PS3 Fanboy

For years (literally) Final Fantasy XIII has seemed like an ethereal, heavenly destination. Like the Golden Fleece or a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Only recently, with actual in-game screenshots, does it feel like Final Fantasy XIII is actually a game. One for us mere mortals, not just reserved for the gods. The latest issue of Famitsu not only has more screenshots, but actually gives us some details about the combat system. Yes, actual gameplay stuff.

Random-battle haters will love the fact that, just like in FFXII, enemies will be visible on the world map and there will be no transitions into combat. The combat itself looks quite complicated. The familiar ATB (Active Time Battle) system seems to be present, but multiple actions can be chosen per turn, according to how many points each action has assigned to it. For example, Fire costs 1 point and Firaga costs 3. So far there appears to be a 3-point limit per turn. Hopefully this indicates a rich combo system, much like in White Knight Chronicles.

Enemy names and HP are visible during battle and there appear to be "chain" and "bonus" systems, though what exactly these do is still unknown. With a demo being released in Japan in three months, we should know more by then. Don't get too excited, though. You almost certainly won't get to play it in 2009.

[Via Kotaku]

Nippon Ichi's cult SRPG hit, Disgaea 3, still hasn't seen release in Europe. That's all about the change, courtesy of Square Enix. PAL territories will receive this PS3 exclusive on February 20th. It currently holds a Metacritic score of 78. Some call it the best in the Disgaea series, but some are disappointed by the lackluster PS2-esque presentation.

John Yamamoto, president and chief executive officer of Square Enix Ltd. comments, "With Disgaea 3, Nippon Ichi have created a wonderful world full of bizarre characters and deep, addictive gameplay. I hope everyone enjoys playing this unique and rewarding title."

Square Enix loves to dish out new, albeit tiny, info at the end of the year for its biggest titles like Final Fantasy XIII. It's sort of a playful tease reminding you that there's still something coming for the year ahead ... or several. In the latest scans from Japanese magazine V-Jump, there are some delicious new screen pics of FFXIII's in-game battles and its female protagonist looking contemplative and sultry.

Most of the information in the mag scans regarding the battle system is already well-known, such as no random encounters. The only truly new information is -- after two and a half years -- we're finally going to know one character's real name. While "Lightning" and "Snow" are code names for the main female lead and the blond dude with a bandana, "Oerba Dia Vanille" is the first actual name to be revealed, and it belongs to the spunky red-haired girl.

Other than this info, there's not much else to talk about. There is, however, some nice pictures to look at, so now would be a good time to head on over to VideogamerX and view all the scans.

It has been a very long time since we last hear anything of note regarding Square Enix's next MMO project and successor to Final Fantasy XI; however, the pages of EGM (via Final Fantasy-XIII.net) tells us that this silence will be over in due time. EGM's scuttlebutt suggests that the long-awaited MMO will be unveiled at next year's E3 in June.

It seems like a rather timely choice. It also seems to scream 'it's about time' as the aging FFXI is considerably outdated after having a nearly seven-year run. But, don't expect this new game to be a typical "updated" FFXI clone though. Producer Hiromichi Tanaka told EGM that "the next generation MMO that we're working on is going to be different from Final Fantasy XI. And even though we have the same staff working on the project, we're not going to make something that'll be exactly like FFXI."

The Cloud Message mag isn't even out on Japanese store shelves yet, and the internet is already blazing with sneaking peeks on the Fabula Nova Crystallis coverage within its pages. All three announced titles in the series: Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Final Fantasy Agito XIII (PSP) are all featured in the mag and there's juicy new info on each one.

For the two PS3 games, the new reveal on Versus XIII is a pretty big one. It's the first time anyone has seen gameplay images of the game. The images themselves are tiny (pictured above), but it is clearly seen (in the larger version) that numerous pictures show off in-game scenes as hinted by the visible HUD and map. As for the Main FFXIII title, the images don't reveal as much. It's interesting to note that a character design from the title's drawing board has been semi-blurred. It is possible that this design may be a new playable character, though that is not certain. If any of this has you interested, check out the larger sized images here and see the fine details.

[Via Final Fantasy-XIII.net]

Square Enix's Final Fantasy-themed MMO is playable on a lot of platforms, but unfortunately not -- directly anyhow -- on the PS3. The dev team behind the game revealed, however, that a PS3 version wasn't entirely out of the mix. At the recent Fan Fest event in Hollywood, the team spoke to 1UP about how Final Fantasy XI was going to be re-released for PS3, but ultimately got canned.

"Initially we were in talks with a representative from Sony [to achieve this], but it appears that that person quit," said FFXI producer Hiromichi Tanaka. Beyond that response though, there doesn't seem to be any explanation as to why talks haven't resumed; however, what is certain is that a PS3 version isn't in the works and hasn't been for a long time. Funnily, all this talk about MMOs makes us wonder whatever happened to that other new MMO Square Enix was working on? You know, the one that was announced three years ago.

Square Enix recently opened a new studio in LA, one of their first major forays into Western development. The new studio will focus on digitally distributed games, according to GI.biz. "All formats – Xbox Live, WiiWare, PlayStation Network – are all viable formats for us," said Square Enix USA's John Yamamoto. "We started the in-house development team a couple of months ago and we're starting with downloadable content because the team is still small."

