Square Enix releases new Final Fantasy XIII trailer to get us excited
Along with Metal Gear Solid and Gran Turismo, the Final Fantasy series is the most likely to induce excitement and pant-wetting thrills months in advance of a new game being released. While the former two have remained Playstation exclusives, the forthcoming Final Fantasy XIII is going to be on the Xbox 360 as well as the PS3. That just means double the amount of people who are going to get wet at the sight of a new trailer.
Square Enix has been teasing us fans of the Final Fantasy series for months now, with a new Web site, screenshots, and the odd trailer, a new one of which has now been unveiled on the Square Enix Final Fantasy XIII site. And this one is a doozy, showing more CG footage and revealing how the battle system will work.
My immediate thought is how much the whole thing reminds me of Final Fantasy VII. From the machines on show, the future-look steam train, the group of freedom fighter/terrorists, it all feels very reminiscent of Cloud Strife, Midgar, and Shinra. Although the graphics are vastly improved and the battle system has changed considerably.
The whole world now looks like being in proper 3D, with the characters part of the surroundings rather than afterthoughts placed on top. The Final Fantasy games have always brought with them a new graphical standard for Japanese RPGs and XIII looks to be no exception.
Ars Technica took a look at the new battle system in detail. Firstly, it’s reverted from the FF XII style into a more well-known and fan-friendly version of the ATB system. Ars drew parallels between the FF XIII battle system and that of Final Fantasy X-2, a spin-off of the series on the PS2.
This trailer is nice. Very nice. It’s got me excited about a game I know little about, least of all when it’s actually going to arrive in America or Europe. Those lucky Japanese are going to be getting a demo in April and the full game by the end of the year. Those of us in the west are going to have to sit back and twiddle our thumbs. Or alternatively play through one of the older games. VII, VIII, or XII? I just can’t decide.
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21 Responses to “Square Enix releases new Final Fantasy XIII trailer to get us excited”
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January 31st, 2009
saw it on gamespot… looked interesting…
I did play dot hack on the ps2 just to get through the story… if this has no relation to older final fantasy games… and if I dont have to know the stories of the old games (playing soccer on an underwater space stadium) then Ill buy it…
suddenly I feel so dirty…
January 31st, 2009
To Dave Parrack:
Thank you for adding the ‘WARNING’ to the Punctuation video. That was very nice of you.
But I still think you should have taken it off.
January 31st, 2009
Around 28 second mark, those guys look like the helghast.
January 31st, 2009
DWH,
You will be buying it then. Not matter how much I liked FFX, I think I’d cry if Tidus appeared in this.
Dave P,
Replaying VIII gets my vote. Squall would kick Cloud’s ass any day. Never played XII, though I heard it was supposed to be good.
January 31st, 2009
Hey Zoar…..I have a easy solution for your dislike/hate of the zero punctuation videos…
Don’t Watch them!!!!!!!
January 31st, 2009
Bourne,
“Around 28 second mark, those guys look like the helghast”…
I’m thinking more like combine soldiers with orange eyes instead of blue.
January 31st, 2009
Hey phranctoast…..I have a easy solution for your dislike/hate of the Child Pornography videos…
Don’t Watch them!!!!!!!
January 31st, 2009
And please stop saying they look like helghast or combine.
I’ve seen a lot of concept arts, and I see nothing here that makes me think they copy the helghast or combine.
If anything, they look like the Deep Eyes from The Spirits Within:
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa315/medmapguy/Banner.jpg
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q203/captainexcabier/Foundations/20.jpg
http://pagesperso-orange.fr/ccrame/Images/Spirits%20Within/Final%20Fantasy%2034.jpg
January 31st, 2009
And please stop saying they look like helghast or combine.
I’ve seen a lot of concept arts, and I see nothing here that makes me think they copy the helghast or combine.
If anything, they look like the Deep Eyes from The Spirits Within.
January 31st, 2009
Zoar,
Chill out man, I just said “like” not “copy”.
February 1st, 2009
To CarlB:
Sorry, I hope I didn’t offend you.
It’s just that I’m sick of people saying ‘this is a rip-off of this over here’ and such. It’s like a Rorschach test: you see what you’re familiar with.
February 1st, 2009
no worries zoar.
February 1st, 2009
I’ll be playing the demo in only a few short months!!
play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-a7-49-en-15-advent+children-70-384b.html
I finally played the Resident Evil 5 demo!!!!! I tried playing it with my girl friend over the weekend… we tried about 5 times and never cleared the shanty town level. Each time we played we did better and got farther. You either work as a team, or get slaughtered. There is not a lot of room to make errors. Very intense.
February 2nd, 2009
alright Barnabe… is your girlfriend good at playing games? Did you break her in or was she already into them? I’m asking because I am considering asking my wife to play RE5 with me when I get back(but the only game she has played since she was a kid is Rock Band).
February 2nd, 2009
@ Zoar, If you don’t like it then LEAVE. No one asked you to be here.
I liked that video and don’t need idiots like you censoring my Internet.
So beat it.
February 2nd, 2009
@Zoar: Also there is a big difference with Child Porn. IT’S ILLEGAL Retard.
February 2nd, 2009
I think she may have played the original RE on PS one. She’s not really a gamer. She plays a few games here and there… but she is not into any sort of third or first person shooters. She pretty much plays RPGs and plat formers every once in a while.
I think she did pretty well. I’ve beaten 0-4 and Code Veronica – and it took me a few plays through to get a handle on the controls. I think she had fun, but then again we only gave it a few tries and never managed to beat it. The game is extremely hard, and very intense, which will probably put off non-gamers.
February 2nd, 2009
Alright, sounds like I’ll have to play through myself… I wonder if it is as hard as Ninja Gaiden on the XBox…
February 2nd, 2009
The first Ninja Gaiden? Or Ninja Gaiden Black? I might have to say… the first Ninja Gaiden.
February 3rd, 2009
No… lol. Closer to NG: Black.
February 4th, 2009
I only played the first Ninja Gaiden on the XBox, ( gamespot.com/xbox/action/ninjagaiden/index.html ) not Black.