[20/12] Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy Trailer

[Steve-O]

good news, some how, game trailers has the first lightning returns trailer up on their site, early leak or what we do not know, but it there, in full view, feast your eyes

EDIT: Added a youtube link

apart from the fact that the battle system looks slightly intresting.... the rest of the game......

 

[Gabe]

Sorry, I need a moment to re-watch that a couple times.


Wh-...


What?!


So at first, for a second I was watching some Resonance of Fate + Final Fantasy IX + Bayonetta Opening content, then it got all Assassin's Creed II on me, and then I was greeted by some couches and paintings being outdoors on the street... and Lightning wearing pink sunglasses that looked truly like they belonged to a bad Bayonetta OC. Clearly they re-used her head model since the very start, and the graphics look even worse than the dumb-downed visuals of XIII-2 to support a one-disc feature on the Xbox 360.

Just no. But yes. The only reason why I'd get into this is for some Ali Hillis content, at this point.

EDIT: It seems the video was deleted? Don't fret, just read my paragraph and you'll get the jist of it. Lucky me, I got to see it.

 

[Exoskeleton]

So I just saw the trailer.

In my opinion Lightning has always had terrible clothing design, but I like this better than the XIII-2 costume so it's a start. I like the open world gameplay but the battles look meh. It's as if Square whittles away at party members with each installment of XIII. It looks a lot like a western rpg in some aspects but I love the new location. Since the last game shredded the story line and potential of pulse exploration to bits I'm interested in seeing how they wrap everything up in this game. Something tells me that this wont be the end of the "Lightening Saga". I've been looking forward to see that vision Fang, Vanille and the rest of the party members had in the first game come true since the writers intended on giving the audience hope. Other than that it's a big change from what I expect in Final Fantasy. It looks interesting...

A bit wishy washy on whether I'm digging this game though.

 

[d2punkrock4thisw]

I was so excited to see this trailer, especially with Ali Hillis' voice talents on it.
I think Luxerion looks to be a pretty cool location, it seems a lot more simple looking in terms of graphics.
I also want to comment on seeing Lightning's new default costume in action:
I will admit I DO NOT like this design Nomura made for her, The way it looks when she's running, and jumping, even in battle it just looks bad.
I'm very happy there will be alternatives to choose from. Other then that, I think the trailer was a little lacking, but I'm definitely looking forward to seeing more.

 

[The Master]

Trailer is gone but all I needed to hear was "Open World Gameplay"... And I did, and now it might be something to look more into..

FFXIII-3 now has my attention...

 

[d2punkrock4thisw]

Also:
I spotted Noel... kinda.

I believe that is Noel's arm on the left. It looks like the same weird arm bracelet thing he had in XIII-2.

 

[Nocturne]

I think the story sounds interesting so far and I also like the costume design more and more when I see it. The battle system actually doesnt look much different than FFXIII/XIII-2. Are you able to run around in battle? Or is it still your character moving around by themselves.

 

[C i d]

Edited with a video that works:

Source: Nova Crystallis

I have mixed feelings about this trailer...

 

[Tmoo]

Looks like an early build. Nevertheless, the town looks pretty dazzling. Bit of a mood shift from the previous two games, but the XIII saga hasn't been consistent with that so it's par for course. The sequel effect is already full-on this game it seems, people are attacking the video madly all over the place. I'll hold my judgment until later...

 

[Linnaete]

So our objective in this game is to reveal the fallacies behind a religion and presumably to beat up a nasty God at the end. Woooow, we've genuinely never seen this before...oh, wait.

I expected a rubbish trailer and I didn't come out disappointed. It could be because this is still a rather early build, which would explain why that town looks graphically weak on top of that questionable aesthetic choice of having the checkerboard pattern and paintings hung up in outside walls everywhere. It could also be because they're trying way too hard to make Lightning "cool" when it's just getting to the stage where I just roll my eyes so far they're close to falling out. The costume in motion still looks like shit and what is she now? Catwoman? And yes, sunglasses are cool, aren't they? And Lightning is meant to be cool, isn't she? Let's give her sunglasses!

