Some Final Fantasy Versus XIII Updates

[baylaust 2,531]

Some of you may think of Final Fantasy Versus XIII as a game that has been in development since FFXIII was, being directed by KH creator Tetsuya Nomura, that will tie in with the FFXIII mythos. As a result, the game has recieved a considerable amount of hype.

 

More of you probably think of it as the reason KHIII isn't here yet.

 

In either case, the latest issue of Famitsu has been released, containing an interview with Nomura. He gives some updates regarding FFvsXIII. From andriasang:

 

 

Tetsuya Nomura promised a brief update on Final Fantasy Versus XIII for this week's Famitsu. He provided a bit more than that, devoting a full one page of his four page interview with the magazine to the game. Here's some of what he said, as summed up at FF-Reunion.

 

Much of the discussion was about the game's event scenes. As with most games, there are two types of event scenes in Versus: pre-rendered and real time. The difference about the Versus real time scenes is that they're all controllable. They decided to get rid of the non controllable real time cut scenes in order to keep the play from stopping.

 

Regarding the controllable cut scenes, Nomura said to expect more natural expression as opposed to the game-like expression of past games. He also mentioned some sort of new system for this area, something that he feels has never been done before.

 

(The FF-Reunion summary says that Nomura said something about the cut scenes being more like an FPS than an RPG, but the context of the statement is a bit unclear so I'd suggest waiting for a more detailed summary.)

 

Nomura debuted three new screenshots for Famitsu's editors -- just for the editors, as Square Enix apparently won't let screens be shown to the general public. Famitsu was impressed, saying that they couldn't believe what they were looking at was real time.

 

The three screenshots included a scene of an Italy-like city showing Noctis looking up at a behemoth, an afternoon shot of Noctus on what appeared to be the side of the highway, and the same highway shot but at night. The signs on the highway apparently say "Meguro," which is a region of Tokyo (As far as I know the game doesn't actually take place in our world, although this isn't the first time a real world name has been found in the game).

 

One reason the game may look so good is because there are only minimal differences between the game's high and low quality models. According to Nomura, they've kept the high and low quality models the same, with exception to the greater hair detail in the high quality versions.

 

The inclusion of Takeshi Nozue on the staff also helped, said Nomura. Nozue was able to apply use his pre-rendering knowhow on the game's real time scenes, specifically with regards to lighting technology.

 

Famitsu noted that the screenshots looked like real photos. Nomura replied with an aside that you can take pictures in the game. Noctis has a cell phone, and you can take pics wherever you like.

 

Regarding when we'll get to see the images that Famitsu's editors were shown, Nomura just said we'll have to wait a bit. He also noted that areas we've already been shown now have the new lighting technology, so we'll have to wait to see these as well.

 

Moving on to a general development update, Nomura siad that because they're trying out a lot of new challenges, the development staff is still focused on the core members. However, they're making preparations to enter full production.

 

They're also gradually recording the game's voices. Regarding the recording, Nomura said that there are many scenes where the four male characters are engaged in realistic conversation, with their voices overlapping. These scenes are being recorded by having the four voice actors together on the recording session simultaneously.

 

So when will we get our next bit of Versus XIII info? Nomura said that the timing for the next reveal has been set, but he would not say when. For the next update, though, he said that they'd like to deliver it along with some good information.

Thoughts?

 

baylaust out.

[Slicer9875 27]

Interesting. I want to see the pics if they described it as being that awesome. The implications for KH are awesome. Versus XIII is probably good but I'm more interested in KH3.

[Razorwind Keyblade 304]

Yes this is intresting, but if anything FF XIII delayed the development of KH III. Therefore, it is my enemy!

[hatok 6,413]

Interesting. I want to see the pics if they described it as being that awesome. The implications for KH are awesome. Versus XIII is probably good but I'm more interested in KH3.

 

Seriously. Imagine this technology, only BETTER, in KH3.

[Rosie 3]

Okay, guys, seriously? Nagging about it "delaying" your precious KH3? Not cool.

 

Especially since people who've been waiting for Versus have had a much longer wait, since it's been in development hell for countless years and we've seen barely anything new. While the KH fans have had quite a few games since KH2, (I don't really care if you consider them spin-offs, BBS seemed pretty strong in itself to me) most of which are somewhat like what you'd expect and should tide you over. While the more FF-orientated fans have had XIII, true, it wasn't much like what they were teased with in Versus XIII, with it's apparently darker and edgier storyline, blood during battle and cutscenes- comparitively, XIII was really tame.

