Final Fantasy XIII announced for PS3 [Update 1]

by Ross Miller { May 8th 2006 at 5:40PM }

As we just reported, Final Fantasy XIII has been announced for the PlayStation 3 (and, so far, only for Sony's console) -- showing that Square Enix is still supporting Sony. According to Chris Kohler at Game|Life, the trailer "looks amazing. Female main character. Looked like prerendered video, except it was realtime. Dramatic action-packed battles with crazy camerawork."

The title is being produced by Yoshinori Kitase (Final Fantasies 5-8 and 10, Chrono Trigger) and directed by Motomu Toriyama (FFX, X-2, and the Final Fantasy VII tech demo shown at last year's E3).

As far as we know, this is a PlayStation 3 exclusive. While no love was shown for Microsoft, the Xbox 360 does have three RPGs on the way from Japanese developer MistWalker, formed by Final Fantasy veteran Hironobu Sakaguchi.

Update: Gamespot reports that there are actually 3 different Final Fantasy XIII titles. The second title, featuring more spiky-haired madness, is also bound for PS3 and is directed by Advent Children's Tetsuya Nomura. The final game in the XIII trio is destined for mobile platforms.

Tags: e32006, enix, final fantasy XIII, FinalFantasyXiii, sequeenix, square, square enix, squenix

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Amir @ May 8th 2006 5:45PM

Man, MS got jibbed. They really should learn to sign exclusivity deals. I don't care much for FF, but a lot of people do, and it seems Microsoft haven't learnt their lesson from the last generation.

Jedi6 @ May 8th 2006 5:45PM

Xbox Fanboys am cry

Paul Gale @ May 8th 2006 5:46PM

I'm really looking forward to seeing some Final Fantasy 13 screenshots and hopefully video.
Paul Gale
1up.com

don_sf @ May 8th 2006 5:47PM

yes, this is great. real time ps3, now this is what i want.

The1 @ May 8th 2006 5:48PM

As stated this is no suprise, Square is tied to the hilt with SONY.

DidYouLoseASock @ May 8th 2006 5:49PM

Unlucky 13....
"and, so far, only for Sony's console" looks like I just got very interested in the PS3 again

Brian @ May 8th 2006 5:49PM

IS there a better shot of the logo?
Usually, it's very telling of the overall world of the game (FFVII's Meteor, FFVIII's weird Squall/whoever that is embrace, FFIX's Crystal (yecch), FFX's Yuna-into-sinspawn-looking-thing, X-2's YRP action flower, FFXII's Judge).

Darth Pixel @ May 8th 2006 5:53PM

Now, I think that was clear, right!?

Square never said "No!" to Microsoft, because Microsoft has a lot of money to "invest". Yet, when the time comes to show who they care about, their choice does not leave any doubt.

Sorry, Peter, but you can't make it in Japan without Square.

Zero_ @ May 8th 2006 5:54PM

I see the logoc, and from what I decode, it's a beyblade. So, FFXIII will consist of adults fighting evil with their soul-enchanted bey blades. It's BEEEEYYYBBBLAAAADDDEEESSSS.

Eric @ May 8th 2006 5:55PM

Female main character?...Bout time they finally switched to the gender they've always been thinking of. FF8 to current FF's would have made more sense with female leads...instead we got femmy metro man/boys.

sharoon @ May 8th 2006 5:58PM

Why would any Japanese publisher sign an exclusivity deal with Microshit when Xbox 2 won't even sell more units than a GBA in Japan on a weekly basis? That sounds like ... oh right, shitty ROI.

Jeffler @ May 8th 2006 6:00PM

Can we just put an end to these sequels?

Adam @ May 8th 2006 6:02PM

Home come Paul Gale is always reading (and posting on) Joystiq? Is 1up not covering E3?

PS, Yes i know they're streaming the Nintendo conference tomorow for free

cool @ May 8th 2006 6:04PM

this is gonna be sweet and eric final fantasy x-2 had 3 female main characters

JRM @ May 8th 2006 6:07PM

MS will never catch the attention of Japanese gamers without square enix. If they knew what was good for them, they'd put money into making a deal with SE and stop buying all those other developers + ad creators.

John4767 @ May 8th 2006 6:12PM

Wow... First they release FF11 for the 360, now 12 so far is a PS3 only game... That sucks

SuicideNinja @ May 8th 2006 6:17PM

"Female main character?...Bout time they finally switched to the gender they've always been thinking of. FF8 to current FF's would have made more sense with female leads...instead we got femmy metro man/boys."

I don't know...FFX-2 sounded cool with an all-female cast...but it wasn't very good compared to it's predecessor. I guess as long as both genders are provided it should be a good deal.

Xenosaga or Xenogears needs to make a recovery/comeback. FF is starting to worry me, as are these ridiculous amounts of MMOs that are being shoved into the scene. A remake of FF7 sounds more interesting than FFXII so far. I guess we'll see this fall.

dan @ May 8th 2006 6:18PM

http://www.jeux-france.com/Webmasters/Images/35editeurs20060508_235310_0_big.jpg

logo screenshot

lunatech @ May 8th 2006 6:22PM

yeah but the FF series is pretty much garbage now.

I was the biggest fan of the series when FF2 (US) and FF3 (US) was out for the super nintendo.

Any die hard Final Fantasy fan will tell you that FF2 & FF3 were the best.

The people who think FF7 was the best of the series are all little kids who got on the bandwagon.

Now FF just rides on name recognition to carry it sales.

Squares crowning achievements were all in the Super Nintendo.

