Topic: Final Fantasy XIII/Fabula Novus Chrystallis Discussion Thread

It's actually closer to a game like FFIV than XII - XII was a pretty substantial departure from the ATB battle system

I guess Ricardo's point is that it isn't straight-up turn-based, which FFX's battle system pretty much was. I like good old turn-based battles, but am well aware that not everybody does, and can appreciate a good faster-paced setup as well. Not that I've actually started PLAYING FFXIII yet...I wasted away the day with other stuff for no particular reason.

Well true, but FFX was the exception in the series - the series has used an ATB system since FFIV, years and years ago.

That said, FFXIII is probably the fastest and most fluid of the series to date.

@WaltzElf: True, but you seem to be making assumptions about how much or how little of the series he's played to date. If he hasn't played any of the older games, the possible viewpoint I suggested would make perfect sense. Otherwise, I'm stumped.

Ugh...I have to wait until tomorrow or Friday until I get the game

I have the game - and I have a day off today - but my brother hid the game because he doesn't want me to get further than him in the game. Now that is truly unfair, especially when I paid for half the game!

Edit: I found the game hidden within his DVD collection and I can say that it is fantastic. You can see the monsters then it goes into turn based which are the two things I've wanted in a while!

I only just got to that crystal lake place -- Chapter 3? I don't know. They don't make much adieu about new chapters, oddly. The battle system is finally opening up. I suddenly see what the developers meant when they said the game isn't really an RPG. I'm not even sure if I've been gaining experience points all this time because it never told me. I did notice my weapons have levels, though. Doesn't feel much like a Final Fantasy game at all, really. And for me that's not a criticism, though I'm sure it will be for a lot of long-time fans.

Also, I must say I thought the guy with the chocobo in his hair was going to be a walking stereotype (albeit, with a chocobo in his hair), but he's by far the most interesting character at this point for me, not that I'm far at all. I'm just making an hour's progress each day. Which is good enough for me, except that I'm getting impatient for dark-haired woman to join. Lightning is a bit too... well, the word isn't appropriate on this forum. And Vanille, though charming, needs to learn to breathe silently.

Actually, they all have this problem, though her the most. What is with Japanese and constantly making these little gasp sounds? It nearly ruins it for me, as the voice acting is otherwise great (even Vanille). It doesn't sound even remotely natural.

i gotta jump on the Vanille-hate train.
She's incredibly annoying. From the way she acts to the way she talks.
She says inappropriate stuff in random places. It makes you think : "Wtf were the developers thinking???" , which ain't good in an RPG.
Besides that its epic. Can't stop playing, the battles are just way too much fun. And the moment you think you're overpowered, your fighting team changes and mixes everything up again.

SPOILER
Small one anyways.
Vanille is no more annoying than any other character in a JRPG. What I mean is there's always someone like that in a game, and if you pay attention to what she says in some transitions her behavior is how she deals with tough situations, and that deep down inside she's actually really sad. Which, to me, makes me feel sympathy on her annoyance. Still annoying though. lol

Also this game has the best combat system. Once you get the Paradigm Shifts up and running it's a fast pasted game, in fact it quickly becomes essential to use those shifts just to win normal battles.

@Adam I've heard from alot of people that Sazh(that's his name) is the character you can most relate to.

...
I wanna play it too! XO

It's called being quirky. Vanille is far more aware of what's going on than the other characters seem to be, though.

She's still my favourite - charming and the "fun" in the party.

I find the overall story very touching - Square Enix really have nailed down the ability to get a player genuinely connected to the characters.

@Adam - once you get into chapter 3, you'll start accumulating experience points, although there's not much you can do with them initially. The game uses a levelling-up system that is similar to FFX's, but one that is more linear initially - it too opens up later in the game.

I will say I disagree with your feeling that it's "not a FF game" - to me it feels very much like a Final Fantasy game, but one that has a markedly different combat system. The characterisation and setting design are very obviously Kitase's work.

The only thing, for me, that its really different is the musical score (on account of it having an entirely new musical director). It's different in a good way though.

Yes, theres a drum-and-bass song in the ruins after the lake, and later theres a jazz track ... i was like WTF but it seemed fitting somehow

The combat system is what makes it a game. They could apply characterisation and setting to a game based on Battleship or Monopoly if they wanted, but such a game would never be called Final Fantasy 15. Each game in the main series is different from the previous, but (to my limited knowledge of the series) this seems the most different aside from (probably) the MMO one, which I haven't any desire to play.

