Here it is, folks. Ready? Final Fantasy XIII will be released in North America AND Europe on March 9th, 2010.
This comes a short three months after the Japanese release date, which is somewhat surprising. Additionally, Square Enix has announced its new "Lucky Number 13" campaign, in which new info on the game will be trickled out on the 13th of every month until the game's launch, starting today.
So there you have it, March 9th. Has everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief? Is that soon enough for you? Let us know what you think.
[UPDATE: Check out the (ridiculous) new trailer for the game above, which also confirms the same date for Europe.
There's also apparently a Twitter hashtag dealio happening right here, where you can unlock an exclusive Xbox Live FFXIII item of some sort when enough tweets have been generated.]
Because.. uh March 13th is on a Saturday? But Nintendo releases their games on a Sunday, so that release date doesn't sound too far-fetched. Wacky Japaneseses.
Between the ages of 10 to 20, there was no announcement that could have topped one of a Final Fantasy game. Now, at 28, I honestly have no interest in the series at all.
I have to admit, I'm with Nerdy Suit. I used to love Final Fantasy, but this one looks like VIII: a lot of couture, not a lot of substance. I don't want to play as a whining kid. And what's with every character being homogenized? Square has the best CG people in the world, and the heroes - male and female alike - all look the same.
@socialnorms Asians tbqh. That is half joking and half serious. Also I am with you and Nerdy Suit in that I am surprised by my lack of excitement, if this had been 5-10 years ago (my own peak FF love) I'd have creamed myself. This is still surprisingly sooner than I had expected, I'm happy people don't have to wait longer for it!
@fadecy and UK peeps: The post didn't initially have the European release date because we didn't know it until we had the trailer. The only info we had been sent at the time I first wrote the story was for the US date.
Argh, Thype beat me to the comment about the host.
The game looks neat, but I'm also going to give another minor complaint about the trailer: why did Yamamoto feel the need to speak in English? It was slightly jarring with the other SE people speaking Japanese and it was pretty darn obvious he was reading cues.
That trailer was pretty worthless for the most part, except for two pieces of information that struck me as interesting.
1) The release date, obviously.
2) The story is based on the emotions of the characters. It might've just been corporate nothingspeak, but I think it's fairly likely that the story will be more similar to FF7/FFX as opposed to political-based like FF Tactics or FF12.
If you go to Youtube and look up that Leona Lewis song they said is going to be the theme for the NA/Euro version, the nerd rage is absolutely hilarious. Personally I think the songs are pretty equivalent, but with the amount of people pissed off the game won't have voice acting language options already, the rage is expected. Can we get a Fanboy Friday on this!?
You've gotta be kidding me! I'll be Japan when this is released and will be there another two weeks before I get to come back home and play it. Not complaining especially, but it is a little ironic.
Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?
Avoiding the banhammer only requires common sense: spamming, trolling, racism, NSFW stuff, and other forms of sucking will not be tolerated. If anyone is griefing please report abuse. Be good. Don't suck!
Contest:
9:30 AM on 11.13.2009
| 
If we're getting ditched again, I will have to kill someone, preferably a fanboy.
Please don't say we have to wait for the other EU countries to get it translated before they decide to release it here.
*sarcasm
My mom buys shit from there. My mom is old.
http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2009/11/13/final-fantasy-xiii-the-time-has-come/
New trailer and the guy at the end says: North American and European release date = 3.9.2010
Fuck you Square Enix, seriously. That's just frigging aggravating.
"North America AND Europe on March 9th"
Suddenly my day has gone from godawful to orgasmically good!
Also, thanks DTOID for putting Europe up there as well.
03/09/10
0+3+0+9+1+0 = 13
RUN FOR THE HILLS!!!
I can't wait until Chocofro
The visuals in particular look stunning, the whiny characters I'm not so sure about yet. I'll buy it though, that's for sure.
The game looks neat, but I'm also going to give another minor complaint about the trailer: why did Yamamoto feel the need to speak in English? It was slightly jarring with the other SE people speaking Japanese and it was pretty darn obvious he was reading cues.
Anyway, carry on...
But FUCK YEAH RELEASE DATE GO.
Agree about the host. The way he walked reminded me of The Best Looking Man in the World
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=940zccYFyOI
1) The release date, obviously.
2) The story is based on the emotions of the characters. It might've just been corporate nothingspeak, but I think it's fairly likely that the story will be more similar to FF7/FFX as opposed to political-based like FF Tactics or FF12.
I hate decisions.