Tech Analysis: Final Fantasy XIII

By Richard Leadbetter Published 6 February, 2010

How the game changed from demo to PS3 retail, and what we can infer for Xbox 360.

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Four years in development, Final Fantasy XIII is one of the most important games Square Enix has ever released. It's the first game in the mega-selling Final Fantasy RPG franchise to arrive on PlayStation 3 and next month, with the game's debut in the West, Final Fantasy will transition into a cross-platform franchise, arriving in-store simultaneously on both PS3 and Xbox 360. We'll be covering the 360 version of FFXIII in due course, but for now our focus is on the Japanese version of the game, released at the tail-end of 2009.

Of course, this isn't the first time we've laid eyes on Final Fantasy XIII. Last year Square Enix released a playable demo for the PlayStation 3, bundled in with the Blu-ray movie release of its Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children CG movie. We took it to pieces and speculated on how a game so clearly designed for PS3 and its 50GB Blu-ray capability could work on the DVD-fuelled 360.

Over and above the storage issue, there were a lot of questions raised about the game based on the performance of the demo: maximum level-of-detail models for the characters caused the engine to drop frames, but more impactful to gameplay frame-rates were the numerous full-resolution alpha buffers seen in the most spectacular attacks during FFXIII's battle sections.

Both PS3 and Xbox 360 have bandwidth issues while handling transparent textures, but the Microsoft hardware contains on-die memory with ultra-fast throughput designed to mitigate the issue. The PS3 doesn't, requiring more ingenious solutions. This raises the possibility that, storage aside, the 360 version could potentially exceed the performance of the PS3 version in alpha-heavy situations.

The arrival of final retail code allows us to pit the full game up against the demo. Has performance been improved in line with Square Enix's promises? We still had our old captures of the demo archived deep within the bowels of the Digital Foundry backup system, so the videos were exhumed and put up against fresh captures taken from our shop-bought copy.

Square Enix lived up to its word. The retail FFXIII improves overall performance level. The blue line indicates retail performance, while the cyan follows the demo.

It's interesting to note that frame-rate is more sustained in the troublesome areas where multiple alpha transparencies are in play, making gameplay in the all-important battle sections smoother than in the demo. The retail version is closer to sustaining 30 frames-per-second for the most part, but you'll note that close-ups on maximum LOD renditions of the FFXIII characters still invoke something of a hit on the frame-rate.

Perhaps surprisingly, FFXIII in retail form still retains the full-resolution alpha buffers, and it is interesting to note that these still cause the game some issues - but the impact is definitely lower than it was before.

While the overall look of the game is similar between the two versions there are many little tweaks. Self-shadows, and perhaps the types of light-sources causing them, have been either added or taken away depending on the scene. Shadow filtering generally has improved a great deal. The light shafts emanating from female lead Lightning at 00:15 in the video look smoother. Light blooms are brighter, don't bleed so much and generally look less harsh. Texture filtering has also been tweaked: at 02:20 it seems to have taken a hit compared to the demo code, but looks a whole lot better later on at 02:58.

Also check out some of the smaller changes the FFXIII team made to the characters themselves. The band on Lightning's arm now sports a normal map, while the back of Snow's jacket now features some smart normal-mapped logos that were absent previously.

Small tweaks, improvements and performance boosts aside, the base essentials of the engine remain the same when comparing demo to retail. Final Fantasy XIII renders at 720p with 2x multi-sampling anti-aliasing (MSAA), while the CG movie elements appear to be sourced at 1080p, meaning that it is one of the few upscaling games that won't automatically drop down to 720p mode when you load it.

'Tech Analysis: Final Fantasy XIII' Screenshot 720pCinema-000
'Tech Analysis: Final Fantasy XIII' Screenshot 1080pCinema-000
'Tech Analysis: Final Fantasy XIII' Screenshot 720pCinema-001
'Tech Analysis: Final Fantasy XIII' Screenshot 1080pCinema-001

There are many key video sequences rendered with supreme quality CG assets at full 1080p. Here's how the visuals stack up when comparing 720p to 1080p.

Since most of the time the game is running in 720p mode, it's only fair to show off the quality of the upscaling on the gameplay sections, showing like-for-like shots. If you opt to see the CGI elements at full 1080, you'll need to use the game's in-built scaling the rest of the time. FFXIII produces a generally clean image which blows up nicely.

