FFXIII-2 Nearing Completion

"Lightning Strikes Twice." It doesn't get any more awesome than that. I think this is the first time I have ever seen a Final Fantasy game featured in Game Informer, rather than some Japanese magazine like Daruma Magazine or something. I think the writer of the article even said that this is the first time Square has globally opened the game up to be seen in magazines outside of Japan and all. This is really exciting. Tim Turi wrote that Square was going to "tap into the series' core fan base," which I am sure means that they are going to go back to their roots or whatever you want to call the days between FFVI and FFX and make a game with the same elements. This sounds like the greatest thing that the company's ever done for years, and I hope that all the hype isn't leading to nowhere. Turi wrote, "If my short time with FFXIII-2 is any indication of the final product, I can't wait to get my hands on this promising piece of digital redemption once more." He said that he had played fifty hours of the first FFXIII and found more enjoyment in the thirty minutes he spent playing this game. It was not a surprise to me, given the things I have seen and heard from this game, that he would write that the game is a vast improvement, yet I am very astonished by the things I read from the article, and therefore I myself cannot wait to get my hands on that game as well. I doubt it will be the best Final Fantasy ever, but it will surely be one of the company's greatest releases if it lives up to what was shown. Apparently, this game now gives players the ability to jump freely, at any time. I don't know if that will really come into any necessary use, but nonetheless it makes me happy to hear that. I cannot wait to see it all for myself.

FFXIII-2 Gets a Big Reveal at E3

Square decided to bring forth some new information on Final Fantasy XIII-2 to light this year at E3. Continuing from the the first ambiguous teaser trailer they released, the added another ambiguous teaser showing short clips of the different things going on in the game, each revolving around Serah and this new guy called Noel. Things varied from them walking around with a moogle to them fighting a giant arm. No dialogue, hardly any music, and all of it ending with the game's title logo at the end. Very informative, Square, very informative. I was beginning to think that that was all that they were going to show at E3, because I've known Square to pull silly tricks like that often, but then they released the trailer I have here a couple of days ago, along with a full set of interviews. From what I've gathered, this sequel is going to be a billion times better than the original. I think that this game was going to be the true Final Fantasy XIII, and the original was really just something to set the stage for this sequel. For the first time, it seems that Square might just actually release a sequel to a numbered game that is actually good. This is something I have to see. Also, they said that there would be multiple endings in this game. It seems to me that this game is going to be a historical turning point for Square and it's Final Fantasy series, if they decide to follow up from this game. I doubt it, though; each time they release a game, you never know what the gameplay might be like save for the fact that it's an RPG. There's apparently a video interview with someone representing Square Enix, NA, and it's supposed to cover some information regarding the gameplay, so let's check that out first.

Okay, so for the most part, it's basically stuff I already read in the interview with Kitase. Let me open that up real quick so that I could cite some information. You can hire monsters to fight for you in this game, weirdly enough. It doesn't seem like something I would use. Also in battle is a little something called Cinematic Action, which basically looks like reaction commands from Kingdom Hearts 2. You can see them in action in the video above, where you see something like a cutscene come up during the battle with that weird arm thing, and you'll see something on screen indicating a button you need to press. While it doesn't entirely live up to the original battle design that they were going to implement on in Final Fantasy XIII, it looks cool enough to switch up the battles a little bit and to give the player a more active role in the game. It's about damn time. They also say that they are going to make the world an open and exlporational world with towns and shops and NPCs of which you could speak to and decide what to say. Sounds very reminiscent of Fallout and Elder Scrolls. As with all traditional towns, each town will have shops in them. They also said that they are implementing an AI in each individual NPC, so they will be doing a variety of their own things like walking with their families and such. There will be actual side missions for once, and they said it will be like in Red Dead Redemption where you would go up to some other NPC who is offering a special mission that doesn't have to do with the main storyline or something of the sort. I think this is a fantastic improvement to the game. I can't wait to see what that would be like.

There's not much else to say other than that. They also spoke of the music in the game and how Red Dead Redemption inspired them, somehow. They also talked about how the game was going to run on the Xbox and how many discs will be needed and all sorts of other shit I don't care about because I'm getting the game for the PS3. This really looks amazing, and they said it will be out sometime early 2012, not Winter 2012 that Final Fantasy Wikia said. I can't wait for it!

A Small Check In

Sorry I've been really busy for the month, but I have some good news. I got the new Dissidia, and I must say it's new storyline is a huge improvement. It could be a million times better without Vaan and his stupid ass, but I think the game paid much respect to Tifa and Lightning's characters, as I was hoping for, so I'm cool with the game. It still pisses me off that you have to level up your characters and that you can only have so many abilities, and that your characters are nothing without gear (oh man, in this game they made the consequences of not having gear even worse than before). However, I got Lightning up to level eighty thanks to a new and hilariously exploitable and easy way to level up your favorite characters and stuff. The game also rewards those who went through the nonsense that was Dissidia 1 by allowing you to keep your characters' levels from the first one along with that awesome chocobo that would give you experience multipliers like crazy, but the downside is that the gear and summons are not transferable for some stupid reason. That's all for now. More on a playthrough (and this time I mean it) next time on this blog!

