Final fantasy xiii game wiki

When placeholder audio would show up the translators would realize their lines wouldn't match the timing or the emotion that would be on the characters' faces. The translators had scripts from the writers, videos of events, transcripts of the actual Japanese voice data, and the latest game build, but all four would be different and none of them final. Tom Slattery, who was handling the English localization, and Teruaki Sugawara, the sound engineer, who also subsequently left the company, were both serving as representatives from their respective departments at the monthly meetings between Sound and Localization, and both realized that if that was going to be the way localization was handled on subsequent projects, there needed to be a way of keeping all information synchronized without placing unnecessary burden on the development team, Sound, or Localization.

Around twenty auditions were held for the important characters and Square Enix would let Fletcher cast the rest on his own by giving him character descriptions on how they wanted the characters to sound. The voice directing team would then pick portions from the game script to send to agencies and get auditions back from them.

It has also been mentioned that Square Enix does not want to reuse voice actors too much, so anyone who has played a lead role before is unlikely to get another Final Fantasy lead part soon, and so, even if Ashe's voice actress Kari Wahlgren submitted a good audition, Square would not want to cast her as Lightning. The problematic development of Final Fantasy XIII led to the departure of several members of the development team, who left Square Enix during development or on the game's release, including:.

Final Fantasy Wiki Explore. Old Sharlayan Thavnair Garlemald The moon. Characters Jobs Races. Explore Wikis Community Central. Register Don't have an account? Edit source History Talk 0. See also: Concept art. Cancel Save. Universal Conquest Wiki. Characters - Locations - Menu. On November 22nd, , Yoshinori Kitase gave a development update on the Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII Facebook and Twitter accounts, stating the first part of the game had been implemented to a certain extent, and that they had been collecting play test feedback.

In January , Square Enix embarked on a global media tour for Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII , where various media outlets were invited to witness an early but playable build of the game and have a QA session with the developers.

This is unusual in light of past Final Fantasy games' development, as usually Square Enix had been secretive about the progress of their projects and the version of Lightning Returns shown to spectators during the media tour was the earliest build of a Final Fantasy game showed publicly. This version had many placeholder assets, models, and music being substituted in. Thus improved player freedom and the growth of character while exploring the world became important facets when planning for the gameplay.

The idea was to create an expansive world, but simultaneously make it so the player wouldn't be thrown into it haphazardly. Thus the element of time management was included so the player would pay attention to the world, and think how to interact with its inhabitants.

The teams handling the different areas were told to ruminate on how to keep players from straying too far off track and get lost. At the beginning the developers received negative feedback for the "doomsday clock" system, because the original time did not even allow the player to reach the end of the game. Adjustments were made to arrive to a satisfying amount of time. At first there was a countdown running towards zero on the upper part of the screen, but based on player feedback this was changed to a clock.

With Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII the developers wanted to improve on the freedom of moving around in the field compared to previous entries to the Final Fantasy XIII saga, and various actions were added so Lightning can make the most use of the three-dimensional map's structure. Director Motomu Toriyama has said the aim was not about adding more action elements, but about providing a wider range of traveling methods so the player can efficiently move around in a world that has a time limit.

Many players found the battle system of the previous Final Fantasy XIII series games difficult to understand, and so with Lightning Returns developers wanted to make it easier to see what the player should be thinking and to have a direct response to that, which ties to the idea of having just one playable character.

The developers talked with the Final Fantasy XV development team, who utilize an action-rpg-based system for their game, and got some inspiration.

To achieve dynamic fights, the developers took the paradigm system from the two previous entries to the trilogy, and chose them as a set on four buttons for four different actions instead of using a command menu to create a style of gameplay that is simultaneously tactical, yet dynamic. In Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII the player can dodge and block enemies' attacks; when Lightning's outfit was created the shield came into the design, and the developers thought to utilize it in battles by allowing her to block attacks.

This enabled the creation of various fighting styles, as it is possible to be more offensively focused with the sword, or play defensively with the strengths of the shield. Player reaction to the downloadable costumes in Final Fantasy XIII-2 was mixed, as some players felt the effect should be more than cosmetic. Thus in Lightning Returns the different outfits Lightning can wear were designed with this in mind to offer stat boosts and other battle advantages.

However, the concept of changing outfits didn't come first but naturally found its way into the game based on the compatibility between how the game mechanics were set up. Yuji Abe has commented on the weaknesses of the paradigm system used in the previous titles to the trilogy, feeling that by relying on setting AIs and switching between pre-set combinations distances the player, makes it less accessible and that it dilutes the feeling of immersion by not having a specific character for the player to inhabit.

Abe named the allowing of fewer story scenes with allied characters as the main downside of the one-playable-character system. A number of artists are involved with crafting the world, with careful detailing in crafting specific sofas, chairs and telephone booths.

