Final Fantasy 13 Hype Thread?

Actually 13 is more likely to match its near perfect score than FF12 did for its perfect score :|
 
Never said this one might match the near perfect score more than 12, but Famitsu is terribly biased toward Japanese developers and they have a few favorites within the Japanese developers, SE is one. But I am not naive to think any reviewer is completely unbiased, just, Famitsu seems far more so
 
They gave Gears of War a 10/9/9/9. GTA4 got a 10/10/9/10. Fuck, Modern Warfare 2 got a 39.
The argument that Famtisu's reviews are biased towards Japanese games stopped holding water some time ago. You could argue that their cover stories are mainly on Japanese games, but how often do you see the cover story in magazines like Game Informer not be western games?
 
Limited Collector's Edition confirmed for Europe, hopefully for North America as well, nothing on contents yet:

If you thought your excitement for FINAL FANTASY XIII had reached fever pitch, brace yourself for the news of a forthcoming Limited Collector’s Edition version of next year's most anticipated title. What's in the box you ask? I'm afraid we're keeping schtum for the time being, but rest assured that the extras will be well worth the wait. Moreover, you'll soon be able to purchase FINAL FANTASY Play Arts Kai action figures, although with a launch date of 9th March 2010, they'll sadly be too late to sit at the top of your Christmas tree this year. If you've not caught it yet, be sure to watch the game's Special Announcement trailer.
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http://uman.square-enix-europe.com/...ffa07955c38d557d4&lang=en&page=email&id=VIDEO

Not sure if that's supposed to be the "Lucky 13" campaign details regarding the game they are planning every 13th of each month until the release.
 
Also, there's now rumors resurfacing again that the FFXIII game will include a beta key for FFXIV.

Guess we'll know in 2 days.
 
If this campaign code is also guaranteed beta access as well as an ingame XIV item I see beta starting sometime after FFXIII releases in North America and Europe in March.
They haven't made up their minds yet as whether to include it in the NA/EU FFXIII, but I'm sure they will:

http://support.na.square-enix.com/f...&la=1&pv=20&SQEXSC=e8ovat7idkudprgqageje8an74

We'll see if it is a spot in the beta when FFXIII actually releases as opposed to street date getting broken.

Though either way I don't see FFXIV releasing until Fall/Winter 2010.
 
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well, I read on BG (but I saw no source provided) that the beta will start when FFXIII is released in North America. But as I said, I've seen no source provided.
 
I have a real dilemma with the release date coming up.

I'm the type of guy that always looks into spoilers. Always. I don't go as far as revealing the ending for myself, but I'll probably go on youtube and watch player footage or read into what story the characters hold online.

That issue will come to an end with this release I hope. I'm putting my foot down.
 
There has been a huge update to Wikipedia for FFXIII since the last time I check. Let's recap on the information we learned to date with this updated info.

I'm going to bold what I find interesting.

Story

The plot of Final Fantasy XIII revolves around the fal'Cie (pronounced /ˈfælsiː "fal see"/), beings created from crystals residing inside them.[9] People who are marked by the fal'Cie for greater purposes are called l'Cie.[20] Each l'Cie has a Focus, a goal the fal'Cie wants him or her to fulfill within a certain amount of time; however, the fal'Cie do not explicitly say what the goal is. L'Cie gain the ability to summon Eidolons (monsters who fight with the l'Cie), but this ability comes with a price: if an l'Cie dies before completing his or her Focus, or fails to complete his or her Focus within a period of time, he or she becomes a monster known as a "Cie Corpse."[21] For this reason, being chosen as a l'Cie is seen as a curse.

Some 1,300 years ago, a fal'Cie constructed a paradise for humanity: the shell-like city of Cocoon, which floats high above the surface of the world known as Pulse. Both Pulse and Cocoon are maintained by their own fal'Cie.[9][22] Cocoon's fal'Cie created life forms and machines for its inhabitants to use, and humanity flourished. Over time, the people of Cocoon began to fear for the safety of their world, and they worried that it would be cast down from the sky into the hell that they saw Pulse to be.

Although most Cocoon citizens have never seen Pulse with their own eyes, it is known to be a dangerous place, and has strange effects on those who venture down to its surface. Anyone who is discovered to have visited Pulse is immediately subject to quarantine and exile by the theocratic government of Cocoon, known as the Sanctum.[23] However, as Snow leads Team Nora in a vain attempt to stop the purging of civilians, the mysterious Lightning fights her way past PSICOM soldiers to find Pulse's fal'Cie with the aid of Sazh. Through a chain of events, these three, along with two exiles, Vanille and Hope, are chosen by the fal'Cie of Pulse against their will to become l'Cie, and with that become enemies of humanity who are tasked with bringing about the downfall of Cocoon.
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The last sentence shows how they all come together. I assume they'll come together and form a coup'detat against the Fal'Cie or take the effort to be rid of them for good.


Characters
Playable characters

* Lightning (ライトニング, Raitoningu?)

