Gaming Final Fantasy XIII

[Drizzt Do'urden]

I've played EVERY FF title out there, except for FF XI. Something about forcing people to play online gets my blood boiling, but I cannot help but PRAY that FF XIII will be nothing like XII. I know most people looked at it as a refreshing change, but as the saying goes "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." and I think that should've held true.

I'm not saying I'm done with the series, I played XII all the way through, though truth be told it was a little like pulling teeth at times, and I'll play XIII no matter what the battle system. I, myself, just can't help be a little dissapointed in the way the series has gone.

[Korey]

[FONT="Franklin Gothic Medium"][COLOR="Indigo"]That's an interesting question though, Drizzt...because as a game developer you want to evolve your series so that you don't give the same old experience every time with new characters. At the same time, you don't want to stray away from the bread and butter of your series hallmarks. I'd say in FFXIII's case, it'd be better to use the battle system that they're thinking about because ATB gets old fast. It's a race to see who can go first and the battles, while fast, aren't nearly as fun as some other battle systems. Plus the "Stand and wait, then we attack" system is rather archaic and hackneyed, wouldn't you say?

I would pick this one up (YES SANGOME I AM) just for the sake of playing it. Plus it'll look nice on my 360. HDMI and all that. ;)

[/COLOR][/FONT]

[Drizzt Do'urden]

Hmm bread and butter? Then I must pose a question to you. What is this particular series' bread and butter?

To me (though it wasn't my favorite) FF VII is EXACTALLY what the Final fantasy games have been about since FF III (US). Sure the battles were "hurry up and wait" so to speak, but at the same time that gave way to the esper system (summoning for all you new gen only players).

I think there are ways you can evolve a series without switching the battle system up completly. It's been awhile since I've played FF XII, but I believe that you could only control Vaan correct? That takes a LOT of the strategy away, another one of the series perks.

Of course these are only my opinions, and far from everything I could say on the subject matter. As I said before, I'm going to be picking it up (by the way, has an exact release date been set yet?)

[Magus]

[quote name='Drizzt']I think there are ways you can evolve a series without switching the battle system up completly. It's been awhile since I've played FF XII, but I believe that you could only control Vaan correct? That takes a LOT of the strategy away, another one of the series perks.[/quote]
Oh, how right you are. I'm still enjoying the simple "push X and wait" method lol. (Dragon Quest VIII) And to control Vaan only? Oh my, you just wiped out all intentions I had to try the game out. But if I'm not mistaken, in the demo version you could switch characters.

[quote name='Drizzt']Hmm bread and butter? Then I must pose a question to you. What is this particular series' bread and butter?[/quote]
That's a question that can't really be answered, or rather that's a question that can have a lot of different answers.

[Nerdsy]

[quote name='Drizzt Do'urden']It's been awhile since I've played FF XII, but I believe that you could only control Vaan correct?[/QUOTE]

[color=deeppink]Wrong. You could control all three active characters during the course of the battle.

Really, the only difference between FFXII's battle system and the ATB of FFVII, FFVIII, and FFIX is that it was converted to real time and they introduced an option for automation.[/color]

[James]

[quote name='Gavin'][SIZE="1"]Well after the debacle that was Final Fantasy XII, XIII is really going to have to impress me in order to restore my faith that Final Fantasy isn't simply a series being milked by Square-Enix for the sake they know the brand will sell even a average game.

[/SIZE][/QUOTE]

[font=franklin gothic medium]Wait... FFXII, a debacle? Wow. We must have been reading different reviews (and playing different games!)

In all seriousness, those who argued that Final Fantasy was becoming stagnant by its tenth installment really received everything they wanted with XII - it had a vastly improved battle system (more akin to the classic Vagrant Story than anything else), a substantially improved plot that [i]didn't[/i] involve a cliche love story and an entirely more refined package overall.

Rather than shying away from the achievement that was FFXII, Square-Enix should follow that direction even further with XIII.

