Nomura has apparently claimed that there will be a “little followup” to this weeks issue of Famitsu which will include new information on Final Fantasy Versus XIII and will all be featured in next weeks issue.
This weeks edition already contains over 70 pages of Square Enix content which is all, just about, making it’s way online. It isn’t clear why Versus will be featured in next weeks issue but apparently, Nomura has also hinted at a new title being announced.
Source: FF-Reunion
Famitsu’s latest issue contains their dissection of Final Fantasy XIII-2′s E3 info with several new screenshots. By now, we’ve heard almost everything we can from FFXIII-2′s E3 appearance but there are a few new details other publications have missed, two of which were fairly self-evident.
Firstly, if it wasn’t obvious already, storytelling will be focused on Serah and Lightning rather than Serah and Snow this time around. Towns have already been revealed but it’s been confirmed that players will be able to revisit them. Alyssa, the new female character in the E3 trailer, has been criticized for her poor design. Many blamed Nomura but according to Famitsu, she was actually designed by Hideo Manaba.
The new scans can be seen below. Thankfully, Famitsu has posted the new screenshots on their website in higher resolution. See them below too.
Square Enix showed the press a separate demo to what’s available on the show floor which includes the fight between Lightning and the newly revealed Chaos Bahamut. The battle with her riding her summon Odin, makes use of several of the new gameplay features revealed in interviews. When Famitsu asked whether this was the same Bahamut as Fang’s summon from FFXIII, they were told it was not. Watch the footage below.
Source: Famitsu
Adding to the billow of screenshots and information on Type-0 are sixteen new screenshots courtesy of Famitsu. The screenshots give us a preview of the Mission system in Type-0 alongside first glances of Cid Oldstein (leader of Milites), Khalia Chival VI (174th Principal of Suzaku’s Peristylium) and Qator Bashtar (one of Milites’ Military Generals). Rem and Machina are included as well as the injured soldier that appeared in the Premiere Trailer.
Source: Famitsu
Thanks to Andriasang.com we have a slew of new details from the big 3 magazines; Jump, Dengeki, and of course Famitsu.
To go along with the information on the Battle System we received back in January Dengeki and Famitsu both reveal more details on it including party details and new battle winning conditions such as killing off commanders before soldiers in order to win battles faster.
Both Jump and Famitsu also expand upon the information on the schools of the world of Orience. Each country has a school that controls the crystals and specializes in something. The school where all the main students we’ve seen so far in trailer are of course from the magic based school The Suzaku Peristylium.
More information about the student characters you’ll be playing with such as Ace, Nine, and Queen have also been revealed as highlighted in the previous post.
You can view all of this information and even more in the link below.
Source: andriasang
In the past week, coverage on Type-0 regarding both its characters and battle system had arose with scans. Today, Famitsu has released direct-feed screenshots showcasing Type-0′s class-specific characters along with their abilities and personalities. Last week, a male character named Kurasame was detailed as a teacher in Suzaku’s Peristylium Academy accompanied by a Tonberry. Other characters below in the screenshots include Nine, Ace, and Queen who were prominently shown in Square Enix’s Premier Trailer.
Nine, a lance wielding student, can use “Jump” abilities akin to the classic Dragoon class that damages enemies within range.
Ace wields a deck of cards and is portrayed as a young man with a puerile temperament. His cards have different actions, “Fire ST” being a prime example of a basic command casting a fireball at an opponent. In the screenshots below, Ace uses “Deck Open” where he is wielding floating cards and “Wall” which acts as a Barrier fending off enemy actions.
Queen is described as a candid and magnanimous student wielding a small sword. While her attacks are considered to be focused on close-range enemies, a special attack called “Cross” strikes enemies caught in its ‘X’ path and heals allies. She’s also caught using “Mithril Saber” and the aforementioned attack in the screens below.
Below are direct-feed screenshots displaying the powerful software on the PSP.
Source: Famitsu, Siliconera
Famitsu has released it’s interview with Final Fantasy Versus XIII director, Tetsuya Nomura, and it turns out to be rather lengthy. Andriasang have once again taken on the mammoth task of translating and summarising the interview and they’ve done a great job.
Along with the interview also comes the artwork of Noctis featured in both the magazines released so far but unfortunately in a rather small size. See it and the interview below.STORY AND CHARACTERS
The 1st Production Department Premier event trailer, which offered us our first true look at Versus XIII gameplay (ignoring the few seconds from the game’s brief Tokyo Game Show trailer) was almost all in-game. The opening section, which showed Noctis and his driver driving down a freeway was CG (not live action footage, Famitsu confirmed),
but everything from the conversation scene between Noctis and Stella was real time running on the PlayStation 3. This includes the flyby scene with the masses of buildings that precedes the combat part of the clip. (Nomura didn’t say this, but the end of the clip does appear to have a short CG sequence.)
The trailer, Famitsu noted, allows us to better get a grasp of the characters, as we get to first hear Noctis, and his allies. Furthermore, the ally clothing has been redone.
These areas appear to be final designs, although Nomura said that he’s playing around with the hair a bit. Even the voices that you hear for the allies during the combat scenes is from final voice actors, chosen via auditions…
Read the rest of the interview at Andriasang
Source: Famitsu
Famitsu has finished up their coverage on the 1st Production Premier with the release of new Final Fantasy Versus XIII screenshots on their website. These screenshots were previously featured in scans in very poor quality. There isn’t an interview included with this release like there was with XIII-2 and Type-0 but that may be released at a later date. See the screenshots below.
UPDATE: Several more images released on Famitsu’s site. The images below are clearer since nearest neighbor interpolation wasn’t used for cropping.
