FFXIII-2 "Darker," Will Feature "Improved ATB System"

This falls into the slowly expanding "what we know so far" category for the freshly announced Final Fantasy XIII-2.

More details were present in a Dengeki feature in Japan and we've found a rough translation that outlines a few interesting pieces of info. The translation isn't perfect, of course, but it provides us with two very intriguing tidbits: firstly, in addition to the returning characters (which we expected), the story will be "dark and mysterious" and it seems the follow-up adventure will start in Gran Pulse. At least, that's how we're interpreting the following:

"The story begins, according to the developer directly in Gran pulses, the end of Final Fantasy 13th In the center of the action, the deity Etro."

Secondly, the combat system will be tweaked: even though it'll boast an ATB mechanic similar to that of FFXIII, it'll be "extended" and "improved." We don't quite understand what "you may also learn the interface to change" line means but for some reason, we were just reminded of the "changing" of Dress Spheres in FFX-2. ...pretty sure that won't happen again, though. Still, a class system might be cool...

More information will come to light as the year progresses. Let's just hope it all goes over well with the fans.

Related Game(s): Final Fantasy XIII-2

Tags: ffxiii-2, final fantasy xiii-2, square enix, ffxiii-2 details

1/25/2011 9:55:15 AM Ben Dutka

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Comments (72 posts)

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Ultimate_Balla
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 10:14:31 AM
Reply

Uh, so when does Level 5 of the 3 main roles become ready for leveling? #RandomQButRelated

The image I got when I saw extended ATB was more gauges ('_').

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WorldEndsWithMe
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 11:36:41 AM

In XIII? You can't expand the Crystarium all the way until you've beaten the game.

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darxed
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 10:18:03 AM
Reply

Darker is fine with me... I'm really hoping for a better game than the original here, I think if they take away the linearity of XIII then they have a winner. I really enjoyed the characters and their stories. Also, Lightning looks great on that outfit. :P

A little off topic, I read that Nomura said that "They have FFXIII-2 and Type-0 this year, so please forget about Versus for a while"... Which to me sounds like no Versus till 2012... Which would reaaaally irk me the wrong way...

Last edited by darxed on 1/25/2011 10:18:45 AM

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Kiryu
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 10:35:07 AM

Hi i saw ur avatar,sasuke right?Did u play the new Naruto Ultimate ninja storm 2?That game was better than the anime in my opinion!

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darxed
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 10:45:46 AM

@Kiryu

Yep, that's Sasuke when he decides he'll be attacking the hidden leaf for what happened with Itachi. I don't have the game and I stopped seeing the anime, too much filling chapters and not enough real content. I still read the manga though...

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Kiryu
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 10:57:03 AM

Really buy the game.It's just like the manga,imagine without any fillers!
That's y i didn't watch the anime i only played the game and it is an anime!

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darxed
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 10:59:11 AM

Yeah, I might get it when the price goes down... to many great games these year and I'm still in debt for the games I bought the last one...

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WorldEndsWithMe
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 11:38:39 AM

Versus was announced way too soon and it seems there aren't many people working on it since they are always helping with SE's other ten thousand announced games. They shouldn't even have announced Versus until 2010.

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shadowpal2
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 1:14:16 PM

OH WOW...Nomura san said that?! Oh that just @#$%ing pisses me off.

I bet he wants to get it out as soon as possible to us gamers, but his boss requires to have most of the staff of Square Enix work on all these unannounced projects. I MEAN HELL back in E3 2009, I was a bit pissed off that they suddenly announced FFXIV out of the blue and said it'd be out for PC last year. Where are these guys priorities?

And now with FFXIII-2? C'mon...you guys shouldn't have even announced FINAL FANTASY VERSUS XIII.

Oh well...

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Veitsknight
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 9:22:54 PM

They should have focused on Versus as soon as they finished XIII. XIV should not have been developed until after the Fabula Nova Crystalis.

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shadowscorpio
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 11:30:48 PM

Well for what its worth, At least we know Versus is coming. I personally am fine with it not coming yet. We got awesome games and HD remakes coming which will keep us busy. By the time we are done diving into all that is coming before Versus it will be here. That's what I think.

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Lawless SXE
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 4:33:43 AM

I'm with Shadow... at least we've got something to look forward to as well as Bioshock Infinite in 2012.

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darxed
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 10:46:53 AM
Reply

The trailer with English voices is up:

http://finalfantasy13-2game.com/#/uk/trailer/

If anyone is interested...

