As requested and promised, here's our additional Ten Minute Taste of the Japanese version of Final Fantasy XIII. Our first one didn't do much for those that played the Japanese demo, as it covered much of the same ground.
This new one comes from about 3 hours into the game. We did our best to pick a part that showed something new, working hard to avoid anything that would spoil the story. That said, if you're trying to save yourself for the US release, keep in mind that this is well past the first ten minutes. If you don't understand Japanese, you won't have to worry about that, though.
Here you'll see a new stage (shiny!) and some more involved battle tactics. It's definitely more involved than the mindless attacking from the beginning, but it gets even better. It takes a few more hours before the game really opens up, in both the battle system and the world.
I've been asked a few times for an early verdict. This won't do much for you, but it should be fairly obvious:
If you love Final Fantasy, you'll likely love this. If you hate it and other JRPGs, don't bother. Just as you expected. Big crazy story, shiny graphics, lovely music, just like always. A non-branching storyline in the beginning, though. That's also the case in other series games. Final Fantasy was never an exploration game, so why expect that now? I love this fast-paced battle system when it finally opens up. No healing after battles, no walking through towns to advance storylines. Good changes. Fun game.
Dale North is Destructoid's Editor-In-Chief, a founding editor, and specialist in Japanese gaming. An accomplished musician, Dale was reporting from Japan during the earthquakes of 2011. Luckily, he got the fuck out alive and is home in America now with his wife and beloved corgi, Einstein. Dale is also a co-founder of Destructoid's sister anime site Japanator. Likes Corgis, Sega Saturn, PSP, iPhone, Photographic tools.
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I'm of the opinion that all Ten Minute Tastes should just be like this one.
Someone made a comment before like "Destructoid Ten Minute Tastes: aka skip to the seven minute mark", which is kind of true. For me, the actual gameplay is what makes the video unique, as you can easily youtube intros for nearly every game.
The game's pretty awesome so far, I'm halfway through and lovin it <3 I like those new change they added to this game like the full HP after battle and whatnot. Sure they remove some stuff from the FF norm, but nothing of valuable loss to me.
Finally, a FF game I somewhat care about. Everything about 13 looks pretty good so far, they're changing a lot of things I absolutely hated about Final Fantasy in the first place, and the art direction is finally going somwhere interesting.
Not to mention the battle system is full of shiny metallic things and complicated descriptions that make me feel like I'm awesome at the game, no matter how much I suck.
A lot of the Final Fantasy games opened up to explore eventually. FFVII and FFX were a bit more restrictive initially and those are the only ones I can remember being so linear to a point (FFVII's Midgar and FFXI pre-Calm Lands stand out)
Saying other Final Fantasy games didn't have exploration, though, that's a bit of a stretch. Especially in the previous 2 entries. FFXI and FFXII were tremendously overwhelming worlds to explore and many games outside of FFX were no slouch in that regard, even FFVII opened up eventually.
No healing after battles, no walking through towns to advance storylines.
So, basically...Final Fantasy has finally updated itself with features that Romancing SaGa had over ten years ago? Brilliant!
Anyways, this game is actually looking more and more appealing the more I see of it. Of course, this happened with FFXII too, and that bit me in the ass. Still, I'm having a good feeling about this one, it feels like Square has finally learned at least some of the lessons it needed to.
By the way, how are Hope and Sahz in battle? Those are the two characters I'm most interested in, but you didn't use them in the video.
Only one summon for each Character?? Most summons Have same moves? Battle system is repetitive and You can Only use ONE character in Battle? How BORING!!! This Game Seems Extremely Repetitive With Nothing Different To Look Forward To. There are no new summons to uncover (limited Summons) the summons seem very dull, and the gameplay is basically constricted to the optima change option.If they were to implement that as the summons and characters level up the cgi/moves change a lot then the game would be cool. But i am afraid it isn't so. Playing this game for a long time and knowing Japanese/English as the other final fantasy's are way better than this XIII actually XIII reminds me of XII A LOT!!!! and XII was dull and boring!!!
Although The Gameplay Is Horrible dull and boring the storyline is cool.Although to me there has to be a balance of Awesome gameplay and Awesome storyline for example Uncharted 2.10/10
In other FF's at least you get the chance to see every place in their world and in a way explore the most of it(except XII)in this new installment you don't SEE everything in it's world and certainly not exploring.The game gives you the freedom to explore Gran Pulse once you reach chapter 11 which is actually like an enormous canyon...it's not the whole world of Pulse.Feels like you know the world it's there but you can't and never go everywhere...reminder of FFXII
Dale please calm me down and tell me the game isn't as piss easy as it looks.
