Final fantasy crazy

[Heartofthedark]

Gerodie - I am also looking forward to this because finally the 360 will have a final fantasy series! (Other than the online one but that is stupid because I can't pay the monthly fee so there's no way I can play it.. They should have had an offline!)

Release date is TBA 2009 so i'm guessing around august and maybe into fall when it's gamer season in 2009

[Clank]

Yeah! I am really looking forward too it, I enjoyed all final fantasys

[Heartofthedark]

Final Fantasy Alert!

A video featuring gameplay from the Ps3 was released yesterday!
Watch it HERE
(The speech is in Japanese I think but it has subtitles )

Final Fantasy XIII Gameplay Revealed

New trailer shows off eye-popping visuals for the series' high-def debut.

UK, January 28, 2009 - Square Enix has shown off the first in-game footage for Final Fantasy XIII in a trailer just released on the game's official site.

During the two-and-a-half-minute clip we're treated to our first proper look at the game world, which bears a remarkable resemblance to the 'real' world in The Matrix trilogy, with a Nebuchadnezzar-style ship gliding gracefully through the green-hued metropolis, in front of a hooded Vanille.

The action then kicks in with Square proving once again it's still towers head and shoulders above its peers when it comes to CG animation, with a battle between Lightning and a squad of General Grievous-style robots demonstrating why the Final Fantasy series – and in particular Tetsuya Nomura's distinctive art style – has won the hearts of gamers across the globe.

The main action begins with a conflict on a high-speed train, where Lightning takes out several troops with some sort of personal electric field that heightens her abilities and allows her to perform some flashy acrobatics. Other highlights of the CG elements of the trailer include a hi-octane fight between the four main characters – Lightning, Snow, Vanille and Sazh – and a bunch of machinegun-toting troops, plus an epic scrap in which the hot blonde takes on a giant scorpion mech.

But what of the gameplay? Initial impressions are that the combat system will be a natural progression of that seen in Final Fantasy XII, with players cuing up turn-based-style attacks that then play out almost in real-time. The effect is nothing short of spectacular with the battles looking more dynamic and action-packed than in previous Final Fantasy games. There seem to be hints of Kingdom Hearts action as well, given how Lightning knocks an enemy skyward and jumps up to follow it, continuing the combat while airborne.

Other hard facts are few and far between apart from a release date of 2009 in Japan, with a worldwide date yet to be confirmed. Story elements are hinted at but not directly revealed. From the looks of the trailer, an oppressive force is attempting to forcefully remove residents of the Cocoon into the Pulse area -- two sectors of the Final Fantasy XIII world that seem to be at odds. Regardless, we certainly hope it comes this year because judging by the trailer it's going to be a return to form for Square's much-loved series, which has gone off the boil somewhat following a string of solid but not brilliant handheld remakes. But don't just take our word for it, check out the movie for yourself now.
(http://ps3.ign.com/articles/948/948802p1.html)

IGN has also posted an estimate release date of April 2010 for the rest of the world and Q4(late August-December) For Japan

[Clank]

OMG I AM SPEECHLESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!! i cant wait!

[Heartofthedark]

Final Fantasy XIII Release Could be Affected by Dragon Quest IX Delay


Square Enix president says it's a possibility.

by John Tanaka

February 12, 2009 - By now, you've probably heard that Square Enix has announced a delay for the Japanese release of Dragon Quest IX, pushing the RPG back from March 28 to July 11.

Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy share little in common, but one definite similarity is that both are sure-fire multi million sellers. So would Square Enix stand to have two massive hits within the same fiscal year? Or would DQIX's Japanese delay into fiscal 2009 push FFXIII's Japanese release to 2010?

Japan's ITmedia reports that, speaking at a financial briefing today, Square Enix president Yoichi Wada hinted at the latter. "It may be affected by DQIX's delay," said Wada of FFXIII. "We'd like to work to try and (release it) within fiscal 2009."

"I can't say that there won't be an influence," he later added, but also noted that the company's plans for the coming fiscal year aren't finalized, preventing him from making a clear statement.

For Final Fantasy fanatics outside of Japan, it's not necessarily the case that a Japanese delay for FFXIII would lead to a similar delay elsewhere. For now, we'll just hope that Wada was referring directly to the Japanese market and that FFXIII is still on track for us at... well, whenever it was due in the first place.

