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[Turin]

threelights, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Things will progress how they will.

Besides, I'd say there's less pressure on graphics this gen than there was last gen back when that Killzone 2 trailer kind of fucked things up.

 

[sn00zer]

Oh yeah, no, I didn't mean to say that you must be young if think like that but rather that many younger gamers especially have the same opinion, too^^

And man, those are exactly my thoughts, too. I think after playing your typical turn-based FF or JRPG you're just not actually challenged anymore by the "strategy" they offer which mostly boils down to "The enemy is made out of ice, let's use Fire instead of Attack like 95% of the time". Now, why would navigating through menus instead of pressing designated buttons in real-time make solving those "problems" feel more deep and strategic? It doesn't add enough actual depth as to warrant spending so much time watching your chars walking to and from the enemy one by one and the same slow animations for hours. At that point I'd rather have full control with a fun audio-visual feedback to make fighting at least feel more involving and engaging, even if it ends up still being button-mashy most of the time.

Now that you mentioned FFXII: somehow it really feels like an "admission of failure" if you think about it. They saw that most stuff you do in battles were mindless routines and automated it to not interrupt the seamless flow of the game too much. Maybe they weren't bold enough to drop the ATB elements completely and go full-action back then already, as classic JRPGs were still relatively popular at the time they started development on FFXII and they maybe didn't feel the pressure of changing market climates and gamer tastes yet.
FFXIII then did it better and at least tried to streamline those repetetive routines into a new manual, more macro-managing mechanic in battles. Unfortunately the full potential of its battle system was only used in the side missions on Pulse where they really shined, imo.

I think it will be really fun having to know and abuse the traditional FF systems, while essentially playing an action game.

 

[Dynasty8]

Can't believe people are complaining over the graphics...the old trailer does not look "better" (in terms of graphics) than what we have now.

IGN said this is one of the best looking games they have seen so far. Even the demo won't do it complete justice.

 

[threelights]

threelights, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Things will progress how they will.

Besides, I'd say there's less pressure on graphics this gen than there was last gen back when that Killzone 2 trailer kind of fucked things up.

Oh, I know, I expect the final game to run with no problems gameplay-wise and to look better than what we have.

It's not really limited to FFXV what I'm saying though. Just gaming in general.

As for pressure on graphics... I don't know about that... We'll see as the years go on I suppose.

 

[Koozek]

I fell asleep in the afternoon and dreamt of a FFXV 16bit DEmake and GOD now i want it so bad.

What about 32-bit?

---


Btw, just stumbled over an old comment from Kitase from Nov. 2011 in an interview with Edge in the thread with the demake image:

http://www.next-gen.biz/news/final-fantasy-xv-could-be-action-rpg
Would be a very interesting change for the series if true.

Yoshinori Kitase, producer of Final Fantasy XIII-2, has hinted that the next iteration of Final Fantasy could see it drift away from its turn-based roots and be an action-RPG.

In an interview, Kitane told us that the increasing popularity of action-RPGs compared to their turn-based equivalents represented "a trend…you ignore at your peril."

"I think the nature of the franchise is to present something new each time," Kitase said. "In the global market we see many players moving away from games that used turn-based systems toward what you might term an action-RPG.

"That's a trend, and you ignore things like that at your peril."

Kitase went on to say that changes introduced in Final Fantasy XIII showed that the series was moving forward with each iteration - but left the door wide open for more subtantial changes to be made in the next full game in the series.

"FFXIII and FFXIII-2's battle systems have those elements of speed and action that are the key words for us, though that doesn't necessarily mean we're going to stick to the same route in our next game," he said. "That's something only time can tell."

If I'm not wrong they were already contemplating Versus' name change to FFXV at that point and it was even cross-gen till mid-2012.

I swear, if you look back and read old interview you realize how SE almost always hints at actual games when they talk about possible ideas for future FFs. I'm almost 100% sure that Kitase more recent comments from last year on an eventual future FF with larger scaled battles with more participants (squad-based à la The Last Remnant?) are again hinting at something. Mark my words

"And while Kitase isn't directly overseeing Final Fantasy XV or Kingdom Hearts 3, he also shared his thoughts on how the power of Xbox One and PS4 could improve future Final Fantasy titles, hinting at the possibility of larger battles and bigger parties.

"We are quite aware of [PS4 & Xbox One's] capabilities and certainly one thing that's going to come up is having battles with a lot more participants involved," he continued. "Having a lot more characters, a lot more things happening, that's one of the things that the new hardware does really well, so to maybe make a battle system for a Final Fantasy game or a future game that fits with that, I think it would be quite good to have more characters for the player to control and more participants in the battle.""