I mean, it was ok when I saw this kind of difficulty in the demo or in the very beginning of the game, but it seems to me that, even 3 hours into the game, you get a 30 second battle and a 3 minute cutscene in constant loops...
@Dale - I think you need a less ambiguous definition of exploring. We're talking about the stuff outside of the main story path, the stuff that wasn't laid out for you to see roaming from one town to the next.
Optional things. There was no beaten path that led to all of the Espers in FFXII or GFs in FFVIII. There was no way of knowing how to obtain the better items/abilities in FFVI,FFIV DS, FFIX or FFXII without experimentation. Emerald and Ruby Weapon aren't just standing out there where you can find them in FFVII.
Hell, there's a large portion of FFXII's world you never even have to set foot in - its just there. They didn't put it there for giggles.
I could go on and on, but short version is you don't find this stuff roaming from town to town and following the main story.
From everything ive red from land of slanty eyes they are throwing up their arms in disgust over now linear this game is, granted most rpg including FF are VERY linear, but When people complain about FF being linear then you know somethings afoot
They also complained about Battle>cutscene>battle>cutscene, and judging by this trailer id say their complaints are valid
there were other complaints about the game, but it seemed like petty whining to me. FFXIII is still a day one purchase regardless. im sure ill enjoy it. I always set my standards low
an ad before and after the video, a little samsung phone in the corner and a pop up on the bottom of the video. what the hell. also, why do the ads run really smoothly, but the video doesnt, even after it's fully loaded? I know I only speak for my own computer, but... that ain't right.
"In other FF's at least you get the chance to see every place in their world and in a way explore the most of it(except XII)in this new installment you don't SEE everything in it's world and certainly not exploring." NoctisLucisC
THIS! is what was bothering me so much about this game. There was something nagging me as I played it, and I just couldn't put my finger on it. When I beat the game, I was somewhat unsatisfied and felt my adventure was incomplete. Now I realize that it's b/c you only see very limited parts of the FF13 world.
Still a great game, nonetheless. But I still feel somewhat empty inside :(
I haven't been following the FF series since VII, but the turn based battles look like fun. I always thought it would be a good idea to show incredible battles through only the limits of turn-based battles, and this looks like it could work, and I might just buy it. Oh wait, I only have a PC! Silly me, :P!
I really don't like the running animations, I don't know, it just bothers me. Anyways, I really dislike JRPG's and RPG's in general, so I probably will not even bother with this game. Looks nice though.
@Chickenjonny: The fuck are you yammering on about? Have you played this game at all? If there is anything that can be said about FFXIII, it is that it's battle system is ANYTHING but "boring and dull". Quit talking out of your ass.
looked pretty good but having you hp refilled after each battle seems like they're taking strategy and planning ahead out of the game. i feel like this will be another let down :S
Oh well don't get me wrong I respect everyone's opinion although to me I loved FFX and down although FFXII and up SO FAR are boring I mean when I grab a game I want to PLAY not just look at it. I mean FFIII has A LOT of CGI cut scenes that are great... but it seems they put little effort on gameplay. For example Brynhildr and Shiva's attack are EXACTLY THE SAME no difference whatsoever and the magic's are really direct and no big special affects are on the magics. And to answer Dip 's question yes I am playing it. That's why I am opinionating. I am more exited about FFXIII VERSUS though it seems far more polished and the creator says that the gameplay would be alike as Kingdom Hearts (Obviously FAR FAR less childish. But don't get me wrong Kingdom Heart was awesome.)
I might give it a go just because of the battle system. I'm still trying to find an RPG battle system I'm really happy with. The problem for me is always the story. I can rarely ever relate to anything Japanese game writers have to say.
Thanks for the 10 min taste, as Magnalon said, this is what it should be!
That said, I'm still a skeptical of this. True, this LOOKS fantastic. FF graphics have never been skimped on, and they clearly didn't start now, even in battle. Music sounds damn good too. However, there are a few things holding me back from buying into this this time.
