Nearly every Final Fantasy VII fan is familiar with the emotional roller coaster that is the possibility of Square-Enix remaking the game. Things first got kicked off after a tech demo was shown at E3 a few years ago on the PS3 from Square-Enix. Over these last few years, the rumor has existed, been denied, and then brought back up again multiple times.

However, Squaer Union seems to give us a pretty big hint that the game could be remade. In an interview with the director of Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core by Official Playstation Magazine, Hajime Tabata was quoted as saying:

"The possiblity [sic] for a remake may become greater if, for instance, the schedules of the original members of the Final Fantasy VII development team, such as Kitase and Nomura, open up[.]"

Does this mean that once Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII are completed and released that they'll get started on a remake of Square's most popular game ever? Only time will tell...

Square really likes to keep Final Fantasy XIII under wraps and lead Final Fantasy fans all over the world on a bit at a time with new information. Here's a quick summary of our knowledge thus far:

There are three versions of Final Fantasy XIII.

The games will likely be released at some point in 2009.

The games will be for the PS3.

The graphics aren't going to disappoint.

That's pretty much it until today. Square Enix announced yesterday that Final Fantasy Versus XIII will be the first to have a soundtrack released... And it's coming out on March 26. Sure, it spoils some of the fun of discovering new tracks in the game, but it still gives you something to drool over and make the release of Final Fantasy XIII all that much more exciting for you.

[Source - GameGrep]

By Avalith

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Final Fantasy Versus XIII [PS3]

Japanese game magazine Famitsu really loves Square's newest additions to the Final Fantasy empire. I take that back. They must REALLY love it. In fact, they love it so much that they dedicated a massive twenty-seven pages of their latest issue to Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII.

To view these scans, feel free to visit the source for this article.

New magazine scans have been released for Final Fantasy XIII!

Scan 1

Scan 2

Scan 3

Scan 4

[Source]

To mark the release of the Cloud Art Book (and DVD which comes with it containing trailers of FFXIII) Media Works have opened up an official website for the book which contains extract from the book, as well as confirms the existence of the trailers relating to FFXIII and FFvsXIII.

In a recent press release, Square Enix has finally confirmed an EU release date, set for the 15th of February, early next year. Exclusively on the DS, Revanant Wings is basically a follow-up to the popular Final Fantasy XII, describing what happens to the many heroes of that game once it ended.

A full copy of the press release can be checked out here!

It's something most PS3 and FFXIII fan have been hoping for, but have yet to hear about it... well it seems the tide has turned and we may very well have gotten some exclusivity news about FFXIII, here's a quote, courtesy of FF-XIII.net (link below)

Kitase: The Blue-Ray's disc space and the PS3 HDD's standards has helped us a lot in terminating (mostly, if not absolutely) loading times.
Kitase: Just like how 7 was a huge improvement from 6, the improvement between 12 and 13 may be big too.

Nomura: Our programmers were asking, "is it okay if we program it as a PS3 exclusive? If you're thinking of porting it to other consoles, we might have to change the specs to follow suit the others." And I answered, "PS3 exclusive, of course."
Nomura: The staff just showed me how it looks to fly with an airship while in the World Map. It's been awhile since I last saw something "FF-ish".
Nomura: We haven't announced who else are in the Versus team, but we've got some big names.

Although the Tokyo Game Show has come and gone, what seems like weeks ago, we are still waiting for many trailers that were shown at the event. One of which is the Final Fantasy IV trailer, which has finally been released and is now available for download:

Here's 5 Seconds from the Final Fantasy XIII trailer shown at TGS2007:

A huge number of Screenshots here, well I might as well put these lot together:

Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core



Dissidia: Final Fantasy

If you were hoping for more screenshots from TGS... well wait no longer

Final Fantasy Versus XIII

Screens:

TGS2007 Is truely here, take a look at these beuties:

Final Fantasy XIII

Screens:

Chocobo's are most definitely cute and Square know that all Final Fantasy fans would hate not to see Chocobo's in an FF game, and realising this, they've created many Chocobo related games. Well here are scans from the upcoming Chocobo Game (along with scans from Tactics Advanced 2 and FFIV DS).

