Final Fantasy XIII

By Simon Parkin Published 7 January, 2010

Lightning strike.

The joke, so it goes among Final Fantasy's legions of hecklers, is that aside from some new belts, buckles and hairspray nothing ever really changes in Japan's most misleadingly-titled RPG franchise. Rather, each subsequent release echoes the preceding one in both form and function, the aged, crumbly mechanics that drive each game merely obfuscated by ever more dazzling CGI.

Glance behind the curtain of technological wizardry, they say, and you're left with an experience that's only superficially changed from the one its creator laid down over 20 years ago. While the worlds and characters that inhabit them change from Final Fantasy to Final Fantasy, the rest stands resolute; everything changes, it all stays the same.

While there are kernels of truth to this scoffing, its greater falsehoods are made plain when comparing Final Fantasy XIII, Japan's great, white RPG hope for the PlayStation 3 (and, later this year, Xbox 360), to its immediate predecessor. Chalk and cheese, the two games have an almost diametrically opposed approach.

Final Fantasy XII was a bold pushing of the genre's boundaries, combining a deep and innovative MMO-esque tactical battle system with liberating freedom to explore its rich, European-influenced towns and cities. By contrast, the first five hours of Final Fantasy XIII take the form of a fiercely linear walk, one interrupted by frequent, usually unavoidable battles, even more frequent cut-scenes, and not a single town or city to explore.

There are familiar ideas and motifs, such as the Yoshitaka Amano artwork brandished across the start screen, the traditional blip sound effect as you scroll through the menus and the tiny Chocobo that lives in the hapless Satzu's afro (although curiously the fanfare that traditionally closes each successfully completed battle is gone).

These touchstones help tether the thirteenth mainline title in the series to its umbrella branding, but it's difficult to consider the wider choices the developer has made as anything but a retreat into JRPG conservatism after the bold creativity of the twelfth.

'Final Fantasy XIII' Screenshot 1

Hitting the L1 button allows you to use items in the field, such as sneak smoke that shrouds your character in a smoky veil, allowing you to pass enemies without being seen.

The first section of the game will be familiar to anyone who imported the Japanese Blu-ray release of CGI movie Advent Children, as, bar a few tweaks, it's identical to that bundled demo. Your experience traipsing across the narrow walkways surrounding the suspended underground city of Cocoon is entirely indicative of our experience over the first few hours of the game.

You walk in a straight line into the screen, marvelling at the environment around you that stretches off into an eerie distance. Depth-of-field trickery shifts your eye's focus from near to far objects of interest, the camera latching itself on to aircraft as they wheel and dive overhead.

Every 30 seconds or so you come to a save point, a treasure chest or a group of enemies, visible in the environment. There's rarely room to squeeze past them without being seen and as soon as you touch them or they touch you the screen dissolves into a battle, separate from the main environment and also a part of it.

Then there's a cut-scene. These narrative interludes have always broken up the Final Fantasy experience, but their frequency in FFXIII is like never before. Square-Enix uses these moments to show off the White Engine, with extreme close-ups celebrating every strand of Lightning's hair and breakaway wide-angle shots giving a sense of space and geography to the world immediately around you.

The frequency of cut-scenes might lead one to expect the drama to move quickly, but in reality the first few hours of the game are curiously devoid of spectacle. Compare the same section of game to that in Final Fantasy VII, with its train escapes, big-business terrorism and bombs, and Final Fantasy XIII's trudge along suspension bridges, implausibly futuristic hallways and ice caverns is curiously devoid of events.

The removal of towns contributes to this feeling. In most JRPGs, towns and cities gave the illusion of non-linearity, providing pools of interactivity to splash about in between the long straight lines that link the rest of the game's drama. It's here, after a big boss fight or a lengthy traversal of a hostile area, that your team could rest and recuperate, away from the threat of yet more battles, free to talk to the town's inhabitants, gather more background information (albeit much of it superfluous) and upgrade equipment in the clearly delineated shops.

By removing these safe havens, Square-Enix no doubt intends for the pace of the experience to be maintained, with no downtime away from the rollercoaster ride of the adventure. As such, equipment is now bought via a menu option at every save point, a trimming away of the JRPG metaphor that may bring with it efficiency but that nevertheless loses something of the sense of journey.

Losing such a core construction in the JRPG framework could be seen as a bold and daring move, one that frees up the developer to try new ideas and approaches. But in reality it's not been replaced by anything significant, the full emphasis on the actual business of play hoisted onto the shoulders of the battle, and character development system, known as the Crystarium.

The battle system is slow to reveal its charms. For the first few hours you'll be hammering the X button without much need for tactical consideration. You control just one member of your party, issuing standard attack moves, special moves or items, and receiving a star rating for your performance in each fight, based on the time you took to finish the enemy off.

It's not until a few hours in, when the game reveals the Optima Change system that allows you to set the AI behaviour of your team-mates (albeit in a simplified manner compared to the gambits in Final Fantasy XII), that you start to earn anything other than gil for your performance in battles, with the level-up economy frozen until this point.

'Final Fantasy XIII' Screenshot 2

Lightning and Satzh represent the two sides of the player persona, the former the dashing heroine of our fantasies, the latter the hapless reality of what it would be like to tail such a superhuman.

After this the potential richness of the battle system (designed by Toshiro Tsuchida, the architect of the system used in Final Fantasy X) becomes apparent, with time used as currency for moves, and the Optima Change system allowing you to set jobs and roles for your team-mates, and even change them on the fly in battle.

Once you're given access to the Crystarium you are free to develop your characters by spending the points you've accrued through battles to purchase new abilities, upgrade health points and so on. There appears to be little scope for personal expression here: you simply pick one of the two or three new abilities next on offer in the character development tree until your points are gone. So while the set-up feels like an amalgam of previous Final Fantasy battle systems, it's still hard to say just how successful the hotch-potch design has been over the long haul.

After our first five hours with the Japanese version of Final Fantasy XIII, it's still hard to say how successful the game's skew-whiff approach has been in general. For players who saw Yasumi Matsuno's Final Fantasy XII as a creative and interesting exploration of how the aged JRPG format could shift into something contemporary and fresh, the thirteenth game seems sure to be a crushing disappointment. In many ways it emphasises those elements that so many Western gamers hate about the genre (viewed ungenerously, you could say that Square-Enix has spent a million dollars in clothing Sophie Houlden's 'The Linear RPG' in fancy graphics and orchestras).

But for those players who felt disorientated by the twelfth game's bold approach (and that pretty much includes all of Japan, who disliked the game's diversions from the JRPG hymn sheet), Final Fantasy XIII's withdrawal into tradition will be most welcome. Whether that makes for a good videogame or not, still remains to be seen.

Final Fantasy XIII is out now in Japan on PS3. It comes out in Europe and North America for PS3 and Xbox 360 on 9th March.

Picture of Simon.

About Simon Parkin

Simon Parkin is an author and journalist on video games. A regular contributor to Eurogamer since 2005, his work has also appeared in Edge, The Telegraph, Gamasutra and Boing Boing.

Read more articles from Simon by visiting the Simon Parkin archive page.

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Comments (140) Latest comment 2 years ago

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

  • groovychainsaw #1 2 years ago

    Damn. I liked FFXII... does that mean i won't like this?

    The first 10 hours are pretty much always boring in a final fantasy game. Its so difficult to tell...

  • Widge #2 2 years ago

    The PS1 FF's had great opening hours!

  • Scimarad #3 2 years ago

    Hmmm, not liking the idea of no real towns. Couple this with the lack of a world map to explore and you are starting to lose what made JRPGs fun in the first place - The sense that you are off on some epic journey.

