So which one is the main character?

slimertheghost

Camt wait to get x111.

Viper

Looks like a neat movie.

But seriously, what is it with Square and girly-guys? It's curious, their obsession with a world filled with perpetually 19-year-old pop stars. I'm not hating - I'm just curious.

Stirdy

@Atheist Jew: Unless you're actually playing the game. If you can't tell gameplay from prerender then it's suddently annoying as heck ;)

"Ok, so I think I'm controlling my dude here... now go talk to ... NO.. COME BACK HERE!!! Oh... ok... I wasn't playing to start with..."

The Whaleman

@Atheist Jew: These are definitely not prerendered, even FFXII got better prerendered graphics than this. Good graphics though.

Mundus

Killzone in FF!?

Pendulum swing to PS3 confirmed[/shane]

OcelotSnake89

I can't tell if these are screenshots of gameplay or pre-rendered cinematics, and that is fucking impressive.

Atheist Jew

Why does it look like they're standing on freaking water?

Gantz: Your Trusted Friend in Science.

I'm glad she shaves but holy hell man, that second picture is pure awesome. Thats good artwork. I hope they'll release it as a collectible book or something because I'd buy it

Nelo-Risi

I think I have an armpit fetish now ;)

shefakedit21

Lightning and that other girl looks like sisters.

Mundus

Oh god now the sites going to get a bunch of armpit fetish traffic. Will we be able to tell the difference?

DissmalScientist

Is that a helghast in the main picture?? ;)
Looking good, all we need now is some information on the playability.. That's what i really want to know

caddy_boy

Armpit fetishists of the world, UNITE!!

Raynre

Looks good.

SolidEyeSystem

I love the art, almost looks like a painting. I bet this game will also feature a ton of rainbows and well-lit dungeons.

It's clear it will be hated by all "true diablo fanboys" ;)

Not that they would bother to defile their livingroom with a console anyway... so they will never know what they're missing.

The Whaleman

@zombie16thc: I ditto that.
Gotta love armpit. Nice HQ scans.

Punani

I can clearly tell that that guy in the 4th picture is male. FAKED.

cordsie

Only the Cell Processor can Blu Ray can produce such detailed armpits! It would take 3 DVD's just to house that thing!

I kid. I kid.

CHU BOI

From that screenshot I'm going to guess she is not French ;)

zombie16thc

I am seriously looking forward to both these games, they will be epic.

ray89

Looks awesome.

isblackhawk

If Versus isn't on the 360 I'm buying a PS3. I've been waiting for a non-disney version of Kingdom Hearts for SO LONG.

Wizzard

Is it wrong that i want to lick that armpit?

Jnas

@Yin: I guess I don't read enough FF posts here to realize what an incredibly touchy subject it must be.

And you're right, after years of girls receiving the video game treatment from devs I suppose it's only fair to put the shoe on the other foot.

That beats the hell out of my theory that only pretty teenagers have 'stats'. :)

Anywho, sorry for beating the dead horse. I honestly had no idea. I guess I need to take a few weeks off work and catch up on my Kotaku sensibilities. (Funny trombone music here.)

Stirdy

Hey! They're reusing assests from Spirit's Within!! AWESOME!

Black-Dog-Howls

well...at least she shaves...

icepick314

@slimertheghost:

Armpit girl, though, they did say they wanted to flesh out the story so that each character appeared to be the main character ala FFVI and Wild Arms 1.

Zero_

@Stirdy: It's more curious how it's mentioned in every single post about FF here ever made.

Personally I like it. You don't seem to be complaining over the girls looking constantly over-pretty, let boys be exploited and get an difficult body ideal for a while too.

Yin

@Mundus:
@The Whaleman:

But that's the thing...the fidelity of the graphics is so high (or perhaps the grain of the image is so prevalent) that I can't tell one from the other, and usually it's really, REALLY obvious.

Atheist Jew

@Yin: We are in agreement, my friend. Any cynicism detected in my second post was added purely for the benefit of the disemvoweller. It wasn't aimed at you, Yin. :)

I was just getting a kick out of the apparent delusions of grandeur.

Stirdy

@Jtn:

Yes you are completely out of your mind :P

Paincake

So we've seen pretty pictures and video clips for years, but has anything that would actually make the game fun-you know, like gameplay, story, etc-been revealed yet?

StupidDufus

The 2nd artwork pic looks beautifull.

Paincake

Yeah babe! that awesome armpit and it's neighbourhood ^_^

Ultrasinc

Armpits just suddenly got a whole lot more attractive.

