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Final Fantasy XIII is an upcoming console role-playing game being developed by Square Enix who will publish it for PlayStation 3 worldwide, and Xbox 360 in Europe and North America. First appearing at the 2006 E3, the game features a futuristic, high-tech world and a storyline focusing on people in resistance of this world.
Final Fantasy XIII is the flagship title of the Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy XIII collection. The game shares a common mythology with Final Fantasy Agito XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII, but they are not directly related to each other. Motomu Toriyama, a director and scenario writer of previous Final Fantasy titles, will direct and write the game's story.
Gameplay
The concept for Final Fantasy XIII's battle system is to maintain the strategic nature of command-based battles, while including the excitement, intensity, and speed found in real-time battles. The system stemmed from a desire to create battles similar to those found in Final Fantasy VII Advent Children. Like those in Final Fantasy XII, battle sequences are integrated into the world environment. The Active Time Battle (ATB) system will return, but is expected to work differently from its predecessors.
During battles, players input commands by selecting an option with a wheel that appears 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 highlighted yellow. Commands can be chained together for certain effects. The environment also plays a role in battle; for instance, in released footage of the game, the main playable character, Lightning, has been seen sending a soldier into a light, electrocuting him and multiplying the damage. Once the ATB bar has reached zero, it must replenish before the player can input more commands.
A map is placed in the upper left-hand corner of the battle screen, with blue dots representing allies and red dots signifying enemies. Dots emitting circles are the characters currently in combat. The upper right-hand corner of the battle screen shows a circular-shaped gauge, representing the "Overclock" mode. When the gauge is full, Overclocking allows the player to induce a slow-motion effect, causing time to move slower for everything but the player. Once Overclock is activated, a rapidly decreasing number appears inside the circular gauge, signifying the duration of the Overclock status.
Summoning will return in Final Fantasy XIII. Summoned creatures are shown as partly mechanical beings. Shiva will return and takes the form of a pair of sisters who can merge into a motorcycle, which an unnamed blond male character rides and can use ice to create a path to drive on. Classic summoned monsters Ifrit, Siren, and Carbuncle will also return. Although the main focus of Final Fantasy XIII is a traditional offline RPG experience, Square Enix is attempting to add special online features to the game.
Plot
The plot focuses on the fal'Cie, a race existing beyond humanity. The people marked by the fal'Cie for a greater purpose are named the l'Cie. 13,000 years ago, a mythical Crystal told the fal'Cie to construct a paradise for humanity. The shell-like city of Cocoon was created and floated high above the surface of the world now known as Pulse, which is later maintained by its own Crystal. Cocoon's Crystal created life forms and machines for its inhabitants to use, and humanity flourished. Over time, the people of Cocoon began to fear for the safety of their world, and were worried that it would be cast down from the sky. In present day, the wilderness of Pulse has strange effects on people, and the Holy Government of Cocoon quarantines and exiles from the city anyone who has been influenced by Pulse. A woman nicknamed Lightning is chosen by the Crystals to be the enemy of humanity and bring about the downfall of the world.
Characters
The full cast of Final Fantasy XIII is yet unknown. The following characters have been shown in trailers and screenshots of the game, along with information released from Square Enix.
Lightning: Character designer Tetsuya Nomura was asked to create a "female version of Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII". During development, he has described her as "not very feminine". Lightning is a young woman with strawberry-blond hair. She is given an unknown task by a Crystal, and she bands together with a blond-haired man and a girl with pigtails. Lightning wields a gun-sword, which can also manipulate gravity.
Blond-haired man: A blond, bandanna-wearing male who rides Shiva in her motorcycle form and totes a large gun and an ally of Lightning. He is a big character and is capable of running while carrying two people. He was nicknamed "Mr 33 cm" by the staff of Final Fantasy XIII because of his shoe size.
Pigtailed girl: A girl with red-brown hair worn in pigtails who lives in Pulse.[5 In a trailer, she was featured in the company of both Lightning and the blond-haired man. Her weapon resembles a modernized bow, and she was seen performing a summon using a disc in the trailer.
Blond military woman: A high-ranking commander with blond hair working for the Holy Government. She uses a high-powered sniper rifle. She also interrogates the captured pigtailed girl in a trailer.
Gameplay pictures
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Lightning fighting
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Lightning holding her blade
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Lightning’s Gun/Blade
