Final Fantasy XIII director comments on linearity, early reviews

It sounds like they are using "HD" as an excuse to make less of a game. They say, we can't make towns cause of "HD" we can't make a world map because of HD...Why not? If HD is really that bigger gripe then make the game look worse and play better. They NEED world maps back in FF it mae the game.

It's not the linearity of the game that sucks, I like the tight story and developed characters, what this game lacks is the fun that used to be in FF games. Give me snowboarding, give me a card game, give me blitzball, give me something...

I guess I have to play the game first, but from all accounts it seems as though they are stripping what I like out of FF one game at a time.

"they dump you in a big open world and let you do what you like"

Kind of like the 8-bit and 16-bit Final Fantasies?

What a crock of shit. I'll probably check this game out when it hits the $40 range, but this franchise is on my list of franchises that have gone down the shitter, along with call of duty (yes, even IW developed ones), guitar hero, tony hawk and much more.

Sweet I am looking forward to it even more now!

Yay I'm glad its going to be linear. I hate getting lost and turned around and spending time trying to figure out where the hell to go. Not that it makes a difference though. A black guy growing chocobos in his hair kind of makes me not want to buy this game.

Sounds like XIII is going to be like MGS. Can't be the best game made, but can't be the worst. I'll give it a whirl.

Oh come on.... Square-Enix has a lot of power in their smallest finger. Even if half to three-quaters of that finger has been chopped off fixing the lawn mower or playing with ah... crap... Brain fart. Clouds buster-blade. The tides were turned in the console wars when Square-Enix once again decided to jump ship, first from Nintendo to PlayStation and now a kind of teetering of PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. That shows the power of Square-Enix. The world flipped when they heard Final Fantasy XIII wasn't coming to PS3. From there, the gaming world really started to change as now Hideo Kojima is considering multi-platform gaming, right? Among others. Halo alone nor Gears of War could have had the same impact on the 360 and Square supporting the 360 more now than they've ever bothered to support the 360 and Microsoft. I really shouldn't be saying this since I'm an avid PS3 gamer but.... Who listens to one man anyway. This is valuable advice.

Hear me. You better be careful when you play with fire. When you hurt a little boys feelings, you have no idea how mentally unstable that little boy is and the amount of damage he could cause. Square-Enix's feelings were hurt once by Nintendo and Square decided to support Sony and smothered the Nintendo leaving Sony the champion console developer for two straight CONSECUTIVE GAMING GENERATIONS! If reviews flop for the 360 version of the game, gamers aren't gonna buy it and look into Resonance of Fate or whatever else. XBOX MAGAZINE gave the game an 8.5 I think it was. That can leave a sour taste with screenshot comparisons and the fact the game is spanned over three discs. Do you know what PS Magazine gave it? A 9.0 with Game Informer giving it a 9.3. If Sony can favor Square-Enix enough, remember in this world, you get places by kissing somebodies but. That's how promosions are gained, by kissing your bosses buttocks. But if you make the little boy cry, he won't want to play with you anymore. That's why Square-Enix chose to support multi-platform. They thought it'd be a good investment as most gamers were on the 360, but if they don't buy, you don't make any money. Keep in mind, Japanese gamers are going nuts over this game and they're all PS3 gamers as the 360 version isn't available in Japan.

I think you get my point. If you really think about it, it makes perfect sense. I'm telling you. Piss them off, and they'll leave for good, and RPG's have been a major turning point and vitality to game consoles for two decades. If you want to disagree with me, fight it and ignore me, that's your loss, but you remember that while you're kicking away at me, Sony's devising a way of how they can better their relationships with game developers, not smother them. That's why they've gotten ahead. (i.e.) Jack Tretton was asked once if he thought or feared Metal Gear Solid would go to the 360. He replied honestly "No, we've never been the type of company to pull out our checkbooks and pay money. We've always had great relationships with our developers." Metal Gear Solid 4 was never ported to the 360. That says something. MGS4 had a greater impact on the PS3 than Metal Gear Rising with have on the PS3 and 360. So think about that before you decide to attack me, Sony's working on improving relationships while you're supporting whoever is trying to smack them down.

