Versus XIII Gameplay: Why Did Square Enix Even Bother?

Final Fantasy Versus XIII has be in Final Fantasy XIII's shadow for quite some time now, as Square Enix have expectedly diverted all their attention towards their biggest asset. People had been hoping to see something new at TGS, but following Square Enix's announcement that Final Fantasy Versus XIII wasn't going to be shown there wasn't any real surprise.

However, there was surprise when reports surfaced that it was actually being shown, and of course Final Fantasy Union had to investigate. It turned out that gameplay footage was being shown in what was essentially their very toned down "Closed Mega Theatre".

[Selyah]

That does come as a bit of a surprise, doesn't sound particularly thrilling, although it is early days it's not exactly good news.

[Hellsvacancy]

They probably just wanted 2 show people that Final Fantasy Versus is alive and work is bein done 2 it rather than release no footage 2 hav people sayin things like "its never cummin out" and things like that

[mephman]

Yea, that's more than likely the reason, but Agito is in the same situation and they showed an awesome trailer for that.

[Noct]

Nomura said in the last Famitsu issue that there will be a media and information blow out for VersusXIII very early next year.

No point hyping a game that will most likely release Winter 2010 or Spring 2011...especially considering XIII is yet to release.

Patience is needed.

[gintoki777]

why did you bother making this article F U!!!!!!

its simple why they did to show the game is still being worked on and that it is progressing

[Anorexorcist]

So no drastic conclusions should be made on the potential of the final Versus XIII product.

"All it did was succeed in making people worry about a product they thought was going to be stellar."

Yeah...maybe for the idiots who don't understand the concept behind "Work-In-Progress"

[MEsoJD]

wheres the leaked footage???

[Cold 2000]

I dont even know why they bothered making a FF13 spin off in the first place.

Rather than this whole Versus thing they should have just focused on FF13 then after that move on to a true sequel that would be FF15 (since FF14 is a MMO).

[Hellsvacancy]

Versus 13 looks (from wot ive seen) FAR more appealin (2me) - FF13 looks 2 girly

[LittleBigSackBoy]

i'll be getting both FF13 and vs 13 day 1. i'm pretty sure i'll enjoy vs 13 more, since i like KH more than FF.

[Cold 2000]

FF13 is too girly ?

Thats weird nobody said that about the far more "girlier" FF10.

And whats so much more appealing about Versus ? The fake *ss dark emo jap look ??

Anyway I guess it comes down to personal taste. I personnaly prefer FF13's look though a bit too westernish/sci-fi for my likes.

[callahan09]

And why do I care what this website thinks of the footage? I'd like to see the footage for myself before I go on complaining about how crappy it looks.

[Cold 2000]

geez dude I Ive been following FF13 since the first trailer in 2005 (or 2006 cant remember).

They should simply go back to handling FF like they did in the PS1: that is one FF.Then a sequel. No online, no sub par FF7 spin offs, no dumb FFX-2 crap etc etc.

edit: By the way I didnt disagree with you

[WMW]

its not like those games you mentioned because like MAiKU said it was never a spin off it even has its own team if they removed 13 from the title you wouldn't even think of FF13 when looking at versus. plus versus seems like it will be much better then FF13 with kingdom hearts combat system, darker world characters and story, and they said they are going to have action scenes like advent children aslo the trailer for versus looks way more interesting then FF13 so it is in no way a spin off.

[Ravage27]

you claim that you have been following the news, in that case you would have known that Versus has as much to do with 'spin-off' as 360 with 'reliability'. Why are you even feigning interest for something you can't play anyway?

[Pika-pie]

I really wouldnt be suprised if this game gets cancelled in the end.

The game was announced years ago and we havent seen anything at all, SE arnt pushing it one bit. Doesnt look good.

[Kain81]

it was the main Final fantasy 13, but later they choose to change that, cause Final fantasy vs13 was more mature than usal final fantasy games, so they decided to call it Final Fantasy VS13..."
this is it what i had read in a Magazine 2 years ago
i dont know if it was true, but was plausible

[Bodyboarder_VGamer]

FFX far more girly than FFXIII? Are you kidding me?

Just with Serah and Vanille FFXIII is automatically the girliest FF game yet... And not to mention that the principal character's a girl and the same with the antagonist. Did you even watch the latest trailer of FFXIII? That was the very definition of emo, FFX never went that far into that sh1t.

And if you like the Starwarish setting of FFXIII then you must have loved FFXII, worst FF game yet...

