Final Fantasy XIII

[JoonK]

Not to sound like typical wapanese, but I'm pretty hyped for Final Fantasy XIII. It's being released in a week, and I'm just bummed there is no midnight release near where I live.

What do you guys think about it? Hyped? Jaded? Anyone else gonna get it at release?

[axman36]

My friend's relatives bought it for him in Japan and showed it to me. It looked pretty awesome, although he was the only one who understood how to play it as I cannot understand Japanese...

Anyway yeah. Graphics are phenomenal, gameplay looks excellent and leagues better than the horrid system FFXII tried to implement, and I've only heard good reviews about it. It's probably a buy for me, maybe a rental. Besides, I've played one too many WRPGs lately, t'would be nice to play a good ol' Square Enix game.

[theshirn]

I said everything I had to say on it already.

[Matsuri]

As a staff member at the one of the largest Final Fantasy websites on the internet, it's kind of hard not to feel jaded with the fanboys and fangirls freaking out about it.

Overall, I plan on getting it eventually, but it's mostly for the pretty visuals, lens flares, etc.

[Bananamatic]

from what I've heard, it's pretty crap

extremely linear, SMT like control, AI and stuff, if your char dies, game over, but you can restart the battle

apparently it's harder and hardcore instead of casual and stuff because you have level caps, but it's a freaking RPG for god's sake, they are NEVER hard. Especially these made by Squaresoft.

yeah I'm pretty disappointed in the pixelfag nextgen
I don't see a single game I'd like to get for any of the nextgen for consoles except for the Cave shmups...and these are arcade ports to begin with.

[Matsuri]

apparently it's harder and hardcore instead of casual and stuff because you have level caps, but it's a freaking RPG for god's sake, they are NEVER hard. Especially these made by Squaresoft.

I dunno, I find Etrian Odyssey and SMT games to be pretty rough. Then again, that's also because I don't like grinding either

yeah I'm pretty disappointed in the pixelfag nextgen
I don't see a single game I'd like to get for any of the nextgen for consoles except for the Cave shmups...and these are arcade ports to begin with.

Totally worth it, though.

[axman36]

I never went too far on my research on the game. Mostly just went by the reviews from my friend and this one japanese rating magazine which gave it a really high score only lacking one point behind Bayonetta. I heard about it being linear, but I heard it was only the first part. Entire game is linear?

[JoonK]

I think the next gen is definitely turning more linear. I played Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 in the same day, and my GOD Mass Effect 2 is so much more fucking linear than the first. Honestly there are five weapons and armor pieces in the entire game, and theres no more planet surface exploration. Landing on a planet means everything is spoon fed to you. But the experience is worth it, imo, if they can deliver. I would never dream of trading Mass Effect 2's combat system for more open-ended ness.

I'm hoping it will be the same for FFXIII. I heard lots of complaints about dungeon linearity, but I think it will be overshadowed by its nice presentation.

Also, I didn't read the X-2 topic I wasn't trying to start anything redundant my bad.  :V

[theshirn]

I never went too far on my research on the game. Mostly just went by the reviews from my friend and this one japanese rating magazine which gave it a really high score only lacking one point behind Bayonetta. I heard about it being linear, but I heard it was only the first part. Entire game is linear?

No, only about the first twenty hours.  But when I say linear, I mean literally straight lines.

[axman36]

Hmm... would explain the first part of the game which... pretty much was a straight line.

[Bananamatic]

I dunno, but I never said to myself "wow this game is ugly"

I couldn't care less about the graphics or story. It only seems that everything goes in the graphics and the gameplay gets worse. I played Modern Warfare 2 on my friend's laptop and all I can say is...wow, this is easy.
Magical turbo regen which puts Wolverine to shame, checkpoints after every enemy soldier and HOLY CRAP MANLY TEARS AWESOME GRAPHICS THIS IS LIKE REAL WAR

seriously, if I want to cry manly tears, I'd watch Saving Private Ryan.
If I want to play a game, I want gameplay.
/offtopic

[axman36]

I do at times wish games would lower the graphics to shorten loading screens or long installs in the PS3's case...

[JoonK]

I think game companies are working out this whole cinematic presentation buzz with next-gen hardware.

I agree with Bananamatic, except with a different game, MGS4. My god that game is twenty minutes of sneaking, thirty minutes of cutscenes and a twenty minute bossfight with a twenty minute gimmick level with a final hour or so of cutscenes. PER ACT. It's an amazing experience, but I would recommend it as a ten hour movie, not a videogame.