'Tech Analysis: Final Fantasy XIII' Screenshot 720p-000
'Tech Analysis: Final Fantasy XIII' Screenshot 1080p-000
'Tech Analysis: Final Fantasy XIII' Screenshot 720p-001
'Tech Analysis: Final Fantasy XIII' Screenshot 1080p-001

Final Fantasy XIII is a 720p game, but features some pretty decent upscaling for 1080i and 1080p support.

One of the most noticeable compromises seen in the original demo has made it through to the retail version: an effect known as Alpha to Coverage. Rather than render a complete, seethrough texture, A2C utilises an interlacing style effect instead. Exactly why Square has utilised it here remains unknown, but it is safe to say that it is performance-related, and that it all comes back to the notion of those performance-sapping alpha buffers.

Essentially, transparent elements in characters' hair are rendered using A2C, and it's used for all types of facial hair (eyebrows aside) right down to the eye-lashes. It can be a fairly ugly effect, but the implementation in FFXIII allows for the layering of hair, all of which is animated, adding a lot more "life" to the characters.

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Comments (79) Latest comment 2 years ago

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

  • Retroid #1 2 years ago

    Please have a sensible conversation, you lot.

  • firefly #2 2 years ago

    I've been playing the Japanese version for the last couple of days and it really is linear. I'm currently up to chapter three, with no sign of the game straying from a simple formula of walking along a single path with the occasional battle or extended cut scene. Not a bad thing in itself, but compared to earlier entries in the series it feels like it's missing a lot.

  • anss123 #3 2 years ago

    Looking at the in-game videos I thought the faces look somewhat "dead".

    Square should put more effort into facial animation IMO but I'll still be getting this game.
    Edited by 1 at 06/02/10 @ 10:56

  • TRUTH #4 2 years ago

    It's been getting good (8/10) to average (7/10) scores so far; not the high marks I was expecting for all the fuss this franchise was getting - check Metacritic (games)...It's most surly is not the best FF or rpg!

    A couple of my mates in Japan have criticized the game as seen or all before rpg...to much fmv and though lovely graphics, are very static.

  • karooo #5 2 years ago

    omg yes i have been waiting for this.

  • Widge #6 2 years ago

    @firefly

    Sounds a bit like FFX. That also was a straight line romp through cutscenes.

  • patchbox360 #7 2 years ago

    i can't help but think if this remained a ps3 exclusive square could have gone all out and created the best and biggest possible final fantasy

  • Smoped #8 2 years ago

    Sounds to me like Star Ocean: The Last Hope was a dry run for FFXIII. Three disks, linear story, endless cutscenes, um..Well, I guess that would be all. I had no problems with that gameplay approach. I just wish the dialogue and voice acting are miles ahead in FFXIII, because I had plenty of problems with that part of Star Ocean. A long cutscene becomes endless when it's all about annoying characters spouting pointless bollocks and repeating themselves over and over.

  • firefly #9 2 years ago

    @Widge

    Pretty much, but FFXIII takes FFX's example and runs with it. The environments kind of feel rather abstract; lots of floating coridoors and crystal formations, more typically the stuff of final dungeons when the plot has long since entered the realm of the existential.

  • GamesConnoisseur #10 2 years ago

    Would not be suprised if simlar to Star Ocean in form of disks, and the linearity nature of the game meant disks swap is not going to be a problem as opposited to being a free roaming world.

    Mass Effect 2 had cleverly implemented two disks for what is a free roaming galaxy with duplicated essential bits on both disks and FMV/voices spilt where in the story you are.

    Worked out only had to do two disk swap for 30 plus hours of gaming.

    I m now feeling much so more confident about going for PS3 version for this time but only if X360 outperforms PS3 in the actual game then I would consider inferior but acceptable FMV DVD version. Cant but help feeling that it would not be the case and majority of FFXIII is story telling via FMV and thus BD is the right medium.

  • jonbwfc #11 2 years ago

    After reading it, I think the 'analysis' of what the 360 version may be like should have been left out. It would have been better to purpose the article simply at the improvements/differences a year extra in production have given the retail version compared to the demo. The 360 version will be along soon enough and at that point you can do a comparison article based on fact rather than supposition.

