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HydraLF
Hong Kong626 Posts
On November 30 2011 11:11 brachester wrote: tell me any game's cutscene that is distinctly has higher quality that THAT Yeah sure the CGI looks great, I mean the graphics actual playable engine is pretty awful. Maybe I've been spoilt by graphics of PC games. :[ | ||
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holdthephone
United States523 Posts
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Fritts
Canada63 Posts
On November 30 2011 03:45 HydraLF wrote: Anyone know if FFXIII-2 will have any improvement in graphics? The whole presentation of FFXIII was extremely disappointing. Well played. | ||
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brachester
Australia1786 Posts
On November 30 2011 16:19 HydraLF wrote: Yeah sure the CGI looks great, I mean the graphics actual playable engine is pretty awful. Maybe I've been spoilt by graphics of PC games. :[ wtf are you on about? graphics of PC games???? | ||
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FinestHour
United States18466 Posts
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brachester
Australia1786 Posts
On December 02 2011 13:27 FinestHour wrote: Went and put in my preorder of the special edition at gamestop today, hope its worth it! don't hope too much and then to be disappointed. I actually have no idea how this game is going to be received | ||
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LiAlH4
New Zealand111 Posts
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ToT)OjKa(
Korea (South)2437 Posts
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Archvil3
Denmark989 Posts
I have to say it looks promising. They have definetly heard the critique of FFXIII and are doing something about it. Sidegames, sidequests, puzzles, the historia crux(however it is spelled but sounds awesome!), more interaction with NPC's, improved combat system(finally can tell my stupid comrades to single target damage or aera of effect damage), MOG(missed ya bud!) and more. So they definetly stepped up the approach to the game, now we can just cross our fingers that they execute it right and got an epic story for us. | ||
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Goldfish
2230 Posts
I'm sure the time could be reduced (it's the person's first playthrough) but yeah it looks like battles are going to be fun even early into the game. Now the game just needs Vanille + Vanille doing awesome stuff, and the sequel will be complete. | ||
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UrASofty
Canada772 Posts
User was temp banned for this post. | ||
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PanoRaMa
United States5069 Posts
On December 17 2011 06:25 Archvil3 wrote: New trailer! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAgZgmLxD44 I have to say it looks promising. They have definetly heard the critique of FFXIII and are doing something about it. Sidegames, sidequests, puzzles, the historia crux(however it is spelled but sounds awesome!), more interaction with NPC's, improved combat system(finally can tell my stupid comrades to single target damage or aera of effect damage), MOG(missed ya bud!) and more. So they definetly stepped up the approach to the game, now we can just cross our fingers that they execute it right and got an epic story for us. Really pumped after that video - it seems they really took a lot of time patching what was "wrong" about 13, but not only that, took the best parts and made it even better. REALLY liking the improvements to the paradigm system, which was already so so underrated. I'm still really iffy about the characters. Serah is great but it's sort of like playing Princess Peach - she's supposed to be the one you're saving because shes so emotional, weak, and frail. Hard to really see her as the main protagonist in a super bad ass RPG. So far it seems like they took many steps forward, but possibly a step backward with the character lineup (which was already a bit weak from the original), but this is all pure speculation until we get to actually play the game so we'll see. | ||
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ToT)OjKa(
Korea (South)2437 Posts
The characters still look kinda gay though. I remember when I was playing 13 and I was running around as...Vanille (?) and I just thought, if my Dad walked in he would wonder what the fuck I was playing. Like seriously, uber camp. Whatever happened to having cool characters or dicks like Cloud or Squall? | ||
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CallmeMuppet
Ireland176 Posts
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FinestHour
United States18466 Posts
On December 17 2011 21:20 ToT)OjKa( wrote: Actually looks pretty good. The characters still look kinda gay though. I remember when I was playing 13 and I was running around as...Vanille (?) and I just thought, if my Dad walked in he would wonder what the fuck I was playing. Like seriously, uber camp. Whatever happened to having cool characters or dicks like Cloud or Squall? Imo i think snow was manly enough and then there was sazh as well. They just gave more choices on picking who you could be. | ||
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ETisME
12393 Posts
I disliked the story quite a bit, I felt it was quite off for a FF game but the battle system was quite refreshing and could just use some minor adjustment to become a really good one. Gonna convince my fd to buy it and rent it from him to check it out (jp version is already out) | ||
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MilesTeg
France1271 Posts
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Goldfish
2230 Posts
