Final Fantasy XIII TGS trailer

[Skykid]

Has anyone seen this?

It's basically the entire game in a nutshell, more than enough to know I'm not going anywhere near it.
The characters look as though they're actually becoming cosplayers, rather than the other way around.
Either way, it looks like total drivel to me. Why can't square get some balls and release a FF with a bit of grit and imagination, instead of pussying about all the time?

[ZOM]

Or why don't they just go back to the freaking "evil maniac who wants to destroy the whole universe including himself"-cliche? If that would happen I'd be a proud FF-fan again like in the old super fami days. FUCK FFVII it all started because of that damn game. -_-

[undamned]

The characters look as though they're actually becoming cosplayers, rather than the other way around.

Haha, that's so funny, 'cause it's true
-ud

[Skykid]

FUCK FFVII it all started because of that damn game. -_-

True, although it's evolved into something even more grotesque these days.

[BryanM]

Four Warriors of Light comes out next week. In the Japan.

I, for one, would look forward to selecting "Fight" and "Cure" eighty million times until I level up enough to cast "Quake" and "Cure" eighty million times. Just like the good old days.

What the hell is this obscure thing you guys are talking about? Some kind of new Pokemon game?

[ZacharyB]

Why can't square get some balls and release a FF with a bit of grit and imagination, instead of pussying about all the time?

I think it's a mistake to go to Square for grit these days. They make the cream puffs of the console RPG world.

It's like asking a guy to dirt-rally with his Duesenberg.

I don't know who else to turn to either. Maybe people don't have the patience for darker story-based RPGs any longer, either in making 'em or playing 'em.

[Ed Oscuro]

Vagrant Story #1 Fan

[Jon]

Play SMT\Persona instead.

[Jonathan Ingram]

I was extremely excited about the prospect of playing FFXIII when I first got PS3. Now I`m kinda indifferent to it. I`m a lot more interested in Yakuza 4 and The Last Guardian.

[Necronopticous]

Vagrant Story #1 Fan

My perfect 190 all class/affinity Rhomphaia and I beg to differ.

[Momijitsuki]

I think I'd still be a huge Final Fantasy fan if they were still making SNES-styled games. 'Cause you know, after FFVI, the quality of the games plummeted.

That said, FFXIII does look deceptively promising, but I'm almost unwilling to try after FFXII

[E. Randy Dupre]

Or why don't they just go back to the freaking "evil maniac who wants to destroy the whole universe including himself"-cliche? If that would happen I'd be a proud FF-fan again like in the old super fami days. FUCK FFVII it all started because of that damn game. -_-

Just play Dragon Quest, if you want something that boringly predictable.

[Elixir]

And to think that they already have XIV in the process.. I have Square-Enix to thank for teaching me roman numerals, because I never learned that shit in high.

XIV is going to be "online" though, so ugh mmorpg alert. I wish they'd make a Saga game with as much graphical effort as what Saga Frontier 2 had. Or what XIV is going to have. They probably can't do something like this without sacrificing gameplay though, because with Square-Enix it seems to be one or the other.

[Skykid]

I think I'd still be a huge Final Fantasy fan if they were still making SNES-styled games. 'Cause you know, after FFVI, the quality of the games plummeted.

That said, FFXIII does look deceptively promising, but I'm almost unwilling to try after FFXII

I thought it looked plainly awful rather than deceptively promising, but there is specific gender appeal in Square's FF games these days, and they know it (are you a girl by any chance?)
Afaik females make up most of the customer base for FF, while the rest are seriously geeky boys who just like to dress up like characters who resemble girls...

Squaresoft what have you done!

[Ruldra]

I'm willing to give it a try, but I'm not expecting anything great. XII was a huge disappointment.

[Skykid]

XII was a huge disappointment.

This is confusing - most people always urge me to try XII after hearing my criticisms of the series, but two people here have already said it's wack. What's wrong with it specifically?

[BulletMagnet]

This is confusing - most people always urge me to try XII after hearing my criticisms of the series, but two people here have already said it's wack. What's wrong with it specifically?

As one of my RL friends put it, "I can find a monster, then get up and make a sandwich, and by the time I come back the battle's over." For some people (him included) this was a positive factor - for others, it'd kill the game completely.

[Ruldra]

What's wrong with it specifically?

Well, let's see:

- The main character has no place in the story. He's just a kid tagging along with the rest of the party for no reason. If he was removed from the game it wouldn't make any difference. Considering that in other games you're the most important person in the group and the story revolves around you, in XII you just feel useless.

