Final Fantasy XIII

[schild]

<full nerd>

There is one irrefutable argument as to why FFVI is the best FF and it can be summed up in one word.

Kefka.

</full nerd>

To be more specific, I think the correct reason is "Dancing Mad" but I still approve of your post.

[stray]

Was watching Advent Children the other day... It's crazy how close the new game (and games in general) are getting close to the graphics of the movies. At least in the characters. Parts of FFXIII are still trashy (ground textures it seems).

Can't believe I gave Advent Children another watch though. It's barely watchable, aside from the visuals.

[Yegolev]

[stray]

They are just so badly written. I dunno. Can't blame the dubbing necessarily.. there are plenty of good dubbed anime - it's just that it's written like a badly dubbed anime. If that makes sense.

There are always cool premises though to Final Fantasy stories - but they are best left being executed within a game, I think.

[Mosesandstick]

I thought the whole point to AC was the visuals/fighting. FF VII story was confusing, and it's somehow gotten worse as they've expanded it.

[stray]

I thought the whole point to AC was the visuals/fighting.

Lol.... Oh.  

edit: I don't think the story is confusing.. It's just executed in a half assed way.

I didn't play any of the other "expanded" games. They didn't seem all that important/said anything new. More like side stories with Vincent, I think?

[schild]

Almost made a new thread for this. Lulz ensue.

http://www.allgamesbeta.info/2010/01/chinese-game-magazine-gives-final.html

[Rendakor]

Wow.

[Velorath]

From what I've read, it seems like there are going to be a lot of people who don't like this game based largely on what it isn't, rather than what it is.

Gamasutra has a pretty good write-up about it.

[schild]

I tried reading that but when he said summoned monsters had been in every FF since VII, I had to assume it was a typo since they were present in VI as well.

One of my friends told me there were no towns though, that upset me.

[Velorath]

I tried reading that but when he said summoned monsters had been in every FF since VII, I had to assume it was a typo since they were present in VI as well.

One of my friends told me there were no towns though, that upset me.

He said summoned monsters in regards to beautiful visuals.  FF has had summons since III (although obviously IV is the first time we saw them in the U.S.), but it sounds like he's just referring to the visual spectacle of summons in the later games.

[stray]

I never expect much non-linearity from JRPG's anyways, but it sounds like it's being pushed more into a more.. adventure direction? Not exactly, but umm.. I guess I won't mind if the story is good. I'll keep it in mind that on the other end of the extreme, very open ended games suck (imho).

[Velorath]

The more I read, the less interested I am in this game.  Of course I'll probably end up buying it out of habit anyway.

[stray]

I didn't want to read all of that. It sounds worse than the other article.

Like I said, I can drop my expectations of it being an RPG, but they are making it sound like it's not even great as an adventure game too. I mean, adventure/action/platformer titles tend to not have towns and much exploring either, but they do at least have some exploration within the levels. If it is literally a straight line to action, that's fucked up.

Eh...

[NiX]

I guess I'm waiting to see the F13 impression on this, but so far it seems like even these reviews are pretty level headed about the shortcomings of the game.

[Hawkbit]

I didn't like the linearity of the most recent titles.  The comment about playing a movie, not a game felt pretty spot-on with both 10 and 12.  Oddly, 9 was one of my favorites.  Can't say why.  Granted, they're all pretty linear with the story, but at least in older titles I could take a break and random battle for a bit.

On that note, one of the things I greatly miss is the random battles.  Nothing more stressful in a game than having the healer dead and trying to trudge across the wilderness to get to that inn, all the while you're ticking because someone is poisoned and likely won't make it before you get there.  Then, two steps before the inn, ZAM!   You're in combat with a random battle.  Your only heals come from potions; you can only attack when you're not healing.  Fun, fun.

[schild]

I tried reading that but when he said summoned monsters had been in every FF since VII, I had to assume it was a typo since they were present in VI as well.

One of my friends told me there were no towns though, that upset me.

He said summoned monsters in regards to beautiful visuals.  FF has had summons since III (although obviously IV is the first time we saw them in the U.S.), but it sounds like he's just referring to the visual spectacle of summons in the later games.

Summoned Monsters in VI may not have had the majesty of 7 but they were sure as hell more beautiful.

http://www.videogamesprites.net/FinalFantasy6/NPCs/Nonhuman/Espers-Summon.html

[fuser]

Oddly, 9 was one of my favorites.  Can't say why.  Granted, they're all pretty linear with the story, but at least in older titles I could take a break and random battle for a bit.

Seriously?

It was mine too, been searching for the ps2 memory card -> ps3 so I can resume it.

[Rendakor]

After those reviews, I think it's time to cancel my preorder and wait to hear it doesn't suck from someone here.

[waffel]

If anyone is interested, you can pre-order Final Fantasy XIII from Amazon (click the Amazon link in the News Box up there in the top right of your screen and search 'final fantasy xiii') and get $10 off a future Video Game purchase.

Order Final Fantasy XIII and get $10 off a future video game purchase. The promotion code will be applied directly to your Amazon.com account up to two (2) business days after your product ships. To redeem your reward, add a Video Games item sold and shipped by Amazon.com to your shopping cart and proceed to checkout. The discount will be visible after you have begun the checkout process. Offer valid when shipped and sold by Amazon.com. This offer will be extended to all existing pre-orders. Amazon reserves the right to change or terminate this promotion at any time. Offer valid for one purchase per customer.

[Riggswolfe]

Hmmm....I think I'm going to give this one a pass as well. It sounds extremely boring.

[stray]

Fug it.. I'll keep my preorder. I really need some more Blu-Ray movies anyways.  

