Final Fantasy XIII Import Impressions: First Look

My first impression of Final Fantasy XIII as I followed my characters through possibly the most breath taking scenery imaginable was of course sheer awe.

I’m not gushing for Final Fantasy fandom’s sake either; the quality of this game's visuals is nothing short of amazing. Our lower resolution video files don't do the game justice, but having sat in front of a nice big HDTV I can say that everything is crisp, clean and very detailed. The cut-scenes are intense, action packed and very nicely engineered.

Would we be satisfied with anything less from a major Final Fantasy release on the PS3, the same PS3 that Sony touts is packed full of the latest technology? I would think not. Though, pretty scenery and hi-tech graphics isn’t all we want in a modern day Final Fantasy, we want decent stories to sustain our short attention spans.

The early story tends to get a little too bogged down with in-party fighting but slowly develops as each character’s intertwining stories are revealed and their goals as L’cie are explained.

As a first impression, it's really too early to comment on the story in full, but I will say that I may just be enamored with the story so far because of my love of all things sci-fi, but this game truly mixes the fantasy and sci-fi genres beautifully. Let’s hope the wheels don’t fall off this wagon. 

Check out the video below for a sneak peek of some in-game footage. The English version of this game will be released in March simultaneously for PAL and NTSC regions if all goes to Square-Enix’s plan of attack, but if you can’t wait, various websites will ship you a Japanese language version of FFXIII. I would recommend a decent grasp of the Japanese language though (both reading and listening).

Stay tuned for our detailed battle gameplay thoughts tomorrow and a full review very soon!

RSS Comment Discuss

1. Awsome
   Rob S | January 10, 2010

   I love this game just by looking at it. im an originmal Final Fantasy fan and this so far looks like the best installment.

2. Refreshing
   Mike H | January 7, 2010

   It'll be nice to hear an opinion of someone who has similar tastes in Final Fantasy instead of the masses bashing it for reasons that aren't big turn offs for us fans.

3. Untitled
   SS | January 7, 2010

   can't wait for the review!