No Towns in Final Fantasy XIII Because They Are Too Much Work

In Square Enix's book "Final Fantasy XIII Scenario Ultimania", it is revealed that the reason why there are essentially no towns in Final Fantasy XIII is because it is very difficult to make towns on an HD console. Here is the direct quote:

"The game's linearity was just because depicting towns and so on like we did before was impossible to do on an "HD" console – it was too much work."

WARNING: Site is NSFW

[Edward-Kraken]

This game isn't really Final Fantasy if it doesn't have any towns.............

[blitz0623]

Too much work? And it still took 4 years?

[tplarkin7]

Square Enix has been stagnant for a decade. They are fighting innovation in every way possible. Bioware seems to be able to make towns in HD (and they can release a sequel in just two years, too.)

Mistwalker made towns in HD for two games. (Unfortunately, they have reverted to SD for a Wii game.)

Japanese developers needs to stop being afraid of new technology.

[Marceles]

Too much work and Squaresoft don't go together...oh wait, it's Square ENIX :( Lazy asses...

[Jamegohanssj5]

Something here smells fishy.

TGSI

[Immortal Kaim]

What the? It makes no sense? How is it that Mistwalker made various unique towns in Lost Odyssey, some on a huge scale, on a HD console...I could name many other developers who have created awesome towns on HD consoles.

In fact in White Knight Chronicles you can even design, build and populate your own towns...Now that is what you call 'next gen'.

I assumed that it was story related/intentional that FFXIII had no towns, to hear that is 'was too much work' is frankly ridiculous...

[Blaze929]

Well Square, $60 for this is just too much money. I'll this up used and give all profits to Gamestop ;)

[rambi80]

^^^
Actually its $60 plus whatever the DLC costs

I already switched preorder to yakuza 3 for now

edit :Ill get this in the bargain bin sometime

[Prototype]

Fallout 3 and GotY version had towns with people to buy/sell from, and its open world, had some sort of party system, and different.

[evrfighter]

I'll still buy it...But this just gave the RPG of the year award to Mass Effect 2.

[Harry_Manback]

All you folks talking trash about this game are still going to play it. (Myself included)

*Punches self in face*

Edit: Gives nod to evrfighter ^^^^^^^^

[Pillage05]

Epic PR fail. Surely they could have come up with a lie that sounds better than "It was too hard for us"

[camachoreloaded8806]

Lots of reviews are saying it has the best graphics in any videogame to date, and that's impressive, considering that the games with the best graphics are usually shooters with short to medium length campaigns (Killzone 2, Uncharted 2, Gears of War). I read of reviewers sinking more than 60 hours into this thing! Music is also fantastic, and I'm hearing that this game has one of the best and most developed casts in a videogame. And you're not even gonna give it a shot cause...it has no towns? Hm, intesting.

Final Fantasy has never disappointed me and I'm not going to get all worked up just cause there's no towns, that sounds so amateur. When they try to innovate like in FFXII, "fans" tear it apart and want them to go back to the style of FFX. Then when they try to go back to to their roots with the linear story, "fans" tear it apart for lack of innovation. Even if you don't buy it new, you're still gonna play it. You and I know that, so give it a rest.

Edit: All the hate's probably cause it's multiplat. If this was a PS3 exclusive and exactly the same as it is now, fanboys would defend it to the death.

Oh, and please keep disagreeing. I know that behind every single one is a person who knows I have a point.

[Finalfantasykid]

QUOTE: Epic PR fail. Surely they could have come up with a lie that sounds better than "It was too hard for us"

Chances are it was worded a little less harshly in the original version. I think this is just a translation.

[simplyRealistic18]

so let me get this straight, in mass effect 2 you get to travel around a whole GALAXY, but S/e can't build a f**king town

*sigh* i need to change my avatar soon ,S/E just keep disappointing

[Bathyj]

Since when has a dev ever been scared of too much work.

Too much work to me suggest alot of content. I suspect too much work really means too much space. FF isnt even my type of game, but thank M$, for choosing last gen's dicc format, dropping the best thing about XB1 the standard HDD and gimping a generation. I gurantee you, if this was still PS3 exclusive there would still be towns.

[Homicide]

There's no way anyone can defend this game. 4 years of waiting, and we get an extremely linear game with no towns. They also promised us a complete game with no DLCs. BULLSH1T!! The DLCs better be free.

Star Ocean 4 has towns and the maps aren't a piece of string, same goes for Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, WKC; you can explore the whole wasteland in Fallout 3 and the galaxy in Mass Effect 2, etc.

Final Fantasy XIII will be a USED purchase but a rental first :)

[saint_john_paul_ii]

"I'll still buy it...But this just gave the RPG of the year award to Mass Effect 2."

yup, the Pope Agrees.

[Rocket Sauce]

Hahaha, oh wow, that was an awesome showing of not giving a f--k.

I just finished Lost Odyssey and it curb-stomped everything Final Fantasy-related that's come out over the past 8 or 9 years - it even tops some of the classics. I'm seriously mad at myself for not playing it sooner. If you've got an Xbox and you're feeling shafted by Square Enix, give it a try - I bet you'll love it.

I don't even understand how an rpg can not have towns. What does it have, then? Is it just a bunch of empty fields? Somebody please clear this up for me.

