FF13-3 pretty much confirmed

[Zaik]

Sigh. I used to be such a huge fan of the FF series. But I just don't get the appeal anymore.

I'd love to see a FF game where I didn't have to play with a group of grumpy, annoying, floppy-haired teenagers (enter FFIX). Maybe we could have a main protagonist who's a skin-head in his mid 30s who can turn into a dragon and his main weapon is a Scythe or something. Whoops, I'm being too original. Somebody get me a job at SE.

Ever heard the phrase "There's nothing new under the sun?"

You actually managed to loosely describe a JRPG Sony made for the PS1(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend_of_the_Dragoon). It's not really an exact fit, but I don't think you would meet your own criteria for originality in comparison to it.

 

[Dr. Cakey]

The only FF games to receive sequels are the ones that have the most absolutely closed endings and therefore can't have sequels.

Well FF7 ended with the end of the world, if they can retcon that they can retcon anything.

If you consider 'Meteor being conveniently stopped by the Lifestream, thus causing no casualties nor damage whatsoever' to be the end of the world, then yes, that is how FF7 ended.

Oh that and five-hundred years later LIONS RULE THE EARTH.

 

[HHammond]

Not sure if I'm excited. I like XIII but wasn't too fond of XIII-2. As long as it focuses more on Lightning and her friends, stops all the time travel and maybe keeps some of the openness of XIII-2 then I'm game. Sign up as cautiously optimistic.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

I quite liked 13-2 but I;m no where near finishing it yet

bloody hated 13 tho...jesus christ that was a horrible game.

 

[Arqus_Zed]

Well, they wasted all that time and effort making that worthless "Crystal Engine", so they might as well milk it for what its worth. Think about it, they can re-hash their engine and tons of character models. Pure profit.

You know, kind of like CoD, sports games and Pokémon.

 

[hermes]

I love that FF13, considered one of the weakest entries in the series, is getting 2 sequels.

it boggles the mind

Considering how much money they spent in creating the engine and the assets, I think it means SE are getting their heads out of their rears... at least commercially speaking.

 

[DracoSuave]

Well, they wasted all that time and effort making that worthless "Crystal Engine", so they might as well milk it for what its worth. Think about it, they can re-hash their engine and tons of character models. Pure profit.

You know, kind of like CoD, sports games and Pokémon.

Thing is, that engine's actually pretty decent.

I mean FF13, for all its faults, IS a very pretty game at least.

Let's not toss out the baby with the bathwater.

 

[Maxtro]

For the love of god give us versus already.

 

[bioject]

Wow so not only has SquareEnix killed the Final Fantasy franchise, but now they are raping its dead corpse. Square must really want to destroy their company investing their resources into bad games. I will return to the Final Fantasy series only if it starts appealing to the now adult audience that grew up with the series. I also liked it when they didn't just churn out sequels constantly.

 

[AgentLampshade]

Every time people start ragging on XIII and XIII-2, I get very defensive about them and I don't know why. I only moderately enjoyed XIII but I quite enjoyed XIII-2. They were decent enough to keep me playing (if not very immersed.)

 

[KrossBillNye]

No really...

WTF?

I wish to point out I loved FF. I played every since Final Fantasy Squaresoft/enix released. Even Kingdom Hearts. Loved every single one. (Yes even FF VIII)

FF 13 was a complete load of horse manure. It was so bad I tasted it in my mouth. I spent a good 5-6 hours (not exaggerating) in the game and it felt like a freaking tutorial on how to play the game. Seriously? I got to the second CD I think and it was STILL giving me tutorials.

So why the heck is this PoS getting sequels? What happened to my Final Fantasy franchise? What happened to the SS/E that I fell in love with?

(Sad face)

 

[Arqus_Zed]

Well, they wasted all that time and effort making that worthless "Crystal Engine", so they might as well milk it for what its worth. Think about it, they can re-hash their engine and tons of character models. Pure profit.

You know, kind of like CoD, sports games and Pokémon.

Thing is, that engine's actually pretty decent.

I mean FF13, for all its faults, IS a very pretty game at least.

Let's not toss out the baby with the bathwater.

You can say that about any current gen engine.

Any contemporary engine, or even a basic current generation DirectX framework can be programmed to support gloss maps, normal maps, etc. Past Final Fantasy titles pretty much had their framework/engine built up from scratch, but now that processors allow normal mapping and more advanced lighting effects, a lot more time gets into creating the basis for rendering visual information.

Graphics programming is a lot of work, yes, but most games use more or less the same core mechanic. That's why a lot of companies use a third party engine, just to have a tool that instantly renders your meshes into an interactive environment, complete with maps and animations.

However, this does nothing for gameplay or story. Why do you think it's so hard to create a game other than an action or shooter game with the Unreal engine? Except for the graphics rendering, there just isn't a lot of interesting stuff to work with if you're exploring other genres. That's why the guys who made AION actually created "CryEngine v1.5". The original CryEngine they used had to be modified so extensively to be useful in an MMO environment, they pretty much created an entirely new engine on top of the old one. And let's not forget the trouble Square Enix had making The Last Remnant with the Unreal Engine.

