Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII

[Shadow5YA]

Originally Posted by Kaisos Erranon

Everyone is doing DLC now... what's your point? The existence of DLC itself has nothing to do with how the game plays, even if it gives you new toys to play with.

No, not everyone is doing DLC (unless all you play are Capcom games).

And I believe there is something inherently wrong when you need to pay even more to complete the experience for a game you already paid for. It's even worse than "free to play" cash shop dependant MMOs.

Originally Posted by Kaisos Erranon

Er, what? The areas they've shown us so far are pretty open, especially compared to the previous two XIII games. It looks like you have a lot of freedom in regards to what order you do things and how as well, which is the actual measure of freedom in a video game, not necessarily area design.

I'm not exactly sure how comparing to two low standards exactly proves that this game is well designed in that area.

I'm also not sure how tracking Snow down one single path to trigger scripted scenes along the way shows "freedom in regards to what order you do things". Show me the gameplay where Lightning actually does do things and explore outside of the forced story.

Originally Posted by Kaisos Erranon

...This is a spinoff, and one easily comparable to, say, Crisis Core. What does this have to do with anything? Nothing you've said convinces me that they're focused on making a "Lightning fanservice game" above all else.

1) It's not a very good Final Fantasy game.

2) Nothing shown so far proves that this game is any less linear so far. It is less AI-controlled, however.

3) Since you want to pull the "it's a spinoff, so lack exploration and party playing experience don't count as problems" argument, I'll go with your comparison to Crisis Core.

Crisis Core had customizable movesets and a large number of sidequests to prevent the game from being too linear, despite it being "instance-based" with no overworld.
In comparison, Lightning's skills are limited to Dresspheres Schemata, many of which are DLC-only. The gameplay shown so far has also been fairly limear.

Originally Posted by Kaisos Erranon

Listen. The stories in video games are usually bad, so why complain when one has a bad story?
Hell, the FFXIII sub-series is notorious for having ridiculous and lackluster stories. Why is this a surprise? Why is this a deal-breaker to you?

Do you really think story is the only thing lacking so far? Stop thinking in terms of a simple dichotomy. There is more to a game than just either the narrative or what directly happens when you press buttons.

[Tyabann]

Originally Posted by Shadow5YA

And I believe there is something inherently wrong when you need to pay even more to complete the experience for a game you already paid for. It's even worse than "free to play" cash shop dependant MMOs.

What? There's going to be a ton of costumes in the game already, I highly doubt the experience has been gutted simply for the purposes of selling DLC.

Originally Posted by Shadow5YA

I'm also not sure how tracking Snow down one single path to trigger scripted scenes along the way shows "freedom in regards to what order you do things".

That's... one dungeon. Have you seen some of the other gameplay videos?

Originally Posted by Shadow5YA

Show me the gameplay where Lightning actually does do things and explore outside of the forced story.

I don't have to. Go read some interviews about the game, see what they've said.
Furthermore, the whole game runs on a clock and is designed to support multiple playthroughs in a manner similar to Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter, apparently, which alone suggests a lot of replayability.

Originally Posted by Shadow5YA

Crisis Core had customizable movesets and a large number of sidequests to prevent the game from being too linear, despite it being "instance-based" with no overworld.
In comparison, Lightning's skills are limited to Dresspheres Schemata, many of which are DLC-only. The gameplay shown so far has also been fairly limear.

I believe you can customize the skillsets on the Dresspheres, and, as above, there's no indication that the game won't be non-linear. In fact, the things they've said so far in regards to game structure, the fact that you have a limited amount of time, the ability to visit shops and restaurants, the freedom to move between the four areas, etc suggest that it will be.

Originally Posted by Shadow5YA

It's not a very good Final Fantasy game.

Nomura's definition aside (which is entirely his opinion), do you really think that being different equates to being a "bad Final Fantasy game"?

Originally Posted by Shadow5YA

Do you really think story is the only thing lacking so far?

No, of course not. I can't say I'm completely satisfied with what I've seen, but since you were harping on the story, something that was guaranteed to be bad to begin with...
Why does a gaming company need to focus on narrative at all outside of using it as an excuse to justify gameplay?

[sayde]

Originally Posted by Shadow5YA

I'm not exactly sure how comparing to two low standards exactly proves that this game is well designed in that area.

This entire game is being made with the "open world" concept as one it's focal points. In other words, there's a lot they seem to be trying to design around this. From the sidequest, to the size of the fields and accessibility (which they've claimed will be larger than any previous final fantasy), right down to the battle system itself. Since LR is supposedly going to be the type of game to grant you access to a multitude of different areas right from the beginning of game, you'll also have access to battles with high level monsters from the beginning of the game. And for better or for worse, the gameplay mechanics surrounding the battle system are shaping out to be designed to give you a fighting chance against high level monsters early on (even though it's not supposed to be easy by any means).

Originally Posted by Shadow5YA

I'm also not sure how tracking Snow down one single path to trigger scripted scenes along the way shows "freedom in regards to what order you do things". Show me the gameplay where Lightning actually does do things and explore outside of the forced story.