 

[DeSolos]

That's not what I meant either =P

If you don't want to hear about "stopped evolving" then I'll say "evolved very slowly in comparison to the rest".

That's fair. Ultimately, I think the game's art direction and fidelity must go as far as it needs so as to fully realize its art style. In the case of FFXV, it was supposed to be a fantasy based on reality. That meant going back to the drawing board because the 2011 trailer's wilderness section looked laughable compared to Red Dead Redemption(came out 7 months earlier).

For Type 0, they opted for a more stylized look, and that works well for it. I can't wait to see what the next Type game can do since it won't be shackled to the limitations of the PSP hardware. I'm sure they'll stick to a mid-tier fidelity something like the Dissidia Arcade game.

 

[Spiegel]

What about 32-bit?

---


Btw, just stumbled over an old comment from Kitase from Nov. 2011 in an interview with Edge in the thread with the demake image:

If I'm not wrong they were already contemplating Versus' name change to FFXV at that point and it was even cross-gen till mid-2012.

I swear, if you look back and read old interview you realize how SE almost always hints at actual games when they talk about possible ideas for future FFs. I'm almost 100% sure that Kitase more recent comments from last year on an eventual future FF with larger scaled battles with more participants (squad-based à la The Last Remnant?) are again hinting at something. Mark my words

He's obviously talking about Final Fantasy Musou. After DQ:H, it's happening for sure.

 

[threelights]

That's fair. Ultimately, I think the game's art direction and fidelity must go as far as it needs so as to fully realize its art style. In the case of FFXV, it was supposed to be a fantasy based on reality. That meant going back to the drawing board because the 2011 trailer's wilderness section looked laughable compared to Red Dead Redemption(came out 7 months earlier).

For Type 0, they opted for a more stylized look, and that works well for it. I can't wait to see what the next Type game can do since it won't be shackled to the limitations of the PSP hardware. I'm sure they'll stick to a mid-tier fidelity something like the Dissidia Arcade game.

I hope so, a Type game with fully realized gameplay will be glorious.

So will the next Dissidia for that matter.

 

[MagnaderAlpha]

Oh, I know, I expect the final game to run with no problems gameplay-wise and to look better than what we have.

It's not really limited to FFXV what I'm saying though. Just gaming in general.

As for pressure on graphics... I don't know about that... We'll see as the years go on I suppose.

I get your stance. I've always said I could care less about extreme detail some devs take to render the most minute of particles, grains of sand or skin flakes as possible. Make the graphics do-able, while maintaining the majority of focus on gameplay and tweaking. In a perfect world(well, MY perfect world), graphics would take a back seat to a universal search for making gaming faster(hell, focus more on smoother control and frame rate), less load times, more "complete" experiences. I don't want a game that's sold to me through DLC, nor do I want a game that's really a prelude to a sequel. Give me a full experience or go home! Well, that's my perfect world, anyways.

 

[Geg]

Speaking of Kitase, since I was just thinking about this. Was there any reason for why he's not the producer for XV anymore? Was it just because he wanted to move to whatever big thing is coming next?

 

[Koozek]

He's obviously talking about Final Fantasy Musou. After DQ:H, it's happening for sure.

Hmmm, never thought about that. Actually doesn't sound that far-fetched.

 

[threelights]

I get your stance. I've always said I could care less about extreme detail some devs take to render the most minute of particles, grains of sand or skin flakes as possible. Make the graphics do-able, while maintaining the majority of focus on gameplay and tweaking. In a perfect world(well, MY perfect world), graphics would take a back seat to a universal search for making gaming faster(hell, focus more on smoother control and frame rate), less load times, more "complete" experiences. I don't want a game that's sold to me through DLC, nor do I want a game that's really a prelude to a sequel. Give me a full experience or go home! Well, that's my perfect world, anyways.

Yeah, I want a more extreme version of that, where graphics are actively downgraded to allow for crazy gameplay, like, a fight against a slime in DQ suddenly becomes the scale of fighting a Colossus in SotC. And then boss battles would reach a new scale that few games even try.

Speaking of Kitase, since I was just thinking about this. Was there any reason for why he's not the producer for XV anymore? Was it just because he wanted to move to whatever big thing is coming next?

Wasn't Hashimoto always the producer? Or were both of them at the project.

If I had to guess I'd say that Kitase left to make other FF games until XV comes out (XIII-trilogy, Mevius, whatever else he may be doing).

 

[Koozek]

Speaking of Kitase, since I was just thinking about this. Was there any reason for why he's not the producer for XV anymore? Was it just because he wanted to move to whatever big thing is coming next?

He's the producer on Mevius, right now. But that's surely not the only project he's on.