Chocobo's Dungeon


Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2


Final Fantasy IV DS

ruliweb2.empas.com has recently posted up some interesting news on their Bulletin Board ... apparently Square Enix is planning on announcing yet another title for the Fabulla Nova Crystallis series. This new game will be the fourth game in the Final Fantasy XIII universe.
The site claims that Final Fantasy Melody will be announced for the Playstation 3 at TGS 2007, and that a logo has already been revealed.

It seems that Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core is living up to it's hype. On the first day of it's release, around 350,000 copies of the game were sold ... and the number is still climbing!

With the soaring sales, high Review ratings, and good publicity of Crisis Core, Square Enix are hoping to double their takings by the end of the week ...

Yesterday, on the 13th, Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core was released in Japan and quite a few of you will have ordered it internationally even though it's in Japanese anyway! So if you're looking for help, discussion or other fans then make sure to head over to the Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core Forum.

It's a video that's sure to get your excitement levels up. It's five minutes of a story revealing video from the up coming Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core. Be warned the video below contains Spoilers (and it is also in Japanese )

This time, the screens focus on the Nibelheim incident that was shown in the original Final Fantasy VII (PSone), featuring familiar characters: Sephiroth, Cloud Strife, Jenova, Zack Fair, and Tifa Lockhart.

First-Class SOLDIER Genesis, a bikini-clad Shisune, and a new character (Hollander), also appear in the screens.

The game is set for release in Japan on September 13th.

Check out the screens on GameGrep

Coming soon to a DS near you is Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicals: Rings of Fates. Whilst we have to wait a bit longer, the game is nearing release in Japan, and to mark this event have released two TV Adverts to promote to game. Why not take a look for yourselves via our sister site GameGrep.

It's not everyday that Square-Enix releases special Final Fantasy products, and whilst potions have been released in the past, this time square are releasing an even more special Potion packet for Final Fantasy fans everywhere. Releasing as part of the FFVII 10th anniversary and made once more by Suntory in Japan, 77,777 bottles of these potions are set to be released to unsuspecting consumers for a whooping 3,980Yen (US$32).

The release date is also none other than co-inciding with the release of Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core. As a special pack, along with the potion, consumers will also be recieving a book called the Final Fantasy VII 10th Anniversary Ultimania containing every title in the compilation of the Final Fantasy VII series.

We've all been waiting a long time for news regarding the game, and the hopes that we may even get a Release Date for the much awaited Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII, however the game was missing from E3 (as said by Square that it would be) and so very little new information has come recently.

However, in today's PlayStation Premier press conference in Tokyo, Square have revealed information regarding to the status of both the games, and currently they are only 13% and 1.5% completed (respectively). This doesn't seem to fare well, and could mean an even longer wait for fans of the game to get their hands on the next FF instalment.

With TGS coming soon, what information about FFXIII will they be releasing at the event?

Square Enix is currently auditioning people to sing the song “Theme of Love” in the upcoming remake of Final Fantasy IV. According to Weekly Famitsu, the company is only looking at Japanese citizens of at least 18 years of age. Applications can be sent until July 31 and further details can be found on the DS game’s website.

While still in Japanese, unfortunately, the A2 site, following a similar design as what we saw with the Final Fantasy XII site, has been released for public viewing, as seen here!

The following information will be made available:

Sub quests will have an effect on storyline

The world map will be split into areas, and areas will be further split into stages.

Fulfilling certain conditions unlocks new areas.

Monsters will have ranks and some other features not yet revealed.

The Judge and Law systems remain as a trademark of FFTA. With a Judge in your clan, your members can only be revived if you don’t break any of the clan laws. Opponents can also have a Judge on their team.

The prison is now gone. You can earn merit points for having a Judge in your clan.

No opening FMV.

Controlled by both stylus and the D-Pad.

10 new jobs if you count the different races.

News via PALGN.