I think you're defending this game too much because it is on the X360 while PS3 owners get both. I could say that FFvsXIII looks more interesting but that's my opinion.

[ThanatosDMC]

I cant wait for a more mature Kingdom Hearts type of gameplay! There was blood on the trailer, right?

[somekyle]

Yeah, Agito is definitely coming before Versus

[Fishy Fingers]

Anyone know where I can see this leaked footage?

[mephman]

There is probably somewhere on YouTube that has it, but Square Enix were pretty strict about stopping people from recording, taking pictures, or even breathing.

[UnSelf]

ur comment is hilarious becuz that sounds exactly like sumthing Garth'll say lol

[ZombieNinjaPanda]

"even breathing."

You had me laughing there hahaha.

[Sangria]

It reminds me that episode of Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei, i think it was introducing Kagerō Usui where Itoshiki says that there are always people that lives in other people's shadow, like Pierre Curie, Marie Curie's husband or the power of a Super Sayan compared to Krilin's power.

Final Fantasy XIII always gathered the big hype, even before it was multiplatform and i guess we wont hear much hype about Versus XIII until FFXIII releases, so i guess the game should release a bit more than 8 months after FFXIII.

[Saaking]

FFversusXIII will be the superior FF

[Noctis Aftermath]

LOL@people disagreeing, while i will buy 13, versus has got my full attention and that's something 13 lost with me two times, first when it went multiplatform and then when some of the characters were shown.

I've gotten older from when i played the previous FF(never played XI or XII) games and quite frankly i want a JRPG thats more bloody, more violent, has more freedom and isn't bound to the confinements of your typical JRPG.

[TheReaper42]

the people disagreeing only has 1 console.. if you can even call it a "console" or "heater" take your pick.

[Kamikaze135]

Maybe they wanted to show the fans something. At the same time, it would've been better for the fans if they haven't seen anything since it isn't up to par with the hype....yet.

[Veneno]

Why did Microsoft even bother?

[Shadow Man]

unlike Heavyrain no gameplay at all, NO AI AT ALL!

Just an interactive HD screen saver. ((x)) ((o)) ((<)) ((>)) ((YLOD))

[Saaking]

Nobody gives a sh1t about Alan Wake. There hasn't been a single mention of it since e3.

[Light Yagami]

Heavy Rain is an HD Simon Says game.

[Veneno]

and Nobody has said anything about Alan Wake since the weak E3 showing?

damn it you beat me to the punch saaking.

[Snatcher]

Will be a great RPG. Too bad that it was downgraded because of the Xbox version.

[OmarJA]

I see you like to play both sides, ha?

[Snatcher]

MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS.

[The-Warranty]

Why is he agreeing with himself?

EDIT....haha 6 disagrees in only 2 minutes lmfao

[Anorexorcist]

"Why is he agreeing with himself?"

You might as well ask a dog why he eats his own sh*t.

[Masamori Sumimura]

I agreed with him in case you want to know.

[Wakka_]

I knew it would be a disappointment.

[4pocalyps3]

"I HOPE it would be a disappointment"

fixed

[OmarJA]

No you didn't...

[callahan09]

You haven't even seen the footage.

[mfwahwah]

Disappointment? Who's disappointed?

Nobody outside of SE has actually played the game yet...

[ico92]

well its not as if ffV13 has been getting all the time and rescources as FF13..any way i wasnt expecting anything from versus 13 especially anything good where can we see this footage ?

[Noct]

*Watches trailer*

http://www.gametrailers.com...

This game will be ******* EPIC!

[Whitefox789]

Did I see some blood when Noctis impaled his sword into one of those guards?

Dark gritty goodness, just like Nomura wanted KH 2 to be

[Noctis Aftermath]

I've seen this trailer before, but i don't remember seeing the blood when he stabs that soldier (3:03 in the video).

People have been complaining about JRPGs getting stale, well this might change them from now on, games like uncharted, mass effect, gears of war, god of war, have show that western audiences want to have full control over there character and not have turn-based action, if the gameplay is based on kingdom hearts but modified for an older audience (example: blood effects and more attacking options) it will be an awesome game.

Also, to the people complaining about the game looking bad, ITS IN DEVELOPMENT, why do you think this trailer wasn't shown to the public? it's not ready to be show, hence why this guy is crying about how it looks. With work on 13 finishing up aswell as other projects (KH:BBS) alot of people will switch over to work on Versus.

