Final Fantasy XIII Message Board

The world of Japanese video game development can often feel mysterious to those of us in the Western Hemisphere, so it's always cool to get these behind-the-scenes peeks at studios like Square Enix.Read more...

Getting started with Lightning Returns' deep combat is easy once you understand a few key ideas about schema.

Oh god. I didn't realize I could do this. I am going to get stuck playing dress-up in Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII for days. Read more...

Did you know Square Enix likes catering to its existing fanbase?Read more...

See the new trailer for Lightning's final outing in the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy.

A reader wants to know which region makes the best role-playing games. So, Greg and Colin debate.

Time for a juicy bunch of new details for Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, this time focusing on the battle system, plus a new location and costume too.

First up, some screens from Yusnaan, the city of revelry, focusing in on one area in particular – The Slaughterhouse. As the name implies, it’s not the most savoury of destinations… it’s home to nightly battles between mighty combatants in a brutal arena. I’m pretty sure you can figure out who’s going to end up getting involved in all that, eh?

Also, time to lift the lid on a nice little sync-up with Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII by way of some more costume links – this one allowing you to don the garb of the famous Miqo’te character from the forthcoming PS3 and PS4 MMO, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. You’ll be able to equip the Lominsan Cutlass and Escutcheon to give you some awesome rapid attacks and leave enemies dead in your wake.

And last, but by no means least, a bit more detail on the game’s battle system. In some battles, you can destroy sections of a foe, and if you succeed in disabling a specific area then the enemy will not only be weakened but you can also gain different items as rewards once the battle is won.

Plus, there’s also a new counter attack system – by timing your counter perfectly with the enemy attack you can negate it and land a punishing blow of your own that could stagger the foe. However, you need to judge when best to use it – it’ll use up a large portion of the ATB gauge, and it’s only effective against physical attacks… not magical ones.

Finally, check out the new “13 Days” trailer for the game – first shown at San Diego Comic-Con!

That’s it for this update – let us know what you think in the comments. We’ll have more for you soon!

Pretty CGI? Check. Awesome music? Check. No idea what's going on? Check. Yep, this is Final Fantasy. I'm digging what I've seen so far from the third FFXIII game, and this new trailer is pretty neat too. For more on <em>Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII</em> (which is out this February for PS3 and Xbox 360), check out my hands-on thoughts.

Square Enix has a lot of work to do. With Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII—the third game in what has become the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy—the folks at Square not only have to conclude Lightning's story in a satisfactory way, they have to figure out how to appeal to RPG fans who were turned off by the melodrama and mediocrity of the last two games. Fortunately, from what I've seen so far, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII seems like a really interesting game in a lot of different ways, and while Random Encounters readers know I'm no fan of either FFXIII or FFXIII-2, I am cautiously optimistic about Lightning's third adventure, which comes out in February 2014 for current-gen consoles. That's because I've played it. I've felt the combat—which is best described as a cross between Final Fantasy X-2 and Kingdom Hearts—and I've wandered through one of the dungeons during a 20-minute demo at E3 last week. Let me tell you a bit about what I saw. First, some things you should know about the combat: You play as Lightning—and only Lightning as far as we know right now—so get used to spending more time with the moody femme fatale.Monsters are visible on the world map. You can run up to them and hit first for a preemptive strike (that reduces the monster's HP by 10%). When you make contact, you enter a battle screen.Attacking feels like Kingdom Hearts: you can move around the battlefield, and when you press a button to perform an attack or spell, you execute it instantly. Each attack/spell costs action points, which gradually recharge over time. You can also hold a button to block attacks. This drains your action points too. Slowly and gradually.Then there's the Final Fantasy X-2 element: Lightning can change costumes in battle, which essentially changes her class. The three costumes I saw in this demo were called Divinity, Dark Muse, and Sorceress. Each class had its own blocking ability and its own moves, all assigned to the colored buttons.Each class also has its own bar of action points, and each of those bars charges on an individual basis. In other words, you can switch to Divinity, fire off a bunch of attacks, switch to Sorceress, cast a bunch of spells, switch to Dark Muse, blast baddies some more, and then switch back to Divinity, where you'll find that a bunch of action points have recharged. So you're encouraged to stay versatile.The Stagger system is back, with some tweaks: this time, you Stagger enemies (read: make them weaker) by damaging their weak points. If an enemy is vulnerable to ice, you can Stagger them by casting a lot of ice spells. Old school! Pressing "start" in battle brings up an inventory screen, which in this demo led me to find a bunch of Bravery and Faith potions—perhaps a reference to Final Fantasy Tactics? There's also a system called Overclock, which is basically the new limit break: when you activate it, the screen freezes and you can attack enemiesBattle music still features a rockin' violin, but not the same rockin' violin as the last two games.The last thing I wrote in my notebook during the demo: "Wow!" See, it's actually a really fun, interesting system, and it's gotten me psyched for Lightning Returns. Not that you should run out and pre-order the game right now—this is a snap judgement based on a 20-minute demo, and really we shouldn't pre-order games at all—but I'm now excited for the next Final Fantasy. I wasn't kidding when I said that Square Enix seems to be stepping up their game. Some other random thoughts: One line of dialogue I scribbled down in my notebook: "I'm getting powerful Chaos readings from inside the palace." In case you were worried that this game isn't going to be a bit ridiculous.Another thing I scribbled: "This is like the anti-Final Fantasy XIII." That's because instead of just walking down a straight path, you actually interact with the environment: Lightning climbs ladders, jumps obstacles, twirls down poles... It's no Assassin's Creed, as Stephen has pointed out, but it's pleasant.That said, this isn't an action-RPG: you can jump and move around more than you can in most traditional Japanese RPGs, but the world doesn't have a lot of friction. There's not a ton of weight.A lot of people don't like Lightning, but she's actually kind of grown on me. I'd certainly pick her over FFXIII-2's Serah and Noel.Snow, who you may remember from the last two games, is called the Patron and he's in charge of the city or something like that. Lightning is trying to chase him down. I'm not sure why.Oh and there's a bunch of stuff about the world ending in 13 days and all that jazz. I didn't see much that explains the story, but Final Fantasy producer Yoshinori Kitase told the website Nova Crystallis that you don't really need to know what happened in FFXIII and FFXIII-2 to get this one, which is a very good sign.Here's part of the E3 demo, so you can see a chunk of what I saw: I thought the last two games were blunders, but I'm approaching this one with an open mind. So far, I like what I've seen. Hopefully Lightning can keep it up. Random Encounters is a weekly column dedicated to all things JRPG. It runs every Friday at 3pm ET. You can reach the author at jason@kotaku.com or follow him on Twitter at @jasonschreier.

