Two days after Square Enix president Yoichi Wada stunned attendees at Microsoft's E3 press conference by revealing that the previously PlayStation 3-exclusive Final Fantasy XIII would also appear on Microsoft's Xbox 360 (in North America and Europe, at least), 1UP had the very rare opportunity to speak with two of the masterminds behind Square Enix's flagship property. Coproducers Shinji Hashimoto and Yoshinori Kitase still remain nebulous about specific FFXIII gameplay details, but they dropped plenty of hints about both the ambitious multigame Fabula Nova Crystallis project and the future of Final Fantasy VII.
Interview Excerpt:
1UP: Last week, Final Fantasy Versus XIII director Tetsuya Nomura said that he's hard at work adding new scenes to the FFVII: Advent Children Complete Blu-ray release. Can you give us any update on that project?
SH: You can look forward to the upcoming invite-only fan event DKS3713 [taking place in Tokyo on August 2 and 3], where we'll have a major announcement that will shock the fans in attendance.
While FFVII ranks highly, there's more to the series than one game. Here's Chit Hot's picks for the seven best Final Fantasy characters.
Alex Donaldson: "Hindsight is a hell of a thing, however, and in the years since Final Fantasy XIII, my respect for the decisions its developers made has skyrocketed. In the two Final Fantasy titles since we see both the brilliance and the folly in alternative approaches - and in Final Fantasy VII Remake, we get a more nuanced understanding of what FF13 was trying to accomplish from many of the same development leads."
FFXIII is actually one of the best Final Fantasy games.
I also sort of was disappointed at the time, never as much as the bandwagon. But really all the fantastic 3D rendered cutscenes and I actually liked the characters and the story though convoluted was actually fantastic and the ending was extremely emotional. So much budget and time were put into that game Square had such big plans, I actually have always felt kind of bad for how things played out.
I have been thinking for years how great it would be to get all three games on one disk for PS4 or 5.
Gotta take off the nostalgia glasses. It's the worst FF. Shiva as a bike, I mean come on.
Shiva as a bike is strange but saying FFXIII is the worst FF is not at all a fact, that's simply your opinion.
When I got my series X a year ago, I bought FF13 for nostalgia reasons but ended up being disappointed. When I first played it around the time it launched, I didn't have a lot of experience with final fantasy games, so I enjoyed it. Fast forward to when I played it again, I found that the game had many unnecessary filler moments instead of just giving us meaningful content.
The game is also very linear and a quote on the article said it best. "It is like a sewage pipe that leads to the ocean until it opens up on Grand Pulse."
The story didn't make much sense either and I believe it is my mistake as I played the FF7 remake on PS5 prior which is a night and day difference in terms of pacing, storytelling and likeable characters even though cloud is aloof.
Probably was a mistake to play any of the golden era FFs first (e.g. FF6 through FF10), it makes it harder to enjoy some of the FFs that aren't as good. I think FF12 was where major issues with the series started becoming apparent, and it just got worse from there.
I didn't really care for it that much, the only saving grace was that it had a better story than 15 (overall it was better than 15) and possibly 12, and even then, you had to read some of it through primers, like reading a book. Plus the battle system was reasonably fun for what it was, even if it was more the spectacle that was exciting for me (e.g. summoning). And to be fair, the 13 trilogy got better with every games, I still don't like Snow though.
Ff13 is only good if you haven't played a ff before, or any other games that are decent for that matter.
It is in fact no way the best Final Fantasy game, it's one of the worst
Linear corridors, Cutscene, Fight, Cutscene...rinse and repeat
Dialogue and characters are pretty bad, especially Lightning as the main FF hero, they literally said they tried to make a "Female Cloud" and they failed.
Story was pretty awful
I could go on
I think the only alright thing that came from the game was the music.
That's not a fact that's your personal opinion. The game sold 11 million copies between its 2009 release up until 2014 including critically reviewed as an 8 out of 10 or an 80 out of 100. The game does have some issues but it's not at all a fact as one of the worst FF games.
i liked the game alot but i didnt like how they handled the terminology.
i dont mind reading data logs but it had soo many.
but i always loved the music and how it looked. the battle system wasnt too bad either.
but i like 13-2 more :)
i still dont understand why we never got a remaster of the trilogy
Xbox kinda did. Besides the video files of course which are still best on PS3 due to bluray.
XIII is a pretty solid game, but XIII-2 is WAY better. XIII-2 was one of the few games I decided to go for a Platinum trophy in, early on. Had so much fun the entire way through getting it too!
I hated this to when it released. I haven't much liked a ff game since ff10 as much , aside from ff7remake. I decided to give it another shot on my series x since it's not on a current ps and was liking it quite a bit(just takes me some time to get over things ) until star ocean 2 remake came out I was all over that.
Square should definitely remaster it or something for ps4 ps5
Square Enix Blog: "How do you compose iconic songs that help define a legacy? We speak to legendary composer Masashi Hamauzu about his work on Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy XIII, and Final Fantasy VII Remake, and how to make unforgettable music."
"...where we'll have a major announcement that will shock the fans in attendance."
Final Fantasy VII remake? That would be the ONLY way to cheer up all the PS3 fans that are still a bit disappointed about XIII going multi-plat. They still have Versus as exclusive but still. VII would make everyone cry.
I see a Final Fantasy VII enhanced remake announcement for PSN. Not a fully fledged remake, but just touches to Final Fantasy VII to make it in HD with clarity and no jaggies but keeping its classic look. I see this more doable than making a fully fledged remake as that would take more time and cost.
that would make 360 fans shiz their pants xD thank god Sony owns VII, so im hoping it has to do with the video games xD
Honestly, the execution of this is the DUMBEST thing i have ever seen a company do.
Ok what do they gain?
They gain access to the 360 user base. What? 20 (not sure on up to date figures, dont really care) million consoles, - maybe a few thousand dual 360 console households, - lets be generous and call it 5% hardware failures, - % of people who own a 360 and dont like JRPG's, - people who also own a ps3 and will buy it on ps3.
Now consider that month in month out the ps3 outsells the 360 in every region (although we may as well call it even in the US), despite the fact that the 360 can be purcased for less than the price of a wii.
After considering all of this, the way in which this news was broken to the public is near on suicide for Square Enix.
Im guessing that they can kiss all support from sony good bye. I mean, sony have that many in house studios that after ff13 is released, it wouldnt suprise me if they told square to go f*ck themselves. They gave MS the biggest bomb shell that they possibly could (bar ff13 being 360 exclsuive), they gave Sony no warning, no opportunity to counter the offer that im sure MS made, gave them no opportunity to prep something equally as big for E3, and pretty much gave MS all the ammunition that they need to publicly humiliate Sony.
Hell. Talk about burning bridges.
Honestly, FFVII is the only FF game that i have finished. From what i have heard people say, and judging from Squares questionable financial situation the FF series hasnt been the big cash-cow that square wants it to be for some time. Im sure that had ff13 remained exclusive, or even a secretly timed exclusive, sony would have had some interest in keeping square enix afloat, either buy funding exclusives or buying them out. However now im inclined to think that sony wouldnt give two f*cks.
I would hope that a buy out offer was on the table from ms during these discussions because if ff13 flops, i guarantee you, square will be the next sega.