Final Fantasy

Someone at Square Enix has let Nomura out of the office for a brief moment to allow him to say a couple of (brief) things about the upcoming Final Fantasy VII Remake to Weekly Famitsu magazine. The battles in the game will indeed be action-based, rather than the familiar command-based ATB system that fans are likely familiar with. In addition, cover will be a seamless affair. If players choose, Cloud can dash behind cover as a tactical manoeuvre.

What a twist! Yoshi-P strung us along, instilling in everyone the belief that Stormblood, FFXIV's second expansion, will solely take place in the region surrounding imperial-controlled Ala Mhigo. With the Frankfurt Fanfest keynote wrapped up, it would appear that the bulk of the expansion will instead take place in the Far East, far away from Eorzea and in the land of Othard. If we're going to try and liberate Ala Mhigo, we may as well try our hand at liberating Doma from the very same oppressors too? With its Edo-era architecture and sprawling landscapes inspired by oriental lands from centuries ago, it is more than apt given the very distinct Far East theme that the second new job revealed for Stormblood to accompany Red Mage will beSamurai.

Was the wait for Final Fantasy XV a drag that took up a good chunk of your life? Are you prepared for even more waiting for the next major Square Enix releases ahead? Do you enjoy waiting for an inordinate length of time for a video game? You're in luck! In an interview conducted by Famitsu magazine, Tetsuya Nomura had a few things to say about the upcoming Kingdom Hearts III and Final Fantasy VII Remake, namely that we will be waiting a while for them.

The Tokyo Fanfest is underway and with it comes the most anticipated pre-Christmas event of the year. That's right! A keynote with Yoshi-P and Koji-Fox as they both trickle down to us further morsels of information to do with FFXIV's second expansion: Stormblood. This time, players will dive underwater with this aquatic-themed expansion, with other confirmations including: Red Mage as a new job, a new Beast Tribe and Primal, a new high-end raid series concerning Omega, and a return to Ivalice.

One week after the launch of Final Fantasy XV, plans for future support of the game have already been making the rounds. Today, director Hajime Tabata has disclosed what appears to be the outline of a road map going ahead for future updates to be made to the game in the short term to the long term. Points to note include quality of life adjustments to a certain Chapter 13 portion of the game to extended story sequences at the latter half of the game.

As we march slowly on towards Final Fantasy XIV's second expansion due in the early summer of 2017, let us not forget that there are loose ends that need to be tied up first before we wave off the Heavensward and 3.X portions of the game with valedictions for good. The latest Live Letter (XXXII) has announced Patch 3.5, titled The Far Edge of Fate. Like Patch 2.5 prior to Heavensward, this patch will be staggered across two parts, with the first due to come live in mid-January. Part 2 will arrive two months later.

Square really wants you to be ready for Kingdom Hearts 3. If you have a PlayStation 4 and have little inkling to retrieve the old, dusty PS3 from the attic to revisit the Kingdom Hearts collections that you've neglected to play, you need not worry, for the PS4 will soon have virtually every game in the series in one place. As you can perhaps infer from the title, both the 1.5 and 2.5 HD collections will have a PlayStation 4 release, with a buttery 60 frames per second to boot.

We've known that Final Fantasy XV will have a season pass and we've known the very basic outlines of what the season pass will contain. At the Paris Games Week livestream, a few more details trickled out about what we can expect to see from the game post-launch. There will be character DLC episodes covering the individual adventures of Gladiolus, Ignis and Prompto, as well as an online multiplayer component.

A couple of major things came out of the Paris Games Week livestream for Final Fantasy XV. The first of which was the confirmation that the game has finally gone gold (i.e. essentially completed), as represented by director Hajime Tabata holding up the two PlayStation 4 and Xbox One discs. Secondly, the teased 'Omen' trailer was shown in its CG glory, made by Digic Pictures, a studio that also worked on Kingsglaive.

With FFXIV's upcoming expansion signalling the death knell for PlayStation 3 support of the game, Square Enix are fervently encouraging the migration of the few existing PS3 players left (*cough* me) to the PS4 version. At Fanfest, it was announced that there will be a return of the PS4 Upgrade campaign, which will last for over a year, from 17 October today all the way to the very final moment of 2017. So what exactly does this campaign entail?

Like the coming and going of Astral Eras and their Umbral counterparts, everything must come to an end. There comes a time when the old warrior has to lay down his blade and his glaives after a long and arduous career fending off against his many adversaries, despite age steadily proving to be a hindrance to his performance. When the old warrior can no longer keep up, that fire in his heart is extinguished, passing on to the next generation, so that the mantle may continue to be wielded.