[stray]

This guy's writeup makes me a little more hopeful. Some things are still strange though. Leveling "classes" as opposed to characters? Why. I can't think of anything more symbolic that this isn't an "RPG" than that.

ANYHOW.. That last writeup Velorath linked to above made it sound like it was Dragon's Lair bad. This seems better.

[edit] I have to say though that I haven't liked the direction SE's been going in general since... well, since they were Square. Not that things are always bad, but they're different.

[Nightblade]

I tried reading that but when he said summoned monsters had been in every FF since VII, I had to assume it was a typo since they were present in VI as well.

One of my friends told me there were no towns though, that upset me.

He said summoned monsters in regards to beautiful visuals.  FF has had summons since III (although obviously IV is the first time we saw them in the U.S.), but it sounds like he's just referring to the visual spectacle of summons in the later games.

Summoned Monsters in VI may not have had the majesty of 7 but they were sure as hell more beautiful.

http://www.videogamesprites.net/FinalFantasy6/NPCs/Nonhuman/Espers-Summon.html

FF6 summons also had the benefit of not taking 2 minutes per attack.

[dusematic]

This game sounds like shit on rye (http://www.rpgfan.com/reviews/Final_Fantasy_XIII/index.html).  Dude gives it an 85% but it's clear if you read the entire review that his distaste for it is evident.  And I've seen nothing else to refute his opinions either.  It's a linear dungeon crawl with less than 20 named NPC's.  The graphics are EXTREME.  If you're an art nerd or you just have a lot of time on your hands it might be worth a play through.  But I'm personally bored even thinking about this game. 

[dusematic]

And just to weigh in on the FF nerd slapfight of which is the best EVAR, the answer is simple.  FF6.  I'm also partial to 4, 9, and 7.  Mainly because they're the closest thing in the FF series to the ideal of JRPG's that FF6 reached.

[Hawkbit]

Part of what I liked about 9 so much was the traditional FF feel, where white mages wear white robes with red trim and black mages wear blue robes and you can't see their faces.  It took me back to playing FF as a kid and had a pretty fun story as well. 

I think if 9 ends up on PSN I'll buy it day of.

But yeah, I'm not on board with machine summons and it looks simply too much.

[Falconeer]

Lots of mixed reviews. Generally positive, but stressing how scripted it is and frowning upon a certain lack of freedom. Praises for the combat system. 2 days to go. Who is NOT getting it and why?

[Lantyssa]

I'll wait for it to be a 'classic' and buy it for cheap.  Mainly because I have plenty to play right now and I barely scratched FFXII.  FFXIV will probably grab me before then, too.

[Hawkbit]

I'm not right now.  Going to see how it all shakes out on the forums here. 

I never finished 12 because it simply bored the hell out of me.  Dunno.  I like my scifi and my fantasy but don't exactly like them together.  The visual style just isn't up my alley, I suppose.  Not a bid fan of Transformers, either, which summons look to me this goround.

[Lakov_Sanite]

I'll rent it, i liked 12 but i hate hate hate linear rpg's.  No that's a lie, linear games can be fun but one thing I loved about FF was the exploring. They've veered away from that more and more each game and it's disappointing.

[Velorath]

Still undecided.  If God of War 3 and the Dragon Age expansion weren't coming out the following week, I'd be buying it for sure just to see how it turned out.  The scores for FFXIII aren't bad exactly, with a Meta score of 83, but I can't help but feel that the numbers would be a bit worse had this not been a main series Final Fantasy game.  For people looking for a somewhat more traditional JRPG, it sounds like Resonance of Fate (which comes out on the 16th) might end up being a better purchase.

[Rasix]

I'll rent it, i liked 12 but i hate hate hate linear rpg's.  No that's a lie, linear games can be fun but one thing I loved about FF was the exploring. They've veered away from that more and more each game and it's disappointing.

It comes and goes.  The exploring hasn't really been the same since 6 though.  The change to 3D environments seemed to hamper that somewhat.  7,9 and 12 had a lot of side material available, even though I consider most of the side content some of the weakest aspect of the games (chocobo hot & cold anyone?  ).  I liked 12's side content since it was mostly going out and killing crap, rather than doing some dumb mini game over and over again or chocobo related stupidity.

Fake edit: nearly responded to a 3 week old post.  Fucking FF9.

Still undecided.  If God of War 3 and the Dragon Age expansion weren't coming out the following week, I'd be buying it for sure just to see how it turned out.  The scores for FFXIII aren't bad exactly, with a Meta score of 83, but I can't help but feel that the numbers would be a bit worse had this not been a main series Final Fantasy game.  For people looking for a somewhat more traditional JRPG, it sounds like Resonance of Fate (which comes out on the 16th) might end up being a better purchase.

I'm unsure also.  I've not really followed this game much.  I don't know much about it other than it's linear.  Linear is fine as long as it's good.  Good would be a nice change from the JRPGs we've gotten on next gen consoles.  If anything I'd expect the reviews to be more critical given the high expectations for this game and the fact that it's the first foray into the 360/PS3 for the series.  Some of the early reviews were downright savage. 

It's looking like no one here is going to take a bullet for the team and this is competing with GS's deal for GoW3.  That's a tall order. 

[stray]

I'll get it, but I see no reason for changing the jrpg formula so much (this applies to most new gen jrpgs, not just this). I just want typical jrpgs with better graphics and new stories. That's all. Seems like a simple thing to ask for, but apparently, it's not.

[Falconeer]

Well, I preordered. I hated FF12 and from what I read, even in the negative reviews, this game will almost certainly satisfy me.