By Mishtram

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Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Fuuketsu no Grimoire (Import) [DS]

Final Fantasy: Dissidia was a surprise for many people when it was announced as a one on one fighting game to mark the 20th year (yes, the big 2-0!) of Final Fantasy, containing, much like Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, the remnants of many of the heroes, and villians, from past popular Final Fantasy games. Unfortunately, only a few have been mentioned, but one of them is the ever popular Sephiroth, who seems to return with every reincarnation of the infamous Final Fantasy VII game.

Crisis Core is mentioned to seem to have better graphics, with the premise of the game being to fight in a 3D environment in what is described as "over-the-top fisticuffs and dazzling displays of magical prowess."

So early on, we can't expect much news, but just give us a little time, and hopefully soon the Final Fantasy portal will be able to report more!

[Source]

Eurogamer was recently lucky enough to go and grab themselves an interview with the creators of one of the most recently planned games for the series, Final Fantasy XIII. While still heavily restricted and a little rambling when it comes to discussing Nomura, a few things pop up with fans looking for news will like to see, such as the below:

A smile, then: "What I want to do is to examine the humanity of the characters in this game. This is not going to be a fantasy world in the traditional Final Fantasy sense. Rather it's based in the world today with all of this world's ugly issues. There's this mainstream tradition of Final Fantasy games and, in Versus I'm trying to propose new vision of how a Final Fantasy game can be. The game's going to be more human than the science-fiction caricature we so often see. It will focus around current world events - in that sense it's darker."

We wonder if this style is perhaps closer to Nomura's heart? "Yes, this game might be closer to my real-life taste than kingdom Hearts is, for example, but there are undoubtedly areas of crossover. Kingdom Hearts is an example of a game world which I have worked on which is full of good things, light and magic. That's fine but I've worked in these worlds for a long time, perhaps too long, and it's time to work on a new kind of world - a bleaker place. This kind of theme is traditionally unappealing to a mainstream audience who want to role-play in generally happy and safe worlds. It's a challenge."

Once again, we are going to be watching as things are switched about in the Final Fantasy genre, this time focusing mainly about the world that it is set in, focusing on one which is more "real" and similar to our world rather than the fantasy worlds we have become so accustomed to in the many games and remakes over the past many, many years.

All in all, some interesting news.

[Source]

IGN recently got the chance to speak with the head team members of two Final Fantasy games, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates, and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (The Nintendo offshoot of the current series, originally appearing on the GameCube and now on the DS), about the current construction and design being put into those titles and past experiences with them as well.

The team members will discuss a variety of topics with you, ranging from things like the Moogle Painting game, to using the WiFi Option (they couldn't tell use much about online play) and a few other questions about gameplay.

While short, it is informative, and is well worth the read!

In the original Crystal Chronicles, you could level up your character but once the game's complete you couldn't do anything with that levelled character or the items collected. Does Ring of Fates have a similar focus to encourage levelling up and crafting and collecting items?

Kamiyama: Nice question! Yes, we learned lessons from the past version. The crafting and levelling feature is still in the game. But we've made it more indepth where you'll be able to craft items and see them in use on the character physically. We can't go into any details on how this affects multiplayer.

[Source]

With the Square Enix Party 2007 having started today, in preparation for much Final Fantasy related news, here are the scans of the Pamphlet relating to various Final Fantasy games that are in development:

Two New Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core screenshots have been released. Click on the thumbnails below to see the full size versions.

Final Fantasy fans might not be so kind towards Matt Hawkins. He mentions that he us often negative when it comes to the gaming industry, describing himself as such; "I'm a big fan of wrestling managers who like pissing off the audience."

Perhaps this is what he had in mind when he listed Final Fantasy VII as one of the worst games to hit the gaming market. While many who played the original might put VII at the top of their favourites, this man places it as one of the worst, placing it as number one on his list of the best of the worst. Whether or not you agree with his comments, the article is definitely worth the read through.

He said "Final Fantasy VII," released in 1997, brought down the role-playing genre by popularizing simplified gameplay — overly emotional story lines with an ultimately weak antihero — and made it acceptable for role-playing games to be extremely long. "To be considered a valid role-playing game [after that,] you had to be 80 hours long ... I don't have that much time!"

