Final Fantasy XIII and Versus Megathread

Apr 17, 2009
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San Diego, CA
Final Fantasy XIII is an upcoming console role-playing game being developed by Square Enix. It will be released exclusive for PlayStation 3 in Japan, then for PlayStation 3 worldwide in Europe and North America. First appearing at the 2006 E3, the game features a futuristic, high-tech world.

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Final Fantasy XIII is the flagship title of the Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy XIII collection. The game shares a common mythology with Final Fantasy Agito XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII, but they are not directly related to each other. Motomu Toriyama, a director and scenario writer of previous Final Fantasy titles, will direct and write the game's story.

The concept for Final Fantasy XIII's battle system is to maintain the strategic nature of command-based battles. The system stemmed from a desire to create battles similar to those found in Final Fantasy VII Advent Children. Like those in Final Fantasy XII, battle sequences are integrated into the world environment. The Active Time Battle (ATB) system will return, but is expected to work differently from its predecessors.

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The battle system that was shown during the E3 2006 trailer was only a prototype. Recently, Square Enix showed battle footage in various Japanese magazines and trailers which introduced a new interface. You can only control one character at a time in battle, although battle parties of up to three characters have been shown. You can stack up to three commands per turn and release them all at the same time to form a combo. These commands include series staples such as Attack, Fire, Blizzard and Cure, as well as new ones such as Launch, which sends the enemy up in the air. The game does not make use of MP but introduces "cost points" for each command. Cost points determine how many times the commands can be used per turn. The overclock gauge from the prototype battle system is replaced with a break bar. The minimap shown earlier has also disappeared from the battle interface. The player is able to view the HP and name of the enemy before engaging it in battle. When the player engages an enemy, the camera moves to another position and the battle menu appears, making the battle transitions nearly seamless.

The classic summoned creatures will return in Final Fantasy XIII. Carbuncle emerges from a disc-like object when it is touched by the character Vanille, Ifrit and Siren also appear doing performances in a trailer. Shiva will return and takes the form of a pair of sisters who can merge into a motorcycle, which the character Snow rides, and can use ice to create a path to drive on.

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In some ways, we're like, "yay, we get to talk about Final Fantasy XIII all year!" and in other ways, we're like, "...damnit, we have to talk about Final Fantasy XIII all damn year."

God only knows how far off a North American release date is, but we do have some relatively good news for you. We say "relatively" because Square-Enix president Yoichi Wada mentioned that the delay of Dragon Quest IX for the DS may cause the release of FFXIII to slip. Thankfully, this doesn't appear to be the case: according to Kotaku, FFXIII director and writer Motomu Toriyama simply said in response- "Development is going favorably for a 2009 launch." This was in the latest Famitsu, so we're going to say it's accurate and up-to-date, but don't get too excited; he's obviously only talking about Japan. But at least this means we might still see the game in the second quarter of 2010, so cross your fingers and wish really, really hard.

We've also learned that the playable demo included in the upcoming Blu-Ray release of "Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children" will be about one hour in length. That's a great length for any playable demo, and we only wish we could see it on store shelves in the U.S. The silver lining is that you can probably expect to see real in-game footage taken from that demo popping up on YouTube; hell, someone might even put up a video of them playing the entire hour. See? We're trying to stay optimistic, here.
 
The upcoming issue of Japanese game magazine Famitsu has an interview with Final Fantasy XIII director and scenario writer Motomu Toriyama.

According to Toriyama, the in-development game is currently running at a resolution of 720p with a frame rate of 30fps. Square Enix is doing its best to make sure as many people as possible can enjoy the game — thus, developers are being very careful that all onscreen words and letters can be read on analog TVs.

This hopefully avoids tiny text issues that arose when Capcom's Dead Rising and Rare's Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts were played on standard televisions. Considerate considering how not everyone who will play FFXIII will do so on a HD TV, and smart because this means Square Enix won't have to rush out a patch after people freak about tiny text.

Another piece of good news: cutscenes can be paused or skipped.

Square Enix sounds like it's hitting the home stretch with the game. "We've almost finished all the parts of the game," says Toriyama. "From now on, it's a matter of putting them together." Square will give the battle system a revision before final release, but the actual battle design work is nearly finished.

