First pic I saw for the game actually has me somewhat interested. It's like DmC's art direction.
:lol
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"Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII" to be revealed on 22 December [First Trailer]
- Thread starter Perfo
- Start date
MagiusNecros
Gilgamesh Fan Annoyance
GILGAMESH is face of old school FF IMO.(Come on he's a throwback to the old fashioned armor and weapons and good humor, yet also serious stories of the past, the old fashioned earth rots and seas rage motifs, mixing a dark story with humor to lighten things up)
Cloud is the face of the PS1 Era due to the jump to 3-D and models, new story elements and how everything got detailed with the world and general narrative.
Lightning is the face of the current era where the focus is on graphics and prettiness but the void that is left behind shows overall lacklusterness, ergo one half is done correctly, while the other half is shafted. It's still good but not as fleshed as it was before due to that focus or lack of focus thereof.
The 4th era is yet to come.
Clearly.
Cloud is the face of the PS1 Era due to the jump to 3-D and models, new story elements and how everything got detailed with the world and general narrative.
Lightning is the face of the current era where the focus is on graphics and prettiness but the void that is left behind shows overall lacklusterness, ergo one half is done correctly, while the other half is shafted. It's still good but not as fleshed as it was before due to that focus or lack of focus thereof.
The 4th era is yet to come.
Clearly.
Well Slime is used like a reference for Dragon Quest, so there is no lie in that. But no one buys Monster Hunter because of the monsters. People buy it because they enjoy the coop experience and etc. Thats why there is more than one generic monster in MH and there is no two Lightning in FFXIII. She sells the game. Those monsters don't.
She has had Zero impact on the Japanese game public outside of Sqaure fans. Atlus fans, Nis Fans, hell any other RPG fans don't give a damn.
Name one game or character that we can look at and say was influenced by Lightning? Nothing has. Before XIII launched many of us, including myself thought she had the potentail to be an Icon, for XIII to be a game that many other companies tries to replcate and gather around but this never happened.
An Icon needs to be more then just well known. Even Angry Birds as bland as it is, is more then popular it blew up an entire genre and has copy cat after copy cat trying to find emulate it's success. Outside of XIII proper even Square Enix titles feature Lightning continue to decline in sales and overall appeal, this isn't the power or pull of an Icon.
Cloud is really the face of Final Fantasy in general. Also while I love 5 and Gilgamesh I think trying to call him the face of Old School Final Fantasy is misguided. As much as I hate to say it would more likely be Cecil Harvey given how hard and many times as Square Enix has pushed him and FF IV.
Dark Schala
Eloquent Princess
Lightning Returns needs to play like Mega Man now. Accept no substitutes, complete with the silly quotes, difficulty, and facepunching.
And Noi has to do a barebones runthrough of it.
Left behind? There was nothing there to begin with dude. Lightning's personality makes staring at ants crawl look like Cinco de Mayo.
Type 0 is another Product of Square Enix and not something that was produced by another company because of Lightning and the impact she had. Maybe if Seven had been in Lightning's shoes people would like her more though.
Didn't say it had to be from a different company. ;D
I did in a previous post, in that one however no I didn't. That does highlight my point though that Lightning is a face for one company, however she is not a japanese gaming Icon.
Seven's design was also done back around the same time as Lightning, and it's not unheard of for character designers to recycle designs anyway.
Nomura was way more talkative about Serah's design before XIII's release then any other character, and given he was asked directly to make Lightning in a certain way I tend to doubt he is all that into her.
We'll see in a few days hopefully. It's going to be very different from the previous games, which is why the title is completely different.
Well, we've seen quite some games having a main female protagonist after XIII like Tomb Raider and Remember Me (and those terrible games like X Blades, Blades of Time or whatever) probably because SE had the courage to have Lightning in the main role. That would be consider an impact for me. But still its quite early to judge it. And a character don't necessarily need to be an influence to others to be considered an icon, by that rule unique/unusual characters will never be icons then? And why are you using generalizations? How do you know if Atlus or NIS fans don't like her? I'm a Persona fan and still like Lightning. And you just said that there was impact even if only for SE fans, which happen to be one of the biggest fan bases in japan, so you just proved my point anyway.
Aye. Definitely can agree with you there.
I'm with Kagari though. It'd be nice to see a new change of face and new main character. New world... ANYTHING actually NEW, not XIII related. (I count Versus as a new game.)
Just because he was asked to make the character a certain way doesn't mean he doesn't care. I'm sure Nomura likes many of the designs he created even if they were assigned.
Dark Schala
Eloquent Princess
They seem to have been pushing Warrior of Light for that position as of late. And that would be much preferable.
Who else do they have this generation in terms of a big-budget console release, exactly?kayos90 said:
As much as I'd love for The Last Remnant to be that console release, FF13 is probably a better-suited game for it. Especially given that it's one of their three big pillar games.
