55. hope for final fantasy versus xiii

noctis and stella from ff versus xiii (image from ff-versusxiii.net)

when square-enix unveiled their ultimate plan for final fantasy xiii a while ago, it was supposed to be some sort of compendium entitled fabula nova crystalis, similar to what they did for the final fantasy vii universe over the ps1 and ps2 era.  in addition to final fantasy xiii, companion games were supposed to be final fantasy versus xiii, and a mobile game called final fantasy agito xiii (i'm not counting haeresis here, so let it go).  well since it was shown at e3 in 2006, agito was renamed final fantasy type zero, and the lid on versus was kept pretty tight.  so tight that there were times i actually forgot about it.  but they did their marketing properly - leaking just enough video and screenshots to remind me and keep me interested in what they were shilling.  but now there's some real video - the fine people over at siliconera have posted leaked HD trailers for both type zero and versus (namely some gameplay), not to mention kingdom hearts 3D for those interested.

stella in a cutscene.  image from ff-versusxiii.net

there is one very visible point in this game that automatically makes it vastly different from every other final fantasy game in the series - and that's the very "normal," "real" design of the characters and world.  and i don't mean real as in characters looking like actual people - that's something game makers have been able to do since the playstation 2 and xbox were available.  i mean real as in they're not in some kind of crazy costume that has come to define final fantasy characters over the years.  you know the type - one sleeve / pant leg, cape coming off of one shoulder, or some kind of ridiculous tribal vest.  they don't live in a world saturated in crazy centuries-away tech.  in the screenshots i have seen, and also illustrated in the linked video above, are characters that live in a world that is far closer to ours, dressed like what we're used to seeing in the real world.  at a party scene in the trailer, the main character noctis is in an actual suit, while another character, stella, is in an actual dress.  some people may think that that's a strange reason to be looking forward to something, but it definitely is something different than what we're used to, and i'm a little bit strange to boot.  if character design, which is such a big part designing a game, is completely different, what other new stuff can we expect?  i'm sure we can expect some other twists from the final fantasy formula in store for us.

now that i've finally seen some gameplay, i can start to get a bit more excited about it.  you manage a party of 3, a lot like in kingdom hearts with sora, goofy, and donald, and the player's able to switch between characters do fill different roles - even joystiq called it "kingdom hearts for adults."  except not disney themed, and none of the characters have a speech impediment.  the world map is far more open too, like it was in the old school final fantasy games, which will be a welcome change to most after playing final fantasy xiii.  and it looks ridiculously nice too.  now let's just hope the story backs it up.

but there's still a bit of a problem with though - versus director tetsuya namura tells fans who have seen the trailer to forget about it, since they still apparently have a long way to go.  sweet.

here's another link to those trailers from siliconera.  enjoy them here.