Final Fantasy XIII Players Get A Special Item When Starting XIII-2

Final Fantasy XIII-2 will have at least two bonuses for fans that played the previous game. When you start Final Fantasy XIII-2, the game will show a series of narrated digest scenes that let players know what the characters have been up to. Producer Yoshinori Kitase also revealed Final Fantasy XIII save data will also unlock a special item. Kitase wouldn’t reveal what the gift is, but said it would be something handy that would not break game balance.


In the interview, Kitase discussed the Historia Crux system, which lets players travel through time. The development team implemented this feature so Final Fantasy XIII-2 would feel less linear than XIII. While you can travel to the future, you won’t be able to revisit Lightning’s journey during or before Final Fantasy XIII. The events of XIII caused time paradoxes, which allow Serah and Noel to travel through time. Kitase explained your actions affect the future. It is possible to change what happens in the game by making changes in the past. After completing Final Fantasy XIII-2 players will be able to replay any time period with their party fully powered up.


Kitase commented that Final Fantasy XIII-2 fits on one disc because the game uses real time rendering and less pre-rendered movies. This change also allowed the team to display different clothes and equipment during event scenes. He says load times should be short and if players want to lessen them they can install the game on Xbox 360. Since the interview was conducted on Xbox.com, Kitase did not say if the PlayStation 3 version would have an install option too.

DC Universe Gets a Boost of 1 Million New Players

The free-to-play model seems to be working for SOE.

“In just one week alone, 1 million new players have joined DCUO with a 50/50 split between PC and PS3," said Lorin Jameson, Executive Director of Development, SOE Austin. While no numbers were given for the player base before the switch, 1 million players is quite a large number. Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XI boasts a player base that hovers around that mark, for example. Jameson went on to compare DCUO to Free Realms and Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures, two games that have done very well for SOE.

"Our business model philosophy of Free to Play Your Way makes DCUO accessible to every type of player so they can choose to play the game in a way that suits them best,” said Jameson. “ We have a lot of exciting things coming up for players to enjoy in the game and are thrilled at the initial enthusiasm for the game's free-to-play transition."

FINAL FANTASY XIII-2 EUROPEAN BOX ART RELEASED

Square Enix France has released the European cover art of Final Fantasy XIII-2! So it looks like Europe will has the traditional cover like Japan does too, but a bit bigger version of it.