My copy of Advent Children Complete bundled with the Final Fantasy XIII demo finally arrived via Play-Asia. I am aware many of you probably already watched the live streaming video of some dude playing it, but if you are interested in my two cents, feel free to read on.
The demo starts with a lengthy cut scene highlighting the game’s graphics. For most of this video I wasn’t sure what was going on, but didn’t really care. There was a bunch of weird shit flying through the air within Cocoon, and then the focus shifted to a train. On the train, Lightning and Sazh are in disguise trying to infiltrate Cocoon. Eventually they take control of the train by force and it soon comes under attack by some kind of flying creature which appears to be under Cocoon control. Once the train is trashed, Lightning and Sazh are forced to continue on foot, thus beginning their portion of the demo.
For the first battle, a tutorial is given on the battle system. It is pretty much identical to the one I included on the site here. You may want to familiarize yourself with the terminology so the proceeding crap makes sense.
Battles are fast and fun. You can select commands as your time gauge fills up and choose when to execute them. I found this helpful since I could wait and (sometimes) rely on my allies to “break” an enemy allowing me to launch it and really dish out the damage.
I really enjoyed mixing up the 3 commands at my disposal: attack, launch, and Fire (4 if you count Firaga). It may not sound like a lot of options, but there are quite a few combinations to play around with. In battle, I rarely needed to worry about my HP since Sazh was kind enough to heal me when I got in the red. This allowed me to focus on coming up with combos and getting as many breaks in as possible.
Outside of battle, encounters are based on coming into contact with enemies which walk around the map (above). It is possible to avoid them fairly easily, but sadly there is no way to get the jump on them – like hit them or something before they notice you. Again, it is only a demo so who knows.
When it comes to getting around, there are some glowing “jump-spots” which allow your protagonist to leap over an obstacle and continue on their path. I thought this was pretty cool, although it gave me some Final Fantasy X-2 flashbacks which made me throw up a little. There is also a simple map which can be toggled on and off.
Going back to the story for a sec, the chemistry between Lightning and Sazh is priceless. She is your classic serious character: quiet, composed, and having a high level of physical prowess. Sazh by contrast is your classic comic relief character: clumsy and easily overwhelmed. There is one funny scene in which Lightning attempts to use her anti-gravity mechanism to cross a broken bridge. When Sazh realizes he tries to grab on to her, ultimately shorting the device. Well… I guess it isn’t that funny. OK, how about the fact that Sazh has a baby Chocobo living in his afro? Now that’s funny.
After a fairly easy boss battle, this portion of the demo ends and the story switches over to Snow. Snow is leading his resistance movement, NORA, against a series of Cocoon units. In battle he is accompanied by Gadot and Lebreau, so the party is a little bigger than with Lightning’s story. I think to offset this advantage, the battles are a bit tougher during this part. I recall fighting up to 4 enemies at once, possibly more. Still, battles maintained their exhilarating speed.
Eventually NORA receives the support of some disgruntled Cocoon residents. Among them a young mother takes up arms with the team and eventually saves Snow from some hovering… thing with a missile launcher. In the ensuing structure collapses caused by the falling… thing Snow is separated from the rest of NORA thus concluding the demo.
Final Thoughts
Visually, the demo is some of the most impressive stuff my PS3 has had the privilege of spinning. Everything from the cut-scenes to in-battle graphics are just amazing. It felt a little surreal, like peaking into the future, which I guess I technically was.
Looks aside, the most fun part of the demo was battling. This definitely felt like the most polished part of the demo and the aspect that Square Enix wanted to show off the most. I can only imagine what the game will be like with more abilities thrown into the mix. Considering how much I could do with only 3 commands, I tremble to consider the possibilities. How will classic Final Fantasy magics and summons be translated into this modern battle system?
The only part that felt a little rushed or incomplete was moving your character around the map. Camera views were a little awkward but definitely not to the point that it took away from the experience.
One thing the demo left me wanting was a handle on what EXP (if it exists) and TP buys you. I was striving to get a decent ranking at the end of each battle, but I don’t really know why. I guess this is just one of the many things Square Enix isn’t ready to reveal to us yet.
