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Final Fantasy XIII-2, Metal Gear Collection debut atop UK charts
Three new titles entered Chart-Track's UK sales top ten last week, led by Final Fantasy XIII-2. Sneaking the silver was the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, which includes MGS2: Sons of Liberty (2002), MGS3: Snake Eater (2005) and MGS: Peacewalker (2010). Rounding out the top three is Battlefield 3, up two spots, as FIFA 12 slides from first to fourth.Another new addition to the top ten, SoulCalibur 5, premieres in fifth. Chart-Track notes that the prior SoulCalibur debuted in the top spot back in August of 2008.The solid debut last week of 3DS action horror title Resident Evil: Revelations finds the game retreating from sixth to 19 on the latest chart. Wander past the break for the UK top ten.
FFXIII-2 Lightning DLC strikes Feb. 7, more DLC plans outlined
Final Fantasy XIII-2 comes out today in North America, but it's already benefiting from simultaneous DLC releases with Japan. Due on Feb. 7, upcoming DLC lets players fight FFXIII protagonist Lightning, accompanied by Lt. Amoda. If you defeat her, she can join your party.Siliconera reports that future DLC following this Lightning battle will include a costume pack and new story content (which Square Enix says will "enhance the experience and complement the narrative of FINAL FANTASY XIII-2 with storyline branches for key characters in the story," with another coliseum battle coming in mid-March. That wacky Ezio costume will be in there somewhere, as well.%Gallery-146084%
Final Fantasy XIII-2 review: Fixing the past
There was once a time when "Final Fantasy" meant greatness, when seeing Square's brand on a game box meant you were about to play something special. That time has long since passed. In today's gaming landscape, Final Fantasy is more punchline than powerhouse, more quantity than quality. After the mediocre Final Fantasy XIII and the sheer disaster that was Final Fantasy XIV, many fans have lost faith in the RPG titan.Final Fantasy XIII-2 is the publisher's attempt to mend this relationship. At times, it feels like the development team just went down a laundry list and added everything that fans believed Final Fantasy XIII lacked. Non-linear dungeons? Check. Sidequests? Check. NPCs and towns? Check, check. In other words, the whole game seems like one big apology.%Gallery-140865%
FFXIII's Lightning being added to XIII-2 in DLC, trailer highlights game variety
Final Fantasy XIII-2 will reportedly include Lightning from Final Fantasy XIII as DLC. According to Famitsu (via Andriasang), Lightning will be a coliseum character that, once defeated, can become a party member.Square Enix apparently also stated that it will have "secret story episodes" for Lightning, with more characters from FFXIII potentially having similar story DLC.The publisher also sent out a trailer covering a variety of gameplay found in Final Fantasy XIII-2, such as puzzles, quizzes and gambling on Chocobo races. Never owe a Moogle money. It always ends badly. Always. %Gallery-141874%
Why silly JRPG dialogue may not be a problem
This is a column by Jason Schreier dedicated to the analysis (and occasional mocking) of his favorite genre, the Japanese role-playing game. Whether it's because they're too antiquated or just too niche, he believes JRPGs don't get enough attention in the gaming industry today. It's time to change that. I've been playing a lot of Final Fantasy XIII-2 lately. I can't post my full thoughts until the embargo's up (January 30), but there's one question I've been pondering ever since I popped in the disc: What's up with this dialogue?Thanks to a lot of silly jargon and awkward phrasing, a large chunk of Final Fantasy XIII-2's conversations elevate it into the "wouldn't want anyone to watch me playing this" category, alongside titles like Star Ocean: The Last Hope and any Tales game."Become an arrow through time and speed your way to Serah," one of the game's characters says in the game's intro sequence. Other bits of dialogue are similarly awkward, mixing metaphors, dropping strange proper nouns and completely confusing whoever's playing (read: me).(Another choice line: "If the paradox is eliminated, spacetime will return to normal.")Of course, it'd be unfair to only pick on the latest Final Fantasy for this issue. Japanese role playing games -- even moreso than other game genres -- are not known for their fluid, witty dialogue. JRPG scripts are more infamous for mistranslations ("This guy are sick.") than smart or clever bits of writing.But does it matter? Can a JRPG still be awesome even if its dialogue sucks?
