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Miscellaneous Forums => General Discussion => Topic started by: ultima espio on 2011-01-13 12:52:17

Title: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-01-13 12:52:17
Square Enix have just registered a domain name for FF13 2.

Quote
A domain name for Final Fantasy XIII-2 has been registered, it has been revealed.

The web address was issued by a company who previously registered domains for several Square Enix properties, according to UFFSite.net.

It is speculated that an announcement could be made at the firm's Japanese showcase next week.

Last year Square Enix refused to rule out the possibility of a direct sequel to the game.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/gaming/news/a297655/square-enix-registers-ffxiii-2-domain.html
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: yoshi314 on 2011-01-13 13:54:36
ff13 is mediocre, at best. very linear and very boring. i still don't understand why nobody noticed that during development.

why, of all games, do the sequel to that one?
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: Bosola on 2011-01-13 17:54:02
Because like X, it's mediocre, at best. Very linear, and very boring.*

You said it yourself.







*Actually, I'm a huge fan of CTB and the pared-down battle system. But I couldn't resist a pop at X's 'hold forward, win game' trappings
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: Covarr on 2011-01-13 18:08:03
I loved the story in XIII, and I loved the battle system. If they can make a sequel that's less linear, I'd be all over that in a heartbeat.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: Tenko Kuugen on 2011-01-13 18:46:47
People with your opinion are the minority
From a objective point of view, ff13 wasn't good.
Not anywhere near good.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-01-13 18:50:54
I loved the story in XIII, and I loved the battle system. If they can make a sequel that's less linear, I'd be all over that in a heartbeat.

This.

This time they shouldn't run into the problems that they had before. With the original FF13, they didn't communicate with each other, so they didn't decide on a lot of things until 2009 when they released the demo.

People complain that FF13 was Linear, but so was FFX, and nobody complains about that.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: Tekkie.X on 2011-01-13 18:57:05
but so was FFX, and nobody complains about that.

I do, hated FFX.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: Marc on 2011-01-13 22:30:58
I for one, loved XIII.

I don't really care for the lack of exploration.

I usually play jrpg's for their stories and having it on rails certainly allows a company to control its story very well.

And FFXIII's story was very good.  It's battle system too.  So I loved the game.

On the opposite, hated FFXII.  Too much sidequesting that ended up watering down the story.  And the fact that the story became crap as soon as we entered that king's tomb didn't help.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: BlitzNCS on 2011-01-14 13:59:44
so was FFX, and nobody complains about that.
Everyone on this whole damn forum complains about X, which I think is a shame because personally I don't see anything wrong with it at all, and I certainly don't see how it's linear in any sense of the word.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: DLPB_ on 2011-01-14 17:07:02
lmao, squareenix are killing this franchise.  XIII was a dumbed down piece of rubbish, and now they make YET ANOTHER sequel.  How many more cash ins can this company possibly sustain?

Who remembers the time when we got 1 good FF game every so often?  Now we have spin offs all over the place.  FFX was a great game, FFX-2 was a joke.  This will carry on so long as the fickle fanbase provide revenue.

Personally I will not buy another FF game or any SEnix game until they have changed their ways.  Which may be never.  Not to mention I sold my PS3 anyway on the back of all these lousy graphic fests.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: Covarr on 2011-01-14 18:29:52
lmao, squareenix are killing this franchise.  XIII was a dumbed down piece of rubbish, and now they make YET ANOTHER sequel.  How many more cash ins can this company possibly sustain?

Who remembers the time when we got 1 good FF game every so often?  Now we have spin offs all over the place.  FFX was a great game, FFX-2 was a joke.  This will carry on so long as the fickle fanbase provide revenue.

Personally I will not buy another FF game or any SEnix game until they have changed their ways.  Which may be never.  Not to mention I sold my PS3 anyway on the back of all these lousy graphic fests.
Don't be so fast to judge here. XIII-2 could be an attempt to solve XIII's biggest flaws. It could also be a new name for Versus XIII. We really don't know yet.

Of course, it could also be a piece of crap about pop singers wandering around doing nothing. We just have to wait and see.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: DLPB_ on 2011-01-14 23:13:54
No.  The mindset is completely wrong.  I will have nothing to do with it :)
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: gjoerulv on 2011-01-15 01:46:06
lol FF have been a £$€ machine for a long time. When the last, "true", FF was is a matter of opinion, but one must be ignorant to not see the $) in sqeenix's face the latest 10 years.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: pyrozen on 2011-01-15 02:34:44
off topic, but speaking of squeenix... did anyone else hear they have the rights to the newest incarnation of the deus ex franchise

*cries*

previews look awesome....but so did the previews for deus ex 2 and 90% of the game turned out to be a snooze fest
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: Marc on 2011-01-15 06:20:26
off topic, but speaking of squeenix... did anyone else hear they have the rights to the newest incarnation of the deus ex franchise

*cries*

previews look awesome....but so did the previews for deus ex 2 and 90% of the game turned out to be a snooze fest

actually eidos has the rights to deus ex since they were t5he original ip creators.

se bought them out a year or 2 ago.

It's actually being developped in Montreal and the previews look awesome but last time I saw a preview, it was all CG which is worrying.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: Tenko Kuugen on 2011-01-15 11:33:02
This topic could be renamed intio "horrible news for the gaming scene"
or rather "horrible news for people with taste"
fits too.
FF13 was bad. as for people asking how FF10 was linear...
seriously?
You basically go in a straight line from one map to another, like in FF13. I dont remember all of it but it was
go through area 10 -> reach area 11 -> reach area 12 -> reach area 13
and so on. some stuff like the silent plains had the extra cave with yojimbo but thats about it. The actual story is as linear as a goddamn arrow.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: FeliX Leonhart on 2011-01-15 19:04:08
Bought Xbox 360 for FFXIII. Waited two years for FFXIII. Got FFXIII just after the release. Never played FXIII....
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: Covarr on 2011-01-15 19:13:12
This topic could be renamed intio "horrible news for the gaming scene"
or rather "horrible news for people with taste"
fits too.
FF13 was bad.
Again, I point out that this could just as easily be a solution to most of XIII's problems, rather than a rehash of them. Admittedly, a number of people didn't like the story or characters (understandably so, since Lightning and Hope were both whiny bitches, though I personally liked the story anyway), but the battle system was stellar, and if XIII-2 manages to fix the linearity (which should be more feasible than it was the first time around for various reasons) then I'll be all over it.

I'm reserving judgment until the thing's actually out. I don't have particularly high hopes for it, but I"m not going to assume it's bad either.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-01-15 19:20:58
This might just be Square's way of making up for the problems in the original FF13.

Besides, they've only bought a Domain name. They may cancel the project altogether. Square are having a conference on Tuesday, so we might get an official announcement.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: Tenko Kuugen on 2011-01-15 20:11:09
This topic could be renamed intio "horrible news for the gaming scene"
or rather "horrible news for people with taste"
fits too.
FF13 was bad.
Again, I point out that this could just as easily be a solution to most of XIII's problems, rather than a rehash of them. Admittedly, a number of people didn't like the story or characters (understandably so, since Lightning and Hope were both whiny b*tches, though I personally liked the story anyway), but the battle system was stellar, and if XIII-2 manages to fix the linearity (which should be more feasible than it was the first time around for various reasons) then I'll be all over it.

I'm reserving judgment until the thing's actually out. I don't have particularly high hopes for it, but I"m not going to assume it's bad either.

FFX-2 was a profit despite how terrible it was. At least that's what I recall.
And as opposed to 'lol square will fix it to make it a good game'
the scenario of
'square is going to launch a sequel to ride on the fanboy sales because people will buy anything as long as final fantasy is written on it'

my bet lies in slaughtering the horse, making some profit and then going back to making games that will make them even richer
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: BlitzNCS on 2011-01-15 20:32:34
You basically go in a straight line from one map to another, like in FF13. I dont remember all of it but it was
go through area 10 -> reach area 11 -> reach area 12 -> reach area 13
and so on. some stuff like the silent plains had the extra cave with yojimbo but thats about it. The actual story is as linear as a goddamn arrow.
But that's not true at all, most field maps I can think of have several entrances/exits, and many even have lots of routes in the same map. Obviously the plot dictates that you have to go to specific places one after the other, but half of my memory of FFX involves running around a towns going to different places. Granted, it's not as free-roaming as the PSX FF's were, but linear is definately not a word I'd use to describe it. Guess I'm on my own here though
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: Shankifer on 2011-01-16 01:03:52
Okay, so call me an idiot or whatever, but the reason I hate FF13 is because it's so damn confusing.

I literally just sat down and tried to play it after a few months of not playing. The scenery is gorgeous and all but sometimes I haven't a clue where to go. I could see though, a guidebook could solve that problem. My biggest beef is with the weapon leveling system. If you don't go online and research, you will waste tons of Exp and Credits. Its ridiculous. I really don't like the Paradigm thing but I got over that. I probably just suck at leveling my characters, but the battles are hard as hell for me. When I lose battles to mutated oozing flowers I get a little disappointed. It takes forever to try to grind so that you can beat some of the bigger guys and get more Credits/Items to level up your weapons with. Sure you could probably follow the storyline and not worry about all that but then it is as all you are saying, just too linear. The game would be great if it were more user-friendly. There are just too many scenarios that they don't prepare you for in the tutorials. Too much of the game must be researched to experience.

I'm planning on taking mine back just because it pisses me off to the point where I just can't get anywhere. I feel like I don't even have to finish the game to experience the ending. I'm sure if I watched all the cinematics I would fully grasp the plot and how it unfolds.

The 11th mission is the worst, you get thrown a bunch of different instructions and tutorials, then unleashed. Complete suck. Final Fantasy 13 is a fail, for me anyway. People who are more adept at games like this have my congratulations.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: DLPB_ on 2011-01-16 02:47:47
This topic could be renamed intio "horrible news for the gaming scene"
or rather "horrible news for people with taste"
fits too.
FF13 was bad.
Again, I point out that this could just as easily be a solution to most of XIII's problems, rather than a rehash of them. Admittedly, a number of people didn't like the story or characters (understandably so, since Lightning and Hope were both whiny b*tches, though I personally liked the story anyway), but the battle system was stellar, and if XIII-2 manages to fix the linearity (which should be more feasible than it was the first time around for various reasons) then I'll be all over it.

I'm reserving judgment until the thing's actually out. I don't have particularly high hopes for it, but I"m not going to assume it's bad either.

FFX-2 was a profit despite how terrible it was. At least that's what I recall.
And as opposed to 'lol square will fix it to make it a good game'
the scenario of
'square is going to launch a sequel to ride on the fanboy sales because people will buy anything as long as final fantasy is written on it'

my bet lies in slaughtering the horse, making some profit and then going back to making games that will make them even richer

spot on.  It makes them profit and these days that's ALL they care about.  The fanbase are getting what they deserve but unfortunately they are taking the rest of us down in the sinking Titanic.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: Marc on 2011-01-16 17:57:22
I have a question to people who disliked FFXIII .

What past FF is your favorite ?  What did you like the best about it ?  What made it better than the others ?

Same question can be asked for people who did like FFXIII.

I'll start.

My favorite FF is probably FF4.  I really loved its story where a man doing evil against his better judgment turns around and reforms itself.  It also had lots of humorous touches (I played FF4 hardtype on a ROM so it most was likely a fan translation - it had the bit about Captain Kirk when confronting the king).
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: DLPB_ on 2011-01-16 23:52:17
What past FF is your favorite ?  What did you like the best about it ?  What made it better than the others ?

Past faves:  FF7,8,9,10 and to a lesser extent 6

Reasons: 

choose who is in your party,

choose to do many side quests that are not just more battles

do puzzles sometimes

hunt for best weapons that you have a good chance of getting without the need for a guide

Miniquests that are fun and to find new secret areas

world map in 6,7,8,9

Use Summons in battle that actually help you out, and in X, use the summons as new battle characters.

Return to all areas of game, often for more quests or Monster hunts. 

Traditional towns that break up the monotony

choose options in battle which are fully customised

select all allies in battle

use enemy skills or other game play elements in battle

Story and character development which is decent and for the most part well written



There are far more points to make but to sum it up, 6,7,8,9,10 are light years ahead of 12 and 13.  The newer Final Fantasy games take choice away from you, they take gameplay away from you and they have lazy storytelling and graphics as a substitute for intelligent game design.

These are not good things.  They are game flaws.  Serious ones.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: Kudistos Megistos on 2011-01-17 02:09:35
There are far more points to make but to sum it up, 6,7,8,9,10 are light years ahead of 12 and 13.  The newer Final Fantasy games take choice away from you, they take gameplay away from you and they have lazy storytelling and graphics as a substitute for intelligent game design.

These are not good things.  They are game flaws.  Serious ones.

So, what do you think of the first five games? ;D
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: Covarr on 2011-01-17 02:15:36
There are far more points to make but to sum it up, 6,7,8,9,10 are light years ahead of 12 and 13.  The newer Final Fantasy games take choice away from you, they take gameplay away from you and they have lazy storytelling and graphics as a substitute for intelligent game design.

These are not good things.  They are game flaws.  Serious ones.

So, what do you think of the first five games? ;D
Warning: whatever your answer, speak no ill of FFIV. You go to the fucking moon in that game, and Cecil's character development is some of the best I've ever seen in anything.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: Kudistos Megistos on 2011-01-17 02:17:18
FFIV is overrated and Cecil is an emo.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: Covarr on 2011-01-17 02:23:14
FFIV is overrated and Cecil is an emo.
You're only saying that because I said not to speak ill of the game.

Cecil is a unique type of character. He starts out emo and then grows the hell up. You never see that in stories, usually if the protagonist is emo, it's glorified (see FFVIII).
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: Bosola on 2011-01-17 02:35:14
Oh. XIII-2. I wonder how many ways this will suck?

Anyway, I-II are unplayable in their original form. III is passable; IV is good fun; V has a paper thin story but a great mechanic; VI is overrated but solid; VII is... something for another time; VIII is lovably broken; IX does nothing different but does everything better, X had a nice mechanic; Vaan I have publicly called a 'sallow faced eunuch' and 'Turkish rent boy', so you already know my sentiments.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: Tenko Kuugen on 2011-01-17 03:24:16
I think my favorite final fantasy is either 8 or 6, both for reasons of the plot

based on the music, ff8 is my favorite
for actual gameplay, ff6 had lots of characters, ff7 the materia system, ff8 the junction system but suffered greatly from how unbalanced it was and that normal mobs advanced indefinitely high and bosses did not, ff9 was very specialized but fun
for characters, it's definitely final fantasy 6. Terra and Kefka.

No final fantasy deserves any mention in any "best game ever" topics. But most excel in at least one or two categories over many, MANY other games.  However, the new games, ff10, 10-2, 12, 13 show a increasing tendency that the aim for good overall but no longer for very good and excellent in some points

nowadays, final fantasy is just another fucking mainstream franchise that has to cater to the ever younger growing demographic to make a profit. back when ff5 and ff6 came out, the average player was probably around 16-18+
Nowadays, it's more like 10. They still try to appeal to the older fans with some bullshit thrown in, but its not working. One tiny little "very good" isn't enough to make up for years of experiencing very good and excellent in almost and sometimes over half the game

I'm just waiting for the FINAL final fantasy because nothing in this world can be milked indefinitely. They lost a LOT of fans and people with ff13 and that hurt badly. All the money and time that went into ff13 wasn't enough to get anywhere as much sales as they wanted. SQX fucked themselves really bad with that one. I already fear for the future
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: DLPB_ on 2011-01-17 03:59:13
I have to admit, I have not played 1,2,3,4,5 properly...  I did get reasonably far in 4 and 5, and have to try again.  I doubt I will be playing the others....  maybe 3 if that remake is any good?

