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Final Fantasy XIII Information Thread | March 9, 2010 NA/EU

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Seda said:
You serious? FFXII's dialogue is only outmatched by FFT:WotL. Its nearly the best localization of an FF game ever. The VA was quite good as well!

Edit: I probably jumped the gun there

You did, but at least you show that you have taste.

Also, i thought Kagari wanted y'all to stop polluting her thread?
 
Seda said:
I just saw that the thread jumped like 400 posts since I've been here, I was hoping for some info or good discussion (about FFXIII).

irc.rizon.net doesn't seem to be working for me.

Are you using IRC, or pasting irc.rizon.net into the address bar?
 
Seda said:
I just saw that the thread jumped like 400 posts since I've been here, I was hoping for some info or good discussion (about FFXIII).

irc.rizon.net doesn't seem to be working for me.

I'm on the subserver irc.pantsuland.net (don't ask, I didn't name the server...)
 
I do hope that Alexander O. Smith works on FF Versus XIII. I already love so much of the staff for that game. I don't think a stylized localization in the vein of FFXII/VS/TWotL would fit that world based on what we've seen, but perhaps a different sort of stylization would be plenty of fun. The man does have a way with words, after all, loves his neologisms for some of the proper noun translations, and as the overall stylization with that game seems to be fairly heavily controlled on the visual and musical sides, I imagine it'd be a good fit.
 
badcrumble said:
I do hope that Alexander O. Smith works on FF Versus XIII. I already love so much of the staff for that game. I don't think a stylized localization in the vein of FFXII/VS/TWotL would fit that world based on what we've seen, but perhaps a different sort of stylization would be plenty of fun. The man does have a way with words, after all, loves his neologisms for some of the proper noun translations, and as the overall stylization with that game seems to be fairly heavily controlled on the visual and musical sides, I imagine it'd be a good fit.
I agree with you. I think he would do a fantastic job with Final Fantasy Versus XIII. I hope Square-Enix already has him lined up for the game.
 
For the sake of discussion.
Here's some extended translations for the Crystalium system(Chinese scans were out and we have more people who read Chinese than Japanese).Site has to remain unnamed since they contain scans. But thanks to Astro and redberrie from that forum.

Translation by Astro
Page 6: Crystallium (I)
- Paragraph at the top left corner: Finally, we will be revealing FFXIII's character growth system in this issue! In each installment, Final Fantasy games have always astounded players, and FFXIII is no exception. Doing away with the traditional "EXP", FFXIII reinvents itself by instead using a system where "the team's power will increase and evolve according to the player's choices". And this system is called the Crystallium system!
- Blue bit below that: The in-game menu is finally revealed officially, as shown on the image on the right. From this main menu, one can select the option "Crystallium". This will bring you to a screen as shown on the following page (Page 7), with a crystal corresponding to the selected character. Also, the second last option on the main menu reveals a new option called O-tokurippu (Auto-Clip?), and seems to allow players to look through topics that are important in the game. (?) On another note, one might notice that in the image shown on the right, only 5 of the 6 revealed characters are shown on screen, with no space for any additional character. However, do not worry, for when Fang is also in the party, space will be made for her by decreasing the widths of each individual character's portraits.
- Bottom part of blue bit: The Crystallium has levels? On the bottom of the menu screen, one can see not only the current Paradigm of the battling team on the left and the Tactical Points gauge on the right, but also the Crystallium Level in the centre. This level is representative of the current upper limit on character growth, which will be raised as the story progresses and the cap on character growth is slowly removed.
- Blue bit below the menu image: A 6th role 'Saboteur' (Jammer) is revealed! In the Crystallium, one must advance each role's individual abilities and power. Here a new role that you can also advance is revealed; the 'Saboteur' role. Specifically, it is an important role concerned with reducing the power of foes, hindering their battle with negative status effects, as well as removing their positive status effects. Here in the image inset and image below, Vanille as a Saboteur can be seen casting Bio, which inflicts the Poison status which slowly drains the enemy's HP.

Page 7: Crystallium (II)
- Paragraph below the top image: With the reveal of the Saboteur role, all 6 roles have been completely revealed. (Didn't they say there were a lot? O_o) Whilst we will explain the Crystallium in-depth on the next page (Page 8), here we will give a basic explanation first. If a player wants to develop his roles, one must use the CP obtained through battles. Depending on a player's desire, one can choose to either have the characters specialize in certain roles, or develop their roles equally such that the character is equally adept at each role. It is entirely up to the player's choice.
*Bit on the 6 roles are just summaries of what we already know about them.
*Black box on the right is just standard information we already know about Roles and Paradigms.

