FFXIII teaser ends with new trailer

By TomM_GScom, GameSpotPosted Jan 28, 2009 10:43 am PT

Last week, Square Enix sent its Final Fantasy faithful into a tizzy with a somewhat cryptic countdown timer displayed prominently on the company's Web site. So what did Square Enix have up its sleeve? Those hoping for hot new gameplay details, a release date, or maybe-just-maybe a Wii adaptation...

Last week, Square Enix sent its Final Fantasy faithful into a tizzy with a somewhat cryptic countdown timer displayed prominently on the company's Web site. So what did Square Enix have up its sleeve? Those hoping for hot new gameplay details, a release date, or maybe-just-maybe a Wii adaptation may be in for a letdown.

This morning, Square Enix's weeklong countdown timer ended, and the result was...a new trailer for Final Fantasy XIII. Granted, showings of the hotly anticipated PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 game have been few and far between since it was first announced during the 2006 Electronic Entertainment Expo, so it's difficult to construe the trailer as an out-and-out disappointment.

Along with the expected expertly rendered cutscenes, the trailer demonstrates for the first time substantive clips of FFXIII's gameplay. The in-game combat sequences exhibit a variety of characters matching sword and magic against mechanized beasts sporting automatic weapons in both indoor and outdoor environments. The trailer also offers up snippets of the game's mechs-meet-medieval storyline, with in-game characters dropping references to focuses, pulses, fal'Cie, l'Cie, Cocoon, PSICOM, Sanctum, and Serah.

Though it is expected to arrive in Japan later this year, North American and European gamers aren't expected to see the launch of the game until 2010, at the earliest. For more information, check out GameSpot's previous coverage of FFXIII.

303 Comments

  • Last_Grimreaper

    Posted Mar 19, 2009 3:48 am PT

    I must say that it loks promesing when looking at the graphics (except for the framerate issue atm). Character design is the same old Japanise "POP culture" style as SE seems to like implementing.
    I just hope that FF XIII has as much story as FF 6, 7, 8, 9 or even at least as much as 10. X-2 was like an expansion so it's excused for not having a great story but FF 12 really let me down. Young dude wanting to be a pirate (treasure island anyone?), kingdom falls to the empire (star wars? also most graphiscs, like the judges and troopers remind me a bit too much of Darth Vader and Storm troopers.) Aso the battle system for FF XII was poor, what's fun about only controlling 1 out of 3 characters and on random fights you only ran up to the enemy anyways and let your toons do everything for you. (sure I admit that level balance has been an issue in previous games since you could just press "Attack" and win most fights.) Final fantasy series have been worse since Sakagutchi and most of his team left Square Enix.

  • FireCrossHalo

    Posted Mar 4, 2009 3:02 pm PT

    as long as it is not like Final Fantasy 12 im all for it. It sucked, very horrible combat or at least i think. Does any one know who the girl with sword/gun name is? Driving me nuts hahaha

  • FireCrossHalo

    Posted Mar 4, 2009 3:02 pm PT

    as long as it is not like Final Fantasy 12 im all for it. It sucked, very horrible combat or at least i think. Does any one know who the girl with sword/gun name is? Driving me nuts hahaha

  • BDROMDrive

    Posted Feb 21, 2009 4:50 pm PT

    PS3 has to wait a long time for their games, like Last Remnant and Eternal Sonata, so why not release the PS3 version first? Microcrap should have jumped on-board sooner instead of delaying the game because they demanded a simultaneous release. It's not the gamers fault that Microcrap's version wasn't in development. They should wait for their 12-disc compilation, not us.

  • dornob2562

    Posted Feb 17, 2009 7:25 pm PT

    2010? Dang. Well, Dissidia will come out in July though.

  • Dux30

    Posted Feb 7, 2009 7:36 pm PT

    My only problem with FF XII battle style is that you only really controled 1 person. You would just set everyone else to Auto and that was it. I hope in XIII they find a way to give you better control of your party.

  • FF-Kupo

    Posted Feb 7, 2009 5:37 pm PT

    I loved FF XII's battle style... If its anything like that I can't wait... In my opinion the free roaming style is much more fast paced and you have to be more strategic. After you get stopped trying to get somewhere 10 times gets REALLY annoying... Just glad its not turned based... just wish it would come out this year.. doesn't look like it tho

  • TheoleDominion

    Posted Feb 6, 2009 10:44 am PT

    No turn-base, yeah you can blame today's gaming market for that. Real-time RPG's are out-selling the turn-based ones, especially the last 5 years or so.

  • ClaudeLv250

    Posted Feb 6, 2009 2:35 am PT

    I don't understand the people jumpingoff the ship. FF hasn't been strictly turned based for well over a decade - FFX is the exception.

  • SoulTaker23

    Posted Feb 5, 2009 7:27 pm PT

    crap no turn based...... guess ill have to stick to ffx for another year...

  • piercedxdenizen

    Posted Feb 5, 2009 4:57 am PT

    As with all final fantasy's, this looks promising, but i have to say it definetly doesn't even look comparable to versus

  • red0584

    Posted Feb 3, 2009 3:18 pm PT

    It's not turn based? Crap. You know what, I don't really care. I'm not gonna get FFXIII. I'm done with Final Fantasy

  • whitejackel

    Posted Feb 3, 2009 8:44 am PT

    I honestly never could get into a FF game for some very odd reason cuz i love xenosaga and other hardcore rpg's. But this one i am actuly looking forward to.

  • Kampy1

    Posted Feb 2, 2009 11:01 pm PT

    yay no turn-based.

  • haishido

    Posted Feb 1, 2009 4:24 pm PT

    Try something new? Good on ya Square . I know the days of the FF7 era are gone but c'mon people. I'm sure square wouldn't be here as long as it has staying turn-based forever. You gotta teach an old dog new tricks. Can't wait for this one.

  • Spongedart

    Posted Feb 1, 2009 12:57 pm PT

    Why is it that everyoone wants random battles and turn based combat? It's not even fun anymore. I would rather the game have free form fighting than have to select everything from a menu and that determines if i win or lose a battle. All that aside, I still think it looks pretty good for a game still in development. I'm sure all the frame rate problems will be fixed by the time it releases in japan.

  • CoRiNi

    Posted Feb 1, 2009 9:43 am PT

    it's not RPG .. .. it doesn't feel as Final Fantasy anymore ..they should sell the name to it's owner Sakagutchi at Mistwalker .. I'm sure he will give us a very well done Original Final Fantasy .. this is so disappointing .. sadly the name hasn't changed so I'm getting this game even to just put it in my games closet.

  • _full_metal_

    Posted Feb 1, 2009 1:26 am PT

    why announce a game thats going to be released in 2 to 3 years why dont developers announce games a few weeks before release its much better that way atleast we wont have to wait

  • Purplekjw

    Posted Feb 1, 2009 12:44 am PT

    I thought it was pretty impressive. Framerate aside, the combat system looks great. I don't know what everyone else expected, or why you are disappointed.

  • Flame_Blade88

    Posted Jan 31, 2009 11:36 am PT

    I don't know whether it was the compression of the videos I've seen, but the framerate drops are really noticeable, sadly I'm going to have to say that I came away unimpressed with the new trailer gameplay-wise.

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