In my opinion I think that there's a big possibility a Japanese release pushback could affect the world release seeing as they will be the first to get it, if they discover anything wrong with it they will have to delay the release for the rest of the world to fix it, now if that happens, we will have two release date pushbacks...

In other FF news IGN has posted an April 1st 2010 release date as their estimate

[Clank]

Final Fantasy XIII Release Could be Affected by Dragon Quest IX Delay


Square Enix president says it's a possibility.

by John Tanaka

February 12, 2009 - By now, you've probably heard that Square Enix has announced a delay for the Japanese release of Dragon Quest IX, pushing the RPG back from March 28 to July 11.

Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy share little in common, but one definite similarity is that both are sure-fire multi million sellers. So would Square Enix stand to have two massive hits within the same fiscal year? Or would DQIX's Japanese delay into fiscal 2009 push FFXIII's Japanese release to 2010?

Japan's ITmedia reports that, speaking at a financial briefing today, Square Enix president Yoichi Wada hinted at the latter. "It may be affected by DQIX's delay," said Wada of FFXIII. "We'd like to work to try and (release it) within fiscal 2009."

"I can't say that there won't be an influence," he later added, but also noted that the company's plans for the coming fiscal year aren't finalized, preventing him from making a clear statement.

For Final Fantasy fanatics outside of Japan, it's not necessarily the case that a Japanese delay for FFXIII would lead to a similar delay elsewhere. For now, we'll just hope that Wada was referring directly to the Japanese market and that FFXIII is still on track for us at... well, whenever it was due in the first place.

In my opinion I think that there's a big possibility a Japanese release pushback could affect the world release seeing as they will be the first to get it, if they discover anything wrong with it they will have to delay the release for the rest of the world to fix it, now if that happens, we will have two release date pushbacks...

In other FF news IGN has posted an April 1st 2010 release date as their estimate

yup, i already heard Umm April 2010... OMG thats like 14 months I am unsure i will still wanna play it by then however i am happy square arent rushing with the release and are taking plenty of time to make sure the game is perfect

[gh1]

final fantasy sucks... that's write, i can say that if i want to.. it's just like if someone says it's good, i can tell you if i think it sucks, i can also tell you anything i want whether i believe it and am lying or not, so there..

[Clank]

final fantasy sucks... that's write, i can say that if i want to.. it's just like if someone says it's good, i can tell you if i think it sucks, i can also tell you anything i want whether i believe it and am lying or not, so there..

O_o Ok then

[Heartofthedark]

final fantasy sucks... that's write, i can say that if i want to.. it's just like if someone says it's good, i can tell you if i think it sucks, i can also tell you anything i want whether i believe it and am lying or not, so there..

Your opinion

Frankly I think FPS's are for idiots because all you do is run and shoot over and over again Brainwashing? I think so..
(Some FPS cross overs to say.. Fallout are really good, but the plain as vanilla FPS's are lame!)

[Heartofthedark]

Sorry for not posting some news recently if you hadn't heard already..
(Also sorry about the double post)

New Final Fantasy XIII Characters Revealed


Spikey hair guy, goggle boy, and "the girl."


by John Tanaka


February 17, 2009 - Things went quiet on the Final Fantasy XIII front following that marvelous trailer from a few weeks back, but today Japan's Weekly Shounen Jump manga magazine came through with a few new details.

The biggest revelations concern new character names. The magazine introduces a team of fighters who battle alongside Snow (the guy with the bandana) during the early train sequence as part of what appears to be a team called "Nora." They were shown in the last trailer but never formally introduced.

Here's a look at three members:

Gado
This is the guy with the spikey blond hair who looks somewhat like Final Fantasy X's Wakka.

Lebro
Lebro is the character with the impossibly low cut shirt that you'd never wear for a battle unless you were trying to win by distracting your enemies. She's the only female member of the team and is said to be strong-willed, but kind.

Markie
Ths is the guy with short blond hair, goggles, and what appears to be a Chicago Cubs jacket. Yes, it's a "he." Markie is somewhat timid, but is said to be a fine member of Nora.

