[Multiplatform] Official Final Fantasy XIII Thread

20 paged Famitsu Scan on Alexander, Chocobos, and the Growth System.

New Final Fantasy XIII Scans from Famitsu - Crystarium, Chocobos - Final Fantasy XIII: News, Trailers & Screens ~ Final Fantasy-XIII.net

Rather nicely detailed summary of the article.

Final Fantasy XIII: Chocobos, Alexander, and the Crystarium System (andriasang.com blog, 11.11.2009)

FELIPE NO

3.9.2010. Official release date.

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

Fuck March and all the games coming out that month. Sony wants me broke, I just know it.

Well, at least the date is official. Wonder if there's going to be a CE or some other kind of bonus.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Huzzah on an actual date. This game is the reason why I purchased a PS3, although I haven't looked up any info at all about it, ha. Hope it's as good as the previous one. I'm probably one of the few people who enjoyed FFXII.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Weapon growth/customization has now been revealed:
http://www.ff-xiii.net/images/scans/...20Scan%201.jpg
http://www.ff-xiii.net/images/scans/...20Scan%202.jpg

Summary:

Quote:

Final Fantasy XIII Weapon System Revealed
Build up your weapons to make Lightning stronger and Snow more fashionable.

Posted Nov 13, 2009 at 02:40, by Anoop Gantayat

Lightning's sword will evolve as you play through FFXIII.

Square Enix keeps on finding new things to reveal for Final Fantasy XIII. Joining this week's full unveiling for the Crystarium System in Famitsu comes the latest update from Jump, covering the game's weapon system.

FFXIII lets you make modifications to your weapons. You do this by combining materials that enemies leave behind and that you find in treasure boxes. You'll find over 100 such materials in the game. Depending on your combinations, your weapons will rise in experience and become stronger.

The magazine provides examples of weapon evolution for two characters, Lightning and Snow.

Lightning starts off with her "Blaze Edge" sword. After modifications, this weapon will turn into the more powerful Slash Carbine. The two weapons look completely different.

As his "weapon," Snow uses a special coat that can up the status of its wearer. Make modifications to the coat, and in addition to growing more powerful, its color and patterns change.

As with the Crystarium System update from a couple of weeks back, Jump leaves out the details for the weapon modification system. For a closer look, we'll presumably have to wait for Famitsu either next week or the week after.

In addition to the weapon system, Jump provides a look this week at a new ruins area of Cocoon. This area is located deep beneath the ground. It houses a number of the freakish Shigai creatures. You'll recall that Shigai are what l'Cie become when they are unable to fulfill their assigned task.

Of greater note, it also appears that there's a fal'Cie in the underground.

Source: Final Fantasy XIII Weapon System Revealed (andriasang.com blog, 11.13.2009)

Sounds like a combination of Dark Cloud and FFVIII's Weapon system.


New batch of pretty Famitsu Screens
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This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Anything being like Dark Cloud (specifically Dark Cloud 2) is never a bad thing. This sounds interesting and it comes out relatively close to when I get out of school, so I might actually have some good time to waste on it.

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

I hope they get the balance right between upgrades needing hard to find stuff or not. I mean, Dark Cloud always let you keep your equipment current without too much needles grinding, but Rogue Galaxy let you get all the best equipment three dungeons or so before the end of the game, completely destroying any challenge the game might have had.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by nanstey

3.9.2010. Official release date.

Wow, that's great news. I expected it to be like August or September

Most amazing jew boots

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.

FELIPE NO

New Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaG4IkMv7Wo

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

nice I really wished they would have kept that vocal theme for the NA version :\

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Almost anything would be preferable to the bad British pop they went with instead.

These latest trailers are making it look much better than I was expecting, aside from the giggly teen lovers flashbacks. Still waiting to hear more about the battle system and story, but at least the people other than Lightning and Snow seem okay.

How ya doing, buddy?

I assume that 3/9/10 is the ninth of march? If so, that'll be a decent birthday present for me.

I watched the latest video on Xbox Live about this last night, the one where they announce the Leona Lewis track as the theme and talk to a few of the designers. The outdoors locations look a lot like most of Last Remnant so far but if that's real game footage they're showing then it runs a fuck of a lot smoother than Last Remnant. Worryingly from the video, one of the designers said the characters were the main focus of this game and we should expect a much more emotional story. That's exactly what they said about FFX before it came out and that's easily the worst FF game of the lot.

