Final Fantasy XIII will have 'no main character'

by Alan Tsang { Aug 20th 2008 at 7:30AM }

Motomu Toriyama, the director of Final Fantasy XIII, divulged bits of information about the upcoming RPG in an interview with Famitsu PS3. We already know the demo is lengthy, but now we also know that it will allow players "to play from the opening through the prologue," similar to the Final Fantasy VII demo. Besides Lighting, players will also be able to play as the blonde male (shown above) in the demo. He remains nameless, but whatever his name is, it will be weather-related as well.

Toriyama then talks about a "new style" where FFXIII will not have an actual main character. Instead, players will experience the story from the viewpoints of different characters. One of the main focuses of the demo will be to allow players to try out this "new style." The battle system also allows you to switch characters; it will be party-based and the player will switch between each character during combat.

As a bonus, Forever Fantasy has scans of the screenshots from the FFXIII story. There are even a few Versus XIII pictures as well. Take a look here.

Tags: final-fantasy-versus-xiii, final-fantasy-xiii

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

I.AM.IRON.MAN @ Aug 20th 2008 7:44AM

Never really played FF. Tried FF3 on my DS, it was boring. And every video i've ever seen of any FF being played looked dull. With no lead character to get behind, this game has taken an even more boring turn.

RPG's like Oblivion are far superior imo interms of player immersion, I'm expecting FO3 to be equally as good.

Nathanical @ Aug 20th 2008 8:02AM

Its all opinion i spose. But TBH, RPG's like Oblivion and fallout, and RPGS like Final Fantasy are very much different genres, and as such are incomparable, despite the shared 'Rpg' title.

ldd @ Aug 20th 2008 8:02AM

Umm... so maybe this is why people that love japanese RPG like me are not particularly interested in Western-developed RPG games. Just a random thought.

MooNinja @ Aug 20th 2008 9:03AM

There is a big difference. These are called J RPGs, and Fallout, Baulder's Gate and anything Bioware created are Western RPGs.

I used to love the FF series. 7 was the last one that held my attention. The pre-teen hero scenario has been beaten to death so badly in those. I understand how some people still enjoy them, but it isn't me anylonger. I do plan on giving this one a shot however, I gave the last one a shot, but it still lost me.

strike @ Aug 20th 2008 7:44AM

I hope this game lives up to its expectations.

Usually, when I get pumped up for a game, the game is excellent, but incredibly short. Knowing Square Enix, though, I'm sure they won't dissapoint.

I think they have already finished re-making FFVII, they are just milking it by releasing FFXIII first. My opinion :P

Metal_Gear @ Aug 20th 2008 7:55AM

I was happy just playing with her ^_^
And that red head girl I think is still un-named also... yes, I am a pixel perv.

hardcorebadass23 @ Aug 20th 2008 8:15AM

I want some 360 FFXIII news.

But meh, since its coming out in North America, it'll be a while before that happens. All these Japan articles, leaks, and scans are for their exclusive PS3 version.

I'm glad I have a PS3 also, it seems Square is supporting Sony not PS3 buy Sony with Final Fantasy news on Sony's systems.

All they did for Microsoft was announce its coming in the future.

My PS3 will have this game imported I SWEAR =)

This no main character approach seems like a good idea.

Keith K @ Aug 20th 2008 8:41AM

I guess by 'new style' he means 'new since he's been around'.. since FF6 could also be said to have no 'main character'. As could the original FF3 and really Final Fantasy as well.

sirdrake35 @ Aug 20th 2008 8:51AM

Im not sure how i feel about this "no main character" business. I know 3 didnt really have a main character and neither did 6 and they were great, but 12 didnt either and i did not care for 12. However, IV,VII, VIII, IX and X all had main characters and those games were fantastic. (i might be hated for this but) They were better than 3 and 6 IMO.
Also im nervous about this new "party" battlesystem in whcih you have to switch between characters, if they are going to make an RPG game make it a traditional RPG, if they want it to be more action oriented, well thats why they created XIII versus.

I hope they dont butcher the game by trying to take on too many characters POVs and it gets lost in translation.

wicko @ Aug 20th 2008 11:08AM

I hope by switch between characters they mean just like the original FF style where its menu based.. I don't really like the combat system in FFXII, I'd much prefer something like VII or VIII.

The_Punisher @ Aug 20th 2008 8:51AM

All i want is a good next-gen JRPG, and so far this and Lost Odyssey look to be the only good ones. Infinite Undiscovery looks pretty bad, and Last Remnant we know nothing about. Eternal Sonata is coming to PS3, and i heard that was decent, so together with White Knight Story, that would be 4 good next-gen JRPG's. Yay?

oldmike @ Aug 20th 2008 9:30AM

Lost Odyssey is rather bad from what i played
i never played the last disk thou the games a snore

theres a LOT of grinding and walls of text
i not done so much reading in a game post SNES
doing lots of walking just trying to find the next triger
and the story was so messed up its not even funny

JRPG or WRPG just give me a good story dam it

roric767 @ Aug 20th 2008 9:08AM

Not worried one bit, this game will surely amaze...

Makoto99 @ Aug 20th 2008 9:34AM

So basically, they're adding the "Trinity Sight" system from Suikoden 3?

That's fine. I liked the style in Suikoden 3, where your three parties go roughly the same places but at different times, and affect each other in various ways until you group up toward the middle/end.

As long as they develop the characters well and make it interesting, I don't see it as a problem that they're not focusing on one.

captkey3s @ Aug 20th 2008 9:46AM

I officially don't care about FF13 anymore maybe in 2010 when it drops but i'm tired of being told about a great game 2 years away. The BS we gotta put up with for a JRPG fix. Anyone know any good current JRPGs?

sokkie38 @ Aug 20th 2008 9:56AM

hmm no main characters in FF13 i dont know if that wise u need main character 2 hold each characters together around and support main character u can still have other characters havein flashbacks of there life etc, btw the sony press conference @ leipzig is @ 5pm CET 2day.