- Travelling is utterly boring. You're supposed to go to one place, and it takes so long to get there you forget what you should be doing there in the first place.

- The license system is just horrible, and that's what I hate the most about the game. When you find a piece of equipment, you can't equip it right away, you have to buy the license for it. And the license board itself is completely blank, revealing itself when you buy more licenses. So not only you don't know WHERE on the board that particular license is, you need to buy all the licenses in-between before buying the one you need.

- The gambit system can be abused to make your party deal with every encounter automatically and, in essence, make the game play itself. At least this can be turned off if you don't like using it.

- The Zodiac Spear bullshit. To find the best weapon in the game, you must NOT open any of the 4 specific chests earlier in the game, and you have no way to know which chests are those. Hope you have that guide with you.

- 1% and below drop chances for rare equipment and specific monster appearances, just like in MMOs.

- Overly long cutscenes, enough to put you to sleep.


Keep in mind that I played maybe 1/4 of the game. Someone who played the whole thing could point out more flaws.

[ZOM]

This is confusing - most people always urge me to try XII after hearing my criticisms of the series, but two people here have already said it's wack. What's wrong with it specifically?

As one of my RL friends put it, "I can find a monster, then get up and make a sandwich, and by the time I come back the battle's over." For some people (him included) this was a positive factor - for others, it'd kill the game completely.

That IMO is a very cheap excuse. At least you have to option to not use the gambits and do everything on your own, which after some time, you'll realize that the task can get too overwhelming at times without them. Since you can set-up everything to your liking, you'll soon enough find a good balance. I had a very good time with FFXII's battle system, the stuff I personally didn't like about the game were the dumb "MMORPG-ish" chests, the "main" character Vaan (I still consider Balthier to be the true lead, and he is good enough) and the final boss.

Or why don't they just go back to the freaking "evil maniac who wants to destroy the whole universe including himself"-cliche? If that would happen I'd be a proud FF-fan again like in the old super fami days. FUCK FFVII it all started because of that damn game. -_-

Just play Dragon Quest, if you want something that boringly predictable.

And that's the keyword; I think DQ are boring, FF IV through VI were not.



EDIT: after reading Ruldra's post it clearly shows that there's lots of love/hate features in the game; Personally I loved the long journeys you took on the field to reach the next destinations and the License-Board was ok. For everything else, I wholeheartedly agree with Ruldra.

[Momijitsuki]

I think I'd still be a huge Final Fantasy fan if they were still making SNES-styled games. 'Cause you know, after FFVI, the quality of the games plummeted.

That said, FFXIII does look deceptively promising, but I'm almost unwilling to try after FFXII

I thought it looked plainly awful rather than deceptively promising, but there is specific gender appeal in Square's FF games these days, and they know it (are you a girl by any chance?)
Afaik females make up most of the customer base for FF, while the rest are seriously geeky boys who just like to dress up like characters who resemble girls...

Squaresoft what have you done!

Ahahaha, you're a little off on both parts there. First, I'm a guy, and second, I'm a staff member at the largest Final Fantasy community on the internet. Trust me, the male:female ratio there is actually pretty equal, if not leaning toward more males. However, you are correct in that FFVII and on tend to appeal to the girls more, because the fangirl posts in those forums are much more condensed, when there really aren't any in the earlier games' forums.

As for the gender appeal, the 'omg bishounen androgynous male' stuff really seemed to take off in FFVII, which I think is an awful game, and they only get worse from there (though I do admit that FFIX and X are okay, but more for the gameplay and story than for the characters)-- and don't get me started on FFX-2 and FFXII.

The NES and SNES eras of Final Fantasy were fantastic, though.

Maybe my draw to FFXIII is that the voice for Lightning is Maaya Sakamoto-- which doesn't mean shit since I'll be stuck with the English dub, which will most likely be butchered all to hell.

[Jonathan Ingram]

- Travelling is utterly boring. You're supposed to go to one place, and it takes so long to get there you forget what you should be doing there in the first place.

Traveling is one of the best parts of the game. The scenery is beautiful and the battle system is a lot of fun. I`ve clocked more than 280 hours across FFXII and FFXII: Zodiac Job System and the traveling aspect never got boring for me.

- The gambit system can be abused to make your party deal with every encounter automatically and, in essence, make the game play itself.