XII was anything but a "milked" product. If Square-Enix has been using XII to milk the franchise, they would not have taken so many risks by pushing in several new directions. They even appointed an entirely new director - Matsuno - who has a stellar reptuation within the Japanese development community (and I believe he was actually the director of Vagrant Story itself).

Admittedly I have not read a great deal about XIII, partly because I'd rather just experience it myself when I play it. But reading that the battle system remains somewhat faithful to XII makes me very happy - once you get used to XII, it's so hard to go back to the relatively stiff and limited system in the previous titles. I mean, Gambits alone were absolutely fantastic - they offered a layer of strategy without creating added complexity. Brilliant.

I'm not sure if XIII will use a Gambit-type system or something improved, but I am definitely glad to see that the battle system continues in this direction.

My bigger concern is actually related to characters and plot. XII set a new benchmark for the franchise by attempting to move in a different direction, with better characterization and a more fleshed-out plot. I hope that XIII will continue to push in that direction, without resorting to the lazy cliches we've seen before.[/font]

[Magus]

[size=1][color=navy][url=http://www.gametrailers.com/video/tgs-09-final-fantasy/56839#][u]Japanese trailer[/u][/url]

[url=http://www.gametrailers.com/video/tgs-09-final-fantasy/57151][u]English trailer[/u][/url]

Thought I'd update the thread with those trailers. They're the same just different languages. Anyway, that trailer renewed my interest in this game because I was beginning to grow tired of seeing the previous trailer all the time. The battle mechanics were beginning to wear itself out because all I kept seeing was the same thing over and over. Nothing to really get me excited. In this trailer we get to see some of the summons in action and, like I said it renewed my interest in the game. I thought there would be something else to share but, there isn't.[/size][/color]
_________________

Edit:

[size=1][color=green]So the game's been out for 2 days now and I'm waiting to hear some results. I've seen quite a few reviews and they've given the game to high remarks. They've also mentioned that the game can be a turn off for those who like the "open" world of the past games because it's very linear. But yeah want to hear what others think of it.[/size][/color]

[James]

[font=franklin gothic medium]I've already started to hear impressions from friends who have bought this - has anyone here got FFXIII yet? I'd love to see a review posted here![/font]

[Heaven's Cloud]

[quote name='James'][font=franklin gothic medium]I've already started to hear impressions from friends who have bought this - has anyone here got FFXIII yet? I'd love to see a review posted here![/font][/QUOTE]

I don't think anyone has posted a review because this game is like crack. It is absolutely by far the best Final Fantasy game yet. I'm about twenty hours into the game and I am still being introduced to different aspects of the weapons system and battle system.

[James]

[quote name='Heaven's Cloud']I don't think anyone has posted a review because this game is like crack. It is absolutely by far the best Final Fantasy game yet. I'm about twenty hours into the game and I am still being introduced to different aspects of the weapons system and battle system.[/QUOTE]

[font=franklin gothic medium]I just got it a couple of days ago and I'm about 4 - 5hrs in. I posted some preliminary thoughts at [url="http://www.theotaku.com/worlds/otakuboards"]OB World[/url], but even an hour after those impressions were posted I'm already discovering more.

I might write a full review at the very end (or near to it).[/font]

[RedJ]

[COLOR="Red"]I'm somewhat starting to wonder if I made the wrong decision when I decided not to buy this when I had the chance. After FFXII, I'm wary of any FF game that comes out now, especially when it gets mixed reviews like this one, and after looking at the guidebook and seeing how short the game appeared to be, I decided not to get it- not for $60, at least.

But now , all I keep hearing is how good this game is or how horrible it is, and how it's nowhere near as short as I'm thinking. I just...I don't know what to think anymore @_@[/COLOR]

[James]

[font=franklin gothic medium]I think it's worth getting, whether you like Final Fantasy games or not.

It just depends whether or not the streamlined nature of the game will be a deal-breaker for you or not. If you love spending hours tweaking your characters, then this probably isn't the game for you. On the other hand, there's still plenty of customization to be had.

