Final Fantasy XIII-2 (out now) & VERSUS XIII

[Diresu]

^ Real Talk..

What's so "special" -_- about an updated Kingdom Hearts engine No need to put BS PR into this, just state fans can enjoy FFXll-2 this year while we make Versus the best we can possibly make it. Jeez...

Shit like this just makes me care even less for the game.

[Black Dragon37]

A few days after the latest trailer too...

I fear VsXIII is hitting "overhype" category. Y'know, when there's so much hype for so fucking long that when the time comes for release, no one gives a fuck.

[EvilTaru]

A few days after the latest trailer too...

I fear VsXIII is hitting "overhype" category. Y'know, when there's so much hype for so fucking long that when the time comes for release, no one gives a fuck.

Unless they somehow show that there's an end in sight, it's basically just vaporware with a trailer shown once in a while, Square really shouldn't drag development on for years like this, they need to get this out because the development budget is probably out of control already. FFXIII-2 is not a solution for another project like versus mired in development hell, especially when the "FFXIII" brand itselt isn't very strong to begin with.

[Luis]

It is truly ridiculous seeing a game being announced in 2006, and 5 years later we know only a handful of things about it, not to mention that there's no chance it'll be out within the next 12 months. Even waiting for XIII was painful and it was announced at the same time. Worst thing though, when it came out, it confirmed that FF is not what it used to be anymore.

It feels like they don't really know where they want to go to. I've got to wonder what they originally planned, whether it was any good and whether it's anything like what they're developing at the moment. And I wonder what's the appeal of it right now, which is what worries me the most about a franchise that I used to love.

[AC!D]

Toriyama and Kitase Share Final Fantasy XIII-2 Details.

At the Premier event, the XIII-2 unveil was preceded by an animated account of the Fabula Nova Crystalls mythology. This mythology serves as the foundation for all the games in the series, including XIII, Versus XIII, XIII-2 and Type-0 (formerly known as Agito XIII).

The purpose for showing this footage, explained Kitase to Dengeki, was to show that FFXIII only dealt with a portion of the mythology, covering such concepts as the fal'Cie and l'Cie. FFXIII did not explain the full breadth of the mythology, however. To better know the whole of the mythology, players will have access to the upcoming Fabula series titles.

XIII-2 covers a different area of the Fabula mythology from XIII. While the original focused on the relation betwen the Pulse and Lindzei deities, the focus for XIII-2 will be on the Etro deity. Toriyama said the game will delve deeper into the Fabula mythology this time.

If you're confused about your Etros, Pulses and Lindzei's, I'd suggest having a look at the Final Fantasy Wiki.

According to Toriyama, the XIII-2 story will be like taking the afterstory that was written in the bonus booklet that was included with Xbox 360's Final Fantasy XIII and expanding from there. The story kicks of after XIII, in the Gran Pulse world.

The story is a true sequel to XIII and will answer some of the mysteries of what happened in the background in the build up to FFXIII's ending. The world will expand further in XIII-2 (I'm not sure if Toriyama is speaking literally or figuratively here). The story's taste will be darker and more mysterious than the original.

Similar to XIII, Lightning will be a principal character. Other characters will also appear in the game in "unexpected forms," according to Toriyama. Some of the returning characters will see major changes to their atmosphere. The game will also have a number of new characters, in addition to the mysterious male character from the trailer.

That mystery character is the character next to Lightning in the game's logo, Kitase confirmed. He's meant to be a character in conflict with Lightning, a character of equal strength.

The early trailer and single official screenshot show a major change for Lightning: she wears armor. While this is a big change, the character's image will not have a Final Fantasy X-2-style change, said Kitase. For those who haven't played it, FFX-2 had a poppy, comedic feel compared to FFX, with Yuna and the other leads dancing around and changing clothes during battle. XIII-2 will have the serious feel of a true numbered entry in the series, said Kitase.

Lightning appeared in the trailer surrounded by feathers at some points. These features are used in a number of areas, including parts of Lightning's armor. Remember how roses appeared on the screen when Lightning summoned Odin in FFXIII? This time, the feathers are meant to represent something holier -- a closer approach to the realm of gods.

The two only briefly discussed gameplay. The game's battle system will be a further evolution of FFXIII's ATB (active time battle) system. Because it's a sequel, explained Toriyama, they want to actively use the the experience they gained in making the original to address issues that need to be addressed, and to make areas that are already considered good even better. For XIII-2's development, they've been running tests and listening to opinions from inside and outside the company and even from overseas.

