When you buy the Sazh: Heads or Tails DLC you will gain access to a fresh new episode of story-mode content. You will play as Sazh Katzroy and battle your way through a quest which runs parallel to the standard campaign. No further details have been divulged yet, but if you’re not clued-up in regards to Sazh you should check out his profile on the Final Fantasy Wikia. He is 43 years old, he stands 6 feet 2 inches tall and he has a distinctive afro. When playing as Sazh you’ll have access to two pistols (known as Vega 42s) and his cold blood skill, hopefully you’ll get your hands on his ultimate weapon – two pistols which are known as the Total Eclipses.

Not only will this DLC ad a new quest to the game but it will also add two new card games to the FFXIII-2 Serendipity casino, these are called Chronobind and Serendipity Poker – we don’t know the rules of these card games yet, therefore we will have to keep you posted.

The Sazh: Heads or Tails DLC costs just 400 Microsoft points when it hits Xbox Live on February 28th, it will cost £2.99/€3.59/$5 when it becomes available on the PlayStation Network on the 29th. As you can see it does come to the Xbox 360 a little earlier, we’re sue PS3 gamers will be pleased to hear that the exclusivity only lasts 24 hours compared to the months of exclusivity we’ve seen with other game DLC.

With less than two-weeks to wait for the Sazh DLC you don’t have long to wait, but we can also reveal that on February 21st new costumes will be available on Xbox Live and a day later for the PS3. There will be a Spacetime Guardian outfit for Noel and Beachwear for Serah, each will cost 240 Microsoft points on Xbox Live or £1.59/€1.99/$3 on the PSN. If you head over to EuroGamer you can see some screens etc, we’ve added an image showing the new costumes below:

Will you buy any of this DLC?

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Both games are brand new on the market these week and obviously both are at opposite ends of the genre spectrum. We have Final Fantasy XIII-2, the follow-up sequel to the infamous FFXIII and Soul Calibur V, the latest offering from Namco Bandai before they start work on Tekken X Street Fighter.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 has received some decent reviews since going on sale and according to critics, the game definitely makes up for the failures seen in FFXIII. If you are interested in picking up a copy for either the Xbox 360 or PS3, then you’ll probably want to choose Amazon since the online retailer is currently offering a few goodies upon purchase.

If you head to their online listing here, you’ll see that a $60 order will grant you a $20 gift card for your next purchase, while they are also throwing in a digital mini-strategy guide as well, free delivery comes as standard. Alternatively, you may want to browse upon Neweggs’ offer for the game as they are selling FFXIII-2 with an instant discounted price of $49.99 which definitely isn’t bad either. Similarly, Newegg are also offering the exact same deal for Soul Calibur V as well, so if instant cash discount is what you’re after and don’t want to have to buy a second item at Amazon, then Newegg may be more appealing to you – you’ll find the promo codes for the discounts here.

As you have probably guessed, this deal is for US consumers only. If you have spotted any similar deals in the UK or other regions, be sure to leave us a comment below with your best finds. For those hardcore gamers out there who already own both – would you recommend both titles to others or would you rather send out a stark warning to save their cash?

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We have told you about this DLC landing for the game in a previous article here, but now we know that the DLC will be officially titled ‘Lightning & Amodar’. It will be available to download on the Xbox 360 on February 7th, while PlayStation 3 users will find the content on the PS Store a day later on February 8th, as reported from Eurogamer.

For those of you wondering how much this content will cost, there’s no PS3 price for the US yet, but Square-Enix has confirmed that the content will be 240 Microsoft Points on the Xbox 360 and ¥300 for Japanese gamers. As we mentioned last week, this content will bring colliseum battles to FFXIII-2 and defeating the likes of Lightning and other opponents will allow you to recruit them in your party for future battles.

It looks like DLC is going to be frequent for the game, as when confirming details for the Lightning & Amodar pack, the developer also revealed that story-based DLC for Lightning will become available later on in the year, but specific details haven’t been released yet – definitely something to look forward to. This also seems to tie in with another report we wrote suggesting that the Final Fantasy XIII-2 main storyline isn’t finished after players are greeted with a ‘to be continued’ sign. Perhaps this story-based Lightning DLC will prolong the story even further, but at what cost remains to be seen.

We’re still getting our heads around the fact that a Final Fantasy game will feature so much post-release DLC. We prefer having everything on the disc, but then again if the content is deemed good value, then why shouldn’t fans welcome it with open arms? Give us your thoughts on the ongoing DLC debate for FFXIII-2.

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There is a word of warning for all of you intending to pick up Final Fantasy XIII-2 as the following information we’re about to share with you can probably be deemed as spoilers.

