[Multiplatform] Official Final Fantasy XIII Thread

Originally Posted by Dark Nation

Having that said, I think the decent success of Mistwalker's RPGs might have had an influence on the decision to make it Multi-console.

I think this is key right here. They saw the better than expected sales, especially for Lost Odyssey (if I'm reading the right lists), and thought "Aha! There IS a market for RPGs on 360!"

Mistwalker took the plunge for the entire industry, and showed that it is possible to do well on the 360 with an old-fashioned JRPG.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Cetra

That pretty much puts the game in the realm of being very linear

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but well Final Fantasy has never been much of an open ended game to begin with.

Wait, what? Didn't you answer your own rant there?

On another note, do you really think they'd even be putting the game on multiple discs after developing it for PS3 for so long that it wasn't already linear as hell to begin with? Again, you raised that point yourself, but whining about the multidisc prospect is silly.

Espeically after MGS4 proved that just because it's all on one Bluray disc, that doesn't prevent the game from being ridiculously fragmented. How'd you like it if you got a free open world with a 10 minute install between continents?

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Cetra

I don't give a shit about installs and I actually prefer them as they improve performance.

You clearly have not played MGS4, because you don't get what I'm referring to. MGS4 only lets you install one chapter at once, with a massive install, and STILL has terrible load times. I'm not saying it's guaranteed FFXIII will have that issue, but when you argue that blu-ray automatically ensures that there's no ridiculous fragmentation, I can point to MGS4 and say otherwise. There's no difference between it and a multi-disc game with the exception that MGS4 doesn't even make you leave your chair. How convenient!

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As for the linear issue. Yes they are linear, however FFX started to break that mold by allowing you to travel to all places before and give you some side quests to do.

So did Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey, which were 3 and 4 discs respectively. Your point?

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Cetra

I hate the use of other games, I really do so much because they prove nothing. MGS4 isn't FFXIII. They aren't even in the same genre and have completely different asset flow to deal with in each. MGS4s solution does not apply to FFXIII so don't even bother.

And yes I own the game. There are no massive load times either so I'm wondering if you have actually played the game or not.

My friend's PS3 must be a total shitbox, then, because it was taking FOREVER each time.

Additional Spam:

Originally Posted by Cetra

Same deal. Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey were designed with a multi-disc plan from the start. The games could have developed into something totally different if they didn't have to take it in to consideration. We don't know. But what we do know is multi-disc game design has different requirements than a single disc. This is going to have a significant effect on the final product. There are things you simply cannot do when dealing with multiple discs or you have to pick and choose from a list of planned features rather than get the full featured suite into a single disc solution.

Excuse me, but since when did multiple discs completely exclude the ability to have an open-world JRPG (as much of an oxymoron as that is)? This is Square. Fucking. Enix. that we're talking about here. They make it a habit of pushing whatever system they're on to the absolute limit. What makes you think they'd be unable to find some clever solution to avoid the data redundancy that's really the biggest problem with multiple discs?

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Well, you know, I've never minded a linear RPG if the story is well worth it.

Wait.

We're talking about the series that brought us two characters forcing themselves to laugh, and that was only BARELY the worst scene in the game.

We're doomed.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Arkum

now they are trying to dominate the video rental business by getting deals with netflix playing movies straight to the xbox!!!

I have been able to stream movies to my TV for 15 years, it's called pay-per-view

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I knew Microsoft was going to pull something like this. At first I thought metal gear solid 4, but realized they had a contract with sony. So whats the ps3's other exclusive title?

"oh, lets take that then", Final Fantasy 13

You do realize Microsoft didn't buy Square-Enix, right? S-E came to an agreement with Microsoft. Sure, knowing them it's entirely likely it included a giant box of cash, but if S-E was as loyal to Sony as fanboys assumed they were, they could've easily said no! It's not like S-E hasn't been publishing games on every console made in the past 10 years or so anyway.

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In the early 90's they sided with the wining team, and now again in 2008. This goes to show you what business', and deeper down, PEOPLE in general care about.

