Final Fantasy XIII

By Keza MacDonald Published 16 April, 2009

A glimpse of the future.

Playing the Japanese demo of Final Fantasy XIII - released in Japan today as part of Advent Children Complete - you're struck by something: this is the first Final Fantasy universe to be created with years' worth of titles in mind rather than just one or two. It shows in the scope and detail of the world. It's a gorgeous, colourful and imaginative science-fiction fantasy; what Star Wars might have looked like if it had been designed by the Japanese, seeping polish and style from every pore. The character design might be vaguely familiar from previous entries in the series, but the world, with its enormous, shining biomechs and fighter spacecraft, emphatically is not.

FFXIII sets up an oppressive holy regime, Cocoon, a self-contained city of crushing metal and green crystal floating high above the mountains and streams of the rest of the world, which is known as Pulse. Anyone who's come into contact with the outside is a danger, and must be captured and isolated. The playable demo begins on a futuristic monorail train winding through gorgeous mountain scenery on its way into Cocoon, full of citizens that have come into contact with Pulse and are heading for quarantine. A guard who looks like a cross between a stormtrooper and a Killzone soldier patrols the lines of cuffed, cloak-clad inmates. In a scene familiar from the trailer, the train hits some sort of forcefield on the track, which throws the guards off-balance and gives two of the captives the chance to break free and kick arse.

The game's main character, Lightning, and accompanying comic relief Sazh then proceed to liberate the train in a flurry of bullets, flying kicks and slow-motion gun-fu as it careers into the Cocoon, a gently glowing swarm of floating, green structures. Fighter planes move in to attack it as it winds through the city at incredible speed - this is like a green-tinted Blade Runner - and Lightning takes them out with a rocket launcher before robotic flying electric stingray things destroy the track and send the train crashing down below, under attack from more soldiers and sleek robotic animals that materialise gorgeously from floating crystals.

'Final Fantasy XIII' Screenshot 1

As Lightning and Sazh fight their way out of the wreckage, they have their first encounter with one of the aforementioned flying stingray robots, which has morphed into a scorpion-like thing with legs and buzzsaws for hands - and with FFXIII's new battle system, a modified version of the familiar Active Time Battles. It mixes real-time and command-based fighting, allowing you to queue up commands by selecting from the menu, and then execute them in a combo by pressing triangle - so you can queue up a physical attack followed by a spell, then cure yourself in one combo. Lightning has three action slots in the demo, but more will apparently open up as characters become stronger.

The time gauge limits your combos. You have to let it fill up again before being able to execute a new move, but you can queue commands up in preparation, or quickly unleash a single move or two-chain combo instead of waiting for it to fill up all the way. Stringing commands together at speed is key to the battle system - a three-attack combo sends Lightning rushing nimbly towards the enemy, swiping twice with a blade before jumping back and shooting for the final hit. There's also a ranged option, a launch move designed to send smaller enemies flying skywards before smashing them in the air for more damage, and a fire spell that takes up all three of her action slots.

Fighting is nimble, visually and mentally engaging and easy to understand and experiment with, as HP recharges automatically after each battle. The game encourages - though doesn't quite yet necessitate - keeping a careful eye on the enemy and its attack patterns, as getting hit in the middle of a combo breaks it, leaving you to wait for the time gauge to fill again before being able to retaliate. At the end of a battle you're rated on speed, style and technique on a scale from one to five stars - pleasingly satisfying when you've taken out a boss with one dizzying combo streak - and Lightning and Sazh are free to run along the broken track, with flying things screeching overhead and giant robots smacking soldiers aside on the paths beneath

The way that the game segues almost seamlessly from cut-scene to battle to exploration is extremely impressive; one second you're watching, then there's a subtle change of camera angle and you're back in the game. Run into an enemy and there's nothing more than a brief pause before the battle commands blink onto the display and you're into the fight. It's incredibly sleekly designed, beautiful to watch as well as play, and unexpectedly immersive. There's a fast-paced, action-game feel thanks to all the explosions and firepower and unnecessary air-launching of enemies.

After a lot more battles, there's a mini-boss and a dead-end: Lightning, curt and imperious, ignores Sazh's humorous complaints, and the two of them fly off into the city on a slow-moving transit ship. She's clearly a woman on a mission. Sadly the demo's not exactly heavy on details about what that mission might be - only that she's aiming to take down the Cocoon from the inside and expose the fallacy of the holy government.

