Square-Enix demo new engine from Luminous Studio

[Purrrfect]

Awesome technical works there.

Watching this made me think we should have a thread/sticky that we could track upcoming SE games, but I didn't want to go making that thread. >.>

[hey]

i like Agni, apart from the fact that her voice acting sounds like someone dubbing an anime in English.

This is why i don't play games with English voices, if at all possible/feasible.

[Spira]

im thinking it was a rush job. doubt they did a casting call for this and just relied on an industry regular for the voicing.

like Nevex, assuming this scenario becomes an actual FF, Agni would be a rather interesting protagonist.
magic wielding, girl, short hair. i'd imagine she could fill the role of the flirty bitch that Lightning was originally supposed to be. an understated sexy girl if you will.

i'm also taking a huge liking to the whole middle-eastern cultist vibe from her outfits, which while unprecedented in FF, evokes an ancient feel to it (which is kinda like diablo 3 promos, tho that itself is pretty fresh in my mind)

[Alkar]

CGs are always pre-rendered though lol.

[Lordender]

Don't be fooled, SE's graphics are always beyond the times, its the 1990's gameplay/UI's that is the problem.

[Correction]

Nothing to get excited about, gamers need to stop flunking such tests given SE's trailer/console release ratio over the last decade.

[Spoony Bob]

Finaru Fantajiihad!

Pretty impressive video. Wonder how many belts they'll add after the survey cards though

[Scythiroth]

While impressive, I'd rather they spend less time focusing on graphics and actually make fun games again. Not sure why they keep focusing on graphics so much when it seems to just increase their development time of games by years.

[Lonely]

While impressive, I'd rather they spend less time focusing on graphics and actually make fun games again. Not sure why they keep focusing on graphics so much when it seems to just increase their development time of games by years.

Because ever since VII they have focused on graphics because graphics sell, SE has always tried to be ahead of the competition visual wise for each of their games.

Anyways this demo is sad since I doubt the next gen xbox/playstation will be able to fully handle this, even sadder since a game developed to take full graphical advantages from this would take FOREVER to release.

[Lucavi]

The graphics have never been the problem; the style of the games have been what hurts SE games, graphically. The belts, the zippers, the constant focus on androgynous characters, the spiky hair for every character that isn't bald or black. They finally make a normal character when XIII rolls around with Sazh, but everyone else that didn't have a ponytail had the same spikes again and again.

This demo is more of the same: ultra-graphically impressive, but ultimately hampered by SE's style and design choices. SE engines are great for leasing to other companies so that they can take the powerful engine and make something else with it; like leasing a corvette engine to a european company to fuck around with on a FR platform.

[arus2001]

Kinda indifferent. Visually, I could see some issues here and there that still needed kinks ironed out, and since we know jack all about the code itself, knowing whether or not it could run on current consoles (not the Wii) is a bit in the air.

I, too, would like more games, especially on consoles and not underbudgeted handhelds. Much as I liked Radiant Historia, for example, it felt like we missed 1/3rd of a possible game due to budgets and hasty rewrites.

[Gokulo]

knowing whether or not it could run on current consoles (not the Wii) is a bit in the air.

I think they said it's aimed at the next generation, so that's not even an issue.

[Nevex]

I don't understand how some people can't find enjoyment from good graphics. You can have the best gameplay in the world, but it doesn't matter if what you're playing isn't visually appealing.
The other way around is true as well of course, but saying that graphics don't matter is plain wrong.

[Cichy]

It's more than graphics with SE imo. Their characters have soul, emotions, and personality. They simply cant be matched with it comes to aesthetics and for me it's important.
I can never enjoy Bioware games for a simple fact that their characters are empty vessels with emotional range of Ben Affleck.

[Raldo]

I think the general consensus is that the quality of gameplay/storytelling has gone down while graphical fidelity has gone up. Given the choice between the two, most people pick the former.

I must be too young though, I started to play FF6 a year ago, and I just got bored. If the graphics were better, I probably would've stuck with it. Maybe the problem with the general fans is just nostalgia.

[Charismatic]

Maybe the problem with the general fans is just nostalgia.

Without even the slightest doubt.

[Aevis]

[Rionel]

I dunno. I mean, just look at the Spirits Within movie. Now there was a nice attempt to make a Final Fantasy title without any symbolic/nostalgic elements at all.

Yeah. Yeah... yeah.

I mean, sure putting in stuff for the sake of nostalgia sounds pretty superficial, but isn't all that stuff kind of what makes Final Fantasy, well, Final Fantasy? Don't many well established franchises thrive off that sort of thing?

What's so bad about nostalgia? Do you think it's holding them back?

Maybe I just misunderstood the implications or something. I dunno, I'm just throwing in the two cents.

[Raldo]

Nothing's wrong with nostalgia, it just hampers them when they try to re-use the name of "Final Fantasy" yet begin to go in a different direction. Personally, I really enjoyed Spirits Within; saw it in theaters, and bought the DVD. I also enjoyed the characters/story of FF13, and I hear more and more people say that as time goes on (the main complaint seems to be the linearity of it, which I wholeheartedly agree with).

If they're going to go in a completely different direction with FF, I think they should really just call it something else. Nothing wrong with new IP; look where Kingdom Hearts got them.

I forgot where I was going with the topic though, so I'll just say: The studio that made this (Visual Works), from my understanding, has no purpose other than to churn out stuff like this. It's not a game studio. For them to work on this should in no way hamper their ability to make games.

[Nevex]

I don't understand why people keep saying that it doesn't look like one when Agni's Philosophy screams "Final Fantasy" so much it's not even funny.
Magic? Check. Summons? Check. Potions? Check. Combination of fantasy and modern/sci-fi elements? Check. Crystals? Check.
The less "Final Fantasy-like" elements have still been used in previous titles. Guns? FFXIII. Middle East setting? FFXI. Terrorists? FFVII. Favelas/slums? Again, FFVII.

Then again, the definition of "Final Fantasy" has been broken down and reconstructed with each entry starting from FFVII, so I don't see why this one (if it's a FF) should be any different.