Yes. Most people will release their game in a manner that provides them the most possible profit. Square Enix does not exist to enrich the world with art, they exist to make money. Period.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by espressivo

the only reason why i'm bothered by this is that the 360 version has to be finished before they can release the ps3 one. they've been working on the ps3 version for about 2 years now, and I'm guessing the xbox version has been in development for about 4-6months. I don't know how long it takes to port the code and what not, but ps3 owners are going to have to wait longer than if it was exclusive to the ps3.

i wonder if sony or square enix ever said it was only possible on ps3. heh heh

Have you been reading the articles about this, or just the headlines?

They're releasing it in Japan first. Since the game would take months to localize ANYWAY, they're going to port it to the 360 at the same time. The PS3 version is not getting any more delayed than it already would have, so please stop whining.

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I can't understand why it isn't common knowledge yet that anything coming out on the 15th of the month is probably a placeholder date. Most store's computer systems are rigid enough that they have to put SOMETHING in there, and the fact that those dates have proven to be wrong so many times makes it baffling that people still listen to them.

Additional Spam:

Originally Posted by Best Buy Review

This is Final Fantasy versus XIII which means the main character is a guy. The game uses the White Engine which is supposed to use six out of eight of the cell processors in the PS3. Square-Enix always uses high quality sound which means it will more than likely have 7.1 Dolby Digital as an option. This is not a classic RPG style game. This one will play more like Kingdom Hearts if you want a decent reference. Nothing is really known about the story yet. This is one of two Final Fantasy XIII games coming out for the PS3. I am looking forward to this game's release.

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What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by OutRunner

You must be are sick if you like Underneath the Rotting Pizza that much, lurks.

Skills if you're going to poke fun at someone for English difficulties you just might want to make sure you don't have any yourself.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I'm liking the game so far. Just hit Chapter 5 (which is the start of Disc 2, incidentally) and I'm impressed with the battle system. The fact that the game regularly encourages you to switch paradigms to beat particular fights keeps you from just mindlessly "pressing A to win", as does the little rating you get at the end of the fights.

The linearity doesn't inherently bother me either, although I do admit given the choice I'd want it to be slightly less obvious about its linearity. The characters (with the exception of Vanille, who I want to punch in her god damn face) are all interesting enough to watch, and the switching between groups of characters, while frustrating to the "I want to make a party and stick with it" person in me, at least encourages you to try new combos on a regular basis AND allows the story (at least, so far it seems to be allowing it) to branch out a lot faster than your typical Final Fantasy game that spends a good 15 hours just setting up the main conflict.

The battle theme is fucking fantastic.

Additional Spam:

Originally Posted by Shenlon

Ok I started playing the game and first I have to say, that I had no big expectations for the game and now that I am four hours in, my expectations aren't rising.
So far it feels rushed and aside from the fantastic visuals it's boring. Not having the fun I had with the other games released recently.
By rushed I mean "Oh hey here are the characters, He loves this girl. Now read the fucking Menu information to know more." Let me at least know the characters before you put me in the middle of a huge story with terms I don't even understand.
I have heard that the game gets better after a few hours but I have to say that so far, I had more of a blast playing through FFX the first time than I am with this.

The game seems to be going more for the "start with the story moving and fill out the characters' backstory later" approach rather than, say, FFIX or XII, which spend AGES introducing you to the characters before anything gets moving with the overall plot.

I like it better that way, actually. It does make for some confusing "What the hell is this guy's motivation" shit at the beginning but when you start finding out about their motivations later it's actually more of a cool reveal that way. I like it so far.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

The first few fights you do where you end up required to do rapidfire Paradigm Shifting are the fights that sold me on the battle system. Makes even a lot of non boss fights more than just "mash A" affairs.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Encephalon

I guess my one question about this is: Is there a licenese system for weapons and upgrades like in XII? Because that entire license system was a huge turn off for me.

It gives you the *illusion* of choice, and you get a few different branches to work with, but in all honesty it's pretty linear. I don't really mind it, you get a tiny bit of control over what happens to a character's stats when, it's basically an old-school completely out of your hands FF levelling system except you get to push the button that makes the progression go.

