Final Fantasy XIII's Japanese release isn't until the winter of 2009 (and North America won't see it until 2010, a fact that continues to haunt my dreams and lead me to the ruinous habit of drinking), but the demo just came out along with the Final Fantasy Advent Children Complete release, and I know you guys want to see it! Joystiq has a collection of videos that give a pretty solid look at the game's start. Here they are!
So there you go: just under 30 minutes of gameplay and cutscene awesomeness. As for my thoughts: there's a lot of really hot action in the cutscene where (ahem) Lightning frees all the hooded people, but since the battle system is more turn/time-based we probably won't get to see much of that outside of cutscenes, which is sad. Not that I think Final Fantasies should necessarily move straight into a Kingdom Hearts-esque active battle system, but it might be interesting for a character to have a Limit Break-type mode they can go into where they operate on a more hand-to-hand combat level.
...That's a random thought. Anyway, check 'em out and be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments! Meanwhile, I'm going to go line up at my local Game Stop. You can never be too early!
So there you go: just under 30 minutes of gameplay and cutscene awesomeness. As for my thoughts: there's a lot of really hot action in the cutscene where (ahem) Lightning frees all the hooded people, but since the battle system is more turn/time-based we probably won't get to see much of that outside of cutscenes, which is sad. Not that I think Final Fantasies should necessarily move straight into a Kingdom Hearts-esque active battle system, but it might be interesting for a character to have a Limit Break-type mode they can go into where they operate on a more hand-to-hand combat level.
...That's a random thought. Anyway, check 'em out and be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments! Meanwhile, I'm going to go line up at my local Game Stop. You can never be too early!
