Final Fantasy News/Discussion Thread!

[DarkHalo003]

Because there are a good amount of us who enjoy Final Fantasy games, I thought I'd make a thread so that we can freely discuss it and not go offtopic. Some of the latest stuff from 1UP:

Final Fantasy Agito XIII renamed and recreated into its own title:
http://www.1up.com/news/reinvented-final-fantasy-type-0

New trailer for FF Type-0 for PSP:
http://gamevideos.1up.com/video/id/32651

About FFXIII-2:
http://www.1up.com/news/final-fantasy-xiii-2-darker-freer

About the production of FFVII:
http://www.1up.com/news/final-fantasy-vii-got-made

Thoughts so far? I'm honestly glad Type-0 will be an Action-RPG. I've already made a list so far of what games I'm getting for the PSP when I get one and so far five of them contend for that class (BBS, Crisis Core, Type-0, Dissidia, and Dissidia 012). And here are some other FF games of interest so far:
-FF IV Collection (PSP)
-FF Versus (PS3)
-FF XIV (Console version, heard PC version sucked)
-Other (not sure what else Square Enix has in store)

Thoughts? Please be considerate and constructive.

[PlasbianX]

Since XIII was on the 360, im sure XIII-2 will be as well so I'll definitely pick that up. I'm really hoping Versus is on the 360 as well, cause I'm really interested to see the Kingdom Hearts battle system in a new game.

[Warsaw]

XIII-2 will be on the Xbox 360. Square said so in the newest issue of Game Informer.

[DarkHalo003]

Yeah, 1UP's directory confirms it too. I wish Versus was though too. They'd make a good bit of money more by appealing both crowd bases.

[Warsaw]

There really isn't anything to be gained through exclusivity unless SONY is offering them more money than they think they can make by selling to the 360 crowd as well. I'm not an expert, but somehow I doubt they are getting that much.

[Arteen]

The production of FFVII article is pretty interesting.

It wasn't exactly an easy birth, as Kitase remembers it. "We started development only after we had consensus on all the main issues so there were no major hiccups," he said, "but since we had no previous games to rely on as an example, our experience didn't really help us much. This was a time when even if you said that you wanted to go seamlessly from a game screen to a movie scene, nobody really understood what the value or purpose of that would be. With the Super NES, characters were 16 by 32 pixels in size, so you could calculate roughly how much space your character graphics would require pretty easily. The rules are all different for polygon characters, though, and it was tough to get a gauge on how many characters you could display at once. We'd model the Behemoth, and it'd be 2000 polygons, and we really had no idea how much space 2000 polygons would take up. We'd later realize that 2000 polygons would pretty much be reserved for large bosses only, so we then had to cut down models and so forth."

[DarkHalo003]

Yeah, I thought that was cool too. It gives a lot of insight on what challenges SquareEnix encountered and ultimately won.

I have such a difficult issue with staying interested in these games at their ending stages though. FF4 and FFX are the only two exceptions I think; everything else is pretty much straight forward since you know what you need to do. FF5, FF6, and FF7 are flawed in that way, mainly because the story gets so linear at the ending stages. FF4 is so eccentric with its ending dungeons and FFX just does a wonderful job with giving you things to do at the end (that or it's actually fun to start a new game if you get bored). Anyone feel the same?

[ChemicalFizz]

I stopped at X-2 because XI was an MMORPG which I was not interested in, XII did not catch my attention at the time, and I never invested in a next-gen console. However, I did get Crisis Core and Dissidia, the latter of which has pretty much taken at least 1000 hours of my life if not more... And it still takes up at least 2 hours nightly... Until I get 012. By the way if you pre-order 012 from Gamestop, you get Cloud's Kingdom Hearts' outfit. Pre-order from Amazon and you will get Tifa's bonus outfit: her original Amano art. The game's also already released in Japan and it's a pretty big rage right now... I've been following it closely on Gamefaqs and it looks pretty good so far. If you've got questions, ask away.

Also REALLY looking forward to that FFIV Collection for PSP... Square-Enix finally remaking it the right way instead of that DS remake...

[DarkHalo003]

I stopped at X-2 because XI was an MMORPG which I was not interested in, XII did not catch my attention at the time, and I never invested in a next-gen console. However, I did get Crisis Core and Dissidia, the latter of which has pretty much taken at least 1000 hours of my life if not more... And it still takes up at least 2 hours nightly... Until I get 012. By the way if you pre-order 012 from Gamestop, you get Cloud's Kingdom Hearts' outfit. Pre-order from Amazon and you will get Tifa's bonus outfit: her original Amano art. The game's also already released in Japan and it's a pretty big rage right now... I've been following it closely on Gamefaqs and it looks pretty good so far. If you've got questions, ask away.

