Final Fantasy XIII:Thoughts on the E3 trailer
 

Hello there everyone. I found this clip in wikipedia earlier today, and I'd like to share it with you, for those who haven't seen it yet.

I thought this was frickin' awesome :D
anyways, here's the link:

http://www.square-enix.co.jp/e306/ti...e3trailer.html

Please feel free to add comments and speculation on this title, I want to know everyones opinion!
Btw, from what I've gathered, the female featured in this clip is named "Lightning" at the present, and seems to be the protagonist of the story, if I'm not completely mistaken... But Damn! She rocks!!!!!!

The battle scene portrays a new "Limit Break" type system called "Overclock" where there apparently is a FFVII:Advent Children style of combat which was originally intended for FFXII but due to hardware limitations was not included. This game is NOT currently scheduled for a 2007 release according to high-ranking Square-Enix officials, but is scheduled for an as yet unannounced release date... (which seriously sucks, I mean, how long did we wait for FFXII? 5 Years? Come ON People, the hype CANNOT live that long, thermodynamics demand that marketing only lasts as long as it's product....magic internet pictures didn't cut it, seriously).

If the above link is incorrect (which is unlikely), feel free to PM me for the correct link, or alternatively check FF13 on Wikipedia, it's where I found it...
EDIT: Apparently, there was a 2008 release mentioned.... feel free to confirm or deny this...

Pre-rendered CG animations are pretty. I guess that's what Square wants me to take away from this trailer, right? You know, with the utter lack of any real combat being displayed, there's really not much else to say about this trailer except "Square has good CG artists."

Yes, there's that brief sequence where numbers to pop up over baddies' heads and it displays damage readouts, but if you look closely, it's easy to see that the quality is exactly the same as the CG sequence immediately preceeding (not to mention the lack of a UI for most of that sequence, and the extremely cinematic (but unhelpful from a gaming perspective) filming style) which leads me to conclude that either Square has managed to tap the PS3's supposed hardware advantage in a way that no one else has, as-of-yet, or they're (as usual) trying to artificially create hype by insulting our intelligence and pretending that that's what the game actually looks like.

Color me exasperated.

You are 100% correct. Keep in mind that Square-Enix has done this for who knows how long though, as well as other key companies *cough*Konami*cough*. Square loves to wag their willy-wong around showing off what they have in the line of artists because they think that is what the public wants to see first.

I suppose all we can do is sit and wait until they decide to throw something a little more complete together, ie. an example of what the in game fully looks like. If it uses a huge chunk of the PS3, that is super, right now ours sits there looking like an excellent weapon to beat zombies with.

I personally think it looks pretty sweet. (I'm fairly easy to please, I think) The graphics are very nice, and, if the actual game turns out to be as cool as the graphics look, I will be thrilled to actually see a female lead that is dressed like a hero. (capes are cool)

If those battle sequences are real, it looks like it might be more real-time ish (hence the radar in the top left corner). Or maybe the cinematic shots are just from special moves (they like to do that for overdrives and such)

One thing I am a little weary about is the main character looks TOO "awesome". Like "look at me, I'm so amazing and hardcore! AND I'm female, which makes me even more hardcore". Maybe that's just not the style of character I like, but I hope she ends up having some more emotions than "hardcore!"

Correct me if I'm wrong, but is FF13 supposed to be a series of three different games?

Actually, the entire battle scene, wherein the UI was actually there, and the numbers are popping up--there's a noticeable change in graphical ability. The shading isn't as fluid, and neither is the movement. It's slight, but there (and definitely still impressive). You can tell the difference between a CGI animator's production and something wherein there are wire character frames in place underneath other graphics.

Also: "has managed to tap the PS3's supposed hardware advantage in a way that no one else has, as-of-yet,"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YLcUeV2W_s

What? No one else has? Huh? Heavenly Sword? Resistance? Naughty Dog? And I've actually seen that second to last one played on a display at Walmart... the motowhatever thing. It looks just like that (except without the shoddy 'this was uploaded to youtube' quality).

OK, granted, there may be some real game footage embedded in that trailer, like a nugget of undigested corn in...well, you get where I'm going with that simile.

Point is, it's so brief and frenetic that it doesn't actually give you any time to truly analyze the graphics, hell, it's so brief and motion-blurred that there's actually room to debate whether or not it even is in-game footage. Not to mention that Square makes it so brief and blends it so well that the purpose is to fuse the whole trailer together, so that in your mind, it all seems of CG quality (which is how it seems to me -- I certainly can't separate it).

Now, I like the FF series, and FFXII was absolutely gorgeous, and I'm sure that FFXIII will be too -- I just wish Square felt they could just show us how gorgeous it is, instead of fucking trying to trick us. It's like Square thinks we're all about as smart as small, hyper-active terriers, so they feel they can pretend to throw a tennis ball, and we'll all run after it, excited as can be. And a lot of people do, which is why Square (and Sony) still think that they can do that.

If it's not ready to display -- then don't display it! If it is, then show us some real goddamn footage instead of insulting our intelligence.

And no, Krylo, nothing on the PS3 looks like the CG sequences in that trailer. I mean, the roundness of the surfaces, really, is the giveaway. A casual glance may seem quite similar (hell, Gears of War looks like Advent Children as much as anything else out there), but the smoothness of the heroine's hair and face easily illustrate that there's a very high polygon count, which obviously no console could ever generate.

Thanks for the feedback people.

I happen to agree with every post here so far, 'tis true that Square have tried the trick of shoving "Shininess" down our throats 'till we choke, but at the end of the day, the end product the company gives us is of quite a high standard, otherwise there would not be a Final Fantasy 13.... The only other genre I've heard of with sequel numbers that high lives somewhere in the pornographic industry, make what you will of that :P

The question is will it be as good as White Knight story looks click here. An Rpg with good graphics, a realtime battle system, and finally the ability to just straight up dodge an attack is great. Don't get me wrong the shield blocking in FFXII was great, but I'd like to control my characters fighting style completely. Like a fighting game. If I want to fight defensively or aggresively should be up to me, not some random number generator in the Playstation. Who here can't tell me in a boss fight you wouldn't have liked the option to push a button and have the selected character dive out of the way of some killer attack, or to go completely ape shit on some weak enemy to get past it quickly.

Dang it, FF12 isnt even out in this country yet, and it's doubtful that Australia will ever see a White Knight release, we have always been subject to the whims of Squares marketing department, which is how we never saw an official FF release until FFVII :(
We didn't even get Cronotrigger until the rerelease on the PSone.
Let's not mention Parasite Eve, Xenogears or Final Fantasy Tactics which have never been released in this country...
I guess my point is that in my country, I have to lick up any crappy scrap that gets tossed my way, even if it is just a marketing strategy to sell their product...

You still buy games in Australia? Import mate. Hell I'm selling my Wii and getting an American one when the demand has stabilized over there and haven't bought a thing from Sony of Europe in half a decade. My DS and almost all of it's games are American too. It's usually only more expensive with consoles they get a markup on postage and with games it's often cheaper even with postage. so the savings will eventually add up.

As long as the incompetent fucks running things in the PAL territories can feed themselves they will have no need to make things better.

Are we sure it's a girl though? Seriously look at Vaan. Someone get a shot of throat see if there's an adam's apple.