Split-Screen :: The Game-Geek’s Daily Read

At DKS3713, Square-Enix announced that a demo for their hotly anticipated next-gen RPG Final Fantasy XIII (to be released first for PS3 and then XBox 360) would be packaged along with the Blu-ray disc of FFVII: Advent Children Complete. Various news updates later, it was discovered that the demo would be more than 90 minutes in length (CG sequences notwithstanding) and now, the collective fanboyism of the entire FF community may be sorely tested in the days to come.

Tetsuya Nomura, director of the Fabula Nova Crystallis project, Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days and Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, recently suggested that the FFXIII demo could be released separately after first shipping with AC Complete (he also wondered “When we’ll be able to sleep” before being silenced by a voice known only as “The Mouse”).

Granted the size of the demo makes it impossible to include on the Playstation Network, but paying for a demo? Not really something new, according to some poor souls, but definitely so for Square-Enix.

Final Fantasy XIII is set in the realm of the conflicting worlds Cocoon, a floating mechanized city of crystals in the sky, and Pulse, a more naturalistic world stocked with considerably less shiny resources. The Farsi are the creators of Cocoon while the Lusi are agents who carry out their orders. Lightning (not her real name) is a Lusi and has been chosen as, “the enemy of humanity who will bring about the downfall of the world” by the crystals. Surprise, surprise, as her blonde, bandana-wearing comrade may also be a Lusi. Not much has been revealed, aside from the summons Ifrit and Carbuncle; as of now, it’s still being speculated if they transform into vehicles like initially revealed Shiva (capable of becoming a motorcycle).

The game will focus heavily on action, but what’s even more telling is that the third game in the Fabula Nova project, Final Fantasy Agito XIII for the PSP, will release after both FFXIII and FF Versus XIII. Either this means we’ll be getting Agito XIII much later than initially thought or Versus XIII will be arriving much sooner.

One thing is for sure though: Square-Enix is looking to make this project the pinnacle of this decade’s portfolio. Previous Final Fantasy games haven’t been even half the grand premieres that FFXIII is shaping up to become.

However, the question still remains: Will you pick up the FFXIII demo for the price of a full game?

Time will tell just how far the company’s profit-garnering hole can go. Meanwhile, we’ll get back to wrestling with the absurd number of thirteens SE has made us keep track of lately.