Final Fantasy XIII-2

Alex

Alex

alex is dead
AKA
Alex, Ashes, Pennywise, Bill Weasley, Jack's Smirking Revenge, Sterling Archer
There is a definite resemblance to FFX's Anima right there.
 
T

Terrafig

Default
AKA
KaleMarsh
I guess it's possible that it breaks from its crystal and becomes that,
when it is previously assumed it died.

He looks nothing like
811px-Anima_Hanging_Edge.jpg
.

It sounds too convoluted/would make more sense if the first image were of something else.
 
Tennyo

Tennyo

Higher Further Faster
Yeah,
since the fal'cie that you fight in the beginning was Anima, and we are shown it being killed, why would there be another?
 
Roger

Roger

He/him
AKA
Minato
Terrafig said:
I guess it's possible that it breaks from its crystal and becomes that,
when it is previously assumed it died.

He looks nothing like
811px-Anima_Hanging_Edge.jpg
.

It sounds too convoluted/would make more sense if the first image were of something else.
Click to expand...

That'not Anime, that's the Pulse Vestige, like his house.
 
ForceStealer

ForceStealer

Double Growth
I apologize if this interview was already posted, but I don't see it anywhere.

Final Fantasy XIII sold a lot of copies worldwide. It was also very quickly panned by a legion of RPG fans who felt that the game had strayed too far away from the traditional game mechanics and values that define a Final Fantasy game. Square Enix’s Yoshinori Kitase and Motomu Toriyama, having helmed development of the 2010 epic, are eager to put things right.

Now we’re witnessing the development of Final Fantasy XIII-2, and along with it come some features that address the probable mountain of letters the studio has had regarding its predecessor’s shortcomings - towns, interesting side missions and riding Chocobos, to name a few.

You can see the full result of the changes in my E3 2011 preview here. Shortly afterwards, I was able to meet with Kitase-san and Toriyama-san to discover more about monster hunting, fan feedback and how Red Dead Redemption has helped Square Enix improve its game.


SPOnG: Could you talk about your approach with Final Fantasy XIII-2? Did you look at other RPGs from Western developers like BioWare and apply some of their mechanics to yours?

Yoshinori Kitase: We actually didn’t take inspiration from any Western RPGs. Not consciously anyway. On the other hand, the Paradigm Shift feature in XIII was quite popular. Lots of people liked it, so we carried it over and created an upgraded version. There are two examples to how we’ve improved things here.

The first is that you can actually recruit monsters and make them battle for you. There are over 150 types of monster for you to capture. They progress in the same way that all the other characters do - you can enhance any particular part of battle statistic, so you can custom make them to become exactly the kind of monster you want.

The second one is what we call 'Cinematic Actions'. In big battles such as boss characters, there is a cinematic action so that it appears more dynamic. In every single way we want to ensure that the player has some kind of interaction with the gameplay.



SPOnG: Do you feel that fans were slightly disappointed with Final Fantasy XIII? Are there any features in Final Fantasy XIII-2 that were made as a direct reaction to feedback?



Yoshinori Kitase: I think Final Fantasy XIII was criticised by a lot of people because we think it was meant to be story driven, but so much so that people thought it was quite linear, which people didn’t like. So before we started making Final Fantasy XIII-2, we were determined to take all of the negative comments seriously, and rectify every single one of them, thoroughly and completely.

This game is more player driven rather than story driven, so that the player will have an active involvement in each phase of the game. There are a lot more things in the field that you can explore like towns... and you can also choose what you want to say and do during various scenes. It will give players more freedom.


SPOnG: Indeed, one of the main criticisms with XIII was the lack of the traditional RPG town. It was mentioned in a previous interview that making towns on high definition consoles is quite difficult. Is that something that you’re now finding easier, or can we still expect these towns to be rather small compared to past Final Fantasy towns?



Motomu Toriyama: As Kitase-san said earlier, we did take into serious consideration the feedback regarding a lack of towns. So we’ve added some in the sequel You can explore the towns, talk to the people and discover new destinations in doing so. You can also find shops in these towns too, so you can purchase items more easily.

