Final Fantasy XIII Preview
Our first try at the English-language version, complete with sky robots.
by Ryan Clements
IGN
January 14, 2010 - Final Fantasy XIII is arguably one of the most anticipated Japanese role-playing games around. We've seen Square Enix's beautiful title several times before, but usually the version on display is for the Japanese market and subsequently less accessible for a U.S. audience. At last year's Gamescom show, an English-language version was available to view, but no one was allowed to play it. This made many eager game journalists cry bitter, bitter tears.
Yesterday, however, Square Enix kicked off an official bus tour for Final Fantasy XIII. A Lightning-branded black bus will be driving around San Francisco for a few days and offering the public (and journalists, too) a chance to actually play the English-language version of Final Fantasy XIII for the first time. Being a Final Fantasy enthusiast and having a long and complex history with buses, it made sense for me to hunt down the tour bus and pop inside to play. I was joined by my colleague and friend Ryan Geddes, whose only real concern was finding as many chocobos as humanly possible. He, as an advance note, did not find any.
The interior of the Lightning Bus, as I'll call it, was lined with eye-catching flat panel TVs, which were running the recently-released International Trailer as well as playable demos. Both PS3s and 360s were being used to show off the game, which was great as I was able to see both versions running side-by-side. As expected, the 360 version was noticeably less crisp than its PS3 counterpart, but it still ran nicely.
There was very little story or context given to the playable demo, as I was thrown right into the action in order to experiment with the battle system and -- perhaps even more fun -- peruse the intricate menus which dictate character growth, equipment upgrades and job classes. Although our time with the game was still limited, this was one of the first times that I began to fully wrap my head around Final Fantasy XIII's complex battle system.
The demo party consisted of main character Lightning (who is, might I add, looking as lovely as ever), newly-revealed Fang and Hope. Snow, the bandanna brawler, was also on the reserves list. Our heroes were fighting on what looked to be the underbelly deck of a massive airship, so clouds drenched the backdrop and wondrous machinery stretched above the character's heads.
The only enemies in this environment were Deckdrones -- slender, humanoid machines that seemed to defend the airship. There were also larger opponents to face, though I was unsure if these foes were also drones or humans with some sort of cybernetic armor. As far as playable demos go, this Final Fantasy XIII session was surprisingly tough, as the enemies were viscous in their attacks and could easily KO one of your characters.
In Final Fantasy XIII, players will only directly control one character at a time. The other two characters are controlled by the AI, though players will have some say in how they behave. The complex Paradigm system dictates how each character acts in battle and will frequently dictate what skills you as a player have access to at one time. A Paradigm is essentially a group or set of "roles." Roles will be familiar to Final Fantasy fans, as they are very much like the classic jobs from previous Final Fantasy games. For example, a Medic will focus on healing the party, just like the White Mage we all know and love.
Players can customize a Paradigm, or grouping, so that each Paradigm has a specific role assigned to the three characters in the battle party. During actual combat, players can hit a button to activate the Paradigm Shift, which instantly changes the roles of all three party members depending on which Paradigm the player selects.
I soon found that players must switch Paradigms constantly to suit the flow of battle. This adds a noticeable element of strategy to the system. Otherwise, players must command their main character during battle directly. A segmented gauge located above the command menu steadily fills as the character remains in a neutral position. Players can select a number of different techniques, as long as those techniques don't cost more than the available segments in the gauge. Once the player has made his or her selections, those actions play out all at once, be they physical attacks or spells.
This might sound overly complicated and terrifying -- perhaps even the stuff out of your worst nightmares -- but it's not too difficult to learn. It's certainly overwhelming at first, but I was more comfortable with the system after a few extended battles. I'm also a strategic mastermind, so that clearly helped the situation along.
What was even more interesting to me than fighting battles was tinkering around in the main menu, which happens to be one of the most badass menus of all time. It's clear that Square Enix invested some time and energy into making the interface as fancy and eye-catching as possible, as everything is neatly organized, character portraits stylishly animate when equipment is selected and the Crystarium system is mind-blowing.
The Crystarium system, which is used to level-up your character and improve stats, is a thing of beauty. When selecting Lightning, a crystal rose opens with a flourish on the screen and her leveling paths unfold like something out of Minority Report. This system was so complex and visually overwhelming that I didn't actually know what to do, so I immediately closed the menu. It was essentially the Pandora's Box of Final Fantasy XIII. I'll get to it eventually!
Although I'm still hesitant about the linear nature of Final Fantasy XIII, I still look forward to playing the game from start to finish and riding plenty of chocobos. If you're interested in trying the game out for yourself and you live in or around San Francisco, perhaps you too can enjoy the Lightning Bus.
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/106/1061264p1.html
Final Fantasy XIII Preview
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Shazam!
) should strive for. It was relatively linear, but gave you options to branch out a bit. And the leveling was fun, not tedious like the license system in Final Fantasy XII.
It had to do with the fact that Square thought it would be their last game. Turns out it saved their ass:
