@Animasta: I beat and platinumed XIII-2, and even at the ending, I still had a hard time grasping Caius' motives. His constant emo-ing about Yeul dying over and over again, voicing his melancholy through metaphysical mumbo-jumbo, made it hard to relate to the guy.

@Animasta said:

@biospank said:

Fuck you Square! Give me FFVS13 instead but hopefully the rape simulator that is Tomb Raider will be good.

you know now that I think about it the fact that this game is going to come out before versus is fucking hilarious

They will have released this, XIII-2, and completely remake XIV from scratch in the time it's taking Versus to be anything other than an excuse for more patience. Nomura's entire team, as well as Versus, should be drug out back and shot.

@AuthenticM said:

@Animasta: I beat and platinumed XIII-2, and even at the ending, I still had a hard time grasping Caius' motives. His constant emo-ing about Yeul dying over and over again, voicing his melancholy through metaphysical mumbo-jumbo, made it hard to relate to the guy.

dude, look at the VAST HISTORY of final fantasy villains. barely any of them have anywhere close to a decent motive. and I dunno, wanting to protect someone from dying over and over and over again sounds like a pretty decent motive to me?

@Animasta said:

@biospank said:

Fuck you Square! Give me FFVS13 instead but hopefully the rape simulator that is Tomb Raider will be good.

you know now that I think about it the fact that this game is going to come out before versus is fucking hilarious

that is the sad part of this. But at least the rape simulator will be as good as it looks. I am going to make that digital person scream so much and play it like I did Manhunt 2: uncut edition on PC.

So the great story of XIII will continue to be shat upon by another sequel.

@GunslingerPanda said:

So the great story of XIII will continue to be shat upon by another sequel.

I hope you're being sarcastic

Lighting Returns? Where did she go?

Just move on Square already, jeez. There were 5 excellent FF from 7 to 12 in 9 years. In the last 6 years we have had FF13...stop spending so much time of graphics.

@Animasta said:

@GunslingerPanda said:

So the great story of XIII will continue to be shat upon by another sequel.

I hope you're being sarcastic

I hope you're being facetious.

@Animasta: Yeah, sure, but the motives alone don't make the character. The author has to present them through quality and meaningful dialogue. XIII-2 didn't have any of that. I also disagree on your claim that a majority of Final Fantasy villains don't have decent motives. For an antagonist to be appreciable, he does not need to be an anti-villain, meaning having malicious intent towards others but for "good reasons". Kefka wants to be a God for the simple reason that he is a power hungry asshole, and he is a fantastic and memorable villain. You don't need to fall into popular psychology in order to create an interesting character. In fact, I'd avoid it as much as possible. That's why Heath Ledger's Joker was so terrifying and fascinating. As in pretty much anything, content does not really matter; presentation does.

@GunslingerPanda said:

@Animasta said:

@GunslingerPanda said:

So the great story of XIII will continue to be shat upon by another sequel.

I hope you're being sarcastic

I hope you're being facetious.

I hope you realize that they have actually stated that this game will conclude the story.

@JasonR86 said:

@Hailinel said:

@JasonR86

The 13-series of games need to stop.

Why? Because you personally don't like it? That's a ridiculous argument and if you don't like them, leave the games to those that do.

You got it.

You say that as though it's something to be proud of.

@GunslingerPanda said:

@Animasta said:

@GunslingerPanda said:

So the great story of XIII will continue to be shat upon by another sequel.

I hope you're being sarcastic

I hope you're being facetious.

we hope for many things

@Animasta said:

@GunslingerPanda said:

@Animasta said:

@GunslingerPanda said:

So the great story of XIII will continue to be shat upon by another sequel.

I hope you're being sarcastic

I hope you're being facetious.

we hope for many things

Or perhaps too few.

@GunslingerPanda said:

@Animasta said:

@GunslingerPanda said:

@Animasta said:

@GunslingerPanda said:

So the great story of XIII will continue to be shat upon by another sequel.

