Picking up the new Final Fantasy today during lunch. Anyone else planning on getting this? The screenshots I've seen look beautiful and I have heard good things about the gameplay as well. Hopefully it won't be the huge bust that FFXII was, in my opinion.

hey buddy,

what you pickin it up for? Xbox, PS, or PC?

I was looking into it as well.

I picked it up for the PS3. One of the reasons I got the PS3 over the XBOX360 was for Final Fantasy. Then I heard they were releasing is for both systems. But no matter PS3 has the better exclusives even after losing exclusive liscense to FF. Uncharted 1&2, Valkyria Chronicles and of couse MLB: The Show all made the PS3 a better value in my opinion.

That and FFXIII on PS3 is all on one disk while they had to split the 360 version (or so I heard).

Damn you said the magic word although I don't have the money/time to get this I will be buying it ASAP I love the final fantasy series and I agree thats why I have ps3 over xbox!!

since i dont have ps3 or new xbox i think it is time to break out the original nintendo and play final fantasy 1 lol

and mike tyson punch out


woot

The first Final Fantasy is still my favourite.

Initial thoughts on XIII.

Graphics: Visuals are really pretty. The pre-rendered cut scenes are pretty much what you have come to expect from Square-Enix and in HD. The in-game engine cutscenes are not quite as good but are still very high quality. short in game cutscenes are plentiful and seemless with the action. The backgrounds and levels are equally pretty. A lot of little touches here and there round out the nearly flawless visuals (such as the character portraits in the menu system).

Gameplay: Extremely fast paced battle system. I personally love it. They brought back the ATB system but with alot of tweaks. The biggest is the new Paradigm system. Your characters are able to be one of 6 different roles at any one time and you can change thier roles mid battle pretty much instantly. In one battle I started with a high damage load out and then when the boss started doing AOE damage i could swap to a very conservative loadout with a tank and healer. Flipping roles are done with a fully customizable Paradigm deck. Advancement in these roles is done with seperate Crystariums for each role a Character has. These are similar to the sphere grid in FFX but work on a point system. The game has no character levels. Only possible complaint is that the world is very linear and the ease you into the combat system very slowly. I don't mind b/c they are telling a good story and that is what I play RPGs for anyways.

Sound: Great music. I miss the classic FF victory music but I think it would get annoying since the battle come fast and often. The voice acting is well done with the possible exception of Vanille.

Characters: All seem to be pretty well fleshed out. They all have thier motivations (even if they are not 100% apparent as early into the game as I am). The cinematic style they are taking with the game really brings out the characters. At times you feel like you are playing a movie and that is 100% OK with me b/c of how well the executed the transistion between cutscenes and gameplay. The characters are likeable for the most part and a change in direction for the FF series. The main character is Lightning, a woman and an adult. So, a departure from the, in my opinion, standard RPG coming of age story. She is also one tough lady. The party dynamic is interesting with alot of dialogue between characters and alot of conflict between them. So, not the typical tight group of most RPGs.

Those are my first impressions from about the first 3.5 hours of gameplay.

I just bought it for the PS3 the 10th, and so far I love it. Square Enix never really fails to deliver good games, but by far, Final Fantasy VII and VIII are still my favorites.