Enter Gilgamesh!

It looks like Square finally wised up to their choice of characters. Who wanted ExDeath as Bartz's adversary? Nobody. We were all looking for Gilgamesh, and when he was not featured in the first Dissidia, I was all like "SQUARE, Y U NO FEATURE GILGAMESH," but now he's here, and now i have some competition with Lightning over who's going to be my "only" character. Lightning may still be my "only" character given that Gilgamesh is an unlockable character like Gabranth and Shanttoto were. Considering that I will probably have to play through Vaan's story for that and go on another adventure with that moron, I am not so sure if I will ever get to experience what it's like playing as Gilgamesh. I read that he was basically a wild card character whose attacks are completely random, and I'm not sure if that's really a good thing.

However, I liked what I saw from that video (lol, Butz Klauser). That was a hilarious whooping at the end. So maybe I'll endure the torment of "I wanna be a sky pirate" Vaan, "Why am I fighting" Cloud, and every other character in Dissidia that I hated. Gilgamesh seems like he is worth the breaking down of my sanity.

The Fabula Novella Crystallis Dish Out More Expectations

First off all: BAM! Finally, some gameplay footage for Versus XIII. Finally, I am no longer contemplating whether the game exists.



Update: Apparently Square lifted the copyright block on the trailer. The hell? Well, please ignore anything I say about the trailer being blocked, and do enjoy!

Unfortunately I didn't quite make out half of what I saw, but from what I did make out, I instantly developed high hopes for this game. The fact that it is still a PS3 exclusive is already sounding good to me. The CGI trailers look great, but the actual gameplay graphics look a bit funny. The gameplay looks promising, as it really is that Kingdom Hearts-esque style of combat that Square promised not to bullshit. It just doesn't look too glamorous yet, but that might be perhaps of limited abilities in the trailer. From what I've seen, though, it doesn't look too bad. Most of the trailer showed Noctis running around in a slightly realistic looking city with cannons bombarding the streets and some weird flying bus thing crashing into buildings. If that wasn't enough, they showed the fight against the Behemoth, which is an actual Final Fantasy Behemoth and not some retarded bipedal piece of shit that FFXII tried to pull on me. Those Behemoths are not vicious, they look more like a pack of idiots.

Well, I was going to post the video for FFXIII's sequel, FFXIII-2, but Square blocked it for some stupid  reason. I assume that could only mean that the trailer I had for Versus XIII here might also be blocked, for this is all happening before I've even posted this shit yet. Oh well, I guess I cannot show you all Lightning's ass for now, but in time good Readers, in time. I'm afraid that that game will be terrible, but I'm willing to cling to some hope since Lightning's in it. Maybe the developers will actually make the game an explorable world with tons of sidequests, but given their previous compilations to other video games, that would be very unlikely.

Note: Yeah, they blocked that Versus XIII video too. Sorry, Readers, but I can't help it if Square wants to be a pain. We'll just have to wait till they calm the hell down about their "rights."

HD Videos | Final Fantasy XIII-2 | Reveal Trailer

Well I found another trailer for the second FFXIII. God knows how long this one will last, so hopefully whoever the hell I imagine is reading this has a chance to get a good look at you know what before Square takes it down. Aw man, come on Square, don't be so stingy with your fanservice.

I'm now working on figuring out how I am going to save the video.

D012 Jump Festa 2011 Trailer

Unfortunately, I don't understand a lick of Japanese, so I can't give a full commentary on what I feel about what the hell is going on. I only have two statements: 1) ZOMG IT'S LIGHTNING :D and 2) what the hell is Vaan doing with Terra?

Update: Actually, I have something else to say now that I have seen something I didn't even notice the first time I watched this. At the end, in between the scene where Tidus and Jecht headbuttsex each other and the other of Lightning raping Garland, there is a short clip of somebody walking on water. Everyone's been going crazy now and exclaiming that it was Yuna, a character from FFX that I am not familiar with as I have never played that game nor any other game that features her (except KHII, but that really doesn't count). I decided to look her up and see if I can match any details of her with the little details they give in the trailer. Sure enough, her skirt is pretty much unique for her character, so it is definitely her in the video. Unfortunately, me providing evidence that she will be in the game won't change the fact that you cannot make a statement on youtube now without getting "OMFG YUNA IS IN DISSIDIA" in response. Hopefully she will represent herself well in this game, unlike Cloud in the original Dissidia. "Why am I fighting?" will forever live in infamy.

FFVXIII

Looks interesting enough. I wish we could get some legit gameplay footage, not some nonsense where a handheld camera is filming part of a screen showing the game. It also doesn't help when the guy who does the filming happens to be the same cameraman from Cloverfield.