    And how can you say FFXII had European-influenced towns and cities? It seemed a lot more middle-eastern to me! Have you even been to Rabanstre? :)

  • Machetazo #4 2 years ago

    The article suggests that towns add to a sense of world exploration, but I disagree. In certain games, yes, but if you were to set off on a trekking venture, you'd regularly need to stop, settlement or no, to replenish and rest. I think that aids a more organic world, and shaves off npcs that you don't need to speak to, and offer nought of value, if you do. I HATED that about XII, how all that slowed the pace to a distracting extent: "What am I supposed to be doing now?" "who/where was I meant to speak to, next?", all so uninteresting.

    It should be that the focus in on your party, and their relation to the world they're exploring, and how they then react to situations. Your cat's lost up a tree, miss? Call the local fire dept.! I can buy potions from the shop using funds astoundingly dislodged with regular occurence from a dead foe's innards, just as easily
    Edited by 1 at 07/01/10 @ 13:43

  • stevetuck #5 2 years ago

    Final Fantazzzzzzzz *drools on keyboard*

  • cianchristopher #6 2 years ago

    Seems like a step back from Final Fantasy XII.

    Which should ensure it has great sales, I suppose...

  • Stuz359 #7 2 years ago

    The removal of towns is a bummer. I always thought that even if the towns had no real relavence, they always added to the believability of the world they were trying to sell us. Going around, talking to people could add loads just to the general tapestry of the game and losing that I think is just a shame.
    Plus, it was always nice for a change of pace especially after a boss battle.

  • WMain00 #8 2 years ago

    Ironically, I absolutely hated FFXII, so perhaps I want the tradition that is so enforced in the J-RPG more than I think I do...

  • McFly55 #9 2 years ago

    Towns were always good as a change of pace after a boss battle, and side quests too. So am I to understand that you wont be able to fly about the world completing side quests and getting new weapons/items before continuing the story? I'd miss that...

  • hardtech #10 2 years ago

    I hated Final Fantasy XII...And this article has quelled my enthusiasm a bit. I really don't like the idea of not having towns and that buy weapons from the save points. Although saying that, the slow start doesn't bother me that much, I'm just hoping the story and battle system can save the game when I finally get to play through it.

  • Scimarad #11 2 years ago

    @ Machetazo

    Unfortunately for me those towns are one of the things that makes an RPG an RPG, though it suggests that you do still get to go around chatting to NPCs. When I think of FFXII the thing that springs to mind first is the 2 huge ciites.

    If they aren't careful they will erode everything that makes a decent RPG.

  • ProfessorLesser #12 2 years ago

    The article doesn't say there are no towns. It says there are no towns at the beginning of the game.

    Also, I don't like the closing paragraph, implying people coulndn't keep up with the change FFXII made, as opposed to not liking it for some other legitimate reason. I didn't find it disorientating - I found it boring.

    Bold it was though, and it's disappointing not to see FFXIII at least trying something else.
    Edited by 1 at 07/01/10 @ 14:00

  • spekkeh #13 2 years ago

    Damn, this was to be my return to FF after a very long time, and was really looking forward to it. However, the preview makes it sound horrendously dull.

  • Collymilad #14 2 years ago

    I cant believe they have no towns.

    So disappointed when I heard this a while ago.

    The article only states there are no towns in the first 5 hours yes, but I'm pretty sure there's a preview on Kotaku where they played 25 hours, and still no towns - so if that's true i'd hazard a guess there's no towns at all.

    Really, Square, what the hell was wrong with the 7/8/9 world map style? 10 was ok but that was borderline, and this seems even more of a step past 10 (as far as linearity goes) - totally baffling tbh. I totally agree with the guy that said towns etc are part of what makes an RPG an RPG - all you have without them is an action game with very nice cut-scenes, stats and levels.

  • Paulie_P #15 2 years ago

    I loved the battle system in FF XII, I found it a nice change to the random battles from before.

  • f00b_inc #16 2 years ago

    Sounds like a step back to me too! Shame, I'd never got around to play FFXII and would have liked to try out something similar here.

  • hiddenranbir #17 2 years ago

    They're still using save points?

  • thedaveeyres #18 2 years ago

    A very scathing preview... I'd say it doesn't bode well, but I've read similar previews before and the game has reviewed really well. I guess we will find out in good time.

  • Antaios #19 2 years ago

    Ai. I loved XII for what it tried to do and be. Then again, I love most of the games in this series, each having their own good and bad things, but thus far XIII is not sounding too good and the lack of towns is a bummer. Hope it still turns out to be a good FF, and a good game all the same.

  • mowgli #20 2 years ago

    12 was a fucking abomination so I'm happy they haven't followed it. Can't wait \o/

  • berelain #21 2 years ago

    This sounds more and more like Final Fantasy X, and less and less like FFXII. Both of which can only be good things, since the MMO-gone-single-player of FFXII felt so completely out of place in the trappings of traditional JRPG- the likes of which Final Fantasy gams have (almost) always been, albeit with exceptional production values.

    Personally, I like what Squenix appear to have done with FFXIII. It sounds like a return to form for the series, and with a stronger emphasis on a smarter, more deliberately paced battle system which I loved so much about earlier incarnations. Its easy to bemoan that FFXIII is returning to JRPG traditions, but there are very few traditional JRPGs around. The likes of Star Ocean: Last Hope, Infinite Undiscovery and Tales of Vesperia are quite different from the 'norm'. Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey are the only traditional-playing JRPGs to come around for current gen consoles, and both of those are by the creator of Final Fantasy. I don't find it hard to understand why he left Squenix and went his ownway.

  • andywilkie35 #22 2 years ago

    The lack of towns and buying items from save points sounds - quite frankly - like an absolutely terrible idea. I'm quite concerned that this is going to be another Last Remnant, i.e. absolute toilet. Until this preview this was my most anticipated game of the year, now I'm not so sure...

  • mkreku #23 2 years ago

    How odd. 12 was the least linear of the Final Fantasy's I played on my PS2 and also the only one I liked. This preview makes 13 sound completely uninteresting to me. Guess I'm just not a fan of the true Final Fantasy.

  • viper_h #24 2 years ago

    Hated 12, liked 10. Bit disappointed about there being no towns, as I always enjoyed getting to a new town and raiding the shops for new equipment, but at least it's not gonna be an offline version of FFXI.

    Bring it on!

  • Darren #25 2 years ago

    I'm very excited about FFXIII, mostly because I've played so many depressingly mediocre JRPGS over the past three years on the Xbox 360 (I even disliked Lost Odyssey too; found it boring) that it'll be great to play the 'real deal' from a series renowned for excellence. Also because Square-Enix have now dropped those irritating random battles since FFXII on the PS2 the FF games are now ten times more enjoyable IMO. That said, I did love FFVII but back when I played it I didn't know that JRPGs could get any better (the awesome Grandia II on the Dreamcast showed me that wasn't true).

    Roll on March...

  • Psiloc #26 2 years ago

    Judging from what I was about to write and the comments thread so far, you're gonna need to go into more depth about the 'no towns' thing Simon, because I don't get how you even have a game left after that. Are we talking dungeon > forest > dungeon > slum etc.?

  • Darren #27 2 years ago

    I don't see what all the fuss is over the lack of towns myself. They're usually hub areas that allow you to buy upgrades, equipment and rest etc. but so long as you can do all of those that at the save points, which FFXIII seems to have a lot of going by this preview, then it is surely a better system... no?

  • Eraysor #28 2 years ago

    squaresoft FFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

    EDIT: To make my point a little clearer, I thought that the transition to a futuristic style would make me enjoy this one much more than FFXII, but it seems as though every other aspect has taken a step backwards. As much as I detest Vaan, at least Rabanastre and the other cities were well made. The world is going to feel quite a bit more lifeless this time around.
    Edited by 1 at 07/01/10 @ 14:54

  • Psiloc #29 2 years ago

    "I don't see what all the fuss is over the lack of towns myself. They're usually hub areas that allow you to buy upgrades, equipment and rest etc. but so long as you can do all of those that at the save points, which FFXIII seems to have a lot of going by this preview, then it is surely a better system... no?"

