I suppose a SPOILER WARNING is in place, for those than can read Japanese

A few maps that supposedly is from FFXIII-2 have apparently been released, showcasing the layout in some of the areas. I didn't see them here on the forum, so, let's add them!

There are a lot more paths in a few of the maps, that's for sure.

Would have been nice to have some larger open areas, but I'll take it.

Don't really need a bunch of maps. Unlike last time, Square has been pretty liberal showcasing that the maps are actual dungeon maps. 
 
What I'm more curious is how populated locations are handled. I know there will be towns, but I'm curious regarding the depth concerning them and the amount.

Also I hope that NPC's don't have the "auto-talk as you approach" thing again.

@vidiot said:

Don't really need a bunch of maps. Unlike last time, Square has been pretty liberal showcasing that the maps are actual dungeon maps. What I'm more curious is how populated locations are handled. I know there will be towns, but I'm curious regarding the depth concerning them and the amount.

Yeah, they have. I just thought that if some people are interested, or haven't seen anything yet, me adding these maps isn't the worst thing in the world. And, yes, more info on population would be interesting.

 me adding these maps isn't the worst thing in the world.

I'm interested in the populated areas too. The reason FFXIII's story is falling kinda flat for me (I'm playing it right now) is because Cocoon feels like an amusement park ride, rather than a living, breathing world. If they can interpolate me into Pulse a bit more in the sequel, convince me that it is an actual place, that'll be good.

@vidiot: Don't you worry, I didn't take your comment as negative. I just kind of excused myself randomly - after agreeing with you, since you made a valid point anyway, whereupon I mentioned that the maps still could hold value to some. I didn't really mean it as a jab back, which it actually did sound like - Sorry... bro!

I did some youtube digging.  
Head's up, there's a few spoilers, but if you skim ahead you can see some excellent video of what seems to be the first town, and side-quests. 
And...uh...cats?... 
 
Oh, and what appears to be a bunch of dialog choices. I remember running into one of these during the PAX demo, kinda interesting to see them cropping up in a far more frequent rate that I was expecting. Were not talking Mass Effect here, but yeah, defiantly enough to get my attention. 
 

Well, that's a town all right. I really hope the Team NORA guys don't feature prominently in the game. They were the worst. Also what in the world is Serah wearing?

Whatever she's wearing, it's not as strange as the FFX to FFX-2 character design choice.

Sure is a town though, a few people to talk to, some random running around. Looks like a typical 3D FF town to be honest (actually reminds me of FFX). Seems to be a lot of cinematics though, not that I have any problem with that. The dialogue options intrigue me, I wonder what's up with those, and how much impact they have. Or if it's just topics. Too bad I can't read Japanese that well.

I mean they have branching paths, but if I don't get to choose which map I go to its still a very linear game. Also having two paths instead of one isn't my idea of non-linear.

@Commisar123 said:

I mean they have branching paths, but if I don't get to choose which map I go to its still a very linear game. Also having two paths instead of one isn't my idea of non-linear.

Indeed, but it's no different than pretty much any other JRPG in existence. Especially in later years. All JRPGs are linear, to some extent, and will never be as open as the western counterparts - and never have been, that's not their style. The thing with this game is that they seem to have upped the corridor-count substantially. Which, if done somewhat decently, can be a good thing, kind of. Yes, it's a rather hokey way of adding more paths, and can lead to more tedium, but most people whined like mofos at FFXIII's extreme linearity, which I personally never had any problems with, but if people want something similar to the older 3D FF games, this should be right up their alley. Hopefully it will stop some of the whining.

@Chemin said:

@Commisar123 said:

I mean they have branching paths, but if I don't get to choose which map I go to its still a very linear game. Also having two paths instead of one isn't my idea of non-linear.

Indeed, but it's no different than pretty much any other JRPG in existence. Especially in later years. All JRPGs are linear, to some extent, and will never be as open as the western counterparts - and never have been, that's not their style. The thing with this game is that they seem to have upped the corridor-count substantially. Which, if done somewhat decently, can be a good thing, kind of. Yes, it's a rather hokey way of adding more paths, and can lead to more tedium, but most people whined like mofos at FFXIII's extreme linearity, which I personally never had any problems with, but if people want something similar to the older 3D FF games, this should be right up their alley. Hopefully it will stop some of the whining.

