The real reason I came to Japan:

Instant access to all things Square Enix!

As most of you probably are not aware (nor care), last week marked the release date of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete DVD, the Director's Cut of the CG FFVII sequel. If, like me, you purchased the Blu-ray set, you also got the Final Fantasy XIII demo disc, which contains the first half hour of the game. I pre-ordered the demo set from Amazon.co.jp months ago, and on Friday, it finally arrived!

Now, now, I know what you're thinking: but Katherine, you have neither a PlayStation 3 nor a TV! And you're absolutely right. But I do have a friend who was bent on writing a blog review of the movie and demo, and he had a friend with a PS3 and access to a large TV. Problem solved.

So Saturday night, my friends and I basked in the glory of FFVII:AC Complete, which even without an HD TV was truly breathtaking in both art and music. The new DVD has half an hour of extra footage. Many fans speculated that this would probably be nearly all fight scenes, with which the original is already quite saturated. But I'm happy to report that most of the new material is exposition explaining the true nature of geostigma, which is now as scary as the Black Death, and also the appearance of Denzel, an orphan who was completely absent from the game but now inexplicably lives with Cloud, Tifa, and Marlene. The new scenes show how he came to live at 7th Heaven, and it's quite a touching story.

If you already own the original cut and are on the fence about buying the new version, I assure you it's entirely worth the money: in addition to superior backstory, the end of the fight scene between Cloud and Sephiroth is totally different and positively wicked!

After having our minds nearly blown by the movie (we suspect that HD would finish the job), we popped in the FFXIII demo and, since I bought it, I got to play the new game for the first time. Of course, the demo was entirely in Japanese, but with four exchange students of varying levels watching, we were able to understand most of the dialogue. Also, I have been keeping well up to date on all available info on the game, so I knew the battle system well enough to skip the Japanese explanation screens and just dive right in.

I could sit here and type up all my thoughts about the game, but to be honest, I was so busy kicking butt and trying not to die that I wasn't paying much attention to the game as a whole. Instead, I suggest you pop on over to David's blog to read his review of the game- he watched me play, asked lots of questions, and took notes. You can find the link to his blog, Bored of Pixels, to the right under "May I Suggest". If you're interested in learning more about Final Fantasy XIII and the Fabula Nova Crystallis series, click on the FinalFantasy-XIII.net link.

Of course, the most important reason for my studying abroad was to improve my Japanese, which I am certainly doing. But my main reason for learning Japanese in the first place is Square Enix. Their games are not only entertaining, but they embody incredible artwork, original music, and the finest computer graphics and programming in the interactive entertainment industry. And playing their games in the original Japanese is a great way to improve my reading and listening abilities.

So remember kids: enjoy video games responsibly, and you may end up with a great career opportunity.