A former soldier of the Cocoon military, Lightning sought the fal'Cie of Pulse only to be made a l'Cie much to her dismay. Lightning has long pink hair and is 177 cm tall (5'10"). She discarded her real name after her parents died in an attempt to emotionally reinforce herself so she could protect her sister Serah, though this only causes things to worsen between them. For her design, character designer Tetsuya Nomura was asked to create a "female version of Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII". During development, he described her as "not very feminine".[24] Lightning wields a weapon called a Blaze Edge that is a combination of a gun and a sword (one collapsing into the other) and can also manipulate gravity with a device on her thumb (though due to Sazh's interference, this device becomes damaged).[25] In battle, she is agile and uses acrobatic moves. She can also summon the Eidolon Odin to fight by her side in battle, who can assume a horse-like form that she can ride on.[26] While riding, Lightning dual wields Odin's detachable sword. Her l'Cie mark is in the center of her chest. Her strongest unique special attack is called Scene Drive.[27] Her Japanese voice actress is Maaya Sakamoto.[28]

* Snow Villiers (スノウ・ヴィリアース, Sunou Viriāsu?)

Prior to becoming a l'Cie, Snow is the head of Team Nora, a resistance group against Cocoon.[29] He is a big character and is capable of running while carrying two people.[30] He was nicknamed "Mr. 33 cm" by the staff of Final Fantasy XIII as a nod to his shoe size.[31] He uses his fists to take down opponents, focusing on brute force compared to the fast and agile Lightning.[32] After becoming a l'Cie, Snow gains the power to summon the Eidolon Shiva, which takes the form of two sisters, Nix (二クス, Nikusu?) and Styria (スティリア, Sutiria?), who can combine into a motorcycle form for Snow to ride while toting a large gun.[33] Unlike most grapplers, Snow changes his runes on his coat rather than buying new gloves.[34] His Japanese voice actor is Daisuke Ono.[28]

* Oerba Dia Vanille (ヲルバ＝ダイア・ヴァニラ, Woruba-Daia Vanira?)

Vanille is a mysterious but upbeat young girl with red-brown hair worn in pigtails who lives in Pulse.[20] Her weapon is a kind of foldable fishing rod with multiple lines that can be reeled.[35][36] She narrates many of the events in the game. Her Eidolon is Hecatoncheir, a multiple-limbed, earth-elemental summon who can transform into a bipedal mech armed with machine guns that she can pilot.[37][38] Her Japanese voice actress is Yukari Fukui.[28] Her English voice actress is Georgia van Cuylenburg.[39]

* Sazh Katzroy (サッズ・カッツロイ, Sazzu Kattsuroi?)

Sazh is a middle-aged man with an afro whom Lightning knows from her time serving in the military. Sazh wields dual pistols (which can be combined to form a collapsible rifle), and his strong point is striking enemies from a distance. His l'Cie mark is at the base of his neck. He has a six-year-old son named Dajh, whose mother died three years prior to the game. Sazh gets separated from his son during the game, and reuniting with his son is his main motivation.[40] He also has a pet baby chocobo that lives inside his afro. Sazh is described as having good judgment and moral discernment. He has a gentle personality and is easily moved to tears, and joins the party early in the game. His Eidolon is Brynhildr[41], a female fire-elemental knight original to this game, who can transform into a race car.[42] His Japanese voice actor is Masashi Ebara.

* Hope Estheim (ホープ・エストハイム, Hōpu Esutohaimu?)[21]

Hope is a fourteen-year-old boy with silvery-blonde hair and orange, yellow, and green clothing. He uses collapsible boomerangs in battle. During the Purge, his mother offers to help Snow and Team Nora fight off PSICOM. She dies during the battle, and though Snow honors her final request to protect her son, Hope nonetheless hates Snow in a grief-induced rage for his connection to his mother's death. His Eidolon is the holy-elemental summon Alexander[43], which transforms into a fortress in Gestalt Mode, and is able to blast enemies from afar with multiple cannons. [44] His Japanese voice actor is Yūki Kaji. His English voice actor is Vincent Martella.[45]

* Oerba Yun Fang (ヲルバ＝ユン・ファング, Woruba-Yun Fangu?)

A raven-haired woman donning clothing resembling the traditional Indian Sari adorned with tribal accessories, and bearing the mark of a l'Cie on her left shoulder. As revealed by Tetsuya Nomura in an interview, during the early stages of development she was originally scripted to be a male character.[46] Though she is a l'Cie from Pulse, she actually works for the Cocoon Sanctum under Cid. She wields a spear that can transform into a sansetsukon in battle, and her Eidolon is Bahamut, who upon his Gestalt-mode takes flight. She is voiced by Mabuki Andou in the Japanese version of the game.[47]
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Gameplay

The concept for Final Fantasy XIII's battle system is to maintain the strategic nature of command-based battles. The system stemmed from a desire to create battles similar to those found in Final Fantasy VII Advent Children.[7] Like those in Final Fantasy XII, enemies are integrated into the world environment. However, unlike Final Fantasy XII, battles do not take place in the same "dimension", but rather a short flash transports players to a new battle screen, separate from the main playing world.[8] The Active Time Battle (ATB) system will return, but it works differently from its predecessors. Users will be able to chain large numbers of commands together in order to achieve attack bonuses.[9]
The Final Fantasy XIII battle system, with the option to use "Paradigm Shift".