But there's the opposite of that, with games like Dragon Quest VIII. The gameplay is amazing, pure JRPG greatness but the story and presentations were lacking.

I think the whole presentation vs. gameplay problem will work itself out when a Microsoft/THQ/Valve/EA gaming megaconglomerate gives every single project enough money and time to make satisfying games, presentation and gameplay wise  :V

Just kidding it will have to be resolved by gamers who will create the markets for super-presentation heavy games and gameplay-heavy games. So until then, I suppose we'll have to make do with the beautiful yet hollow games we're given.

[Bananamatic]

Yeah, I'm watching a playthrough of MGS4 this dude is uploading - and the epic battle between

Spoiler:

Rex and Ray

ended up with an AI loop where the boss was basically locked down for a minute by the gatling gun.

Seriously, from next gen, I'd expect something better than these silly AI mistakes.

[axman36]

Yeah... Bioshock 2 was, to me at least, considerably shorter than the first as well. Probably because of the ocean parts and the lack of ability to visit old areas.

Coming to think of it, Bioshock 2 is a load more linear than the first one as well... the areas are just straight forward pretty much.

Where's the gaming industry going!?

[JoonK]

Bioshock is a series that's mainly gameplay, but yeah Bioshock 2 felt a little lacking in terms of open-endedness. Being a Big Daddy doesn't really help, all that moaning and groaning  :V

But I'm not too worried about videogaming, I think the problems will resolve themselves with enough gamer input and contribution.

[Fightest]

Linearity is not a downside. If open-endedness is restricted, the game designers can really focus on the presentation of their railroad, and this is a perfectly legitimate design decision. I personally want my JRPGs to be linear gameplay things with a battle every once in a while, as long as they're well-written and well-presented.

That said, I have a personal dislike of open-endedness anyway. All it usually means is that the game is padded by superficial content which could have been easily cut with no detriment to the rest of the gameplay or the storyline.

Also, I seem to be one of the few people who likes MGS4's pacing.

[axman36]

Heh. I know someone whose convinced that the video gaming series are slowly deteriorating over time. He thinks because gaming companies are trying to appeal to the masses, it's causing all of the games to become less creative and simply focused more upon what sells. Rather than the large variety of creative types of games in the SNES days, he thinks it's all going to FPSes, sports games, and sandboxes. I think it's just the transition of how games go, and how marketing works. What sells best goes. Eventually new ideas will come and gaming will go beyond today's ideas once it stops selling.

Then there are others I know who think DLC is causing developers to be lazy where they don't release the entire game but merely sell off the rest of the parts in the DLC. To me it just seems like mini expansion packs being released and it also allows developers to add in content that would originally remain permanently cut.

Really, gaming is just going on it's odd business path. I just fear that games may be getting shorter and shorter for the same price... hopefully that trend stops, which I'm sure it will.

[Fightest]

I just fear that games may be getting shorter and shorter for the same price.

I personally think that is patently untrue. There are short games and there are long games, just as there have always been. There will be significant variation in game length by genre, of course, but again, it's always been like that.

[Aisha]

I can't get excited for Final Fantasy XIII simply because the series has been letting me down more and more after Final Fantasy Tactics, which was just great. I couldn't even bring myself to finish X and XII.

Is there a chance that Final Fantasy XIII will receive an English language Asia region release for the 360? That's probably the only way I'll ever get a chance to play it one day.

[Seian Verian]

Final Fantasy XIII? From what I've heard, it doesn't sound that great x:

As for other things the topic has drifted to... I haven't been getting, or playing, as many games recently as I used to, so I can't comment on how things are ending up. However, as for open-endedness as opposed to linearity, I do agree that open-ended games do seem a bit... I dunno, like just having a ton of minor sidequests, and nothing else. It just seems like tons of stuff is there, but it doesn't have enough depth or a sense of... Reward maybe?

I personally think that it would be amazing if there could be an "open-ended" game that feels... Well, not shallow. It would feel like you could do things, and rather than just be going through another meaningless sidequest, actually feel like you've done something besides another task that you don't care about.

Meh... I'm not that good with words to begin with, and I'm sorta tired right now <_<; Whatever...

[orinrin]

I've given up on the franchise.  Its gotten progressively worse with each game.

[Bananamatic]

XII wasn't bad, but I hated the time it took to get new equipment, which was the most important thing in the game.

