# Final Fantasy XIII Already Coming?



## McMurphy (Jan 7, 2007)

On the Western front, FFXII has not even been released to the public for a full year, and already SquareEnix has debuted a promotional trailer containing both gameplay and cinema clips at 2006's E3.  

Going by the scenes revealed, the game looks to be a welcomed throwback to the story, character design (although XII didn't exactly stray from it completely), and world mechanics of Final Fantasy VII and VIII.  The official trailer can be viewed at SquareEnix's site.  

While the trailer is amazing, I wonder why it follows so soon at the heels of the FFXII.  Is it nothing more than the company eager to drop a power title on the Playstation 3?


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## Aes (Jan 7, 2007)

Oh god, is that Squall's gunblade?   I really hoped I'd seen the end of such tacky weaponry, but that's alright, because the rest looks awesome.  

Anyway, my guess is that, since the PS3 market is still young, this is SquareEnix's chance to make a huge impression by being among the first few really good titles for the PS3.  Also, since the PS3 opens a whole bunch of new possibilities, I bet they were eager to dive right in the moment developing on it became possible.


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## Thadlerian (Jan 8, 2007)

I wish they would port any of these to PC some time. I have no intention to aquire any sort of console, and it feels like I'm missing something.

The ports of VII and, especially, VIII, were pretty clumsy, but they were playable.


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## Rane Longfox (Jan 9, 2007)

Not sure you could really call it the same as Squall's gunblade... after all, that was much less versatile.

Nice to see a female hero for an FF game, too. Unheard of, provided you ignore the travesty that was X-2.


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## Aes (Jan 9, 2007)

Rane Longfox said:


> Not sure you could really call it the same as Squall's gunblade... after all, that was much less versatile.
> 
> Nice to see a female hero for an FF game, too. Unheard of, provided you ignore the travesty that was X-2.


I'll be impressed by them featuring a female lead character only if she _really_ is the lead character this time.  So far, VI and XII have sorta felt like they leaned toward having female main characters, but they ended up feeling more like "use whoever you want, everyone is equally a part of the story like in VI" or "no no, this guy who really isn't that important to the overall plot is the main character, as was the case in XII."

While I'd absolutely love it if she really was the main character, I won't go holding my breath or anything, because this is Square-Enix we're talking about.  I certainly won't be surprised if some kid thief or introverted emo warrior ends up being the main for this chapter, too. 

PS:  A friend from LJ & I were talking about X-2, and while it may have a bad rap for whatever reason, it really wasn't that bad of a game overall.  I know it's off topic, but why does everyone hate this game so much?


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## Green (Jan 9, 2007)

Oh god, will they never stop? Even Mario never got this many sequels!


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## Leonardo (Jan 9, 2007)

Actually, I think Final Fantasy XII and XIII were being developed at the same time. This is likely since they were made for different systems altogether. The trailer has been out for a long time, it first surfaced around the same time as the trailer for XII. I believe XIII has been done for a while now, and that they're just holding it back until the perfect release time comes along. People are still excited about the crap titles and the console and the SIXAXIS controllers, there's no need to fuel that fire quite yet.

As for Final Fantasy X-2, I think the reason no one likes it is because for some reason or other, the target group seems to be people in the ages 10-15 only. It's written with poor jokes, pop-culture references, and cool streetlingo terminology (YOU SCORED HI-POTION!). The voice acting is mediocre at best, and the game has no real soul.

I personally think it's completely unbearable to play. Rather than epic, it's trivial. You can't take it seriously, since there's no real storyline or purpose, and everything is made to be so dictionary-definition hip and cool.

But all that said, it's a pretty good game, it's just not final fantasy. The graphics are great, the engine is the same as FFX (=great), and the new approach to gameplay is liberating and comfortable to play. The game isn't the problem, the player is. If the type of game appeals to you, I bet you'd love it.



Green said:


> Oh god, will they never stop? Even Mario never got this many sequels!



Actually, Mario has appeared in over 130 games, though arguably only about 15 of them could be called true sequels. So I'd say he did.


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## Green (Jan 9, 2007)

Wiki is notorious for being innacurate  Or am I thinking of Amazon release dates?


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## Leonardo (Jan 9, 2007)

Not sure I follow your train of thought now.


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## Green (Jan 9, 2007)

It's a fast train - one of them pendolinos.


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## Rane Longfox (Jan 9, 2007)

Aes said:


> PS:  A friend from LJ & I were talking about X-2, and while it may have a bad rap for whatever reason, it really wasn't that bad of a game overall.  I know it's off topic, but why does everyone hate this game so much?


While trying not to derail the topic too much... I hated the dress-sphere stuff, and the whole premise of the plot was too weak, really. FF games are supposed to be epic journeys, not scrabbling about in the dust like archeologists!!


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## Leonardo (Jan 9, 2007)

The idea behind the dress-spheres - Characters changing function mid-combat - Is pretty interesting. It could have been really good. It just wasn't.

I totally agree that it lacks epicness.


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## Talysia (Jan 10, 2007)

X2?  It could have been better.  There were a few good ideas, but on the whole I thought that it was aimed at the wrong people.  A good RPG should feel like it appeals to everyone, but it felt like this was aimed at a much younger audience.  Also, once the storyline was finished, that was it.  With the other games, I could go back to them and play them through again and still find something new.  That said, it was good to see the events of FFX resolved.
Regarding FFXIII, I hope that they keep the storylines as interesting, whatever the new graphics look like.  It was the stories that drew me to the series in the first place, after all.


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## Lenny (Jan 14, 2007)

What's been said about XIII, and by Nomura about Versus XIII (quite little, really), make them sound very interesting.

IGN: Final Fantasy XIII Update

FFXIII can't be coming soon, as Squenix are still working on the new game engine for their PS3 games - I think it's called the White Engine.

The predicted release date for XIII is around the end of this year/early 2008, with Versus XIII probably being released around the middle of 2008. And if the rumours of Nomura starting a third KH game this year are true, well, either Versus is a LOT more complete than we think, or it's going to take a long time to come out.

EDIT: Here are a couple more articles.

The first is about Squenix's White Engine, and the second is an in-depth look at XIII and Versus (though it's quite dated).

IGN: Final Fantasy XIII Update
IGN: Gaimaga Blows Out Final Fantasy XIII


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## dane78 (Jan 14, 2007)

In regards to the release date, according to the web sources, it's supposed to be released by the end of this year. But well, I won't be surprised if it didn't came out before 2008.


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## Lenny (Jan 14, 2007)

If it does come out by the end of the year, then 5 to 1 it's in Japan... then again, the PS3 IS region free, so if they stick the English voice-acting on the disc, along with English subtitles... well, we're larfink.


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