Like an army of tiny beetles, the murmurs skittered across the internet late Monday night: Final Fantasy Versus XIII may have a Mature rating, the first Final Fantasy to ever carry that stamp upon its cover. Could it be true? Having no other pressing needs to attend to, I whipped out my trenchcoat from the hall closet and headed out in search of clues to solve the mystery.
Tracing all the hullaballoo back to source, I found fansite FF-XIII.net to be the first to mention the rating, clarifying that in fact there had been no official announcement, but the ESRB ratings clearly specifiy that Teen rated games must have "only minimal blood" and anything more would put a game in line for a mature rating. FF-XIII.net declared that the new trailer for the title showed The Prince impaling another character on a bloody weapon and therefore the game would earn a Mature rating if sequences such as this one were kept in.
I went back and rewatched the trailer myself, and I examined the screenshots with my Internet Matlocker Magnifying Glass™. I'm sorry to say it, but I disagree with the speculation of the Mature rating entirely. Last time I checked, there was impaling going on in Final Fantasy many a chapter ago. The graphics may be a hell of a lot better, but there's more or less just a bloody sword visible in this clip in question. Somehow I don't think this is going to crank the game's rating up to Mature.
Have a watch for yourself and see what you think. Sorry to say it, but I feel this is a case of grasping at straws. Nothing to see here, Internet. Move along.
[Via PSX Extreme - Thanks Jonathan!]
Contest:
10:54 AM on 12.18.2007
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I agree with you.
A Final Fantasy game would never be allowed to maintain a mature rating, because anything above a Teen rating would hinder sells.
If it somehow manages to garner a "Mature" you can bet our sweaty gaming palms that the offending content will be reworked before release.
yeah, right.
and with it so far being a ps3 exclusive they would not want to limit its popularity with an m rating
although this could be an early square attempt at planting seeds to make it controversial... who knows who runs this ff-xiii.net more to come eh?
this isnt gameplay, and this game wont be out until 09.
@rucksack: i dont think the ratings mean more than it would just require someone of age to purchase the game for them...and rarely at that, ive never seen anyone carded for a game(at least that i remember of hand) Parents nowadays sure as hell dont care.
Final Fantasy is a killer start for M branding of RPG's!
I agree with you that kids tend to find ways around ratings but thats not my point.
The very fact that kids would have to worry about getting carded is an extra obstacle barring the way to sales.
There's no reason on earth that the developers would create any extra barriers to getting that sweet end-user dollar.
Isn´t that game where you hit the monsters and ppl with swords, and amces, and spikes, and guns, and you burn them, and after all that they just dissapear with a swoosh sound?
That´s sooooo M rated!
Where´s this guy who is against video games? Call him, they make swoosh sounds when you kill the bad guys.
And really, making a system selling game for the PS3 burdened with an M-rating doesn't seem like a good idea . . . unless you're MGS4. That's probably ok . . .
FF V13 T
FF V13 M
and its not that hard, all they have to do is focus on making it M, then just cut or censor the bad language with candy icon, blood with sweat, and decapitation with wizard of Oz water melting witch technology for the Teen version. Its brilliant!
Personally I think it would totally rule to see some graphic decapitation, castration or ablation in my final fantasy games, maybe they could make up new magic spells that do just these things?
I would like you to talk to my very good friend Master Chief.
Also that would be awesome. Always wanted a Awesome FF with Adultyness.
Bit more blood and gore than what you're talking about in the article. There are guts all over the place.
So yes, it is a pointless post.
Oh, and by the way, M rated games have sold more copies than T or E games.