*** Final Fantasy XIII ***

I'm getting excited for this. I've been able to distract myself from all the hype (thanks go to my PC, ME1, Dirt 2 and DA:O), however it's time to charge up my DS3 and hook the PS3 up to the 50" in the lounge come March 9.

I've mostly gotten over SE's capitalist selling out to Microsoft, at least, I thought I had. Japanese reviews, and English reviews of the Japanese version all share the same complaint: it's too linear; there are no 'towns'. And it's all because SE had to make the necessary changes to allow the game to work across the Xbox's multiple discs.

A Final Fantasy, for the first time, couldn't offer the player the ability to travel anywhere at any point during the game because it would require 360 owners to have to keep swapping discs. That first "town" you'd visit at the beginning of the story would only be on the first disc; when you're on the 2nd or 3rd, the data is not accessible, and so, neither is the town. SE, IMO, had to re-structure the game to get it to work on the 360. They sacrificed FF tradition - and seemingly some loyal fans, too - in the process.

But, hey. Now the halls at SE are paved with Microsoft-bought gold, it only means we can expect better titles in the future. Right?

I can't believe how close it is now...
 
A Final Fantasy, for the first time, couldn't offer the player the ability to travel anywhere at any point during the game because it would require 360 owners to have to keep swapping discs.
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VII, VIII and IX all had towns and multiple disks ;)

The reason they've given is because of this level of graphics it would take too long to make full towns with NPC's. I honestly believe the changes weren't to do with xbox as the game was pretty far done when the decision to make an xbox version was made.
 
Strife212 said:
VII, VIII and IX all had towns and multiple disks ;)

The reason they've given is because of this level of graphics it would take too long to make full towns with NPC's. I honestly believe the changes weren't to do with xbox as the game was pretty far done when the decision to make an xbox version was made.
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Yes but you could visit any town you wanted without having to change discs, is my point :). The enormity of individual towns, I believe, is quite possible on the PS3's storage media. But they couldn't be revisitable for the sake of the 360's multiple discs. The amount of data wasn't the problem, it was where that data had to be placed, and when it could be accessed.

It can fall either way, I guess. We'll probably never know just how much - if anything - was changed to cater for the 360. But I can't help but feel that something was compromised. Call it a gut feeling :rolleyes:

Still, mega-hyped!
 
I think you'll find the space requirements are mostly just what is needed by the 1080P FMVs. 'Towns' as a whole, should be quite cheap storage wise.
 
Strife212 said:
VII, VIII and IX all had towns and multiple disks
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Along with Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey which are 360 exclusives. If its true about SE's had to remove ability to travel anywhere at any point during the game because it would require 360 owners to have to keep swapping discs then they need to bring back the people who now work for Mistwalker.
 
blairw said:
Graphics in the video do look amazing - but you can tell that what that guy said in the interview said about not being able to do a normal ff game in that level of detail, it would take forever!
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Strife212 said:
The reason they've given is because of this level of graphics it would take too long to make full towns with NPC's.
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It just shows you where we are going wrong with games. In my opinion I would much rather have the FF structure of FF7 and just have the graphics updated to the level of FFX.

I don't need mind blowing visuals to enjoy a game and that's the exact reason why I have played FF7 and FF10 more times than I can remember. Yet 75% of PS3/X360 games struggle to hold my attention to the end of the first play through.

Get rid of all this DLC milking, eyepets and guitar hero variations and bring back the proper games. The chances of us seeing anything as legendary as FF7, Chrono Trigger or Silent Hill 2 on this gen of consoles is very slim.
 
TechnoCorruption said:
It just shows you where we are going wrong with games. In my opinion I would much rather have the FF structure of FF7 and just have the graphics updated to the level of FFX.

I don't need mind blowing visuals to enjoy a game and that's the exact reason why I have played FF7 and FF10 more times than I can remember. Yet 75% of PS3/X360 games struggle to hold my attention to the end of the first play through.

