To the people hating on FFXIII for being different.

Depending on whether you read everything on this blog or not, you might remember me doing a post on the people that hate all over the Gears games looking the same. Well, now I'm doing a similar thing. This, however, will be targeting the other narrow minded people, that think that a game franchise needs to recreate the exact same game with every release.

An amazing story, makes an amazing game. Simple.

Most people know of Final Fantasy, simply because of the amount of releases it has. It's known for it's often amazing storylines, turn-based battle systems and open-world RPG gameplay. The difference with FFXIII?

• It's storyline is still amazing.
• The battle systems were changed though, from slow-paced and turn-based, to fast-paced and real-time. Of course the haters would hate that!
• The open-world gameplay was made a lot more linear. Square Enix did this, because the XII haters were saying that it wasn't linear enough! You can't win with these people!

Of course, the storyline doesn't really allow the game to be non-linear. If you pay attention to the story, the L'Cie who are chosen need to complete their focus before their time is up. They don't know when that is, so obviously they aren't going to go wandering around the streets looking for something else to do! They're also absolutely hated when they become L'Cie, so they can't just roam cocoon without being prosecuted, which is the first 60% of the game! The Final Fantasy games are legendary for their storylines, with each one being distinctly unique, so any fan would really pay attention to what is going on in the game, and how everything fits.

The haters whine about the games characters and story being impossible to connect with, but it forcing you to be connected anyway. Each character has something to have most people connected to them. For example:

• Snow: Being a huge romantic, i felt connected with him the most. With his fiancee, Serah, being solidified in crystal, he needs to find a way to save her. That's his whole motivation to save Cocoon, in a nutshell. What really connected me with him was a scene where he finds Serah, stuck in the crystal in the crystal lake, so he stays behind alone, to try to dig her out.
• Lightning: People who are overprotective of siblings, or someone. That person is Lightning. She blames Snow for Serah becoming a L'Cie. Meaning, her whole motivation is to save the world, to save Serah from being a L'Cie, and mainly save her from her partner.
• Sazh: Draws parents to connect. His son turned to a L'Cie, and he wants to save him. Obviously this is what every parent wants, to save their children

The key is empathy. That's how you connect with the characters in any game. Being blinded by how different the game is to how you expected it, means that any other emotion besides hate will be blocked out.

The fact that the haters are simply hating because of change is ridiculous! There have been 12 other main FF games in the franchise. This isn't including spin-offs, or sequels. Don't be surprised when Squenix decide to experiment. They have in the past, and they will in the future. FFXIII brought a whole new audience to the FF series, instead of the typical fanboys. I'd expect they're going to continue with this gameplay, as well as the original gameplay. There's absolutely nothing wrong with a bit of variety in a franchise!

What annoys me most is that the people hating on Final Fantasy for being different after 12 games, are the same haters that hate Gears Of War for being the same after 2 games!

I just need to remember, everyone hates everything. Simple. There's always gonna be people that will absolutely drill a game because they think they can do it better, or they wouldn't make the same mistakes the developer did. They can make the perfect game. It's exactly why everyone hates movie adaptions of games. Which is also why movie producers are too scared to set foot near the big name games.

People are silly.

Final Fantasy XIII-2; What's changed?

I'll be honest here. I haven't finished the first FFXIII yet. I'm right at the end, but that damn Barthandelus keeps absolutely dominating me. Now, i refuse to play FFXIII-2 until i finish FFXIII, this however, hasn't hindered my excitement! I'll go through what's changed and what hasn't, and hopefully you Final Fantasy fans will be as excited as i am. I won't be looking into the story side of this game, because i don't want to spoil it for myself!

Playable Characters

The only playable characters that have been revealed thus far.

New

Serah Farron

Lightning's younger sister, and Snow's fiancee.
She is in XIII , though unplayable, as she is the person Snow and Lightning are trying to rescue throughout the length of the game.
Now, apparently she is the one rescuing Lightning.

Noel Kreiss

Not a lot has been revealed about Noel. The E3 demo showed Noel being extremely protective of Serah, which may indicate something. Although, a major part of the first game was the romance between Snow and Serah, so I don't think this will be changing anytime soon.
He will also have a more prominent role then Lightning in the last game.



Returning

Lightning (Claire Farron)

Serah's sister. A line in the E3 trailer implies that Lightning dies at some point in the story, though i don't think she will.
She has also undergone an awesome costume change. (Compare this picture with Lightning in the video above)

Snow Villiers

Serah's fiancee. It is unclear what his role will be in XIII-2. I can only assume he will occasionally be a playable character.
Motomu Toriyama also commented on how Snow will react to Serahs new friend, and how much time they will be spending together. He remarked that Snow's personality isn't a jealous one, and that he won't mind at all.
Personally, i really hope Snow lands a serious role in the story. He is the sort that feels responsible for everyone, and always tries to lead in the right direction. To not give him an important role would be silly!

Unfortunately, nothing has been revealed on whether Sazh will be in the game. Hope either, but i only care about Sazh. We can only assume they won't, as Vanille and Fang will not be returning for the sequel.



Exploration

As we all know, FFXIII was extremely linear for about 70% of the game, and then the remaining 30% was semi-linear. FFXIII-2 will have towns, and greater areas for exploration. Each person within the town will have it's own AI, and also mentioned was that the game will have a monster raising component, but that's all the detail given.

There will also be Side-Quests, which were lacking in the previous game, Mini-Games, and "Plenty of complexity".


Cinematics

The cinematics in Final Fantasy games have always been second to none. The amount of work and detail that goes into them is phenomenal. Well, adding to the amazingness of the cinematics, are cinematic action sequences. This will mean that during battle, occasionally an action icon will pop up, and if performed correctly, the strike will deal a substantial amount of damage to the enemy.

Also adding to the experience, will be dialogue trees. Occasionally, within a cinematic, a dialogue wheel will come up, similar to Mass Effect. This allows you to choose what dialogue a character will say. This will effect the story to some degree, but not by a lot. The game may have multiple endings, so perhaps the dialogue wheel will influence this.



Battle Sequences


The game's battle scenes will remain very similar to the first game, with some small changes


Enemies will no longer simply linger in an area, and pursue you when they see you. They will now spawn in front of you, with enough space to act with the Mog Clock.

The Mog Clock appears when you see an enemy, and will change color as you approach. This will determine whether who starts the battle with an advantage, you, them, or neither.

Fighting a monster will be a lot similar, with the Paradigm system still in effect. Upon defeating a monster, however, you will have a chance to adopt it into your party. It will then take up a character slot, and different monsters can be set to individual paradigms.

Lightnings summon "Odin" will make a return, however whether or not Noel has a summon is unknown. Serah will not have a summon, but a moogle instead.

Moogle's are small creatures that act as a lot of things, including scouts, and even transformational weapons. Serah can also take the monsters into her party.



Squenix have been keeping a tight seal on information regarding FFXIII-2. At any rate, it looks like it's going to outdo it's predecessor. I'm looking forward to it's release early next year (December this year for Japan), i've just gotta work on finishing the first one beforehand!

Below is my absolute favorite scene from Final Fantasy XIII. The scene Snow proposes to Serah and then they ride through the fireworks. The amazing graphics are after the proposal. Yes, i'm a gooey romantic, get used to it.

I would suggest watching in full HD to see just how amazing the cutscenes really are in XIII!