I always thought the idea of this was pretty great and meant to pick up the first game but never did, now with this coming out i think i'll grab it as i'v always enjoyed the music from FF even if i haven't played them all, really wish they would have included Chrono Trigger in this though, hell id even pay for it in DLC form as i think that game has the best music of any square game. Anyone else getting it? I can see it being kind of a stab in the back to people who bought the first one and payed fr DLC though so im curious if anyone is getting it who already has the first one.

Yeah I'll get it. Not really a stab in the back since the original came out over 2 years ago. I spent like close to (over?) $100 for the game plus all the DLC but I definitely got my money's worth.

Yep. I'll be picking my copy up on Tuesday. I don't really consider it a stab in the back either, as I paid for all of the DLC and also got my money's worth out of it. And this new game will have far more songs and represented games in it in addition to the new modes and various tweaks, so that's a major plus right there.

Question for those who played the previous game, do you start with every song in the game unlocked or is there some form of progression? I never want to play any songs from FF7, Advent Children or Crisis Core so this is important to me.

I got the first one and only a bit of the DLC for, so this one's a fine deal. It's especially better than it having NONE of the old songs or something.

This is actually one of the few games I'm going to be getting this holiday season and was SUPER looking forward to it, got my copy Friday from Square's shop actually (Hooray early shipment!). There's some minor gameplay changes that are nice, and the Quest mode seems way better than the Chaos Notes from the first game. It seems like an objectively better game in every way than the first one and the addition of non-main FF games (Tactics, Crystal Chronicles in particular) do a lot to endear it to me.

@corruptedevil : When you start you pick 4 characters for a party and you get of the songs from those games (4 of the main 1-14). After you play any 4 songs from those games you unlock every other song. Play 2 MORE songs and you unlock Quest mode to get shards and unlock more characters. As far as I can tell the only songs that need to be unlocked past that point are the new "Event" songs which are just unlocked via Rhythmia.

It's got 1000 Words, Last Hunter, and Crimson Blitz so absolutely.

Also it has Mount Gulg again and that song rules.

I should note that I played the new versus multiplayer of the game at PAX. It is awesome and worth the purchase on its own right there.

Wait 14? I'm kinda surprised that 11 and 14 are represented.

Yeah, can't wait. The last one actually had a lot to do once you got to high levels and this is gonna have a ton to explore.

As the last Final Fantasy one, I hope they continue the series with other franchises. The gameplay's just too much fun.

I want an Eidos themed one where I can play the theme to Deus Ex.

Obviously this series will culminate with a collaboration with Nintendo on TheatRhythm Heaven.

FFXI was represented in the original Theatrhythm. Songs in XIV will be new to the sequel, and this time around, there are far more songs from the various spin-offs an sequels ranging from Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest, FFX-2, XIII-2 and Lightning Returns, Final Fantasy Tactics, even Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon. The library of songs they're pulling from is much large and more diverse this time around, as the first game focused almost exclusively on the first thirteen core games, with a select few exceptions in the DLC.

I'd want the original Tomb Raider menu music. Maybe some Deathtrap Dungeon and Fighting Force 2, aww yeah.

Considering it. I really enjoyed the original and the new one has a LOT of new songs. Trying to decide if I want to spend the $40 now or wait until I have some extra cash lying around.

Yes! I enjoyed the first a hell of a lot, and am really excited for the new one :)

If you like FF music and rhythm games (especially Japanese ones of the Elite Beat Agents variety), then this should be right up your alley. The new one seems to have so many songs too- even as someone who played a lot of the original and bought some DLC songs, I'm still excited by the sheer number of songs in Curtain Call.

You'redamnrightIam.

I'm super excited for this game. I loved the original.

It's that crashing symbol sound I don't like.

The songs are so varied but every one of them is punctuated by that goddamn clanging sound. Also I played the demo and once again, like the last game, there's basically no RPG elements. I mean yes there's levels and stuff... but so what? I actually quite like the art style, but why not make it so the boss battles actually have SOME stratergy.

Why no make it so you can create a custom selection that flows into each other too? I dunno... the game just feels half-done to me.

I want to like it, but just can't get past those issues.

It's a rhythm game. If you're expecting something akin to a full-fledged RPG, you're looking in the wrong place.

Yep, I looooved the first one so I'm ok with just getting more of the same. We get a pretty awesome week here with Theatrhythm and Hyrule Warriors coming out on the same day.

I'm afraid I have some bad news. Hyrule Warriors comes out on the 26th not the 16th

I ordered the Collector's Edition directly from squareenix.com and it showed up yesterday. It's pretty great, y'all.

