[Foffy]

I believe that "Xanadu" is a registered trademark in connection with computer and software goods. I would assume that Serendipity is not.

Xanadu is also a series of video games by Nihon Falcom. Maybe the name change is to not create a correlation between the two?

[burgerdog]

Most likely no.

Wasn't there one for the US release of 13?

[Kagari]

I thought we were friends, Nirolak.

[luka]

Just bought it. This better be good. >:(








(i have no restraint)

[Rahxephon91]

Wasn't there one for the US release of 13?

But the releases are so much closer this time, what would be the point? Importers and Japanese gamers may still be playing it when it comes out in the west.

[Thoraxes]

FYI to those NA CE purchasers who used Amazon.com...

I was finally given the option to change my order to free release date delivery! Check your account too! I know this was a problem a month or so ago, but it seems not to be the case anymore.

[kayos90]

FYI to those NA CE purchasers who used Amazon.com... I was finally given the option to change my order to free release date delivery! Check your account too! I know this was a problem a month or so ago, but it seems not to be the case anymore.

Free release date? Isn't it normally one dollar? Unless you have Prime I guess.

[ZephyrFate]

I think FFXIII-2's OST is gonna grow on people. I'm starting to love songs I initially didn't like, like the Invisible Depths tracks. The Aggressive Mix is freakin awesome.

[Thoraxes]

Free release date? Isn't it normally one dollar? Unless you have Prime I guess.

Ah yes, but still, $1 for release-date delivery? That's much better than like $8 for One-day shipping if you ask me!

Also it wasn't available for most people till now :/

[brandonh83]

I think FFXIII-2's OST is gonna grow on people. I'm starting to love songs I initially didn't like, like the Invisible Depths tracks. The Aggressive Mix is freakin awesome.

I think it's a cool sounding soundtrack but a lot of it is too sporadic to really be that memorable, to me anyway. It's nowhere near as good as the FFXIII soundtrack but that doesn't come as a surprise considering Hamauzu's reduced level of involvement.

It's not bad though, and makes for good background listening music, but it's not going to be remembered as a terribly thematic soundtrack.

[RyougaSaotome]

I'll be grabbing it after work today hopefully.

The OST has some real gems on it, even if not all of the music is amazing.

[ZephyrFate]

I think it's a cool sounding soundtrack but a lot of it is too sporadic to really be that memorable, to me anyway. It's nowhere near as good as the FFXIII soundtrack but that doesn't come as a surprise considering Hamauzu's reduced level of involvement. It's not bad though, and makes for good background listening music, but it's not going to be remembered as a terribly thematic soundtrack.

I don't really mind that it isn't a thematic soundtrack, the individual tracks make me wanna groove and dance. I love it. Fans of all electronic genres are gonna have a LOT to love here.

It's eclectic to the extreme, and for that I like it more than nearly every other OST in the series before it.

[marathonfool]

I haven't heard most of the OST, but is there a lot of vocal tracks?

Listened to the Chocobo and new Steppe theme has made me cringe. Heavy metal and generic jpop. The FF13 was great.

[ZephyrFate]

I haven't heard most of the OST, but is there a lot of vocal tracks? Listened to the Chocobo and new Steppe theme has made me cringe. Heavy metal and generic jpop. The FF13 was great.

There are quite a few, but most of the soundtrack is instrumental. The Steppe track grows on you, at least it did for me.

[Thoraxes]

People who only come in for simple pieces with easy to remember melodies sadden me.

[Dark Schala]

Best thread title change in a long time. Bahahahaha!

It isn't correct Latin. Neither are adjectives. If they'd gone with "saeculorum prora" that might have worked ("a ship belonging to generations") but "saecula" is plural whereas "prora" is singular.

Correct. Square-Enix has decided to utilize ungrammatical Latin again and it's cute. It's odd because they do have actual Latin translators working on the soundtrack (at least for FFXIII), I think. I'd like to think that they would have consulted with some scholars for accuracy. But no, this is SE we're talking about. :lol

The whole quote on her sword says "Longe Lateque Aetatum Lumen Illustrans Verum", which again is ungrammatical Latin. What they want it to mean is "Throughout time, light reveals the truth", but they've used a participle instead of the indicative and blah blah blah blah blah...

