IS Final Fantasy XIII a bit TOOO much,Visually?

[blackwiggle]

I downloaded the trailer for this from the PS store.
Magnificent as it is,it also needs serious alterations if not to induce motion sickness.
I've watched it on numerous occasions ,and although technically superior to previous incantations of this series,the HAND CAM of some of the visuals need some attention/avoidance, before regurgitation occurs.

Not only the SOUL seems missing [early days yet,but it certainly is NOT a better/equal to FFVII,what ever could be] but also the "want to Play",the whole series just seems to have become a poor derivative of the original .

I'm also worried about the battle grid that takes up too much screen realestate .
It REALLY hogs too much of the screen IMHO.

Don't get me wrong.
I'm one of the most die hard FF people out there.
But I am seriously worried that XIII might be a bit of a dud.
{as in all visuals,less story content]
I know SQUARE have rarely let us down before.
This might be the first [hope not]

Any thoughts?

[chaos80]

I agree with you. I also think it is too FLASHY, almost to the point where it is impossible to follow what is happening. A bit too detailed...

[djKyoto]

If it's too flash, you're too old. :P

[rushin]

i had the opposite reaction, more like woooaaahhhhh pretty. However i've been playing FF IX under emulation on a big tv these last weeks, so pretty much anything looks very pretty :)

The amazing thing is after getting used to really horrible graphics its still a brilliant game, have a lot of faith that XIII will be worth the wait.

[KGB]

Well I'm another FF nut here from VII.

Seen the clip and as always I'm very excited. I played and finished them all up until FFX-2. don't have the time really at the moment to get into another engrossing game. Up until HD, FFX held the record for time playing a game (150hrs), even though VIII was my favorite.

I always thought the cut scenes in FF games were at the limit of what the developers were able to do with the console at that moment in time, it looks again like they are getting the very best they can. Yeah they are flashy, but have you ever seen a FF game that didn't have flashy graphics compared to its contemporaries.

At the start of each installment I always thought they were not as good as the last, a little time playing them soon changed my mind. Square have never failed to surprise and push the boundaries of the previous games IMO.

Your right Blackwiggle about the "Want to play" feeling, sorry mate this is maybe what I went through after FFX, I just couldn't get into X-2, maybe because they were revisiting old stories, probably that i moved on to other things, other interests. I have not played a FF game since, but still have a great interest in them all. I have seriously been thinking of getting Crisis Core for a while, still not sure.:frown:

On the regurgitation issue, this may be down to age ;). I start feeling ill after Zone 60 and have to start crashing to avoid further queasiness. :lol

[Tomahawk]

I've played and finished FF VII, FF IX, FF X (spent over 300 hours on this one alone:dizzy), FF X-2 and FF Tactics on the PS. Every single one of these games sucked me into it and didn't leave my PS before I had finished it - excluding FF VII, where my savegame got screwed after about 50 hours of playtime and I had to start all over again :brickwall. For me the Final Fanatasy series have always defined themselves by flashy cutscenes and graphics. So I'm not afraid of FF XIII being too flashy or too much visually. I hope that, like most FF games before, it will bring the console to a full new level in case of the quality of the cutscenes and graphics of games. This game and WipEout HD are my only two reasons to get me a PS3 and a full HD TV sooner or later this year!

@KGB You should really take the time to get into FF X-2 mate! I know it's kind of lame at the beginning because you seem to know the storyline from FF X, but after a few hours you'll see that it's a great addition to the series and answers all previously unanswered questions from FF X! I had a great time playing FF X-2 till the end and enjoyed it very much.

[IH8YOU]

I'm likely alone in this - but the unrealistic "cartoony" aspect of VII is what made it appealing to so many. It had a great story, with an anime-esque character feeling. The characters were "cute" most of the time, and only realistic in emotional or serious cut-scenes.

I think making the visuals extremely realistic removes some of the "fantasy" from the equation.

After 9 on the PSX, I've been unable to "bond" with the characters or their plight. 10 I just couldn't stand the voice acting - it was horrid. And 12 was fun - but I wasn't drawn into it, and ultimately stopped playing within hours of completing it.

I think the cartoonish aspect was a good thing that they've lost focus of.

[b4p]

FFIV and FFVI are still the best by a lot. prove me wrong, i dare you!

[IH8YOU]

I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you over the sound of your family burning....

You were saying?
:lol

[Chrono]

I almost had a seizure playing zone mode in HD, and you think the FFXIII trailer is too much?? =P

[KGB]

Got to say, kind of on the same subject that i can't wait until Advent Children comes out on Bluray. That fight scene near the end is superb.

[DawnFireDragoon]

indeed it is, and for the blu-ray release the final fight scene is extended! :)

[Greenix]

I'd have to agree that there is maybe too much going on visually. When the trailer moves onto a few battle clips everything seems as if its too big to fit on the tv screen. And with graphics such as these, it can actually hurt my eyes :(
I'm a bit of a FF fan myself and have played them all except FF3 and, with the exception of FF12, loved them all - especially 7. None of these had overly big visual happenings during battles, so I'm a little curious as to how 13 will turn out.

P.s. One thing that has really bugged me with Advent Children though, is the endless *HMM!* or *GRUNT* and other less-then-a-second noises that they all seem to make everytime they look at each other or clang swords. URGH.