'Final Fantasy XIII' Screenshot 2

From here, you take control of Team NORA, a Cocoon resistance group fighting on the tracks below. There's Snow, the bandana-clad, confident blonde with the interesting facial hair from the trailers, token sassy female Lebreau, Gadot the orange-haired tank and bumbling, skittish young Maqui, clad fetchingly in neon pink. Playing Snow is a big change from Lightning; his attacks are slow and physical and he doesn't manoeuvre out of the way with the same agility, so fights are more considered.

Announcements about dangerous intruders and resistance fighters boom out from a mysterious PA system in the sky as these four fight their way to the other end of another ruined track, towards a group of what appear to be refugees - a group of scared children and panicking adults. Enlisting some of their help, they fight towards the final battle of the demo, a close-quarters confrontation with another of the huge robotic animals we've seen in the trailers. What happens thereafter is probably a massive spoiler - suffice to say that not everyone survives, and we get a glimpse of the potential depth of FFXIII's storytelling cut-scenes beyond the impressive action bombast that we've seen so far.

Things are looking overwhelmingly positive. The characters are likeable - Lightning for her mysteriousness, the members of NORA for their banter and camaraderie - the setting is compelling, and the whole thing is as sumptuous visually as you'd expect of a next-generation Square-Enix title. The plot's the only thing that I couldn't get a definite feel for from the demo, beyond the basic set-up of an oppressive regime, a resistance fighting against it and a character with mysterious powers brought to aid them in a twist of fate. But forty minutes with Final Fantasy XIII have left me with nothing but anticipation for what else it has in store.

Final Fantasy XIII is due out for PS3 and Xbox 360 this winter.

Picture of Keza.

About Keza MacDonald

Read more articles from Keza by visiting the Keza MacDonald archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (84) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • monkeylite #1 3 years ago

    "Final Fantasy XIII is due out for PS3 and Xbox 360 this winter."

    Wrong.

  • Whatsfor #2 3 years ago

    You wasted a perfect "First" opportunity for that statement?

  • Prodigy_BE #3 3 years ago

    euhm... shouldn't that be "is out for PS3 in Japan this winter, and the work on the euro versions and Xbox port will start then"

  • Wildsleven #4 3 years ago

    holy shit, me wants badly lol

  • darc #5 3 years ago

    I'm really glad they negotiated for an XBox version of this game. Looking forward to it.

  • FenderMaster #6 3 years ago

    I really hope that the characters are more interesting and likable, and the plot less... boring, than FFXII

    FFX was my favourite

  • Cappy #7 3 years ago

    So playing a publically available demo counts as 'hands on' now.

  • GamesConnoisseur #8 3 years ago

    Due out this Winter ONLY in Japan and ONLY on PS3!


    X360 and PS3.... USA and European 2010... though may be possible for Europe to get our hands on it even later!

  • El-Dev #9 3 years ago

    What's the deal with this on the 360, is it being ported after the PS3 version is released?

  • Fixxxer #10 3 years ago

    "So playing a publically available demo counts as 'hands on' now."

    As much as playing a publicly available game counts as a review, yes. I don't have access to the demo but am most certainly interested in this.

  • lcmnick #11 3 years ago

    The 360 build will begin after the PS3 build is finished, but they will be released at the same time.

    But building/porting for the 360 is pretty easy so say devs, so the wait shouldn't be too long.
    Edited by 1 at 16/04/09 @ 16:38

  • Reihn #12 3 years ago

    Cappy, you're a twat. Would you prefer EG hadn't done this writeup? I don't have access to this demo - not having a PS3 or being in Japan or speaking Japanese - so I'm very interested to read about it.

    Sounds awesome, by the way! I loved FF6, 7, 8 and 10 with a passion, but then I got a bit burnt out on JRPGs and took a long break from them over the last few years. Sounds like this could bring me back to the fold. : )

  • VicViper #13 3 years ago

    @GamesConnoisseur

    Sadly I'm betting its going to be region locked.