On December 17 2011 15:18 PanoRaMa wrote: Really pumped after that video - it seems they really took a lot of time patching what was "wrong" about 13, but not only that, took the best parts and made it even better. REALLY liking the improvements to the paradigm system, which was already so so underrated. I'm still really iffy about the characters. Serah is great but it's sort of like playing Princess Peach - she's supposed to be the one you're saving because shes so emotional, weak, and frail. Hard to really see her as the main protagonist in a super bad ass RPG. So far it seems like they took many steps forward, but possibly a step backward with the character lineup (which was already a bit weak from the original), but this is all pure speculation until we get to actually play the game so we'll see. IMO the cast was good (well except everyone being overdramatic and sometimes overreacting). For me, Vanille was just awesome in general. The cast is one that display a lot more emotions than previous (especially compared to FFXII) but they were still good characters IMO. Vanille is awesome. On December 17 2011 23:12 MilesTeg wrote: I don't know if I was the only one but I didn't care at all about the linearity. I did care about the universe not being immersive, the characters being stupid, and the dialogues and voice acting being absolutely terrible though; it looks like that didn't get better. It's sad they didn't seem to focus on that for the second one Besides the overreacting and overdramatic stuff, they all acted normal in that type of situation (they were kind of screwed. The tl;dr version is that while they have superpowers, they had only a limited time before turning into mindless Cie'th. The only known way to save themselves, or prolong their lives, is to complete their Focus which was to destroy Cocoon using Ragnarok's power. None of them really wanted that + none of them known of an alternative). Now let's talk about Vanille because she is my favorite ever and what she did in game. Vanille chose the best course of action throughout the entire game (even though the narrative + all the other characters try to blame her for everything): + Show Spoiler + Lets talk about Vanille and why she chose the best options: Her lying + her "running away" was because she only known of two options (complete Focus which is to destroy Cocoon, or wait it out and turn Cie'th; she chose the latter because she didn't want to hurt anyone and because she knew Fang was in no danger of turning to a Cie'th). Lying to Fang was good because Fang did say she'd do anything for Vanille (complete even destroy Cocoon). For example: Also Vanille (and the others) didn't know who the villain was (or if there was even a villain at all) until late into the game; she chose what she thought had the best outcome because she knew of no other options. Randomly destroying fal'Cie or resisting the Sanctum would have been dangerous and would have hurt people (the game did show the people who worked for the Sanctum to just be normal people just doing their job. It was mentioned in the game by Lightning). Another thing it's not apparent whether there were any other Pulse fal'Cie on Cocoon. Anima was the only one shown, and it was killed. It's implied that only Pulse fal'Cie had the ability to give branded l'Cie the power of Ragnarok (why Barthandelus brought Anima to Cocoon instead of using the Sanctum fal'Cie already there). Vanille didn't really do the whole running away thing until after this scene: Lightning wants to go after the fal'Cie at Eden + Sanctum. Vanille doesn't want that because it could get a lot more people hurt. She knows what their true Focus is (destroy Cocoon) but she sticks with the idea of it actually being "save Cocoon". When Lightning disagrees and just wants to go after Sanctum + fal'Cie, Vanille stops following her because (again) she doesn't want people to get hurt. Telling the truth (about their true Focus being destroy Cocoon), wouldn't really have helped because Vanille (and the others) do not know of any way to get rid of their brands or avoid their Focus without turning Cie'th. So after this Vanille just decides to "run" and wait/turn Cie'th. She doesn't know where Fang is + she doesn't know that there is a villain (Barthandelus) behind the events. She doesn't want to endanger more people by going after Sanctum/fal'Cie and Lightning seems too determined to be convinced to do nothing. Vanille chose the safest option (the one least likely to get more hurt). If you compare it to a real life situation (that is Vanille doesn't know she's in an FF game which "usually" leads to a good ending despite that outcomes), Vanille's actions are reasonable and noble. Overall Vanille chose the best options. Telling the truth wouldn't really help because even if they knew, what could they do? Also she wanted to keep it from Fang since Fang is determined to save Vanille; knowing their Focus just means Fang attempts to destroy Cocoon. I don't entirely agree with how SE did with everything in the story (making the character's options in the story limited with them just mostly going on a chosen path set for them. The game wasn't the only thing linear, the story and the character's options in said story was kind of too). Though out of the limited options, Vanille chose what she thought [and it was] safest), and that's my defense for Vanille. Well anyway about FFXIII-2: Things just got real (yes this is actually in the game): | ||
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holdthephone
United States523 Posts
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/gq0EO.jpg) Really generous demo, though I'm still unsure of what to expect of the full game. Opening with a fight against a colossal giant, it's apparent the combat is fundamentally the same. This fight however, I did not like, even as a tutorial. XIII had its brainless boss fights for you to learn the game through as well, but they were much more visually arresting. This colossus takes up the entire screen and it's hard to appreciate any of the actions of Sarah and Noel, and so the fight was a rather sleepy waiting game. This may be becasue the demo starts without a narrative introduction to add intensity to the fight, but I don't think anything is going to top XIII's runaway train sequence in this regard. The poppy new boss theme was a lot of fun to listen to though, and I hope to hear more like it in the full game. If not, the primary battle theme and Hamauzu's continued love of the violin for the XIII franchise will suffice for me. Still on the subject of visuals, the environments don't look nearly as good as XIII's, but I guess that's the trade off you make when wanting to make things more open. They drop you off in a rainy encampment and it looks alright -- definitely no urge to pan the camera here like you do immediately upon exploring XIII's opening environments like the Hanging Edge inside Cocoon, and the crystallized Lake Bresha. Character models and battle animations still look exceptional, so these and other visual aspects have seemed to remain intact, the hair too. ![[image loading]](https://member.eu.square-enix.