Square Enix has announced a new game in the Final Fantasy XIII series at the Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary Event, bringing Lightnings story to an end.
Final Fantasy XIII-2 is out! With it comes a final trailer which neatly compresses all the good bits of FFXIII-2 into one minute.
The long wait is over. We've finished our review copy and had a great time, so come read our impressions of Final Fantasy XIII-2.
E3 is a wonderful time of year that’s like some sort of geeky Christmas. A new screenshot for Final Fantasy XIII-2 depicts a quaint looking town (that can be seen being explored with Noel in the E3 trailer). Get a big fat look with your big fat eyes at New Bodhum. Guess HD towns weren’t as hard as Square Enix said they were.
Thanks to forum member Falsate for finding the image.
Footage from the Final Fantasy XIII-2 demo at E3 has been posted courtesy of 1up which shows the boss battle with Noel and Serah attempting to defeat the floating arm of Atlas.
From the video, the battle system seems largely unchanged, primarily focusing on the original auto-battle – paradigm shift formula. Additions include the use of QTE’s to dodge large enemy attacks and pre-scripted attacks.
Update: More video of the demo is now available thanks to Kotaku
Each of the Final Fantasy XIII-2 official sites have been updated soon after the E3 trailer release include a small amount of new content. Each of the sites contain a new render (which we’ve ripped) and a small description of the new character Noel Kreiss. He dual-wields swords with an expert technique and can combine them into one, forming a new weapon. No one knows much of his past or how he stumbled upon Serah during her time of distress.
The Japanese site also features new background music from the game as well as a new wallpaper and their rendition of the trailer. Although oddly still voiced in English (but subtitled) it shows a release date of December 2011. A simultaneous worldwide release seems to be out of the question.
Official Japanese Final Fantasy XIII-2 Site
Official NA Final Fantasy XIII-2 Site
Official European Final Fantasy XIII-2 Site
Final Fantasy XIII-2 is available in demo form for all to play at E3 today. The first photos of the demo have surfaced (thanks to APZonerunner) showing one pretty distinct change to the Final Fantasy formula.
The demo begins with the familiar gameplay style but with the new QTE’s featured in the trailer. The story is explained in a concise information screen to give the demo context. According to the demo, the giant arm featured in the trailer is attached to a much larger creature known as Atlas. The secret to beating him lies in the Bresha Ruins. A new feature called Mog clock is described in one of the photos which effects whether you begin an encounter with the advantage or disadvantage. The most startling deviation from the norm is the addition of the new “Live Trigger” system which allows you to chose dialog for the first time. This is certainly a much more Western approach to story progression.
For now we just have these photos but expect video sometime soon.
Source: APZonerunner’s Twitter
While Square Enix released a mini teaser trailer for Final Fantasy XIII-2 last week, now E3 is in full swing, they’ve finally released the full version for us to pore over. The trailer includes new gameplay from Serah and Noel as well as Lightning wielding her summon Odin. Several of the games mechanics have been altered and added to including the addition of Quick time events. Despite her earlier appearance in the trailer, when Team NORA rescues Serah near the end of the trailer, Lebreau assumes Lightning is dead.
The trailer also reveals a newly revised “Winter 2012″ release. Watch the full English trailer below.
Square Enix seems to have learnt a lesson about how to market their games, and it doesn’t involve keeping their mouths shut for 3 years. As part of their E3 diddy, Square Enix released two screenshots from Final Fantasy XIII-2. The screenshots show the current combat interface – which happens to depict Serah (because she was so fascinating the first time around) and a new male character Noel in battle – and a cutscene, featuring Noel talking to Serah. Jiving with what was said at the beginning of the year, the battle system appears to be largely similar to Final Fantasy XIII’s, with Paradigms and such.
Final Fantasy XIII-2 is also the only Fabula Nova Crystallis title appearing at E3, according to the European Square Enix Members blog. Of course, Square Enix have a habit of lying about these sorts of things, so make of that what you will.
Thanks for forum member Kathe for finding the screenshots… wherever.