[ThanatosDMC]

They took out more a lot from FF13 remember? They say the amount was enough to make another complete game out of it.

DLC will most likely be $10 a town. $20 for a city. $5 for the chocobo zoo. $5 for the character houses.

[vhero]

@blitz0623 - That's exactly what I thought! How do you spend 4 year on a game then complain towns are too much work? They take too long to make an FF game anyway they became a really lazy developer after FFXI. There are nex-gen JRPGs on the 360 with full towns and everything and the whole game was made in less than a year! Star Ocean was made in 2 1/2 years nearly half the time and has them I don't see the problem?

[Rampant]

The xbox360 made them remove towns =(

[kewlkat007]

No Towns? Wha

Edit: #2.1- "Uncharted 2 did an amazing job with it. "

Do you guys understand an RPG Village vs some fn village in UC that you swing right through without much exploration?

I sweat people bring up UC2 for every type of comparison.

[Ravage27]

this project started 6 years ago with a gigantic budget. How is it possible that EVERY single JRPG released so far has towns except FF13?

HD towns impossible? WKC did it with a fraction of SE's resource, so did SO4,ToV,DragonAge,Fallout3,LO, BD, even Eternal Sonata has them.

It has nothing to do with the graphics. It definitely looks good but nowhere near top-tier, and definitely doesn't justify 'too much work'.

Go screw yourself SE, i've waited since FFX for this and expected a next-gen FF game, not some watered-down rpg with gimped content coz 'it's too much work'

[Sez]

i know people on this site say some dev's are just plan lazy. but this is one time i have to agree. could this be a reason why the game have over 30gigs of CGI and alittle over 6gigs of gameplay. i think squareenix is out of ideas. just my opinion

[N4Flamers]

I agree with bathyj on this. I think this might have had something lost in translation. They have stated that the BD is full, adding in towns might have gone into the realm of 2 BD's or could have taken them another year or so to complete. I would like the game this year I have waited long enough.

My other point is, I dont really care about towns. In every jrpg a town is some place that you walk around and buy junk, talk to severely limited npcs and break a few pots or crates. The game will have locations, but I can deal without all the other garbage that usually comes with a town as long as theres a good story and good gameplay.

[DaTruth]

Heavy Rain it is!

Thanks Square for making my decision easier. I have yet too hear David Cage complain about anything being too hard; I think he even discussed welcoming the challenge a few times!

[hay]

What a bunch of f*cking hypocrites. They cut half of the game to fit it on Xbox and preserve as close versions as possible and now this BS about too much work. WTF?

[Darrius Cole]

"Too much work" probably means......

"Making a giant open-world game run at native 720p on both the Xbox 360 and the PS3, would have used 40 or 50 gigabytes of space on both systems."

Every RPG that matters this generation has free-roaming and multple towns and villages. Even Infamous has 3 islands. (I guess Infamous is an RPG by Japanese standards) Square-Enix just couldn't manage to do this with their biggest title.

This whole thing looks like they made this giant, magnificent game thinking is was a PS3 exclusive, then after they cashed the Microsoft check that follows all good-looking PS3 exclusives, they realized that it wouldn't fit by any measure. Judging by the reports, in order to get this game onto 360 they had to do the usual "bad port graphics cut" and an audio fidelity cut, and to make the experiences the same they had to do a content cut, to both versions. The content cut is the worst kind by far because it diminishes the core gameplay.

When PS3 gets bad 360 ports they look and run like crap, but at lease they don't have to cut content. This is worse than programming for the Lowest Common Denominator which in the beginning I assumed was what they did. Now the reports make it look like they were past the point of no-return on the PS3 but cut both versions back to the LCD and hurt the gameplay. Had that coded for the LCD from the start at least I would know that this other content exist but SE just wouldn't give it to me.

[Pika-pie]

People really need to get over this linearity.

This is exactly the same as FFX where you had no choice but to follow the story right up until you reached the top of Mt Gagazet then all of a sudden near the end of the game it opened up and you could revisit all the places you had been before. There were no extra towns.

Iv read reports that FFXIII doesnt open up until Chapter 11 which is supposed to be the half way point (not in chapter numbers mind you).

[Solidus187-SCMilk]

no towns. I guess they cant make a FF7 remake because it has towns. ahahahahah.

[Red Panda]

"Japanese developers need to stop being afraid of new technology". What the hell is MGS4 then?

[thesummerofgeorge]

What a ridiculous thing to say. No towns? Too difficult? Where the hell do you go throughout the game then? The towns were some of my favorite parts in the FF games. Too much work is just an insulting thing to say to your fans, who made your company what it is today by paying you to WORK. I don't even understand how a town is harder than any other setting, just fcking build it. Didn't say it wasn't possible, just too much work... Well fck you buddy, I'll rent it, cause I don't support lazy developers who love taking money, but don't wanna work too hard. The greatest developers work their asses off. I am honestly pissed at that ridiculous comment. So I guess that means they'll never have a town in their games again, cause we aren't going back to standard def. Idiots...

EDIT: And what about the other games that manage to pull it off wonderfully, from devs that don't have nearly the amount of money, resources, and fanbase SE do?

[Maddens Raiders]

EPIC. FAIL.

