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Final Fantasy XIII
April 23, 2009 | 10:40 AM PST
by: Matt Furtado
Like mana from the heavens, Square Enix gave a special gift to impatient Final Fantasy fans. Bundling the recently released Final Fantasy: Advent Children Complete with a Final Fantasy XIII demo, Square Enix was able to keep the fanboys at bay and control them for the next couple of months by giving them a slight taste of what to expect later this year, in Japan anyways. Rabid fan or not, a lot of Xbox 360 and PS3 owners are eagerly awaiting the release of Final Fantasy XIII. Though a 2009 release is looking slim outside of Japan, we at least got our pallet somewhat moist with the recent demo.
When Final Fantasy XIII was initially shown, many people couldn't believe the graphical level that Square Enix was presenting with their latest installment. Using the Crystal Tools engine, originally known as the White Engine, Square Enix has been able to present quite a sharp and remarkable looking game. Unlike Last Remnant, which used the Unreal 3 Engine and suffered greatly from it, the Crystal Tools engine allows for customizable options for Square Enix to toy around and be more familiar with. One thing is definite; Square Enix sure knows how to use their Crystal Tools engine. While the demo is actually based on a year old build of the game, no one will deny that it looks amazing. The characters are heavily detailed, surrounding lighting effects are astounding, and the character movement is very fluid, which makes battles even more satisfying to engage in. The graphics are among the best seen this generation.
The demo is split into two sections. In the first section you take the role of Lighting, the female character we've since the title's introduction that looks a lot like Cloud Strife, and Sazh, an older man with an afro that is home to a Chocobo chick. After meeting these two characters, you are introduced to another group of rebels led by Snow Villiers, who wears a long white coat and is unshaven. Snow is seen saving a group of rebel fighters with his small group of loyal friends namely Godat, Wakka lookalike, and Lebreau, the tan Rikku. What the demo doesn't explain is how Lighting and Snow are connected, or if they are at all. This leads me to believe that Final Fantasy XIII may not have your typical lead character per se, but instead following the storyline of two -- or potentially more -- factions each moving for the same overall goal. While it's too early to know whether or not the game will follow a similar situation as I stated, it would be a change for the franchise, and for those who don't want a lead female character, you'll have no reason to complain if you are given the chance to switch between her and then take control of a male lead once again.
While the demo is linear in terms of exploration, you get the general sense of what to expect from the game in terms of emotion, story, control, and the battle system. Gone are the random battles. Much like the Tales franchise, you'll now see the enemies guarding the environments. Once you enter their viewing range, a large warning sign will flash above their heads and they will charge towards you. The battle being fought will be based on the number of enemies you trigger. The largest number of enemies found in the demo was around six. They parade together on their patrol and then once they notice you, it takes only one to touch you to initiate a battle sequence. Some may be very thankful for the removal of the random battle system and others may miss it. Though it is gone, the level design, at least in the demo, has made it impossible to avoid the enemies in your path. This pretty much forces you to partake in battle no matter what. Also, with the lack of random battles, you may not have the same opportunities to level-grind like you would in your traditional RPG. However, just because the enemies didn't respawn in the demo doesn't mean they won't in the full game.
The battle system has been shrouded in darkness for a while now. Although the trailers showed some battles and the fundamentals, it really has to be played to understand and appreciated, or hated. The battle system is fast. Much faster than anything Square Enix has used before in a Final Fantasy title. If you take the quick paced battle system of Final Fantasy X-2 and then Final Fantasy XII, you get something relatively close. The ATB (Active Time Battle) system makes a return and is used slightly different. While it does give you enough time to think what the best three attack combo will be, you'll need to think on the fly in some regards. Once you enter combat you are given the usual menu options: Skill Technique, Black Magic, and White Magic. Clicking skill technique brings up 5 options to select from. In the demo, you had: Fight, Launch, Fire, Firaga, and Cure.
Naturally, you won't have all this magic during the start of the game like the demo offers you. This is when things become a little different. There's a Time Gauge that is separated into three sections. Once one gauge is filled, you can select one attack, so for every time gauge slot, there's a corresponding attack slot made available. This means you can wait and have the gauge fill all three bars and then choose three attacks to string together a combo chain. After inflicting a certain amount of damage to an enemy, they'll begin to flash yellow for a short period of time. You can now launch them into the air and inflict more damage to them. So, the best move would be to use your typical moves like fight and fire to damage them, and then once you get the launch option, toss them into the air and either slash them again in the air, and use fire to close the deal, or you can select fight twice which will have Lighting slash the enemy with her sword and then shoot him. Each level of magic will also take up more of the available attack slots. Firaga, for example, took up all three available slots.
