Posts Tagged ‘Final Fantasy XIII’

I have to confess to being disappointed. Years of hearing about landmark game launches in Japan created in me a misconception. I erroneously believed that somehow games of note drew everyone from their homes in a frenzied fit to politely queue outside any and every game store in the land to get their mitts on the latest installment of their beloved franchise. I was wrong.

11pm, day 1, still plenty.

It isn’t that Final Fantasy XIII didn’t have a big turn out. I have seen images on blogs, hordes of people waiting anxiously in line outside the downtown stores of larger cities. But this doesn’t seem abnormal to me. These stores always draw crowds. Even in the UK, the release of a big title can draw fevered masses to the streets for a midnight launch.

No, I expected more. This game has been cited as one of the two most anticipated games in the Japanese Famitsu for nearly three years. Every thing blogs and magazine had lead me to believe about Japan’s love of Final Fantasy had me expecting every store was going to be rammed harder than a ewe in mating season. So I headed down to my local store for its early opening on the day of release to see the spectacle for myself.

The Lucky 7.

A pitiful line stood outside my local (but not insignificantly sized) game store. The cold winter morning hosted the bedraggled group of seven (six guys, one girl if you are interested). Each trudged slowly in as the door opened, they politely bought their game before scampering home. They all (perhaps rightly) looked at me like I was the weird one as I surreptitiously took photos on my iPhone, their confusion growing still greater as I didn’t even enter to buy the game. Slowly more arrived, one by one picking up their copies. The trickle of people continued on, but disappointingly it never grew in to the expected torrent.

Of course the reports are already coming in of successful the first day sales. Square-Enix talking of shipping two million copies of the game, with over one million sold on the first day alone. Obviously I am in no position to discount any of this, but I can say that claims of the game having sold out all over Japan are somewhat exaggerated. Perhaps there is a drought in Tokyo, but Osaka still has plenty to go around.

7pm, day 2, this store is about the size of two cars, still has lots to go around.

Anyone would be well within their rights to tell me I haven’t been to the otaku centres in my research. They could even tell me that this is the first Final Fantasy release I have witnessed since starting DoFuss; perhaps I mealy misinterpreted the western coverage of previous similar events. Too all of this I would have to hold my hands up and agree, that indeed I haven’t, but I did see the Dragon Quest 9 launch. I saw the state of every retailer in my area that day. Each and every one had been ransacked, and all of the staff looked exhausted. Shelves lay empty, with old Dragon Quest game the only thing left to fill the voids made by the day’s sales.

It’s to be expected. A large audience both due to complexity and platform penetration of course means Dragon Quest 9 was destined to sell better. But I visited a total of five game stores in my local area and all still had sizable stocks of Final Fantasy XIII still available. The game will be number one next week, of that there is no doubt. But unless you are unlucky enough to be looking to pick up a copy in one of the more famous gaming outlets you don’t have to worry about shortages just yet.

Now if youll excues me, I am off to reconstruct my shattered childhood beliefs.

Dan is taking over. Really there is very little I can do. He swept in here with his fast-talking, smooth segueing ways, and now he is calling the shots. I will continue as a figurehead of the site only. All hail our new master.

Here hit discuss our recent visit to ‘Game Japan Festa’, plenty of news, and of course the games we have been playing.

Hopefully the coup will be unsuccessful and Darren will be back for a ‘normal’ show in time for Christmas. In the meantime keep your self entertained with this hour and a half of edited highlights. Enjoy.

The DanFuss Show. [ 1:32:56 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

What have you been playing, news and features make up the show this week. Though the last few weeks have been uneventful in terms of new releases we keep playing games and stuff is still happening in the industry.

Of course we also have some news on the Street Fighter 4 art book competition, but it may not be what you wanted. Enjoy and remember to leave comments at dofuss.net or on iTunes. Bye!

Where is the Gumbo? [ 1:14:48 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This time the Japanese androgynous hero is actually a girl, called Lightening.

Through a series of fortuitous events I found myself with a copy of the Final Fantasy XIII demo (FFXIII) which was recently packaged with Final Fantasy Advent Children Complete – Trail Version BluRay. It is a strange curio, as essentially it’s a marketing tool which they charged the customer a thousand yen extra for the privilege of playing. But this is Japan, where Final Fantasy’s cultural significance could be likened to that of Star Wars for the loyalty and fanatical nature of its followers. I therefore consider myself lucky to have gotten my hands on a copy of this to be able to bring you my opinion without having to spring for the six thousand yen price tag.