Square Enix opened an official blog for Final Fantasy Type-0 today. The honour of first post went to the game’s producer, Yoshinori Kitase, who issued a message to those anticipating the game under an entry titled “Class Zero Journal Open!”
To be rather vague in my amateur translation, Kitase first talks about the reveal of Final Fantasy Type-0 back in January, the first time the game had been publicly shown after the title “Final Fantasy Agito XIII” was dropped. He goes into further depth about the name (“Reishiki” in Japan) and noting that the game must be distinguished from the mainstream Final Fantasy series. The desire is to create something new and build up a new series (I believe this has been spoken of before, and Square Enix filed a bunch of copyrights to that effect). Kitase calls it the origin of a new number.
What will the blog be used for after this? Based on history, various members of the team will discuss their roles and what their work has achieved, it will probably advertise whatever merchandise the Square Enix Goods team happens to spew out and maybe Nomura will draw something cute when the game comes out. Check it out if it thrills you, it’s all in Japanese anyway.
Class Zero Journal (Final Fantasy Type-0 Official Blog)
This week’s onslaught of Type-0 information is also being accompanied by new screenshots courtesy of Famitsu. Of the characters revealed this week, we’re given an in-game look at playable characters King, Sice, and Eight. As previously covered in our preceding article, one of Suzaku’s concocting magic leaders named Arecia Al-Rashia can be seen in the last image below.
Who is the figure in the fourth image? The legendary Gilgamesh who will appear in Type-0 as a l’Cie of Genbu (one of the four peristyliums in the world).
Source: Famitsu
Issue 495 of Dengeki PlayStation has featured an article on Final Fantasy Type-0 which reveals two new characters.
Alongside King and Sice from the recent Jump reveal, Dengeki details the characters Eight and Arecia Al-Rashia. Eight is a red-headed youth specialising in hand-to-hand combat. Arecia heads up the magic division for Suzaku. She is said to have particularly notable chesty appendages and glasses, bringing to mind Jihl Nabaat from Final Fantasy XIII.
The magazine also touched on the role of Gilgamesh in the game. Gilgamesh is a l’Cie to the Genbu crystal and seems to have forgotten the mission imposed on him. Nevertheless, he seems rather content to attempt to lay some smackdown on the game’s young heroes, appearing as a massive boss.
Dengeki detailed various aspects of the gameplay as well, including the game’s Active World Map. The Active World Map is a system where various areas will come under attack and the player can assist in defending against invaders (not the space kind… as far as we know). As one example of a map mission, you may be instructed to take over an enemy stronghold in a city. Upon your victory, you’ll be able to make use of the amenities offered by the city, such as shops.
Continuing the relative blowout of information, Dengeki reveals that during missions, you may receive Special Orders, additional objectives that yield special rewards when completed. On the other hand, if you fail, then you get the very, very special reward of death. Fortunately, you will not automatically be obligated to the orders, with the opportunity to reject them being present.
Finally, two battle features known as Kill Sight and Break Sight. Time an attack just right against an enemy with a red target and they will be instantly defeated. This is Kill Sight. Break Sight features a yellow target and, while not killing the enemy, it will cause heavy damage.
Type-0 is beginning to show its immensely ambitious nature. Those 2 UMDs make so much more sense now. It looks as if the PSP is going to go out with a bang. Or that could just be you failing a Special Order.
Edit 25/5: And now some scans – meaning photos – of Eight, Arecia and Gilgamesh have made their way onto 2channel. These are from issue 1173 of Weekly Famitsu, which has run a similar story to Dengeki PlayStation.
Thanks to forum member Sabin for the tip.
Source: andriasang.com
Image Source: 2ch
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Japan: December 17th 2009
NA: March 9th 2010
Europe: March 9th 2010 Japan: December 15th 2011 NA: January 31st 2012 Europe: February 3rd 2012 Japan: TBA NA: TBA Europe: TBA Japan: October 13th 2011 NA: TBA Europe: TBA
