News

OK, Square-Enix concluded their E3 presentation a few minutes ago, and here's the jist of what they brought to the floor:

Their presentation opened up with several trailers, including Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth, an FF XI expansion, and a full English trailer for FF XII, which is indeed coming out this October in the US. There were also trailers for FF V Advance, FF VI Advance, and several mobile phone titles.

The two new Seiken Densetsu games, Dawn of Mana and Children of Mana, for the PS2 and DS respectively, are still in the works, with Dawn of Mana taking place ten years before Children of Mana. Dawn of Mana is allegedly the "real" Seiken Densetsu IV.

Also, FF: Crystal Chronicle will come to life on both the DS and the Wii, with the DS version featuring wifi connectivity and the Wii version implementing the Wii's controller in some way. We don't have any release date mentioned, just a premise and a promise.

Speaking of handhelds, there was little new information in the initial presentation regarding the two Advance titles or FF III DS, but Square-Enix showed some trailers and promised "to have new surprises" for the two GBA titles. FF III DS is being billed as "the only Final Fantasy to have never reached Western shores" and urges fans to "complete the fantasy" by playing it, but precious little concrete info was revealed, other than a trailer. It is possible that the Square-Enix booth could have more information on the other show days, but right now we only have more trailers, which will probably be all over the interent within days. We didn't receive specific information about FF IV Advance's new features until less than a month before its release; it's looking increasingly likely that that's the case here, too.

The two Valkyrie Profile games have now been dated with the PSP port of the original (Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth) coming this July and the new PS2 sequel (Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria) coming this September.

After a brief appearance by Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime, the presentation goes into FF VII Compilation material. The PS2's Dirge of Cerberus has been given a US release date (August 22nd of this year), and the PSP's Crisis Core (starring Zack) put up some cutscenes, but no in-game footage.

And now for major announcement #1 - Dragon Quest is going to the Wii. We have no footage and next to zero details on the game, but we do know that it's going to be a launch title and that it's called Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors. It's unclear if this is truly Dragon Quest IX or if it's a spinoff like Rocket Slime or Dragon Quest Yangus.

And now, for the hugest piece of news - Final Fantasy XIII is in the works, and it's going to be on the Playstation 3. The trailer showed a woman fighting dozens of robots using a gun and a sword; evidentally FF XIII is set in the most technologically advanced world in FF history. It's going to be directed by Motomu Toriyama, who was an associate director for Final Fantasy X and X-2, and we know little about the game other than its logo (which is linked to below). Along with the PS3 game Square-Enix is bringing on two more games that appear to be set in the FF XIII universe: FF XIII Versus and FF XIII Agito, which are for the PS3 and mobile phones, respectively. The entire FF XIII project is being called "Fabula Nova Crystalis".

While the Toriyama and the FF X team are working on the "real" FF XIII, it seems that that Tetsuya Nomura and the Kingdom Hearts team are working on Versus, which is a game that possesses "extreme action elements" and a focus on "bonding". The latin words in the new game evidently mean "to change direction".

So yeah, that's Square-Enix's big news: The Wii gets Dragon Quest, the PS3 gets FF XIII, and the XBox 360 gets... FF XI. Let the hype begin.

Sources:
Gamespot
Wired

Pictures:
FF XIII trailer pic
Another FF XIII trailer pic
Yet another FF XIII trailer pic
FF XIII Logo
Fabula Nova Crystalis logo
Agito logo

EDIT: the three logo links got cut for some reason but here's a good picture of FF XIII's logo for now: FF XIII logo

The DS Lite, the first (but possibly not the last) upgrade to the Nintendo DS portable system, will hit North American shores on the 11th of June, priced at $130 US. Earlier rumors of the DS Lite being packaged with a specific game at launch (most guesses involved New Super Mario Brothers) have proven to be false, while there are in fact no high-profile DS games coming out in the US that entire week. Japan has the Lite available in three colors (Crystal White, Enamel Navy, and Ice Blue), but right now we only know that the Crystal White color scheme will be available for the US release.

The DS Lite boasts four brightness settings, all of which are brighter than the normal DS's one brightness setting. It's significantly slimmer and 40% lighter than the original, but is still capable of playing all DS games and GBA games, albeit with GBA games noticeably portruding from their slot more so than on the DS. The screen size is the same as the original and the power, start, and select buttons were repositioned from the original. The DS Lite has seen immense popularity in Japan, with initial shipments selling out in its first day on the shelves.

EDIT: GS was wrong originally, but they fixed their post some hours ago; It's $129.99

Source: Gamespot

Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2006 takes place in Los Angeles roughly two weeks from now. E3 is essentially a medium through which the world's largest video game companies can parade their upcoming releases and current projects, and is generally regarded as the biggest video games convention/exposition in the world. Square-Enix recently announced their lineup of games confirmed to be present at their booth on the show floor. And the games are... (thanks to rpgfan.com for the list)

The list format is [Game, system, release date (playable or unconfirmed playabiliy)]

