Cloud Message scans show big FF13, Versus, Agito blow-out: new characters, world maps, battle gameplay finally revealed
Oooh, this one’s a doozy. Better be comfortable over there. The Cloud Message book from Square Enix contains a heck of a lot of nice tidbits for the Square Enix fan. Looking at the cover, it’s got some features on the whole lot: Fabula Nova Crystallis, the portable Kingdom Hearts games, Dissidia, and Parasite Eve 3, among others. So far, the scans we’ve managed to find are of the Fabula Nova Crystallis games. Oh, it’s a wild ride, you bet’cha. Lots of new details for all three games!
The CLOUD Message book from Square Enix scheduled for release this month contains a lot of nice tidbits of info for the Square Enix fan. Looking at the cover, it’s got some features on the whole lot: Fabula Nova Crystallis, the portable Kingdom Hearts games, Dissidia, and Parasite Eve 3, among others.
So far, the scans we’ve managed to find are of the Fabula Nova Crystallis games. Oh, it’s a wild ride, you bet’cha. While the scans (seen above) themselves don’t really say much, the more interesting matter comes from those drawing board pics (below). We’ll take them one by one.
Final Fantasy XIII (PS3, Xbox 360):
- Top picture: a new character’s been revealed! Sort of. He/she’s blurred though, presumably done deliberately by the team, as seeing the other pictures tacked on the board are clear. From what I recall of FF13 footage, this guy/girl wearing an orange honcho is someone we’ve never seen before.
- Blue and red hand-drawing below character pic: shows party battle gameplay. Gotta love the stick figures and slimes (oooh, slimes confirmed! ~ as if they needed any confirming to begin with; they’re pretty much a staple random encounter). I wonder if the triangle formed by the party means anything though. Will there be combos akin to Chrono Trigger?
- Blue hand-drawing near center-left pic: shows an attack that deals 99,999 damage. The game will probably allow you to break through the usual damage limit of 9,999. Sweet. I hope you don’t need to dodge 200 lightning bolts to unlock it though.
- Bottom-center pic: Bahamut? Jenova? …trademarked deus ex machina element in the story that’s revealed towards the second half of the game and turns out to be the ultimate baddie instead of the one you’ve been chasing after all this time?
- Top-right pics: walking mechas (much like in FF6) and clunky airships (much like in FF12) are back.
- Bottom-right pics: ah, a new character other than those funky students wearing the red scarves! Since this is a game set in “a military-wrought world,” this guy looks like some captain or other. I have a feeling this is the guy you take quests from, much like Monteblanc in FF12. He has that same vibe. Also, on top of his picture are a set of symbols. Are they runes or… medals of rank? Hmm…
- Bottom-center: World map! And chocobos!
- Hand-drawing above world map pic: Chocobo confirmed for worldly travel!
- Gawrsh. I don’t know where to start… There’s an abundance of shots of actual gameplay, and not just cutscenes (which is everything we’ve seen so far from trailers)!
- Despite the trailers mostly showing urban areas and a pretty advanced world, there are still big patches of greenery here and there.
- Pictures on top: world map, and there’s a huge sprite of Noctis walking around it too. This departs from FFX and FFXII where there is no world map where you can walk around in. Versus13 seems to go back to older FF map traversing.
- Top-right pics: More gameplay shots. One wooded area with multiple Noct spirtes (probably used for developmental purposes – or maybe he’s cast a Decoy spell of some sort?), two other shots showing a building complex.
- Sketches at bottom row: I see a robot-looking thing on the right, and what looks like Noct’s limo service. Meanwhile at the center… organic flying machines?
- Bottom-left: more Noct gameplay with his Decoys. Battle gameplay!!!
Maaan. That totally squeezed my brain dry. So many details! And woooh, I feel bloated! Here’s hoping we can find scans of the other content featured in the CLOUD Message book soon enough.
Related articles:
- Cloud Message: not what people were expecting
- Even more scans: FF13’s Snow Villiers, Agito’s battle system, Versus’ character chemisty
- More scans for Final Fantasy XIII, Versus, Agito in all its naked glory
- FF 13, Versus 13, Agito 13 scans: characters get some names, more screens
Via Ambelo
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