Just a quick note to let everyone know that progress on Breath of Death VII is going well. We’ve got a list of things that need to be finished before releasing the game and we’re fast running out of things to check off. It looks like we’re still on track to put Breath of Death VII into playtesting by the end of the month, with a public XBox Live release next month.
Also, I did some timing & some calculations and it looks like the final game will be pretty close to our goal of providing the average player with 4-6 hours of playtime to complete, if not a little longer. Plus we have some extras to provide some replay value like optional dungeons, a hard difficulty mode, score attack mode, and some sort of achievement-like system.
Yeah, I know Final Fantasy XIII is not an indie game or anything, but hey, we’re making an RPG so it’s on topic in that respect.
I picked up the XBox 360 version of Final Fantasy XIII at midnight last night. It was my first time going to a midnight release and it wasn’t as creepy as I was expecting. Sure, there was one loudmouth in line who just kept going on and on about everything that popped into his head, but for the most part, it was just a few dozen 20-something year old men quietly waiting in the cold to pick up a videogame (a few women and a teenager or two rounded out the crowd). When I picked up my copy of the game, I saw that they had a lot more PS3 copies in stock. I expect the 360 version will end up selling more in the long run to the casual crowd, but I’m not surprised that more of the hardcore enthusiasts are picking up the PS3 version.
I played through the first chapter of the game before deciding that I’d better get some sleep since I had work the next day. Here are my first impressions on Final Fantasy XIII.
The 360 version looks awesome. There have been several reports on how the 360 version of FF13 is inferior to the PS3 version, but honestly, unless you’re really picky or are playing the two versions side by side, I have a hard time imagining anyone noticing.
The music in Final Fantasy XIII so far has been excellent. I can see why so many people have been importing the soundtrack.
The dialogue is still firmly in JRPG mode. It works, but you can tell it’s a translation. Voice acting seems decent.
Combat seems like it’ll be really fun, although it’s still pretty basic. Timing is important despite being a menu-based game – use an area attack at the right moment and you could hit everything whereas 1 sec earlier, the enemies might have been spread too far apart. Even though things are easy and simple so far, the fact that you get graded in each battle and higher grades result in better item drop rates encourages you to play your best at all times.
The maps are very linear so far, but they have still managed to hide some extra treasure chests here and there.
Anyway, Final Fantasy XIII has lived up to my expectation so far. I’m looking forward to playing it some more (when I’m not working on Breath of Death VII)
The trailer for Breath of Death VII: The Beginning is now live! Here’s the link:
Really busy trying to get Breath of Death VII ready, but in the meantime, here are a few quick review.
Shoot 1UP (80 MS) - Fantastic vertical shmup with the gimmick being that you control a squad of ships instead of just one. By the Weapon of Choice developer.
Soulcaster (240 MS) – Like Gauntlet except instead of directly attacking your enemies, you summon a warrior, mage, or archer. Like an Action/RPG crossed with Tower Defense. Well worth the money.
Missing Reel (240 MS) – Pretty but shallow arena shooter. AI allies bugged out the first boss preventing me from being able to finish it. I was sufficiently bored to not want to restart.
Cyborg Mice Arena (240 MS) – Competent but uninspired arena shooter. Lots of upgrades to buy, but there are better arena shooters on the service (like Echoes+) that you could be spending your money on instead.