  • MasterNameless #14 3 years ago

    Do they region lock PS3 games at all? I didn't think they did. I assume they'll just release a Japanese voice/text only version for Japan. So only the lucky few westerners who know Japanese can import. There may be an Asian version with English text, but knowing Square, I doubt it. FromSoftware are good for that though. :)

    When it does get released over here, it would be nice if we can keep the Japanese voices though, especially if there are children characters involved, I hate the whiny American kiddy voice-acting that usually gets done...
    Edited by 1 at 16/04/09 @ 16:50

  • berelain #15 3 years ago

    shouldnt it be "Lightning" not "Lightening"?

  • Widge #16 3 years ago

    I've not encountered region locked PS3 games, though DLC can be region specific, as can online servers.
    For stuff where I'm expecting a DLC avalanche or a lot of online play, I go UK (LBP, KZ2), if it sounds like a solo purchase and thats no more then I'm happy to go US/Canada (Oblivion GOTY, Eternal Sonata).

  • jonbwfc #17 3 years ago

    "an oppressive regime, a resistance fighting against it and a character with mysterious powers brought to aid them in a twist of fate."

    They spend years making the game and 10 minutes coming up with the plot?

    Jon

  • dominalien #18 3 years ago

    @berelain

    The girl's name written in katakana on some of the screenshots linked to by 20charactersmax is "raitoningu", which indeed is lightning in Japanese.

    Lightening is defined here: http://ww w.wordreference.com/definition/... Not quite the same thing.

    Disclaimer: I'm not a native English speaker, so I admit the possibility that "lightning" may, indeed, be spelled "lightening" in the UK or parts thereof.
    Edited by 3 at 16/04/09 @ 17:11

  • Cappy #19 3 years ago

    I've got a keyboard warrior calling me names on the internet. Oh no.

    One with a rather tiny brain to be precise. There is a world of difference between a preview and a short demo anybody could pick up on eBay.
    Edited by 1 at 16/04/09 @ 17:16

  • Gearskin #20 3 years ago

    Actually Cappy... there isn't. You know that Red Faction G hands on? Demo is available for THQ subs. And will be freely available next week. And it's the same for a lot of games. No doubt the Batman AA demo rooms will become downloads closer to release.

    Are you basically implying that no site should post something that another site has access to? And no person should be interested to read anothers opinion based on something they cannot access themselves because, at some point, maybe they could?

  • andywilkie35 #21 3 years ago

    I like the sentence "Things are looking overwhelmingly positive", really looking forward to it

  • Cloud-Strife #22 3 years ago

    hp recharge after every battle? sold!

  • Agent_Llama #23 3 years ago

    Please correct the spelling mistake!

  • Stuz359 #24 3 years ago

    Only problem with the spelling mistake unfortunately is, is that it would have read as perfectly acceptable on spell-check. I knew that paperclip was evil...

  • darc #25 3 years ago

    @evilfoxhound: Hopefully with the new XBox install to HDD option, you'll be able to dump all 40 DVDs onto your HDD, and then just validate from disc 1 throughout the entire game. Hopefully.

    I still think there should be an option to have ownership verified over XBox live, so I can play installed games without hunting for their discs at all. Then I might actually bother to use the feature.

  • Reihn #26 3 years ago

    Err . .that's why this wasn't called a 'preview' at all - it was labeled a hands on, which is entirely accurate. Admittedly, a write up of a demo is not as press-exclusive as, say, Tom's recent Batman hands-ons, but in this case it's still absolutely newsworthy none the less. This game is hugely anticipated and the demo is in another country, in another language ffs.

    Also, my first point of advice is simply this: Stop posting, pithy, snide and unconstructive comments like "So playing a publically available demo counts as 'hands on' now." onto the interwebs, and far fewer people will point out that you're being a dick.

    Aaah, what the hell - Cappy, I'm very sorry I called you a twat. Please accept my apologies so we can both let the healing begin.

  • Sunyavadin #27 3 years ago

    Meh.

  • Pastici #28 3 years ago

    @jonbwfc

    Do you really think that will be the whole plot? It sound kinda FFVII-ish plot wise so far.

  • Red-Moose #29 3 years ago

    I am not reading any of this article

    FFXIII will be all new to me! Surprises galore!!

  • Sulphur #30 3 years ago

    Yes. Surprises galore. It'll be galorific-ish!