Now I can see where some of the reused assets are now. The battle system looks suspiciously like the previous games, except with the removal of Auto-Battle and what looks like the Stagger system - and two other party members. Now it's a one-woman paradigm shift thingy. And really? "Cerberus"? The idea of a battle mode called Cerberus is to have three people in the party, you dumb fucks. If the player can't manually make her freely move on the battlefield ala in most other action-RPGs, that would take the piss. It would be apt to wonder whether they're even trying to produce anything that's even deeper than a playground puddle. And Chocolina is back. Popular fan demand, or are they just really fond of the wacky street prostitute design?

The FFXIII trilogy. A forced trilogy with few actual coherent themes of its own because they change as often as the player changes their paradigm roles. A trilogy with no proper grounded setting, but instead hurls the player through and around space and time to wherever.

 

[.Mosh]

I just watched this now. I watched it a couple times and to be honest I am looking forward to the direction it is taking. Yes her costume is a gamble where I feel I like it and don't.
The graphics are most certainly late Alpha early beta. It would make no sense for it to look worse. As well as last month they only said they were 50% done. The assassins creed moments didn't bother me as I remember the times where in previous FF games we had minor platforming. At least they are making at least look good and not the terrible animations of the past.

The battle system is looking better and it was confirmed you can move in battle.

I feel we need to wait for the next proper trailer before anyone slams it any more.

 

[Tyler Breeze]

Looking at graphics only, it looks pretty darn cool. The environments are nice looking and all that. Then there's lightning. Oh lightning, I just don't know what to say anymore. Outfits weird. It looked better in the pics.

Story wise I have no idea what's going on. I haven't started the trilogy yet, despite owning both parts already released. I look forward to playing all three games.

 

[Linnaete]

Those who think the graphics and environment look good, can I please have a link to the version of the trailer you've been watching? Because no matter how I see it, it just looks awful.

Now I can see how they can claim to have a relatively small team to work on this while the vast bulk of the staff are on FFXIV 2.0, cut back on costs, create new assets for the game, produce a big and ambitious game with a large and active world with four "continents" to run around in AND have it released in 2013. Answer? They can't.

The town looks astonishingly poor. Muddy graphics and sub-par textures that FFXIII and FFXIII-2 can easily beat hands down despite all three using the same engine while the frame rate is just poor. Then there's the aesthetic design choice of the town that I was banging on about before. The monochrome nature of the town is bleh, the buildings look convincingly SD that they may as well be pre-rendered cardboard backgrounds, the lighting is just nowhere near finished. There are missing shadows and the result so far just looks embarrassingly flat. It does not look like it was anywhere near ready to be shown in a trailer. I am actually impressed that Square have managed to out a trailer (or rather, were planning on doing it in an event before it leaked out) that is so graphically and visually poor.

Of course, someone can easily try and remind me that this is only the first trailer and that the game only recently started full development, as if I weren't aware of either. And that I should hold my horses as this is just one area. However, I say this: if they're still looking to release this sometime next year, they have a lot of work to do until then and I am just not convinced from this that this will be anywhere near as the comical claim that this will be the "most polished in the series" while the development period is this short for something that seemed so ambitious on paper. And first trailers are meant to produce positive first reactions. When many people who loved the first two games are even slightly taken aback by how bland, jaggy and poor the trailer looks, you've done it wrong. It isn't very good press and it does nothing to help the game when it inevitably shifts fewer units than even FFXIII-2.

 

[Master Cat]

...well then. xD I'm definitely reminded of Assassin's Creed when Lightning is running around town, lol. I think it's the cape. Well, the trailer sorta piques my interest (maybe curiosity is a better word? lol). I'm still not too sure what the point of the game is besides the concept of time playing an important role.

Supposedly the release date is March 26th? Gosh, that's mighty soon for a game that recently entered development. >.>;

 

[AuronX]

First video was pulled, here's a working (for now) link

Actually, consider my faith in this game restored. In theory the new costume looked quite awful, however in practice it's actually pretty neat. And we do see some custom outfits in the trailer too, so if it isn't to your liking, that shouldn't be an issue. The action/rpg elements seem like they will balance nicely. I'm not worried about textures and such considering this trailer evidently wasn't meant to be released yet (why else would SE keep pulling it)--the game still has a ways to go.

