[Multiplatform] Official Final Fantasy XIII Thread

Originally Posted by OutRunner

You are a colossal idiot.

Perhaps you haven't learned yet from all the mocking you've gotten here, but you should probably quit with that whole posting thing while you're ahead, Charlie. Stick to Community if your existence will solely be for lulz, thanks.

What my friend is trying to say here is that the game is still deep in its development, and while it will have english dubbing, they haven't gotten to that point yet. You'll have to settle for english subtitles in trailers for now.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by House Hippo

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.

Sometimes I wonder about you, my friend.

Most amazing jew boots

A little heads up, the new trailer is up on PSN in High def.

You can download it to your PCs here.

Final Fantasy XIII/13 ~ 1080P Trailer

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

Hmm, so it appears that combat is some form of ATB (in terms of character turns). I noticed that cost bar immediately replenishs after the character's turn, and does so at the same time as the bar underneath the HP number (heh, no actually HP bar this time it seems). I guess the cost bar is the ATB bar. The cost system thing seems pretty simple enough, looks like on average you'll have enough for 3 attacks (1 cost points each) and casting magic (the field casts at least) takes all the cost (or rather 3 cp). I imagine your cost bar increases as you level, otherwise that would be pretty lame if they capped it at 3. The trailer is also available on the JPSN without subtitles and sporting a "Coming 2009 for Playstation 3" message at the end.

Slightly off-topic, also on the JPSN you can download a trailer for FF7AC Complete. Looks pretty good, so far it just seems like they're adding even more action (Cloud all bloodied up in his fight against Sephiroth). Nice addition showing Tseng and Elena being attacked by the newly born Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo. Plus Tifa actually getting some action against the shadow creeper things. If the japanese release actually comes with english voice overs (which I doubt, since it's SE we're probably looking at 4-6 months for them to dub the new stuff and release it) like Play-Asia seems to be implying, then maybe I'll import a copy of the version that comes with the FF13 trial.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Dengeki Interview

Yoshinori Kitase (Producer)

Quote:

The Characters that Paint the Story
---Being the first SE title for the PS3, there's no doubt that the demo arriving later this month is garnering world wide attention. With the upcoming demo, what are your thoughts, currently?
Kitase: The demo master was finished around december last year. Thus, this demo should be played with the understanding that it is "FFXIII" as it was in 2008. Playing the demo will probably get gamers to thinking "I wonder if this is how the story is going to unfold in the full version?" and hopefully will increase the anticipation they currently have for the game even further. On that note, the final version is progressing very nicely. We're on the final stretch of development for various aspects.

---With the announcement of the demo, a lot of character information has been announced. First off, Lighting. She's the first female protagonist of this series right?
Kitase: If you look only at Lightning's design, she comes off as a cool woman; essentially the type of woman that a lot of men would have a problem handling. But with Sakamoto Maaya voicing her role, I believe a lot of nice femininity has been brought out of Lighting. Because Lightning is a swordsman, it was difficult balancing her modeling. We didn't want her to be too frail looking, but at the same time, we didn't want to make her a muscular macho either.

---So in the demo, you can also control Snow, but anything to say about his design?
Kitase: His character was pretty difficult as well. We originally wanted to make him a athletic nut that yells all the time with the personality of a delinquent ring leader. From there, we left behind the immature belligerent aspect, and worked on evolving the "big brother" aspect of him. Ono Daisuke's voice is perfect for Snow as well.

---What about Sazh, who's garnering quite a bit of attention from all over?
Kitase: We had a pretty easy image of him from the begining (lol). Just that, in general, he appears to be positive and upbeat, but as the story progresses, we come to realize that he's carrying some weight of his own on his shoulders. Because of that, we decided to ask a veteran voice actor, Ehara Masashi, to play his role. He did a lot of ad libbing, and seems like he really got into the role.

---Finally Vanille. She appears to have a story telling role as well?
Kitase: This title's story progresses with Vanilla's narration being sandwiched in between. In the past, we've had girls who've been upbeat and active like her, but due to the fact that she has a narrative role as well, she should have an aura slightly different from similar characters from the past. Because of this, we asked someone capable of acting both sides of her character, Fukui Yukari, to voice her role.

The Demo's new Battle
---I had the opportunity to play the demo and what I found quite impressive was the change into the battle scene being so quick that it almost felt seamless.
Kitase: The game isn't seamless, but I think it's quick enough for everyone to be content with it. Seamless battles are definitely possible, but, for example, due to special attacks and polygon counts for summons due to memory, there are various limitations that are bourne from trying to go seamless. But by having the battles be independant, it is possible to be, more or less, released from those memory limitations.

