XIII Versus Map

[Gamble W]

So basically i didn't like XIII but i've always liked the darker look of Versus, even though it's just been some screen shots and a trailer it seems to have caught my attention more. Since the release of the newest trailer on GT (the one with the agito footage aswell) any thoughts as to the actual world map style?
In the trailer it showed you running around mountains and coming up to a gas station and the team have re-introduced vehicles like in VIII (gamespot) so i'm assuming maybe you can actually walk around the world map like before FFX, also the style of the scenery reminded me of Fallout 3 with the barren wasteland. If you were able to travel across the world map though i fear that the world wouldn't be as big seeing how it isn't just giant polygons and a cartoon like style. Due to the high quality GFX and the want for realism i'd guess the distance would be too great to fit on a Blue Ray disc, so i'm thinking maybe it's like Mass Effect 2's map, fly your ship to a planet, in this case drive your car to an area then your out on foot for the large open space.
Then again i could be wrong and those scenes of the gas station and walking around the mountains could just be "dungeons" and the development team showing that this time around you won't be just running down straight corridors.

Thoughts?

 

[Demon]

I noticed that the texturing in Versus seemed to look better than in XIII. But I also thought that the lighting looked worse, because XIII had some pretty good lightning. I think they're doing trade-offs or something, but that's just my theory.

As for the rather realistic setting, personally I think that it's not a case of "oh, it's something else" and that things would be pretty modern-themed in some situations, since Square seems to be doing some odd things (look at XIII?). But I could be wrong, I'm also not really following who's doing what and all that, so to me it's just floating on a cloud to think up theories about this game.

I kind of have a theory that the game will go back to a death setting kind of like X, perhaps a darker one, but I have no real proof of that either, so it could go either way.

 

[Linnaete]

I'm not fully sure on what the "world map" in Versus even is. The trailer with Noctis running around some rather desolate plains surrounded by mountains - is that the world map? It reminds me more of FFXII's system actually, where it resembles areas more than an overworld. But then again Nomura wanted to make it more realistic, so the idea of going back to the pre-FFX conventions was going to be out of the question. How the "world map" will work still baffles me and I'm just waiting to see more of it later on.

I'm not particularly a big fan of what I've seen so far though. Desolate plains? Desolate mountains? Ruined highways? Abandoned gas station? It is just like Fallout 3 now in a slight way. FFXIII's world felt rather empty and lifeless already. I hope Versus isn't following suit. I hope there is more life to it than just pretty scenaries and dark, empty cities.

 

[Gamble W]

Well yea it wouldn't be too bad if it was like the XII world, that way you could back track to another city/village quite easily. I'm hoping they do something similar to the Mass Effect 2 map though, that way they could have alot more interesting cities with decent minigames and even though it's not realistic i miss just randomly walking into people's houses and them not giving a crap while i steal their chests xD
As for the tone yea it's quite desolate but the main city he's driving through and where he fights that huge monster in the street seems pretty elegant aswell as that bar he's in with that other girl. Maybe it's like how Midgar was surrounded by wasteland but further out it's all green fields?

Well we won't know anything for certain untill these developers get their shit together, it was announced around the same time as FFXIII and that was all mock up stuff and i doubt it'll be out anytime before mid 2012. Lets hope with the amount of time they spend on it they actually make something with quality gameplay this time and not just "pretty" visuals.