    So this is what happened to that FF VII tech demo for the PS3, eh. :D

  • ZxdarkstarxZ #31 3 years ago

    I can't wait for this game, it's going to be awesome ^ ^

  • gohda #32 3 years ago

    damnn, I could end up getting this.

  • Guns #33 3 years ago

    So, we have:

    - oppressive city, sealed of from the outside world ruled by gigantic unlikeable organisation
    - an intro involving a train in said city
    - a scorpion-bot enemy in the very first part of the game
    - a mysterious protagonists, who's motives are not exactly clear
    - a much more vocal and out in the open resistance group trying to take the gigantic unlikeable organisation down
    - ...

    FF VII much, yes?
    Edited by 1 at 16/04/09 @ 19:33

  • Camorrista #34 3 years ago

    Not at all, note these new elements:

    - a black sidekick, only this time absurdly cowardly and incompetent
    - a general mashup of steampunk-fantasy for a setting
    - a lifestream-thingie substance, presumably containing the essence of the planet. Turquoise too, it seems.
    - nondescript soldiers as basic enemies in the first part of the game
    ...

  • Darren #35 3 years ago

    After a couple of turgid and bland JRPGs on the Xbox 360 which used the creaky Unreal Engine 3, namely The Last Remnant and Lost Odyssey, I'd almost lost interest in the genre until I watched 20 minutes of footage from this game on Gamersyde. It looks awesome quite frankly and I'm happy to wait as long as it takes to get hold of the PS3 version. With the high-quality FMV I'd imagine the PS3's BD format will come in very handy for this game (goodness only knows how many DVDs the 360 version is going to require just for the video sequences). The Final Fantasy series are *the* premier JRPGs, everything else seems like a pale imitation in comparison, including those aforementioned Xbox 360 games.

  • MaxiSleep #36 3 years ago

    Coin-Op

    You, sir, are an idiot.

  • MisterCraig #37 3 years ago

    I'll second that.

    Also... Sazh?

    Pronounced how exactly?

    Can't wait till I have children: baby brothers Squall and Cloud, and oh look- there goes Aerith.

    I kid.

  • CitizenGeek #38 3 years ago

    I don't really mind that it resembles FFVII so much in it's setting and basic, initial plot. In fact, as far I'm concerned, that's a good thing :)

    I really can't want for FFXIII :D

  • konnsky #39 3 years ago

    IT HAS BEGUN!

  • Mugwum Verified Operations Director, Eurogamer Network #40 3 years ago

    berelain:

    "shouldnt it be "Lightning" not "Lightening"?"

    Yes. Keza was translating from the katakana, as someone suggested. And I did change it, but then somehow I published the version without the change. So please blame me for being an idiot and not Keza.

    Cappy:

    "So playing a publically available demo counts as 'hands on' now."

    I understand the argument, but, as others have pointed out, this isn't a demo that everyone who reads Eurogamer and owns a PS3 has access to, and it is a demo that most of the people who do will want to read about.

  • hiddenranbir #41 3 years ago

    shining biomechs and fighter spacecraft, emphatically is not.

    What?

  • PrivateJoker #42 3 years ago

    Only 46 comments on my screen. I bet their's a load of trolling going on here of which I'm blissfully unawares. Gotta love that ignore button.

  • busboy33 #43 3 years ago

    ***serious question -- not a troll attempt***

    The overwhelmingly positive reaction this is getting here and on other sites baffles me. As notmyrealname said, this looks utterly cookie-cutter to me. I've never been a FF fan, so I have no inherent love of the series. Even accepting that there's far more to this than shown in the demo videos, there's a stereotypical plot, characters (oooh look, the saucy girl poses provocatively with her gun! how saucy!), and what looks like pretty stereotypical combat (FF+KOTOR, both systems years old).

    Cutscene, walk/run down hallway/traintrack, intersect enemy, enter "battle mode", issue commands, watch trancedance fighters resolve fight, happydance/pose for battle score, return to running down wallway/traintrack, cutscene, repeat repeat repeat
    .
    My general rule of thumb is when 20 million people like something and I don't, usually its a pretty good guess that I'm the one who's wrong.

    So to the FF faithful . . . what am I missing? If I understand the FF series, there's no continuity of story between the games (except for the idea of "magic planetary lifeforce" that's been used in the last several), so what about this series gets people so excited?

