These were originally posted on a different forum, and quite a time ago at that, so a few details may be out of date - such as "White Engine", which is now called "Crystal Tools". I'll add a second post after this for any updates I posted.
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Videos - Final Fantasy XIII Extended Cloud Trailer :: PlayStation Universe (PSU)
First, I'll make a few observations about the trailer, and then I'll relate to you all what is known already about the game.
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Initial impressions about the trailer? Final Fantasy to the core. The setting, the battle system, the music. It's what you expect a Final Fantasy game to be.
A highly technological world (I've only played FFX, so I can't really compare with other games. To me, though, a technological FF world comes as a shock
), with absolutely stunning landscapes.
The first thing you see in the trailer is a train speeding along a track, with bullets flying everywhere, a cut to some kind of airship flying through the clouds, surrounded by other airships, back to the train which is stopped by some kind of robotic insect, and a cut back to the airship, before being taken to a whole different landscape – beautiful cliffs with small grassy ledges. But only for a moment, because once we've seen ground level, we're taken back to the train, upon which the protagonist stands. The ones with eyes amongst you will have realised that the protagonist is an acrobatic she, with strawberry blonde hair, and a sharp sword to boot – unlike other protagonists, she looks old and hard enough to walk into a pub and order a fine ale without getting stopped. The more eagle-eyed of you will have noticed how realistically not only she moves, but her hair moves. It could be because I'm a bit of a detail freak, but to me, that's just amazing. I've yet to play a game with realistic hair. And believe me, as the trailer goes along, you'll be seeing a lot more of it. Oh, incredible lighting too – just watch how the shadows and light play over her face. We calls it the "White Engine" – Square Enix's next-generation game engine that is capable of producing real-time (not pre-rendered) CGI graphics during the actual game play, let along the cut scenes.
We're soon given a taste of the battle system. So far it looks to be
Lightning (for that is what the strawberry blonde acrobat is called) fighting alone (and watch how realistically the fabric of her clothes moves!) in real-time. The days of standing and facing your enemies across a patch of 'no-man's land' as you scroll through menus look to have changed somewhat. The menus are still there, but they've changed dramatically, and you've gets legs and feet that actually work! Lightning looks to have a special "stop time" move that allows her to, erm, stop time for a brief moment and cause super damage, not only to a single enemy, but to a great horde of enemies that might surround her.
Oh, one word for you all... well, three and a hyphen –
semi-automatic gun. Ah, tricked you. Lightning has been seen to have a sword, and she's definitely got a firearm. They are apparently one weapon, but not at the same time – sorry folks, you'll have to wait longer for the legendary Gunblade to return.
After the battle you catch a glimpse of the Shiva sisters in all their fine, HD, CGI wonder. Not only do you catch a glimpse of the summon(s), but you see them transform into a motorbike.
The rest of the trailer is much of the same – hundreds of men with guns (who bear a striking resemblance to the guys in the Versus trailer) surrounding poor old Lightning (who makes use of a brilliant facial animation and emotion system), before
Mr. 33cm speeds in on his DuoShiva Motorbike.
End.
Oh, and we're told that
the game is exclusive to the PS3. No, it's not coming to the 360, no matter how many times you post it on an online forum.
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So that's the trailer, but what about everything else that we don't see?
First of all, the director is Motomu Toriyama of
FFX-2, erm, infamy.
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Right, I'll explain the
battle system next. The battle system director is one you'll probably love without knowing it - Toshiro Tsuchida, the battle system director of
FFX. The aim of the battle system crew, and their director, is to create a system that mirrors battles in
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, and placing them in a playable environment. The basic concept of the FFXIII battle system is a strategic, command-input, menu-driven, real-time, fast-paced, ATB-esque battle system (parties still feature, by the way). Try saying that drunk. Commands are selected from a reel at the bottom left of the screen, each one with an ATB cost. A bar at the bottom of the screen is depleted with each command, but slowly fills up again. Unlike past Final Fantasy's, you can input commands as the bar is still filling. Selected commands are placed on a row of upcoming commands above the ATB bar, with current ones in yellow. Commands can be chained together for certain effects, and the environment also plays a part – the E3 2006 trailer, for example, shows a man propelled into a light, smashing it, and electrocuting himself for extra damage.
