Final Fantasy 13 Dated
 

Seems like Q1 is gonna be a hectic time for gamers.

March 9th, 2010
And can read all the un-needed stuff below.

Re: Final Fantasy 13 Dated
 

GiantBomb article about it, with video:

http://www.giantbomb.com/news/final-...-america/1759/

Re: Final Fantasy 13 Dated
 

I wonder when XIV will be out.

Re: Final Fantasy 13 Dated
 

In other news, I heard FFCC:TCB did not sell too well in Japan. Weird, it looks like a very fun game to me.

Re: Final Fantasy 13 Dated
 

Nor did it receive great scores from Japanese magazines/other shit. Can't say I'm surprised, but I remain hopeful.

So Mass Effect 2 and FFXIII in the first few months of the new year, can't wait to be playing RPGs again.

Re: Final Fantasy 13 Dated
 

I lol'd at the exclusive never-before-seen look.

Couple battle shots + riding a chocobo.



I am actually super pumped for this game though.

Re: Final Fantasy 13 Dated
 

I yearn for a final fantasy in HD.

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I don't like the "Your HP/MP is automatically regenerated after every battle" deal.

But we'll see.

Re: Final Fantasy 13 Dated
 

Why not?

I used to hate being killed by something pityful, or fighting a weak enemy with some cheap attack that puts you at a huge disadvantage. (Self destruct moves are the first thing that comes to mind)

But I guess what I hate more then that is the random battles that would pop up without warning.

Re: Final Fantasy 13 Dated
 

Let's call a spade a spade, RPGs aren't that difficult of a genre. For the most part, doesn't deal with reflexes like most other genres.

Where the skill comes in is item management and character development, if you take away part of it by healing after every battle, you make the game simpler.

We all hate the self-destruct enemy, but you take them down before can do harm or you come prepared with tons of healing items or a character.

And you need to always be ready for battle, that's the point!

And what random battles pop up with warning?

Re: Final Fantasy 13 Dated
 

Lots of RPGs now offer full healing after battles, or at save points. Chrono Cross was one of the best games of all time in my opinion and it offered healing after battles, which really just made it less annoying, not less difficult.

From what I've gathered of FFXIII's combat system, it's designed to be made more challenging depending on the skill level of the player, like if you're blowing through battles like nothing the enemies will progressively get harder. And apparently boss battles were designed to be specifically hard for this game because of a system that they implemented where you can retry a boss battle right after you die. Also I think "exp" and rewards are determined by a rank you receive at the end of each battle which calculates your performance, so if you did terrible and need a lot of healing at the end of a battle, you'll receive not so great rewards, and vice versa.

Basically it's a system that claims it'll hold your hand if you want it too, but greatly encourages you to play better.

Re: Final Fantasy 13 Dated
 

Ding. This, exactly.



And DM, Every super recent Final Fantasy has offered full healing at save points. I am okay with that. I am actually completely okay with that, as it adds the element of health management to the game.

But with the "Alright, we removed random battles from the game, and we also removed health management."

And we're already only controlling one character with this game.
So, only 1 character...no health management, no random encounters.
What's next? No leveling system? Instead your new level is displayed as a puppy that ages over time.


Actually...

Re: Final Fantasy 13 Dated
 

I can't imagine that simplifying things a little makes a huge difference if the story is amazing and you're still having a lot of fun. I guess if you need something very challenging, then you might be out of luck. I'll reserve my judgment for after I've played it.

Re: Final Fantasy 13 Dated
 

Regenerating health after each battle usually means each individual battle is tougher and more exciting, as opposed to long series of tedious fights.

Re: Final Fantasy 13 Dated
 

I've never played - nor conciously know of - an RPG where you regenerate health after every encounter.

That's like in Fallout 3 if your AP and Health regenerate after each enemy. It's dumb. Even if battles are harder - it's still dumb. What made them hard before (to the point of this conversation) was health and MP management.


This is almost as bad of an idea as Tactics A2's MP starting at 0 each battle.

Re: Final Fantasy 13 Dated
 

Hm, I seem to remember something about a 100 lightning hits... That was infuriating.

At least my brother told me so. :)

Re: Final Fantasy 13 Dated
 

Well, the problem with that is... instead of a long serious of tedious fights... you get long tedious fights.

There is a very fine balance. If the fights become longer and more epic because your health regen after every battle, it will get boring, and make boss battles feel less so.

I think automatic health regen is a terrible idea, but we shall see when impressions start rolling in from the Japanese release.

Re: Final Fantasy 13 Dated
 

Oh no!