[thesummerofgeorge]

...ignore

[FACTUAL evidence]

No, no, no...We all know you couldn't make towns after it lost it's exclusivity. And we know that if you guys did make towns it will be like 40gb's, (something blu-ray could handle) and the 360 version would have like 8 disc...I think that's why there's no towns....Don't give us the BS excuse of, "It's impossible". After UC2, and some GOW3 footage, seems like nothing is impossible..nice attempt of a lie AGAIN SE....

[Kevin ButIer]

FF is your flag franchise, we are paying for it and you are telling me that you didnt include towns in a FF game because you are TOO LAZY...

FU

[pixelsword]

Valve Sez: "hi".

kthxbye.

[Microsoft Xbox 360]

They couldn't do HD towns that would fit on a disc format such as DVD. Not even disc swapping could fix that.

[SaiyanFury]

You know as a longtime fan of the series (I started back with FFVII on PS1) I really had high hopes for this one. But the nigh-complete linearity of it really shot down those hopes. Now the lack of towns? Is this a JRPG or isn't it? Every JRPG I can remember playing has at least had a few towns to go explore. 4 years to make this game and they couldn't even make a few towns explorable? Come on, S-E. I know somewhere, deep in your soul there's the original Squaresoft I grew up loving.

[bnaked]

lol, too much work???

OMG they are crying!

They should learn from the master:

[Millah]

This game really was SE's last chance, in my book. I've given up hope entirely on SE.

[baum]

DVD9

[Braska]

"Too Much Work"? Well, maybe you shouldn't have a job.

[mikeslemonade]

Well another reason that only prooves that the 360 messed up Final Fantasy 13. They had to work on the 360 version of FFXIII, so they didn't have time to make the towns in the game. You multiplatform advocates have no ammunition to defend why it's better to have it on both PS3 and 360.

[Sarick]

It isn't they've stated the game is ,linear as a string with no towns.

It seems like SE is more interested in making interactive movies then games when I read these articles about ff13.

If you can make a dungeon then you can make a town using the same engine. Apparently, the "it's to hard really means" We wanted cut out towns completely because there's no game play reason to waste resources making them.

Sad excuse..

It's like me saying I live each day as it go's by no reason to waste resources on buying this game.

[execution17]

hope FFXIII versus isn't like that, and yea like i said before i'm not getting this because of yet another reason why this game is getting gimped

[hay]

Then it pretty much confirms that if there will be FF7 remake, Xbox won't be able to handle it properly.

[-MD-]

Other games sure did manage this.

[Finalfantasykid]

Uncharted 2 did an amazing job with it.

Probably not a spoiler, but if you havn't played the game, then read with caution.

When you reach the village, it is so lifelike it was almost chilling, and while there were really no conversations going on there, the village seemed incredibly lifelike.

[LordMarius]

yeah that village is just a level not an actual RPG town

[Godmars290]

But its what RPG towns should be. What S/E should have been aiming for. Now they're saying they didn't even try.

And while the town in UC2 is a level, you get to see it in two forms.

[SOAD]

No, Godmars, I played that game and that village is not what Square Enix should have aimed for. There was no high level of character interactivity in that village. I get the general idea of what you were saying, but that village was also very linear. All you did was follow the Tibetan guide. And when you got back out of the ice cave and started fighting your way to safety, it was just as linear.

[Lionalliance]

I think you missed the point of that...

[HINDERIZATION]

Square has already come up with different stories for all of their final fantasy games and other games such as Star Ocean. It would have to take some time to develop the story in a way that fits every piece together. It takes time to develop a plot and characters that go with it. And just to stay on topic...
Towns aren't really needed in Final Fantasy.
Towns and Temples in Final Fantasy X were used to get items to keep your party stable. The same thing applies in other Final Fantasy games. Final Fantasy I had towns to buy magic and items to keep your party stable. Who cares what NPC's had to say?

[Godmars290]

Try imagining a town where you aren't just given side mission, but ones where they unfold. You get a town with its own personality, one that could even change through different phases of time.

Maybe if devs tried to put that kind o detail into a world saving adventure, there wouldn't be a need for world saving adventure. Just the corner that you happen to be in as you come to understand and care for it. The people in it as they stop being props and become actual NPCs.

[whatis]

"Who cares what NPC's had to say?"

Wow, way to miss the point of RPGs. It's as much about the exploration/immersion as it is about the main story, battles and walking.

Well at least it should be IMO.

They've kept the total play time of FF13 the same as in the old games by stretching out the story/cutscenes while cutting out all the other stuff - apparently for no other reason than it's easier to do.

If you added an extra 10-15 hours of filler to FF8's main story and removed all of the towns/npcs it wouldn't even make the cut in my top 20 list of games, let alone my top 3. I want the whole package. The experience/adventure, not hand holding and pretty graphics.

Most people expect more from next gen, not less. Somebody should tell SE this.

[novcze]

When I get into Tibetan village in Uncharted 2, I was like that's exactly like villages in FF7, you can interact with NPC (although Drake doesn't understand Tibetan), you can pet yaks, kick ball to kids, search through other people houses . . .

[Ravage27]

oh yes of course there isn't a need for towns.

Hell i don't even know why SE bothered making world maps! They should have made the entire game nothing but continous battles punctuated with CGI. Less work too. I mean what's the point? You basically travel linearly from point A to B, why create an illusion?

[Solidus187-SCMilk]

The village is my favorite multiplayer map.