    Jon

  • Gaol #12 2 years ago

    Unsurprisingly, the comments have already turned to concern over the content of the game. Final Fantasy fans on either format have bigger worries than tiny technical differences.

  • drumbaby #13 2 years ago

    Haven't read the article, but does it end: 'I bet the Xbox vershun will be betterer'

    ?

  • Uncle_Spanks #14 2 years ago

    I think the PlayStation version will sell more copies than the Xbox 360 version, regardless of the niggling differences between them.

    This is simply because the JRPG crowd are more likely to buy an HD Japanese designed console with a history of games such as Final Fantasy.

    It is good to see it available on all consoles though, so the public has a choice.
    Edited by 1 at 06/02/10 @ 12:01

  • Dizzy #15 2 years ago

    Pre-rendered videos need to go the way of the dodo. Especially in RPGs. I would assume JRPG devs have learned their lesson by watching ME2/DA. Cut-scenes need to display your characters correctly (with all their gear) and be done ingame.

    Also FFXIII has turned out to be pretty mediocre. Square REALLY need to focus a bit on what makes games good in general.

  • Guitarnerd87 #16 2 years ago

    Not that much info in the article, the demo analysis said the ps3 had full hdr lighting, with the 360 only having mdr lighting, nothing said if thats the case or the 360 getting full hdr too.

  • FortysixterUK #17 2 years ago

    Yeah grow up.
    After reading through 3 pages on relative inanity, it becomes apparent the differences between the formats are tiny and they both look pretty go.
    Uh-oh, you need me a a staf writer baby, I just made 3 pages of text into half a line.

    ...and the comment no one will notice......





    Final Fantasy 12 was the best Final Fantasy since FF3 on the US Snes.

  • FutureDave #18 2 years ago

    This is one cross-platform title I may need to buy for PS3 due to the uncompressed FMV. Though I'll hold out for a face-off until I take the plunge.

  • Badassbab #19 2 years ago

    I'm still getting it no matter what but I don't expect to find it as interesting to play as say Mass Effect 2 or Uncharted 2. Just look at the last three Square Enix games.... I'm just hoping it's not full of old skool 90's anime cheese. At least the cut scenes look a lot better than MGS4's.
    Edited by 1 at 06/02/10 @ 13:21

  • Scimarad #20 2 years ago

    "creating convincing HD towns was simply too much work, so the developmental focus was shifted elsewhere."

    Mass Effect 2 waves hello!

    Watching the video demonstrating the character models (and listening to the music!) really made me a lot more enthusiastic about the game but then you had to drag me right back down again by mentioning how it's so damned linear:(

  • Retroid #21 2 years ago

    Congratulations to the two EGers who apparently *don't* want a sensible conversation about this.

    Well done!

    :/

  • balflear_pkt #22 2 years ago

    Eurogame kinda trolled this game "Graphics aside it could have been done on PS2" oh well, that happens to every GAMES, and it feels like none of you have played this, i did clear ir, facial animations are the best on any plataform, and graphics are amazing, Bloom, MSAA, HDR, every character model almost look the same way, and also, what is this crap about slowdowns? this game only slowdowns a little when you're in Pulse, and you won't notice, it doesn't have a single slowdown, not even with 10 enemies on screens and your 3 characters doing aga spells :).
    This game is great, so is the story, technically is among the best, being the best in many places, and don't even mention ME2 made it more like an TPS, it doesn't even have AA x 2, it uses bloor to hide it's jaggies, pretty cheap.

    P.D don't even mention destrucoid, that web is a joke.

    This game rocks, only lacks certainly things, but it's better having a diamond with flaws than a pebble without, i don't understand why everyone is being so Anti-Japanese lately.

    Also, this Digital foundry, says 360 version will be better in X places, theorically, haven't heard so much crap in ages.
    Edited by 3 at 06/02/10 @ 14:04

  • Bigglesworth #23 2 years ago

    Those still a bit unsure about this game need to read Dale North's two opinion pieces (Likes/Dislikes) over on Destructoid. There's a great deal of interesting spoiler-free information, from someone who's actually experienced the whole game, not just the opening Act. Particularly notable are the comments that while the game hand-holds too long, holding you back with tutorials, hobbled game elements and linearity for a good ten hours or so, it opens up considerably as you progress, leaving you a extremely large world packed with gameplay and, surprisingly, replayability. In short, everything I read - in both articles - makes me want this game.

