Final Fantasy XIII is undoubtedly the most anticipated RPG game of next year. The game has been in development for a very long time and Japanese PS3 owners will have first crack at it later this year. The lengthy demo for the game was released several months ago in Japan with enough content packed in to offer a taste of the game.
I recently attended Otakon, which is the second largest anime convention in the US and the third largest in the world. It was a sight to see with folks from all across the US from California to Florida in attendance. This year it seems like the video game presences was waning a little bit with Namco Bandi missing in action.
The convention draws a lot of business from overseas with importing companies in attendance selling games and stuff only available in Japan. I was able to pick up a copy of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete on Blu-ray along with the trial demo of Final Fantasy XIII on Blu-ray for $74.
As soon as I arrived home I tore open the trial demo and shoved it into my PS3. The intro to the game looked amazing watching it on Blu-ray in crystal 1080p. Since everything is in Japanese I had to play around with the controls a bit to figure out all of the commands.
Surprisingly, I was able to figure out most of the commands without understanding a lick of Japanese. The most notable difference in the combat system for FFXIII is the battle system. In FFXII, the combat was practically real-time but it looks like Square Enix has gone back to its turn-based roots.
For those not familiar with the combat system in Final Fantasy XIII, its very similar to what is found in Mass Effect or Fallout 3. However, its an active turn-based system where you are attacking real-time instead of loading up at a frozen screen. The notable addition to the combat is the queuing/combo system. Gamers can queue up attacks similarly to FFXII or Fallout 3 and execute them.
Being a huge fan of Fallout 3, I instantly fell in love with the new combat system. There are no random attacks, similarly to the way it was in FFXII. You will be able to see enemies and evade them if you wish to avoid confrontation.
I would just like to say that the demo is pretty long. I was not able to complete it today and was only able to play 30 minutes of it. The trial demo is supposed to be as long as hour and a half to two hours. The trial demo is massive in size as well as it sits at five gigs on the Blu-ray disc. I will make sure to bring you more details about the game after I have beaten it a few times.
