FFXIII scans: in-game battles, reveals first character name

by Majed Athab { Dec 21st 2008 at 12:00AM }

Square Enix loves to dish out new, albeit tiny, info at the end of the year for its biggest titles like Final Fantasy XIII. It's sort of a playful tease reminding you that there's still something coming for the year ahead ... or several. In the latest scans from Japanese magazine V-Jump, there are some delicious new screen pics of FFXIII's in-game battles and its female protagonist looking contemplative and sultry.

Most of the information in the mag scans regarding the battle system is already well-known, such as no random encounters. The only truly new information is -- after two and a half years -- we're finally going to know one character's real name. While "Lightning" and "Snow" are code names for the main female lead and the blond dude with a bandana, "Oerba Dia Vanille" is the first actual name to be revealed, and it belongs to the spunky red-haired girl.

Other than this info, there's not much else to talk about. There is, however, some nice pictures to look at, so now would be a good time to head on over to VideogamerX and view all the scans.

Tags: ff-xiii, final-fantasy, final-fantasy-xiii, square-enix

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

DarthNemesis @ Dec 21st 2008 12:17AM

Wow all the hype about the graphics and the game looks bad in game.Overrated indeed.

Skyfire360 @ Dec 21st 2008 12:38AM

Why the snotty comment? The game has already been confirmed for your pet console, so no need to go all 360-Fanboy and senselessly trash it.

jerses @ Dec 21st 2008 1:21AM

I agree a little with you on the in game graphics. I mean, Square was cool in time when CGI animations was like new. But those CGI graphics from the cutscene can be made even with the 360 specs. Look at some of the other games out there and you can tell. Since i remember square was supposed to be the leading in using the best out of every console...but this gen? i think its theyre own fault for making like 10 games in a row.

Kyle @ Dec 21st 2008 1:40AM

You gathered this from a small photo in a badly scanned magazine page? Wow, you must have great eyes and the ability to recompile original game imagery from the compression of two mediums. Bravo, man. You should work at Sony or something.

ps3fan @ Dec 21st 2008 2:06AM

haha i agree with kyle!
how did you guys know that the graphics are not good? a small picture from a magazine? woow some poeple like to act so like they know what they'r saying :P ... anyways im buying this game for sure for the ps3 and cant wait .. im just a huge final fanatsy fan and a square enix fan .. every single game squareenix make is just awesome!! square FTW!!!

DarthNemsis @ Dec 21st 2008 2:27AM

Well PS3fan,you are obviously a Square fanboy so of course you are biased in favor of the game.I see thing's for what they are regardless of what I like or don't like.No every single game that Square makes is not awesome.Infinite Undiscovery,FF12,FF102,FF Cristal Chronicles and Last Reminant are all bad games.I prefer Atlus and Level 5's games over Square's games,at least they are fresh deliver great stories like FF used to do.

Afa @ Dec 21st 2008 3:55AM

i dun think theres a biased or fanboy issue here... its just that ur "JUDGING" the "GRAPHIC QUALITY" of the "GAME" in a "MAGAZINE SCAN"... u get?

ps3fan @ Dec 21st 2008 4:28AM

im not a fanboy lol just a fan .. i mean their work is just good .. i dont know but i'v always found their games to be the best in the market .. i got all their games on the ps2..(NOT EVEVRYTING) but ya know like the games you mentioned and i loved each one of those games .. ff12 was really good , it wasnt bad at all , i finished it twice and neevr thought it was bad at all ..anyways there is no point in talking about this now .. lets just wait till the games comes out and THEN will talk about the graphics .

Codex @ Dec 21st 2008 8:25AM

As if the 360 is even worthy of touching a final fantasy title, makes me sick. They have been forced to dumb down the graphics to suit the 360 unfortunately, so it isnt uncommon to see people expecting it to look like rubbish thanks to the abortion of a decision that m$ pressured square into, just like every other franchise thats been forced to adopt the 360 as a format.

ryan @ Dec 21st 2008 9:50AM

I think it looks pretty cool. People are expecting way too much this generation. Games are good but not CG good!

ithilis @ Dec 21st 2008 11:15AM

Codex:

The graphics have not, and will not get 'dumbed down' for the 360. Stop being such a misinformed fanboy.