    [link url=http://www.destructoid.com/te n-things-i-loved-about-final-fantasy-xiii-162457.phtml ]http://ww w.destructoid.com/ten-things-i-...[/link]
    [link url=http://www.destructoid. com/ten-things-i-didn-t-love-about-final-fantasy-xiii-162684 .phtml
    ]http://ww w.destructoid.com/ten-things-i-...[/link]

  • lockload #24 2 years ago

    Ill wait for reviews im suprised the game/audio/music is only 6.8gb, simply reencodeing the 1080p cgi to 720p 5.1 audio will save a big chink of the 32gb of cgi movies, lets face it there arnt many people who have/care about audio setups to take advantage of uncompressed audio so 5.1 audio is more than adequate for pretty much every one
    Edited by 1 at 06/02/10 @ 14:28

  • Badassbab #25 2 years ago

    So why are you in here than? Go fuck cancer (?) catch it (?!) and while your at it invite aids to join in.

  • hiddenranbir #26 2 years ago

    What are these many games?

  • biru #27 2 years ago

    Could someone tell this idiot not to casually drop in spoilers (regarding the structure and content of the game) when this is supposed to be a *technical* analysis? I'm currently playing through the game and did NOT want to know some of the things I read there.

  • Alkeno #28 2 years ago

    One has to admire when a studio puts so much money and resources into one title. The game just looks fantastic, certainly great for a RPG. Pity that I am yet to start playing ME2 and doubt will have any more time for RPGs on 2010 (I don't like the genre that much and in a ME2 vs FFXIII the choice was clear to me).

    The PS3-360 face-off on this title is going to be most interesting, I expect superb coverage from Digital Foundry :-D

  • monkeywithnoeyes #29 2 years ago

    1080p cutscenes are all well and good.. i just need a 1080p ready HD tv to benefit from them. Most gamers are still using SD tv's... the majority of those with HD sets will be 720p screens.. so aslong as the ingame stuff looks and plays the same, then i don't think the vast majority of 360 owners need to worry about not getting 1080p cutscenes...and the vast majority of ps3 owners wouldnt be able to take full advantage of them anyway...other than for bragging about, rather than experiencing
    Edited by 1 at 06/02/10 @ 16:23

  • Nazo #30 2 years ago

    I don't know what lot of those fancy technical terms mean but I do know FFXIII is easily the best looking game I have on my PS3. At times it's breathtaking, especially in the more open areas where there are mobs the size of tower blocks wandering around.

  • HornsDino #31 2 years ago

    Seems a little disingenuous to spend most of the face off articles talking about how relatively trivial stuff (such as QAA vs MSAA or fps drops) always makes the 360 version better, but here much higher bandwidth 1080p video and uncompressed audio is hand-waved away as 'not making much difference'. Either you care about minutiae or you don't...

  • Quixz #32 2 years ago

    Mass Effect 2.

  • JHuxley #33 2 years ago

    @monkeywithnoeyes

    Perhaps, but that would be assuming that the compression method they'll use for the 360 version won't have an adverse effect on the picture quality. You don't have to have a 1080p set to see the benefit of high quality compression. Of course we're not really going to find out until we get our hands on the 360 version.

    That said, 1080p is one of the most misunderstood and abused marketing terms I've seen in a long while. I won't go in to specifics here, but unless you have a MASSIVE TV or sit very, very close to it, the benefit of 1080p over 720p will be minimal.

  • TRUTH #34 2 years ago

    There's not much difference in 720p then 1080p - Usually I can't tell the difference.