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Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 2:53:08 PM

We put that up as a news article.

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Jawknee
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 10:50:58 AM
Reply

Grant us the ability to control each party member individually and take away the idiotic "Game Over if the party leader dies, despite the rest of your team being alive" nonsense and the game will already be that much better.

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swapnilgyani
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 11:01:09 AM

Exactly - E X A C T L Y!!!

And oh, please, for heaven's sake, allow us to do all of that right from the start!

Also, no "filler" content please. I'd prefer a short, slick game to an obese one!

1 up, 0 down

DrRockso87
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 11:05:36 AM

Agreed. Let me add on this...

a) Fix the damage meter. Sometimes I find myself fighting for 20 minutes against a common enemy because it's empty. That's ridiculous.

b) Have summons ACTUALLY have a purpose other than healing your party. Summons in Final Fantasy XIII were practically worthless. I did twice as much damage with auto-attack than I did using Odin. Also, have it so your tech points don't diminish as soon as you use a summon. I need to use libra as well to identify my enemy. I can't waste all those points on "purdy summons."

That's my main gripe with the combat. I could harp on the rest of the problems I had but I'd be here all day.

Fix those problems (and the ones Jawknee listed) and development team could be onto something. I still wouldn't touch this game even if it were free but I'd like anyone that will pick this up to have the least amount of problems they can.

1 up, 0 down

coverton341
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 11:15:20 AM

I'd like to be able to think about a battle strategy rather than spam the X button during battles and have the computer pick the best possible attack.

1 up, 0 down

WorldEndsWithMe
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 11:40:20 AM

How come you won't consider it if it's a lot better DrRocks?

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DrRockso87
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 12:19:17 PM

@WorldEndsWithMe - Didn't like the first one at all. Didn't like the gameplay, didn't like the characters (Lightning was okay, and Sazh was good but Hope was a wuss, Snow opened his mouth, Vanille was... Vanille, etc.), didn't like how the story was told, hated the dialogue, the combat was broken, the linearity bothered me (I don't mind a linear game but FFXIII was literally on-rails), the music was meh (Yoko Shimomura is much more talented than Masashi Hamauzu) and other problems.

If they fix EVERYTHING that was wrong with the first one then I'll probably rent it but I don't see that happening since this'll only be a year and a half of development. Just can't fork out another 60+ bucks (hell, even if it were 10) for another game that I'll probably hate.

I'll definitely pick up Versus XIII though. Nomura never let me down (except for bring Kingdom Hearts to handhelds)

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WorldEndsWithMe
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 2:54:13 PM

Well, those are some pretty good reasons :)

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shadowscorpio
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 11:42:28 PM

@ Jawknee

It so sad how we the gamers have to remind the developer of the good ideas that they once had.

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Nynja
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 11:00:23 AM
Reply

How about quit wasting resources on multiple titles and get FFvXIII out the door already.

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DrRockso87
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 11:09:00 AM

As much as I agree, I'm glad Toriyama, or anyone else working on XIII-2, isn't touching Versus XIII (save for Kitase as co-producer).

I'd rather Nomura and his team work exclusively on Versus XIII than seek outside help from that idiot Toriyama.

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Nynja
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 1:28:12 PM

I was referring to other staff such as programmers, level designers, character model designers, animators, artists, testers, writers, etc.

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DrRockso87
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 1:37:57 PM

Oh, my bad. In that case, I agree. I wish they would cancel XIII-2 and just work on Versus XIII then. This is ridiculous. Nomura basically confirmed today that this Versus XIII will miss 2011. Uggggh.

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WorldEndsWithMe
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 2:55:54 PM

So what is that 5-6 years of development? Cripes.

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Nynja
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 3:34:56 PM

I think so. Wasn't FFvXIII announced around the same time as FFXIII? That would mean FFvXIII is reaching Duke Nukem status.

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Veitsknight
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 9:30:10 PM

"Duke Nukem Status" hahaha

At least Versus will be a Day 1 purchase for me.

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eLLeJuss
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 11:03:19 AM
Reply

LIGHTNING IN A THIEF DRESSPHERE?! HMMMMMM....

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WorldEndsWithMe
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 11:50:31 AM

Something tells me she would be really grumpy if put in the pop star outfit :)

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Oxvial
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 11:32:54 AM
Reply

It gonna be very hard for SE to convince me to buy this crap.

Last edited by Oxvial on 1/25/2011 11:33:16 AM

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WorldEndsWithMe
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 11:44:39 AM
Reply

Dark is good, and I think we all hope "improved ATB" means more intricate, more old school, and more logical.