Another new announcement from Square Enix, only this time it's an anniversary party game. At the Sony PlayStation Press Conference at this year's Tokyo Game Show, the company has come out with Itadaki Street: Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary, melding two of their biggest franchises together in a game that will involve a lot of dice.

The confusingly-named Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue has also popped up at this year's Tokyo Game Show event with a trailer and release date.

Though the E3 trailer promised a worldwide December release, the game has been pushed back to January, with Japan being first to see it on 12 January while the rest of the world will have to wait it out until the 24th.

A short story trailer for Final Fantasy XV was shown at the Sony PlayStation Press Conference at this year's Tokyo Game Show event. The distinctive Final Fantasy theme from previous games such as FFIV and FFXII can be heard while the minute long trailer briefly shows each of the main characters along with a flair of drama between Noctis and Gladiolus.

Introduction: The Equine Experiment.

Within the pantheon of Final Fantasy’s summonable creatures Ixion does not often show himself (his first and most notable appearance being in Final Fantasy X); yet he’s clearly made an impression and maintains a modest fanbase. Unless specified, this article shall mainly be discussing the Final Fantasy X summon which set the standard on which other depictions of Ixion were based.

Ixion is presented as a robust unicorn possessing an elemental affiliation with lightning. When Ixion was introduced for the first time in Final Fantasy X he represented the element of lightning among the pantheon of Aeons (summons) which the summoner Yuna collected. Lined up next to popular fan favourites (Ifrit, fire; Shiva, ice; Bahamut, non-elemental) it becomes apparent that Ixion has replaced Final Fantasy’s staple lightning...

Only a handful of summoned creatures are as ubiquitous within the Final Fantasy universe as Shiva. Since her first appearance in Final Fantasy III this mysterious female ice spirit has grown into a popular fan favourite and is a regular member of the FF pantheon (appearing in 11 of the 14 main numbered games released so far, and with numerous spin-off and sequel appearances).

Shiva usually takes the appearance of a young woman with light-blue skin. Her hair is often green although sometimes it is blonde, blue, or white. As an ice...

Ghost trains have captured the imaginations of many people. Not only are there real-world reports of haunted trains, but they appear in literature, and dark rides in theme parks and fairgrounds labelled as ‘Ghost Trains’ are a popular feature.

There are two minor recurring ghost train characters in the Final Fantasy franchise: Phantom Train (first appearing in Final Fantasy VI), and Doomtrain (first appearing in Final Fantasy VIII). The two trains may share the same general concept of eerie, supernatural sentience, and the Doomtrain may have been inspired partly by its predecessor, but they remain separate in that they do not share the same designs, and play very different roles. Phantom Train is usually a boss, whereas Doomtrain is a summon.

World of Final Fantasy, aka the best Final Fantasy game lurking on the horizon (hey, I genuinely believe this!) has seen a new set of screenshots publicly released, now that the Tokyo Game Show has wound down for another year.

Red XIII is truly a contender for the most unique of playable characters in the Final Fantasy series. Appearing in FFVII and related compilation material, Red XIII (or Nanaki) is not only a member of a species other than human (a rare treat in a Final Fantasy game), but he is not even bipedal or humanoid. Perhaps one of character designer Tetsuya Nomura's most creative designs, Red XIII is a talking, red-furred, quadrupedal, feline-lupine hybrid with a flame at the tip of his tail.

Red is no beast, however, but a civilised, sentient, and well-spoken animal who proves to be far less bestial in action than many of the human inhabitants that he shares the world with. Red XIII is, instead, a beacon of moral wisdom.

Despite his originality, Red XIII is not regarded as a 'silly' comic relief character (unlike other...

Wedge and Biggs (also mistranslated as Vicks) are recurring names used for numerous characters in the Final Fantasy universe, most (though not all) of whom share the same standard traits. In any instalment of the franchise one might expect at some point to encounter a Wedge and Biggs (always appearing together). Most portrayals of Wedge and Biggs have the characters appear as a pair of guardsmen or soldiers, sharing an interest in technology or engineering, sometimes hopelessly pathetic at their jobs, and forming some of the game’s comic relief. In appearance the characters are typically generic guards, with no individualised character design (save for occasionally making Biggs taller and slimmer, and Wedge shorter and bulkier, or sometimes vice versa). At other times, however, Wedge and Biggs are given more important roles as a part of organisations that oppose the oppressive...