An article published by GameInformer reveals that towards the end of Final Fantasy XIII-2, the game contains multiple endings but there doesn’t appear to be a definitive conclusion to the game, regardless of what ending you choose. According to them, players will be met with a ‘to be continued’ sign at the end of the game, which is obviously a strong indication that Square-Enix are planning another sequel.

Here’s a portion of text from GameInformer’s article: ”After the credits, I sat in disbelief, wondering if I had done something wrong or somehow missed the true ending. I didn’t. Square Enix intentionally left the story incomplete. The announcement of Final Fantasy XIII-3 is inevitable.”

Now there is one particularly interesting outcome that could arise from this new cliffhanger. Last week we told you how Square-Enix were planning to add much more DLC to the game, some of which could even be story-based. Could we see a possibility that the main-storyline of the game is prolonged by purchasing DLC – surely Square-Enix wouldn’t do that to their fans right?

That will be a bold move if that does happen, but we predict that another game is a lot more likely. Will we see a Final Fantasy XIII-3 on current consoles though, or will Square-Enix save it for next generation consoles from Sony and Microsoft? Give us your thoughts on FFXIII-2 being cut short and whether it affects your decision on purchasing the game or not.

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The game is still not out yet in the US or Europe, but we have already had a number of DLC items confirmed for the game so far. First we told you about a pre-order item with Amazon, giving players the opportunity to fight legendary boss Omega Weapon and use him as a party member in your team.

Then we had the official confirmation from Square-Enix that they had teamed up with Ubisoft to give Noel Kreiss a slick Ezio Auditore outfit from Assassin’s Creed. Finally, we had the news of an exclusive piece of DLC that would be available for Xbox 360 owners only, coming in the form of a bow weapon for Serah which wouldn’t be available on PS3.

Now after rumors this week of Lightning as a DLC character and secret missions, we have heard from Square-Enix that even more DLC is on the way to the game and some may even expand on the game’s storyline to provide an even longer experience to hardcore fans. Here’s a quote from Yoshinori Kitase taken from the official Square-Enix blog, as reported from VG247:

”We’re not just planning boss battles or costumes but also planning episodic DLC items that will hopefully expand on the universe and the gameplay for Final Fantasy XIII-2”

He also added that these DLC items will be announced when the ‘timing is right’, so we’re guessing they will give players a chance to fully explore the game first and then perhaps make new DLC official a month after release. After seeing so many Final Fantasy games without the inclusion of DLC, this is still a bit of a shock to see so much extra content for their new game.

Are you in full support of Final Fantasy now adopting DLC like most other genre of games, or would you prefer to see RPG games untouched completely?

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If you ask any Final Fantasy fan, they’ll say that sidequests are a crucial part of the Final Fantasy legacy and it was an area which was severely lacking in Final Fantasy XIII and was one of the key reasons why the game came in for notable criticism.

Thankfully, Square-Enix are looking to make up for that with the sequel and it looks like players will have plenty to do when they get bored of following the main storyline. For instance, we can tell you that a gold saucer-style sidequest makes an appearance in the game, allowing players to play slot machines and wait for it – race Chocobos as well.

You can also take part in a quiz thanks to ‘Captain Cryptic’ and try to solve various puzzles, some of which are reminiscent of Final Fantasy VII. There’s rewards such as fragment pieces up for grabs for those willing to take part in side missions, so it looks like Square-Enix has finally listened to the community and given Final Fantasy XIII-2 a lot more variety than the previous game.

The sidequests shown in the trailer look fairly decent, but let’s hope that they offer the same amount of enjoyment and replayability as those seen in Final Fantasy VII. We would love to see snowboarding make a return, but perhaps we shouldn’t push our luck. Who knows, maybe Square-Enix are planning to add even more sidequests via DLC, seeing as they are well aboard the bandwagon now offering exclusive weapons and a playable Lightning character.

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If you have been keeping an eye on progress for the game, you’ll know that Final Fantasy XIII-2 will be the first game in the series to feature downloadable content and now it seems that Square-Enix are even willing to make extra playable characters available in the game to those who are willing to pay a little more.

Lightning will not just be available for battle though, as an article published by AndriaSang suggests that players will also be able to use Lightning in a series of ‘secret story episodes’. Furthermore, players will have to defeat Lightning in a coliseum battle first in order to play as her and further DLC down the line could allow players to buy even more coliseum battles with classic monsters from previous Final Fantasy games.