"you may also learn the interface to change" Sounds kind of like he's saying you can customize certain things. Maybe you can make your own sets of moves like in WKC. Then we would be able to choose our attacks or healing patterns instead of leaving it up to the game. It could also be like Persona where you can either let your party members be controlled by the game or you can manage their moves individually. That would be cool.

I dunno, but I think they should do a fan survey before tossing around any wild ideas. And either lose the stagger meter or use it better. That thing was retarded.

Last edited by WorldEndsWithMe on 1/25/2011 11:45:54 AM

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Nynja
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 3:36:09 PM

I don't know how much help that would be, since the survey about a FFVII remake still hasn't given us anything.

btw - love the avatar :)

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WorldEndsWithMe
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 3:50:37 PM

In any case they said they are looking at fan feedback and I EXPECT the motherfackers to implement it too!

And thanks, whatever my reservations about xiii, I like Light. :)

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totozero18
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 11:50:15 AM
Reply

Darker = win, maybe we'll see the story tangle with Vs-XIII's story now that they've mentioned Etro.

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kraygen
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 3:11:51 PM

I doubt it, since vs XIII is supposed to take place in a completely different time period.

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shadowscorpio
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 11:49:21 PM

Well different time period or not. The two games can still implement each other.

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Drake_RB3
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 11:55:26 AM
Reply

How about getting Nobuo Uematsu back on some Final Fantasy games? He's still got it. His work in Lost Odyssey is excellent.

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Ultimadesires
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 12:15:47 PM
Reply

I dont like the sound of this, on of the reasons i liked XIII is becuase of the joy and charisma from the characters. If they turn them in to bland soulless people i will be very disheartend

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Oxvial
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 12:40:03 PM

Yes I agree with you the last thing I wanted was to see this cast of characters again, if it's just pure lighting and a bunch of new characters perhaps I would feel some of hype for this.

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Ultimadesires
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 12:45:16 PM

You did not read what i said, I want the characters of XIII to return because they were fresh and full of charisma, i will be unhappy if they bring them back and turn them into dull boring people, to fit the dark mood.

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WorldEndsWithMe
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 2:58:14 PM

I think they will try to keep their personalities. I can already see doomsday approaching and Snow being optimistic. Although he needs to drop the generic "hero" stuff.

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Gamer Girl Gemo
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 6:45:21 PM

I always thought Snow was just plain cheesy :D

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Oxvial
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 7:30:53 PM

Yes I'm doing this a lot lately...=S.

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darxed
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 12:57:31 PM
Reply

Seems my comment is not getting approved cause I posted the url... So if anyone is interested in seeing the trailer with English voices, go to finalfantasy13-2game dot com... I almost had forgotten how much I like Light's voice...

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WorldEndsWithMe
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 2:59:04 PM

PSXE had it up a couple days ago, I like her voice a lot too. Kinda smexy in a "don't f*ck with me" sorta way.

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Dante399
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 1:43:37 PM
Reply

We're going to wait and see.

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Lawless SXE
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 2:51:53 PM
Reply

Okay, to hear that it is at least starting in Gran Pulse should assuage the worries of the many who complain about it taking twenty hours to get through the corridors of XIII, so that's a good thing. The 'dark and mysterious' story is a high point for me. For some odd reason, I love seeing misery, so stories that can capture that feeling of being trapped work wonders on me... A curious thing, but it makes the game sound a tad more appealing.

An extended and improved ATB could mean any number of things. It could be that they are slowing it down, and perhaps adding party support, so that, to an extent, you would be able to control the other members. It could mean that there are more options to play around with. The constant guesswork is starting to get to me, so I'll just wait until more info about the battle system comes out.
Peace.

P.S. Dengeki also let loose with a bunch of details about Versus XIII, although nothing strictly new. It's more talking about the recent trailer and a few revelations contained within. You should check it out if you're interested. There will apparently be another trailer later this week, but then no new info until E3 at the earliest. Ah well, so it goes.

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WorldEndsWithMe
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 3:02:51 PM
Reply

You know, the junction system from VIII took awhile to get all the nuances, but we at least had the ability to use it within the first few hours.

I think FFXIII provides a great opportunity, since...

*Mild Spoiler*

... since you aren't L'cie anymore those powers would likely go away, so they could introduce a whole new way to gain them absent the Crystarium. Plus we get away from that horrible fallback position where a big dork comes along and just strips us of all our powers. Getting tired of that.

