Final Fantasy XIII Arrives In North America On March 9

What the hell is going on here? Wapanese, Whigger, Jap, Jip, Fip, Lap, Mipper, Blipper? People who get made fun of constantly for being whatever geekaboo crap can't be as bad as the people who waste all their time whining about it, can they? Can't we all just get along? If someone wants to import a game who can't even understand/read Japanese but might use someone's translation guide isn't in the wrong. They won't get as much enjoyment, in my opinion, but why does it bother everyone else so much? You know what? These are all rhetorical questions--because these comments are already out of control...
Just enjoy your stay in SE. No one likes a fat kid who can't control his bladder in the lazy river. Yeah, I went there!

Pfff... as if the internet would ever be that simple.

Well said.

«« a person cant express her opinion these days without being called names i guess XD , i dont care really , i didnt offend anyone , ill just stick to my point either you think is valid or not XD ... i usualy dont do flame wars XD

Opinion. What a lovely cop-out these days. Right next to "trolling."

Sweetheart, opinions are something that come from you, and FOR you. However, when you say "this game will fail BECAUSE they're trying to translate it for 70% of the world, and not keeping in Japanese even if I can't read", that's elitism... No two ways about it.

Don't worry, I'm w/ you on preferring the Jpn theme song, hope I won't be accused of being a weeboo or whatnot either.. and that's my or your "preference" since I've already gotten used to that being the game's theme from hearing and watching the trailer multiple times.

Usually people who comment here respect each other's opinions and have intelligent discussions though.. but this looks more like gametailers' board now filled w/ teenagers putting others down by calling people names... I do understand where the other poster is coming from, but we can all disagree w/o being nasty. Not everybody thinks the same, simple as that.

It bothers me because most of them tend to be elitist about it, and try to rub it in everyone's face how "fail" the game is and how better they are for getting it in a language they don't even know... Remember Soulja Boy? He had a Japanese version of Guilty Gear 2, and was quite adamant about showing it off, and how better he was than everyone else for having it. They're kind of like him.

Not all, but most. So, it gave me a bleak outlook on that stuff. :(

I don't think anyone here is intentionally flaunting that they're getting the game early. If they are it's probably best to ignore it.

It's OK to wait for an English release. It's OK to import a Japanese game. It's not OK to insult someone for having an opinion different than yours.

Relax and relish that Final Fantasy XIII is only a few months away :)

Nicely said. Keep the peace!

But, he wasn't making an opinion... :( What he said was sheer elitism...

Saying the game will fail because it's gonna be in English....that's just overstepping the boundaries of opinions, don't you think?

My burger is made with cheese, fresh meat, ketchup, and sesame buns. But, the top bun is missing ONE sesame seed short of my own sense of perfection. Hence, the company that makes those buns fails, and their product fails.

See what's wrong with that picture? =/ It's just not right.

In the end, though it's what one person thinks. It may be the minority and many disagree, and the person with the opinion may strongly believe in it, but in the end it's still THAT person's comment. While I agree that the person may have exaggerated a little, this argument is dragging on and taking over this post.

Also, contrary to in real life, it's much easier to overlook the comment if it bothers you a lot here. Don't take it too personally =p

youu took this wayy to serious since when did i say the game was gona fail cause it is in english? O_O , im not a him btw «« im a her !
I said this stratagy for me fails ! i dont like it ok ! ME!
For gods sakes dude i played every FF in english before , although i didnt like the dubs i didnt had other choice at the time , this time arround there is choice and they are not giving ,it alllllllllll is os simple just gimmee subtitles , and bboth voice overs to choose from thats all im asking , since i cant do anything bout the song , ive heard it bout 5 times now , and sorry the first part is so not FF ........... call what names you want i dont really care «« ill be happy with my importversion thank you , and ofc ill buy whan it comes out in europe so i can compare it .... now quit the flame war and be happy!

Wow, the amount of whining in these comments is astounding. I thought Siliconera was above this. Can't we all just get along and stop crying one way or the other?

I'm happy the date is getting pushed up.

Edit: Well, I'm happy the date is pushed up, except for the fact that it's right next to Strange Journey. Blah.

Woah, that's right. Haha, ouch. I wonder if Atlus will push Megaten back now.

Hopefully not. I could wait to play FFXIII, but I would like to play SJ sooner rather than later.

My Hands sucks. If they wanted an English song, they should have just gotten someone to sing an English version of the Japanese theme. It would have probably sucked slightly less than My Hands.

I was expecting some hater to say this who probably never even heard the song.

Then again, I didn't either...

