Final Fantasy XIII

We’ve just been killing time, really. Star Ocean, The Last Remnant, Tales Of Vesperia… it’s all just been a way of keeping our stat-happy brains occupied until Square Enix is ready to unveil the main event. And given how much spiky, odd-coloured hair we’ve endured since XIII was actually announced, the curtain can’t be lifted soon enough.

There are a bunch of reasons why you should be excited about Final Fantasy’s 360 debut. For one, the plodding, turn-based combat that has driven so many adrenaline junkies away from both franchise and genre has been given its most radical overhaul to date, with combat now playing out in semi-real-time. Action bars fill up and you’re able to jump in and use them whenever you like – spam frequent quick hits to interrupt spellcasters or save up for a full stock so you can bust out your most pyrotechnic attacks and punishing spells. There’s even a little nod to games like Devil May Cry with a new juggling mechanic, so if you pile on the pressure by ganging up on a single enemy, you can put them in a Break state where any launching attack will send them skyward for all kinds of extra (and unavoidable) pain.

Then there’s the matter of production values. It’s no secret that Square Enix is always on the crest of technology, and when it comes to cut-scenes, you’ll struggle to find a developer that can put together sequences that push the hardware harder. But it’s the way that these now seamlessly integrate into the in-game visuals that impresses most, a sprawling and frequently stunning game world completely contradicting the usual RPG tradition where longer games suffer in the aesthetic department. Music too is typically excellent, and we’re sure no expense will be spared when it comes to voice talent – the only two things we’d like to avoid here are anything like FFX’s horrifying laughing scene and Nolan North. Seriously, the dude gets everywhere.

But it’s the current battle against pre-owned game sales that perhaps intrigues us most, with JRPG creators these days filling their titles with more side quests, secrets and post-game action than ever before in a bid to keep the games with the original buyer for as long as possible. It’s only good news so long as Square Enix doesn’t slip into the same trap that others have done and mistake forced repeat plays to find permanently missed items with true replay value. Still, this new trend means Final Fantasy XIII will most likely be one of the feature-packed RPGs we’ll see for some time – all it needs is a couple of meaty side quests like VIII’s card game or XII’s hunts and you could be looking at an extra 30-50 hours right off the bat.

But perhaps the main reason to be excited about FFXIII is that it’s Final Fantasy. The series can be relied upon – with its main iterations, at least – to lead the pack and show other JRPG developers how it’s supposed to be done. Factor in the fact that this is the first of the new generation and the first major FF release on a non-Sony console in over 15 years and it should be clear that Square Enix has one hell of a mountain to climb. But if we were going to choose any software house to deliver on such lofty expectations, we’d wouldn’t choose anybody else.