Final Fantasy XIII

Final Fantasy XIII, one of the most anticipated games of all time and the next installment to the magical and well-developed Final Fantasy franchise, is almost upon us! The game has been in production since 2006 and is promised to deliver spectacular gameplay akin to its inspiration from the battle scenes of Final Fantasy VII - Advent Children. Little was known about XIII when it was announced at the 2006 Tokyo Game Show, but the stunning pictures displaying luscious environments and visuals left fans in awe. Personally, I can't wait until XIII arrives in Australia and it is almost impossible to stop thinking about it. Ever since getting my hands on Final Fantasy VIII, I have been sucked and immersed into the FF world, and seeing how closely XIII resembles VII and VIII, I just know it is going to be a great experience!


Main Characters
There isn't just one main character in the game, but six others including Lightning. It's important to note that these characters will each have an equal amount of character development and playability due to the structure of the game. With that said, the game is structured into 13 chapters, which is a first for a main Final Fantasy to divide its story into segments. The playable characters in XIII are Lightning, Hope, Sazh, Vanille and Fang. The characters will each be equipped with their own unique summon and abilities, and hence will have different styles of fighting and support when it comes to combat.

Final Fantasy XIII
Character Profiles

Trailers - English
XIII 01
XIII 02
XIII International Trailer (13/1/2010)

Trailers - Japanese
XIII 01
XIII 02
XIII 03

Final Fantasy XIII Images

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Final Fantasy XIII Game Box & Console

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Final Fantasy XIII Japanese Launch Photos

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I will add more things to the thread later on, but in the mean time discuss, speculate or just plain outright HYPE about anything related to Final Fantasy XIII.

OMGOSH THAT WALL OF FFXIII!! i want that to be in my room thanks LOL!

March 10th, here I come!

shout me phil, kthxbai

Oh yeah I know I'm going to chuck an all nighter playing this game.

Updated the thread with more photos! Oh, and who's interested in attending the launch for XIII? I know I am!

shockers i don't wanna believe =(
http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2009/12/24/fans-disgusted-by-final-fantasy-xiii/

@Danny: there's no reason to believe; the only thing that matters is your own impressions and enjoyment of the game. Those comments in the article are merely the so-called opinions of disgruntled fans who can't accept changes and understand why these changes were brought along in the first place.

Honestly, those statements made by that particular reviewer doesn't seem credible and non-biased at all. Instead of commenting on how well XIII utilizes its elements and answering questions like 'does the game succeed in achieving its intended objectives?', the so-called warriors of the light (aka XIII anti-fans) are bashing the game because they can't handle change? Sure, there may be no towns, no world map but there's a reason for these omissions. From what I have read, XIII accentuates the character interactions to dwell and advance the plot. It's a fast-paced and story-driven game, and people who have played the game have said that the linearity helped in bringing the story together. In other words, Square-enix didn't make these changes to annoy the whole world; these changes were made to assist the overall presentation and feel of the game.

Just reading these claims which provides absolutely no examples and reasoning is VERY 'persuading' for me. The guy appears to be complaining about how the 'characters aren't appealing', and the only thing he mentions to back up his statement is by saying "the cutesy antics of the female characters got on my nerves"? I guess that was the only fault that reviewer could conjure up? Furthermore, the title of the article is way too misleading. It should have been "A group of fans..." instead of its overly generalized counterpart "Fans disgusted by...". Oh, there's another argument pointing out that there's hardly any variation in the sense that it's just a repetition of movies and dungeons. Really now? I'm pretty sure that most FF games were like that. From what I can see by reading the article, there's simply too many bias opinions made by angry fans who couldn't grasp the concept of change.