About the demo, Famitsu reports that it clocks in at one hour and twenty from the onset of gameplay. Toriyama says the demo is "about an hour" of gameplay. What's more, according to Famitsu, "there's almost no load time" and "the background music is so so cool."
 
FFXIII Demo update

Update

Here are a few highlights:

As previously detailed, the demo encompasses the first hour of the game. A group of people are on a train on route to their expulsion from Cocoon after being accused of having taken influence from Pulse. Lightning arrives on the scene just as the group has started to revolt. Meanwhile, on a separate train, Snow and crew are among the to-be-purged and have started a revolt of their own.

The end of the demo will feature a look at a new character who appears in prison clothing. Toriyama hinted that she's an important character, but did not get into specifics.

Finally, some good news for those concerned about a massive wait for the final version of the game. According to Toriyama, the major areas of the game are nearly done, and now it's just a matter of connecting everything together. The work of the designers is, for the most part, finished.

This hopefully means a 2009 release is still on track for Japan with an international release not too long after that.
 
I hope it has some kind of subtitles or dub (I know that's wishful thinking) if not then I'll just bring it to work and have Takaya here help me get through it lol :scat:
 
Well, it looks like Microsoft has struck again! This time it has affected the playable demo of Final Fantasy XIII that was supposed to be in the Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Blu-ray release due out in June 7th, 2009. The Japanese version of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children has the playable demo, obviously because Final fantasy XIII is an exclusive title in Japan and the deal that Microsoft has struck with Square Enix has slowed up the development of the game in general which is the obvious reason for the game not even being out in Japan yet.

However, this has also affected the localization of the game which should have been in progress by now and would have allowed every version of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children to include a Final Fantasy XIII demo instead of what appears to only be game footage that is already available on the internet instead of a demo that would cause sales for the Blu-ray release of the movie to soar. Thanks a bundle Microsoft…and even more-so, Square Enix who has spent this whole generation making a decision that leads to them dropping the ball repeatedly.

That is still no excuse for there to be such a change in plans for the US and Euro versions of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children to not have this demo available after stating the complete opposite a year ago. I just don’t understand why can’t they provide localization for the demo after all this mess, how much time would it seriously take?

There is however, an alternative for PS3 owners outside of Japan so do not worry!, Play-Asia.com has Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children on Blu-ray for $53.90.…….without the Final Fantasy XIII playable demo, however if you want the Blu-ray version with the playable demo then you’ll only have to fork over a measly $69.90. Alright, maybe it’s just me but the first price scared me away regardless if the playable demo was included, but $70 for a mediocre Anime including the demo of a game that I am souring more and more on by the moment is just ridiculous.

Original sources said a year ago and as early as Christmas that the US version of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children would be getting the Final Fantasy XIII playable demo and I assumed the Euro version would receive this as well. This is proving how much Microsoft is screwing up plans by throwing money around instead of letting the gaming world evolve. I don’t even hate Microsoft, even though I disagree with their practices and also shoving out an incomplete console that is called the XBOX 360.

On top of all this mess, this is one scenario where the 360 version of a game WILL hold back the Playstation 3 version due to it being on DVD9 compared to Blu-ray. I mean look at how cheap Lost Odyssey was made and it was on 4 discs. In the era of HD gaming, you just simply need more capacity than the 7GB of space that Microsoft uses for games and in the RPG genre, space is a must if you are going to have the game in HD. Period. Let alone the fact that Square Enix is just losing more and more fire after each release they come with, and as a PS3 owner, only White Knight Chronicles even counts as a real RPG for me when it eventually releases outside of Japan because Level 5 has become much more reliable than Square Enix at this point.

I know Microsoft is trying it’s best to keep up with Sony’s lineup of games, because that’s where they failed during last gen, but they just need to come with their own exclusives and their own way of combating Sony and Nintendo without trying to buy up all of the3rd party exclusives. Which is fine, but the part that puzzles me is paying for a “Timed Exclusive”, I just don’t get that tactic and so far it has failed because despite all of this and the Playstation 3 being twice the price of the XBOX 360 for 6 months now, they still have been pretty much selling at the same pace since inception and this plan only works for them on paper because they try to make it look like the XBOX 360 is killing the Playstation 3…when they in fact are not.

I look at it like this, the first XBOX came out a year after the Playstation 2 and put the XBOX 360 out a year before Sony did with the PS3, and Sony is still making money off the Playstation 2 while the XBOX is nowhere to be seen. Are they in this for putting out the best gaming experience possible or are they just trying to capitalize like they did in the PC world which they have also lost a grip on as well.

