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Report: Final Fantasy XIII Premier Party
It seems impossible to keep secrets any more. Even Square Enix bowed before the weight of international expectation for Final Fantasy XIII, with fans discovering its Japanese release date before the September 8 ‘Premiere Party’ at which the company had intended to reveal it.
No matter. The giant succeeded with its first intention, with president Yoichi Wada confirming that the game, four years in the making so far, would indeed see release in Japan before the end of the year. December 17, to be exact.
The price? An indomitable 9240 yen (£62/US$102). After PS3 game Gundam Senki, releasing earlier this month at 8379 yen, it seemed yet more confirmation that publishers are steadily raising game prices. Not that it was any surprise to the assembled crowd at the Miraikan science museum in Tokyo, of course. Japanese bloggers already knew about it because they’d noticed on the Square Enix website that changing the address of the page announcing the event from ‘before’ to ‘after’ would reveal all.
Wada went on to declare the US version would only experience a season delay on the Japanese launch, putting it somewhere in March 2010, while nothing was said about the European version, but it’s likely to come during summer of the same year.
These were the headlines from the event, but its subtexts were no less illuminating. SCEJ’s full executive staff was present, with Kaz Hirai also taking the stage to make clear the close relationship of Final Fantasy with PlayStation. He confirmed a PS3/XIII bundle will be available and that SCEJ will support Square Enix in pushing the title in the region. And in turn, Square Enix echoed his words with a professed renewal of support for PlayStation platforms in the future.
Of course, since the Xbox 360 version is not planned for Japan, the event could only be about PS3, anyway. Also absent from the discussion were PSP’s Agito and PS3’s Versus, the other two games in Square Enix’s suite based on XIII. Moreover, erstwhile Final Fantasy character designer (and director of Versus) Tetsuya Nomura was not even on stage, leaving it to its two leads, producer Yoshinori Kitase and director Motomu Toriyama to go on to announce a renewed relationship with Japanese beverage company Suntory with the fruit being 16 new potion drinks, one to represent each main character in the game.
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I'm curious, does Edge's articles on Fallout, Oblivion, KotoR etc. end up with a bunch of dudes coming and goin "WRPGS ARE SO TRITE WHEN IS FINAL FANTASY!?!!" ?
One of the funniest comments on here! Also one of the most accurate...
Funnily enough, no. But all the articles on, say, console A are usually followed by shedloads of 'console A sucks you should like totally get console B' comments.
I also dunno why so many people who are 'over' FF feel the need to shout it so loudly after an article aimed at people who are interested in it...
JRPG's are about as exciting as getting your finger nails plucked out one by one.
The anticipation, the sweat that builds up, the visceral imagery... that's actually exciting.
I think you meant 'painful', or something not-exciting, like... I dunno, mowing the lawn.
I quite enjoy mowing the lawn. Go figure, I also like JRPGs :-) Lol.
You only have to look at the recent sales of Dragon Quest IX in Japan to see that there is still huge demand for the JRPG over there, and why would Square Enix risk massive sales in Japan (and the rest of the world that loves the JRPG) by making a game that would alienate their core market. Personally I love the Final Fantasy series and Japanese games generally and I can't wait to play this in HD on a PS3 (once I can afford the telly and console...). This game will sell bucketloads this Christmas in Japan and push PS3 sales through the roof over there. Hell, it may even sell well on the 360 when its released in the western world. Its going to be interesting to see how well it does on each console when it comes out.
I massively can't wait for this. Even if you enjoy arguing that JRPGs are too emo or whatever, you'd have to admit that the final fantasy games have always been visually stunning.
I'm just hoping that I've afforded an HDTV by the time this reaches the UK, as I don't really want to play it in SD....
Strange how most of the posters here seem to think that JRPGs and WRPGs are some kind of exclusive either/or. I like and play both, and don't feel especially put off either by the haircuts or the poorly implemented pseudo morality; they're fairly superficial bits of both genres. And there's better and worse examples of either of them, after all.
