News

News is flying out of Squenix's doors about Final Fantasy XII today. They revealed more information on both the staff and the storyline behind the game.

As previously known, Yasumi Matsuno is working as Director/Producer while Akihiko Yoshida did the character designs and is the 3D Map Director. Both men were heavily involved in Final Fantasy Tactics. Isamu Kamikokuryuo of Final Fantasy VIII and Final Fantasy X is involved with the background art with Hideo Minaba behind the "Art Direction" (Minaba has previously worked on Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy IX).
Nubuo Uematsu returns for FFXII, but only in a limited role. He will focus on the main theme of the game as Hitoshi Sakimoto will be composing most of the game's soundtrack.

The game is currently about 70 percent done. Interesting to note is that Squenix is lowering the number of polygons of the character models slightly. They are doing this in an attempt to increase both the quality of the backgrounds and lighting affects and to make the in game animation smoother.

As R51 posted earlier, the title is set in Ivalice. Arcadia has just conquered country of Dalmasca. Ashe, the main heroine of the title and princess/heir apparent in Dalmasca, forms a rebel outfit lead by Vann, the main hero, in order to regain their independence.

Source: Games Are Fun

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I have never played FTT or FFTA (a crime I know, yes, but I will eventually), so the setting in Ivalice does not really bother me. It really isn't a surprise though with both Yasumi Matsuno and Akihiko Yoshida having ties to the game(s). The art in FFIX was both good and bad at the same time in my opinion. Hopefully Minaba will present more of the good this time around.

Games Are Fun have released some news that has the potential to annoy, if you are anything like me. Luckily, they wrapped it in some fairly interesting new screenshots and art from Final Fantasy XII. The highlights of the screenshots, to me anyway, are seeing the airship and chocobo shots, all of which are beautifully rendered (even though the chocobo has gotten a bit creepy-looking).

What's the bad news? Well, if you are a diehard Final Fantasy Tactics fan like I am, you may be saddened to learn that FFXII is set in Ivalice. Yes, Ivalice, as referenced in both FFT and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. According to the GAF article, the Ivalice is the one from FFTA, which based on my limited FFTA play seems to be very different than the one in which Ramza lived. However, if this turns out to be incorrect and Squenix plans to use FFT's Ivalice, it could be disasterous to the legend of FF Tactics. In this writer's humble opinion, of course.

Here's hoping for the best.

Although not the first time something like this has been found, Squenix now has an official radio station where fans can listen to Final Fantasy music continuously online.

It's found on:

"America Online's Radio@ Network. It is available for listening on Radio@AOL, Radio@AOL for Broadband, and Radio@Netscape under the Soundtracks & More category, and features approximately 200 tracks from the 32-bit and onward Final Fantasy games." (Source: RPGamer)

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I can't tell if this is AOL users only or what, but either way, it's nice to have an official Final Fantasy station. I've heard other stations where it's all video game music, or all RPG music, but I don't think I've seen all Final Fantasy before.

Square Enix has announced that it will re-release a few of its Playstation 1 titles under Sony's Greatest Hits this coming December.

The titles being re-released are all Square titles: Final Fantasy Anthology, Final Fantasy Chronicles, Vagrant Story, and Xenogears. Being under the Greatest Hit means that the titles will be reasonable priced, each costing around $20 US. For those who don't know, Final Fantasy Chronicles consists of FFIV and Chrono Trigger while Final Fantasy Anthology packages FFV and FFVI together.

Source: Games_Are_Fun

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I might just have to pick up Chronicles and Anthology. I can't see myself buying either at the ridiculous price they go for on EBay and used game stores, but I can see myself plunking down 20 bucks. I think it is a good move by Square Enix. They might as well be making the profits off the games instead of the EBay-ers if there is still a big demand for them.

(Note from Phoenix: This news update is courtesy of SSJ_Cloud; he is currently unable to access the forums, and asked me to post for him.)

Japanese gaming news site Quiter has some of the first Final Fantasy XII art and screenshots I've yet seen. We appear to have good renders of the male and female leads, some early screenshots, and a cluttered scan of the logo.

If you can't hack navigating through the pics in Japanese (it shouldn't be hard), an English-language mirror is available at RPGFan..

I'm filling in for the news staff at the moment, most of whom are having intermittent troubles getting to the site as described in my news post of a few days back. That said, here's my commentary: unless they stop using Tetsuya Nomura as the lead character designer, they're going to turn a lot of people off. Aren't we all getting just a bit sick of seeing the same character designs since FF7? Thank goodness Amano came in to do FF9 and 11.

In a recent news conference to discuss their projected earnings, Square Enix revealed that it will not ship the Japanese release of Final Fantasy XII in March 2004 as first announced.

Because of this news, Squenix has lowered its predicted earnings from ten billion Yen to eight billion Yen for this fiscal year (which ends in March). However, the company hopes to make up some of this through its recently announced Dragon Quest V remake. The company plans to have this title out the door by the end of the fiscal year.

Source: Games_Are_Fun

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I'm almost glad this game is being delayed. Square Enix has been pumping out Final Fantasy titles much too quickly as of late. I actually have high expectations for this title because of the team that is putting this one together.