Final Fantasy XIII demo: What will change in the final

9:20 AM on 04.23.2009   |   Dale North

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While we haven't quite finished our Final Fantasy XIII demo write-up (but it's coming!), I'm sure you've already heard that it's great. But a demo is a demo, and Square Enix in particular is pretty good at only giving a limited view of what will be the final version. You have to know coming in that you're missing quite a bit of the total picture.

Japanese fans that have already exhausted the possibilities of this demo are now wondering what will change in the retail version, so much so that a fan on 2ch has created a full list of changes and improvements, pulled from reliable Japanese gaming news sources, like Dengeki and Famitsu. 

Important, non-story related things like frame rate drops and missing NPC dialogue will be fixed, according to the list. Naturally. But the demo is even missing things like the famous after-battle fanfare, which will be in the final version. 

Hit the jump for the full list.

• Battle difficulty will be greatly increased. In fact, Toriyama expects XIII to be "the most difficult FF ever".
• In the demo, party members are CPU controlled. In the final, you'll be able to issue them directives.
• Continuing your "Chain" in the demo isn't very important in the demo, but will vital in the final.
• The classic FF victory fanfare isn't present in the demo, but will be in the final.
• Victory poses may be incorporated into the final; the matter is currently under consideration.
• If the first hit of a chain kills an enemy in the demo, your character continues attacking air for the duration of the combo. This will be remedied in the final.
• Snow is barehanded in the demo, but will have weapons available to him in the final.
• Encounters occur solely from the front in the demo, but various encounter styles will be present in the final.
• The final will have a level system.
• The demo only allows you to control one character, but the final will have a new system for managing other party members in battle.
• The final will have command shortcuts.
• Selecting your target in the demo can be a bit of a chore; the final will have a more streamlined targeting mechanism.
• The final will have an "item" command in battle.
• NPC dialogue will be subtitled in the final. In the demo, there is only voice.
• Sazh's rather bizarre battle animation will be altered to be less strange, and more "jolly".
• The Time Gauge maxes out at 3 in the demo, but you'll be able to add more segments in the final through a new character growth system.
• Summons will be present in the final. The mysterious "TP Bonus" that appears after battles in the demo relates to them.
• Finally, the occasional frame rate drops in the demo will be fixed, according to Toriyama.