So, what I'm getting at is that the Crystal Engine can render nice images, but that's nothing new in this day and age. I'd have to get my hands on the thing myself to be sure, but I can't imagine they spent a lot of time on making combat and stat accrual mechanics (and it's not like they had to implement an extensive physics system). Why else would the Crystarium system (though pretty) be a step back from both the sphere grid and the license board? Why would the combat be so unstable that they actually have to allow a "retry" function before every battle you do?

The reason FF XIII and FF XIII-2 played almost exactly the same, yet FF X and FF X-2 had wildly different combat and stat accrual systems? My guess, it's baked into the engine and they don't want to spend time and effort to do something new. God knows if the engine was actually written in such a way that it would allow to add new mechanics without too much trouble.

 

[DracoSuave]

Well, they wasted all that time and effort making that worthless "Crystal Engine", so they might as well milk it for what its worth. Think about it, they can re-hash their engine and tons of character models. Pure profit.

You know, kind of like CoD, sports games and Pokémon.

Thing is, that engine's actually pretty decent.

I mean FF13, for all its faults, IS a very pretty game at least.

Let's not toss out the baby with the bathwater.

You can say that about any current gen engine.

Any contemporary engine, or even a basic current generation DirectX framework can be programmed to support gloss maps, normal maps, etc. Past Final Fantasy titles pretty much had their framework/engine built up from scratch, but now that processors allow normal mapping and more advanced lighting effects, a lot more time gets into creating the basis for rendering visual information.

Graphics programming is a lot of work, yes, but most games use more or less the same core mechanic. That's why a lot of companies use a third party engine, just to have a tool that instantly renders your meshes into an interactive environment, complete with maps and animations.

Right, but when you HAVE a good graphical backbone, why throw it out? Actually not good. Great. The graphics engine SE used was a great graphics engine... considerably more polish than the vast majority of engines out there. It does what it does well, and it's rare to hear of the sorts of bugs that are common and expected in many other commercial engines.

However, this does nothing for gameplay or story. Why do you think it's so hard to create a game other than an action or shooter game with the Unreal engine? Except for the graphics rendering, there just isn't a lot of interesting stuff to work with if you're exploring other genres. That's why the guys who made AION actually created "CryEngine v1.5". The original CryEngine they used had to be modified so extensively to be useful in an MMO environment, they pretty much created an entirely new engine on top of the old one. And let's not forget the trouble Square Enix had making The Last Remnant with the Unreal Engine.

So, what I'm getting at is that the Crystal Engine can render nice images, but that's nothing new in this day and age. I'd have to get my hands on the thing myself to be sure, but I can't imagine they spent a lot of time on making combat and stat accrual mechanics (and it's not like they had to implement an extensive physics system). Why else would the Crystarium system (though pretty) be a step back from both the sphere grid and the license board? Why would the combat be so unstable that they actually have to allow a "retry" function before every battle you do?

The reason FF XIII and FF XIII-2 played almost exactly the same, yet FF X and FF X-2 had wildly different combat and stat accrual systems? My guess, it's baked into the engine and they don't want to spend time and effort to do something new. God knows if the engine was actually written in such a way that it would allow to add new mechanics without too much trouble.

But the rest of this doesn't make sense. Yes, FF13's game mechanics are meh. So what? Your solution then is... because they invested so much time and money in making a good game engine that it took away from other aspects of development, that they should throw out the VERY useable product of that time and money, and reinvest MORE money into it that could be used towards other aspects of development?

They need to go back and look at what made their most successful games work, and start trying to return to their roots. But at least they tried something new with the battle system. It's when the Final Fantasy teams STOP trying to innovate new game mechanics that you need to call for heads.

 

[Sarah Kerrigan]

I happened to love Final Fantasy XIII, and Lightning being my favorite female character, but I would take Versus XIII over XIII-3 anyday.

Though more Lightning is cool.

 

[DJ_DEnM]

I enjoyed both XIII and XIII-2. Nothing you can do about it guys. I realize they could've ended it in XIII-2, and they're probably just cashing in, but still it's an enjoyable game with enjoyable gameplay.

 

[Arqus_Zed]

But the rest of this doesn't make sense. Yes, FF13's game mechanics are meh. So what? Your solution then is... because they invested so much time and money in making a good game engine that it took away from other aspects of development, that they should throw out the VERY useable product of that time and money, and reinvest MORE money into it that could be used towards other aspects of development?

They need to go back and look at what made their most successful games work, and start trying to return to their roots. But at least they tried something new with the battle system. It's when the Final Fantasy teams STOP trying to innovate new game mechanics that you need to call for heads.

That's exactly the problem I have with it! As is, the Crystal Engine is not that good an engine. Does it have potential? Yes. Should they keep the graphics rendering framework? Yes.

But as is, I don't think the engine is "good" as a whole.

It needs work. Work that hadn't been done yet for FF XIII-2 and - excuse my prejudice - I doubt it will have been done with FF XIII-3.

