This entry into the Final Fantasy universe is set in the worlds of Pulse and Cocoon. Players take control of multiple characters who are caught in a war between these worlds.
Apparently the reason SE is reporting that FFXIII feels more linear and lacks town is due to technical reasons. At least that's the excuse they're throwing around.
In an interview with Ultimania, Kitase and Toriyama claim that rendering towns in high definition is difficult.
I think this may also explain some other questionable factors in FFXIII, such as the choice to shift into a battle scene as opposed to fighting mobs in the open world ala FFXII.
Personally, it sounds a bit like a cop-out to me. In my mind, I know they didn't want to take an extra year to get towns in the game and make everything look as good as it does now in FFXIII (keep in mind, this is arguably the best looking game to date), but I also feel like if they had taken an extra year, they could have gone that extra distance.
I do think they underestimated how big of a part of the FF experience towns and exploration really is, though, and sacrificed it in order to get a product out faster. Which is not a good thing.
For once i'm at SE side on this one. If they were after including cities in FFXIII, they'd probably be bigger than the ones on FFXII, and with high definition, and space constrictions it would be a real challenge to do it.
I love Lost Odyssey and also Infinite Undiscovery, but their cities are rather small, Fallout 3 presents big out settings of decrepit cities, but there are a lot of reused landscape, and Mass Effect, though it presents rich and detailed cities, each scenario is small.
To really create a whole big and lively city without almost to none loading screens, like in FFXII, in high definition - probably SE's idea - is a very bold and difficult one to do, even nowadays.
" For once i'm at SE side on this one. If they were after including cities in FFXIII, they'd probably be bigger than the ones on FFXII, and with high definition, and space constrictions it would be a real challenge to do it. I love Lost Odyssey and also Infinite Undiscovery, but their cities are rather small, Fallout 3 presents big out settings of decrepit cities, but there are a lot of reused landscape, and Mass Effect, though it presents rich and detailed cities, each scenario is small. To really create a whole big and lively city without almost to none loading screens, like in FFXII, in high definition - probably SE's idea - is a very bold and difficult one to do, even nowadays. "
Yeah, I buy the excuse they're using as their reason not to do it. As I posted in my last blog post on this game, they're clearly driving decisions based on money, and delaying a year or however long it would have taken to put in a city or towns would have cost them money.
Still, towns are kind of a staple in FF games. To not have a single real town is kind of like not having magic or chocobos or airships... maybe even worse than that.
So while I understand their decision, I'm not a big fan of it and I hope to see them man up and put some towns in FFXV when it finally comes along. :)
I agree, but i think this is Square-Enix problem, as they feel the pressure of the jrpg fans and their own to deliver the best rpg experience possible, and they consequently aim to the stars. I believe they tried to make the most of it, but were short on time and money.
The FFXV, according to SE, as they declared that they would start outsourcing their games, can be very different, and the first FF not made in Japan. So let's wait and see...
Meh, Nomura said Versus XIII will be like the ones pre-2000s and it's confirmed to have the Airship with a full globe flying like in FF1-FF9. I'm started to hate FF13 and the steps back it took, 2011 (2012 NA/EU) can't get here quick enough for Nomura's and the older team's real FF game. I want it now. x.x
" Meh, Nomura said Versus XIII will be like the ones pre-2000s and it's confirmed to have the Airship with a full globe flying like in FF9. I'm started to hate FF13 and the steps back it took, 2011 can't get here quick enough for Nomura's and the older team's real FF game. I want it now. x.x "
" Meh, Nomura said Versus XIII will be like the ones pre-2000s and it's confirmed to have the Airship with a full globe flying like in FF9. I'm started to hate FF13 and the steps back it took, 2011 can't get here quick enough for Nomura's and the older team's real FF game. I want it now. x.x "
"
Dude, the game is over 2 months old and everyone is waiting for Agito XIII to come out this year for PSP and then Versus XIII in mid/late 2011. FF13 is old and almost everyone is close to or got a plat trophy.
" Meh, Nomura said Versus XIII will be like the ones pre-2000s and it's confirmed to have the Airship with a full globe flying like in FF1-FF9. I'm started to hate FF13 and the steps back it took, 2011 (2012 NA/EU) can't get here quick enough for Nomura's and the older team's real FF game. I want it now. x.x "
The "older team"? Versus XIII is being done by the KH team, not by team 1 (which is actually the "older team").