This doesn't really bother me. The older Final Fantasy games had a more open world, yes, but so what? I'm playing through Mass Effect 2 right now, then I'm going back to Fallout 3. I'm very much in the mood for a more linear game.

To all the people who are saying, "you want a compelling story, go watch a movie." It's sad to see a cornerstone of good entertainment thrown out the window like that. I don't like my games mindless, thank you.

I'm just saying....

I find it crazy how he's complaining about Westerners, when I find people in Japan are worse than Westerners when it comes to bias. I'm not going to comment on Final Fantasy XIII since I have little experience with the series (I've played and really liked III on the DS), but while this game may be getting less than favorable reviews from the west, (the game has an 86 on Metacritic, so whatever) there are games like Shadow of the Colossus and Okami that a critically adored here in the west, while according to Wikipedia, not one Western developed game has scored a 40/40 from Famitsu (some have 39/40 though). Also, there are Japanese developed games that sell very well here, while whenever I see a Japanese sales chart, Western developed games are nowhere to be seen.

But whatever, take it or leave it.

Reviewer as been su***** hard since dawn of time. the moment they gave GTA 4 10/10 it was finished for me. As a manager of a gamestop its just to much for me. to bash on beautifull game and give a 10/10 for gta... seriously... they are sold, and thats the end of the line. ( just to make sure people do not pee in their pants. i speak about popular website that i cant mention i...g....n... )

I think I tuned out to any damage-control for FF13 after reading an interview with one of the designers/developers who said that the main reason for fewer/smaller towns was because it proved to difficult to do in HD.

Yepp, it was not an intentional design decision or anything; simply just that it was too hard for them (despite what other game companies have managed to pull out recently)

1. FFX = not good
2. All FF games main stories are linear.
3. You can make it through FFVII without getting Vincent or Yufi.
4. FFXII = also not good
5. An Action RPG FF would be garbage..complete and utter garbage...just ask Nintendo...they make about 3 a year...example - Crystal Chronicles
6. You want peak FF try 5 or 7. By far two of the best.

I call bullsh*t on Toriyama for his remarks. Having completed the game myself, I can firmly say that this game is not simply linear; it's practically a straight line from point A to point B. Anyone who's on here saying otherwise obviously hasn't played the game. I LOVE "linear" games, and I've never faulted a game, especially a JRPG, for being so. Final Fantasy XIII is the sole exception, and you'll understand why soon enough even if you don't end up agreeing with me.

As a side note, I should mention that overall, I still enjoyed the game despite the shortcomings on its script, uber-linearity, and mediocre soundtrack. The characters were well-developed even if they weren't necessarily likable, the visuals can be breathtaking, and the battle system is a blast. I am definitely no FFXIII naysayer.

as long as the story's good i don't mind. in fact, i prefer linear stories because they tend to be better fleshed out and more exciting. i love a good story.

not to say i'm not a fan of open world games either, but their plots never really drew me in. i spent enough time in fallout 3 to get through the main plot (which was surprisingly good) but never dabbled in it afterwards. oblivion's plot was lackluster and boring, i don't even consider it the actual main plot. the game was captivating because of the story i wrote for myself just messing around and discovering things.

To celebrate the release of Final Fantasy XIII I have made an article about my Top 5 Final Fantasies in my blog: http://tyonlegend.blogspot.com/ . Please read it and tell me what your top 5 readers, I'm trying to make my blog a great blog!

I believe in what the director said. Since they wanted to go for a very story-driven game, they had to give it the linearity in order to totally engross the player into the story. I have played 3,4,7,8,9,10 and 12 and I felt that 12 had such a light storyline and was put off. Yes the open-world was great, but the story suffered. I like that they brought real character development back into 13 - i'm totally into the story and cannot put it down.