Verses XIII

If you want to get all excited about Final Fantasy XIII then go ahead, but I will not be joining the party. I am calling it out right now: we will be left at the end wanting more.. and not in a good “I can’t wait to sit another 60 hours” way.

Although it is harder to look forward to a game with a release date that is TBA for Japan as well as North America, I have hope. FF XIII is out in Japan, and with the release date rapidly approaching here in North America it is only a matter of time before the Square Enix team can put full force into making Final Fantasy Verses XIII what it is clearly destined to be.

(this picture was taken with obvious permission from IGN... they make more money than we do)

When first watching the teaser trailer, I had an odd feeling of deja vu . Was this some dark spawn of Kingdom Hearts? Turns out that upon further digging (but not too deep obviously, there is hardly any information on this game out there) the battle systems have been compared to that of Kingdom Hearts, even with some third person shooting action. So Square Enix is putting together a story based in this FF XIII world, focused on the crystals, with strong characters who you control in a RP environment that could periodically bust into some smooth third person shooting scenes. Are we sure this game isn’t directed for the American gamer?

In the end that is what we like. We want round characters with troubling back stories. We want telekinetic powers that wield our swords for us (which the main character, Noct, appears to have) and on top of that, we want to defend something important enough to use those powers. When talking RP, we shouldn’t expect anything less than any other FF game. Adding those expectations along with this faster story style and the phenomenal graphics that the PS3 brings, this game is not the FF XIII’s little brother. It is the overpowering late bloomer.

You might want to throw stones my way, and if in the end I am wrong I will gladly make my way to edge of town. But honestly, from the pieces we have been given, this game looks like the one to buy. Hopefully by the time it comes out we all still have a bit of our stimulus check left.

Until then, check out the trailer if you have not already.