    Like I said, this is a serious question, not a FF slam. Y'all love it, and good for you -- it's good to have a game coming that you like. I would like to be as excited as everybody else, but I just can't. Only FFs I've played are 7 and 10, and both staggeringly underwhelmed me. What am I missing?

    *side-not to Squnix -- if Japanese developers are trying to avoid "racist" accusations after RE5, one suggestion: having a FUCKING BIRD NESTING IN A BROTHER'S AFRO might not be the best idea.

  • FortysixterUK #44 3 years ago

    Don't care when it comes out, it will hit these shores eventually...and when it does....it's mine !

  • mkreku #45 3 years ago

    Wouldn't it be neat if, coinciding with the release of this, Microsoft revealed a Blu-Ray add-on for the Xbox 360?

  • Krelle #46 3 years ago

    Just got this yesterday. Its the same feel as when I played the FFX demo waaay back.

    Come on Winter 2009

  • Krelle #47 3 years ago

    busboy33

    You should probably just accept that you dont like FFs. Itll make it easier for both you and me(us).

  • Pro_Gamer #48 3 years ago

    Jap RPGs are a joke. While the west gets proper games the Japs waste time with emo crap like this. Why can't the japs put some effort towards a FPS? I'd really like to see what they could do to the FPS genre, I am sure they could add their own unique flavour.

  • Chupakun #49 3 years ago

    I'm both stupidly excited and completely unfazed by the development of this game. The FFX vibe makes me giddy whereas the FFVII makes me face-palm. Some of the characters, even this early on, inspire interest whereas others are stereotypical to the point of inanity. The visuals are remarkable but the art-style lacks inspiration.

    Mixed emotions really.

  • Reihn #50 3 years ago

    @ busboy33

    Well, you do make some good points, and you're not trolling (yay). Trolling would be saying "FF sux and you're dumb for liking it." ; )

    As for why people like it, I wanted to make a few suggestions, in no particular order, along the lines of:

    * The joy of the grind. Which can either turn you off or -really- hook you in, seeing your party climb the path to godlike awesomeness inch by inch.
    * Beautiful, rich worlds filled with characters you can actually grow to care about. They're more scripted than modern western rpgs, but that means it can be a more directed plot with more considered dialogue/interactions that weave together with the overall story.
    * I agree that a lot of the gameplay has gotten a bit stale in some titles, but .. there's a lot of history and nostalgia behind that gameplay! I think they're just trying to tweak and improve and freshen it up in small amounts so it doesn't change into something that's not FF.
    * Stunning visuals, including FMVs, cut scenes and every other part of the game. Going by prior FF titles, the whole thing usually looks top notch, again heightening the immersion and the cinematic effect.

    BUUUT: All of those things were present in FF7 and FF10. When I played FF10, I spend 180 hours on it (I had a lot more time on my hands then than I do now) and I really fell in love with the characters and the world. If you've played both, and given them both enough of a chance for them to get their hooks into you (which, sadly, is about 10 hours for FF games) and you've still been left cold, then I'm afraid you're just gonna have to accept that they're not for you. Which is fine - all of us have things we like and things we don't.

    I feel very similarly, in that I just don't *get* why people feel so strongly about Star Wars.
    But it doesn't bother me that they do. : )

  • Yaz #51 3 years ago

    "Wouldn't it be neat if, coinciding with the release of this, Microsoft revealed a Blu-Ray add-on for the Xbox 360?"

    Nope. :)

  • Mister_G #52 3 years ago

    Can't wait to watch the fanboi battles.... comparing graphics between the 2 versions, there's gonna carnage! They'll be examing each version down to the individual pixels looking for differences.

  • berelain #53 3 years ago

    @busboy33

    Kudos for a well-written and justifiable query. Wish more people could be like that.

    As to responding to it... well, for me the thing that has always set the FF series apart is the sheer level of polish on offer. Many RPGs offer likeable characters, epic storylines and deep systems. But few go so far as the Final Fantasy series in making their game as slick and polished as it can possibly be, from the visual style and technical achievement to the refined gameplay mechanics. Of course, the FF series is not perfect, and each game has its flaws, but when you combine the glossy feel of the games with the epic storylines and deep character arcs, then compare it with other RPGs, the others often come up lacking. Even titles like Lost Odyssey, which is one of my favourite JRPGs of recent years, just can't compete with the degree of refinement in most Final Fantasy games.