As for VIII Music, I agree...  it was great.  In fact if I remember rightly, Nobuo's favourite soundtrack is VIII as well.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: gjoerulv on 2011-01-17 06:05:20
nowadays, final fantasy is just another f*cking mainstream franchise that has to cater to the ever younger growing demographic to make a profit. back when ff5 and ff6 came out, the average player was probably around 16-18+
Nowadays, it's more like 10. They still try to appeal to the older fans with some bullsh*t thrown in, but its not working. One tiny little "very good" isn't enough to make up for years of experiencing very good and excellent in almost and sometimes over half the game

I'm just waiting for the FINAL final fantasy because nothing in this world can be milked indefinitely. They lost a LOT of fans and people with ff13 and that hurt badly. All the money and time that went into ff13 wasn't enough to get anywhere as much sales as they wanted. SQX f*cked themselves really bad with that one. I already fear for the future

Whut? In my part of the world, a video game was generally something for kids in the 80's and early 90's. As these kids grew up, they continue to play. I hardly know any 35+ year olds with gaming as a part of their lives, 'cause they weren't kids back then.

FF10 wasn't the 1st FF being heavily bashed by fans. The 1st FF was FF8. 'Cause of the junction system and "weird" story.
Then FF9 'cause of the medieval style (young FF fans hadn't played the early FFs), and recycled storyline.

Why the bashing? The reason is simply, 'cause the FFs changed too much; some can't cope. Change pisses people off and makes 'em focus on the negative. The truth is that one could dig up much sh*t on every FF.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: DLPB_ on 2011-01-17 09:53:58
Well I never criticised 6,7,8,9,10 as bad games (in fact I liked them all), but I have done with X-2, XII, XIII and all the other crap cash in spin offs for very good reason.  That reason is: they are dumbed down and nothing as good as the ones I just mentioned.  I like change, if that change is positive and building on what went before.

Dismissing criticisms of XII and XIII as "just fear of change" isn't a rational viewpoint when I can compare the games to such a point that it becomes obvious that they are taking lots of things away in this so called "change" and replacing it with nothing more than flashy graphics.  That isn't really in dispute here, it is clearly visible.  From bad storytelling, lack of decent story and character development, missing enemy skills, missing puzzles, missing minigames, missing interactive NPC, bloated FMV sequences and cut scenes, missing choice of allies and selections in battle, missing traditional towns, and repayable areas and 1000 other things.

This isn't just people imagining a dumbing down.  IT IS a dumbing down.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-01-17 13:57:21
What have I unleashed? :o
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: gjoerulv on 2011-01-18 04:54:51
Dismissing criticisms of XII and XIII as "just fear of change" isn't a rational viewpoint...

Given the context I understand why you assumed I was talking 'bout criticism. I wasn't. There are a lot of reasonable criticism out there, but also a huge portion of mindless bashing. And I wasn't referring to "fear of change", but change only. You don't have to fear something to not like it. Many people would love to see their favorite FF recycled again, and again (at least you can assume that if you take their bashing seriously).
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: Tenko Kuugen on 2011-01-18 07:15:03
At some point bashing becomes justified
If square goes down the route of dumbing down their games even more, they will eventually reach ground zero
and thats when the series will die
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-01-18 09:45:01
And we have an announcement:

(http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k61/ultima_espio/x2_4382fb5.jpg)

Due to be released this year
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: gjoerulv on 2011-01-18 10:26:09
At some point bashing becomes justified
If square goes down the route of dumbing down their games even more, they will eventually reach ground zero
and thats when the series will die

That heavily depends on what you say. It's possible to extract arguments from hate speech. Look at the example below:

Quote from: Hater
wtf, where is the world map? I DEMAND A F*¤%& WORLD MAP!!! What idiot designs a FF with no world map?? Any FF without a world map sucks!!

Then the argument could be something like this: "Any game (or FF) without a world map is bad game design."

And we have an announcement:

(http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k61/ultima_espio/x2_4382fb5.jpg)

Due to be released this year

So it isn't versus 13? hmm, then I guess it's more likely to suck, just as 10-2 did.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: DLPB_ on 2011-01-18 10:34:19
Good god they will do anything for cash won't they nowadays..  how many of you are going to fall for it I wonder ;)

I am so glad I sold my PS3... it was that or sell my soul to these pretenders.  Square have gone from laughing at the fanbase to  pissing all over them as they laugh.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-01-18 13:50:59
(http://i.usatoday.net/communitymanager/_photos/game-hunters/2011/01/18/ffxiii-2x-large.jpg?loc=interstitialskip)
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: obesebear on 2011-01-18 14:12:33
Good god they will do anything for cash won't they nowadays..  how many of you are going to fall for it I wonder ;)

I am so glad I sold my PS3... it was that or sell my soul to these pretenders.  Square have gone from laughing at the fanbase to  pissing all over them as they laugh.
You must not have heard about the 3.55 custom firmware
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: BlitzNCS on 2011-01-18 15:08:36
Trailers:
FF XIII-2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idFwMWONzbk

FF Versus XIII
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idkV0iaH0pA

Haven't really watched the XIII-2 one yet as I haven't completed XIII, butI must say, I do like the look of Versus.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: Covarr on 2011-01-18 18:55:50
Good god they will do anything for cash won't they nowadays..  how many of you are going to fall for it I wonder ;)

I am so glad I sold my PS3... it was that or sell my soul to these pretenders.  Square have gone from laughing at the fanbase to  pissing all over them as they laugh.
You'd be advised not to make assumptions. Sure, you're probably right, but when you take on such a negative, self-righteous tone about it, and act as if you know exactly what the game is gonna be from a name and a short, uninformative trailer, you come across sounding like a tool.

I, for one, am gonna wait on making a decision until reviews come in. Specifically, EGM, because they hold themselves to a higher standard than IGN, Gamespot, Game Informer, and the like, and are less likely to allow themselves to be paid off for a good review, as well as player reviews. Being a hype-proof robot, I have not formed an opinion on this game yet, and do not plan on doing so.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: DLPB_ on 2011-01-18 21:29:08
Yes, I am probably right.  End of ;)  The fact is, Square is taking everyone for a ride and has been quite a while.  I gave them chance after chance, and you seem to want to give them 1 more chance.

At what point will you just give in like I have?

I wouldn't mind so much, but what exactly do enix have to do before people wake up and stop supplying them the money they crave to carry on acting in the same manner?  I want the great games to come back and it isn't going to happen while we keep giving them "chances" and buying their games "before we judge".  Once you have bought it, that's the end of it as far as they are concerned.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: Covarr on 2011-01-18 22:11:30
it isn't going to happen while we keep giving them "chances" and buying their games "before we judge".  Once you have bought it, that's the end of it as far as they are concerned.
That's why I suggest waiting until reviews come in. I'm not gonna buy it before judging it, but I'm not gonna judge it before anyone's played it either.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: DLPB_ on 2011-01-18 22:21:13
I am just going by trends, and I won't trust the magazine reviews, they are corrupt.  I will read all of the user reviews :)
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: Covarr on 2011-01-18 22:27:46
I am just going by trends, and I won't trust the magazine reviews, they are corrupt.  I will read all of the user reviews :)
Agreed about 99% of magazines, and websites. EGM is clean though. They've made a point of that, it's one of the only reasons they are able to be around today.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: yoshi314 on 2011-01-19 18:46:19
(http://i.usatoday.net/communitymanager/_photos/game-hunters/2011/01/18/ffxiii-2x-large.jpg?loc=interstitialskip)
i am starting to see a pattern here.

- make a sequel
- reuse old characters
- make them closer to being butt naked.
- hope for fangasm
- profit!!!

not that i mind, though.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: Tenko Kuugen on 2011-01-21 15:07:30
I mind.
And more people should mind.
If I want porn or soft-core porn I can just go hit the next sex shop. I don't need a goddamn video game console for that.
fuck you square enix. fuck you japan.
yes, I MAD.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: Tekkie.X on 2011-01-22 00:43:57
I've got details for a BangBros network account, all the porn I'll ever need for free, so hey Squeenix, GIVE US A REAL GAME!
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: DLPB_ on 2011-01-22 07:13:33
I mind.
And more people should mind.


Agreed.  It is because people keep accepting this garbage that nothing is changing.  I ventured onto a few game forums the other day, just brisking over them to see what people are saying about FFXIII-2, and there are actually people saying, "Well, I didn't like XII or XIII and XIV is poor as well, but maybe they finally realised their mistakes...  It is Final Fantasy so I'll give it a shot"

And things similar.  I am at an absolute loss how brain dead and brainwashed people have to be to keep saying this after every single problem that comes out of that money making machine, Squenix.    I gave up, so I guess it doesn't affect me anymore financially, but that doesn't mean I am not pissed off at what is happening.

I have to be honest though, not in my wildest dreams did I think Squenix would be THIS blatant.  After all the criticisms XIII got, to just ignore fanbase and MAKE ANOTHER XIII game is mind boggingly ignorant.  They obviously know by now that people will buy whatever they throw out.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: Covarr on 2011-01-22 08:07:44
I mind.
And more people should mind.


Agreed.  It is because people keep accepting this garbage that nothing is changing.  I ventured onto a few game forums the other day, just brisking over them to see what people are saying about FFXIII-2, and there are actually people saying, "Well, I didn't like XII or XIII and XIV is poor as well, but maybe they finally realised their mistakes...  It is Final Fantasy so I'll give it a shot"

And things similar.  I am at an absolute loss how brain dead and brainwashed people have to be to keep saying this after every single problem that comes out of that money making machine, Squenix.    I gave up, so I guess it doesn't affect me anymore financially, but that doesn't mean I am not pissed off at what is happening.

I have to be honest though, not in my wildest dreams did I think Squenix would be THIS blatant.  After all the criticisms XIII got, to just ignore fanbase and MAKE ANOTHER XIII game is mind boggingly ignorant.  They obviously know by now that people will buy whatever they throw out.
Again, this is on the assumption that they haven't fixed those mistakes. I have no doubt that they're gonna at least make it less linear (but probably not enough so), since that was the first XIII's biggest criticism. Though, the story will probably be considerably worse than XIII.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: Tenko Kuugen on 2011-01-22 11:18:39
Jesus christ Covarr where the hell does your optimisn come from?
First of all, it's not in the best interest of a company to make a great game. They want to make good games. Or decent games. This comes with many advantages over making a great or wonderful game. Most obviously that the level-bar for the next game won't be high. Also, a great or wonderful game's profit is only slightly higher than a good games nowadays. So why spent the extra effort and money?

I hope some enraged fans actually send a bomb to the dev office that does 13-2
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: Marc on 2011-01-22 14:48:45
I hope some enraged fans actually send a bomb to the dev office that does 13-2

Welcome to capitalism.  Vote with your dollars.  Don't buy the game.

Why exactly is this making you angry on a personal level ?  I really loved the first two Mass Effects but if the last turns out ton be EA mass produced garbage, I'll be disapointed but I won't get on a rooftop in Edmonton to start shooting Bioware's devs ...
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: DLPB_ on 2011-01-22 15:37:55
Quite simply, it makes me angry, because I want some fun in my life, and FF games used to provide a part of it.  Now it doesn't.  Instead it provides the opposite...

it would like being happy that your favourite show has come to an end.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: Rider of Pyrn on 2011-01-22 19:20:41
Past faves:  FF7,8,9,10 and to a lesser extent 6

Reasons: 

choose who is in your party,

choose to do many side quests that are not just more battles

do puzzles sometimes

hunt for best weapons that you have a good chance of getting without the need for a guide

Miniquests that are fun and to find new secret areas

world map in 6,7,8,9

Use Summons in battle that actually help you out, and in X, use the summons as new battle characters.

Return to all areas of game, often for more quests or Monster hunts. 

Traditional towns that break up the monotony

choose options in battle which are fully customised

select all allies in battle

use enemy skills or other game play elements in battle

Story and character development which is decent and for the most part well written



Ditto all that!
and I'd like to add to the above,The AAA 's of the summons.
The Aeon's Alchemy in X , including the gf Affinity and abilities from VIII

That option in the system panel to turn the music off.
The same battle music through 95% of any particular game irks me. http://forums.qhimm.com/Smileys/default/rolleyes.gif

The turn based style of play like in,1-10x2
I m probably old fashioned in this last one but I really enjoyed the strategies in dealing with the different enemy groups.
If I could change anything about them,It would be to have encounter load screens(with the exception of bossfights) shortened to somewhere around instantaneous.

That's all I can add right now.

Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: DLPB_ on 2011-01-22 19:32:52
Sadly that is too much effort for them, so they will just fire graphics in your face as a substitute and the "game" will still sell...

It is also good to see so many people who are clued up about this topic, on a few forums, you are made to feel like what you are saying is stupid and makes no sense, even though you know it does.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: Covarr on 2011-01-22 19:59:32
Jesus christ Covarr where the hell does your optimisn come from?
First of all, it's not in the best interest of a company to make a great game. They want to make good games. Or decent games. This comes with many advantages over making a great or wonderful game. Most obviously that the level-bar for the next game won't be high. Also, a great or wonderful game's profit is only slightly higher than a good games nowadays. So why spent the extra effort and money?

I hope some enraged fans actually send a bomb to the dev office that does 13-2
I'm a naturally optimistic person. Keep in mind, I'm not so optimistic that I'll pay money for this thing on launch day, I'll obviously read reviews first (both from fans and EGM), but I'm not gonna bash something I haven't seen gameplay footage of, either.

I really don't think it'll be great, but I think it's downright stupid to criticize something one hasn't seen yet.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: Giullio on 2011-01-22 21:10:21
Well, I have played 1,2,3, 7,8,9 10, 10-2, and 12.
I stoped playing final fantasy after the 12 edition, i mean i fucking hated what they did with the game, it has good points like the development board system the graphics were cool, i freakin hated the main character and almost all the party members as well... but it was a nice game altough i played like an obligation as a FF fan... not for real fun...

The biggest complain that i have is this one: WHAT THE FUCK THEY DID WITH THE FUCKING SUMMONS/ESPERS/AEONS?
GOD DAMMIT IN 12 THEY SUCK SO HARD THAT I DIE EVERYTIME I USE THEM. OR I DIE FIRST OR THEY DIE BEFORE THE TIMER ENDS TO USE THE ESPECIAL, AND WTF MAN BELIAS? MATEUS? WHO THE FUCK ARE THOSE? I WANT IFRIT AND SHIVA...

then in 13:
OH MY GOD IFRIT AND SHIVA ARE BACK? WAIT IFRIT JUST TURNED INTO A FUCKING CAR? AND SHIVA INTO A FUCKING BIKE? seriously... go to hell square-enix I want squaresoft back...
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: cirus on 2011-01-23 00:19:18
The International version of FFXII is quite good.  You pick jobs and the license boards are arranged such that the choice of Quickenings affects which licenses characters can get.

The biggest complain that i have is this one: WHAT THE f*ck THEY DID WITH THE f*ckING SUMMONS/ESPERS/AEONS?
GOD DAMMIT IN 12 THEY SUCK SO HARD THAT I DIE EVERYTIME I USE THEM. OR I DIE FIRST OR THEY DIE BEFORE THE TIMER ENDS TO USE THE ESPECIAL, AND WTF MAN BELIAS? MATEUS? WHO THE f*ck ARE THOSE? I WANT IFRIT AND SHIVA...

then in 13:
OH MY GOD IFRIT AND SHIVA ARE BACK? WAIT IFRIT JUST TURNED INTO A f*ckING CAR? AND SHIVA INTO A f*ckING BIKE? seriously... go to hell square-enix I want squaresoft back...

FFXII takes place in Ivalice.  It is the same world as Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2, and Vagrant Story (FFTA 1 may not count, it's open to debate).  The summons in FFXII are the Zodiac Braves from FFT, hence Belias, Mateus, etc.  It's actually quite likely that FFXII takes place during the "golden age" discussed in FFT.

