My only question is why. Why would Square-Enix even think about porting such a title to the Xbox? No, I'm not a PS3 or 360 fanboy in the least but I do solidly believe in the ability to keep particular titles completely exclusive. I never want to see Halo or Gears of War on the PlayStation 3 nor do I want to even imagine Kratos or Kingdom Hearts on the Xbox 360. I sure as Hell didn't want to see Final Fantasy XIII, a title that I've been waiting for years to be a half-assed port onto a console that doesn't, in my opinion, have the ability to play it in all its glory.
Final Fantasy XIII is a visually stunning game that has a very unique ATB system that puts Final Fantasy XII to shame; graphically alone it is jaw-dropping, let alone its amazing take on gameplay. The 360 just doesn't do the game justice. Having waited in line for hours to get the game for my trusty ol' original PS3, it would be an understatement to say that I wasn't completely out of my mind with excitement to play it. I got home, turned the volume up to 11, plugged in the HDMI cable I was saving just for this moment and pressed New Game. I didn't stop smiling even after I'd hit my last save point the next day, (I called in), after 13 hours of play, (I match the first play binge to the title number); I didn't stop smiling even when I died my first time.
I did however stop smiling once I popped my 360 copy of the game in though. I turned the volume up to 11, plugged in the HDMI cord and pressed New Game. I didn't smile one bit. The sound just felt like someone was holding a blanket up over the speakers and the graphics....the graphics were just bad. I didn't even make it past the first mini-boss before I turned it off and traded it in. Not even kidding. When Lightning, the one of the main characters, attacks, she's supposed to have sparks flying off of her and her attacks; beautifully done in the PS3 version but in the 360's version, it looks like square confetti. Monsters were missing polygons and attacks were sometimes slow and once I had a creature that literally just stood there as I wailed on it.
Not only that but it came on three separate discs; installing should have helped the load times, it didn't at all. I couldn't stand the load times in the least and then of course it loaded into a crappy rendition of a game that really shouldn't have been done in the first place.
I actually returned my copy of the 360 Final Fantasy XIII the next day. I couldn't believe the disappointment I got from that port. I don't know what they were thinking but goddamn I'm glad FFXIII Versus is PS3 only....
-Armand
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