Final Fantasy XIII

[Peterbigeyes]

Originally Posted by rainnydaiis

Considering how graphic and huge the actual game file is, its a definite no. There might be a game called plus or something that will come out on the psp, but that was rumors

Awwww man.. I was so looking forward to it

[Demongod86]

Originally Posted by rainnydaiis

I just went and picked up my english copy of FFXIII, seeing as I already beat it in Japanese with minimal to medium lost in translation. Thought I would get a language that I could fully understand and see how off I was during my own translations. So far the the VA's are what seems to bug me the most. Besides the VA's of Lightning and Sazh the rest of the characters are lacking what I would call... "talent?" They seem to be doing pretty horrible compared to the 2, But besides that nothing different so far and I can enjoy the game as is.

I believe that aside from, ironically enough, the three western animes (Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, Trigun), the VAing in any anime/JRPG is infinitely better in Japanese than with English.

Heck, just playing through the Last Remnant (again), and from what little Japanese I do know, the translators took so many liberties with meaning, not to mention that the VAing in English is just ewwww...I mean case in point, the Seven were just a serious case of Feed Me/Large Ham in their English identities.

[rainnydaiis]

Originally Posted by Iron Maw

Okay, now there lots of positive impressions GFAQs. Looking forward to picking up my copy tomorrow.

Yeah there were a lot of negative notes because people didn't have they're hands on the game and just went with what other people said. Then decided that since they said the game was linear and lacked in what other Final Fantasy's offered they decided to bash the game. Its just all monkey see monkey do, until they actually got they're hands on the game and enjoyed it. With what the game lacks they make up with other gameplay features.

Originally Posted by Peterbigeyes

Awwww man.. I was so looking forward to it

Yeah, when you see FF games they usually won't be for PSP unless its one of the tactic games or side story games. Everything else will always be for the new generation platforms. Seeing as how graphic heavy the new Square Enix games have been, I doubt a UMD drive can handle it.

[JagdPanther]

So far, so good.

I can see why people railed about Vanille so much. About 6 hours in, I'd guess. But I probably play slower than most.

[rainnydaiis]

Originally Posted by Demongod86

I believe that aside from, ironically enough, the three western animes (Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, Trigun), the VAing in any anime/JRPG is infinitely better in Japanese than with English.

Heck, just playing through the Last Remnant (again), and from what little Japanese I do know, the translators took so many liberties with meaning, not to mention that the VAing in English is just ewwww...I mean case in point, the Seven were just a serious case of Feed Me/Large Ham in their English identities.

Have to completely agree with you there. I've had a hate for most dubs. The thing is for me with Dubs, if I've watched/played the Japanese version before I watched/played the dubbed version then I have a huge hate for it. But if I haven't touched the Japanese version before the dubbed then for some odd reason everything doesn't turn to utter crap for me.

[King Lycan]

Bought it today i've played about 30 mins so far i had to do some homework :'( . But so far i love the graphics but the camera is so annoying .

[Kazu]

I'm lovin it, The gameplay is fast and simple, I kinda thought you'd be able to move the characters though.
The graphics are amazing especially on my flat screen

I might actually finish this game,I've never played any FF1-9, I beat 10 and I pretty much quit 12

[Sassarai]

Originally Posted by Iron Maw

Okay, now there lots of positive impressions GFAQs. Looking forward to picking up my copy tomorrow.

Yeah seems like there's a lot of positive comments about the game from everywhere now that the game is out and people are actually playing it.

Can't wait to see some sale numbers. I assume most of the people that has been whining about the game will get it eventually =)

[H23]

Holy shit. The visuals are so amazing I that I wouldn't be surprised if it made a giraffe cry tears of orange juice.

[JagdPanther]

Okay, I can now see a benefit to the strategy guide: weapon upgrading.

I have no idea what I'm doing. I don't want to waste mats.

[Miyuki-ism]

Originally Posted by zebra

YAY! I squealed when I opened my package XD And so far, my joy over it didn't lessen. I'm like 6 hours in the game now. Not much but I'm already hooked.

Lightning is way more than Squall I'd say. Attitude wise. I also wouldn't pick up the Cloud alikeness if it hadn't been pointed out to me like a hundred times before I got my copy (might just be because they have the same mama ... mama computer). Same with other bad impressions of the game. It's just the start, so I'm far from having an opinion about it, but it made one of the best first impressions on me of a FF yet.

Graphics are awesome of course, but they're always stunning when a FF comes out. What I really like is the presentation of the characters. How the focus shifts from one character to the next, so you get to now them - also in battle. You're forced t play with everyone as the leader. I'm not even through all tutorials I guess

I don't like Vanille's VA either <.< She's too highpitched. I already grew to like the cast, so no complaints there. Lesse how things develop

And OH the music. Masashi has a new fan Listening to the OST right now that came with my copy. Awesomeness! <3 He caught the athmosphere point on.

