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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."
You know, I never really did care all that much for the whole JRPG play style, but, damn I love the artwork they put into those games. It's something I have trouble finding in other genres (though I don't game that much so maybe I'm just not looking in the right spots). Most of the other stuff I see tends to go to either Star Trek Wannabe Universe #45342, Medieval European Haunted Castle Town #342847, or Gritty Contemporary City Streets #342721. It's just nice to look at something that's different every now and then.
Although I'm sure people that play tons of these games would be saying the same about any of the styles I think have been done to death.
Meh. Enough rambling.
I started playing FF at 6, and played each one through until 10 (and regrettably, 10 two). I also partly played 12.
7 had great gameplay for the time and also a great story with lots of twists.
8's gameplay wasn't as good as 7 for me. The story was a drag until this second disk, when it actually started to get some substance.
9's gameplay I absolutely loved. I loved how you gained abilities from the items by gaining ability points. The story was uninteresting though.
10's gameplay and story were both great. But the story was strictly linear, and it almost felt like you were playing a movie.
10 two was a joke. Enough said about that.
12's story was a drag, the characters were a drag, and it was the first FF game I started and actually quit playing all together. The game played itself on its own. You know there's something wrong with a game when you enter a boss battle and don't have to even touch the controller. The thing that finally made me stop playing was when you figured out that the dark ghost things appearing behind the evil guys were actually gods of some sort who were controlling the destiny of everything. Way to fail, square.
So basically, make a game that is playable, has better gaming mechanics, and has characters and a story that doesn't suck. Usually FF games fail in one of these areas. I'm still praying for you Square!