official Final Fantasy XIII

[Draken]

Final Fantasy XIII

??????????? XIII

Final Fantasy XIII? (??????????? XIII XIII, Fainaru Fantaji Satin) is a console role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix and is the thirteenth installment in the Final Fantasy series.
First appearing at E3 2006, Final Fantasy XIII is the flagship title of the Fabula Nova Crystallis collection of Final Fantasy games and is the first game to utilize Square-Enix's Crystal Tools engine. The game features both futuristic and natural elements; it is set between a land of wilderness and the high-tech world above it. Following the story of Lightning, Square-Enix describes the theme of the game as "those who resist the world".

Release dates:

JP December 17, 2009
NA/EU/AUS March 9, 2010
Asia (ZH-hant) May 2010

The Fantasy

Cocoon - a utopia in the sky

Its inhabitants believed their world a paradise. Under the Sanctum's rule, Cocoon had long known peace and prosperity. Mankind was blessed by its protectors, the benevolent fal'Cie, and believed that tranquil days would continue forever. Their tranquillity was shattered with the discovery of one hostile fal'Cie. The moment that fal'Cie from Pulse - the feared and detested lowerworld - awoke from its slumber, peace on Cocoon came to an end. Fal'Cie curse humans, turning them into magic-wielding servants. They become l'Cie - chosen of the fal'Cie. Those branded with the mark of a l'Cie carry the burden of either fulfilling their Focus or facing a fate harsher than death itself.

 

The Vision

Concept Art

Screens

Teamxbox Gallery

IGN Gallery

Gamespot Gallery
 

Boxart

Video

Intro

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIqbTw-lio8

Gameplay

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNIS-AQ0_Zw

The Cast

Playable characters

Lightning

Former sergeant of the Cocoon military, Lightning sought the Pulse fal'Cie, Anima, in order to ask it to save her sister Serah, whom the fal'Cie had turned into a l'Cie. However, much to her dismay, Lightning was turned into a l'Cie herself. Her l'Cie mark is in the center of her chest. Lightning has long pink hair and is 171 cm tall (5'7"). Originally named ?clair Farron ,she discarded her birth name after her parents died in an attempt to emotionally reinforce herself so that she could protect Serah, although this only caused tensions to rise between them. Lightning is very independent and determined, and seems to be easy to annoy. For her design, character designer Tetsuya Nomura was asked by director Motomu Toriyama to create a "female version of Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII". During development, Nomura described her as "not very feminine".

Lightning wields a weapon called the Blaze Edge which is a combination of a gun and a sword (one collapsing into the other), similar to the gunblade wielded by Squall in Final Fantasy VIII. She can also manipulate gravity with a device on her thumb (though due to Sazh's interference, this device becomes damaged).In battle, Lightning is very agile and uses acrobatic moves. As a l'Cie, she can summon the Eidolon Odin to fight by her side in battle, who can assume a horse-like form that she can ride on. While riding, Lightning dual wields Odin's detachable sword. Her strongest unique special attack is called Scene Drive in the Japanese version and Army of One in the North American version.
 

Snow Villiers

Prior to becoming a l'Cie, Snow is the head of Team Nora, a resistance group fighting against the government of Cocoon. Standing at a massive 200cm (6'5"), Snow is a large character and is capable of running full speed while carrying two people at once. He has light blonde hair and wears a black bandanna. He was nicknamed "Mr. 33 cm" by the development team of Final Fantasy XIII as a nod to his shoe size. He uses his fists to take down opponents, focusing on brute force compared to the fast and agile Lightning. Snow bears the mark of the l'Cie on his lower left arm, through which he has the power to summon the Shiva Sister Eidolons, Nix and Stiria, who can combine into a motorcycle form for Snow to ride while toting a large gun. Unlike most grapplers, Snow changes his runes on his coat rather than buying new gloves.
 

Oerba Dia Vanille

Vanille is a mysterious but upbeat young girl with red-brown hair worn in pigtails. Originally residing from Oerba Village located on Gran Pulse, Vanille is among those being exiled from Cocoon at the start of the game and is subsequently rescued by Team Nora. She has a childlike innocence and is shown to be very compassionate, but at times she can also be very stubborn. Vanille also serves as the game's narrator. Her weapon is a form of foldable fishing rod with multiple lines that can be reeled and used to attack enemies. She has been a l'Cie for a long time, one of two l'Cie given the Focus to summon the Eidolon Ragnarok, and her l'Cie mark is located on her upper left thigh. In battle, Vanille excels at using magic based attacks from a distance. Her Eidolon is Hecatoncheir, a multiple-limbed, earth-elemental summon who can transform into a bipedal mech armed with machine guns that she can pilot.
 

