FFXIII-2 Discussion Thread

321orez said:
So basically they just threw away the entire playable cast from XIII
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That's too early to assume. While Lightning has lesser playable times, she is definitely playable as seen in the demo. Who knows, snow, sazh and hope can also be playable at some points in time.

However, if they really throw away the entire cast, I myself don't mind that. I actually wanted to take this game as a new game with new features, with some allusions to the previous game. I am so hyped up about the additions, especially the interactive towns, possible time-travelling/dimensions plot and explorability.
 
Read some comments online and alot of people are disappointed about the lack of Lighting, and there's alot of Noel hate going around, calling him a stereotypical anime male leader. Though come to think of it, it makes sense. Lighting is a poplaur character, they really should of added her in the main party with Noel and Serah.

About Snow not being jealous, it could be a sign that they want to improve Snow's character, and make him more kind hearted and less stressed about his fiance, or they're dumping Snow and Serah's relationship all together. You can still brake up from your fiance, so guess it's realistic.

Though SE are still not really listening to what the fans really desire. The lack of Lighting shows this. :mokken:

 
The lack of Lightning is no real loss to me. As much as I didn't mind her in the first game, having heavy focus on her again for the sequel would be dull, considering I never saw her as being a stellar character anyway. If people are complaining about the lack of Lightning and how Noel is surely a crap character in the 25mins we've seen him, then it's perhaps not worth listening to these people, as long as the gameplay is good enough this time round to distract me enough from the inevitably clichéd characters and story you would expect from most JRPGs.

I wonder about Snow actually. It's amusing to see that he has seemingly been sidelined. I wonder, are they coming in terms with the fact that Snow probably was annoying and that Yeti with a girl who looks like she was 14 didn't quite go down too well? And I find it ironic that Serah, who had been FFXIII's most useless character arguably, now ends up being the one of the sequel's main players. :wacky:
 
Right now it's a character design thing. I think Noel looks horrible, and I honestly think I've seen that same character in multiple anime shows. Whether people like Lightning or not, at least she LOOKED cool.

They could've also taken this opportunity to tweak the characters personality a bit instead of replacing Lightning as the lead. I figure it would make sense seeing as they saved Cocoon, so now times are a bit happier and they aren't hated by everyone
 
Noel really fails at being cool in my honest opinion. This guy is anything but cool. He looks like some guy who is just keen on protecting Serah. I wonder what Lightning thinks of him. Lightning is still going to be a part of the game even if she is not the main character anymore. Also if Noel is supposed to be the cool guy... he just failed. Snow and Noel both are not cool. Snow is going to change his ways.. although I want to see a fight with Snow and Noel. Christmas and Snow really go together. :hmmm:
 
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Final Fantasy XIII was hated more than it was liked. Gamers loathed the “western” tone Square-Enix inserted into the bonafide JRPG, and the results were catastrophic. Yes it sold well, but many fans have vowed not to purchase the sequel after what most deem a failed effort. Yet the publisher’s trying hard to appeal to fans by using the same engine (Crystal Engine) which powered Final Fantasy XIII in an effort to elude console bias, and have built XIII-2 around fan feedback. It’s also over 40hrs long, and that’s without side quests.

It was Yoshinori Kitase and Motomu Toriyama, the project leads responsible for Final Fantasy XIII-2 who shared the information with Gamestop Asia in a recent interview, making clear to fans that they’ve been heard, while finding ways to step away from console bias.
“We can’t gauge how many hours the cinematics and gameplay portions will amount to, but we can tell you that a single playthrough of the game will take players 40 hours plus. That’s about the same as FFXIII, and that’s not even factoring the multiple endings into account,” Motomu Toriyama told the site.

When asked which engine will the new game utilize, Yoshinori Kitase said they’re using the same engine as Final Fantasy XIII to step away from console bias, although said engine’s rather limited in scope.

“The first game used the Crystal Tools engine that’s not only open-ended from the development side but also makes it possible to be on multiple consoles without much compromise,” he said. “While FF XIII was initially for the PS3, we had the opportunity to make the game on the Xbox 360 too during development.

For FF XIII-2, we decided to stick to this engine so that we can be clear from the beginning that the sequel will be developed for both consoles without any hassle and console bias whatsoever.”