We have to focus less on potions and ethers!

How will I ever enjoy this game?

Re: Final Fantasy 13 Dated
 

Dragon Age works this way and the fights are not very long, and they're about 100x more fun than any Final Fantasy fight has ever been.

Again, Dragon Age.

Re: Final Fantasy 13 Dated
 

I haven't played Dragon Age, and know can look up the answer, but is the game turn based or real time?

Re: Final Fantasy 13 Dated
 

Sort of a combination of both. You can move around freely during battle, and you can assign certain attacks to buttons (or access them through the radial menu), but the game is very tactics based.

Every time you pull up the radial menu, the game pauses. So you can bring up the radial menu, then queue up an attack/spell/talent for every character, then unpause and let them go. So you can set up one mage to freeze an enemy, and another to shatter them with a rock spell or something.

But you don't even have to do that unless you're on a high difficulty, you can beat the game just playing as your one character and letting the programmable tactics do their work.

Re: Final Fantasy 13 Dated
 

Here's some new screenshots for you guys. Looks like a beautiful game. HD <3

Come on you guys. You know the only difference this means is that you don't have to spend money on potions anymore, like Dylflon said, or that you don't need to Curaga the entire team afterwards, wasting precious mana. All this means is that you no long have to go through the game uncertain of how much mana you're allowed to spend on an encounter so as not to run out before you can rest or reach a boss. This doesn't mean we can go ape shit with our mana every encounter, because you can still run out before your enemies are defeated.

Also, how many times have you entered a random encounter and realized you forgot to heal before hand? Healing after battle for most people is automatic, so why not just remove it?

What this automatic healing process means is that we no longer have the requirement of carrying healing and mana potions or tents/cottages. It also removes the developers obligation to put in Inns and healing centers that might disrupt the flow of the game.

If you're worried about the loss of endurance style challenges and the satisfaction of being prepared for boss battles, then you need to realize that the endurance challenges will present themselves in rationing mana and maybe health potions too but during combat and not during your progress through the story.

I'm just as eager to see the reviews as everyone else bashing this new replenishment system because although I can sit here and speculate like the rest of us, I don't know for sure if this game will be good.

Re: Final Fantasy 13 Dated
 

You know, maybe I'm seeing it differently.

Its not that one necessarily enjoys carrying around potions or reaching a Inn before dying of poison, its that it removes one of the few balancing aspects of the genre.

I mean what's to stop you from going balls to the walls in a battle because you know your health will regen as soon as you're done.

What you folks see as tedious and mundane... really is kind of the heart of RPGs... don't take that the wrong way, but as I stated before, where as most games challenge your reflex and timing, RPGs were usually more about careful management and long term thinking. You kind of lose both of that when the threat of death is so severely hampered by always getting full health.

Re: Final Fantasy 13 Dated
 

Nothing. Infact, I'm hoping that most encounters will encourage you to go balls to the walls.

My favourite final fantasy game was FF8, a game that required you to DRAW your magic from the enemy before you could use it. In early game, this means using the draw ability 100s of times in order to equip 3 characters with all the necessary magic. I found this system really fun, despite the extreme boredom that seems to sweep most other people I try to introduce this game to. I am familiar with tedium.

That being said, I too enjoy the planning and management involved in these games.

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Here's a look at the battle system, and it just doesn't seem that compelling all on its own, but could just be me.

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View it like playing a sports game - let's just say NHL 10.

Now, in previous years, players get injured, and are out for a few days/weels based on how they preformed in fights/hits etc.

Now, if you completely remove the fact that if a player gets injured he will be out in future games, that changes the dynamic of the "well-being" factor of your players/characters.

Re: Final Fantasy 13 Dated
 

For two people who enjoy the game, they certainly do make fun of the game a lot.

Re: Final Fantasy 13 Dated
 

Well, no, because the coach would just use a potion on the player if they were ever injured or some Phoenix down on the player if they were killed. The coach is always prepared for that kind of stuff.

Re: Final Fantasy 13 Dated
 

:lolz:

Re: Final Fantasy 13 Dated
 

It's like talking to a wall with another wall for a brain.

Re: Final Fantasy 13 Dated
 

Final Fantasy Tactics. Save for 3 battles where you went from 1 fight to the next in succession but the first battle was always simple.

Pretty much every strategy RPG had heals after every battle. For the most part it's never about the heal management. Pretty much every RPG gives you enough healing stuff to cope with the loss of HP. Whether you're sucking down potions or tanking on the giant mana pool of your white mage, whose sole purpose is to heal you and deal like 25 damage to the critters, up until he/she finally learns some disable spells and then by that time you've probably got some broken equips, skills, or spells that make healing mostly useless.

