Final Fantasy XIII Demo Gets Japanese Release Date

Final Fantasy XIII has been a long time coming, but players willing to pay a hefty fee and wade through Japanese text can try it in only a few short months. IGN reports that the Blu-ray version of Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete is scheduled in Japan for April 16. The movie alone will cost 4,900 yen (about $54 USD), but that price doesn’t include the demo. To play the next Final Fantasy, players will have to shell out 5,900 yen ($65 USD) for the Trial Version set, or a staggering 49,980 yen (about $550 USD) for the Cloud Black 160GB PlayStation 3 set, which includes a special edition PS3 system. Factor in importing costs, and you’ll be paying well more than a full next-gen title price for a demo.

The trial is expected to work on PS3s worldwide, due to lack of region locking, but that hasn’t been confirmed yet. As far as demos go, this one is set to be beefy, coming in at around two hours long. Considering the game itself won’t come out in the U.S. until at least a year later, we’re sure at least a few insane devoted fans will eat the cost to try out the game.