I hope you're being sarcastic

I hope you're being facetious.

we hope for many things

Or perhaps too few.

etro be praised

I was not a fan of XIII, and didn't even bother with the sequel, but I thought it was nice that Square listened to common criticisms and attempted to address them. I doubt I'll ever play LR:FFXIII, but hopefully this bizarrely iterative saga turns out the better for it.

I think Square Enix is just trolling us with the Final Fantasy games at this point. I don't even mean they are doing something so stupid that it seems like a troll, no, I literally think they get together and actively think of the worst, "trolliest" new Final Fantasy game possible, and then decide to make it.

So I take it this shall be Final Fantasy XIII-3?

@DoctorWelch said:

I think Square Enix is just trolling us with the Final Fantasy games at this point. I don't even mean they are doing something so stupid that it seems like a troll, no, I literally think they get together and actively think of the worst, "trolliest" new Final Fantasy game possible, and then decide to make it.

well then I'm an idiot because I'm mildly excited for it (but then again I actually try games before shitting on them so!)

@Encephalon: Well XIII-2 was them listening to fan feedback and supposedly checking off one by one every complaint. I'd say that they improved what needed to be improved but worsened what was good in the original. Here's hoping that the saying "third time's a charm" proves to be true. They need to close this saga in style, and finally move the hell on.

Oh, for fuck's sake, can we stop calling it Final Fantasy if Square is just going to continue to uneasily slide into making piss-poor action games?

@Sparky_Buzzsaw said:

Oh, for fuck's sake, can we stop calling it Final Fantasy if Square is just going to continue to uneasily slide into making piss-poor action games?

I'd think we should see the game before judging its quality, or its genre for that matter.

@Hailinel said:

@Sparky_Buzzsaw said:

Oh, for fuck's sake, can we stop calling it Final Fantasy if Square is just going to continue to uneasily slide into making piss-poor action games?

I'd think we should see the game before judging its quality, or its genre for that matter.

I honestly agree with him, the final fantasy name kinda doesn't really mean anything anymore.

@Hailinel: If they're implementing the Paradigm system, as noted on Gamespot, with the addition of moving around the battlefield, then it certainly sounds more and more action-y to me. But who knows? Maybe the game will end up being amazing and practically shit gold bricks for Square Enix. Me? I'm tired of them obsessing over spinoffs of a mediocre RPG and want to see them move forward. I know FFXV will probably be next-gen and therefore not announced for some time, but this is not the sort of shit that will get me back on board the SE train. It's as though they're bound and determined to force gamers to like this crappy, bland universe they've set up with XIII, and won't quit making games set in it until we've all thrown up our hands and bought a gazillion copies of Lightning's latest exploits.

@Sparky_Buzzsaw said:

@Hailinel: If they're implementing the Paradigm system, as noted on Gamespot, with the addition of moving around the battlefield, then it certainly sounds more and more action-y to me. But who knows? Maybe the game will end up being amazing and practically shit gold bricks for Square Enix. Me? I'm tired of them obsessing over spinoffs of a mediocre RPG and want to see them move forward. I know FFXV will probably be next-gen, but this is not the sort of shit that will get me back on board the SE train. It's as though they're bound and determined to force gamers to like this crappy, bland universe they've set up with XIII, and won't quit making games set in it until we've all thrown up our hands and bought a gazillion copies of Lightning's latest exploits.

You consider the universe crappy and bland, I like it. What's wrong with just allowing those interested to enjoy it, or to even look forward to it?

@AuthenticM: It's funny, people often cite FF's constant reinvention as a strength, and I agree to a point, but I'd also argue that it can become a liability. Gameplay elements are more likely to get scrapped than iterated on (I would kill a man to give them another shot at the Junction system), which is why this whole Lightning saga was so out of left field to me. I mean, they've already sequelized a main series game before, but FFXIII-2 was actually quite different from X-2: FFX's reception was much more universally positive, thus X-2 felt like Square saying "fuck it, man, let's do another one!" whereas FXIII-2 is their unabashed attempt to address criticisms leveled against XIII.

I can't say if this approach will ultimately yield better games, but I think it's an interesting change in direction, and also a sign that Square has started to iron out the workflow issues that hampered XIII's development.