[thesummerofgeorge]

I care... It's not just about functionality, RPGs are also about exploration, attention to detail, finding little easter eggs and hints through conversations with NPCs, adventure. I don't want the bare minimum required to make a game with a beginning middle and end, I want a full, vast experience.

[LordMarius]

No Towns in Final Fantasy XIII Because They Are Too Much Work...to fit in 4 DVDs

[I_AM_ CANADIAN_1989]

well you would of had more time if you didnt waste 1 to 2 years including the 360 version its nice to know the prob 2 reasons no villages were included in the game......

1. making villiages on an hd console was too hard.....

2. even if we could we wouldnt of had time cuz we got money from ms and we had to last minute start the 360 version so we stopped working on the ps3 version to get the 360 caught up to it....and we had to delete stuff from the ps3 version that the 360 couldnt handle lol and change are whole design and plan lol......

im so glad im not a final fantasy fan cuz id be livid and very dissappointed....good thing im a gow fan lol so im a happy camper :):)

square soft should have never changed to square enix.........

[Shadow Man]

Which is fine by me, there weren't towns in FFX either....that I remember.

ps: That NSFW site f'n rocks!!! I'm gonna by there all night n_n

[LordMarius]

LOL....

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

To much work to force install 30gb of data on the PS3

[LordMarius]

YAWN, that was lame bot

[ssipmraw]

very lame indeed, considering its been confirmed that there are no installs and close to no load times, atleast for the ps3 version

[Homicide]

Epic fail Square-Enix especially with all the time and money you had to developed this game. Square-Enix is a joke, rubbish developer.

[Godmars290]

So self-insulting...

[Arnon]

Rofl I know. What kind of excuse is this? They're basically admitting their laziness and lack of will to drive the industry forward.

[gintoki777]

.......................lol

[Grandmaster]

Now i do
On Topic:
But no towns cause of too much work?
I think no game developer should ever say that, let alone Square Enix.
To me, that's like a surgeon not doing a heart transplant because "That's too much work" or a police officer not chasing down a crook because "That's too much work".
It's your job, of course it's gonna be too much work, but you still should at least make an attempt at it.

[UltimateIdiot911]

Not Suitable For Work

I plan to wait on FFXIII. Every time, I hear something about FFXIII, it's disappointing. I think I'm going to use that money on WKC instead.

[rdgneoz3]

I'm getting WKC myself, should be fun. Hell, you can build your own town in that game. I'll be waiting on FFXII.

[lonestarmt]

haha yeah. WKC is a better deal. Level 5 is a better developer. I mean SE say they can't build towns, yet star ocean 4 had big towns. Doesn't make any sense. WKC you can freaking build your own town. I think if you only have enough money for WKC or FF13, you have to go with WKC now.

Figuring that other companies has build towns on HD and even SE has before what this tells everyone a few things. They have already stated that they had to cut out almost a whole games worth due to space. The PS3 all have HDD and have blu-ray storage so even if it was massive two discs should have more than covered it. They also stated that they were trying there hardest not to have too many discs on the 360 version. Put 2 + 2+2 together and its plan to see that when they say too much work meaning to make it fit with the limits on the 360 because of the graphics they wanted to achieve. Sure they could have done it but not reach the same level of graphics they started out with on the PS3. The 360 did gimp the overall experience for FF13.

[Foxgod]

That sounds ridiculous.
I knew they lost their mojo years ago, but now they lost their sanity too.

Maybe for FF15 they could innovate by removing NPC's, would safe SE plenty of time.
Knowing Square they would probably find that a good idea as well.

Oh, and for FF16 remove all spells, and for FF17 remove ..... what could there be left to remove?

NO MORE DAMN CGI SE, put those people to work on towns instead, and render the cut scenes in engine, cgi cut scenes are extremely 1995.

[DaTruth]

FF17 - no more weapons! FF18 - No more gameplay, just one long 60hr CGI cutscene!

[Bodyboarder_VGamer]

eeerrrrm, FFXIII has no NPC's nor shops and each level has a limit cap... You can't even do the classic grinding anymore. In fact, you can't even play the game the way you want. FFXIII it's an jrpg on rails. =\

[Son_Lee]

FF19 - no more characters, just stick figures with barely noticeable differences. But hey, least the stick figures will be in 3D!

[xAlmostPro]

they are taking the piss first its announced theres 32gb of CGI cutscenes and only 7gb of gameplay now no towns..

i mean it is so hard to make towns -_-

oblivion, fallout 3, mass effect(kinda), dragon age, assassins creed ETC ETC ETmotherf*ckingC they dont have towns/cities nah? if its that bloody hard..

damn you square enix you're going down in my book(although i'll still buy your game!)

[BYE]

Lazy mofos. At least they admit it!

[chidori666]

so much excuses of crap square now...

[DigitalHorror81]

Get White Knight Chronicles instead.

[Shadow Man]

like lucky charms magically delicious mmmm :P

[happy_gilmore]

well, not really skipping on FF13

[blikz]

Im gonna buy WKC first, FF XIII maybe after 3-4 months release..

Plus, WKC have online co-op..

[Rybnik]

This is either a gross min-translation, or unforgivable Bullshit. WTF FF XIII team, if Versus XIII has an overworld, airships and towns and "is on HD consoles" as well What does that make you. Oh wait, FF XIV has towns too.
Stupidest comment I've heard from a dev yet!

