@dwolfwood -- I know the feeling. Normally I avoid trailers for games I am really anticipating too, but this one I couldn't resist. I think I read somewhere Japanese language options will not be available (which saddens me, I wish it was an option).

To be honest, I didn't really like it. Although the graphics are impressive.

That was a pretty cool trailer, but Lightning is quite possibly the worst name for a human (or anything other than an actual bolt of lightning really) I've ever heard. It's terrible. Cloud and Snow work because they're one syllable. Squall works because it's one syllable, and not even that commonly used. But Lightning just sounds awkward as shit. I can't imagine what it would be like to hear characters refer to her by that name with a straight face throughout the entire game. Why not Rain? Has that been used yet?

@dwolfwood: Yeah, I also heard that Japanese isn't going to be available.

Beautiful. Normally, I fear the English voice acting, but there was actual emotion in their tones, the lines came out with feeling instead of just being read as a script. I enjoyed Snow's voice and really did not dislike any voice. I still wish for a Japanese voice track, but it will come, Square-Enix just love to toy with our emotions.


*goes off to pray for both tracks in the game*

Mixed feelings........the character models do look great, especially for Serah and Vanille (Lighting looks good as well, but she is a photoshopped Advent Children Cloud), and the story may have more humanity than I expected (its not FF6 though), but this game reinforces, not dispels the stigma that JRPGs now have. And against western games like Mass Effect and the Witcher, its not acceptable anymore.

@gamedaya Lightning's name isn't actually Lightning, that's just a codename or something like that.
But yeah, I am super-excited for this game. The story sounds interesting and the battle system looks awesome.

I love the voices, they fit the respective characters well. I simply do NOT like focusing on reading a cutscene when I should be, in all honesty watching it. I don't like Japanese voiced JRPGS at all because more time is spent doing what I stated above. I want to appreciate the visual beauty of a JRPG, appreciate all the hard work that has been done on them.

All of the artistic hard work, the direction of a scene and what it is trying to evoke visually is lost when I have to pay attention to the words coming on the screen.

Loving the English voices. They've come so far, since X.

I HATE Snow's voice. Absolutely HATE it. He doesn't sound like the bad-ass he looks like. Anybody remember Kingdom Hearts Two? He should sound like an adult version of Seifer. He sounds like what would happen if Master Chief's voice box was merged with ice-cream.

The only voices I really liked were Snow's and the black guy's. Serah's was ok, but it seemed to switch between Australian and American.

Plus, everyone seemed to have a speech impediment at one point or another...

@Mushman

Having good voice overs is a very important thing. I avree that I enjoy taking in the beauty of a video game. But it is REALLY off-putting hearing a voice that doesn't in any way match up with the look or personality of a character. This happened at the beginning with Snow. I heard him and was like: What? The? Fuck? But luckily it got a little better. TBH, I would've thought this trailer was a fake if it wasn't on the official website.

@theredpepperofdoom: Really? Thank fucking god. I'm not excited about this game or anything, but that makes me happy.

@dogestyl

Your point about Snow is very valid, yet based on character design, it seems the gruff, 'macho' type fits him well. Even though, by western standards, he can only be considered a teeny bit gruff, compared to usual boy/girl/whatinthefuckamIplayingas? characters in JRPG's, he probably what the Japanese consider as gruff and all tough.

The hat, clothes (black gloves) but most importantly, the stubble and his physique gives the impression he is not a as girly as other JRPG characters. I, for one, was surprised to see him built so well and glad that whoever designed him gave Snow a little masculinity. Again, I'm judging this by Japanese standards, and even then by all of the media I consumed from it, I can be grossly wrong, sorry if I am.

I think the awesome Colette summed it up in the article, no one can say for sure what Snow should sound like. Given how he looks, I believe his voice fits him well, and you can see what Square is aiming for in terms of how he should sound, I can't imagine him sounding like a normal man, he is kinda rough!! :)

It wasn't too bad, but Serah looks like she could be Snow's daughter. The quality of the voice work was good, IMO.

I've never played through an FF, but I was never really into RPGs before Persona 3 either - now that I play them, I think I could appreciate them now. That being said, that was the most melodramatic duff I've ever heard. I hope the characters actually talk to each other as people, have a little interplay, instead of just being vessels of inner turmoil.

Pretty decent. They did a nice job with the lip syncing as well, something I place a great deal of importance of. I'm slightly put off by Vanille's pseudo-British accent (Or whoever it is that speaks in the beginning, I don't think it's Serah) and the first scene with Snow in it with definitely bad but it got much better towards the end. Lightning's VO bounces between acceptable and over the top for me as well.

PS3 is suppose to have the japanese language track to right? Cool, cuz I think the Japanese voices on the whole sound better from what I have heard so far.

Snow threw me off a bit just because of the lack of lipsync. On the other hand I really liked Serah's VA. Lightning's I'm a little iffy on, sometimes she's good and other times she's kinda bland.

Overall though, I was pretty pleased with how the dub sounds, and I don't foresee any problem sitting through this game in either language.

Snow's voice makes his character sound just a little too serious. I pictured him slightly more energetic and almost juvenile. He sounds too laid back and mature. For the record, I do not mean a high pitched whiny voice when I say juvenile either - Just something a little more surfer-ish.

Just my opinion though.

I wish I had been first to post here, so I could say "in before weaboo onslaught", but I guess I'm not so lucky. The voices sound just as good as the originals. The L'cie traitor chick's dub I'm not feeling though. But I like the blue haired guy (with the attack craft with what looks like FIN FUNNELS as weapons?) English VA more, so I guess it evens out. Aside from that they're all equal to the Japanese VA's more or less. Seriously, nothing sadder than people who don't know a word of Japanese complaining about English VA's. Selection of an appropriate VA is more than just getting a comparable voice. You have to localize some things too. Snow sounded fine. Square Enix has come along way since FFX.

@Caffeine Knight
"almost juvenile" is quite accurate indeed... is anyone in this game over the age of fourteen?

As for the rest of the trailer... the awful music is (just barely) redeemed by the gorgeous graphics; the in-engine cut scenes looked as good as some pre-rendered ones i've seen.

FFXIII stuff, trailers, etc, always saddens me a lil bit because i wish i could enjoy what is clearly a well-made game (and historically highly renowned franchise) as much as those who put up with JRPG shenanigans :( The game is GORGEOUS, and the bosses are sweet looking, and the token black guy token-looking, but turn-based combat is like downing a bottle of benadryl when it comes to actually trying to have fun. If it was, say, a sweet realtime action game with RPG elements (the obvious upgrading ritual and all that,) i would be soooo down. Sad.

Though i'd definately have to play it in japanese with subtitles given the option. Jesus Christ.

This surprisingly got me a little more interested in the game.

Also, pretty sure Snow was voiced by the guy that did Kanji in P4 and Yuri in Vesperia. But was Vanille voiced by the girl that did Rise and Chun-li?

Snow sounds kinda like Dermot Mulroney.

I'm just glad they redid the lip syncing to match the english track.

omfg that dubbing sucked. Jesus I am going to hate SE if they don't have a fucking JP version in there for PS3 users... If they don't im not going to bother to get this game. The english version always ruins it for me, I can tell they just hired people to voice dub and not real voice act as original.