Fun fact: many of the items in Vagrant Story talk about FFT characters by name.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: yoshi314 on 2011-01-23 18:40:12
hmm ff12 main character.... who exactly are you referring to? if that game had any kind of main character, ashe would be the the best fit.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: yoshi314 on 2011-01-23 18:46:56
I mind.
And more people should mind.


Agreed.  It is because people keep accepting this garbage that nothing is changing.  I ventured onto a few game forums the other day, just brisking over them to see what people are saying about FFXIII-2, and there are actually people saying, "Well, I didn't like XII or XIII and XIV is poor as well, but maybe they finally realised their mistakes...  It is Final Fantasy so I'll give it a shot"

And things similar.  I am at an absolute loss how brain dead and brainwashed people have to be to keep saying this after every single problem that comes out of that money making machine, Squenix.    I gave up, so I guess it doesn't affect me anymore financially, but that doesn't mean I am not pissed off at what is happening.

I have to be honest though, not in my wildest dreams did I think Squenix would be THIS blatant.  After all the criticisms XIII got, to just ignore fanbase and MAKE ANOTHER XIII game is mind boggingly ignorant.  They obviously know by now that people will buy whatever they throw out.
Again, this is on the assumption that they haven't fixed those mistakes. I have no doubt that they're gonna at least make it less linear (but probably not enough so), since that was the first XIII's biggest criticism. Though, the story will probably be considerably worse than XIII.

i do not mind, because with every next ff i feel like i don't care anymore about the series. so i am just indifferent.

ff12 got me hooked, as it dealt away with lots of mundane stuff, threw a lot of stuff out through the window, and did something different from "save the world". ff13 fell flat with the linearism and brought back the boring. not to mention really cheesy cutscenes and too much emphasis on visuals.

i wonder what would happen if next ff would introduce a character recruitement system from star ocean - you can recruit one but that will make some other character impossible to recruit. would that make game more interesting?
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: DLPB_ on 2011-01-23 18:56:38
hmm ff12 main character.... who exactly are you referring to? if that game had any kind of main character, ashe would be the the best fit.

XII didn't have any real characters... maybe balthier but that was it.  No character development at all really.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: yoshi314 on 2011-01-23 21:11:49
well it had a bit of character development, but only bits and pieces.

ashe's slow stray from quest for revenge is a bit of character development, similar as vaan's. but the game feels like it doesn't have enough story in it.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: gjoerulv on 2011-01-24 04:34:08
FF12 was a good game. It had it's flaws, yes, but imho it is better game than 10, and 8.

I bought 13 on Friday. Relax, I bought it used, really cheap, so I'm not supporting squeenix here. I actually got it 'cause the sh*tstorm among fans it created; this topic reminded me of it and got me curious lol. I've played it like 8-10 hours, and it's quite fun. The battle system is very well designed. The story and characters are ok 'til now; I've seen a lot worse. The linearity reminds me of 10 without the random battles. You basically walk in a straight line, have some battles, cheesy cutscene, repeat. Just like in 10 lol. And whats up with the savepoints? Couldn't you just save and shop from the menu?
In the end there are a lot more good things to say about it. The bad stuff is kinda more noticeable though (no traditional shops, towns, worldmap and random battles are not bad things btw). It does not live up to the hype built up around, but it's far from being a bad game.

Seeing how this game somewhat reminded me of 10, I expect 13-2 to be sh*t, just like 10-2. I'm not judging it 'til I seen some good reviews though. And if it turns out to be really bad, as it most likely will, I couldn't care less.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: DLPB_ on 2011-01-24 09:16:04
I would have to argue strongly that XII isn't anywhere near on level with VIII and X, definitely not in story, and what was there to do game wise?  Gambits play the game for you, no minigames between the adventure and few overall, no real side quests.  All you do in XII is walk forward while the game plays itself via gambits.

It is a fact that there is tons more to do in VIII and X compared with XII and XIII.  There is more gameplay... by far.  There is more story... by far.  The rot started with XII, and it was made 1 better with 2 AI characters in XIII.

I don't know how people can argue that XII is a better game when you look at the basic gameplay and story that it is completely lacking.  All you do in XII is watch hoards of creatures being dispatched, with nothing at all to break it up.  The dungeons are drab and boring.  No puzzles like Cloister of Trials, nothing intelligent at all.  No Ultimecias castle with tons of secrets or Tomb of Unknown King with another puzzle to solve.

XII's Summons are worthless in battle, the skill grid is boring and unengaging, you cannot find best weapons at all without a guide.  There really is NOTHING in this game to redeem it. 

All XII is, is a game with good graphics.  Nothing else.  The gameplay is basic, the story is basic, the battle system is dumbed down.  All of these things can be demonstrated as fact, and not just a nice phrase.  If you add up what there is to do in XII, and compare to VIII and X, you will see the massive difference.  XII relies on battles as virtually everything.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: yoshi314 on 2011-01-24 09:59:04
Quote
It is a fact that there is tons more to do in VIII and X compared with XII and XIII.  There is more gameplay... by far.  There is more story... by far.  The rot started with XII, and it was made 1 better with 2 AI characters in XIII.
there are lots of things that can be done, and are not required for gameplay.

most ff games had sidequests as a pretext for achieving ultimate weapons or some power ups. this game has many optional areas and things to do, that won't get you any super weapons or some ultimate skills, but will provide a nice challenge.

also, there are no real ultimate weapons locked to each character. it all depends on the job/style of gameplay. that's probably what is annoying to many people, as it breaks the "tradition".

Quote
I don't know how people can argue that XII is a better game when you look at the basic gameplay and story that it is completely lacking.  All you do in XII is watch hoards of creatures being dispatched, with nothing at all to break it up.  The dungeons are drab and boring.  No puzzles like Cloister of Trials, nothing intelligent at all.  No Ultimecias castle with tons of secrets or Tomb of Unknown King with another puzzle to solve.
hmm i wonder. there are few riddles here and there, there are a few elite marks to hunt. and the biggest puzzle is figuring out the right setup of jobs and gambits for your party.

as for story  - i admit, it fells unfinished.

Quote
XII's Summons are worthless in battle, the skill grid is boring and unengaging, you cannot find best weapons at all without a guide.  There really is NOTHING in this game to redeem it. 
as i stated before, there are no "best" weapons in ff12. it all depends on the style and one setup challenges one another. fomalhaut gun, for instance, is pretty easy to find, even without a guide.

and the way random battles are implemented, allows to plan ahead and possibly avoid them.

as for summons, i agree. as far as classic ff12 is concerned. ZJS version is a whole different story.

Quote
All XII is, is a game with good graphics.  Nothing else.  The gameplay is basic, the story is basic, the battle system is dumbed down.
actually i think the battle system is the best thing about the game. you can micromanage your equipment to react to your enemies attacks (e.g. equip anti-poison accessory as enemy starts casting poison spell), and you can specifically order your allies what to do, by pretty much programming their AI. and this is also how enemies and summons behave - they also have their gambits.

you bet i was pissed at ff12 at first, but once i learned to use the gambit system, i instantly loved it. this is how every ff should be like. i don't find ff12 visuals that fancy, but i love the game for the battle system and that weird vagrant-story-feel that it has to it.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: gjoerulv on 2011-01-24 10:51:10
@DLPB
I' getting the impression of opinion based facts here. Let me do the same:
Cloister of trials was... boring as hell. Tomb of the unknown king too. <- Those aspects of those games would be some of the 1st things I would remove, or at least change. Some of the story in 8 were ridiculously bad written. Blitzball minigame was dull; the sport basically didn't make any sense whatsoever. Some of the cutscenes in 10 is extremely embarrassing, and the generally awkward voice acting did not help. Tidus... Need I say more.
And there is no way to automate your players. Random battles. Victory screen. Victory posing. Fixed weapon types. Gil as salary? Junk shop? Monsters dropping gil? (See what I did here?  :o)

I'm being a bit harsh. They're all good games, but you can dig up tons of sh*t if you want to.

If it's a fact that 10 is more fun to play than 12 there obviously is something wrong with me. There may be more things to do in 8 and 10, but that doesn't change the fact it seems redundant, weird and out of place in most of the cases. FF and minigames don't cope (with exceptions of course).

Enough of that. At least we can agree 6, 7 and 9 are great games  ;)
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: DLPB_ on 2011-01-24 11:00:38
So basically, your whole argument is that less and mundane is better.  Ooooh k ;)
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: yoshi314 on 2011-01-24 11:30:01
Quote
If it's a fact that 10 is more fun to play than 12 there obviously is something wrong with me.
not really, it's a matter of personal preference. i like ff12 more, and i just pointed out why.

i am not calling people stupid over preferring another game to it. all i stated is just my personal point of view.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: Covarr on 2011-01-24 15:45:37
So basically, your whole argument is that less and mundane is better.  Ooooh k ;)
Are you saying that X isn't mundane? Because it really is.

As an aside, I'm thinking of a game that's shorter than FFXIII, has a far less involved/intricate combat system, worse character development, less plot, inferior graphics, horrible music, and is more linear. Any guesses what game this is?

It's Donkey Kong. Turns out you can cite any number of specifics, but there's really more to a game than that, rendering every positive or negative thing anyone has mentioned about any game (short of it being horribly broken such as Anubis II) completely invalid.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: gjoerulv on 2011-01-25 05:20:24
Quote
If it's a fact that 10 is more fun to play than 12 there obviously is something wrong with me.
not really, it's a matter of personal preference. i like ff12 more, and i just pointed out why.

i am not calling people stupid over preferring another game to it. all i stated is just my personal point of view.

Exactly my point, more or less. I was trying to demonstrate how my opinions don't necessarily are objective truths.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-01-25 16:00:14
Quote
The history will be darker and mysterious and characters of Final Fantasy 13 will return but with important and unexpected changes. The goddess Etro  will be very important in the game. Our principal mission will be to try to look for the door to enter to the invisible world, Bunibelle.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: DLPB_ on 2011-01-25 17:47:09
Quote
If it's a fact that 10 is more fun to play than 12 there obviously is something wrong with me.
not really, it's a matter of personal preference. i like ff12 more, and i just pointed out why.

i am not calling people stupid over preferring another game to it. all i stated is just my personal point of view.

Exactly my point, more or less. I was trying to demonstrate how my opinions don't necessarily are objective truths.

That is true, but opinions are made up of many truths and many facts and many strong arguments.  Opinion is not a blanket excuse to mean that everyone has an equally valid opinion.  Not in the slightest.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: hotdog963al on 2011-01-25 19:30:06
I've given X and XII a chance, but I've had to give up on them. When I heard about XIII-2 I almost wept, I wish they'd stop with all the obvious cash-ins and actually produce some decent games for once.

As heartbreaking as it is, the FF series is dead to me and has been for a long time now. Ah well, at least we all have the Squaresoft games to cherish forever <3
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: DLPB_ on 2011-01-25 19:43:19
I've given X and XII a chance, but I've had to give up on them. When I heard about XIII-2 I almost wept, I wish they'd stop with all the obvious cash-ins and actually produce some decent games for once.

As heartbreaking as it is, the FF series is dead to me and has been for a long time now. Ah well, at least we all have the Squaresoft games to cherish forever <3

They won't... these cash ins continue to sell well.  Don't ask me how.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: Bosola on 2011-01-25 22:01:36
Am I the only guy who liked X? Tidus wasn't the sharpest knife in the draw, but the core battle mechanic was very well done. CTB meant I could properly institute timing, and create strategies that exploited lulls in enemy offensives. Its status and element system was refined, and made important to every battle. Creatures were more memorable, and every character has an individual purpose - at least before the endgame.

Now, I hate sitting through the cutscenes as much as anyone, and I dislike how opaque Square made the 'lore' of Spira's world (this might be down to translation issues, though). But X became a PS2 Platinum for a reason.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: DLPB_ on 2011-01-25 22:04:57
No, FFX is my 2nd favourite and for good reason.  The sheer amount of things there are to do (and I mean away from battles, like XII and XIII force you into doing endlessly), coupled with a decent story makes it so :)

FFX is a masterpiece.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: Covarr on 2011-01-25 22:08:25
coupled with a decent story
Try again. FFX had particularly lacking character motivation, and conflicts that were drawn out simply because the characters were too stupid to deal with them early on.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: DLPB_ on 2011-01-25 22:28:27
Nonsense.  The story was miles better than anything XII had.  Every character had a motivation and development, from Wakka's brother through to the old story of Jecht and Braska's journey years previous, told in the spheres.

You can't argue....well actually you can, but you are wrong. :P  FFX had a decent story with tons of character development and 1 of the greatest endings I have seen in games.  The game succeeded on an emotional level. 

I don't see how it is in question that FFX had a good story.  There are lots of themes that the game touches upon, far better than what has followed with FF-idonthaveastory XII and melodramatic excuse for graphics XIII.

Character motivation is 1 thing, character development and story is another.  The game succeeded in all 3, especially the latter 2.  The story was something I could believe and something I cared about. I have good taste and I know a good story when I see one  8)
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: BlitzNCS on 2011-01-25 22:46:35
FFX had a decent story with tons of character development and 1 of the greatest endings I have seen in games.  The game succeeded on an emotional level. 

I don't see how it is in question that FFX had a good story.

I completely agree here.

To be honest, I think when they started messing with the traditional aspects of FF games, particularly the way battles work and the battle menu, SE took a massive risk.

FFX was an 'updated' (improved or not, it's your own opinion) version of previous FF games in the way it worked and played. They took what they already had and changed it slightly. Made sense, really. New console, new era.
XII on the other hand, was entirely and utterly different. Completely free 3D fields and a completely different battle system removed it's 'Final Fantasy' status altogether, I think.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: Covarr on 2011-01-25 23:45:46
Nonsense.  The story was miles better than anything XII had.  Every character had a motivation and development, from Wakka's brother through to the old story of Jecht and Braska's journey years previous, told in the spheres.

You can't argue....well actually you can, but you are wrong. :P  FFX had a decent story with tons of character development and 1 of the greatest endings I have seen in games.  The game succeeded on an emotional level. 

I don't see how it is in question that FFX had a good story.  There are lots of themes that the game touches upon, far better than what has followed with FF-idonthaveastory XII and melodramatic excuse for graphics XIII.

Character motivation is 1 thing, character development and story is another.  The game succeeded in all 3, especially the latter 2.  The story was something I could believe and something I cared about. I have good taste and I know a good story when I see one  8)
I'm not debating XII and XIII. I know damn well they both had bad stories, and I fully agree that X was better than the two of them combined. However, I do not feel that X's story was good. Barely passable, maybe. Tidus seemed to be wandering around for the sake of being the player character, in spite of the fact that he did very little of any significance. Yuna did what needed to be done, though more for the sake of the plot than for personal reasons. Seymour's writing seemed like he was supposed to be insane, but his motives and actions mostly came across as stupid. The fact that he wasn't dead much earlier in the game suggests that none of the other characters were terribly intelligent either.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed FFX, but I simply do not think the story was one of its strong points by any means, and I sure as hell don't think the story is comparable to IV-IX (except maybe V).

edit: Regarding touching on lots of themes, I recognize that it did this, but I don't think it did it effectively. It sort of felt like much of it was just stuck in there for the sake of having it in, rather than making it a significant aspect of the story. For a comparison, look at Star Wars. There is some romantic tension between Han and Leia, but I don't think anybody would try and claim that romance was a major theme in the movie, and merely including it for the sake of including it doesn't add anything to the story. I feel that FFX was the same way with almost everything it did; even though it didn't necessarily do a bad job (see: Revenge of the Sith), it touched on themes in a way that wasn't really relevant, like the writers were just covering their bases. I'm not blaming them, and I certainly don't feel that including things for the sake of having them detracted from the story, but it didn't add to it either. At its core, there were only a few significant themes (good vs evil, internal struggle to determine/make the right choice, daddy issues) that really mattered, everything else was just kind of there.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: Tenko Kuugen on 2011-01-27 11:55:51
There is only so much opinion before you go into the territory of simply liking objectively bad things based on your subjective view. And yes. THAT is a bad thing. It makes YOU a bad person.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-01-30 21:32:09
(http://images.wikia.com/finalfantasy/images/e/e4/Ff13-2_Lightning_portrait.jpg)
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: Mako on 2011-01-30 22:43:48
Quote
I don't see how it is in question that FFX had a good story.  There are lots of themes that the game touches upon, far better than what has followed with FF-idonthaveastory XII and melodramatic excuse for graphics XIII.

