Toriyama: FF Versus XIII and Agito XIII to Also be Story-Driven

But the PS1 FF games were nicely story driven whilst still being open ended and at least giving the impression of freedom (same for the SNES ones actually). There needs to be a balance between linearity and freedom.

Just because it's story driven doesn't mean you have to compromise on at least giving the impression of an open world (e.g. Half-Life 2). At a number of points in the start of FFXIII I've felt like I'm just following train tracks, when with a few minor changes they could at least have fooled people into thinking they were in a much greater world.

Why are they killing the FF franchise? :-(

Each and every game is driven by pushing some buttons

I enjoy the story Driven FF13, way more than i've enjoyed most of FF games ((not VIII though, that's still my favorite)) but yeah i hated FF12 with a passion, and i love this one so yeah keep on the story driven linearness

Versus will be a genre Definer.

why wouldn't it be story driven?

this FF not some FPS GAME

I'm loving FF13 so far the battle system is pretty badass and fast pace. the story is pretty good so far too; i dont know why so many people are hating on this game.

FF13 is a disappointment all around, I'm at the worlds edge in the game (before final battle) and now I train and do the "monster side-quests". And it's rather boring, their isn't much to do in the game which is very sad if I have to admit. Their is no games to do, like the Golden Saucer, Blitz Ball, Triple-Triad. It just feels like you're running straight for 40-60 hours, just fighting. The whole none-random encounters also sucks. The battle system is a let down, you have to almost stagger every enemy. This goes to slow and boring combat, where you can be hugely powerful, say 10 times more so when you first went their, and they still wouldn't die immediately. It's just a poorly done leveling system. I mean their should be a limit of strength difference to instantly stagger an enemy, and/or increase the gain by a lot.

If FF13-Versus is like the original 13, it will be yet another disappointment. The most important thing I need in Versus is, well, better combat all around. I like rewarding battle systems like FF6/7/8/9/10/10-2. This staggering crap is just taking a step forwards to making the game MMO like, where you have to chop at people for a long time, and it's exactly fun. Farming XP, you know training, it's absolutely miserable later in the game. I just want some classic gameplay back.....

@LordChris915
I completely agree with you (except that FFVIII isn't my favourite). I think they are delivering less content than what we had in the ps1 era.

Linearity isnt that big of a deal

I still don't see what the problem is with FFXIII linearity, I'm still loving the game.

i feel a bit let down from final fantasy xiii, so i hope these 2 can make up for it.

I would just like them to go back to the FFVIII style gameplay, easily my favourite RPG of all time.
I miss the towns and I miss the open world, they were ahead of their time and now they are way behind!

Why would anyone want Final fantasy to be Elder Scrolls? i don't know whats so wrong about it.
plus everyone who complained about FF being too linear , liked Kingdom Hearts which is something i don't really understand. that game is the most linear game ever.

Good news for me, since I'm absolutely enjoying FF XIII. It's very focused in the beginning. No fat and no frills. Just polished, story driven fun. And the gameplay is slowly being all introduced.

I can see how shooter fans can't stand it, but hey, I couldn't care less about those.

If they want to jam so much story into games then they should just make an Advent Children style movie again.

20 hours of zero exploration again? Damn it. :-(

I will wait for FFXV because I want to play a RPG, not watch movies, but happy gaming for everyone who will buy FF Versus/Agito.

The games are in the same universe right ?

Also Aren't all final fantasies linear (well somewhat.. In the story aspect) ?

Atleast the only ones i've played are. (ffx and ffx2)

I don't mind as long Versus XIII plays like Crisis Core that was an awesome game. I think that Agito will play similar but you will be able to switch characters.

I liked the way FF XIII it is,almost ever FF's fan out there knows how much different are all the franchise's games but all of us have the right to love or hate what we get.

Hell,I get bored with Fallout 3 and its *open world* and I love FF XIII with its "linearity" on comparision.

It's all about gaming tastes.

I thought FF stories were always linear. I have no idea where people got the idea that Final Fantasy was open world like Fallout 3 with multiple endings. This is why I love most JRPGs...only 1 ending and only 1 way to get there. No time wasted.

FF Versus hype++

Versus should be the bomb.

Wasn't Fabula Nova Crystallis supposed to be 6 titles? Hm...

Excellent. When the story is good, story-driven games are the best, so I'm glad for this. Now, the story has to be good, but since this is Square, I'm sure it'll be

Great more endless boring trails to follow. Sounds like they really f'd up with this series of Final Fantasy games.

I don't mind story driven games, linear or otherwise. It's fine. At least I'll be able to enjoy them. =)

"Story-driven" huh? Is that the polite term for: "this game is on rails"?
I stomached XIII, but if this is Square's new direction for the series, I can retire Final Fantasy. Hey, a lot of people love this game, but there are a lot, maybe more, who used to love it and won't be playing if it keeps going in this direction.

It's hasn't received a huge amount of flack for being story driven, it has received some criticism from the press, but an average of around 85 is certainly not bad

I don't think critisism came from the simple fact that FFXIII was linear but it was that the gameplay and quality of story couldn't support that kind of linearity, so it felt boring/repetetive.(I havn't played FFXIII so i can't comment on whether this is true or not)

The news doesn't really worry cos linear doesn't = bad/ open doesn't=good. Their creative choices used to create a specific type of experince, i just hope its done well.Theres no dought that both the games concerned will feature open world elements(probably nearer the end of the game). I just hope that they have substance as opposed to being pointless monster hunts.

I luv FF XIII, the battle system is pretty bad ass. I like leveling the weapons, oppose to charactrers. Changed the tradional Warrior, Black/White mages and Red Mage into other jobs. I like how square soft changed a lot of those little things of RPG's

lol 360 FFV13 confirmed Because its *gulp* linear ??? :-P

Raah

I don't care what anyone thinks of XIII, I'm liking it completely.

I'm pissed, I hope that just like his understandings about WRPG (Tomb Raider and Hitman lol), he doesn't know what he's talking about.

Versus XIII is already said by Nomura to have a world map and be more like an FF than FF XIII. Of course it'll be story driven just like all the other ones but Versus should be more open world. I'd say the same for Agito because it's supposed to be kinda like MH.

Hopefully we'll see some gameplay footage or at least a new trailer.

FF XIII is brilliant btw, and I'm already a little hyped for Versus.

Odd, FFXIII seems to have a much better reception than FF12 in the west (on the internet anyway).

But I am GLAD

Hype goes up for Versus XIII

E3 PLEASE!

Who cares what Edge thinks.

Yay! Another 5s from edge!
More meltdowns is always a good thing!