2. Stop Making Final Fantasy XIII Sequels and Release Versus XIII
Patiently awaiting his chance to shine…
When Final Fantasy XIII was announced in 2006, it was accompanied by two other games: a PS3 exclusive Final Fantasy Versus XIII and a mobile title called Final Fantasy Agito XIII. The idea was to create three separate games that all shared the same mythos. Square-Enix even gave the project a name: Fabula Nova Crystallis. Thus far, only Final Fantasy XIII has been released here in the States. Agito XIII is available in Japan, renamed Final Fantasy Type-O, and released on PSP, but, as of this writing, will not be released in the US. Versus XIII was rumored cancelled last year, but is thankfully still in development.
Critical reaction in Japan to Type-O was highly positive and the trailers for Tetsuya Nomura’s Versus XIII showcase an exciting Kingdom Hearts reminiscent battle system that’s a far cry from FFXIII’s the game-does-the-fighting-for-you system. By releasing Versus XIII, Square-Enix not only gives us a potentially stellar game, but frees up Nomura to work on the long-awaited Kingdom Hearts III. It’s a double dose of awesome for fans. Versus XIII also may see the return of series staples like the world map, mini games, and airships: elements that have been painfully missing for a long, long time. This is a no-brainer: gently place Lightning Returns on the same back-burner Versus XIII is currently occupying, come up with a new, goofier name for Versus XIII, and carry on. Who knows, maybe Square-Enix can get it published before the next Duke Nukem game comes out.
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6 Comments
Interesting characters and romance
Good article man! Can’t wait for Versus XIII, looks like it’s going to be great.
What I’ve always found most ironic about the whole Final Fantasy XIII series up to now is how Square-Enix have said that they wanted to make games where the storyline came first and that it had an emotive and brilliant plot, yet its story (Probably because it’s so damn confusing and over-complicated) is nowhere near as strong as earlier entries in the series. Especially when you compare it to VII for example. It just confuses me to no end, they seem to feel like they need to be all clever and stuff, citing that gamers have evolved, yet I’m replaying FF III on the Ipad right now and it’s still as incredible as it always was. A FF that is exactly like the old games, with a world map and turn-based systems, is exactly what they need to revitalise the series and they know for a fact that every fan would buy it and probably more than bought XIII-2. It also doesn’t feel weird playing FF in portable form so I wouldn’t mind a portable game at all, although I do think I might prefer a fully fledged console version, or maybe even both, with extra features on each format and transferable saves, that would probably be my dream for the next incarnation of the series! It would be pretty expensive to buy both versions though I guess haha.
Anyways, that rant over! haha I heard an interview where they stated they did plan to re-make FF VII but only if they made a game that they believed was better than it in the future first. God knows when that’s likely to happen or even what their standard is, they were pretty vague. It is kinda necessary sooner or later though!
Oh and it’s not that I didn’t like XIII or anything, I’ve pretty much loved each of the games in the series and I really wasn’t bothered by the linearity of the opening of XIII, I still fully enjoyed the experience. I just definitely prefer the whole open world, freedom thing. My favourite things about the old FF games were the hidden summons and magics that were only accessible by going off the beaten path, probably why I loved FF VIII so much.
Thanks! I definitely didn’t hate XIII. Once it began to open up and give you more options for battle other than just press X to attack, heal, then attack it became pretty fun. In some boss fights only one mistake could wipe the entire party easily. I don’t admit this to many people, but I was a huge fan of Final Fantasy X-2′s battle system and when I started playing XIII it became readily apparent that the Paradigm system was just a re-imagining of the Dressphere system without the Sailor Moon style clothes changing (unsurprisingly, X, X-2, XIII and XIII-2 were all directed by the same guy).
A remake of final fantasy 7 seems an abvious option, but it definitely has its risks. Imagine if they did a sub standard job. The legacy could be ruined and the one game everyone is holding onto fondly in their memories may become meaningless overnight.
people always talk about how open worlds were in games like ff7 or ff8, but thats not true at all. The mountains and the rivers and oceans funnel you through the entire game into places that the developers want you to go. The only time you can go everywhere is when you get the airship towards the end of the story. ff13 has pretty much the same mechanic (except without the airship). ff13 has those teleport stones to get you around places instead of the airship. Also, all you need to do is read the datalogs in ff13 in order to understand the story completely. It’s actually a very engaging and well thought out plot if people actually take the time to attempt to understand it. Most people say they hate ff13 or love ff7, but alot of them haven’t even played either. They just repeat what other people say. Try playing ff7 again after all the years since you played it last. I promise you it wont be as good as you thought it was.
Versus should be at Number 1, in my opinion. Been waiting for Noct for two years now, going on three; some have pined away for longer.
Great idea on how to deal with Lightning Returns, though.