iOS
This is the real deal guys.
I honestly don't know how I'd react if that actually happened...
iOS
This is the real deal guys.
I honestly don't know how I'd react if that actually happened...
Could iOS even handle the graphical requirements Agni's Philosophy would need?
Except... it hasn't been the same concept. Or well, the story etc. has been the same, but they've made huge design changes into the game that have required more work to be done on the game.No, I'm pretty sure it's been mismanaged. I could understand if they had iterated through a number of different design concepts, as was the case with Resident Evil 4. But so far as I know it's been the same original concept all the way through,
They showed a long-ass trailer which showed a plethora of different environments & situations, exploration as well as some more cinematic moments, a working combat system with control over several different kinds of characters. tons of story exposition, had voice-acting and even at such an incomplete state it looked better than most console games (let alone big RPGs). That's plenty substantial to me. Some games have been shown less even up to their releases than what that one trailer showed of Versus XIIIand they still don't have anything substantial to show for it.
Except the thing is, Nomura has said for a long time now how he has been ready to show what they've achieved but someone has tied his hands on the matter. I'm pretty sure the reason why Versus hasn't been shown is the simple fact that Square Enix made a decision a few years back to only hype the games that are next in line for release while the rest need to stay out of the spotlight (this new policy was made after and BECAUSE of the early FFXIII announcements, which they noticed got gamers angry after they had nothing too substantial to show within a couple of years after the announcements). Of course the problem with this is that they've already announced Versus XIII so people want to hear more about it, but they've still stuck to that principle and have hyped games in order of their releases (XIV 2.0, Hitman and Tomb Raider are the three next big ones and those have been getting a lot of attention within the last six months)Which is almost always the result of mismanagement, and a team that can't effectively execute on their design goals.
I assume you'd say you think Naughty Dog is competent, right? Well, they take about 2 years between Uncharted games (and haven't they already been working for 3 years on Last of Us?). Those are sub-10 hour experiences. Final Fantasy Versus XIII is a much bigger & longer game and I'd say that's the quality they are going for (so basically Uncharted except bigger & with more freedom) with Versus XIII, so a 4 year development time isn't that incomprehensible. Really, they are trying to make a huge-ass JRPG that doesn't have too much to shy away in front of those technically impressive, but much smaller, more straightforward games. If the beginning of the game is anything to go by, it seems like they are making the game with a set of mind of "if we come up with it, we'll put it in the game if it's fun" instead of "hmmm.. our budget can't handle this, let's cut plans A, B, C, D, E, F & G out".Nor is there anything in the released information to suggest the game is hugely ambitious beyond what a competent, well-managed development team could deliver in 2-3 years.
So Versus is more ambitious than the entirety XIII?
They will announce Agni's Philosophy as a new game.
Starring Lightning.
I wouldn't mind if Agni's Philosophy was FF15. At least they'd have one cutscene done before official announcement.
And one hd town.
I wouldn't put it past them to not attempt this tomfoolery. I will NEVER like Lightning as a character no matter what they do. Not even if she dresses up as GILGAMESH.
Edit: I think the Agni survey and the recent forays into intense focus testing speaks more to SE not having a flipping clue where to take the franchise than any form of intent
And one hd town.
Aren't you Toriyama's biggest fan?
No one in the recent Final Fantasy teams has done more to enrich the series with new philosophies as the FFXII team has done. Both its former director, Matsuno, and Ito that followed him, have created a Final Fantasy game that has scrapped the entire battle system and rebult it from zero from the same "idea" (the reliance on an ATB turn bar, that was also pioneered by Ito for FF4), a revolutionary AI-driven method for combat, higher reliance on exploration and sidequests that further develop the main combat system instead of new mechanics for mini-games, etc.So they say... or they said, before I became the western-hater!
Toriyama's biggest merit is to look beyond the series to enrich his games, and also to actually develop and then release his games. He is not the best man ever though, his games have limits of course. Lightning Returns sounds very promising btw.
iOS, the operating system? Sure!