It's true. I don't mind it so much in other games, including other FFs, but they just kept reminding me, "hey.....you're on rails" and I got a little pissed, but I like XIII enough to go on to the sequel at some point, just maybe not right now.

@Encephalon said:

Well, that's a town all right. I really hope the Team NORA guys don't feature prominently in the game. They were the worst. Also what in the world is Serah wearing?

I actually really like that outfit, seems more in place with that whole world than what she wore in XIII which was some weird take on a school girl outfit.

@Chemin said:

@Commisar123 said:

I mean they have branching paths, but if I don't get to choose which map I go to its still a very linear game. Also having two paths instead of one isn't my idea of non-linear.

Indeed, but it's no different than pretty much any other JRPG in existence. Especially in later years. All JRPGs are linear, to some extent, and will never be as open as the western counterparts - and never have been, that's not their style. The thing with this game is that they seem to have upped the corridor-count substantially. Which, if done somewhat decently, can be a good thing, kind of. Yes, it's a rather hokey way of adding more paths, and can lead to more tedium, but most people whined like mofos at FFXIII's extreme linearity, which I personally never had any problems with, but if people want something similar to the older 3D FF games, this should be right up their alley. Hopefully it will stop some of the whining.

I think a lot of people tend to forget that all RPG's are linear when you actually get down to the dungeons. Theres always a singular path that funnels you towards the boss. XIII just took it to a slightly unhealthy extreme and just made a beeline to that boss with pretty levels all around.

Hey Chemin I gave the game a try - I'm 10 hours into it and it's pretty alright, I don't mind the linearity as much, except the areas tend to drag a little towards the end. I'm always going through ONE section of each area too many it seems. It's a very interesting take on JRPGs and the characters aren't THAT awful too which is a plus. Except Hope, goddamn..

@Humanity said:

Hey Chemin I gave the game a try - I'm 10 hours into it and it's pretty alright, I don't mind the linearity as much, except the areas tend to drag a little towards the end. I'm always going through ONE section of each area too many it seems. It's a very interesting take on JRPGs and the characters aren't THAT awful too which is a plus. Except Hope, goddamn..

Vanille wore on me pretty thin pretty quickly. And the dungeons dragging on is definitely a problem that persists later in the game.

@Beforet said:

Vanille wore on me pretty thin pretty quickly. And the dungeons dragging on is definitely a problem that persists later in the game.

I'm on Chapter 7 I think and Vanille is still fine. I mean I get what they were going for I guess. I couldn't stand Hope but now he's gotten a bit better as well. It's ridiculous to talk about any sort of reality here but it's kind of out there that Lightning is this soldier and she's completely fine with hanging around this (what looks like) 12 year old and letting him take point etc.

When will they just return to prerendered backdrops with fixed camera angles? They made navigating the world ever so nicely dramatic.

@Humanity said:

@Encephalon said:

Well, that's a town all right. I really hope the Team NORA guys don't feature prominently in the game. They were the worst. Also what in the world is Serah wearing?

I actually really like that outfit, seems more in place with that whole world than what she wore in XIII which was some weird take on a school girl outfit.

@Chemin said:

@Commisar123 said:

I mean they have branching paths, but if I don't get to choose which map I go to its still a very linear game. Also having two paths instead of one isn't my idea of non-linear.

Indeed, but it's no different than pretty much any other JRPG in existence. Especially in later years. All JRPGs are linear, to some extent, and will never be as open as the western counterparts - and never have been, that's not their style. The thing with this game is that they seem to have upped the corridor-count substantially. Which, if done somewhat decently, can be a good thing, kind of. Yes, it's a rather hokey way of adding more paths, and can lead to more tedium, but most people whined like mofos at FFXIII's extreme linearity, which I personally never had any problems with, but if people want something similar to the older 3D FF games, this should be right up their alley. Hopefully it will stop some of the whining.

I think a lot of people tend to forget that all RPG's are linear when you actually get down to the dungeons. Theres always a singular path that funnels you towards the boss. XIII just took it to a slightly unhealthy extreme and just made a beeline to that boss with pretty levels all around.