I can't think of any RPG where healing has been a big deal to me except inside a battle, and most of the time I'm thinking "Hmm... Do I have enough HP to tank another hit and end the battle or should I heal now?" That's it because I never have to heal except at the end of the battle or during boss battles. I find it to be a fine concept, as long as they compensate in other ways. Need of mana to deal damage to the enemies or something like that. Who knows.

I'm still excited for this game, and it's about time a final fantasy game made me want to play it.

*shakes head at 10 and 12*; *Sideways glance at 9 for being pretty terrible too*

Re: Final Fantasy 13 Dated
 

That demo is of a much earlier version of the battle system which the developers have said numerous times is not fully reflective of the actual game, so much so that if there were to be a demo for North America they wouldn't be able to release that same demo. Plus the entire purpose of releasing that demo a year before the game's release was to asses fan feedback.

But anyways, has anyone actual looked at the screens posted? http://news.vgchartz.com/news.php?id=5921

Game looks beautiful. The first actual, fully realized RPG of the HD era, it's very exciting.

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My point is that with enough phoenix downs and potions and white magic available, there never should have been a point where you were traveling through the game with unconscious or dead team members. Comparing to a hockey game is apples and oranges.

Re: Wall to Wall with Walls for brains
 

I was on the bus this morning thinking about FF tactics and was going to make a post about it but you beat me to the punch. Sure, counting your potions and making sure to properly ration them is something we're all used to, but is it really the best part of the game? No. Does it really affect the story? No.

What it does affect, is your play style and your attitude towards rationing items. Have you ever finished a Final Fantasy game with barely any items left? If you're a rationing king and pack rat like me, the answer is "AW HELL NO, I SAVED EVERY ETHER, ELIXIR AND POTION I COLLECTED!" So what value do these items have, if they're never used?

I'd like to see a Final Fantasy where these items are rare and not as necessary as they used to be. Going through the game relying on potions and white magic to heal yourself is a burden, albeit one that a lot of you guys seem to cherish. Have you ever been really excited about healing up after random encounters? Have you ever opened your menu and looked at your characters health and thought "Oh yaaa! It's time to use some potions, baby. I'm literally giddy with excitement about this, and I wish I could see more of this in future games!" Probably not. More likely, you're thinking to yourself "Oh okay, yea I guess it's time to heal." Then you press a few buttons, and go through the boring task of shuffling through your inventory, finding your potions and applying them to your characters to get them as full as possible without wasting any potions. This sort of boring yet necessary task is better off automated, in my opinion.

On the other hand, it could be that I power through this game and finish it without feeling any sort of challenge at all, which would be a bummer. Only time will tell.

Re: Final Fantasy 13 Dated
 

Time, and professional reviews from respectable websites.

Re: Final Fantasy 13 Dated
 

Ask Me Anything

Re: Final Fantasy 13 Dated
 

Oh Square I thought we learned are lesson from the Sphere grid of yesterday?

Leveling system looks like shit, ability usage system looks and sounds like shit, battle system looks Mediocre, random battles look like they will take entirely too long to be enjoyable, I heard from my Japanese speaking and reading friends the story is ass.

Basically it's pretty.

I'm still going to play it, but not sure if I'll enjoy or not after watching that and talking to some people.

The Paradigm system looks kinda fun, and so that could be ok.

Re: Final Fantasy 13 Dated
 

Learned their lesson with the sphere grid? What lesson would that be, exactly? That it was fuckin awesome? I am blown away that they have created an evolution of the sphere grid system, I thought it was one of the best changes they ever made with the series when FFX came out. Leveling up is standard now, it's boring, every game has leveling up, it's become completely redundant. Thank god an RPG is trying to do something more with the concept.

You're awfully quick to judge a 40 hour game from a 5 minute video of a demo given to the press.

Re: Final Fantasy 13 Dated
 

Agreed.

I loved the sphere grid, though I wish they'd make another FF with FF7's ability system. I just like having a lot of freedom in how I develop my characters. I had Yuna learn a bunch of black mage abilities and she made Lulu seem useless. It was fun!

Re: Final Fantasy 13 Dated
 

There's really no way this won't come off the wrong way to some, but eh.

I was just curious for the few multi-console owners here, which console are you picking up FF 13 for?

I mean if I do decide to get think will get the PS3 version simply because its only one disc compared to the 3 on the Xbox. :lolz:

The second part is pretty negligible as well, but here are some comparison shots.