Did you watch the Lighting Returns FFXIII announcement trailer? Shit was fucked up, yo.
If you can go to a single moderately sized gaming show and not find someone cosplaying Lightning, I'd be surprised. Just the other day you were saying that Aqua and Ventus were more memorable than Lightning, Fang and Vanille (yeah right, c'mon now). Even this Canadian pop singer cut her hair like Lightning.
We're going to have to agree to disagree on this one. She's very clearly, an obvious Japanese gaming icon. You may not like her, but that doesn't change reality.
You can't be trying to actually argue that Tomb Raider, who's lead actually is a gaming Icon or Capcom how have characters like Jill Valentine, PN03, Okami, and Claire Redfield were some how influenced to have a Female lead by Lightning? They all came before her and were all leads, one who's name is and will always be more well known then Lightning herself.
I don't believe he hates her or anything. However Nomura has been asked several times about his creations and we hear different things all the time. He has talked about how much he loves Cloud and Sora, or about how much he enjoyed Vincent and Rinoa. Before XIII's release he was talked about how he felt Serah was the cutest design he had made yet. My point was I don't believe he that level of affection for Lightning to the point it is him that would be choosing to push her over and over again.
I'm sure Aeana would be thrilled to know that Rush Sykes has become the new face of console gaming for SE. Especially the English Rush considering it has her favorite VA.
Quoting myself from the last page:
1) She was the protagonist of FF.
2) She was/is the face of Square Enix this gen. Who else would it be? The protagonist of Sleeping Dogs? lmao I mean...
3) She is a gaming icon in Japan as SE is one of the biggest japanese gaming producers, there is no lie in that.
So. I don't see the point. He is not going out of his way to say Lightning is a better character than people think she is. He is just stating FACTS.
Thats based on what he said about Lightning during the announcement.
There are more price quotes in that video.
Well you better decide then, because you asked how Lightning influenced other games. HOW WOULD A GAME EVEN INFLUENCE A GAME IN THE PAST? FFS. I mean, yes, because all those you mentioned there are games that were released after Final Fantasy XIII right? Geez. We are talking about this generation.
And whats the problem, he is just showing admiration to a character who he is working with.
I'm starting to think people would prefer if he actually hated her. I mean, which developer would even be involved in a project if he disliked the protagonist?
TheJollyCorner
Member
I'm sorry, but saying people who have been throwing their hands up this last year (or more) as 'ADHD people' seems really inappropriate, especially considering the head-scratching decisions S-E has made throughout this entire generation.
The game (VsXIII) was given a grand 'debut' 6 and a half years ago. Naturally many knew it was very early, we knew XIII had to come out first, etc., but in six and a half years we have gotten:
-2 (?) brief CGI trailers
-1 real-time 'conversation' trailer (the one that was on the ACC Bluray), which now has apparently been converted to a CG scene.
-some vague images of the S-E production board.
-1 'in-game' video of footage, showing a brief look at exploration and battle.
-constant PR messages like "forget about VS for a while" (Yoshitaka Amano apparently forgot about it completely) and my personal favorite "please look forward to it."
I could be missing some, but those seem like the big ones.
S-E wants fans to 'look forward to it', but they haven't given many compelling reasons to do so other than "OMG, NOMURA!" and the anxious hope that the sheer ambition of the project will propel the series back to respectable heights.
Many fans here are beyond the 'impatient, ADHD fans' period now.
Yes, this has become a very important game for S-E, but I can't help but feel like with each passing year that level of importance changes to a higher level of desperation. What if VersusXIII is just 'good' and not 'Game of the Generation' (subjective, I know, but humor me), because after what will likely be a 7+ year development cycle, expectations among the fanbase are going to be ridiculous. This just seems unavoidable to me at this point
Look at the last two major FF releases that had bloated productions (FFXII & FFXIII). Both were criticized for feeling incomplete, missed potential, and, in the case of XIII, criminally undercooked. Why should we believe VersusXIII will be any different? Major games under Wada's watch haven't proved otherwise yet. All that said, I really, really hope this one is fantastic.
Famassu said:
Seriously- try claiming any game/production is 'rushed' when it's been in various stages of development for over half-a-decade and see if you get anything in return other than a blank stare (or in the case of a message forum: a barrage of "lol"s
).I have no idea what Wada understands. I think he's running scared now. The FF brand has been damaged with lengthy, troubled productions, 'apology' games, and just basic oversaturation.
VersusXIII could change that if it's as phenomenal as a 7+ year dev cycle should allow it to be... but I just find it impossible to believe this is all part of some masterful plan by Wada and I sure as hell wouldn't criticize FF fans for acting like they have ADHD because they are getting frustrated.
I also hope they've learned some valuable lessons from this generation and go into next gen working more efficiently to get quality products out in reasonable time periods. Like many here, I really want S-E to kick ass again.
