Final Fantasy XIII-2 aims to 'rectify' every FFXIII complaint

Final Fantasy XIII-2 game director Motomu Toriyama speaks bluntly about the problems with FFXIII, and how the company has set about fixing them.

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It has seemed obvious from the features being added to Final Fantasy XIII-2 that Square is acutely aware of the complaints against its predecessor, but now the company is just stating it outright. In an interview with Gamasutra, game director Motomu Toriyama treated the subject pretty bluntly. "Our ultimate goal is rectifying every single point in Final Fantasy XIII that has been criticized by users," he said.

Toriyama says that the major complaints were two-fold: that it was too linear, and that there weren't many towns and cities to explore. "We actually took those criticisms very seriously, and you'll notice we tackled them completely and thoroughly. This new game is more player-driven, as opposed to story-driven, so youc an explore different locations and fields to get information and explore towns and other types of locations, as well. So we are very determined to rectify all of the problems, and we think we have."

He also claimed that the Paradigm battle system has been iterated on with some new features, and acknowledges that introducing players to it slowly in the last game seemed like "very lengthy tutorials, which a lot of people didn't like at all."

Finally, Toriyama rejected the notion that the game was made from unused FFXIII content, saying that a statement from a staff member was misinterpreted. "It is true in any game, in the process of making it, that obviously you have to come up with lots of different ideas, and obviously you can't materialize every single one of them," he said. "You have to try them out, and eventually you're left with the best ones for use. It's only that because there are lots of ideas and content that we could have included in XIII where we didn't; but we didn't actually recycle any of them for XIII-2."

Of course, a developer claiming his new game is going to be better than his last game isn't uncommon. But this at least means that Square Enix is willing to shoulder the blame for elements that fans disliked, and attempt to fix them. We'll see how well that works out when the game launches in January.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    July 26, 2011 1:15 PM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Final Fantasy XIII-2 aims to 'rectify' every FFXIII complaint.

    Final Fantasy XIII-2 game director Motomu Toriyama speaks bluntly about the problems with FFXIII, and how the company has set about fixing them.

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      July 26, 2011 1:57 PM

      I have nothing to add except I despise that naming convention. Final Fantasy 13 2? Really?

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      July 26, 2011 1:58 PM

      I kinda miss my old relationship with Final Fantasy, the one I used to have before FFX.

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      July 26, 2011 2:29 PM

      I just want FFVII remade. I just don't care at all for this, 13 was such a fucking letdown :(

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      July 26, 2011 2:30 PM

      when will they just make a game like FF6-7 that's more traditional rather than another freak show with fancy pants menu's....

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        July 26, 2011 2:40 PM

        I don't think the people who made them work there anymore.

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          July 26, 2011 8:13 PM

          That and every last reviewer is going to give them a low score just because it's based on traditional JRPG gameplay.

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      July 26, 2011 2:59 PM

      Reading, accepting and acknowledging fan criticism/feedback then applying it to a future game is something all developers need to be doing. Hopefully the game turns out well and sells well as a result so more developers/publishers will take note.

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      July 26, 2011 3:44 PM

      My complaint was about the battle system - and how its not enjoyable - but I guess that will never change. Just not a fan of macro control I guess.

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        July 26, 2011 8:31 PM

        I liked the combat well enough but the characters were unlikeable and annoying. The character names were not inspired. They named their savior Hope for god sakes.

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          July 26, 2011 8:46 PM

          Yep, the only character that didn't bother me was Sazh. I guess this is another thing they probably haven't fixed in the sequel.

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      July 26, 2011 7:47 PM

      It seems like a false dichotomy to say that XIII was "story driven" and this game will be "player driven." I don't really want Final Fantasy to try to be a Bioware RPG. I just don't want it to be so one note and mind numbing. I guess we'll see how this turns out though.

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        July 26, 2011 8:26 PM

        I'm thinking more FFIV and less corridor.

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          July 26, 2011 9:06 PM

          I just think it's stupid that the black guy was so sterotypical, down to his slang, and he had chicken in his afro lol - I know its a chocobo but cmon....

          I'm white btw

          and FF6 was the best.

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      July 27, 2011 7:56 AM

      Promote a bad ass Lightning, and play a little boy in a belly shirt again, I'm just not going to put myself through this again =P

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