  • T3TSUO #35 2 years ago

    Typically this article sounds more like it is trying to sway gamers towards the 360 version. Fact is if you want the best FF13 experience then PS3 is the platform of choice.
    Another pointless analytical traipse designed to point out the PS3's so called graphical shortcomings over the MS hardware.
    When are these people going to learn both platforms handle things differently but I'm encouraged some what that sound and movie quality is being brought into the equation.
    Read between the lines and you'll get "please buy the 360 version as it may have better game graphics and you may not mind the compressed sound and movie quality. We managed to convince you to get Darksiders and Tekken 6 on 360 so let's try again"
    What happened to buying a game and just bloody well enjoying the thing for what it is?
    I'm glad I don't frequent these bias articles to often or I just end up one of these anal gamer types that lose sleep over dropped frames or screen tear or a jaggie on a slightly blurry texture.
    Spoilt is the word.

  • Raiten #36 2 years ago

    At the end of the day, the choise betwean which version to pick for those who own both xbox360 and ps3 like me, comes down to the point of do you prefer to switch dvd's while playing or not? in my case the decision was on ps3 version since i'm one of those people who truly hate having to switch discs while playing.
    Few graphical differences or few fps differences with games like these wont make any real difference.
    I'll be just glad for people who own 360 only, if there wont be any need to swap discs when exploring locations previously visited, since that was one of the most annoying things about star ocean: the last hope on xbox360.

  • Smoped #37 2 years ago

    I'm not sure there's much point in going into these types of articles looking for a "winner" or whatever. I myself, not being a game developer, am fascinated by the technical tidbits and musings about differences in system architecture and what that means for game development. So I usually get something out of these articles, and maybe it's because I don't personally have a preference between the two systems, and so don't really care who "wins", so I've never been offended by these ultimately trivial yet fascinating musings on what makes various games tick. Or stall, as the case may be...

  • anonim1979 #38 2 years ago

    "producer Yoshinori Kitase said, ",....We had to build a different engine for both versions.



    He also SAID that they couldn't fit english SUBTITLES - not to mention audio+subtitles on international version on PS3 Bluray because it is COMPLETLY FULL and there is NO SPACE

    A LIE as we know that there is 10+ GB of FREE space.


    Clearly he is BULLSHITING in that interview.
    Edited by 2 at 06/02/10 @ 18:48

  • Darren #39 2 years ago

    Nice to hear that the PS3 version of FFXIII is solid; I've already had that version pre-ordered from Amazon for a while now. I'm sure the Xbox 360 version will be equally as good, if not better in terms of in-game visuals, but the single disc, 1080p FMV and higher quality audio swung me toward the PS3 version.

  • Darren #40 2 years ago

    As for the game being linear, I've no doubt that the game being on the 360 and coming on three discs on that format had a lot to do with that. If it had been a PS3-only game it may have been less linear but only the developers will know that.

  • Darren #41 2 years ago

    @anonim1979 - If the game is 32 GB on the PS3 then it is using a dual-layer BD which means 50 GB of space (since a single layer one would too small at 25 GB). That means there's 18 GB of free space for subtitles etc. So, yes, that guy is clearly telling porkies.

  • FIGHT #42 2 years ago

    ME2:
    i changed dvd in ME2 7x to finish all... TOP boring thing : mining xx planets - many hours if you do all . (killed the whole game for me ). Empty planets. Cant kill nothing after you do all missions = LINEAR
    Ofc DLC helps.

    FF13
    It gets DLC too... so how can it be more linear as ME2?
    = Just because you cant go missions in RANDOM ORDER ?? and the main story gets BIG STOP ?? Same for dragon age. ME2/DA have LINEAR missions... just you pick the order.
    Its 2x longer as ME2.

    ANYWAY I love all 3 RPGS just WAKE UP...
    If you have for exampleTV episodes its bad that they are in linear order ??? 1,2,3...

    Edited by 1 at 06/02/10 @ 19:28

  • Dizzy #43 2 years ago

    >It gets DLC too... so how can it be more linear as ME2?

    Have you seen the dungeons in FF13? They are quite literally linear... as in just a straight line/corridor/tunnel.

  • FIGHT #44 2 years ago

    Dizzy - well i dont seen many ways to go in ME2 levels too. They are TOTAL linear too not open world.
    As i sayed i dont see any difference.

  • RandomTerrain #45 2 years ago

    One second I want this more than any other game, the next I'm not sure. I have a feeling I'm going to be a bit dissapointed. I will definitely play it at some point anyway. It's just a shame they decided to make it so linear.