Funny it seems no matter who you ask every order of what their favorite Final Fantasy ranges and is never the same...

Think why there are so many different opinions? is because people relate to characters differently, as well as perceive them differently...This statement should be the end all to debates in which their favorite Final Fantasy game was/is.

Simple some people like Kefka...I don't...some people can relate to cloud's situation and engross themselves with his story. Some people find him irritating, who is right? To say THIS or THAT is by far the best one and the other choice sucks is trying to push your ideas onto others to validate your own choice...cause maybe deep down your not happy with the order to which you claim the Final Fantasy games should rank? Think about it.

[/Neutral stance program]

Edited for slight grammar improvement...

EDIT 2: DLBP :P
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: DLPB_ on 2011-02-01 15:38:18
 8)  grammar :P /end-nazi

Well, the way I see it.  Judging a game and story goes beyond simple "opinion".  Sure that comes into it, as does taste, but there are things you can compare which are factual.  The number of quests, the types, the intelligence level required to play, the complexity of story, the emotional response from said story (somewhat), the diversity of things to do, the length of the game, the character development and script.

All of these can be judged fairly, and I don't see how XII or XIII beat X on the majority of these at all.  XII had a gambit system that played the game for you, and the quests were more often than not, just more battles, not to mention the story was bare bones and character development woeful.  XIII had 2 AI controlled characters and a melodramatic story which made no sense at all in large parts.

Comparing games in this way leads to an overall conclusion, regardless of what you LIKED MORE.

So, yeah I am going to be arrogant enough to say that X is better overall than XII and XIII, and I don't consider it an opinion.  I'm sorry.  ;D  I know that pisses people off and makes me look like an arsehole, but so be it.   :-o
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-02-01 17:53:55
I'm gonna close this thread for a while until things cool down a bit. Most of the thread has been b*tching about it and the other FF games.

I'll still update it though.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-09-12 13:42:18
I've unlocked this again for news and updates relating to FFXIII-2.

The other thread is more for discussion of FFXIII as a whole, and it seems to be a general argument/comparison thread.

This one is ONLY for discussion on news/updates. Some people are interested in it, so we need somewhere to discuss it without all the arguments breaking out. If you'd like to keep that in the other thread, that would be nice.

http://finalfantasyxiii2.wordpress.com/

It's been confirmed that all the old characters return, but only some are playable. The only character we've seen apart from Lightning is Hope. Snow is missing, Fang and Vanille are still Crystal and we've heard nothing of Sazh.

There are to be more new playable characters introduced besides Noel.

Monsters can be recruited to help you in battle.

Time Travel is a major part of the story. You can unlock multiple endings based on what you've done in the different time zones.

On the site above you can find more information, screens and wallpapers.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Giullio on 2011-09-12 19:49:56
Oh nice, snow is missing, that reminds me of Final Fantasy X-2 when tidus was missing also, just hope that XIII-2 is not a girl game just like X-2...
I don't even know why i bother commenting the new FF releases, i guess i can't accept that Final fantasy died =/ (that's my opinion)
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: DarkFang on 2011-09-12 19:58:39
Why does Hope have to be in it? He was my least favorite character.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-09-12 21:12:54
Hope was my favourite character actually. I really like how he changed throughout the game. He was so scared and grief stricken at the beginning, then we see him shape into a strong and confident young man by the end of the game.

Originally, Lightning was not going to be the main character of the original FF13...it was Vanille. They'd shown a lot of Lightning, so they just stuck with her.

Heh.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Prince Lex on 2011-09-12 22:06:20
Oh nice, snow is missing, that reminds me of Final Fantasy X-2 when tidus was missing also, just hope that XIII-2 is not a girl game just like X-2...
I don't even know why i bother commenting the new FF releases, i guess i can't accept that Final fantasy died =/ (that's my opinion)

They've already stated in interviews that it's going to be nothing like FFX-2, there won't be a J-Pop feel. You should google it if you're interested in reading the interview.

Hope was my favourite character actually. I really like how he changed throughout the game. He was so scared and grief stricken at the beginning, then we see him shape into a strong and confident young man by the end of the game.

Originally, Lightning was not going to be the main character of the original FF13...it was Vanille. They'd shown a lot of Lightning, so they just stuck with her.

Heh.

While I didn't find Hope annoying, he wasn't my favourite character, though I know what you mean about his character development. He's actually one of the characters that make the game more interesting because he actually has some depth. I'm looking forward to seeing what he's like 2 years older. I wonder if his voice has broke? Lmao.

I didn't know that info about Lightning? I thought she was always supposed to be the main character? Your theory makes more sense when you actually look at the story, being that she was portrayed everywhere as the main character then in the game they all kind of have equal stories. I didn't even find any of the characters irritating. Well, maybe Hope, but only until he got over his puppy vengeance thing with Snow.

My favourite character by FAR was Fang. I think theres a kind of mystique around her, because we don't actually know anything about her past on Gran Pulse, or Vanille's for that matter. I want to know more about her, something tells me they're not going into her backstory though.

While I respect that it's a good idea to introduce new characters, I'd be quite happy to be able to play as the two that are left at the start (say Hope and Sazh, since Lightning is somewhere else, Snow is missing, and Fang and Vanille are crystal) with Serah (it makes sense she'd join the party to find them) and then go from there. I hope this "Noel" is written in in an interesting way, I hate it when they introduce randoms, it feels a bit alien to the original setting. I don't enjoy that big creepy nemesis of Lightning's with the feminine-but-not hair either.

If anyone hasn't read this - Final Fantasy XIII - Episode 1 (http://dilly-shilly.blogspot.com/2010/12/final-fantasy-xiii-episode-i.html) - then you should. It bridges the gap between XIII and XIII-2, and explains where the characters are and why. They should really officially release a form of this in English.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-09-12 22:12:16
Not a theory at all actually:

Quote
According to the Final Fantasy XIII Ultimania Omega, the development team at one point considered making Vanille the official main character of the game, but dismissed the idea as they had already released a trailer and art featuring Lightning in that role.

http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Oerba_Dia_Vanille
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Prince Lex on 2011-09-12 22:29:18
So they thought about making Vanille the main character? I can't imagine that would have gone down well, but I didn't really have a problem with her. It may actually have made more sense to make her the main character.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: dkma841 on 2011-09-12 22:41:57
Day 1 buy for me really enjoyed xiii still not too keen on the new character but he still cooler than Snow
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-09-13 12:14:15
Sazh is to be revealed at TGS on Thursday or Friday, along with a trailer and release dates.

New logo too:

(http://finalfantasyxiii2.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/bs11logo.png)
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: kicker on 2011-09-13 15:34:24
I was always wondering. Snow's gank is seen again in this game. Are they going to be playable now??? I was really interested in having some of them in my party :P :P
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Prince Lex on 2011-09-13 16:29:35
I saw that logo too, though I'm not sure how I feel about it.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Tenko Kuugen on 2011-09-13 17:13:29
The only good news about this game would be that the entire division doing it BURNS DOWN. Including the responsible people.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-09-13 17:37:12
Take it to the other thread please, this is serious discussion about the game without harsh comments and arguments.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Prince Lex on 2011-09-13 18:05:00
I'm getting tired of all the senseless crap on this forum. Live and let live, people need to stop forcing their opinions down everyone elses throats. That's why I hardly post here anymore.

According to Amazon, the game is going to be released on 27/01/2012 - does that seem likely to you Ultima? See Here. (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Square-Enix-Final-Fantasy-XIII-2/dp/B004K1ERTU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1315936883&sr=8-1)

Also here's an (unrelated) piece of information regarding Versus XIII. (http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2011/09/12/square-enix-turns-full-focus-on-ff-versus-xiii/comment-page-2/) I think this is the first time it's been mentioned in months.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-09-13 18:30:17
Dunno, maybe just a placeholder? We'll find out this week though.

Speaking of versus, we're supposed to get a trailer for that this month. That'll probably be at TGS too.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: msifreakster on 2011-09-13 18:31:36
Hope was my favourite character actually. I really like how he changed throughout the game. He was so scared and grief stricken at the beginning, then we see him shape into a strong and confident young man by the end of the game.

Originally, Lightning was not going to be the main character of the original FF13...it was Vanille. They'd shown a lot of Lightning, so they just stuck with her.

Heh.

I find it interesting that you like Hope so much. I am curious as to why? I haven't played to the end of the game yet but I have been far enough to see him drop his revenge against Snow and grow up a bit, I got the the plains when you can finally "explore", but I was never able to take him seriously.  The only character that has annoyed me more is Yuna, which may be due to my opinion that her voice didn't match who she was supposed to be except at the beginning. Tidus is close to as obnoxious as Hope to me. As a side note, I did enjoy 10 quite a bit, just not Yuna and Tidus. I don't like to find main characters annoying because it takes away from the game for me so I am hoping to get another point of view where I can at least stand him to make the game more enjoyable overall.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-09-13 18:44:22
Pretty much for the reasons that I posted there.

I really like his changes throughout the game. Once he got over his operation Nora thing, he was alright. He ended up with a relationship with his Father that was never really there to begin with. Heck, he even tolerates Snow by the end, and forms a brother sister relationship with Lightning. He and Vanille got the most development I find.

Tbh the only character that I didn't really like was Sazh. I just plain don't like him.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: msifreakster on 2011-09-13 19:00:54
I agree with you he got better after he dropped operation Nora but I still find him difficult. I agree with you on the points of him getting closer with Lightning, and in return she grows as well, and his father, I really did like that part, more because of his father than Hope himself. I just......cant take him seriously. He seems to miss the bigger picture of things all the time and focus on something minor. Again I haven't played to the end I might wind up liking him just like you  :)
I have liked Sazh so far because of how deeply the stuff with Dahj has affected him. I can understand how deeply that world and the situation would affect a father, especially with it getting rubbed in his face like that in Nautilus. The only part I really dont like about him is in battle, for the sole reason it takes him longer than anyone else to attack, which I have learned how to use to advantage at least a bit when you are forced to have him in your party.
I guess its all a matter of opinion, as it is with all video games. Thanks for your thoughts.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Prince Lex on 2011-09-13 21:14:37
Dunno, maybe just a placeholder? We'll find out this week though.

Speaking of versus, we're supposed to get a trailer for that this month. That'll probably be at TGS too.

I would be rather pleased if they released another trailer, but it's not on their list of games that they're discussing at TGS and everywhere I go says that it won't be there. Doesn't mean there won't be a trailer though, that would be good stuff ^_^

Tbh the only character that I didn't really like was Sazh. I just plain don't like him.

Me too! I felt like there was no reason for him to be there at all, and he really pissed me off. I never used him in battle, though his Blitz is useful if you're trying to stagger someone by synthesising Random: Instant Chain. He bored me to tears.

The only character that has annoyed me more is Yuna, which may be due to my opinion that her voice didn't match who she was supposed to be except at the beginning. Tidus is close to as obnoxious as Hope to me. As a side note, I did enjoy 10 quite a bit, just not Yuna and Tidus. I don't like to find main characters annoying because it takes away from the game for me so I am hoping to get another point of view where I can at least stand him to make the game more enjoyable overall.

I see what you mean about Tidus, but not about Yuna. I didn't really like her, but I didn't find her irritating.

With regards to hope: if you find him annoying, you're in luck, because the stage of the game you're at he doesn't really play a prominent role for the rest of it. His main storyline/ character development is pretty much over by the point that you're at. He grows up a lot in the game which is why some people like him. There are a lot of people that don't though, similar to how loads of people don't like Vanille.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-09-15 08:28:27
We've got Snow:
(http://i54.tinypic.com/2cogeo7.jpg)

And Hope:
(http://i52.tinypic.com/op5ro4.jpg)

TGS Trailer:
http://gamingeverything.com/?p=9187

And we have a EU release date of February 3rd. and US January 31st.

Heh, the US release is on the 15th Anniversary of FF7 :P
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: kicker on 2011-09-15 11:46:18
Hope became really cool!!!!!! :O Snow became so....... Um.... doesn't go further than that :P Too bad it's only in Japanese. And i noticed something in the video!!The scene on 00:55 is stolen from Kingdom Hearts. Riku extending his hand to Sora and then gets swallowed from darkness.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-09-15 12:00:44
Can't be stolen if it's written by the same person :-P

Yeah I totally got that vibe too.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Tekkie.X on 2011-09-15 12:05:59
And it's quite clichéd.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-09-15 15:01:57
Quote
Fukui Mai will be performing “Yakusoku no Basho’ for the Japanese version, which will only be available on the PlayStation 3. For the Japanese Xbox 360 version, Charice  of GLEE fame will sing “New World.” Her song will also be featured in the western release of FINAL FANTASY XIII-2 across both platforms.

GLEE HAS INVADED FF. NOT IMPRESSED.

http://finalfantasyxiii2.wordpress.com/2011/09/15/huge-ffxiii-2-update-new-trailer-theme-song-release-dates-more-new-soundtracks-dlc-special-lightning-ps3-more/

Quote
Hidden deep within the newly released TGS trailer, sharp detectives have found quite possibly an important new element to the battle system: Leader Change.
If you check out this image here, you’ll see it clearly says so in katakana in the command select menu.

In theory, this should allow you to swap party leaders in real time during battle—something FINAL FANTASY XIII most certainly lacked.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: DarkFang on 2011-09-15 17:54:44
I'm actually looking forward to seeing hope in XIII-2 for some reason. Snow.. not so much. And that guy with the pink hair reminded me of the guy in Organization XIII from Kingdom Hearts.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: gjoerulv on 2011-09-15 19:33:20
...
Tbh the only character that I didn't really like was Sazh. I just plain don't like him.

Huh? Him and Fang were the only ones I really liked. Sazh felt human, and seemed like a nice guy. I can imagine me, Fang and Sazh having some beers while talking sh*t.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Prince Lex on 2011-09-15 22:39:09
I'm actually looking forward to seeing hope in XIII-2 for some reason. Snow.. not so much. And that guy with the pink hair reminded me of the guy in Organization XIII from Kingdom Hearts.

He looks much more tolerable in this one than in the last.

GLEE HAS INVADED FF. NOT IMPRESSED.

http://finalfantasyxiii2.wordpress.com/2011/09/15/huge-ffxiii-2-update-new-trailer-theme-song-release-dates-more-new-soundtracks-dlc-special-lightning-ps3-more/


Far too funny. Only for the Xbox 360 version though. Thankfully, I shouldn't have to listen to such nonsense, since I own a PS3, though I wouldn't be surprised if they did what they did last time and whacked the whole English release with the Glee song. At least if they release the normal one on PS3, all better people will be happy. Mwahaha.

Thank god Snow took that stupid toilet roll bandanahat off, though his hair looks a bit weird.

And finally - I WANT FANG. GIVE ME FANG NOW.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: kicker on 2011-09-16 09:53:46
The protagonist of the game  reminds me of Riku and Sora while in battle. Felt that vibe in the latest trailer :P Don't know why, but the game feels copy pasted in some parts xD
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Prince Lex on 2011-09-19 01:48:31
Some new information from TGS about XIII-2 that I was too lazy to check if had already been posted:-

News piece covering the music and official release dates (http://geek.pikimal.com/2011/09/17/final-fantasy-xiii-2-release-dates-and-musical-contributors-revealed/).

There will be a Gold Saucer-like amusement park (http://www.justpushstart.com/2011/09/18/new-final-fantasy-xiii-2-details-shared-chocobo-racing-and-more/) featuring Chocobo Racing and other mini-games.

