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Following the opening of the Final Fantasy XIII official site on Friday, Famitsu.com has posted a huge update on the game. Most of the information was shared in the site's print version a couple of weeks back, but the online posting at last allows everyone to see the screens for themselves.
You can see the screenshots by browsing over to the original Famitsu.com article. Here's a screen-by-screen analysis, from top to bottom.
First screenshot
That hood may deceive at first, but the green eyes should leave no question: that's pigtail girl! Her full name is actually Oerba Dia Vanille. It was revealed a while back that she's a resident of the Pulse underworld. She was banished there by the religious government that governs the overworld of Cocoon. The governing body banishes anyone it believes to have been influenced by Pulse to the world below, although it seems that with Vanille at least, the reason for her suspicion was never shared.
Second screenshot
This shot shows Lightening in a train -- presumably that same train that she's been infiltrating since the first FFXIII trailer from years ago. Lightning, while once a soldier of the Cocoon government, now fights against the government. She's infiltrated the train in order to free people who are being banished to Pulse. She's not alone, as Famitsu.com says that she's being accompanied by a male character (this may or may not be in reference to Snow, aka bandana guy).
Third screenshot
There isn't really any solid information provided by the Famitsu.com text for this shot, so you can guess for yourself what it is that Lightning is investigating. The the male character in this screenshot is another unidentified character.
Fourth screenshot
That menacing-looking character is an officer in the Cocoon army. As you might expect, officers like this guy have far greater power than regular soldiers. The Famitsu.com text also notes that the Cocoon army has, in addition to standard soldiers, powerful weapons and monsters under its command.
Fifth screenshot
This shot is from prior to battle. In FFXIII, you can see your enemy in advance, and can evade them if you don't want to fight. The transition to battle is said to be seamless.
Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth screenshots
These shots are all from the heart of battle. The FFXIII battle system is command based. You select commands from a command palette, adding the commands to a stock. The moves in the stock are executed all at once. The resulting actions differ based off the selected commands and their ordering.
The commands you can select are your typical Final Fantasy commands for attacks and magic. Also shown in the screenshots is a "launch" command, which sends the enemy flying into the air and allows Lightning to show off her acrobatics. The Famitsu.com text does not specify if there are any limitations on the ordering for your commands, although it seems like placing two launch commands in succession would be a bit silly.
Each command has an associated cost. In the screenshots, the commands for attack, fire, launch, and cure all have a cost of 1. The Firaga spell, however, has a cost of 3. Lightning can perform a total cost of 3, meaning you can have three of the cost 1 moves or just one Firaga. It's unclear if Lightning is permanently limited to a cost of three, or if she'll be able to expand as her character develops.
There are still plenty of mysteries with the Final Fantasy XIII battle system -- notably the mysterious gauge and "bonus" reading in the upper-right side of the battle shots. These will presumably be detailed in a future update.
With the Final Fantasy XIII demo due to hit Japan in March through the Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete release, solid gameplay and story details are at long last starting to emerge on the game. It's likely that the information will continue to flow in over the next couple of months, so Final Fantasy fanatics should definitely check back periodically.
source
just epic
You can see the screenshots by browsing over to the original Famitsu.com article. Here's a screen-by-screen analysis, from top to bottom.
First screenshot
That hood may deceive at first, but the green eyes should leave no question: that's pigtail girl! Her full name is actually Oerba Dia Vanille. It was revealed a while back that she's a resident of the Pulse underworld. She was banished there by the religious government that governs the overworld of Cocoon. The governing body banishes anyone it believes to have been influenced by Pulse to the world below, although it seems that with Vanille at least, the reason for her suspicion was never shared.
Second screenshot
This shot shows Lightening in a train -- presumably that same train that she's been infiltrating since the first FFXIII trailer from years ago. Lightning, while once a soldier of the Cocoon government, now fights against the government. She's infiltrated the train in order to free people who are being banished to Pulse. She's not alone, as Famitsu.com says that she's being accompanied by a male character (this may or may not be in reference to Snow, aka bandana guy).
Third screenshot
There isn't really any solid information provided by the Famitsu.com text for this shot, so you can guess for yourself what it is that Lightning is investigating. The the male character in this screenshot is another unidentified character.
Fourth screenshot
That menacing-looking character is an officer in the Cocoon army. As you might expect, officers like this guy have far greater power than regular soldiers. The Famitsu.com text also notes that the Cocoon army has, in addition to standard soldiers, powerful weapons and monsters under its command.
Fifth screenshot
This shot is from prior to battle. In FFXIII, you can see your enemy in advance, and can evade them if you don't want to fight. The transition to battle is said to be seamless.
Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth screenshots
These shots are all from the heart of battle. The FFXIII battle system is command based. You select commands from a command palette, adding the commands to a stock. The moves in the stock are executed all at once. The resulting actions differ based off the selected commands and their ordering.
The commands you can select are your typical Final Fantasy commands for attacks and magic. Also shown in the screenshots is a "launch" command, which sends the enemy flying into the air and allows Lightning to show off her acrobatics. The Famitsu.com text does not specify if there are any limitations on the ordering for your commands, although it seems like placing two launch commands in succession would be a bit silly.
Each command has an associated cost. In the screenshots, the commands for attack, fire, launch, and cure all have a cost of 1. The Firaga spell, however, has a cost of 3. Lightning can perform a total cost of 3, meaning you can have three of the cost 1 moves or just one Firaga. It's unclear if Lightning is permanently limited to a cost of three, or if she'll be able to expand as her character develops.
There are still plenty of mysteries with the Final Fantasy XIII battle system -- notably the mysterious gauge and "bonus" reading in the upper-right side of the battle shots. These will presumably be detailed in a future update.
With the Final Fantasy XIII demo due to hit Japan in March through the Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete release, solid gameplay and story details are at long last starting to emerge on the game. It's likely that the information will continue to flow in over the next couple of months, so Final Fantasy fanatics should definitely check back periodically.
source
just epic
