it is running it a bit, leave it in the past.

Square are testing the waters to see how far a fan will go/blindly part with their cash...we end up with games like Dirge of Cerberus and psp and mobile versions because its cheaper to produce.

Everything from here on will be compilations and collector editions with cheap art books and postcards...meh >_<

Mr. K

http://kotaku.com/5454742/final-fantasy-xiiis-pal-collectors-edition-is-lovely

I imagine this will be the CE we get. It's nice!

GerB40

Whoa im gobsmacked after watchin them trailers. seems like they're using the best parts of FFVII and VIII (the two best) with bits of XII (serious letdown). I heard its HD only, what if i dont have a HD telly?? Will it be black an white??

Retr0gamer

Your TV will implode.

F1ngers

A preview of the Japanese version.

Aurongroove

It's seems as though they put the game on rails to prevent people wandering away and getting easy powering ups, I think every FF had at least one way of cheating or getting more power then what's fair, and making the game too easy for it.

I dont know weither I'm glad they put a stop to it, or weither I wish they let you wander a bit and break the game if you so choose like previous titles...

every FF I played I would play once through "straight" taking in the story and not hanging around trying to exploit the development system or level up too much and basically enjoy the natural difficultly of the game. Then the second play would be the minigame fest, with the extra bosses, best equipment and expoilting character development to turn players into gods etc.

FarOn

Love Final Fantasy back as far as Final Fantasy VII but the changes in the new FF seem to be for the worse, it just seems to be a case of style over substance, one of the truly great things about FF was the variety and discover new areas, finding new weaponary in unexpected places, now that villages are gone, it seems like this will be a straight forward adventure game with added FMV with no mini-games or rewards for exploration, im disappointed, ill still get it- but i am disappointed, have been seen the translation of the Famitsu review was posted a while back.

D.

Retr0gamer

I can't see why people are kicking up a fuss that FFXIII is going to be linear. FFX was linear and was one of the best JRPGs ever made. Also the FF games other than the second half of FFVI have been totally linear with only the illusion of non-linearity given by the world map and side quests.

I get the feeling that FFXIII is going to get hard done by by the gaming press. They will mark it down because of linearity and complain that it's not like mass effect or dragon age. They'll completely miss the point that the game isn't that type of game at all but a JRPG thats just been streamlined with the world map wandering about removed to facilitate this.

carbonkid

I fully agree with FFX been FF's finest work...mostly for the battle system and the temple puzzles that weren't interrupted with random battles.

However for adventuring around i did prefer the non-linear style of XII. I was hoping XIII would have a mix of both.

Whatever the case i guess the most important part to a FF game is the story and attachment it gives to the playable characters...fingers crossed this and the battle system will be XIII's strong point!

Really don't like the idea of no towns or villages...loved pottering about talking to people and shopping for new gear and spells ^_^

noodler

PSM3 gave XIII 70%.

Thats lower than FFX-2 for example which I believe they gave 78%.

"From the lines on their lips to the soles of their shoes, the detail in the character models is unreal," says PSM3, adding: "The battle system, though repetitive, is fun."

But: "Final Fantasy XIII's grand ambition is also its downfall. The game feels bloated and repetitive - too much movie, not enough game," estimating "over 25 hours of movies" and calling the game "linear".

Retr0gamer

I'm still holding out hope for it that it will be harshly reviewed by people expecting FFXIII to be more like a WRPG since they've become so popular on consoles now. I'll wait and see what jeremy parish thinks on 1up. Still those 25 hours of movie can't be as horrible as the crap in MGS4.

noodler

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I'm still holding out hope for it that it will be harshly reviewed by people expecting FFXIII to be more like a WRPG since they've become so popular on consoles now.

Wishful thinking I reckon, perhaps it is just crap regardless.

I find it hard to believe anyone expects a WRPG from it.

Retr0gamer

Well I think with FFXII being more non linear and the WRPG-esque battle system people were expecting it to stay that way. I'm saying this because the main complaint seems to be that the game is so linear but that never stopped FFX being amazing.

I also don't want to lose all faith in Square Enix. Atlus make amazing RPG's but don't have the production values you expect from SE.

noodler

Very disappointed with the reviews either way.

Was going to be the first game I have bought on release day in a long while - might hold off now.

Retr0gamer

It's going to get absolutely murdered by the 'up their own arse' press, mark my words. Edge, Games TM and Eurogamer are going to completely miss the point.