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Drake_RB3
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 3:19:54 PM

Like Death stealing Alucard's awesome equipment.

"What!?"

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WorldEndsWithMe
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 3:45:11 PM

That deserved a full on "Wait. What?"

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shadowscorpio
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 11:59:17 PM

Maybe like Kefka coming and stealing everyones espers???

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kraygen
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 3:15:01 PM
Reply

Honestly I enjoyed FFXIII, not as a final fantasy, but as a game in general, I loved it.

However, what they are saying here does not give me hope that XIII-2 will be any more FFish than XIII. For the past couple of years they have said we will try to do things the fans like and have ended up getting further and further from what we actually want.

XIII-2 might be an improvement over XIII, but I doubt it will be in a way we are hoping.

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WorldEndsWithMe
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 3:46:02 PM

If they turn Gran Pulse into a killtube I'll be angry.

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Alienange
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 3:17:06 PM
Reply

So there's deities now? Or did they mean a Fal'Cie? Or did they mean the Maker? Or a new crystal looking guy?

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WorldEndsWithMe
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 3:44:14 PM
Reply

IGN had this to say:

"Versus has a party-based combat system where you switch between three character, Nomura confirmed. The game will have more playable characters than just the four who were shown in the trailer, he also said, although the number of such characters won't get too high."

<Insert IGN hate here>

So maybe folks will follow us around after all.

Last edited by WorldEndsWithMe on 1/25/2011 3:44:37 PM

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WorldEndsWithMe
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 3:53:04 PM

Errr, wrong article. But FF-related nonetheless!

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Nynja
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 3:47:14 PM
Reply

Why are we getting FFXIII-2?

Square-Enix needs money. Their last few published titles haven't performed well on the charts and their monster MMO fell flat on its face.

How can they recoup the lost revenue quickly?

Take the existing FFXIII game resources (artwork, models, code, etc), change the battle system, update the dialog, voice overs... BANG!... new game in no-time with the least amount of investment required.

I have no plans to buy this or any other game from Square unless it is one of the 2 titles: FFVII related or FFvXIII. If they screw up Versus, I'm done with everything S-E published...

excluding remakes of FFVII or FFVIII. That will always be the exception. :)

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WorldEndsWithMe
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 3:51:38 PM

Don't forget how much stuff is laying on the cutting room floor.

1 up, 0 down

Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 4:13:29 PM
Reply

Give me my party.

Let me switch between members of that party.

Let me pause the combat.

OUR LOVE AFFAIR WILL BE RE-ESTABLISHED, SQUARE-ENIX.

2 up, 0 down

WorldEndsWithMe
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 4:22:22 PM

And let me roam big maps!

1 up, 0 down

Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 4:34:07 PM

Or a world map.

1 up, 0 down

Drake_RB3
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 5:00:21 PM

There was a mention of Airships a while back. So maybe we'll have destinations to choose from like in FFX-2?

I've actually had nightmares where I can't pause the combat while I'm looking through my menu of battle actions. So hopefully we'll get your requests, Ben.

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WorldEndsWithMe
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 5:48:46 PM

I want a REAL airship, not a menu based taxi.

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Gamer Girl Gemo
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 6:42:48 PM

My favorite airship of all time... Balamb Garden :)
Loved that floating school lol

Last edited by Gamer Girl Gemo on 1/25/2011 6:43:08 PM

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Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 7:51:23 PM

Nothing beats the Highwind. :)

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Veitsknight
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 10:14:45 PM

Liked the garden the best.

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Underdog15
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 8:33:12 AM

Dragon Warrior 7's magic carpet... anyone?

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Gamer Girl Gemo
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 6:40:04 PM
Reply

Alright, SE, this is your chance to redeem yourself. With all the feedback you've gotten on XIII, maybe you'll do things better this time around. Maybe put the Final Fantasy back into its meaning as the RPG we knew and loved.

I honestly gave up on XIII because I just couldn't take the linearity. The characters and story was great, just the claustrophobia it gave me set me off. Get rid of the linearity and calm down the twitcher's delight... And we might have a renewal of love for SE.

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___________
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 2:16:41 AM
Reply

better, but thats not exactly a compliment.
saying that, is like saying a kick to the face is better than a kick to the balls.
neither is desirable!
V13 im slightly interested in, being its darker nature and being a ps3 exclusive.
but this, not at all just looks like a XIII extension.

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Underdog15
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 @ 12:24:23 PM
Reply

huh... remember when FF news used to generate 150+ comments??

.......

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