FINAL FANTASY Versus XIII Trailer 2011 - Lookin pretty good!

I just saw this and was very surprised by how good this game looks. It looks like Squenix is taking the battle system and giving it a Kingdom Hearts makeover instead of the system from FFXIII from what I'm seeing (and very much hoping I'm correct about - we'll have to wait and see). It also looks like there's a chance the world will be much more open in this game. Oh, and I'm very much digging the art style. I'm looking much more forward to this than FFXIII-2.

Yeah, that's cool. I always forget this thing even exists. We finally have decent footage of how you.. you know... DO things. Still don't know what the story is about, but I guess it looks tolerable. That whole "jumping around like anime characters on the moon" (thanks Tetsuya Nomura, you're a credit to the team! ) they've been doing since Advent Children is obnoxious. That works in Kingdom Hearts but it feels really odd seeing it with FF.

It makes me wonder "If they want to make it so different from FF, why not just call it something else? Because FF sells more? Well it didn't work for 13 internationally." I think there's going to be quite a bit of cynicism built up by this and FF13-2 (which I'm looking forward to more) and it'll hurt.

Still, I like the designs, and I like the look, and I like how Kingdom Hearts plays at its core. It's just.... I need to be sold on this more. So I don't want to sound too down on this, I just have a heavy dose of skepticism about the main FF games since 12.

I know what you mean, I'm a huge fan of the older Square Soft games (and I actually enjoyed most of 12 - just hated Vaan as he was a character they completely shoe-horned in and made the "main" character). Unfortunately, Square Soft is long gone and it's pretty much entirely different people making the games now. They are definitely still calling the games Final Fantasy because it will help them get sales, but I do really like the gameplay in the KH games, so I'm hopeful for this game. The jumping around doesn't bother me as long as it's fun to do and I have control over it, although I thought it felt very strange in the movie as I never imagined any acrobatics happening while I was playing FFVII.

I didn't care for 12 because of the utterly anticlimactic ending. I was just left there thinking "Okay now what...? Wait that's it?... Really?" On top of the fact I didn't care for the combat. Not that I dislike real-time (I love KOTOR and I'm enjoying Dragon Age Origins now) FF12 just felt... inconsequential. All of it. Oh well.

Still going to take a "wait and see" approach to Versus.

Don't blame ya in the slightest. I really won't know how I feel about Vs. 13 until I get to experience a demo. As for 12, I'm pretty forgiving with JRPG's endings because so many of the ones I've seen were nonsensical or overly ambiguous. I honestly don't know why I liked the combat in 12 though. I found it oddly addictive, but pointless at the same time. I just liked running around while my characters gambits did there work for some reason.

Square Enix sure knows how to make pretty games, that's for sure. I'll admit, I was pretty disappointed with FF XII overall so I am kind of wary, but I have to hand it to them for trying new things. Sure it's another Final Fantasy, but they always try to make sure they're not crafting the same game...even if it does turn out bad.

I'm really liking the way that video looks, and I'll definitely be keeping tabs on it. Up until you posted this video, I actually forgot this was even a game!

HoboFox wrote:Square Enix sure knows how to make pretty games, that's for sure. I'll admit, I was pretty disappointed with FF XII overall so I am kind of wary, but I have to hand it to them for trying new things. Sure it's another Final Fantasy, but they always try to make sure they're not crafting the same game...even if it does turn out bad.

I'm really liking the way that video looks, and I'll definitely be keeping tabs on it. Up until you posted this video, I actually forgot this was even a game!

Yeah, I thought they canceled it, because it's been in development since somewhere around 2006. I couldn't believe there was a trailer all of a sudden. Also, I have to agree with you that Square has been trying new things and even if it turns out bad, I think trying to evolve the traditional gameplay of FF games is the right thing to do. If people weren't complaining about FFXIII being too radically different than the older FF games, they would probably be complaining about it being too similar and not feeling fresh.

Unfortunately the Square that could make games similar enough to keep the same gameplay feel and different enough to still feel fresh is long gone and a different Square holds the rights to the Final Fantasy name. Don't get me wrong, I think FFXIII didn't really work, and I like a lot of older FF elements that were missing, but I do feel like the new Square is at least trying to strike a balance between old and new. They're just really struggling with it and are trying to fill some really big shoes.

I think Final Fantasy is their primary franchise for reinvention and Dragon Quest is where they loet the series stick to the basics. I wonder how DQX is coming along.