    To be honest, my biggest concern is how likable the characters are and how good the story is. If that draws me in enough, then I'll be happy. From what I've seen of the videos so far it looks promising, although I'm not so sure about the extreme sci-fi bits. I will wait and see.
    Edited by 1 at 06/02/10 @ 20:01

  • HokutoNoKen #46 2 years ago

    720p with 2xMSAA + HDR + vsync with excellent framerate, thats quite impressive!

    The frame buffer data for the game on the PS3 is slightly more then 14Mb.

    It won't fit the 10Mb EDRAM on the 360 so they will have to go down the road and use predicated tiling which is something that is not recommanded with HDR.

    My guess is that the 360 version will use lower quality lightning (most likely FPR10) but they will still break the 10Mb limit so to avoid that maybe they have choosen to lower the games resolution. If thats the case some reports that the 360 version looked blurier could be correct.

    If they don't lower the resoultion say hello to tearing on the 360 version that will be caused beacuse of the tiling procedure. Which is someting that you see so often on many 360 games.

    / Ken
    Edited by 1 at 06/02/10 @ 20:31

  • Kaminari #47 2 years ago

    You'd have to be very naive to believe that Square are maintaining two completely different development engines, when obviously the 360 was their dev platform of choice right from day one. It's more likely that their devkit is a develoment of their XBox tool box which was ported onto PS3 and substantially optimized for this platform.

  • Yaz #48 2 years ago

    @anonim1979 and @Darren (who wrote) "If the game is 32 GB on the PS3 then it is using a dual-layer BD which means 50 GB of space ... So, yes, that guy is clearly telling porkies"

    Actually, the article here says it's 32.6GB for the pre-rendered movies alone, the game itself is 6.8GB, making a total of 39.4GB. This leaves just 7.2GB of space free on the disc (out of 46.6GB, not 50GB), and given that uncompressed audio is being used, then I think it's more than likely that he is telling the truth, there isn't enough room for english subtitles and uncompressed audio.

    Regarding the game's structure, it started out as a PS2 game, where they said the transition from PS2 to PS3 put the game back 18 months;

    [link url=http://www.vg247.com/201 0/01/31/kitase-ffxiii-ps2-development-cost-us-a-year-and-a-h alf/
    ]http://ww w.vg247.com/2010/01/31/kitase-f...[/link]

    Hence FFXIII was not designed for the PS3 from the start, it was designed for the PS2 and therefore designed for multiple discs from the beginning, making the game's structure ideal for the 360, despite the PS3 version being on a single Blu-ray disc.

    Still, as mentioned in that link, Square Enix will give a number of lectures about the development of FFXIII during GDC in March, therefore we should have a clearer idea of the game's development in a few months, where questions over the role the PS2, 360 and PS3 played in the creation of FFXIII will hopefully be answered;

    http://ww w.vg247.com/2010/01/30/square-e...
    Edited by 2 at 06/02/10 @ 21:30

  • polaris70 #49 2 years ago

    I know Japanese RPG's have a certain style to them, but was hoping this game would evolve it. Looks like it hasn't. Square Enix take a look at ME2. You can have a heavy story AND great gameplay. JRPG's are stuck in the past...at least 10 years in the past, how anyone can play this type of game/movie in the 21st Century is beyond me, no matter how pretty it looks.

  • byakuya83 #50 2 years ago

    I've never played a FF game but am looking forward to this. I have my PS3 to make use of my 1080p television and the visual/audio quality this game has will make it all the more worthwhile.

    Uncharted 2 was simply the greatest game I've played and that was linear. Each game that follows a story has a beginning, middle and end - it's the journey which makes all the difference.

    I think you have to strike the right balance between pushing and pulling the player, especially when you want to tell a story the player can immerse themselves in.

    That is why I prefer the linear style of story telling. Open world games can be fantastic fun but I tend to lose myself with the level of freedom afforded to me and that kills all momentum.
    Edited by 1 at 06/02/10 @ 21:35

  • Widge #51 2 years ago

    Yup, FFXIII was designed on the PS2 to start with, Kotaku turned up screenshots of FFXIII running on the PS2 in a very early form.