Now, does this trailer give me the Final Fantasy feel? Only a tiny bit. BUT, it still looks like a decent game.

 

[Tmoo]

Those who think the graphics and environment look good, can I please have a link to the version of the trailer you've been watching? Because no matter how I see it, it just looks awful.

-----

Now I can see how they can claim to have a relatively small team to work on this while the vast bulk of the staff are on FFXIV 2.0, cut back on costs, create new assets for the game, produce a big and ambitious game with a large and active world with four "continents" to run around in AND have it released in 2013. Answer? They can't.

The town looks astonishingly poor. Muddy graphics and sub-par textures that FFXIII and FFXIII-2 can easily beat hands down despite all three using the same engine while the frame rate is just poor. Then there's the aesthetic design choice of the town that I was banging on about before. The monochrome nature of the town is bleh, the buildings look convincingly SD that they may as well be pre-rendered cardboard backgrounds, the lighting is just nowhere near finished. There are missing shadows and the result so far just looks embarrassingly flat. It does not look like it was anywhere near ready to be shown in a trailer. I am actually impressed that Square have managed to out a trailer (or rather, were planning on doing it in an event before it leaked out) that is so graphically and visually poor.

Of course, someone can easily try and remind me that this is only the first trailer and that the game only recently started full development, as if I weren't aware of either. And that I should hold my horses as this is just one area. However, I say this: if they're still looking to release this sometime next year, they have a lot of work to do until then and I am just not convinced from this that this will be anywhere near as the comical claim that this will be the "most polished in the series" while the development period is this short for something that seemed so ambitious on paper. And first trailers are meant to produce positive first reactions. When many people who loved the first two games are even slightly taken aback by how bland, jaggy and poor the trailer looks, you've done it wrong. It isn't very good press and it does nothing to help the game when it inevitably shifts fewer units than even FFXIII-2.

I think the town looks great because I like its architectural themes and what I've seen of the town layout. Rather than look at things like lighting and texture quality, I look at the visual style and atmosphere. I see the trailer as showcasing the concept rather than polish. It appears you aren't a fan of the gothic and monochromatic style they're going for, so we'll agree to disagree there. As for SE's PR about most polished, well that's soap in their mouths and not my concern. I just like what I see.

 

[Starships]

So our objective in this game is to reveal the fallacies behind a religion and presumably to beat up a nasty God at the end. Woooow, we've genuinely never seen this before...oh, wait.

Next trailer the villain looks like Seymour Guado and bows down and wants to marry Lightning. But Lightning says no. The Seymour look-a-like forces her anyways, and we see her and Hope in a lake while My Hands plays in the background.

 

[Razberry Knight]

The game looks like its trying to make lighning even cooler but it just made her even cheesier. Also the graphics look choppy but since this is an early trailer i wont put too much into it. But then again, XIII-2 had lesser graphics in its trailers and they stayed the same in the final version so i think we should be aware of that.

Personally the story looks like it wiill revolve around time again so im prepared to not understand a darn thing like in XIII-2. Im not buying this game but if my die hard friend offers to play it wiith me' i wont refuse the offer.

 

[.Mosh]

I think that the trailer merely was designed to show you like where they are at. As usual the cgi is top notch but the in game graphics are in their infancy. It wouldn't make sense for it to look worse. 3 games in on the engine and the programmers should be fine with it. I believe we will have to wait till the next one whenever that may be.

A debut test trailer of progress is what I believe this is. Have faith it is the last we will see of Lightnong so you will be free of her soon! (Even though I like her)

 

[Squid]

Mehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Meh graphics, Meh battles, Meh costumes, Meh everything.
I shouldn't judge because I judged FFXIII-2 because of FFXIII and i actually ended up liking FFXIII-2 but I dunno.. everything about this trailer is very Mehhh