I'm currently rockin' a group of Squall, Terra, Onion Knight, and Lightning.

@corruptedevil: Sorry to break it to you but both are out on the 19th in the UK.

@gunstarred: Oh ok, well go along then with your weird release dates.

@marino: It's so pretty, man. Shame I just have whatever the "limited edition" is, no fancy box for me.

Limited Edition just comes with the soundtrack. Collector's comes with another soundtrack CD, 5 cards and a 3DS pouch.

Yup. If you didn't get the first one, buy this version. More songs to choose from and a lost of the ones available in Curtain Call were DLC in the original.

That said, yes 14 is represented. And the have the theme from Titan last phase. Play it on ultimate to feel Titan Ex level wrath all over again.

Also bought collectors edition.

Not full-fledged, but SOMETHING. Anything more than tap the circle, swipe the circle, hold and slide inside the circle. And all the while these iconic songs are playing with a symbol just slams away. I mean they couldn't come up with a unique sound for each stage or a handful at least? Imagine if it was multi-tracked and you controlled the violins in one song and the vocals in another.

It just seems like a lazy rhythm-action game compared to Guitar Hero for example. I mean Square-Enix own the songs and the masters, surely they could do more than this.

The vast majority of rhythm games are based on simple actions to follow the music. Even Guitar Hero can be boiled down to "hold the right colored button and hit the strum bar." Ouendan, Gitaroo-Man, Space Channel 5, Project Diva, Amplitude and numerous other rhythm games are based on equally simple mechanics. The point is to allow the player to keep their focus on the rhythm and the action on screen without distracting the player with mechanics that are too bloated for their own good.

@pandabear: I feel it's worth noting, if the sound effect is that much of issue, you can turn it off in this game. They also added unlocks for different sound effects (select noises/hit sound effects from different games) that you can change on a per-note type and per-song type basis.

I do see your point. But I feel that with the Final Fantasy name attached it's not too big of a stretch to expect some level of tactics. It even has experience and progression, but it all feels tacked on. I like rhythm games for sure, I don't want PaRappa The Rapper over-complicated for the sake of it, but his game has boss fights and health bars... I dunno. Just some sort of music based fighting would have been fun. I don't hate these games, I just don't think they're the best use of the licence.

@epidehl: Oh ok... well that's something I'll have to YouTube and check out. It's not a fix all for me, but that is good to know.

I'm waiting for the eshop to update. When does it update normally?

It's still a rhythm game at heart. Tactics aren't something that fit easily or well into the nature of the genre. Harmonix learned this lesson the hard way with their attempt at a rhythm shooter in Chroma. The alpha was a disaster because the shooter concepts and rhythm concepts didn't work well together at all. They sent the game back to the drawing board, but I'd be surprised if it's ever released.

Thanks, this thread reminded me to order the game on Amazon. The original almost got me to buy a 3DS back before I had one. Now that I have one picking up this version seems like a no brainer.

Is it just me or are field stages way more brutal this time round? I just failed FFVIII: The Castle on ultimate spectacularly.

@turambar: This is a good thing to hear. Field stages were by and large too easy in the first game.

I... I can't stop, you guys.

I stopped after my hand felt like it did after day 1 of Diablo 3. That's probably a good sign as far as my opinion of the game is concerned.

It's really quite good, and Quest Mode does a good job of getting you to play a big variety of songs. Versus mode is kind of neat, but not being able to see on screen how your opponent is doing takes a lot of the tension out of these types of competitive modes. I like the new method of unlocking characters, as well as making the collectable cards relevant to the gameplay was a nice touch.

I do have a few complaints though. EMS stages are still all terrible due to the fact that the cursor scrolls across the screen at random speeds, making attempts at critting notes feel like guess work. Fortunately, they are few and far in between. They are all unlockables now, no need to do any of them to gain access to more songs.

Also, placing an auto-scrolling cursor on FMS stages makes them somewhat frustrating, as your eyes focus in on that instead of the dark black orb behind the cursor that you do control. I often found myself missing notes because I keep focusing on the former instead of the position of the latter.

On a side note, has anyone noticed if HP actually matters this time round? Or do you still die to the same number of missed notes on ultimate, like the first game?

@pandabear: So I wrote a review up on what I think of it. I feel that the RPG elements are represented much better than they were in the first game. Also they have options for you to change the sound effects for when you hit notes.

It's still not to a normal amounts see in Final Fantasy but I feel that they made those elements way more prevalent than they were in the original.