[gintoki777]

sh!t as soon as ffvs 13 is up for preorder which it is on bestbuy I will put money down for it

[Henry Cain]

I will not purchase this game. I will rent it. What about game like Fallout 3, ME1&2. Some pretty good towns in these games. Im really loosing faith in Square. Im sure FF14 will have towns, and FF13vs will have towns, so this article does not make sense.

[Lirky]

i think square-enix are tired of ff franchise, i honestly think they should go back to their roots and making new ip's rpgs like how it was with saga frontier,xenogears and many others. They can really do this, and then when the time is right they can get back to making ff franchise once again, and take a break again and make new rpg ip's

[agent027]

Thanks GimpedBox 360.

[agent027]

How the mighty Square has fallen...

Skipping this game.

[Midgard228]

maybe it wuda been really hard to make the town they wanted, if u guys look at cocoon city its nothing like a normal city of buildings, something that wud have just been a wallpaper background or had scale wud be inconsistant in ff13's detail lvl. while games like oblivion were able to scale enitre cities without loading much i guess its a bit different, or maybe it wasnt possible in the time frame they wanted?

remember they deleted ff13 before since it was being made on ps2, so the dev time isnt normally wat a ff game wud be, especially for HD which is WAY more work. anyone else see the ps2 version screenshots? that was wierd lol.

[Lionsguard]

4 years to create a long tunnel with no towns and no free exploration until the last bit of the game? Wow and to think I was waiting for this game for years. Looks like I'll be picking it up on Amazon used once it starts appearing for $15-$20 I can't wait to hear how they're gonna completely SCREW up FF13 Versus. How the mighty have fallen indeed.

[Midgard228]

dont put versus in same boat, nomura is in charge of this one, its hiss baby. Nomura is kingdom hearts/ world ends with you creator. dude knows how to make games, if u notice only his games from SE have been good this gen even if they were portable.

now unless versus will be his first failure i doubt it. its an action rpg, just KH with new characters and mature and No freakin disney characters :D

[Midgard228]

if they cant model fulltowns for this game kiss ff7 remake good bye :/ that game had a massive world, huge cities, so so much. if they cudnt do much this time they will fail at the remake.

face it theres only one way for a remake guys, a ps2 remake with crisiscore graphics is the ONLY way we will see a remake. nice cinematics wud be in its that look like advent children and honestly i wudnt mind.

i mean how stupid wud it look a ps3 cloud being huge running on world map near a town, no one wud accept that. they wud have to fully model each city to be life like. so this is just more proof ps3 remake is not happening

lets just hope for a psp/ps2 remake :p i wud not mindd that at all

[frankiebeans]

every new bit of news that comes out about FF has been bad.
this is my favorite game and genre but the only rpg i have from
this gen is Masseffect1 (im going to get 2 soon)its a good game but its not on the level of FF
No good rpg this gen on the level of FF, and it looks like this game
is going to blow i have a friend in japan on my psn and he also says
it's not as good as it should be. it might look good but it sounds boring ass heck if your going to be walking forward the hole time without any type of city to explore no one lives in this world other then the players in the story as a big fan of the games im very disappointed

[Sigh]

Is it really surprising? Since the start of DLC and downloadable distrubution this gen the opportunity to cut hard working efforts have been established as the norm for ridiculous reasons.

[JudoChinX]

Wow. That's the worst reason I've ever heard. I mean, at least justify it somehow. Lie to me about it even. Please don't tell me that the truth is, is that it was too hard.

[swiftshot93]

Wow. I didnt ever believe we'd come to this. A day where Square wasnt pushing boundaries with FF, but now they're literally going down hill. I was going to forgive FF12, but this just confirms it. Im done with Square and FF. In fact, Im done with JRPGs. And this was the series to get a freaking playstation for!

Bring on Fallout: New Vegas.

[Unicron]

WOOP WHOOP.

BS alert!!!

[SactoGamer]

lazy lazy lazy

[Midgard228]

u people, i will always play jrpgs, they r still extremelly fun, screw only playing shooters, im so sick of shooting things

games dont have to be 10/10 to play them, all u guys do is moan and cry. not saying to buy the game but borrow it, buy it dirt cheap somethin, stupid remarks like screw jrpgs and square is retarded.

u morons complain "THEY R TAKING SO LONG!!! GET THE GAME OUT ALREADY!!!!" then they release it and u guys complain that they r lazy. sounds like the stupid childish "resident evil 5 isnt scary, its to action......why cant u run and gun???!!!!?/??" hippocrites......i know i will luv it, im pretty sure wat matters is if its fun, if the story is good and that it isnt short, which none of those r complained about, but god forbid theres no towns even if the game is fun.

i dont remembeer a big rant wen ff10 took out world maps, or wen the whole ps2 era lost world maps with few exceptions.

but this gen most of u little kids grew up and are 16-18 now and believe they r hardcore gamers, can u be dissapointed? hell yeah so am i, but wont stop me from enjoying everything else the game has

[Meryl]

actually there was a whole load of people complaining on the internet about ffx and how it had removed the over world map, ever since they started removing known features (to be in FF) there has been one big group complaining.