I'm really looking forward to this game
The JRPG...i've played enough of them since the NES days to last me 10 incarnations.
What did you play? Did you enjoy them at that time? If you've played a great number of them I figure you must have enjoyed some to try out others, unless you're some kinda crazy console owning masochist hahah.
At what point did you stop enjoying them, or outright despise them? Did you play console RPGs before PC RPGs, or around the same time?
I don't disagree that there's some stinkers - Blue Dragon, Eternal Sonata, and the last Star Ocean. But have you tried the Persona series? And even that most traditional of recent JRPGs, Lost Odyssey, delivered a really beautiful and moving story, full of reflections on loss, memory and the like.
I can tell from your posts that you're probably done with them (and I know, having played them for just as long as you that more than a little boredom can set in) but you might be missing out on some genuinely good games by discounting them all.
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I've never been too hot on Final Fantasy. There's so little character to them. It's the same, emo-like, two-dimensional characters trudging through similar stories with similar aesthetics.
I yearn for another good Grandia or Skies of Arcadia.
Oh, and smart move, there, Squeenix. In the middle of a massive contraction in the market, release your game for a new high price.
>>It's the same, emo-like, two-dimensional characters
>>trudging through similar stories with similar aesthetics.
FF4 Cecil was a Dark Knight from a powerful empire who goes on a quest of redemption
Cecil uses a sword
FF5 Bart (Butz?) was a wandering adventurer who just wanted to find his chocobo
Bartz can use about any weapon
FF6 Terra was an engineered soldier who reacts unexpectedly to a frozen monster, though arguably
Locke and a host of other people were as much main characters as her.
These games were 16bit with Amano doing the monster designs. They had a high fantasy sort of setting, with varying levels of technology. FF4 had airships and arcane technology used by the enemy, you ride bio-ship to the moon. FF5 has some high technology villains towards the end, you have a boat pulled by a sea dragon. FF6 had humans using magic-technology, soldiers in robot armor.
FF7 Cloud is a distant mercenary who, you later find out, is only pretending to be a heroic person in his past. The setting has cars, planes, guns, and even a space shuttle.
Cloud uses gigantic two handed swords
Nomura is leading the designs, the graphics are still somewhat SD with large heads.
FF8 Squall is a student in a warrior-school, the setting presents a more clean and sleek blend of magic and technology, without the killing-the-earth theme of FF7.
characters are about 8 heads tall 'realistic' scale. Nomura is doing more street-fashion sorts of design.
Squall uses a power-sword that activates when a trigger is pulled, with a pistol-grip that takes pistol rather literally.
FF9 takes place in a high fantasy setting, no cars are present. Zidane is a rogue (not a soldier or knight like in past FF's) with a tail. His main weapon is two daggers. Toshiyuki Itihana is the main designer.
Characters are about 4-5 heads tall, more SD proportions
FFX Tidus is an athlete (not a knight, soldier, or rogue). His main conflict is with his father (parents are not often mentioned for RPG protagonists). His clothing is brightly colored, he wears shorts. His weapons are swords which are about the same size as Squall's, but no trigger.
The world has a strong emphasis on clear water and blue skies.
Nomura is again the lead designer. I think I can tell cheery Tidus, street fashion Squall, and Mercenary Cloud apart from each other alright.
FFXI is an MMO in a classic 80's fantasy style, lead artist is Nobuyushi Mihara and Tamae Kisanagi. Protagonist is whoever you make.
FFXII's lead artist is Akihiko Yoshida. Protagonist is a boy who seeks adventure.
I think every Final Fantasy has been pretty distinct, the protagonists have been pretty distinct (even the 3 made by the same person), and there have been various artists who created different worlds in the series.
Point taken, but the stories behind the characters are of little concern for me. They are basically interchangeable. The characters themselves are the same. Every game has the brooding lead, the outgoing guy, the demure female, the older more experienced guy. Granted, most RPG's have them, even my beloved Skies of Arcadia, but Final Fantasy has made relying on them an art.