Source: Famitsu (January 31st, 2011)
Update Source: Famitsu (February 1st, 2011)
Famitsu has released Part 2 of their interview from the 1st Production Premier. This part focuses on the newly named Final Fantasy Type-0. As no translations of the entire interview are available, I’ve given a go at summarising and making sense of the major points revealed myself. Read the details below.
The title has been rebooted which is part of the reason the name has been changed to Type-0. It’s also to make it independent from the rest of the XIII games. Type-0 was chosen to signify the beginning of what they consider to be a new series. Although they can’t confirm Type-0 may receive its own sequels, they want to raise the importance of the title. The new logo’s hand written kanji is actually written by the same person who wrote the kanji for the Shinra logo in FFVII. The word “Agito” still has relevance though as it is used in the games world to define a “messiah” or “saviour”. The word “Finis” is also mentioned in the trailer which refers to “destruction” or “chaos”.Machina and Rem who were revealed in the latest piece of artwork are the protagonists companions. They will be the most important characters in the story but the majority of the game will be played with the 12 “trainees” which you also take control of in the game. You’ll be limited to using three of these characters in battle at once. However, if one of those characters dies in battle, they will be automatically replaced with one of the remaining characters on standby.
Multiplayer allows another player to jump in and help someone during battle. The other player will only be allowed 3 minutes to intervene though and once that time is up, they’re kicked out of the battle. Depending on how well the player helps the host in those 3 minutes, will determine what kind of bonus they’ll receive.
The game will include an experience point system as well as enhanced abilities being learnt when levelling and accessories which can be equipped. There will also be a customisable magic system allowing the player to use it more strategically e.g. Using Fire for longer period causing low damage or for a shorter period with high damage. Stronger magic of the same type (Fire, Fira, Firaga) no longer exists but the basic magic becomes stronger with more use. Summons make an appearance again but they will have a time limit.
Concerning development, the game is approximately 60% complete and will span two UMDs to allow them to avoid cutting out any content. They plan to polish the title until the last minute before release this summer.
Source: Famitsu
Continuing the first part, Famitsu has posted their Final Fantasy XIII-2 interview from the 1st Production Premier. The interview with Kitase and Toriyama, answers the basics that many of us are unclear about with the sequel as well as more complex questions concerning story tie-ins with bonus material provided with the original. The interview has been translated and summarised (all be it, in great detail) by Andriasang and is available in it’s entirety below.
FINAL FANTASY XIII-2
The Final Fantasy XIII-2 part of the interview is story focused, so those who haven’t finished FFXIII may want to avoid reading the summary. I ain’t spoiler taggin’ nothin’.
Famitsu first asked for a recap of how the project came to be. The main reason they decided to make a sequel, said Toriyama, is that there was demand throughout the world. In addition to this, Toriyama and the development staff wanted to portray the Lightning character further. The original FFXIII ended with a lingering question: is Lightning really happy? Final Fantasy XIII-2 will come to a clear conclusion.
The “Episode I” after story novella that was included as a bonus with the first print run of the Japanese Xbox 360 version of Final Fantasy XIII serves as the prologue of XIII-2. Famitsu pointed out that Episode I shows the various characters from FFXIII returning to their normal lives. Does this mean that Lightning will be on her own? Also, Famitsu asked, will the purpose of Lightning’s new journey be to find a method of helping Vanille and Fang?
Regarding the latter point, Toriyama noted that being helped by the sacrifice of the two characters left a wound in the hearts of everyone. The story will of course show not just Lightning, but the other allies who were hurt by that, Toriyama assured. Additionally, there will be a number of new characters.
Similar to the Dengeki interview, Famitsu’s interviewers asked if there would be any Final Fantasy X-2 style dancing and singing in XIII-2. XIII-2 will have have a serious direction, Kitase replied. Toriyama noted that considering Vanille and Fang are gone and the world is in a state where Cocoon had fallen, there’s no way for the new story to be totally peaceful. XIII-2 will have a darker and more mysterious side over XIII.
Famitsu asked if XIII-2 will possibly being set in the dark world that Lightning is wandering around in at the end of the Episode I novella. Toriyama responded that the principal setting will be different from that of XIII, but he assured that the FFXIII world will be in the game in some form.
As part of the story of the original, Lightning has lost her l’Cie abilities (summons, casting magic, etc.). In response to this observation from Famitsu, Toriyama joked that perhaps Lightning has become an even more incredible existence than a l’Cie. Famitsu countered that she certainly has become sexier. Toriyama responded that even though she’s probably more explosed (I must be missing something here because she doesn’t look more exposed to me!), similar to the original, they’re valuing her refined and noble qualities. He added that her clothing has a more fantasy feel to it this time, and the design of her weapons and other such items will match.
Commenting on the trailer, Famitsu noted that there’s a scene which shows Lightning standing in front of what looks like an alter. That’s actually not an altar but a seat, corrected Toriyama, and it has great significance.
Famitsu also pointed out that when Lighthing and the mysterious new guy shown in the trailer line up back to back, they look like angel and devil. “Which is the angel and which is the devil?” joked Toriyama. He added, Lightning has a new mission this time, and as she attempts to fulfill this mission, she’ll end up in a confrontation with the guy. He’s a powerful character who can fight on equivalent ground with Lightning, the hero who saved the world.
One final point: if you have Final Fantasy XIII save data, you may want to hold on to it. The team is investigating the possibility of giving something to players who have save data in place.
Source: Famitsu
Final Fantasy XIII Japanese Commercial 1 HD
Final Final Fantasy XIII Trailer (Translated)Final Final Fantasy XIII Japanese TrailerFinal Fantasy XIII Release Date Announcement Video
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