Just a sec. I need to forward that to one of my former profs because that is just fantastic. Let's parse that nonsense. Thanks for the full quote, btw. :)

Longe is an adverb which can apply to both time and space. But if we're going for literal and careful interpretation, we'll go with "throughout time" since that, contextually, makes sense for the game.

Lateque is late (everywhere/far and wide) + que (and) = and everywhere; I'd translate this to "and span" since that's basically what they're going for.

Aetatum = genitive plural of aetas = of lifetimes/of generations/of ages

Lumen = 3rd dec nom = light

Illustrans = Square-Enix needs to proofread. It's the present active participle of illustro (to make clear, to illuminate, to reveal). This means that it'll translate directly to "illustrating". You do not use a participle. You use the indicative. LOL. There are two ways they can do this. They can use the present indicative illustrat, or they can use the future indicative illustrabit. I'd advise using the future indicative since they're still going through the journey.

Verum (acc) = the truth

Using illustrans amused me. The new thread title staying and this messed up Latin are the best things ever to wake up to. If I were to translate a corrected version of that, I'd take a few liberties (just because that's the way I approach translations for better flow in English) and go with: "Throughout time and [the] span of generations, light will reveal the truth." ("Shall" usually applies to first person singular/plural, but I'd take the liberty to use it in English.) I'd assume the quote has a double meaning, given that Lightning's nickname is "Light".

I believe that "Xanadu" is a registered trademark in connection with computer and software goods. I would assume that Serendipity is not.

If this were the case, it would also apply in Japan, no? (Xanadu seems like a better fit based on its connotations. When I think "Serendipity", I think "awful romantic comedy starring Kate Beckinsale which my friends forced me to see in grade school".)

[Femmeworth]

When I think "Serendipity", I think "awful romantic comedy starring Kate Beckinsale which my friends forced me to see in grade school".)

Oh no, you did not just diss Serendipity.

[RPGCrazied]

Any impressions yet?

[Thoraxes]

More at Famitsu: http://www.famitsu.com/news/201112/15007070.html

[Dark Schala]

Oh no, you did not just diss Serendipity.

I haven't seen it since I was 13, so maybe I might like it now...? I wasn't into romantic comedies back then much. I swear they only wanted to see it because they wanted to see more movies with Kate Beckinsale in it, as they thought she had great chemistry with Josh Hartnett in Pearl Harbour.

Part of my dissatisfaction came from my friends constantly quoting it at school or when we went out. They did make up for it via A Walk to Remember a few months later!

[Pai Pai Master]

FFXI Omega rules all. This FFXIII-2 design is god awful.

[ZephyrFate]

How is it awful? It's the exact design of FFV's Omega.

[Neki]

wtf, omega can be turned into an allied mob?

MIGHT hAVE TO PREORDER FROM amaZON DAMNIT

I hope it's available for DLC at launch or something.

I just want to pre-order at gamestop so I can trade in games and get the serah costume. :(

and why are you hating on the design? looks exactly like FFV omega

[AMoreHumbleSquare]

Prob already discussed but...
It's nice that SE is having the usual FF launch event extravaganza but with reservation numbers we could be seeing ALL THIS for a less than 500k opening debut (biggest launch fanfare bomb since the original XB in back in '02??). Hopefully not, I'd like to see this surprise everyone and put up much higher launch sales closing the gap towards a million quickly.
The perfect Famitsu score should change some minds among those who'd otherwise have skipped this, it's sure changed my mind, I'm asking for a PS3 this X'mas. lol

[Riposte]

[IMG]http://images.wikia.com/finalfantasy/images/1/1b/Omega_FFXI.png[IMG] FFXI Omega rules all. This FFXIII-2 design is god awful.

At one point in time this was one of the enemies in probably the best boss fight in the Final Fantasy franchise. Now it is just another brainless speedbump on the road to grind, grind, grind and you can't ever go back to that old fight. MMORPGs suck.

[Cheska]

I haven't seen it since I was 13, so maybe I might like it now...? I wasn't into romantic comedies back then much. I swear they only wanted to see it because they wanted to see more movies with Kate Beckinsale in it, as they thought she had great chemistry with Josh Hartnett in Pearl Harbour. Part of my dissatisfaction came from my friends constantly quoting it at school or when we went out. They did make up for it via A Walk to Remember a few months later!

