Original FFvsXIII logo by Yoshitaka Amano
It's been four years since its announcement with an awesome trailer at E3 2006, but actually more than six years have passed since its development started in 2003. We've all seen the graphics: both the FMV's and the real-time renders look awesome and very similar to each other. Recently, Famitsu published some information and pictures which confirm the inclusion of an open world map and a glimpse of gameplay which keeps the tradition of party-based RPG's.
What really worries me here is that the hype is getting out of control (some may remember Cloverfield as an example of something small and with good quality, but creating expectations that couldn't be handled and were as high as Shinra's building). People (me included) are filling game forums asking to know some more about FFvXIII, sharing links and translating whatever material they find in the web or printed and still not much has been revealed. Truth told, viral campaigns and word-of-mouth publicity is great AND cheap for investors, but it's a miracle that it is still out there after four years.
In the Famitsu magazine interview Nomura also said that they are preparing for a big announcement. I honestly think that they missed a big chance at E3 to be the best game of the show. This year's E3 was mainly used to announce hardware (Kinect, Move, 3DS) and games were left aside. We know they cannot hold back this new game much longer and Nomura's declaration make me think of an official debut on the next Tokyo Game Show, but still, if it had been shown at E3, it would have been more of a worldwide presentation. I know the TGS allows general public entry which is good for more viral campaign/word-of-mouth publicity and if they show it there, we can expect for sure that the hype will finally show its true consequence: either more hype and a pretty awesome response from gamers (and a huge amount of pre-orders) or a big FAIL in which critics make it crash and burn when it finally gets released (In any case, we'll get more media for sure). I know the first scenario is the most probable (not to say the most desired) and my personal favorite since I expect this game since last year, but if they do something like the action commands in KHII there will be problems and I'll cry.
Lastly, for the ones who know nothing about FFvXIII, don't worry, there is not a lot of info out there and here's a little summary of what's known and the most important aspects: It is part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis (a set of three independent games, with the only relation between them being the universe/mythology, but not the story). The creating team is directed by Tetsuya Nomura: director, character designer and story creator of ALL Kingdom Hearts until now and he's also being involved in important gameplay roles since FFV. He stated that it'll be the darkest FF until now. As for the gameplay we can expect his team from KH doing a realistic version of the action we found there. Nomura also said that they want to reflect fights similar to those found in Final Fantasy VII Advent Children (which he also directed), so if you haven't seen that GO GET IT NOW (well, after you finish reading this of course), buy it or rent it, I don't care, just watch it, you will thank me. Finally there WILL be vehicles (car and airship confirmed) and an open world map for the ones that have missed those concepts since FFX like myself (the open world map is more like XII open scenarios, just much more huge and much more detailed, I was truly amazed when I saw those pictures because the real-time quality is just GREAT).
Letting the known stuff aside (which is very little info in comparison to an almost seven-year-old development), we can expect something better than FFXIII, which has received complaints from critics and gamers stating that although the story is good, it is somewhat confusing and feels like a linear game. On the good side for FFXIII we have graphics and new gameplay, which conserves the party-using and as always has new elements whith some people loving it and some hating it. Let's face it Motomu Toriyama, the guy behind FFXIII had only being director of FFX-2, which is not that good (I liked it though).
The only thing for us to do now is to wait for a release date to be announced (hopefully at this year's TGS) and some gameplay to be shown (video please!, not just images), because even with a good story and movie-like graphics which are nice, if it is boring, simple or way too easy, we know it would be bad. Let us hope for a good game. As before, I encourage you to leave some comments on your way out =D.