GothPunk

noodler wrote: »

But: "Final Fantasy XIII's grand ambition is also its downfall. The game feels bloated and repetitive - too much movie, not enough game," estimating "over 25 hours of movies" and calling the game "linear".

Factual inaccuracy in reviews bothers me, whether this is supposed to be hyperbole I'm not sure but there's about 10 hours of movies in there, over a game that'll take between 40 and 60 hours to complete, not including missions. The cutscenes can be frequent but are usually quite short. I've gathered this from people on NeoGAF who have played the game a lot and provided such information.

Markom5a

Hey guys no offense but I thought the first one was the best and after that it was all downhill!

Retr0gamer

GothPunk wrote: »

Factual inaccuracy in reviews bothers me, whether this is supposed to be hyperbole I'm not sure but there's about 10 hours of movies in there, over a game that'll take between 40 and 60 hours to complete, not including missions. The cutscenes can be frequent but are usually quite short. I've gathered this from people on NeoGAF who have played the game a lot and provided such information.

What's the word for Gaf about how good or bad it is?

Mr. K

I suspect that most of us are going to play and enjoy it regardless of reviews, just because it's a main (numbered) Final Fantasy game. It'll tick the right boxes, who cares what the reviews say. Edge gave XII a great review anyway, IIRC?

Retr0gamer

Yes they did.

GothPunk

Retr0gamer wrote: »

What's the word for Gaf about how good or bad it is?

I'm not sure if you know Gaf that well but a lot of them liked FFXII so I'm not sure how you'd trust their opinions but they said that once the game gets going the battle system is great, the leveling up system can be a bit too restrictive depending on your play style (as someone who doesn't like grinding I think you could be the type of person who likes it), they all love the soundtrack, and Snow seems to be the most hated character with Sazh the favourite. Part of that seems to be the maturity Sazh brings to the story or something. I haven't been reading the threads in a while as I didn't want to completely spoil the game for myself, but I do know that reaction to the story was mixed. I don't think I need to explain whether or not they liked the visuals. :pac:

Needless to say I already have the game pre-ordered, the 10% discount day on thehut.com helped.

johnny_ultimate

I'm curious about FFXIII. I liked FF12 for the first few hours, and then realised I hated the battle system. I'd also agree that linearity isn't necessarily a bad thing. Total freedom can be overwhelming, giving the sense of random subquests rather than a more coherent overall story. I'd rather a few subquests in the same area than ones scattered all over a gigantic world map. A world map works well in a lot of games (Dragon Quest, for example) but being led through a relatively linear story hardly harmed Persona 3/4. That said, complete absence of a world map can feel a bit disappointing. I really liked Eternal Sonata, but not being able to return to previous locations meant that it was hard to get all items on a first playthrough.

I think the main reason putting me off FFXIII is the arrival of Yakusa 3 (might even be the same day). Never played Yakusa game before, but the demo was gloriously Japanese (hope they've added a skip cutscenes button though). FFXIII just doesn't jump out the same way the franchise would've ten years ago.

Retr0gamer

Yakuza 1 was excellent. They were saying on the ATB podcast that it's actually an RPG and now that I think about it it really is one

It's strange that the game is getting shot down due to being too linear but when FFX was out reviews were praising it for streamlining the experience.

johnny_ultimate

Final Fantasy XIII - March 9th
Yakusa 3 - March 12th
God of War III - March 19th

The people who decide release dates make me angry.

Retr0gamer

And before that there's the biggie, Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey

carbonkid

noodler wrote: »

But: "Final Fantasy XIII's grand ambition is also its downfall. The game feels bloated and repetitive - too much movie, not enough game," estimating "over 25 hours of movies" and calling the game "linear".

25hrs of movie?!!...how many hrs did FFX have? Im assuming this is also including the low rendered video.

noodler

carbonkid wrote: »

25hrs of movie?!!...how many hrs did FFX have? Im assuming this is also including the low rendered video.

Yeah, I'd say it is anything where you aren't actually playing. So not just FMV as such.

GM gave it 81% I believe.

Vokes

Despite the various lukewarm reviews of XIII, these 2 articles (if accurate) make me very intrigued.

http://www.destructoid.com/ten-things-i-loved-about-final-fantasy-xiii-162457.phtml

http://www.destructoid.com/ten-things-i-didn-t-love-about-final-fantasy-xiii-162684.phtml

I might just pre-order this.