Not to get off topic, but A Walk to Remember was the first movie that made me cry in theaters.

[PumpkinPie]

Prob already discussed but... It's nice that SE is having the usual FF launch event extravaganza but with reservation numbers we could be seeing ALL THIS for a less than 500k opening debut (biggest launch fanfare bomb since the original XB in back in '02??). Hopefully not, I'd like to see this surprise everyone and put up much higher launch sales closing the gap towards a million quickly. The perfect Famitsu score should change some minds among those who'd otherwise have skipped this, it's sure changed my mind, I'm asking for a PS3 this X'mas. lol

Whether it's good or not, I'm skipping it out of principal after the first one. In an ideal world it'd bomb and Squenix would finally take their heads out of their arses.

[Zoe]

If this were the case, it would also apply in Japan, no? (Xanadu seems like a better fit based on its connotations. When I think "Serendipity", I think "awful romantic comedy starring Kate Beckinsale which my friends forced me to see in grade school".)

They don't really follow copyright as strictly over there...

[RedRedSuit]

Prob already discussed but... It's nice that SE is having the usual FF launch event extravaganza but with reservation numbers we could be seeing ALL THIS for a less than 500k opening debut (biggest launch fanfare bomb since the original XB in back in '02??). Hopefully not, I'd like to see this surprise everyone and put up much higher launch sales closing the gap towards a million quickly. The perfect Famitsu score should change some minds among those who'd otherwise have skipped this, it's sure changed my mind, I'm asking for a PS3 this X'mas. lol

Famitsu review scores have little meaning. 39/40 for FF XIII, for example. Is 40/40 really that much different?

It's a marketing magazine basically. The absurdity of their reviews go beyond the whole "Japanese people like very different things than us" thing.

I mean I *hope* it's deserved... a great FF again would be amazing event indeed... but it's impossible to draw any real conclusions from it.

[AMoreHumbleSquare]

Famitsu review scores have little meaning. 39/40 for FF XIII, for example. Is 40/40 really that much different? It's a marketing magazine basically. The absurdity of their reviews go beyond the whole "Japanese people like very different things than us" thing. I mean I *hope* it's deserved... a great FF again would be amazing event indeed... but it's impossible to draw any real conclusions from it.

You're prob right, there's the sympathy factor for the continued decline of sales of the FF series AND Zelda, with Skyward Sword's recent perfect score...

[PK Gaming]

Cool the thread's old name is back. Honestly the chocobo song was terrible, but it wasn't quite "The room" level of bad (so bad that its good)

Damn I need more FFXIII-2 info. Spoilers, gameplay tidbits, the whole kitten kaboodle.

[Kagari]

Still waiting on my copy, but I have sampled several streams.

Some observations:

Overall performance seems to be better than the build I played. Camera is still a bit off in places though.

360 version installed still has frequent loading between menus and long loading when using the Historia Crux. Doesn't seem to make much of a difference in that respect.

Lots of recycling... kind of annoying they didn't create many new enemies :< Areas are also copy/paste even though the timeline is different. A lot of old music tracks are back.

I've only been watching random streams here and there, so I won't comment on the story just yet.

[MrDenny]

Piggyback releasing a limited edition guide this time around too.
Amazon Pre-Order Link

-Exclusive coffee table book printed on highest-quality paper and bound in a padded hard cover. -Limited print run, includes two ribbon bookmarks. -Includes a 16-page bonus section exclusive to this edition. -Every secret, every unlockable, every side-quest, every mini-game, every Achievement and every Trophy revealed and explained in a dedicated Extras chapter. We've also added a story recap and an artwork gallery. -The dedicated Walkthrough charts the critical path through the main narrative. It also provides regular prompts and tips to direct players to side quests and other optional features within the game world. -The Tour Guide chapter includes one section per game location in each time period. This complements the Walkthrough by examining all optional activities offered in the game (side quests, mini-games, puzzles and power-leveling spots). -The Completion Timeline chapter offers a visual and streamlined guide to 100% completion. -The Strategy & Analysis section gives an advanced analysis of the game's key systems and features. This also covers the most complex topics such as character development in a thorough, yet user-friendly way. -All-encompassing Inventory and Bestiary chapters feature exhaustive lists and tables covering all enemies, weapons, accessories, items and shops. -The 100% complete guide to Final Fantasy XIII-2. -Carefully designed to avoid unnecessary story spoilers.