In the top right-hand corner, is a small circular shaped gauge, which represents Overclock mode – a mode that will probably replace the traditional Limit Break. When the gauge is full, you can induce a slow-motion type effect, effectively pausing time for everything/one but the player. The gauge quickly depletes, however, so you've only got a limited amount of time in which to kick some ass.
In the upper left-hand corner of the screen is a map populated by a blue dot in the middle (Lightning) and surrounded by red dots. It is assumed that the red dots are those who are affected by the fighting. Indeed, if you look at the picture linked above, you can see that there is a circled red dot next to the circled blue dot, which I assume is the enemy that Lightning is attacking.
Summons make a welcome return, with the Shiva sisters having been seen in all trailers. It is believed that all summons will be seen in their true form, and in their transformed form, which may be vehicles, or objects that the player can use.
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The game takes place in at least two locations –
Cocoon and
Pulse. Pulse is the 'overworld', with the beautiful cliffs and grass, and heaven knows what else. Cocoon is a specially created environment, ideal for humans to live in.
Each location is governed by a Crystal – thought to be living beings that the inhabitants of the FFXIII universe think of as Gods. One Crystal created Cocoon, and governs and cares for it, whilst another Crystal controls everything outside of Cocoon – Pulse. There may be more Crystals hanging about somewhere.
The Crystals may play a key part in the
Fabula Nova Crystallis trilogy - FFXIII, Versus, and Agito... bit of a no-brainer, really.
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So far, three characters have been revealed – Lightning, Mr. 33cm, and a second female, with purple hair, carrying a bow.
Lightning is her codename, to hide her true identity. She has apparently been chosen by a Crystal (which one is unknown) to destroy Cocoon. She wears two yellow stripes on left shoulder, symbolising rank and social status, a wields a weapon that can shift between sword mode, and firearm mode. She also uses gravity to her advantage, going into a trance mode in which sparks fly around her body. Tetsuya Nomura, character designer for FFXIII (director of FFVII, KH series, FF Versus XIII, character designer for all twelve million Squenix games currently in development) says that he was asked to create a female version of Cloud. She may have amnesia.
Mr. 33cm is so called because his
SHOE SIZE is 33cm. He rides the Shiva motorbike, carries a gun, and has been described by Nomura as "cowboy-like". He and Lightning share an unusual relationship.
As for the other girl? Haven't a clue. She was seen in the TGS '07 trailer... which was shown behind closed doors.
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You'll notice (well, you will when I tell you who's involved) that a lot of experienced Squenix veterans are working on this game. In fact, here's a brief list of the key people:
Yoshinori Kitase (game producer)
FFV, FFVI, FFVII, FFVIII, FFX, FFX-2, KH, KH:CoM, KHII.
Motomu Toriyama (game director)
FFVII, FFVIII, FFX, FFX-2.
Kazushige Nojima (scenario writer)
FFVII, FFVIII, FFX, FFX-2, KH, KH:CoM, KHII.
Tetsuya Nomura (character designer)
FFVII, FFVIII, FFX, FFX-2, KH, KH:CoM, KHII.
Nobuo Uematsu (theme composer)
FFI, FFII, FFIII, FFIV, FFV, FFVI, FFVII, FFVIII, FFIX, FFX, FFXI
Masashi Hamauzu (music composer)
FFVII, FFX
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Sources:
Final Fantasy XIII - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
FinalFantasy-XIII.net / Final Fantasy XIII (13), Final Fantasy Versus XIII, Final Fantasy Agito XIII
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