This strategy can be effective only during the first ten hours or so. The further you are into the game the more you`ll have to adjust your gambits for each specific enemy. And "make the game play itself" criticism can easily be applied to just about any other FF - your characters stand still like idiots until you pick a command from the menu. At least in FFXII the boring process of inputting the same commands over and over again can be made partially automated which greatly reduces the tediousness of grinding.

- The Zodiac Spear bullshit. To find the best weapon in the game, you must NOT open any of the 4 specific chests earlier in the game, and you have no way to know which chests are those. Hope you have that guide with you.

There are better weapons. Masamune + Genji Gauntlets(or whatever it was called) combo easily puts the Zodiac Spear to shame. Also, just like that super sword from FFIX whose name escapes me at the moment, the Zodiac Spear is not meant for the first playthrough. You aren`t even supposed to know about it, unless you start the game together with a guide which you never should.

- 1% and below drop chances for rare equipment and specific monster appearances, just like in MMOs.

None of that is required to finish the game. I killed all of the game`s optional bosses including Yiazmat and Omega MKII and I never had to farm for any of the rare equipment(most of which is completely useless).

- Overly long cutscenes, enough to put you to sleep.

Actually, one of the main criticisms usually elevated against FFXII is that it doesn`t have enough of them, especially during the second part of the game.)))

[Skykid]

Ahahaha, you're a little off on both parts there. First, I'm a guy, and second, I'm a staff member at the largest Final Fantasy community on the internet. Trust me, the male:female ratio there is actually pretty equal, if not leaning toward more males. However, you are correct in that FFVII and on tend to appeal to the girls more, because the fangirl posts in those forums are much more condensed, when there really aren't any in the earlier games' forums.

Thanks for the info there Momiji, that actually proved pretty interesting. I wasn't sure of your gender, I was kind of going on avatar/sig and that you thought the game looked promising in some way. I assumed that you've seen the TGS trailer (it's about 7 minutes long), if you had you might think differently. The dub you mentioned is already in, and I wouldn't say its awful in voice acting terms - just painful in terms of hackneyed scripting/themes.

As for the gender appeal, the 'omg bishounen androgynous male' stuff really seemed to take off in FFVII, which I think is an awful game, and they only get worse from there (though I do admit that FFIX and X are okay, but more for the gameplay and story than for the characters)-- and don't get me started on FFX-2 and FFXII.
The NES and SNES eras of Final Fantasy were fantastic, though.

With those opinions, you deserve to be a staff member of the internets largest FF community (in-fact, it kind of makes me feel good to know you are, although I'll probably never visit.)
At least you know your shit - get educating some of those flaky cosplay kids.


EDIT: Thanks for all the info on FFXII - what a shame. I had hopes that as it's directed by the Vagrant Story guy it would live up to the hype as the last decent FF game. It sounds so boring and misguided though, you've just saved me £20 quid.

[Momijitsuki]

Ahahaha, you're a little off on both parts there. First, I'm a guy, and second, I'm a staff member at the largest Final Fantasy community on the internet. Trust me, the male:female ratio there is actually pretty equal, if not leaning toward more males. However, you are correct in that FFVII and on tend to appeal to the girls more, because the fangirl posts in those forums are much more condensed, when there really aren't any in the earlier games' forums.

Thanks for the info there Momiji, that actually proved pretty interesting. I wasn't sure of your gender, I was kind of going on avatar/sig and that you thought the game looked promising in some way. I assumed that you've seen the TGS trailer (it's about 7 minutes long), if you had you might think differently. The dub you mentioned is already in, and I wouldn't say its awful in voice acting terms - just painful in terms of hackneyed scripting/themes.

As for the gender appeal, the 'omg bishounen androgynous male' stuff really seemed to take off in FFVII, which I think is an awful game, and they only get worse from there (though I do admit that FFIX and X are okay, but more for the gameplay and story than for the characters)-- and don't get me started on FFX-2 and FFXII.
The NES and SNES eras of Final Fantasy were fantastic, though.

With those opinions, you deserve to be a staff member of the internets largest FF community (in-fact, it kind of makes me feel good to know you are, although I'll probably never visit.)
At least you know your shit - get educating some of those flaky cosplay kids.


EDIT: Thanks for all the info on FFXII - what a shame. I had hopes that as it's directed by the Vagrant Story guy it would live up to the hype as the last decent FF game. It sounds so boring and misguided though, you've just saved me £20 quid.

With that logic, every Mushihimesama and Touhou fan is female.