Motifs from 19th century London during the industrial revolution, Asia, and the Middle East were made to appear in Nova Chrysalia depending on the location. The gothic feel and the monochromatic color scheme of Luxerion were chosen to represent a surreal twilight.

The city's colors are mainly composed of white and black, symbolizing light and darkness, as well as featuring the ethereal green seen in Valhalla from Final Fantasy XIII Director Motomu Toriyama said the city's grim tone symbolizes "the strong awareness of death in a world that has lost its concept of mortality. The city's style has been called "Mech-Goth", alternatively called "Mechanical Gothic".

Yusnaan was inspired by a blend of Renaissance and Middle Eastern cultures. Each of the four main areas—Luxerion, Yusnaan, Dead Dunes and the Wildlands—were designed to be distinctive in feel and look, and care was put into designing the NPCs found in the area. For example, the people of the religious town of Luxerion dress modestly, and those especially devout in an almost cult-like manner. Many people in Yusnaan dress in extravagant colors and accessories, and the dress sense of the inhabitants of Dead Dunes and Wildlands is designed to be appropriate to their environments.

The characters with more outstanding accessories are usually the ones who give out quests, and upon completing the quest, Lightning can often receive the quest-giver's accessory as an adornment. The ideas for the feel and look of the game areas came from director Motomu Toriyama, [34] who wanted to show types of locations that hadn't been explored in the trilogy's previous installments; this is why a desert was included.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII has the overarching theme of time and its passing, and thus day-and-night cycles and designs incorporating large clock faces, were included in the designs. Producer Yoshinori Kitase has explained the title logo was revamped because the team wanted to convey the "newness" of the installment compared to previous Final Fantasy games. The intention was to use an emblem with sharp edges and a symmetrical design. They went through many different designs until deciding upon the concepts: "lightning" and "metallic.

Concurrently, the game was meant to be the final game on seventh-generation consoles , with the staff working extra-hard to get it out in the short time before the release of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in Japan, and with next-gen versions of the game not being considered.

According to Toriyama, it was created to be slightly open-ended so players could imagine what would happen next. The overall theme of fighting against destiny, the united theme across all Final Fantasy XIII games, remains in Lightning Returns with Lightning having been once again tasked by a deity to perform a special mission. The main theme of the story is "the salvation of souls". Having awoken from her crystal sleep, Lightning has become their savior, and is tasked by Bhunivelze with freeing people from the darkness in their hearts and guiding their souls to the new world that will be born when Nova Chrysalia ends after the final thirteen days.

Players can't set the party or the party leader until later into the game, but diversity is brought in via the Paradigm Shift system. The party leader being incapacitated spells Game Over , but the player will simply appear at the point on the field right before they initiated the fight, and they may either reattempt the battle or leave it.

Final Fantasy XIII is the fourth main series Final Fantasy game where the player doesn't routinely win gil from battles; [note 2] instead, money is gained from treasure spheres and selling items.

Save Stations allow the player to save and access the Retail Network where items and equipment can be bought or sold. The enemies are visible in the field. When the player runs into them, the screen lights up, and the scene switches to a vast, blank battlefield, marking the start of a battle where the player can control one character out of a party of up to three.

After a certain point in the game, the lead character can be switched outside of battle. The Active Time Battle gauge is divided into sections. Each command has a numeric value referred to as "ATB Cost" next to the name, indicating how many sections it will take up, allowing the player to input several commands per turn.

The next turn comes up sooner if the ATB bar is only partially used. Magic and summoning are only available to party members who are l'Cie. A new element called the Chain Gauge is specific to each enemy and fills as the player performs attack combos marked by a percentage. Upon filling the gauge, the enemy enters "Stagger Mode", where the player can inflict even more damage. Staggered enemies can be launched in the air and juggled with attacks. Staggering is almost essential to winning many battles.

Since magic cannot be used outside of battle, the party's HP is restored after every battle. Full ATB skills work similar to Limit Breaks from previous games as being character-specific special moves.

Even if there is no Escape command, the player can leave battle with the Retry option. When a battle is won, a Battle Results screen gives the player a zero-to-five star ranking and shows how long the fight took. This information is linked to the trophy and achievement systems. The player can only control one character at a time.

The other party members' actions are governed by a system called the "Paradigm Shift". Paradigms are described as "stances" or "classes" the characters temporarily take during a battle to define the abilities they use, but they're more strict than job classes.

For example, the party member with a Medic's role can only heal. In contrast, the Commando's role forces them to only attack with non-elemental attacks. The paradigms can be changed at any time to suit the situation at hand, but they cannot be adjusted individually, only for the whole party at a time.

Thus, a paradigm is a combination of three roles. There are 83 possible paradigm combinations 6 single, 21 double, and 56 triple member combinations. The roles are shown as colored abbreviations next to the characters' names on the battle screen.

