News

Normally, I'd be the first to make a joke at the name of this game. I mean, it's so asking for it. What kind of game company would name their new independent project for the 3DS: Bravely Default: Flying Fairy? It practically screams "Quick, make Navi jokes out of me!" Good work, Square-Enix. What, Theatrhythm and Dissidia Duodecim weren't odd enough? Had to go all out on the random train, with destination Tuesday, huh?

Anyway, we don't know a whole lot about the game so far. It's an RPG, using a similar engine that DS games Final Fantasy: 4 Heroes of Light, and the III and IV remakes used. Instead of 3D backgrounds in areas, though, it seems to use pre-rendered backgrounds, in the same way that the Playstation Final Fantasys did, and a 3D world map. The effect looks pretty sweet, even if I was somewhat reminded of Myst by some of the screenshots. But that's not a bad thing. You can check out a short video of the game here, and another one mostly in Japanese, and mostly not actually gameplay. The other notable feature is the planned usage of AR cards and the 3DS' cameras as part of the gameplay. Just how exactly this works, we do not yet know, but hopefully they'll work well.

To be expected sometime in 2012.

Source: Nintendo, Kotaku

The Tokyo Game Show for 2011 is coming in a little over a week, and as such the big Japanese publishers are starting to give details about what they will (and by omission, won't) be showing this year. Of course, given our focus, we're not going to give much time to the Konamis and Capcoms of the world - but, hey, here's the brief rundown of Square Enix!

The big Final Fantasy games to make an appearance this year are Type-0, XIII-2, and Theatrythym, with playable demos available for all three. Naturally, Versus is not listed in any form whatsoever, though it's possible that Squenix are keeping its presence secret for a nice surprise at showtime.

Dragon Quest will be represented by the new 3DS sequel to Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime, and also by the Dragon Quest compilation for Wii. Other RPG franchises include a sequel to Chaos Rings for the iOS, and (what I believe to be) the first real look at a playable Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance for the 3DS.

Finally, given that Square Enix is the publisher of note for many other series in Japan, there will be some other games in their booth, like Modern Warfare 3, that wouldn't be represented in a similar show in the West. Hit the link below to see more of those games, and look for more news coming from TGS next week.

Source: andriasang

Square-Enix held a press conference yesterday in Japan (very early this morning for Europe or North America) detailing the much-anticipated Dragon Quest X. Turns out it's been structured as an multiplayer online RPG, complete with selectable races and subscription fees.

Dragon Quest X: The Wake of the Five Tribes: Online will have Wii and WiiU versions made, very similar to the GameCube and Wii versions made of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess soon after the Wii's launch. Players will create their own character, choosing from one of five different races, and can choose to play either entirely offline (with other online players replaced by NPCs) or pay a subscription fee to play online with others. The game will retain the series' trademark turn-based combat and menus, but will take the limited online features of Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies several steps further.

DQX still has no formal release date (neither does the Wii U, for that matter), but lead designer Yuuji Horii is hopeful that it will come out in 2012. There is no word on a release outside of Japan, but Square-Enix and Nintendo have been pushing the DQ brand somewhat recently, so an eventual English-language release is likely.

Source: Kotaku

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