Also REALLY looking forward to that FFIV Collection for PSP... Square-Enix finally remaking it the right way instead of that DS remake...
How is it story-wise? I know gameplay is more balanced and there are less overpowered characters, but the story was kind of quirky last time and the voice-acting was a bit stale for some characters. Also, WHY NO ZACK?

Same here, It's on my list along with Dissidia, Dissidia 012, Agito, and KHBBS. I'm finally getting a pay check, so once I get my PSP I'll be waiting for the new ones (I still need to buy Dissidia and BBS, I've bought Crisis Core and War of Lions).

[ChemicalFizz]

*Spoilerish*

I read that the story is still pretty lackluster for a final fantasy game, BUT it does get more interesting because as you know, 012 is a prequel, and it explains why the new additions (Yuna, Lightning, GILGAMESH, Tifa, Vaan, Prishe, Laguna, and Kain) do not return for 013 (the original Dissidia). Don't want to spoil anything but the story is definitely more involved... Also, they integrated 013's storyline into the game (you play with 012's new gameplay mechanics like assists, etc). People have mixed feelings about that but once you complete that you unlock yet ANOTHER dungeon called 000... You should play to figure out what it's about. Among other stuff they explain more about Chaos, Cosmos, "The Great Will," Shinryu's involvement, the manikins, and the new guy, Desperado Chaos. I mean I would've preferred they saved the UMD space and did not integrate the first DIssidia's story in favor of more characters or gameplay stuff but I guess they're trying at least. And yeah I love Zack too, but I'm not completely unhappy with what they did for VII. Cloud got buffed, they added TIFA (with jiggle physics) who kicks so much ass, and AERIS, but only as an assist. No other game got 4 characters in their roster lol. VII gets a lot of favoritism but I think it's well deserved. I'm hoping they don't stop with the Dissidia series and continue to add more to the roster... Perhaps just one final addition to the series. The voice-acting is relatively the same but I'm glad they got a few people I always liked: Hedy Burress returns as Yuna' VA (this is such a win), Rachel Leigh Cook returns as Tifa (as she did for KHII and Advent Children), Vaan has his original voice actor, Laguna's VA is AWESOME, Ali Hillis returns to voice Lightning, and Gilgy/Prishe are TBA.

If you didn't buy the original Dissidia, it might still be a useful investment because it is pretty cheap now, but you should know Duodecim already has the original Dissidia's story mode integrated. The gameplay is also roughly the same (Duodecim has more stuff obviously), but in the original Dissidia, you could perform lots of dodge-cancel combos. It seems Duodecim eliminated these for the most part. I'd get both because Dissidia has pretty much consumed my night life...

Btw, because they just can't get enough $$ in their pockets, there are bunch of downloadable costumes (alts) for the characters.
- Cloud's Kingdom Hearts outfit - Pre-order 012 from Gamestop (US). Japanese have to purchase KH: Birth by Sleep Final Mix LOL.
- Tifa's Amano art - Pre-order from Amazon.com (US). Europeans have to purchase the 012 Legacy Edition.
- Squall's Kingdom Hearts outfit ("Leon") - The code comes from a V-jump magazine, or from the Duodecim Legacy Edition in EU... Not yet known how to get it in the US
- Aya Brea costume for Lightning - Must purchase The 3rd Birthday but it's only for JP and EU, not yet known how to get in US
- Cecil's sprite appearance from the original SNES and GBA Advance version (AWESOME) - Must buy FFIV Complete Collection for the PSP. This is a huge investment but I was going to do it anyway.
- There is a FREE downloadable outfit for Warrior of Light without his helmet and with just his frizzy silver hair... Obtainable from the Playstation Store.
- A yet to be announced bonus costume for both Zidane and Kuja.

Most likely these bonus costumes will be downloadable from the PSN anyway... Along with additional music tracks and other DLC.

[PlasbianX]

FFXIII Versus...


...Confirmed Ps3 Only. I'm sad :(

[dazman23]

It's been confirmed PS3 only for the last 2 years :realsmug:

[DarkHalo003]

FFXIII Versus...


...Confirmed Ps3 Only. I'm sad :(
Then again, this game is probably going to be delayed AND will probably be a "surprise" addition to the 360's library of games like XIII was. Just a thought though.

[DarkHalo003]

Finally got myself a PSP with Crisis Core and FF Tactics WotL. I'm 7/8 done with Crisis Core, which is a generally fun game more or less, but Tactics is a game that has made me rage badly in a long time. If any of you played Final Fantasy Tactics for PS1, I only have to mention one fight: Wiegraf and Belias. The game (only tampered in dialogue) really shows how unfriendly it is to the player. In other words, it's a fun and mentally capturing game, but I prefer FFTA over this one any day, or at least to a considerable extent.

