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I don't even get to watch E3 live this year, for the first time in at least five years. I'm on the road this week, but I had to pop in for this news: Final Fantasy VII, after all the non-starts, jokes, trolls, and general stupidity, Final Fantasy VII is being remade.

The details were announced at Sony's E3 presser tonight, and as such it was made clear that one could "play it first" on Playstation 4. That of course leads one to believe that other platforms will become available; both Windows and Xbox One would likely be no-brainers.

Some kindly soul has already ripped the trailer from the stream: enjoy.



Source: Kotaku

The newest Square Enix Active Time Report was early this morning, and it was blessedly subtitled in English. The bulk of the report was, naturally, Final Fantasy XV, but some other things popped in as well. As in the past, Hajime Tabata and Akio Ofuji presented for a bit over an hour.

A good portion of the discussion today was seeming aimed at explaining to us as gamers what it means that the game is now truly Final Fantasy XV and not Versus, and it came across with a mildly apologetic tone and lots of reconciliation along the lines of statements like, "we tried very hard to keep everything from Versus with as little modification as possible."

Basically, Square Enix have come to a point where the game has changed significantly from what was previously known about Versus while maintaining enough to reasonably keep the game under the Fabula Nova Crystallis umbrella. Some things that they specifically called out were the loss of the previous female lead, Stella, to be replaced with the new female lead, Luna - more on that in a second. Additionally, the timeline of the events that start the game have changed, with Insomnia (Noctis' city) coming under attack from Niflheim after Noctis has left on his journey, and not as the catalyst for so doing.

Back to the female factor, it was clear that Tabata wanted to express a reaction to the oft-joked-about male-heavy look of the media released up until now and within Episode Duscae. The time spent on discussing Luna, as well as an un-named "dark-haired woman" and a "female dragoon" was clearly meant to show that there is more gender balance in the final game, but no real details emerged today to back that up.

In terms of technology, the pair brought up the Luminous Engine that was debuted a couple years back in the tech demo known as Agni's Philosophy; it's relevant now because the newest version, Luminous Engine 1.5, is a part of Ebony, the overall Final Fantasy XV engine. As such, they showed a new video showing Luminous Engine at work in Episode Duscae - the video was originally intended as an industry demo and recruiting tool, so it did contain some visuals that have not been public until now as well as some interviews with Square Enix personnel discussing the benefits of having access to Luminous. The video focused on very impressive particle and lighting effects, especially with regards to lighting of semi-opaque textures like human skin and the finish of a car. It also discussed (and showed via the use of wireframe overlays) the ways in which environmental influences like landscape and battle impact change the way that creatures and humans move in the world, and how it should avoid things like clipping or unrealistic limb movements. There was also a brief view of a city, Lestallum, that will be in the Final Fantasy XV world but had not yet been publicly discussed.

Also debuting in this ATR was a new tech demo called WITCH Chapter 0 [cry]. Yes. That is its name, and it is amazing. It's a demo leveraging Microsoft's new DirectX 12, coming with Windows 10; it was certainly used as a reminder that Square Enix are jumping on that boat early. The demo did look like a step up even from what we are seeing in Final Fantasy XV in terms of graphical capability. Real-time rendering of a day's sunlight in time-lapse over cliffs was a standout feature, as well as the realistic movement of feathers and dangly jewelry on what one assumes is the witch of the title. Even more impressive, though, was the "cry" aforementioned - the subtle changes to the character's skin and eyes as tears welled up and dried looked exceptionally realistic.

A few more tidbits of data were scattered about; one was a day out of date, confirming the release of Final Fantasy Type-0 HD for Windows. Additionally came confirmation that there would be no further new XV information until Gamescom (skipping E3), and no further Active Time Reports until after Gamescom as well. Finally, the team announced that Episode Duscae 2.0 would be released on June 9 with new scenarios to play through and refinements to the combat system.

Tabata exclaimed at one point in the middle, "Trust us!" So, do you?

Source: Square Enix Youtube, Gamespot

Square Enix has announced that Final Fantasy Agito, a free-to-play mobile RPG release last year in Japan, will be making its way to Windows X, er, 10 sometime later this year. The game is somewhat of a prologue to Final Fantasy Type-0. The player takes control of a student in a military academia in the same world as Type-0, some of whose characters will cross paths with the protagonist. A port of the game has also been in development for the Playstation Vita for at least a year.

