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TGS 2008: Final Fantasy Versus XIII Trailer Impressions

There's no gameplay in sight, but Square Enix is still teasing us with trailers. We take a look.

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TOKYO--Earlier today, we sat in Square Enix's exclusive Mega Theater in anticipation of new and forthcoming information on its famous franchises. In actuality, we got very little in the way of facts, but we did get to see some trailers for multiple games, including those in the hotly desired Final Fantasy series. One of these games is Final Fantasy Versus XIII, the upcoming PlayStation 3 role-playing game. We didn't emerge from this session knowing much more about the upcoming RPG than we did before (and still know nothing about how the game will play). However, we thought we'd give Final Fantasy fans a quick rundown of what we saw, and hopefully, it will help tide us all over until we get to see something more substantial.

As with last year's TGS trailer, this one begins with the words: “This is a fantasy based on reality.” Then, the camera locks on to a futuristic car zooming across a rural wasteland. We see a figure in leather reclining in the backseat, and we believe him to be Noctis, the known star of the game. Then, we see another quote, attributed to Shakespeare: “There is nothing neither good nor bad but thinking makes it so.” We then cut away to an entirely different scene. Here, a woman in white speaks with the chairman we saw in previous trailers. They are in a boardroom and engage in a heated discussion; an enormous painting looms over them as they approach. We cut away again to the speeding vehicle. The car crosses a bleak landscape where fallen telephone poles litter the view.

The stars strut their stuff.
The stars strut their stuff.

A combat montage follows these scenes. There is a rush of acrobatic moves, spiked hair, and the rush of high speeds as the car zooms ahead. Then, the car stops, and Noctis emerges with his friends. They look into the horizon, and we can see that the road ahead is flooded. The next montage shows scenes we saw at last year's TGS, in which the boys get friendly, putting each other in headlocks and laughing as old friends do. A moment later, they gaze upon a tall building in the distance, which looks impressive but oddly lonely, considering the emptiness of the world we've seen up to this point.

Then, we see a beautiful figure. It is Stella, the other known named character in Final Fantasy Versus XIII. She locks eyes with Noctis, and the two unsheathe their weapons to prepare for a fight. But before the fireworks can begin, we return to the boardroom where the suited man and his companion in white continue their conversation (all in Japanese, of course). In the background, fish swim back and forth in a towering aquarium, with the ripples of water causing the light to dance on the figures in the foreground.

The teaser ended with a reminder that Final Fantasy Versus XIII will be coming only to the PlayStation 3. We weren't given a release date or even a hint as to when it might be released. So, with only brief glimpses of these characters and short montages meant for a few prying eyes, we can only leave you with these tantalizing snippets of information. But rest assured, we'll bring you more on Final Fantasy Versus XIII and its highly anticipated brethren as soon as we can.

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