Don't worry, FFVII wasn't the only epic game to have made the listing -- Zelda games, GTA game and Kingdom Hearts II (which Neoseeker has portals for, please see the bottom of the left bar for each) all also received low ratings, alongside World of Warcraft (Neoseeker portal in development). He said that these games are often negative influences, and have a number of other problems with a few of the games (for example, he dislikes Shenmue as he finds it boring, and he says that GTA has little sophisticated content behind it.

You can find the entire article here.

News about a Final Fantasy XIII demo hit the internet running a few days ago. While there is no exact release date, it's suspected that this will be coming out later this year over the Playstation Network. Hopefully, further information can be found fairly soon about a number of specifics, ranging from the release of such a demo to if it will actually exist in the first place.

EGM explains, "Xbox Live may be the download hotspot this spring (thanks in large part to the Halo 3 multiplayer demo), but late this year the honour will go to the PlayStation Network. We hear that Square Enix will release a demo of its highly anticipated role-playing game via Sony's online marketplace."

[Source]

As many of our regulars probably know, we recently reported the opening of the Official Crisis Core site, however, unfortunately, everything was in Japanese. Recently, Gothic Girl, a member of Neoseeker, of which the Final Fantasy portal is a subsite, provided us with a link to the translations for the story and the character pages, which can be found here.

On that page, Angeal Hewley and Zack's profiles are both in English, and some basic background into both Shinra company and the SOLDIERs.

Recently this trailer of the upcoming remake of the original Final Fantasy on the PSP has been released. You can be sure this will be an absolute hit on the console with its ff6-style graphics and exclusive FMV!

If you didn't follow the previous news here is a brief summary:
Squaresoft decided to make yet another remake of the first two FF games which were originally released on the Nintendo Entertainment System back in 1990 (in Japan it was first brought to the Famicon in 1987). This means that 2007 marks the 20th Anniversary of the Final Fantasy series!

The remake will feature:

Extra dungeons from the GBA version

Improved graphics

Monster Encyclopedia

CG intros from the PS remakes

Artwork Galleries

By teodortenchev

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Final Fantasy I (Import) [PSX]
Final Fantasy II (Import) [PSX]

The official Crisis Core site is up! Unfortunately for those of us who don't speak Japanese, we won't be able to delve far into the site, but some of the visuals which you can see are worth seeing. Hopefully, this is a precursor to a soon to be released English version of the site, so we can go a bit more in depth about the game.

At this time, all that's really available is a few character biographies, a cool background, a bit of information and the main plot, which, of course, is all in Japanese.

As many fans to the series know, the storyline of Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core is a prequel to the events which occurred in Final Fantasy VII, based around the character Zack Fair. A few other characters, such as Cloud Strife and other fan favourites such as Tifa are to make an entrance into the game as well.

At this time, the game is an action RPG slated for release on the PSP only. We'll keep you guys updated as more Final Fantasy news hits the net.

GameDaily recently reviewed Final Fantasy XI, the only MMORPG currently released in the Final Fantasy series, which recently switched over the the Xbox 360 platform. While generally enjoying the gameplay, the reviewer, Bryan Dawson, notes that the game is beginning to show it's age, with it's gameplay surpassed by the market conquerers like World of Warcraft (of which a Neoseeker Portal is currently in construction for!) and graphics easily beaten out by many games, which is especially bad for owners who have just switched over from playing Oblivion.

What they did mention was the worst problem, in their opinion, was in game communication. While the article implies that the community is fine as it is, the ability to communicate over a 360 is difficult, especially for those which do not have the keyboard and have to rely on the directional buttons and an online keyboard, a pain for any who have attempted to use a Xbox controller for such a task.