@Animasta said:

@DoctorWelch said:

I think Square Enix is just trolling us with the Final Fantasy games at this point. I don't even mean they are doing something so stupid that it seems like a troll, no, I literally think they get together and actively think of the worst, "trolliest" new Final Fantasy game possible, and then decide to make it.

well then I'm an idiot because I'm mildly excited for it (but then again I actually try games before shitting on them so!)

The point is there are a million and a half things they could do with that franchise that will not only make them ten times the money a new FFXIII game will make, but also be ten times as interesting for ten times the people. Square is the one game company that seemingly hates money, and is actively trying to kill itself. They've been doing it with the Final Fantasy franchise for years, and they've done it to the Kingdom Hearts franchise as well. They love making their franchises go so far up its own ass that it distances itself from pretty much everyone but extremely hardcore fans.

@Encephalon: I'm not saying you shouldn't look forward to it or hope that it's the next big thing. I hope the same thing with every game release, even the ones that look shitty. But on the flip side, I've been supporting Square Enix for over a decade and a half. Being vocal about my dissatisfaction with the direction they appear to be taking with a beloved franchise isn't somehow an attack on you or Square fans. It's me imploring them, practically BEGGING them, to rethink their current strategies. If they want to make an action game with RPG elements, great, more power to them, God bless, and all that. But it's just not the sort of shit I want to see them make. Our opinions differ. That's bound to happen.

It's about time they start actually caring about a single-story line instead of supporting the tradition of new arch's every addition. I can't say 13 had the best story, but it's nice to see the company focusing their efforts.

@Sparky_Buzzsaw said:

Oh, for fuck's sake, can we stop calling it Final Fantasy if Square is just going to continue to uneasily slide into making piss-poor action games?

Why does it matter? What does Final Fantasy even mean at this point? There have been so many games that the brand doesn't even mean anything any more. I'd rather see them drop the numbers from their titles.

@DoctorWelch said:

@Animasta said:

@DoctorWelch said:

I think Square Enix is just trolling us with the Final Fantasy games at this point. I don't even mean they are doing something so stupid that it seems like a troll, no, I literally think they get together and actively think of the worst, "trolliest" new Final Fantasy game possible, and then decide to make it.

well then I'm an idiot because I'm mildly excited for it (but then again I actually try games before shitting on them so!)

The point is there are a million and a half things they could do with that franchise that will not only make them ten times the money a new FFXIII game will make, but also be ten times as interesting for ten times the people. Square is the one game company that seemingly hates money, and is actively trying to kill itself. They've been doing it with the Final Fantasy franchise for years, and they've done it to the Kingdom Hearts franchise as well. They love making their franchises go so far up its own ass that it distances itself from pretty much everyone but extremely hardcore fans.

I'm hardly an extreme hardcore fan (I only really like FF12 and 13-2 to be honest) also I'd hardly call being pretentious final fantasy's problem.

@Phatmac said:

A new Final Fantasy game has been announced, it'll be called Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII(Remember these are the guys that named other dumb games such as Kingdoms Hearts 358/2 Days). Here's an official statement by Square-Enix:

Toriyama said Lightning will make her comeback, returning as a stronger character than she was in the first two games, FF XIII and FF XIII-2. Lightning is going to face her final battle, so he asked the character designer to convey the power in her eyes.

Full size

The game will offer players a lot of ways to customize their version of Lightning. Her outfits will be about more than just aesthetics. They affect her abilities.

Character control will be more dynamic. She'll be able to hang off ledges, pull herself up, jump, duck behind corners. You'll be able to move her around in battle, a first, they said, for the series.

First screenshot of the new game.

First logo.

The game world is composed off four islands and touches on three themes: gothic, mechanical and fantasy. When the game begins, the world is 13 days away from the end. She has 13 days and 13 nights to save humanity. The game runs on a doomsday clock.

Concept art.

The game runs on a time-of-day system, with a monorail that moves through it on schedule. The monorail runs on a schedule, like everything else—you can get stuck in one region waiting for the monorail to take you to another island.

The game will be out for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2013.

