Last week, we clambered onto our soapboxes to rant about the ridonkulous delay between the U.S. and European release of Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker. "No more, Square Enix!" we cried, shaking our fists and jabbing our rusty pitchforks skywards. "No more neglecting Europe!"
Despite the fact that we did this while at our desk in another country with nobody else in the room, Square Enix seems to have listened. The company just announced a PAL date for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates, and it's not in 2013 or anything. It's on March 21st THIS YEAR, just ten days after the U.S. release. Square Enix had promised a spring release for PAL gamers all along, but we had no idea whether it would hold, much less that it would be so close to the North American release. Oh, happy days!
Gallery: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates
You can already pick up tiny Vaan, of Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, at the Square Enix store, and soon, you'll be able to add others -- at least, with the Japanese sets. The next round of figures, which includes Ashe and Basch, hits Japan in April, but whether or not they'll make it to the U.S. remains to be seen. The first Japanese trading arts set included Penelo, and she's missing from the non-import version (though available for import, if you need your perky braid fix ... and if you can track her down).
If you're really determined to start recreating your crew, you can also shoot for Balthier, who's available in the Final Fantasy Tactics Japanese set -- but the figures that ship with the Japanese sets are randomly selected, so keep your fingers crossed.
Face it. If you've owned Final Fantasy IV for the SNES, the GBA, and plan on getting it for the DS, you're an FFIV addict. Of course, when we show you things like these miniature figurines, that just makes us enablers.
For $39.00, you can get your fix from NCXS. The figures in this Final Fantasy IV Trading Arts Mini collection are only 6cm tall, which means they're tiny. Of course, you might just want to save your money for the game instead.
The Japanese website for Final Fantasy IV has updated with new goodies. First off, is an update to the character section, which describes a lot of the game's characters. There is also the download section, which has some sweet wallpapers available. Three of those wallpapers are of in-game characters, with the last new wallpaper available being one kickass piece of concept art. So, head on over and check the new stuff out.
With Final Fantasy Tactics A2 hitting Japan this month, FFXII: Revenant Wings out for US gamers next month, and the PSP's Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions out this week, the Ivalice Alliance ... uh, alliance seems to be going strong. Of the set, FFTA2 seems to be the most controversial, with lines drawn between the fans of straight Tactics and Tactics Advance, and fans of both on the sidelines shaking their heads. Reviews on this one should be interesting! In the meantime, you can check out the latest screens in our updated gallery.
All of our European readers who've been sitting on their hands, anxiously awaiting a release date for Square Enix's Final Fantasy XII spin-off title for the DS, Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, can now breathe a sigh of relief. Releasing to the territory in early 2008, no longer do gamers residing in the PAL region even have to wonder if they're getting the title. And, while we'd like to provide an exact date when you can expect to be able to pick the game up, sadly this is all Square Enix has given us to go on.
Even though the game is already out in Japan, Square Enix was happy to show off Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates at this year's TGS. Joystiq's TGS contingent happened upon the game and engaged in a multiplayer session with Square Enix booth staff, for our edification, and found the experience "very shallow".
The game hews closely to the Gamecube original, without the restrictive hardware requirements, of course, Your team picks character classes and explores a dungeon together, finding magic in the form of powerup items along the way. The magic is equippable from a menu on the touchscreen. Players have the ability to "boost" each other in order to make difficult jumps, which sounds fun, but could lead to split parties very easily (how does the last guy get up?)
What the Joystiq team saw as "shallow," we see as "intriguing." They decry the lack of anything to do other than defeat wave after wave of enemies, but that sounds quite like bliss to us, especially when the movement is "quite free" as described. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles sounds like it might be unexpectedly action-oriented.
With all the news from TGS this week, we thought it might be the perfect time to tie in with a little Show and Tell session featuring the limited edition DS Lites those of us outside Japan so often sigh over. Reader Eoghan sent in the picture available after the break, and now we just want to track down the location of these goodies and rob them. And then we thought ... if PAX is a veritable DS mecca, what must the crowd at TGS look like? These things could be everywhere. Oh well. Since we're not there to ogle the array of Lites, we'll just have to make due with Eoghan's very pretty picture.
Got something you want to show off? Crafts, cakes, collections from modest to extreme, t-shirts ... whatever you've got, if it has a little Nintendo flavor, we want to see it. Just take some pictures (or copy your web album links) and send them to showmeit [at] dsfanboy [dot] com. We'll take care of the rest.
