The Final Fantasy franchise is considered by many to be the king of the JRPG genre. The franchise reached it’s peak with Final Fantasy VI and VII, which captured the hearts of gamers everywhere. VII, in particular, set the standard for JRPGs and is a highly revered game overall, spawning several prequels and sequels that are collectively known as the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII.
From there onwards, Final Fantasy slowly crumbled. Although Final Fantasy X and XII were adored by many fans, there is no doubt that VII ruled over them all. No Final Fantasy game has been able to surpass VII. In fact, the standard of Final Fantasy games fell so low with the release of XIII and it’s sequel, XIII-2, that people began to believe that there would never be a better Final Fantasy.
However, there is one game that could break VII’s monopoly. This game is Final Fantasy Versus XIII.
Unlike Final Fantasy games of the past decade, Final Fantasy Versus XIII stays true to the roots of the franchise. Where X and XIII were linear, Versus XIII is open-world; where XIII-2 had a drab story, Versus XIII seems to have an interesting tale. It is quite obvious that Versus XIII will be a good game. But maybe it’ll be something more than that. Maybe it’ll be dominant over VII.
Of course, one can never be sure of this. We cannot know whether Versus will be the best Final Fantasy game. But when a game has an open world, vehicles (including airships), real time battles (like in the Kingdom Hearts series) and a protagonist with great hair and a silent personality, you can’t go wrong.
No doubt this seems like an exhilarating game. One that will not be forgotten easily. But the question is…
Where is Final Fantasy Versus XIII?
The game was announced back in 2006 at E3, along with Final Fantasy XIII. Since then, it has remained in the dark, save for the occasional bit of news or that trailer we got back in 2011.
So much has happened since the initial announcement. Bioware managed to release all three of it’s Mass Effect games, revolutionizing the Science Fiction RPG genre. The Mass Effect games were, without a doubt, loaded with a lot of content, yet Bioware managed to create all three of them in the past few years. Not only that, but all three of Naughty Dog’s Uncharted games were released too. These three games were, once again, not easy to create especially due to their fantastic visual quality.
Even Diablo 3 and Duke Nukem Forever, two games which fans had been anticipating for years, were also released. Furthermore, Sony and Microsoft introduced their own motion controllers; Call of Duty 3, World at War, Black Ops and all three Modern Warfare titles were released; all the Assassins Creed games were released, with the third one coming out soon. And to top it all off, Sony’s PlayStation 3 reached it’s peak and is now coming to a close.
During this time, what has Square Enix delivered? Final Fantasy XII, XIII, a failed MMO (XIV) and a sequel that no one cared about (XIII-2).
6 years, and there is still no Final Fantasy Versus XIII. What’s worse is that there is no sign of the game at the upcoming Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary Event. This is simply outrageous. What were the guys over at Square Enix thinking?!
I think this wait is just too much. Fans of Final Fantasy deserve to see more of this game and get a release date. It is very likely that the game will make an appearance at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, but nothing is for certain. After all, this is Square Enix we’re talking about. With the life of the PlayStation 3 slowly ending, a delay is not feasible. This game needs to get a release date, and fast.
Do you think that Final Fantasy Versus XIII will be getting a release date soon?