Source

@Dagbiker: Wish they cared about the quality of their games instead of stuff like this.

@Sparky_Buzzsaw said:

@Encephalon: I'm not saying you shouldn't look forward to it or hope that it's the next big thing. I hope the same thing with every game release, even the ones that look shitty. But on the flip side, I've been supporting Square Enix for over a decade and a half. Being vocal about my dissatisfaction with the direction they appear to be taking with a beloved franchise isn't somehow an attack on you or Square fans. It's me imploring them, practically BEGGING them, to rethink their current strategies. If they want to make an action game with RPG elements, great, more power to them, God bless, and all that. But it's just not the sort of shit I want to see them make. Our opinions differ. That's bound to happen.

Wut?

@Encephalon said:

@Sparky_Buzzsaw said:

@Encephalon: I'm not saying you shouldn't look forward to it or hope that it's the next big thing. I hope the same thing with every game release, even the ones that look shitty. But on the flip side, I've been supporting Square Enix for over a decade and a half. Being vocal about my dissatisfaction with the direction they appear to be taking with a beloved franchise isn't somehow an attack on you or Square fans. It's me imploring them, practically BEGGING them, to rethink their current strategies. If they want to make an action game with RPG elements, great, more power to them, God bless, and all that. But it's just not the sort of shit I want to see them make. Our opinions differ. That's bound to happen.

Wut?

I think that response was meant for me.

Seems weird to me that they're going in such a different direction with this since Xiii-2 seemed to be on the right track. Oh well, hopefully they can pull it off in such a short amount of time.

I don't know what to think about this. I'm glad that this is finishing off the "series", but I'm still bitter that FFXIII didn't tie down its loose ends in the first place. Final Fantasies used to be final, complete stories, and now they seem to be going the Kingdom Hearts route of dragging out every universe to death.

It's definitely a symptom of the long system cycles though, SE absolutely needs something cheap and quick they can make to keep people busy until new hardware comes around. I can't fault them too much for that.

I just didn't like FFXIII and what it represented for Final Fantasy in general. I felt no desire to continue on in that universe. If these sequels are actually fun though, good on them I suppose. I admit to enjoying FFX-2, despite what it did to the narrative (and the original was enough of a complete story that it wasn't effected much by it).

@Draxyle said:

I don't know what to think about this. I'm glad that this is finishing off the "series", but I'm still bitter that FFXIII didn't tie down its loose ends in the first place. Final Fantasies used to be final, complete stories, and now they seem to be going the Kingdom Hearts route of dragging out every universe to death.

It's definitely a symptom of the long system cycles though, SE absolutely needs something cheap and quick they can make to keep people busy until new hardware comes around. I can't fault them too much for that.

I just didn't like FFXIII and what it represented for Final Fantasy in general. I felt no desire to continue on in that universe. If these sequels are actually fun though, good on them I suppose. I admit to enjoying FFX-2, despite what it did to the narrative (and the original was enough of a complete story that it wasn't effected much by it).

Technically, FFXIII did tie up its loose ends. The game serves as a fine enough stand-alone story. It's just that the decision was made to create a second game that addressed the major criticisms of the first, and in the process, they created new loose ends that needed tying up.

I like that a selling point seems to be lackluster public transport: "you can get stuck in one region waiting for the monorail to take you to another island".

@Draxyle said:

I don't know what to think about this. I'm glad that this is finishing off the "series", but I'm still bitter that FFXIII didn't tie down its loose ends in the first place. Final Fantasies used to be final, complete stories, and now they seem to be going the Kingdom Hearts route of dragging out every universe to death.

It's definitely a symptom of the long system cycles though, SE absolutely needs something cheap and quick they can make to keep people busy until new hardware comes around. I can't fault them too much for that.

I just didn't like FFXIII and what it represented for Final Fantasy in general. I felt no desire to continue on in that universe. If these sequels are actually fun though, good on them I suppose. I admit to enjoying FFX-2, despite what it did to the narrative (and the original was enough of a complete story that it wasn't effected much by it).