[Yoshichan]

Wait,I just woke up... what did they change the thread title too and why did they change it back again?

[Vincent Alexander]

Was there a seperate thread for the crazy chocobo song in this? Because I'm trying to find that thread now and failing hard.

Found it:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=455562

[Famassu]

Whether it's good or not, I'm skipping it out of principal after the first one. In an ideal world it'd bomb and Squenix would finally take their heads out of their arses.

Ummm... XIII-2 IS a game about them "taking their heads out of their asses". They made XIII, it didn't go too well with the fans so they listened to pretty much every complaint people had with the game and changed it for the better in XIII-2 (well, the story still seems overly melodramatic, but gameplay-wise).

[Kagari]

According to someone on 2ch, the file size of the PS3 version is 14.446GB, while the 360 one is 7.8GB.

[Zzoram]

According to someone on 2ch, the file size of the PS3 version is 14.446GB, while the 360 one is 7.8GB.

Is the difference mostly Bink video?

[Kagari]

Is the difference mostly Bink video?

Undoubtedly, the videos are compressed using Bink Video on 360. I'm curious how much of the PS3 version is video file this time.

[MooMoo]

Is the difference mostly Bink video?

Most likely. If I remember right, the actual game content size of FF13 was relatively small.

Also, for anyone interested the FF13-2 Guide by Piggyback is up on Amazon's website.

[Yoshichan]

Anyone? <,< What was the last thread title?

edit: how big was FFXIII PS3?

[Kagari]

Anyone? <,< What was the last thread title?

A joke about that lame chocobo song.

[Dark Schala]

Stream started back up, and they're at an area that I really wanted to see in action. http://ja.twitch.tv/teakdoc. Looks a lot better in motion, imo... However, maybe it's the stream, but the ground texture...

Oh my gosh... The monsters in battle are also covered with snow... and snow's still falling during battle. Too bad they don't seem to leave footprints in the snow, or at least I can't see them.

Ummm... XIII-2 IS a game about them "taking their heads out of their asses". They made XIII, it didn't go too well with the fans so they listened to pretty much every complaint people had with the game and changed it for the better in XIII-2 (well, the story still seems overly melodramatic, but gameplay-wise).

Ehhh... as much as I complemented the gameplay, I wouldn't say it's a huge improvement yet (at least, I need to test it out myself to get a feel of the system). The monsters' animation attack speeds and their Synchro Drive animation length bug me a little.

It also doesn't help that a few of those streaming are being really stubborn about their Optimas and are not utilizing the flexibility that the system allows. I do think the FFXIII-2 Crystarium system is an improvement. You're still connecting dots, but the "Crystarium Expanded!" bits are neat in that you can choose what you want to add first. Also, you can finally grind at will. There are some improvements like lack of that asinine camera panning and lack of dumb lengthy optima shift signal animations which were in FFXIII's battles, so they seem to be trying.

Yeah, I don't feel the story is very compelling at the moment.

[Yoshichan]

A joke about that lame chocobo song.

Oh! Ok ._.

[Inorigo]

Game launched in Japan... Hype starting to set in again...

[Yoshichan]

Dark Schala, why are you watching so much of the game on streams :(?

[Kagari]

Dark Schala, why are you watching so much of the game on streams :(?

I stopped watching... <_< waiting for my copy to ship now.

[Dark Schala]

Dark Schala, why are you watching so much of the game on streams :(?

I'm more interested in the battle and ability systems, and animation speeds, than the story. And to be fair, this guy seems to be grinding and unlocking more abilities than progressing, which is exactly how I play RPGs. But it doesn't really help that this player is focusing so much on using certain roles rather than showing off the entire deck. :/

I miiiiight stop watching before the final chapter, or when he unlocks a certain story trophy, though. I want to figure out how to beat the final boss myself.

Edit: Serah's healer animation speed is kind of weird. It's too bad he doesn't seem to use it until he's about to die, though, so I can't see it often enough! I'm starting to warm up to Noel's Blaster animation speeds, or at least the animations themselves.

[ULTROS!]

Anyone? <,< What was the last thread title? edit: how big was FFXIII PS3?

37.6 GB

[Trojita]

Piggyback guide? I came!