Characters win " Crystogen Points " CP in battle and can use them to purchase stat boosts , spells, and other abilities on a circular chart. The skills a character learns affects their ability to learn other skills and opens new paths on the chart—learning Fire , for example, opens a skill path that leads to Fira and other spells.

The available abilities in the Crystaria vary between party members, but series staples, such as Attack , Fire , Blizzard , and Cure , return, along with new commands such as Blitz , which causes area-of-effect damage, and Ruin , a new non-elemental spell. The system opens up in stages, and party members cannot develop further after completing the current stage.

The Crystarium's final stage opens by defeating the final boss , meaning to develop the party fully, players must take on the post-game content. Each character has eight base weapons , most of which can be found, and all of which can be purchased at Retail Network. The base weapons can be upgraded to a unique second stage, and eventually to its third and ultimate stage. The third stage weapons of a particular character share a common name but have different stats and abilities depending from which weapon it was upgraded.

All characters can equip all accessories. Each character can initially equip one accessory but the capacity can be increased to up to four through the Crystaria. In addition to the basic enhancements provided by weapons and accessories, when a character equips equipment pieces belonging to the same " synthesis " group a hidden property , the wearer gains additional passive enhancements such as increased ATB gauge recharge rate.

The basic enhancements weapons and accessories grant can improve by leveling the items up by applying various components to give them Experience Points EXP. When the weapon or accessory reaches a certain number of EXP, it will be upgraded to a new "level". It can now be transformed with a catalyst into a new stage of the same class of equipment, with a new name, that can then continue to be leveled up for higher bonuses.

However, some accessories transform into an item of an entirely different synthesis group. There are three types of components: biological, mechanical, and monetary. Mechanical components drop from mechanical enemies and give a high number of EXP at the expense of reducing the EXP bonus.

Therefore, biological components should be used first to build up the EXP bonus before using mechanical components to add EXP. The last type is monetary components dropped by human enemies; though they have a nominal EXP value, they're intended to be sold for gil. Summons return as Eidolons, linked with the powers of the l'Cie. The playable Eidolons have mechanical designs and the power to transform.

The Eidolons are used both as a gameplay feature and as plot devices. Each character has one Eidolon, and Eidolons replace the other party members besides the summoner when called. Eidolons are summoned by the use of Technical Points TP , which are won after battles. Once SP is depleted, the Eidolon will disappear, and the other party members will return. Each l'Cie must win the "approval" of their respective Eidolon by defeating them in combat. Besides summoning Eidolons to fight alongside them, each Eidolon can transform into a form the summoner can ride in a mode called " Gestalt Mode " "Driving Mode" in the Japanese version.

Combat becomes more action-oriented, with the summon able to perform various special attacks with certain button combinations. Each Eidolon's Gestalt Mode includes a powerful finisher move that will end the summoning. The Eidolon's Gestalt Gauge determines how long the Gestalt Mode lasts; the gauge fills as the summoner builds attack chains with their Eidolon.

Gran Pulse has several points marked with Cie'th Stones where the party may accept missions. They are not part of the main story, but players can experience Foci of past l'Cie who failed to complete their assignments, and thus their targets are still alive. It is up to the player whether to defeat the specified enemy, some of which have been compared by the staff to mountains towering above the party, e. By completing these tasks, the party can gain materials and items to improve their equipment.

Why in the heavens did the main Final Fantasy series get to its first unlucky numbered installment? Square Enix really fucked up when they created a Final Fantasy game that actively tells players, "Hey guys, you need to go to this location.

No sudden stops for sightseeing, okay? The number 13 has lots of superstitions. Considered unlucky, it has been connected to things like the death of Jesus and the Mayan doomsday, it's why Friday the 13th is a thing, it's why some hotels go from the 12th floor to the 14th. It seems that the number's unlucky nature carried over to Final Fantasy. Plot After her sister Serah becomes a l'Cie by a fal'Cie from Pulse, Lightning and a group of adventurers go on an adventure to save her and oppose the Cocoon government.

Bad Qualities It has a completely linear environment in the first half of the game roughly hours , making characters simply go from point A to point B. While this is the case in previous FF titles as well, they also gave you some room for exploration of the game's world throughout the first half of each game.

There are practically no towns throughout this game for the player to explore, and the ones that can come close to them, such as Palumpolum and Nautilus, are little more than dungeons that cannot be accessed after finishing their respective chapters.

The developers' weak argument for not incorporating any is totally absurd, given the fact that developers of Lost Odyssey , a JRPG released two years prior and overseen by the Final Fantasy creator, proved capable of constructing multiple varied and fascinating settlements on an HD Console in a similar development time. Though some would argue that this is reasonable considering that Cocoon is under siege. Poor English voice direction especially with Vanille and no option to switch to Japanese voices except the PC version.

The Crystarium Grid is similar to the Sphere Grid in Final Fantasy X, except it's very linear and you can't access other characters' nodes to increase your power.

The Crystarium gets locked when you reach the end of the grid level.