  • Reihn #54 3 years ago

    @ berelain

    I second that! Well said.

  • Zanuah #55 3 years ago

    I have a question... Though it may have missed it in the text and comments.

    Do you have direct control over all characters in your party? Or only just the main one?

    Personally I disliked the fact I had no control over the rest of my party in FF12...

  • Widge #56 3 years ago

    I've not been able to tell from the vids, from what I've seen, its just the one character that has been issuing commands.

  • breedob #57 3 years ago

    Yeah it's only the main character you control but I think you can set up supporting characters to help with combos.

  • Zanuah #58 3 years ago

    @ Widge and Breedob :: Ok, thanks for answering. Can't say Im too happy about this if it is like that... but it might work better in the end then FF12, so we'll see. :)

  • MisterCraig #59 3 years ago

    buyboy33

    FF+KOTOR, both systems years old

    Yet remain immensely enjoyable.

    This section of the game does appear rather linear, however I'm sure it will offer plenty of exploration.

    I guess what originally excited me about FF games was part new visuals/story telling/ and nostalgia. Nowadays (sinse XII struch a new chord) I look forward to seeing if they can offer something different without comprimising the traditional aspects of the franchise.

    If you played VII and X, then I doubt you will anticipate and enjoy XIII much as others. Maybe JRPGs just aren't your thing?

    I don't think it's the end of the world though, I have no doubt there will be new games availble the equal or better XIII.

    I SHALL PREDICT THIS GAME SCORES 9 omgomgomgomgomg.

  • breedob #60 3 years ago

    @Zanuah
    As long as the combat is more involving than 12 I'm happy. There was some good things about it although it did feel as if you were just watching a bit too much.

  • Darren #61 3 years ago

    @farticusmaximus - Hahaha... your post was funny in its "oh my, I'm such a blatant Xbox 360 fanboy, it hurts" kind of way. Makes me kind of glad that I am and always will be a multiformat gamer so I don't have to spout that kind of fanboy baiting nonsense. :p

  • zuljin #62 3 years ago

    Waw. Interesting read, and the comments section... People not only making intelligent posts but also ignoring the obvious trolls! I'm liking this EG much more!

    EDIT: DARREN! Ignore the trolls! They feed on attention.
    Edited by 1 at 17/04/09 @ 10:20

  • menschenfracht #63 3 years ago

    oh farticus, I do love you so. I think I can't possibly live without your comments.

  • busboy33 #64 3 years ago

    Thanks to everybody that gave their views. I do feel like I'm missing out on something, and if there's fun in a game to be had, I want to enjoy it.
    I've thought quite a bit about this lately, and I think my discomfort comes down to two factors: the characters and the fight mechanic.
    There's something about the FF-JRPG style that gets under my skin. It occupies a very strange middle ground between realistic and stereotype. It has the appearance and scope of a serious tale, but then the tale is staffed with 2 dimensional characters. I really liked Eternal Sonata, and its characters were JRPG stereotypes, but its total fantasy styling seemed to fit with that. On the other hand, Blue Dragon (I'm a 360 owner) left me cold. Maybe the ES characters seemed to have more "maturity"? Of course, the FF series seemed to almost create the JRPG stertypes, so I suppose its a bit unfair to blame FF for that -- its hardly a discredit to the series that its characters are "FF-ish".
    The fight mechanic has always rubbed me the wrong way. I understand the evolution of the "hop forward, hit, hop back" structure vis-a-vis the technological limitations of the time, but nowadays it frustrates me. As somebody noted above, the KOTOR style is still fun to play (I agree totally), but seeing the "stack moves" approach grafted onto the "hop-hit-hop" FF tradition seemed to emphasize the un-fun and imersion-shattering aspects of the FF style. I had the same reaction to RE5 -- its "traditional" mechanic was appropriate before, but now just seems anacronistic and inappropriate. Again, the videos surely don't show the totality of the system . . . mabye it picks up as the game progresses.
    Anyways, thanks again for the suggestions and comments. I used to be turned off by the entire genre, but I've been trying to enjoy different things, and by almost all accounts the FF series is one of the absolute best. I plan to play it just to add it to my lexicon, but I'd like to enjoy it when I do.