Please note that the above names are not official Romanizations of the Japanese. It's possible that some of the names will have slight differences once Square Enix provides a more official look at the characters.

Lightning is not listed as being a member of Nora. In fact, the magazine states that while Lightning and Snow have a common enemy in the holy government army, their goals appear to be different. Nora's goal is said to be to help people who are being forced to move to the world of Pulse below. Lightning's goal may not be so clear, though .

Further insights should come from direct play of the upcoming Japanese demo, which is being packaged with the Japanese release of Final Fantasy XIII Advent Children Complete in mid-April. All the scenes in the magazine are from the demo, meaning we'll be getting a closer look at a good number of characters through the sampler.

Final Fantasy XIII On Track for 2009


Director speaks out on development progress, characters, and more.


by IGN Staff


February 25, 2009 - Were you concerned when Square Enix president Yoichi Wada told investors that Dragon Quest IX's Japanese delay to July might have an effect on the release of FFXIII? If not, what's wrong with you? Any delay in the Japanese release of the game almost assuredly means a delay outside of Japan as well!

All is not lost, though. FFXIII director Motomu Toriyama had some calming words in an interview in this week's Famitsu. Development on FFXIII is still progressing towards a 2009 release and is going smoothly, he told the magazine. He also noted that that the the game's demo version, which will be included with the Japanese release of Final Fantasy Advent Children Complete in April, was finished in December.

Of course, Wada and the other Squenix suits will likely have the final say on when FFXIII gets released, but it's certainly good to hear that the game is coming along.

Famitsu also got Toriyama to spill a bit about the demo. Players will be able to play for about an hour, he said, confirming past reports at a sizable play experience. There may actually be a multi-faceted side to the demo, as Toriyama revealed that Snow and Lightning will not meet during the course of the demo. Players will be able to enjoy the stories for the two characters separately.

Furthermore, because the full battle system is included in the demo, Toriyama expects players to find a lot of replay value. Despite the inclusion of the full battle system, though, he assured that the battles we see in the final version of the game will be evolved even further.

Joining Toriyama in the interview session was FFXIII character designer Nao Ikeda. The two shared a few details on some of the recently announced characters and story elements.

First off, afro guy, Sazh. This character is like nothing ever seen in the series and appears to have caused quite the impact, said Toriyama. He admitted to being a bit worried. In Toriyama's mind, Sazh is bright and full of expression, and also has a comical element about him.

Don't like Sazh? Well, you'd better get used to him, because Toriyama also revealed that Sazh has the most lines in the game! For his voice actor (presumably the Japanese version), Square Enix made use of a veteran who was given freedom to ad-lib.

Sazh and Lightning come to know one another at the outset of the game's story following some big happening, explained Toriyama. They did not know each other prior to that.

One of the reasons Sazh's unveiling caused quite the stir was due to the baby Chocobo he keeps in his afro. The Chocobo caused a big reaction, explained Toriyama, and the development staff is now considering giving it more time in the game. He joked that while the Chocobo does not appear in battle, he's currently in negotiations with the battle team about this.

Our latest update on FFXIII detailed Nora, a group comprised in part by four members: Snow, Lebreau, Maqui, and Gadot (these are the official Romanized names, as listed in Famitsu). Famitsu confirms that Snow is the leader of this group, whose name comes from the Japanese word for stray dog (nora-inu). There's actually a hidden meaning in the name, Toriyama explained, but players will not learn it until events that take place after the demo.

Ikeda shared some background on Nora, explaining that it was formed by youths who do not like being controlled by the holy government. Their major activity involves fighting off monsters, but they consider their role of protecting the city as somewhat of an enjoyable sport. The residents of the city place great trust in them.

Monsters? Yes, Cocoon has monsters, and one of the holy government army's jobs is to deal with them. The "PSICOM" soldiers, mentioned in the last trailer, deal primarily with fighting monsters and rarely face off against human foes.

The members of Nora have made it their business to save people who are being force migrated to Pulse because it turns out that their city, which is located by the shore, is believed to have taken influence from Pulse and is being purged. The members of Nora hope to stop that.

Those four members mentioned above will be encountered in the demo version of FFXIII. But when playing the final version, players will encounter a fifth member, whom Toriyama joked was too cool to be revealed just yet.