  • ChadSexington #52 2 years ago

    If the 360 had Blu-ray and the PS3 didn't, I bet Rich would be making a bigger deal about the difference.

  • Mcstrife #53 2 years ago

    How I long for the days where you would just say a game looked great instead of whining about framerates, v-sync, HDR and the constant "they shud make for PC cuz its stronger" nonsense.

    2 player Sonic 2 mystic cave; now that's a seriously bad framerate.

    Oh and by the way, no matter what you say; on your average screen the difference between 1080 and 720 is neglible. A good 720 wipes the floor with a bad 1080 any day of the week.

  • Diomedes #54 2 years ago

    Mmm,I think that more that the "cities in HD are hard to do " the multiplattform nature of the game is what has compromised the very design of the game as a more linear one....

  • busboy33 #55 2 years ago

    @fight:

    "i changed dvd in ME2 7x to finish all"

    I hesitate to call you a liar . . . but I will say I find that claim staggeringly difficult to believe.
    There is a disc swap to #2 after your Horizion mission. The game will only allow you to recruit so many members, or expose so many planets, before that. The second disc swap is once you decide to start the "suicide mission" -- the endgame.
    You say you had FIVE additional disc swaps? If you remember, when were they? I might see one additional swap to explore a system exposed on disc 2 (after Horizion) after the finale (going back to disc 1), but what the hell else are you swapping about for?

    "Cant kill nothing after you do all missions = LINEAR"

    So you want to randomly massacre people? Or you are looking for the "random generating monster dungeon" to go into and kill monsters?
    Not necessarily a bad idea -- open up a fight pit on the Krogan Homeworld or some such. But there aren't any randomly generating monsters because there are no monsters randomly roaming about the environment. You go to a town, its not like there are bears wandering the streets that will attack you if you approach.
    As you said, the DLC may well change this. The Hammerhead seems intended for "random" planet exploration, so there may well be a "hunting preserve" planet you can go to and killkillkill. Guess we will see (hopefully soon).

  • Badassbab #56 2 years ago

    Can't wait for the face off on this one so everyone on this forum doing their expertly researched guesstimating can STFU!

  • Badassbab #57 2 years ago

    ChadSexington Post 63 -

    If 360 had Blu Ray to begin with than apart from Cell, the PS3 would have no other technical advantages.

  • balflear_pkt #58 2 years ago

    But why don't they stop saying 360 version will be beter in XXX if they didn't even play it? if this article doesn't have a single 360 image? something's missing here.

  • Collymilad #59 2 years ago

    "@fight:

    "i changed dvd in ME2 7x to finish all"

    I hesitate to call you a liar . . . but I will say I find that claim staggeringly difficult to believe. "

    I don't. He's a liar.

    I switched disks twice, at the two points you rightly mentioned in your post, and I completed most of the game.

  • Dizzy #60 2 years ago

    "I switched disks twice, at the two points you rightly mentioned in your post, and I completed most of the game. "

    Indeed.. it is not possible to switch 7 times in ME2. Just Trolling. Ignored.
    Edited by 1 at 07/02/10 @ 08:55

  • FIGHT #61 2 years ago

    install dvd 1 - install dvd 2 - dvd 1 - dvd 2 - dvd1 + side missions to that after i finished main missions was 2x (dvd2 - dvd1) total = 7x TRUE STORY.
    I changed dvds 7x to finish it and i dont care that you count different... that wasnt the point of my comment anyway.
    Im not the one who talks trash about games that he dont played.

  • Dave797 #62 2 years ago

    Ok so it seems it's pretty close between the two in terms of performance, the head to head will spill all minor details but will there be a glaring difference between the PS3 and 360? No not at all. The most dissappointing thing perhaps is not even tech related, the "linear" structure doesn't sound particularly promising to me.

    It looks fantastic but would i trade some of that shine for a bit more open world? perhaps..............

  • Retroid #63 2 years ago

    I've swapped disks *once* on Mass Effect 2 and have missed out no content. I've done everyone's side quests now.

  • Retroid #64 2 years ago

    Also, might I point out that Square's first PS2 FF, (X) was *incredibly* linear.