Technically, FFXIII did tie up its loose ends. The game serves as a fine enough stand-alone story. It's just that the decision was made to create a second game that addressed the major criticisms of the first, and in the process, they created new loose ends that needed tying up.

Honestly, the idea of switching back to Lightning isn't a horrible one, but I really didn't care for her very much in what I've seen of the first XIII game. The fact that I liked Serah's party in XIII-2 (which I was exposed to for a very short time) less than any other FF party certainly keeps me out of this one for story purposes. I might've been interested in a game that actually starred Snow or Sazh, though I have no idea really if events in XIII or XIII-2 make that infeasible. I am in accord with several other people who posted that they're entirely ready to move on from this set of characters, and the number of people who are saying exactly that (along with the trailing sales of the series) does make me honestly believe that Square needs to end XIII by the end of 2013. Part of this probably stems from the fact that I always want to control my full party in an RPG, though the auto-battle button does a better job than I ever will.

Also, the idea of adding character-action mechanics to XIII isn't a horrible one, but I can't imagine it'll be all that engaging compared to most character-action games these days. Not that Lightning Returns will be a bad action game, but I can't imagine choosing to play it over, say, the next Batman, DMC, or even Kingdom Hearts. I know it won't be a full-on action game, but adding platforming and movement mechanics to the gameplay does not take it far from KH or an action game.

I honestly think the higher ups at Square Enix are incompetent.  I dont get why they announce a game like Versus XIII and it takes them 6 years to develop something theyve already announced.  In the meantime you have stupid Kingdom Hearts handheld games which made the story of the series so convoluted and gibberish.  

Hm. I'll wait for more information on the game before praising / hating it. Crazy idea, I know.

( --- means "meets" or "crossed with" )

Sounds like:

FFXIII (setting and base for battle system) --- Majora's Mask (tone and looming time) --- Pikmin (constant time mechanic) --- Horror Tropes (themes, direction of loneliness, segregation, failing having a price that may affect your ability to complete it) --- The World Ends With You (aesthetic, tone, themes) --- FF X-2 (story set-up in relation to previous title, limited ability to do all sidequests in one playthrough - possibly a perfect playthrough) --- Fallout (Travel costing time)

It sounds like a great, interesting and inventive concept. While I don't think they have yet really mastered the games potential (I liked XIII overall and I really liked XIII-2; but both had there problems) but I will continue to give props to them for actually broadening out into different kind of styles and ideas with a series that so many people hold back due to "tradition", it is nice to see them trying new things and actually being quite bold and out-there (whether anyone else, including the GiantBomb staff, will even give them credit for it).

I am looking forward to seeing how this turns out, not expecting it to be mind-blowing or fulfil all that they are implying but until I see the game in a near-final form then I am not going to judge it either way - it could fall flat or it could be truly stunning; people constantly say how a company has lost their way with a series and knocks down a game when it has been announced and been shown clearly how absolutely wrong they were and in my heart I hope they do it this time (especially since they actually seem like they are making a game that is even more niche than the previous ones).

You'd think with interest in Final Fantasy at an all-time low, they'd get the hint that they need to shake something up, but I guess this is Square Enix we're talking about, so just throw common sense out the window.

@Encephalon: Oh hell, sorry about that.

Never played these games but I'm just going to say that Lightning Returns is a fucking great name, just get rid of the rest of the title, rename the protagonist, and I will buy this game no matter the actual content.

I'm psyched. I enjoyed the first two games a lot.

@ThePhantomStranger: Technically her name isn't Lightning, it is just a nickname she was given while working as a soldier. Her real name is Claire.

Well I'm" not against this, as I said before as long they wrap up the story in a meaningful and concise manner without any shenanigans (i.e. XIII-2) I'm" for it. It looks like they may be moving this title towards one person, action RPG oriented gameplay and within the context of the story it does make sense. Hope the gameplay is still as good as it was from XIII-2.

However, I don't know where the doomsday thing came from. Hopefully we'll find that out later.

I'll buy it when it's £10 (or less) but not really excited for this, because FFXIII and FFXIII-2 were not good.

WHERE THE FUCK IS FINAL FANTASY X-3

THROW MONEY AT MY DICK