In all honesty, if I had to worry about that shit AND picking out 6 decent combinations of classes I'd go nuts. A lot of things in this game are like that. Out of context a lot of these things that they trimmed or streamlined sound like bad ideas, but in the game as a whole it feels like they cut out things that they've done badly to make room for things that they do well

License board sucks? Leave a semi-functioning one in so the onus moves to you picking the right Paradigms instead of levelling the characters properly.

Last couple of games devolved into listless wanderfests because there's too much to do? Why not cut out even the illusion of non-linearity so instead the game can focus on telling a tightly-wound story?

Hell, even that Vanille chick I wanted to punch for the longest time has sort of grown on me. I still want to punch her voice actor for taking too much helium, but the character isn't as annoying.

I'm not done with the game yet. Not by a long shot, just started Disc 3. Based on how much I liked the first 2 discs, and how I've heard the third disc is really where the game "gets good", I have high hopes for it.

Just a shame they couldn't have done... something to make it less blatant that it's linear. I mean, let's face it, even if a dungeon has, say, 5 floors and a puzzle section and 3 different ways to make it to the top, in the end it's not like you're able to NOT do the dungeon. That'd be "non-linear". It just lets you feel a little more in control of your destiny than the game lets you feel most of the time. I mean, I personally didn't mind it, and as Taco said at one point, I can respect a game just saying "You know what, fuck it, let's do it this way" and sticking with it, but I feel like it will turn people off from the game who'd otherwise like it.

Because, seriously, the battles are really fun. Once you get the Paradigm stuff the game ratchets up the difficulty, making it more fun by a mile.

God dammit this is a lot of text from someone who hasn't beaten the game. This isn't a review, Skills, okay

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Andrew Evenstar

Haha nothing changes. There's no AWESOME event that happens 15 hours in. The game is the same the whole way through.

Says the person who clearly hasn't made it to the point where the strategy of the battle system opens up, or when the game finally stops being linear and lets you dick around doing whatever.

And like Mush said, it's not like the first 15 hours are horrible, they're really fun. They just really *are* linear in the most blatant sense of the term. If you really just can't stand not being able to stop and grind whenever you want then you should play Disgaea or something, I personally loved the pace of the first 10 chapters, as it kept the story moving and kept your battle strategies varied as it constantly changed what classes you had available.

I mean, I'm not going to stand here and say that openness in an RPG is bad. It isn't. Fallout 3 succeeds almost entirely because of how open it is. But the idea that somehow by being linear the game is bad and not worth playing makes no sense to me. Final Fantasy games have had pacing issues for a long time. XII loses track of the story about halfway through, X is okay up until the point where the narration catches up, and then slows way down, VII spent way too fucking long exploring Cloud's backstory to prolong the climax of the story, and VIII was just shitty all around. If it takes removing your ability to dick around to keep the story moving at the right speed, I'm all for it. It's made the story really well told.

Also, Knighthawk, you are a fucking horrible person.

I was speaking idiomatically.

So the fact that the battles get really intense when you get there and the idea of needing to either grind or do the battles really well to 5 star the missions doesn't appeal to --

Wait a minute.

Originally Posted by Andrew's signature

IV > VIII > VI > VII > IX > V > XII > X > XIII > I > III > II > XI

No. I'm not discussing quality of RPGs with someone who ranks Final Fantasy VIII above any other Final Fantasy.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Taisai

The amount of Diss you get reassures FFVI fanboys = bully.

It's still not a good example though.

No, see, this isn't FFVI fanboys being bullies.

Fanboys being bullies would be renaming Knighthawk if he'd come in and said FFXII was a badly designed game. Calling FFVI a badly designed game is like going to Movieforce and telling them Citizen Kane was a badly shot movie. Not only does it demonstrate incredibly bad taste, but it demonstrates a complete lack of understanding (or deliberate ignorance) of the people you're talking to. I mean, let's face it, Final Fantasy VI isn't perfect. No game is. I struggle to see how objectively one could call it a bad game, though, unless you're just being difficult or have a really warped sense of what a good game is.

That was a really long way of saying "No, Knighthawk is either stupid, trolling, or both."

FELIPE NO

Telling you right now it's not worth it at all to even worry about the other jobs. You spend pretty much double the CP per node on the non-affinity jobs for maybe 1/5th of the stat gains per node. It's really not worth the effort until you've maxed out their good jobs.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?