This wasn't meant to sound harsh towards you, Famassu. Your points are still valid. It's mostly just me expressing some of my frustration at the situation in general.
RustyNails
Member
"Lightning also watches us when we are masturbate. That's her courage."
This makes no sense, Lara Croft and Tomb Raider would not be influenced by Lightning from any generation. Capcom doesn't need Lightning to make a Female character the lead, they have done so many times in the past and will likely continue to do so.
You are giving credit to Lightning in ways she has no right to or deserving of at all. It's like a Nintendo fan who credits everything to Miyamoto even if he had nothing to do with the project at all.
There's liking a protagonist and then there's just being somewhat creepy in the way someone describes a fictional character.
SkylineRKR
Member
The best one is about World Driven, that idea couldn't even be found on the Internet.
Metal Gear has been around for 25 years. No one is saying she has surpassed Mario. They're just saying she is one of many icons.
Hell, even the nameless Dragonborn viking helmet guy is an icon of western gaming, and he/she doesn't even really have a name.
I don't know if you guys understand what an icon is.
Supermanisdead
Member
You guys are jumping through hoops to try to disqualify Lightning as a Japanese gaming icon this generation. The reality is, that the 13 series has sold near 10 million units worldwide and her face is on every single one of those covers. She is very well-known and absolutely an iconic character.
slightconfuse
Banned
Square sees her as an icon since she is sopped to be female cloud. But when fans started to not accept her they started shovingher down our throats
Dark Schala
Eloquent Princess
Ahahahahaha!
And I just wrote that because it was my favourite SE console / PC game this generation. Ah... I forgot JYB voiced him for a minute.
I understand what an icon is. I'm saying Lightning isn't a prominent icon and will never be one. If anything she's a current mascot for this generation. Nothing more.
These threads always turn out so oddly. At least nobody's made a pun yet.
btw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Oisoh22lIg this literally (I'm not joking) came up on my playlist and now I want to play it again :/
For all the things SE has done recently, I will give them a pass this generation solely on TLR. It's become one of my favorite games regardless of generation or genre.
btw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Oisoh22lIg this literally (I'm not joking) came up on my playlist and now I want to play it again :/
For all the things SE has done recently, I will give them a pass this generation solely on TLR. It's become one of my favorite games regardless of generation or genre.
Edited my post to better reflect afterwards. And stop making dumb pointless posts that don't refute a problem that you have with another person's posts if you aren't going to even explain yourself.
RustyNails
Member
And Lightning couldn't come close to Sephiroth in terms of memorable factor. He's the most iconic of the whole franchise. Lightning is just your every other emo hero but with a vagina. Toriyama plugs her all the time because he wants to prove his worth. Too bad him and his pretty lightning be forgotten like FF14 soon after.
Well of course I'm supposing. As are you. There is no telling if Capcpom would have the balls to have a big project starred by a female protagonist THIS GENERATION (because they were in obvious better position when they launched the other games like Code Veronica for example). I mean considering when these project all started and to see if the industry would be ready, the market would be interested and everything. I'm just saying that SE was a pioneer in this aspect, to have a project that big, at this point of the generation (considering the rough launch, the prices, etc) with a character like Lightning. After that the other companies probably felt safer to launch a game with a similar character.
Supermanisdead
Member
I don't see how Lightning is being shoved down anyone throats. Nobody forced a million+ people to buy XII-2. This is a phenomenal number despite being a "flop" for an FF series game. And now that it's getting a 3rd game, it must have obviously been financially successful. People are here for Lightning and co.
Lady Bird
Matsuno's Goebbels
That's pretty much it. Once the FFXIII saga is finished and FF versus/ 15/ whatever start being hyped, whenever that might happen, hardly anyone will care about Lightning anymore. Hardly anyone will request her back like Sephiroth, or Cloud, etc.
FFXIII-2 sold that "well" because it's a main Final Fantasy game. It was bound to get more than 1 million with or without Lightning. But its sales was terrible compared to other FFs, which shows a lot of people didn't want it.
So much for Lightning.
After 2012 they were going to predict the fall of Square Enix, but even they didn't believe it, so they just stopped.
Well no one asks for Terra, Cecil or whatever. Cloud is obviously the only exception in the series. Because THATS how a series work. There are supposed to be subsequent episodes/games with different plot and characters relevant enough for you to forget the last one, even if temporarily. The thing with Cloud is that VII was probably the peak for the series considering the time of release, quality and everything else that stood out back then. And thats why people keep asking.
I thought Lightning Returns was supposed to be a real-life title for when Lightning comes to save the world after the apocalypse of 2012. Welp. Guess I was wrong.
XIII-2 selling 1/3'd of XIII and LR doing less if the trend continues doesn't speak positively for Ligthning's appeal or staying power.
Look she has some fans and people who love her, no one is denying that and this doesn't need to be she is a Icon or nobody.