    Well the game would work, as in it would be playable from beginning to end, but I can't grasp how an RPG with no towns wouldn't be tear inducingly boring. To be honest I don't actually believe it and expect the article is being a little misleading.

  • RandomTerrain #30 2 years ago

    I really enjoyed FF12, very impressive, and I loved 7 and 9... FF8 and 10 were pretty good.
    This preview sounds worrying, but I've never played a FF game I thought to be rubbish, so I will have to see for myself.
    I'm not too worried about so little action at the start, I'm sure they're saving it for later on.

  • fabest #31 2 years ago

    In France there have been a couple of reviews and FFXIII received good but not great scores (7/10, 4/5).
    You have to follow a corridor with no towns or exploration for about 20 hours of play, then you arrive in a big open space where you can explore and hunt creatures (and do a lot of sub-missions), then to continue the story it becomes linear again.
    If my memory is ok, there are no towns at all in this FF.

    So the reviewers said this is negative and disappointing, but the fight system is good, the graphics and musics are great…

    I guess a lot of people will be disapppointed, but I loved FFXII and the new things in it (no random fight, having to tune your Gambits for the best efficiency…) so I'm still interested.

    I think it's great from Square to try something new instead of doing the same thing again & again. But sometimes it fails.

  • Widge #32 2 years ago

    Sounds barebones. I think this is what they were getting at where they said the game is more character and story based than a normal FF, everything is focussed around your party and progression through the story. Someone quipped Metal Gear Final Fantasy about this, which I suppose I don't have a problem with.

    If you want the nutshell version of the article, the twitter says:

    "Here are my thoughts on the first few hours of FFXIII: http://bit.ly/4TtBTK May contain poorly-concealed crushing disappointment."

    All down to what you want from the game in the first place though.

  • Psiloc #33 2 years ago

    But but... what is there in a world with no towns and cities? Are you running through a forest for the duration of the game or am I taking this too literally?

  • Tuffty #34 2 years ago

    Well I've never considered not getting this, I'm a fan of the FF series and I'll even defend FFXII to the death. Hearing about the lack of towns is a bit of a shocker at first, part of the appeal to me at least, is in the sense of exploration, of a world(s) bigger and more fantastical than your own and I guess having a town with NPC's goes some way to building that illusion, even if Tom the cat only says '....' when you press A over it. I considered it a huge drawback against FFXIII when I first heard about it, but I realised that there were no towns in Crisis Core either, and it didn't actually bother me. It only had equipment available at save points too. I think each FF game is different to each other so I think it's interesting to see what direction FFXIII could head to. If the loss of towns results in a tighter story with a good sense of pacing then I'm all for it.

    Bear in mind, this article is on impressions 5 hrs in, could open up a little further into the game. If FFXIII has anything like the Mark hunting sidequests in FFXII, then I'll be happy.

  • Machetazo #35 2 years ago

    "Well the game would work, as in it would be playable from beginning to end, but I can't grasp how an RPG with no towns wouldn't be tear inducingly boring."

    Combat (in this case it looks particularly animated and overt), and all the other elements that don't need to occur in towns. In an RPG, whose story is being told? Where is the focus, and where should it be? That's why I reach the opinion I have atm.

  • gjgjg #36 2 years ago

    traditional, sums it all up for me

  • SlackMaster #37 2 years ago

    Unless they have changed the fighting and RPG elements that they have been using since the late 80's I'm not interesting. FF games IMO have now become boring random battle grind fests.

  • Soul_man #38 2 years ago

    Never thought I'd say this, but I'm not sure if I'll bother playing this game. Too bad they went in this direction, FFXII was a lot of fun.

  • TRUTH #39 2 years ago

    You can now read the 1st review at Nowgamer.com.

  • Velios #40 2 years ago

    OMG How long have I been waiting for this game... only to hear this downbeat preview, I'm gutted - but if EG have only played the first 10 hours then maybe the game has yet to really open up a lot more and reveal it's depths?

  • TRUTH #41 2 years ago

    Nowgamer.com have the review (Jap import) -(Don't Read Now As Score is Given)-..................................7.9/10

    I find most FF rather boring/seen it done it in previous FF games, and now after playing rpg's: Fable, Mass Effect, Oblivion, Demon's Souls, Chronicles Valkyrie, Dragons Origin..etc etc. FF XIII seems rather the same associated with many Jrpg's... A friend of mine in Japan said FF XIII is more of the same, though the graphics are nice - they are very static and corridor/box like. It hasn't really pushed the boat out in rpg's- just polished the very static graphics and FMV.

    If wanting more freedom and expecting a vast open adventure - this will be a sort of let down.

    If into Jrpg's this will be more or less the same as previous FF/ Jrpg's games. If it did not have the FF franchise name; it would have scored slightly less as most FF fans know what to expect from FF games - the usual same stuff!

    Nowgamer.com for review!
    Edited by 4 at 07/01/10 @ 19:24

  • Arwin #42 2 years ago

    "For players who saw Yasumi Matsuno's Final Fantasy XII as a creative and interesting exploration of how the aged JRPG format could shift into something contemporary and fresh"

    Hey, that's me! But from my experience, I'm strongly in the minority. From what I'm hearing, the game opens up, first the combat, but then especially after about 30 hours the game really opens up completely ... from what I'm hearing anyway. I haven't played a Final Fantasy yet beyond the first disc, so I'm not a good judge for these things. I got stuck in Final Fantasy XII because I didn't know about grinding, and I've played almost all of them since FFVII ... doh!

  • Collymilad #43 2 years ago

    "In France there have been a couple of reviews and FFXIII received good but not great scores (7/10, 4/5).
    You have to follow a corridor with no towns or exploration for about 20 hours of play, then you arrive in a big open space where you can explore and hunt creatures (and do a lot of sub-missions), then to continue the story it becomes linear again.
    If my memory is ok, there are no towns at all in this FF."

    Really? I'll still buy this, but just wow - SE have really ****ed this one up to a large degree if this is true.

    Yes, I know I haven't played it, but if it does follow that general template, sounds so boring.

  • drunkymonkey #44 2 years ago

    Well, this sounds pretty fucking disappointing...

    I loved FFXII, and was expecting this to be an improvement on that game's already considerable achievements. But no.

    Thanks, Square.

  • FladgeMangle #45 2 years ago

    The thing I'm most worried about is the lack of the classic victory fanfare. Everything else seems OK.

    Another thing of slight concern is that SP played the game for apparently longer than some other titles actually last and still didn't know if it was any good.

  • Snidesworth #46 2 years ago

    Sounds like another dull JRPG. It's been years since I've found one that actually excited me. Valkyria Chronicles came the closest, but after 8 or so chapters I can't bring myself to touch it again. While I disliked the horrible grind involved in FF12 I did enjoy the open, explorable worlds said grind was set in.

  • Demiath #47 2 years ago

    The JRPG subgenre has come home...to die. Serves it right, too.

  • Boomerang #48 2 years ago

    Still can't work out who's a boy and who's a girl in these games. What's Japanese for "androgynous"? ;/

    Even Cloud from the epic FFVII is a bit half-and-half...

  • Krelle #49 2 years ago

    SPOILERS (no story spoilers thou)!

    Im about 25h into the game and up to this point I have not been able to choose anything but the main story line. The game, this far, is _extremly_ linear.

    Also there are probably more FMV in this than MGS4. The game basicly goes as following: Trash mobs, save point, story, boss, story, new area, trash mobs, save point, story, boss, story..repeat.

    On the plus side, the storytelling is great. The story itself feels alitte meh still thou. The characters by themselves are not bad, but what really stands out are the bonds that they create between each other. You can see and feel how they come closer to each other, ie no random kissing scenes or shit coming out of the blue as often is the case with games.

