News

In a newspost two months ago, we mentioned a few comments from FFXIII and FFXIII-2 director Motomu Toriyama that sounded an awful lot like a third FFXIII game. Well, at a recent presentation, Toriyama confirmed our suspicions with the announcement of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. That's right, it's FFXIII-3.

You'll notice just from the name that some odd things are going on here. As was a case withthe rebranding for FFXIV A Realm Reborn, the name "Lightning Returns" as well as its very non-FF logo (included in source) seem to be distancing the title from the main Final Fantasy series. While many potential motivations could account for this distancing policy, I find it a bit odd given that the second FFXIII title was simply called FFXIII-2.

Toriyama mentioned a few additional details regarding the game. Player customization of Lightning will play a major role, not merely as aesthetic guise (which seems to be the case for FFXIII-2's variety of outfits) but as a relevant contribution to her gameplay abilities. Could this be something as pronounced as FFX-2's Dress Spheres? Unlikely, but who knows.

In addition to being able to control what Lightning wears, players will have much more control of what Lightning does on area maps: players will be able to interact with the environment via ducking, hanging, jumping, etc, in contrast to the automatic jumping of the original FFXIII. Players will even be able to control Lightning's movement in-battle, something that has been done successfully in several other RPG series but never attempted in a Final Fantasy game. Clearly, the third entry in Lightning's story is straying from traditional territory in more ways than mere nomenclature.

In addition, screenshots were released depicting cities and natural landscapes very much in the art style of the previous two FFXIII titles, as well as concept art for smaller objects and buildings.

Source: Kotaku

While CoN turned 15 this week, the slightly bigger news for the year remains that the Final Fantasy series itself turns 25 this year. We discussed back in March the special website set up for the Japanese Squenix audience, but on Wednesday (again, the day after the massively more important news), the company released an English-language celebration site as well.

So far, there's not a lot of information on the English site; however, along with the launch of the overall site there is a teaser article advertising a pending series on the history of every numbered game in the series. There's no indication on when the individual game articles will be published, but no matter when that is, there should be some very interesting information contained therein.

Happy birthday again, Final Fantasy, and thanks.

Source: Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary

A Realm Reborn may be the subtitle to the completely re-done version of Final Fantasy XIV, but looking at the new logo you'd be more inclined to think it was the other way around. It's an apt name for what is now being revealed as a complete overhaul of a game which was criticized in just about every way imaginable when it first came out last year.

The branding is just the beginning of what's new about this incarnation of the game. Originally referred to as Version 2.0, A Realm Reborn isn't just an update of the existing FFXIV (though Square Enix has also been busy working in that regard as well); the game has been entirely rebuilt from the ground up with an intended winter release. While it certainly reflects a willingness on Square Enix's part to listen to their fans and admit their mistakes, it remains as yet unclear what and how much will be different.

Naoki Yoshida, producer and director of the project, went on to add in a press release that "this new title not only becomes a symbol of a completely new Final Fantasy XIV, but also marks the beginning of a new stage as the latest title in the Final Fantasy series." Now, I'm not sure whether Yoshida's original comments were this foggy or if ambiguity was added in the process of translation, but depending on how you read it the second half of this statement could be either an exercise in redundancy or - a bit frighteningly given the absolute mess surrounding SE's most recent foray into online gaming - a comment on the direction of future titles in the Final Fantasy series.

Source: Kotaku

Remember how our most recent news post reported that FF Versus XIII development had been canceled? Well, um, turns out... that isn't the case.

In a recent Twitter post, Yoichi Wada himself not only denied such claims as 'false rumors' but also added that he had recently returned from one of the team's regularly scheduled meetings. So, it looks like the development of FF Versus XIII is still as alive (and slow) as ever.

While these comments don't necessarily validate or contradict any of the FFXV rumors mentioned in the previous CoN newspost, Wada's comments regarding a city from Versus XIII discussed at the aforementioned meeting seem to point towards some of the FFXV speculations holding true for FF Versus XIII.

Source: NovaCrystallis.com

The rumored future of Final Fantasy games features in this edition of the Squenix Tidbits, and not all of it is awesome. Of course, most people would probably say that is of zero surprise, but, that's how it is.

Let's get the bad news out of the way: Kotaku reports today that Final Fantasy Versus XIII is finally dead; while the reporting is mostly conjecture at this point, it's pretty reasonable conjecture given the utter lack of visible progress on offer from Squenix. The real question, beyond the simple matter of the game dying, is when it died. Has the company been pouring resources into the development until very recently, or was it quitely shelved a long time ago? The answer to that question might determine what resources are available for other games, which is important due to the widespread notion that the flagship series is worth next to nothing these days. Perhaps having more people available could help.

The next rumor is that Final Fantasy XV is going to be an open world game, in the style of Final Fantasy XII. On top of that, the Squenix source quoted indicates that the game's already been in some level of production for four years, with full development kicking off in January 2010, will have a combat system that calls back to both Final Fantasy XII and Vagrant Story, and will have cities that not only really exist but are populated by crowds of people, not just a few "important" townsfolk. Along with these points, it's also rumored that the game will be released for every platform available in the release generation. Given that the game hasn't even been unveiled officially yet, it would stand to reason that this would include the next offerings from Microsoft and Sony, as well as possibly even the WiiU.

The Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary event is coming up at the end of August, running from 31 August to 2 September. The first day will be for the press and some selected members of the Japanese Square Enix Members site, with the last two days open to the public. While this will obviously have massive amounts of Final Fantasy nostalgia, given the nature of the event, the company is looking to show the future of the franchise at the same time, with events to discuss more of the next aspect of the Final Fantasy XIII series, more information about Final Fantasy XIV 2.0, and a live recording of a Square Enix podcast dedicated to the future of the Final Fantasy series. With this event and the Tokyo Game Show both on the radar, a lot of questions about what's next for Final Fantasy might become resolved very soon.

Source: Kotaku, Gameranx, andriasang

Did you play FFXIII-2? Did you download Lightning's extra content? Did you feel a bit of a let-down at the conclusion of either, or, more tactfully, "a feeling of mystery and hope"? If you answered yes to these three questions, then you are unlike myself. But you are not alone! In a recent interview with Famitsu, FFXIII and FFXIII-2 director Motomu Toriyama agreed that FFXIII-2 leaves some loose ends, and he promised that we would be shown the meaning of this sometime in the not-so-distant future.

Could this mean more downloadable content? Could it mean a third installment in the FFXIII ? We couldn't possibly comment (though Kotaku certainly isn't above jumping to conclusions), but 'trilogy' certainly does have a lovely ring to it. Of course, there's also the possibility that these unanswered questions could somehow tie in to FF Versus XIII. Remember that game?

Toriyama also commented on fan complaints concerning the concept of having downloadable content in the first place, responding that including such material in the game proper would cause development times to go up. Not the most satisfying reply, but an accurate one I suppose.

In the same interview, Toriyama also admitted that FFX HD, unlike the mystery of FFXIII-2's ending, will not be made clear anytime soon, saying that "there is a lot to look into."

When asked about the Luminous engine, Toriyama explained that, while still in development, teams at Square Enix have begun planning for its use in the next generation of games. With the next generation not all that far off, this could very well be the reason why we've seen a bit of a dearth of new titles or information from the Japanese giant.

Source: andriasang, Kotaku