Final Fantasy XIII out today, prices compared

The Final Fantasy franchise has become a cornerstone in gaming, and it easily enjoys one of the most rabid fans bases around.

Today, the western release of the long awaited Final Fantasy XIII (that’s 13) goes on sale in SA, so we thought we would have a look around and see which of our beloved retailers are selling it at the most competitive prices.

About FFXIII

Final Fantasy XIII is the iconic series’ first foray into the world of hi-definition consoles. Final Fantasy stalwarts Yoshinori Kitase, Motomu Toriyama and Tetsuya Nomura were all heavily involved in making the new game.

The franchise had previously come to make a home for itself with Sony, but FFXIII is being released on both PS3 and Xbox 360, although word on the street is that the PS3 version offers superior visual fidelity.

Active Time Battle System

The familiar combat system has been evolved in FFXIII, and players can now execute numerous commands in a single turn with the multi-slot ATB gauge. Whether inputting singular commands in each slot for consecutive attacks, or expending multiple slots at once to activate a devastating blow, it’s up to the players to respond effectively to the battle conditions at hand.

Combat Paradigms

Players can now assign roles to their part members at anytime during battle, shifting between combat paradigms. Consisting of various combinations of the game’s six roles, ranging from Commando, the offensive specialist, to Medic, the quintessential healer, paradigms allow players to respond and adapt instantly to any given situation to turn the tide and seize victory.

All-New Summon System

FFXIII introduces Gestalt Mode, which allows characters and their transformed Eidolons to fight as one, dealing massive damage to enemies through simple button controls.

Pricing

We usually look at the most popular game resellers in SA, including BTGames, Kalahari.net, Zaps, Look & Listen and Take2.co.za. However, we found some odd pricing anomalies with BTGames in our last comparison, with reports of different stores selling Bad Company 2 for different prices, as well as regular price changes on their website, so in the interest of clarity, we have swapped them out for EvoGames this week.

It looks like we really are starting to see some pricing parity in the local market, which means that retailers are selling games for as low as they can. Kalahari’s free delivery makes them unbeatable, while Evo charges R45 and Take2 charges R30.

Look & Listen maintains its blatant disregard for competitive market trends, selling the game for almost R100 more than the likes of Zaps and Kalahari.

Zaps’ online price is slightly different to their in store pricing, although MyGaming forum members may buy the games at their online prices in store.

Discuss Final Fantasy XIII in the forums