Page 8: Crystallium (III)
- Paragraph at top left corner: Now we will go through an in-depth analysis of the mechanics of the Crystallium system. The basis of the entire system is the "crystal", and the system will allow players the freedom to choose whichever roles they want to develop, and whatever abilities they wish to unlock. Clearly, if one wishes to enjoy FFXIII, one will have to understand first how the Crystallium works.
- Blue bit below that (Top portion): Inside the crystal, each role will a set path within. When the player wants to develop a character's roles, he would have to ask himself "Which role(s) do I want to develop?" From the image on the right, we can see that Lightning seemingly has access to developing the Commando (Attacker) and Ravager (Blaster) roles. The other roles such as Medic and Saboteur are missing from the screen, and clearly it is because Lightning does not have access to developing these roles at this point in time.
- Blue bit below that (Bottom portion): When the player hovers over the option "Ravager Lv. 1", a summary of the available crystals to unlock is provided for that respective level. These crystals are sorted into 4 categories: Abilities, HP, Attack Power, Magic Power. In this case, only 2 of the 3 Ability crystals are unlocked so far, with the rest of the 2 HP, 2 Attack Power, and 2 Magic Power crystals still locked.
- Blue bit next to second image: The crystals assume a variety of different shapes, and the layout of the board will change according to the level of the role. In the image on the left, you can see the various crystals on the board linked by what is termed "Power Lines". As you unlock these crystals, the corresponding ability or parameter upgrade (HP/Attack Power/Magic Power) is obtained by the character. Whilst the crystals are arranged on a set Power Line, one would find that for certain crystals, there will be a branch out to another area. Additionally, as the player navigates from the outer disc and reaches the crystal located in the centre, the role will level up, and a new layer board is added above the current board; a literal level up. Interestingly, roles will differ slightly between characters. That is, the crystals and layout for various roles in the Crystallium will differ for different characters.
- Portion at the bottom left corner: The 4 types of crystals found in the Crystallium can be divided into 2 groups; the Ability and the Parameter crystals. The Ability group comprises just the one type of Ability crystals, whilst the Parameter group comprises the other 3; HP, Attack Power and Magic Power crystals. The difference between the two groups of crystals is this: Ability crystals unlocked are specific to the character and the role, but Parameter crystals apply to the character in general and not the role specifically. In other words, any Parameter crystals unlocked within any of a character's roles all contribute similarly to the character in general. Therefore, a player can choose between the two groups of crystals to concentrate on unlocking, which will have a crucial impact on a character in battle.
- Tiny bit at very bottom of page: In Alexander's Gestahlt Mode, he doesn't seem to be able to move...? Toriyama explains, "Alexander will be unable to move, and will instead be so huge that he will surround the entire battle field. In this case, as a "Tactical Commander", the player will have to rely on assessing the location and number of enemies to strategically choose commands in battle." It looks like Alexander's Gestahlt Mode will be very different from the other eidolons'.

Page 9: Crystallium (IV)
- Blue bit at the top (Top portion): In order to unlock crystals on the board, one must travel along the Power Lines linking the various crystals. And to move along the Power Lines, one must press and hold the 'O' button, and press the direction pad in the direction that you want to proceed in. However, to do this, Crystal Points (CP) must be used. Without CP, players cannot move along Power Lines. Only when a crystal is reached by moving along a Power Line, can the crystal be unlocked, and new available Power Lines be shown. If CP is used completely, the player will not be able to move along a Power Line to reach other crystals. Players are free to move along Power Lines that have already been unlocked with CP. This means that if players wish to backtrack to a point where there was a branch, no additional CP will be consumed. (!)
- Blue bit at the top (Bottom portion): The steps for developing the roles can be outlined in the flowchart on the right: Obtain CP Through Battles --> Choose The Role To Develop --> Use CP To Travel Along Power Lines --> Unlock Crystals When You Reach Them. On another note, one should note that the CP obtained in battle is dependent on the type and number of enemies defeated, and in this respect is similar to EXP from previous FFs. The rank obtained after the battle has no implication on the amount of CP obtained. Instead, the rank will affect the equipment/items obtained.
- Tiny bit at very bottom of page: Toriyama explains, "The other eidolons can be said to be more "action", whereas Alexander can be considered to be more "strategic". For the other eidolons' Gestahlt modes, the summoner can be seen riding them in some way, but what about Hope? Toriyama explains, " For Hope he will stand/hold on to Alexander's head portion, and issue orders to him." Try searching for him on Page 4


Translation by redberrie
Scan 10
With regards to the Crystallium system; by using Hope’s role of Blaster as an example, he’ll be learning fire abilities, which won’t be all that powerful in the beginning but it’ll only use up little of his cost points, (you’ll be able to prepare a few more fire attacks in the attack slots in this case). The character will be able to deal more damage as he continues to level up in that role, and consequently an increased amount of cost points will be required for each casting.
There’re firaga and lightning spells that would be able to send your enemies flying into the air (by all means that doesn’t equate that you’ve reached the chain break stage). However, by attacking enemies during that spell-launched period, you be able to get your chain bar to increase more.