---The battle is based on the Active Time Battle (ATB), but it creates a sense of speed moreso than before.
Kitase: The battle system being speedy was initially proposed by the director, Toriyama, and Tsuchida was put in charge of dropping in FFX's battle system into the game. Combining command input resulting in flashy action and using the ATB Bar as the cost to do so and wrapping that up into one system that adds the fun of strategery (yes I know it's not a real word) is something we were aiming for from the beginning of development.

---So then, it's not really so much that you can do this because of the PS3, but rather you wanted the battle system to accomplish this so you were able to achieve this?
Kitase: Yes. The first image we had of "inputting a command resulting in a gracefully flowing set of chained attacks" has essentially been systemized in the current battle system.

An Uncompromising PS3
---With FFXIII, I've heard that you're aiming for even more movie-like expression than before?
Kitase: Up until now, scenes we wanted to have a sense of real-time were done in realtime and scenes which we wanted to have higher quality and presentation atmosphere were done with CG movies. But with the PS3, expressions that could once only be done with CG movies before, can be done in real-time. Thus, we've incorporated CG movie quality scenes that are drawn in realtime.

---Indeed, the quality is so high that it's very difficult tell the two apart, even if we were told so.
Kitase: Because of that, production became more difficult (lol).

---Does that mean production methods for the event scenes and what not have changed?
Kitase: They've changed. In the past, the planner also produced the events, but now we have a section that specializes in event cuts. The amount of work required increased drastically to the point where just the planner can no longer cover all the work required.

---By developing FFXIII for the PS3, what are some aspects you think have evolved greatly?
Kitase: Probably the graphics. The huge change from PS1 to PS2 was the number of polygons which could be output, resulting in further details in character design. But going from the PS2 to the PS3, the change is even more drastic. Primarily in texture (i think?). For example, FFXIII has a character named Sazh who has an afro. When the character modelling was brought to me, I saw the quality of Sazh's afro and thought to myself that the PS3 really is different (lol)". But yeah, in reality, the afro isn't due just to the PS3, but also due to the creativity of the designer. Also, skin and fur texture is quite amazing, Chocobo's plummage and Vanilla's skirt's cloth texture...that you can actually almost get a sense of what they might feel like in your hands are some of the many things that really surprise us.

---As a designer, how, specifically, do you have to be creative?
Kitase: With 3D graphic designing, there are people who deal with specific aspects. For example, trying to design Sazh's afro as realistically as possible would be delegated to a certain group. In the case of the Afro, a person named Matsuno is in charge, but the design techniques from that may also be used in modelling grass in a plain to make it look more like a real plain. Aspects which we can't rely just on the PS3 power alone, need to be covered with our prior experiences.

---To ask the opposite, are there difficulties that cropped up because it was for the PS3?
Kitase: Up through the PS2, character modelling was very similar to being an extension of sprites, and it was important for the textures themselves to be relatively detailed. Even facial textures were used as they were being modified in photoshop. But with the PS3, realtime modelling is similar to designing a CG movie. Of particular importance is dropping in post-effects into a completed sequence. For example, the realtime effect of backlight pouring through foliage is something that can be done because we're working on the PS3. To show this as realistically as possible, these environmental effets are the most important aspect that cannot be compromised on, and simultaneously, take the most work and effort. Also, going off on a tangent, while moving around and during battles, you can move the camera around freely, but for example, grass blades, depending on angles, the polygon looks like a flat board. With the PS2, we could have said there was nothing we could really do about that, but at the PS3 level, we can't make those excuses. Because we didn't compromise on these aspects either, I believe the amount of work required increased.

---Finally, with FFXIII, how far do you think you've been able to tap into the PS3?
Kitase: Maybe about 50% in the demo? Of course by the time the final version rolls along, I believe we'll be close to 100% of the PS3's potential. Like with FFVII on PS and FFX on PS2, we're always working our hardest to use the full potential of the hardware at that point in time.

---Speaking of which, you're using Bluray now with PS3, but have you run into any storage space difficulties?
Kitase: Only as to whether we'd use a 1 or 2 layer disc, but that's about it. Add to that, with the PS3, you have a hard drive too. If anything, we struggled more with the memory aspect.

And Finally, for those waiting for the Demo and Final Release
---If you could leave a few words for the fans awaiting the demo and final release.
Kitase: The demo battle system's ATB is only showing the basic aspects so only about 50% of what will be in the final game is implemented. The story that's included is also only a very superficial part. But I think it will be a good show of what can be expected of the final product. Please enjoy the demo and I hope you will be waiting in anticipation for the full version.

MotomuToriyama (Director)

Quote:

Demo that Shows the Battle's Atmosphere
---Can we consider the battle part in the demo to be pretty close to the release version?
Toriyama: Yes. The demo's designed so you can experience the basic system in its entirety. The new Active Time Battle (ATB) sensation, I feel, can be experienced in the demo. Furthermore, this game does not have a seamless battle system like FFXII, but the change into battle is very rapid and has been designed to play with a similar sensation to a seamless system. Of course, moving out of battle is also very smooth, so from a data access/reading point of view, one should be able to play this stress-free.