If it's more like FFs of yore and not like KH, I'll be surprised to say the least. I hope it is, but with Nomura at the helm and given his past work, I'm not enthused about it yet.
@Cramsy said:
" Won't be picking this one up then. That's super dissapointing "
Eh, I still give it a positive review. It's not the best FF game. Not even close. But it is still a good game, especially if you've been a long-time fan (it still has a lot of those old features... it is still a FF, even lacking some of what defined the series).
" and it's confirmed to have the Airship with a full globe flying like in FF1-FF9."
That sounds awful, I mean I am not as shallow to say LAWLZ ima not buy dis game cuz 1 minor thing, but man that sucks. "
Have you ever played Dragon Quest VIII? Being able to fly around the world in an airship (or in DQ8's case, on a giant bird) does not mean towns need to be the same size as the characters. The entire world is actually to-scale. Unfortunately though, it's not seamless, and when you go into flying mode you enter an entirely different zone. When you land it just calculates your landing point on the map with some slight loading.
I don't see how you could be opposed to that style of world map, though... I mean, if a game takes place on a single world, why wouldn't you wanna be able to fly through it?
Somehow I doubt they're gonna take that route with Versus XIII though as it's being developed by the Kingdom Hearts team (with assistance of the Advent Children team) and will be an over-the-top hack 'n' slash game. Games like that just lend themselves better to smaller areas and a stage-based world structure. If they are gonna take that route though, they're probably gonna have to take a lot of cues from inFamous/Prototype due to its modern-day skyscraper-rich setting.
Yeah, very unlikely considering this game has been in development for years now, but it would make for a pretty sweet-ass game, don't ya think?
@Axersia: I bought DQVIII over a year ago but haven't actually got around to playing it yet unfortunately because of so much other stuff that has came out since then (and playing WoW again for a while didn't help either). I was just glad when RPGs trashed the whole walking/flying around on the world map. Sure it was cool back in FF1 getting that boat and exploring the ocean for the first time but in reality it is pretty much all filler and is just a longer way to get from point a to point b. FFX got it right imo, give me a menu with area names listed and just teleport to one. I don't want to take the few minutes it generally took to fly from one place to another. I can't see how people actually like all the classic world map type stuff anymore.
In an interview with Ultimania, Kitase and Toriyama claim that rendering towns in high definition is difficult.
This is a joke. How passionless at your job do you have to be to whine about something being too difficult to do? Especially when its something that is a fundamental core of the experience?
"Uh, yeah, for GTA4, we're not going to let you get out of the car because that would too difficult"
well, FF XIII is the best looking game this far, at least on the PS3, it got better graphic then Uncharted 2. However i dont know about Heavy Rain and GoW 3 yet.
Personally im kinda happy that theres no towns in this game, it was really annoying, esp. in FF XII, when you had to run between the different stores to buy things, also, if you want exploration you got all of Grand Pulse to explore, we saw a small part of that world in the question thingie posted yesterday...
" Yeah, very unlikely considering this game has been in development for years now, but it would make for a pretty sweet-ass game, don't ya think? "
Are you drunk? Nomura confirmed it in the Famitsu interviews a couple weeks ago. Airships are in the game with the old classic style, it even surprised him that they got it in there. It's been confirmed over and over again that Versus XIII will be more inline with the older FFs before the merger.
Yeah, I'm going to go ahead and wait for more than just Nomura's word that Versus is going to be something other than the hack-n-slash style-before-substance type of experience we got in KH and Advent Children.
" Via 1up. Apparently the reason SE is reporting that FFXIII feels more linear and lacks town is due to technical reasons. At least that's the excuse they're throwing around. In an interview with Ultimania, Kitase and Toriyama claim that rendering towns in high definition is difficult. I think this may also explain some other questionable factors in FFXIII, such as the choice to shift into a battle scene as opposed to fighting mobs in the open world ala FFXII. Personally, it sounds a bit like a cop-out to me. In my mind, I know they didn't want to take an extra year to get towns in the game and make everything look as good as it does now in FFXIII (keep in mind, this is arguably the best looking game to date), but I also feel like if they had taken an extra year, they could have gone that extra distance. I do think they underestimated how big of a part of the FF experience towns and exploration really is, though, and sacrificed it in order to get a product out faster. Which is not a good thing. "
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