Sazh Katzroy

A former airship pilot of the Military, Sazh wields dual pistols (which can be combined to form a collapsible rifle), and his strong point is striking enemies from a distance. His l'Cie mark is at the base of his neck. He has a six-year-old son named Dajh with whom he is very close. When Dajh inadvertently became a l'Cie and was taken by Sanctum, saving him became Sazh's main motivation. Sazh has a pet baby chocobo that lives inside his afro. Sazh is described as having good judgment and moral discernment. He has a gentle personality and is easily moved to tears, and joins the party early in the game. His Eidolon is Brynhildr, a female fire-elemental knight who can transform into a race car. Tetsuya Nomura based Sazh's appearance on Lionel Richie.
 

Hope Estheim

Hope is a fourteen-year-old boy with silvery-blonde hair and orange, yellow, and green clothing. He uses collapsible boomerangs in battle. During the Purge, his mother offers to help Snow and Team Nora fight off PSICOM. She dies during the battle, and though Snow honors her final request to protect her son, Hope nonetheless hates Snow in a grief-induced rage for his connection to his mother's death. His Eidolon is the holy-elemental summon Alexander,which transforms into a fortress in Gestalt Mode, and is able to blast enemies from afar with multiple cannons.

Oerba Yun Fang

 

A raven-haired woman who comes from Oerba Village, donning clothing resembling the traditional Indian Sari adorned with tribal accessories, and bearing the mark of a l'Cie on her right shoulder. Though she is a l'Cie from Pulse, she originally works for the Cocoon Sanctum under Cid. It later turns out she is one of the two l'Cie given the focus to summon Ragnarok. She wields a spear that can transform into a sansetsukon in battle, and her Eidolon is Bahamut, who can take flight in his Gestalt-mode. As revealed by Tetsuya Nomura in an interview, during the early stages of development she was originally scripted to be a male character.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________




Well, game releases next week, it's my first FF I'll be playing (yup it's shocking I Know), and I have a free time , pls don't start any "PS3 edition is da bezt" discussions (Y)

[PL_ Veteran]

Looking forward to this :D not sure whether to get the 360 or PS3 version though...I don't have a PS3 but there's a few games I'd like to play on it so this could be a good time to get one...

I've never played a Final Fantasy either. A lot of the reviews seem to criticise it compared to previous FFs so it doesn't bother me.

[_neutrino Veteran]

I have had this pre ordred for the PS3 since the day Game stop started accepting Pre orders for it. Been a huge fan of the Final Fantasy series for years. Played all of them even 11 for a short while.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Wait's for a flood of impressions to hit us from various people owning a certain console due to our new GH rule :p

[Rudy]

I noticed it's already leaked.....not sure if I'll buy it though.... I still haven't played FF12 and barely manage to play FF10 (I got really bored)

One thing I hate is that Final Fantasy switched at around 5-6-7 that everyone can be anything (mage, knight etc etc) I much prefer the predetermined roles from 4 and other RPGs

[LingeringSoul]

Still excited for this game, even despite the lack of towns and NPCs. I'll be getting it on the PS3, just because it seems to be the right thing to do when it comes to the Final Fantasy franchise. Playing it on the 360 would just seem weird to me after playing VII through X on Sony consoles.

Not sure how it's going to compare to the other FF games (the reviewers are making me expect the worst), but it'll be nice to play a Final Fantasy game again, considering I haven't done so since FFX. Didn't play X-2, XI, or XII. None of them interested me for whatever reason.

[scratch42069]

I'll be getting this for 360 but it feels weird to be playing a FF game on a console that isn't Sony or Nintendo. It's nice to see the FF series start to go cross-platform though.

[Pablo2008jedi]

PS3, already pre-ordered and booked off next week from work :whistle:

[etempest]

PS3, the Xbox360 version has compressed textures, and compressed video (to fit it on the 3 dvd's).

