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What's Changing In The Retail Version Of FFXIII?
Collected from various recent interviews, facts on the FFXIII final.
By Nick Des Barres, 04/22/2009
The dust has settled, and the magnificence of the Final Fantasy XIII playable demo has finally sunk in. Right about now, fans around the globe are probably wondering: What will be improved in the final? What's slated to be changed or altered? Thanks to an anonymous fan on 2ch, we have a comprehensive list of everything FFXIII director Motomu Toriyama has claimed will be changed in print. The source of the following information is various interviews published in the Japanese magazines Famitsu, Famitsu PS3, and Dengeki PlayStation.
- Battle difficulty will be greatly increased. In fact, Toriyama expects XIII to be "the most difficult FF ever".
- In the demo, party members are CPU controlled. In the final, you'll be able to issue them directives.
- Continuing your "Chain" in the demo isn't very important in the demo, but will vital in the final.
- The classic FF victory fanfare isn't present in the demo, but will be in the final.
- Victory poses may be incorporated into the final; the matter is currently under consideration.
- If the first hit of a chain kills an enemy in the demo, your character continues attacking air for the duration of the combo. This will be remedied in the final.
- Snow is barehanded in the demo, but will have weapons available to him in the final.
- Encounters occur solely from the front in the demo, but various encounter styles will be present in the final.
- The final will have a level system.
- The demo only allows you to control one character, but the final will have a new system for managing other party members in battle.
- The final will have command shortcuts.
- Selecting your target in the demo can be a bit of a chore; the final will have a more streamlined targeting mechanism.
- The final will have an "item" command in battle.
- NPC dialogue will be subtitled in the final. In the demo, there is only voice.
- Sazh's rather bizarre battle animation will be altered to be less strange, and more "jolly".
- The Time Gauge maxes out at 3 in the demo, but you'll be able to add more segments in the final through a new character growth system.
- Summons will be present in the final. The mysterious "TP Bonus" that appears after battles in the demo relates to them.
- Finally, the occasional frame rate drops in the demo will be fixed, according to Toriyama.
And there you have it, folks. "Winter 2009" could not come any sooner.
