With Final Fantasy: Advent children complete now out in Japan, the first playable demo of Final Fantasy XIII is also out and about. As is the way in this new age of embeddable videos – Japanese gamers, importers and owners of hacked PS3’s and bit torrent software have done us a favour and uploaded videos of the demo being played through! You can peep a sneak peak at a section of the demo below…

The game is looking great! But it always did and was always going to.  I mean, c’mon: It’s Square Enix! You can always rely on them to push some stunning visuals out of a console when it comes to their big releases. Whilst the differences between the FMV and in-game engine graphics is easily distinguishable. There’s no denying how good the graphics are. Although after the graphical marvels that are Metal Gear Solid 4 and Resident evil 5, Final Fantasy XIII isn’t looking leaps and bounds above what we’ve seen on platforms already. Although I’m sure there are some visual marvels to be witnessed, particularly where summons and magic spells are concerned.

I was surprised to hear what Square Enix went with for the battle theme. I loved the piece from when it first debuted in the game’s first ever trailer. But I’m on the fence about it being a battle theme that’s going to be heard ALL the time. It’s certainly different from what we’ve had as battle theme’s in the past. Sweeping, grand, ethereal and without a real sense of danger about it. As I said, loving the composition, but un-sure about it being a battle theme. After watching videos of the game in action I’m already bordering on being sick of it.

I had the impression Lightning would go it alone for a bit at the very start of the game. But afro haired Sazh is with her from the very beginning, and it seems they pals. As much of a cool “Wow!! The lead white girl ends up with the black guy!!” situation it’d make if Lightning and Sazh ended up together; I doubt there’ll be any form of love interest between them. If there is, it’ll probably be one sided on Sazh’s part. I’m thinking Lightning will end up going for Snow. He has that ragged, gangsta look that Lightning probably goes for. She seems like a gal who likes a thug and Sazh ain’t thug enough. Chocobo’s nesting in your afro is not thug thistled enough for Lightning, or anybody for that matter. Snow on the other hand looks like a bad boy. He wears hats, tatty clothes, big ol’ boots, rides a motorcycle and punches people. He probably raps and has a myspace page: just how Lightning likes it.

Seeing the game run within some form of context instead of watching a bunch of montage clips makes this game much more appealing. But I’m still not wowed by the game. At least not yet. I thought the game would’ve had more to it from a presentation stand-point. There are some sections that looked like they lacked flair, polish, fluidity and looked (dare I say it) out-dated. I like my enemies to disappear in a cloud of swirly effects with a sound effect, not just fade. I like a little bit of a pose when battles are done and a better transition effect into battles. But…this is only a demo – a few minutes out of a long, long game. The final game may have this little touches I’m moaning about. Plus, I’m just picky about these thing.

There’s a bunch of videos showing the full demo in action, which I’ve conveniently linked to them below for your viewing pleasure.

Watch a play through of the Final Fantasy XIII demo: Parts 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9