I'm still barely making any progress in the game due to time constraints, so I'm sure my opinion on every little thing about it will flip flop by the day. So, while I ordinarily don't recommend a single word of mine to be taken seriously, that recommendation is especially in effect for any discussion of this game.

Since I won't be able to get on my PS3 for a couple of months (I have been playing on my Xbox 360 a lot anyway), I bought the Xbox 360 version. HOLY MACKERAL, FFXIII is amazing. The graphics are spectacular, even if I am playing on my SDTV (I don't have a HD). Sure the game is linear, and there are tons of cutscenes. But the gameplay, story, and characters are SO AMAZING none of that matters to me. Lighting is the hottest and most bad-@$$ chick in gaming history, Snow is cool, Vanille looks and sounds awesome, Sazh is a good character but very hesitant. There was also the ophan boy (whose name I forgotten, was it Gary?) who is a pretty good character. I like how Snow and him have are on each other's toes throughout the story. The battles are a mixture of turn based and reat time combat, and it works BRILLANTLY. It has also the most hot chicks I have ever seen in a video game (Lighting, Vanille, Lebereau. and Serah). I am in chapter three and just have obtained the Paragrim System (isn't that what it's called?). By the way, has anybody figured out how to talk to characters for extended conversations yet? Oh, and the battle theme music is amazing. But, I find the omission of the Final Fantasy battle victory theme odd.

I think the orphan's name is Hope. I have subtitles turned off, so I continually misunderstand stuff myself, but I'm pretty sure "Gary" would fly in the face of the whimsical naming conventions of the game, haha.

The more I play, the less I like every character except Sazh. Lightning and Snow are so full of melodrama and really seem too hyperbolic to sustain interest over a long game. Lightning especially is annoying. Hope is just obnoxious and needs to be given a pacifier. He's the one character I didn't like from the beginning. As out of place as all of Vanille's lines are, they're actually welcome just because it tends to signal the end of a Snow and Lightning argument.

When I first started, the combat was boring and the story was interesting, but that has quickly flip flopped for me. I'm hoping things balance out soon. I don't think these characters can carry a story for much longer with these attitudes. Way too early for me to decide though.

Oh, and I did notice the omission of the victory theme. About time they write some new music. It's a catchy theme, but it's had more than twelve games to shine in.

Actually, Final Fantasy XI has a strong FF feel to it. Asside from the pacing and openness of the game, as well as the WRPG-style battle system, it still fits in pretty well with previous entries in the series, particularly the old-school games. The Final Fantasy games are always drastically different, but they do have some common themes and elements, all of which FF13 seems to share. In fact, at a glance, FF13 seems closer to FF6, in that it's story and characters are fairly cliche, but still well done, fairly linear at the beginning, the it opens up later on, and a strong focus on gameplay. Seeing as I haven't even played it yet, it's probably not right for me to make such comparisons just yet, I'm just saying from what I've seen, it appears to share some qualities that I always felt were distinguishing characteristics of FF6.

Honestly, I haven't seen much that is NEW to XIII that I haven't played before. Paradigm shifts aren't really different to costume changes in FFX-2, the ATB system is nothing new, and only having direct control over one character is not different to FFXII.

The only really new thing is the lack of MP points. But overall, XIII's battle system isn't new, but it's a highly refined and elegant version of what's come before.

FFXIII is the successor to VII, VIII and X, two of which are considered by many to be the best FFs but I think they as a whole feel 'different' to what I consider the epitome of FF, which is IX(Sakaguchi says it's the ideal FF to him and it's Uematsu's fave too).

I actually find the characterisation quite theatrical - which means they have a marked different tone to the cinematic-style characterisation of FFVII onwards.

That means, like John Malkovich's acting style, everything is deliberately exaggerated to get a clear point across. I understand that people might find that annoying, but then again, people get annoyed by Shakespeare. I personally find it (and the characters in FFXIII) very compelling.

Ahh, it was Hope. Now, I remember his name. For some reason Square-Enix has the subtitles turned off by default, so you have to turn the subtitles on in the settings menu. The subtitles makes the story easier to understand (sometimes I wouldn't know what they are saying without subtitles) and I wouldn't know what some characters' names are without the subtitles. So yeah, subtitles are a must. I love how the both the CG and real time cutscenes are so high quality that it is sometimes hard to tell the difference between the two. I CAN'T WAIT to play it when I get home tomorrow! This could be the best game in the FF series!