The linearity; Yeah, all ways uptil know are very linear, but ... who cares? I don't at least, lol. The linear way reminded me a lot of FFX. OH! Specially the beginning, with the bridge in a futuristic street which breaks later .. déja vû . Can't say it bothers me, though. All FFs (but 11 and 12) have been linear, it's always been from A to B. Didn't stop me from enjoying.
But I couldn't help but notice that the paths were originally designed so the player had to jump him/herself. Can't really tell if it's for the better or worse that they took it out.

Well, first impression is VERY positive. I had to force myself to stop playing and still played too long because the time went by too fast. I already have fun with the game and I hope it stays that way.
I like the myth of the worlds and the conflicts (already! xD) between the characters. This title seems very promising, looking forward to the rest of the game
I don't really know what to think about the battle system and chrystellanium (or whatever the F it's called in english xD) yet, until now it's too simpel. The switching of roles reminded me of the character swapping (and thus job change too) in FFX in battle. I love X so similarities aren't meant to be negative.

Off to my college work so I can play after university tomorrow

I think dub directors or whatever have to realize they can't pull off the high pitched Japanese voices in English.

[Kaioshin Sama]

I guess I'll post my early observations after about an hour and a half of playing:

- Graphics don't seem quite as good as I thought they would. I'm using an HDMI cable on a 1080p capable TV so it's extremely unlikely that it has anything to do with my connections. Maybe it's all the hype or maybe it's just me....probably the latter now that I think about it.

- It seems a Japanese company has finally figured out how to make cutscenes work. So far none of the cutscenes have had that canned feel with awkward motion capture gesturing and Kabuki style dialogue pacing....now it feels a whole lot more casual and realistic if not even a bit Western. There are things going on all throughout them and not only does it feel like they belong in the game as proper exposition, but it makes it all the more easier to be drawn into the story. Hoping other J-Companies take some queues here.

Spoiler for Moms are tough:

....or so one might think if they aren't like me and realize the moment they pick up a gun that they'll be dead by the next cutscene as a I correctly predicted

- Just when I thought the voice acting in the franchise couldn't get any better after FFXII it did with XIII. Even minor characters like Gadot have top notch voice acting by people that seem to give a damn about making the experience work. Props go out to Snow's VA especially during his early scenes, but also to Lightning for her slight gravel, Sazh for his jive and even Hope. I haven't heard enough of Vanille to judge her so far, but a lot of people don't seem to like her which means I'm sure to be paying special attention to see what the deal is there.

- I love that there are things going on in real time in the background and sometimes even the foreground while you are travelling and it's just another aspect of the presentation that makes it more immersive for me.

Spoiler for The reason the early maps are so linear:

They are fighting on a bridge. Most bridges are straight lines....so....

- Great music, but I've already mentioned that

Spoiler for early enemies:

Pulse has quite possibly the worst infantry ever. The fact that a bunch of upstarts are easily making quick work of entire squads at a time should attest to this. Even their supposed elite officers in PSICOM kind of suck. Their armour and air division seem to be a lot more effective at wholesale slaughter of civilians though, but none of that has occurred in actual gameplay .

Spoiler for early story and character thoughts:

- Lightning seems kind of like she has a one track mind and likes to look out for #1. She's like the antithesis of Snow who wants to be a hero.

- Snow's heart is in the right place, but unfortunately he doesn't think things through as much as Lightning and ends up getting the civs killed very quickly. So much for being a hero.

- Sazh seems ready to act, but not to lead and I can see him playing a background role while having his own little part in things as well. Kind of like a Vaan or Kimhari...only hopefully without the suck.

- Gadot seems like the perfect sub-commander (and reminds me a lot of someone I work with) and Lebreau like a Sassy mascot for NORA.

- Hope and Vanille I haven't seen much of yet to judge.

Yeah so I'm definitely in the early exposition phase of the game and recognize it as well. XII was slow to start and heavy on the exposition for it's first 10 or so hours, so was X, so was IX....all of them pretty much are. It's got that Final Fantasy aspect of twisting around with the core concepts and messing with the people that take things for granted that VIII was legendary for though so I can sort of see why some people aren't so receptive of it. Japan must have been in an uproar knowing how rigid it's fandom is. However I should mention that VIII is my favourite game in the franchise and that anything that screws with peoples preconceptions always gets bonus points with me. Overall so far I'd give the games opening segments a solid A- . However odds are I won't be playing anymore for at least a little bit while I finish up XII.