All in all, if you pick up a USB keyboard and find some friends to party with, Final Fantasy XI is an enjoyable experience. However, if you don't have both of these, you may find yourself wishing you had spent that $50 on something else. The game does offer you one month free before charging $12.95 per month, so you'll be able to test things out at the price of a $50 game purchase (at least it's not $60). The game controls well with the Xbox 360 controller (aside from the d-pad issues), so if you can get over the lackluster graphics you should be able to enjoy yourself. Of course we're eagerly waiting news on the upcoming next generation MMORPG from the Final Fantasy XI development team, but for now FFXI should hold you over in terms of MMORPGs for the Xbox 360.FFXI is dated and showing a bit of age, but it can still be fun with a USB keyboard and some friends.

You can read the entire review here.

I must be dreaming. I'm dreaming about a game. I can't remember this happening before. Which game? The game you're reading about. It's a classic. The best Final Fantasy in ages. The emperor reigns back in his RPG empire. It's all true

I thought I was dreaming too when I came across this review! While Final Fantasy games have been raking in incredibly positive reviews for decades now, it's rare that you ever come across anything which actually leaves you shocked when reading it, and that has happened now -- Final Fantasy XII has gotten 99% as a score from Fragland, with only one component, the Audio quality of the game in the form of the soundtracks, taking away from the score.

It was made all the more fantastic in the fact that the reviewer had found some of the Final Fantasy series past games to have been a series of failures. Final Fantasy XI did not bring massive online play to the people, for example, and he disliked all the women running around with guns.

While he is impressed with the game, what he notes most is the positive changes to the game. As he says, he enjoyed the many shades of gray which are within the game, the change from Random Encounters, the gambit system and the change from the sphere grid to the License Board.

Ivalice is an atmospheric world. Your new virtual environment is breathtaking. Square-Enix worked hard on the world they created with Tactics to make it even nicer. XII really takes the last bit of power left in the old PS2 and uses it to the max. I don't know how they did it. The architecturale masterpieces are rapidly followed by another. The cities are so big you can lost. This is never irritating because Ivalice lives. There's always something to do. Final Fantasy is a mixture between good old fashioned romance and cutting-edge technology. That's no different with XII. Technik, magic, dusty old Persian villages and flying islands. It's all in the game, EA would say.

Read the entire review, here.

The boxscan for Final Fantasy Tactics: The Lion Wars have been revealed:

After many years of waiting, Final Fantasy XII was finally released in Europe and Australia, and it has already risen to the top of UK sales. With 53.5 percent of all full price PlayStation 2 sales being made from FFXII, it has also become the fastest selling game of the series.

Two new videos showing ingame footage of the upcoming nintendo DS title revenant wings have been released on gametrailers.

Gameplay Trailer 1
Gameplay Trailer 2

With Final Fantasy XII just a week away, news has surfaced that Star Trek veteran, Patrick Stewart, will be the voice of Final Fantasy XII, well as far as the adverts go. Starting Feb 19th, the adverts will be shown all over Europe and Australia and will be in a downloadable form from Neoseeker.

Square-Enix recently announced the release dates for two PSP games: Final Fantasy Anniversary Edition and Final Fantasy II Anniversary Edition in Japan. Respectively the dates are April 19, 2007 for 3990 yen and the end of May.

Final Fantasy Tactics: The lion war is more than just a port to the PSP. Besides the newly added cell shaded animated cut scenes and remastered soundtrack, new gameplay material has also been added. If Cloud from Final Fantasy 7 wasn't enough in the original, the new cameo and also playable character is the sky pirate himself, Balthier, straight from Final Fantasy XII. Alongside Balthier are new classes such as Gaffgarion's Dark Knight, the classic Onion Knight class, and more to come in the future perhaps. Official scans can be found here http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/1686/21222viploader396284122wr1.jpg, and here http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/2254/21227viploader396285122av3.jpg.

At Jump Festa 2007, Square-Enix has revealed a few plans for their upcoming titles. Among one of those is a remake of Final Fantasy Tactics, currently under the subname of "The Lion War". While there are no official release dates as of yet, an official trailer has been released and can be found here.

With the introduction of Final Fantasy III, many players rushed to go and pick up their very own copy of the only final fantasy known to have never have hit western shores, now only striking the sands after a decade of waiting. The game was welcomed openly, as a few choice reviewers across the net gave the game consistently average to high ratings.