[ballsofsteel]

with every day with more news about cut content or lack of effort makes me less hyped about this game

[Jikla]

"Players given the opportunity to playtest the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Final Fantasy XIII side-by-side have been reporting the in-game graphics of the Xbox 360 version are noticeably inferior to those of the PS3."

Not that I care so much about that, but I thought you might want to know.

[TehCell]

Im sure the original game had towns. Or, was planned to have towns. I believe the 360 really did hold back this game from being a real Final Fantasy. Maybe the original game could've been the biggest open-world rpg with good graphics.
Square used to be smart. Remember how they decided not to put FF7 on N64? Yeah, RIP "the good" Square.

[Quadrix]

If they can't be bothered to create a single town after this much development time, then I can't be bothered to buy their crap.

[tweet75]

in my opinion ever since I played my first RPGS with the original dragon warrior and final fantasy 20 years ago, the towns were a key to the whole adventure loved wandering into them never know what you would find or hear in the town.

[MajesticBeast]

Guess what i work to hard to buy a half assed game ill buy Yakuza 3 instead fu square enix take notes from bioware and naughty dog please.

[VileAndVicious]

For Some reason the more I hear about FF13 the more I dislike, I get the feeling that I got before I played FF10, which I absolutely hated. I dont know Square.... this one just aint doing it for me...its beautiful yes..but I dont know... I dont think Ill be buying it, however I will be purchasing Resonance of fate (which does have towns) and seems less linear and altogether more interesting. I urge the rest of you to look into as well.

[Skyreno]

Just wait until Nomura Epic Game comes out Versus 13 im sure that has towns ....>> by looking at trailer,,, and better the other game

[stonecold1]

wait for this game hits the bargain bins i will grab white night chronicles instead thanks m$ for holding this game back and destroying this game you have ruined my favourite game

[sealion88]

first they got rid of world maps, and now towns. Whats next?

[MeatAbstract]

Oh well. There hasn't been a decent FF game since X anyway. When they became Square Enix, they're games seemed to fall into a steady decline.

Thats my opinion though, I'm sure some die hard FF fans are eagerly awaiting this game but to me personally FF is dead.

[JussBlazn]

the same number as xbox 360 discs. Coincidence? I think NOT!

[whatis]

Wow it sounds like they have been putting a lot of thought/effort into this game.

I suppose I had better work hard at my own job too, so that I can earn the money to buy it...

...

...

Not!

[SpaceFox]

.... I'm speechless. My favorite game ever is FFX, and part of the reason I loved it so much was because it felt like you were a part of a much larger world full of people who you connected with, and who were there to remind you that there is a reason for why you're trying to save the world. Like when you saw Kilika be attacked by Sin, it left my jaw dropped the first time I saw that, and it really immersed you into the story. Also, each town gave you more insight to what the world(in this case Spira) was like, and helped shape the history. FFX was a masterpiece and part of it for me was because of the towns, the most simple thing ever.

Square Enix is running this series into the groud. I can't believe it... I might have to cancel my pre-order. A Final Fantasy without towns... can it even be considered a Final Fantasy game?

[OmegaSlayer]

If FFXIII VS will have cities, we will know who is to blame for FFXIII Epic Fail.
I will just wait and see what will happen.

I said it after the E3 announcement on the old gametrailer's forum:
"If something goes bad with FFXIII, it will be the end of 360, since even the 360 fanboys will understand how that system is holding this gen"

[Pootangpie]

So your comment is null and void 360 had nothing to do with it and the PS3 is not more powerful it's just hyped up smoke and mirrors as always I hope VS turns out to be a disappointing crapfest and multiplatform as well just to teach you ignorant ****ers a lesson

[OmegaSlayer]

Please, use that language with your relatives, and learn to behave.

[ScubaSteve1]

come on square all you need is a plane, box modeling THEN BOOM you got a freakin town. i guess u guys are lazy to make a simple task in maya or 3ds max

[HINDERIZATION]

IMO i don't really care much about NPC's unless it's part of the actual storyline. An NPC saying some random suntence doesn't get me anywhere in the game. I've played my share of RPG's to explain my point. When an NPC tells me "I have to go to the bathroom!" I don't really see the point of even including them.

[Troll-without-Bridge]

Actually the game has huge cities to be in, i know cause i have it, i don't know whats the point of this article...oh wait yes i know.

[Meryl]

In my opinion this is the worst FF ever in history, with the father of FF gone (now in Mistwalker) it is no surprise that this series is now going downhill, if he was still there he would not let them get so lazy.
At least SE still have Nomura in charge of FF vs XIII, he stands up for quality and will not let us down, trust me the next best FF will be FF vs XII, after that SE is going to let FF die.
At least Mistwalker is making another FF in the form of Last Story, it will be epic, even though it will only have SD graphics, but you just know it probably will be 10 times better than FF XIII.

[Blackcanary]

FFVSXIII will be the true Final Fantasy 13. God even FF14 will have towns in it.

[Cyb3r]

So SquareEnix have gotten lazy this gen?