I'd say that XIII is probably the closest to X, generally. I just personally think it's better.

So it does somewhat depend on what you're looking for. If you didn't like the battle system in XII though, then you may not like XIII - Paradigms are very similar to Gambits and in battle, you will need to swap Paradigms regularly on the fly. If this isn't your cup of tea, then XIII may frustrate you more than anything.

However, for me, the Paradigms are great. They're strategic, but not in their initial setup - the strategy comes in battle, especially with timing. I prefer that kind of strategy, rather than spending obsessive amounts of time pre-planning.[/font]

[Magus]

[quote name='James'][font=franklin gothic medium]So it does somewhat depend on what you're looking for. If you didn't like the battle system in XII though, then you may not like XIII - Paradigms are very similar to Gambits and in battle, you will need to swap Paradigms regularly on the fly. If this isn't your cup of tea, then XIII may frustrate you more than anything.
[/font][/QUOTE]

[color=green][font=franklin gothic medium]Now you're kinda scaring me away from the game. I've only played the demo for FFXII (a friend did say it was pretty different from the actual game itself), but I didn't care for it at all.

What really gets me is your post from the Japan's not funny anymore thread.[/color][/font]

[quote name='James'][font=franklin gothic medium]Lately I've been playing Final Fantasy XIII and one character - Vanille - is such a ridiculously over-sexualised stereotype that it actually almost makes me angry. Her ability to giggle at completely inappropriate moments, or her frequent grunts, moans and groans (often for no apparent reason) become incredibly tiresome.

So tiresome, in fact, that there are times where she almost single-handedly ruins the game for me. Not in terms of gameplay, but in terms of the story and characters.[/font][/quote]

[color=green][font=franklin gothic medium]The main reason I play RPG's in the first place is for the characters (and looking at the pretty magics, summonings and limit breaks if they're in the game), and it's bad enough that I haven't been liking what I've been hearing about Vanille, and I tend to have a low tolerance for characters like her. Seeing you say that it almost ruins the game for you is almost making me do a 180 and just leave this game alone. Lightning (or someone that gets a lot of screen time) would have to be even more of a dominating character for me to put up with her.[/color][/font]

[James]

[quote=Magus]Now you're kinda scaring me away from the game. I've only played the demo for FFXII (a friend did say it was pretty different from the actual game itself), but I didn't care for it at all.
[/quote]

[font=franklin gothic medium]Wait, you only played a demo? Hm, well, you should really play the full game. Final Fantasy XII was, in my opinion, just what an increasingly stale series needed.

In the same way that you can't really grasp Final Fantasy XIII's battle system until maybe the 10 hour mark, you aren't going to get a full impression of XII's from just the demo.

I recommend giving XII another look. Now that it's Platinum, too, you should be able to pick it up pretty cheap.[/font]

[quote name='Magus']The main reason I play RPG's in the first place is for the characters (and looking at the pretty magics, summonings and limit breaks if they're in the game), and it's bad enough that I haven't been liking what I've been hearing about Vanille, and I tend to have a low tolerance for characters like her. Seeing you say that it almost ruins the game for you is almost making me do a 180 and just leave this game alone. Lightning (or someone that gets a lot of screen time) would have to be even more of a dominating character for me to put up with her.[/quote]

[font=franklin gothic medium]Ironically, one of the main reasons I liked Final Fantasy XII was the maturity of the plot - it felt somehow a whole lot more grown up than previous Final Fantasy games. I hesitate to say this, but it was almost more [i]western[/i] in nature - that is to say, it wasn't filled with over-the-top Japanese cliches. And it didn't include a lame romance sub-plot, which allowed it to place more emphasis on the core geopolitical side of the story.

In terms of XIII, yes, there's Vanille. And for me, she's painful. But having said that, she's not nearly as bad as some of her contemporaries. Plus, the fact that (at least so far) she's relatively inconsequential...it makes her fairly easy to ignore.