As far as my opinions go, I'm sort of considered a heretic for hating FFVII there. Whenever I point out the flaws, I'm called a troll and ignorant and don't know a good game when I see one--despite owning every available numbered FF game (aside from XI). Therefore, educating the hopeless isn't worth it.

I've got half an urge to just buy XIII when it comes out just so my collection stays up-to date.

[Skykid]

With that logic, every Mushihimesama and Touhou fan is female.

Girls love Touhou - I can only think its because its so character driven. An incredible feat considering the artwork sucks hard.

[Momijitsuki]

While that may be true, the male to female ratio at Maidens of the Kaleidoscope is 5:1, according to the forum stats page-- and 99% of the people have Touhou or female anime character avatars.

Still, yeah-- Final Fantasy... I've been wishing for ages that they'd make a new SNES styled game again, and even after FFIV: The After Years is on the Wii Virtual Console, I haven't got around to playing it yet. xD

[Skykid]

While that may be true, the male to female ratio at Maidens of the Kaleidoscope is 5:1, according to the forum stats page-- and 99% of the people have Touhou or female anime character avatars.

Ha ha, okay I get the picture! It was your comment that got me thinking girls were big into it in the first place (that and I met a girl last week who wouldn't stop talking about Touhou.)

Artwork is still crap though.

[The Coop]

What's wrong with it specifically?

Well, let's see:

- The main character has no place in the story. He's just a kid tagging along with the rest of the party for no reason. If he was removed from the game it wouldn't make any difference. Considering that in other games you're the most important person in the group and the story revolves around you, in XII you just feel useless.

- Travelling is utterly boring. You're supposed to go to one place, and it takes so long to get there you forget what you should be doing there in the first place.

- The license system is just horrible, and that's what I hate the most about the game. When you find a piece of equipment, you can't equip it right away, you have to buy the license for it. And the license board itself is completely blank, revealing itself when you buy more licenses. So not only you don't know WHERE on the board that particular license is, you need to buy all the licenses in-between before buying the one you need.

- The gambit system can be abused to make your party deal with every encounter automatically and, in essence, make the game play itself. At least this can be turned off if you don't like using it.

- The Zodiac Spear bullshit. To find the best weapon in the game, you must NOT open any of the 4 specific chests earlier in the game, and you have no way to know which chests are those. Hope you have that guide with you.

- 1% and below drop chances for rare equipment and specific monster appearances, just like in MMOs.

- Overly long cutscenes, enough to put you to sleep.


Keep in mind that I played maybe 1/4 of the game. Someone who played the whole thing could point out more flaws.

Yet it has Fran and her ass, thus making those criticisms null and void

[Lordstar]

just seems like every other FF to me. I know I hate the English voices I sure do hope there is a JP with subtitles version.

[E. Randy Dupre]

Skykid, I'd take those complaints with a large pinch of salt.

Gambits can, as already stated, be ignored. In fact, I played it without touching them once - turn on the option to have the game pause after every character action and it's a turn-based combat system. Complaining about gambits is like saying a game's shit because it has the option to play it on easy difficulty. Key word: option.

Overly long cutscenes? It's an RPG. Moreover, it's a Square Enix RPG.

The license system works brilliantly and allows you to turn any character into any type of fighter that you want, just so long as you use your brain while developing those characters. Monaing that you can't use a specific piece of equipment until you've opened the license for it? Dude, have you even played an RPG before? This is extremely common stuff.

The Zodiac Spear is the most powerful weapon in the game. As such, it's entirely unnecessary. And you wouldn't even know that it exists unless you'd read other people moaning about it on the internet, who'd heard about it from other people, who'd read about it in the guide. It's not like the game teases you with it and then hides it out of reach. It's a bonus for a second playthrough. Nothing more, nothing less. And, as far as I can remember, you can get it another way anyway. Giving the game up at the 1/4 point and complaining that you had no access to the ultimate weapon? Really?

About the only valid complaint in that list is about the main character, who was apparently introduced by Squenix when they decided that Balthier - who was originally supposed to take the starring role - was too old and might put players off. Despite the fact that Balthier is all of 22 years old.

There are a number of things wrong with FFXII, but they're not those things mentioned above. Personally, I think it's the most interesting FF I've played in years, thanks to all fo the things it does differently - and, on the whole, successfully. The main problem it has is that the story's confusingly told and dull.

[Jockel]

just seems like every other FF to me. I know I hate the English voices I sure do hope there is a JP with subtitles version.

The interwebs can help you out on that. (in case you meant XII)