Final Fantasy XIII | First Impressions

Troy Benedict, Senior Writer

March 9, 2010

It's been more than three years since a major console release for the Final Fantasy series and much has happened in that time. March 9th marked the release of not only the next-gen debut for the series, but it was also the first time, since 1997's Final Fantasy VII, that a new Final Fantasy console release was not an exclusive to the Sony PlayStation.

While Microsoft has secured a version of Final Fantasy XIII for the Xbox 360, the differences between the 360 and PS3 seem miniscule from a gameplay point of view but could be fairly significant to audio and videophiles. According to an official list of differences between the two versions, the 360 version is available on 3 discs, with more noticeable audio compression and 720p video resolution on full motion videos. The PlayStation 3 version apparently has uncompressed audio and 1080p video and all content fits on a single disc thanks to the system's dual-layer Blu-Ray disc format.

The version of Final Fantasy XIII used for this GoozerNation's first impression is the PlayStation 3 release.

So, how does the game play on the PlayStation 3? Surely, there has to be a day-one update, and a lengthy installer for a massive dual-layer blu-ray formatted game, right? Right??

Wrong.

Final Fantasy XIII started up immediately, and did not prompt for any type of hard drive installation. Perhaps a secret installer was loading content to the hard drive behind the game's opening prerendered cinematics, but if it did, it installed files within about a two-minute window.

It was a little disappointing to see the game's reliance on prerendered cinematic, but what was displayed was absolutely gorgeous. Think of a mix of a very fertile and earthen fantasy world, like that from the film Avatar, mixed with some fancy architecture and futuristic technology. The prerendered cinematics are something of an expected trademark with Final Fantasy and Japanese role playing games, in general, but with the power of the PlayStation 3, it would have been nice to see Square-Enix rely solely on the game's 3D engine for all of its visual flair. It's understandable from a cost and development standpoint why Square still holds a lot of faith in prerendered full-motion video.

The action begins with a revolution taking place aboard a train. The assault quickly turns into an all out battle amongst armored and faceless military soldiers, and what appears to be a large group of civilian rebels. Those who have watched early footage of FFXIII will be very familiar with the opening battle. The visual stylings of the opening battle environment are reminiscent of the Final Fantasy VII opening...a dark and industrial underworld...and a train.

While Square-Enix still uses prerendered cinematics, the in-engine graphics for Final Fantasy XIII are nothing to scoff at. The transitions between prerendered and in-engine visuals is almost unnoticeable, except for those with a well-trained eye for the technical limitations of game-rendered 3D characters and environments.

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