Do you like blogs? We love blogs, even if they're comprised mostly of indecipherable script from the Japanese language. Of course, it doesn't hurt that it's about games.
One of the game's producers comments that the title was planned immediately following the completion of Final Fantasy III, but fails to mention how frequently the blog will be updated. So, be sure keep up with the RSS over there.
Posted Sep 10th 2007 7:00PM by Eric Caoili
Filed under: News
Six weeks away from the SRPG's release in Japan, Square Enix has offered a preview of job classes for the two new tribes in Final Fantasy Tactics A2: The Sealed Grimoire, the Seeq and Gria, the former being a race resembling portly pigs and originally appearing in Final Fantasy XII, and the latter of which are a humanoid feminine race with dragon-like characteristics.
The Seeq's Raptor class has skills similar to the Knights' in Final Fantasy Tactics, while the Gria's Lunistas are able to trade HP to increase their critical hit chance. Both tribes also have a Bastard class which we assume to comprise of one of the following:
Children born out of wedlock
Jerks of the highest degree
Warriors who wield oversized medieval swords
You can check out some concept art for the Seeq and Gria past the post break, where we always hide the goodies. It has yet to be confirmed whether or not the two tribes, similar to Wu-Tang Clansman Ol' Dirty Bastard (R.I.P.), like it raw.
It's nice to see that even though Nintendo won't have a booth at the Tokyo Game Show this year, our favorite handheld will still be properly represented at the convention by companies like Square Enix (Sanuk Software, too!).
Square Enix has announced its sequels, remakes, spin-offs, and casual titles the company plans to present at the event, most notable on the list -- at least for us -- being a playable Dragon Quest IV. Dragon Quest IX, recently pushed back for a 2008 release, will only show up in video form. Check past the post break for Square Enix's full list of DS RPGs and Style Games for TGS.
For the Final Fantasy nut in you, Famitsu has just put up some new screens for Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced 2 (what a title!). The screens reveal the inclusion of two characters from the PS2 title Final Fantasy XII (and its upcoming DS spin-off title Revenant Wings) in Vaan and Penelo.
Aside from that, machine translation hasn't given us any more information to go on.
We told you all it was coming and now the doors for Square Enix's online shop have finally opened.
Upon checking out the selection, we find that unless you're a big fan of jewelry, there isn't much within to satisfy your need for decorative gaming statues and whatnot. Sure, there are the sweet Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Sephiroth and Cloud figures with glowing bases, but they don't come cheap. And we'd go for those exclusive Final Fantasy XII figures, but we're not huge fans of that installment in the franchise.
Regardless of our fine-tuned tastes, there is plenty there for most of you to enjoy. Especially those diehard Square Enix fans.
The latest issue of Shonen Jump has a page of new CG artwork and cutscene screenshots from Square Enix's 3D remake of Final Fantasy IV, previewing a game that we likely won't receive until next year. If the release schedule is anything like Final Fantasy III's (DS), we'll have to wait three months after the game ships in Japan before a localized version hits North America.
Siliconera sectioned off the characters, and compared the images with their counterparts on the original SNES game. Cecil doesn't seem to have lost any of his femininity, and Kain's dragoon outfit looks just as badass as ever! You can check out the rest of the juxtaposed pieces at Siliconera, but we've got the original Japanese magazine scan after the post break.
Posted Aug 16th 2007 12:20PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: News
Square Enix sent an email out today to let us know that their online merchandise store will be opening on the 20th at 6PM EST. It's a good thing, too, because we were really starting to get nervous about all this money and shelf space we have around here. They'll be carrying exclusive items like the Judge Magister Gabranth figure, and a pair of Cloud and Sephiroth Advent Children statuettes with glowing bases.
We're looking forward to dropping way too much money on the inevitable Chocobo- and Moogle-themed memorabilia with which to fill our Materia slotsairshipinventory apartment. Well, maybe not way too much money, because we're total grownups and know how to restrain oursel- dude, maybe they have the cushions!
Last week, we clambered onto our soapboxes to rant about the ridonkulous delay between the U.S. and European release of Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker. "No more, Square Enix!" we cried, shaking our fists and jabbing our rusty pitchforks skywards. "No more neglecting Europe!"
You can already pick up tiny Vaan, of 
With 
Even though the game is already out in Japan, Square Enix was happy to show off 
Six weeks away from the SRPG's release in Japan, 
It's nice to see that even though Nintendo won't have a booth at the 
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