The folks at Square-Enix NA have been generous enough to provide us with two tickets to the upcoming Final Fantasy: Distant Worlds concert in Atlanta, Georgia! Here's some details on the event:

Distant Worlds
June 7, 2013 8:00 pm
Atlanta Symphony Hall in Atlanta, Georgia ...

When I first heard the announcement of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, I had my reservations. Like many fans, I was disappointed with the ending to Final Fantasy XIII-2. For me, the ambiguous final scene did not instill thoughts of "I wonder what happens next," but rather "I'm done with this crap." So when Square-Enix announced there would be a third (and final) game in this series, I was far from thrilled.

Still, I followed every piece of news on Lightning Returns closely. I am first and foremost a Final Fantasy fan ...

Happy 2012! To get the new year started off right, Eyes on Final Fantasy will be giving away a copy of the Final Fantasy XIII-2 Collector's Edition to one lucky member. The English release of FFXIII-2 is right around the corner (January 31) and many of us are very excited to get our hands on it. One of you will be doing so for free! Along with the game, the Collector's Edition comes with special digipack packaging, the 4-disc Official Soundtrack, and a concept art book.

Entering is simple. To enter, post in this thread telling us what your favorite Final Fantasy game is and why. Keep it short, 1 to 2 sentences, or preferably, in a haiku! Don't worry, your entry won't be judged and all entrants have an equal chance of winning. On February 3rd we will hold a random drawing to determine the lucky winner. We will then ask you for your XBOX360/Playstation 3 preference. Only one entry per member please. And no second accounts, we'll be able to tell. Sadly, staff aren't eligible , but I pre-ordered my copy anyway.

Good luck to all of you! ...

On October, 21 I had the opportunity to visit Square-Enix at their offices in Los Angeles and got a sneak peek at Final Fantasy XIII-2. Below is my review from playing the first three hours of the game. It should go without saying that this only reflects my opinion. If you want to read a general overview of the event you can go here, and if you want to read a factual rundown of what we learned about FFXIII-2, check it out here. In general I had a great time at the event and enjoyed playing FFXIII-2. I cannot say enough how nice the Square-Enix NA staff was and how well they treated us. They were simply awesome. Even if this game turned out to be a steaming pile of crap I would still have enjoyed myself due to how friendly and professional they were to us. Fortunately it was not a steaming pile of crap.

Bear in mind that I only got to play the first three hours of the game, and my opinion will only be based on that time period. As we all know, many of the more fun features in these types of games often don't get unlocked until much later. For example, after playing Final Fantasy XIII for three hours you probably wouldn't even have met your full party ...

Back on October 21, Eyes on Final Fantasy got to visit Square Enix at their North America offices for a Final Fantasy XIII-2 fan event. We (ShlupQuack and myself) hung out with their PR team, got to play a 3-hour demo of FFXIII-2 (which was basically the first three hours of the game), and even met FFXIII and FFXIII-2 producer Yoshinori Kitase and art director Isamu Kamikokuryo. It was loads of fun!

After taking diligent notes through three hours of gameplay and a Q&A session with Kitase-san and Kamikokuryo-san, we've got quite a list of Final Fantasy Facts to get you all warm and ready to once again save the citizens of Gran Pulse. The Story section will give you a quick run down of what happens from the prologue through the end of chapter two, but the other sections are spoiler free (they are in spoiler tags for organizational purposes). Enjoy!

General Gameplay

• There is a jump button! Feel free to jump around freely like I did!
• Square Enix is making a real effort to step up the interactivity in this game, as evidenced by the frequency of "Cinematic Actions." Basically, a cut scene will often have a "LIVE" icon in the upper left-hand corner, which

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