Final Fantasy XIII Is the Fastest-Selling Final Fantasy

[Joshimodo]

What in the hell? Have you got a standard definition Tv? Because, FFXIII's are easily the best graphics I have ever seen on the PS3.
All other games, no developer bothers making use of the AA capabilities of the Hardware, Squenix finally used AA in game and it looks gorgeous. Barely any jagged edges, the detail on the face is amazing, they almost don't look like JRPG characters except for the hair and clothes!
All your other points, I can understand where you're coming from and they're valid enough, but the graphics are absolutely stunning. What the hell?

42" Panasonic Viera HDTV, actually.

If you think FFXIII has gorgeous graphics, have you actually played any other retail games? On the PS3, Uncharted, Uncharted 2, Killzone 2 (though that only has 2 colours), God of War III, etc etc. All of those have FAR better graphics. Unless you're talking about XIII's cutscenes, which don't count since they're CGI, not the in-game engine.

The faces are nicely animated and the hair looks decent, but the hair doesn't move, the characters don't cast shadows, textures on terrain are ugly as sin, water & lighting effects are pretty poor...

 

[Amnestic]

but the hair doesn't move,

Yes it does.

the characters don't cast shadows,

Yes they do.

And I'm playing on the supposedly weaker 360 version on a 19" monitor.

 

[The Unskilled78]

I might rent it for my XBox, but the Spoony Experiment has colored my perceptions of the FF series too much for me to plunk $60 on a game that might just be a pile of pretty ass.

 

[Joshimodo]

but the hair doesn't move,

Yes it does.

the characters don't cast shadows,

Yes they do.

And I'm playing on the supposedly weaker 360 version on a 19" monitor.

The characters cast shadows in very few areas, I guess I should have been specific. Crystal sea area? Some shadows (at least, badly-done shadows on the floor. No shadows on walls, or characters).
Grass area? No shadows, until you find some dirt, at which point your shadow decides to show up.

The hair doesn't move, at least not the bulk of it. After watching Lightning launch Behemoths into the air for a few hours, you might see that it is static.

 

[Amnestic]

Grass area? No shadows, until you find some dirt, at which point your shadow decides to show up.

Okay, now I know that's bull poop because I'm stood on nothing but grass right now and they're all casting shadows.

The hair doesn't move, at least not the bulk of it.

Watch Fang launch enemies into the air.

Lightning's hair is just heavy from all the hair products she uses. Mmhmm.

 

[Joshimodo]

Grass area? No shadows, until you find some dirt, at which point your shadow decides to show up.

Okay, now I know that's bull poop because I'm stood on nothing but grass right now and they're all casting shadows.

The hair doesn't move, at least not the bulk of it.

Watch Fang launch enemies into the air.

Lightning's hair is just heavy from all the hair products she uses. Mmhmm.

Fancy sending over a copy of FFXIII that has those shadows then? Because there's barely any in my one. Even the ones that are there are poor quality.

If you were on about Sazh's hair, I'd say fair enough, but Lightning's? No.

Animating one character's hair =/= animated hair. Especially when Pigtails McCheerycheerton's hair moves less than Lightning's expression.

The TP, single control, full heal potions and full heal post battles were some of the best parts, bro.

The TP I can understand to some degree, but full heal potions/post battle heals spoil any difficulty of the game. The inclusion of save-point shops eliminates the oldschool annoyance of trekking back to shops to pick up potions and such, so why have both?

Controlling one character at a time is a step backwards in my opinion-Especially when the AI loves spamming Cura on one character at a time. I still think Lost Odyssey had the right idea for changing the combat system in regards to controlling them.

 

[reg42]

I will get this game.. in abut 2 months *sigh*...

 

[Varewulf]

Hehe, I got it on launch day, because I was walking by a game store that day, and saw it on display. On the end of chapter 11 now, just grinding a bit.

 

[Daedalus1942]

What in the hell? Have you got a standard definition Tv? Because, FFXIII's are easily the best graphics I have ever seen on the PS3.
All other games, no developer bothers making use of the AA capabilities of the Hardware, Squenix finally used AA in game and it looks gorgeous. Barely any jagged edges, the detail on the face is amazing, they almost don't look like JRPG characters except for the hair and clothes!
All your other points, I can understand where you're coming from and they're valid enough, but the graphics are absolutely stunning. What the hell?

42" Panasonic Viera HDTV, actually.

If you think FFXIII has gorgeous graphics, have you actually played any other retail games? On the PS3, Uncharted, Uncharted 2, Killzone 2 (though that only has 2 colours), God of War III, etc etc. All of those have FAR better graphics. Unless you're talking about XIII's cutscenes, which don't count since they're CGI, not the in-game engine.

The faces are nicely animated and the hair looks decent, but the hair doesn't move, the characters don't cast shadows, textures on terrain are ugly as sin, water & lighting effects are pretty poor...