    The battle system is slick and super fast. Often it feels like all you do is pressing Circle and L1, but in boss fights is shines and shows its true potential.

    I still dont know if I hate it or love it. But what I do know is that its really addictive. If the game "opens up" in the second half I think ill like it much more. If it doesnt, Im afraid it will feel like a "slow opening", with nothing to come after it. As if the whole of FF7 would be set in Midgar. Just worse.

    This far it feels like a strong 8/10ish. (All other FFs have been 10/10 or close to for me.)

    Oh, and you have never ever played an JRPG anything like this. For better and worse.

  • DarkOni #50 2 years ago

    well as long as the lack of towns is logic while progressing through the story then I am fine with it. I mean all I know about XIII Story is that you are hated/discriminated against/hunted wherever you go... Would it then be a good idea to enter random towns and buy stuff from the local vendor?

  • Velios #51 2 years ago

    But i just can't believe how long it has taken them to make this game... and then this? If this game bombs then I expect them to radically rethink the entire FF franchise... Waiting 4 years for a game that is mediocre just doesn't make sense for anyone.

  • Jayke #52 2 years ago

    There are towns, this guy only played the first couple hours. 12 started with a linear mission too, you were Vaans older brother and you were forced into every situation to teach you how to play.

    This was written by someone who dislikes jrpgs, reviews should be written by fans of the genre not by the guy who has the most free time.

  • Velios #53 2 years ago

    Oh and thanks for introducing me to Nowgamer.com - looks like quite a nicely laid out site, not stuffed with adverts like EG is these days.

  • Drpwnage #54 2 years ago

    There was a long preview/review after 25hours of play by Tim Rogers on Kotaku that went up on Christmas day. Echoes much of Simon's article although it does ramble on somewhat.

  • Krelle #55 2 years ago

    @Jayke
    "There are towns, this guy only played the first couple hours. 12 started with a linear mission too, you were Vaans older brother and you were forced into every situation to teach you how to play."

    As I said, have played more than 25h and the whole game, up to this point, is exactly like the beginning of FF12. But with even less freedom. I love JRPGs, and (sadly) this is how FF13 is.

  • YobRenoops #56 2 years ago

    Final Fantasy XII was a masterpiece, I've never understood the hate it received. Looking forward to this one though, I've booked a week off work.

  • Sunyavadin #57 2 years ago

    *Cancels preorder*

  • shogo10 #58 2 years ago

    They spent five years making a totally linear game? After all that time and money spent on the game, you know you'd expect progress or something. I'm expecting this to be one of the most disappointing games of 2010.

  • j-bo #59 2 years ago

    Personally I thought XII was a major setback in the series. Half of the cast were bland are irritating - the overarching plot was tedious, and the shift to the MMO style combat was dull. Boss fights involved standing there chopping away for 20 minutes: MMO fights are only interesting because they're comprised of multiple players co-ordinating - otherwise they look and play out dull as hell, this was FFXII's main problem. The spectacle and drama of previous FF's had been replaced by grindy MMO.

    FF has never really been about non linear rpg elements, it is essential one long interactive story, and it almost entirely rests on the strength of its characters, plot and presentation, IMHO.

  • Zaiz #60 2 years ago

    ...I predict someone's going to troll to the max and say this game was dumbed down for the 360 crowd. >.> But seriously, Square Enix, make a roleplaying game, in which one plays a role, not a movie with turn based combat.

  • ChronoMizaki #61 2 years ago

    "They spent five years making a totally linear game? After all that time and money spent on the game, you know you'd expect progress or something."

    It's a design choice. They created the game with this in mind, they made it linear to suit around the story and characters. If people are still going to moan about Final Fantasy XIII because of its linearity and lack of traditions such as Overworld Map and Shit, then wait for Final Fantasy Versus XIII. Nomura has promised the game to be more closer to the old games with Overworld and Dungeons. If you treat it as a spin-off and consider it "Not a proper FF game", then you're ignorant and will keep moaning about FF not being non-linear.

    Otherwise, FFXIII is a different type of experience.

  • bleeptest #62 2 years ago

    I always think it's interesting how many people seem to love one FF or another, and equally hate others. There seldom seems to be a real pattern.

    For the record i'm a...

    II (US) - Yes!
    III (US) - Yes!
    VII - Double Yes YES! (No surprise there)
    VIII - Err, no.
    X - Skipped it. Disillusioned after VIII (and got a job/life)
    X-2 - Skipped it. (Job/life was evolving)
    XII - Yes! (Worked out job/life sucked)

    Thinking I'm probably a XIII No.

  • Krelle #63 2 years ago

    ChronoMizaki

    FF13 is definitly a new experince. And I like that they try new things. FF8 is probably my favorite FF to date. But does those changes make FF13 a great game? Not really.

    Myself im not really dissapointed with how the game works, but more the overall quality.

  • Distributor #64 2 years ago

    "I've booked a week off work."

    For this? A week? But here i go again. Now where was my wheelchair and catheder.

  • miiiguel #65 2 years ago

    I'm so easy when it comes to jrpg's, I just love them litle kitsch f***ers. I'm all over this. I loved Last Remnant, and for a change (really) it was pretty challenging, at least the tower which came on the DLC.

  • CordableTuna #66 2 years ago

    If the whole game is the same quality as the preview, come on Eurogamer, I DARE you to give it 3/10!

  • immateriaux #67 2 years ago

    FFXII was one of my favorite rpg games ever. Loved the cities, loved the style, loved the characters, loved the fighting system, the gambits, the equipment choice. It was pretty much all round thumbs up - just the odd tedium here and there. But there were a number of really great set pieces that have stuck in my mind and the changes in environments were all wonderfully immersive, the fishing towns, the desert, the air ships, the mountains and so on. Really enjoyed that game.

    FFXIII sounds like shit though. That "hands on" has just turned me off almost completely.
    Edited by 1 at 07/01/10 @ 18:06

  • FladgeMangle #68 2 years ago

    @ bleeptest

    You skipped FF X? You missed a real treat there.

    Barbie's Magic Wardrobe - I mean FF X-2 - was pretty dire though, so no loss there.

  • Mr.DNA #69 2 years ago

    Simon Parkin reckons that FFXIII is a return to a more "traditional" JRPG experience, after the freedom offered in FFXII. However, the suspicion that the game contains no towns, no merchants, no fanfare after battle and few, if any, side-quests, doesn't exactly strike me as terribly "traditional". I have to agree with the consensus of opinion here in the comments section that, based on Parkin's account of his five hours spent with the game, it doesn't sound too promising. Which is a shame because I had really been looking forward to this game.

  • bleeptest #70 2 years ago

    Yeah, I can accept I was wrong to skip 10. The thing is, I suck at virtually all of them - the first 2 I mentioned are the only ones I've ever actually finished, normally I'm stuck at something like 48hrs played with a woefully underlevelled team that needs to spend 10hrs grinding levels somewhere just to progress....at which point I zone out.

    But the fact I played the first 2 on my imported US SNES (65 quid with Mario World - 3 weeks worth of Saturday job toil) when I was 13 mean they all just shout 'nostalgia' so I love them.

  • AC!D #71 2 years ago

    FFX was the best for me and FFXII was bland in the combat and story department. It got to the point where i set up my gambits and moved my party through a level just moving with the analogue stick. When my party entered a battle i just pressed X. Rinse and repeat the entire game. If FFXIII plays more like FFX then im a happy chappy. Also linear can sometimes be better if the linear levels ar well designed so well that its oractically hidden e.g Uncharted 2.
    Edited by 2 at 07/01/10 @ 18:18

  • Krelle #72 2 years ago

    FFX-2 was great. Crap story, but wonderful combat system.



    SPOILERS
    I think I just came to the "second part" of FF13. Lets see if things gets better from here..

  • xexuxjy #73 2 years ago

    Reading some opinions of people who've finished the game on (shock horror) neogaf, it looks as though the linearity and lack of towns / side quests really does follow through the whole game...