[Stryfeno2]

Final Fantasy XIII making Droids cry.

[LittleBigSackBoy]

because we have the better version of it...? 0.o

[The-Warranty]

But we have it too...................on one disc.

[Tr10wn]

Seriously stop complaining about changing disc unless you only played a PS3 every good RPG since PSX uses multiple CD's, no one cries with FFVII why should start crying now? MSG4 had a mandatory install every 5 hours and i didn't said it was bull sh!t.

Seriously that Fact is useless.

[rob6021]

To me it's quite obvious why they're showing vs. off. They want Japanese people to buy PS3's, and if they show vs. it makes buying the console a better proposition, since it's not just for one game but 2.

[Whitefox789]

FF 13 is exclusive to PS3 in Japan so no problem there

[Eamon]

Advent Children

If they can make the gameplay replicate the fighting of advent children this game will be frickin amazing

[WMW]

i read in another article this footage is not even actually the game just a demonstration of some gameplay mechanics and that there wasn't even complete environments so you can't really judge it if it is just some gameplay mechanics.

[Whitefox789]

It's like storyboarding it doesn't look good but it gives you an idea for the final product
*Edit*
And if you don't believe me heres an interview with the director himself
http://scrawlfx.com/2009/09...

[Raoh]

before i ask that about versus..

is there anything this generation SE should have bothered with?

isnt it sad that SE tried to ride on MS's success only to fail microsoft

microsoft actually looks strong thanks to square's weakness

[Giriath]

Why even bother writing this article? The gameplay footage and its content is old news, and everyone knows FF versus XIII still has a long time in development. There have even been recent interviews with staff, confirming this. Idiot article tbh, reporting olds news and speculating about something that has already been confirmed.

[LeonSKennedy4Life]

Why bother with FFXIII?

Versus looks much better...

I'm sorry to say it...but Versus is by the Kingdom Hearts team. They've been outdoing the other SE teams for years.

[mfwahwah]

I find this as good news.

That's ignoring the article writer's opinions, of course.

[Sigh]

Nomura says more info will be given for this game early next year right? I can't wait.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

It has come to my attention (many moons ago) that nobody does anything this generation but bltch and complain. They look for the negative first, before looking at something for what it is, media and gamers alike. Whether it be a great accomplishment as a game, or simply a sign of things to come on a particular console, there are droves of knuckleheads this generation that cannot ever be content. It is for this reason that this most recent article is null and void. Thank you for your time, and goodnight.

[Highlen]

That's why it was shown closed doors genius because it was not ready duh. And you guys are gaming journalist where did you get your degree from Kellogg's cornflakes. Seriously you thought it was going to look like ff13 lol.Square just showed it so word gets out that there working on it.

[mfwahwah]

Games that are shown behind closed doors aren't always bad builds. In fact, to say that a game is only shown behind closed doors solely for the fact that it's an early build is completely asinine.

[creepjack]

Is everyone gonna blame this on the 360 too?

[mfwahwah]

If MS never stole XIII then SE wouldn't need to put more resources into that game. They could have let Nomura focus on Versus XIII and it'd be WAY better.

That's the best I could come up with and it sounds like crap haha.

[Alcohog]

Can someone explain what Versus XIII is compared to FFXIII? I don't know anything about it. Is it just a multilayer component?

[Noct]

No it's a completely different game.

Different characters.
Different world.
Different music.
Different gameplay.

The whole game is different.

The only reason it's not called Final Fantasy XV is because it's an action JRPG and not a turn-based game like all the other FF's.

[bigjclassic]

FFXIII girlie?? Maybe so, but not as much as FFVIII or X. The stories in those were just a little too emo for my taste. Oh and KH is very very, emo.

To above poster FFvXIII, is based on the FFXIII mythos and is an Action RPG in the vain of KH.

*edit- Dont you guys know that goth, emo kids and girls LOVE the KH series??, I mean its a decent game but nothing mind blowing.*

[Alcohog]

So, its just a different story, in the same universe, with different gameplay? Weird.

[mistajeff]

I thought the TGS Versus footage was just footage from old tech demos? Like, OLD old tech demos. From over 3 years ago.

[djaparatic]

hahaha the same thing rolled over with FF13... I dunno why anyone should bother with this gossip articles. When I see REAL OFFICAL video of the game I will say is it crappy disappointing or dunno. We had a lot of hate articles based on FF13 planning to disturb players but Im not going to hook up again because FF13 defended itself with 7 minute trailer wich look sound superb.