New Video Interview with developers (http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=final%20fantasy%20&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a&source=hp&channel=np#) which features small (tiny) snippets of new gameplay. Sadly no subtitles, it's all Japanese. The interview itself is at the Square-Enix building. Masashi Hamauzu is interviewed.

The news keeps getting better, but I'm going to say it once again. Give me Fang.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-09-20 12:54:56
2 new trailers, one for 360 and one for PS3:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYOdx0TdxDs&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53YR9vVn8yw&feature=player_embedded
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Prince Lex on 2011-09-20 15:19:13
Still no Fang. Or even Sazh, though I don't really care about him. I thought he was being revealed at TGS?

Somehow it looks better graphically than the previous trailers, though that may be my imagination.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-09-20 15:30:33
Well, there was this:

(http://finalfantasyxiii2.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/4.jpg)
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Prince Lex on 2011-09-20 15:56:18
lol I wonder if they're changing his afro.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-09-21 12:14:01
Quote
Rumors of the Xbox 360 version being on multiple discs once again have now been proven false.

Famitsu shares some new information regarding FINAL FANTASY XIII-2′s disc count.

The PlayStation 3 version will of course be on one Blu-ray disc. The Xbox 360 version, however, will ship on one DVD. Quite the difference from FINAL FANTASY XIII, which required three discs on Microsoft’s system.

Director Motomu Toriyama cites increased use of real time event scenes, which has lead to a decrease in the game’s data volume.

Aside from the bit about FINAL FANTASY XIII-2′s disc space, Famitsu has even more information on the game.

The version of Hope seen in the TGS trailer is from 10 years after the end of FINAL FANTASY XIII. He is 24 years old, and the head of a scientific investigation group.
Caius, the game’s main villain, has an evil influence on both Valhalla and Serah’s world. In the Promise trailer, the black smoke emitting from Lightning is called “Chaos.”

FINAL FANTASY XIII-2 will have some intense scenes as well, although not on the same level as FINAL FANTASY Type-0. QTEs will be a big part of the game, but failing them doesn’t necessarily penalize you. Clearing them will net you at least something, however.

By far the greatest addition is party switching. In FINAL FANTASY XIII-2, you’ll be able to switch out party leaders in real time during battle. This also means that, when your party leader dies, you will no longer game over.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Prince Lex on 2011-09-21 16:01:50
How do real time event scenes decrease the games data volume? As in, there'll be less CG?
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: DLPB_ on 2011-09-21 16:04:30
If I am getting the idea right it means using the existing models and simply providing them data to move... in that way it isn't a full FMV or rendering.  It is simply models with movement data.  MUCH smaller.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-09-21 16:11:56
Pretty much. I've looked at the data on the original FF13 discs, there was a lot of extra crap on there. The 360 version even had PS3 themes on it.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Covarr on 2011-09-21 18:54:35
It worked for OoT, didn't it? :P

After the horrible compression artifact issues that the 360 version of FFXIII had, it's a damn good thing they're using in-engine cutscenes. We wouldn't want a repeat of that disaster.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-09-22 17:52:15
So it turns out that the Hope we've seen, is actually a future version. He is 24 years old, and the head of a scientific expedition team.

So there could be a "present" version of him yet to be seen.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Marc on 2011-09-23 00:31:21
Technology is now at the point where cgi shouldn't be needed as much.  The difference between cgi scenes and in-game scenes are sometimes so minimal I barely see the difference.  Quite a change from the ff7 days!
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: DarkFang on 2011-09-23 01:52:34
Technology is now at the point where cgi shouldn't be needed as much.  The difference between cgi scenes and in-game scenes are sometimes so minimal I barely see the difference.  Quite a change from the ff7 days!

There's a very noticeable difference. Just look at XIII.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Marc on 2011-09-23 02:13:19
There's a very noticeable difference. Just look at XIII.

That's actually really dependent on the game (and the game engine I would assume).

I also wouldn't say there's a major difference even in ff xiii as each generation gets closer and closer to having "real-time" cgi custcenes.  Square do polish their cgi to a crazy extent however so they usually would be the game company with the biggest differences.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: DarkFang on 2011-09-23 11:33:36
That's actually really dependent on the game (and the game engine I would assume).

I also wouldn't say there's a major difference even in ff xiii as each generation gets closer and closer to having "real-time" cgi custcenes.  Square do polish their cgi to a crazy extent however so they usually would be the game company with the biggest differences.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHEeHiEzJok

The difference in the robotic scorpion thing is somewhat noticeable. But I agree with you. Soon there won't be any pre-rendered CGI cutscenes.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-09-24 13:33:37
Quote
Square Enix considered releasing downloadable content for Final Fantasy XIII, but canned those plans and made a direct sequel instead. Serah’s story will have downloadable content. Producer Yoshinori Kitase said at Tokyo Game Show they are making downloadable costumes, monsters, and weapons for Final Fantasy XIII-2. Seems like some DLC will be pre-order bonuses, Lawson, a chain of convenience stores will give players a downloadable content code as a bonus.

http://www.siliconera.com/2011/09/19/final-fantasy-xiii-2-will-have-downloadable-content-lots-of-it/

We have Cait Sith:

(http://www.abload.de/img/finalfantasyxiii-2histjukm.jpg)
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-09-27 14:21:50
Something is to be announced on the 5th October. No word on it yet, but there's a trailer...

http://finalfantasyxiii2.wordpress.com/2011/09/26/ffxiii-2-what-does-this-sonys-long-live-play-teaser-mean/ (http://finalfantasyxiii2.wordpress.com/2011/09/26/ffxiii-2-what-does-this-sonys-long-live-play-teaser-mean/)

Quote
“Square Enix has promised post-release download content for Final Fantasy XIII-2, but it has yet to provide specific examples. Today, we got some hints as Square Enix announced the download content that will be given to those who buy the game at select shops.

Pre-order FFXIII-2 from Lawsons or HMV, and you’ll get a download code for a weapon for Serah. The weapon is an angel’s bow and arrow that converts the damage it deals to enemies into an HP boost for Serah.

Square Enix promised an image of the item in a future update.”

Sounds like the Blood Sword in Bow form.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: Nightmarish on 2011-09-27 18:26:52
Bought Xbox 360 for FFXIII. Waited two years for FFXIII. Got FFXIII just after the release. Never played FXIII....
I bought PS3 because of the FF7 techdemo :(
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: fantasycloud on 2011-09-28 07:03:24
is this cloud strife?
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-10-03 21:13:55
Pre order bonuses
GameStop®

Receive an exclusive in–game item by preordering at GameStop e/retailers
– Alternate costume for Serah, visible throughout the game

Amazon®

Omega Boss Battle
– Unique coliseum battle against boss enemy “Omega,” who joins the player’s party afterward

Best Buy®

Collectible Hardcover Book
– FINAL FANTASY XIII –Episode i– novella, an original story that ties together the events of FINAL FANTASY XIII and FINAL FANTASY XIII–2 *NOTICE: YOU CAN READ -EPISODE i- ON OUR SITE*

These preorder initiatives are for North America exclusively and may not reflect preorder content available in other territories.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Cazador on 2011-10-03 23:47:34
I vote Amazon's as the best!
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-10-07 14:42:32
Official 8-bit blinded by Light:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgvKUqyyJfo&feature=player_embedded

And Snow:

(http://finalfantasyxiii2.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/jump-snow-scan-ff13-2.jpg?w=500&h=804)
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-10-11 12:28:16
Quote
Final Fantasy XIII-2 is getting paid download content. But two questions remain: how much, and how much?

Regarding the first how much, producer Yoshinori Kitase told Dengeki PlayStation this week that the game will have a large amount of DLC. As a rough schedule, he said to expect one to two updates every month, each containing multiple items.

As for the other how much, Kitase said that they’re not able to speak about the contents’ price yet. He promised a good balance between price and the quality that customers will accept.

They'll probably give up on DLC like they did with Dissidia :/
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Prince Lex on 2011-10-11 20:37:37
They'll probably give up on DLC like they did with Dissidia :/

Doubtful, considering this. (http://www.videogamer.com/ps3/final_fantasy_132/news/final_fantasy_xiii-2_dlc_every_month.html)
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-10-11 20:42:46
That's pretty much what I just posted :p

They said the same thing for Dissidia, and look what happened. Once they hype wears off, it'll lessen.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Prince Lex on 2011-10-11 21:11:53
Cool.

Less than one month until.... Sonic Generations! Uncharted 3! Both coming out on the same day. On a busy week in uni for me. Sigh. /offtopic.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-10-11 21:32:28
Less than one month until.... Sonic Generations! Uncharted 3! Both coming out on the same day. On a busy week in uni for me. Sigh. /offtopic.

27 days :P

Not long till this is out in Japan now...
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-10-13 16:37:05
We have a new trailer:
http://uk.ign.com/videos/2011/10/13/final-fantasy-xiii-2-new-adventures-trailer

Now on Youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRDij-wHKok&feature=player_embedded
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Covarr on 2011-10-13 19:38:40
The gameplay portion of this video makes a few things obvious:

Those few minutes are better than the whole of FFXIII. And this is coming from someone who actually enjoyed FFXIII. I've high hopes for this game.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Prince Lex on 2011-10-14 00:22:12
Did I spy chocobo racing? I tell you what I did spy though...

6:48. FANG. FANG FANG FANG FANG FANG FANG FANG!!!!! OH YEAH!
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-10-25 14:49:15
Sazh is to be revealed in a magazine this week (NOT a flashback like in the trailer)

Snow will be playable as a Guest only this time. We don't know if Hope will be, but he plays a large role, so...
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-10-27 20:19:45
(http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111027175923/finalfantasy/images/e/e8/FFXII-2_HopeArt.png)

Still no word on if he's playable or not. He looks like he plays a fairly large role, so I'd assume he is at some point.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-11-08 14:11:23
Quote
Paradigm Shifts

You can now switch instantly between Paradigms. This will help out with the pacing during the game’s basic battles, as the focus for these is on speed. For the bosses and tougher rare monsters, however, you’ll need to actively and strategically switch between Paradigms or you won’t win.

XIII-2 makes one major improvement to the usability of the paradigm system: the game will now save your paradigm combinations, so you can easily switch them out.

Difficulty

Toriyama suggested that the bosses in XIII-2 may be tougher than those of the original FFXIII. However, the game has an Easy Mode, so if you’re having trouble with a boss, you can turn the difficulty down. And if you still can’t defeat a boss, one option may be to temporarily give up and move on to another scenario.

Blood damage was added to the game because Toriyama wanted to fix the problem where if you had a healer in your party you could win the battle by just taking your time. Blood damage can’t be healed by healers, although there are items that will recover it.


Balance

Balancing the battles has been difficult, in part because they don’t know in what state the player will be when they enter a particular area.

The team made a special program just for balancing work. The program analyzes the test players’ logs, and can output such things as how the payer defeated the boss.

The game is being balanced so that, at the extreme, it might be possible to clear the game by defeating bosses. Of course, you can go the traditional route and build up your characters gradually. The game does not place caps on your characters’ growth.

Summons

The game will have summon creatures. However, they will not appear in the same form as in the original FFXIII, as the characters are not l’Cie this time.

Battle Presentation

They’ve been working on the presentation side of battles. The original had relatively few character motions, but this time the characters will move around in ways that match the formation. For instance, a defender will move forward and guard. Additionally, each boss battles will have specialized camerawork designed to make give the fight impact.

Monster Collection

There seems to be quite a bit of variety to the monster collection system. The same monsters will have different growth parameters, with some being fast growth while others take longer. Monsters that have the same role will have different abilities.

As previously detailed, you can give your monsters accessories that change their physical appearance. The staff decided to offer interesting decorations even if they don’t fit in with the world.

It’s possible to build up your monsters into powerful beasts, as you can make one monster inherit abilities from others. Toriyama said that he’s currently try to make the ultimate monster. This is the first time he’s wanted a strategy guide while test playing a game.

Wondering what happens if Serah an Noel die leaving the monster as the sole member of your party? You won’t be able to take control of the monster. When the two human characters die, the game ends.

http://finalfantasyxiii2.wordpress.com/
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-11-21 12:25:48
New music samples have been released. I won't post them here because there's loads, but the best part is...Nobou is the composer :D

http://finalfantasyxiii2.wordpress.com/
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: DLPB_ on 2011-11-21 15:50:00
He can't save it.  But at least I can get the OST.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Vgr on 2011-11-21 16:17:15
I *have* to get the OST then! I'll buy that game too, obviously. It would be fun if they worked like Source did, and make their games for PC, too. I know it could be possible, but when...?
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: DLPB_ on 2011-11-22 01:01:17
www.computerandvideogames.com/326844/square-targets-anew-final-fantasy-game-every-1-2-years/

RIP decent Final Fantasy games... Dead... and now buried and firmly nailed in.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Covarr on 2011-11-22 01:34:43
1. The first six Final Fantasy games were all 1-2 years apart. FF7 took three years, and then they were 1-2 years apart again through FFXI.
2. More frequent titles does not necessarily mean shorter development cycles. It could also lead to more titles in development at once.
3. Even if it does lead to shorter development cycles, this faster turnaround means that fan-feedback will more quickly be usable. If you figure they won't be able to put anything into practice until two games later, this could mean three years instead of ten.
4. Even if it does lead to shorter development cycles, this would require them to cut back on the single biggest time-suck in game development: graphics. Since you have previously stated that good graphics are to the detriment of good gameplay in a FF game, this should be a good thing.

This isn't really the same as annual Call of Duty or Madden games. These still need to be new games with new stories, and they need to focus first and foremost on the single player. They can't get away with releasing what's essentially an expansion pack at full retail price the way Madden or CoD does, because new releases don't render the older ones unplayable as tends to happen to multiplayer games, when nobody's ever online in the old ones after a newer release.

If anything, more frequent games should mean an overall improvement in the quality of the series. If it doesn't, they will destroy their reputation faster than was possible when the games were five years apart, and they know this.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: BlitzNCS on 2011-11-22 20:06:21
"Last week, Kitase said the changing tastes of gamers means the next Final Fantasy may drift away from its turn-based roots."

Yeah, see ya later FF. Nice knowing you.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: pacito-ex on 2011-11-22 22:11:21
If its anything like kingdom hearts i will still love it :D
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: DLPB_ on 2011-11-22 22:57:21
"Last week, Kitase said the changing tastes of gamers means the next Final Fantasy may drift away from its turn-based roots."

Yeah, see ya later FF. Nice knowing you.


Where is the thumbs up.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: KaidenJames on 2011-11-24 19:15:19
At least The Legend Of Zelda series is still awesome. Really quite sad about FF though. I've been thinking of playing VI or IX again. What do you guys think?
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-11-24 22:03:54
Gonna quote myself here:

This thread is ONLY for discussion on news/updates. Some people are interested in it, so we need somewhere to discuss it without all the arguments breaking out. If you'd like to keep that in the other thread, that would be nice.

If you wanna bitch about FF and whatever, do it elsewhere.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: dkma841 on 2011-12-01 18:08:52
A new trailer came out today showing off the new battle system for ffxiii-2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxeUdyGuvsg&feature=feedlik
looks...ok
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Covarr on 2011-12-01 18:50:25
wut.

This is the same battle system from XIII. Why are they advertising it like it's something new?

It just occurred to me how to fix the battle system in this game: make the auto battle feature only use a single physical attack and no spells. This way, players have to at least do SOMETHING when grinding, making it a little more similar to the boss battles which actually require choosing your attacks in order to not die.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: dkma841 on 2011-12-01 19:33:44
I think its because they move more freely now but you STILL can't control them and god, why did they put back Auto Battle just with spamming that button throughout most of the time in ff13 i completed it without much hassle really and didn't even need much strategy hope they fixed that bit out
Also the gui looks like its got some redesign but still mostly the same
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-12-06 23:48:53
There's a rumor going around, that Sazh will be playable through DLC.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Timu Sumisu on 2011-12-15 16:30:49
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEUOOgNzOv4

'nuf said...
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: gjoerulv on 2011-12-16 06:58:04
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEUOOgNzOv4

'nuf said...