  • peanut80 #74 2 years ago

    "So while the set-up feels like an amalgam of previous Final Fantasy battle systems, it's still hard to say just how successful the hotch-potch design has been over the long haul.

    After our first five hours with the Japanese version of Final Fantasy XIII, it's still hard to say how successful the game's skew-whiff approach has been in general."

    Hmmm, sorry to be pedantic, but not so great Mr. Parkin.

    Quezacotl.

  • Verminox #75 2 years ago

    Wait for Final Fantasy versus XIII, will be the second coming of Christ.
    Edited by 1 at 07/01/10 @ 18:30

  • harhol #76 2 years ago

    This hands-on is laughable. People didn't dislike FF12 because it was too daring, they disliked it because the story was non-existent, the battle system was a complete failure and the majority of the cast were deeply irritating. FF13 erases these memories immediately with strong storytelling & likeable characters right from the outset, and a battle system which can only be described as sublime.

    It's also about as un-JRPG like as it can be without being an entirely different genre, yet people still insist on the tired old argument of "all JRPGs are the same lol". There are no towns, no experience points, no levels, no MP, no world map... the jobs are new (jammer, blaster, etc), the battle system is a breath of fresh air in all respects, there are only two stats (physical attack & magical attack), the setting is non-traditional, the plotting is non-traditional, the music is non-traditional... need I go on? Anyone who thinks that FF13 is just like every other JRPG clearly does not play many JRPGs. It has a passing resemblance to previous Final Fantasies. That's it. It is nothing like Atelier Iris, Ar Tonelico, Persona, Nocturne, Digital Devil Saga, Shadow Hearts, Mana Khemia, Star Ocean, Eternal Sonata, Cross Edge, etc.

    I don't understand what JRPGs need to do in order to avoid these ceaseless accusations of "stagnation"... other than be a WRPG of course ;)

    ...and 5 hours is really nothing. You don't even get to customise weapons or use summons until 7-8 hours in. Remember how slowly FFX started?
    Edited by 1 at 07/01/10 @ 19:05

  • Chufty #77 2 years ago

    Awesome! A linear game at last.

    If I have to fanny around in one more tedious sandbox, I might just give up this blasted hobby.

  • Mr.DNA #78 2 years ago

    @harhol:

    "There are no towns, no experience points, no levels, no MP, no world map..."

    Just shoot me now.

  • freakzilla #79 2 years ago

    So when will the Japanese get tired of the same old shit? Downvote me all you want but Japanese gamers are scared of innovation or variety (at least when it comes their JRPGs).

    When I first saw the first Japanese trailer with a little bit aof dialogue and drama I was quite curious but it turned out they were spouting the same shit as Naruto, Bleach and any other such show.
    Edited by 2 at 08/01/10 @ 00:40

  • Mr.DNA #80 2 years ago

    Krelle said:

    "I think I just came to the "second part" of FF13. Lets see if things gets better from here.."

    I'm hanging on your every word!

  • GamesConnoisseur #81 2 years ago

    Played all FF games and bored with FFXII but loved FFVI to FFX, each was different enough to bring something new and while the preview and comments from Krelle gives me a pause. Ie not sure if loving it or not.

    When u plays a game you should know you loves it, so I think uncertainities perhaps rest on definition of game playing and viewing an interesting story-led fmv. MSG4 was mentioned so I m thinking if we ignore expectations for deep or complex game with massive world, instead but an entertaining linear combat oriented game with lovely visual flaira in game and story. Then perhaps we ll enjoy FFXIII more?

    Coming to a game with different expectation can be dissapointing but now I'm still keen to get this and not expecting similar to previous FF.

  • Freek #82 2 years ago

    That preview reads like a 7/10 game...but it's Final Fantasy??

  • ShiroBen #83 2 years ago

    Every FF since IX seems to be heading further and further away from what I loved about the series. I'm finding it really difficult to work up any enthusiasm about this one at all.

  • Emmit_Assassin #84 2 years ago

    @Krelle
    If you're 25h in and only halfway through....Jesus! That's your money for you already! Dead Space was only around 6 hours, the most linear game I've ever played and I loved it. I won't listen to any previews or even reviews on this game.
    The FF series has such a legacy and such a following, the expectation is so high that its impossible for it to live up to everything. I feel sorry for Squenix, they've got a hell of a lot of boot space to fill.
    I'm sure it will amaze most and disappoint a few, as these huge releases inevitably do.
    So long as I'm taken on a journey that's well scripted and looks awesome, I'll forgive almost anything.
    I repeat - almost anything...

  • Emmit_Assassin #85 2 years ago

    @bleeptest
    Can I just say I loved FFVIII? I loved the story but the whole distribute magic sucked a little.
    IV - Yes (DS reboot. Hard but great.)
    VII - Yes (Obviously! Played it recently though and thought, 'meh'. Weird.)
    VIII - Yes
    IX - A hesitant Yes.
    X - Yes. Awesome.
    X-2 - Oh, god no. Did get all the way through it though.
    XI - Bored after a week.
    XII - Yes
    XIII - We will see........
    Edited by 1 at 07/01/10 @ 21:28

  • Killerbee #86 2 years ago

    I didn't like FFXII at all which is the reason it still lies uncompleted on my dusty pile of old PS2 games. I think I have a save from about 11 hours in that I could go back to but... why waste time playing something that isn't fun?

    But I absolutely loved every Final Fantasy game from VI to X (and even liked X-2 more than XII) so in a sense, reading that FFXIII is a return to JRPG tradition seems like a good thing.

    But then all the things they've stripped away from it... no towns? Reaching a new settlement after trawling the world map was always a highlight of the PS1 era game, but then I suppose there's no world map either. To be fair I'd be happy with something like FFX's approach - linear but with the illusion of exploration within each subsequent zone. Presumably even though there is One True Path to follow, there are still hidden chests and secrets to uncover off the beaten track?

    Combat - only controlling one character? In my opinion, this was actually FFXII's biggest failing. Gambits were a clever idea, but they took so much of the fun of battling away from the player. The thing I like best about traditional JRPG battles is the tactical aspect of balancing your offensive, defensive and healing moves between your active party members and tailoring different characters to their particular strengths in these areas. Knowing when to heal and when to attack is all part of the strategy and fun of fighting what is essentially just a menu driven experience. Take that away and honestly, what's left?

    At least the levelling system, which sounds like FFX's Sphere Grid should be okay (as long as it isn't too prescriptive how you level up). FFXII's Licence board was rubbish, partly because you could never see the whole picture of where certain upgrades might lead you to, but mostly because you'd find a great weapon and then not be able to use it because you needed a fecking licence... hateful game.

    But the thing that gets me the most about this sort of "progression" in the JRPG genre is that it's so unnecessary. Last year I bought the Chrono Trigger remake for the DS and honestly, it's the single most perfect example of what a JRPG should be. All Square needs to do is put that formula - the battling, the levelling, the towns, the world map, the exploration, the secrets, decent characters and story - into their next gen engine and they'd have a winning game.

  • bleeptest #87 2 years ago

    @Emmit_Assassin

    Oh I totally forgot about IX....Chocobo husbandry!

    Didn't finish that one either.....

  • frankfurter209 #88 2 years ago

    How's the translation? This is the #1 issue for me. If a story based game has shitty writing, I don't care about any of the surrounding mechanics

  • TRUTH #89 2 years ago

    From the reviews available it seems to be a good but not great FF game. Nowgamer.com has a good review; but by the reviews and comments it does not beat Final Fantasy I, III, X, XII...It more polish then substance!

  • Softie2k #90 2 years ago

    Final Fantasy is either not what it was, or I've just grown up.