 

They wouldn't use that kind of technology for a Kingdom Hearts game, since they're meant to be kind of cartoony- extremely detailed, realistic areas and character models simply wouldn't fit the series, so that's a no go. But, considering what little they've shown of Versus' graphics, it definitely sounds good.

 

And I really do like the sound of the method they're choosing for the voiceacting to try and make it sound more natural- it might take longer, though, and it should make an improvement to how stilted the speech in things can be sometimes. I hope they keep it up for the english dub, if it DOES work.

 

If they give me a camera phone in-game, I'll just end up with tons of pictures of Prompto, and Noctis' feet. That'll be it. xDDD

[hatok 6,413]

Okay, guys, seriously? Nagging about it "delaying" your precious KH3? Not cool.

 

Especially since people who've been waiting for Versus have had a much longer wait, since it's been in development hell for countless years and we've seen barely anything new. While the KH fans have had quite a few games since KH2, (I don't really care if you consider them spin-offs, BBS seemed pretty strong in itself to me) most of which are somewhat like what you'd expect and should tide you over. While the more FF-orientated fans have had XIII, true, it wasn't much like what they were teased with in Versus XIII, with it's apparently darker and edgier storyline, blood during battle and cutscenes- comparitively, XIII was really tame.

 

They wouldn't use that kind of technology for a Kingdom Hearts game, since they're meant to be kind of cartoony- extremely detailed, realistic areas and character models simply wouldn't fit the series, so that's a no go. But, considering what little they've shown of Versus' graphics, it definitely sounds good.

 

And I really do like the sound of the method they're choosing for the voiceacting to try and make it sound more natural- it might take longer, though, and it should make an improvement to how stilted the speech in things can be sometimes. I hope they keep it up for the english dub, if it DOES work.

 

If they give me a camera phone in-game, I'll just end up with tons of pictures of Prompto, and Noctis' feet. That'll be it. xDDD

 

There're some things you should know.

First, according to Nomura in a recent interview, they haven't even fully BEGAN to develop the game. That's why there's so little new info.

KH has had its spinoffs while we wait, sure, but so has Final Fantasy. you can't just count Final Fantasy XIII as one game franchise, and even then, there're two other XIII spinoffs on the way. In particular, Type-0 features several instances of blood in the recent trailer, so you can get your fix there. But seriously, there have been tonnes of OTHER FF games coming out, a lot more than there are KH games.

They WILL use that technology for a KH game because Nomrua said that was the whole point. I'm guessing you don't know much about how game technology works, but any tricks they get that can improve the graphics can be used to improve KH3's graphics as well, especially tricks that increase the number of polygons they can get away with (Such as making Hair 2D) Just because THIS game is dark and edgy, doesn't mean that its technology can't be used for something lighter.

 

One last thing. If you want a darker and edgier XIII game, XIII-2 is claimed to be such.

[baylaust 2,531]

Okay, guys, seriously? Nagging about it "delaying" your precious KH3? Not cool.

 

Especially since people who've been waiting for Versus have had a much longer wait, since it's been in development hell for countless years and we've seen barely anything new. While the KH fans have had quite a few games since KH2, (I don't really care if you consider them spin-offs, BBS seemed pretty strong in itself to me) most of which are somewhat like what you'd expect and should tide you over. While the more FF-orientated fans have had XIII, true, it wasn't much like what they were teased with in Versus XIII, with it's apparently darker and edgier storyline, blood during battle and cutscenes- comparitively, XIII was really tame.

 

They wouldn't use that kind of technology for a Kingdom Hearts game, since they're meant to be kind of cartoony- extremely detailed, realistic areas and character models simply wouldn't fit the series, so that's a no go. But, considering what little they've shown of Versus' graphics, it definitely sounds good.

 

And I really do like the sound of the method they're choosing for the voiceacting to try and make it sound more natural- it might take longer, though, and it should make an improvement to how stilted the speech in things can be sometimes. I hope they keep it up for the english dub, if it DOES work.

 

If they give me a camera phone in-game, I'll just end up with tons of pictures of Prompto, and Noctis' feet. That'll be it. xDDD

 

There's not enough people that think of FFvsXIII as a game, and not the thing delaying KHIII. You are my new hero.