 

[Kagari]

Speaking of Kitase, since I was just thinking about this. Was there any reason for why he's not the producer for XV anymore? Was it just because he wanted to move to whatever big thing is coming next?

I see this as a good thing.

 

[Hibiki Kurosawa]

Speaking of Kitase, since I was just thinking about this. Was there any reason for why he's not the producer for XV anymore? Was it just because he wanted to move to whatever big thing is coming next?

Anymore? I don't think he was ever producer of XV, was he?

 

[pszet0]

Speaking of Kitase, since I was just thinking about this. Was there any reason for why he's not the producer for XV anymore? Was it just because he wanted to move to whatever big thing is coming next?

Now that you mention Kitase, I remember him talking about how tragic and sad the ending of Versus XIII is.

“People will cry because of the story, they will get involved into it and will be crying for a whole week and on!”- Yoshinori Kitase giving his view on Versus XIII story

“It’ll be that awful?? We’ll balance it very well because playing and seeing those unpleasant sad scenes for hours could become a problem for avid players so we’ll work on that” – Tetsuya Nomura responding to Kitase’s comments.

http://gematsu.com/2010/08/final-fantasy-versus-xiii-all-the-details-so-far

A lot of interesting info in there granted all from 2010. Hopefully not much has changed story wise.

 

[Geg]

Wasn't Hashimoto always the producer? Or were both of them at the project.

Anymore? I don't think he was ever producer of XV, was he?

He was back when it was Versus XIII.

 

[Hibiki Kurosawa]

He was back when it was Versus XIII.

Ah, right you are.

 

[Geg]

I see this as a good thing.

It's sad because he was great in the days of 5-8 and 10.

Do we know how much of a role he played in the problems with 13's development?

 

[Koozek]

While I agree with you, I think that problem extends far beyond FF, and to almost every JRPG series.

The much-lauded difficulty of the SMT (and related Persona titles) comes almost entirely from a need to "think", or so people say, but really the vast majority of fights come down to the same sort of rote memorization. There is rarely a reason to not go into every single fight using your weakness-targeting attacks on each enemy, and then buffs/debuffs if you know you need them and/or know the enemy is weak to particular ones.

All of these systems that ignore things like positioning and timing tend to fall into the same position, IMO, and that's one of memorization and repetition being more important than any higher-level thinking or strategy.

It's one of the main reasons I like the move towards real-time, because it add another element of unpredictability.

Perfectly said.
Is there a battle system, though, that you think needs higher-level thinking? I think that many boss battles still are the only instances where turn-based battles feel tense for me because you have to stay on your toes, do quick decision making and you are actually encouraged to finally use your precious MP or items which you tried to save up during the dungeons (

Spoiler

okay, I'll admit, I'm one of those who doesn't use valuable items thinking I might need them for the final boss and in the end I won't even use them then

). I love FFXIII's full recovery after every battle or FFXV's regenerating HP/MP. There's a reason to actually use everything at your disposal that way and be creative about every battle instead of just attacking to save resources.

 

[Wagram]

Is there a way to play the demo without buying Type-0?

You can buy mine for $40!

 

[DarkLordMalik]

Man, Photo Mode for this demo would be glorious

Spoiler

In before perverts trying to take pics of Cidney cleavage

 

[Kagari]

It's sad because he was great in the days of 5-8 and 10.

Do we know how much of a role he played in the problems with 13's development?

He let Toriyama have free reign.

Side note, does anyone have the Episode Duscae logo with a transparent background?

 

[Koozek]

It's sad because he was great in the days of 5-8 and 10.

Do we know how much of a role he played in the problems with 13's development?

Well, FFXIII was a mess on all fronts and the directors openly admitted and talked about it a few times. It obviously wasn't Kitase's fault only as there were many technical obstacles during the creation of the Crystal Tools engine, that had to be built from ground up alongside the game itself, and those problems were slowing down the rest of the game development, as the game designers would have to wait for the engine specs to be finished so they would be able to adapt. And well, they generally had a lack of vision for the game until a year before release when they started working on the demo that came with Advent Children a few months before the full game's release in Japan.

Here's an excerpt from a post-mortem, written by Motomu Toriyama and Akihiko Maeda (event planner and game designer on a few SE games:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/...Scenes_Of_Square_Enixs_Final_Fantasy_XIII.php

 

[Philippo]

Man, Photo Mode for this demo would be glorious

Spoiler

In before perverts trying to take pics of Cidney cleavage

Yeah we should definitely drown SE Tweets with Photo mode requests.

Spoiler

what about Stella upskirts?

 

[213372bu]

Man, Photo Mode for this demo would be glorious

Spoiler

In before perverts trying to take pics of Cidney cleavage

Pray and hope there is lightning DLC then.