The hair does move, they do cast shadows. I have yet to play Uncharted II (which I will admit probably does have better graphics), God of War III... well that piece of shit will never end up with my hand controlling it.
Take a look at most ps3 games. Hardly anybody uses Antialising in game.
Final Fantasy 13's In game graphics are almost just as good as the CGI cutscenes imo. I personally think you're just nitpicking, and the fact that you think the graphics look ugly, is pretty much confirmation that you didn't grow up in the 32 bit and 16 bit era like myself.
Also, I MUCH prefer XIII's graphics to God Of War III's. I Haven't played it myself but I've seen it played on an hdtv. Now THOSE graphics are really ugly. Not because of the crappy animation (because it's not crap, nor are the models and shaders. The setting, and the style just don't really suit HDtv imo, and it looks ugly.

 

[Amnestic]

To whoever was asking for sales comparisons between the consoles earlier, VGCharts has some stuff up now:

360-
U.S.: 386,367
'Other': 252,461
Total: 638,828

PS3-
U.S.: 547,202
'Other'(Not including Japan): 479,217
Total(Not including Japan): 1,026,419.
Japanese Sales: 1,508,558
Total PS3 Worldwide Sales: 2,534,977

Total Sales (Not Including Japan): 1,665,247
Total Worldwide Sales: 3,173,805

Console Sales % (Not including Japan)-
360- 38.362%
PS3- 61.638%

Console Worldwide Sales %-
360- 20.128%
PS3- 79.871%

Take that as you will.

Source: My calculator and VGChartz (Retrieved from here [http://vgchartz.com/games/game.php?id=7727] and here [http://vgchartz.com/games/game.php?id=24628] as of 21/03/2010)

 

[Joshimodo]

The hair does move, they do cast shadows. I have yet to play Uncharted II (which I will admit probably does have better graphics), God of War III... well that piece of shit will never end up with my hand controlling it.
Take a look at most ps3 games. Hardly anybody uses Antialising in game.
Final Fantasy 13's In game graphics are almost just as good as the CGI cutscenes imo. I personally think you're just nitpicking, and the fact that you think the graphics look ugly, is pretty much confirmation that you didn't grow up in the 32 bit and 16 bit era like myself.
Also, I MUCH prefer XIII's graphics to God Of War III's. I Haven't played it myself but I've seen it played on an hdtv. Now THOSE graphics are really ugly. Not because of the crappy animation (because it's not crap, nor are the models and shaders. The setting, and the style just don't really suit HDtv imo, and it looks ugly.

Wow, what a ridiculous post.

The hair DOESN'T move, with the exception of about 8 strands per female character (aside from Fang). Shadows don't show up in most cases, and when they do, they're ugly as sin. I grew up in the 16-bit era, but my first console was a NES on my 3rd birthday. SNES the week after. The SNES is still my favourite console of all time.

However, I expect a JRPG, which are known for mostly linear stories, turn-based (or similar) gameplay, no sandbox aspects etc., to have classy visuals, especially when it took THIS long to develop.

God of War III, while it's a game I'll never buy over renting, has FAR better graphics than XIII. Seriously, aside from the cutscenes and faces, XIII's graphics are really nothing special. They cut corners.

 

[InquisitorRaekan]

meh never been a fan of the final fantasy series, i really dont like cloud or w/e his name is. So i dont think this one will change my mind, its just more of the same with different story. not that that's bad lots of games do it.

 

[kimba_lion]

the game is amazing i have recently borrowed it from a frien for ps3.

but seriously what is with the accents for vanille and fang???

 

[DefunctTheory]

FF13 was a DECENT RPG, and an utterly horrible Final Fantasy. Why people rejoice over this game is beyond me.

 

[ResiEvalJohn]

Well it's good that some people like it because I'm certainly not going to buy it. This game has sold 1 million units because of hype, not because it has good gameplay.

I was going to buy it at first because I hated FF12, but I heard FF13 was going back to the roots, kind of like FF10, but then this game got so many poor reviews on Amazon and other websites, I decided it wasn't worth $60 of my money.

The people who like this game probably like it mostly because of the story and art, not gameplay, and that's fine, but it's not enough for me to spend my own money because I always get bored with JRPG stories and dialogues.

I really wish Square would get their shit together. FF12 sucked because it was too Non-linear and gave you a huge world with too many side-quests and time consuming tasks. Most of the time, your reward for spending 5 hours on a side quest was so little, so not worth it! We're talking like 2000 gil or something for killing a huge enemy that took you all day to find, or even 10 gil for opening a hidden chest in some hidden corner of a map! Such a freakin waste of time; I regret playing that game for more than 100 hours.

Now, with FF13, Square has fucked up again and made the story TOO LINEAR. Somebody really needs to hit those people over the head and explain to them that there is a MIDDLE FUCKING ROAD! Your game shouldn't be too linear, and it shouldn't be too Non-linear! It should be right in the fucking middle! It should be big enough to where the player feels like they have choices, but not too big so that it takes an hour to cross a single map like in FF12.

FF 6 and 7 are perfect examples of balance. Big worlds, but not too big, and linear stories, but plenty of REWARDING optional stuff to do along the way. Until they go back to this formula, I'm done, I turn in my FF fan badge. FF10 was the last good one.