We can do without the fifth character as long as we get to at long last get our hands on FFXIII. The April Japanese demo can't come soon enough!

Final Fantasy XIII Site Updated


Producer Yoshinori Kitase delivers a bleep-filled message.


by John Tanaka


March 4, 2009 - Square Enix has at long last given the official Japanese Final Fantasy XIII site a major update, with new screens and even a message from producer Yoshinori Kitase.

The screens (accessible under the "character" section of the site) show off the characters we introduced here at IGN last week. Yes, you can now have your first moderately-sized look at Team Nora, including Gadot, Lebreau, and Maqui. These three don't appear to be primary characters, as they're all bunched together while Snow, Lightening and Vanille get their own pages.

There's a bit of new information at the site regarding the characters. Gadot and Lebreau are revealed to not only be subordinates of Snow in Nora, but also his childhood friends. Maqui, who was previously revealed to look up to Snow, is described as lacking confidence, and being not too big on fighting.

For everything else, we'll refer you to our writeup from last week.

The "message" section of the site has also been updated. Following up on the first message from director Motomu Toriyama, producer Yoshinori Kitase is in the hot seat for this update. He mostly teases in his message, revealing that as he creates the message he's viewing FFXIII running on dev kits. The ability to play FFXIII in advance of everyone else in the world is the thing that makes him happy about developing FFXIII, he says, adding that players will get a chance to experience a similar feeling when the FFXIII demo hits Japan in April.

Kitase also teases at a few names:

"Strategic battles using using XXXXX"

"Summon beasts like Shiva and XXXXX"

"Lightning does XXXXXX to XX and XX..."

The Xs represent Japanese characters. If you can figure out what they are, you get to advance directly to Final Fantasy XIV.
----------------
I have to say though, I dislike the characters so far that they've introduced in this final fantasy Maybe my opinion will change when the game comes out

[Heartofthedark]

Final fantasy alert (Sorry bout the triple post )

Final Fantasy XIII Update


Trophy support, frame rates and more ahead of next week's demo.


by IGN Staff


April 8, 2009 - The big Final Fantasy XIII demo is all set to hit Japan next week. But just ahead of that, Famitsu has come through with a huge update on the game via an interview with director Motomu Toriyama.

There's a whole lot of new information in the interview, but let's start off with some details on the demo. The demo is split into two parts. The first part puts you in control of Lightning, who's joined in battle by Sazh. In the second half, you take control of Snow, who's joined in battle by the Nora crew. Vanille appears in the second half as well.

As previously detailed, the demo encompasses the first hour of the game. A group of people are on a train on route to their expulsion from Cocoon after being accused of having taken influence from Pulse. Lightning arrives on the scene just as the group has started to revolt. Meanwhile, on a separate train, Snow and crew are among the to-be-purged and have started a revolt of their own.

Here's some of what you won't experience in the demo. Although Lightning and Sazh start off together, you won't learn about their relationship until a reflection scene that takes place after the events of the demo. Also, while the demo lets you play from the perspective of just Lightning and Snow, the final version will also have sequences that take place from Vanille's perspective. As you advance with one character, the game will switch to another character and you'll experience what that character has been up to. Apparently, such scenes run in parallel with one-another like one of those "Meanwhile..." transitions in a movie.

Lightning and Snow will take center stage in the demo.

Most of the demo takes place in an area of Cocoon called "Hanged Edge" (please note that our roman form for this name could be incorrect). This area is on the border of Cocoon and has taken the most influence from Pulse when compared to other areas of Cocoon. It's a dark area, but this is apparently not indicative of the full FF world, which Toriyama describes as being bright and like a futuristic city.

The end of the demo will feature a look at a new character who appears in prison clothing. Toriyama hinted that she's an important character, but did not get into specifics.

The magazine expressed surprise with some of Sazh's motions from the demo (yes, the Famitsu editors were able to sample the demo ahead of everyone else -- see below for what they thought). Apparently, Sazh reacts with surprise from the kickback of his weapons. It turns out that he's not particularly used to battle, and ends up making a lot of unnecessary movements on the battle field.