---In the demo, is it the beginning of the story that's being depicted?
Toriyama: Yes. The story progresses from Lightning and Snow's viewpoint. The beginning starts with an emergency situation called "Purge", and no further information is given so you cannot make sense of the situation when you start off. It's just a very small part of the beginning of the entire game. Thus, at the conclusion of the demo, gamers will have only seen bits and pieces of the story leaving a lot of questions to be answered. We'd like for you to think about the story, but the main aspect of this demo will be to enjoy the battle system

---In regards to FF13's new ATB; the concept of chaining multiple attacks, as well as overpowering your opponent with a Break is a neat concept.
Toriyama: Chains are essentially multiple attacks strung together, and the more you chain, the more your damage goes up in relation to the chain length. Each spell and attack has a chain counter extension rate, so try all sorts of combinations to determine how to easily chain your attacks. And in regards to breaks. This will occur after you've chained a certain amount. Enemies which have been "broken" not only take more damage, but can be lifted off the ground. This is in the official trailer as well, but using this, it really makes downing an enemy exhilarating. At the end of a battle, you will recieve a rating of your battle which will result in a higher rating if you mix in chains and breaks, so please aim for that. Ideally, you would use magics in which you could increase your chain count rather easily, then once the enemy "breaks", lift it off the ground immediately. Then finish the enemy off...by doing so, you can go through the battle rather stylishly. The additional attack after lifting the enemy off the ground does more damage than normal, thus it 's important to use during a boss fight.

---Speaking of which, can any monster be lifted off the ground?
Toriyama: Actually, each moster has a weight value associated with it, so very large monsters are difficult to lift off the ground. For something like Behemoth as an opponent, it becomes important to plan your attacks to increase your chain count and fight strategically. But in the demo, we want you to have a taste of speed and exhilaration, so you can go through it without thinking too hard. From a strategic standpoing, there will be a newer and deeper system that is planned to be implemented in the final release. In the demo, just enjoy the basics of chainig various commands and realizing that different combinations will change the battle drastically.

---Characters that are rather speedy feel to have a higher difficulty associated with them compared to before
Toriyama: In the demo, the balance is a bit on the easy side, but in the final release, specifically referring to the battle, the difficulty has been raised slightly, and may be a little more easy to end up with a Game Over than before. But there's a retry command implemented that will take you to immediately before the battle so don't worry. The easier balancing is so you can try out various playstyle customizations and strategies in the demo.

The Details in Production
---Are there any scenes that you should watch out for?
Toriyama: The situation changes in realtime as yo move around. If you hear a lound noise behind you and look around, you can see a plane plummetting. Also, Sazh leads the way for Lightning at times, but when he points down towards something, please try to get to that location quickly. You will be able to see a real time battle going on.

---You can move the camera in realtime while moving around, but can you do this in battle as well?
Toriyama: Of course. You can move the camera around freely so please find a cool angle for yourself to use. During certain commands, such as lifting an enemy off the ground, the camera angle changes, so there shouldn't be any instance that makes the action difficult to see. Also, we've really worked on the details of magic spell graphics. For example, a fire based spell might leave smoke at where it landed or blizzard spells might leave shards of ice scattered about for a while.

---Is the battle music in the demo the same as that in the final release?
Toriyama: The music in the demo is planned to be used in the same scenes of the final product. On that note, the demo will not contain the standard post-battle fanfare, but in the final product, there will be a fanfare arrangement specifically arranged for FFXIII so please look forward to it. In terms of a victory pose...that's still under discussion (lol).


Secrets of the World Revealed
---What part of the Cocoon do Lightning and co. go crazy in?
Toriyama: It's the very bottom level of the spherical Cocoon. It's not really a place normal citizens would step foot into. In the image below, I think you can see water, but that's really like an underground lake. The location used in the demo uses a somewhat dark palette, but in the interior of the Cocoon, there are bright/festive(?) towns and what not.

---How is the social structure inside the Cocoon?
Toriyama: From the images, one might get the feeling that the Church's militia is supressing its citizens, but the militia acts more like the police force of the Cocoon. They're not really controlling the citizens. If anything, they take care of any monsters that infiltrate the Cocoon. Also, due to Falcie(?), a close to utopian society exists inside the Cocoon.

---Can you describe the existance of Falcie in this world?
Toriyama: Falcie is not something that cannot be seen and exists as matter. In the demo, you can verify Pulse's falcie, but this shape is only but one example. In the final release, Falcie will appear in various forms so please look forward to that.