The new American studio is part of a drastic change at Square Enix; the new strategy is to embrace the Western market fully. "Japanese videogame software sales represent less than 15 per cent of the global market." In order to compete, Yamamoto reiterates that Square Enix will be focusing on multiplatform titles. "To maximise and spread our games to as many users as possible I think we have to go to multiformat – the Xbox 360, PS3 and also the PC as well."

The official online Square Enix store has finally opened its doors to Europeans. Fancy grabbing some figurines of your favorite Final Fantasy characters? How about cell phone charms or weapon replicas? The store has all these things and more. At the moment it's only open to people residing in the United Kingdom, Germany and France though there are plans to expand it further.

Sure, it's all pretty expensive and comes with some arbitrary rules, such as "all orders must exceed £23/€29 to be processed," but that won't hold back the fanboys. So if you're a European who has been wondering how to get your hands on some Final Fantasy jewellery or a scarily detailed figure of Cloud, you know where to go.

[Via VG247]

Famitsu has a four-page spread in their latest issue all about the PS3-exclusive Final Fantasy Versus XIII. You've probably seen some of it in the scans earlier this morning. In the magazine, the full name of Versus' sleepy protagonist prince is revealed to be Noctis Lucis Caelum -- which is Latin for "night, light and sky." The blonde-haired female friend of his is named Stella Nox Fleuret. Her name is Latin for "star, darkness and sword" and she appears to be a princess from another country. It is interesting to note that their respective appearances reflect each other's names.

The game's director, Tetsuya Nomura, points out that part of the plot was revealed in the TGS Closed Theater trailer. He notes that the discussion seen between these two characters in that trailer focused on their abilities to "see light." Noctis seems afraid to talk about these abilities, while Stella is very frank and opens up the dialogue by asking Noctis about how he obtained his ability.

It's rather funny to think that we now know slightly more about Versus XIII than we do of the main XIII title. That's especially harrowing after knowing Versus XIII isn't expected until after XIII is out.

[Via IGN]

If you've read about our Square Enix Closed Mega Theater trailer impressions during our coverage of TGS, then you may have been left wanting to have seen those trailers for yourself. While you can't anymore see them the way we did, we've got the next best thing: pictures. New scans for both Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII show off images which debuted in the Closed Theater.

In the image above, we see the two most prominent Versus characters engaged in their voiceless conversation. While in the FF XIII image posted after the break, you'll (hardly) see the new Sephiroth-like female character; you'll just see the back of her head. She's the image second from the bottom in the lower left corner. Wait a minute. Sephiroth-like female character? Voiceless conversation? What are you talking about, dude? If you don't know, then you better read those trailer impressions. Also, check out larger versions of the scans here.

Click for full Final Fantasy Versus XIII trailer impression
Click for full Final Fantasy XIII trailer impression

Ah, the Square Enix Mega Theater. It's always something to look forward to at every TGS. We took the time to check out the theater and see what's cooking behind those big, black walls. Square Enix showed off trailers for nine games and a film in the Mega Theater, including two PS3 titles, the Advent Children Complete movie, and four PSP titles. Grab the full scoop on each title in our Square Enix Closed Theater impressions.

We really haven't heard anything about The Last Remnant for a while now -- the game's PS3 version still lacks a release date (the delay is attributed to the Unreal Engine while the 360 version will be out this November) and details on the game mechanics are fuzzy at best.

Luckily for fans, Siliconera has unearthed some information on the battle mechanics for the multiplatform RPG. It is being summarized as a "turn-based RPG with multiple parties" -- you control several parties of up to five characters each. Instead of issuing direct commands to the members of the party, you issue more generalized directions such as "time to get physical/mystical" (physical/magical attacks on enemies) or "attack, but stay healthy" (attack close-ranged enemies while healing) to the entire party. Finally, there's also a morale meter on the top of the battle screen: high morale means you deal more damage while damage received will be reduced and vice versa.

This whole system doesn't sound especially innovative to us. So instead of controlling 4-5 members of your party in a typical RPG, you control 4-5 parties that work in a similar fashion? We'll reserve our final judgment for the game when it comes out though, not that we know when that will happen. Check out the latest screenshots for the game -- you can find all 70 of them in the gallery below.

Official PlayStation Magazine Australia sat down with two Square Enix heavy-hitters, Yoshinori Kitase and Shinji Hashimoto, to discuss what's up with the 13th Final Fantasy. Kitase gave an update on the development progress stating that several aspects of Final Fantasy XIII are now nearly done. "The scenario is pretty much complete and the artistic side is about 80% complete," said Kitase. While that's a lot of work already through the fire, there's still a few things left to do and don't forget the good old spit-shine polish.

Being a PlayStation mag, the publication also naturally asked the duo how the shift to a multiplatform release would affect FFXIII's quality. Kitase was quick to reiterate what Yoichi Wada had been saying since E3: "...the team is looking to specialize it for the PS3 so that the game will be maximized [for that console], and then they will port it over to the 360 and utilize the capabilities of that console." That means no loss of quality.