GDC: Toriyama explains the themes of the Fabula Nova Crystallis trilogy

Snow is the Origami Killer

I'll take FFXIII's good story development over FFXII's "open" gameplay any day of the week. This is definitely one game where story is the main reason to play (as such, I'm not using any strategy guides because of potential spoilers).

I'd also advocate staying away from any FFXIII stories should someone try to ruin the story for you.

I don't care if its linear, just give me an epic storyline and I'll be happy :D

I honestly don't mind having my characters premade for me as long as I can emotionally attach myself to them, if they are dull and typical, then don't expect the gamer to become immersed.

Level of linearity will make me decide whether is is worthy of replaying, but other then that, I don't mind, I personally think that those who complain about linearity but happily play Gears without moaning are not worthy of listening to ¬_¬

@ Apex_Predator


Just you wait. The day of reckoning is at hand...

Guy who continually states that *SPOLIERS* Fang and whoever die at the end, go f***k yourself.

*spoiler*

I'M.
GOING.
TO.
KILL.


...wait for it...




YOU!!!!!!

Where might I find full text of the panel?

i love this game simply for the fact that the battle system is awesome once you get the hang of it, when you defeat 6 tough enemies in less than 2 minutes just by getting the drop on them and choosing the right paradigms it feels good.

Just finished FFXIII, go on Joystiq, first thing I see is the FNC logo. Awesome.

Looking over the comments I am SO glad I avoided any discussion about the game until I'd beaten it.

I'm only a little over 10 hours into XIII, but I'm really enjoying it. :)

Hey guys, I heard there was some crazy shit that happens at the end of Final Fantasy XIII

can anyone elaborate?

I had forgotten all about Agito... has there been word about it lately?? (other than this)

Good! Glad the Linearity is here to stay. To be honest i perfectly like the fact that the course of the storyline develops as you get deeper into the heart of XIII. It would be nice IF the game got a little more open a lot sooner than it does however its not the off point of the game. XIII is simply one of the best RPG's that has been released recently raising the bar of RPG's is definitely what it did in my opinion and my expectations of a RPG definitely have raised for me and RPGs now. Glad to see that SE is going to continue with this aspect.

"a theme where the fates of ordinary humans are controlled by omnipotent gods"

Except the ones that the developer designs the battle system for you to defeat.

"you have to admit the maps leave a lot to be desired"

Apparently you never played FF1, 4, 5, or 6. Each of those has at least one castle where you can literally hold up on the d-pad and get to the king. The dungeons in every single one of those games are also more or less straight lines and the complex dungeons that are in them either only require you to press a certain piece of wall or a switch to move on.

Believe it or not the maps in the series have always been linear as hell (with exceptions of course). The little things are what make the maps seem non-linear. For example, in FF4 most dungeons had secret passages in the walls on the left or right side of the screen, but if you didn't walk along and check them you make a direct line for the exit. XIII is the same way to an extent if you look at your map and say "oh, the exit is straight ahead I'll just go there" you miss out on loads of exp (I hate crystarium points' abbreviation) and a lot of treasure.

Personally I think adding the maps from X onward were a bad thing, they made people think that exploration of maps wasn't actually important.

tl;dr version: ALL FF games have very linear level design if you don't explore nooks and crannies.

PS. I want my random encounters back Squeenix.

They should make future games at least as non-linear as XII, if not more.

@ColossalHat

Never in my life did I think that I would miss random encounters, but it's actually happened. Maybe it's just me starting to feel nostalgic, but I miss the danger and mystery of random battles.

WRE, that's irrelevant nonsense. So FFX and say, DQVIII have the same degree of linearity just because they lead to the same ending? Give me a break. There's always a few people saying something like that in a discussion like this, and it's a completely useless comment to make. Those games are NOT the same.

Western rpgs make players waste too much time "exploring" a bunch of emptiness. Linearity is better unless you REALLY give players something to do, like in MMOs.

I have no idea what the hell is happening right now.

How is that for non-linear?

I am loving 13 so far. Most of the previous FFs have been fairly linear. I'm only about 8-10 hours in so far but the battle system is blowing me away, and the story is the best since 9. The voice acting is top notch, and the characters are all to my liking.