Scan 11 (im really not all epic familiar with the Crystallium stuff, forgive me if there’s seemingly contradicting looking info.. ><”)
As compared to FFX’s battle system, the Crystallium system expands upward and downward in a 3d manner, whereby the player will be able to adjust character skills according to personal preference.
Player’s will see the Crystal Level and the Role Level in the character stats. Level ups will not be based on individual characters EXP but on the Crytals’ Crystal Points. Crystal Points unlock new attributes and skills for battle roles while the crystals’ level essentially levels up as the story progresses (The Crystal Level will essentially follow the highest level the character has achieved in their roles).
And yes, you’ll be able to “turn back” and obtain the crystals that are on another route. It depends on how the player strategizes their character.


PS:Is it ok for me to leave the scan page references? If not it will sound weird but I don't mind digesting and then attempt to put these in prose without the references.
 
I'm actually quite shocked that this is a March 2010 release for NA. I guess I'm going to trade ODST towards it because I wasn't sure what else to pre-order. I'm skeptical of, but interested in Heavy Rain. However, Final Fantasy is a known quantity and safe bet.
 
At first I was like 'wtf is this bullshit' at the start of that English trailer with the lipsyncing it was terrible. Then I realised it was a CG cutscene, the ingame ones are great I'm really impressed.
As for Sazh's VA...well it's the opposite of tasteful that's for sure, when he's in the car atleast. It's not terrible though I mean his dialog with Vanille was pretty good.
The spear chick's 'accent' made me cringe immediately though :lol Oh well, the kids voice is surprisingly not fecal matter so I'll take that over a crap accent any day.
Definitely is inbetween FFX and XII in terms of quality, colour me satisfied.
 
Oh, so I get the Crystarium level and CP cost now.

So each role can level up through learning abilities, but the max level each role can currently reach is limited by the Crystarium level, which raises as the story progresses. So if my Crystarium level is 2, and Lightning has Attacker at level 2 and Blaster at level 1, Attacker won't be able to go to level 3 until I unlock Crystarium level 3, but Blaster is able to go to level 2.

CP cost is the amount needed to reach the crystal, not actually activate it. So in that screenshot I mentioned where Snow activated the Atk+18 boost that had a cost of 40/40, he used only used 12 CP because he already used 28 CP to progress towards the crystal beforehand. I assume this also means that by "certain characters will need more or less CP", they mean that the Crystarium board for each character is set up so that more or less CP will be needed to reach their crystals, like Vanille's Blaster Crystarium Board will be set up so she only needs 100 CP to reach the crystal with the spell Ruin, while Snow's would be set up so he needs 150 CP.

Now this makes sense. :)
 
Ah...so I take it most of you guys saw the famous IGN dub by now. Honestly - i WISH we could have that dub in the game as well - i would pay 20 extra bucks for it, I swear . Shit is hilarious.
 
hell yes, i can use the 20 dollar promotion from MW2 preorder to buy FFXIII, but i'ma wait til they announce the collector's edition one first
 
So i just watched that video with Mr Smug in it and i can safely say that was the worst trailer/preview/whatever i have ever seen. Mr Smug talking bollocks and the square guys going on about Reona Rewis had me cracking up.
The best qoute had to be that FF13 is the most anticipated game of all time, hell its not even the most anticipated game of next year. I can think of 3 games right now that will easily outsell it.

Is the combat in this real time or not? I am not buying if its the same old turn based stuff, i can't stomach the art style anymore and the story is most likely going to be terrible so my purchase depends on the gameplay.
 
Arhal_Katarn said:
So i just watched that video with Mr Smug in it and i can safely say that was the worst trailer/preview/whatever i have ever seen. Mr Smug talking bollocks and the square guys going on about Reona Rewis had me cracking up.
The best qoute had to be that FF13 is the most anticipated game of all time, hell its not even the most anticipated game of next year. I can think of 3 games right now that will easily outsell it.

Is the combat in this real time or not? I am not buying if its the same old turn based stuff, i can't stomach the art style anymore and the story is most likely going to be terrible so my purchase depends on the gameplay.