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/post-image/image_gallery/153/f247eae8bbd0d42e22fc47630b28bba3.jpg) Didn't think Sarah could live up to Light, but that bow/sword is pretty sick. I'm not so frivolous as to believe giving players options in their environment inherently makes a game better, and I really did love how the linearity of XIII was handled. That being said, I'm happy to say XIII-2 seems to be in good hands approaching it's non-linear approach. It can assumed from the demo that areas you explore will have side missions, whether collecting missing items for someone or taking on a challenging hunt. Or you can cut straight to the plot advancement. What's really the pull here though is the monster collecting, and it would seem Sarah and Noel will probably be your only human characters for most of the game. Defeating monsters you encounter can lead to obtaining one for yourself to use, and incorporating these into your paradigms looks like it will be a very rewarding and time consuming endeavor. With the trailer revealing some really awesome possibilities, I think completionists have a lot to look forward to. Your moogle escort also adds a cool layer to exploration. It's not only there for comic relief and annoying sounds, it can be used to uncover hidden treasure trapped in other time dimensions (alright, the story is probably going to be ridiculous). Party customization also looks much more interesting this time around, with the Crystarium actually having a purpose. You pile points into the roles you want to develop, rasing stats and learning new moves along the way -- that's the same. But with each level (or at certain intervals) you have to make a choice of what stats you want to focus on. Add another attack permanently to your attack gauge (this sounded best to me at the time), boost the effectiveness of a chosen role, or increase how many accessories you can hold. To clarify, each character has a maximum accessory weight, and powerful accessories will take more points to hold them. It's an interesting touch, but I see a lot of people overlooking accessories until their other stats are fleshed out first. ![[image loading]](http://gematsu.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Final-Fantasy-XIII-2_2011_07-11-11_003.jpg) The story might end up being crazier than FFVIII's, but at least the voice performances sounded solid enough in the demo. What seems to have gotten a lot of attention for XIII-2 in the media is how it features decision making -- a very valued aspect western RPGs (gasp). Contrary to what it sounds like, this isn't a moral dilemma kind of game like Dragon Age. The choice involved in the demo, and I assume for other scenarios of the game it will be handled similarly, allows players to take on a challenge from a few different possible angles. You have to face the colossus again, and can either take it head on, or take the long way around -- do a simple puzzle, and weaken it's power with a device before you face it. The situation in the demo was pretty shallow, but it's a tutorial like segment so I'm not so worried. Battling is much the same save for some minor nuances. Enemy encounters are random again, but settle down, we're not going back to the dark ages. They appear pretty much out of nowhere, and that's your chance to get a preemptive strike by slicing them before they slice you -- same as XIII, really. You can also just run away if you're fast enough and avoid going to the battle screen entirely. Like XIII, and unfortunately almost every FF, battles are pretty straightforward at the start -- but I can honestly say my health bars were dipping pretty low against certain enemies even at this point in the game. I guess the biggest difference then is the monsters and changes to paradigm options. When setting up your paradigms, you can now have the AI focus how they normally do according to their role, or have them use the Cross tactic where they focus one enemy, or a spread option where they focus many. As for your pokemon, they act as a 3rd party member and can be specifically assigned to certain paradigms. They also come with a pre-defined role of either ravager, sentinel, etc... Adding a bonus effect for your party, and having their own FFX like overdrives. Much to be seen on how strategic this game will get, but I already felt the collection addiction coming on in these aspects alone, so consider me optimistic. ![[image loading]](http://static.gamesradar.com/images/mb/GamesRadar/us/Daily/2011/07-Jul/11/Final%20Fantasy%2013-2%20screens/5712110714_event01__us_fix_rgb--article_image.jpg) They seem a lot more likable and down to earth than their outfits, really. I'll end on Quick Time Events. There's nothing inherently wrong with the QTE concept, and I could tell the monster overdrives are going to be a lot of fun to master for full effectiveness (the ones shown in the demo trailer look nuts). But I'm mixed on the cinematic QTEs done for boss fights. I liked how it comes off as a cutscene with the characters communicating instead of merely being a fancy take down, but I also have to say that this game is bit sloppy in how it's hard to tell what's happening on screen. The frame didn't feel as smooth as XIII's, and the explosions of color everywhere made the QTEs hard to appreciate. Still, I saw some really cool examples in the trailer and hope it's not as ridiculous on the eyes as it was in the demo. Comes out Jan 31st, and I'm happily keeping my CE pre-order. Platform puzzles, gambling, and chocobo racing await us! | ||
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Necrophantasia
Japan299 Posts
It's pretty great so far. I'm already having more fun with this than FFXIII and I was part of the silent minority that really enjoyed the game. | ||
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