Hey Chemin I gave the game a try - I'm 10 hours into it and it's pretty alright, I don't mind the linearity as much, except the areas tend to drag a little towards the end. I'm always going through ONE section of each area too many it seems. It's a very interesting take on JRPGs and the characters aren't THAT awful too which is a plus. Except Hope, goddamn..

I'm glad you're not hating it at least. The dungeons might drag on a bit, but I find that dungeons tend to do that in J-RPGs overall, to an extent. Most of the time they are longer than they need to be, especially games with random encounters, which makes dungeons a hell of a lot longer and annoying to backtrack if you forgot anything. Then again, it doesn't bother me to hell and back in the end, since I'm used to it.

I absolutely hated Hope for most (if not all) of the game. Sure, I could see that they were trying to give him a reason to hate, his mother dying and all that jazz, but I found it to be extreme. He's incredibly thick. I guess later on they do resolve a few things, and I'm not going to spoil that for obvious reasons, but I just didn't think it was enough. Vanille I never had any trouble with. I just found her to be a cheerful addition to the party. I can't even remember why people dislike her, to be honest.

.@mandude said:

When will they just return to prerendered backdrops with fixed camera angles? They made navigating the world ever so nicely dramatic.

Never.

Those design decisions were because of hardware limitations back in the day, and the only place you'll see them today are budget adventure games, or perhaps some indie homage to old-school games. People don't want old game design anymore (it's only we that don't mind), and that's why the J-RPG sub-genre as a whole is dying, big time.

I also enjoy that old-school style, and love playing old J-RPGs, and it's also one of the reasons I think a remake of Final Fantasy VII (that supposedly everyone wants) could be a disaster. Zoomed-in angles, voice acting, free camera, new design choices. That shit could ruin the atmosphere most people reminisce about. Because, let's face it, they probably won't just HD-fy everything, they will try and make it appeal to this generation, for those people who never played it. And J-RPGs in general DOES NOT appeal to a lot of people today. People enjoyed them back in the SNES and PS1 era, when console games were console games, and PC games were PC games. Now the border don't exist, so people can have bombastic action titles on console, and all older console-specific genres are dying because of it.

@Chemin: What I'm liking a lot is that SO FAR anyway I get to boss fights with my Crystarium maxed out for all characters. So ultimately I know that even if the boss fight is tough, I'm at my max and now it's up to proper Paradigm management to win the battle. That puts me at ease in a way. The only boss fight that has given me trouble thus far was the initial Odin battle and I actually did run back and forth between save points getting extra parts to upgrade spark rings. I'm actually kind of dreading getting to the part where the game opens up, because after 11 hours of running forward I'll probably feel completely lost.

Damn the character models look amazing, I'll keep my eye on this even though I've not been a fan of the 'new' FF games.

@Humanity said:

@Chemin: What I'm liking a lot is that SO FAR anyway I get to boss fights with my Crystarium maxed out for all characters. So ultimately I know that even if the boss fight is tough, I'm at my max and now it's up to proper Paradigm management to win the battle. That puts me at ease in a way. The only boss fight that has given me trouble thus far was the initial Odin battle and I actually did run back and forth between save points getting extra parts to upgrade spark rings. I'm actually kind of dreading getting to the part where the game opens up, because after 11 hours of running forward I'll probably feel completely lost.

Yeah, Odin gave me a smack in the face the first time I fought him too. Well, the main story is still linear, so the opening-up-part of the game is mostly for backtracking and doing side quests, if you want. If I recall correctly you don't really have to look around that much for the story to unfold, it's pretty straight forward, and the path is clear.

@Chemin I agree with the pre-rendered backgrounds being somewhat dated, but fixed camera angles could still be used to great effect, and a lot of modern games do exactly that. Final Fantasy has always been renowned for its graphics, and I have absolutely no doubt that they could do it very well if they put their mind to it. FFX-2 had a lot of scenes where it wasn't free camera if I recall correctly, and whatever you may think of the game, I didn't think the camera angles made it feel dated even after playing FFX. But you're right. They never will.