Final Fantasy XIII Ships 1.8 Million Units At Launch

And one of these 1,8m is mine, muhahahah.

Cant wait for christmas!

We are… doomed to wait!! Q_Q

I got my LE PS3 bundle from Square Enix (the online store) some 6 hours ago and have spent most of the time since then trying to transfer my PS3 data over to the new console to no avail. I finally gave up and started playing the game.

First off, the LE set comes with different box art than the normal game: it's actually a “shiny” version of the same box art that will grace foreign markets. The logo looks awful however, as it has no Amano artwork behind it.

As for game impressions, there are no spoilers here, though I mention the demo (though nothing specific).

The game itself is…well the demo is basically the REAL start of the game, and 90% of the footage Square has shown via promotional materials is actually content that takes place just after the demo ended. So despite their going nuts with the footage, it's actually not such that the game has been spoiled.

I will say that the cliched characterizations are still annoying me, especially Snow. He acts like a total idiot, especially in the way he keeps using the word “Hero” excessively. I also don't care for Hope's pathetic demeanor. Vanilla seems to be on something as she acts quite unnatural. Lightning is far more aggressive than she was depicted, and Sash seems to split between whining and anger.

The music is excellent, and to my surprise there IS a battle fanfare that first plays AFTER the events in the demo. It's all quite fitting for the game and no case of you thinking “it's just not FF without Uematsu”.

The graphic are fantastic as well, though there is still a huge difference between the CG and the in-game engine, despite Square long ago having claimed it would eliminate it.

The loading times are hardly even noticable (except when you load your save file).

On a whole the game feels far more like Final Fantasy X-2 than it does anything else, especially with the Optima Change system.

No, not really. There are always stores in Akihabara that have SE games before they release. You can see them stocked behind the counters. It's just that they won't sell them early whereas they will with most other companies. For example I got Biohazard 5 a day early, but with Kingdom Hearts for the DS, they refused to sell it until the day of. The same went for Dragon Quest 9 as well, I might add. One store in particular had dozens of the game sitting on their sales counters while the clerks were putting pricing stickers on them. I asked if they would sell it and they said “Not until tomorrow.”

Well namely that the two consoles refused to recognize each other. The Slim PS3 I got in September kept saying it was waiting for the new PS3 to initiate the transfer, and the new PS3 just said “Please Wait” and absolutely nothing happened even after 5 minutes passed.

It really ticked me off because I had tons of save files on the PS3 and whatnot and wanted them all imported to the new one, but I lost them all because I got fed up and just formatted the thing so I can sell it. (No point having 2 units).

BTW as a general observation, the Ceramic White Slim PS3 is nice looking, but with the lights off it's a bit distracting in that you can see the color whereas the black model blended in with the darkness.

I might also point out that, currently in Japan, this LE version is the only way you can get a 250GB PS3. The regular models are all 120GB.

Oh so you also feel the characters are stereotypical? I was worried it was just me and that everyone was going to get on my case. I don't know, but it seems like ever since the advent of voice-acting in Japanese RPGs, this issue has become more and more of a problem.

I honestly have to ask who can actually enjoy these types of characters? Personally, if FFXIII didn't have this problem I'd think it was hands down one of the best RPGs ever made.

Oh you're kidding me! You mean a USB Flash Drive will work on the PS3?! I didn't even think about that. Crap that would have solved the problem entirely.

Well, I'm not sure with flash drives. But an external HDD would have worked.

Yeah, that's what I meant, that sellers don't dare to move XIII until 12/17.. I just want to know when P-A would get their allotment and ship them.

Was trying my hardest to avert my sight from your impressions :(… if it plays like X-2 that's actually a good thing, I remember the battle system being very fast and fun, keeping you on your toes. Now the excruciating wait.. and no more reading anymore impressions….

Oh it doesn't have anything extra. Just the Ceramic White PS3 and the “special” box version of the game. It's sad really, as you would expect some kind of artbook or figure or whatnot. It's not really a Square promotion, it's more of a Sony promotion, as they do with many other game/console pack-in deals. But really now, if the Dissidia PSP could come with a few extras, why not the FFXIII PS3?

Though I WILL say that it's a great value, for those who can purchase it at the retail price. I paid roughly 42000 yen after the tax and shipping and COD service. The 120GB PS3 Slim costs 30,000 yen itself, and the game is roughly 8,800 or something. So you basically get the two of them together PLUS the extra 100-odd GB of storage and the Ceramic White colored unit for free. That's not so bad.

Oh the X-2 comparisons are from a variety of things really. And no, I don't consider that a bad thing either despite everyone apparent loathing of X-2. BTW the battles can go quite fast- I got it down to 23 seconds on a number of battles.

:(

The FFX2 battle system felt a bit too fast for me, especially after playing the turn-based FFX.

Is this even faster?

Thanks for all of your FFXIII impressions and sharing your PS3 transfer trial.

That's interesting that the two systems won't recognize each other. Really curious why now. I transferred data with a small external hard drive, a bit of a pain. Good luck with the data copying and enjoy FF13 while were waiting for our copies to ship :)

Ah, I checked again (don't ask…it has to do with a severe lack of towns) and a correction is needed- the characters DO move their mouths, including the NPCs.