I don’t know what to make of this mess right now and maybe it’ll make more sense later this year when Square Enix starts shedding some light on where they plan on going in this generation, but it looks like they have made one poor mistake after another.
 
Like Final Fantasy XII before it, it looks like FFXIII will be a huge game. But just how big will it be? Well, according to producer Yoshinori Kitase, the game will use all of the processing power of the PlayStation 3 console.

"Doesn't the demo use about 50 percent of its power? Of course, I think the retail version will make use of nearly 100 percent," Kitase told Dengeki PlayStation 3 magazine (translation via Kotaku). He also added that because of the space afforded by Blu-Ray and the PS3's hard drive, the game won't require any form of disc-swapping.

In Japan the game will only be seeing release on the PS3, so Kitase made no mention of the Xbox 360 version that will be coming to other territories. But if the title does indeed rely so heavily on Blu-ray and the processing power of the PS3, it makes us wonder how that will affect the 360 version. It's likely the 360 version will end up shipping on multiple discs.

While we still don't have a release date for the game, Japanese gamers are gearing up for the long-awaited demo, which will ship with the Blu-ray release of Final Fantasy VII Advent Children. As for when we can expect to play the full game, Kitase only said that "we are finishing up the tail end of the development."
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Blu-ray release of FF Advent Children, with included FFXIII demo, sees Sony trump opposition

Never doubt the appetite for all things Final Fantasy in Japan – sales of PS3 rocketed last week after the arrival of a playable demo of Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XIII on the Blu-ray release of CGI movie Final Fantasy: Advent Children Complete.

Sales of Sony’s machine hit 62,527, up a massive 274 per cent on the week before. All other consoles, in contrast, saw week-on-week sales decline.

Sony’s PSP was the second best selling machine, with unit sales reaching 40,065 (-2 per cent). Closely behind was the DSi with 38,287 sales – if the 6,438 sales of DS Lite were added then Nintendo’s machine would win the weekly portable hardware battle.

Wii shifted 13,221 units (-1 per cent), the Xbox 360 8,652 units (-14.62 per cent) and the PS2 4,320 units (-7 per cent).
 
Just reporting to the troops here, I got my copy of ACC and must say the demo is FANTASTIC!!!! one of the best looking PS3 games to date!!! there was times were the game would go into "cinematic" scenes yet it was the same rendering no change at all the game is solid fellas!!

The battle mechanics remain identical is turn based, but there's a cool thing added, during your move you can choose three different techniques (there's 3 slots) or you can pick one technique that takes all three slots. This is pretty cool right here!! if you pick it right you can do in air attacks.

The battlefield movements, I liked this it's a nice change of pace, during the match depending on your attacks and movements of your character you can effectively change positions (what does this mean?). You can all the sudden move and attack from behind your enemy this will of course cause the enemy to attack your partner(s) and leave alone to attack until the enemy turns around. I must say this is going to rock once the finished product is released to the masses. Game looks amazing. Top notch..... :scat::scat::scat:
 
Just reporting to the troops here, I got my copy of ACC and must say the demo is FANTASTIC!!!! one of the best looking PS3 games to date!!! there was times were the game would go into "cinematic" scenes yet it was the same rendering no change at all the game is solid fellas!!

The battle mechanics remain identical is turn based, but there's a cool thing added, during your move you can choose three different techniques (there's 3 slots) or you can pick one technique that takes all three slots. This is pretty cool right here!! if you pick it right you can do in air attacks.

The battlefield movements, I liked this it's a nice change of pace, during the match depending on your attacks and movements of your character you can effectively change positions (what does this mean?). You can all the sudden move and attack from behind your enemy this will of course cause the enemy to attack your partner(s) and leave alone to attack until the enemy turns around. I must say this is going to rock once the finished product is released to the masses. Game looks amazing. Top notch..... :scat::scat::scat:

you know japanese?



latest news is the game is 1080p




my personal opinion? this game is never coming out in the states. they will just keep giving up screen shots and clips of gameplay. damn you xbox!
 
'Finishing touches' to 360 version will have to wait until after PS3 version finished, however.
Final Fantasy XIII screenshot

Game engine work on both the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of hotly anticipated JRPG Final Fantasy XIII is being conducted simultaneously, Square Enix has revealed.