Notice how the articles does not mention the strong points of Final Fantasy XIII? It just goes to show that these comments are freaking rubbish. Before making your impressions on a game based on a generalized impression generated by people who can't accept the game for what it's worth, just go play XIII and formulate your own opinion. Anyway, I'll just stop my rant and provide a link to a well-written and informative review with clear and objective explanations: http://kotaku.com/5433455/final-fantasy-xiii-impressions-15-years-later-25-hours-in?skyline=true&s=x

Well said Hazar

@Haru: tl;dr

In short, most of the complaints from people who haven't played the game (and anyone who can't accept changes for that matter) are based on the claims that there's no towns and the maps are too linear. Well, for starters, there are indeed towns in FFXIII but it's not an emphasis of the game; XIII is very story-driven, which gives off the sense of urgency and accentuates moving forward and therefore little focus are given to towns. You have to understand that, traditionally, towns in the previous FF were meant to sidetrack players and hold off the main plot, but since XIII is extremely plot-centric, the lack of towns makes sense. Yeah, so lack of towns means there's no exploration? Wrong! The cities, environments and dungeons in XIII are MASSIVE, so there's plenty of things to see and do. Finally, like I said in my previous post, the linearity of some maps (this mostly applies to the first part of the game as the world opens up later on) were made to assist the story, and there's a lot of talk that XIII is similar to FFX in that regard.

Just less than 3 months to go before the game comes out, yay!

Guys I'm thinking of canceling my pre order. I think after playing the game that I came to think it's nothing more than a game I have been playing. What I'm really trying to say it that I can wait alot longer for it. I might just wait till all the hype settles down and the real thoughts that people have on the game become more honest. Also thinking about it $130 on a game is quite alot + what am i going to do with a calendar.
Wishing someone can might change my mind.

Losing Hope...Vivi

haha dw viviff.. its all fine =)
i understand your thought and decision on this but yeah..
first time for me doing this and since i dont have a ps3 yet.. going to stare for a while hahaha
BUT! for someone to change your mind.. you need obi haru
im sure he'll be able to change your mind >=D

Yep, that's a fair enough reason and I have to completely agree with you regarding the price! It's ridiculous for even a collector's edition to cost this much after factoring in the exchange rate differences. That said, Final Fantasy XIII is one of two games that I'm planning to get this year, so at least that reason alone may slightly justify my day 1 purchase.

I'm not going to attempt to change your mind though, and the reality is that everyone will have different opinions and preferences regarding each new iteration of Final Fantasy. Some may love FFX while others may hate it and rank FFXII as the best in the series. Like I said in the first post, FFVIII was my first and is still easily one of my favourite games of all time. The atmosphere and character interactions was something I have never experienced before, which made FFVIII seem so much more than a game. It totally blew my mind back then and needless to say, still haunts me to this very day (in a good way).

However, there are a large group of fans that may think twice before calling Final Fantasy VIII the best game in the series. Personally, each new game that bears the legendary Final Fantasy title will always be a hit or miss. It's difficult to expect universal praise for XIII as typical hardcore fans may expect the game to be similar to VII, VIII and ultimately end up disappointed because there wasn't any Cloud-esque characters.

Although I won't list a bunch of reasons as to why you should get XIII, I will link you to some interesting FFXIII-related articles if it helps you in forming a vague opinion on the game. Of course, these articles could be bias and false for all I know, but at least it sheds some great insight if you're curious about what the overall game is like.

Final Fantasy: Kitase's Inside Story
IGN: "Now I'm Excited"
Final Fantasy XIII Hands-On

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TOMORROWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

TODAY!

In less than 5 hour's time, I'll be heading down to EB, purchase my collector's edition and will most likely be stuck at uni for 8 hours or so. Mmm...

Playing it as we type. Loving it. Though I didnt get my calendar today + bought the Collectors Edition guide which should come in next week.

I think I'm up to chapter 4 at the moment, and I'm purposely encountering every battle because the new paradigm shift system is so much fun! I LOVE IT! I have no doubts that FFXIII is the most enjoyable game in the series I have played to date, but until I finish the game, I won't comment much on the story to avoid dishing out spoilers and such. : )

Haru have you been weapon upgrading? I'm confused as to what item does what.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0Gk6LBo7y8
ok i gotta admit that does look awsome =0

@vivi: you've probably figured out the weapon upgrading mechanics by now, but I think certain items are good when it comes to increasing the exp multiplier, then the remaining stuff will be used to level up your weapons.

Currently up to chapter 11, but this place is kicking my butt like no tomorrow!

@haru: probably eating your time so you missed tomorrow 8D

^Indeed, but I have reached a point in the game where I can take as much time as I want, gradually plowing my way through the endless sea of monsters before the story starts to pick up again lol. Must stop playing FFXIII less... but so addictive! : )

new? what happened did you even finish it