I tried to "picture" watching all the custscenes without the sappy J-pop in the background when I watched it a second time (since I'm assuming that kind of music won't be playing that much in the game at all), and now I'm significantly less turned off. I'm not a fan of Japanese pop culture. At all. The ridiculous hairdos and effeminate men really don't appeal to me in the least bit, but I'm willing to move past that if there's a great story in the background. And by "great" I don't mean "sappy as hell" but an actual story. I'm giving the trailer the benefit of the doubt in that I'm assuming the game won't be ridden with sappy anime melodrama.
Maybe I'm seeing things that aren't there, but I'm willing to give the game a chance if it's not too much like the trailer.
@RockyRan: I guess this is a generalisation, but the majority of us from the asian half (or greater than half) of the planet prefer that kinda hair, character design and music. And the hairstyles arent at all ridiculous for us, even in HK university and high school kids have hair similar to that.
@kyuubireign001: Yeah, I guess that's the "pop" part in J-pop. I'm sure that kind of music, character design and hair is massively popular. Otherwise we wouldn't see it in Final Fantasy. I just don't care for it.
I can't help but feel self-centered in saying I wish the game weren't so centered around that. I'd just like SE to go back to the style of the old FF game. FFXIV looks kind of like that, but it is, unfortunately, an MMO. I'd like a traditional JRPG with that style like in FF9. No J-pop in sight there.
@RockyRan: yeah i know what you mean, i grew up on games where the characters looked like they could actually carry a 10 metre sword. But Final Fantasys always been a "main stream" RPG, so I guess, like music, its always just going to try and fit with the trends.
Graphics look amazing though. I'm still split on what system to get this for. I kinda want it for Xbox just for the achievements, but FF is meant to be played on a Sony system, to me. What should I DO?!
I'm getting this just because I haven't played a FF game since 8. I loved 7 and played lots of the NES/SNES versions with an old childhood friend.
That said, I wonder if anyone who's familiar with JRPGs can fill me in on something. I bought Star Ocean: TLH and couldn't stomach it. It was extremely boring with all the running around and ridiculously repetitive battles. Loot drops were low, but I know most JRPGs aren't centered around loot. There was just too much story and not enough other stuff to keep my interest.
Is this a common thread among JRPGs or is Star Ocean an exception? I'd love to pick up FF13 and love the hell out of it, but if it's more running, boring fighting, cut scenes and chatting with your teammates until you're blue in the face, maybe I've outgrown the JRPG genre.
@Dr Durdon: That for most part sounds fairly typical of JRPGs. I personally never liked the battle system of those Star Oceans, so they were particularly boring to me. I'll try to break things down a bit more try to give a clear picture of more recent Final Fantasy games.
Loot drops: It's not supposed to be particularly common, other than "simpler" items. Item drops are also preset, unlike most western RPGs. A beetle always has a chance to drop, for example, a potion. Most enemies don't have anything too cool to drop.
The flip side of this is that a lot of the more recent Final Fantasy games have had really good steal items. You played FFVII and VIII. FFVII had several good steals from random enemies (usually humanoids), and VIII I believe started the trend of boss-stealing equipment before you could normally purchase it. This was huge in FFIX, since you could never had a character in your party who COULDN'T steal.
Story: There's always been a ton of story, and I think it's "supposed" to occupy 30-50% of your time, as far as JRPGs -- and Final Fantasy -- is concerned. Recent games allow you to skip cutscenes, but then you're missing story.
Other Stuff: Final Fantasy games are notorious for being decently filled with sidequests and other things to do apart from the main story and gameplay.
@RealmRPGer: Thanks for the details. From what I've read here, it sounds like Star Ocean was just not the best one for me to pick up on a whim. I'm a big fan of looting, changing equipment often, juggling my inventory, etc. Fallout 3 and Borderlands had lots of that, and I liked that aspect of it.
I will probably give this one a chance simply because it's the first FF I will be able to own since the PSX days. How times have changed.
@Bluesnow222: Same here. I have a "decent" tolerance for cheese and that went way above my level. It looks amazing though. I'm worried that it's going to be one of those games where I just start to zone out on the cutscenes and start pressing buttons to skip.
Oh wow! This trailer reminds me why I haven't liked a FF game since they made the jump to 3d at 7... They are clearly now made for 13 year old japanese girls.