Final Fantasy XIII-2 comes out in Japan this Christmas, and will hit store shelves in the U.S. and Europe early next year.

http://www.gamesthirst.com/2011/06/15/final-fantasy-dev-talks-console-bias-xiii-2-over-40hrs-long/

Update#1

Nojima Not Directly Involved With Final Fantasy XIII-2

Square Enix has confimed that Kazushige Nojima, the writer of many of Final Fantasy's greatest stories, will not be directly involved with Final Fantasy XIII-2, despite being the person who came up with the concept for Final Fantasy XIII.

Speaking to us at this year's E3, Motomu Toriyama, the game's director, said: "Nojima is still indirectly involved with Final Fantasy XIII-2 because he's a writer for Fabula Nova Crystallis which is the mythology that all the Final Fantasy XIII games are based on. He's not directly involved with Final Fantasy XIII-2 though."

Daisuke Watanabe, who wrote the main scenario for Final Fantasy XIII, has also been dropped from the equation, as Square Enix has opted to hire a professional novelist instead called Jun Eishima. He wrote Final Fantasy XIII Episode -i-, which released with the Japanese Xbox 360 version of Final Fantasy XIII, and he will write the main scenario for Final Fantasy XIII-2.

"It's going to be a different team this time around," said Toriyama. "After Final Fantasy XIII was released there was a side story (Episode i) and a professional novelist called Jun Eishima contributed to the side story, but he basically wrote the scenario."

http://www.gamingunion.net/news/nojima-not-directly-involved-with-final-fantasy-xiii-2--5449.html

Update#2

Final Fantasy XIII-2 will be more "player-driven," says director

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Final Fantasy XIII upheld the series’ high standards in the graphical department, but there was little in the way of player choice outside of battle. There were no sprawling, non-player character-filled towns to explore and few side-quests to complete. In short, the game was a linear, lifeless affair to many long-time Final Fantasy fans.

The bigwigs behind FFXIII are hoping to right these wrongs in the upcoming sequel for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. In a video interview conducted during E3 2011 by GameTrailers, director Motomu Toriyama and veteran producer Yoshinori Kitase talk about the multiple changes they have wrought upon the sequel.

These include the reintroduction of towns; multiple endings; “player-driven” story progression; and no less than 150 different recruitable monsters to aid you in battle.

The harsh reaction to FFXIII has clearly been taken to heart by the development team, and Mr. Kitase states as much. Despite its problems FFXIII sold very well (more than 5 million copies thus far) due to an aggressive marketing campaign and the peerless strength of the Final Fantasy brand.

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Square Enix needs something potent to entice its fanbase back to the franchise, and it’s going about it by including all the features fans so sorely missed in the last title. Only time will tell if Final Fantasy XIII-2 will be able to stand on its own two feet as a noteworthy entry in this time-worn series, or if it will merely be brushed off as a lame attempt to pander to the disenchanted portion of the Final Fantasy fold.

Here’s the full video interview with Yoshinori Kitase:

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2011-player-driven-interview/715794

Update#3

Final Fantasy XIII-2 Famitsu Scans



http://www.gamenyusu.com/component/.../908-final-fantasy-xiii-2-famitsu-scans-.html

Final Fantasy XIII-2 Gameinformer Scans



Source

http://www.gamenyusu.com/component/...-final-fantasy-xiii-2-gameinformer-scans.html

Update#4

New Final Fantasy XIII-2 E3 screens and factsheet arrive

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Square Enix has released two new screens and a fact sheet of Final Fantasy XIII-2 ready for battle.
FINAL FANTASY® XIII-2 Developer: Square Enix Co., Ltd. Publisher: Square Enix, Inc. Platform: PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system / Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft Genre: RPG Release Timing: Early 2012 Square Enix proudly presents FINAL FANTASY XIII-2, a direct sequel to the six-million-unit global hit FINAL FANTASY XIII. The latest installment in the world-renowned FINAL FANTASY series, FINAL FANTASY XIII-2 features an all-star production staff including producer Yoshinori Kitase (FINAL FANTASY series), director Motomu Toriyama (FINAL FANTASY series), character designer Tetsuya Nomura (KINGDOM HEARTS series), and art director Isamu Kamikokuryo (FINAL FANTASY XIII). Story Overview Set a few years after Lightning and the others saved Cocoon, some survivors have decided to start over by rebuilding on Gran Pulse. Lightning, however, is nowhere to be found and considered dead by some, but Serah believes otherwise. When her town is suddenly overrun by monsters, a mysterious man named Noel appears to save her. Together, the two set off to find Lightning... Features Explore the next chapter with new allies – Visit mysterious and familiar locations, discover new allies and reunite with past characters with Serah and party. Unleash havoc with an enhanced battle system – The fast-paced strategy battle system makes a return with new enhancements, such as cinematic action sequences that will keep players on edge with every movement. Take control of feral creatures – Command monsters to fight alongside your party paradigm, and devastate your enemies with feral link! Heres a link to the PDF factsheet for better view FINAL FANTASY XIII-2_Factsheet