    FFVII - Was awesome as a 14 year old.
    FFVIII - Was great
    FFIX - I appreciated the comedy and the new comic style.
    FFX - Emo crap, a GCSE story told in shitty 3D engine. Battle system was ok.
    FFXII - Way overhyped, was really disappointed after reading some positive reviews. Story was same old and any new elements were just plain boring.

    I've always considered myself a fan, but I think adults have simply outgrown the childish story telling; it's the same for every game, redressed (sometimes).

  • Bigglesworth #91 2 years ago

    Someone intimated earlier that this article doesn't really hit the spot, and they're correct. While still an interesting read, I think the reader needs to overlay their own experience of the previous games over what's reported in order to glean anything insightful.

    Five hours is no time at all to gain any meaningful overall impression of a Final Fantasy game; gameplay changes dramatically from beginning to end. Simon Parkin may also have forgotten that the introductory hours of Final Fantasy 12 also "took the form of a fiercely linear walk, one interrupted by frequent, usually unavoidable battles, even more frequent cut-scenes, and not a single town or city to explore" (Nalbina Fortress, for anyone else still wondering).

  • NonniR #92 2 years ago

    I must say after reading this article I feel horribly disappointed. No towns and extraordinarily linear? Wtf ?

    Honestly it's been quite a while since I enjoyed a FF game. IX was pretty good and X was good (but nothing spectacular, although I liked some of the characters). XII was a crushing disappointment and easily the worst FF game I've played. That game was a bit controversial amongst fans I've noticed since people tend to either absolutely love it or absolutely hate it.

    But I'm still going to go and see how FF XIII turns out exactly, but so far I'm not impressed....

  • Krelle #93 2 years ago

    Ive sounded pretty dissapointed in my comments this far, and I kind of am, but let me just say that FF13 is _not a bad game_. Its not as good as I was hoping (awesome), but its still a cool experience that is really hard to stop playing, or I wouldnt have done almost 30h in a week.

    The game has a level of polish that most other games could only dream of, but it doesnt really do all the things that you expect an FF game to do.

    Edit: And dont blame Simon Parkin for how the game has turned out. Even if he only played 5h, the Hands-on is pretty spot on. The "slow start" doesnt really end it seems.
    Edited by 1 at 08/01/10 @ 00:05

  • Jazzy_Geoff #94 2 years ago

    I fucking hate towns. I find myself forcing myself to talk to every no mark milling around and 90% of the fuckers speak complete crap that just bores me and wastes my time.

  • Ergates_Antius #95 2 years ago

    For some reason, the phrase "Stockholm syndrome" keeps popping into my head.

  • Gaiduku #96 2 years ago

    I really struggled with FF12. I really really wanted to like it. Pretty much every western review site said it was fantastic- full of freedom and a much needed evolution of the series. And when i started it i loved the combat system and i loved the character development system. I did find it somewhat... overwhelming but then i didn't take that as a bad thing. I was overwhelmed when i first left the sewers in Oblivion and when i left the vault in Fallout 3. It showed how Final Fantasy had come into touch with the western world of RPGs.

    It was rather disconcerting. I kept waiting for the game to tell me who is my tank and who is my black mage and didn't really get that in this Final Fantasy i could decide that for myself. It just felt.... weird... but also cool.

    Unfortunately i never got that far. Tidus was a bit annoying but at least he had a purpose to the plot. I just don't get why Vaan was even in FF12 let alone the main character?! Him and Penelo were very dull and tbf most of the characters were quite annoying. The whole cast just seemed to be a poor version of the characters of star wars. In the end i stopped playing because the game failed to grab me. I played close to 20 hours, kept waiting for the plot to get interesting and it never did.

    So with this... devolution of FF13 to a more traditional JRPG style i'm kinda torn. I liked what they did with FF12 in theory but it definitely didn't feel like a final fantasy. But then that isn't really a valid argument. It's the same thing that annoys me about Zelda... i love the games but they need to change. Look at Windwaker. It wasn't a massive change but it shook things up a bit. And everyone freaked out. Then we get Twilight Princess which was fun but essentially just a graphical enhancement of Ocarina of Time....a devolution.

    FF12 is definitely on my "must complete" list. I really should take me old ps2 to uni and finish all the games i never got to......but thats a different matter althogether :p

  • Gaiduku #97 2 years ago

    I really struggled with FF12. I really really wanted to like it. Pretty much every western review site said it was fantastic- full of freedom and a much needed evolution of the series. And when i started it i loved the combat system and i loved the character development system. I did find it somewhat... overwhelming but then i didn't take that as a bad thing. I was overwhelmed when i first left the sewers in Oblivion and when i left the vault in Fallout 3. It showed how Final Fantasy had come into touch with the western world of RPGs.

    It was rather disconcerting. I kept waiting for the game to tell me who is my tank and who is my black mage and didn't really get that in this Final Fantasy i could decide that for myself. It just felt.... weird... but also cool.

    Unfortunately i never got that far. Tidus was a bit annoying but at least he had a purpose to the plot. I just don't get why Vaan was even in FF12 let alone the main character?! Him and Penelo were very dull and tbf most of the characters were quite annoying. The whole cast just seemed to be a poor version of the characters of star wars. In the end i stopped playing because the game failed to grab me. I played close to 20 hours, kept waiting for the plot to get interesting and it never did.

    So with this... devolution of FF13 to a more traditional JRPG style i'm kinda torn. I liked what they did with FF12 in theory but it definitely didn't feel like a final fantasy. But then that isn't really a valid argument. It's the same thing that annoys me about Zelda... i love the games but they need to change. Look at Windwaker. It wasn't a massive change but it shook things up a bit. And everyone freaked out. Then we get Twilight Princess which was fun but essentially just a graphical enhancement of Ocarina of Time....a devolution.

    FF12 is definitely on my "must complete" list. I really should take me old ps2 to uni and finish all the games i never got to......but thats a different matter althogether :p

  • Ka-blamo #98 2 years ago

    By no towns what does it mean?.....its fight fight fight no-where to rest up? no-where to talk to NPCs?...just a game of battlegrounds?

  • Krelle #99 2 years ago

    Yeah pretty much like that, but with a MILLION of story cutscenes all the time. You regain HP (there is no MP) after each battle. The characters small talk to each other between fights to make up for the lack of townspeople.

  • iago71 #100 2 years ago

    So is this FF dumbed down????

    I actually liked CC on PSP but at the same time yearned for classic FF gameplay. Can someone with hands on exp. tell me what we are dealing with here?

  • timberwolf #101 2 years ago

    i'm sick of the people that have destroyed ff, with their stupid " i loved ff x" "ff xii SUCKS!" this is what all you people wanted. this is what ff x wanted to be. this is what they were doing to the franchise. we now have a game with no substance and hours and hours of cut scenes like mgs4. happy now. next series to disappear up it's own arse with brilliant sales figures and fan support is... bioshock.

  • timberwolf #102 2 years ago

    and here's my list:

    ff1. good
    ff2. bad
    ff3. good
    ff4. good
    ff5. bad
    ff6. good
    ff7. good
    ff8. bad
    ff9. good
    ffx. bad
    ffxi. good
    ffxii. good
    ffxiii. bad

    i won't reserve my judgement. this game won't be bought by me.

  • Ka-blamo #103 2 years ago

    The thing about erections are....oh sorry, wrong comment box

    Carry on.

  • Krelle #104 2 years ago

    For me, FF Crisis Core feels much more like an actual RPG than FF13 does, despite its action oriented combat.

    FF13 is ot dumbed down, I dont think thats the right word to use. But swap out the battle system with that of an FPS and youll probably have something close to what FF 15-16-17 will look like, if this streamlining continues.

    As I said in an earlier post, I dont mind SquareEnix trying new things in a stalmited genre but id like them to put in as much new stuff as they take away the old. And thats not really the case in FF13.

  • RedPanda #105 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 14:31:59 28-01-2012

  • Max_Powers #106 2 years ago

    FFXII was brilliant. It indeed fixed a lot of things wrong with the Final Fantasy series. The battle mechanic and character progression system was the best in the series.

