http://www.square-enix.co.jp/fabula/ff13/

Someone get on ripping that piece of music post-haste!!

... *ahem* It's a little bare, but still nice to see some sort of progress.

*edit* if you let the music loop for awhile, a new piece starts!!

Someone at SEMO has ripped them. As I'm at work, I'm not sure as to the quality, but if someone can do a better job (assuming these are bad quality), feel free to do so.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/urh4z3

Honestly I've worried the traditional consistency I've personally found in the numbered FF soundtracks (from IV to even XI and XII) would expire due to Hamauzu, but what little I've heard is, if not amazing, generally of higher quality than any of his post-FFX works. I also personally think of SFII as his best work (FFX was equally good, but 2/3 wasn't his) and really don’t get into his recent lifeless new-age efforts, but I hope he'll set another high standard with his hugest project to date.

As for the game itself, I wish it would eventually get an Xbox360 release in my country.

I loved both clips. Even if the game sucks, we're in for quite a treat with the music. I wonder if the entire score will use live instruments?

It was a beautiful experience to enter that site. Fantastic music and beautiful images. I wish the real world was as beautiful as Final Fantasy. The look of those two girls makes me come back for more.

Great piece of art all-together that site! Two thumbs up!

In the start it sounds like Hamauzu emulating Uematsu, then later it starts sounding more like usual Hamauzu. Not terribly exciting yet, but I trust it should be a good soundtrack, if Hamauzu doesn't go all FFXII on us, and I think he's better prepared for the job than Sakimoto was. After all, he has stuff like Dirge of Cerberus and Unlimited Saga under his belt already. I don't think he'll be able to make up for missing Junya Nakano from FFX though.

Wow, this is the first musical opinions of yours that I completely disagree on. (Of course, I'm sure the same thing isn't mutual.) I think generally Hamauzu has evolved and matured with time even if Sigma Harmonics was only really a spinoff project for him. I have high expectations for this score and the great samples don't disappoint!

The rendering of Vanille's hair is stunning, especially the curls in the pig-tails.  Women would kill to have such well-maintained hair.

Looks like we've got a North America and Europe release date, for both 360 and PS3 versions: March 9, 2010.  Also, check out the new developers interview:

http://kotaku.com/5403678/final-fantasy … ca-march-9

This is the first I'd heard that Leona Lewis will be doing the opening/main theme single.  What do you guys think of "My Hands"?

im guessing the characters in the new game will all have their pants hanging half down their butt...

I haven't heard Lewis' song yet. I just find it very odd they are replacing the Japanese vocal theme with it. From what I've gathered on various comments on the internet, Lewis' music doesn't fit, whereas the Japanese vocal theme, at least "fits a bit more" (mileage may vary)

With XIII just around the corner, I'm finally getting around to watching Gametrailers' thirteen part Retrospective on the entire series:

http://www.gametrailers.com/game/the-fi … ctive/4831

I just got through viewing the 8 and 16 bit eras.  They're informative, excellent watches; I especially got a kick at the sprite pixel breakdown and scripted character movement placement portion on the Final Fantasy VI feature.

^Gotta second the love for GT's retrospectives as they are really surprisingly well made. Really enjoyed the FF, RE and Zelda ones in particular. Seriously, go check 'em out if you haven't already (:

Excellent!  I needed something to keep me busy this afternoon.

Oooh, retrospectives? And my evening is COVERED!

With the game's North America and Europe release this week, I figured the thread deserved to be bumped to the forefront.  For those with the privilege of getting to choose between the PS3 and 360 version, reading up on Eurogamer's ever-informative "Face-Off" write-up will probably make the decision a lot easier.  Says EG:

"The rumours are true. Final Fantasy XIII on Xbox 360 isn't anywhere near as impressive as it is on PlayStation 3. The real kicker is that it's a lot worse than it should have been.  Built from the ground upwards with an eye towards the storage limitation of the disc, and with the different architectures of the two HD consoles firmly in mind, Square Enix would have stood a good chance of getting the game looking pretty much like-for-like on both platforms. However, by just about every measurable criteria, it seems that the Xbox 360 version of Final Fantasy XIII is a quick port where the existing PS3 material has been very roughly manhandled and bludgeoned into shape in order to work on the Microsoft console."

I've never gone to a midnight release for a game or console before.

That changes today. I'm picking up FFXIII tonight. Pretty psyched.

Ramza

Same here they're actually doing a midnight launch at the GameStop in Edmonton Southgate Mall.  I don't know if I'll actually be able to stay up any lengthy amount of time to play it though, there's that dratted thing called work the next day. =p

I have Amazon release-date delivery and should get it tomorrow. Looking forward to it! I've really been wearing out my copy of the OST...

Put about 3 hours into it and it's absolutely gorgeous.  Everything is so slick.... the menus, character profiles, levelling-up, everything.  Loving it.

That.  Except change 3 to 7 for me.  I saw you online (in addition to half my PSN friends list) playing it by the way.

I'm loving the battle system and I find it awesome how leveling up is essentially a tweaked version of FFX's grid.  And I thought I'd be the last to admit it, but I'm actually digging a lot of the music so far.  It's definitely not your typical Final Fantasy score and I would have preferred the FFX team back but I'm still pretty much enjoying Hamauzu's work here.  It really goes well with the in-game visuals, the environment, and overall look-and-feel of the game, but it's not such an easy listen outside of the game for me.. yet.

I'm about an hour and a half in. It's entertaining but starts out fairly slow. Graphics are terrific, music is wonderful... story and characters are the usual JRPG excess (and Vanille joins the ranks of Rinoa and Selphie as the most annoying FF female protagonists).

