Final Fantasy XIII-2‽ Catch-All

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Following in the footsteps of Final Fantasy X-2, Square Enix has announced a sequel to Final Fantasy XIII called Final Fantasy XIII-2. It will be released in Japan in 2011 and in the US and Europe "next winter" (so is that Summer 2011 for Japan and winter 2011 globally?)

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/BwSoQ.jpg)

Here's a leaked trailer. Be warned that it contains spoilers for Final Fantasy XIII.

Considering how well Final Fantasy XIII itself was received, I'm a bit surprised by the announcement of a sequel. I suppose this means I'll need to play the first one at some point.

(Source: TrueAchievements.com. More at Wired.)

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Considering how well Final Fantasy XIII itself was received, I'm a bit surprised by the announcement of a sequel. I suppose this means I'll need to play the first one at some point.

How was XIII received in Japan though? I mean, it got a cool reception in the west, and while it wasn't flying off the shelves, I wouldn't be surprised to see it do reasonable numbers.

Also, my guess is that XIII-2 is a much cheaper game for SqEnix to produce - same engine, reused assets etc.

Personally, if it's as much of a change as X-2 was from FF-X, I'm interested (with reservations).

I liked a lot about FFXIII, though I ultimately didn't enjoy it all that much. If they can just make things more open earlier and remove the dumb-ass PC Dies Game Over thing, I'll for sure be interested.

I have to imagine that, even if it can't be counted as a "success", FFXIII did well enough to justify this.

I'm probably in the minority here in that I actually liked most of the changes to XIII, so I'm happy this is coming out. Although I do wonder about how big of a change it will be, as X-2 was considerably different in all mechanics.

Of course, I'm still waiting for Namco to release Tales of Graces here in the states, so I'm clearly an outlier.

Having yet to play XIII, I have been intrigued by the character and stature of Lightning since she was revealed. This makes her look even cooler, in my eyes, and now I'll have to get around to taking the game out of the cellophane and opening up the guide sometime this year...

I wasn't all that big of a fan of XIII gameplay-wise (I kept saying give me Final Fantasy X's battle system and character development but XIII's characters and THAT would have been a really fun game) but I really liked XIII's characters, especially Lightning. Color me interested.

I really liked XIII, so I'm pretty stoked about a direct sequel.

I am excited to hear this. I enjoyed the XIII quite a bit.

I guess more anxious to see if its like X-2 sequel or a same type game sequel.

Even though I was hugely disappointed with the story telling, character development, and pacing in FF13, there was a meaty core there that could be used to make an amazing game. There is a big part of me that wanted to see the cool gameplay mechanics and gorgeous graphics engine and art direction get another chance to be part of a good game. The thing is, though, it feels unlikely to me that Square is a company that can do that anymore.

I loved the FF XIII battle system, but I would be reluctant to recommend the game to most people. This trailer did get me a little stoked.

Hopefully part 2 doesn't have any characters central to the weighty drama that inexplicably walk around in school girl outfits.

I hope that this allows them to give those who enjoyed XIII more of what they want, and then make XV a little more like all the FF games that preceded XIII.

I'm with Cheeto. I enjoyed the game for the most part. Yeah, the story was nonsense, several characters were annoying and the world didn't open up fast enough but overall, I liked it. I will definitely purchase the sequel, even if they pull a X-2 on me--just don't let Lightning form a band.

I loved playing through FFXIII with my wife, but I can't get behind a -2 version of the game. We only play the mainline games, and I never considered X-2 to be one of those. Final Fantasy, to me at least, is a unique world for each new game.

Cheeto1016 wrote:

Could be a dumb question, but that is a new character and now like Snow with dyed hair right?

I've heard that trailer contains spoilers so I haven't watched it. Maybe it's Snow with dyed hair. Maybe it's her evil twin. Maybe she went super-sayan. Or maybe Square changed her hair color late-game to signify some sort of major awakening or change, because in Square games, characters are hairstyles.

Not going to read this thread too much since I do eventually plan to play FF13. All I want to say is that it's an interesting choice. And, as AndrewA pointed out, X-2 had more goofy stuff in it than Kingdom Hearts' Goofy-themed areas.

Snow was a dude.

Spoiler:

As to who that was, I'm pretty sure that was either Lightning or her little sister.

That was definitely Lightning.

I like how the thread title has a question mark. I think that question mark should stay there until we see if the game opens with a j-pop concert or not.

OK, they're all weather patterns to me. Sorry for the mix-up.

Could be a dumb question, but that is a new character and not like Snow with dyed hair right?

AnimeJ wrote:

Snow was a dude.

Spoiler:

As to who that was, I'm pretty sure that was either Lightning or her little sister.

Spoiler:

Lightning was the first one yeah, but the dark haired person behind her...looked MUCH bigger and taller, i guess it could be a female...but her sister was tiny.

Also. if you looke just at the art for the title...there is the same dark haired person.

Jonman wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

Considering how well Final Fantasy XIII itself was received, I'm a bit surprised by the announcement of a sequel. I suppose this means I'll need to play the first one at some point.

