This week, Final Fantasy XIII-2 for PS3 is hitting stores across Japan with critical praise, garnering perfect scores from respected gaming magazines Famitsu and Dengeki PlayStation. Granted, the original FFXIII is the best-selling PS3 title in Japan by a wide margin, but this direct sequel isn’t resting on the laurels of its predecessor. For starters, it will offer a dynamic narrative, addressing one of the main complaints about FFXIII – linearity. The new game also has a darker and more serious tone, in line with the conclusion of the previous game, putting the glitter and glam of FFX-2.

When FFXIII-2 reaches stores in February, making it the fastest localization cycle among numbered episodes of the franchise – it will also deliver an improved combat system, an area full of mini games, branched dialogue trees with NPCs, and even multiple endings based on your time-travelling journey. To learn more about how Square Enix plans to “exceed Final Fantasy XIII in every aspect,” we reached out to Motomu Toriyama, who is reprising his role as director for Final Fantasy XIII-2. Read on for more details about Serah’s quest to find out what happened to her sister Lightning.
(more…)

Score:

• 45 Comments
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Facebook

Powerful forces collide in a mysterious land, in this epic cinematic CG trailer for the forthcoming complete sequel to FINAL FANTASY XIII. Due for release on 3rd February 2012, FINAL FANTASY XIII-2 will take players beyond time, beyond fate and beyond imagination!

Score:

• 76 Comments
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Facebook

Not quite two years ago, Square Enix pleased its European fans with DISSIDIA, a completely new approach to the FINAL FANTASY series. Originally meant as part of the campaign of the FINAL FANTASY series 20th anniversary, the substantial fighter quickly turned out to be one of the most popular PSP games of all times.

With the release of DISSIDIA 012 [duodecim] FINAL FANTASY, the legendary battle between Chaos and Cosmos returns to our beloved PSP systems. We talked with Game Director Mitsunori Takahashi about his thoughts on the game.

It is quite an interesting time in the development of FINAL FANTASY. Many fans are curious about where the series will head. How does your work on DISSIDIA 012 differ from other games in the universe?

DISSIDIA, in the first place, was produced to mark the 20th anniversary of the FINAL FANTASY series. We have put in our best effort to work out what new gameplay we might be able to provide our users, with combat action elements mixed into RPG. Therefore, although the DISSIDIA series would not exist if it were not for FINAL FANTASY, the direction is different to many of our other games. This means that DISSIDIA has its own challenges for us to face.

Other than familiar characters, how do you retain the feel of the FINAL FANTASY world while also introducing a completely different fighting mechanic?

Actually, the development team did have a debate during the initial stage of the original DISSIDIA project in an attempt to understand what makes a FINAL FANTASY a FINAL FANTASY. However, we eventually reached the conclusion that we should not be too preoccupied by such “Final Fantasy-esque” elements. FINAL FANTASY is a series in which fresh challenges have always been taken for each game and we were afraid that, if too much attention were to be paid to the common elements, we would only allow ourselves a reduced level of freedom and be bound to too many restrictions.

We therefore decided to ensure that the game would not contain anything not suited to the universe, rather than consciously pursue those that naturally are. No sooner than establishing this policy, we began to hit upon many good ideas and, as a result, we ended up with two very “Final Fantasy-esque” games: DISSIDIA and DISSIDIA 012.

The first DISSIDIA was so rich in content; some people said it was the richest PSP-game ever. However, you have added even more to the sequel. How did you manage to put all that on this tiny little UMD?

Cramming everything onto a UMD was really gruelling but we eventually managed everything we wanted after trying various measures, such as designing the game with a view to optimal use of resources and getting the entire team involved in our efforts to reduce the volume, and so forth. From the start of the project, we always committed ourselves to enhancing in-game RPG elements as much as improving the battle system. After all, this tile is predominantly for fans of the Final Fantasy universe and this means that many of its users love RPGs, and that some of them may have given the previous DISSIDIA a miss solely because it was an action game. Therefore we thought it would be essential to add new elements to cater for those gamers’ needs and made the decision to introduce an in-game world map.

Can you give us some details on DISSIDIA 012 Prologus? What is the idea behind this prequel of a prequel?

With DISSIDIA 012, our focus is also on DLC such as extra costumes and distribution of additional BGM. Prologus is a part of this direction we are taking.

We wanted to make Prologus available as a separate product rather than a playable demo. That is why we tried our best at its development stages to produce good enough content to justify the price; content like an original short story not included in the main game and the use of Aeris in the main game as a special assisting character.

If you have already purchased the main game, you might want to get in Prolugus for Aeris, whereas those who have yet to buy the main game may wish to taste the feel of the game with Prologus to see whether they like it enough to get hold of the main game. It would be great for us if many gamers would follow such a process.