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

Another new trailer YouTube - Final Fantasy XIII Trailer [NEW 11/25/2009]

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

That's fan made, albeit a pretty good one.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Yeah I put together overnight and the release trailer came out as I was doing it lol. Thanks though

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I'd be careful with the criticism here, he might visit you in your dreams.

FELIPE NO

Man I deleted my post because I didn't feel like derailin'.

WHY YOU GOTTA BE THAT WAY

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

It is a thousand post thread about Final Fantasy. I'm sure it has been derailed plenty of times by people who are taking this game seriously. That's way worse.

So, uh, that FF13. Going to be awesome and stuff yeah. And so on and so forth. Graphics and belts and silly hair.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

But don't you get it?! you're giving a female deity a good ride heh heh

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Final Fantasy is the best game forever!

If I spend my christmas bonus in getting a sparkling new console just for this game, will that make me a loyal FF fan or just one of the mindless sheep gamers who follow the bandwagon and don't really know the true value of quality videogame content?

Also, hi Q.

How ya doing, buddy?

Spoiler:

stuf vemp

First real xbox Final Fantasy for the win. I liked FF12, but it better have a damn story this time.

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

It seems I might end up buying a strategy guide for FFXIII: :heh:

Quote:

---------------------------
Cocoon Has A Virtual Online Item Shop

As part of its big mega scoop on Final Fantasy XIII this week, Famitsu has an in-depth look at the game's weapon upgrade system, which was first introduced in the vaguest of details in Weekly Jump a couple of weeks back.
There's one particular bit that caught my eye. FFXIII has a type of retailer that you won't find in most other games. When accessing save points, you have the option of connecting to a special in-game Cocoon website. You can use this virtual e-commerce site to buy and sell items.

In a short interview with the magazine, director Motomu Toriyama described the "online" shop as "different from the traditional FF series" and "cool." He also hinted that some secret characters will appear in the shop. It's unclear if this is the only way to get items, or if you'll also have access to traditional town-based shops. The magazine did not provide a look at the shop, so this area is presumably something that we'll be introduced to in greater detail in the coming weeks.

I wonder if the Cocoon shop delivers to Pulse...

--------------------------------

Weapon System

Final Fantasy XIII's Crystarium system looks like it will offer hours and hours of customization. It's not alone, though. In addition to customizing your characters through the Crystarium system, you'll also be able to customize your weapons using a separate system.

Weekly Shonen Jump offered first details on the weapon customization system a couple of weeks back. Famitsu has returned with the specifics.

FFXIII's weapon customization system is know by just the Japanese word for "reform" (all out of wacky system names, Japan?). This system allows you to power up your weapons and accessories by feeding them special materials that you collect during the game.
The magazine states that once you've advanced far enough in the story, you'll be able to visit particular places in order to conduct the weapon and accessory modifications. This seems to imply that you won't have access to the reform system at all times, although the modification screens shown in the magazine do look like they're part of the main menu.
To use the system, you first select the weapon or accessory that you want to upgrade. You're then presented with a list of materials that you can feed to the item. You can select the material that you want to give, and its quantity.

Adding materials to a weapon can have different effects depending on the material in question. Some materials will increase the weapon's experience value, leading to level-ups and eventual form changes (detailed below). As an example, making use of a Liquid Crystal Lens item gives Lightning's Blaze Edge sword 100 experience points. The management screen lists how much experience you need to make the sword rise to the next level. If you need 300 experience points, and you happen to have three Liquid Crystal Lens items, an easy way to to get a quick level up is to hand over the three items.
Other materials have special effects. Famitsu mentions one example, a material that makes it so that the next material that's added to the weapon has a 1.25 multiplier for its awarded experience. Use this material first, and the next Liquid Crystal Lens item would give you 125 experience points rather than 100. Some items have the reverse effect, reducing the experience of subsequent items.