    Such a shame FFXIII sounds like a step back.

  • harhol #107 2 years ago

    Combat - only controlling one character? In my opinion, this was actually FFXII's biggest failing. Gambits were a clever idea, but they took so much of the fun of battling away from the player. The thing I like best about traditional JRPG battles is the tactical aspect of balancing your offensive, defensive and healing moves between your active party members and tailoring different characters to their particular strengths in these areas. Knowing when to heal and when to attack is all part of the strategy and fun of fighting what is essentially just a menu driven experience. Take that away and honestly, what's left?

    That's one way of looking at it. Another way of looking at traditional FF battles would be to say that all you do is mindlessly attack until your health is low (usually only happens in boss fights), at which point you use a healing spell, then rinse & repeat. The gambit system in FF12 was indeed awful but FF13 takes a different approach. The emphasis is on macrostrategy, yes, but most of all it's about thinking on your feet. You can't pause the action, and the two ATB speed settings are effectively "fast" and "faster". You can be wiped out in a matter of seconds if you aren't careful enough. This makes even the most mundane encounters exciting (the absence of MP and the full HP restore after each battle make the game HARDER because it means that (1) enemies can deal more damage and (2) enemies can be stronger because you can use your full array of abilites each battle). Add in the guard break system, optima system and speed-based rewards and it soon becomes clear that this is the best battle system in the series so far. In each battle there's always the dilemma of playing it safe vs. going all out for the bigger reward. No other game in the series has this, or even anything close to this. They've tried something new and they've succeeded. Let's give them the credit they deserve.

  • RedPanda #108 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 14:31:59 28-01-2012

  • telboy007 #109 2 years ago

    All this negativity about the game can only mean one thing, it'll probably be the best FF game ever made. :)

  • harhol #110 2 years ago

    @harhol: just because you think they've succeeded doesn't mean other people will.

    Of course, but the idea that FF13 is a conservative retreat into tired old JRPG tradition is nonsense. Like I said in my earlier post, it really couldn't be any less like a traditional JRPG. Yes, it's linear, but linearity a characteristic of the genre. If you don't want a linear game, don't play a JRPG. Uncharted 2 also "takes the form of a fiercely linear walk, one interrupted by frequent, usually unavoidable battles [and] even more frequent cut-scenes", yet it scored 10/10 at was awarded game of the year.

    I've always found it wonderfully ironic that the most traditional JRPGs always end up with the highest review scores (Dark Chronicle, Dragon Quest 8, Final Fantasy 10, Skies of Arcadia) whereas the most experimental ones always end up with the lowest review scores (Unlimited SaGa, Baroque, Ephemeral Fantasia, Cross Edge). It's like they're damned if they do and they're damned if they don't.

  • Les #111 2 years ago

    "but id like them to put in as much new stuff as they take away the old. And thats not really the case in FF13."

    If they had, it probably wouldn't have been finished before PS4 arrived... ;)

    I liked FF XII's battle engine, world, etc. But the story was a bit boring and not suitable for the way I play games (occasionally a lot and then not for several weeks which can mean pauses of months between FF play sessions). When I also lost my save file 20+ hours in, I couldn't be bothered to start over.

  • Krelle #112 2 years ago

    "Of course, but the idea that FF13 is a conservative retreat into tired old JRPG tradition is nonsense. Like I said in my earlier post, it really couldn't be any less like a traditional JRPG."
    This is so true.

    "The emphasis is on macrostrategy, yes, but most of all it's about thinking on your feet. You can't pause the action, and the two ATB speed settings are effectively "fast" and "faster". You can be wiped out in a matter of seconds if you aren't careful enough. This makes even the most mundane encounters exciting"

    And this not true at all. Up until where I am now theres only been a handful of fights where you really need to be on your toes. Those fights are indeed really fun and challenging, but mostly your just pressing CIRCLE until the battle ends. The game is great while eating or reading the internet.

    I agree that the combat is SUPER FAST, it really is. But that doesnt automaticly make it good and/or fun, except in those rare cases where you really have to pay attention.

    (No Im not over levled. In fact, its impossible to over level for the first 20-25hours of the game.)

  • Rascanuvols #113 2 years ago

    Nomura will save us.

    FFvsXIII...

  • TRUTH #114 2 years ago

    Persinally I use to ebjoy FF games, but with games (RPG) like Fallout 3, Oblivion, Fable, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Demon's Souls, Star Wars KOTOR..etc etc, FF now seems so sub standard and well boribg.

    FIII is more of the same, has beautiful graphics - but are very static and not interactive; with most areas more like corridors/box rooms. FFIII seems to stick with it's roots which have become stale.

    To much cost not enough substance... like Hollywood's 2012 movie!

  • Widge #115 2 years ago

    So basically, go into this expecting to have Final Fantasy from the past except next-genified and you will disappointed. Go into this and just treat this as a game, with no preconceptions of what it should be doing, and then make a judgement. If you go into each Final Fantasy game pretty much demanding it to have certain elements and to do things & play in a certain way then you will stifle the series into extinction. I suppose its kind of like people being up in arms about Fallout 3 because it wasn't isometric turn based fare.

    Don't expect Versus to be a traditional FF either. Its going to be dark, which is nice, but from what I understand it is going to be action style (perhaps like Crisis Core) and Nomura is hoping it is going to play like the battles from Advent Children looked.

    Plus pressing Circle until winning. Well, effectively you can belt through FF7, FF8, Crisis Core in that kind of fashion too. The old physical attack until win thing has proved quite effective in Final Fantasy games to date.

  • Widge #116 2 years ago

    Comparing KOTOR to something like Oblivion/Fallout, I found it had box like corridor rooms, static and barely interactive. I found it drab and boring. Mass Effect is light years ahead of KOTOR and is actually quite enjoyable in comparison. Would certainly play any FF in advance of KOTOR.

    I know, I know, everyone loves it, I'm sorry, I just found it awful. I grabbed it off Steam to give it a second chance but it goes BARMY on bootup. Need some patch action here I think.

  • Krelle #117 2 years ago

    Widge. You are basicly correct, but even if you start playing FF13 with no preconceptions its just not as great a game as FFs use to be.

    Your logic works perfectly for games like FF12, where there was an awesome game beneth a layer of stuff that some people couldnt come to terms with becouse they didnt like the changes. But with FF13 it doesnt really work like that. Its a good game, but its a weak Final Fantasy.

    Honestly, has it got any really good scores yet? (Obviously not counting Famitsu 39/40)

  • Widge #118 2 years ago

    I really liked the way FF12 played barring the fact your characters ended up identical. Also loved the environments. The only downer from me was the rather uninvolving story.

  • Krelle #119 2 years ago

    Yeah, 12 is a personal favorite aswell. The characters, combat, world was great, but as you say the story didnt really do that much for me. It had potential thou, as I was always waiting for it to "get intresting".

  • TRUTH #120 2 years ago

    Now Gammer scored it 7.9/10
    Zen Games (Jap) 7/10
    Famutsi 39/40 (thoughg they have a controversy of money ploughed into advertising by game companies to favour ratings!)


  • harhol #121 2 years ago

    Up until where I am now theres only been a handful of fights where you really need to be on your toes. Those fights are indeed really fun and challenging, but mostly your just pressing CIRCLE until the battle ends.

    Well, Final Fantasy has always been easier than most. "Pressing circle until the battle ends" could be said to characterise every game in the series since FF7 (at least), as well as most JRPGs in general. Not to mention that most games these days could be characterised as a series of straightforward enemy encounters interspersed with fairly challenging boss fights, a model which FF13 sticks closely to. It would certainly be nice if each battle felt like a small war, but a focus on difficulty is not something I expect from a mainstream RPG series, or in fact any mainstream series.

