Posted Jun 11th 2007 1:00PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: News
Yoichi Wada, head of Square Enix, believes that handhelds are the way to go, at least until the next generation settles down somewhat. Wada told the Financial Times "There is a new breed of gamers in the market – we have to make games for all kinds of people." Which means, of course, the DS.
It should be no surprise that the company has a lot of faith in portable systems, since their flagship franchise has moved to the DS. Still, it is a little unusual for Wada to publicly speak against next-gen systems with so many important Square Enix games headed to the PS3. "There are too many specs – and you also need a high-definition TV, a broadband connection and a deep knowledge of gaming – these consoles are mismatched to today's environment. In a year or two years they will fare better."
Nostalgia is a big factor for veteran gamers. As we long wistfully for the days of yore, full of Opera Houses and Triple Techs, companies scheme to use this wonderful emotion for profit. Square-Enix is a particularly egregious offender, but damned if we're not willing to buy that game we loved just one more time.
Final Fantasy III is a bit of an exception, since the title was never truly released in regions outside of Japan before last year. But how willing are you, as gamers, to buy rehashes of the very same game? We got the entire Final Fantasy Advance series (I, II, IV, V, and VI) and now Square-Enix wants to release a graphically overhauled version of FFIV ... again? With the inclusion of Final Fantasy Chronicles on the Playstation, this will be the fourth release of the same freaking game.
Do you need extra features or updated graphics to re-buy a game, or do you refuse on principal? As we know is that as long as we keep buying them, Square-Enix will keep remaking them. Pah.
What a week! At this rate, we could almost use a DS drought, just to give us time to save up some cash! But we shouldn't complain, since our counterparts in the UK and Australia aren't having much of a week as far as releases go. Isn't that always the way of it? One week, we get a ton of games and they get none, and the next week it's reversed. The only thing we can ever count on is that Japan is going to debut a veritable truckload of new titles. No matter what's going in the rest of the world, the Japanese must have their new DS games.
US releases
We don't usually sit around wishing we lived in Japan, but sometimes there's an overriding temptation that throws everything into a tailspin ... and wouldn't you know that dastardly Square Enix is behind it. The source of our agony? That the fabulous franchise festival known as the Square Enix Party 2007 is going to go on without us. The pain.
Thanks to the series of tubes that connects us with Japan, we at least have loads of video to look forward to -- and now that SE has announced a formal list of titles that will be available at the event (both playable and video-only), we're starting to get a little excited. Playable games on display include FFXII: Revenant Wings, Itadaki Street, It's a Wonderful World, and the new Crystal Chronicles for the DS. That may in fact be more Final Fantasy than we could shake a stick at. Also verified: an unknown Final Fantasy title, but we have to admit that it may be attached to those other guys. We won't begrudge them that; we've got plenty of games here to drool over.
Over at 1UP, they got their hands on a few Japanese magazines containing info on the highly-anticipated (by us, anyway) Final Fantasy XII spin-off title Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings. In checking out their preview, we noticed that there is a lot of new information on the game. As such, we're doing the gentlemanly thing and presenting it to you, fine reader, in the most entertaining way possible: with our minds. Why yes, dear reader, in fact right now you are staring at a blank computer screen, it is us who have projected the image of this website into your mind and, might we say, it's awfully cold and vacant up here.
Jokes about your intelligence aside, some of the newly-acquired facts on the title include:
The game will feature over 50 different summons, with each varying in rank (three total ranks)
The third rank summon may only be used once in each map
A section of the airship will be used to house in-game achievements, taking the form of monuments
The Salamander summon has been changed from a lizard to a wild boar
For all of you that got a real kick out of the game, these figurines here might be right up your alley. With a total of seven available (with three of them pictured, natch), we imagine many a cubicle area or home desk could be spruced up (or even defended from ne'er-do-wells) by these awesome figurines. Play-Asia supposedly sells them, but they're currently sold out with no signs of replenished stock coming.
A pair of pages featuring Final Fantasy XII from Famitsu magazine have been scanned and shot through the vast series of tubes that comprise the internet, eventually arriving on our digital doorstep. We now present said scans to you in an act of surrender kindness we hope will be valued. You're good people and deserve good scans. We'd include the scans past the post break, but they're fairly huge and would break the site's tables. Also, we'd translate the info, but our inability to translate Japanese script makes that impossible.
And rounding up the recentdeluge of Square-Enix trailers from their annual Jump Festa event, this Final FantasyCrystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates trailer certainly impresses. There's some shiny text, and then a long, confusing sequence in which one tries to focus on five different scenes in the picture at once. Leave it to SE to try and simply overwhelm your senses ... they're rather good at that.
The original Crystal Chronicles was a bit of a let-down, but this title can hopefully bring FF:CC out of the "crappy Final Fantasy spin-offs" category. Oh, and for a slightly higher quality version of the trailer, click here for the official movie from Square-Enix's website.
(And did anyone check out what appeared to be a stylus-based fire spell around 1:41? Awesome.)