However, the people that saw both versions noticed it enough, but went on to say the Xbox360 version did not look bad.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Argh the FF fever is hitting me, I know I'm probably going to enjoy this least out of all the titles, but inside I'm still like "yay a 30-50 hour experience to get tucked into".

However Yakuza 3 should damped that need a little, it should take quite a long time to complete as well.

What's the EU release date again?

[Lingwo]

Tuesday 9th March. Then Yakuza (once again shopto have dropped the price) following that friday.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Tuesday 9th March. Then Yakuza (once again shopto have dropped the price) following that friday.

Fuuuuuuuuu!

I thought it was end of month :|

Probably going to have to be this or Yakuza now, with GoW3 already pre-ordered for the 19th.

[Pablo2008jedi]

Surrender to the FF feelings AB!!! ;)

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Surrender to the FF feelings AB!!! ;)

Resonance of Fate looks really interesting as well, but I picked Yakuza 3 over it, and it's way too expensive just now, it's gonna drop like a sack of potatoes though in the next few months - Tri-Ace developed, published by Sega (no advertisement), and it will probably be trampled on by FF13 this month.

[Pablo2008jedi]

lol, will need to check out Resonance of Fate, might put that in my rental list ;)

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

lol, will need to check out Resonance of Fate, might put that in my rental list ;)

Yeah a lot of people are saying it's very good and picking it over FF13. It's too expensive to buy for me just now though.

Also, FF13 leaked in Dubai.... not that we have many members from Dubai :laugh:

[rajputwarrior]

im picking it up for ps3, even though the 360 RIGHT NOW is tempting... especially with all the issues i have been having with battlefield bad company 2. But it's hard to imagine a final fantasy game not being played on a sony console.

any know (most likely AB) when the reviewers (the major NA and EU ones) are going to release their reviews?

[Rudy]

But it's hard to imagine a final fantasy game not being played on a sony console.

Just the same way it was hard to imagine a FF not on a Nintendo console a long time ago...now it's the standard

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

im picking it up for ps3, even though the 360 RIGHT NOW is tempting... especially with all the issues i have been having with battlefield bad company 2. But it's hard to imagine a final fantasy game not being played on a sony console.

any know (most likely AB) when the reviewers (the major NA and EU ones) are going to release their reviews?

Embargo has got to be any day now.... It's really strange why it's so close to the sale date (and a wee bit worrying :/).

I think if you have a PS3/360, unless you care about GS, I really don't see why you'd pick this up on the 360. SP only game with better graphics/FMVs on the PS3 and no disk swapping. I ain't bashing, there's just times as a multiplatform owner unless you have extreme loyalty it is in your best interests to pickup the game on a specific platform.

[rajputwarrior]

Embargo has got to be any day now.... It's really strange why it's so close to the sale date (and a wee bit worrying :/).

I think if you have a PS3/360, unless you care about GS, I really don't see why you'd pick this up on the 360. SP only game with better graphics/FMVs on the PS3 and no disk swapping. I ain't bashing, there's just times as a multiplatform owner unless you have extreme loyalty it is in your best interests to pickup the game on a specific platform.

i'm not saying because of that, im saying that one copy is very attainable right now... for sure ps3 is the one to get

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

i'm not saying because of that, im saying that one copy is very attainable right now... for sure ps3 is the one to get

Ahhhhh

Wouldn't waste your experience starting out on one, then re-starting again. Really not long to wait, it's not like it's leaked 3 weeks in advance. Plus apparently it's nuked last time I checked.

[rajputwarrior]

Ahhhhh

Wouldn't waste your experience starting out on one, then re-starting again. Really not long to wait, it's not like it's leaked 3 weeks in advance. Plus apparently it's nuked last time I checked.

you are right, that's why i'm not even bothering. I'll just pick this up after work on Tuesday. even thought i'll have NO TIME to play it that day but gotta pick it up so i can play it all day Wednesday :)

[forster]

Feels like an Allstar ;) :pirate:

Cant wait to pick this up on PS3 next week.

[rajputwarrior]

Feels like an Allstar ;) :pirate:

Cant wait to pick this up on PS3 next week.

lol yeah me too

[ReAnimation]

I'm picking it up on the PS3 too. Can't wait for it to finally get released.

I wonder when the online retailers will start shipping?