Demo promised for Final Fantasy XIII

by Andrew Yoon { Jan 23rd 2008 at 9:29AM }

The theme for Final Fantasy XIII is determination, says a new interview in a recent Famitsu. Looking at the long, painful wait that Square Enix fans are enduring for the release of this hotly anticipated title, we can agree.

Nomura has been releasing a few cryptic keys on the upcoming PS3 games, many of which are sure to keep the Square Enix faithful guessing for days. According to FF-XIII.net, "2008 will be the year. There will be tons of news bits, info on characters and summons, and an unexpected connection between the keywords Cocoon and Farushi."

Thankfully, a playable demo continues to be teased by the development staff, eager to show how the new battle system plays. When asked about the release date, Nomura can only offer the vague: "I wonder when we'll be able to sleep..." If that is a clue, we're guessing it has something to do with Birth by Sleep. Of course, we could be totally off-base with that one. Check FF-XIII.net for more new scans. [Update: Better scans here.]

[Thanks, Rob!]

Tags: ffxiii, final-fantasy, final-fantasy-xiii, nomura

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Darkiewonder @ Jan 23rd 2008 9:49AM

It just means that they are shooting for a 2008 release [dreamns] or just an early 2009. But DEMO? SWEET! I can hear the sound of SE's stock rising and ps3 being bought now lawlz.

Either way, FFXIII media blowout! 2008 IS THE YEAR!

Nate @ Jan 23rd 2008 9:51AM

Oh please oh please, come out this year. As soon as the demo hits at least 3 of my friends will instantly buy PS3s.

ViagraFiend @ Jan 23rd 2008 10:06AM

These two games cant come soon enough.

chris.westermann @ Jan 23rd 2008 10:07AM

I think Square-Enix has to postition themselves better as a game company and not confuse end-users with these demos. I don't think most people know that Square-Enix makes games, only movies and demos. Also FF13 will cost too much but it should cost more because a year's supply of toilette paper costs more then the game. In other words Square-Enix, put up or shut up.

http://playstation.joystiq.com/2008/01/16/yoichi-wada-on-ps3-my-phone-is-more-expensive/

russell @ Jan 23rd 2008 10:07AM

demo would be nice, i wonder how many years it will be till we even get that.

Organic_Shadow @ Jan 23rd 2008 10:16AM

Do they normally have demos for FF games? I was surprised when they put the FFXII demo in with DQVIII, but was also glad they let us get a taste of the battle system.

I guess it's good that they are giving us a demo so we know what to expect from the new battle system, but at the same time I feel like they are wasting time they could be using to make absolute sure the game comes out this year.

llej22 @ Jan 23rd 2008 12:43PM

i know a demos for VII came on a playstation underground disc, a demo for VIII came as a pack-in with Brave Fencer Musashi, and X came via the mail.

Phileoca @ Jan 23rd 2008 10:25AM

No, they don't normally have demo's for FF games. This is the first one to come out on the PS3. Do you remember any demo's for the PS2? Nay.

PS3Fanboy.com.... Can you fix your freaking RSS Feeds? "Live bookmark failed to load" all the freaking time.

Iceorb @ Jan 23rd 2008 10:40AM

PS2 had demos for FF12, FFX, and FFX-2 :/.

makishima @ Jan 23rd 2008 10:40AM

No demos? Are the whole lot of you smoking crack? There was an FFVIII demo packaged with Brave Fencer Musashi on the PS1, a FFX demo packaged with FFVI (yes VI was a PS1 release with a PS2 demo), and a FFXII demo packaged with DQVIII on PS2.

sorene @ Jan 23rd 2008 11:27AM

I still have my FFVII demo folating around somewhere

Tim Parsons @ Jan 23rd 2008 12:09PM

yes and FFVIII also had a PC downloadable demo ,. and think FFVII did also,.

Damn I can't wait to get my hands on either of these game,. I'm going insane not having a good RPG to play,.

wootzor @ Jan 23rd 2008 12:29PM

FF8 had a playable demo.

I remember playing through it many times on my PS.

Phileoca @ Jan 23rd 2008 2:15PM

touché, i do remember the demo for FFXII.

But could you go into a store and just pickup a demo for a game? Nay. They were bundled with another game. What if you didn't want to buy that game but just wanted the demo?

The PSN is brilliant allowing us to have demo's without buying a game we don't want. :-D

And thanks for fixing the RSS Feed

Rod @ Jan 28th 2008 11:46AM

I have a PSunderground disk with FF X demo, it let play through Besaid island and play as most of the characters + 1 summon monster

doom saber @ Jan 23rd 2008 5:09PM

Phileoca, actually you could go out and buy a FF demo w/o being bundled with another game at the store years ago ever since FF7.

Don't forget that there was over ways to get demos for a game besides being included with another game before digital downloads; before digital downloads, there were demos included in gamming magazines. As such, there was actually two demos of FF7, one was bundled with Tobal No.1 and another was included in gaming magazines. One demo was an eariler build whereas Barret didn't have the ebonic dialogue, Arieth was playable as oppose to Tifa, and the scorpion boss was replaced with another boss. The other demo was closer to the final game except you had Tifa in the team as oppose to just Barret and Cloud.

Musouka @ Jan 23rd 2008 10:03PM

I have played a FF7 demo for PC, where you only could battle in the Battle Arena of Gold Saucer. Demo starts, you fight monsters until you drop. It didn't make me like the game one bit. A year later I picked it up (after reading user-reviews) and loved it.
So, a battle-centered FF13 demo kind of eeks me out. Though, I'm sure to pick-up the game asap anyway, so it'll be a nice bonus.

Consolcwby @ Jan 23rd 2008 11:50PM

Quoted:**- Farushi: Their existence surpasses humans.
- Rushi: Those chosen by Farushi to carry out a mission. The pigtail girl is a Rushi. Farushi is not the Crystal.
- Mr. 33cm is also a Rushi.
- This time summons are in digital form.
- A new monster that looks like a cross between a turtle and elephant.
- The red thing on Carbuncle's head is a ruby.**

Okay, enough teasing! All this info is making my head spin and I am getting giddier by the moment! I love me some FF so severe, and I will predict that FF's release IS going to be the defining moment for the PS3. At least it will be for me! =)

Ikota @ Jan 24th 2008 12:28AM

chris.westermann said...

"I think Square-Enix has to postition themselves better as a game company and not confuse end-users with these demos. I don't think most people know that Square-Enix makes games, only movies and demos. Also FF13 will cost too much but it should cost more because a year's supply of toilette paper costs more then the game. In other words Square-Enix, put up or shut up."

that has to be one of the stupidest comments ever you have no idea what you are talking about. cost too much? will cost the same as any other ps3 game. I think almost every gamer has heard of square-enix for their games.. they release only movies and DEMOS lol

James @ Jan 24th 2008 5:44PM

Not to bring the party down, but did anybody else feel that 12 dragged a bit? I got about 50 hours in and really started to feel like I didn't know where I was going or why I was going there -- I think ditching the airship/overworld map was a really bad idea. I hope 13 gives a better sense of purpose. I bought 12 on launch day and *still* haven't finished it...