A trailer for the upcoming Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings has hit the 'net and, in watching it more times than a person honestly should, we've seen some interesting gameplay and characters who will join Vaan and Panelo in their adventure. The video quality doesn't do the game's graphics justice, in our eyes, so we assume to be blown away even more upon getting our hands on the title.
Famitsu published some screens and info via their website today. The screens (the top two are from single-player, with the bottom two providing a glimpse into the game's multiplayer) show some in-game sections of the title, but don't really reveal much. Aside from that, any online translation aid we've tried online has spit back indecipherable code. So, we're stuck between a rock and a hard place at the moment in trying to gain any further information than the game stars twins.
And with it comes the juicy details. RPG site has some translated information from the scan, and we've scavenged the best bits here for you:
The director of the game is Mitsuru Kamiyama, a coder for the original Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles (nice promotion!), and Toshiyuki Itahana, character designer for FFIX, will be reprising that role for this game.
Single player mode requires the player to swap between characters ala Lego Star Wars. We just hope it's less buggy.
Ring of Fates will feature some voice acting, but will not have a fully voiced script.
In the latest issue of Japanese mag Shonen Jump, it's confirmed that some new Final Fantasy Tactics action will be gracing both Sony and Nintendo's handhelds, however, as usual, Nintendo is getting the better deal. See, the PSP is getting a remake of Final Fantasy Tactics, while the DS (or GBA, it's unconfirmed which handheld the game will appear on at this time) will be receiving a true blue sequel in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2: The Sealed Black Book.
Considering the recent release of Final Fantasy III, as well as Square's support of the DS with Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, not to mention the recent announcement of Dragon Quest IX being exclusive to the DS, we're banking on the game coming to the dual-screen handheld, as well. What do you guys think?
Looks like the upcoming Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates is taking a cue from Final Fantasy III on the DS as far as looks are concerned. We doubt it will be as hardcore old school, but you can't have everything. And is it just us, or is that a really long name?
We've got some scans after that jump that show off the game's look -- check 'em out.
Just in time for the US release of Final Fantasy XII, updates for the spin-off have surfaced. Co-producer Eisuke Yokoyama and scenario writer/director Motomu Toriyama talked a bit with Dengeki DS Style magazine about the battle system, characters, summons and the world of Ivalice. Here are a few snippets from the IGN article:
Asked if the game would use FFXII's ADB system, Yokoyama said that the battle system is mostly new. However, in order to keep FFXII players from getting confused, there will be a number of shared elements. The Gambit system will be a part of this title, although it will be simplified in order to accommodate beginner players. Also, the battle system will be fully playable with the stylus.
Dengeki asked a question about the number of party members capable of joining your group. To this, Yokoyama responded that Fran and Balthier will definitely join in as party members (they were shown in the Tokyo Game Show trailer, after all). Due to the new game systems, Yokoyama expects there to be more party members than in FFXII.
Summon beasts will apparently play a big role in the game. Toriyama expects Revenant Wings to have the most summon beasts of any Final Fantasy game ever. The summon beasts will be the key to battles, said Toriyama, and their use will be different from that of previous titles.
As more and more details appear, the eager question of Wi-Fi support sticks in our mind. There hasn't been any word involving Wi-Fi and Revenant Wings but we hope to hear some in the future. With the game taking advantage of every other aspect the Nintendo DS has to offer it would be a shame to see a key element get left out in the cold.
The Final Fantasy, much to our enjoyment, never ends. What started as a final attempt became an RPG icon. Final Fantasy has dominated for nearly 20 years now as new installments are released. Square Enix, in their attempts to reach every gamer possible, has made plans to re-release older titles on the GameBoy Advance.
They have already released Final Fantasy I/II Dawn of Souls and Final Fantasy IV. Carrying on with the tradition, Final Fantasy V and VI are making their way into our homes.
We have already shown you pictures, the web site and now we are offering you a promo video featuring lots and lots of words we can't read. This makes us a sad panda bear. Enjoy!
Nostalgia is a big factor for veteran gamers. As we long wistfully for the days of yore, full of Opera Houses and Triple Techs, companies scheme to use this wonderful emotion for profit. Square-Enix is a particularly egregious offender, but damned if we're not willing to buy that game we loved just one more time.
What a week! At this rate, we could almost use a DS drought, just to give us time to save up some cash! But we shouldn't complain, since our counterparts in the UK and Australia aren't having much of a week as far as releases go. Isn't that always the way of it? One week, we get a ton of games and they get none, and the next week it's reversed. The only thing we can ever count on is that Japan is going to debut a veritable truckload of new titles. No matter what's going in the rest of the world, the Japanese must have their new DS games.
We don't usually sit around wishing we lived in Japan, but sometimes there's an overriding temptation that throws everything into a tailspin ... and wouldn't you know that dastardly Square Enix is behind it. The source of our agony? That the fabulous franchise festival known as the Square Enix Party 2007 is going to go on without us. The pain.