Sazh's Chocobo may end up appearing along side Sazh during battle. This is something that Toriyama has, in past interviews, suggested might happen, and here he said that the development team is actively looking into it. One problem, however, is that the Chocobo's fur uses a "rich" rendering technique, which makes putting it into the battle system difficult.

On the note of Chocobos, there will be standard Chocobos in the game as well, Toriyama confirmed. However, they won't be used as a means for transportation.

Moving on to the battle system in general, the interview cleared up a lot of the areas that have been a mystery until now. First up, Toriyama explained that the FFXIII battle system is based around the concept of fusing strategy and action -- that is to say, adding the flash and speed of action to command-based battles.

The demo will give only a sampling of the game's strategic component via the ability to stock up commands. Another area of the strategy, which won't appear in the demo, comes from your allies. During battle, you control just one character. Your allies are controlled by AI. However, they react to the moves your character makes. The strategy here comes from figuring out how to connect with your allies and better draw out their abilities. The demo will offer a basic glimpse at this, with allies going in for follow-up attacks when you send an enemy into the air. The final version will give you better control over such things. Specifically, it seems that you'll be able to switch off freely between the characters.

We'll see just about 30% of the final battle system in the demo, explained Toriyama. The game's "Evolved ATB" system (the name for this system is currently under consideration) will show itself in only its base form. There won't be summons in the demo, although they'll be in the final. Additionally, the demo will limit you to just three move stocks, while the final version of the game will have your possible move stock increase as your character develops. The final version will also have changes to the game's menus to make it easier to input commands once you have a lot of commands at your disposal.

[Heartofthedark]

(Super sorry about the quad post it didn't fit in one post)

Toriyama also revealed something particularly surprising about the battle system. At the end of each battle, your character's HP will be totally recovered! The game is being tuned so that individual battles are tough and you won't win unless you think.

Continuing with the new revelations, Toriyama shared details on the game's chain and break systems, both of which have been only partially detailed in past updates. The goal of these two systems, said Toriyama, was to recreate some of the motions, such as launching enemies up into the air, that were seen in the 2006 E3 FFXIII trailer.

As previously revealed, as you attack enemies, you build up a gauge in the upper right of the screen. This gauge depletes with time. Perform successive attacks before the gauge reaches zero, and you'll have chained your attacks together, resulting in added damage for your blows. The gauge fills up differently depending on the type of attack, with fire magic attacks being particularly generous.

When you chain attacks, you also build up a "Bonus" percentage. When this reaches a certain percentage, your enemies will flash red and reach a Break state. The percentage required for this state depends on the enemy. The chain gauge becomes a timer gauge during Break time, indicating how much time you have left in the Break.

Looks like the developers are trying to replicate the flashy combat from the early trailer.

An enemy in a Break state takes on greater damage with every blow, but more importantly also opens itself up to some of those E3 trailer-style attacks. In the demo, this amounts to simply being able to launch your foe up into the air, signaling your allies to let loose with follow-up attacks. The final version of the game will include more options for such break moves.

As a side note, you're not alone in your ability to launch foes into the air. Enemies can do the same to you. In the demo, the Behemoth enemy will launch you up.

Once you've cleared battle, you're presented with a result screen which gives you a one to five star rating indicating your performance. To get a high rating, you need to fight efficiently and finish the battle quickly.

This star ranking system will be in the demo. A couple of points about the results screen won't make it out until the final, though. The game will have support for Trophies and other PS3 features, Toriyama revealed without getting into specifics. He also briefly mentioned that mysterious "TP Bonus" icon that has been shown in screenshots of the result screens. It has something to do with summon magic, but that's as far as he'd say.

Toriyama was even more vague about the game's character growth system. FFXIII will feature a new character development system, similar to how FFX featured the Sphere system and FFXII the License Board system.

One thing to note about character growth, however, is that you won't be able to make just anyone use magic. As part of the story, only the L'cie characters can use magic. Also, magic won't appear in the game until a bit into your adventure, although the demo has been put together to give you access from the start.

Toriyama also offered up a preview of what happens prior to battle as you move about on the fields of play. As indicated by past trailers, FFXIII's enemies are visible prior to battle. The enemies have fields of vision, and when they see you, they will attack. In the demo, all enemies in the area will proceed to join in on the attack, although in the final version, the enemies will react to you individually.