Dawn of Mana (Seiken Densetsu IV), PlayStation 2, TBA
Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII, PlayStation 2, Summer 2006 (playable)
Final Fantasy XII, PlayStation 2, Fall 2006 (playable)
Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria, PlayStation 2, Fall 2006 (playable)
Valkyrie Profile Lenneth, PlayStation Portable, TBA 2006 (playable)
Final Fantasy XI Treasures of Aht Urhgan, PlayStation 2/PC/Xbox 360, Currently Available (playable)
Final Fantasy V Advance and Final Fantasy VI Advance, GameBoy Advance, TBA 2006
Children of Mana (Seiken Densetsu DS: Children of Mana), DS, TBA 2006 (playable)
Final Fantasy III, DS, TBA 2006 (playable)
Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII, cellphones, TBA (playable)
Final Fantasy I, cellphones, TBA (playable)

So that's what we'll be seeing in two weeks. This seems to be an especially exciting E3 for fans of Valkyrie Profile, the Seiken Densetsu series, and oldschool Final Fantasy games (which includes all of us). Let the hype begin.

Source: RPGFan

This past Monday marked the arrival of an eager, video game enthused audience packed within the walls of the ArcLight Cinerama Dome in Hollywood, California. The occasion, to the surprise of few, was the long-awaited North American premiere of the entirely CGI-constructed DVD movie Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, to be precise. An engaging event both for fans who'd already seen the Japanese version and those who hadn't alike.

Although the dubbed film won't be in stores until the 25th of this month, a one and only theatrical screening of the sequel to the hit RPG was taken in by an enormous 800 person crowd. Among those gathered at the scene were several big hands in the movie's development including the group of English voice actors, scenario writer Kazushige Nojima, co-directors Takeshi Nozue and Tetsuya Nomura, and producer Shinji Hashimoto.

In addition to the movie itself, the well received game trailers of the now available Kingdom Hearts II and the unspecific yet soon-to-be released Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII were shown preceding the feature presentation.

GAF's detailed overview of the screening

November 15th, 2005 almost marks a new beginning for Enix's flagship series. Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King will be the first DQ game in the US to use the Japanese series name (thanks to Enix acquiring the US rights to the name in 2003), it is the first DQ game to be played in full 3D, and it has received both commercial success (3 million copies sold in its first week in Japan) and critical acclaim (a 9.0 from Gamespot and a 9.5 from 1up). American gamers can experience what is being hailed as the best game in the storied series on the PS2 starting today.

Dragon Quest VIII uses the creative talents of the series' original "big three" (Producer/Director Yuji Horii, character designer Akira Toriyama of Dragon Ball __ fame, and music composer Koichi Sugiyama) and the visual stylings of the development team Level-5 (most well-known for their Dark Cloud games) to create this PS2 RPG. You assume the role of a name-it-yourself silent protagonist who teams up with the kind-hearted former bandit Yangus, the attractive young sorceress Jessica, and the suave Templar Angelo to try and save the kingdom of Trodain from the evil jester Dhoulmagus. Dhoulmagus has used a powerful magic scepter to transform the good King Trode in to a troll, his daughter in to a horse, and every other denizen of Trodain in to thorns. Somehow, The Hero (as every principal protagonist in the DQ/DW series is called), a young guardsman of the castle, managed to be unaffected by the spell and now travels with the king and princess on a journey to undo the curse.

One thing that is particularly striking about Dragon Quest VIII is the modern visuals. The massive, immersive continuous 3D world really looks excellent. However, that's where most of the modern features end. Dragon Quest VIII uses the traditional methods of random battles, level-ups, and round-based combat that the series has used since it's beginning in 1982, but it offers a degree of customization by allowing characters to distribute Skill Points earned a level-ups to different weapon skill levels and innate skill levels. For example, Angelo learns a great deal of healing magic if you give him points in Staves, and learns offensive movies if you give him points in Swords. In any case, the game looks to be extremely old-school rpg with absolutely gorgeous, if a bit cartoonish, graphics and a world map that's a wonder to behold.

And if that isn't enough to pique your interest, keep in mind that DQ VIII contains a bonus demo for Final Fantasy XII, which you may have heard gaming sites discussing in detail recently. That will only serve as added incentive for fans of Square-Enix to purchase this new game.

So let's review: Switching to Japanese titles, hitting 3D for the first time, excellent visual presentation, commericial success, and consistent critical acclaim? Sounds like Final Fantasy VII to me. Will DQ VIII parallel FF VII's succes? Probably not, but in any case, if you've been a fan of the Dragon Quest series for awhile or at least have a fondness for old-school RPGs then this game might be worth checking out. If you want to learn more about DQ VIII, check out some of the links below.

Gamespot's review
1up's review
Square-Enix's official website
Wikipedia's DQ VIII entry

A new twist in Konami's Suikoden series of RPGs arrived in North America today. "Suikoden Tactics" ("Rhapsodia" in Japan) is a significant deviation from the typical style of the rest of the series. The game will feature a tactical scenario style of combat instead of the traditional turn-and-party based system, and is also the first in the Suikoden timeline to cover the same events as another game, namely, Suikoden IV.

Sources:
IGN
SARS

Personally, I'm not sure what to think until I've played it. I really didn't like Suikoden IV, and I think the release of another game with a completely different style is a way for Konami to gauge reaction to gameplay innovations before implementing them in the series proper (and risking backlash like that which accompanied Suikoden III's new combat system). If this is the game that gets the series back on track, it will certainly be ironic.