That's the only way we can ensure it'll happen.

 

[DC1]

You people backpedal like motherfuckers. We're finally getting a huge open world Final Fantasy. Of course it was going to bear some similarities to other open world games. Now people want the FFXIII corridors back? Oh man.

What do you mean by "You People"?


..I agree with you.

 

[KeRaSh]

My dream would be a singleplayer/coop mainline Final Fantasy game done by either the XI team or the XIV team.

 

[Celestial Mortal]

Is there a way to play the demo without buying Type-0?

People are selling demo codes on eBay for around $20....but I won't trust them much.

BTW trophy list for Type-0 for Region 2 is up. Finally can sync my trophies.

 

[Hibiki Kurosawa]

He let Toriyama have free reign.

Side note, does anyone have the Episode Duscae logo with a transparent background?

Need it for the OT?

 

[magawolaz]

Side note, does anyone have the Episode Duscae logo with a transparent background?

EDIT: PAL version

 

[DarkLordMalik]

People are selling demo codes on eBay for around $20....but I won't trust them much.

BTW trophy list for Type-0 for Region 2 is up. Finally can sync my trophies.

Nice!

I want to see how many trophies I have accumulated so far. There were multiple times when I got trophies in quick successions. Probably the easy ones so far.

 

[Thoraxes]

I see this as a good thing.

Regardless of what you think of his recent output, he's directed and produced some of SE's best titles, which is why I think you're wrong.

 

[firebranded]

I'm going to get this physically, holy crap at the 20 gigs LOL. SE putting in work, wasn't it originally 1.8 gigs? (The UMD limitation)

 

[threelights]

I'm going to get this physically, holy crap at the 20 gigs LOL. SE putting in work, wasn't it originally 1.8 gigs? (The UMD limitation)

It is 2 UMDs on the PSP actually.

But yeah, that's a big jump.

 

[shiftymorgan]

The logo makes me want to buy it..

I am too easily swayed.

 

[Kagari]

You're the best, thanks!

 

[prwxv3]

That reminds me I wonder what the logo means in terms of the overall story.

 

[KupoNut]

It is 2 UMDs on the PSP actually.

But yeah, that's a big jump.

Lots of that is also a higher quality soundtrack and the PSP cinematics rendered in 1080p (hopefully)

 

[Kagari]

Need it for the OT?

Yeah, was only finding small ones

 

[Geg]

That reminds me I wonder what the logo means in terms of the overall story.

The crown-like braid of hair over her head is something that Luna has. I wonder if that logo has been Luna the whole time

 

[Gbraga]

I've always said that though, go look at threads discussing about graphics.

Graphics should have stopped evolving a long time ago. I'd rather play a game that looks like FFXII with a clean IQ than play a game that looks like The Order (disclaimer: this is not a direct attack on The Order, I'm just using it as an example of a game with great graphics).

I wouldn't be mad at all if companies decided to make games that looks like Type-0 HD...



Imagine the stuff we'd be able to do on FFXV if we still had Versus' graphics.

I don't entirely agree with you, but let me say this: I'll take a last gen UE3 game on PC at 4K over a current gen game with a ton of chromatic aberration and all that crap that screw with IQ and make it look like shit.

Clean IQ trumps advanced graphics imo.

 

[firebranded]

It is 2 UMDs on the PSP actually.

But yeah, that's a big jump.

Ah ok, didn't know that. So 3.6 max then, toss in cutscenes at 1080p (Given that it's SE I fully expect them to be, no GOW collection crap here lol), revamped audio for the new systems, the new graphic stuffs and all. Think they did a respectful job then, could've been bigger. Especially going from PSP's res to full 1080p.

 

[Philippo]

Man that logo is soo good, Amano did a better job than usual.

 

[threelights]

That reminds me I wonder what the logo means in terms of the overall story.

Isn't that Etro? (goddess of death).

That video with Noctis and Stella talking gives a bit of insight on the story. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrEjbVxfsaE

 

[Kozmos]

A lot of interesting info in there granted all from 2010. Hopefully not much has changed story wise.

That quote from Kitase sounds amazing. Tabata has said he wants the game to be really emotionally involving and have shocking moments, so I hope it's still on the same path!

 

[Lifejumper]

Imagine the steelbox with that logo

 

[The Last One]

Talking about the logo, is this woman in it the godess Etro? And the creatures in her body the summons? Ths serpent look like could be Leviathan.

 

[ActuallyHulk]

I can't believe I will soon be playing even a small scrap of this game. It's been a long time coming. Almost there.

 

[Tow]

Looking forward to this. I'm liking what I've seen of the new battle system and visuals look fantastic for a demo, hopefully it will continue to improve between now and release