  • Lexx87 #65 3 years ago

    Darren I usually agree with you but...well...

    You are so wrong about Lost Odyssey :p

  • SliderNL #66 3 years ago

    I have a good and bad history with Final Fantasy, I loved the early ones, was enormously impressed with FF7, 8 was a major dissapointment and 9 and 10 were very enjoyable. As I swore of MMO's I didn't play 11, but 12 was a game which should never been made. There was nothing in that game I found enjoyable, believe me I tried but after 33 hours of no having fun, it was enough.

    The 'new' battlesystem in combination with endless grinds made the game the worst FF ever (for me at least), so I'm very sceptical about this one, especially if I read that the battlesystem is a modification of the one used in 12. So can anyone clarify how it compares to 12 and other JRPG's like Grandia 3?

  • Hypercube #67 3 years ago

    Darren I usually agree with you but...well...

    You are so wrong about Lost Odyssey :p

    Aye, I've only just bought a 360 and I got Lost Odyssey second hand and I'm enjoying it very muchly! Doesn't appear turgid to me (if you play a fantasy title you should pretty much expect some overblown dialog), and certainly not bland.

  • iago71 #68 3 years ago

    'Why can't the japs put some effort towards a FPS?'

    Because they dont like FPSs - The majority of Japanese people will categorically say playing them makes them feel sick!

    Metroid for example lost a lot of interest in JP when it made the leap to first person view. :)

  • Darren #69 3 years ago

    @farticusmaximus - "@Darren

    Since you started badmouthing the 360 in EVERY SINGLE THREAD you post in, your comments on fanboyism are completely null and void."

    Are you for real? LOL

    Bad-mouthing... how? Oh you mean because my sixth Xbox 360 has just failed and I've had to send it back for repairs? Or that I think multiformat games look and run better on my new PC? That's not bad-mouthing you silly boy, that's just stating a fact! I don't recall ever calling the Xbox 360 a poor games machine. If I thought that then I wouldn't own one. (Incidentally I do think the Wii is a poor games machine hence why I'm thinking very seriously about selling mine)

    However the 360 alone isn't a perfect games machine and that's why I'm a multiformat gamer... so I can play the best version of any game and all the exclusives too.

    Guess you're another for the Ignore button since you're clearly little more than an immature 360 fanboy troll with little of interest to say anyway. :p

  • Darren #70 3 years ago

    @Lexx87 - "Darren I usually agree with you but...well...

    You are so wrong about Lost Odyssey :p "

    Sorry I know a lot of people liked it and it got good reviews so it obviously isn't a terrible game but I found it extremely tedious to play. It started off slow and featured a lead character that I neither liked nor related to. By the time it got going some 15 hours in (which was as long as I played it) I got bored of it. The random battles didn't help either, I absolutely hate those, they're so 1990s IMO.

  • MisterCraig #71 3 years ago

    Come on folks, EG doesn't need to go all IGN and start having flaming wars on every thread. Why don't you just open up a forum page and have it out. Nerd on nerd.

    I think when it boils down to it, the fact that my first ever RPG was Illusion of Time, I've always had a soft spot for SquEnix. I'm naturally drawn to Final Fantasy.

    Really though, give XII a shot. It's really good and can be found for about 3 quid in the bargain bins.

    EDIT: Pro Gamer: do you really think we need more devs making FPS games? The genre is well beyond saturation!
    Edited by 1 at 17/04/09 @ 13:30

  • geeza2020 #72 3 years ago

    Does anyone else believe that final fantasy games are past it? They seem to be re-hashing the same old ideas again and again. And i agree with some peoples comments about the characters being extremely stereotypical. FF7 was the first RPG i played and its probably the game that i have spent the most time on (completing it twice and spending hours collecting everything), 8 was a slight disappointment but what else was i going to think after 7? Final Fantasy 9 however was absolutely brilliant. I dont understand why Square refuse to go back to the more traditional rpg fantasy setting that this used, as it really was great. but since then all the final fantasy games have left me feeling cold. I thought 10 had the WORST central character in any game ever (he was soooooo damn irritating, and THAT whiny voice!) and the rest of the characters just seemed incredibly bland (i think the overall voice acting had a part to play there aswell) and 12 was supposed to be a revolution/evolution of the series, but the fight mechanics just werent that good. And the grinding, oh my god the grinding!!! So im torn as to wether i will bother with this or not. Final fantasy brings up good memories for me, but since FF9 its been nothing but pain.