There are no iDevices coming out in the next 3 years that could pull off what we saw in that demo, though.
I think the best thing Toriyama contributed was his idea that battle systems should be fast and fun, and for FFX-2 specifically, that the game should be full of fun mini-games as a non-linear gaming alternative to FFXII's massive exploration filled with optional bosses. Heh, even FFX-2 had optional "bosses" from the very beginning due to the Oversoul system.
They said themselves they were inspired by RDR at E3 (in what way exactly I have no idea)..
No one in the recent Final Fantasy teams has done more to enrich the series with new philosophies as the FFXII team has done. Both its former director, Matsuno, and Ito that followed him, have created a Final Fantasy game that has scrapped the entire battle system and rebult it from zero from the same "idea" (the reliance on an ATB turn bar, that was also pioneered by Ito for FF4), a revolutionary AI-driven method for combat, higher reliance on exploration and sidequests that further develop the main combat system instead of new mechanics for mini-games, etc.
What has Toriyama done? Took his FFX's model, which was basically a traditional FF with the exploration scrapped from it, and scrapped the mini-games, scrapped the towns, and whatever else you can think of, then took Calm Lands, and made it bigger and with FFXII's hunting quests? FFXIII's battle system is what, an attempt to mesh FFX-2's with FFXII's, with a timid encounter system that was afraid of following on FFXII's no-loading-times footsteps? And the story is derivative of Digital Devil Saga, with a bit of FFXII's influence, dressed in typical (and far more exaggerated) final fantasy teen melodrama.
What has FFXIII-2 brought to the series? More FFXII's hunting? A FFXII-like town? More side-exploration like FFXII has done first, but instead of being in a big, seamless RPG world, it worked instead like Super Mario platform levels, each with a theme and unconnected with everything else? It works in Platform games, because they are platform games. But in full-fledged RPGs that rely on narrative and world immersion?
Maybe we can finally see what Toriyama can bring with LR:FFXIII from the outside to enrich the franchise. Maybe the battle system and the structure will be a success, who knows, but knowing Toriyama's products, I'm curious to see how derivative it might potentially be from of Versus XIII, whatever that might mean for a product that isn't out yet, or from anything else. I can't see the time-feature to work, because Toriyama's "original" game-breaking (literally) ideas almost always revolve around scrapping or restricting content and world immersion, which is something you should never do in a narrative product for a medium, the video game, that is possibly the best medium currently to make us feel inside a fictional world. The man is willing to be "original" at the cost of many things he is usually not aware of.
I think the best thing Toriyama contributed was his idea that battle systems should be fast and fun, and for FFX-2 specifically, that the game should be full of fun mini-games as a non-linear gaming alternative to FFXII's massive exploration filled with optional bosses. Heh, even FFX-2 had optional "bosses" from the very beginning due to the Oversoul system.
XIII is a ripoff of Digital Devil Saga IMO
Check this out.
http://www.finalfantasy-fxn.net/boards/showthread.php?12209-This-Game-is-Such-a-Rip-Off
FFXII is like FFXI which is like a MMO. What is bold, innovation-wise, is the attempt to make an "offline MMORPG", a single-player game that would have some of the charm of a MMO. That, and the idea of the gambits too. At the same time, FFT (or better yet, Tactics Ogre) and Vagrant Story were already very unique by themselves, and it's perfectly normal that their creators wanted to expand that style into a main FF.FFXII is really FFXI without the online. You're giving them too much credit. Their main task was figuring out how to automate most of XI since you were limited to single player. They imported the same world and design as FFT and Vagrant Story, and added automation. It's a lovely combination, but it's not even in the same ballpark as XI in terms of furthering the series.
XIII tried to do much the same thing with their battle system. It's obvious that they tried to give it more of a sense of urgency and player control than FFXII though, which could be programmed and left alone to play itself. Their solution was the required rapid input of paradigm shifting. The gambits are all automated and built into the jobs. You upgrade them to more efficient gambits with Libra on various enemies, but that's it. XII and XIII are mostly the same in terms of things they bring to the series' battle systems.