Square-Enix (S-E), or more specifically the FF teams, have always been able to squeeze a little extra of out hardwares graphical power. With this, the first of their flagship series to be created for the current console generation, they have pulled out all the stops. The five years of development is evident as you watch the variety of sumptuous environments promised in the opening movie but it is only when the introduction cinemas stop that you truly realise how impressive the in-game engine is and the full extent of their achievements. The demo is set outside an underground city during what looks like a civil war. It takes place on a bridge which enables action to erupt all around your character. Above and below ships are exploding as you move your way along the bridge set in the sprawling cavern. It manages to place you in the middle of a war, and while it leads you through a very narrow tunnel during this introduction, it is none the less an awesome sight.

These are the only combat options available in the demo.

The game play itself is less impressive, or at least more predictable. The reason so many people were eager for this and willing to pay the premium S-E slapped on the Trial Edition bundle was to try out the new battle system. I am going to do my best here to explain the new system, but while I have played some of the previous games the most recent was FFVIII. Thus my knowledge of the subsequent game mechanics is limited, if some elements of my explanations seem a little dry therefore I apologise. From what the demo shows however the game has not progressed too much.

Notably in the demo you only control a single character from the squads you find yourself in. Presumably this is because this is a game still in production, and a mere slice of it. As a way to introduce you to the system it works well. It enabled me to learn to navigate the sparse menus you would expect in an opening level. You start with three tabs (action/ability, dark magic and light magic). Confusingly selecting any of these opens a menu with the same set of five actions. Each character has three action points and each of these five actions consumes an allotted number of these points. In the demo there are three single point moves (attack, launch and a weak magic) and two three point magics (a cure and an attack). So, a player could link three one point moves together into a combo (for example launch-launch-attack) or choose to use all the points on a single more powerful move. After using action points you have to wait for them to recharge while remaining prone to attack (apparently this is called an ‘active battle system’). It leaves only a few options for attack, but functions as a good introduction and hints at considerable depth.

The battles look as good as cut scenes, except for the rather invasive inclusion of HUD and stats.

Exacerbating the lack of attack options is the fact that you only control one member of a squad. Luckily in the short experience on the disk (about ninety minutes) you do find yourself controlling two separate characters (the imaginatively named Lightening and Snow) which does manage to add a little variety. As you fight the rest of the squad acts primarily as support, contributing little to the attack, but healing you whenever necessary. While this is helpful, as it allows you to wail mercilessly on every enemy you find, it removes any need for tactics or skill.

The simplicity is highlighted still further by the funnelled nature of the demo. Contained by the natural boundaries of the bridges you find yourself you running from fight to fight. At least now encounters aren’t random. Groups of enemies are visible as they advance, and if you are careful can be avoided. Unfortunately I was unable to alter the starting conditions of fights using strategic positioning. This resulted in combat starting with the screen dissolving and the game resetting all the fighter’s positions. During these sections of play the characters move more fluidly around the environment but you have no control over that movement, further reducing any depth to the tactical play.

The demo offers few clues as to where it fits in the story of the full game.

It is not the demo I was expecting. It has raised more questions than it answered, contrary to what I assumed S-E would be trying to do. Foremost among these questions is where this section fits in to the chronology of the story. If this level represents the start of the game it launches you in quite unceremoniously in to situations with no attachment to characters you have to sympathise with. If it is snippet from later in the game however, the question has to be asked how much the combat options were restricted for the purpose of making the demo accessible. Squads will surely become available to control, but what other tactical options will be there that weren’t seen in the demo? More tactical movement options? A wider array of combat actions (many Famitsu screen shots say yes; V-slice anyone)?

All these questions will have to wait until winter this year as this (the demo reminds us) is when the game will be released in Japan on the PS3. In truth I didn’t think this was a game I would have the time to invest myself in. Playing even this tiny chunk of the game did tickle something. Maybe I have just been away from the genre for too long but while limited the combat was enjoyable though it remains to be seen if it will hold up through out the sixty hours plus of game. So I guess demo did its job, I am defiantly more interested than I was before and eager to see the scope world S-E have created.