It's real time turn based. Most similar to FFX-2 but faster. Attacks take place at the same time and I think they can be interrupted if timed properly. But still command based in case you wonder. The speed also meant loss of character control though.
 
I finally got ahold of the theme song for this(My Hands). I can't honestly say that it was the best decision. It just doesnt fit well with Lightning or Snow or Serah, or any of the characters really. Doesnt fit well with the continuation of the previous FFs(FFX and FFXII) too

Who exactly makes these kind of decisions?
 
gamergirly said:
I finally got ahold of the theme song for this(My Hands). I can't honestly say that it was the best decision. It just doesnt fit well with Lightning or Snow or Serah, or any of the characters really. Doesnt fit well with the continuation of the previous FFs(FFX and FFXII) too

Who exactly makes these kind of decisions?

Someone who is involved with FFXIII, I guess. Everything makes sense! The song truly does fit!
 
So, these are all the roles (JP and EN names):

Attacker - Commando
Blaster - Ravager
Defender - Sentinel
Healer - Medic
Enhancer - Synergist
Jammer - Saboteur

Is it just me or the English names are more military oriented?
 
Himuro said:
I'm really disappointed they didn't hire Alexander O. Smith for localization of FF13, because what we've seen so far of FF13 has been tame - even embarrassing - compared to what was FF12. FF12's story may have been ass, but it was well written! Hell, it's probably not even the fact Smith isn't involved, as he translated FF10 and look at that game (which, admittedly, was fine for 2000 console standards); if anything it's probably the original writer in general. In many ways, FF13 seems like a major step back in regards to that aspect of its presentation.

Hopefully, what we've seen so far are just poor examples.
To be honest, I've seen too many out of context scenes in voice acting to make an early judgement. Even a recent example of Dragon Age. I'd have said it's the worst ever based on the trailers but it's actually quite good

However, I don't think it'll be as good as FFXII

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r0L6gkb1u0

So good
 
duckroll said:
That's not "a bit" off topic. That's completely off topic. Not something that is tolerated. Remove it at once!
But but but...

*looks at last page*

I do hope that Alexander O. Smith works on FF Versus XIII...
It'd be nice that Alexander works on Versus, but I doubt it...
I'm really disappointed they didn't hire Alexander O. Smith for localization of FF13...

OK. I'll remove it. =(
 
Post a thread about it, it's a cool interview IMO and something that I'd certainly call an item of interest, just has nothing to do with this thread.

I have to agree with some of the general trepidation regarding the localization... based on what we're seeing, I'm expecting translation and voice acting approximately equal to the quality level from FFX (although the l'Cie/fal'Cie/Cie Corpse trio of nonsense terms doesn't help... I strongly prefer localizable fantasy terms, like prayer child -> Fayth). Production levels are going to be higher, of course, so we're likely to get matched-up lip movements this time (which certainly helps the script - remember some of Hedy Burress' pinched words to keep up with Yuna's Japanese brevity? shouldn't be a problem this time) and no more cutscenes composed of canned animations (the cutscene director from VS/KH/FFXII is working on Versus, so one can't guarantee that they'll be as strong as the very well acted/'shot'/edited cutscenes from FFXII, but on a base technical level they'll be produced at the same level of quality). We haven't seen much of it, but what I have seen in that department isn't terrifically impressive, especially after the amazing localization, voice acting, and overall cutscene quality in FFXII. At least there's no chance of compressed voice tracks, I suppose.
 
Gravijah said:
Someone who is involved with FFXIII, I guess. Everything makes sense! The song truly does fit!

The song is unfortunately, in my opinion, not the best fit in looking back over the video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgjUb4xV5A4). I dont see what the problem was with needed to contract her. If we had a choice of popular musical idols, Leona Lewis most likely wouldnt have been on the list that I would use (Carrie Underwood :P).

Anyway, I want a special edition, or Soundtrack CD preorder bonus.
 
...don't know if I should preorder now or not. I can get it for $36 on Amazon thanks to $20 credit, but I know there will be some sort of collector edition announced :|...but then I'd only want to buy a CE if it was like $70-80, not like $100+. What to do...

Has there been any statements from SE about a CE?
 
NeoUltima said:
...don't know if I should preorder now or not. I can get it for $36 on Amazon thanks to $20 credit, but I know there will be some sort of collector edition announced :|...but then I'd only want to buy a CE if it was like $70-80, not like $100+. What to do...

Has there been any statements from SE about a CE?

This actually happened to me, except I already have a pre-order made.

But I'm going to wait and see how much it costs if they make one before I change/cancel that order. Looking at the prices of other LE/CE games though, chances are I'll be passing on it.
 
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