@heretrix: Not to mention they're going to have to cast Fran Drescher and Rosie Perez for voiceover work if they want to come anywhere near that level of Japanese whine I just got served.
Okay...The ending of that trailer was just plain awesome. And we got to see everyone's summon in action outside of battle. I love scenes like that.
I'm curious as to who or what Vanille's eidolon is. That definitely doesn't look like her rumored Carbuncle, but with all the redesigns it probably could be.
@RPGmaniac05: I was wondering that too. I find it hard to believe that its either Carbuncle or Siren since it actually attacked and they never really had a standard attack before. The fact that the eidolon was red kinda almost rules out Carbuncle too since most of the others let out so far have stuck to their color schemes.
@Sparx: Yeah and considering Carbuncle has always been a defensive type summon makes it even more unlikely. It has a bunch of arms though so maybe it's FFXIII's version of Gilgamesh or another new summon entry alongside Sazh's Brynhildr.
@luthed: Agreed, expecially after having some great character designs in XII, everyone here just looks like they've been ripped from an over melodramatic anime series.
@Ursus-Veritas: Yeah I don't mind the Leona Lewis song but it does bother me they are ripping out the original song to do it. It just so happens I like the way the original song sounds better too. I was hoping there would be an English version of it.
Oh well, I'm still anticipating the game far more than I should be, but it will disappoint me if the original song is nowhere to be heard in the NA version.
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
#speakup
11/25/09
11/25/09
Maybe I'm seeing things that aren't there, but I'm willing to give the game a chance if it's not too much like the trailer.
11/25/09
11/25/09
I can't help but feel self-centered in saying I wish the game weren't so centered around that. I'd just like SE to go back to the style of the old FF game. FFXIV looks kind of like that, but it is, unfortunately, an MMO. I'd like a traditional JRPG with that style like in FF9. No J-pop in sight there.
11/26/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
Graphics look amazing though. I'm still split on what system to get this for. I kinda want it for Xbox just for the achievements, but FF is meant to be played on a Sony system, to me. What should I DO?!
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
That said, I wonder if anyone who's familiar with JRPGs can fill me in on something. I bought Star Ocean: TLH and couldn't stomach it. It was extremely boring with all the running around and ridiculously repetitive battles. Loot drops were low, but I know most JRPGs aren't centered around loot. There was just too much story and not enough other stuff to keep my interest.
Is this a common thread among JRPGs or is Star Ocean an exception? I'd love to pick up FF13 and love the hell out of it, but if it's more running, boring fighting, cut scenes and chatting with your teammates until you're blue in the face, maybe I've outgrown the JRPG genre.
11/25/09
Loot drops: It's not supposed to be particularly common, other than "simpler" items. Item drops are also preset, unlike most western RPGs. A beetle always has a chance to drop, for example, a potion. Most enemies don't have anything too cool to drop.
The flip side of this is that a lot of the more recent Final Fantasy games have had really good steal items. You played FFVII and VIII. FFVII had several good steals from random enemies (usually humanoids), and VIII I believe started the trend of boss-stealing equipment before you could normally purchase it. This was huge in FFIX, since you could never had a character in your party who COULDN'T steal.
Story: There's always been a ton of story, and I think it's "supposed" to occupy 30-50% of your time, as far as JRPGs -- and Final Fantasy -- is concerned. Recent games allow you to skip cutscenes, but then you're missing story.
Other Stuff: Final Fantasy games are notorious for being decently filled with sidequests and other things to do apart from the main story and gameplay.
11/25/09
I will probably give this one a chance simply because it's the first FF I will be able to own since the PSX days. How times have changed.
11/25/09
11/25/09
I'm not really liking this direction though... I get more and more worried after every new preview. Gameplay looked decent at least.
11/25/09
11/25/09
Call me a troll, but that song... ugg.
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
I'm curious as to who or what Vanille's eidolon is. That definitely doesn't look like her rumored Carbuncle, but with all the redesigns it probably could be.
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
I miss the design that they had on FF7 and FF6 those game had great themes and great characters.
11/25/09
I miss the White and Red mages......:(
11/25/09
11/25/09
Then I remember we've been dumped with a crappy Leona Lewis track that wasn't even written for the game... *sobs*
11/25/09
Oh well, I'm still anticipating the game far more than I should be, but it will disappoint me if the original song is nowhere to be heard in the NA version.