FFXIII development started on PS2, delayed launch by a year and a half

Well, of course they would have to make cuts in the game, because there is no way that FFXIII in it's current state could be realized on the PS2.

You can't assume that the game would have been the same. Announcement of the PS3, in all likelihood, allowed for the development of certain things that would never have been put in a PS2 version.

Wasnt there an article, saying "usual towns" were too hard to do or something on next-gen consoles? Probably if it was on PS2 it would be how they MEANT it to be

@minato: I'd like to read this article you're talking about. That would be horrible if true (and it would show once and for all that everyone having a boner for hd shiney graphx is actually the cause of games being dumbed down lately).

I find that hard to believe, as there's several fairly large cities and towns in ME2 and there's been some in the few jrpgs I actually played this gen. It has nothing to do with fancy graphics, and everything to do with typical Square-Enix laziness and incompetence.

@tj
Agreed. Look at Oblivion for example. That's a game in high definition, an rpg and it had a huge city in it. Its so long since I played it, I'd be hard pressed to remember the name but the initial city your in when you escape from jail.... that one.... It probably has at least 100 seperate buildings, roads, several city gates, devided into quaters, etc and there's quite a few other towns.

Comparatively to most games, Oblivion was pretty huge and provided a ton of gameplay time compared to the price. The only thing I can think that competes with that is Fallout 3, Mass Effect 1/2. Nothing from a Japanese developer comes to mind except maybe Tales of Vesperia but even then...not realllly...

I think Square Enix has lost a tiny bit of its magic and vastness in favour of cheaper, installment type games. Even FF10 for example which wasn't really that liked by a lot of ff fans would have been much more well received if FF10 + FF10X was one game. A lot less loose ends and a lot more gameplay for your money.

Saying it's harder sounds like an excuse to me. That'd be like switching from an old Windows 95 computer to Windows 7 and suddenly saying "it's harder to develop stuff now".

The PS2 was also known for being "hard to develop" for, but it didn't stop tons of companies from successfully putting out quality games for it.

Besides, the Xbox 360 uses DirectX, a PC technology, and the PS3 has tons of incentives and help available for it now as well. (Not to mention it's been 3-4 years since each one released).

@sonic: Coming from the development side, programmers hate the PS3 with a passion as it is extremely difficult to program for.

Also if the game began its development on the PS2, don't the arguments against going multi-platform pretty much fizzle out? These people saying that bringing it out on 360 is a mistake...bla...bla....blah; their point is mute. PS2 and 360 have the same storage concerns and if the ground work was laid on a previous generation I do not see how it is a slight against the title in its current form.

Again if FF13 was brought out for the PS2 it would have been a different game, one that wouldnt have had a problem fitting on a DVD (or 3) because they would have been developing it for a smaller scope and lower resolutions. If they'd brought that version out for the 360 then people would be complaining about how bad the textures are because they were developed for a sub HD system... but of course with hundreds of millions of PS2s out there they wouldnt have even needed to make it for the 360 because they'd make all their money back on one system.

@VaultBoy

its the point is moot, not mute.

Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey have "real towns" and they're J-RPGs on the "next-gen" systems (360, at least). Same with Eternal Sonata and Enchanted Arms (on both PS3/360). Even Square Enix's own The Last Remnant and Infinite Undiscovery are "next-gen" J-RPGs that have real town.

Lack of "real towns" in FFXIII is just lazy.

@Wes: lol jeez, oblivion is one of the worst examples you could have brought up to make a point. Copypaste world anyone?

I think we'll see Final Fantasy 13 Versus and Final Fantasy 14 online on the PS3 before the end of this generation. I'd guess maybe even within the next two years.

if this was going to be a 2006 PS2 game but they opted for "the arrival of the PS3 on late 2006" which took 1 1/2 years to fix, shouldn't the game had been released on 2008 instead of late 2009/2010?

From what I understand they had been working on this game since 2005!

Yes. Hence the five year development cycle on the current generation of hardware.

I think he means Final Fantasy XV, as Versus-XIII is a Kingdom Hearts-esque spin-off and XIV is a MMORPG in the vein of XI (which less than a 10th of the usual Final Fantasy fanbase is looking forward to).

