Final Fantasy XIII masterminds Yoshinori Kitase and Motomu Toriyama have stated that they'd be very interested in doing a direct sequel to Final Fantasy XIII, though they're waiting to see how well the current game does in the West before dreaming up a XIII-2.
"In the past three years we worked both on the world and on the various systems," says Kitase. "Creating these systems isn’t very glamorous and can frankly be a bit boring. If we could do a XIII-2, we could direct all our attention to the story and refine what we have already built."
That would be nice. It seems, with XIII, that they spent so long working on pretty colors and a battle system so inherently contrived that it needs to play itself for you, that they forgot what an RPG should be about -- the story. As for a possible Final Fantasy XV? Again, it all depends on how XIII does.
We do not know if there will be a XV. This depends a lot on the success of XIII. Also, it is difficult to pinpoint elements that are typical Final Fantasy. They are mostly invisible: part of the DNA of the game, that everyone recognizes as typical Final Fantasy. But ifthere is a XV, I hope the way we wrote our characters carries over. We strived to create believable people of flesh and blood. They are not robots. And they are not super heroes. I hope this humanity is something we will see again."
The trouble with your "real" characters though, is that they're simply not remarkable. I'd take a sentient cat puppet that rides on the back of a Moogle over characters that have nothing outstanding about their personality at all.
Kitase wants to do FFXIII-2 and responds to Western critics [WriteAboutGames]
Contest:
10:00 AM on 03.13.2010
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This concept could actually be a good sequel...if only they don't turn it into a bunch of mini-games.
I'm not sure, Jim Sterling, that you can say that "the trouble with your 'real' characters though, is they're simply not remarkable" when you have nothing to compare them against. Videogames are not exactly known for their characterisation, and are more known for their design or one-dimensionality. It's giving off your bias of what you want videogame characters to be, all-or-nothing.
Anyway Jim it seems you're going crack the whip on the game. I'm actually interested to hear your take, well to be fair I'm always interested in negative opinions.
FFXI and FFXII's stories were a breath of fresh air, there were no emotionally crippled people out to save the world. Kitase had no hand in the stories and THANK GOD.
Even Nomura is showing better storytelling chops these days. I seriously doubt a game like Crisis Core could have been as good as it was were it not for Nomura's insights. Nomura does have a knack for making things convoluted (Kingdom Hearts), but at least his characters are more interesting.
I think the FFXI/FFXIV team (also responsible for FFIX) and the FFXII team are the strongest in SE right now. They're willing to grow beyond the cliches.
I just hope SE moves on to a new title rather than an XIII-2 spin off. I mean, we've already got Versus coming. And if SE was really that strapped for cash, they would just go multiplat with Versus as well.
thats what they were going for?? because they just came across as dramatic anime-heroes
they are not superheroes but they cut through huge robots with their swords!
*Spoilers*
Around ch7 Snow seems to show a bit more self-awareness and realizes how stupid he's been. The characters all start to flesh out a bit more at this point. Haven't finished the game yet, but things are looking up.
*Spoilers*
Wow you're just getting an ass rape right now aren't you. I would check that hard-drive, it might be failing.
I sort of don't need Final Fantasy XIII to be anything more than it wants to be. I can always just play something else. Let them make the sequel whatever the hell they want to.
come on, it isnt that hard dude, it definitely has a learning curve but i cant imagine an RPG-player getting stumped on this game. i've had a harder time with DA:O
Destructoid: Where only the NEWS is posted.
NEWS!
I really, honestly, can not relate to any of the FF characters since X, and that's okay if the characters are "believable", but I really hate to think they are if X, XII and XIII are anything to go by.
http://news.vgchartz.com/news.php?id=7369&mp=1
Honestly, I really hope they have a clear idea of what they're doing if/when XV comes around.
Don't get me wrong; I feel XIII is a step back from XII and in general causes one to wonder when the actual role-playing comes into effect (I am on hour 15). However, I feel that the design decisions came with a few godsends. In particular the retry options is a feature I'd like to see in all future RPGs, but I am getting off point. The story is not overly dramatic (I am looking at you, twins of Lost Odyssey), the background notes are informative AND precise (how many of us actually read all that Dragon Age had to offer) and while there are no Judges- level villians to speak of, the philosophy of Cocoon is the true enemy, and fighting a mindset is truely epic.
Personally, I'd like to see them diverge to another series and drop all of the conventions that the Final Fantasy name seems to bring with it.
And I love that whole stuff with fal'cie, these fucking arcane ancient beings(?) or whatever the fuck they are. Also I dig that new dynamic battle system, it's actually not that simple, it's just more fast-paced. Even if you're using auto function constantly, you can't just win simply by pressing X. You reveal enemy's weaknesses first, then you choose the right formation and ONLY THEN you're pressing X to win, eheh.
It's more like you're directing and shaping the battle, but you still can do all this stuff manually.
That reminds me how people were complaining about detective mode in Batman:AA, that it made things just too easy. But it's all optional, no one's forcing you to use it.
I'm not saying I love the game, it's pretty crappy compared to other ff's, and I wouldn't want to see another FF like this. But it's not all that bad either.
I don't understand people saying the game plays itself. I think you would easily die at boss battles using auto-battle. Not only that, but why would you use auto-battle? Aren't you missing the point of RPGs if you just constantly choose auto-battle? I think it was intended to make weak encounters less tedious, without having to flee.
I really don't understand the hate for this game. The character progression has been pretty good, almost like a TV drama. And the gameplay itself reminds me of an improved Persona 3, without the dating sim element.
I hope the game does well, and they get another chance to iron out some of the things Final Fantasy fans don't like. It's a good game. I'd rather see a sequel to XIII than a remake of VII.
The characters are...I'd say the best part of it (except the whole killing system, which is possibly the most strategic of all of them, once you have to do things), but with a major caveat. The problem isn't the characters, it's that they only interact with each other. They don't interact with the level design, they don't interact with NPCs, and that makes them begin to feel stale and "boring" quicker, despite many of them possibly being the most realistic characters in video games. Which is depressing, because they did it right, for once.