Final Fantasy XIII vs Final Fantasy Versus XIII

With the release of the Final Fantasy XIII demo in Japan renewed interest has been restored in the franchise and in Square Enix itself. Faith has been restored in loyal followers who have been severely underwhelmed by Square Enix's latest offerings, myself included. Right now Square Enix has created an amazing amount of hype in gamers not only from Japan but around the world too. And this is a great sign for JRPG fans and those curious about JRPGs.

Both of these games look fantastic. The demo of Final Fantasy XIII showed a return to the turn based combat system, of which I am a massive fan of. It adds a certain amount of strategy to fights, especially when you fight harder bosses. Final Fantasy Versus XIII is going in a different direction. Tetsuya Nomura, creator of Versus XIII has told people that the combat system will be reminiscent of the Kingdom Hearts series. He also stated that there will be battle sequences that will mimic the epic  fights of the Final Fantasy VII movie Advent Children.

Final Fantasy XIII takes place in a futuristic world. Parts of it seem bright and lively. Whether this theme carries on is unclear. But one thing we can say is that it looks GOOD. Versus XIII uses the same Crystal Tools Engine as Final Fantasy XIII. So the only real difference realistically will be the setting of each game. One will not be superior to the other.

Now Characters, this is where I was a little bedazzled. Final Fantasy XIII's lead Character Lightning seems a little lacking in the Charisma stakes. Not much is known about her but for a lead Character in a Final Fantasy game she seems to lack the presence of other leads. Mind you the lead character in XII, Vaan, also seemed to lack the presence of past heroes. Noctis on the other hand has a certain presence about him. If anyone has watched the trailer for Versus XIII then you will be able to understand what I mean. Noctis has a commanding presence and a ruthless side to him. Yet he also has a human side. He's a fantastic design, but I wouldn't expect less from the creator of Cloud, Sephiroth, Aerith, Squall and Seifer. All fantastic characters.

There is alot to like about each game. They will both be fantastic. But the absolute awesomeness of Noctis Lucis Caelum has me hanging out for Versus XIII more than Final Fantasy XIII. As good as both games will be, I want Versus XIII more.

So what do are you looking forward to more ? Thanks for reading and I appreciate your thoughts.

[Gue1]

Too soon to start making "vs's" based on speculations.

[ZuperAmazingCooKie]

On a single console on the smallest amount of discs necessary to play the game

[SinnedNogara]

I am sure both will be very good. I am more excited for Versus, being a PS3 exclusive (and by that I mean using Blu-ray). If they use a 50GB disc, just imagine the possibilites. I also think the other game will be very dark, with a M rating (or at least I think so).

[Spike47]

Why? Well simply the team that is making it and the style of it.

[ALoneWolves]

Because of the dev team working on it. Kitase and Toriyama were the main brains behind VII, VIII and X.

On the Versus side you have Nomura directing and Nojima writing (granted he worked on the others games as well), which is the same as KH and AC to which I think FF is better.

Also about the characters???

Lightning is awesome, she has heaps of character, no idea what you are talking about.

[WengYong]

But Lightning didn't catch my attention quite like Noctis.

Having Nomura directing you know hes going to make some uber cool charcters. Nocyis does have a more commanding presence than her. Just watch the clips and tell me Im wrong.

[Aclay]

I haven't played a Final Fantasy or JRPG before, but later on this year I plan on getting myself deep into some JRPG's and past Final Fantasy games like FFX, Dragon Quest VIII, and Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 to get myself ready for FFXIII and Versus XIII.

However, based upon what I've seen so far I'm looking forward to Versus XIII more. And NO, I'm not looking forward to Versus XII more because it's a PS3 exclusive, I'm looking forward to it more because:

- it's going to be a more mature FF game and the rumors about this game possibly being the first rated M Final Fantasy game has me a little more intrigued.
-The darker atmosphere of the game.
-The Battle System being similar to Kingdom Hearts (Real Time)

I also think that Versus XIII will be a bigger hit in the West and will sell more in the U.S. and Europe than FFXIII will sell in the same regions just based on the fact that it will be more mature and it's combat system being reminiscent to Kingdom Hearts.

[socomnick]

Hmmm wonder whats next. Xbox 1 million vs playstation 5 ?

[WengYong]

I like your posts dude. Quite humorous.

[ZuperAmazingCooKie]

They came in different flavors. Sadly for him his jokes come in only one flavor, so they stopped being funny.

[heyheyhey]

too early... i like the darker theme and style of Versus more, but we haven't seen any gameplay so we can't judge

the only thing we know so far is that FF13 looks awesome and the battle system will be great, can't really compare it with Versus yet

[MitchKoobski]

Being a massive fan of Final Fantasy games for years, the idea of one at least half set in the real world is intriguing.

and by real world i mean real cities and cars, none of that FF8 jargon.

Im still looking forward to Final Fantasy XIII more though simply for the story and for the fact its the main game of the three.

[Mr_Luke]

FF XIII Vs is going to be a must buy for me. It's going to be huge O_o
About the XII i'd like to try it first.

[CryWolf]

My vote is Final Fantasy versus XIII is going to look and be more better then FFXIII.