Have you been counting down the minutes until Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII? If so, you’re definitely in luck as we have a slew of updates for you.

If you’ve been asleep since last September when we unveiled the game, here’s the gist of it: The world of Gran Pulse is sinking into the sea and what remains is Nova Chrysalia. With only thirteen days remaining until the end of the world, you have full control of Lightning and it is your mission to save as many souls as possible. Along the journey, you will encounter familiar faces and engage new foes in all new lands. Now that you’re caught up, you’re ready to watch the Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII trailer — right here!

A couple things to note: First is the return of Snow Villiers, with a completely new look. He’s got new hair, and equal if not more abundant amounts of swagger. Why are Snow and Lightning at odds now? What has transpired over the time between these two former allies? Sorry, but you’ll just have to wait a bit to find out these secrets.

If that wasn’t the first thing you noticed, then it’s probably the area that looks nothing like from either Final Fantasy XIII or Final Fantasy XIII-2. This is Yusnaan, one of the four vast lands that compose Nova Chrysalia. Yusnaan is a bustling land bathed in pure entertainment, bright lights, and non-stop awesomeness.

In typical Final Fantasy fashion, Lightning Returns features insane monsters, abilities, and spells. We’ll be revealing much more in the coming months, so stay tuned!

We’re also unveiling our final box art for North America!

Lastly, the biggest question we’ve received everywhere we go is “When is it coming out?” Finally, we’re confirming that Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII will hit PlayStation 3 in North America on February 11th, 2014!

For more information, stay up to date at our official website. Have questions? If so, ask below and we’ll answer whatever the Goddess Etro will allows us to.

#art Tetsuya Nomura wears various hats at Japanese game maker Square Enix. He designs games, he produces them, he directs them—he also designs characters! His artwork is perhaps the most influential of the Final Fantasy series. But it's sometimes easy to forget his pure artistic talent, and sometimes easier to get lost in his resume, whether that's the games he's made or is making. More »

Final Fantasy XIII isn't too great of a game. I probably would not dislike it so much, however, if it wasn't a prime example of wasted potential.

That basically summarizes the game's battle system: wasted potential. On paper, the battle system sounds like the best the series has had yet. A perfect blend of the strategic elements of class Final Fantasy titles and the fast-paced action of other games. And during the first few hours, you really would think that the battle system is the best in the series. So how could it go so wrong? Well, there's a couple of problems with it. First and foremost, the combat becomes repetitive. While one may think the game allows for a ton of strategic depth, the way most of the enemies are structured and the way most of the abilities are designed ruins all of its potential. Bosses will become spamfests, determined by how quickly you can change paradigms and hope for the best. Secondly, not being able to control individual party members is a real detriment. while it may work in a game like Mass Effect, 2 where the level design matters as much as the enemies you are fighting, for a game like Final Fantasy XIII, in which the outcome of a battle depends purely on your combat choices, it only hinders the experience.