Also, in many parts of the game she's paired with Sazh, who is one of my favourite characters in the game. In some ways, Sazh is a bit like the player's conscience - he asks the questions that the player has in his or her mind. He's also a wonderful force for moderation between the extremes of the other character personalities. For once, we're seeing a black character that is [i]not[/i] like Barrett from Final Fantasy VII (although Barrett did have his positives, he was admittedly a bit of a Mr. T rip-off).

Anyway, my suggestion would be to first go and grab Final Fantasy XII. It's seriously worth the effort.

Maybe take a look at Final Fantasy XIII down the road. Or wait until you have played a few hours of XII to help make up your mind.

Either way, I do highly recommend XIII. Despite my criticisms, it's a fantastic game. I'd say, for me, it has the potential to become one of my favourite Final Fantasy games.[/font]

[Magus]

[color=green][font=franklin gothic medium]Two birds with one stone. I could kiss.. nevermind. Thanks for that post. Seriously, I've been trying to get an answer about XII's battle system for a couple years now, and I've been trying to find another game to buy along with Okami.

Renewed interest for this game now :catgirl:[/color][/font]

[James]

[font=franklin gothic medium]I know this is a thread about XIII, but I have to say...XII's battle system is really elegant. And the Gambits are actually really fun to mess around with - they allow for very deep strategy but they're inherently simple to understand. The combination of depth and intuitiveness in XII's battle system is, I think, pretty much unrivalled in Final Fantasy games.

That is, at least, until XIII. I'm maybe five or six hours in, so I still haven't uncovered everything there is to know about the battle system. What I can say, though, is that it kind of borrows from the Gambit idea...and just injects greater speed and simplicity into the process.

I actually like the general streamlined feel of XIII. The game just keeps pushing forward, it doesn't generally feel like there's too much unnecessary crap going on. For me, that's a great thing, but I know that some hardcore Final Fantasy fans may not like that.[/font]

[Heaven's Cloud]

[quote name='James'][font=franklin gothic medium]
I actually like the general streamlined feel of XIII. The game just keeps pushing forward, it doesn't generally feel like there's too much unnecessary crap going on. For me, that's a great thing, but I know that some hardcore Final Fantasy fans may not like that.[/font][/QUOTE]

Once you hit a certain point in the game the world opens up and there are a ton of side quests and tough mini-boss fights. Also, Vanille gets much more tolerable as the story progresses.

I agree about the streamlined feeling of the game though. Even undertaking side quests doesn't really seem as though you are moving too far from the plot.

[Goodbye, Face]

[FONT="Arial"][SIZE="1"]I've been playing FFXIII since launch day, and it was me giving the series one last chance, as I found major faults in both X and XII. It turns out that I love the game.

Hope greatly annoyed me until he later grew some balls, but other than that, I like all the characters. I felt like XII's story was too distant from the characters, so I'm enjoying that XIII's story has your characters directly in a dilemma and on the run through most of the main storyline. I also like that Lightning is a direct female clone of Cloud, from her being an ex-soldier, to having a mopey attitude, to riding in on a train with a black guy in the beginning of the game to face a scorpion robot. Yep.

The combat system gives you just enough control while for the first time the combat almost feels natural, with the characters appearing to unleash an onslaught of attacks and then taking a strategic break to size up their enemy and prepare their next attacks.

I'm up to the top of Taejin's Tower currently, and if I have a fault, it is that most of the bosses are way too easy. Many of which can be beaten by using the relentless assault paradigm to stagger them and deal massive damage, repeating this process until it becomes necessary to heal and then revert back. Thankfully, this boredom ceases when it comes to battling eidolons, which require some strategy to survive, let alone defeat. Also, a lot of the enemies can get really hard in certain groups.