There's usually three major Final Fantasys per platform, so let's hope FF15 makes it to this generation, but I can see it being pushed back because of Versus-XIII, XIV and the other Fabula Nova Crystallis projects (there were originally 6 games announced).

On that note, I hope Final Fantasy XV is a conventional fantasy setting or steampunk (like FF6), as I'm getting kinda tired of this sci-fi/cyberpunk setting lately.

I say the entire FF7 fandom send squeenix small pouches of peanuts with their disapproval at this move. It helped get Jericho back on the air...and possibly lost...not sure about that one.

"Nuts to you Squeenix!"

And Jerico lasted forever and made the network millions when they brought it back too... oh wait it didnt. Just saying campaigns like that dont always mean it's good business.

I hate to admit that I need a Disney game, but he's right.

All I'm gonna say is if KH III is on Wii instead of a current gen console, I'm gonna be pissed.

Wii is a current gen console...

@ Mogster - Its ok, we know..this is a very sensitive matter but wii no.Honestly, with all fun and jokes aside, no matter how you wrap last gen technology and when you choose to release it....its still last gen hardware. Why do some wii owners find this simple fact as offensive?

Maybe some will be dlc.. then, with the rest, add a story arc for FFXIII-2.. where we won't have to wait 5 years for it...

I'd like to see them bring Chrono Cross to the DS, and then make the third Chrono title.

I DO want a FF7 remake.

I want, as stated above, KH 3 VERY SOON. An announcement at E3 would be pleasing.

I want real-time, non-strategic combat.

Oh, and bring back Leon!

@Shadowbender

Pfft, all the cool kids call him Squall.

Screw a remake, the only thing I've ever wanted was a FF7 sequel. And what do we get? A million FF7 spinoffs, a piece of fap material created as a direct sequel to the on-rails dumbed down girly jpop simulator called FFX, and a 90 minute cutscene that takes place after FF7 (WTF, squenix?). Every single goddamn franchise milking thing they could think of, they created, except a FF7 sequel. A FF7 remake now would amount to kicking a man when he's bleeding on the ground.

@ BigFat: What do you mean aged gameplay? Much of the mechanics employed in that title are still in use in current RPGs. I don't care if this is a XBLA/PSN downloadable HD Remix. I would buy it again. My only problem is that the original people wouldn't be working on it, some having left for MistWalker. I can see how changing things such as music or certain minigames might dissuade hardcore fans but seeing one of my favorite games re-imagined two generations later would make up for any reservations i have about it.

"What do you mean aged gameplay? Much of the mechanics employed in that title are still in use in current RPGs."

@ Vaultboy: yeah, and look at how well JRPGs are selling this generation, as well as their general quality. i'm a jrpg fan, i've played most every jrpg this gen i can get my hands on--last remnant, lost odyssey, infinite undiscovery, star ocean the last hope, and more--and even i have to admit that this genre is on a downhill slope. a look at metacritic scores will corroborate this. none of these games has come close to rivaling my fond memories of games like chrono trigger, FF7/6/tactics, xenogears, etc. the jrpg genre needs to strive for greater quality (which i'm hoping for from FF13 and versus), or it needs to innovate. otherwise, the developers that make them are either going out of business, or they stop bothering to export their games to the US.

Every main FF game in existance has gotten or WILL get an remake at some point or another, it's just a question of when it will happen. Everyone just wants it so badly because of the PS3 tech demo that made everyone assume automatically that it was in the works. The reality is that because it's still so current in people's minds that Squeenix wouldnt bother unless the demand for the original version of the title were withering or dead. Then they could release a new version with new graphics or gameplay updates and create a brand new fanbase over the old one. But wen two million people download the classic version the instant it's released on PSN then they know they dont even need to make a new version yet.

FF7 already got sequels as well as prequels...

Before Crisis - prequel
Crisis Core - prequel
Advent Children - direct sequel
Dirge of Cerberus - distant sequel

They just weren't the sequels you wanted.

I'm too busy catching up on a lot of things this gen. 2013 would be a nice year for a new gen.

2013 or 2014 will work good for me. Maybe even 2015! Who knows! There is so much potential left in these systems and, once the hardcore gamers start to finally get their hands on each system, some truly great titles will be born.