When encountering enemies, the associated effects are colored differently depending on if the enemy has spotted you or not spotted you. When you haven't been spotted prior to an encounter, you end up with a greater time gauge.

For the tech heads, the interview also shared a few technical details. The game will output at 720p and 30 frames per second. There are a few slowdown issues with the demo during battle, but these will be cleared out in the final. Also, for those with SD televisions, the development staff is taking care to make sure the game will be readable by all.

Finally, some good news for those concerned about a massive wait for the final version of the game. According to Toriyama, the major areas of the game are nearly done, and now it's just a matter of connecting everything together. The work of the designers is, for the most part, finished.

This hopefully means a 2009 release is still on track for Japan with an international release not too long after that.

But first, that demo! Two Famitsu editors were given a chance to sample the demo in advance. Their play time lasted one hour and twenty minutes or so. They praised the speediness of the game and the near zero load times. The background music is "cool," said one editor, who also made note of the detail in the backgrounds which allows you to see characters fighting enemies far in the distance as you move about the fields of play. It would be a loss to not experience the demo, said another editor.

We'll be sure and do that next week and let you know what we think.

------------------
Have fun with the demo for all those playing it I won't be able to (Unless it's on a game for the 360 I don't know about )

[Heartofthedark]

(Okay this is getting kinda outrageous, sorry about the fifth post in a row )

Final Fantasy XIII Demo Hands-on


Impressions on the new characters and combo system.


by IGN Staff, IGN AU


Australia, April 19, 2009 - Such has been the purposefully slow build-up to Final Fantasy XIII that the opportunity to finally play the thing seems like it could be some kind of once-in-a-lifetime privilege. In fact it's not: playing through this brief but revealing demo build of FFXIII is as simple as buying a copy of the Japanese Blu-ray release of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete, limited editions of which are bundled with a separate disc containing said demo as well as a selection of trailers.

The demo begins in what is already familiar territory, as female lead Lightning and her goofy sidekick Sazh are aboard a train that is heading at breakneck speed into Cocoon, a capsulated civilisation moored above the enemy underworld that is Pulse. The train is full of hostages who are being monitored by guards (they look pretty similar to Stormtroopers, but not quite to the point of copyright infringement) when it crashes through a force-field barrier, the impact of which gives the carriage's hostages a perfect chance to break free from their captors. This also gives SquareEnix an early opportunity to show off its Hollywood-rivalling extreme sci-fi dramatics for FFXIII, with slow-motion gunfights and over-choreographed acrobatics setting the tone.


Clearly military-issue clothing and hairstyles differ a little in Cocoon.



Once they've escaped, Lightning and Sazh are initially alone in the shimmering green metal world of Cocoon. This is a place where you don't look to the horizon for a sense of scale, because there isn't one – instead, like Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis, Cocoon stretches up and up: there are impossibly tall buildings all around, ships flying overhead, docking stations and future railway lines as far as the eye can see. You're able to select from four (slightly) different camera setups, but all options enable you to look around simply by moving the right analogue stick. The camera is pitched directly behind Lightning as she runs forwards into the screen, but occasionally the perspective swoops or elevates to give you the optimal view when running through mazy areas. In Cocoon's initial stretch of one-way paths, this 'semi-automatic' camera system works a treat.

The first battle here doubles as a tutorial, guiding you through basic use of the Time Gauge system, which will be the bread and butter of FFXIII's combat. It's pretty simple to begin with: Lightning has a Time Gauge divided into three parts, and she can only make a move when at least one part of that meter is full. Moves have specific requirements in terms of Time Gauge parts, so while Attack, Fire, Launch and Cure moves require only one part each, the more powerful Faiga special needs Lightning's Time Gauge to be full (all three parts). The best thing about this setup is how it permits you to 'stock' a series of moves before executing them as a chained combo. For example, you might select one Fire, followed by a Cure and a standard Attack, using a full Time Gauge of three parts to execute these moves in quick succession – and the actual execution demands only a tap of Triangle. Alternatively, if you find that the enemy is most susceptible to damage from Fire, you could line up a string of three Fire attacks to be executed as a combo. There's clearly huge potential for complex, strategic use of the Time Gauge system deeper into the game.