I'd also like to answer about the supposed linearity of the game. I personally find it no more linear than most of the previous games. An example being spending the entire first disc of VII in Midgar. A lot of classics did actually have a linear system but instead of running through paths, they gave you big, blank expanses of grass to walk around. If there were additional areas to discover, entering them would see you getting killed by the first enemies you happened across because as it turns out, you drifted from the set path the game provides and you're supposed to travel there later. There's exceptions to that, but few enough to make an argument invalid in my point of view. But yes, the magic those have provided is gone, but made up for by being able to play the post-game on Pulse, in which you can max out the Crystarium and go on 64 hunts, which is something the main storyline just teases at.

But yeah, I'm kind of at odds because I consider Vagrant Story one of my favorite games, I disliked FFXII (I see Fallout 3 as a more similar game to it), but I love FFXIII, which I keep getting told DOES NOT MAKE SENSE.[/SIZE][/FONT]

[peteraugusts]

I have been enjoying FF13 very much. It look fantastic. I love all of the characters, especially Lightning because she is badass, though Vanille's voice is a bit annoying. The storyline and all other stuff is great. The graphics are stunning, and the battles are hard but once you beat them, you experience feelings of pride. I am definitely not disappointed with this game, and I'm probably going to play it again once I beat it.

[CaNz]

Just bought the game yesterday... its so pretty i could cry.

[Inuyasha Fandom]

So the battle system in this newest final fantasy is going to be like kingdom hearts? I would love to see this game, and to play it, if only because it's part of the final fantasy franchise.

However... the last FF game released had one key drawback, which was the battle system, which I hated with a passion. I hated the kingdom hearts battle system too. If the battle system is similar, i might pass on the game altogether, simply because of that.

[CaNz]

its more like a line system again... and i doubt it will be anything like kh...

[RedJ]

[quote name='Inuyasha Fandom' date='13 May 2010 - 11:26 AM' timestamp='1273775160' post='693680']
So the battle system in this newest final fantasy is going to be like kingdom hearts? I would love to see this game, and to play it, if only because it's part of the final fantasy franchise. [/quote]

[color="#FF0000"]That's FF Versus XIII, which is still in development. And I'm pretty sure it wont be [i]exactly[/i] like KH's battle system. They'll probably put some sort of FFish twist to it.

Anyway, I picked up the game earlier tonight. I was kind of hesitant since GameStop was closed by the time I got there, so I had to pay $65 something (freaking taxes) for it at Wal Mart, and Wal Mart isn't exactly known to let you exchange something solely because you didn't like it (from my experience, anyway).

But to my surprise, I'm liking it so far[s]I would seriously like to have that extra $5 I had to pay for it back, though :x[/s] and I'm not regretting my purchase. Yet. My only complaints are Hope ('nuff said) and there are certain points where I think Lightning's VA could have done a much better job, but meh. I'm only about three hours into the game though (my controller decided it needed to charge -3-), so my opinion might change. [/color]

[CaNz]

Hope is kinda stupid at the start. he was the only character i didn't immediately like, and i still dont like him as much as the others, though he makes some improvements.

I still need to finish the game, but i keep getting distracted by other good games! life is tough.

[Sangome]

[color="#9932CC"][font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]Well, I finally got the opportunity to rent this game last night. I'm still on chapter 1, so I'm not sure what I can say about it and my opinion be a valid one. But my thoughts so far:

-- The battle system is...okay. It's not particularly mind-blowing, but there's far worse, too. Although I'm sure I've only seen a fraction of what it's capable of, so.
-- Goes without saying, but augh this game is so pretty. I could stare at it for days. There's a definite difference between seeing screenshots and video, and seeing the game up close.
-- I don't really know the characters that well so far, but I like them all already. All of that's subject to change, though, as love/hate for a character can switch very easily, depending on what happens.
-- Music's quite a treat, even if Uematsu's not been on board for some time. There's already a handful of tracks I already like.

But yeah, that's about it for right now. As I said, I'm not too terribly far yet, so I still have quite a ways to go.[/font][/color] Edited August 1, 2010 by Sangome