Explore menus and giant crystals in this Final Fantasy XIII-2 Time Travel trailer
We're pretty dubious of any time-travel methods that don't involve police boxes from the 1960s, but Final Fantasy XIII-2's horcrux Historia Crux and time gates look like a fairly stable, albeit significantly less British, way to traverse the annals of history.
PSA: Final Fantasy XIII-2 demo strikes Xbox Live and PSN
Just in case you forgot to check your calendar, we thought we'd let you know that a Final Fantasy XIII-2 demo is now available on both Xbox Live and PSN. The demo sounds like the same one we played at TGS, allowing players to explore the Bresha Ruins and face off against the mighty Atlas.
Try out Final Fantasy XIII-2 next week
So you think you can ride this chocobo? You can find out for yourself next week, when Square Enix will release a demo for Final Fantasy XIII-2. According to the Square Enix Members blog, the demo will be available worldwide on Xbox Live Arcade, and on the European PSN January 11, with a North American PSN release on January 10. We don't actually know if you'll be able to ride a chocobo in the demo. We do know that Final Fantasy will face some competition for our trying-stuff-out time, from Asura's Wrath.
Meet Final Fantasy XIII-2's moogle, kupo
Final Fantasy XIII-2 isn't all about chocobos and improvements to the first XIII's formula, you silly kupo. There's also a serious focus on your personal Moogle and his repeated use of the word "kupo," kupo, as evidenced by this latest trailer. Also: kupo.
FFXIII-2 first week sales roughly a third of FFXIII's first week sales
Final Fantasy XIII-2, the latest sequel-sequel from the androgyny JRPG veterans at Square Enix, has closed its first week of sales in the land of the rising sun, with somewhat mixed results. The PS3 version of the title has sold 524,000 units according to Andriasang's translation of Media Create's extremely Japanese sales data, making it the number 1 selling title for the period. This is in stark contrast to the 360 version of the game, which entered the charts at number 48 with a comparatively minuscule 10,000 units sold. Having the number 1 game in Japan is definitely nothing to be ashamed of, but the accomplishment seems somewhat less impressive when compared to Final Fantasy XIII's combined first-week sales of 1,502,000 copies, nearly three times XIII-2's combined 525,000. Media Create attributes the drop in sales to a drop in interest among Japanese female gamers: 22.2 percent of women surveyed were interested in XIII-2, down nearly ten points from XIII's 31.3 percent Japanese female interest rate. It's also possible that the interest decline among Japanese women was negligible at best, considering that the game was the best selling release in the country.
Star Ocean developers worked some magic on Final Fantasy XIII-2
Did that almost reasonable 24-month turnaround time between Final Fantasy XIII and the just-released-in-Japan Final Fantasy XIII-2 rock your understanding of reality? Who could blame you? The development time of the last "direct" sequel was also pretty short -- two years between Final Fantasy X and X-2 -- but it was five years between Final Fantasy XII and XIII. Did Square-Enix make some dark sacrifice to summon the new game so quickly? You'll probably need to talk with Tri-Ace about that. According to Tri-Ace programmer Yuichiro Kitao (courtesy of Twitter), the Star Ocean/Valkyrie Profile developer assisted with design, programming, and art on the all-too-rare Final Fantasy sequel. Animal sacrifice may have also been involved, but that's not the kind of thing you talk about on Twitter. That's okay, Square-Enix; even Santa had the elves for help with that Christmas(ish) miracle.
Final Fantasy XIII-2 trailer makes you wanna catch 'em all
The latest Final Fantasy XIII-2 trailer unleashes the power of Pokemon, showing how players can capture monsters for use in future battles. In thinking about it, we could have given this post the headline "When Chocobos attack!" for massive traffic.
'PlayStation Game Music' service streams PS3 music from phones in Japan
This is so cool. Well, maybe "cool" isn't the right way to describe a service that lets you stream Final Fantasy music from anywhere, but we like the idea. In Japan, Sony just started a "PlayStation Game Music" service that allows subscribers to several mobile services to play music from first- and third-party PlayStation games. The official (again, Japan-only) launch is accompanied by music from Final Fantasy XIII-2, and the Monster Hunter, Dynasty Warriors, and Yakuza series. It would be dangerous for us to walk around Tokyo to the music from Yakuza -- we'd be liable to start throwing bicycle wheels at anyone we saw in a suit. And it's always dangerous for us to hear the FFXIII-2 Chocobo theme. Along with those, the service will also stream PS3 system sound effects. That "cool" label is looking really hasty now.