Toriyama wants to add some sort of system for controlling difficulty. This could take the form of the inclusion of an easy mode, which is something they're currently looking into. Toriyama also assured that they're working to make it so that those who didn't play the original will be able to enjoy themselves with XIII-2.

Famitsu will be having its own look at XIII-2 later this week, so it's possible that we'll get even more details.

[Black Dragon37]

What booklet?

[Chris]

With this official, "Not in 2011", stance on Versus, I officially don't care about FF right now, perhaps SE as a whole even (unless they announce a Chrono game).

[Diresu]

It is truly ridiculous seeing a game being announced in 2006, and 5 years later we know only a handful of things about it, not to mention that there's no chance it'll be out within the next 12 months. Even waiting for XIII was painful and it was announced at the same time. Worst thing though, when it came out, it confirmed that FF is not what it used to be anymore.

It feels like they don't really know where they want to go to. I've got to wonder what they originally planned, whether it was any good and whether it's anything like what they're developing at the moment. And I wonder what's the appeal of it right now, which is what worries me the most about a franchise that I used to love.

This really can't be repeated enough. I really don't think they have a direction at the moment and all they are managing to do is kill one of my all time favorite game series. They already fucked FF, Parasite Eve,Front Mission, and Star Ocean. Not much left to kill at this point. SE that I used to love is gone for good and they are not coming back. It's a sad day when there is basically no excitement for a main entry in the FF series from the core fans. Never thought Id see the day.

[OmniStalgic]

^lol...Remember when all the "unbiased" multiplatform owners used to play the fanboy flag whenever we crapped on the game? I wish that was really the case.

One of my favorite franchises as well, very sad to see it become so mediocre. Although, I'll have to admit, I thought FF didn't really get much better than FFVll and FFXlll, FFX was close though--but cheesy voice-acting got annoying at times.

Perhaps will all be surprised though and FFXlll-2 will put back towns/people/side quest from the start of the game. A battle system that's not focused on switching classes and actually makes you use your brain, and not just abuse certain characters skills that debuff enemies so you can rape. And a story, that I actually care about would be nice..

[Diresu]

^lol...Remember when all the "unbiased" multiplatform owners used to play the fanboy flag whenever we crapped on the game? I wish that was really the case.

One of my favorite franchises as well, very sad to see it become so mediocre. Although, I'll have to admit, I thought FF didn't really get much better than FFVll and FFXlll, FFX was close though--but cheesy voice-acting got annoying at times.

Perhaps will all be surprised though and FFXlll-2 will put back towns/people/side quest from the start of the game. A battle system that's not focused on switching classes and actually makes you use your brain, and not just abuse certain characters skills that debuff enemies so you can rape. And a story, that I actually care about would be nice..

Yea man, if only. FF8 is definitely my favorite so I would agree that it didn't get much better than that. I LOVED X though. Like you though, I would have loved it even more if they gave me subs as an option with Japanese VA. Voice acting was pretty bad. But that is such a minor complaint when you look at the crap that followed X.

Also, I don't have any faith in 13-2 improving on things I disliked about 13. Development time of like barely over a year means the content is basically done. They said the battle system is an "improved" version of the one in 13 (I hated 13s battle system) and the story is an obvious continuation...and well, 13 already was MORE than enough of that horrible story. I was sick of it halfway through the game. I really have no expectations for 13-2 except that it's more 13.

[EvilTaru]

This really can't be repeated enough. I really don't think they have a direction at the moment and all they are managing to do is kill one of my all time favorite game series. They already fucked FF, Parasite Eve,Front Mission, and Star Ocean. Not much left to kill at this point. SE that I used to love is gone for good and they are not coming back. It's a sad day when there is basically no excitement for a main entry in the FF series from the core fans. Never thought Id see the day.

They still have to kill Grandia.

Wada has got to go, Sakaguchi was a decent exec when he wasn't burning through cash trying to fund that stupid CG studio of his.

[Diresu]

Yea, I like The Gooch personally. Yea Spirits Within was a godawful mistake but as far as games go he was actually really good. Wada on the other hand is destroying the company.

[EvilTaru]

Yea, I like The Gooch personally. Yea Spirits Within was a godawful mistake but as far as games go he was actually really good. Wada on the other hand is destroying the company.

Wada is just a suit, except he has no clue how to put the right people in place to continue to create new IPs to ensure Square-Enix's longevity.

