[Multiplatform] Official Final Fantasy XIII Thread

I wonder if the US release will have the Japanese voice work available? It's a shame that once again you only get one character to control at a time though (if I understand right?). I don't see why people hate slower, turn based RPGs nowadays. But it certainly looks like it'll be better than the colossal failure that was XII. Thanks for the find, interesting read...in modified olde text, but none the less.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Shin

FFXII was an awesome game. I'm rather concerned that they mention FFX so often when talking about this game because that really was a crock of shite.

Also, his descriptions of the characters read a bit like descriptions of pretty much every final fantasy character since VII, if not before. Lithe woman who's tough to handle - Tifa, Quistis, Freya, Lulu, Fran. Athletic over-enthusiastic bloke who shouts a lot - Cid, Zel, Steiner, Waka, Basch. Perky, annoying upbeat girl - Yuffie, Selphie, Eiko, The one with the swirly eyes, Penello. Young guy with troubled past and a bit moody - Cloud, Squall, Tidus, Vaan. They're basically saying that the main party is the same cookie-cutter collection of archetypes they've used over and over for years only with a few more buckles and zips and stupid haircuts this time out.

Let's face it, this is shaping up to be yet another incredibly mediocre piece of Square story-telling that once you've got bored of looking at the pretty graphics, will only be saved by the gameplay mechanics and from what the guys are saying in those interviews, they've taken a step back from the really interesting battle mechanic of XII and gone back to the generic as fuck press the x-button ad infinitum while your mix-and-match generic characters pull off the same attacks over and over again of X.

I know XII's battle system was a little hands off but given the choice between pressing the same button over and over to watch the same attacks over and over or not pressing anything and winning the fight through good gambit set-up, I'll take XII over X every time.

Yeah, but that's just what bugged me about it. Any game that I can get up, make a sandwich and still win a battle is not a good battle system to me. I want to actually be DOING something when I play a game even if it IS just pressing the same button over and over. Navigating a menu and hitting a button is better than programming a game to play itself.

That and it felt so much like an MMORPG: bland environments, drab characters, dull story. Really didn't click with me. Why are menus so horrible nowadays?

How ya doing, buddy?

I'll give you that, the actual RPG label that Japanese "Role-playing games" are given is wrong. I've always just thought of them in my head for what they are: linear story-driven games with turn based combat. So I do see your criticisms, I guess I just have a different mindset and expectations I suppose.

The one thing I definitely agree with is the Final Fantasy games have rarely ever encouraged you to exploit enemy's elemental weaknesses and use status effects nearly as much as other games which does, as you were saying, lead to repetition of hitting the attack button.

I still think the plot of FFXII was barely engaging though. The characters I felt were put on the back burner to compensate for the very simplistic political story and a few allusions to FF Tactics. Not gripping stuff. To this day I'm not entirely sure as to why I finished FFXII, I think I just felt I had to.

Heh, don't suppose I can really defend why I still like them so much other than personal preference. We can agree to disagree I suppose :-p

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

Shame that the voice acting is being handled by the same person who did X because that was pretty horrible...and this too sounds pretty horrible. Find some actors who can achieve more range than monotone please. Here's to hoping they can fit the Japanese voice track on the PS3 release...

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

Originally Posted by Big Gay Chulo

A bunch of annoying sounding American teenagers in an epic battle against a load of posh British guys, how very original. One of the reasons I hate FFXII's voice work slightly less than most of the others is that only a couple of the characters are whiny Americans, whereas the whole party seem to be voiced by rejects from Nickelodeon in this trailer. I really hope there's a Jap voices with subtitles option in this.

It's funny, there was an interview somewhere (maybe it's on here for all I remember) where a member of the audience asked if that was going to be included and the producer...director, whoever he was was shocked that it was a feature people actually wanted. Which surprised me a little. Seems if they did their US market research they'd find all sorts of people who want the Japanese.

But yeah, unless that interview changed his life there's no plan to include the Japanese voice work. Which makes me a saaaaad panda. Final Fantasy X's laughing sequence bad? Maybe not, but approaching. Everything is simply an asymptote approaching that level of awkwardness.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Inhert

you know that even in the Japanese dub that scene is laughingly bad?

No, but that doesn't surprise me that 2 actors laughing awkwardly loud and well, awkwardly isn't salvageable in any language.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Or just whack the Japanese on the blu-ray please? >_> Yeah, you have to "compress" it and "lose audio quality"...minor inconveniences, pah.

FELIPE NO

I wish I knew why....it seems like every composer who takes on the chocobo theme goes out of their way to distort it into something shitty. What's wrong with just playing the chocobo theme as it is?

The battle theme sounds pretty good though and it has a few other songs that are decent. Hopefully the rest of the soundtrack holds up. As long as it's not as bad as FFXII's. Just not a fan of anything in that game, I am

I think this is one of the few games I wont just buy as a fan of the series. I'm not too impressed by the story premise so far, and from what I've seen of the trailers the characters look pretty flat so far. But it also might just be it's been in development for ages and I just don't know what to make of it anymore, who knows!

How ya doing, buddy?

All of these new systems and customization make me happy in a nerdy, terrible sort of way. So far things look to be shaping up, I don't have to wait another year for it (was convinced I would be), now all they need to do is a surprise announcement that they're leaving in the Japanese language track and I'm sold mostly.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I don't think the choice of picture for the boxart is terrible or anything, I just think the layout is fucking awful.

I think I'm getting to the point where I'll refrain looking into the game too much at this point and hope for the best.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Shin

Why would they bother? Just writing Final Fantasy on the box is enough to guarantee they'll sell every copy in the shops on day one. Hell, if I was them I'd wait a month before releasing a Limited Edition, safe in the knowledge that there'd be a ton of idiots who already bought the game who'd buy it again if it came in a metal box with a cheap, plastic chocobo lumped in with it.

And the sad part is only we, the consumer, are to blame

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