Final Fantasy XIII

Unreleased

Final Fantasy XIII (ファイナルファンタジーXIII, Fainaru Fantajī Sātīn) is an upcoming installment in the Final Fantasy series, and is the first of the series to be released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Unveiled at E³ 2006, the game features a high-tech futuristic world and a heroine who wields a gunblade-type weapon. Motomu Toriyama is the director of the game. According to Square-Enix President Yoichi Wada the storyline will focus on "those who resist the world."

Final Fantasy XIII will run on the "Crystal Tools" (formerly known as the "White Engine"), a proprietary engine built for Square Enix's next-gen games. With the Crystal Tools, realistic CGI cutscenes can be created, and the quality of these cutscene sequences has never been achieved before on the PlayStation 2 or the PlayStation. The game was originally planned for the PlayStation 2 but was later moved to the PlayStation 3 after the development team discovered the power of the platform. It was revealed at E3 2008 that Final Fantasy XIII will be released on the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, for America and Europe, but will remain a PlayStation 3 exclusive in Japan. The Japanese release will be first, followed by a later simultaneous release in North America and Europe on both platforms.

A demo version of Final Fantasy XIII will be released with Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete in Japan in March 2009 exclusively for Playstation 3.

Fabula Nova Crystallis
Along with Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy Agito XIII for the PlayStation Portable, and Final Fantasy Versus XIII, an action game for the PlayStation 3 made by the Kingdom Hearts and the Advent Children teams, make up three facets of the overall project known as Fabula Nova Crystallis: Final Fantasy XIII.

According to Square Enix, Final Fantasy XIII is neither a prequel or a sequel to Final Fantasy Agito XIII or Final Fantasy Versus XIII. Square Enix has explained that although all three games take place in the same universe, they are not directly related.

Square Enix also announced that there will be more than three titles in the Fabula Nova Crystallis series, however they have not said how many. A diagram was shown with three empty circles around the Fabula Nova Crystallis logo, so it is possible there will be another three titles in the series.

Story
Cocoon is an air city which was created by the Crystals and the related fal'Cie, protected by machines. Having lived peacefully for many years, the inhabitants of Cocoon are very fearful and are afraid of everything, from outside of Cocoon, and above all what comes from the dark region.

Also the operational "strange organization" are feared by the denizens of Cocoon. Recent contact with those from the world below, called 'Pulse', have caused people to question one another and their ways of life. Due to this disturbance, the government of Cocoon have decided to exile those who show signs of coming in contact with the world of Pulse.

One Crystal looked for itself a woman, who should destroy this world and its inhabitants. One believes that this woman will lead the world to its downfall. Her name is Lightning.

World
Jump Festa 2007 revealed that the world that Final Fantasy XIII is based in is some type of government-controlled floating fortress called Cocoon defended by advanced technology. Those cast out of Cocoon are placed onto the world below, called Pulse. It is heavily implied that the world of Pulse is the earth and where the Crystal that "chose" Lightning is found. The crystals are said to give people the power to change their destinies and shape the world to fit their will. The crystals were in fact used to control the citizens to do work against their own will. The citizens of Pulse rebel against the government for fair treatment of the law.

Combat
From the footage shown at E³ battles in the game appear to be in real-time similar to Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XII, but without the colored arcs from player to enemy. This was demonstrated by the heroine attacking enemies on the hovercraft runway. The real-time element may have been confirmed by Square Enix, who stated that the game will have "real-time gameplay". It has been further described as "More tactical than FFX, faster than X-2, and almost as seamless as XII".

Each action the player makes (for example casting a spell) seems to cost points, which adds up on an "ATB cost" numerical value on the lower part of the screen. In the 5 action slots (on the bottom of the screen) it seems that a player can queue up to five commands at a time to execute in battle; so long as the sum cost of all actions are not greater than the character's total "ATB cost" points. All of the currently known commands shown from the trailer and scans thus far are "Escape", "Cure", "Shoot", "Aerial", "V Strike", "Attack", "Fire", "Blizzard", "Thunder", "Defend", and "Firaga" each with an allotted amount of "ATB cost" (Note: If you observe carefully, the word 'Blizzard' is spelled 'Blizzrad' in the scan.) It may be that the player fills up the queue, and then the character performs these actions in successive order making it an interesting combination of real-time and turn-based battle systems.

When the blue gauge becomes full the player is given the opportunity to instigate a move, the action slows down while the player selects up to 5 commands and possibly targets. The game then resumes to real time once the move has been confirmed. This will add a dynamic to real time combat which other games such as Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden have pioneered.

Like previous Final Fantasy games this combat system appears to also feature a limit break system called Overclock. A circular meter on the top right corner fills up as the character fights, which puts the character in Overclock mode and she is engulfed in a blue aura. It is unknown what Overclock does to the character, though it might resemble the Trance mode in Final Fantasy IX. It was also assumed that during Overclock Mode, time freezes for anyone but the player characters. Once Overclock is activated a number appears inside the meter and decreases, probably signifying the duration of the Overclock mode.

Characters
Not many details have been revealed about the characters of the game. From the trailer shown at E³ the character shown was a young woman named Lightning wielding a retractable gunblade-type weapon which can transform into a sword or a semi-automatic gun, but does not function as both at the same time. Instead it can transition from one to the other, as shown in a brief scene in the trailer.

According to the new trailer at Jump Festa, "Lightning" seems to be the character's nickname/codename, and not her true name, as given by the Crystal upon choosing her.

The second revealed character, Snow Villiers was a male blonde with a white jacket and black bandana. The trailer information described him as "The youth of the fair-hair which rode of image the motorcycle was present last!", giving the idea that he is important and could be the main male role. He helps "Lightning" by shooting down all the soldiers with his machine gun, showing a connection and possible friendship between the two. The character was dubbed by the developers "Mr. 33 cm" as it shown to be his shoe size. He has also been confirmed to have a funny way of fighting and has also been described as "cowboy-like". His motorcycle is Shiva, and he has a mark on his left forearm, which is supposedly shared by all l'Cies. Snow's mark gives him special powers, and it glows whenever he receives messages from the Fal'Cie.



Vanille, the third revealed character was first seen in the TGS '06 trailer. She's a young female archer with reddish-brown hair tied up in pigtails. In the recently shown E3 '08 trailer, she catches a disk and summons Carbuncle. Apparently it is confirmed that she is a citizen of Pulse. Her official name was revealed to be Oerba Dia Vanille in the December 2008 edition of Shonen Jump.

A blonde military woman has also been revealed. She is a high-ranking commander with knee-length blond hair and glasses working for the Holy Government. She uses a high-powered sniper rifle. She also interrogates Wolva in a trailer.

Another man, with hair tied up in a ponytail, is seen leading the Cocoon army.

Development
According to Motomu Toriyama, Final Fantasy XIII will not have a unique main character; instead, all playable characters will have equal importance in the plot (similar to Final Fantasy VI).

The aim of the demo to be released in March 2009 will be to familiarize players with Cocoon and the l'Cies, and will cover the opening prologue. Only Lightning and Snow will be playable.

Staff

 * Game Director & Scenario Writer: Motomu Toriyama
 * Character designer: Tetsuya Nomura
 * Art director: Isamu Kamikokuryo
 * Main programmer: Kazumi Kobayashi
 * Movie director: Eiji Fujii
 * Main theme: Nobuo Uematsu
 * Music Composer: Masashi Hamauzu
 * Game Producer: Yoshinori Kitase
 * Image Illustrator and Title Logo Designer: Yoshitaka Amano
 * Battle Designer: Toshiro Tsuchida
 * Weapon and Equipment Desiger: Tetsu Tsukamoto