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
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.
At last, it's Brain Age 2 time. Who's picking up the bundle? Inquiring fan-minds want to know (and can we touch it? for a dollar?). Of course, that's not all that's available this week, but it's certainly the most well-known title. Anything else tickle your particular fancy?
Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day
I SPY Fun House
Operation: Vietnam
The Settlers
Turn It Around
Slip past the break to see what's out in the rest of the world this week -- especially when it comes to the Japanese releases! Language-imbued importers might want to take note.
Square Enix's much anticipated -- at least on our end -- cooperative ARPG hits Japanese stores next week, half a year before we see it here in North America. New commercials advertising Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates have already started to air, featuring music from Japanese pop star Aiko Yanai.
Aiko even appears in one of the TV spots, making some strange faces while playing the game in her dressing room with several friends. We usually doubt the authenticity of these scenes of celebrities enjoying the products they're paid to push, but ever since we saw Utada Hikaru demolishing opponents in Tetris DS, we've been a lot more open-minded about the phenomenon.
As usual, we've got the commercials embedded past the jump, but if you've got an acute fear of Japanese women with strained expressions and would rather avoid Aiko's grimace, you can check out the Ring of Fates screenshots that Famitsu posted at its website instead.
Square Enix's newest Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates trailer is packed with nearly six minutes of boisterous combat scenes, dungeon-roaming recklessness, and much more! The clips that show everyone working together to put out a spreading fire with water barrels are definitely our favorite parts; it makes our hearts ache knowing that we'll never find more than one other person to play with, if even that many, when the game finally comes to North American next spring.
The brief preview of the cooperative ARPG's online component is nothing to get excited about -- players can trade their painted and personalized moogles. Yep, Square Enix actually managed to come up with something worse than MogNet.
Being able to customize your character's appearance (ninjas!), though, as you can see from the screen grab above, is the dog's bollocks. The extended movie also demonstrates that you'll be able to flip the action from the top window onto the bottom screen, using your stylus to direct spells and ranged weapons. Jump past the post break for the embedded video.
Even with all signs pointing to Disappointmentville regarding the release date for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates, we still foam at the mouth for anything we can get our hands on regarding the game. Whether it be screens or video, we can't get enough of the Square Enix game. And these latest screens are no exception, as they showcase some battle portions, as well as concept art.
Next spring is starting to feel so far away, especially since we've seen somuchmedia on Ring of Fates already. It's starting to feel as though we can cobble everything together and just pretend we have the full game ... and we're not sure if that makes the waiting easier or harder. But we'll take what we can get and pretend to be happy. Just ignore our twiddling thumbs.
Famitsu has a new set of screenshots up, complete with a few details on the battle system -- racial factors contributing to attacks -- and all we can say is that it's a good thing we've got another Square Enix RPG coming to tide us over.
Posted Jul 9th 2007 12:20PM by Eric Caoili
Filed under: News
Square Enix spent the morning revealing its lineup of "fresh new faces and timeless classics" that the company plans to exhibit this week at E3, attaching US release dates to its upcoming titles:
We're jumping on our beds with glee over the fact that we'll be receiving Front Mission so early after the localization was announced, but several disappointing details failed to escape our attention -- Final Fantasy Tactics A2: The Sealed Grimoire, It's a Wonderful World, FFIV DS, and Dragon Quest IX's absence; and Ring of Fates' distant date. The multiplayer ARPG and its DS Lite bundle are scheduled to hit Japan this August 23rd.
This week's clip features Alhanarlem, one of the main characters from the ARPG's spellcasting tribe of Yukes, leaping from platform to platform in what looks like a competitive minigame in which players race through a stage to find a hidden blue switch. Power-ups are scattered around the field, but their effects aren't revealed until they're grabbed. Vault past the post break for the embedded movie.
Another Square Enix game, anotherspecial-editionDS Lite. SE seems to have set up a template for these: logo on the left, line art on the right, money in the bank.
This time, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates gets the special-edition treatment on a Crystal White DS Lite. For Japan, obviously. We like the pseudo-stained-glass look, which can be found in full color on the box. This new DS variant is great news for people who were holding out on a DS purchase until the Japanese Ring of Fates came out. It's probably a little irritating for Square Enix fans who already have a plain DS.
We've been clamoring for a proper follow-up to the Seiken Densetsu series for over a decade now, and by the looks of the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates videos we've seen so far, we might finally be getting one. The first Crystal Chronicles entry on the GameCube was by no means disappointing, at least in our opinion, but hardware and link cable requirements made getting a group together much harder than we would've liked. Its handheld sequel seems free of those problems without losing that multiplayer ARPG's cooperative fun.
Square Enix's latest Ring of Fates clip demonstrates the teamwork involved in getting through the game's dungeon puzzles. Carrying around a huge block of wood can be difficult if someone isn't knocking back the enemies coming at you! Bring your crew past the post break for the short movie.
What did we do to deserve all this recentnews on Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates? Whatever it was, we should do it again ... a lot ... and with pretty much every other game ever. Square Enix has not been at all shy lately when it comes to Ring of Fates, and we're getting more and more interested in the story of fraternal twins Yuri and Cherinka. Now we're just hoping we can wrestle people into playing with us.
The latest Famitsu was packed with Ring of Fates tidbits -- see for yourself after the jump!
Gallery: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates
Square Enix may be a little stingy with that other Crystal Chronicles, but they make up for it with all kinds of updates on the DS game Ring of Fates. These newest screens go quite well with the action-packed trailer that was released earlier this week. We've dropped them into the gallery below and hope to add more soon!
We know not everyone is pleased with Square Enix lately. While a lot of DS owners are squealing in delight over all of the games headed to the handheld, some of you are a little grumbly about remakes. We know that sometimes SE can go a little overboard, but look at it this way -- they're also loading up on the original content. And when the landscape is packed with great games, we, the gamers, can only win.
Gallery: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates
If there's one thing that shouts "unprofessional" about an adventuring party, it's having a shirtless gypsy in your crew. How do you expect to battle monsters undistracted when your Selkie partner's pointy bits are out there for everyone to see? And you can forget about walking into any respectable restaurant. No shirt? Sorry guys, no service.
Square Enix's latest preview clip of its multiplayer RPG, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates, features the useful acrobatics and archery of the game's Selkie hero, Nasche. The red-haired rogue is fun to watch, even if his topless outfit seems impractical. Check past the post break for the embedded video.
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!"
Even though the game is already out in Japan, Square Enix was happy to show off 
At last, it's 
Square Enix is keeping up its media push for 
We've been clamoring for a proper follow-up to the Seiken Densetsu series for over a decade now, and by the looks of the 
What did we do to deserve all this 
Square Enix may be a little stingy with that other Crystal Chronicles, but they make up for it with all kinds of updates on the DS game Ring of Fates. These newest screens go quite well with the action-packed 
If there's one thing that shouts "unprofessional" about an adventuring party, it's having a shirtless gypsy in your crew. How do you expect to battle monsters undistracted when your Selkie partner's pointy bits are out there for everyone to see? And you can forget about walking into any respectable restaurant. No 
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