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There has been a short burst of information regarding Final Fantasy XIII-2 in the last week or two, so let's get to it!

First off, there's a version of a previous trailer released this past week with commentary from the game's director, Motomu Toriyama, and producer, Kitase Yoshinori. (Check out the trailer in the second link below.) The duo gave a couple additional hints as well. As already mentioned, Lightning is somehow connected to an afterlife-type world. We now know that Lightning will indeed be playable, and it was also suggested that it is possible to warp into this other world from the living one with Serah and Noel. The staff continues to insist at every opportunity that this sequel will be much darker than the last Final Fantasy sequel (the infamous FFX-2) and even the original FFXIII. New screens provided at the same time reveal a handful of new (and, if I might add, beautiful) landscapes, as well as the image of a destroyed city identified as the once-successful Paddra, the ruins of which are being investigated by various authorities. It would seem that this occurrence is important in the early portion of the game.

This set of news followed on the heels of an interview with Toriyama. The first question in this interview, as one might predict, concerned how the team planned on addressing complaints from the original game. Toriyama replied that the team took their predecessor's criticism very seriously and were working to respond accordingly. He continued to say that the game would not be a completely open map, but that it would "certainly not be linear."

Toriyama explained that the game would feature a mesh of random encounters and visible enemies, which is intended to provide a more realistic atmosphere. Sometimes the player will be able to plan ahead for encounters, but at other times a split-second warning is all the opportunity you'll get. He also explained the thought behind the addition of cinematic action events in battle. When asked if monster hunting would make an appearance in FFXIII-2, Toriyama replied not only that there would be plenty of monster hunting but that it would be accessible from the very start of the game, allowing the player to experience hunting parallel to the main story.

The final question of the interview was one that I found to be particularly interesting. Toriyama was asked what it was that made him and others in the company want to make a sequel. Toriyama denied the suggestion that the sequel was built around the supposedly large amounts of material that was cut from the original FFXIII, saying that none of this material was actually used in the development of FFXIII-2. Rather, Toriyama professed that it was an interest in further delving into the characters of the original game that motivated the team to create another game centered on the world of FFXIII.

I think it's pretty clear that Square Enix is trying to get some additional details on FFXIII-2 out in the air to build interest leading into the upcoming Tokyo Game Show, which should, given the rather-soon Japanese release date, have a lot to say on the topic.

Source: IGN, IGN

To support the pending launch of Final Fantasy XIII-2, Square Enix started a promotion called - I'm not joking here - "Word to Your Moogle" at Comic-Con in San Diego. It's a game that was played by people in attendance at the con, in which players received buttons from Squenix with letters on them, and then had to team up with other visitors to form words either from a list at the Squenix booth or from a Final Fantasy game, and travel back to the booth to earn prizes.

The prizes include a "Word to Your Moogle" t-shirt - guaranteed to get you the attention of your desired gender while out clubbing, a Squenix online store gift certificate, a signed copy of XIII-2 upon release, a bundle with the signed game, guide, and soundtrack, or even a custom-designed PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360.

Like I say, this kicked off at Comic-Con. However, it's still going on. If you're going to PAX Prime this month, up in Washington state, or Comic-Con in New York City next month, you too can participate in the same way.

So, all in all - actually a pretty great idea for a contest, but, really? "Word to Your Moogle?" My goodness.

Source: Word to Your Moogle

I can't speak for everyone that owns an idevice, but I have been anxiously awaiting the port of Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions for the iOS since I first heard about it.

Originally stated to be released sometime in September 2010, then delayed until May 2011, then again delayed until 'sometime from June to July', Square Enix have finally confirmed that Thursday, Aug. 4th they will be releasing the title, finally. Yes, that's 2011.

No tricks!

The iOS version will be released Thursday for iPhone 4G and 3GS (but not 3G, as they claim it was too slow on said product), and iPod Touch. iPad users will have to hang on for just a brief while longer as they've slated release for it to be sometime next month.

Though they've done little to update graphics-wise, it will support some nice, clean retina display looks, faster load times than the PSP version, all at the cost of dropping the multiplayer function from the game. A slight shame, but I doubt anyone will be crying too much over that factor.

Come Thursday, Aug. 4th, it'll be available in the App Store for 1800 yen/$15.99 US/€12.99. Woot!