    I said that the new battle system makes mundane encounters more exciting, and I stand by that, because even when it's easy, you still have the time bonus (or lack thereof) to think about. Plus everything is so fluid and mechanically perfect, and load times are virtually non-existent (certainly a far cry from FF12 with its "umm, hang on a sec" spells, or FF9 with its appalling battle frame rate). To me, battles never feel like an inconvenience, and I can't say that about many other games in the genre.

    Also, thanks for mentioning another great feature which I'd forgotten about: the controlled levelling. I'm sick of people moaning about how you always need to "grind" in JRPGs (you really don't), so FF13 should at least show some of those people that you don't have to be massively overpowered in order to beat JRPG boss fights.

  • Widge #122 2 years ago

    I'm going through FFVII again on PSP and I made a point of getting Aeris levelled so I could deliver her Level 4 limit break, as a result I can pretty much twat through each battle with no effort at the moment.

    With XIII, can you only level as much as the game lets you? I'm guessing this makes the difficulty and challenge from the game much more controllable. I read that this was the most difficult FF to date, which is nice to hear. The only hard one I've played (7 onwards) has been 9 I would say.

  • kaya08 #123 2 years ago

    Same for me with the story in XII. Spent god knows how many hours waiting for the story 'to get going'.
    Realised 40ish hours in that I was more or less finished the game (Bahamut is more or less the end right?) and I didn't know, care about or like any of the characters (Fran was kind of cool I suppose). Haven't played it since
    It was just badly paced imo. You'd get a 1 minute long cutscene after spending 5 hours grinding through a dungeon, then you'd be right back to grinding through another 5 hour long dungeon.

    Also I played the last 10 or so hours with my foot while reading a book which just doesn't strike me as an improvement. Still the battle system didn't particularly bother me. I don't think its ever been the driving force behind me liking these games.

    If it has decent characters and a reasonably involving storyline, I'll enjoy it.

  • Krelle #124 2 years ago

    harhol: I also dont have anything against the "auto-levling". But it kind of dampens the feeling of progression alittle. Also the sphere system could be more varied (liked 10 and 12s systems better) but its not a big thing really.

    What do you think about the story/characters? I think Hope is the strongest one this far.

  • Krelle #125 2 years ago

    Widge:

    There is no "levels" in FF13. Instead you have Crystallium Points that you spend on a sphere grid. But you need Crystallium levels to open up new areas of the sphere grid, and you do that by progressing the story.

    It all feels very "controlled" but I guess its good for the difficulty of the game. It just takes something away from the feeling of developing your characters imo.
    (It opens up alitte more further into the game(20h+), but not by much.)

    The game has not really striked me as "hard" this far. Ive died on 3-4 bosses, and there is one quite tricky encounter quite early. But overall it feels as it usually does.

  • BradlayLaw #126 2 years ago

    XII was and is amazing. By far the best Final Fantasy and easily one of the top 3 PS2 games. I've put over 100 hours into FFXII and still haven't finished it. I was disappointed that they were moving away from that for XIII.

  • dr_faulk #127 2 years ago

    Trailers looked cack. Never expected much from this.

  • Preident_Obama #128 2 years ago

    YAWN

  • 43n1m4 #129 2 years ago

    I've only played a few of the FF games, and this does not look like its going win me over, as I've grown a bit tired of the formulaic JRPGs - especially considering what Bethesda and Bioware has done with 'real' roleplaying games, where you actually roleplay characters (hence the name roleplaying games) instead of watching long movies and battle weird monsters with no coherent story or background.

  • Climhazzard #130 2 years ago

    im happy it isnt like XII, that was the first ff since i started playing them i havent finished, terrible characters and story was so boring.

  • Nikanoru #131 2 years ago

    "In most JRPGs, towns and cities gave the illusion of non-linearity, providing pools of interactivity to splash about in between the long straight lines that link the rest of the game's drama."


    It's really painful to me how JRPGs are always characterized like this. These days it might be mostly true, but it didn't used to be so, despite what some might want to believe. The long straight lines thing is something that I feel was only really popularized around the time of the practically on-rails FFX, which is the one thing I absolutely loathe that awful game for. Single-screen towns with a front and back exit - hilarious.

    Prior to that (FF1-9), you were always kind of directed, sure, but within a much wider path containing all sorts of optional adventures, places and treasures left and right as a reward for venturing off the trail into the unknown. Also you were always in view of the bigger world map that you were meandering through, and with each transportation upgrade it would open up a bit more for you to explore quite freely (up until the final one, the airship - god I miss those. Bring them back! And no, the glorified warp points that FFX and XII call airships do not count).

    The fools who would call this pre-FFX form "linear" might as well tell you every game is linear and every interaction is useless because you get to the same end credits.


    So yeah. XIII sounds more like X than XII then. Even worse. Might be the first ever singleplayer FF I won't even begin to bother with.

    How about that Versus XIII?

  • mateuspradosousa #132 2 years ago

    First: 5 hours preview?? Are u joking???
    Second: FFXIII HAS TOWS WITH A LOT OF NPCs, TOWS LIKE Eden, Bowdan, Nautilus and PalumPolom...

    Mateus Prado http://www.ga mesreflexoes.blogspot.com

  • Ka-blamo #133 2 years ago

    So.....When's 14 out?

  • Pedrolot #134 2 years ago

    Unlucky 13..?

  • TRUTH #135 2 years ago

    Fallout 3, Oblivion, Mass Effect, Fable, Demon's Souls, Deus Ex...FF seems so bland now days. FFXIII been scoring 7 to 8/10 on most sites and actually is a little step back. More playing it safe with extra polish(grpahics/Fmv) then substance in game.

  • Alestes #136 2 years ago

    This line in the article fits me perfectly;

    'For players who saw Yasumi Matsuno's Final Fantasy XII as a creative and interesting exploration of how the aged JRPG format could shift into something contemporary and fresh, the thirteenth game seems sure to be a crushing disappointment.'

    Shame really. I loved FF6 back in the day, but I can't stand random encounters and linear gameplay anymore, I found FF10 to be utterly boring and FF12 was refreshingly excellent.

  • laharl80 #137 2 years ago

    As soon as wada announced that XIII was going to be multiplatform i thought this game was going to suck.I'm disappointed to read comments from the art director saying that they cut enough out of the FFXIII to make a whole other game.But i've been playing and loving FF since the nes so i imported it anyway.Importing it means you get to avoid the dreadful leona lewis effort at an FF theme.FF XIII is very linear for the first 20 hours but then you get to gran pulse.Imagine the calm lands but 500x bigger.The monster hunts alone provide hours of non linear gameplay.If you love FF you will love this game.The combat system is sweet.The only people who disliked Xll's combat were noobs who need an hour to think about things before pressing attack.FF XIII isn't a step back at all.Its another small step forward in the gradual evolution of the beloved JRPG.And lightning is the best lead since squall.

  • akiratasoeur #138 2 years ago

    first they remove the crystals/Espers, then they remove the world map and replace it with destination points, then they remove the physical shops and replace them with a door, then they remove the shops all together, then they remove the transitioning fight scenes, then they remove the towns, then they remove the knights and thieves and replace them with school girls, then they get rid of the ships since there are no maps anymore. What next? A soap opera with singers? The music is taking a pretty bad path as well. It looks like the best FF will always be VI (or IV or VII depending on your taste). Ah marketing, how it can destroy things sometimes...

  • hyaru #139 2 years ago

    Luckily, I saw 12 as .. a major dissapointment

    So I will love this

  • FortysixterUK #140 2 years ago

    FF12 was the best FF game to date.
    This preview doesn't read too well in my opinion.
    Still, it's unlikely Square would release a duffer, ( well, with the possible exception of a few RPGs on PS2 )
    so collectors edition game and hardback strat guide will be ordered from Amazon ( £69.97 for the pair ).
    I hope this game gets good after the first 5 hours !