[wanderofys]

From Software made towns in HD in Enchanted Arms. Lost Odyssey had them. Eternal Sonata had them. Practically every western RPG this gen has had them. But SE says it's too much work? I understand that JRPG's are usually linear in nature, but taking away towns is like taking away a fundamental part of a JRPG. What next, no XP? No levels? No dialog? No stats? Final Fantasy has been around long enough to have made 13 games and numerous spin offs. SE's fan base is ALREADY SET. The only reason I can see for this (I don't buy their reason) is if they are trying to attract new players who might get bored by towns, but what they'll end up doing is alienating their already existing fan base, and will quickly learn that people who aren't already FF fans aren't going to buy this game. They've had 13+ games to find out already.

[tudors]

someone said the 360 version is gimped and because of the DVD 9 it will not be able to load the towns lol, irony is a biatch. Anyway no towns, shouldn't a modern HD console have no issues loading towns? this is ridiculous, I gurantee you will never hear this said about Zelda.

[KilZoneGeneralStrife]

...what next,its 3 discs on 360 without towns...surely,huge royalties for a 4th disc/swopping discs to go to towns on the 360 wouldve had nothing to do with it...*sarcasm*...the 360 limited this game..and their happy lazy asses had no problem not making it right.and they had the ballz to charge more than regular price in japan for it.HA! Bs.

[die_fiend]

Yeah that's utter bull, if you did towns on the old ones with ease why are they suddenly impossible now? Surely putting the same things in them but making them HD isn't that hard is it? A few shops? So Mass effect 1 had the citadel which had loads 2 do, but 2 years later and many more years of development and you can't make a single town in this?! I hope Versus has towns, cos I'l be pretty disappointed if it doesn't

[Rocket Sauce]

I just pissed my pants because it was too much work to walk to the bathroom. I like your style, Square Enix!

[jackdoe]

Wow. That is a bullsh!t reason. With all that cut content, there MUST have been enough time to create a freaking town. Sheesh.

[bjornbear]

sad...well maybe Versus XIII will be a true FF for the true FF fans =/

[bigjclassic]

1. This is the Blu Ray era, PS3 can read 75GB-200GB BD-Roms, So Stop giving us fans BS SE.

2. FF vXIII is going to be like Kingdom Hearts, meaning its not going to be a traditional FF game either.

Oh well, glad that SE has not ruined DQ yet.

[stuntman_mike]

yet they (Sq-E) spent months polishing rocks in the game lol.

[jackdoe]

They also spent months getting content to run on the PS3 only to cut it out later. Great way to manage your time Square!

[darkstar]

Now that I have a family, i rather not wander around towns and what not. Me and my wife watched the the trailer yesterday and were both blown away. First words she said, can you still pre order? It will be great, stop the hate.

[Bodyboarder_VGamer]

This just confirms that FFvsXIII will be the first real FF game of this gen. Or at least, that's what I hope so...

[Yangus]

Square!Look Eternal Sonata,many beautiful towns/village and many NPC's,Lost Odyssey has towns,Tales of Vesperia has towns.....the big FF no towns,no NPC's,no world map,no shop's?meh....skip.FF dead?maybe..

I hope Lost Story better.....

[Troll-without-Bridge]

Lol, FFXIII has as much towns as Eternal sonata, if not more.

[NiiGhTx]

THEY ARE LAZYYYYYY

[jag_stilvecchio]

I haven't genuinely enjoyed a Final Fantasy title since FFIX on the PS1. Yet I'll still end up buying FFXIII regardless of news like this. Nostalgia I suppose for this once great series.

[gtamike123]

because of OLD GEN DVD fact

[Demon5500]

Squire and you ps3 fanboy's need go and play mass effect 2 right now and then take your comments and shove em, it has nothing to do with disk size, Squire are just bloody lazy pure and simple? If the excuse is about 360's disk size holding holding back the ps3 version, well I Have played all the major release on ps3 and on 360 and mass effect 2 destroys them all, and in every area of development? so the argument is mute we could have done with out blue ray for this gen cos dvd has proven it is capable of delivering? .....:)

[xAlmostPro]

dont try and outsmart sony fanboys, i have both consoles(in favour of ps3 mind you) we know that mass effect is 2 discs!.. everyone hates having to swap disc for the same game lets not lie

[die_fiend]

Squire and you ps3 fanboy's need go and play mass effect 2 right now and then take your comments and shove em, it has nothing to do with disk size, Squire are just bloody lazy pure and simple? If the excuse is about 360's disk size holding holding back the ps3 version, well I Have played all the major release on ps3 and on 360 and mass effect 2 destroys them all, and in every area of development? so the argument is mute we could have done with out blue ray for this gen cos dvd has proven it is capable of delivering?
Wrong --> Right
Squire --> Square
fanboy's --> fanboys
disk --> disc
simple? --> simple!
holding holding --> holding
release --> releases
mute --> moot
blue ray --> blu ray
delivering? --> delivering.
development? --> development.

[ArthurLee]

"No Towns" - That is just retarded. I'll be playing Mass Effect 2 until Yakuza 3 is released and passing on FFXIII. Maybe when its $29.99 I'll get it.

[freshPiMP91]

...so over 30gb of cgi is more important than towns in an rpg...something theyve had since...THE FIRST FINAL FANTASY. god, im startin to wonder if square really care...

[ktchong]

Well, BioWare and Bethesda certainly haven't complained about it's "too much work" to populate cities and towns in their games.