And aesthetically, my problem starts at FF7. I have few qualms with what they were doing before. Instead of taking an artistic direction, they take a rendered direction. Using the same shaders, the same technology, just bumped up. The character designs are different, but the texture is identical. Zidane has a giant head and Squall has a small head, but they appear made from the same substance. Compare these games to Grandia and the difference is stark.
Sigh, I would love another Grandia. They should put Grandia 1 on the Playstation store. Would be great to play on the PSP.
I on the other hand can't wait for this release.
I too, couldn't give a flying monkey spunk about FF games in general. There are better titles out there to even care about the franchise anymore.
actually, you do care, and care quite a bit, because you saw "Final Fantasy XIII" on Edge, clicked on the article, read the comments, and then replied.
That would be like me passing by a pornography store, going back, opening the door and walking inside, browse through the porno available, and then loudly declare "I do not care for porn" to the patrons of the store.
Square-Enix should grow a set of balls and stop whoring out these she-he, spiky haired, emo games.
I'm sick of them. Thank fuck for the western RPG.
I agree, with JRPG's it just tends to be more of the same.
Thank fuck for Apples and Oranges otherwise I wouldn't have an apt metaphor to denounce your comment.
Yes, these two genre's are like apples and oranges. Thank fuck for diversity.
I think I might have just fallen in love with you.
I take it you're a fan then...
Yeah totally, I also love Fallout, the Elder Scrolls, Baldurs Gate and many of it's spin offs, Fable, yet to really play Mass Effect but I loved Kotor I & II. Then I also love Zelda, DQ, FF and Persona classic Japanese RPGs, the gaming landscape would be a lot drearier without the existence of these titles.
Oh yeah and the 'she he' character style of Final Fantasy is called Androgyny. It's a classic part of FF, which is a franchise that will always try and appeal to a younger generation of consumers. I prefer it to the macho characters espoused primarily by western games, but that's just me. I will most likely always appreciate the franchise no matter how old I get, but it's expected that as people get older some will grow out of the Final Fantasy franchise that isn't trying to move with them.
I like both and I am really looking forward to FF XIII and White Knight Chronicles as much as I am looking forward to Dragon Age: Origins. I will say; however, that western RPGs seldom match the imagination, pomp and grandeur of the good JRPGs. Just look at Oblivion: great game but soul crushingly dull in terms of the world and everything in it. Sometimes I want the in-your-face splendor of an FF summon, spell, boss battle or cut scene. JPRGs make me feel emotions seldom experienced playing western ones. For this reason I love them.
you should check out Demon's Souls then. I'd hate to call it "a Japanese Oblivion", but that's a crude way to describe it.
Yeah definitely check out Demon's souls. Atlus kicks some serious ass in this game. And yes describing it as a Japanese Oblivion couldn't be more wrong, it's much better than anything Bethesda's ever made. Yes better than Morrowind. Can't wait for Edge to do a write up on this game. It's interesting they haven't already I thought they would've jumped on the Asian import, picked it apart and sung it's praises by now.
i never liked FF but i have friends who play this game 24h a day.it is love or hate i think
Actually, I think most western RPGs are just plain 'bland' in terms of characterization. Can you provide some examples where you feel the characters are much better in WRPGs than JRPGs?
Can you provide some examples where you feel the characters are much better in WRPGs than JRPGs?
The main question here is not "are characters better in WRPGs than JRPGs" that's a vague way to put it.
It's down to who has the balls to try something different, WRPG's do just that, games like Deus Ex, Mass Effect, Oblivion, Fallout (the original), The Witcher, Diablo and MMO's like Warcraft all originated from the west, they took old concepts and did something creative with them.
The JRPG on the other hand hasn't changed much what-so-ever in the past 20+ years. Hence, why i, like many others, just got bored of them. All Square-Enix & Co do is expand on tired concepts (Blue Dragon for example).
Also, the west has a bigger financial punch than J developers and they can put new concepts into use. J developers on the other hand "play it safe", they don't take risks or more like they can't afford to. Hence, it results in these run-of-the-mill JRPG's
As i stated above, i've played enough JRPG's to last me 10 incarnations and it would take something super special to make me think otherwise regarding the JRPG and looking at FFXIII, that title isn't going to change a thing.
