Final Fantasy XIII LVL 1-3 Map ... I hope you like Linear

[Raedon]

EDIT in IMGshack

[Daria]

Edit:
Here's the story link: http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2009/1...ece-of-string/ -WARNING! NSFW (soapy nipple content)

As Vanille remarks in game: “This path is easy to understand, isn’t it?”
There is one small branch (a shortcut) in all this towards the very end, though it involves missing choice treasure. After this the Vile Peaks beget another apparently unending RPG-on-rails experience, the polar opposite of Final Fantasy XII’s MMORPG-like open questing; indeed, there is not a town to be seen anywhere, and shopping is handled through the sterile interface of the save points.
Glimpses of later maps in the hint book seem to indicate this linearity persists to the very end – it is a wonder the game even bothers with a map.
Further fueling the suspicion that the game has been dumbed down to remedial level is the fact that several key gameplay elements remain locked even after 8 hours of playtime, and the game only sees fit to fully enable its leveling system after 4 hours.
Pre-release reviews of course failed to mention any of this…

Map: See above. This thread really doesn't need this monstrosity posted twice.

[Guru of Time and Space]

The image isn't showing up, plus going to the actual website trying to find it is making me lose massive amounts of brain cells.

Anyway, extreme linearity is the reason I couldn't play Final Fantasy X for more than a few hours. That game was just a straight line the entire time.

-GoTaS

[Guru of Time and Space]

http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/2...iiiextreme.jpg

-GoTaS

[Daria]

Okay now that the thread appears to have been sorted out I'll post a real reply. I don't know how reliable the anime boobies website is, but I'm scared of the notion that the game plays on rails. Sounds too much like Grandia 3 for my tastes- Ooh! Minus the confusing "town exploration" business anyway.

So I guess I'll be taking a wait and see approach with this one.

[Raedon]

I didn't read the page I just saw the side-boob FF picture and the map ... one was worth posting.

Not that I care to run around every city breaking into houses but I do like a little bit of exploration. Most of the complaints out there aren't even about the linear nature of the World clearly seen above. Many games are linear by design and still play well.

EDIT: Just doing a search for posts for this game on Destructoid.com brings up far to much fanboy ... I can't find anything unbiased to read on this Final Fantasy game.

[kupomogli]

Looks like your average map on Castlevania Portrait of Ruin or Order of Ecclesia. Point A to B on either a certain portrait(PoRn) or a specific area(OoE.)

I'm not a fan of extremely linear. A little linear is fine, but when it gets to where you're walking in a straight line the entire time is when boredom starts to kick in.

[exit]

Had no plans on buying this game to begin with, but this just gives me even more reasons to avoid the game. Sounds to me that they're just downgrading the gameplay instead of enhancing it, so much for evolution I guess.

[Querjek]

I didn't like the linearity of FFX--this worries me.

[boatofcar]

How is this different than FFX?

[Raedon]

How is this different than FFX?

The battle system is different ... Blitz Ball.

[skaar]

I like how the end has Mr. Boss coffee.

[BHvrd]

Had no plans on buying this game to begin with, but this just gives me even more reasons to avoid the game. Sounds to me that they're just downgrading the gameplay instead of enhancing it, so much for evolution I guess.

The battle systems is called "Optima Change" in Japan when it hits the states it will be called "Paradigm Shift". Mana is gone.

I suggest you look it up and read about it cause saying they are not enhancing or "upgrading" the combat system couldn't be further from the truth. Truth be told this Final Fantasy is supposed to have much more intense, realistic and tougher battles than any to date.

Also i'm sure you have seen videos where you are given a star rating after each battle? That's to gauge the difficulty, if you defeat enemies fast and get a high star rating the next battle will be fierce, if you get a low rating, easier. It's a constantly active battle system. The sphere grid also makes a return so honing your characters skills will be essential.

As far as the "linear" maps go i'm in it for a good cinematic and gameplay experience which it should deliver in spades.

[Raedon]

Video of the level in question. 3 hours in.

http://www.viddler.com/explore/Destructoid/videos/1610/

[monkeychemist]

I think you guys are so funny. You expecting an elder scrolls game when it's a next-gen final fantasy game. When has a FF game given overworld exploration since the SNES days? Why would you expect anything different?? Quit complaining about the "straight" map, that's how all those games are, and they still make it fun. FFX was extremely linear but still a ton of fun!

Video looks awesome btw

[sfchakan]

I think you guys are so funny. You expecting an elder scrolls game when it's a next-gen final fantasy game. When has a FF game given overworld exploration since the SNES days?

FFIX, released in 2000.

[Daria]

I think you guys are so funny. You expecting an elder scrolls game when it's a next-gen final fantasy game. When has a FF game given overworld exploration since the SNES days? Why would you expect anything different?? Quit complaining about the "straight" map, that's how all those games are, and they still make it fun. FFX was extremely linear but still a ton of fun!

Video looks awesome btw

I will admit I didn't play X, X-2, or XII but I know for a fact that both VII and IX did. Guess I hadn't realized how drastically the series had changed beyond the battle systems.

[Raedon]

I think you guys are so funny. You expecting an elder scrolls game when it's a next-gen final fantasy game. When has a FF game given overworld exploration since the SNES days? Why would you expect anything different?? Quit complaining about the "straight" map, that's how all those games are, and they still make it fun. FFX was extremely linear but still a ton of fun!

Video looks awesome btw

Don't generalize. I liked FFX. It was the last FF I actually finished. I'm currently playing Crisis Core FF7 and it's just as linear as this.

I do miss the days of the large green field of grass between 4 cities, 2 mountains, and one hermit shack though.

[ShinGundam]

I think you guys are so funny. You expecting an elder scrolls game when it's a next-gen final fantasy game. When has a FF game given overworld exploration since the SNES days? Why would you expect anything different?? Quit complaining about the "straight" map, that's how all those games are, and they still make it fun. FFX was extremely linear but still a ton of fun!

Video looks awesome btw

FF Versus XIII will be more like a traditional FF than FF XIII ,the footage at TGS
showed there were city streets with a day/night cycle, people hanging
around the shops and the streets becoming deserted at night. Not to mention , this
game has an overworld( World -> Region -> Area) is an indication of how
they want to break up the world into load zones Or possibly shortcut travel
methods (world by airship/boat/etc, region by car/animal/train, area = too bad, just walk it?)
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f3...msgpg73_sm.jpg

Sadly ,they didn’t show much about this game because of FF13
beside this Trailer
http://www.gametrailers.com/user-mov...english/314553

[Zoltor]

Lol what a POS game this is sure to be, but lets be real, was anyone surprised at evil scum bag Square continuing with their trend(of killing every aspect that made a FF game what it was)?

That gives new meaning to a Linear game, doesn't it lol.

FF 12 sure as hell wasn't a pure RPG(like the past FF games), and this "thing" Isn't any kind of RPG to speak of(no towns, wth lol, sounds like an action/adventure game to me, and a crappy one at that).

Also I'm surprised Square even bothers to make games anymore, they might as well just make computer generated full lengthed movies, since that has been the only aspect in their games wich have any kind of quality to them (excluding FF 4:The After Years of course, because they brought back the decomishoned team that worked on the original FF 4, to make that game).