Final Fantasy XIII Out Today

Alas, I do not yet have it...

I have never had a burning desire to own a Playstation 3 or an Xbox 360. That's in part due to only really playing one game over the last 3 years, and with nothing coming out on the PS3 or 360 that really would drive me to buy it when funds are tight, you tend to pick and choose your entertainment options. I'm sure I'd own two or three of them if I had money to spare, but I digress... for the time has come.

With the release of Final Fantasy XIII, I finally have a reason that I MUST own a PS3 or 360, and lucky for me, my brother-in-law is selling me his old 360 for less than half what I'd pay in a store, so I'm excited. Excited that I'll have it soon, sad that that is not yet the case. I think it may be as early as this weekend that I'll have it. We'll see.

This is par for the course for me. I grew up a Nintendo fanboy. Sega was the devil, (well, Sonic was fun) and everything Nintendo did was amazing. My first taste of Final Fantasy was FF2 on the SNES. I nearly beat it over a weekend of renting it, so I had to buy it. I eventually went back and played the original on the NES too. Then FF3 came out. Best. Game. Ever. I played the crap out of that game. I probably put hundreds of hours into it. Not lying. No, I don't regret that. Well, okay, maybe a little, but it was still awesome.

Then Squaresoft, the publisher, had the nerve to put the next Final Fantasy on the Sony Playstation and not the new Nintendo system. We also learned that Japan got a lot more Final Fantasies than we did, so the numbering system was messed up. My loyalties divided, Square proved the winner, and when FF7 was released, I bought a Playstation and the game. I'm trying to remember how I had all this disposable income as a kid. I distinctly remember saving and purchasing with my own money my SNES, N64, and the PS1, but that was all before my first real job. Huh.

Another fun fact on Final Fantasy 7. After having the game for a week, I distinctly remember my mother seeing the game timer at 30 hours of play time. Aghast at how I had spent 30 hours, nearly a full time job and during a school week no less, playing it, she made me turn it off for awhile.

Playstation 2? Bought it when Final Fantasy X came out, which oddly, I think was shortly after the launch of the system itself, so I paid a lot for it. The graphics were beautiful though. Then XI was released as an online MMO. I have never played it. You think I would have, but MMOs were not a possibility for me during college.

And thus we come to today, where I have evaded the urge to buy a "current generation" gaming console because my gaming has been almost entirely on the computer for the last few years. But today is not just any day. Today, Final Fantasy XIII is out, and I have stayed true to tradition. Soon I hope to be happily seated in front of the TV, enjoying a game I've been waiting for for nearly 4 years. I hope it was worth the wait.

Oh who am I kidding, it's Final Fantasy! Of course I'll love it.