Related Entries:
Final Fantasy XIII Battle System Mechanics
Final Fantasy XIII Demo Review
My copy of Advent Children Complete bundled with the Final Fantasy XIII demo finally arrived via Play-Asia. I am aware many of you probably already watched the live streaming video of some dude playing it, but if you are interested in my two cents, feel free to read on.
The demo starts with a lengthy cut scene highlighting the game’s graphics. For most of this video I wasn’t sure what was going on, but didn’t really care. There was a bunch of weird shit flying through the air within Cocoon, and then the focus shifted to a train. On the train, Lightning and Sazh are in disguise trying to infiltrate Cocoon. Eventually they take control of the train by force and it soon comes under attack by some kind of flying creature which appears to be under Cocoon control. Once the train is trashed, Lightning and Sazh are forced to continue on foot, thus beginning their portion of the demo.
For the first battle, a tutorial is given on the battle system. It is pretty much identical to the one I included on the site here. You may want to familiarize yourself with the terminology so the proceeding crap makes sense.
Battles are fast and fun. You can select commands as your time gauge fills up and choose when to execute them. I found this helpful since I could wait and (sometimes) rely on my allies to “break” an enemy allowing me to launch it and really dish out the damage.
I really enjoyed mixing up the 3 commands at my disposal: attack, launch, and Fire (4 if you count Firaga). It may not sound like a lot of options, but there are quite a few combinations to play around with. In battle, I rarely needed to worry about my HP since Sazh was kind enough to heal me when I got in the red. This allowed me to focus on coming up with combos and getting as many breaks in as possible.
Outside of battle, encounters are based on coming into contact with enemies which walk around the map (above). It is possible to avoid them fairly easily, but sadly there is no way to get the jump on them – like hit them or something before they notice you. Again, it is only a demo so who knows.
When it comes to getting around, there are some glowing “jump-spots” which allow your protagonist to leap over an obstacle and continue on their path. I thought this was pretty cool, although it gave me some Final Fantasy X-2 flashbacks which made me throw up a little. There is also a simple map which can be toggled on and off.
Going back to the story for a sec, the chemistry between Lightning and Sazh is priceless. She is your classic serious character: quiet, composed, and having a high level of physical prowess. Sazh by contrast is your classic comic relief character: clumsy and easily overwhelmed. There is one funny scene in which Lightning attempts to use her anti-gravity mechanism to cross a broken bridge. When Sazh realizes he tries to grab on to her, ultimately shorting the device. Well… I guess it isn’t that funny. OK, how about the fact that Sazh has a baby Chocobo living in his afro? Now that’s funny.
After a fairly easy boss battle, this portion of the demo ends and the story switches over to Snow. Snow is leading his resistance movement, NORA, against a series of Cocoon units. In battle he is accompanied by Gadot and Lebreau, so the party is a little bigger than with Lightning’s story. I think to offset this advantage, the battles are a bit tougher during this part. I recall fighting up to 4 enemies at once, possibly more. Still, battles maintained their exhilarating speed.
Eventually NORA receives the support of some disgruntled Cocoon residents. Among them a young mother takes up arms with the team and eventually saves Snow from some hovering… thing with a missile launcher. In the ensuing structure collapses caused by the falling… thing Snow is separated from the rest of NORA thus concluding the demo.
Final Thoughts
Visually, the demo is some of the most impressive stuff my PS3 has had the privilege of spinning. Everything from the cut-scenes to in-battle graphics are just amazing. It felt a little surreal, like peaking into the future, which I guess I technically was.
Looks aside, the most fun part of the demo was battling. This definitely felt like the most polished part of the demo and the aspect that Square Enix wanted to show off the most. I can only imagine what the game will be like with more abilities thrown into the mix. Considering how much I could do with only 3 commands, I tremble to consider the possibilities. How will classic Final Fantasy magics and summons be translated into this modern battle system?
The only part that felt a little rushed or incomplete was moving your character around the map. Camera views were a little awkward but definitely not to the point that it took away from the experience.
One thing the demo left me wanting was a handle on what EXP (if it exists) and TP buys you. I was striving to get a decent ranking at the end of each battle, but I don’t really know why. I guess this is just one of the many things Square Enix isn’t ready to reveal to us yet.
Related Entries:
Final Fantasy XIII Battle System Mechanics
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