Lightning uses her in-built taser tech to fend off unwanted attention.



The enemy in that first battle is a giant robotic scorpion. He's extremely easy to defeat – as you'd expect from an enemy in a tutorial – though he does destroy the bridge on which you were standing before returning for a second bout. But after beating him a second time, he ends up falling off into the black abyss below and that's the last you see of Mr. Scorpion. After each battle, your performance is assessed and your stats are displayed in a fresh window: as well as an overall ranking of one to five stars, you're also shown Max Chain and Max Break stats and are told precisely how long the battle went on for. In two minutes of fighting against Mr. Scorpion, we achieved a Max Chain of 31 and were awarded four stars for our overall performance in battle. Our second battle, against a couple of guards, yielded a Max Chain of 14 and lasted only 20 seconds, netting us our first five-star ranking. While it is possible to avoid some battles by weaving a way between enemies, you'll eventually get caught up in another fight whether you like it or not. But that's no big problem, because the battles are so engaging that you probably will like it.

Away from battle, it's impressive how Cocoon feels alive as you journey through it. Ships whoosh down and leave green laser trails, and eventually one of those ships fires a missile that lands just 100 yards or so ahead of you, triggering an instant cutscene. Somehow, SquareEnix' technical mages seem to have found a way to make the jumps from gameplay to cutscene free of any loading time whatsoever. There are no pauses, and that seamlessness only enhances the sense that you're part of a constant, real universe.

Fun Fact: Snow wears a beanie to hide the dandruff problem that gave him his nickname.


Fortunately this "real universe" is full of helpful, game-assisting features. The map, which is displayed at the top-right of the screen, shows not only the present position of your team and your enemies, but also displays your recent trail of footsteps, so you always know where you've come from. There are Treasure Orbs containing Gil – we got 100 Gil from the first Orb we found, 981 Gil from the second – and illuminated 'jump pads' make your path through obstacles startlingly clear. All very helpful stuff.

We're also happy to find that comedy still has a part to play in Final Fantasy. The relationship between Lightning and Sazh – a guy who hides a pet chick in his Afro hairdo – is an unlikely one, and funny for it. While Lightning was once a government official, Sazh is apparent just "an ordinary guy". Lightning repeatedly tells him to "shut up" – and understandably so, as he keeps on yelling "What are going to do?!" Just as Lightning is about to leave him behind, using a special ability to escape from a dead-end pathway, Sazh literally holds her back, wrestling with her until she finds that she now can't use the trick she was about to, meaning – to her dismay – that she's stuck with this guy. Sazh thinks she'll be impressed when he points out that there's an escape route visible in the middle distance: "Look, we can ride on that instead!" he beams, and Lightning retorts with an acidic "Seems so", followed by a look that says "Don't you dare mess with me again, boy." Bizarrely, Sazh appears ignorant of Lightning's objective, and when she tells him that she intends to expose the fallacy of Pulse, he's visibly shocked. She then lands the knockout blow: "Following me was a big mistake."

[Heartofthedark]

(Once again sorry , Didn't fit in one post)

Odds are she doesn't even know what that wacky gadget she's holding is used for.

Once Lightning and Sazh' side of the demo ends, we get to see the same environment from the perspective of the resistance, led by blond male Snow. His movement is noticeably clunkier than that of Lightning, and his performance in battle is slower yet more powerful. Where Lightning has moves such as Fire at her disposal, Snow has Blizzard – the two of them are literally fire and ice. And while Lightning is accompanied only by Sazh (during this demo, at least), Snow has a gang of four under his command: a guy with big red hair; a sassy Japanese girl who has a stock of quips such as "Whoever wins this battle will be a hero!"; an annoying brat of a teenager; and a young mother who volunteers to join the resistance, leaving behind a group of refugees that includes her son.

It may only be an hour-long taster, but this first playable build of Final Fantasy XIII contains more than enough visually-overloaded entertainment to leave us dreaming of what the full game will be like. We really can't wait.

[Clank]

I mean WOW doesnt it look so good and also it is released Japan this year and everywhere else next year

And BTW, those interested in final fantasy 14 YES 14 It is an online multiplayer MMO. Only available on PS3 and PC. It looks cool and follows on from final fantasy 11.