Will there be main story progressive segments and quests that play out in a linear fashion once you activate them? I'm not doubting that. But a lot of open world games have their story related missions and segments play out in linear locations (inside buildings, dungeons, etc). So you can't judge the entirety of the games exploratory elements alone from demo footage of Lightning chasing Snow.

Anyways, I'm not gonna try to debate any of the other issues, but I'll defend the developers *attempts* to make LR one of--if not--the least linear FF game ever.

[shadow1296]

Okay you're going on and on about what square has shown and honestly for them this is pretty generous for them to begin with there are like nintendo they don't like to reveal to many aspects of their games, and so what if they changed lightnings character design to appeal more to the fans i barely noticed the design change, so what if it has dlc almost every company does this for their it may not be the big expansions like skyrim has, a few dlc, a couple of weapons, even costumes are the usual dlc options and most of the time they are pre order incentives, linear np it is not in fangs reveal demo we saw a dessert that we will probably get a chance to explore later,

not a very good final fantasy game i will play it first before i make that call because for me the worst FF game is 12 with gameplay which is boring as crap, going back and forth to one area to multiple times, and the fact that it has the nerve as a single player game to force you to grind as if it were an MMO and punish you if you're not killing the same enemy over and over again is unforgivable

[Benoit]

Originally Posted by Kaisos Erranon

Why does a gaming company need to focus on narrative at all outside of using it as an excuse to justify gameplay?

Because that's one of Final Fantasy's (and JRPGs's in general) selling points, duh!

That a lot of games have bad stories is not an excuse.

[killer3000ad]

Game Design Director, Yuji Abe, walks us through the Wildlands, a vast region filled with many dangerous monsters and epic landscapes. Highlights include shops, battles, controller game mechanics and a look into the deep customization menu.

YouTube

https://youtu.be/Vq9dLqljfhE

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

[Hagoshod]

The developers are just keeping Vanille around so she can cosplay whatever exotic Middle Eastern* clothing they think looks cool, aren't they?

http://www.destructoid.com/post_gall...oto_key=274235

I like her original design but wtf is she doin' in Lightning Returns?


* inb4 actually Hagoshod her base outfit is African.

[Tyabann]

All the characters are back in some form or another... Snow seems to be the only character with a full redesign, the rest have their original outfits for some reason. I guess it's because Snow is evil now?
Either way, the story will be dumb but FFXIII actually looks fun to play for once, so I'll take whatever I can get.

[Hagoshod]

Yeah, I get why she's physically there.

But what's with the hat?

[Kyero Fox]

Originally Posted by Kaisos Erranon

All the characters are back in some form or another... Snow seems to be the only character with a full redesign, the rest have their original outfits for some reason. I guess it's because Snow is evil now?
Either way, the story will be dumb but FFXIII actually looks fun to play for once, so I'll take whatever I can get.

Nah snow is the the good guy, Lightning is the cliche true bad guy's pawn. Snow only looks evil because he's going up against the true bad guy that looks like the good guy.

It's gonna be one of those "that god is actually evil" stories.

[FlareKnight]

Originally Posted by Hagoshod

Yeah, I get why she's physically there.

But what's with the hat?

To give the people who dislike her more ammunition ? I don't know, really a bad looking hat.

[Mad Pierrot]

Final boss spoiled

Spoiler for spoiler!:

[Frailty]

Originally Posted by amaterasu4

Final boss spoiled

Spoiler for spoiler!:

uhhhhhh.... Seymour?

[Kanon]

WTF? They spoil the final boss in their review?

Spoiler for Final boss:

I had to google the name because I forgot who Buniberzei was.

[Vajra]

Why would they spoil the end boss like that??

[shadow1296]

simple its not the end boss its probably some mid boss or something along that line, that or it onel of those final bosses that completely comes out of nowhere and has little to no relevance to the rest of the game

[shmaster]

None of the text in the scan stated Buni is the last boss.
And knowing the only god who is more stupid then Buni is Etro, I am not expecting him to be very competent either.

[AkitoW013]

Originally Posted by shmaster

None of the text in the scan stated Buni is the last boss.
And knowing the only god who is more stupid then Buni is Etro, I am not expecting him to be very competent either.

Spoiler for Spoiler:

If Bhunivelze is truly the god of light of the achievement A legend from times past, he is certainely the final boss.

[Von Himmel]

that or it onel of those final bosses that completely comes out of nowhere and has little to no relevance to the rest of the game

I don't really think it comes out of nowhere considering LR story seems to be connected with the gods more than XIII-2. If Etro is dead, then the only remaining gods who have that much power would be either pulse or that thing.

[shmaster]

Originally Posted by AkitoW013

Spoiler for Spoiler:

If Bhunivelze is truly the god of light of the achievement A legend from times past, he is certainely the final boss.

Or that creature in Chaos, who Buni is having a problem with.
I envision Buni making a fool out of himself Etro style in his effort to fix the world and end up the same way his mother did.