I currently only own a Wii and a 360. I have not yet picked up a PS3 but I plan on getting one in the near future. With that said I was excited to hear Final Fantasy XIII was coming to the Xbox 360 as well. I went to pre order my copy last night but as I left GameStop I felt a weird sense of emptiness and confusion inside, not to mention I kinda felt ripped off.
The night before last I was up really late browsing Wikipedia, reading about the history of the Final Fantasy series. The first ever Final Fantasy game I played was Final Fantasy VI (III in US). I remember being blown away by the story line, gameplay, and graphics. I've never played anything like it on my SNES. This was the game that introduced me to the world of RPG. Soon after completing the game I went on an RPG rampage. Wanting to play nothing but RPG's, not only that but I expected every RPG to have a great story and look as good as FFVI. I played everything from Mario RPG to Chrono Trigger. Not to long after after I finally had got my hands on FFVII. "WOW!" was my first impression. After that, "WOW!" pretty much became standard when playing a new FF game.
You see there are several things that make Final Fantasy what it is... gameplay, story, and graphics. Each new game just manages to surpass the last one in graphics. FF games are one of the few games where I actually can sit back, enjoy, and be blown away by the cut scenes. Not once do i feel the need to constantly press buttons just to skip the scenes to get back to playing my game.
As I was reading Wikipedia that night I learned something that settled in my brain and has been bothering me since. While the gap between memory in Blu Ray vs DVD is huge I never really thought about how it might affect the games I play. The PS3 version of FFXIII will be all in one Blu Ray disc while the 360 version will be packed into three DVDs. I really don't mind swapping discs but, what I do mind is how much the game will be compressed into those three DVDs. The PS3 version will feature lossless audio and uncompressed 1080p cinematic cutscenes. The Xbox 360 version will have 576p cutscenes using Bink video and compressed audio. 576p!? Really? They couldn't at least make it 720p?
I know some might think I'm over reacting but hey, I want to sit in front of my TV drooling as I watch the amazing graphics and action packed scenes in their highest quality with amazing audio coming from my speakers! PS3 owners get to do it, why don't we? I mean isn't the reason most of us invest in high def TVs and gadgets is to enhance our viewing experience? Isn't the point to be blown away while sitting in front of the sofa? 576p is not even high definition by today standards anymore!
So as I was leaving GameStop I couldn't help but to feel ripped off. I'm paying just as much as PS3 owners will for their version yet I don't get the same quality for my money. Not to mention that playing Final Fantasy on Xbox feels just... weird... lol
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