Himuro said:
A few of us agree that FFXIII looks like generic sci-fi with over the top action scenes. One could say,"there's not enough informationi to say that!!!!" but aren't we entitled to our opinions?
Of course. But it's one thing to say that you simply have a bad feeling about it based on Square's recent track record (which clearly has been kind of meh, the FF12 delayfest has not treated the company well, and the merger really messed some things up in the transition process perhaps). But it's completely different to damn near write the game off as sucking, as you basically did on IRC. How can you make such a bold prediction based on a very basic announcement and a 1:14 trailer from a game that probably isn't even 30% complete? I'll agree that we have much to be concerned about considering Square has not been so hot lately, but I think Square realizes there has been a big gap in the FF universe for a while, and they do not want to disappoint. Wait until there's more information about the story, setting, characters, GAMEPLAY, etc. before you write it off as sucking as if you've already made up your mind for good. And if it appears to, I'll be right there with you calling bullshit, but we can only assume so much based on the extremely limited amount of information that we have. Hell, we hardly have any.
I will say that their recent output (the Square side of S-E that is) has been anything but impressive, but FF12 was also originally intended to come out in like 2003, so there's been a big void that can only be filled by what was supposed to be there a long time ago, and it's FINALLY on the way.
What do you expect from FFXIII? What're your feelings on it currently? Am I the only one who has this WIERD feeling they're going Matrixize Final Fantasy (thank you Advent Children)? What do you feel about the spin offs? Personally, I find it fucking revolting. To announce spin offs the same time you ANNOUNCE THE GAME IS ABSURD.
The spinoffs I am not too thrilled about. But they are not the primary focus, FF13 is first and foremost. You don't HAVE to play the spinoffs. I like FF7, I hate Advent Children. And all of the other stuff looks dumb to me. But, it doesn't change my opinion of FF7.
But yeah, I'd much rather have, for example, a new Chrono, a new FFT, and a new Parasite Eve instead of a bunch of FF13 spinoffs. But what can you do. Here's hoping that this implies that Square is going to be very aggressive in what they are releasing. Think about it. This is their first step into PS3 territory. We cannot assume this is all we'll be getting from the Square side of S-E. I'd expect more than just FF13 spinoffs.
As for what I'm expecting from the game? I'm expecting a completely futuristic setting, much like FF7, with a very detached and gloomy kind of feel, perhaps with a stronger emphasis on technology in weaponry and such. It's been a while (it'll be over 10 years when it comes out over here, most likely) since we've had a FF like that, so I think it's good that we're finally getting that again. What do you want? Another FFXII? X? IX? We just had all of that. Let's go back to the future again, it's been a while. Give it a chance, Himu. We haven't even seen enough to know what it will really be like. But I do not expect FFXIII in itself to be "boring and generic." I expect quite the opposite.
As for the gameplay, despite what you may think from the few frames of action that you saw, we have no idea what to expect out of the battle system. We only saw one character. They probably haven't even finalized plans as to what they are doing. But as I said in the channel, I believe one of the spinoffs is supposed to be "more like Kingdom Hearts" which is labeled as an "Action RPG," so you can put your fears of FFXIII being like that to rest. No doubt it will be different than the FF's we're used to, but then again, so is FFXII. As you get further and further away from the 8, 16 and 32-bit FF's you can only expect Square to keep changing things, and I can't blame them, there's nothing wrong with that. The battle system is in need of desperate change, IMO. Playing FFX on the PS2 was pretty fun, but at times things seemed so... out of balance. Here you are in this vast 3D world with actual battle gameplay that really hasn't changed that much since the 8 and 16-bit days. You can only stretch that for so long. Square knows that.
Finally, how come the gaming press doesn't ever call out Square Enix (atleast the Square side)? They're always riding their ball sack as if they're still the console rpg gods they were 5 years ago. Then again, that's assuming we're actually dealing with journalists. Guess that's not the case.
I'm sure you will start to see a lot of backlash soon, specifically, journalists calling Square out for putting so much emphasis on FF13 games instead of other great things they have done that they could bring back. I talked to someone (can't remember who) that actually blamed Enix for kind of forcing Square to do things that will rack up sales, like releasing a bunch of FF7 crap, so that it has tons of appeal and is very profitable. If so, that's a damn shame.