People need to stop being so Wapanese...

escuse me if i dont like it XD , maybe im wapanese but i like games with original voices , that being said i would never play Uncharted 2 in any other language but english for instance ... jrpgs just fell better jrpgs with jap voices for me , and i already was afectioned to the jap theme ...

Then what about that whole Crystal Beaers and Bon Jovi nonsense? That game *has* no Jap theme, yet people bitch just *because* it doesn't...

Acting Wapanese isn't something to be proud of... It's like being a whigger. It only makes you a poser. =/

Um, you guys need to stop using "jap". Seriously.

im not a poser i like what i like thats all , as much as i liked bon jovi back in the day , does it suit FF? i dont think so either , does a song that starts with take a shower and put on make up suits FF 13 ? not for me thanks
what im bitching about here , is that they are guiving us no choice , since they could ... and this is but markting stratagy ... wich in my point of view fails ... i dont have to justify my tastes , but i can complain now cant i XD
if i think its not right i say it , you dont have to agree

That's sooner than I expected.

Very impressive and pleasing news. If it's true that Mass Effect 2 hits stores 1/26/09 (It's _street dated_ at Gamestop for this date) then it will be perfect timing to finish that game out and usher in a nice session of FFXIII. It's nice to have a such a quick turn around for this large of a S-E title. I imagine they've been working on this all along as they built the game up?

Haha, I wonder if Aoshi will cancel his pre-order now and wait for the Eng version. Probably not! :P

He should! I don't get why anyone would pay a hundred dollars for game that's only gonna come out in 3 months after, that you can't even understand!

Well, first, I know Aoshi is fluent in Japanese so he'll be able to play the game and completely enjoy it. Second, he likes to try out both English and Japanese voices. $100 is pricey, though. I'm considering picking up the import PS3 version and then getting the US 360 version. It'd be interesting to see what it feels like playing a Final Fantasy on the Xbox (not including the FFXI MMO, of course--not the same).

If he can understand it, then that's fine. I just don't get why people rave to import it who stand no chance of even crossing the three-hour threshold since they'll just get stuck...

Well, you could consider it people lining the pockets of those companies that are producing games that you also enjoy, in turn, reassuring the continued release of these games you want. =) And if these people don't get further than 3 hours in, then that means they'll be double-dipping for their regions release. Brightside to everything, right?

Yea, Aoshi is fluent like Qoo said. The lucky bastard's playing Sakura Note at the moment. ><

I don't even know what that is... :(

Sounds like a Sakura Taisen visual novel...

If you like Mother 3 on GBA, you would love Sakura Note, it's a quirky and light hearted adventure game, though it consists mostly of running around and talking to people to further the story (and it's seen from different perspectives by different characters, sometimes by your pet dog and cat). The Uematsu soundtrack is awesome as well, which was the main reason I got this game, bu the game exceeded my expectation as well.

Yeah Qoo, I would be buying both as essentially they are two different games (I know I'm pointing out the obvious, but to me playing it in Eng and Jpn provide me w/ different experiences). W/ $5 coupon, it came to $88.80 which isn't too bad considering the dollar yen exchange rate now.. I too am considering if I should get the US version on 360, since I might as well get a 2nd copy on a different platform, but I'm leaning toward PS3 as one blu-ray is more convenient for going back to view cutscenes later. Will decide after I play the import.

W/ this song, heck no, lol

Yeah, March is much sooner than expected, unless the date is in the British format read as September 3rd haha.

Nah, still glad to have made the pre-order and 12/17 just can't come sooner. But I also pre-ordered the US version on Amazon now.. though I really don't like the idea of playing the same game twice back to back, like MGS4.

Nice to see it finally gets a release date. And lucky for us Europeans we get the same date as USA.

Adding Leona Lewis's song in the game might boost it's popularity for non-hardcore gamers. Anyway, I'd prefer the Japanese song.

Wow! I didn't expect that to be released over here so soon. I wonder what i will do with my Japanese copy..... I doubt anyone will buy it.... On a more negative note that dude was a little cheesy.... But those battle have changed a lot from the demo!!!!

i said it on kotaku ill say it here , this was fail -.-...............
thank heavens for PS3 import even if i cant read japanese , ill understnad spoken times ... ««
im disapointed

You can't read japanese and yet you import anyways...

Just ignore them. Those are failfans; they try sooooo hard to be Japanese, but they only end up making fools of themselves. I knew a girl like that in my high school. Everyone made fun of her, and she even wondered why.