I dare someone argue with me on this point :/

lunatech @ May 8th 2006 6:27PM

Oh a small correction.

Final Fantasy Tactics was superb. Though, this was the combined work of Square and the Ogre Tactics team.

tactics @ May 8th 2006 6:30PM

lunatech: that's why they're buddy-buddy with sony ;) they BOTH ride along on name recognition, rather than quality products.

birds of a feather flock together?

-"superfan" tactics.

bv @ May 8th 2006 6:31PM

Gameplay screenshot of FFXIII:

http://i.i.com.com/cnet.g2/images/2006/127/reviews/928790_20060508_screen002.jpg

Realtime my ass!

wichenroder @ May 8th 2006 6:33PM

lol to americans who who feel 360 missed a chance, lol...

Extracheeze @ May 8th 2006 6:44PM

Hmm...seems like they're pitting the Final Fantasy announcement against the Mistwalker announcements. This puts Sakaguchi-san, Square-Enix, and RPGs in a strange position...

Extracheeze @ May 8th 2006 6:46PM

I second Lunatech's comment. FF6 is amazing, simply a masterpiece. All FF's thereafter pale in comparison.

Chyld989 @ May 8th 2006 6:47PM

@17
I played every FF when it came out, and I still maintain FF7 is the best, so that wrecks your theory about that =P

As for FFXIII, I just hope it's good. I was horribly disappointed with 8, 9 was decent, and 10 and 10-2 were pretty much just crap. 11 doesn't count (should have been FFOnline), and the demo of 12 made it seem like it could be decent, or could just suck. Here's hoping they're finally turning the series around to be good again.

Joel @ May 8th 2006 6:58PM

YEAH! I was actually afraid that Square-Enix would go Microsoft, with FFXI 360 and all. I almost thought I would have to get a 360! M$ is going down!

lunatech @ May 8th 2006 7:02PM

Extracheese speaks from experience :/

Final Fantasy 2 and 3 had the most endearing cast of characters.

Final Fantasy 7 came with the graphics and the CG, left the story out.

Chyld do you even remember the story of Kain, the first dragoon? Cecil and Rosa? Rydia???...

Do remember the Coin theme of Edgar and Sabin of Figaro? Relm? Celis & Locke??... Final Fantasy 7 was a disappointment from FF3.

Chyld I doubt you know what you what you're talking about.

I would say the only good Final Fantasy release on the Playstation was Final Fantasy Tactics, which was a direct child of Ogre Tactics.

Something was lost when we went to 3d.

Dragon Warrior 4 (NES)
Final Fantasy 2
Final Fantasy 3
Chrono Trigger
Phantasy Star 2

...all masterpieces without the hype.

leo @ May 8th 2006 8:25PM

chrono cross? xenogears? vagrant story? front mission 3? kingdom heart? valkyrie profile? FF VII? FF X? FF XII? Dragon quest VIII? star ocean? grandia? legend of mana? parasite eve? brave fencer musashi? none of those playstation square/ enix game appeal to you? then you have a problem........
and I can't believe you don't mention FF VI in your masterpiece list....

justchris @ May 8th 2006 9:20PM

Leo, most of the games you named were pale imitations of what went before on SNES & Genesis. Chrono Cross was a disappointment in every way. Taken on it's own merits, it's a decent game, but as a sequel to one of the 3 best RPGs ever created it was virtually worthless.

Xenogears was great, despite it's flaws. Xenosaga, on the other hand, loses some of the charm. Vagrant Story, Front Mission 3 and Kingdom Hearts aren't really worth comparing. It's already been mentioned that FFVII-FFX-2 are pale imitations of their forebearers. Grandia is an interesting game, with good controls, but usually fairly pointless story and characters. Legend of Mana was uninteresting, and don't get me started on Parasite Eve.

I've never actually played Brave Fencer Musashi.

So that leaves you with Star Ocean (Second Star Story, Star Ocean 3 was a waste of the franchise) and Valkyrie Profile. Dragon Quest VIII is a good game, but it's only really good because it's the same game Dragon Quest has always been, and we haven't had one in years. VII was better than VIII, and it was on the playstation.

And you totally ignored one of the best RPGs of recent generations, Skies of Arcadia, which was released for Dreamcast and the Gamecube.

Final Fantasy Tactics, along with Disgaea and most things by Nippon Icchi are really fun, but they're tactical RPGs and don't quite fit into the same category.

Zero_ @ May 9th 2006 2:08AM

*sigh*

Look, all Final Fantasy games are great. They are just different in their own regard, leave them alone, especially with the "VII vs everything else" battle. I've played -most- Final Fantasy games, including Square's other games such as Chrono Trigger/Cross, Brave Fencer Musashi, Parasitive Eve, Xenogears etc. etc. and FFVII will always be my favourite.

Now that, that discussion is over, onto Final Fantasy XIII, which I want to see real footage, not CG-crap.

Slim @ May 10th 2006 3:32PM

The trailer for this is amazing, and it's definitely going to be a must-buy for me. Apologies to everyone stuck in nostalgia, but maybe Square-Enix are trying to tackle a younger generation?

I'm 17, and storywise FFIV is my favourite, but I enjoy all of the series (except for 3 and 11, as I don't own them). If you compare something to things that have gone before, you'll be disappointed. Different things are going to appeal to different people. The story of X-2 was trash, but I enjoyed the gameplay, for example.

Oh, and as for "cg-trash", I think those may be actual in-game graphics in the second combat screen, though I could be mistaken.