A copy of Final Fantasy XIII still sits on a shelf in my apartment, as I continue to convince myself that I'll play that game someday. I know, of course, that day will never come, a notion reinforced by today's news that Final Fantasy XIII-2 is now confirmed for a release in January.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 has reportedly been engineered to respond to much of the criticism leveled against the original game, where complaints of linearity and a mystifying lack of random towns to explore were rampant.

Final Fantasy X was the last JRPG I spent any significant amount of time with. Loved that one. The MMO-esque battle system of Final Fantasy XII never sunk its hooks in me. Mostly, I just got frustrated. But alas.

Can Square Enix just remake Final Fantasy III (or VI, depending on the country) and call it a day?

I'd also like to point out that I considered writing Final Fantasy XXX-2 in the headline for a few minutes.

A copy of Final Fantasy XIII still sits on a shelf in my apartment, as I continue to convince myself that I'll play that game someday. I know, of course, that day will never come, a notion reinforced by today's news that Final Fantasy XIII-2 is now confirmed for a release in January.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 has reportedly been engineered to respond to much of the criticism leveled against the original game, where complaints of linearity and a mystifying lack of random towns to explore were rampant.

Final Fantasy X was the last JRPG I spent any significant amount of time with. Loved that one. The MMO-esque battle system of Final Fantasy XII never sunk its hooks in me. Mostly, I just got frustrated. But alas.

Can Square Enix just remake Final Fantasy III (or VI, depending on the country) and call it a day?

I'd also like to point out that I considered writing Final Fantasy XXX-2 in the headline for a few minutes.

I've tried to finish FF13 twice now and have stopped both times. There are things I like a lot, the graphics and the grand set pieces. FF13 also has one of the best uses of 5.1 surround sound I've heard in a game. I'm going to dedicate myself to stay on track and finish it so that I can play the sequel.

And yes, a remake if FF6 would be amazing.

Heh, I'm sure they'll remake FFIII down the road. That aside, I'm actually interested in XIII-2. If they can improve on its game mechanics, I'd be satisfied. Can't wait.

I don't know, man. SquareEnix just seems kinda dead to me now.

Don't worry, they listened to the FF fan complaints and killed the 99.5% on rails part and added cities to this one, because that's totally what makes a game good or not. Surely they added the classic battle victory theme as well.

I'm very excited for this. I really liked XIII, and more of that but better (hopefully) sounds great.

I'm pretty excited for this one with all the improvements I've been seeing. And I loved XIII's battle system.

I really gotta give 13 another try some day. I got about 5 hours in when I stopped. Didn't care for the world, and all the characters were ether annoying, or just didn't illicit any kind of desire to want to know what happens to them to push on.

Yes, they need to get to work on that damn FF6 remake. It'd be the one game that would make me buy a 3DS (don't deny it).

Cool, I liked 13.

Still curious why Amazon UK says it'll be released September 9th 2011 in Europe. Amazon just throwing up a date in the air, or is it released 6 months earlier in Europe?

@CrazyChris said:

Still curious why Amazon UK says it'll be released September 9th 2011 in Europe. Amazon just throwing up a date in the air, or is it released 6 months earlier in Europe?

Oh, Chris. You so crazy.

@CrazyChris said:

Still curious why Amazon UK says it'll be released September 9th 2011 in Europe. Amazon just throwing up a date in the air, or is it released 6 months earlier in Europe?

Oh, Chris. You so crazy.

i should really finish FF13.

Someone needs to send an all hands memo to JRPG developers; your game doesn't have to be 50 hours long. If it has 30 hours of content, make it 30 hours. Please. Some people value their time and don't think its a "good deal" for devs to stretch shit out so it takes up more of it. I don't say "good deal" when action movies are an hour longer than they need to be. Hopefully this will be something like FFX-2 and have most of the content be optional. Tedious shit is more fun when its optional anyway.

I was kind of excited for this until I realized it has 13's 'battle system' so, yeah... fuck that.

"Final Fantasy XIII-2 has reportedly been engineered to respond to much of the criticism leveled against the original game, where complaints of linearity and a mystifying lack of random towns to explore were rampant."
 
And you know...everything else

@617_jbug: No you shouldn't.

Pretty excited for this. Call me a crazy person, but I really liked 13. Sometimes feel like I'm the only one who did.

I really enjoyed XIII. It's the only current game I've completed 100%. Really looking forward to this.