Of course people make fun of you when you try hard to be something you're not, nor capable of... >.>

geez guys you got it all wrong «« , just because i want this in japanese now makes me a fail fan? i dont try to be japanese , not i want to ,i am what i am , im european , portuguese actually , and yet if i take things in english its ok? IF this is a japanese GAME then let it Be a japanese Game , not fuse it into some western thing««

It looks like Square are experimenting and trying to target a more mainstream audience than usual with FFXIII. I understand where you're coming from when you say you're disappointed by the change, but considering the amount of time and resources they've had to spend on this game, I can't really blame them for attempting to attract more players in the West.

We don't have the full details of what the NTSC/PAL versions will be like though, so your concerns might be addressed for all you know. :)

I've always figured FF was as mainstream as it gets for an RPG game ;)

Not just a mainstream audience, I wonder if perhaps they are also trying to target women. Think back to the release of Final Fantasy X-2 and the outrage among many male gamers who were "offended" they would be playing as a WOMAN instead of a man. They complained about the Dress-sphere system and everything.

It's interesting that Square decided to make XIII with a female lead as well.

DUDE! You're still living in the stone age! People don't localize games like they did with Revelations!

They aren't making it "non-Japanese." They're TRANSLATING IT. Besides...HOW is "Snow Villiers" Japanese? You're making NO sense.

Final Fantasy games have never been "Japanese RPGs" per se... They've always been "general RPGs" that just happen to be made by the Japanese.

A Japanese RPG...that would be stuff like Shin Megami Tensei, or Ar Tonelico...

Just curious...why do you feel this will fail?

Wapanese. Weaboo. Whatever they call it. Those people are weird and totally illogical. >.>

«« and what makes you then , you could like not ofeend people , im sooooooooooooo a japanese weebo that my life is only focused on japan , right «« shish ««

Its in a language you can understand Ishaan, so clearly its fail.

Guess the next time I pop in Final Fantasy X International, I'll play it in French. That way I won't fail for sure!

if fails for me because this song wasant written or composed for the game , thing i am acostumed to with FF's , even FF 12 uematsu worked with angela aki for the theme song .

Woah, FFXII's theme was by Angela Aki? I had no idea. Someone made me listen to her cover of "Kiss from a Rose" recently, which was decent.

Angela aki is a good artist and she sings very well in many laguages , did you ever try to watch the final fantasy Voices concert live its really good .
Ofc maybe the reason why she sings soo good english is the fact shes half japanese half italian and has traveled around the world XD ! hehehe

I'll give it a look. I've been watching youtubes of a lot of VGLs and videogame orchestras lately anyway. Loved the PLAY! orchestra for Chrono Trigger and Cross.

i feel it fails because , the song wasant made for the game , was taken from a famous artist , a good one lets say , on an makting atempt to apeal to other audiences , ive been a gamer for many years , and as a final fantasy i am disapointed by this ... thats all its just my opinion , i want nothing but success to FF13 , but i am happy , they could have chosen a more proper song , it has a good melody but the lyrics :/ i do not aprove XD !

Are you "disapointed" because they changed the game's theme song? Because I really can't see any other reason for that nonsense.

yes i am , the rest i was expectign it , so its nothign new , the game will be great im sure of it , and as much as i dont like this theme song thing , i will buy it later «« ,since i cant read japanese porperly i know ill miss lots of things , but i love maaya sakamoto as lighting ,and as a fan thats reason enough for me to buy the game in its original form , and hope they do a international version with both voices .

You are 100% an idiot. You just need to know that....

1-You're not buying a game just cause ONE theme song got changed....
2-You're willing to miss out on the game JUST cause of that, plus you're dishing out a hundred dollars.
3-You love Maaya Sakamoto....but, you don't even know what the hell she'll be talking about in the damn game. That's kind of like buying a GPS, but never using it, JUST cause you wanted a GPS.

Yeah. You most certainly do fail... I think it's time you get real, cause if this is how you're gonna spend money and live life, you're gonna end up in a ditch of debt at a very young age, and you wouldn't have even gotten anything enjoyable out of it...

Easy man. No need to insult her.

i understand fully spoken japanese dude «« im just lazy to read it ...

i bought the lightning ps3 the game comes with it.....

Wow. Congrats on the "Lightning" PS3, Eddie. Let me know what your thoughts are of it's appearance in person.

thats a nice Ps3 XD but im not much for the pink , anywya grats , its really cool !

Is all this fuss over changing the opening song? I mean, it's just going to be... 3-4 minutes of Leona Lewis. Is it really that hard to tolerate?

It's impossible to tolerate when the lyrics are easy to understand. But nothing is fail when it's in a foreign language. That's the new law now.