I know linearity is something to be considered when talking about ANY Final Fantasy, but I do agree with whomever said that when you finished playing one of the great FF's, you got the feeling there was nothing left to do--you'd done and seen everything there was to see in those worlds, and their stries seemed relatively complete. Even if the "exporation" portions were only illusory, they still FELT like exploring. Thus, I mourn World Map exporation every time I pop a new RPG into my systems (An excellent reason why Tales of Vesperia is ne of my favrite current system RPG's).
Thus, playing essentially in what seems like a straight line doesn't particularly appeal to me too much.
I still remember playing FF6 and FF7 when I was a little kid. Awesome games, great environments, and some of the coolest music ever made them so much fun. I watch this and it's got pretty graphics and the same cool music, but I'm not sure if it has the fun factor that the old games had. I can still play them today even with the outdated graphics. This, I'm not so sure it will age well.
Also, check out this and this video for some cool FF7 music action.
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Contest:
12:00 PM on 12.30.2009
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Someone made a comment before like "Destructoid Ten Minute Tastes: aka skip to the seven minute mark", which is kind of true. For me, the actual gameplay is what makes the video unique, as you can easily youtube intros for nearly every game.
Final Fantasy 1-9 would like to have a word with you.
Final Fantasy games on the NES would like to have a word with you.
Not to mention the battle system is full of shiny metallic things and complicated descriptions that make me feel like I'm awesome at the game, no matter how much I suck.
Saying other Final Fantasy games didn't have exploration, though, that's a bit of a stretch. Especially in the previous 2 entries. FFXI and FFXII were tremendously overwhelming worlds to explore and many games outside of FFX were no slouch in that regard, even FFVII opened up eventually.
So, basically...Final Fantasy has finally updated itself with features that Romancing SaGa had over ten years ago? Brilliant!
Anyways, this game is actually looking more and more appealing the more I see of it. Of course, this happened with FFXII too, and that bit me in the ass. Still, I'm having a good feeling about this one, it feels like Square has finally learned at least some of the lessons it needed to.
By the way, how are Hope and Sahz in battle? Those are the two characters I'm most interested in, but you didn't use them in the video.
But yes, ten minutes of gameplay to really get an idea of what the game is like, is very appreciated.
i miss the victory music though
ta da da daaaaaa da daaa dad dadaaaaaaa
I mean, it was ok when I saw this kind of difficulty in the demo or in the very beginning of the game, but it seems to me that, even 3 hours into the game, you get a 30 second battle and a 3 minute cutscene in constant loops...
Optional things. There was no beaten path that led to all of the Espers in FFXII or GFs in FFVIII. There was no way of knowing how to obtain the better items/abilities in FFVI,FFIV DS, FFIX or FFXII without experimentation. Emerald and Ruby Weapon aren't just standing out there where you can find them in FFVII.
Hell, there's a large portion of FFXII's world you never even have to set foot in - its just there. They didn't put it there for giggles.
I could go on and on, but short version is you don't find this stuff roaming from town to town and following the main story.
They also complained about Battle>cutscene>battle>cutscene, and judging by this trailer id say their complaints are valid
there were other complaints about the game, but it seemed like petty whining to me. FFXIII is still a day one purchase regardless. im sure ill enjoy it. I always set my standards low
THIS! is what was bothering me so much about this game. There was something nagging me as I played it, and I just couldn't put my finger on it. When I beat the game, I was somewhat unsatisfied and felt my adventure was incomplete. Now I realize that it's b/c you only see very limited parts of the FF13 world.
Still a great game, nonetheless. But I still feel somewhat empty inside :(
BTW Dale how far in are you now?
That said, I'm still a skeptical of this. True, this LOOKS fantastic. FF graphics have never been skimped on, and they clearly didn't start now, even in battle. Music sounds damn good too. However, there are a few things holding me back from buying into this this time.
I know linearity is something to be considered when talking about ANY Final Fantasy, but I do agree with whomever said that when you finished playing one of the great FF's, you got the feeling there was nothing left to do--you'd done and seen everything there was to see in those worlds, and their stries seemed relatively complete. Even if the "exporation" portions were only illusory, they still FELT like exploring. Thus, I mourn World Map exporation every time I pop a new RPG into my systems (An excellent reason why Tales of Vesperia is ne of my favrite current system RPG's).
Thus, playing essentially in what seems like a straight line doesn't particularly appeal to me too much.
Also, check out this and this video for some cool FF7 music action.