I actually really like the second. I'm trying to imagine which of them I'd register at if I were going around looking for an FFXIII forum to register at, and I think I'd rather register at the latter than the former.

EDIT: The banner would need work, though - it's light to extreme levels and doesn't feature the name of the forum. But that's obviously workable. I do like the scheme a lot, though.

Is it possible to get something that is very similar to FFXIII itself, as in the menu system they use on it?