Yeah, it's a really minor thing and I didn't think "My Hands" was that bad of a song... though it has some parts that I don't like.

Personally I turned off the trailer as soon as Kitase started talking. What were those strange sounds coming out of his mouth? I suppose the English text that appeared on screen might have offered some clues but I'm a busy man Squeenix, I don't have time for reading.

Also I didn't like the way that host was looking at me.

The host wasn't looking at you with contempt! He was just trying to shoot invisible laser beams from his eyes that detail his exuberance in the game.

Couldn't you tell? That guy was excited. They totally didn't have to pay him for that, by the way.

He needed to shave and put on a tie. Any douchebag can advertise Rock Band or Call of Duty, but this is Final Freakin Fantasy. Show some class man!

There are plenty of reasons to want to see the original game instead of the translated version, and not all of them are elitism and Japanophilia. When you change the vocal track, you're changing the emotions and the emphasis.

I'll be playing the english version of the game. It all depends on whether the extra effort it takes to read a walkthrough is worth whatever nuances are lost in translation. For me it's not.

I do wish though they wouldn't Americanize all the cultural refs. I'd rather just play an english language of the original vision than one tailored to regional tastes.

And note to flamers: Lyh Scully said english isn't her native language either! So it's a matter of having a choice between two foreign languages and choosing the original. If you actually read what she's saying instead of just reacting, she's not being a Japanophile, she's just saying she wants the original version instead of the version altered to make it more globally marketable.

I don't mean to dampen the celebration but there is technically no reason Square isn't doing a worldwide simultaneous launch for this one. Seems to me it's just more interested in making sure the Japanese audience-which is a minority of its sales-are happy and the foreigners have to wait. Didn't this company go on record stating that it would push for worldwide simultaneous launches like 2 years ago?

I remember they were going for a simultaneous release for Lost Odyssey too but the US version ended up coming out two months later, which is still a very short time considering. Also the Jpn game already had the entire English dub on it as well, but only Jpn text (to be fair, English was more like the original language for the game and Jpn dub being secondary). Maybe you're right, but they are probably other reasons for releasing any game in a certain time frame from marketing standpoint and such.

Oh to be sure there would be a major marketing problem if the game was releasing worldwide next month, but Square could have started marketing the game months ago. Call me jaded, but after living in Japan for a bit over 4 years now, I have seen the gross illogical nature of traditional Japanese companies. Sure this "view" is filtered through my own business understanding -I'm from America- but there is a reason so many foreigners (and nowadays many Japanese as well) don't want to work for a Japanese company here. One of my gaijin friends who DOES work for a domestic company went as far as to say,

"Getting promoted in a Japanese company isn't about good performance and skills so much as it is doing what you are told and staying with the company."

And indeed he is correct; it is quite rare for executive-level staff to be hired from outside the company (hence Sir Howard Stringer was a double-blow for Sony Japan: a foreigner AND outside of Sony Japan) or for many top ranking officials to be actually qualified from a western standpoint. I've been in situations where I think I'm talking to the boss and yet it's the OTHER person that is the boss, yet said boss has no qualities or skills that would even make you think they are capable of working at their company.

Now I'm not saying Square is like this necessarily (though I could go off on that given I also know people who work or have worked there) but the point is kind of that Japanese companies really don't understand what needs to be done in terms of change, and Square in particular isn't all too interested in taking advice from foreigners (or so claim some of its foreign staff).

BUT yes, to look at the bright side that is a VERY short span of time which, as I said before, is quite impressive considering how things use to be. Heck I remember waiting some 10 months for Final Fantasy VII, and don't even get me started on 8/16-Bit games.

Just as a general question, is anyone else confused like hell as to what this game is actually about? Each new promotional video is more and more nonsensical. From what I can gather, the PVs would have us believe 95% of the game takes place in Pulse and involves some kind of war. I sure hope the game isn't that narrow in scope...

Hmm...I watched this link for the first time just now and...wow. First of all why did we need to watch that nameless actor walk around; it's a videogame so if not the developers then at least have the decency to use game footage; why not have just used a montage of scenes from the FF series?

And the part with the President of SE talking in English was amusing as well. You can see him reading off a teleprompter. I wonder if he can even speak English or if it's "Conversation School syndrome" (the phenomena in Japan where people who can't speak English go to a conversation "school" for a few weeks to help them "prepare" for a speech in a foreign language.)

Square Enix is taking itself WAY too seriously. Where was all the game footage? There is a playable DEMO in Japan, you would think foreign gamers would get to see a bit more.