Although we have worked hard to introduce towns in a manner that people expect, I think that equally, creating towns in exactly the same way would be quite boring. And as you say it is still quite difficult to do in high definition. So to spice things up, we have added AI to every single person living in the towns so that they do their own things. They may sit down and chat, or go to see family members or other such things. In that sense it is a different kind of town that you might find in past Final Fantasy towns.


SPOnG: At what point did you decide to make Final Fantasy XIII-2, and what was the reasoning behind it?

Yoshinori Kitase: We actually made a decision to make a sequel right after the worldwide launch of Final Fantasy XIII. Around that time we were visiting a lot of different countries, including the United States and the UK on a promotional tour, and we got a really positive reaction from the fans. Final Fantasy XIII also enjoyed commercial success with around six million copies sold around the world. We just felt that people wanted a sequel on this basis.

We also decided that, during the process of making Final Fantasy XIII, that the characters in this universe had more potential and elements to be explored. We realised we could make more games to highlight these characters.

SPOnG: Will Final Fantasy XIII-2 be using a chapter-based system in a similar fashion to Final Fantasy XIII?

Motomu Toriyama: There isn’t an awful lot I can tell you about regarding this, but we have changed that structure. This is because lots of people didn’t like it, so we’ve introduced a new one. Details will have to wait until the Tokyo Game Show, I’m afraid. One thing I can say however is the fact that for the first time in the Final Fantasy franchise [the game] has got a multiple endings system.


SPOnG: Could you explain why you went back to the Paradigm system for combat? Is it more because it’s in keeping with the Final Fantasy XIII world, or because you feel you’ve found the perfect battle system?

Yoshinori Kitase: We decided to carry it over into the new game for both reasons that you mentioned actually. Because it’s a sequel, it seems like the right thing to do to keep it as it is. Also, the Paradigm Shift system was quite popular in Final Fantasy XIII, so we feel it is the best battle system to incorporate into the new game too.


Motomu Toriyama: Having said that, it isn’t just a case of us rehashing the same system. We’re introducing improvements as we mentioned earlier so that it brings more acutely strategic gameplay compared to Final Fantasy XIII.



SPOnG: In Final Fantasy XIII, there wasn’t an awful lot to do once you completed the main story - and side quests were limited to monster hunts. Will we be getting post-game content and more variety in the side quests in Final Fantasy XIII-2?

Motomu Toriyama: We mentioned multiple endings earlier, but I can’t mention too much about that. However, for the people who have already cleared the game once, we’ll have a New Game + so that you can play with raised enemy values and alternative content. There are items and features that will entice you to keep playing over and over.

As for side missions, there are more of these in Final Fantasy XIII-2 and they’ll work a little bit like Red Dead Redemption. So it’s not going to be limited to just hunting animals and walking back to the start point again. There are other types of missions as well. One of the criticisms against Final Fantasy XIII was that there weren’t enough minigames. People wanted to see more, so some side missions will have elements of that as well.



SPOnG: I had a few questions about the new elements that you’re introducing to the battle system. You mentioned the capture of monsters earlier on - how do you collect these in the game? Also, what specific things trigger the Cinematic Actions that you spoke of earlier?

Yoshinori Kitase: To collect monsters, you basically have to defeat the monster and when you meet some certain conditions at a certain rate, it will come to your party automatically. You can mix them up as well - it works a bit like a card game, where you can build a ‘deck’ of monsters to fight alongside you.

There are two types of Cinematic Actions. The first is as you see in the demo against Atlas, where an action is triggered when you inflict a certain amount of damage on a boss. Another Cinematic Action involves the monsters that you collect - some of those monsters can execute or trigger one of these actions if your strategy is very action-focused like a Commando Shift rather than healing and magic.


SPOnG: You mentioned Red Dead Redemption earlier. What exact inspirations did you have when making Final Fantasy XIII-2?


Motomu Toriyama: There have certainly been quite a few good movies and video games that came out last year. Red Dead Redemption is one of those titles that Japanese game creators really adored, including ourselves. So we took some inspiration from that, but obviously our game does not have as much of an open world.

Missions can now happen anywhere in the field, rather than you having to go to a shrine or some starting point or something like that. That was inspired by Red Dead Redemption. Also, in this game you get to see lots of Chocobos. You can ride them, and the feel you get as you’re riding a Chocobo is a bit like the way you ride a horse in Red Dead Redemption. You can get a really refreshing, feel-good experience just riding an animal.
Click to expand...