---Do different monsters appear in the Cocoon and Pulse?
Toriyama: Divided rather largely, there are 3 types of monsters; monsters of pulse, the feral monsters inside the Cocoon, and the monsters that the church's miltia own, but the designs are all different. The monsters that the militia own are designed with over-technology, thus are a fusion of beast and machinery. In this game, monsters you're familiar with have changed greatly from a visual perspective. You've seen Behemoth in previous images, but things like Goblins that this series cannot be without are other monsters to look forward to. Well...just Sabotender (dunno what the western name is) has increased texture detail but basically still looks the same (lol).

---What's the highlight of the demo?
Toriyama: One part I'd like for you to pay particular attention to is the battle part. We've just really focused on creating a sense of exhilaration so we really want for you to have a taste of it. Upon breaking, there's a lot of information that pops up, and you might be a bit overwhelmed. First try to fight however you want to fight, and once you get used to it a bit, start taking into account the chain gauge and breaking; this will increase the strategic aspect of the game. Furthermore, if you start taking into account your party's actions, you'll be able to experience a very stylishly flowing action battle. From a story perspective, the highlight is Lightning and co.'s appearance. There's alot of heavy action right from the get go so please pay attention to it.

Further Evolution in the Final Release
---This is in regards to the battle system, but are there aspects that are not in the demo that might still be modified?
Toriyama: The command part has already gone through various iterations. With your first battle in the demo, you might have a bit of a problem trying to select the enemy or using white (holy in the west?) magic, but this has been rectified in the final product, so don't worry. We're also looking into implementing shortcut-type functions to make command accessibility easier.

---Can you command your party in detail?
Toriyama: In FFXII's gambit system, you prepared before the battle, but in FFXIII, we're thinking of how to adapt to the changing battle.

---In that regards, can you change the character you control freely in the middle of battle?
Toriyama: I can't comment on that in detail yet, but a new system will be implemented.

---We couldn't verify character growth in the demo, but it doesn't seem like character growth is going to be limited to just learning new attacks and spells?
Toriyama: Of course, characters will gain new skills and magic as they grow. Just, please wait for future information on how the characters are raised. Of course, it's not just straight levelling, but we expect to implement a some type of system as was done with the Sphere Board in FFX and Licensed Board in FFXII. Going off on a tangent, but this game's menu system is pretty amazing. I said the traditional blue background with white borders was fine, but the staff worked hard and created a completely fresh menu screen.

---Finally, with the upcoming demo release and fans awaiting the final release, if you could give them a message or 2.
Toriyama: In the demo, we've finally been able to make public the battle system, but bear in mind that it's the very basic battle system. Including what's not encompassed in the demo, the final product will have further polish. I'd like for you to enjoy the demo from both the battle and story side of the game in hopes that it'll increase your anticipation for the final release.

Confirmed VA:
Lightning: Maaya Sakamoto
Snow: Daisuke Ono
Vanille: Yukari Fukui
Sazh: Masashi Ebara

New screenshots:
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After battle you get the results/evaluation screen, in which five things are given.

Battle Time
Max number of Chains
Breaks
Rank out of five stars
TP Bonus

There's another result screen that shows exp, items, etc.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

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.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Timberwolf8889

But it certainly looks like it'll be better than the colossal failure that was XII.

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.

How ya doing, buddy?

Uhh XII's battle system was the best that could ever happen to the series. It frightens me when I think about VIII or X with their random encounter bullshit that made me throwing things at my TV screen every now and then.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I'm pretty sure they've said there'll be no random encounters in XIII, so references to X's combats sounds more like it's talking about the mechanics of the fights themselves. Unless I made that up, but I though I read somewhere that you'll be able to see enemies on screen.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Metapod

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.

You could say most of those go back to at least VI, really.

- Lithe woman who's tough to handle - Celes
- Athletic over-enthusiastic bloke who shouts a lot - Sabin
- Perky, annoying upbeat girl - Relm
- The one with the swirly eyes - Terra

Thankfully it had no emo kid protagonist, but they've been recycling the other archetypes for a long time. Does Vaan get moodier later on in XII? I don't remember him being anything but upbeat.

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

The mechanics of X's fights were dull as fuck though. For perhaps the first island you'd bother switching in Wakka for flying monsters and Lulu for slimes and so on but soon after that, they all became such a generic bunch of inter-changable, nothingy annoyances that it made no fucking difference at all who was in the fight anyway.

They need to actually make the characters a bit different for this game to be in any way interesting. FFIX managed that to some extent, although again by the end it didn't really matter who was in the fights, there was at least a pretence of tactical thought about it. FFVII you could piss around with the materia a bit which made up for every single character being identical except for the limit breaks. FFVIII was as superficial as X, especially once you realised that with GF powers you could have everyone loaded up with 100 Blizzaga and Firaga spells the first time you left the garden, giving you thousands of hp and 255 strength. At least in XII, there was a bit of thought required to set up the gambits so you never had to interfere. By the end of that one there was very little in the game my team couldn't deal with on auto-pilot which some would say was a bad thing but I really liked the way I'd organised their AI routines to be able to deal with all the different kinds of monsters without needing me to press anything. As I said, if you're going to have battles that require zero thought, I'd rather they also involved zero button pressing rather than endlessly tapping the X button as in previous FF games.

