Saturday night Christina and I were lucky enough to be able to attend the Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy concert at the Boston Symphony Hall. We knew it was going to be an incredible event, but I don’t think either of us was really prepared for the emotional impact the evening had in store. It might sound like a bold statement – and in all honesty, it is – but it was one of the most memorable nights of my life.

Last night I was at GameStop buying a copy of BlazBlue: Continuum Shift for PlayStation 3 to play with the super rad WhiteDragonNall when I noticed something strange. This was a pretty large GameStop with high ceilings, so the had shelves above the game racks for bulkier items, like DJ Hero controllers, Dance Dance Revolution bundles and what have you. I noticed they had three copies of the Final Fantasy XIV Collector’s Edition for $25, so after coming home and discussing it with my wife like a rational adult (and fighting to quell the impatient fanboy within me) I went back and bought it today.

I’ve been thinking a lot about Final Fantasy lately for whatever reason. I think it’s my compulsive need to figure out what my favorite is in any given franchise, but unfortunately I like the different games and characters for different reasons so it’s hard to rate them. There is one thing I’m absolutely sure of, though, and that is that Tidus from Final Fantasy X is the manliest Final Fantasy hero there is.

Also there will be spoilers for Final Fantasy X, but I figure if you haven’t played it yet you probably won’t.

Tidus gets a bad rap from today’s gamer because of his hair, his outfit, and his optimistic attitude. I think those people are stupid, and those are also the people that got “The Last Ride” removed from Super Street Fighter IV, got the colors taken out of Zelda: Skyward Sword, and basically act like morons on the internet whenever a game isn’t 12 shades of brown and have a buff guy with guns as the main character.

So Square-Enix announced a North American release date for their upcoming MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV.

Actually, they announced TWO North American release dates.

That’s right, the game will launch on September 30, unless you buy the Collector’s Edition of the game, in which case you get to start playing September 22 and laugh at all the peasants with their noses pressed against the window, wishing with all their tiny little hearts to be inside.

I want to talk about Final Fantasy XIII for a bit.

If you’ve been following my thoughts on the game leading up to its release, you’ll remember I’ve been kinda up and down on the subject, my interest fluctuating much like the wave pools at a water park. At first I wasn’t even sure I’d pick it up on release day, but a few days before my cynicism got hit by a Limit Break of excitement and I decided I’d get it day one. Come on, it’s Final Fantasy!

Or is it?

A group of teenagers save the world from a supernatural threat.

What game did I just describe?

A lot, I know.

I see a lot of talk on message boards and the like about how the Japanese-style RPG (or JRPG) is a dying breed, and this is mostly brought on because their storylines are all so similar. You have a group of plucky teens with stylish hair, a few giant swords, maybe a tough old guy who will probably die, and some insurmountable juggernaut that they somehow wind up surmounting.