    Or shall I blame the Dreamcast for that, and its appalling PAL conversion? ;)

  • ypocaramel #65 2 years ago

    I do believe that games should be accessible to all, but having the good luck to be privy to high-end audio-visual equipment, the 1080p cutscenes and uncompressed audio on the PS3 version are a sweet bonus. Might have to bust out the K701s, an amp and an extensive cable in March.

  • Raiten #66 2 years ago

    Retroid, pointing out FF X was linear won't make much of a difference here, heck there's tons of games that are linear tuberuns which are praised for being good. Yet this game hasn't been released here yet and people make the linear nature be the most god awfull design choise ever invented, why? could it be that the jap reviews of the game that didn't score this game 9 - 10 has the largest impact on it? meaning, linear tuberun is good if it's 9 - 10, if it's 7 - 8 it's horrible, worst etc. etc.

  • Retroid #67 2 years ago

    Oh, linear doesn't really matter to me if the narrative is good.

    It's just the people blaming its 360 port for the linear nature which baffles me.

    Oh, and I just had to swap disks again in ME2 earlier today, that's 2 disk swaps so I should've waited before saying anything! :D

  • Cappy #68 2 years ago

    Final Fantasy X linear and Final Fantasy XIII linear are actually different Retroid.

    In Final Fantasy X, by the time you get access to the airship you can revisit any area in the game which you could explore previously as well as some bonus areas waiting to be discovered, XIII won't allow back tracking to previously visited areas at all hence all the side quest activities are only accessible near the end of the game.

  • Badassbab #69 2 years ago

    Fight-

    You have a very odd way of counting number of discs changed. I installed both discs too but that was entirely up to me and I've had to change disc once so far, I suspect you may have missed some of the very early side missions on disc one hence the disc swap back to one but I cannot confirm this.

  • despair666 #70 2 years ago

    The bottom line is that ME2 is linear just cleverly done and so will be FFXIII but whats the difference. If the gameplay is great, the story great and the battle system great then why not experience it like the developers intended as with ME2.

    The differences between X360 and PS3 will not be enough to warrant a fight over but its a bit disconcerting to see the article say what they think the X360 will be like without playing it, just wait until you get it in your hands and then decide.

  • Postumo #71 2 years ago

    But it's still a "Final Fantasy" title... so it will be nonsensical japanese stuff. Bring on Mass Effect, The Witcher or Fallout any day

  • muscleblade #72 2 years ago

    "I'm sure the Xbox 360 version will be equally as good, if not better in terms of in-game visuals"

    Were used to that so nothing worth fighting about is it? Piece.

  • muscleblade #73 2 years ago

    I completed every possible mission in ME2. I swapt discs 2 (two) times. One of them because i loaded a previous save to do a mission i missed before doing the last mission. I guess most people only need to swap discs once for one playtrough.

  • Zebula77 #74 2 years ago

    Hmm, not sure what to make of this. I mean, in terms of the more linear-less RPG thing. I've always liked the FF series because of the characters and the story. The gameplay not so much, so this might not be bad news as far as I'm concerned.

    Oh well, it's a definite buy for me in either case.

  • MizzouGaming #75 2 years ago

    @FIGHT lol Using your logic I could say I had to swap my PS3 FFXIII BRD 10x to finish the game because at one point I took out FFXIII to play Uncharted 2 for a couple of hours then decided to play FFXIII again so I had to swap discs again. And I'll be damned the very next day I swapped FFXIII out several times to play U2, then later on MW2 and so on and so on and so on.

  • ChaosAngelZero #76 2 years ago

    Someone should correct the "JPRG"s in the third page. Also, I'm not a native English speaker, but shouldn't it be "built-in" rather than "in-built"?

  • HokutoNoKen #77 2 years ago

    Seems my prediction could be right regarding the resolution of the 360 version (as long as the posted information on NEOGAF is correct).

    [link url=http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=19 857881&postcount=12055
    ]http://ww w.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php...[/link]

    PS3: 1280x720 with 2xMSAA

    360: 1024x576 with 2xMSAA

    / Ken
    Edited by 1 at 18/02/10 @ 08:02

  • Widge #78 2 years ago

    However

  • balflear_pkt #79 2 years ago

    Hey eurogamer! look at the 360 version and it's incredible alpha textures and no dithering http://ww w.rpgsite.net/images/screens/42... owned :)