I was kind of excited for this until I realized it has 13's 'battle system' so, yeah... fuck that.

woohoo good news, FFXIII was one of my favorites in the series! just after IV and VI

And still no date for Versus. :(

@ryanwho said:

@Soap said:

I was kind of excited for this until I realized it has 13's 'battle system' so, yeah... fuck that.

If they assume people playing this got through the first game instead of holding your hand for 20 hours, it shouldn't be that bad. People tell me the battles eventually get fun, I never got that far. But maybe this game starts with the battles being fun.

They do get better, but I still felt like I never had enough control over the situations at hand to really be in control.

It was a while ago now, but the thought that always comes back to my mind is getting repeatedly killed by a boss because all 3 of my characters wanted to bunch up together and were all taking all the damage together when moments before they had happily been out in a triangle formation.

I thought the joke would be that it's actually releasing January 2013. Because in the next six months seems shockingly fast for a Square-Enix game these days.

Looking forward to it.

An FF6 remake/re-release you say? Yes please.

I thought the joke would be that it's actually releasing January 2013. Because in the next six months seems shockingly fast for a Square-Enix game these days.

I liked 13 and everything I've read/seen makes this look better. So I am excited.

That's fast

I'd love if they remade Final Fantasy VI. However, no need to update the graphics in a big way. Just keep some nice clean 2D sprites, and put it on the 3DS. That would be great. 

Why remake Final Fantasy VI? It's perfect as is.

I'm still convinced I'll play FFXIII one day, mostly 'cause I've been finishing up all the other stuff that I said I would finish first.

Anyhow until I play through 13, 13-2 doesn't even exist in my mind.

January, also known as six years before Versus XIII will actually go into development.

@Shaanyboi said:

Uhhh there were FAR bigger problems with XIII than its linearity. Mainly the fact that the story was a convoluted mess, horribly told and executed, its characters were obnoxious, a poor battle system, and horribly disjointed art direction. Fuck Square...

Different people will agree or disagree with everything you've just said. Except for the battle system, which is universally liked/loved. The word that I've repeatedly heard which most accurately describe it is "sublime".

since when has any final fantasy game had random towns? random battles sure, but what would a random town even be

I thought that Final Fantasy XII was incredible. The only issue I had was that it took a year longer to be released in Britain. Amazing writing in that game. 

I freaking adored FFXIII so I can't wait for FFXIII-2.

Wait so the sequel of FF13 is going to come out before FF Versus 13 whose development started at the same time as FF13. Come on Nomura what are you doing with your game. Last thing I heard was Airships were in the game but does it really take all this time to create a world for it.

And still no date for Versus. :(

@Summoboomo said:

@TheWolf619 said:

And still no date for Versus. :(

I read a translated Famitsu article where Nomura said VS was still in the pre-production stages, and that they're preparing to enter full-production.

Yeah.

Yeah there have been several mistranslated Famitsu articles so I'd take that as a grain of salt especially after the whole Versus being put on hold to accelerate FF13 mistranslation.

@Jazzycola said:

Wait so the sequel of FF13 is going to come out before FF Versus 13 whose development started at the same time as FF13. Come on Nomura what are you doing with your game. Last thing I heard was Airships were in the game but does it really take all this time to create a world for it.

There's a chance this isn't Nomura's fault. I doubt that the management over at Square is terribly efficient/smart. Diverting funds for their nine new MMOs, mayhaps?

I should really finish XIII. Haven't played it in a while.

@Summoboomo said:

@TheWolf619 said:

And still no date for Versus. :(

I read a translated Famitsu article where Nomura said VS was still in the pre-production stages, and that they're preparing to enter full-production.

Yeah.

Yeah there have been several mistranslated Famitsu articles so I'd take that as a grain of salt especially after the whole Versus being put on hold to accelerate FF13 mistranslation.

yeah, i'm not going to have finished FFXIII by then. 
 
i'll catch every pokemon before i complete it. 

I stopped playing XIII because I lost interest in the battles, but the boss fights were great fun. I also like that when you die you just start the battle again rather than have to go through enemies. Another bonus was actually being able to see the enemies when traversing the worlds. My favourite battles were the one where you are fighting some airship thing on a roof.... the one where you are Snow & Hope running along the tops of the buildings. The battle at Hope's dad's apartment was freaking sweet, and the battle where you fight the thing with the spinning doll heads, that one took ages and was kind of annoying but it was epic.

Wow that is soon, if it's any good I'm in!

Keep the XIII battle system and open the world up more and I am all in.

I want an airship and lots of side quests, damnit!

oh come on, there was a LEGITIMATE REASON FOR THE LACK OF TOWNS.

I'm not excusing the game's other faults but come on!