Am I going insane?

Jtn

@Stirdy: I was just saying it's more curious how many people mentions it than that it's actually done(wouldn't we be used to pretty boys in japanese games by now?), didn't mean to come off as that angry at you :/
And now your initial comment is disemvowelled... Whoa.

Yin

Thus far lightning is hotter than Yuna

Go Team Venture

@Ultrasinc: "next gen" consoles should able to render realistic armpit hair by now. You start all clean but as time goes by and you gain levels, so does your armpit hair. Why didn't any game do this yet? It will be totally 100% under simulation. Something Peter Molyneux would do in Fable III. I guess we should give him any ideas... oops, too late.

Shinryoma

I am so pumped for these games.... so so pretty

scuba2steve

You got my killzone in my FFXIII!

Al2x

She looks like she is about to do something really badass to kill all the (guards?). Firaga from her armpits maybe?

AngelMayLaugh

Looks a little grainy 0_o

SeraphX2

@zombie16thc:
@Punani:
that's hilarious.
even oozo the clown is laughing, see.

+ Watch video

cy-rano

*swoon* >_<

doesntlikedede

I'm giggling about all the armpit comments. Ehm..guys, what's going on in here? Still, I'm very excited for this game, also for Versus! (damn, I gotta buy a PS3 after all)

Rutt

Let's just hope that it's less like Final Fantasy VII, and more like VI or IX.

Gestahl

Lightning! So that's her name, and an awesome name it is. This might very well be the second Final Fantasy game I play.

ChiChi_BBQ

It's nice to know laser hair removal was well ahead it's time in Final Fantasy fiction.

littletad

I sure hope this game's as fun as 7! But not as boring as 8, or as underwhelming as 12. Be nice if the cinematics were as good as 10, but a better battle system than 9. And if it's anything like 11, I'm gonna be pissed. Not as pissed as I was with 4, but the opposite of how much I liked 6. I guess 2 kind of pissed me off, but 5 solved that. And 3 was alright.... Possibility of it being as classic as 1? Nah...

UniComp

The Almost Advent Children Game.

NotoriousJnX

Looks like you could just reach out and touch it

Paradyme

Bring on FFXIII (PS3)

DigitalHero

Not too much new stuff, let's hope there is no "MGS2" style surprise.

stoutbear

it just looks pretty.....I think thats the only reason I want it

chaos_isnt_here

Looks like Squenix played Killzone.

hagridore

@Nelo-Risi: i agree. the 2nd pic is gorgeous. it's been a while since ffxiii pictures actually got me excited. :)

i also totally dig what nomura is doing this time around.... advent children's revised character designs were great, but holy hell, in ffdoc it looked like he was just phoning it in.

bialia

@Atheist Jew: I really, really agree. These look like ingames to me. Either way, they're really freakin pretty.

TheCleaningGuy

@Mundus:

Ya, up till now i was under the impression that Lightning, the female main character, and the girl with the pig tails were the same exact person. lol i guess they're not now.u

Pbombas

Oh jesus... how the hell will they port this correctly.

suya123

Shouldn't there be a news tag for 360 too?

GreyFoxV1

@Stirdy
While I don't really care for some of the newer designs of Final Fantasy males I completely understand why they are the way they are. It is to my recollection (please, someone correct me if I'm wrong) that Japanese folks are more partial to "pretty boys", whereas Americans (as in North America, not just the united states of) prefer the muscle bound "warrior" type look. These are just general oversimplifications obviously, but it's how a lot of companies depict their characters towards their perspective markets. All I'm saying is that it's just different cultures is all, so it's not really worth complaining about. Every time you see a new final fantasy character announced, and want to roll your eyes at the overload of "pretty" in the male characters just remind yourself that its a Japanese game that is marketed towards the Japanese culture. Therefore, the look of the characters (while appealing to American audiences too, or else it wouldn't sell so well obviously lol) are directed more towards Japanese people.

If I'm wrong forgive me, but if I'm right... I dunno give me a cookie or something... (I like cookies)

DanTheMagnum

I guess because some or most images are from Versus (which hasn't been announced for 360) it doesn't get a tag?

gtr06

This is going to be awesome. It has got that wonderful art style of FFX going on.

haggis

Her name is Lightning? Ugh! BETTER NAMES PLEASE.

onidavin

@DanTheMagnum: I believe you are completely correct. (Incoming cookie. Headsup!) For the record, I wasn't really complaining about it (their girls are totally cute)...just making a smart-assed observation over my first cup of coffee. Apparently one that has already been made-to-death (something I was unaware of) hence my vowels spilling out before me in my initial post.

