For this weeks GameCom Square Enix has brought news but no official pic or footage. Well not for those that weren’t present in Germany. Obviously the continued withholding of information is due only to the last game show of 2009. The Tokyo Game Show. I know I keep talking about this. This show besides E3 is very big for Japan. Because, hey it is in Japan. Kojima Productions, Square Enix, Namco, Sony, and Nintendo will bring out their big guns for this. Time is very essential in the world of video games. Five weeks of grinding will yield some pretty wild results. Any way here is the “news” from Games Com.

This news was delivered from director Motomu Toriyama and producer Yoshinori Katase. Through a brief demo new fighting mechanics were revealed. As well as new characters and the games development status.

Game Mechanics: A new part of the battle system was shown. This is called the “Paradigm Shift” system. This enables players to change the “stance” or settings of the characters in your party to best suit the situation of battle. Three of the possible settings include Overwhelm, Aggression, and Peacemaker. This was added to bring more strategy and depth to the battle mechanics. Lightning showed off more of her abilities with the Odin summon. His “Gestalt mode”, which is an armored horse that can be ridden the same as Snow riding the Shiva motor cycle. Lightning wields Odin’s sword when he is in Gestalt mode. You input commands for direct actions. Making it feel more like and action game.

Game Status: The English voice over work is complete. Still though there is no word of dual language option planned for the US version. The PS3 version of FF XIII is 90% complete. Where as the Xbox 360 version is 70% complete.

New Characters: Two new characters were shown (no pics). First a girl with a silver blond ponytail, wearing what seems to be a school girl uniform. A white top, with a pink pleated skirt. The second is a very nice surprise. Sazh’s little son. It’s great to have another African American in FF XIII. Hopefully both these characters are playable.

Other News: One character seen in the latest trailer from E3 has been identified. Her name is Lieutenant Colonel Jill Nabato. And I would take it that she is a nemesis to the FF XIII crew. (I just can’t hep myself. Jill Nabato looks a bit similar to Agrias Oaks from Final Fantasy Tactics. Well, maybe it’s just me. They do look alike though.) Also we may be getting a demo of FF XIII. If we do it will be different from the Japanese demo. And downloadable. No Disc.  Final Fantasy XIII will definitely be making it’s release for Spring 2010.

Jill Nabato: Final Fantasy XIII

Agrias Oaks: Final Fantasy Tactics

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