I-X were mostly the same battle system, with the job system (FFIII), ATB (FFVI) and character swapping (FFX) being the highlights.
XI was radically different. Each job is more fully developed than at any other point in the series, and the battle system has more depth and player interaction than ever before. And I can assure you, FFXI's monster hunts put XII's to shame.
XII and XIII were experiments with bringing XI to single player games. One favored depth, and the other favored speed and interactivity (both approaches are fully there in XI, which is still far deeper than both XII and XIII's battle systems).
LR and Versus seem like the next big evolution after XI.
FFXII is like FFXI which is like a MMO. What is bold, innovation-wise, is the attempt to make an "offline MMORPG", a single-player game that would have some of the charm of a MMO.
That, and the idea of the gambits too. At the same time, FFT (or better yet, Tactics Ogre) and Vagrant Story were already very unique by themselves, and it's perfectly normal that their creators wanted to expand that style into a main FF.
So my point remains true. The FFXII's creators have brought a lot of new ideas from the outside into the franchise. It doesn't matters if some of those ideas already existed in MMOs, or in other games from the creators, but how they have completely refreshed the (offline) FF model.
FFXIII's big ambition was the attempt to make the battle system more active, intense and flashy. Kinda like FFX-2 with Advent Children visuals, and then the FFXII-style reliance on AI came after.
Everything else is a step back to what FFXII brought. The encounter system was crap because the linear map design didn't allow for anything better or deeper.
The character growth and weapon systems were extremely weak and poorly-developed, almost never exciting.
The "loot system" was terrible due to that.
The game was almost devoid of fun, addicting side-quests or side-battles until Pulse.
There was no sense of pace, no means to break the rhythm, no place to rest and enjoy the world, and little interaction to make us feel inside that world.
In that sense, it was a massive step back to the entire RPG genre, with nothing in return, and for the ironic sake of "better storytelling". And that's basically FFXIII's "innovation" outside of its battle system.
Cutting content indiscrimately for the sake of cutscenes. Cutting content that would have allow to enhance storytelling, for the sake of storytelling. Cutting content that would refresh the gameplay experience through its 40-hour period, for the sake of storytelling. Cutting, cutting and cutting while being completely oblivious to its negative consequences.
In that sense, FFXIII attempt at innovating the series failed completely, and even the devs completely scrapped it for the sequels.
XIII is a ripoff of Digital Devil Saga IMO
Check this out.
http://www.finalfantasy-fxn.net/boards/showthread.php?12209-This-Game-is-Such-a-Rip-Off
wouldnt be surprised, FFX borrowed pretty damn heavily from Grandia 2
If it's currently not on 360 or PC there's no way SCE doesn't try to get it to be PS3/PS4 at the very least.
me neither. SE needs to stop beating around lighting's bush and create a good rpg WITHOUT Lighting for once.
Best part of XIII-2 was GILGAMESH. Best lines in the game and made more sense then the entire plot.
Come at me.
me neither. SE needs to stop beating around lighting's bush and create a good rpg WITHOUT Lighting for once.
I wouldn't mind beating around her bush.
I wonder if her carpet match the drapes...
XIII is a ripoff of Digital Devil Saga IMO
Check this out.
http://www.finalfantasy-fxn.net/boards/showthread.php?12209-This-Game-is-Such-a-Rip-Off
For some reason I feel LRFFXIII will be like Assassin's Creed mixed with a battle system showed in the 2006 concept trailer for FFXIII.
AC with good combat? I'll get two.For some reason I feel LRFFXIII will be like Assassin's Creed mixed with a battle system showed in the 2006 concept trailer for FFXIII.
Might as well post this too I guess:
new artwork (from the UK concert)
weee
I wouldn't mind beating around her bush.
This is some pretty cool artwork for me. But then I like Lightning anyway, so maybe the cancer's already reached my brain.
This is some pretty cool artwork for me. But then I like Lightning anyway, so maybe the cancer's already reached my brain.