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http://vegivo.com/2011/06/16/new-final-fantasy-xiii-2-e3-screens-and-factsheet-arrive/

Update#5

How Final Fantasy XIII-2 Will Be Different From Final Fantasy XIII

While it sold well, Final Fantasy XIII came under fire from fans who felt the game was too linear. When I met with Yoshinori Kitase, Producer on Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy XIII-2, I asked him if the reception of Final Fantasy XIII affected development of the sequel.
"We made Final Fantasy XIII with the concept of a story driven game. So much so, some gamers were not very happy with it and criticized XIII and said the game progression was too linear and the world could be more populated," Kitase replied rather honestly. "With Final Fantasy XIII-2, we wanted to present a completely different experience with this game. There is more exploration and elements in the environment to interact with."

Final Fantasy XIII-2 was designed with multiple playthroughs in mind, Kitase explained. The game will have multiple endings for players to discover, as well. Check back tomorrow for more on Final Fantasy XIII-2 when our interview goes live.

http://www.siliconera.com/2011/06/1...-2-will-be-different-from-final-fantasy-xiii/

Update#6

Here are 2 new Final Fantasy XIII-2 screenshots from Famitsu. Click the link below to see them.

http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2011/06/17/ffxiii_2_screens/




 
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Jun Eishima Clarified Not Being Involved In Final Fantasy XIII-2's Story Writing

There was a report claims that Daisuke Watanabe, who wrote the main scenario for Final Fantasy XIII, has been dropped and replacing by Jun Eishima for Final Fantasy XIII-2. Well Jun Eishima have explained that the report was false on her twitter: "I would be happy to involve in FF13-2's story writing, but i'm not for responsible for this" and said that she was only writing Final Fantasy XIII-2 Episode i novel

Source: gamenyusu

Oh no! I thought a professional writer would have been better...

Earlier I was playing FFXIII. Barthandelus was talking in some weird terminologies at such a high speed that I could hardly understand what was going on.. I will be happy if they change this in the sequel. Also, they are doing some background story in XIII-2 apparently. It's a nice chance for newcomers/those who can't understand parts of the story in XIII.

About the other piece of news, 'reunite with pas characters', I wonder if Sazh, Hope and Snow are actually playable or just guest members?
 
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Olivia Wilde said:
The lack of Lightning is no real loss to me. As much as I didn't mind her in the first game, having heavy focus on her again for the sequel would be dull, considering I never saw her as being a stellar character anyway. If people are complaining about the lack of Lightning and how Noel is surely a crap character in the 25mins we've seen him, then it's perhaps not worth listening to these people, as long as the gameplay is good enough this time round to distract me enough from the inevitably clichéd characters and story you would expect from most JRPGs.
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Agree so much ! You should take over SE Olivia. :yay: Yeah, we've only seen a few moments of Noel. Not worth judging his personality yet. And didn't think that Lighting was that great either. She had too much Cloud and Squall in her, and she wasn't really a unique or a fresh change from the rest of the series. Noel even though he looks like Squall and Fang's child, hopefully he's going to be a little different from before.

Cid XIII-2 said:
About the other piece of news, 'reunite with pas characters', I wonder if Sazh, Hope and Snow are actually playable or just guest members?
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Think that they're going to be guest characters. Think that SE said somewhere that you're going to have Serah and Noel in your party and some guest members including monsters that you can catch. Could be wrong here though.


 
Have Some Final Fantasy XIII-2 Screens From Japan





That’s Noel and Serah, the two lead characters in Final Fantasy XIII-2. Serah, as you may know is Lightning’s sister. Noel spent his entire life on Gran Pulse.



Named after Lightning and Snow’s home town, New Bodhum is a settlement on Gran Pulse where some refugees from Cocoon settled.







Serah is the main character of Final Fantasy XIII-2, but Lightning is playable. We saw the heroine, fully powered, riding Odin while engaged in a battle with Chaos Bahamut.