And really, how big of an advancement has there been since 2005/2006? Sure, people would love to have more RAM on the 360, but at this time in the PS2, etc. lifecyle, we were begging for new consoles. Now, not so much.

At the very latest 2012, preferably early 2011 for new handhelds though. Would really like an ACTUAL upgrade to the PSP and DS without the 3000s/Gos/is/Lites/XLs/Pockets/Colours/SP/Micro/Crystal BS that they always do.

@AlexisOnFire
I tend to disagree about the whole lot of life left in these systems that you talked about. While not all games push these systems, I think both the PS3 and Xbox 360 are starting to get titles that probably max the system to around 90% of its capabilities or even push it a little bit too-far.

Case in point: Mass Effect 1 Elevators are my home.

The elevators to load the next area took so long, the characters had time to make very random side conversations, build a home out of cardboard boxes, age a few years and still not have made it to the top of that darn space station!

Mass effect 1 on PC? Wait times for Elevators were reduced to about 20% with a low-mid-level processor when the game was launched which is now a low-low-lvl processor by todays standards (E6400).

Case 2: Where's the power to drive the current generation graphics?

Some games like Dark Stalkers are really taxing the system sufficiently that the system can barely maintain 30 frames per second and you start to see some major screen tearing in the game especially with shifting the camera angles. Sure, they released and optimization patch to try to improve frame rates and either enable or disable v-sync but the game is still at times more than a bit choppy. If a new console was released, the new console would be able to render this game at a smooth 60hz or even 120hz. This game would not have had thoes problems on a new console or a faster-version of the xbox 360.

Case 3: High def is not high def.

Games like Halo 3 in my opinion looked great and looked awesome compared to Halo 1/2 on the original xbox. The graphics in terms of lighting, special effects, animation were improved a fairly reasonable amount. The physics for explosions, vehicle jumping, etc were also improved. The overall gameplay experience a bit better.

However, Halo 3 is still technically running at 640p. This is below, the lowest form of high definition 720p and is then upscaled to 720p/1080i/p. In reality, Halo 3 is closer to dvd-quality resolution than blu-ray/hi-def capable quality resolution. If say today a new xbox 720 for $500.00 to $600.00 came out that ran all the xbox 360 games and was based off the following technology, I would buy it. It would be able to run halo 3 at 1080p with anti-aliasing and even greater effects with almost zero load times:

SSD, iCore 920 possibly overclocked, ATI Radeon HD 5870 or HD 5850.

As soon as the next-generation systems come out, we'll actually true high definition pictures on our hdtvs rather than 'dvd' quality being upscale to high definition resolutions. I wouldn't mind the option TO buy more power and buy the same xbox 360 games but have an additional patch download that sets all the 'quality' settings to high, a dx11 rendering path, the native reoslution to 1080p and applies anti-aliasing/antiscopic filtering and get a good 45-60fps.

Even if Microsoft/Sony aren't willing to abandon their current console's generations software, features, xbox live, etc. I'd love if they would at least release refreshes than play the same games as an xbox 360/ps3 but faster, smoother and better looking. If you will an xbox 360 'Gen 2' as something to tide those people over who love games, love graphics and would be willing to spend another $400-$500.00 while waiting for the next real xbox generation to come out. If I sold my old 360 for $100-$150.00, the cost of upgrading would really only be $250.00-$300.00. I spend more than probably triple that on games every year.

Cool story brah

More like it was a Square-Enix decision causing the delay. They could've made it a PS2 title, it's not like they had to make the switch. Switching to any console would've caused some form of delay.

Besides, he doesn't say if making it for 360 added to the delay any or not.

Bigfat...could you ever not be an idiot? The PS3 is capable of producing graphics on a whole different level than the 360.

tell me about it i just finished jp and the worlds are beautiful but to short story and grand pulse it be your main area where u be doing everything. and you be force to beat the game to get extra 5th atb bar and 6 atb bar will be when u have omega weapons not ultema weapons anymore.

i been there and done that. i have feeling people will complainu get no gil from mobs.

gonna have to farm material to sell for gil the best it's from adman so gonna learn to kill them. 2 stomps and your dead.

You shut your big fat mouth...err...BigFat. Final Fantasy XIII's graphics are like a sheet cake made of victory!