Score:

• 10 Comments
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Facebook

So I was just passing through the Square Enix booth at E3 and I noticed a door slightly ajar. I can never resist a slightly ajar door so I poked my head in to find Hiromichi Tanaka, senior vice president of software development, sitting down for a Final Fantasy XIV round table interview. There was a spare seat so I sat down, whistling behind a newspaper, and asked a few questions of my own.

As an extra titbit, there was PC monitor running the game in stereoscopic 3D in the same room, although Tanaka told me that this was purely a technical demonstration and he wouldn’t be drawn when I asked if they had any 3D plans for the PS3 version of the game.

How do you feel about the challenge of developing the first MMO on PlayStation 3?

“We had a similar experience with Final Fantasy XI as that was the first MMO on PlayStation 2 [in Japan only]. So this time, things came quite naturally for us and it helped us having the technology in mind from the very beginning.”

How do you intend to reach out to those console gamers that haven’t experienced an MMO before and are used to more instant gratification in their games?

“Because Final Fantasy XIV is designed as a cross-platform MMO, there is no difference between the PC version and the PS3 version. We believe that previous attempts to bring MMOs to consoles have been unsuccessful because they focused too much on adapting their style to suit that audience and they lost the feel of a true MMO. Therefore, regardless of the platform, we are aiming to produce a real MMO with Final Fantasy XIV.”

How much co-operation has there been between you and Sony Computer Entertainment in bringing an MMO to PS3?

“Sony [Computer Entertainment] has been extremely helpful to us, particularly with technical data while we were at the programming stage of development. We’ve also held talks regarding PlayStation Network functionality and we will be making the most of what that offers, integrating trophies and other features.”

What do you think of the PlayStation Move motion controller?

“Unfortunately, we haven’t had chance to try it out yet but we’ve heard very interesting things about it and we’d like to look at supporting it in Final Fantasy XIV, if we get the chance to do so. However, at the moment I would say that there are no current plans.”

Score:

• 27 Comments 6 Replies
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Facebook

As promised, the guys over at PlayStation.Blog US have had their own chance to talk Final Fantasy XIII with the game’s Producer, Yoshinori Kitase, and Director, Motomu Toriyama. I know that those of you eager to get your hands on the game (as I am!) will relish this opportunity for more insight from the men behind the development curtain. As well as a written interview with these gentlemen, you’ll also find a video interview between the US Blog’s Jeff Rubenstein and Yuji Abe, Final Fantasy XIII‘s Battle Director. It’s a good thing the game is out soon, or all these interviews would be little more than some sort of teasey torture.

Just a few weeks to go…

Here are the interviews, courtesy of the US Blog’s Chris Morell -

Earlier in the week, we told you we’d be meeting up with Square Enix to talk Final Fantasy XIII with Producer Yoshinori Kitase and Director Motomu Toriyama, along with the Battle Director Yuji Abe. So all your questions went to the former, which you can read in full form below.

But the FFXIII love fest didn’t end there. With the game less than a month away (March 9!), Jeff and I got to play a nice chunk of the game…enough to get familiar with the battle system to chat all about it with Mr. Abe. In the video, you’ll get an in-depth look into the game’s battle system, which I have to say, once you understand it, it’s quite intense.

PSB: With western RPGs becoming so popular, how were you influenced in Final Fantasy XIII to encompass all audiences?

Kitase/Toriyama: No games were a direct influence in particular, but we definitely looked at the FPS genre and other Western games to incorporate more speed and increase the pace of gameplay in Final Fantasy XIII. In terms of the FPS genre influence, the story progression of FFXIII is very similar to that (FPS) genre in the sense that different challenges and situations are presented to the character one after the other. That’s how they progress in the storyline.

Of course, there are a lot of North Americans that imported the game. What do you say to those who say the game might be too linear? Does the accusation bother you?

The earlier part of the game was intentionally created to be a linear experience because we wanted to make the experience similar to a movie or drama where players really get to know the characters and what is behind their actions.

And also, since this is a brand new system for FFXIII, we wanted to take the correct steps to make sure players can control that system at will. So it is a surprise that so many people are commenting that the game is linear, but once you get into the area of Pulse in the game , it’s much more of a free world and the battle system really comes to life. And once you have a good idea of how to control it, you can go full force and it should be a completely different experience.

Do you think that the idea of RPGs from the 80s and 90s being wide open is a dated stereotype?

There’s sort of a template to the RPG system, traditionally, where players would go to the town and find out information through text, leave town to fight monsters and then come back to town and buy health and items, etc. FFXIII didn’t really look for some sort of template to follow, but we tried to go out and create and set a new trend for RPGs. So there isn’t really a thought to stick to tradition.

How long would a play-through of the game with missions take?

As far as hours, of gameplay…if you play straight through the story it would be about 60 hours of gameplay. But if you decided to play through all the missions, it would be, well, basically eternity. It could last forever. The enemies in the Pulse area are much stronger, as well, so there’s lots of replay value there.

(more…)

Score:

• 24 Comments
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Facebook