Originally Posted by Peterbigeyes

Awwww man.. I was so looking forward to it

Just a heads up, your signature picture is well over the limit so you ought to resize before it gets removed by one of the mods.

[DragoonKain3]

I guess then this is more of a case of the dubs trying to be 'faithful' to the original by trying to imitate the original voice; it fails vast majority of the time. Happened with Fuuka in P3; yeah, the airy voice sounds like Mamiko's voice, but sounds goddamn awful in English.

As for NA dubs being worse than JP dubs, I wouldn't say its so clear cut. P4's JP VA was just downright horrible for the sole reason of how they did Rise, just to name one.

And I'd take liberties at dubbing any day of the week if it means it isn't like Infinite Undiscovery. The constant screaming of 'CutItOut!' was so awful because they tried to be literal and directly translated 'Yamero!' It works in JP, but man, its so FRIGGIN annoying hearing that over and over again everytime you got hit, to the point that THAT was the reason why I stopped playing the game (and not because of the bad story or whatnot).

That's why I think TLR did great with the dubbing even though it ain't a literal translation; at least it sounds halfway decent, and some where awesome (Gabriel giving off vibes like a certain Spanish swordsman in Princess Bride) or just downright hilarious (Khrynia as a ditzy teenager lol).

[Kaioshin Sama]

Speak for yourselves folks, I think the voice acting is pretty excellent and now have zero regrets about not having the Japanese track as well. Somehow I get the feeling I wouldn't be as immersed in the game right now if I were playing with a Japanese track.

[DragoonKain3]

Personally, I have yet to play the game, so all I have is to judge from the trailers. Vanille doesn't sound too bad honestly from those, but then again I haven't played the game yet to truly judge anyone's voice acting. But if it is indeed truly atrocious, then I'm blaming it with the dubbers trying to imitate the JP voices, which almost always fails.

That said, Serah NA voice = <3<3<3. Then again, I'm the biggest fan of Laura Bailey lol. Hopefully this game would get her more recognition as a VA; she really did lack a big starring role until now...

[FlareKnight]

Well I think there just has to be one voice in a game that makes me shake my head. But overall I'd say the group for XIII is actually really good. Definitely makes it nice to follow along when you aren't wanting to mute the screen. If you aren't going to have voice track options then should put a lot of effort in to make sure your actors are good. Still think Vanille will be the weak point of the group, but I'm starting to get used to her. Really like the choice for Serah's voice. Think for most characters you can't help but like the choices made.

Spoiler for Moms are tough:

Really at the rate she kept on saying that you knew something bad was going to happen. Since really it felt like she was trying to say it as often as possible. As if she knew there would come a point when she couldn't say it anymore.....

[King Lycan]

I Loved the scenes of Sarah And Snow

[jonli]

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

Well I think there just has to be one voice in a game that makes me shake my head. But overall I'd say the group for XIII is actually really good. Definitely makes it nice to follow along when you aren't wanting to mute the screen. If you aren't going to have voice track options then should put a lot of effort in to make sure your actors are good. Still think Vanille will be the weak point of the group, but I'm starting to get used to her. Really like the choice for Serah's voice. Think for most characters you can't help but like the choices made.

Spoiler for Moms are tough:

Really at the rate she kept on saying that you knew something bad was going to happen. Since really it felt like she was trying to say it as often as possible. As if she knew there would come a point when she couldn't say it anymore.....

Spoiler for spoilers:

My friend and I actually watched that scene in the original Japanese gameplay videos released a couple months ago. We were talking over Skype and I was predicted everything she says and everything that was going to happen.

It was seriously painfully obvious to the point where we laughed when it finally happened.

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by King Lycan

But so far i love the graphics but the camera is so annoying .

It's something you get used to, don't worry.

Originally Posted by Kaioshin Sama

Speak for yourselves folks, I think the voice acting is pretty excellent and now have zero regrets about not having the Japanese track as well. Somehow I get the feeling I wouldn't be as immersed in the game right now if I were playing with a Japanese track.

I wouldn't go as far as to say they're excellent, though i will agree that the NA dub does fit the characters nicely. Seriously glad, because i wouldn't be as attached to the game as i am now if they weren't.

[Bonzo]

The characterization seems very ridicule, how to explain:

SPOILER:


Vanille start to speak (shouting too) about her defense line for Pulse, because the other hate a place without know it, etc...etc.. and all the others totally ignore her like perfect groggy.
Thanks this basis you understand already one of next "sensational development" like the character in the party had to understand in a second, but...
At last the story is written for japanese people how like to japanese people, but for us, is very....ridicule.