[DarkHalo003]

http://gamevideos.1up.com/video/id/33849

FFXIII-2 Gameplay Trailer. This actually looks pretty sick. I like how they mixed some Action RPG elements into this.

Gameplay Analysis:
-Paradigm Shifts are still in play.
-Action RPG (Button Masher) sequences are used to inflict damage or preemptively attack an encounter.
-You can control beasts to fight along your side (finally, I can use a behemoth to kick other monsters' asses).
-Moogles are in the game.
-Out-of-battle movement has more interaction (collect items on disintegrating floor tiles).
-Staggering is still in important part of gameplay (curse you Pulsework Soldiers!)
-Lightning still uses her Eidolon.

Story Analysis:
-Takes place after the events of XIII
-Lightning is considered dead to everyone except Sara
-A 'Meteor' crashed into the world, which may explain the odd creatures, the monster called Paradox, and 'Chaos Bahamut'
-A new central character is named Noel Chrise (spelling?).
-Snow is no where to be seen regardless of his old gang being a part of the plot.
-Lightning is reclused to the world.

[sleepy1212]

I wish they would stop re-skinning enemies and OMG those pants!

[PlasbianX]

The game informer article said maps are non linear now, there's side quests, and DLC planned for the game as well.

[Left6]

Curious considering that DLC was planned in XIII, I wonder what it'll be.

[Arteen]

Ugh, QTEs in combat and half the game will be running around as Serah and that already awful Noel guy. It still doesn't look like they've added any substantial depth to the combat itself.

[DarkHalo003]

Ugh, QTEs in combat and half the game will be running around as Serah and that already awful Noel guy. It still doesn't look like they've added any substantial depth to the combat itself.
I don't see anything wrong with Noel. Sara will annoy me though and I think Lightning's parts will be bad-ass.

So I finally bought Dissidia 012 for PSP, and I have to say, it's a very fun game (Labyrinth and Battle mode is made of so much win), but this game has made me rage so hard. I really hope whoever tried balancing this game got canned from Square Enix, simply because there are times when there is no balance between you and the CP. It's just madness in many occasions. I also don't like some of the digitally remastered music, though I do like most of the music they have included. Still working on the original game though.

[TPBlinD]

Finally got myself a PSP with Crisis Core and FF Tactics WotL. I'm 7/8 done with Crisis Core, which is a generally fun game more or less, but Tactics is a game that has made me rage badly in a long time. If any of you played Final Fantasy Tactics for PS1, I only have to mention one fight: Wiegraf and Belias. The game (only tampered in dialogue) really shows how unfriendly it is to the player. In other words, it's a fun and mentally capturing game, but I prefer FFTA over this one any day, or at least to a considerable extent.
Uh. That is such an easy fight.
Set Auto Potion with X-potions on Ramza, and use Shout every round. Then when Belias comes you fuck his butt.

[Higuy]

Wow, that looks worse then the regular XIII.

Like Arteen said, Noel looks awful already and can't even imagine Serah as a combatant in gameplay... Also, Lightning looks really dumb now with that armor and sword.

Gameplay also looks just as awful as it was in XIII, the only good news it seems is that its non-linear... Is that all Square took into consideration when starting that game?

Also, whats up with the music? It sounds really bad compared to how amazing XIII's was.

Also, you'd imagine that there trailer would be better than that... All the XIII trailers were really amazing.

[DarkHalo003]

Uh. That is such an easy fight.
Set Auto Potion with X-potions on Ramza, and use Shout every round. Then when Belias comes you fuck his butt.
Dude, I beat that part so long ago, look at when my post was. Basically, all I did was use Ramza's Shout ability for 30 turns as a Samurai with a chameleon robe. Insta-win. Now I want to finish FFT:WotL though. :(


Wow, that looks worse then the regular XIII.

Like Arteen said, Noel looks awful already and can't even imagine Serah as a combatant in gameplay... Also, Lightning looks really dumb now with that armor and sword.

Gameplay also looks just as awful as it was in XIII, the only good news it seems is that its non-linear... Is that all Square took into consideration when starting that game?

Also, whats up with the music? It sounds really bad compared to how amazing XIII's was.

Also, you'd imagine that there trailer would be better than that... All the XIII trailers were really amazing.
That's a lot of negativity. Am I the only person who thinks it looks cool? Then again, we all have different opinions, and what's stranger is that I thought the music was great.

[TPBlinD]

yeah. just saying that fight was cake.