My biggest issue is with how the battles are a cakewalk. Agonizingly easy, no strategy required at all. I'm sure it'll get a lot more complicated in the future but the game is playing itself at this point. I don't mind too much because it's so pretty.

Whereabouts in Edmonton do you live? I visit Southgate mall everytime I visit my girlfriend down there.

I fired it up briefly tonight, just to see if it had an hard drive install...doesn't appear to..Didn't want to ruin the surprise.  What I did saw, I got chills...my tv looked like high rez art.

I have the day off tomorrow (Wednesday) and plan to have the stereo volume set liberally.. Can't wait to check it out

I live in the Kill Hoods (Mill Woods) area. 

I still haven't had a chance to put in the game yet... very disappointed in myself.   Fortunately there's nothing on TV I want to watch for the next few days so hopefully there'll be some time.  (I had to watch Lost yesterday, plus I had some other work I had to do... =p)

I was waiting for my copy ALL DAY.  I saw herrkotowski playing it earlier along with a few other friends.  UPS came at like 5:00 (hooray!).  I should be getting my hardcover guide today around the same time.  I'm not too familiar with Piggyback's stuff.  Are they any good?  I quite like BradyGames.

Piggyback is INCREDIBLE.   You'd be hard-pressed to find many who wouldn't agree that they're one of the most esteemed publishers of U.S./European strategy guides today.   They're awfully particular about the games they choose to write for, so consider it a treat for when it's a game you're interested in.

Final Fantasy IX, Resident Evil 5, and the four Metal Gear Solid titles were especially noteworthy.  Their limited edition variations are kickass, too.

I've NEVER seen Piggyback guides. Are they US exclusive? The Bradygames Final Fantasy IX was terrible, I'd like to know where I could get a proper one for that game sometime down the line.

Hahaha, you're right on FFIX's guide... I don't know if you could even call that a guide. It was more like a guide to a website, and now that that material doesn't exist anymore...

Versus Books had some nice guides before they went under. Their "Totally Unauthorized RE2 Guide" was awesome (and slaughtered the official books) and the Wild Arms 2 Perfect Guide was mostly well done - the lists and such seemed like an afterthought however.

Up until six months ago, the link to PlayOnline for FFIX was working just fine. It might've been a mirror, though.

And a big hell yeah on the Versus books. They were written by Gamefan staffers, weren't they? It would explain the colorful way in which they were written. I always loved the unofficial artwork. I adored my FFVII one; I wonder where it went?

Find it.  It goes for quite a bit on ebay.  I was lucky enough to find a copy at Goodwill with the poster still intact!  Actually, I found that, the guide to FF8, and the ol' Nintendo Power guide to FF III/VI.  That was a damn fine trip. 

Anyways, back to Final Fantasy XIII.

Hope needs to die.

I'm trying to decide which character is more annoying. There's Lightning, the cranky bitch. Hope, the whiny baby. Sazh, the weird guy with the chocobo in his hair (although he's probably the best of the bunch). Snow, who I want to punch every time he opens his mouth to talk about what a hero he is. And then there's Vanille, who I officially proclaim the most annoying Final Fantasy female protagonist EVER. Yes, she's even more annoying than Rinoa. Congratulations, Square Enix! There's something to be proud of!

This game is a disappointment, probably one of the lesser FFs for me. It's just hard to believe how badly written it is. The dialogue is ghastly and for whatever reason, the writers decided to leave important plot points out of said dialogue, forcing you to go into the in-game encyclopedia to find out what the hell just happened.

Wow, so much hate for poor little Hope.  I actually like his character the most so far.  I just.. hope.. he gets over the little issue he's having (the thing that happens in the beginning of the game) and I.. hope.. he does it soon, because just about all of his dialogue so far is about that.  Hope's voice actor, Vincent Martella, is the only one I'm familiar with so far.  He played Chris' best friend Greg on the TV show Everybody Hates Chris, so every time Hope speaks, that instantly comes to mind, which so does not fit in this setting at all, haha.

I'm 100% on the same page as Wanderer about Vanille, yuck, she doesn't fit with the rest of the crew at all in my opinion.  Given that even her English voice is annoying, I would absolutely hate to hear the Japanese counterpart.  Here's hoping something drastic happens to her character so she knocks off the whole cute and happy attitude and starts getting serious.  If Selphie were ever to return for a future voice-acted game, I think she'd sound and act just like Vanille.  Scary.

I'm starting to like Lightning more and more as the game progresses.  The way she acts towards the beginning of the game was a bit of a turn off but she's getting better.  Early on she kinda reminded me of a female version of Cloud or Squall (perhaps this was intentional as they're all weather related?).  You know what I mean right?  "Whatever..."

Not sure how I feel about Snow and Sazh yet, haven't learned enough of their past or seen enough serious dialogue with them.  A big smile gets planted on my face every time Sazh's chocobo makes an appearance though.  If there was ever a pet that I would want, that would seriously be it.

I seem to recall Selphie appearing in Kingdom Hearts where she did have some spoken dialogue.
The Japanese voice was done by the same actress that did Yuna if I'm not mistaken.

Don't expect to EVER hear any serious dialogue from Snow. Just don't.
In fact, don't expect ANY of the characters to change much until the very end.
Sazh has some good moments though.

And yeah, the Chocobo is cute

I can't think of a single recent Final Fantasy without annoying characters (perhaps IX, but I don't think IX had a good character except for Steiner and Freya). Or rather, you know J-RPG in general has a traditional obsession with having at least one retarded girl in the party and Vanilla is just another.