Even though that's a big price for an app, it'll be worth it for such a title, and furthermore, as we've seen with their past port releases, you can likely expect a price drop on their other titles, so keep an eye out for that as well!

Source: SQUARE ENIX DLG@Facebook, RPGFan

Square Enix has provided us with a set of new information regarding Final Fantasy Type-0 (which you may better remember as FFXIII Agito).

First of all, the game has a set Japanese release date of October 13. It will sell for an unusually-steep 7700 Yen, or $98 US. This likely reflects another detail provided by the company; that FF Type-0 (it's getting hard to resist calling it FF Typo over here) will be played on two discs.

There's also a new trailer up. Combat scenes are found sprinkled throughout the video, revealing a gameplay system that appears fast-paced and action-packed. It also treats viewers to a lot of character-introducing, including the presumed faculty members (Provost, Cadetmaster, Commissar, Commandant) of the military academy at which the protagonists (Ace, Deuce, Trey, right on up to Jack, Queen and King) reside. A large amount of background and character information is known, though FF Type-0 does not currently have an English language official site.

This recent burst of information makes it clear that the folks over at Square Enix are going for something different with this upcoming title. What with the relatively-short period between now and the game's Japanese release, it shouldn't be long before we can see how their efforts pay off.

Source: Kotaku

Tetsuya Nomura had a little chat with Famitsu recently in which he discussed several elements of Final Fantasy Versus XIII's graphics.

The title's movie director, Takeshi Nozue, has apparently been working to improve the game-generated cutscene graphics, and with great success. Tweaks to character hair and conversation behavior (they've been working on this with the voice actors as well, recording certain lines in groups so as to achieve a more natural result) appear to constitute a large percentage of these improvements. The main area of attention, though, is lighting effects. Nozue and his team have put in seemingly obsessive amounts of work on this element of the game, an effort which resulted in images that astounded the Famitsu staff members present (I would imagine generating that response is no easy task).

Aside from the fact that the team is working to make game-generated cutscenes as close in quality to pre-rendered cutscene graphics as possible, they have taken on the challenge of changing the very nature of cutscenes within the game. Nomura says that in Versus, the player will have control of his/her character during all game-generated cutscenes. Nomura said that the new engine is difficult to explain and that he hasn't seen anything like it previously, so that's helpful. He mentioned that he often finds himself skipping cutscenes, and that the goal here is to create a more natural, immersive atmosphere that allows the player to remain involved.

Nomura also hinted further at Versus XIII's gameplay, stating that, while it will employ gameplay elements from the Kingdom Hearts series, it will not be quite as action-oriented as the later and that Versus XIII will have more variety.

Nomura ended by apologizing for making fans wait so long. I'll decide whether or not to forgive him if once this ever finally comes out.

Source: IGN

Despite the game just coming to light last week, details have already started to appear for the new Final Fantasy beat-tapping game for the Nintendo 3DS. First off, for those who feel that Square stretches themselves too thin, note that the game isn't being developed by Square at all; indieszero, the team behind the well-reviewed Electroplankton, will be at the helm of the actual game development.

It looks like the game will be split into worlds dedicated to some, most, or all of the main numbered series (that part's not quite clear, yet), and that some, most, or all of the games represented will also contribute a character to your roster, from which you will choose four for your party. Each game has three phases, "Field," "Battle," and "Event," and each of those phases will have a different gameplay type. There are, of course, some RPG aspects too around character building, but the details around just what that means remain murky too. What Square has said is that the game takes place in a world in between Chaos and Cosmos, so it seems that there may be some effort to append this game to the side universe that also contains Dissidia.

Of course, the main thing that seems to get people fired up about this game is the potential for awesome music. We know these songs are in, with announcements of more surely on the way soon:

• Clash on the Big Bridge
• One-Winged Angel
• To Zanarkand
• The Sunleth Waterscape
• Final Fantasy Main Theme

The tracks are indeed remixes from the originals, so they may or may not be to your liking.

For my money, it seems like this game might be a no-brainer. The art style is super-cute, the music is consistently one of the things the fans like best about the games, and Squenix have had very good success with portable games recently, more so than their big AAA console titles. I even like the official Japanese site, and that pains me to say since it's all in Flash.

Source: Kotaku, andriasang, THEATRHYTHM FINAL FANTASY