Motomu Toriyama has told Eurogamer that Square Enix’s western revamp of Final Fantasy XIII is “finally completed” and went on to apologize for the game’s engthy development time.

Toriyama who is the director on the project said that “features which were popular amongst gamers at our survey last summer have been enhanced even further” for the western release.

“One of those features is characters’ facial animations, which work as the core of any human drama. Their movements are completely synchronised with the English lines and, due to this, each scene in the game is truly spectacular.”

“Another feature to be mentioned is FFXIII’s new strategic battle system, Paradigm Shift. Just like the Japanese version, this system adds elements of real-time actions to the battle, which has been made almost over-the-top, so that the more you use the shift, the more exhilarating the combat becomes.”

Obviously concerned that fans of the series are getting impatient and distracted, Toriyama had this to say:

“You will see the truth when you hold it in your hands. Please be patient a little longer for the ‘day of a battle against the fate’!”

The game is now due on PS3 and Xbox 360 on March 9.