Even buying new weapons for everyone took over an hour of grinding.
Less loading, more action...but low gil unless you decided to chain which isn't gonna happen on random dungeon runthroughs.

I was doing a 2 character half license board challenge, got to the end and got stuck on [spoilers]The Undying[/spoilers], so I farmed stuff for Tournesol but didn't have enough gil to buy it but I couldn't beat Zeromus to get the best gil farming spot...then my disk broke.

I liked the fact that it didn't rely on any stupid love crap like in VIII or in X and there was no over the top stuff like in X where everyone can magically grind a rope with THEIR FEET or VII which is full of silly aerial combat and shooting down planes with a handgun. Normal people, no fangirl crap, just gameplay and a decent story. The gil farming killed it though.

[Formless God]

What are you talking about FFX is awesome

XII ... Eh ... The Gambit system is too much for me, the area design makes me cry (Nam-Yensa/Ogir-Yensa's copy-pasta towers, symmetric dungeons etc.), grinding is more Teddious than P3 and P4 combined, and boss fights are ridiculous. Not to mention my game wouldn't load anything past Ozmone Plains.

[Bananamatic]

and boss fights are ridiculous

What kind of ridiculous :V

[axman36]

I personally think that is patently untrue. There are short games and there are long games, just as there have always been. There will be significant variation in game length by genre, of course, but again, it's always been like that.

Hopefully this stays true. Lately I've seen a rise in the amount of short games compared to the long. Maybe it's just the amount of FPSes in the market.

[Chaotic Phoenixma]

Despite being a fan of FF, I'm waiting until it's not $60 cause I'm sure it won't be worth that.

Not sure how much I'll wait.

[Edible]

Preordered, taking time off work to play it 'cause that's how I roll.  I didn't check into midnight releases in my area, but I'll live with Amazon sending it to my mailbox on release day.

Here are my thoughts on what I know of the game:

--Linear games don't bother me.  JRPGs are linear by nature, and I've played a lot of JRPGs.  Anyone remember the first 8-10 hours of FFVII?  You spent the whole time running around Midgar, and it was all super-omega-linear.  What's the big deal?
--$60 for a ~50-to-100-hour RPG, especially a highly cinematic and vast RPG, seems like a great deal to me compared to games that have 5-hour singleplayer campaigns and expect to subsist mostly on multiplayer aspects.
--I have yet to play a Final Fantasy game I haven't enjoyed.  Sure, the enjoyment scales up and down and occasionally it took a replay or two to appreciate what the game was trying to accomplish (sup FFVIII), but I've never come close to considering one mediocre, much less bad.

[Fightest]

...no over the top stuff like in X where everyone can magically grind a rope with THEIR FEET or VII which is full of silly aerial combat and shooting down planes with a handgun. Normal people, no fangirl crap, just gameplay and a decent story.

...We're still talking about Final Fantasy, right? The series which epitomises over-the-top everything - relationships, action, drama, characters. As far as I'm concerned, that's the point of Final Fantasy. It just wouldn't be the same without 10-minute summoning cutscenes and fighting giant monsters in space.

[Reddyne]

I've got real mixed feelings. I'm a hopeless FF addict who despised FF12 but still managed to play it from start to finish and complete the vast majority of the sidequests twice. Still, I've managed to dodge almost all of the hype leading up to this release since I really haven't cared for the direction Square Enix has gone since the merger (where's my Vagrant Story sequel, dammit!) and the disappointment of 12. I did hear that Famitsu gave both 12 and 13 similar scores which is not a positive indication to me any more. I've deliberately avoided info on 13 like the plague so when I do play it I can go in with as little bias as possible. Probably because I know there will almost certainly be no repeat of the Gilgamesh battle in 12.

Also, this is the first FF release I'm going to miss because I lack a PS3. Dammit, I get a job and the first thing I do when I hear the news is think of buying a new PC since I haven't played anything made for the PC since Half-Life 2. That, and I get a 'Windows virtual memory too low' message when I open Firefox.

The series which epitomises over-the-top everything - relationships, action, drama, characters. As far as I'm concerned, that's the point of Final Fantasy.

I'm surprised it took until the 4th iteration for the MC to be a descendant of moon people. You actually got to go to the moon on a space whale. While on the moon, you beat up the king of dragons and found out that the most evil entity in the universe is your brother who is being manipulated by the most evil entity in the universe. And this was FF back in the early '90's.