[Jack Bauer]

making 60 bucks is too much work to play a rpg without towns... lazy asses... every other rpg seems to be making towns just fine... ill rent this only cause i have a pass to rent anyway

[DigitalHorror81]

Can't they develop a new engine for an RPG to run on that might create towns and randomly interchange body types and sizes in randomly created towns or something? It can't TRULY be as hard as they're making it out to be. It's been said before, developers are lazy.

[AnotherGamerUser]

To design all the graphics in towns. Thats why. Even MMORPGs on line have TOWNS. WTF. This game is going to suck donkey balls!

Edit: Even Fable 3 has towns on the 360! LOL and that game is in HD.

[DigitalHorror81]

And here I thought High-Def/Next-Gen was going to be sweet. Hard to have an amazing experience with lazy developers!

[jalen247]

Maybe Square Enix should have just kept FF XIII exclusive to PS3 and just spent the time it used in making the 360 version on giving Final Fantasy fans the complete Final Fantasy game they want to play.

Besides, a jrpg are more of PlayStation gamer's game than an Xbox gamer's game, generally speaking.

I understand that they wasted money and a year and a half on the PS2 version before moving the game to the PS3 and that they needed to make the game multiplatform to recoup some of the costs.

However, it is a mistake to tarnish a franchise for business reasons. It will hurt you in the long run. If the franchise loses some of its luster, future games in the series will sell less copies than they would ordinarily.

[Shaman]

Man wtf??I will still buy it,after all even if im disappointed im still a sucker for FF...But SE saying its to much work to make towns with "only" 4 years of development is like Sony or MS saying they didnt put analog sticks on their controllers because its to expensive.

[Silber]

Man i really hate this stupid fanboys that say "This Game have no DLC and Towns because of the Xbox 360"... Every one who say this is dumb as bread.

Maybe you remember the Disc-Analysis. Only 6,2 GB of the Blu-Ray is Game-Content. The rest is Movies.

And Games like Mass Effect and Fallout sure have a lot bigger World and tons of spoken dialouges. These Games fit on one DVD too. Lost Odyssey is Multiliual (english, spanish, german, french, italian) with localiced speech on 4 DVD´s (and with towns and big world map). So there is no way FFXIII got gimped down because of the Xbox 360, its because Square Enix is not as good as they where. In the Times Hironobu Sakaguchi made the Final Fantasy Games.

[Darkshader]

1. SE accepted the money from MS. Then SE found out that the game content cannot be squeezed into 3 DVDs because SE has to pay MS for each extra DVD that they add. Both PS3 & XBOX 360 owners got screw into this deal.

2. SE workforce was divided due to one is working on the PS3 platform and the other is working on the xbox 360 platform, instead of concentrating in one big project.

3. Development of this game is overdue. Its been years since SE started developing the FFXIII, so they have to release the game to make money and pay their business expenses.

4. Content that was taken out will be made to a DLC. SE is following the foot step of Rockstar. And this is the start of SE fall. They screw their loyal fans, now they are delivering a half bake game, Unacceptable!

5. You need towns! Why? I'll give you an example. Final Fantasy VII was popular because each character has their own personal story and struggles in life. Where do you find these characters? Where else, in each town that you visit. Even if you are traveling for a long period of time, you knew that you will see a town eventually that you can rest and equip your self with new weapons. And this is where the cut scene take place. Due to dilema that SE has to face in creating multiple DVD disc for the xbox 360 version to create this town, SE decided to took it out. Fack You SE.

@To the above! It is both SE & M$ fault. M$ for offering the money to SE eventhough their system is using DVD format. Fallout doesn't do HD cut scene so it fits in one DVD. SE accepted the bribe but their workforce was cut in half and cannot deliver a quality product.

[Reshun]

Wait till you see those breadsticks the characters carry on their hands and feet.

Aside from that they still had the nerve to announce that there will be a DLC for the game. They clearly stated during the last year's E3 that there will be no DLC as FF13 will be released as a fully completed work of a game.

[Shendow]

If their is no towns, does that mean their is only city's? Less videos I watch had them running around in a huge city. So I'm guessing we won't see small towns anymore.

[Blinding_Solo]

Why must Square Enix follow other developers. This why the next set of consoles are going to be no different(Playstation 4 and Xbox whatever). They should hand over the series to more dedicated developers like Naughty Dog or the makers of God of War. This is a big disappointment. This is a message to all gamers that we will never have a true next gen game from developer like this.

[xAlmostPro]

screw them :( without sounding bad its went down hill since it was announced it would be on the 360.. but on another note, theyve annoyed me tooo much.. mass effect/2 for the best rpg series award lol, end of.. damn square enix lol

[hoops]

FF series is too old school now.

[ARMY_HAWK]

No longer first day buy for me. I'll wait for reviews. It's not like I really need to get it, im already busy with MAG, WKC tuesday adn then GOW 3 in March and BFBC2

[LinuxGuru]

Are you freaking kidding me?

Excuses, EXCUSES!

[Mr_Luke]

no cities cause.... too much work?!?
And ppl are going to pay for this crap that hasn't anything to do with FF in the end?
Really, lazy crap Square-Crapenix... "too much work", they make me laugh.. and cry, since i miss Squaresoft and their epic games (but i have to forget, since Squaresoft doesn't exist anymore).

[HINDERIZATION]

im just an RPG fanatic. final fantasy FTW. (though i still prefer Legend of Dragoon)