Final Fantasy 13, why don't we have a topic for this yet? Options

[Crushinator]

[HC82]

Final Fantasy sure has come a long way.

The combat system looks interesting, too.

[AC9breaker]

They seem to like to name their characters after weather terms. Lightning and Snow, might as well throw Cloud in there. I actually laughed at the part when Lightning said I changed my name to be more like an adult when our parents died. Anyway, game looks tight and it seems like the Devs where watching A lot of Karas when they came up with some of those summons.

[Scan_Man]

Well they did design Lightning as a "what if Cloud was female." There are other things that have a FF7 counterpart too; even similar plot points, that the trailer/s semi-spoils. A great example is the opening sequence for FF13 compared to FF7's opening sequence.

The battle system reminds me of Xenogears/saga though. Not a bad thing. But I am not a big fan of this current "massive damage" trend in RPGs/MMOs, where you do attacks and the screen is spammed with multiple big hits of over 9000 damage. It seems more like a marketing decision than a gameplay one. Like they did research and came to the conclusion that "Players like to feel somewhat powerful from the start, in a RPG they want to see big damage numbers." Not that it matters much either way, but I remember when doing damage in the thousands meant hours spent leveling up, maxing out skills, and getting the best equipment.

But yeah, I'm liking the cast. Just from looking at trailers it seems there have been major improvements in character development. I'm very impressed. I can't wait, my PS3 is just sitting there.

[HC82]

Well they did design Lightning as a "what if Cloud was female." There are other things that have a FF7 counterpart too; even similar plot points, that the trailer/s semi-spoils. A great example is the opening sequence for FF13 compared to FF7's opening sequence.

The battle system reminds me of Xenogears/saga though. Not a bad thing. But I am not a big fan of this current "massive damage" trend in RPGs/MMOs, where you do attacks and the screen is spammed with multiple big hits of over 9000 damage. It seems more like a marketing decision than a gameplay one. Like they did research and came to the conclusion that "Players like to feel somewhat powerful from the start, in a RPG they want to see big damage numbers." Not that it matters much either way, but I remember when doing damage in the thousands meant hours spent leveling up, maxing out skills, and getting the best equipment.

But yeah, I'm liking the cast. Just from looking at trailers it seems there have been major improvements in character development. I'm very impressed. I can't wait, my PS3 is just sitting there.

Yeah, I do believe that the whole "massive damage spam" multi-hit combo thing is a marketing decision, as well as a gameplay-gratification aspect as well. Seeing a move hit 15 times for 9000 damage feels better than a 2 hit move for 90 points of damage. Even if one enemies has 2.5 million hp, versus the other enemy having 2500 hp, the 90 dmg hp move is comparably better (10 times better to be exact) but not as cool looking.

Isn't this coming out for the xbox too?

[Crushinator]

Yeah, its coming out for Xbox 360 and PS3 on the same day in North America (some time next year), but for japan the PS3 version releases first on Dec. 17th.

[Crushinator]

Video Games | Final Fantasy XIII | TGS 09: Official US Trailer HD

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

In english, for reals. No weeaboo moonspeak.

[Crushinator]

Video Games | Final Fantasy XIII | Dynasty Doc HD

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

N.A. release date confirmed: 3-10-2010

Also is anyone else getting a cheesy infomercial vibe from the presenter on this vid? I feel like he should be selling me a real estate flipping program, or a Phillips CD-i, not Final Fantasy.

[HC82]

With each passing FF, the damage numbers get even bigger. Soon we'll have disgaea-eque 30 million damage attacks.

I'm looking forward to the whole "HD" experience thing on my flat screen and as for the presenter, it was supposed to be more like a formal presentation of FF 13. It's kinda odd, but also not too far off either if this was meant to be something on a collectors disc from a different square game. I thought the guy should of wore a tie though, the formal-casual look made it seem just like an info-mercial. It's a celebration because its fucking FF13, pop out the tux!

Overall, the game looks solid.

[Crushinator]

Yeah, I'm genuinely excited for FF13's release. I've had an itch to get sucked into a JRPG, but nothing thats out has really done it for me, but this game looks great and will fit the bill nicely

[Crushinator]

That battle/action montage at the end looks awesome What the hell is that pigtailed girls summon with the gatling guns supposed to be? Gilgamesh?

[Crushinator]

Voice acting sounds great.