Speaking to VideoGamer.com at a recent press event in London, Final Fantasy XIII producer and series legend Yoshinori Kitase said that regarding the “basic engine”, work on both the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game will be kept on the go “simultaneously”.

Final Fantasy XIII runs on the Crystal Tools game engine, an engine built by Square Enix to be used across the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii and PC. It was created during development of Final Fantasy XIII as a means of stepping up from the PS2, home of the last “main series” Final Fantasy game.

The Xbox 360 version of the game was spectacularly announced during Microsoft's media briefing at E3 last year. Square Enix has said that the game will be released in Japan on the PS3 only, then released in the US and Europe simultaneously on the PS3 and Xbox 360 at a later date.

In a video shown to press late last year, Final Fantasy XIII director Motomu Toriyama said: “We're making the PS3 version first, and then porting to the 360 later.”

Some gamers have expressed concern over the prospect of the Western release of the PS3 version of the game being held back while development on the 360 version is completed.

When asked if development of the Xbox 360 version had begun, Kitase told VideoGamer.com: “When it comes to the basic engine it's likely we are going to keep them on the go simultaneously. But the finishing touches, the details, the PS3 version will be completed first, then we will move on to 360.”

“We will have to wait until we are done with the PS3 version,” Kitase added in response to being asked whether the finishing touches on the Xbox 360 version had begun.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for the interview with Final Fantasy legend Yoshinori Kitase in full.

source: videogamer.com/news/360_and_ps3_ffxiii_engine_work_done_simultaneously.html
 
Square Enix hopes to release the European version of Final Fantasy XIII “sooner than a year later than the Japanese release”, producer Yoshinori Kitase has said.

Traditionally, the North American version of Final Fantasy games is released about half a year after the Japanese version, with the European version released half a year after that.

Given that Final Fantasy XIII looks like it will be released this Christmas in Japan, Europeans are faced with the prospect of having to wait till Christmas 2010 before getting their hands on the stunning-looking JRPG.

However, speaking to VideoGamer.com at a recent press event for Dissidia: Final Fantasy, a PSP fighting game due out this autumn, Kitase gave the strongest indication yet that the Europeans won't have to wait as long for Final Fantasy XIII as they have done for Final Fantasy games in the past.

He said: “Obviously we would like to release it over here as soon as possible. Traditionally the Final Fantasy numbered series, it takes about half a year between the release in Japan and the release in North America, and another half a year before it's released in Europe. But we would like to minimise this, this time.

“For example we have already started recording English voices, and also the text localisation has been in progress, too. Normally we complete the Japanese version first, then move on to the US and EU versions, but this time there are some tasks that are happening simultaneously. So this time we're hoping to release sooner than a year later than the Japanese release.”

Commenting on the gap between the US and EU release, Kitase said: “We would like to make the gap as short as possible.”

Be sure to check back tomorrow for the interview with Final Fantasy legend Yoshinori Kitase in full.

Source: videogamer.com/news/fxiii_release_in_europe_sooner_than_a_year_after_japan.html
 
Square Has "No Plans" for U.S. Blu-ray FFXIII Demo

Square Enix has no plans to bring a Blu-ray version of the Final Fantasy XIII demo to the U.S., but is looking into options for how we might be able to get our hands on it, reports VideoGamer.com. In an interview, game producer Yoshinori Kitase said, "we currently have no plan of [releasing that type of demo] abroad, partly because we are going to carry on with the project alongside the Xbox version, so we really can't just make it available only for the PS3." It's a reasonable point, though we're sure a Blu-ray demo would be successful here.

You PlayStation 3 owners shaking your fists angrily at the Xbox 360 may not have cause for alarm, though, since the company is looking into a domestic demo as a downloadable. "We hear that the demo version normally means something that you can download in the West, so that is a possibility we would like to check." The company seems open to giving U.S. fans a demo, but there are certainly logistical problems to sort out. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 demos would have to hit at the same time, per the company's agreement with Microsoft. Plus, the Blu-ray demo was huge, well past the size of demos we've seen for games before, so giving users reasonable download times will definitely be a challenge. We'll keep you posted if we hear any more on the company's plans.

source: 1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3174085

for those confused, this means no Blu-ray demo, but likely that they will release a downloadable demo on the PSN