FINAL FANTASY XIII

[CDFN]

The other thread is about the differences between the 2 versions so I think we need a fresh start with focus on the game itself now that we'll be able to play it.
I can't believe I'll finally be playing this tomorrow, man it's been a long wait.

Here you can see how the game's reviews compare to the previous 5 offline games in the franchise:

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/107/1074995p1.html

To be honest, I don't think we'll ever see a typical jrpg like FF get the same reception it did in the psone days. Back when FF7/8/9 were released there just wasn't anything like them on consoles, nothing had that scope and those production values. People had their minds blown in such a way that scoring these games below a 9 was hardly an option. Also, people have outgrown the anime cliches that at the time felt original to a lot of players. I think that is why FFXII got great reviews across the board, it didn't have the wow factor of X or the psone games at the time but it felt fresh for a FF title, it was a welcome change for people who were tired of both the character stereotypes and gameplay elements of the franchise. Of course it didn't appeal to the hardore fans but professional reviewers all over the western market embraced it. Being able to reinvent itself was its saving grace, I doubt the western press would have given it a positive reception if it had been another FFX with different characters and story.

So here we are in another harware generation and the first FF title finally arrives. The approach is similar to FFX, amazing visuals are it's calling card, progression through the game is made in an extremely linear fashion and the battle system is reinvented yet again.

The market has changed a lot over the past years. Western gamers expect freedom in their games, multiplayer modes, wise cracking badasses with guns in both hands as the protagonist, even in their rpgs (fallout 3 and mass effect).

In FFXIII you don't shoot stuff, you don't play online with your friend, your party of 6 playable characters has 3 girls and a little kid in it. But visit any gaming forum on the net and FFXIII is what people are talking about. The name still means a lot to the gaming comunity. Sales will tell us if the formula still works for the west and if SE's rather strange marketing approach was succesful.

Finally, some food for thought: what if FFXV went back to the style of the psone games? 2D background with 3D character models on top, a world map and a separate 3D engine for battles? They could give us some beautiful HD backgrounds for all the locations which could be explored just like in the 32 bit games and have a separate engine just for the battles were they could go all out and push the hardware. Would you approve?

[wildcard]

Personally I am no graphics whore and what I've seen and read about FFXIII has had little to no appeal to me.

FFXIII is no RPG in the sense that I know it and unless I can either lend it out or get it for less than 30 € it's not going to come home with me.
While the visuals look stunning, it hasn't been something I've been keeping much of an eye on an since that seems recently have become the focus of SE it doesn't do much for me at this point.

Since I have in fact been searching out older games that were supposed / still are considered good/great I can honestly say I wouldn't mind them going back to the old style... IF they have brilliant story as substitude.
The possibility of SE who's famous for their graphics going back there is rather low.
FFXII already didn't do much to impress me (good background story, but flat character personalities and the story itself was not told in a way that would appeal to me), nor did FFX-2.

Story > Graphics
Characters + Personality > Graphics
At least to me.

[CDFN]

Apparently this is the dungeon you'll be exploring around the 4 hour mark:



After reading all the reviews I had this image in my mind that the game was a straight line from start to finish so this pic was actually a pleasent surprise lol. Reminds me of the smaller dungeons in TLR. I'm fine with this actually, I know I'll miss having a few tons but I'm done with overly complicated dungeons.
The fact that the game is so friggin' huge with such a straightforward design is actually a huge plus for me, at least I know that the game will constantly be throwing new things at me instead of making me get lost in a single dungeon for 5 hours.

[dalucifer0]

I may be of the minority, but I welcome some linearity. I'm not saying ti should be in every game, but I'm a person who grew tired of running back and forth and endlessly searching for the next place to go, which is common these days, and that just adds fluff to the games.

[D-Rider]

I really, really, REALLY can't wait for this game to come out...mainly so I won't have to come here and see nine different topics about it when one would suffice.

[citizenchris099]

I wonder what I would think of this game had I avoided reviews and general pre-release hype. My goal tomorrow when I sit down to play it is to do the best I can to appreciate the game for what it is and set aside expectations and hype. A near exercise in futility though it may seem...I'm going to give it a shot. I've been playing a lot of SO4 and it occured to me that my fave part of that game is the combat...its great fun. So if all FF13 gives me is a really fun battle system and a modicum of difficulty...then awesome.

[Ryos]

I really, really, REALLY can't wait for this game to come out...mainly so I won't have to come here and see nine different topics about it when one would suffice.

If FFXII was any indication, I think you can pretty much expect to have a new thread about some random nuance of FFXIII to be regurgitated every two to three weeks once the game's released. :P

[Esper_Crusader]

Man, I can't wait until tomorrow. The shitty part is that I'm working all day and won't be able to play until like..11p.m.  Doesn't matter though, I know I'm going to love the game.  It's hard to believe that the wait is finally over:P

[citizenchris099]

Man, I can't wait until tomorrow. The shitty part is that I'm working all day and won't be able to play until like..11p.m.  Doesn't matter though, I know I'm going to love the game.  It's hard to believe that the wait is finally over:P

same here...im on the late shift and wont be able to play till tomorrow nigh ugh

[GrimReality]

I think it makes sense to have a new release thread.
I'm pretty excited about this game, but will not be buying it tomorrow. I'll probably wait for it to go on sale in a few weeks, like most new releases do. I've got ME2 to play so the wait will be tolerable.

[Saviour]

Super excited for tomorrow, haven't played a stellar Final Fantasy title since 2001. Hopefully it's not a let-down. No towns is iffy and the redhead girl's voice is deadly bad.  Reviews mostly nag about linearity, but just about every J-RPG I've played is linear. Reviewers just love their Fallout 3 a bit much, I didn't.

[Eusis]

Reviewers just love their Fallout 3 a bit much, I didn't.

Uhh, no. For every one of those people there's ten who want the freedom of, well, Final Fantasy, the kind it had in the 16-bit and 32-bit eras. Chris Kohler addressed that, describing the linearity of most prior FFs as being metaphorical while XIII's is more literal.

I'm not going to worry too much about it at this point, it's supposed to be more open and interesting near the end anyway, but I'm tired of people painting it as one extreme or the other. It really isn't that simple.

[CDFN]

Impressions from random gamers that are already playing it seem positive. Everyone has nothing but praise for the battle system and the linearity doesn't seem to be much of an issue for most because the game is really strong where it matters most.

Oh and I didn't know about the codex! People seem to be enjoying it a lot, I read a ton of reviews and I don't remember anyone mentioning it, apparently it has lots of interesting info and is worth checking out.

[Alisha]

so is anyone else annoyed by the commercial that makes it seem like its only for 360?

[Ryos]

so is anyone else annoyed by the commercial that makes it seem like its only for 360?

That's what happens when Microsoft throws 80 bazillion dollars at Square. I haven't actually seen an FF commercial, but then the channel I watch on TV hardly fits the target FF demographic.