HAHA!!
Hilarious, sad, and good at the same time.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Tenko Kuugen on 2011-12-16 09:32:46
so 13-2 is now a very fancy looking pokemon game. consider me not impressed
http://www.screwattack.com/trailers/final-fantasy-xiii-2-masters-monsters-trailer

I love that chocobo song though
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-12-16 15:27:23
Doesn't look like Hope's playable :/

But, if they do release Sazh as a DLC bonus, hopefully the others will come too :)
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: hotdog963al on 2011-12-24 15:57:22
I checked out some of the music for this game, so, so terrible. What were they thinking?
It's becoming embarrassing to say I'm a fan of the series.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: DLPB_ on 2011-12-24 16:26:25
I checked out some of the music for this game, so, so terrible. What were they thinking?
It's becoming embarrassing to say I'm a fan of the series.

Not exactly unexpected....  don't expect game to be any good either. :P
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Vgr on 2011-12-24 18:47:34
Graphics. Time spent on graphics. Appearance. Money.

That says it all.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Armorvil on 2011-12-27 13:42:53
All of the changes are much needed improvements over FFXIII. Can't wait for February, day 1 buy for me.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Tenko Kuugen on 2011-12-27 16:20:56
Lets improve something worthless just to make it slightly less worthless
that's like increasing the number -9999 by 10
you're still left with -9989
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: DLPB_ on 2011-12-27 17:15:08
You know times are bad when they even consider to make a sequel to a game like FFXIII... and now I hear they are gonna make FFXIII-3?

That cow sure has a lot of cash.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Vgr on 2011-12-27 17:29:16
Lets try to improve a stupid worthless shit game. It's still a worthless shit game. Yet the graphics are good (of course, that's the only thing they work on), the story is a stupid copy/paste of the one of FF7 (FF7 was awesome, so they tried to copy the story... they failed). Gameplay still good but with a lot of flaws. Well, one of the only good point of FFXIII is interactive battle, interactive as in you move during battle... oh wait, that's not new.

I'm on the verge of selling my PS3 to buy a PS2. I want to play FFX, FFX-2, FFXII, FFVII DoC... Yet maybe some aren't really that good, they're still better than some games on the PS3...

Well, I got LBP2 for Xmas... will probably sell it to buy a PS2...
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Armorvil on 2011-12-27 17:36:46
Worthless ? You guys make it sound as if FFXIII is the worst video-game in existence. Even worst than Ultraman. That seriously cracks me up. But don't get me wrong : I'm the first to speak ill of FFXIII - but that doesn't mean it isn't a beautiful, polished, bug-free, playable, and enjoyable game. For the most part, it does well what it aims to do - it's just not what FF fans wanted. S-E listened to the complaints, so FFXIII-2 keeps the interesting aspects of XIII and enhances the rest. I approve of this behavior.

But no, you're right, scratch that : FFXIII has a few annoying flaws, so it's obviously the worst game ever. My bad for trying to talk some sense in this thread.

You hear that, Gjoerulv ? We weren't having fun with the battle system in XIII. Our minds and bodies can betray us, I tell you.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Vgr on 2011-12-27 17:40:56
I never said it was the worst, but I said that, while, yes, beautiful, polished, playable, bug-free and enjoyable, it gets away from what Final Fantasies really are. It began with FFX - don't get me wrong, FFX is awesome - but Square could have get back to their mistakes if they didn't merge with Enix. Now it just gets worst and worst everytime. As a game overall, it was very good. As a FF, it was crap.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: BlitzNCS on 2011-12-27 17:46:59
Completely derailing the topic at my own peril - Can you explain to me what you dislike about 10? You seem to be the only one with a really bad opinion of it, and in fact 10 was made before the merger even happened. Actually, I think it's a really good example of a Final Fantasy game.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Vgr on 2011-12-27 17:49:55
I never said I dislike anything about 10! In fact, 10 is one of my favourite. One of the only thing (if not the only thing) that I don't like is the fact that the World Map is taken apart. I like the Sphere Grid system, even if a bit complicated for someone like me.

Don't get me wrong, I love FFX.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Armorvil on 2011-12-27 17:52:52
I never said it was the worst

No ? But you just said :

Quote
Lets try to improve a stupid worthless sh*t game. It's still a worthless sh*t game.

:D
Ha yes, it's a stupid worthless sh*t game, but it's not the worst. I mean, yes, the worst of the sh*t game must be extremely sh*tty. Yuck. And it's not FFXIII ! I guess S-E can breathe :)

And don't sell your PS3 to get a PS2 ; they started to release HD versions of the best PS2 games (FFX included). In a short while, it's the PS2 that will be worthless.

Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Vgr on 2011-12-27 17:53:54
HD versions? You mean the upscaled ports right?
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-12-27 17:57:44
Oh look, we're here again.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Vgr on 2011-12-27 17:58:34
You're right espio. Lets get back to the main topic.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: DLPB_ on 2011-12-27 18:07:54
No we are suggesting that FFXIII is one of the worst FF's and a complete dumbing down over the classics we paid good money for previously.  I don't think most people can let this point sink in.  We don't shell out top dollar for "Final Fantasy" to be a "good game", we shell it out to get quality, and certainly for a game to be at least NEAR to what went before.

XIII is a joke on every level compared to VI-X.  Its story, game play, and pacing all suck.  The player is only second fiddle to graphics and cutscenes.

I did not realise that I had ventured into this topic again... I will create a new topic for FF bashing.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Cazador on 2011-12-27 20:12:14
On the topic of FFXIII-2. I actually have a lot of hope for it, it seems a lot more open world so I'm going to buy it. My question is, I quit FF13 when I got to gran pulse...should I beat it just for the sake of playing 13-2...or should I say screw it and just read spoilers? lol
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2011-12-27 21:19:05
At least try and play it :P You could always take the quitters way out though...
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: gjoerulv on 2011-12-30 19:34:21
You hear that, Gjoerulv ? We weren't having fun with the battle system in XIII. Our minds and bodies can betray us, I tell you.

Haha.
Yeah, some people take the fall/change of FF too personal.

Sqeeny simply follow the money, like about 90%(++) of all business dealing with pop culture.
I think if people really want to influence how Squeeny makes their FFs they need to start some sort of pop phenomenon, and create their own target crowd. However, they would be to sell-out to do this, so all in all you would be just as bad as Squeeny.
Or get some old school FF in charge of the game development.

Concerning 13,2, I think it looks exactly like 13 with some improvements... I think I got the same impression like everyone else. As of now it wouldn't be too far fetched to say: If you didn't like 13, don't buy it; if you liked 13 buy it. [/obvious]
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Tuxedo on 2011-12-31 06:31:14
No we are suggesting that FFXIII is one of the worst FF's and a complete dumbing down over the classics we paid good money for previously.  I don't think most people can let this point sink in.  We don't shell out top dollar for "Final Fantasy" to be a "good game", we shell it out to get quality, and certainly for a game to be at least NEAR to what went before.

XIII is a joke on every level compared to VI-X.  Its story, game play, and pacing all suck.  The player is only second fiddle to graphics and cutscenes.

I did not realise that I had ventured into this topic again... I will create a new topic for FF bashing.

Woah, woah, woah. FFXIII wasn't the greatest game ever but it certainly wasn't the worst freaking game in existence like you're making it out to be. I thought it was a fun game to play, the characters were alright aside from Snow and the world was amazing. FFXIII's world is probably my favorite in the whole series, next to Spira, that's one of the reasons why I was so pissed that we couldn't backtrack and explore everything so thank goodness FFXIII-2 fixes that. The battle system was fun and I enjoyed playing the game and that's all that matters to me.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: DLPB_ on 2011-12-31 07:59:20
You can delete post and one above, I have moved them to a more relevant place.  8-)
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Armorvil on 2012-01-02 10:48:47
Thought I'd mention it here, too : the french website Gamekult gave the game 8+/10 (+ meaning it received the Editor choice). And the site being quite harsh with its review system, 8+ is pretty good. Link :

http://www.gamekult.com/jeux/test-final-fantasy-xiii-2-SU00009039t.html?pf=xbox-360-160031

Here is a summary of what is said (courtesy of Shawn6661, relayed on GFaqs by Kanart) :

The developers of Final Fantasy XIII-2 carefully noted all the bad things the Internet has criticized of their previous game to give us just the opposite. Too many hallways? We will give multiple paths. No NPCs or sidequests? We'll swing a ton of cats stuck in trees. Otherwise, the game continues on the solid foundation of its predecessor, namely the nervous and efficient combat system, good graphics, and a soundtrack that keeps on cutting bridges with the previous titles, and we eventually learn to accept it. Strange on paper, the result is very good despite a soft and misleading start. After four to five hours, the adventure finally takes off and the player begins to gain more freedom, discovering the richness of the parallel universes possible to explore. Very promising, the capture of monsters finally shine on the end where the game gets really difficult and demanding. Rich, varied and full of sidequests that are revealed gradually, Final Fantasy XIII-2 is a great success. An encouraging return to the RPG as we knew it in the 90s.

+ a bold and full of surprises scenario
+ the bold concept of parallel worlds
+ capture and breed monsters
+ the fights are still dynamic and catchy
+ the awesome last boss

- fights are very easy on the first hours
- visiting always the same spots
- the multiple choice answers are useless


To put things into perspective, the same reviewer (Greg, a long-time FF fan) gave 7/10 to FFXIII. Not a bad rating, but he did tear FFXIII a new hole in his text, since he was as disappointed with XIII as many fans were. More of a reason to be hopeful concerning XIII-2, since he really was pleasantly surprised with it.

EDIT:

I just read another french review for FFXIII-2, this time from jeuxvideo.fr (link : http://www.jeuxvideo.fr/jeux/final-fantasy-13-2/preview-test-final-fantasy-13-2.html ), and it got 7/10. Basically, the reviewer didn't like the ending ("the less compelling ending I experienced in a J-RPG"), and he feels the game lost its balance (it's too easy to max Serah & Noel, and the game is so easy until the final dungeon it's sickening). You don't even need to change roles most of the time, and some boss fights that should have been epic end in only 2 or 3 minutes... The reviewer says that the gameplay "calibration" is off and the main story too short...

So yeah, it's not a bad game, but it's still far from perfect apparently. I'll still get it though. It should be a pretty fun game if you don't set your expectations too high.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Covarr on 2012-01-02 17:47:53
words
So they kept their promise and fixed the game's biggest problem, its linearity? I'm impressed.

It's a sad day when simply following through on a promise is impressive :(
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: DLPB_ on 2012-01-03 07:16:08
I hear XIII-2 has a disaster of a story, even worse than XIII

By Glenn Morrow [Japanese XIII-2 I assume] (Spoilers)

What a stupid story this turned out to be. Serah's a glorious idiot (slower than Michael Kelso on the uptake, and repeats what others have just said followed by a question mark more than characters did in Dirge of Cerberus), Caius's plan is pretty stupid (he really can't see any negative consequences stemming from that?), Lightning doesn't get enough screentime to even justify putting her in the marketing for this thing, Fang and Vanille have next to no presence whatsoever, there's no Fanille to speak of, Snow's role is completely forgettable, Alyssa's annoying as sh*t, the conversation options don't do what pre-release interviews implied they'd do (or maybe it was our wishful thinking that it would be like "Mass Effect"), and there's way too many "just because" plot points --

Caius having Etro's heart and the consequences of him being stabbed, the connection between Etro and the seers, their role and the fate they face, Snow becoming a l'Cie again, the consequences to time from Etro interfering in the ending of FFXIII in the first place, Caius basically trying to repeat what Barthandelus did ...

And needs more Sazh.

Noel is cool enough, and you can't not like what they did with Hope, but jeez. What a disaster of a story.

Text is above.  Highlight.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Prince Lex on 2012-01-05 22:17:05
I present to you all The "Moogle" trailer. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AN5CvSxYbeY&feature=player_embedded)
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: DLPB_ on 2012-01-05 22:38:45
I am so glad I sold my PS3.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: obesebear on 2012-01-06 00:23:30
I am so glad I sold my PS3.
No way, just upgraded my hard drive to 320Gb. 
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Prince Lex on 2012-01-06 00:38:38
There's a demo coming out next week (10th) on the North American PSN. Not sure about EU, but we can play it anyway, just have to create a NA account.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2012-01-06 14:41:48
From Facebook:
Quote
Today we’re excited to confirm that a FINAL FANTASY XIII-2 demo will be coming to Xbox 360 from January 11th 2011, Playstation 3 (EU) from January 11th 2011, and Playstation 3 (NA) from January 10th 2012.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Prince Lex on 2012-01-06 17:30:33
Beautiful news.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: dkma841 on 2012-01-06 18:53:41
New trailer came out today and wtf is this moogle powered thing they just ran out of ideas:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0L9tr-sLxo&feature=player_embedded
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Prince Lex on 2012-01-07 03:47:41
I already posted that lol.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: dkma841 on 2012-01-07 14:19:29
oh yeah lol ima bit late xD

Well it looks like the demo will release for both consoles in
January 10th in North America
January 11th in Europe.

http://www.maxconsole.com/cgi-bin/maxconsole/rknewz.pl?function=detail&id=RKLS000000594&cat=PLAYSTATION%203

will download and see i bet i will be dissapointed still...
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Prince Lex on 2012-01-11 20:43:31
Thoughts on the demo anyone?

I just played through it. Does seem like there's a lot more to it this time around. I actually kinda liked the monster aspect on that little run-through there. I actually found the Atlas fight slightly challenging. No more straight lines, yay! Although I'm pissed that I don't get to play with the characters I liked from XIII.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Armorvil on 2012-01-11 21:56:20
The demo basically confirmed my day 1 buy. The 3 hours I spent on it were already better than all of FFXIII gameplay-wise.

My only problem is, I started playing Skyrim today (a colleague lent it to me so I could try it) and while I was dungeon-crawling (very fun game!),my PS3 suddenly shut down. YLOD. Looks like Skyrim finished my fat 40 GB PS3 off, after at least 4 years of good & loyal services.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: sl1982 on 2012-01-12 02:39:41
Bake it in the oven!
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Prince Lex on 2012-01-12 06:08:40
Bake it in the oven!

This does actually work. I've done it with my brothers ancient PS3, I only got mine about a year and a half ago (slim). If you don't want to bake it, you could always leave it for a bit and try again? Sometimes it just miraculously works again. Then will shut off again at some point.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: DLPB_ on 2012-01-12 06:39:52
If it is a capacitor issue, it is as simple as opening it up, looking at which have blown, and replacing with new ones.  Not too hard at all, get a soldering iron.  Look online at how to find faulty capacitors and how to find the values, it can be done by eye.  Power issues are nearly always related and the capacitors will be situated on the main power board.  Then go on ebay and get a good quality replacement.  Make sute that the microfarad value is similar if not same, and that the voltage value is the same (although higher is preferable).
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Armorvil on 2012-01-12 08:29:11
Thanks guys, Ill try the oven method. There are plenty of nice youtube videos and stuff to help in the process. I just need the tools.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: sl1982 on 2012-01-12 10:46:28
The YLOD is usually caused by using poor quality solder on the bga connections of the cell or gpu. Heating it to just above solder melting point for 5 mins and then slow cooling it will cause the solder to reflow to the connections that have been broken by the heating/cooling cycles of the chips. To get into  the old fat style ps3 you need a t10 or t15 security torx driver. I cannot remember which one.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: DLPB_ on 2012-01-12 10:47:35
Perhaps thats why the oven works lmao.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: KaidenJames on 2012-01-12 23:35:33
Funny how a PS3 can be fixed in the oven. Crazy.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Kuroda Masahiro on 2012-01-13 16:33:54
To begin with, I thought FFXIII-2 would just be generic gameplay and generally terrible after playing the original, but the few hours I spent in FFXIII-2 was immensely more enjoyable than any of the time I spent in the original.

although, am I the only one that secretly hopes Lebreau has a bigger role than she did in the original game?