The linearity bugs me if I look at the map. If I hit select to turn off the mini-map it is a much better experience, and much more like previous FFs.

I liked 12, but it did not immediately suck me in like 13 is. I always think I like more open RPGs in theory, but looking back the more linear RPGs have always been my favorite. If I can enjoy the story, or enjoy the battle system, I'm happy. If I can do both (6, 7, 9, 13) I'm hooked. I'll be finishing this one.

Just wanted to add to the chorus of "actually, I love it". It's one of the first PS3 games that has kept me up late at night. Everytime I get to a save point I say "ok... one more" which hasn't really happened for me yet this generation.

I have enjoyed FFXIII so much so far. I think that people have been way to harsh on FFXIII. But that's nothing new FF's aren't really appreciated by the western audiences until a year later I've noticed. FFXIII is pretty much as linear as FFX. I was really worried hearing all the reviews that I was really not going to like FFXIII. I am enjoying it twice as much as FFXII so far.

Whats crazy is that reviews jumped all over FFX-2 like it was the best game ever coming out and then they crap all over FFXIII. I feel like video game review are becoming just about as helpful to me as movie reviews.

(Disclaimer: This post contains point-making material and in no way means the rest of the areas in the respective games are the same.)

Say hello to baron castle. Hold UP to advance story.
http://www.fantasyanime.com/finalfantasy/ff4/images/ff4map_wsc02.png

And to the temple of the fiends. Hold UP to advance story.
http://achurch.org/cgi-bin/getmap.cgi?loc=TempleOfFiends&scale=1

Finally don't forget the FF6 ghost train, a straight line with buttons. Hold LEFT for story.

http://www.fantasyanime.com/finalfantasy/ff6/images/ff6gba_map15-PhantomTrain.png

Final Fantasy XIII is the same way. The major difference is now with XIII you have a map to confirm suspicions that an area is linear. I do realize that there are other, more complex areas in those games, however, there are other, more complex areas in XIII as well.

While I would've liked exploring the world of FFXIII, I think what I hated more was the constant shifting between characters. Okay, I get that they wanted to expand on each character's story but could we not have had at least one character that we could fully immerse yourself into before exploring other characters?

Also, I won't believe it until I see it. I still have faith in Versus and Agito. However, I hope Agito comes out first - so that if it flops, Square-Enix can just straight up send Toriyama to the firing squad.

Also, I want DQ for PS3.

I do enjoying experiencing the new linearity of FF 13, but I also want to experience towns and world maps of the old style FF in this new console generation.

Once again, I don't mind it. But I wish it could have been different.

Is "Increasingly irrelevant" a theme?

I think there's a difference between just plain linearity and bad level design. FFXIII possesses the latter. FFX was extremely linear, but it provided the illusion of exploration. The maps had several branching paths, the world felt open, etc. But it actually leads you down a very fixed story. FFX is also my favorite in the series.


FFXIII, on the other hand, makes no attempt to disguise its linear nature. You simply run in one direction: forward. Even the paths feel incredibly tight and claustrophobic at times. Now that I've gotten to chapter 11, it's great. It actually feels more like a Final Fantasy (though the lack of towns is killer). I still think it's a great game, however. The battle system is so fun, the graphics are beautiful, and the story is one of the best in the series. But I think it's not necessarily the linear nature that's so bad. It's Square's lack of creative level design, of providing that small illusion of depth and openness.

This was once an auto $60 dollars gone from my wallet but after the vast disappointment that is FF XIII i'll pass. Its not so much that its linear, all of them were, but they emphasized it. I mean mist of the maps are literally straight lines. I mean no towns, no small side trips no nothing.

All of that could and would have been forgiven if the game was turn based and didnt have the auto play in it, but it did. Its like they dumbed it down as much as possible for those new to JRPGs or something.

I MAY rent versus 13 but I doubt i'll buy it. in fact FF XIII will probably be the last one I buy until I get one of my monthly mags and the article confirms the next real FF (not the MMO crap) is indeed turn based. If that never happens, Versus 13 will probably be the last FF I ever play baring a FF7 remake (even thought i didn't like the ATB).

This makes me want to pick up a psp.

Final Fantasy Versus 13 it's still exclusive to PlayStation 3.... at least for now.