Square stated, officially, that the game will complete it's full development for PS3 before they even begin to develop for the 360. This means that if the graphics need to be 'dumbed down' for the 360 to run it, it won't affect the PS3 version of the game.

saito ps3 @ Dec 21st 2008 12:22AM

this games looks great and the battle system looks better judging by the screen shots. i cant wait, im going to import the blu-ray version of the final fantasy movie just to try out the demo

abe @ Dec 21st 2008 12:29AM

screw se , after ff13 i am just in complete hatred for se

Roto13 @ Dec 21st 2008 12:41AM

Someone call the wahmbulance.

slycooper_rocker (lorddshadow the amazing) [anti-panda death squadron force five] @ Dec 21st 2008 2:02AM

ff13 hasn't come out yet

Skyfire360 @ Dec 21st 2008 12:39AM

Am I the only one trying to get as little information about this game as possible? I don't want to have unrealistic expectations for this game, so imposing a sort of news embargo should hopefully curb my expectations. Better to be pleasantly surprised than sadly underwhelmed.

blkant @ Dec 21st 2008 12:39AM

meh, don't care for FFXIII, Versus looks a lot darker, and there for cooler :D

Roto13 @ Dec 21st 2008 12:40AM

"Oerba Dia Vanille"

... what

LordAbsu @ Dec 21st 2008 4:04AM

Took the words right out of my mouth.

...

Only with less bewildered cussing.

DarthNemesis @ Dec 21st 2008 12:47AM

@ Skyfire,I don't own a 360 only a PS3.The game does not look good to me and I'm not impressed after I wasted my money on FF12.The only great FF game was 7 with 6 being next.The last good RPG that I played from Square-Anus was DQ8 and that was made by Level 5.

Think Adrian @ Dec 21st 2008 2:53AM

I tought FFXII was a good and large FF game with interesting battle system and pushed the graphics capabilities of the PS2.

I didn't like that you had to use "steal" on bosses to get weapons and armor you couldn't get anywhere else. And that the last boss didn't have any HP gauge.

Jack Spicer @ Dec 21st 2008 5:44AM

What? How is 7 better then 6? FF6 was the epitome of the series, if there is a better one then let me know.

By the by, the only reason 7 is "better" then 6 is because it was more accessible to people. With the PS they used disc's which were cheaper and produced more, more people played it, it was a lot of people's first final fantasy, when its your first you tend to like it more even when something is better.

So please, list all the reasons 7 outranks 6.

Jeff @ Dec 21st 2008 1:03AM

Why does everyone like FF?

never played one and I don't plan too, you know a series has to suck when it has 13 games out. Cmon now, it's like George Lucas with those star war games.
Milk more?

Roto13 @ Dec 21st 2008 1:16AM

Because it doesn't suck.

EmoCloudSquall @ Dec 21st 2008 1:20AM

Also the story is always the same. A guy meet a girl fight for something but someone wants that too (power,magic,girl). There was a war like 1000 years ago and its important to all of them because thats when magic begins... theres a epic battle...someone gets killed...and then i get bored with the story.

The main character is emo also. (or there are other emo characters ) The villian is cute ( in japan standard...mostly gay to all of the world). I can go on and on with the story.

So yeah Jeff. FF have like a big fanbase full of people who buy harem mangas and like to say kawaii

slycooper_rocker (lorddshadow the amazing) [anti-panda death squadron force five] @ Dec 21st 2008 2:03AM

well they really put effort and time into these games. that's why we're probably not getting FFXII until late 2009-early 2010

Kyle @ Dec 21st 2008 3:49AM

That is the dumbest thing that I've ever heard. Why don't you play one and find out why people like it. If you don't, you're probably not an RPG fan.

God, what a stupid question/statement.

