New Final Fantasy XIII Details, Website Launched

Square Enix has launched an official website for Final Fantasy XIII. At the moment, it contains screenshots, game music, and brief character bios written in Japanese. Square also launched a site for Final Fantasy Versus XIII, though it doesn't have any content on it yet. A fan site has translated new details about the game from Weekly Famitsu, including information on the battle system. "Players select the 'Action' (the five buttons near the bottom left of the screen) they would like to use, which is then moved to the Command Stock slots (three slots above the Action buttons) to be executed in turn. Some 'Action' buttons seem to have several layers behind them, which means you'll have more than five actions to choose from. Each of the 'Actions' has a number attached to them; this is the 'Cost' or the number of slots that particular 'Action' will take in the Command Stock. For example, you can have three Fire commands in the list since its 'Cost' is only 1, but you can only use Firaga, which costs 3, if you have three empty slots in the Command Stock."

Comments

Final Fantasy

[ZekoMal]

I've only played 3 of the Final Fantasy games, but here's what I gather character wise:

One character will be excessively whiny and obnoxious (like Tidus whining about getting sucked into a kickass adventure with people like Auron and Wakka, AND getting a girlfriend out of it; or Vaan going from somewhat bearable to not knowing why he's even there and being an obnoxious brat). This one will possibly be blonde, and most likely be the 'main' character.

One character will be hilarious, like Wakka.

One or more inherently cool guys, who do awesome things in cutscenes.

A slew of women that tend to annoy (Yuna wants to die reallyreally bad, Ashe wants power, Penelo is a sidekick to the sidekick).

Main character should have little to nothing to do with the other people. Either fell outta the sky, or is not a leader/soldier but gets dragged in anyway. I know that earlier Final Fantasy (AKA before 10) games don't follow this, but since they've released a few games following this pattern, I'm thinking that'll be this.

Even so, I'm sure it'll be a cinematic masterpiece. The story is always awesome, and the graphics are always spectacular. The battles are fun, if not repetitive, and the game will probably have a toooon of little goodies to go get.

Re:Final Fantasy

[Nick Ives]

One character will be excessively whiny and obnoxious [...] This one will possibly be blonde, and most likely be the 'main' character.

VII & VIII. Squall in VIII had dark hair but was the most annoying lead character I've ever had to control in a video game. At one point his romantic interest (Rinoa) near enough came out and told him straight how she felt and he was a total dick to her. Cloud in VII was a dick too.

There was a line in the IX intro sequence which consisted of your lead characters gang, a travelling theatre troupe, having to kidnap a princess under the guise of performing a play. The play had a line that many believe is a coded apology for Cloud & Squall. Having not had the time to play a FF past IX I'm a little disappointed they went back to using walking cocks for main characters.

Main character should have little to nothing to do with the other people.

VII did this too. Cloud was a SOLDIER but definitely not a leader!

Re:Final Fantasy

[IorDMUX]

Okay, your comment inspired me to throw this together. Behold, a review of the characters and character portrayal in each Final Fantasy!

FF I -- 0/5 - Your characters don't really have... "characters". Personality had not yet been invented.

FF II -- * To be honest... I never played this one.

FF III -- 3/5 - Even without individualized personalities, both PCs and NPCs manage to come off as quite lovable and entertaining in this NES classic, though it gets awkward when Princess Sarah expresses her love for you ... er... all of you.

FF IV -- 2/5 - Each character now has a specific personality, but these personalities tend to be more stereotypes than actual characters-with-dimension: I'm a bad guy! Rarrr! .. I'm a good guy! *holy* .. I'm his wife! *swoon* .. etc.

FF V -- 3/5 - Similar style to FF IV, but a definite improvement. This is the earliest FF with real individualized character attachment (who doesn't love Galuf?), and it really plays on this.

FF VI -- 5/5 - A slew of characters are presented, but this doesn't stop the game from giving each one a back story, personality, and room for growth. The myriad side-quests let you explore more of every character if you so desire, and the well-written dialog (no more "You spoony bard!") is a plus.

FF VII -- 3/5 - Fewer PCs in this game, and, somehow, not as well done as those in FF VI. Though the characters are developed more, they also seem to grow less. It's like everyone is waiting for Aeris to come back or something.

FF VIII-- 1/5 - Beginning of game: I'm emo, I'm goth, I'm a punk. *whine* ... ... End of game: I'm emo, I'm goth, I'm a punk. *sigh*

FF IX -- 5/5 - An excellent combination of VII's character scheme with VI's character development. Good guys and bad guys and the rest cover every available character niche, and even move between them as the story progresses. People lose their naivete, power corrupts, the lonely find family, etc. etc. etc. This game focuses more on the characters in your party than the world around them, and does it well.

FF X -- 4/5 - Similar to FF VII, but with a bit more simulated character growth. That, and Wakka is debatably the best FF character, ever.

FF XI -- NaN/5 - This game does not exist. Heathens!

FF XII -- 3/5 - Unfortunately, Vaan seems to get stupider as the game goes on. Other than that, Balthier rivals Wakka in many ways, and you do kind of get worried that Ashe just wants to rule the world. Some of the most *interesting* characters come from this game, but there is nary a side quest to develop them further. Sadly, all the side quests were converted from miniature storylines to MMO style grinds and runs.

So there you have it!
I think I'll go play FF III once this day is out.