(her battle style in the original made her my favourite and i found her personality better than Vanille and would much rather have her in my team than either Snow or Fang, i actually ended up buying the xbox version of the game to cheat her into my party.)

but, I don't see myself wanting to buy FFXIII-2 on day 1 release, but when the price goes from £40 to around £25, then I'll get it. (or day 1 release if i can get the money from trading in games.)
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Prince Lex on 2012-01-13 16:41:20
although, am I the only one that secretly hopes Lebreau has a bigger role than she did in the original game?

To be perfectly honest, I can barely remember her. The whole NORA thing just made no sense as a plot device to me. I honestly can't see her having a bigger role in this game, when you consider the fact that she was barely in the last one, and the fact that the ACTUAL characters are barely in this one.

Why do you find her interesting? I've played XIII through a good few times and she doesn't even register on my radar.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Kuroda Masahiro on 2012-01-13 18:32:31
When I was playing the game, i was actually disappointed she only appeared in the first level...

against each person. (and if for the person that they don't really 'relate', I'll basically say something about what I thought did or didn't make sense in comparison to Lebreau)

Vanille
I think her design is more interesting than Vanille's.  (not to mention she doubles as a pseudo white mage with her potions.)

Snow
her weapon makes more sense than Snow's in the sense that your coat can magically make you able to punch a robot's circuits out, and Snow being the leader of Nora made... little sense, Lebreau seems more level headed and suited to that role, while Gadot and the others are better for the grunt work.
(except the kid, he seems to just be a random kid they picked up.)

Gadot
She uses her firearm in a much more realistic manner than Gadot, but she does slightly show off with her battle stance, which in turn is reminisce of Blank from FF9 (who happened to be my favourite from FF9) which automatically boosts her rating in my books.

Fang
Main thing that Lebreau has over Fang is the fact she doesn't have a random australian accent, but in terms of personality, the two are similar and I imagined Lebreau acting similar to Fang if she was kept as a final party member.

Lightning
She has personality and isn't a cross between Cloud and Squall.

Hope
I don't really get why Hope was kept as a proper party member, sure, he wanted revenge, but, I found his whole story and scenario forced, and basically, I just like Lebreau more than Hope.
for Lebreau, I thought that her role (shown mostly in flashbacks) showed that she was responsible and had abilities to raise funds for operations and keep account of other aspects with the shop and how she acted more mature than other people, ie, Snow.

<anyone else hoping he'd actually use Lightning's knife? I thought he could have 2 knives that combine into a boomerang or something...>

Sazh
...I just didn't like Sazh... at all, he'd basically a skinny Barret, except for Cid's past with a ridiculous Afro-being-a-bird-nest idea that probably started as an office joke, that they kept in the game because it was 'funny'.
plus, how do two handguns turn into an assault rifle!?

as for the Nora being used as a plot device, personally, I think it would have been better if NORA was just people on the purge train that decided they didn't want to go and acted up, since thats all Nora really became in the end.

but, Lebreau was shown saving Serah from monsters and chiding her and saying that she had to look after herself, i want the ability to talk to her more often if nothing else. *_*
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Prince Lex on 2012-01-13 20:20:18
Well, each to their own I guess. I also really disliked Sazh, he had some terrible lines. I also disagree with quite a lot about what you said, though I don't care enough to argue the point. Like I said, each to their own. However....

Fang
Main thing that Lebreau has over Fang is the fact she doesn't have a random australian accent, but in terms of personality, the two are similar and I imagined Lebreau acting similar to Fang if she was kept as a final party member.

There's nothing "random" about Fang and Vanille's Australian accents. They have Australian accents because they're from Pulse. It's an early clue that they're both from the same place and that they're from somewhere else.

I get that a lot of people hate on Vanille because she had a whiny voice, but quite a lot of people complain about the fact that she's portrayed with an Australian accent.

Speaking as someone who has family in both Australia and New Zealand, I can honestly say that both accents were done extremely well. I would never have guessed that the VA's weren't Australian, so kudos to them. I also thought the Australian accent suited them really well. Just my opinion on that whole "issue".
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Kuroda Masahiro on 2012-01-13 20:37:51
I know that they both have australian accents to hint that they're both from the same place, but originally, they didn't really speak using other dialects or anything and was just added for the dub.

Its random in the sense that it was added whe the original character didn't have any aspect of anything remotely similar to it, thus making it random, but I do agree that it was well portrayed, unlike the british accents in Folklore, those were just ABYSMAL.

and, to each their own, thats one reason why I like Lebreau more than anyone else in FF13. (I hated Sazh, he was annoying and the whole chocobo chick thing immensely annoyed me.)

Everyone has their own way of perceiving characters, and I just liked some more than others, just as others like other chars more than others, and not even registering some.

but, why did they change Snow's design the way they did for 13-2? he was reasonably cool looking, and now, looks... baaad. *_*

...Hope looks good though, I like his future design more than his original.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Prince Lex on 2012-01-13 20:43:34
Haha, he probably had a sweaty head from that toilet roll bandanahat.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: sl1982 on 2012-01-14 16:44:05
Before I play the demo should I beware of spoilers? I never finished xiii due to the hard drive in my ps3 crapping out.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Kuroda Masahiro on 2012-01-14 17:36:39
There's no real spoilers in the demo for the original, but make sure you can keep a constant connection when you download it, for me, it took almost 6 hours to download it, stupid 1.78gb demo.  :P
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2012-01-14 21:56:14
Chocolina is amazing. I love her voice.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Kuroda Masahiro on 2012-01-14 22:03:36
After seeing Chocoline, I seriously considered making a field model for her and having her replace the merchants in every shop.

I have to say, I actually think she is one of the best merchants of the FF series.

But, the best one is the merchant from Resident Evil 4. :P

Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Prince Lex on 2012-01-14 23:07:41
Chocolina is awesome. She reminds me of various NPC's from Final Fantasy X. Also, she sounds like a higher pitched version of Jesse from the Pokémon series. The original series that is, that I haven't seen since Fox Kids was a channel on Sky.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Tekkie.X on 2012-01-18 16:39:25
Played demo, changed paradigm to War and peace spammed X, finished the first fight, deleted demo, would not surprise me if you could beat the entire game like that so I just saved myself £40 I wasn't gonna spend on the game in the first place...
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Prince Lex on 2012-01-18 16:49:12
Wow, that fight must have taken a long time.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: KaidenJames on 2012-01-18 20:24:31
But, the best one is the merchant from Resident Evil 4. :P

Haha yes! "Got a good selection of things on sale, stranger!"
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: blueknavish on 2012-01-19 11:00:24
all i have to say is i will never buy another final fantasy game again. they've obviously done something wrong to make me feel this way and have abandoned their true fans. end of topic.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2012-01-25 20:46:47
Quote
Early Famitsu leaks brings us news about the upcoming Lightning colosseum battle for Final Fantasy XIII-2 Square Enix teased in December. Just like Omega, players will be able to fight Lightning, dressed in her Final Fantasy XIII outfit. Win and you can add Lightning to your party. Other classic monsters will appear in the colosseum as downloadable content.

 

An interview also reveals players will be able to get an episode with a new storyline focused on Lightning that reveals the hidden truth behind the game’s endings.

 

Square Enix is also interested in continuing the Final Fantasy XIII-2 storyline with scenarios for Sazh, Dajh (his son), and Chocolina (the time-traveling merchant). The format for these side-stories has not been decided. Two options mentioned in the interview are more DLC episodes and novels.

Chocolina playable? Woop xDD
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2012-02-05 16:13:20
Anyone got it yet? I've just finished 500AF, really enjoying it :)
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: DLPB_ on 2012-02-06 01:46:42
http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-3/final-fantasy-xiii-2/user-reviews

News is... it isn't lookin' good!

Quote
Sadly with FF Series is going the same as Call of Duty and Resident Evil, they explode the serie with **** games for the only purpose to make more money because they know that fans buy these games no matter how bad they are, this game only have graphic and awesome CGI, but the gameplay and the story and how the game led by, make this game horrible, the pages "specialized" in reviews, the majority are paid to give a good review, Sadly the fans are guilty of creating these types of games, they are the ones who give money to companies so that users would continue taking money from the pockets, to create more games that are just as bad or worse the predecessor, the FF series ended after FFX, FFXII is a horrible Game, even I do not know as there are some people who like this game, I hope that Final Fantasy Versus XIII is better than these, or will be forced to reset the saga as happened with several games and I hope that Capcom and Activision do the same with Resident Evil and Call of Duty, Call of Duty especially with that please do not make anymore ;D. Sorry Square,but for some long, long time are they doing bad games, and YES PLEASE MAKE KINGDOM HEART 3, AND STOP MAKING THIS **** GAMES, sorry FFXII Fans but STOP BUYING THIS **** GAME

5/10

Although even after that the poor fool is still gonna buy versus hahaha

Quote
The series is dead. It may not be a corpse lying in a grave, but its a zombie that just won't lie down.

HAHAHAHAHA!
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: fantasy1 on 2012-02-06 01:52:35
it's cool
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Prince Lex on 2012-02-06 10:33:46
The game is actually fucking brilliant. I've been glued to my PS3 all weekend. I'm shocked at how much I'm enjoying it.

All the side quests and mini games are fun, the NPC's are back (and there are more than ever, it really gives each town a great ambience), Live Trigger let's you ask the questions you actually WANT to ask, theres a shit load of optional stuff to do, and the story is actually very coherent and makes a lot of sense. The levelling system is completely user controlled and the monster levelling system is engrossing. I've read a few reviews that complain about the story, but I honestly can't see how.

The VA's are stellar and the story - while slightly impeded by that fact that you can jump to different times ahead of when you're logically supposed to - is actually really good (so far).

In addition to that, it's beautiful and I can't wait to get home from uni and play it till I fall asleep. I've clocked almost 20 hours so far and I'm only about 1/5th of the way through the story, because I've been exploring and doing optional things and side-quests.

It once again feels like a Final Fantasy game, and is hands down the best JRPG I've played since X.

I haven't completed it yet, so if anyone is going to post spoilers could you please post a warning? I'm sure others would appreciate it too.

EDIT: Also wanted to add that Noel is one of the best characters in FF history. I thought I would hate him, but he is a traditional FF hero (slightly stoic, good guy, helps the helpless but not in an "I'm such a hero" annoying way) in addition to me actually caring about his character. I can honestly say I didn't connect with the characters in XIII as much as him. Also his VA is amazing.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Travis on 2012-02-06 13:17:56
I dislike the fact that the ending

SPOILER ALERT

Has a "To be continued" tag.

I hated how depressing it was... even after all that. It sucks, I became attached to the characters damnit.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2012-02-06 21:10:55
Just loaded my save file up, and Fang did the recap. I was amazed xD

Yeah I've been saying that I've finished 500AF....it was actually 200 lol.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: sl1982 on 2012-02-07 19:50:31
For whoever is still on the fence here is a quote from gabe over at penny arcade:

Quote
If you liked FF XIII then the sequel is even better and you should go get it right now. If you hated the previous game you’ll find nothing to like about XIII-2.

Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Prince Lex on 2012-02-08 11:05:06
I actually disagree with that. The only thing similar to XIII is the battle system, and even that's been refined.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2012-02-10 18:11:12
Chocolina is amazing. She has to be one of the best characters ever xDD
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Cloud1000 on 2012-02-10 19:34:31
I'm enjoying this game so far, played & finished ff13 completely. The only thing I miss about ff13 is, (more playable characters) I mean like main party, not monsters :p.
And weapon upgrading system :(. About 7 hours played so far, and at 200AF.
The best parts of FF13-2 for me:
No limits on crystarium I think?
Able to change leader at will.
Tons of monsters to get to party.
Able to travel through time back & forth (Reminds me of Chrone Trigger) :D
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Prince Lex on 2012-02-11 14:34:25
The crystarium is limited to lv.99 per role. It's still a great system though.

Completed it last night. Got ~151 fragments, just got to get the paradox endings and that stupid 7777 casino coins fragment from Serendipity. Since I've got tons of gil, I'm tempted to just buy all the coins I need and sit and pull the lever for a few hours. Scary beeswax.

Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Lion on 2012-02-12 08:38:43
I dislike the fact that the ending

SPOILER ALERT

Has a "To be continued" tag.

I hated how depressing it was... even after all that. It sucks, I became attached to the characters damnit.

attached to the characters. damnnnn. that hasn't happened to me since ff8
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Timber on 2012-02-12 08:41:58
Quote
If you liked FF XIII then the sequel is even better and you should go get it right now. If you hated the previous game you’ll find nothing to like about XIII-2.

This guy has no idea.... XIII-2 is nothing like XIII.

I'm about 22 hours into XIII-2 now, and its actually pretty darn great.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Prince Lex on 2012-02-12 14:55:07
Yeah I completed it on Thursday. Thought it was awesome. The ending is a real shock.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Tekkie.X on 2012-02-12 16:02:18
Still has auto battle though, so fuck that, they took the mash x to win joke a bit to seriously with that.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2012-02-12 19:15:22
Jihl Nabaat DLC battle

(http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120212123940/finalfantasy/images/2/2b/Jihl_XIII-2.jpg)

No word on whether she's tameable or not though.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Prince Lex on 2012-02-13 10:11:58
Still has auto battle though, so fuck that, they took the mash x to win joke a bit to seriously with that.

Seriously, if you "mashed x to win" in this game you wouldn't get very far at all. In FFXIII you can do that for a large first portion of the game, because they baby you with non stop tutorials. This one isn't like that at all.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: StickySock on 2012-02-13 19:57:57
Seriously, if you "mashed x to win" in this game you wouldn't get very far at all. In FFXIII you can do that for a large first portion of the game, because they baby you with non stop tutorials. This one isn't like that at all.
Actually, I bet most people who hate FFXIII would be surprised how soon that strategy becomes not an option, and you are forced to experiment in battle unless assisted by the aid of a walkthrough video. You can't even beat an Eidolon that way.

The auto-battle function is actually very useful in the later part of the game where you want to kill an enemy that is weak to fire and not have to go into the menu and hit "fire, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire" each time for one attack. It's not so much that it plays the game for you but becomes a way of easily selecting attack combinations on enemies you have already discerned the weaknesses for.

If you actually can stand the linearity and poor story (background mythology aside) and stick with the game long enough the battles become more enjoyable and complex. But the thing is, that is all there is this game. Battle battle battle, cutscene, battle battle battle, and some optional chocobo digging at the end.

Dahaka, all of the Barthandelus boss battles, Orphan I, , Mark mission 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 62, Attackus, Vercingetorix, and the Long Gui all provide difficulty. The question is, can you stand to make it that far?

For me, I've played all the final fantasy's for the sake of trying, and although this game did seem like a step back and isn't near as good as my favorites in the series, it certainly isn't the worst. There are A LOT of cons to FFXIII but I would say the battle system isn't one of them, but if you really made the case that it is, it would be at the bottom of the list of problems.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: DLPB_ on 2012-02-13 20:00:19
It does not change the fact that the game is still dumbed down over what the series used to be, you have even less characters in battle, I have read people who still complain about the lack of strategy,

Quote
YipManSays
Feb 13, 2012
6
For a franchise that prides itself on story I have to say this game is one of the poorer entries in the series. Possibly the worst. The story is very bland and uninspiring. Also it doesn't make a whole lot of sense and is not easy to follow even if you're a fanboy. I will say that the graphics for this game are very good but that was already established by the previous game. Combat again is largely the same and I found myself using the same combination of Paradigms and moves over and over again making the experience very bland. They did add quicktime event which didn't add much for me and I also feel are outdated to begin with. Overall this was a very poor game showing that Square Enix is running out of innovative ideas.