This leaves me to wonder whether or not Square Enix will expand the slots assigned to the time gauge, or if you may even be able to customize what abilities you want available on the battle menu. With the battles occurring at a much quicker pace, you don't want to waste too much time cycling through your magic spells. This will be one of the many questions we'll get answered as the game gets closer to release, and when Square Enix allows for different demo sections.
You will notice that you can't select more than one character to attack at a given time. Even though you have the option to select three moves to activate, you can only target one enemy. Basically, this means if you target a heavily damaged opponent and active all three of your moves and the first one kills him, your character will finish the other moves but target nothing. You can get out of this by canceling your moves. This will also save your selected move stock for the next go around and make for some impressive combos and chains when you acquire more abilities.
With all the menus and faster battles, you may find the screen slightly crowded. The bottom right corner has your party's health, while the enemies' health will appear above their heads when you target them. The main problem I can see people running into is when they attack an enemy and see the damage numbers taking up a larger portion of the screen. I didn't have a problem with this, but some gamers may find the screen a bit too busy for their liking and feel a bit overwhelmed but the sheer magnitude of the battlefield.
One of the problems I did have was the camera control. You could choose from four options that allowed for either inverted or normal camera control. That wasn't the problem, though. The problem came from the zooming of the camera when you stopped moving for a moment. It zooms in so much that once you get moving again you need to realign the camera for yourself. It's not a major flaw, but it's something that could become a problem when exploring vast areas. A fixed camera would be nice, but this will do. There was also some slight slowdown during the FMV sequences and strange character model differences at some points. I'm sure most of the technical problems have been worked out, though.
Although the demo was in Japanese and I had to get the dialogue translated, I believe that Final Fantasy XIII will be one of the most emotional titles in the Final Fantasy universe, thus far. The way the characters interacted with each other and reacted, I feel like this will be a very moving title. The citizens are fighting with everything they have against this opposing force, and they are ready to help out Snow or Lighting. There is a moving part of the demo and it really makes you believe this title will have a major theme or loss and suffering. The war going in Final Fantasy XIII seems to be much bigger than your typical Final Fantasy skirmish or problem found in previous entries.
With nearly a year still left before release, Final Fantasy XIII is shaping up to be another great installment to the franchise. The battle system has been refined enough to appeal to a new audience, but true enough those hardcore fans won't feel left out or lost. Let's hope Square Enix shares new information with us about Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII during E3.
When Final Fantasy XIII was initially shown, many people couldn't believe the graphical level that Square Enix was presenting with their latest installment. Using the Crystal Tools engine, originally known as the White Engine, Square Enix has been able to present quite a sharp and remarkable looking game. Unlike Last Remnant, which used the Unreal 3 Engine and suffered greatly from it, the Crystal Tools engine allows for customizable options for Square Enix to toy around and be more familiar with. One thing is definite; Square Enix sure knows how to use their Crystal Tools engine. While the demo is actually based on a year old build of the game, no one will deny that it looks amazing. The characters are heavily detailed, surrounding lighting effects are astounding, and the character movement is very fluid, which makes battles even more satisfying to engage in. The graphics are among the best seen this generation.
The demo is split into two sections. In the first section you take the role of Lighting, the female character we've since the title's introduction that looks a lot like Cloud Strife, and Sazh, an older man with an afro that is home to a Chocobo chick. After meeting these two characters, you are introduced to another group of rebels led by Snow Villiers, who wears a long white coat and is unshaven. Snow is seen saving a group of rebel fighters with his small group of loyal friends namely Godat, Wakka lookalike, and Lebreau, the tan Rikku. What the demo doesn't explain is how Lighting and Snow are connected, or if they are at all. This leads me to believe that Final Fantasy XIII may not have your typical lead character per se, but instead following the storyline of two -- or potentially more -- factions each moving for the same overall goal. While it's too early to know whether or not the game will follow a similar situation as I stated, it would be a change for the franchise, and for those who don't want a lead female character, you'll have no reason to complain if you are given the chance to switch between her and then take control of a male lead once again.