Kevin Chen of Gamers Mark was one such reviewer, giving the game a solid eight out of ten, making it a recommended buy for most players.

Of course, it’s easy to complain about FF3’s shortcomings and utter ruthlessness. But through all the whining and the nitpicking, it’s crucial to keep FF3 in perspective -- this is the Final Fantasy installment that hasn’t seen American shores in over a decade, and it brings some of the tightest combat and the tensest boss battles that’ll ever pass our way. It’s a fine piece of work from the realm of old-school RPGs, and as far as remakes go, it’s a title that sits squarely on the pinnacle of achievement.

[Source]

Gauntlet Entertainment, out of the University of Calgary's news site, recently released their list of the top ten games in 2006, ranking such games as Gears of War for the Xbox 360 highly, while reserving the lower spots for Bethesda's continuation of the world famous The Elder Scrolls, dropping Square Enix's creation, Final Fantasy XII, closer to the end of the spectrum in eighth spot, beating out both Oblivion for the Xbox 360 and Trauma Center: Second Opinion for the Wii.

8. Final Fantasy XII- PS2

In the mid '80s the Final Fantasy series began and has since become the most easily recognized RPG franchise in history. With a multitude of spin-off games, this marks the 12th in the Square Enix numbered series. With each new and fantastic story there's just enough common ground shared with predecessors to keep franchise fans coming back. A huge innovation in this newest installment is a real time battle system, remnicent of popular online "massively multiplayer" games. This change makes this the most innovative Final Fantasy since the release of Tactics. Giving the player this new battle system, a deep upgrade system, and a number of characters going up against an impossible evil make this a great addition to Final Fantasy and RPGs in general

Congratulations to Final Fantasy!

[Source]

Our last article made an attempt to guess the release date for Final Fantasy XII based on sites around the net, and finally it has been confirmed to be launching on 23^rd> Feb 2007. What's more is that like the US release, there will also be a midnight launch event. More details about the event will be given as we get closer to the release.

Coming up to two months since the US release of Final Fantasy XII, many fans that are still without a copy of the game, have been eagerly been waiting for some news regarding the European release. Whilst there seems to be no official announcement regarding the game, 23^rd Febuary 2007 seems to be the date chosen by most if not all sites, including Gamespot and IGN.

You can also start preordering the game for the European release from Play.com and Amazon UK.

We've waited many months for this, and it's finally here, a trailer for Final Fantasy Versus XII. A visually stunning trailer, you can download it right here from Neoseeker:

That's right, fans! Final Fantasy III, not Final Fantasy VI with the number changed to III, but the original Final Fantasy III was released in North America on Tuesday, November 14. You can find it on EBGames.com for $39.99 USD.

Dengeki Playstation, a popular PS3 gaming magazine in Japan, had an interview with character designer Tetsuya Nomura and game director Motomu Toriyama about game design for both the next generation titles coming out for the PS3.

Within the interview, they speak about the white engine, where it is hoped battle scenes that were similar to those from Final Fantasy VII.

On character details, the Male character, who's eyes turn red when he wields a sword, unfortunately, will be the lead in the upcoming Final Fantasy games, meaning that, while the much loved female character will be a heroine, the Final Fantasy series will not break from tradition.

Current development has Versus set at 1% completed, and Final Fantasy XIII itself at 3%.

[Source]

Square Enix announces that Final Fantasy XII. the latest installment of its acclaimed console RPG series, has begun shipping to retailers and should be making its way to stores by the time you read this. Gamers who shop at GameStop/EB have bonus option of purchasing a special Collector's Edition of the game featuring a bonus DVD with all sorts of goodies.

"FINAL FANTASY XII is the most accessible RPG yet, allowing casual and hardcore gamers to truly customize the complexity of the game to their playing style," said Daishiro Okada, President and COO, Square Enix, Inc. "We're also very pleased to be able to provide several exclusives for the North American release including true 16:9 functionality, additional voiced CG sequences and a truly special Collector's Edition. The Collector's Edition comes with completely unique packaging, in-depth interviews with the development staff, special trailers, a history of the FINAL FANTASY series and several other features. We are extremely proud of both versions of FINAL FANTASY XII and hope gamers will enjoy our efforts."

