Final Fantasy XIII

Final Fantasy XIII is an upcoming console role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix for PlayStation 3 in Japan, North America and Europe, and announced at E3 2008 for the Xbox 360 in North America and Europe. First appearing at E3 2006, the game features a futuristic, high-tech world, and a storyline focusing on "those who resist the world".

Final Fantasy XIII is the flagship title of the Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy XIII collection. The game takes place in the same universe as Final Fantasy Agito XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII, although they are not directly related to each other. Motomu Toriyama, who was Director of Final Fantasy X-2 and Director and Scenario Writer of Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, will direct the game.

Battle system

The concept for Final Fantasy XIII's battle system is to maintain the strategic nature of command-based battles, while also including the excitement and speed found in real time battles. This system stemmed from a desire to create battles of the type found in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Like Final Fantasy XII, the battles will take place seamlessly on the field with no transitions to separate battle screens. The Active Time Battle system will return, but is expected to work very differently from how it did in previous installments in the series. Final Fantasy X battle director Toshiro Tsuchida will return as the battle system director for the game. He has the intent of giving individual enemies their own personalities and background stories.[8] He also replied with "no comment" when asked if players will be inputting commands for all party members, or if they'll just be in control of the current party leader.

In keeping with command-based battles, players input commands by selection through a reel on the bottom-left hand side of the screen. Each command has an ATB cost, which reduces the total ATB bar. Selected commands are placed on a row of upcoming moves, above the bar. As characters fight, each command is used in turn, with the current command in use turning yellow. Commands can be chained together for certain effects. The environment also plays a role in battle; for instance, Lightning has been seen sending a soldier into a light, electrocuting him and multiplying the damage.

A map is seen in the upper left hand corner of the battle screen, with blue dots representing allies and red dots signifying enemies. The dots emitting circles are the characters currently affected by the fighting.

The upper right-hand corner of the battle screen shows a circular-shaped gauge, representing the Overclock mode. When full, Overclocking allows the player to induce a slow-motion effect, almost pausing time for everything other than the player. Once Overclock is activated, a rapidly decreasing number appears inside the circular gauge, signifying the duration of the Overclock status. Some believe that this system may replace the traditional Limit Break system found in previous Final Fantasy games.

Summons

Summoning will also return in Final Fantasy XIII. Summons are shown as partly mechanical beings, and the possibility exists that they will be prominent both when in and out of battle. Shiva is one such summon that will be returning, and in Final Fantasy XIII, she takes the form of a pair of sisters who can merge into a motorcycle, which the unnamed blond male character has been shown to ride. Classic summons Ifrit, Siren and Carbuncle have also been featured in screenshots. Producers of the game have recently stated that Summons will appear in "Digital Form" although the full extent of what this means is still unknown

Characters

The full cast of Final Fantasy XIII is yet unknown; however the following characters have been shown in trailers and screenshots of the game, along with some released information.

Lightning
Character designer Tetsuya Nomura was asked to create a "female version of Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII", and has described her as "not very feminine". Final Fantasy XIII's lead character is a young woman with strawberry blonde hair. She has been given an unknown task by a Crystal. Some sources say that she is leading a rebellion against Cocoon, while others say she is the enemy of humanity who will bring about the downfall of the world.

Her weapon can be transformed between a sword and a semi-automatic firearm at will. Lightning is able to use gravity as a tool and weapon, for instance, throwing a small 'gravity bomb' to disable enemies at the start of a battle. She also seems able to defy gravity completely with the use of two buttons on her finger (index and thumb). Once these buttons are tapped together, she can briefly manipulate gravity. Blue sparks run around her body at these times.[citation needed]

Blond-haired man
A blond, bandanna-wearing male who has been shown riding Shiva in her motorcycle form, wielding a gun. He is a big character, capable of running while carrying two people around. He was nicknamed "Mr 33 cm" by the staff of Final Fantasy XIII because of his shoe size.[18] He has been described as "cowboy like", and his relationship with Lightning as "unusual".[citation needed]

Red-haired girl
A female with red-brown hair who has been confirmed as a citizen of Pulse.[citation needed] Her weapon resembles a modernized bow