As a rule of thumb, the only people to really die during the opening of an RPG are:  the main character's direct family, nameless NPCs who don't matter, and possibly everyone in the main character's home town.  Anyone else dying will probably miraculously resurface during the game.

I know, but I have become so accustomed to having them a certain way.

I just do not like the battle systems used in XI or XII at all and I hope XIII doesn't follow the same style.

I am uncertain that even the Great Champloo could make that dish edible for me.

The turn based system they use pretty much up until X were what made me fall in love with the series. FFXI remains to be even be touched because I won't pay to play online and FFXII are the only ones I have yet to finish. I just gave up about halfway through XII. I have played and completed every other main game I-X, I even played and finished X-2.

So true. It's like the guy who shows a picture of his wife/fiance in a war movie. Dead in the next 10 minutes.

How about when the first guy you control dies? That only happened once though.

Oh, yet another thread with hardcore jRPG fans crying over this and that.

Ever since VII Final Fantasy has been a mainstream franchise and SE needs to keep it that way. Hardcore jRPG fans will buy XIII anyway, there is just no reason to listen to their complains. But to try to catch more attention from non-jRPG nerds is a good idea.

Anyway, Sazh and this asian girl look absolutely cool. The Wakka-guy - not so much. Oh and lol @ "adding the black dude in the game is a westernization and ruins the series!!!!!111" comments.

In Lufia 1, half of your starting party dies in like the first 20 minutes... and that's a SNES game.

FFXIII is going to have dynamic turn-based battles, no worries. FFXII had lots of moogles and crystals, FFVII had a black dude with guns, FFVIII had a cowboy with rifles. People complaining about this stuff is a sign of the current trend of moaning with everything SE does. Otherwise, you can complain as much as you want with the designs an names.
I find their names very weird, probably it´s based on the FFXIII´s world (Fal Cie, etc...). The kid´s design is cool, although a rip-off of dumbass Naruto, but much better. It would be cool to have him on the main party. The middle-guy seems to be a comic relief, I doubt he´ll be among the main party, probably only playable in the beginning. The chick looks generic, so I doubt she´ll be among the main party as well.

Wow, the guy in the middle sucks. So does the guy in the right. I like the girl. Reminds me of slutty Yuna.

Versus XIII > Regular XIII, its offical .