The first battle system was shown during the E3 2006, but it was only a prototype. A new interface was shown recently by Square Enix in various Japanese magazines and trailers (depicted in the image adjacent). In battle, the player can only control one character at a time out of a party of up to three.

Multiple commands can be stacked into slots per turn and released at the same time to form a combo. The number of command slots increases as the characters grow in strength.[9] These commands include series staples such as Attack, Fire, Blizzard and Cure, as well as new ones such as Ruin, Ruinaga, and Radial Strike.[10][11] The difference between XIII's battle system and the ATB gauge is that these commands can still be placed in the slots even though the bar has run out, and the actions will be executed once the required slots are filled up. This, however, affects the chain combo hits as the combo has been interrupted. The game does not make use of MP but introduces "cost points" for each command, which determine how many times the commands can be used per turn. Because magic cannot be used outside of battle, the HP of the party is completely restored after each battle.[9]

The player is able to view the HP and name of the enemy before engaging it in battle. When engaging an enemy, the camera moves to another position and the battle menu appears, making the battle transitions nearly seamless.[12] The after-battle victory screen in XIII holds information such as the time it took to finish the battle, the highest number of combos executed, the number of break attacks and the quality of battle which is determined by a ranking of one to five stars.

A "break state" is one of the new features of the Final Fantasy XIII battle system. The breaks refer to the times an enemy enters a state of non-retaliation. This occurs when a chain combo has been maintained for a certain period of time on an enemy. When a high level combo has been achieved, the enemy will glow red and enter this state, during which the player will be able to inflict high amounts of damage. The chain bar will gradually deplete during this period; when it becomes empty, the break state ends. (FFXI limit parties anyone?)

The party will be able to purchase new weapons in the game and actually see them in battle.[13]

Paradigm Shift

A new option in battle was revealed during Gamescom 2009 called "Paradigm Shift" (called "Optima Change" in Japan). Using this option, players can switch party members' roles during battle. For example, a character can be switched to use defensive or offensive with fire tactics as the battle dictates.[14]

Summons

The classic summoned creatures called Eidolons (as they were in Final Fantasy IV DS and Final Fantasy IX) will return in Final Fantasy XIII. Each character possesses only one Eidolon that is summoned from a crystal that sprouts from the character's mark of l'Cie.[9]The Eidolons include series staples Odin, Shiva, Alexander, and Bahamut, and newcomers Hecatoncheir and Brynhildr.[15] When summoned, the Eidolon stay in battle while the characters accompanying the summoner leaves the party.[16] There is also a new feature called "Gestalt Mode" (known as "Driving Mode" in Japan), which when activated joins the summoned and its summoner somehow; for example, the character Snow can ride and steer the combined Shiva Nix and Shiva Styria which is a motorcycle. This changes the pace of the combat significantly. But not all summons turn into mechanical vehicles; Odin's Gestalt Mode changes him into a horse for Lightning to ride, while Alexander's Gestalt Mode changes him into a large castle which surrounds the enemy and fires cannon balls at them from all sides. [17] The summons play a major role in the game's storyline as well, much like Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy IX and Final Fantasy X.[18]

Crystarium System

The leveling system for the game is called the Crystarium System which resembles the Sphere Grid in Final Fantasy X.[19] Instead of gaining experience points after winning a battle, characters gain CP (Crystarium Points) which can then be spent in order to unlock abilities and increase attributes such as maximum HP.
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What I loved most about X was saving up my sphere grid points and just going crazy on the grid and then feeling that much stronger after.

I always wanted a return of the that grid, I'm happy it's back in an innovated way.
 
I found some new footage that was broadcasted a few days ago in Japan. No real spoilers.

Sazh with his Eidolon what looks like to be appearing for it's first time before him with Vanille.




Some battle and Snow's Eidolon.




Emphasis on watching Snow being created.

 
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Notice the constant references of attempts to have FFXIII have the popularity akin to FFVII? They're really going all out with XIII and I feel like they're putting all their eggs in this basket.
 
So it apparently is going to be a beta code used for the Japanese Playstation 3 version of FFXIV, no dates announced yet though.
 
Tiael said:
So it apparently is going to be a beta code used for the Japanese Playstation 3 version of FFXIV, no dates announced yet though.
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Well hot damn =D

I'll have to try and import this as quick as I can, I'll easily play the Japanese beta for XIV =)
 
Gerry said:
Well hot damn =D

I'll have to try and import this as quick as I can, I'll easily play the Japanese beta for XIV =)
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I doubt the beta will be out before it comes out in NA/EU
 
And it'll be only for Japan, if you're not in the region you won't be able to participate in the Japanese PS3 beta.
That and SE said they were focusing on PC beta first then they'd extend it to PS3, so it may still be a while before people can even use that campaign code.
We'll probably see something similar come when XIII hits March next year in NA/EU.
 
Meh, then It'll be one hell of a collectors item like the Unused Tales of Vesperia DLC Card I have.
 
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