FFXIII-2 will have 'New Game Plus' mode, offers bonuses for FFXIII save file
Final Fantasy XIII-2 is launching in Japan next week and the game makers are wrapping up their last round of interviews. Dengeki PlayStation (via Andriasang) encountered producer Yoshinori Kitase and director Motomu Toriyama, who talked a bit more about the episodic nature of the game and perks for those who have played the previous game. If you've got a save file from Final Fantasy XIII handy, you'll net some bonuses: special monster decorations and a higher success rate at the game's special gambling area. Each episode will be at most three hours, it was revealed, and an auto-saving system will be added for the sequel, though it won't replace being able to save at any time. That would just be silly. And if you make your way through the whole game and want to take another go, there will be a New Game Plus mode that adds exclusive unlockable items and monster decorations. Monsters really are more festive in Gran Pulse and Cocoon than we remember.
How to fix Final Fantasy
This is a column by Jason Schreier dedicated to the analysis (and occasional mocking) of his favorite genre, the Japanese role-playing game. Whether it's because they're too antiquated or just too niche, he believes JRPGs don't get enough attention in the gaming industry today. It's time to change that. Let's be real: Final Fantasy is broken. Sure, Square Enix's influential JRPG series might still be popular, its most recent single-player entry shipping 6.2 million units worldwide. And it might still be spawning more sequels, spin-offs and remakes than a Hollywood producer. But it can do so much better. I mean, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 moved 6.5 million copies in twenty-four hours. How do we get that much milk out of the Final Fantasy cash cow? What's the magical formula for appealing to American tastes? How can we fix a series that some say has been treading water for over a decade now? Here are a few ideas.
Final Fantasy XIII-2 trailer shows off combat system improvements
Final Fantasy XIII-2 won't just append an additional number and some monster-collecting mechanics to the (thirteenth) original, you know. Check out the trailer above to see the "Enhanced" combat system in action. (Read: Quick-Time Events!) %Gallery-140865%
Ezio's costume coming to Final Fantasy XIII-2 as DLC
Not content to sequester himself to his own game and Soulcalibur V's stage of history, Ezio Auditore is making an appearance in Final Fantasy XIII-2 ... or at least his outfit is. Ezio's Assassin's Creed Revelations get-up will be offered as a DLC outfit for Noel -- Noel Kreiss. "Release details for this downloadable content will be announced at a later date," the press release notes. If you're concerned about Ezio's Italian finery looking too incongruous in the world of FFXIII-2 ... you haven't looked at the other characters in FFXIII-2 in a while. Congruity is a limited resource in Final Fantasy.
Final Fantasy XIII-2 trailer brings meteors to a sword fight
If some guy started lifting chunks of the ground and showering us with shooting stars, our available actions would be limited to RUN and HIDE. But Lightning just hops on those flying rocks to reach her opponent. That's a true tactical mind.
Europeans get their own transforming weapon for Final Fantasy XIII-2 pre-order
What is it with Square Enix and transforming weaponry? Gun swords and bow swords and now a spear sword? What's next, a gun that shoots swords? Actually, that doesn't sound half bad, but we digress. Not to be mistaken with GameStop's PowerUp Rewards member-exclusive transforming Genji Bow, the above weapon will be available to those who pre-order Final Fantasy XIII-2 from select European retailers, Square Enix reveals. It's the Muramasa, a combination dual-blade and spear weapon for Noel that increases chain bonuses in battle.
GameStop throws in FFXIII-2 'Genji Bow' for PowerUp Rewards members
If you pre-order Final Fantasy XIII-2 from GameStop, you'll get an exclusive costume for Serah. If you pre-order the game and you're a PowerUp Rewards member, you'll get her "Genji Bow" weapon as well. It's retroactive, so if you meet both of those conditions and pick up the game before February 2, the bow is yours. There's no word on whether you'll be able to switch this weapon from bow to sword form in real time, or what magnitude of damage it will do to giant enemy crabs. Square Enix did, however, say it allows players to attack more frequently.
