I was expecting this day to have much fanfare and excitement.  Here I am just 18 hours away from having a copy of Final Fantasy 13 in my hands and I’m so pumped up but I look around and everybody is all ‘meh’. 

From what I’ve read and heard about this game, Final Fantasy XIII is structured more like Final Fantasy 6, in that it leads you along a certain path in the story, then opens things up for you for the 2nd half of the game.  I’m excited by this comparison.  Final Fantasy 6 is one of the greatest games of all time and comparing anything to 6 is an honour. 

From the early reviews of the game, everybody is saying that these are the best graphics on the PS3 yet.  With games like Metal Gear Solid 4, Killzone 2, Uncharted 2, and God Of War 3, that’s hefty praise and I’m excited to play the game on my nice HD TV with the lights off and the high-tech speakers doing their thing ;p.

One thing that concerns me about this game, going into it knowing that there’s no towns (apparently) scares me a bit, I love towns and cities and stuff, I can relax in towns, I don’t have to be on the edge all the time.  I also don’t like the fact that I can only control one character at a time, but I’m sure these things will be just fine. 

The only thing I can think of as to why people are not that excited is the early reviews of the game.  They’ve been fairly weak for a Final Fantasy release.  I don’t think this means that it’s a bad game, but rather, the competition has risen to incredible heights.  Companies like BioWare and Naughty Dog and Electronic Arts are raising the level of excellence in teh video game industry and Square-Enix sort of needs to have a fire lit under their asses again.  Maybe the somewhat poor reception that Final Fantasy XIII is getting will wake up the head honcho’s of Square-Enix.

I’m expecting this game to give me my Final Fantasy fix until Versus XIII.  I don’t think that it will be my all time favourite Final Fantasy game, but I think it will definetely compete for top 5 and that’s all I can ask for.  In the past year, I’ve played Final Fantasy: Dissidia, Final Fantasy 4: The After Years and now I’m blessed with Final Fantasy XIII.  If you’re a Final Fantasy fan, you really can’t complain that you’re not getting your fair share of Final Fantasy!  And there’s still Agito XIII, Versus XIII (which look AMAZING btw) and Final Fantasy 14 to look forward to, not to mention a possible FF7 Remake or post-Advent Children game with Genesis perhaps?  And who knows, maybe a Final Fantasy 5 or 6 DS remake too.  Final Fantasy 15 news is probably around the corner as well…so much FF!