While traditionally, sequential installments in the Final Fantasy series take about three average-length human lifetimes to be released in English form, Final Fantasy XIII will be different. According to a recent interview with the UK-based VideoGamer, FFXIII producer Yoshinori Kitase said he wanted to speed up the time it takes to export the game to the rabid, pimply Americans and Europeans frothing over it:
"Traditionally the Final Fantasy numbered series, it takes about half a year between the release in Japan and the release in North America, and another half a year before it's released in Europe. But we would like to minimize this, this time ... for example, we have already started recording English voices, and also the text localization has been in progress, too. Normally we complete the Japanese version first, then move on to the US and EU versions, but this time there are some tasks that are happening simultaneously. So this time we're hoping to release sooner than a year later [in Europe] than the Japanese release."
Lets just hope that they're going more of the Tales of Vesperia route on those English voices, rather than a Star Ocean IV route. I REALLY just want some decent voice actors in my RPGs, and Squeenix should really follow Namco's lead in that regard. Despite my worries, though, I'm totally stoked by this news.