In my original comment, I stated that: "They wasted all that time and effort making that worthless 'Crystal Engine'". Now, that may be a bit harsh, but it doesn't take away that - up until know - they have shown they do not know how to handle the creation and maintenance of a reusable in-house engine. So I will stand by my statement until Square Enix proves me wrong.

By the way, I've always admired the fact that they re-invent themselves with every game. (though, again, the FF XIII saga isn't exactly a great example of that: same engine, same models, continuing the same storyline, sticking to the same combat mechanic, same stat accrual system, same paradigms... Well, except for that whole monster thing.)

 

[DracoSuave]

But the rest of this doesn't make sense. Yes, FF13's game mechanics are meh. So what? Your solution then is... because they invested so much time and money in making a good game engine that it took away from other aspects of development, that they should throw out the VERY useable product of that time and money, and reinvest MORE money into it that could be used towards other aspects of development?

They need to go back and look at what made their most successful games work, and start trying to return to their roots. But at least they tried something new with the battle system. It's when the Final Fantasy teams STOP trying to innovate new game mechanics that you need to call for heads.

That's exactly the problem I have with it! As is, the Crystal Engine is not that good an engine. Does it have potential? Yes. Should they keep the graphics rendering framework? Yes.

But as is, I don't think the engine is "good" as a whole.

It needs work. Work that hadn't been done yet for FF XIII-2 and - excuse my prejudice - I doubt it will have been done with FF XIII-3.

In my original comment, I stated that: "They wasted all that time and effort making that worthless 'Crystal Engine'". Now, that may be a bit harsh, but it doesn't take away that - up until know - they have shown they do not know how to handle the creation and maintenance of a reusable in-house engine. So I will stand by my statement until Square Enix proves me wrong.

But they DO, and they HAVE in the past, many times over. What's wrong with their engine? It doesn't come with a lot of bugs at all, in fact, it's incredibly well polished. Didn't you mention the Unreal 3 engine? The engine that when you see it you can anticipate exactly what bugs are going to pop out of it and exactly how plastic everything is going to look?

By the way, I've always admired the fact that they re-invent themselves with every game. (though, again, the FF XIII saga isn't exactly a great example of that: same engine, same models, continuing the same storyline, sticking to the same combat mechanic, same stat accrual system, same paradigms... Well, except for that whole monster thing.)

Well on the other hand, one could say that the reinvention between X and X-2 wasn't a good thing because there should be some interconnection between the games. I dunno what the right answer is there... but I think if FF13 had better received game mechanics, it'd not look so bad to see it revisited in 13-2.

 

[axlryder]

As long as VS isn't cancelled then I don't care. I will shove my head in the sand and ignore all the stupid shit that SE does until that game sees the light of day. But I swear, if they fuck it up somehow, I'm done. That's it. End of the road SE.

 

[Baralak]

Sweet! *Puts up flameshield*

I loved FFXIII-2, I think it was an excellent Final Fantasy game with enjoyable characters and an easier story to follow. I didn't like FF13 because it mucked up too much but FFXIII-2 fixed pretty much all my problems.

Call me crazy, but I am excited!

Same, 13-2 is one of the best games I've played this entire generation. I loved every minute of it, and the ending had me screaming and begging at my TV for more. Structurally, the game really reminded me of Chrono Trigger, which is anything but a bad thing.

also, 13-2 really made Lightning jump to the top of the list of my favorite FF characters. Sucks S-E never released a 13-2 costume DLC for Duodecim....

 

[Baralak]

Sweet! *Puts up flameshield*

I loved FFXIII-2, I think it was an excellent Final Fantasy game with enjoyable characters and an easier story to follow. I didn't like FF13 because it mucked up too much but FFXIII-2 fixed pretty much all my problems.

Call me crazy, but I am excited!

Same, 13-2 is one of the best games I've played this entire generation. I loved every minute of it, and the ending had me screaming and begging at my TV for more. Structurally, the game really reminded me of Chrono Trigger, which is anything but a bad thing.

also, 13-2 really made Lightning jump to the top of the list of my favorite FF characters. Sucks S-E never released a 13-2 costume DLC for Duodecim....

Exactly, considering I didn't like 13, I was surprised on how much I liked 13-2, hell, Noel is one of my favorite FF characters. Please Square, don't much this up, I want to see how everything gets wrapped up!

Also, I hope we get a new Dissidia soon, on the Vita preferably, with every game having at least 3 characters, and all outfits are different, not just shitty palette swaps. FF13 has a definitive villain to add (Caius)and Noel would rock that game! Make it happen Square!

13-3, or whatever they call it, is going to be a day 1 buy for me. The stakes can't get much higher than with what happened in 2. Noel was indeed pretty awesome, as we Serah. I even liked Hope, and I despised him in 13! I'm wondering if this focus on Lightning shows a shift away from the old "Fabula Nova Crystalis" thing. If so, I have no complaints. More Lightning, and a good continuation with whatever the next game with Lightning is, isn't a bad thing