I appreciate that not every game can have the tactical depth of SMT:Nocturne or Last Remnant and that games like those tend to be a bit tougher, thereby alienating the vast majority of Final Fantasy fans who are the kind of idiots who fill up the GameFAQS message boards asking banal questions that are answered on the second page of the instruction manual, but if you are going to have a battle system as old as the hills (Which XIII's is looking a lot like at present) you need to have something else to keep people interested, normally a fantastic plot or great writing.

It's possible that Square have managed to raise the writing and story in this game somewhere above Harry Potter And The Evil Corporation Who Are Exploiting The Natural Resources Of The World With Potentially Disasterous Consequences For The Poor People And Oh Look They're Messing With Demons And Shit And At Least One Member Of The Main Party Is Somehow Related To The Bad Guys but past experience would suggest that that's unlikely. They had a go at something a bit less facile in XII but a lot of people said it was confusing or boring or there weren't enough bad guys walking out of flaming buildings looking menacing and emo at the same time and from what I've read of XIII in this thread and elsewhere, it's looking like a return to the moral sledgehammer of VII and VIII, even down to the bad guys creating monsters that are sort of robotic (And doubtless weak to lightning spells).

And despite this, I'll probably still buy it. I just really hope it's more like IX and XII and less like VIII and X.

Additional Spam:

Originally Posted by Tritoch

Thankfully it had no emo kid protagonist, but they've been recycling the other archetypes for a long time. Does Vaan get moodier later on in XII? I don't remember him being anything but upbeat.

He's never really moody but he does bang on about his dead brother a lot about halfway through.

Haha, by the one with swirly eyes, I meant Rikku was the annoying upbeat one in FFX, I just couldn't remember her name off the top of my head.

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

FFXIII: 14 year olds do flips while shooting monsters and shit with guns and maybe also magic. High/low fantasy/ cyberpunk/post-cyberpunk setting with gorgeous visuals you've seen for a decade. It's enough to make the 15 year old girl in you jump for joy! YIPPEE! HOORAY!

I was speaking idiomatically.

OPM(UK) and Edge feature/previews:
OPM UK & Edge May 2009 Issue, feature scans - Final Fantasy XIII: News, Trailers & Screens ~ Final Fantasy-XIII.net

I don't remember Shinra, or Gabladia(sp?) fighting with monsters. Sure Hojo created some things here and there, but they were rare and never part of the company main force, and Gabladia just used machines much like FFVI's Empire.

As far all info about FFXIII has shown, I don't see much that this common with many other FF games aside from conceptual connections bewteen Lighting and Cloud. If anything the game sounding like a fusion of FFVI, CT and Xenogears than FFVII, or VIII.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Quote:

If anything the game sounding like a fusion of FFVI, CT and Xenogears

Fuck yes you are going to be the greatest Square Enix game OF ALL TIME.

Okay, maybe not quite that far, but still, this looks so much more interesting than the previous few installments. I've yet to have my attention caught by a single JRPG this generation, so I suppose it only makes sense that what's probably the most hotly-anticipated one manages to get me interested.

Oh, yeah, and for once I don't actually mind the character design much.

FELIPE NO

I gotta say, the battle system in FF13 is kind of reminding me of Chrono Cross'. The cost ATB system I mean, it's sounds and looks similiar to CC's stamina system. It's been a long time since I last played, so I don't remember if you could combo a physical attack with a magic one like it appears you can do in FF13.

Oh and it's pretty neat how Mayaa Sakamoto is playing the lead in the game. I'm hoping for dual audio as well, and should be possible with blu-ray. But seeing as how it's multiplatform, I think it might be an unlikely thing to happen. Since I imagine they're trying to keep things even for both versions, and I rather doubt dual audio is capability for the 360 version (unless they're giving the game a multi-disc treatment).

Most amazing jew boots

Originally Posted by That interview up there

The monsters that the militia own are designed with over-technology, thus are a fusion of beast and machinery

Originally Posted by Jagged

I don't remember Shinra, or Gabladia(sp?) fighting with monsters. Sure Hojo created some things here and there, but they were rare and never part of the company main force, and Gabladia just used machines much like FFVI's Empire.

So what about all those robots in the Shinra tower? And how about that stupid prison level in FFVIII where all the monsters were robots? In FFVII you actually have very few fights against Shinra directly on the vast majority of them are robots. Likewise, you spend the entire first half of FFVIII fighting enemy robots. A big evil corporation with robots for troops is a cliche, that's all I'm saying.

