Versus XIII Might Not Appear at E3; World Map in Question

[Gilghamut]

"We were hoping to debut it at E3, but we're not sure now."

The slippage appears to be due to some changes that are being made to the world map system. "For displaying characters on the world map, we were originally planning on using the method used by FF#, with a small Noctus running about on the screen. But that didn't look too great, so we ended up switching to the method used by FF#."

Those "#" signs are presumably meant to be the roman numerals of certain games in the main Final Fantasy series, but Famitsu had to block them out. Both Famitsu and Nomura agreed that the change is a major one.

Final Fantasy Versus XIII Uncertain For E3 (andriasang.com blog, 02.17.2010) <- Source

Hard to say if the world map is in danger of being replaced, but if it's a major change the world map could be affected; that would also include the airships that were planning to be in the game. It'll be nice if Versus goes with a XII style map, with a Dragon Quest VIII style overmap for the airships.

[Jessweeee♪]

I think the reason we haven't seen a world map since FFIX is because they haven't been able to make them look nice enough xD

[Lightening]

yes, that must be why they haven't, it would be hard to get the proportions right while still making it look nice and be playable. I still hope they get back to it one day so I can discover hidden places and islands

[Rad Bromance]

Yeah, that's precisely why. They ditched it because PS2/XBOX/GC is when the video game market really went the way of visuals being one of the most important aspects of games to developers. I don't see how they can make a world map work with realistic proportions and the level of detail you get constantly without one. I mean, it would be awesome, but it would be freaking massive.

Still, I would like to see it return, and I hope they keep it in Versus. I would prefer it in a turn based RPG rather than an action RPG though. But traditional turn based combat is yet another thing I don't see coming back.

[Bolivar]

with a Dragon Quest VIII style overmap for the airships.

Yes, please.

[Gilghamut]

I've done some checking around and it appears the world map is not being taken out, it's just the angles of how it's viewed are being altered. Someone on another forum has the famitsu issue and was able to translate it better than what was being reported.

[Jibril]

They ditched it because PS2/XBOX/GC is when the video game market really went the way of visuals being one of the most important aspects of games to developers.

Visuals were always one of the most important aspects of games to developers.

YouTube - First Zelda for Nintendo NES commercial

Right there in the ad campaign.

They stopped using the traditional world map structure because it was starting to look stranger and stranger as character models got more and more realistic. It already looked pretty weird in FFVIII.

DQVIII, however, is the correct way to do it on modern consoles. It's just a lot of work.

[Rad Bromance]

They ditched it because PS2/XBOX/GC is when the video game market really went the way of visuals being one of the most important aspects of games to developers.

Visuals were always one of the most important aspects of games to developers.

YouTube - First Zelda for Nintendo NES commercial

Right there in the ad campaign.

You're basing your finding on one ad for one game?

I disagree. The importance of visuals over everything else wasn't nearly as prevelent back then, particularly because you could only go so far with the hardware available at the time (which is why the variation in graphical quality wasn't nearly as wide as it is in today's games). I never said it wasn't important to developers...it wasn't more important to them than making the rest of the game work right, which it has been in a lot of cases the last couple gens.

[Jibril]

I never said it wasn't important to developers...it wasn't more important to them than making the rest of the game work right, which it has been in a lot of cases the last couple gens.

That's the thing. It's not any more important to developers than it was 20 years ago.

If you can provide me evidence that shows it, I'd like to see it, but until then, I'll continue telling people that it doesn't make any sense to focus more on graphics for a PS3 game today than it did for an NES game in 1987. Game developers are not stupid. It has always been a priority of every high-tier development studio to push the console to its limits, whether it's with graphics, gameplay mechanics or technical proficiency overall. You may be confusing the developer's priorities with the way games are marketed, in which case, yes, the advertisement of high level graphics has become more prevalent.

[Mirage]

FF6, Chrono trigger, those two games looked damned good when they got out, and Donkey Kong Country 2-3 looked smurfing incredible (sprites were made using 3D graphics, some stages even had pretend-HDR lighting!), and I'd say they look ok even by today's 2D standards. Idk bro!

[seiferalmasy2]

There is a reason why FF7 is still considered great and is fun to play, why even pong is fun to play, why mario 64 is fun to play, why Sonic 2 is fun to play, why Mario 3 is fun to play.

It has nothing to do with the graphics people. Any game using graphics and cutscenes to "make" a game, is not making a game.

[VeloZer0]

There is a reason why FF7 is still considered great and is fun to play,...

You should have probably plugged FF6 instead, I can sense this thread will begin to deteriorate any second.

[seiferalmasy2]

Well any of the older FF's will have done there

[Croyles]

I always thought a world map of ye olde would look strange with current gen graphics, so im not surprised they are having some difficulty. If they can manage to just change the camera angle/viewpoint as was stated then it may still be good though.

There is a reason why FF7 is still considered great and is fun to play,...

You should have probably plugged FF6 instead, I can sense this thread will begin to deteriorate any second.

No one is allowed to love FF7 on this forum anymore, Kim Jong Il dictates that all must love FF6 or you are ironically called a raving lunatic fanboy!

Ive probably just started a flame war. Sorry

[VeloZer0]

I always thought a world map of ye olde would look strange with current gen graphics, so im not surprised they are having some difficulty. If they can manage to just change the camera angle/viewpoint as was stated then it may still be good though.

I find it really ironic game developers are always chirping about how much more they can do with new technology, but it has basically made one of the main staples of RPGs virtually unusable.