As for what was mentioned in the beginning of this review, that also summarizes the story: wasted potential. The underlying lore, setting, and atmosphere of the game, in theory, compose great fodder for a story to be told. However, unfortunately, the execution of the story-telling is just plain terrible. Many of the character sound like broken record players; repeating the same spiel over, and over, and over again. The most notable offenders are Hope (Mr. "I don't think I'm strong enough/I'm gonna KILL that Snow") and Snow (Mr. "We're the heroes! Never give up!"). The rest of the crew, Vanille, Lightning, and Fang, are incredibly one-dimensional with no real depth; the only character with any real depth and memorable personality traits is Sazh. And it says alot about a game if the most memorable character is a middle-aged man with a baby bird living in his 'fro.

Finally, the music isn't that great, either. While some of it is good, such as the battle themes, alot of it devolves in to cheesy J-Pop. *crag*, the worst offender is the chocobo theme; they gave it *crag*ing lyrics. You don't give lyrics to the chocobo theme. You just plain don't.

So yeah, ultimately, I'd call this game more "disappointing" than "bad." If you're a die-hard fan of the series, you should probably get it, but be wary. If you're not a member of the FF fanbase, well, this game definitely isn't going to convert you.

#skyrim Of course, Skyrim mods are not new—neither is using Skyrim mods to recreate Final Fantasy characters. That doesn't mean we are totally jaded and impossible to impress. More »

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII will be the last game set in the Final Fantasy XIII universe and will wrap up the story of Lightning

#finalfantasy Oh come on, you know you were thinking it. More »

#finalfantasy More »

#finalfantasy Final Fantasy XIII-2 comes with a multi-chapter, fully voiced summary of the plot of its predecessor, which is extremely convenient for fans that decided to pass up XIII in favor of not getting involved in a giant argument. It does not feature pixel breakdancing or any sort of lyrical rampage. This one does. More »

Final Fantasy XIII was supposed to be a PlayStation 2 game, the company's role-playing finale between Sony’s last piece of hardware and the next. Development started in 2004, but a move to PlayStation 3 and onto a new engine proved more troublesome than expected--the game finally released in late 2009 in Japan, early 2010 everywhere else.

It’s not often that Square Enix commissions a direct sequel to a Final Fantasy game, but the practice has become more and more commonplace, with Final Fantasy XIII being the latest to receive one with Final Fantasy XIII-2.

Final Fantasy X received a sequel, too, focusing on a trio of female characters from the game.

“With Final Fantasy XIII being the first Final Fantasy on the next-gen consoles, or at least what was considered next-gen, and we spent a lot of time creating the environment and the characters and we had a great satisfaction in what we created,” said producer Yoshinori Kitase in an interview with me back in October.

While Final Fantasy XIII was not the most critically beloved of the Final Fantasy games, it sold well. More than six million copies of the game have been shipped worldwide, and since creating a brand-new Final Fantasy game would take years, a sequel made more sense.

“The difficult in this is that because it’s a direct sequel and the foundation remains the same, it’s how to provide users with a new experience, where it’s still new and exciting, and I think that becomes the biggest challenge for a sequel,” said Kitase.

One of the biggest complaints about Final Fantasy XIII was the linearity, a criticism not lost on the development staff. Final Fantasy XIII-2 introduces a time travel element (making our latest Endurance Run well-timed) that gives new options to the player, a feature that’s seen tweaks based on what players have been saying while the game is still in development.

Focus testing is a new concept for Square Enix, one it picked up from the acquisition of Eidos Interactive. Kitase said the conversations he’s been having with Western designers from Eidos Interactive's many studios has proven very influential, and pushed Square Enix to start soliciting player feedback before development wrapped.

Previously, the game would finish development and then the team would seek out feedback. This meant most meaningful notes from fans could not be incorporated until the next game, potentially years out.

“A lot of the titles coming out of Japan have a tendency to not use any focus testing,” said Kitase, “and especially with Final Fantasy, especially with [what we] learned from XIII, especially hearing all the fan feedback and media feedback post launch, we took that a cue to incorporate that from an early stage, and we feel this is a good method that we would like to incorporate into our development.”

Players can travel back in time with leveled up characters to tackle previously unbeatable bosses in XII-2.

Kitase said he’s aware of how players these days are able to provide more direct, real-time feedback through Facebook and Twitter, but admitted the issue is that much of Japan hasn’t accepted social media just yet.

“We’re learning,” he said.

Another problem, one that we can all relate to, is figuring out what users are asking for, as most people are anonymous on the Internet, and determining if a user is being serious can be...challenging. His team still actively read message boards, however.

Part of this learning process has been adopting the idea of the “vertical slice,” an industry insider term that refers to a development team extracting a small section of an unfinished game and spending time polishing that for presentation purposes. It’s what makes up many of the demos you see at E3, PAX-- shows where games are shown over and over again.