If you read that Edge article, on the sixth page it describes the battle system as being a return to that used in FFX and I don't remember the combat system in FFX being anything other than completely generic. Yes, the idea of having a set time to perform the moves is a newish one (Essentially it's like how in FFT different moves take a different amount of time to activate) but this is still at it's heart a turn-based combat system. You pick your moves, you press go and they do them.

I think for me, the battle system will succeed or fail based on how clever you have to be with the time planning to win the fights. There's nothing wrong with simple turn based combat in rpgs, after all, SMT:Nocturne is on the face of it a simple turn based game but it's also a game that doesn't allow you to just hit the "Attack" command forever to win the fights, whereas previous FF games have been pretty guilty of that.

From reading those articles, there's a possibility that there'll be scope for quite a lot of tactical thought in this game, working out how to synch everyone's various attacks together into combos but I guess we won't know until it comes out whether the potential has been realised or not. I suspect, based on previous experience of FF games that the vast majority of fights will be a case of just hitting attack over and over and there'll be a few optional bosses that require a bit more thought but even then, FF optional bosses normally require you to unlock all the best powers and grind forever to have a high enough attack power to wear down their 4 million hp, rather than requiring any particular cunning on the part of the player.

How ya doing, buddy?

IGN has new info from Famitsu up, I bolded some stuff that I thought were really interesting in particular.

IGN: Final Fantasy XIII Update

Quote:

Final Fantasy XIII Update
Trophy support, frame rates and more ahead of next week's demo.
by IGN Staff

April 8, 2009 - The big Final Fantasy XIII demo is all set to hit Japan next week. But just ahead of that, Famitsu has come through with a huge update on the game via an interview with director Motomu Toriyama.

There's a whole lot of new information in the interview, but let's start off with some details on the demo. The demo is split into two parts. The first part puts you in control of Lightning, who's joined in battle by Sazh. In the second half, you take control of Snow, who's joined in battle by the Nora crew. Vanille appears in the second half as well.

As previously detailed, the demo encompasses the first hour of the game. A group of people are on a train on route to their expulsion from Cocoon after being accused of having taken influence from Pulse. Lightning arrives on the scene just as the group has started to revolt. Meanwhile, on a separate train, Snow and crew are among the to-be-purged and have started a revolt of their own.

Here's some of what you won't experience in the demo. Although Lightning and Sazh start off together, you won't learn about their relationship until a reflection scene that takes place after the events of the demo. Also, while the demo lets you play from the perspective of just Lightning and Snow, the final version will also have sequences that take place from Vanille's perspective. As you advance with one character, the game will switch to another character and you'll experience what that character has been up to. Apparently, such scenes run in parallel with one-another like one of those "Meanwhile..." transitions in a movie.

Most of the demo takes place in an area of Cocoon called "Hanged Edge" (please note that our roman form for this name could be incorrect). This area is on the border of Cocoon and has taken the most influence from Pulse when compared to other areas of Cocoon. It's a dark area, but this is apparently not indicative of the full FF world, which Toriyama describes as being bright and like a futuristic city.

The end of the demo will feature a look at a new character who appears in prison clothing. Toriyama hinted that she's an important character, but did not get into specifics.

The magazine expressed surprise with some of Sazh's motions from the demo (yes, the Famitsu editors were able to sample the demo ahead of everyone else -- see below for what they thought). Apparently, Sazh reacts with surprise from the kickback of his weapons. It turns out that he's not particularly used to battle, and ends up making a lot of unnecessary movements on the battle field.

Sazh's Chocobo may end up appearing along side Sazh during battle. This is something that Toriyama has, in past interviews, suggested might happen, and here he said that the development team is actively looking into it. One problem, however, is that the Chocobo's fur uses a "rich" rendering technique, which makes putting it into the battle system difficult.

On the note of Chocobos, there will be standard Chocobos in the game as well, Toriyama confirmed. However, they won't be used as a means for transportation.

Moving on to the battle system in general, the interview cleared up a lot of the areas that have been a mystery until now. First up, Toriyama explained that the FFXIII battle system is based around the concept of fusing strategy and action -- that is to say, adding the flash and speed of action to command-based battles.

The demo will give only a sampling of the game's strategic component via the ability to stock up commands. Another area of the strategy, which won't appear in the demo, comes from your allies. During battle, you control just one character. Your allies are controlled by AI. However, they react to the moves your character makes. The strategy here comes from figuring out how to connect with your allies and better draw out their abilities. The demo will offer a basic glimpse at this, with allies going in for follow-up attacks when you send an enemy into the air. The final version will give you better control over such things. Specifically, it seems that you'll be able to switch off freely between the characters.