Early reviews of the final retail build highlight a remarkably different experience FF fans can expect, right down to the all-new battle system.

In a recent Question and Answer session with Gamespot, Final Fantasy XII's producer, Akitoshi Kawazu mentioned

We can release the UK version first because the English is already done, then yeah, it might be possible to release it a little bit sooner, but they really want to release it simultaneously over here, so...

With the English version done, it seems the only thing keeping Final Fantasy fans in the UK from getting their hands on the version is the localisation for the game into the various other languages.



And also be sure to comment on what you think of this....

With only a little over a week left till the release of this much awaited game, it seems that the official site has finally been updated with more information regarding the game although most fans of the game will know the details of the game from the Japanese release, those that have kept themselves spoiler free, or have simply been waiting for information that hasn't have to be translated will be happy to see the information available.

Along with the information the Summons section of the site has also been updated along with a couple others.

Square Enix has declared that October 11th is now officially Final Fantasy Day, celebrating the event in the Big Apple today, showing off some superb game graphics today, which you can check out here (click 'Play Video'). After, of course, a lengthly QA session with Final Fantasy Executive Producer Akitoshi Kawazu and Square Enix President Daishiro Okada, providing some insight into the game for delighted fans waiting nearby.

Turn out for the event was better than expected, as was the overall event itself being run at better than expected levels. Hit the source below to get a look at some of the crazy costumes people showed up in, including a woman in a wedding dress, and a man dressed in a complete suit of armour!

Final Fantasy will also be making a show at Digital Life expo, where they will have a working preview of the game available for play. Only 2 weeks left 'til the release, folks!

[Source]

The series of PC Final Fantasy XI games will be expanding to include yet more features with a whole new 2007 release including Treasure of Aht Urghan, which will be going against the name just mentioned, being released this year, November the seventh.

The original cost of the package will be thirty dollars, and thirty days free subscription. However, for each month following, this special addition collection will cost $12.95 a month to run.

For more information, click the source below.

[Source]

It's not every day that a game is referred to as a self-love fest of the creators, but that Clayton "Alkaiser" Chan, the writer of the Netjak review which gave Final Fantasy: Dirge of Cerberus (DoC), insists the game is based on.

"What I ended up with was an 8-hour Tetsuya Nomura self-love fest."

Netjak recently reviewed one of the newest games in the Final Fantasy series, the Final Fantasy 7 spin off, DoC, in which the site gave the game 4.5... out of a possible ten!

The game was hit hard in a number of categories. While recieving better than average marks for voice acting the the sound track, Chan equally disliked the lack of a plot, or anything that was remotely unique about this game over the other two bits of Final Fantasy VII. Once again, the world is in danger from a larger threat, with yet another two secret groups of merciless killers, all of which Chan is quick to point out, is defeated by the main character, Vincient, alone while the others within the game can't handle them themselves.

He also mentioned that the graphics were merely ok, and that much of the gameplay mechanics, as mentioned by him, were very "vanilla", with little in the way of interesting additions to the game, especially when you want to set this apart from other third person shooters currently out in the industry.

Finally, it was also docked massive marks for having absolutely no replay value, especially when it comes to having different characters to play as. In the article, he writes that he expected to play as Yuffie or Barret in the game, given that one has a massive gun grafted on his arm and the other is predominate amongst the other characters, and is highly disappointed when he doesn't get to play either.

"If you're a fan of Final Fantasy VII, do yourself a favor, pretend that this doesn't exist and hope that if a remake ever does happen, that it gets done under the care of someone else."

[Source]

Final Fantasy XII gets it's first lookover from GameDaily, focusing mainly on the battle system and game world that have been used in the game, remarking on the Gambit system and how it works in general.

Chris Faylor, the author, points out several things when it comes down to the battle system, and that is that a good bit has changed consmetically to it overall. The old way of switching screens into a combat mode, where everyone lines up in a nice, neat line, has been remodeled into a new random encounters system. Depending on range, you will have characters up close and personal, or you will have some standing back and dealing out massive damage at a distance, all in an environment which you can rotate at any time with the camera.

