Trailer Tuesdays – Final Fantasy Edition

Final Fantasy XIII-2 (Square Enix/tri-Ace, Square Enix)

Lately, it seems that Square Enix is spending their time trying to clean up the mess that Final Fantasy has become. This is the launch trailer for Final Fantasy XIII-2, which comes out in North America today. Will it redeem the original game, which is largely considered a disappointment?

Similarly, will Final Fantasy XIV 2.0 make up for the debacle that the original release was?

Final Fantasy isn’t what it used to be.

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (Square Pictures, Columbia Pictures)

Speaking of debacles, here’s the trailer for Hironobu Sakaguchi’s ambitious theatrical film that nearly put SquareSoft out of business. Speaking for myself, I actually liked The Spirits Within; I feel like the only one who did. (Well, Ebert and Roeper gave it two thumbs up.) But audiences largely ignored it, and fans were left disappointed.

Despite that, however, it seems that the games have stylistically followed the film’s example. Look at the two trailers above, and tell me they don’t have the same vibe. And yet, I would argue that The Spirits Within still looks more convincing and mature, and less, well, cartoonish and silly. It’s also helped along by a great voice cast, including Alec Baldwin, Ving Rhames, Steve Buscemi, Donald Sutherland and James Woods.