Leveling up a weapon increases its capabilities and also gives it special abilities. Progress through enough level-ups, and the weapon will eventually reach its limit. Its level status will display a star. This indicates that you can make the weapon change form. To actually make the weapon change form, you have to first obtain a special material for it. There may be a good reason why the transformations aren't automatic. When you transform a weapon, it actually ends up being weaker than its fully maxed out predecessor. Of course, by building up the new weapon with materials, you'll eventually result in an even more powerful weapon.
Jump detailed a couple of weapon transformations in its previous article. Transforming a weapon gives it a new physical appearance. Lightning's default Blaze Edge changes into Slash Carbon. Like Blaze Edge, Slash Carbon is a combination gun and sword.

Vanille's initial weapon is the horribly painful-looking Bind Rod. Its head piece looks like a pair of antlers. Its body consists of four long wires with hooks that deal damage to enemies by latching on and pulling (eek!). Transform Vanille's weapon, and the head piece will change to something that looks like feathers rather than antlers. The body is still wires and hooks, though.
Snow uses his bare hands to fight, but his weapon is actually his coat. When running about outside of battle, the coat displays no unique logos. But get into battle, and patterns appear on its back and sleeves. The initial pattern is "Wild Bear." It shows the face of a bear on the back and sleeves. Upgrade the coat, and the patterns change. Famitsu provides a look at one additional pattern which, compared to the Wild Bear coat, looks like it could have increased magic power.

The common theme in all of the above is that while the weapons transform, they don't completely change to a different class of weapons. Your characters are stuck using their default weapon class. The game has a total of six party members: Lightning, Sazh, Snow, Hope, Vanille, and Fang. Their weapon types are, respectively, transformable sword, gun, coat, boomerang, rod, and lance.
There are a number of ways to obtain the special materials required to use the weapon upgrade system. You'll find over 100 material types in all. Some can be found in treasure boxes, some are earned by winning a battle, some can be purchased in shops. The magazine speculates that you can also earn special materials as rewards for clearing missions. It's also likely that you'll be able to use a steal move in battle to steal materials from your foes.

You can also get materials by selecting to destroy one of your current weapons or accessories. You lose the weapon, but you get materials in return, some of which may be rare.
With the weapon reform system, FFXIII looks like it will be changing some of the paradigms we've come to expect from Japanese RPGs. The idea of buying a weapon in a shop seems to be de-emphasized. Director Motomu Toriyama, in a short interview with the magazine, notes that, although you can buy weapons in a shop, they start off at base level -- not in a particularly strong form.
In FFXIII, explained Toriyama, it's possible to fight the last boss with the very first weapon that you obtained in the game. This assumes, of course, that you've kept on building it up throughout the adventure. Your characters are capable of keeping multiple weapons in their possession, so there will be room for experimentation.

With all the customization options offered by the Crystarium system and now the weapon reform system, FFXIII looks positioned to cause a boom in the strategy guide business. At the very least, that FFXIII Ultimania Guide should end up being thicker than a phone book.
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http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/200...ual_item_shop/
http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/200...weapon_system/

Interesting way to shop, huh? Fits right well with futuristic theme the game has.


More stuff:

Quote:

Final Fantasy XIII Update

Details on Gran Pulse, monster hunting, Cactuar's girlfriend, and one of the pivotal events in the FFXIII story.

Posted Nov 25, 2009 at 16:39, By Anoop Gantayat

Lightning and Hope team up in Final Fantasy XIII. Famitsu has lots of details this week.

Famitsu has its promised mega scoop on Final Fantasy XIII in this week's issue. As usual, while many of the broader details were shared in recent issues of Jump and V Jump, Famitsu manages to get the specifics on such areas as Gran Pulse, the mission system, and new areas of the world.

As detailed last week, the area we've been referring to Pulse since FFXIII's announcement has another name, Gran Pulse. Why the two names? Director Motomu Toriyama tells the magazine that the people of Cocoon refer to Pulse as just Pulse. However, the people who live in Pulse refer to it as Gran Pulse, a name that suggests their appreciation for the natural world. The Gran Pulse name is the proper one, says Toriyama.

Pulse is full of giant beasts, some towering like mountains above the characters. The magazine has an interesting note about the Pulse creatures. They're actually of the same origin as Cocoon's creatures. The same type of monster looks different between the two worlds, as Cocoon's monsters evolved differently due to their enclosed environment.