Source: http://www.siliconera.com/2011/06/16/have-some-final-fantasy-xiii-2-screens-from-japan/

I omitted most screens because they were already posted.
 
I saw these screens earlier. I really like the New Bodhum design, especially the water. Crystallised cocoon in the background is gorgeous.

I wonder what's the last picture about. There seems to be portals(?) leading to other places(?). Is it an inter-dimensional space for you to revisit certain locations? Also the crystal in the middle is mysterious.

I think this pretty much is the last bits of major information/screens on FFXIII-2 before TGS in September. The bad thing is, September 15-18 is right in the middle of my exams. I have to resist any temptations to look at XIII-2 info. I am afraid it will be impossible...

I think I should instead do a media blackout for this game starting from this week. I will try to ignore TGS and only watch official trailers. I am buying it on day 1 most likely anyway.

Oh man... I can't wait to play the game non-stop on day 1 and then do a proper review on it... This is going to be one of my first times playing a major FF title without knowing any story elements. When I was young and stupid, I watched playthroughs and endings of several FFs before playing them :gasp:
 
I admit I am a little disappointed that Lightning may not have as big a role as perceived earlier in the year. She's become one of my fave game characters of all-time, so I'm all for playing more of her.

So far all I've really gathered in terms of Lightning is that it appears her role in the game will involve the mythology in the forefront.
 
Daisuke Watanabe, who wrote the main scenario for Final Fantasy XIII, has also been dropped from the equation, as Square Enix has opted to hire a professional novelist instead called Jun Eishima.
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I could make a few jokes about how FFXIII didn't really have much of a story to begin with, but I won't. The writer may have tried to have a fair go at the scenario for FFXIII, but ultimately it threw away a lot of potential and moved in a direction that largely made little sense, which may or may not have been his fault, depending on whether space constraints were an issue for the final product. I'm interested to see what the replacement will come up with and what style of narrative we'll get from him, considering FFXIII's strategy of using mainly the Datalog to define, explain and summarise things wasn't the most popular idea conceived, even though I had no issues with it. :hmmm:
 
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After playing Final Fantasy XIII-2 and seeing a behind closed doors demo of the game, Siliconera sat down with Motomu Toriyama, Director, and Yoshinori Kitase, Producer, to discuss Serah’s story.

Serah, Lightning’s sister, is the main character and while Lightning is in Final Fantasy XIII-2 everyone believes she is dead. In addition to changing protagonists, Square Enix peppered areas with hidden items you can reveal with Serah’s moogle, made monsters allies in battle, and designed the game with branching paths. Everyone caught up? Good.

The theme of Final Fantasy XIII is fighting your destiny. What is the theme of Final Fantasy XIII-2?

Motomu Toriyama, Director: Rebuilding or playing through the revival [of Cocoon]. At the end of Final Fantasy XIII, Cocoon collapsed and the world was destroyed. In Final Fantasy XIII-2 you will rebuild the world from scratch.

Why did you decide to make Serah the main character?

Serah is Lightning’s young sister who turned into a crystal in an early point in Final Fantasy XIII and Lighting goes on a journey to rescue her. In XIII-2, it’s the other way around; the two characters switched places. Lightning still plays an important role in the story, but the main character you play as is Serah who is looking for Lightning.

In the demo, I saw Lightning was playable. How often will players be able to use her in Final Fantasy XIII-2.

I can’t tell you exactly how playable to use Lightning in the final game. I can tell you – you will mainly be playing as Serah and Noel.

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Can you tell us more about Noel, how he fits in the game and why you wanted to make him a main character in Final Fantasy XIII-2?

If you looked at Noel and his costume, it suggests he is a native resident of Gran Pulse. In Final Fantasy XIII the story is about Serah and Lightning all took place in Cocoon. Noel who has always been in Gran Pulse has no idea what happened to the sisters, the main characters in XIII. If you haven’t played XIII before you can find yourself almost like Noel because he’s detached from what happened in Final Fantasy XIII. These players can enjoy the events as a new experience.

Will there be any other characters aside from Serah, Noel, and occasionally Lightning.

At the moment, I can tell you Serah and Noel will be the main characters you play, with Lightning coming in sometimes. There will be over 150 types of monsters you can recruit and you can control these monsters, as well.

Almost all of the main characters from Final Fantasy XIII will make an appearance in some way or another.

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Will there be any new playable characters aside from Noel… and the monsters?