Get rid of all this DLC milking, eyepets and guitar hero variations and bring back the proper games. The chances of us seeing anything as legendary as FF7, Chrono Trigger or Silent Hill 2 on this gen of consoles is very slim.
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I very much agree, but I know similar things are repeated every few years or so. I can pretty much guarantee we'll see the same comment cropping up in the FFXXI for PS5 thread in relation to the lost glory days of FFXIII - though you and I know that this time it's really true, and the new kids won't ever understand.

Quick question - how are the limits handled in XIII? More than anything, that's what really let me down in XII. Similarly, it's why IX rates bottom of the pile in my list of PSX releases - that trance system was the most ineffective heap of crap I've ever seen.
 
Does anyone know if you can play this on an Xbox without a HDD? (On an arcade for example)

Stupid question I know, my answer would be no, you'd need a memory card atleast? am I right?
 
Locke said:
Does anyone know if you can play this on an Xbox without a HDD? (On an arcade for example)

Stupid question I know, my answer would be no, you'd need a memory card atleast? am I right?
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Like all 360 games, you don't have to have a hard drive. The splintered user base is one of MS's biggest problems: early 360 owners may still not have a HDD on their console, so hard drive installs can only be optional.

Neither the 360 or PS3 version allow for an optional install; it's all off the disc. However load times are still said to be low.

Why an optional install can't exist for both versions is a wonder. Especially for 360 owners who could install all three discs onto their HDD first and in one go, eliminating the need for disc changing.
 
Locke said:
Does anyone know if you can play this on an Xbox without a HDD? (On an arcade for example)

Stupid question I know, my answer would be no, you'd need a memory card atleast? am I right?
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Going to need a memory card to save you're progress, not sure if any of the other disks will need to be installed to a HDD like Forza 3 etc though.

The new arcades Dec 08 / June 09 do have on board memory built in 256 / 512 mb iirc.
 
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Regarding the PS3's 1080p FMVs: does this mean the PS3 will output the whole game at 1080p upscaled from 720p during gameplay and then be native for the movies? Or will the output resolution change before and after every cut-scene?

It'd be pretty annoying if my TV is flashing black and changing its resolution while playing.
 
Pete.Dakota said:
Regarding the PS3's 1080p FMVs: does this mean the PS3 will output the whole game at 1080p upscaled from 720p during gameplay and then be native for the movies? Or will the output resolution change before and after every cut-scene?

It'd be pretty annoying if my TV is flashing black and changing its resolution while playing.
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I'm 99% sure its upscaled so its always 1080p, I'll find out for sure in a bit :)
 
Even though this is talking about the demo, it appears it's going to be the case in the full version, too!

The PS3 chooses to run the demo at 1080p, which means that the supported resolutions for FF XIII are 480p/720p/1080i/1080p.

Having said this, just because the game supports a 1080p resolution, does not mean that it is running at a native 1080p, but rather an upscaled 720p. Metal Gear Solid 4 is an example of this (though the game actually ran at 1024x768 and then upscaled). However, there are some aspects of the demo which appear to be running at a native1080p, not an upscaled 720p.

There is noticable detail lost in the upscaled version, which suggests that the original was not upscaled, and is actually running at a native1080p. The rest of the game appears to run at 720p, which includes the shorter in game cutscenes, and gameplay.
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Source
 
I can't get over all the average reviews this is getting. One PS3 mag gave it 70%

I'll get it and try it, but I really hope its not just an interactive movie.
 
Anewbe4u said:
I can't get over all the average reviews this is getting. One PS3 mag gave it 70%

I'll get it and try it, but I really hope its not just an interactive movie.
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If you think 70% was a bad score, get a load of this:

http://ps3.kombo.com/article.php?artid=11740

^^ I'd take that with a huge pinch of salt, though some of his points have been echoed by others.

The reviews (both good and bad) so far have been all over the place, and I sense shenanigans. Famitsu gave it 39/40 and Dengeki scored it 120 out of 100. Famitsu I just don't trust full stop (they say FF12 was the best in the series) and Dengeki... 120/100? Better than perfect? Come on now.
 
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