Quote
It's nearly impossible to pay attention to them, because the battles are a mess of spinning swords, flashing numbers, and explosions. It's all cinematic, you could select a paradigm that gives the party one attacker and one healer, and then put down the controller and go do something else. You'll eventually win. There's no skill, logic, or thinking involved whatsoever. Your input is completely insignificant to the outcome, and the battles drag on. It can take upwards of 5 minutes to win some of the early battles in the game.

and to top it off, the story is awful and ends with a "to be continued".

It is just a cash in.

It is currently scoring among the very worst FF in history at Metacritic by user score (actually I do believe THE worst).  7.2 for playstation 3 and 5.9 (FIVE POINT NINE) for Xbox

http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/final-fantasy-xiii-2

Even FFX-2 got 7.7

You can't tell me this is coincidence?
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Prince Lex on 2012-02-14 13:17:00
The game is not remotely dumbed down. It has a very complex levelling and battle system, and there are a shit load of side quests that aren't empty (as in, there are a ton of sub plots with VA recorded dialogue, a purpose for each one). The characters all have depth, reasons for what they're doing and no plot point is useless (though there are a few plot-holes).

It's all about choice. You can choose how you want to level your characters, which roles you want them to advance in for the strategies you're going to use in battle.

If there was no strategy required, I would be able to spam auto battle all the way through, and you seriously can't do that. If you choose to level the wrong roles or don't have the correct paradigms set before battles, it's actually very easy to get a game over.

The story is actually not bad. There was at least a running narrative this time, and the characters were finally real enough to care about. The only problem was TOO MUCH CHOICE leading to a slightly fractured narrative, but that's only me because I'm a completionist and had to do everything as soon as it was available.

You have 2 characters in battle, and another 150 monsters to choose from. This makes for some very interesting (and fun) strategic planning. I'm not going to pretend I don't miss having my 6 characters to choose from as in XIII or any other FF game, but what I will say is that I fucking LOVE taking a Tonberry into battle with me. It's hilarious and keeps the battles from getting stale.

If there's one thing I'm going to complain about, it's Serendipity. It just feels quite empty. The chocobo races are impossible to consistently win on the highest class without a totally levelled Silver/Gold chocobo, and even then they're repetitive. Not to mention my rage at trying to get that 7777 coins fragment. Literally just got 20000 coins from the exchanger and sellotaped L1 down.

Got my platinum trophy this morning. The game is worth every penny, and Square Enix have taken the complaints with XIII and actually implemented every single one.

The ending was a bit of a mindfuck, but it was still totally worth it. I wouldn't be defending it's predecessor nearly as much as I'm defending this, and that's because every fan complaint has been dealt with. If people want to keep bitching they have a right to an opinion, but I think people that have played it from start to finish are pissed off because they can see they fixed what they didn't like about XIII, and they still don't like it. Which is a shame.

To be honest, the biggest mistake they made was calling the auto-battle button auto-battle. Having recently replayed VII and VIII, you're doing the same fucking thing for the first few hours anyway. Attack, Attack, Attack, Attack. You do the same thing at the start of EVERY FF game. Just attack to win. Hold X to win, as it were. Then you might have to cast magic once in a while to kill something new, or to heal. Technically speaking, XIII and XIII-2 actually require more button presses to do this, what with the paradigm shift before you press "auto-battle" again hahaha :P.

EDIT: I've just re-read this and I would like to make it clear that I am in no way saying that this is the best ever Final Fantasy game, but it's still a damn good one. I just feel the need to vehemently defend it since a lot of people seem to have made the assumption it's just like it's predecessor when it's a completely different game.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: dkma841 on 2012-02-14 15:53:11
Looks like i'll give this a try il wait a bit more for it to be a bit cheaper
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Timber on 2012-02-15 09:21:50
It is currently scoring among the very worst FF in history at Metacritic by user score (actually I do believe THE worst).  7.2 for playstation 3 and 5.9 (FIVE POINT NINE) for Xbox

hahaha @ this

The fact that XIII is higher than XIII-2 is pretty obvious proof that these kind of scores should be taken with a grain of salt, wouldn't you agree?

Sure, you can argue that the unique XIII style battle system isn't as good as <insert favourite FF battle system here>, but the whole 'things just keep getting worse and worse' attitude is pretty darn silly.

The fact is, from playing XIII-2, you can see that Square have taken HUGE steps in the right direction, and taken on a TON of player feedback.

Things are looking up my friend. Based on what I have seen, I'm actually pretty excited for what the next Final Fantasy will bring. It also will certainly not use the same XIII style battle system, another plus in your books.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: DLPB_ on 2012-02-15 16:23:54
I disagree.... I think when you get user scores that low for an FF game (the lowest), there is a very good reason for it.

The reason it has gone lower than XIII is likely to do with fan backlash.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Timber on 2012-02-16 08:24:50
The reason it has gone lower than XIII is likely to do with fan backlash.

Exactly right, these aren't level headed reviews to be taken very seriously. These are fans still pissed off from XIII and XIV. This is why the actual score, not the user score, is much better.

This gametrailers review is pretty spot on actually: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AWPhQqYIwg

Or just read Prince Lex's mini review above, he's on the money. Especially about Serendipity lol, it really is a pretty shitty attempt at a 'Gold Saucer'.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Lion on 2012-02-16 08:26:10
tell me this though,

would you put it in the top 50% of FF games? i think our expectations for final fantasy have dropped so low that basically we feel a feeling of surprise when a game that is somewhat decent comes out.

i doubt it will top FF4, 6-10. And 11 doesn't really count imo
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Timber on 2012-02-16 08:45:25
No idea. I wouldn't be able to rank the ones you listed either - they are all great games in their own way, even 11 :P

But that's my point really, XIII-2 is a cool game in it's own right. Don't get swept up in the 'but these final fantasy games were better' nonsense. If you like JRPGs it's worth a try, and if you don't like it, maybe the next one will be more your flavour?

I can only imagine how much better received the game would be if it didn't have 'Final Fantasy XIII' in the title..., or even 'Final Fantasy' for that matter. People get too emotional, and can't help but compare it to their others favourites!
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: DLPB_ on 2012-02-16 08:47:50
The reason I bought FF was because it was great and because it was worth the money... these "things" aren't, and for me personally these are not worth the console either.

The older FF's were better, in pretty much every way apart from graphics.   If this is an FF game, it should be held to account AS a FF game.  I don't buy for 1 second the argument that we should forget the whole reason we bought the series in the first place. To me, it sounds like an excuse for just how far the series has sunk.

If I stay at a 5 star hotel every year and then when I go back one time, it has become to a 1 star hotel, I don't pay the same money for it, or stay there.  I go elsewhere.  It does not comfort me to know that even a 1 star hotel has a bed.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Prince Lex on 2012-02-17 21:03:32
Except this game was worth the money. FFXIII was also worth the money, there was just almost no point in having a controller for the first 6 hours! Hahaha. But which was more worth the money, if you're looking for a FF experience? XIII-2.

I can't refute that the focus and therefore limitation with XIII was the graphics. Stunning, and I think the best I've seen this generation in both games. Interestingly, XIII-2 isn't quite as pretty, which seems to fit everyone's gameplay over graphics argument.

People are understandably butthurt about XIII, XIV and maybe even some from XII. These people have gone to the cynical place in which I usually dwell, where a blanket of hatred is placed over everything new because mistakes have been made. XIII-2 is their way of saying "OK, we get it, we did it wrong. Here, is this any better?" and the answer is YES, it most certainly is better. But the user scores are jaded fans, again butthurt and probably annoyed by the "to be continued".

For me, it is most certainly the game that has felt most like a FF game since FFX. XII was directed by the tactics team while the "real" FF team worked on XIII (originally for PS2 then PS3, hence the huge dev. cycle). XIII deviated too much from the formula. XIII-2 is like an amalgamation of old and new, and the system works beautifully.

Would I rank it in the top 50%? For quality (and I don't mean graphics) yes. For story? It feels like a middle chapter. So probably not. For me, the golden 3 are PSX era. In my head they cannot be beat. I loved the SNES era too, IV or VI I cannot choose between.

Everyone says "oh if it wasn't called Final Fantasy we wouldn't be talking about this and it would be amazing blah blah blah" - and that's true. But it doesn't matter, because what I'm saying is Final Fantasy XIII-2 is a FINAL FANTASY GAME. XIII didn't feel like one, granted. XIII-2 does. That's what I'm trying to get across here.

And DLPB, if we're going for hotel metaphors, I really have to be honest and say that your 5 star to 1 star thing is not applicable. It's more like you've been going to a 5 star hotel, then you back another time, it's a renovated 5 star hotel. That's a bit more plausible. XIII is not a 5 star experience, but it is jaw dropping. XIII-2 is, but it's less jaw dropping. It's also the least linear FF game i've ever played aside from XII, so that argument doesn't really hold anymore. Though all FF games by nature are linear, so that's irrelevant.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Lion on 2012-02-18 15:58:25
i think when people say linear they mean the illusion of choice. i mean we all know FF games have one ending, and more often than not you'll eventually hit dead-ends in all paths but the correct one but FF fans love to explore.

for example the cavern of stolen fayth was the definition of linearity to me. here was a dungeon, that in previous games you had to work for an aeon like yojimbo, but instead it's a completely linear dungeon with dead-ends that you can see from your minimap. you just run down those paths to collect a treasure chest and move on. there is no exploration.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2012-02-19 15:26:05
Well I just finished. Wtf was that? xDD

SPOILERS

Talk about twists. So much for Lightning's happy ending. Is Serah dead or what?:/
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Prince Lex on 2012-02-19 17:30:48
I'm pretty positive she is, from reading the exclusive interview in the collector's edition guide.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2012-02-19 19:09:34
I guess Lightning's scenario will explain it all then.

Hopefully when they announce XIII-3, the other characters will be playable.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Prince Lex on 2012-02-19 20:22:05
FANG. I WANT FANG.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2012-02-19 20:51:09
Well SPOILERS

Sazh saved hers and Vanille's crystal, so if they find a way to revert them (you know they will), then they could be playable. Maybe.

Things that confuse me though:

What year is Sazh from? He and Dajh look exactly the same, and how did they get there?

Caius said that he killed Lightning before Noel and Serah get to Valhalla. Does that mean that he killed her once Lightning sent Noel for Serah? And that the Lightning in New Bodum 700AF was actually one from just before that fight? :o
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Prince Lex on 2012-02-19 21:23:37
Caius was lying. According to Toriyama, Lightning turned to crystal "so her sister's sacrifice would not be in vain".

Sazh and Dajh are from 2 years after the events of the original XIII. He was able to use the gates to time travel. Both Lightning and Sazh's full stories will be available in episodic DLC. Again from the interview I'm talking about.

Only I wish they'd hurry up, because I hate seeing those 2 greyed out gates on my Historia Crux map!
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2012-02-20 17:15:29
So apparently, it's hinted that Chocolina is the grown up version of Sazh's Chocobo chick.

Mind =  Blown.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Matt on 2012-02-20 18:25:40
I kind of wish I didn't read this... oh well.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Tekkie.X on 2012-02-20 19:10:10
I kind of wish I didn't read this... oh well.

Doesn't help no one though to put SPOYLORZ LAWL in the thread title or posts really.

Guess now I really don't need to play it.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: dkma841 on 2012-02-20 20:16:10
Doesn't help no one though to put SPOYLORZ LAWL in the thread title or posts really.

Guess now I really don't need to play it.
Yeah but this thread is to discuss about the game and of course your gonna have to expect some spoilers or there isn't anything to really talk about the game except the game itself
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Prince Lex on 2012-02-20 21:05:06
Since this place doesn't have spoiler tags (for whatever ridiculous stupid reason) reading over posts like that can't be helped. The To Be Continued was spoiled for me a page or so back before I completed it.

And people have been writing "SPOILER" which is really the best we can do in this situation.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: DLPB_ on 2012-02-20 21:08:06
I don't think you CAN spoil FFXIII-2...  it would be like trying to spoil a rotten egg hahaha  :-D
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Prince Lex on 2012-02-20 21:11:41
Not really. There's nothing rotten about it.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: DLPB_ on 2012-02-20 21:16:44
 :evil:  you know I disagree, but was only teasing anyway!   :evil:
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Prince Lex on 2012-02-20 21:23:00
I realise that :P

But I think you should remember that you're not supposed to baselessly bash it in this thread. That's why Ultima Espio repeatedly had to quote himself a few pages back, and that's why you made your "what went wrong" thread. ^_^

I'm not trying to belittle your opinion, but you've already said you wouldn't post in this thread anymore, so I guess I'm wondering why you feel the need to tell everyone how much you hate this game when you haven't played it yet. Just chill out? If you need to bash the game, do it in another thread, that's not what this ones for.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: DLPB_ on 2012-02-20 21:30:27
ah was this the same thread (I don't keep much track of things)?  My bad.  And yeah true .. I did.  I guess that it came out and I read up on it got me more riled.  Back into the abyss for me.  Note to mods, make sure to just delete any of my posts here in the future... should I come back again.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2012-02-21 16:05:34
(http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k61/ultima_espio/chibichocolina.png)

Not bad for 10 mins work is it? xD
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Prince Lex on 2012-02-21 18:13:07
It's Tifacolina!!!!
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: LeonhartGR on 2012-02-21 22:28:39
It's Tifacolina!!!!

Tifac(k)olina... sorry I coudn't resist... NWO stuff!!!
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Vgr on 2012-02-22 18:19:01
*** Before you read on, it *might* be a little NSFW but nothing too major. Just don't complain :P ***


New DLC. 2 new costumes for Serah and Noel, EACH one separated cost 240 Microsoft Points or 2 euros. That's about 3,50$ USD. Seriously? A single costume for that? They made two. And Serah's costume is totally out of the mind for a true FF fan.

I mean come on. That's not where a costume like Serah's belong. Noel one's passes though, but still.

Tell me what you think. Square should have stayed Soft (ha ha).



(http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/421141_10150736136087317_222907057316_11596648_1154473204_n.jpg)
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: LeonhartGR on 2012-02-22 22:33:24
*** Before you read on, it *might* be a little NSFW but nothing too major. Just don't complain :P ***


New DLC. 2 new costumes for Serah and Noel, EACH one separated cost 240 Microsoft Points or 2 euros. That's about 3,50$ USD. Seriously? A single costume for that? They made two. And Serah's costume is totally out of the mind for a true FF fan.

I mean come on. That's not where a costume like Serah's belong. Noel one's passes though, but still.

Tell me what you think. Square should have stayed Soft (ha ha).



(http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/421141_10150736136087317_222907057316_11596648_1154473204_n.jpg)

The bikini suit was advertised so much on youtube!
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Timber on 2012-02-23 08:15:46
So apparently, it's hinted that Chocolina is the grown up version of Sazh's Chocobo chick.

Mind =  Blown.

This is true lol, it's in some of the fragment descriptions.

I wonder if Sazh loses the chick in the DLC while he's time travelling or something.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2012-02-23 11:37:54
I think she transforms when Sazh lands in Serendepity. There's loads of other Chocobo Women in there, so...
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: ultima espio on 2012-03-01 12:22:41
Good news!

Other FF characters will be downloadable for FF13-2. Gilgamesh confirmed:

http://www.siliconera.com/2012/02/29/gilgamesh-and-other-final-fantasy-villains-are-coming-to-final-fantasy-xiii-2-as-dlc/

Imagine having Cloud as a Com, Terra as a Rav and Aeris as a Med. Oh man...
Title: Re: Final Fantasy XIII-2 News
Post by: Covarr on 2012-03-01 13:52:28
Cameos? An awesome use of DLC. It's unnecessary and adds very little to the game that players will feel like should've been included.

However, the Sazh DLC really has no business being DLC. This is main game stuff.