[Laughs] We can’t disclose anything at the moment. Please be patient and you will find out.

How did the reception of Final Fantasy XIII affect the sequel? Did you incorporate any fan feedback into Final Fantasy XIII-2?

Yoshinori Kitase, Producer: We made Final Fantasy XIII with the concept of a story driven game. So much so, some gamers were not very happy with it and criticized XIII and said the game progression was too linear and the world could be more populated. With Final Fantasy XIII-2, we wanted to present a completely different experience with this game. There is more exploration and elements in the environment to interact with.

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Another change is Final Fantasy XIII-2 has multiple objectives. How do these effect the gameplay, will we perhaps see different endings?

YK: I can’t say much about story branches, but what I can say is we are incorporating lots of replay value. We envision players won’t just play the game for a single playthrough, we want you go through many laps. Each time you go around leading towards another completion there are a lot of discoveries you can find. This leads into the game’s multi-ending system.

For the new hardware, PlayStation Vita and Wii U, are you planning on working on any Final Fantasy titles for those platforms?

YK: For now we are focusing on the three titles to come – Final Fantasy XIII-2, Type-0, and Versus. While we have no plans at the moment, we’re going to come to a point when we have to decide how we’re going to do our best with these new consoles.

http://www.siliconera.com/2011/06/1...sy-xiii-2-interview-with-toriyama-and-kitase/
 
Olivia Wilde said:
I could make a few jokes about how FFXIII didn't really have much of a story to begin with, but I won't. The writer may have tried to have a fair go at the scenario for FFXIII, but ultimately it threw away a lot of potential and moved in a direction that largely made little sense, which may or may not have been his fault, depending on whether space constraints were an issue for the final product. I'm interested to see what the replacement will come up with and what style of narrative we'll get from him, considering FFXIII's strategy of using mainly the Datalog to define, explain and summarise things wasn't the most popular idea conceived, even though I had no issues with it. :hmmm:
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The rumour was false. Jun Eishima is not involved in XIII-2. Meaning, the same writer as XIII, most likely. I posted it earlier already :huh:
 
Cid XIII-2 said:
The rumour was false. Jun Eishima is not involved in XIII-2. Meaning, the same writer as XIII, most likely. I posted it earlier already :huh:
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No need to look so confused, I just missed it for whatever reason, so my bad there. :olivia:

Though I suppose throwing out one writer and replacing him with another for a direct sequel might have been a weird move - like a knee jerk reaction to the negative press that FFXIII had. Still, it's a bit of a shame because I would have liked to see what a professional novelist can come up with - I know Mistwalker had one for their FF-esque Lost Odyssey on the Xbox 360 and many champion its story as being pretty good. I'm sure the current writer is capable of producing something good - and FFXIII in its earlier stages of planning could have been better in terms of storyline, but I suppose there are factors out of his hand. Take the scrapped content, there's a likely chance that portions of the storyline could have been scrapped as well for the final product. Therefore I'm not too quick on criticising writers nowadays just in case.
 
I am personally quite disappointed they are not hiring Jun Eishima. I read episode 0 recently, and it was written very well IMO. She got both the funny and emotional moments right. It's also easy to understand. When I was reading it, I really felt like reading a proper novel.

Well we should just wait and see how they unfold the story this time.
 
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I read some of the novella, and I wished they had just thrown those scenes into the game. Some of the stuff and foreshadowing I saw in FFXIII only made sense after I read the novella.

Also-I'm hoping the party isn't going to be just Noel/Serah/Monster. While the 150+ variety of monsters is pretty kewl for combos to try out, I'll miss using actual characters :sad3:

(that said, if we could recruit a Behemoth, that would be pretty awesome :lew: )
 
Almost all of the main characters from Final Fantasy XIII will appear in some way or another hmm? I guess that is a hint that you can play as them then. Since Sqaure Enix do not want to disclose anything just yet... and since Toriyama and Kitase both laugh when asked. It is quite probable then. xD Right now I believe the other playable characters will be Team NORA, Lightning of course(since she will come in every now and then) So the way it will be is Noel and Serah search for Lightning. Play as Lightning briefly and then try and connect the story. Noel is not an Oerban it seems.. since his last name is Kreiss. We can probably expect to see Oerba Dia Vanille and Oerba Yun Fang towards the middle of the game. Maybe have Sazh as a playable character on Cocoon as well? Since they already said Snow will appear.. I am guessing he is playable again. Always looking to see more!
 
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