How was XIII received in Japan though? I mean, it got a cool reception in the west, and while it wasn't flying off the shelves, I wouldn't be surprised to see it do reasonable numbers.

I think the problem with the sales performance of FFXIII is that Square Enix really needed much more than "reasonable" numbers out of it, thanks to the excruciating costs and delays involved in its development.

In the end, I think they ended up shipping around six million units world-wide for FFXIII, which is roughly the same amount that went out to stores for FFXII. There probably isn't anybody complaining about that number, but I imagine that they were banking on some actual growth between the two entries, especially since FFXIII was a cross-platform release. And that's not even touching on the sell-through numbers, which were not as encouraging: FFXIII completely fell off the NPD after its first month and there hasn't been any difficulty finding multiple copies on store shelves anywhere since its launch.

As for FFXIII-2, the announcement seems a bit desperate to me. They recently announced a significantly reduced earnings forecast for fiscal 2010. They're already developing FFXIII Versus and FFXIII Agito, making FFXIII-2 the fourth project to carry the FFXIII "brand." They just announced yet another remake of FFIV, this time for the PSP. The numerous issues that the company has encountered with FFXIV are well-documented.

If FFXIII-2 even gets released, it will be interesting to see how it's received. FFX-2 moved around four million units, but it was the lowest rated mainline FF title in the series' history until, hilariously, the release of FFXIII. And the only thing that the trailer has shown us is that the character designer for FFXIII-2 apparently really, really likes Soul Calibur.

According to VGChartz, which may or may not be accurate, Final Fantasy XIII sold 6.17 million units worldwide across both platforms. 4.46 million of those were on PS3, 1.71 were on 360. I doubt those were the numbers they were hoping for.

In other Final Fantasy XIII news, Final Fantasy XIII Agito for the PSP has been renamed Final Fantasy Type-0, so that's at least one less game attached to the brand.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

In other Final Fantasy XIII news, Final Fantasy XIII Agito for the PSP has been renamed Final Fantasy Type-0, so that's at least one less game attached to the brand.

Type-0. Hmm.
IMAGE(http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2010/083/6/a/Type_O_Negative_Pin_Up_by_liransz.jpg)

Hopefully it doesn't suck as badly as Type O Negative.

I am going to take an unreasonable amount of pleasure in not buying this.

I enjoyed X-2, so I'm looking forward to this. That said, what I liked about X-2 was that it used the Job system, which is my favorite Final Fantasy system. I doubt XIII-2 will do that, so currently I'm planning to wait until it drops in price before buying. I also haven't finished XIII yet, so I should probably avoid this thread in the future.

If Square ever does see a truly dangerous drop in profit margins all they need to do is announce an FF7 remake. Gamers would invest in the company to keep it going until that game is released.

gains wrote:

If Square ever does see a truly dangerous drop in profit margins all they need to do is announce an FF7 remake. Gamers would invest in the company to keep it going until that game is released.

I honestly don't know if FF7 has really aged that well. It pretty much defined the JRPG cliche. Cloud is the spikey-haired guy with the giant sword. Sephiroth is the effeminate badass with an even GIANTER sword. Aerith is the quiet healer. It maintained a lot of old mechanics from earlier games and the following generation of games closely mimicked the risks that worked.

You're right that an FF7 remake announcement would make a whole lot of people very happy. The question is if they'd stay happy after actually playing it. You'll notice that Square hasn't remake FF7 but has made a few spin-offs that play nothing like the original. There's probably a really good reason for that.

LobsterMobster wrote:

I honestly don't know if FF7 has really aged that well. It pretty much defined the JRPG cliche.

True.

LobsterMobster wrote:

Cloud is the spikey-haired guy with the giant sword.

True.

LobsterMobster wrote:

Sephiroth is the effeminate badass with an even GIANTER sword.

True.

LobsterMobster wrote:

Aerith is the quiet healer.

True.

LobsterMobster wrote:

It maintained a lot of old mechanics from earlier games and the following generation of games closely mimicked the risks that worked.

Very true.

Grenn wrote:

I'd buy a PS3 just for a FFVII remake even if they just updated the graphics.

Also very true.

Hell, it worked for Resident Evil.

Yeah, I gotta go with Grenn here.

Whether by virtue of the nostalgia factor or by virtue of them simply being well-crafted games, I've thoroughly enjoyed playing all the Final Fantasy update/remake/re-releases. This also includes FF2, 3, and 5, which were not released originally in the US, so they were new games to me, I had no nostalgic ties to them other than the fact that they were SNES FF games.

I've been replaying FFVII off and on on the PSP, and some aspects of it haven't aged well, but it's overall still the very enjoyable game it was when I first played it. And still vastly more fun than I had with FFXIII.

I'd snag an FFVII update/remake in a heartbeat.

I want the dudes that made the FFIV remake on DS to remake FFVI. I would personally finance such a project.

That said, I would also buy a PS3 solely to play a remake of FFVII. And I fully acknowledge that it is a deeply flawed game.

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