While the demo is linear in terms of exploration, you get the general sense of what to expect from the game in terms of emotion, story, control, and the battle system. Gone are the random battles. Much like the Tales franchise, you'll now see the enemies guarding the environments. Once you enter their viewing range, a large warning sign will flash above their heads and they will charge towards you. The battle being fought will be based on the number of enemies you trigger. The largest number of enemies found in the demo was around six. They parade together on their patrol and then once they notice you, it takes only one to touch you to initiate a battle sequence. Some may be very thankful for the removal of the random battle system and others may miss it. Though it is gone, the level design, at least in the demo, has made it impossible to avoid the enemies in your path. This pretty much forces you to partake in battle no matter what. Also, with the lack of random battles, you may not have the same opportunities to level-grind like you would in your traditional RPG. However, just because the enemies didn't respawn in the demo doesn't mean they won't in the full game.
The battle system has been shrouded in darkness for a while now. Although the trailers showed some battles and the fundamentals, it really has to be played to understand and appreciated, or hated. The battle system is fast. Much faster than anything Square Enix has used before in a Final Fantasy title. If you take the quick paced battle system of Final Fantasy X-2 and then Final Fantasy XII, you get something relatively close. The ATB (Active Time Battle) system makes a return and is used slightly different. While it does give you enough time to think what the best three attack combo will be, you'll need to think on the fly in some regards. Once you enter combat you are given the usual menu options: Skill Technique, Black Magic, and White Magic. Clicking skill technique brings up 5 options to select from. In the demo, you had: Fight, Launch, Fire, Firaga, and Cure.
Naturally, you won't have all this magic during the start of the game like the demo offers you. This is when things become a little different. There's a Time Gauge that is separated into three sections. Once one gauge is filled, you can select one attack, so for every time gauge slot, there's a corresponding attack slot made available. This means you can wait and have the gauge fill all three bars and then choose three attacks to string together a combo chain. After inflicting a certain amount of damage to an enemy, they'll begin to flash yellow for a short period of time. You can now launch them into the air and inflict more damage to them. So, the best move would be to use your typical moves like fight and fire to damage them, and then once you get the launch option, toss them into the air and either slash them again in the air, and use fire to close the deal, or you can select fight twice which will have Lighting slash the enemy with her sword and then shoot him. Each level of magic will also take up more of the available attack slots. Firaga, for example, took up all three available slots.
This leaves me to wonder whether or not Square Enix will expand the slots assigned to the time gauge, or if you may even be able to customize what abilities you want available on the battle menu. With the battles occurring at a much quicker pace, you don't want to waste too much time cycling through your magic spells. This will be one of the many questions we'll get answered as the game gets closer to release, and when Square Enix allows for different demo sections.
You will notice that you can't select more than one character to attack at a given time. Even though you have the option to select three moves to activate, you can only target one enemy. Basically, this means if you target a heavily damaged opponent and active all three of your moves and the first one kills him, your character will finish the other moves but target nothing. You can get out of this by canceling your moves. This will also save your selected move stock for the next go around and make for some impressive combos and chains when you acquire more abilities.
With all the menus and faster battles, you may find the screen slightly crowded. The bottom right corner has your party's health, while the enemies' health will appear above their heads when you target them. The main problem I can see people running into is when they attack an enemy and see the damage numbers taking up a larger portion of the screen. I didn't have a problem with this, but some gamers may find the screen a bit too busy for their liking and feel a bit overwhelmed but the sheer magnitude of the battlefield.
One of the problems I did have was the camera control. You could choose from four options that allowed for either inverted or normal camera control. That wasn't the problem, though. The problem came from the zooming of the camera when you stopped moving for a moment. It zooms in so much that once you get moving again you need to realign the camera for yourself. It's not a major flaw, but it's something that could become a problem when exploring vast areas. A fixed camera would be nice, but this will do. There was also some slight slowdown during the FMV sequences and strange character model differences at some points. I'm sure most of the technical problems have been worked out, though.
Although the demo was in Japanese and I had to get the dialogue translated, I believe that Final Fantasy XIII will be one of the most emotional titles in the Final Fantasy universe, thus far. The way the characters interacted with each other and reacted, I feel like this will be a very moving title. The citizens are fighting with everything they have against this opposing force, and they are ready to help out Snow or Lighting. There is a moving part of the demo and it really makes you believe this title will have a major theme or loss and suffering. The war going in Final Fantasy XIII seems to be much bigger than your typical Final Fantasy skirmish or problem found in previous entries.
With nearly a year still left before release, Final Fantasy XIII is shaping up to be another great installment to the franchise. The battle system has been refined enough to appeal to a new audience, but true enough those hardcore fans won't feel left out or lost. Let's hope Square Enix shares new information with us about Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII during E3.
February 8, 2010