While speculation had been running on whether or not free camera control would change this into an action game, Faylor wrote that it does not. An action bar fills up, which at the end, causes that attack or such to be used. You can't dodge techniques just by throwing the analog stick to the side, keeping much of the core gameplay which was Final Fantasy within the game. The battle menu continues to be there as your main interface during combat, although now it can be pulled up at any time.

Faylor also goes into some discussion on Gambits. While some previews have mentioned that this may take some of the interest out of the boss battles, Faylor mentions that this is not the case, as some boss battles require that the gambit system be weakened, or, indeed, even removed entirely for the match, so as to not get characters killed when no clear strategy for the fight is evident.

One of things that really stand out in this incarnation of Final Fantasy, is the game world and the plot. Both are huge and complicated, requiring hours to figure it out or piece them together. While other games make the world look large, the sheer amount of people wandering around show the true size of this game's, and the wilderness is supposed to be extremely vast. The diversity of the species is also easily recognizable, with Humes, or humans, not totally dominating the fore-front, with several other races also wandering around the game place.

The plot, on the other hand, is supposed to be complex, and not easy to figure out early on. The writers played for ten hours, and by then had met no person which could be the leader of evil, although has met several evil people.

To check out the article, just click the source below.

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These days, piracy happens quite often around the world, and has become a problem that the game industry has yet been able to handle. However, it's rare that a game is leaked out illegally onto the internet, with apparent full playability and in English, as with what happened yesterday with the RPG-series giant Final Fantasy and it's newest incarnation, Final Fantasy XII.

Last night, several articles on the news sharing site Digg.com came up, mentioning that the hit RPG game to hit the world in thirty days had been leaked onto the internet, and was being downloaded freely.

The pirated version had been up on the internet for several days, although there has been no given estimates to how many supposedly loyal Final Fantasy fans decided to skip around the law and download the game without legal consent. Square Enix has also not commented on the matter.

Whether or not this pushes back the release date or how it could effect the sales figures for the game remains a mystery, although the hope is that it will not be too draining overall.

While the previous rumour of Gears of War being leaked have been proven false, Final Fantasy has been confirmed to have been leaked.

As for legal action, last night Square Enix managed to have the entire Torrent listings of the supposed original site removed, which caused thousands to rush and try and get it before all copies disappeared. What Square Enix plans to do to the offenders who are known to have downloaded this content is unknown.

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Cubed put up an article with a promotional video for Final Fantasy V and VI, the games being ported over to the Gameboy Advance, four hours ago. Within the three minute and thirteen second video, you get a chance to see some of the gameplay as it will appear in the game.

The port will also contain some added bonuses and material, along with a number of visual changes to alter it both for the GBA and for a newer market than that in 1992 and 1994, when those games were released for the first time.

To catch a look at the video, just hit the link below and click the play button over the video screen. Check out this article to see the release date for V. VI is predicted for Q4 of 2006.

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The Witchita Eagle recently released an article on the internet about their impressions of Final Fantasy XII. With the release of it now only a month away, we get a little more of a peek at the Gambit system and characters in the game.

The Gambit system is essentially a strategic combat AI built to give characters commands with engage automatically when certain triggers happen. For example, you could set someone to attack characters who are of a certain HP primarily, with a certain attack. This allows no character to deviate from an attack plan set up by you, at a new layer of micromanagement for the Final Fantasy series. However, the article mentions that this does tend to take away some of the feelings of achievement from finishing a major boss battle, due to the automation of your party being more important than the actual work you put into the battle.

They also make mention of the shift that Final Fantasy has been making towards the online community, mentioning several forms of gameplay that have been changed to reflect that. However, the game has managed to create a steady and well made storyline that typically is not found in most MMORPGs, with political tension and characters with multiple layers to their personalities involved.

For more, read the source below.

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A Final Fantasy III screensaver is available for download on files.neoseeker