Sure, they're trying to suck money out of the franchise, but I don't think you understand that almost every Final Fantasy is a completely different storyline and often a different world. They aren't sequels at all, rather, they just carry similar ideas.

david @ Dec 21st 2008 7:06AM

How can you say that when you have never played any of them. All the FF games have different characters and storylines and are all different games. You fail.

ldd @ Dec 21st 2008 1:07AM

*playing FF IX at the moment*
I don't care about the graphics or the brand-new-OMG-random-is-bad new combat thingy, etc.
I just want the FF 'feel'. And I'm not alone. Trust me.

bubugalu @ Dec 21st 2008 1:40AM

Well FF 13 gana be over hyped, I personally feal that ive matured the "CUTE" phase of FF... I mean come on! Give me more real characters, FF doesnt have the right drama/story telling thats worth it for me anymore...Im tired of characters jumping all over the screen just to put on a fancy show, SE been doing that since FF7AC came out... they've lost touch in what makes a good story, its not about fancy cgi or choreography... in the end theres story, and will it be worth remeber the story? or will the cgi fancy cutscenes be all i'll remeber from the game...As for FFversus13, i had hopes for it, but the previous trailer revealed that its going to be more of a romeo and juliet type of story... Man falls for girl, girl falls for man... but both are from apossing sides...IMHO, ive overgrown the FF series, but lets hope FFversus13 brings me back..."The truth is hidden in the sleep?"ok...

Kyle @ Dec 21st 2008 1:54AM

As cutesy and overproduced as FF has gotten, they've almost always had a serious and in-depth story. Like the absolutely "adorable" Final Fantasy 9 had an incredibly dark/mature storyline involving Vivi and his mortality. I do agree that Final Fantasy 12 didn't have a really gripping story, but it was still fun to play.

Honestly, I just want to play more Xenosaga. Now that's a game with an awesome story.

slycooper_rocker (lorddshadow the amazing) [anti-panda death squadron force five] @ Dec 21st 2008 2:05AM

chrono trigger/cross. nuff said.

vask @ Dec 21st 2008 1:39AM

Thats what hype does to a game, it creates a community of ungrateful gamers. It just cant be helped

Warner Young @ Dec 21st 2008 6:27AM

Have they previously revealed Lightning's power? I don't remember reading that before, but the scanned article mention that she can control gravity?! I'm fairly sure I would have remembered that if I'd read it... or my memory's really going :)

Lawrence @ Dec 21st 2008 6:45AM

What, no FF X love here? Am I the only one who'd rather play through FF X 3-4 times than play through FF VII more than once?

Here's some ammo for the people who want to attack every comment:
I didn't like Chrono Trigger much, absolutely-friggin' loved Secret of Mana, and thought the story in Dirge of Cerberus was better than the main story of FF VII.

My top 4 Square games?
Final Fantasy X
Secret of Mana
Super Mario RPG
Final Fantasy IX

Roto13 @ Dec 21st 2008 10:21AM

I really didn't like Final Fantasy VII. I thought it turned into a chore long before it was over.

X was a great game wrapped in a silly (and overdone) story. I've played it through a couple of times and I like the battle system and character building and stuff, but I can't face going through it again because I really don't want to have cutscenes thrown in my face every few minutes.

Actually, I kind of feel the same way about FF X-2. The battle system was fast and fun and the job system was interesting in the fact that you could switch your job right there in the middle of the battle, but... well, you know, Charlie's Angels meets Spice World. That's just too much.

ithilis @ Dec 21st 2008 11:23AM

While the combat system and character progression were great, the story in FFX was, in MY OPINION, was one of the worst in the entire series. The cast was also annoying and cliched.

I clocked a lot of hours in the game, however, getting all the Celestial weapons and defeating all the bosses in the monster arena, which was challenging and fun.

chin @ Dec 21st 2008 7:19AM

In my opinion the last great RPGs were only Final Fantasy games. Look at the sales. No other RPG sold better than Final Fantasy. They even don't come close to those sales, including the overrated 360 RPGs. Infinite Undiscovery...

ryan @ Dec 21st 2008 9:55AM

Persona 4, Lost Odyssey. Pretty successful alternatives to FF.

bubugalu @ Dec 21st 2008 7:34AM

@ LawrenceFFX was ok, but not as good as FF7... I personally didnt like or enjoy the main characer from FFX, he seemed too imature... @ Chinyour statement is very true... the reason why? because most JRPG are mainly either copycats of the FF series, meaning they dont attempt at anything without SE doing it first... But then you'd get some outstanding titles from other developers as well, and never ending up selling well because it isnt FF. FF has a rapid following and no game would really come close to it because of that. I personally feel bad for those outstanding developers who stride to actually do something new, but dont get the attention they deserve.Mainly talking about Valkaria Chronicles,I know its not an RPG, but that game does deserve alot of attention. Its a really good game and should achieve better sales then its getting...