The brilliance of W-RPG's is that they let you make your own interesting character (KOTOR, Fable II, Mass Effect, Fallout) rather than foisting yet another spiky haired, effeminate protagonist on you. Also, the NPC's in W-RPG's are far more compelling to me since they aren't the cliched J-RPG stereotypes (Wrex in Mass Effect and Fawkes in Fallout 3 stand out).
What exactly makes a final fantasy protagonist effeminate? Can you name an instance where they acted in an effeminate manner? Most are, well, protagonists that take on all kinds of difficulties to accomplish a goal. If they have any instances of self doubt, it is usually drive away by the urgency of duty, to friends, to country, to an ideal.
Is it only their looks? It's not unusual for heroes to be very handsome, if not beautiful people.
Vikings were admired not only for their fighting strength, but also as the most beautiful men with the best hair in the western world. CuChulainn had a boyish face that made all men fear their wives would leave them for his good looks (and invincible battle rage). etc. etc.
You also have to realize that Final Fantasy does have a good fanbase with girls, abandoning them to appeal only to adult men would be denying a large part of their audience.
And there is always a burly hairy sort of guy in the Final Fantasy lineups. Cecil had Yang and Cid, alongside Terra was also Cyan, Sabin, Strago, even a Yeti, etc.
That being said, I think it's a mistake to equate 'character development' to 'story'. Final Fantasy X actually has quite a novel take on feudal Japan and how it misused the nation's creed (Shintoism) as a control mechanism. Granted, there's a love story somewhere inbetween, but if you can look beyond the characters and look at the actual themes being addressed in these games, you'll find there are a lot of references to Japanese feudal history and folklore. And this extends to the characters as well.
I could list some examples if you want as well.
I think you've hit on something there, squarepusher. The more I think about it, W-RPG's really seem to put a premium on letting the user define the character with the story often taking a secondary priority; whereas J-RPG's seem to emphasize the opposite approach. That's probably why J-RPG's usually have such long cut-scenes - to advance the story (which I personally find very annoying).
hmmm, your posts are good at provoking my thoughts...
to put it another way, a game where your choices influence the plot tends to be about the plot reacting to the character. "I shoot the badguy-> the gangsters now want to kill me" "I talk to the badguy->the gangsters are now my buddies"
Games where the story and characters are already defined are more about the story affecting the character. "Why do the gangsters hate X?" "because in the past he killed their boss"
'course not all stories have to be one or the other, and then you get silent protagonists like in Chrono Trigger and Shattered Lands.
>>The more I think about it, W-RPG's really seem to put a premium on letting the user define the character with the story often taking a secondary priority
That's kind of funny, I sort of feel the reverse to some degree. With the character having yes/no goodguy/badguy options being chosen, they tend to be less defined in the story vs one where they fit into a progressive plot.
A choose your own adventure novel isn't necessarily superior to a regular novel, they're different experiences and either can be well written.
Sometimes, given that choice can lead you to do 'out of character' things for the sake of it, such as being excessively evil because you want to kill kids and hoard gold, even if nothing in the character's past really hints at that. So it's more an experiment of "blank slate does whatever he wants, world reacts" than "character interacting with the world he exists in"
KOTOR, Fable II, Mass Effect, Fallout
Definitely, i'd rather play a Western RPG than some run-of-the-mill JRPG.
Also, Wrex is a legend.
"Anyone who fights us is either stupid or on Saren's payroll. Killing the latter is business. Killing the former is a favor to the universe."
He's got some awesome quotes in the game.
And dont' forget that droid in KOTOR that called all humans "meatbags". :)
actually, that does make sense though, he doesn't like humans, I am a human, he aggrivates me, so a successful character who sticks to his (suprise) character! hahah
argh, that was so annoying. He wasn't even clever like Bender was. Other than that, his quotes on things like Love as making an impossible shot were good.