[DarkEpyon]

FFXIII in a nutshell, courtesy of 2chan.

[Scan_Man]

It's sad. That video does pretty much sum up the game. I watched someone play through the whole game, plus all the side quests, on a stream. A lot of FF fans are going to be pissed I'm afraid. I'm still going to play it, and give a final judgment of it. The game is more linear than FF10, which I did not think was possible. It is a bit misleading because you don't get the full party until the end of the game. The game is broken up into chapters with each centering around two of the characters pairing up. Most of these center around Mike "Sazh" Epps and Vanille. I'll let you be the judge if you will like playing as those two for a good portion of the game.

Either way I am still excited to play it.

[AC9breaker]

I don't know, I thought all JRPG's where all ready like that. I just hope they don't have stupid trophies dealing with item collecting with items being in places you can't backtrack.

[Crushinator]

I read an interesting article on Gamasutra about this exact topic. I thought it had a good take on it.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/26643/A...antasy_XIII.php

Basically the author sees FF13 as a pure distillation of what is always great and memorable about FF games (and perhaps JRPGs in general), Characters, Battles, and drama scenes. Rather than "pad out" the game with a lot of bullshit, wandering aimlessly through an overworld or in towns, or fighting in mind numbing random battles, they eliminate those elements completely. I think its a novel approach, and I'm eager to see how it actually feels when you're playing it.

I love the idea of the dialogues actually happening while you're moving to the next area/battle, and how the focus on less battles makes even the "basic" fights more intense and meaningful.

Still genuinely anticipating this game, maybe even moreso now!

[Scan_Man]

I don't disagree with that article. I'm just spoiled by Western RPGs. The battles are amazing in FFXIII, and so are the character designs. You can have a great RPG that is linear if the story and characters are engrossing; for example Xenosaga Episode 3. I admit I have lowered my expectations a bit, but I still expect an amazing experience.

This post has been edited by Scan_Man: Jan 15 2010, 05:12 PM

[Crushinator]

I don't know, I thought all JRPG's where all ready like that. I just hope they don't have stupid trophies dealing with item collecting with items being in places you can't backtrack.

http://www.destructoid.com/get-your-final-...re-157963.phtml

Bronze

Assault Ruby – Master the Attacker Role
Destruction Sapphire – Master the Blaster Role
Guardian Topaz – Master the Defender Role
Hex Jade – Master the Jammer Role
Inspiration Amethyst – Master the Enhancer Role
Healing Emerald – Master the Healer Role

Silver

Limit Breaker – Deal over 100,000 damage to an enemy
Behemoth Hunter – Slay a wandering behemoth
Perfect Diamond – Learn all abilities to the fullest

Gold

Collector of All Things – Collect all weapons and accessories
The All Knowing Sage – Gain the complete knowledge of 100 different enemies
There are also 16 other Bronze Trophies which seem to be related to the story.

Looks like you're out of luck. Better buy that strategy guide from Gamestop!

[Crushinator]

Breakdown of some of the combat in the game. Seems interesting.

[AC9breaker]

Holy crap that shit is insane. It's like they looked to EVE for inspiration for their combat system. So many numbers.

[Crushinator]

So... its out tomorrow! Who is still on the hype train?

[Vitamin D]

Yezzir! I'm actually really excited as I already know what to expect, and I love what I see. Also after playing White Knight Chronicles, I think I need something more substantial haha. Perfect afro GET.

[AC9breaker]

Same, I'm pretty excited. probably wont be getting it till the weekend or next week. Just realized got some bills coming up that I wanna squash.

[HC82]

I'll be picking this up today, but I won't be playing it in till the end of the month, since I'll be away for vacation.

[Crushinator]

I just picked it up too, and I have all day tomorrow off to binge on it, hahaha.

[Riel]

Hey guys,what up ;P....just chiming in saying that I got the game on the PS3.Loving it after about 8 hours now,just got to the part where you can start upgrading your weapons and stuff...awesome graphics,slow start but now the combat system is pretty good,you can do more then just bash the auto battle now.Sazh is awesome,Lightning is a bitch so far,but I like her hehe...the story is ok so far,after the initial ``we are Hero`` stuff from Snow,and the occasional overly cheerful,high pitched antics of Vanille,the cast is great...there sure is a lot of OOH,AHH,umm ,err,grunts in this game though hehe...