The move of allowing Lightning to be a playable character only as DLC may be seen as a controversial one with fans, especially those who played the first game. Lightning will actually appear in the main storyline, but her screen time will be kept to a minimum this time around with the focus now switched on the games two new playable characters – Serah (Lightning’s younger sister) and Noel Kreiss.

There’s no word from Square-Enix on the Lightning DLC, but we expect it will be confirmed shortly after launch in the US and Europe. Don’t forget that Xbox 360 owners will also get an exclusive piece of DLC via a special bow weapon for Serah. Let’s hope that Lightning does not end up as an Xbox 360 exclusive as well.

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At the end of last year, we told you that a screenshot analysis of the Japanese version of Final Fantasy XIII-2 which is already out on PS3 and Xbox 360 was concluded with ‘identical results’ – a stark contrast to the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Final Fantasy XIII which clearly favored Sony’s console.

Now though it looks like Square-Enix has gone back to work and have seriously improved the level of graphics performance that they’re able to churn out on Microsoft’s console, so much to say that a new demo comparison between the two versions is hard to tell apart which is credit to Square-Enix. The video published by Eurogamer states reveals that the Xbox 360 version now features 1280×720 2x MSAA, which is now on par with PS3, since the Xbox 360 version of FFXIII only used a 1024×576 resolution in comparison.

Their analysis also reveals that the demo is locked on both versions to 30 frames per second. However after examining a movie folder on both platforms, they have suggest that the PS3 demo may perform better overall than the Xbox 360, since the PS3 file contains a 1.64GB of data file, compared to the Xbox 360 file which is set at 188MB. Judging by their general thoughts on the demo though, it looks like Xbox 360 owners are going to be very pleased this time around since it looks like both games will be much closer this time around in a full on graphics showdown.

Does this affect your decision on picking up the PS3 or Xbox 360 version of the full game next month, or are you still waiting for further feedback before you part with your $50-60? Regardless of graphics performance, Final Fantasy XIII-2 looks like the FF game that fans have been waiting for and firmly puts the wrongs right from FFXIII.

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The full game is already available to buy over in Japan, and while gamers are free to import at their discretion, playing the game with Japanese menus isn’t exactly an enjoyable process, even if the original Japanese voice acting is preferred to English.

With the demo release now available, you can get a sample of Square-Enix’ latest game, and find out for yourself if Square-Enix has made improvements from FFXIII. For those of you that don’t have the demo yet, it should be appearing today on the Europe and Asia PlayStation Stores as part of this week’s update. As for Xbox 360 owners, the demo should also be available on the Xbox Live Marketplace sometime today as well.

We can tell you that the demo will take place in the Bresha Ruins and puts you into battle against a giant monster known as Atlas. Two players are available in the demo, who are Noel and Serah. The demo will give you a chance to preview the new QTE elements that are now featured in the FFXIII-2 battle system. We would have liked a bigger helping of gameplay in the demo like previous titles, but you can’t blame Square-Enix for wanting to just offer a slice of gameplay in the hope that fans flock to pick up the full game at the end of the month.

Just to let you know, the demo comes in at just at under 2GB. If you have already had a playthrough of the demo, let us know your impressions of it. Is it significantly better than FFXIII, or are there still some aspects that disappoint you?

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The last time we had any footage for Final Fantasy XIII-2 was when Square-Enix released their monster trailer for the game, confirming to fans that FFXIII-2 will give players the ability to capture monsters and train them up for use as a party member.

Now though, the company has released a trailer which focuses on a much loved character from the entire franchise – the moogle. Those cute little furry creatures have made an appearance in almost every Final Fantasy game and Square-Enix has once again made them an integral part of Final Fantasy XIII-2. You’ll be able to use moogles to search for rare treasure items, in some cases even throwing the moogles into random areas in hope of picking up an item – sounds bizarre we agree, but watch the trailer below and you’ll see what we mean.

For another Final Fantasy first, the mogs will also have an effect in battle as well in Final Fantasy XIII-2. Using a feature called ‘Mog Clock’, the mogs can give players a boost in battle with a pre-emptive strike, but on the other hand this feature can also give you a penalty by losing the first strike.

On a side note, a new collection of screenshots for the English version of Final Fantasy XIII-2 can be viewed over at Electronic Theater. There’s 17 images to browse through in total, one of which confirms the return of another infamous Final Fantasy character – the cactuar. It will be interesting to see if Square-Enix has made it so players can capture the cactuar and use it in battle as an ally – those of you who played Final Fantasy VIII will appreciate this more.

Are you picking up Final Fantasy XIII-2 at launch? It certainly looks very impressive after the well-documented criticism of FFXIII.

More About: Final Fantasy XIII-2, Square-Enix

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