Of course, there's more to Cocoon's monsters than just natural evolution. The Cocoon government has been turning monsters into weapons by fusing them with mechanical parts. An example is the Behemoth III Reformed beast from the Advent Children demo. This creature was modified for army use, but it's still a bit smaller than the King Behemoth monster you'll encounter in Gran Pulse.

Also getting major space this issue -- almost a full page! -- is the cactus-like Sabotender enemy (known in English as Cactuar). Jump showed screens of a massive Sabotender, but most of the subsequent attention appeared to be focused on the two standard-sized Sabotenders standing in front of the massive one. One of the two had a flower growing out of its head, suggesting, perhaps, a girlfriend for the classic FF enemy. Famitsu notes that the flower Sabotender previously appeared in Chocobo's Mystery Dungeon, where it gave up lots and lots of Gil. The magazine also notes that we've seen giant Sabotenders before, in FFVII and FFX-2.

Moving on to the mission system, Famitsu confirms something that Jump only implied. Rather than a general quest system, FFXIII's mission system is all about monster hunting. The missions given to you by the Cie Corpse obelisks that you find around Gran Pulse require that you defeat specific monsters in exchange for rewards. These missions are separate from the main FFXIII story.

When you take on a mission by speaking to an obelisk, you're given the location of the beast, the difficulty in the form of a letter ranking, and a mission description. The description is actually a recollection of the Cie Corpse from when it was in human form.

Finding your mission target shouldn't be too hard. In addition to a general location given in the mission screen, the target is flagged with a red "MISSION" marker above its head.

Defeating the required monsters may not be as easy as finding them, though. The mission monsters are special, powerful beasts. But in exchange for your hard work, you'll get rewards, including items. You'll be able to replay the mission over and over again, earning rewards each time.

You're also given rankings or titles of the form "Kind Rookie" as you clear missions. Screens show the rank rising during the mission result screen. The magazine speculates that you'll be able to take on certain missions only once you've reached a certain rank.

Toriyama shares a few details on the background story of the obelisks (the term obelisk is probably incorrect, but I'm going to use it until someone suggests something better or Square Enix shares an official English name). Cie Corpses, or l'Cie who've failed to fulfill their duty, wander around for a long time and eventually crystalize into the obelisk form. They wait in this state for a l'Cie to fulfill the failed mission for them.

On a sad note, Toriyama confirms that even if you do fulfill the Cie Corpse's mission, they're stuck in the obelisk form forever. As he describes it, they've already reached a state where their spirit can no longer rise.

Finally, a few details on some of the new areas that were introduced in Jump. Two new areas have come to light recently: the Yashias Mountain region, and an underground ruins area.

The Yashias Mountain area appears to be home to an ancient city, but now it serves as the nest for groups of Cie Corpses. Toriyama reveals that the city was created by a high level civilization that once lived in Gran Pulse. Players will have to learn for themselves what happened to that civilization.

The ruins area looks like it's one of the central points in the FFXIII story. It's in the underground of Boudam, the city which Lightning and all call home. The ruins were apparently lifted up from Pulse hundreds of years back, and now there is a Pulse fal'Cie waiting here

The term "ruins" is used in the FFXIII world to describe buildings and other things that were brought up from Pulse. They have a different phrase for ruins of structures that have always been in Cocoon.

According to Toriyama, when the fal'Cie in the ruins under Boudam was first discovered, an investigative team consisting primarily of PSICOM soldiers was sent into the ruins. The soldiers were viewed by the fal'Cie as l'Cie, but they were unable to cope with the weight of their assigned objective, and became Cie Corpses who now roam the ruins.

This incident was one of the reasons that the Cocoon government began its purge of the Boudam area.

Final Fantasy XIII Update (andriasang.com blog, 11.25.2009)

I was speaking idiomatically.

Quote:

With the weapon reform system, FFXIII looks like it will be changing some of the paradigms we've come to expect from Japanese RPGs. The idea of buying a weapon in a shop seems to be de-emphasized

Have these people never played Dark Cloud then?

How ya doing, buddy?

Or Vagrant Story :3

FELIPE NO