[Diresu]

His entire philosophy seemed to hinge on milking what they got, instead of creating new IPs. Hard to believe this is the same company that brought us Vagrant Story, Xenogears, Valkyrie Profile, and the like.

[Theo]

@ Luis, Diresu and OmniStalgic: Good posts guys. I couldn't agree more.

SE has messed up quite badly this generation indeed and the signs for that started to appear last gen, even though there were a couple of very good SE games. I hope they leave atleast the Chrono series in peace, if they can't develope a game worthy of the series' name. It looks like for FF it's most likely going to be a down hill road quality wise now on. The funny thing is, I still can't stop myself believing that their talent is still there...hidden somewhere. What ever the case is, so far FFX remains the last proper FF produced IMO...

EDIT

@EvilTaru: Correct me if I'm wrong, but Grandia was not developed by Squaresoft nor Enix, if my memory serves me well. Excellent series though. I have always especially liked the orginal that first came out for saturn and later got ported for psx.

[OmniStalgic]

I remember playing Grandia on Dreamcast, excellent battle system--rivaled Star Ocean. I think it was a Game Arts title, published by SEGA...Great game, hopefully it gets ported to PSN--because I can't play the original Grandia on a big HD screen---looks terrible.

I think Sakuguchi is working on the Last Story for Wii (which looks fantastic btw) so hopefully they stop with the nonsense and ship it in the U.S as well...

Did Vagrant Story ever come to U.S PSN? I never finished that game.

[Black Dragon37]

His entire philosophy seemed to hinge on milking what they got, instead of creating new IPs. Hard to believe this is the same company that brought us Vagrant Story, Xenogears, Valkyrie Profile, and the like.

How the fuck are they gonna survive if they have nothing to milk?

Big budget game development is a high risk/high reward business. The only way they can afford making new IPs is if they already have existing franchises to milk.

And the sole purpose of a franchise is to milk it as much as possible. If they have no solid foundation to stand on (i.e. franchises to milk), how the fuck are they gonna make new IPs with the FAR higher risks involved in doing so?

This whole "create new IPs instead of milking franchises" is bullshit, therefore.

[EvilTaru]

@ Luis, Diresu and OmniStalgic: Good posts guys. I couldn't agree more.

SE has messed up quite badly this generation indeed and the signs for that started to appear last gen, even though there were a couple of very good SE games. I hope they leave atleast the Chrono series in peace, if they can't develope a game worthy of the series' name. It looks like for FF it's most likely going to be a down hill road quality wise now on. The funny thing is, I still can't stop myself believing that their talent is still there...hidden somewhere. What ever the case is, so far FFX remains the last proper FF produced IMO...

EDIT

@EvilTaru: Correct me if I'm wrong, but Grandia was not developed by Squaresoft nor Enix, if my memory serves me well. Excellent series though. I have always especially liked the orginal that first came out for saturn and later got ported for psx.

Grandia was made by GameArts, Grandia III was published by Square-Enix, not sure who actually owns the IP rights but if there's a chance Square-Enix can fuck it up, they most certainly will.

---------- Post added at 10:51 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:42 AM ----------

How the fuck are they gonna survive if they have nothing to milk?

Big budget game development is a high risk/high reward business. The only way they can afford making new IPs is if they already have existing franchises to milk.

And the sole purpose of a franchise is to milk it as much as possible. If they have no solid foundation to stand on (i.e. franchises to milk), how the fuck are they gonna make new IPs with the FAR higher risks involved in doing so?

This whole "create new IPs instead of milking franchises" is bullshit, therefore.

A publisher needs to strike a balance between developing new quality IPs and making sequels, and making quality sequels by giving those titles sufficient development time to ensure quality, doesn't equate to milking a franchise,

In Square-Enix's case, you have FFXIII out last year and they're pumping out FFXIII-2 this year, which is clearly a case of milking (e.g. Guitar Hero, Tony Hawk), what the publisher risks is franchise fatique, you kill your cashcow AND you don't have anything else to replace that cashcow.

[TEEDA]

Versus XIII HD trailer


For your home consoles, Direct Feed 371 MB MP4
http://wdl.square-enix.com/fabula/cu...4dgep_720p.mp4

[blackdrgn]

Wow, it looks amazing.
I think the combat looks pretty fun & this game makes me think of FF8.
They're too far in development to suddenly announce cross platform & kill this potential right?