Mobius Final Fantasy, until recently called "Mevius," is set to release in Japan on June 4th for Android and iOS devices. The free-to-play RPG, which we last reported on in March, features a plot that involves becoming the Warrior of Light. Against Chaos. In a world with which the protagonist has no familiarity, where a princess awaits the arrival of the prophesied Warrior, and where a knight named Garland and a fairy named Echo offer aid and advice along the way. Alright, while Square Enix doesn't appear to be pulling any muscles with the plot setup, the game does boast an expansive world map and a touchscreen-interactive battle system. Still no word on a Western release, but with the effort their putting into this one (see our previous newspost), I would expect an import.

Finally, Tomoya Asano, the director for the Bravely Default series, has released a few new comments on the future of the franchise. Ideas for a third title do exist, Asano said, but the development team is debating whether the next title should take the form of a sequel or something "completely new." That doesn't give us much to go by, but Asano did say somewhat reassuringly that, in addition to their interest in trying out some new things, the team is carefully considering fan feedback from previous releases. Asano reiterated that above all, the team is currently concerned with the Western version of Bravely Second.

Incidentally, this is the first time anyone connected with Bravely has spoken of a Western release. So with that, it looks like we will indeed be getting it!

Source: Siliconera, Siliconera, Siliconera

Type-0 owners: your voices have been heard! Well, okay, it's nothing to do with Type-0, but obviously some folks out there bought the game just for the demo of... okay, never mind, this never really clicked as a lede.

Seriously, though, there's a new version of Episode Duscae coming out in a few weeks. It looks to be an iterative update to the original, with tweaks based on feedback from the first release. There's no current update that describes any new content being added in, but it wouldn't be surprising to see some minor things pop in.

Keep an eye out on your own PS4 and let us know when you see it!

Source: Siliconera

Square Enix Japan recently announced a new IP called Rampage Land Rankers, a dungeon crawler/RPG for smartphones coming out next month. It's an amalgamation of a variety of artistic and gameplay styles, thrown into a big blender; for instance, the character design is being done by Tetsuya Nomura in a very steampunk-y style, but the in-game models look as if they're rendered in the style of Final Fantasy III and IV 3D. The battles, meanwhile, look like a blend between turn-based JRPG fighting and card battling, and the dungeons claim to be procedurally generated for a randomized experience for each run.

It also seems as if you will use different characters in each dungeon, up to ten through the course of any particular dungeon. Other characters will be summoned via the use of items, but it's not clear as if these characters can also participate in normal play.

The game will also have a co-op multiplayer of some stripe, as well as item trading with friends on other devices. Again, the game will be out in May 2015 for Android and iOS in Japan, with no other releases announced at this time.

Source: Siliconera

Square Enix recently unveiled a teaser site as the launchpad for the newest entry in the Star Ocean series -- Star Ocean 5: Integrity and Faithlessness. In the last 48 hours, we've gotten to know a fair bit about the title's development and a just a shade about its story. We have not, as of yet, learned why its subtitle sounds like a Victorian novel.

The above-linked teaser site has since been edited to include a brief trailer. Star Ocean 5, like its series predecessors, will be developed by Tri-Ace and published by Square Enix. We don't have any hint of a release window, but we do know it will be released for both PS3 and PS4.

Fans of the series (prior to the divisive SO4, that is) have much reason for excitement. Shuichi Kobayashi, the Square Enix publisher working with the new Star Ocean, told Famitsu that he wants to channel the "essence of Star Ocean 3" into this next entry in the series. Kobayashi has been campaigning for a Star Ocean 5 for several years now, pursuing series creator Yoshiharu Gotanda and series veteran Hiroshi Ogawa; he makes it clear that this is both a labor of love and intended to garner support for additional future Star Ocean titles. To this end, Gotanda also spoke with Famitsu, promising a "grand story" with plenty of material for future expansion.

SO5 will take place after Star Ocean 3 chronologically, making it the furthest advanced in time (SO4 having taken the series back to a time before the original SO). It will take place, at least to begin with, on a planet named Feycreed, some 6,000 (only!) lightyears from Earth. Famitsu has provided us with the basics of three primary characters: Fidel, a swordsman do-good, Miki, Fidel's (female) childhood friend, and Lilia, a young girl who has lost both memory and feelings. Well, that sounds nothing like a Tales Of Star Ocean game!

Star Ocean 5's combat system will be familiar to those who have had prior experience in previous titles, featuring combo attacks based assigned to button combinations that vary depending on the distance to the target. Event scenes, another series staple, will persist in Star Ocean 5. This time around, plot events and dialogue can be interrupted by enemy encounters; the results of these battles can change the path of the story and even its ending.

But alas, there is bad news as well: once again, my greatest hope for Star Ocean -- that its games will be named like SO2, i.e. Star Ocean 5: The Fifth Star Ocean -- has been dashed.

Source: Siliconera, Kotaku