  • penhalion #73 3 years ago

    I liked FF 7 but, this seems like a total rep of that. The only change story wise, seems to be to change Cloud into a girl called Lightning. I muddled through the Japanese demo on a friends machine and was seriously underwhelmed.

    Here's hoping the full game has a hell of a lot more to offer in terms of gameplay. Maybe it's time to re-introduce some minigames like the mountain snowboarding from FFVII. Hell this has nicked everything else from it. Why stop at just the plot.

  • dominalien #74 3 years ago

    @Darren

    Makes me kind of glad that I am and always will be a multiformat gamer so I don't have to spout that kind of fanboy baiting nonsense. :p

    You know, having just one system does not mean you _have to_ spout fanboy nonsense ;-)

    Although sometimes, just sometimes, seeing someone diss the system(s) I own for no other reason than that they don't own it(them) does make my fingers twitch a little over the keyboard.

  • Notez #75 3 years ago

    Something else that (the two that I have played) Final Fantasy games do better than most, is PACING (that is, skills and abilities, when you get them and whatnot and also the general flow of the game). That was a weak point of Lost Odyssey and pretty much every JRPG so far on the 360 that I have played.

    I mean Lost Odyssey was OK and I finished it with max level characters, so I played it quite a lot, but I found it kind of stupid that the few "essential" abilities for battles (which there are a lot of) can only be found at the very very very end, where they're not really of much use any more.

  • niteninja #76 3 years ago

    With the demo clocking in at nearly 6 gig,How many discs is the full game going to need on 360?
    I reckon it will need at least 6 dvds.
    Bottom line the ps3 version will be far superior all those cut scenes will shine on bluray.
    Edited by 1 at 18/04/09 @ 00:04

  • Yaz #77 3 years ago

    "I reckon it will need at least 6 dvds."

    But I don't see why that would matter. What's important is the gameplay, and how much there is per disc. So if there was about 8-10 hours gameplay per disc, then the fact that it's on multiple discs is irrelevant, since it's not going to spoil the gaming experience.

    Also, I doubt the gameplay graphics will look any different on the 360, so I don't agree that the PS3 version will be 'far superior'.

    The only area I see compromise is for video and audio for cutscenes, where instead of perhaps HD video with 7.1 audio as on the PS3, the 360 version may be SD video with 5.1 audio, and even then, most of the cutscenes will be rendered in realtime.

    So, not exactly a problem for the 360 version imo. ;)
    Edited by 2 at 18/04/09 @ 18:41

  • Vandit96 #78 3 years ago

    I'm gonna buy this right on the launch, damn, i can't wait anymore :-S
    I love this game.

  • Kanselier #79 3 years ago

    Nngghh...

    I was not gonna buy this after the Final Fantasy XII debacle. Jesus how I hated that game, I gave my copy away two days after I bought it. Luckily the mate who I gave it to enjoyed it much.

    I was so not gonna buy Final Fantasy XIII, was fed up with the whole shitty series. Now... I think I will have to buy it. And I do not know if I should be happy or upset :(

  • SliderNL #80 3 years ago

    Kanselier I had exactly the same thing. FFXII was one huge dissapointment, at the time I really thought it was the end of FF for me (and I still have serious doubts about FFXIII).

    Will the game be any good, maybe but there are lots of other games on the radar......

  • bigshot316 #81 3 years ago

    FF XII was LEGENDARY, and so will this be.

    And I don't even really do RPG's!

  • shotgun44 #82 3 years ago

    I rarely get excited over JRPGs but I love the FF series! 8 is one of my favourite games ever, I think I almost cried when it finished! I always play these with a game guide though. The FF games are the only games I feel are better with the guide.

  • CitizenGeek #83 3 years ago

    I bet Sony are gutted they let this one get away now :s

  • layleeloo #84 3 years ago

    Some flame bait for a certain wanker on these boards

    Are people like play and the like going to have to charge twice the price to ship the 360 version as it will be the size of a house having to hold its ten discs on the superioir, or so you THINK, 360. hahahhahaha. Balls to ya