We'll see just about 30% of the final battle system in the demo, explained Toriyama. The game's "Evolved ATB" system (the name for this system is currently under consideration) will show itself in only its base form. There won't be summons in the demo, although they'll be in the final. Additionally, the demo will limit you to just three move stocks, while the final version of the game will have your possible move stock increase as your character develops. The final version will also have changes to the game's menus to make it easier to input commands once you have a lot of commands at your disposal.

Toriyama also revealed something particularly surprising about the battle system. At the end of each battle, your character's HP will be totally recovered! The game is being tuned so that individual battles are tough and you won't win unless you think.

Continuing with the new revelations, Toriyama shared details on the game's chain and break systems, both of which have been only partially detailed in past updates. The goal of these two systems, said Toriyama, was to recreate some of the motions, such as launching enemies up into the air, that were seen in the 2006 E3 FFXIII trailer.

As previously revealed, as you attack enemies, you build up a gauge in the upper right of the screen. This gauge depletes with time. Perform successive attacks before the gauge reaches zero, and you'll have chained your attacks together, resulting in added damage for your blows. The gauge fills up differently depending on the type of attack, with fire magic attacks being particularly generous.

When you chain attacks, you also build up a "Bonus" percentage. When this reaches a certain percentage, your enemies will flash red and reach a Break state. The percentage required for this state depends on the enemy. The chain gauge becomes a timer gauge during Break time, indicating how much time you have left in the Break.

An enemy in a Break state takes on greater damage with every blow, but more importantly also opens itself up to some of those E3 trailer-style attacks. In the demo, this amounts to simply being able to launch your foe up into the air, signaling your allies to let loose with follow-up attacks. The final version of the game will include more options for such break moves.

As a side note, you're not alone in your ability to launch foes into the air. Enemies can do the same to you. In the demo, the Behemoth enemy will launch you up.

Once you've cleared battle, you're presented with a result screen which gives you a one to five star rating indicating your performance. To get a high rating, you need to fight efficiently and finish the battle quickly.

This star ranking system will be in the demo. A couple of points about the results screen won't make it out until the final, though. The game will have support for Trophies and other PS3 features, Toriyama revealed without getting into specifics. He also briefly mentioned that mysterious "TP Bonus" icon that has been shown in screenshots of the result screens. It has something to do with summon magic, but that's as far as he'd say.

Toriyama was even more vague about the game's character growth system. FFXIII will feature a new character development system, similar to how FFX featured the Sphere system and FFXII the License Board system.

One thing to note about character growth, however, is that you won't be able to make just anyone use magic. As part of the story, only the L'cie characters can use magic. Also, magic won't appear in the game until a bit into your adventure, although the demo has been put together to give you access from the start.

Toriyama also offered up a preview of what happens prior to battle as you move about on the fields of play. As indicated by past trailers, FFXIII's enemies are visible prior to battle. The enemies have fields of vision, and when they see you, they will attack. In the demo, all enemies in the area will proceed to join in on the attack, although in the final version, the enemies will react to you individually.
When encountering enemies, the associated effects are colored differently depending on if the enemy has spotted you or not spotted you. When you haven't been spotted prior to an encounter, you end up with a greater time gauge.

For the tech heads, the interview also shared a few technical details. The game will output at 720p and 30 frames per second. There are a few slowdown issues with the demo during battle, but these will be cleared out in the final. Also, for those with SD televisions, the development staff is taking care to make sure the game will be readable by all.

Finally, some good news for those concerned about a massive wait for the final version of the game. According to Toriyama, the major areas of the game are nearly done, and now it's just a matter of connecting everything together. The work of the designers is, for the most part, finished.

This hopefully means a 2009 release is still on track for Japan with an international release not too long after that.

But first, that demo! Two Famitsu editors were given a chance to sample the demo in advance. Their play time lasted one hour and twenty minutes or so. They praised the speediness of the game and the near zero load times. The background music is "cool," said one editor, who also made note of the detail in the backgrounds which allows you to see characters fighting enemies far in the distance as you move about the fields of play. It would be a loss to not experience the demo, said another editor.

We'll be sure and do that next week and let you know what we think.

Originally Posted by Shin

So what about all those robots in the Shinra tower? And how about that stupid prison level in FFVIII where all the monsters were robots? In FFVII you actually have very few fights against Shinra directly on the vast majority of them are robots. Likewise, you spend the entire first half of FFVIII fighting enemy robots. A big evil corporation with robots for troops is a cliche, that's all I'm saying.

I remember fighting Shinra grunts just as much as robots back in FFVII, but your right that in FFVIII you did fight more robots than humans. My point is though none of them controlled any monsters conbined with machinery in their main army like with FFXIII. Biomechical beasts were rare and just side expirements gone more than, furthermore since they mentioned in these articles they likely have some plot importance.