Stirdy

it looks to me that they chanced the pigtail girls face (compared to previous screens) but i don't know for sure, seems less cute though.

also im curious what the dudes arm tatoo is and why it was circled (im assuming that was done from the magazine not kotaku).

demonknightinuyasha

I told ya so. Now, where are those Jackasses from the other day who were going on and on about the FF XIII pictures not being real time? More specifically wheres the godamn idiot that said Gears of War has better graphics?

Like I said before, there isn't a single game available on the 360 or PS3 right now that can hold a candle to XIII's in-game graphics. The only thing that is on par with it as of right now is Crysis on PC. Sure, stuff like Heavy Rain will come along and change that but as of right now, this is the most graphically and colorfully impressive next-gen game we've seen. Period.

DontTouchMyDaughterYouFilthyGaijin

@Stirdy
I understand, forgive my assertive stuckupagus-ness I just think the culture difference is amazing in video games. The most amazing aspect of which is the latent acceptance of that difference. I mean really video games are the only medium in which multinational cultures lavish in each others different habits and idiosyncrasies (sure there are a few exceptions, but still). I mean in movies it's pretty clear cut Japanese people watch Japanese stuff, Americans watch (mostly) American stuff. Whereas in video games Final Fantasy is a completely Japanese thing, and yet it's one of the most popular video games series in North America as well. While there each culture still has there tendencies (such as Americans with FPS, Japanese with say Dating Sims) that the other culture is not into you have to admit that on a mainstream level video games have more cultural cross over than any other medium.

DanTheMagnum

@DanTheMagnum: You've just talked me into breaking out my 'Battle Royale' and watching it again.

Stirdy

Wow, pig-tail girl looks really sad in the fourth pic. Perhaps it has something to do with the "hard times" mentioned a few days back?

armless-phelan

Despite all this FF goodness, I am still interested in only Versus.........

LeLoi

@DanTheMagnum: Where have you been? Final Fantasy guys have always looked feminine. Yoshitaka Amano's designs are a hell of a lot more feminine-looking than any of Nomura's, he even went as far as giving Cecil lipstick.

Suzaku

@Suzaku
Yeah, you're right. Amano's were more feminine looking, but I was always been ignorant to the "concept" drawings in the manuals. I've always considered the sprites in the game the "real" look of the character. On that level yeah Amano's are more "feminine", but I guess it's a little more apparent to me now that the in game characters are more detailed. Don't get me wrong, by no means do I HATE the "feminine" look of the characters. Maybe I would prefer them not to be so "girly", but I accept that it's really a Japanese thing. Not to say that only the Japanese like the character's looks, but that is why they are the way they are. I assume?

The look of the characters, while important, isn't necessarily as important as story progression and gameplay. It has never dissuaded me from playing a game, though I seriously hated 10. Maybe I didn't play it enough?

DanTheMagnum

im buying a ps3 for this because ff versus 13 is still exclusive to ps3 and they get a demo for ff13.I will probably get one soon so i can get socom, littlebigplanet,resistance2 and motorstorm2 all those games come out this year and then killzone 2 comes out in February. Dude i'm probably gonna sell my 360 since the only good game is gears of war 2.

thegriefer

HOLY ASSBUCKETS LOOK A WHOPPING SEVEN FUCKING SEVEN NEW SCREENS FROM FF13 IM SO FUCKING EXCITED ABOUT THIS GAME THEY REALLY MAKE ME TAKE INTEREST IN ESTROGEN CLOUD AND GOATEE SIEFER!

Christ SE, get your act together. You had playable demos of the KH games at E3, and ever since you announced XIII what have we seen? A boring trailer. A boring slightly extended trailer. And every so often new boring screens. This is not a good way to garner interest in your game.

VengefulRonin

@VengefulRonin: I guess news on the 2 hour long demo just passed you by?

Turambar

I really want to see some shots of gameplay. I mean, I'm buying both these games regardless, it's Final Fantasy, but I'm super interested on how the games will play. Especially VersusXII, since it's developed by Nomura's team.
So yeaaah... Gameplay SquareEnix, I already know you strive to meet god-like standards with your CG.

Rinaldus

why would there be a news tag for the 360 when the images are from the ps3 (japan version is ps3 only). The 360 version isn't even in dev right now according to square.

lilaliendog