I didn't really follow games that heavily at the time, but didn't VII also have a lengthy development cycle and the weight of FFVI on its shoulders? It turned out alright. Anyway, I also hope that Versus XIII is awesome (and not necessarily the best game, or even FF, ever made) and, given the amount of work been done on it, I think it should meet that.

I don't understand why XIII-2 is selling so badly in Japan though. Didn't it get a 40/40 from Famitsu.