Quote:

If you read that Edge article, on the sixth page it describes the battle system as being a return to that used in FFX and I don't remember the combat system in FFX being anything other than completely generic. Yes, the idea of having a set time to perform the moves is a newish one (Essentially it's like how in FFT different moves take a different amount of time to activate) but this is still at it's heart a turn-based combat system. You pick your moves, you press go and they do them.

Which I don't see anything wrong with IMO. I don't mind battle systems that advanced it's respected series while still retaining that core aspect. Besides brought other stuff to series like "Trigger Commands" and "Controlable Summons".

I also your taking EDGE a bit too literal. FFX's sytsem is only a base for FFXIII and not much more.

Quote:

I think for me, the battle system will succeed or fail based on how clever you have to be with the time planning to win the fights. There's nothing wrong with simple turn based combat in rpgs, after all, SMT:Nocturne is on the face of it a simple turn based game but it's also a game that doesn't allow you to just hit the "Attack" command forever to win the fights, whereas previous FF games have been pretty guilty of that.

That is true, probably has more to do provide accessibly to newcomers. FF games and most RPGs in general normally try balance game difficultyto allow anyone complete the main game and leaving Optional Challenges for the more hardcore gamers. Besides every FF definitely has it's share difficult encounters. The fight against Seymour Flux and Yunalcesca in FFX were really fun for me and it was one few RPGs where status spells actually mattered against it's Bosses.

Quote:

From reading those articles, there's a possibility that there'll be scope for quite a lot of tactical thought in this game, working out how to synch everyone's various attacks together into combos but I guess we won't know until it comes out whether the potential has been realised or not. I suspect, based on previous experience of FF games that the vast majority of fights will be a case of just hitting attack over and over and there'll be a few optional bosses that require a bit more thought but even then, FF optional bosses normally require you to unlock all the best powers and grind forever to have a high enough attack power to wear down their 4 million hp, rather than requiring any particular cunning on the part of the player.

Whether you have grind or not is normally up to the player, depending what your facing it may not make that battle much easier. Grinding isn't an inherently bad thing anyway since it's purpose to give the player more options (items, skills etc) in battle. Some FF Bosses that tend be hard don't really require leveling, just smarter planning.

How ya doing, buddy?

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?

Originally Posted by Timberwolf8889

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?

Really? I suppose pressing buttons gives you some pretense of interactivity but personally, I just find it dull. The title "RPG" is a complete misnomer when it comes to much of the Japanese market anyway, especially the Final Fantasy games. A roleplaying game in my opinion should give you a choice as to how your character acts and approaches situations. In FF games you're told what the problem is, told how you're going to deal with it and often, there's very little choice in how your character develops either. It's a roleplay game only in the sense that you're playing a role, one prescribed to you by the designers but if you're using that definition then any game with a character in it is a roleplaying game which is pretty much every game except God-sims.

I see jrpgs as story books more than anything. You follow the path through they tell you and there are rarely any actual decisions to be made and it's the battle system that keeps your interest during the quiet bits of the story. I personally get more entertainment from crafting an awesome set of gambits which mean that I can just walk from encounter to encounter without having to press any buttons to win the fights than I do from a game where random monsters constantly jump out at you and you pick the same commands over and over to beat them.

Essentially I'm saying I liked FFXII's system as it meant I could play the game and do something else at the same time, there was very little need to pay any attention between plot events. FFX was equally dull between story bits but you had to pay attention a lot more, constantly pressing the X button to choose the same old commands over and over. I know that not everyone will agree with me that jrpgs are best enjoyed at the same time as doing other things but that's how I tend to play them. That's why I rarely have an opinion on the music as I play with the sound turned off so it doesn't clash with either the tv show I'm watching or the game I'm playing on the pc at the time.

And I prefered the more down to Earth settings to the outlandish cartoony stuff you get in a lot of jrpgs but again, that's just personal preference.

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

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

I was speaking idiomatically.

So, that demo looks amazing.

Does anyone here, oh, happen to have it, and quite possibly could go into a battle, pause, and maybe sorta record a looping version of the battle theme and hopefully post it? Just speculating, you know, if it's possible. Hopefully. Please.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I'm sure everyone has seen it, but here

Final Fantasy 13 Full Demo Gameplay

Additional Spam:
Here's a complete audio rip of the demo using HD youtube videos. I edited everything for l33tn3ss. Tagged and used mp3 gain, album art too.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/6i3vzx

Most amazing jew boots

You are a saint, a gentleman, a scholar, a hero of mankind, and amazing.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Andrew Evenstar

I'm sure everyone has seen it, but here

Final Fantasy 13 Full Demo Gameplay

Cool, Lionel Richie and Chocobos, this game is going to be awesome!!

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Thanks for rip Andrew.

HQ FFXIII Footage for anyone wants it.
FF XIII demo images and videos - Gamersyde

There's nowhere I can't reach.