So there's your confirmation of New Game+. Also good to hear that townspeople have AI and will move around and do things, finally. Red Dead Redemption inspiration is also interesting, and not a game I expected SE to make mention of :monster:
 
Sheva Alomar

Sheva Alomar

I'm Alive and on Fire
AKA
Adri, Sir Integra, Fiona, Sango
Umm, no, Alex said what I was thinking on the last page. FFX Anima and that creature look very similar.
 
Arianna

Arianna

Holy, Personified
AKA
Katie; Seta.
Rogue said:
Why, oh, why would I mean Atlas when I clearly said Anima?
Click to expand...

If that's what you meant, that's fine, but the name Anima was already used in the first game, as the Pulse fal'Cie housed in the Bodhum Vestige.

I don't think this creature is going to be another Anima. I don't understand why they'd do that. But... I don't read minds, so... ?! It could.

OneWingedDemon said:
phallic weaps in front of vaginas, FUCK YEAH! :awesome:
Click to expand...

What? :huh:
 
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The Twilight Mexican

The Twilight Mexican

Ex-SeeD-ingly good
AKA
TresDias
Vash the Stampede said:
But that still has nothing to do with the cutscenes being prerendered. A cutscene is not interactive by definition. So again, too many cutscenes is too many cutscenes, regardless of how its rendered.
Click to expand...

Well, yes, but if it's pre-rendered, then there's no chance for them to even decide to give the player an interactive option. The fact that they're telling us they're focusing on fewer pre-rendered cutscenes is their way of saying that they're giving the player more interactive opportunities -- thus, instead of just watching, we'll get to have a hand in things like Lightning fighting Bahamut while riding Odin, and Noel jumping around like Spider-Man on Atlus.

Derringer Meryl said:
Is that a roller coaster in the background of the Lightning and Serah pic? :huh:
Click to expand...


It's nice to see that XIII's architecture has gotten more sober.

Arianna said:
I do wonder if the fal'Cie spread the propaganda that Gran Pulse was a horrific place, or if the fal'Cie stayed neutral on the facts and allowed humans to believe what they wanted. That would give reason for Barthandelus' actions as Galenth Dysley.
Click to expand...


Since it was Barthandelus's plan to use Cocoon as a means of bringing back the Maker, I'd say he was the one who spread the paranoia about Gran Pulse, and he probably also incited the War of Transgression.

Minato Arisato said:
I thought the Purge was definitely about Purging l'Cie, that's what Lightning was shouting at Sazh about, what Snow and Yaag were talking about and Hope's dad and the party were discussing.
Click to expand...


The Purge meant getting rid of anything of Pulsian origin, including those who had been "contaminated" through contact. Thus, the Bodhum Vestige and the entire population of Bodhum (as well as unfortunate tourists like Hope and Nora).

Remember this newscast from the Estheim residence?:

"Roughly twenty-five hundred civilians believed to have come in contact with the l'Cie are now being held in quarantine by the Sanctum. Our latest insta-poll has shown a vast majority in favor of the immediate Purging of these individuals..."

And the conversation between the l'Cie and Bartholomew Estheim spells out the matter:

Bart: "But the entire world is scared to death of you l'Cie. No, not even just you. People who've helped you, bumped into you... Sometimes it's even just people who've walked by one of you. They think they're 'tainted' and want every one of them Purged."
Click to expand...

You can see both that newscast and the conversation in this video at YouTube.
 
ForceStealer

ForceStealer

Double Growth
Ariadne said:
Since it was Barthandelus's plan to use Cocoon as a means of bringing back the Maker, I'd say he was the one who spread the paranoia about Gran Pulse, and he probably also incited the War of Transgression.
Click to expand...

Dude's patient, you gotta give him that. A 500 year master plan? Geez.
 
The Twilight Mexican

The Twilight Mexican

Ex-SeeD-ingly good
AKA
TresDias
Yeah, for real. Shame that he's a decent enough villain (one of the very few who completely succeeded in his plans as well) who came off terribly unmemorable because of how poorly he was presented.

But that's true of a lot of FFXIII's plot.
 
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