If you didn't care for Final Fantasy XIII, it's unclear whether XIII-2 will change that much.

When asked about the rising influence of Western-made RPGs, Kitase said he enjoys talking to the media about what makes them enjoyable. When in the thick of development, he doesn’t have time to play much, and the media gives him perspective as that aspect winds down.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 art director Isamu Kamikokuryo had a particular eye for Western games, showing admiration for Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption, and jealousy after I said I’d played The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim ahead of release (remember, this is back in October).

“I really enjoyed the previous rendition [The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion],” said Kamikokuryo, “but the graphic quality for this new one is just extremely impressive, and it really strikes my curiosity to see if I were to create something like that...how I would design a game, or the characters, or the world?”

Maybe he'll have a chance with the Final Fantasy game, which is most likely already well into development.

Final Fantasy XII-2 arrives on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on January 31.

Let's face it: Final Fantasy XIII was an RPG that divided the RPG-playing community. Some gamers loved the aesthetics, the battle system and customization options. Other players loathed Final Fantasy XIII's emphasis on linearity and deemed the cast of characters contrived and the item and equipment systems shallow...

#filmschool The video game cutscene has undergone a lot of transformations over the past couple of decades, and many games these days present elaborate, dazzling CGI sequences that are often billed as "Hollywood-caliber." More »

More battles, please. More battles.

A copy of Final Fantasy XIII still sits on a shelf in my apartment, as I continue to convince myself that I'll play that game someday. I know, of course, that day will never come, a notion reinforced by today's news that Final Fantasy XIII-2 is now confirmed for a release in January.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 has reportedly been engineered to respond to much of the criticism leveled against the original game, where complaints of linearity and a mystifying lack of random towns to explore were rampant.

Final Fantasy X was the last JRPG I spent any significant amount of time with. Loved that one. The MMO-esque battle system of Final Fantasy XII never sunk its hooks in me. Mostly, I just got frustrated. But alas.

Can Square Enix just remake Final Fantasy III (or VI, depending on the country) and call it a day?

#speakuponkotaku In today's fairly straightforward episode of Speak Up on Kotaku, commenter Monsieur Froid wonders why so many people have a problem with linear gameplay. More »

#fancypants Final Fantasy XIII comes to life before your very eyes. More »

#xbox360 The most recent issue of Japanese magazine V-Jump features an article on upcoming role-playing game Final Fantasy Versus XIII. The game is supposed to be a PS3 exclusive. The latest V-Jump begs to differ. More »

#squareenix In the past, whenever Square Enix released a new Final Fantasy, things were a-okay. Yet, last year the Tokyo-based game maker released two, and things are anything but. More »

"Corporation Service Company" has registered the "Finalfantasy13-2game.com" domain name, according to Superannuation. The company has previously registered domains for Nier, Mindjack, and other Square Enix games, suggesting that this is also the work of Square Enix.

This domain name could simply be Square Enix grabbing related names just in case, but it could also be evidence of a direct sequel to Final Fantasy XIII -- possibly, like Final Fantasy X-2, one built on the engine and assets from the previous, expensive game. Of course, unlike Final Fantasy X, the Final Fantasy XIII "franchise" is already somewhat crowded, with Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Final Fantasy Agito XIII on the way sometime before the end of the universe.

Square is holding a "1st Production Party Premiere Event" in Japan on January 18, so if there really is a new Final Fantasy to announce, we'll likely hear about it, and any costume-change-based fighting it may contain, then.

[Thanks, Vallanthaz]

#rumor An online site registration could once again prove that gaming's endless role-playing franchise isn't anywhere near its finale. More »

Could Square Enix be sizing up a sequel?

Final Fantasy XIII launched exclusively on PlayStation 3 in Japan last December, beating the multiplatform English release by just under three months, and the local Xbox 360 version by a year. The Japanese Xbox 360 game, dubbed Final Fantasy XIII Ultimate Hits International, arrived on December 16th, bringing with it an English voiceover track, an "Easy" mode and a bonus book. According to launch week sales figures, Square Enix's turnaround in supporting the Japanese 360 may have been overly optimistic.

Producer Yoshinori Kitase told Japanese mag Famitsu in September that the redesigned Xbox 360 hardware had revitalized interest in a local edition of Final Fantasy XIII. "We feel that there are ... a lot of people in Japan who own nothing but 360s," he said. "Thanks to the new system and such, the situation's a lot different than it was in July 2008."

In its first four days, Final Fantasy XIII sold fewer than 22,579 copies -- the cut-off point for that week's top 20 sales as tracked by Media Create -- and landed in the 39th spot. It's not an unsurprising outcome for a year-old title meeting a relatively small user base, but it raises an interesting question: Would Square have benefited more if it had launched its flagship property on both platforms last December, or was this tardy tradeoff its best shot at a small target?

#xbox360 In one word, "no". More »