[blackwiggle]

Yeah,it's like your watching a DVD with it zoomed in.
Maybe the trailer was zoomed in a bit to cut out some timecode that might of been running across the top so it couldn't be seen.
Something doesn't seem right with aspect ratio of the trailer,sort of a pan and scan version of a 2.35:1 movie.
I watch it through a HD projector at 2.2m wide,that's why I got a bit disorientated with it.
I'll have a look at the Xpox version [if there is one out yet] as apparently [according to the Square website] there is going to be a version for this console.

[IH8YOU]

Greenix - I thought you were multilingual? Anyway, those short scenes with the grunts and what not are usually due to language gaps. They'll have phrases and sayings that don't translate into other cultures. One example I noticed in person - when something cool or fascinating transpires - Japanese people (the on-lookers) will go "oahhhhhhh" - it's in their culture to do this - where as in the US - we don't have that meme. If a car crashes in front of us, we'll say something - but if a car has weird blue headlights - nothing incredibly out-of-the-ordinary, we most likely won't say anything - whereas my Japanese friend will drop the "oahhhhhhh" and point at it. ;)

I know little to no Japanese, I just know being good friends with a couple from Japan - I've noticed these things.

So when the spoken-word movement doesn't match english (but is obvious they're still talking), or when culturally they'll say something in a situation - that we normally wouldn't - voice actors have to improvise.

Sadly, many of them truly suck at this - but there are a few out there who do it well.

Watch an old episode of Speed Racer (cartoon) in english, for a REAL. OBVIOUS. EXAMPLE. :lol

[SaturnReturn]

Kind of on a related note to this...

I was looking at some screenshots today, and wondering if anyone else thinks Fang (http://bestgamewallpapers.com/files/final-fantasy-13/oerba-yun-fang_wide.jpg) is just a lot more realistic looking than the others. Take these (http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/dor/objects/14266574/final-fantasy-xiii/images/final-fantasy-xiii-screens-20091210102626751.html?page=mediaFull) pictures (http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/dor/objects/14266574/final-fantasy-xiii/images/final-fantasy-xiii-screens-20091210102628891.html?page=mediaFull) - something about here just looks like she was modelled after a real person, whereas the others all look like they are some kind of caricature. There's just something more natural about her. I find all too often in video games that I actually don't like the way people look when they try to make them look too realistic. One of the big issues I have is in Uncharted. It looks great, but then the characters' eyes just look completely wrong to me, like they're about to pop out of their heads. Maybe it's all about the eyes. I think Fang has more realistic shaped eyes and also kind of messed up, more natural hair. She also looks way less sterile than every other character in the game that I've seen so far.

Anyone else had similar thoughts? I'm just wondering as I really can't quite put my finger on what's different about her. It could even just be that she has a mole on her face.:?

Still not sure if I'm gonna buy this game. I just can't deal with that dodgy cover art. I realise that's the stupidest reason not to buy it, but I'm just not into blasphemy. I think they're looking to make more cash out of fans by encouraging them to buy the collector's edition just to get a traditional cover.

[Greenix]

Hmmmm... Maybe it's because she hasn't got a 'busy' neck. All the other characters have clothes or huge necklaces covering them up; reducing the amount of visible skin. Seems more natural for her character to have a higher visible amount, at least in those three pictures anyway.
Could also be that she is one of the few charcters to have a skin tone and hair colour that match more than the others - may help make her seem more realistic. Could be that and the fact she doesn't look like she's fallen in a vat of milk and soaked it all up. Not the best suggestions but they're all i can think of atm :brickwall

[okam]

I'm not too worried, I have friends who have been playing the japanese release for weeks now and they all say that its all Final Fantasy awesomeness all the way.

As far as the ooooh and eeeeee? you will hear japanese people exclaim (almost constantly) is due to japanese being a high context language relying on body language and non-verbal communication more than say, english, which is a low context language. This is also why japanese (and other asian) actors often seem to exaggerate facial expressions (in the eyes of westerners); it's an addition to the (often few) words being spoken, to enhance what's being said.

Google it if you are at all into languages, it's pretty fascinating.

[Koleax]

If it makes people complain about motion sickness, odds are I'm going to like it and wonder why it's not more popular.

[TheFrostE]

for me the concern isn't the flashiness, its the total deviation from the classic formula that made FF what it is... in 13 you can now rewind a battle back to right before the start of it if you didnt like the outcome or you die, there are set "story mode level caps" which will not allow you to "over-level" or grind a certain area to your content, you must progress the story to raise the level cap. Also, you can only be in control of one character at a time during battle AND if that one character your controlling ends up dying then its game over, of course you can always just rewind though >_> . and finally , say goodbye to open world exploration for the most part until way later in the game, and even then theres not much outside of the main story other than the classic generic side quests.

im very dissapointed with this release as of now but i will be trying it out at least. For now i know i will be playing White Knight Chronicles online with my buddies long after ff13 story is done. it offers much more replayability with an average of 600 hours to reach platinum!

[Harvai]

I've been playing through Persona 3/4 for the PS2, and in those if your character gets KO'd, it's game over. it's kind of good, and kind of bad. Makes you think more about battles, but it blows hard if you get hit by a jammy critical attack...

Anyway, I haven't read much about FF13 at all. 12 left a wee bad taste in my mouth, with the potential for 'autopilot' gameplay and the rather uninspiring storyline. But from what little I've seen of 13, it looks pretty good.

Is there a limit to the use of the rewind system? Like, the more you use it, the game rewards you less?
Might pick this up when the department stores massacre the price (usually a week or two after the games' release)