Greetings, friends! During these early morning hours, I am posting this article while attending the last "Square-Enix Presents" live-stream from E3, Los Angeles. I mentioned in an earlier article that Square-Enix had a debt to pay to it's loyal fans, especially the eagerly anticipating, relentless Final Fantasy fan base. And boy, did they deliver! During Sony's PS4 presentation (I will make another article perhaps tomorrow about Sony's triumphant entry to the new era of consoles), Square-Enix was mysteriously absent for a while. Even though Sony did present quite a few new games for both the PlayStation 3 and the PlayStation Vita, there was hardly any mention of Square-Enix's titles (with the exception of Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD being delivered to the PS Vita).
Then Sony's spokesman began announcing future PlayStation 4 titles. And, near the end, Square-Enix's sign finally showed up on the big screen. It was a recorded message from the creator of Final Fantasy Versus XIII, Tetsuya Nomura, apologizing for the delay of information on the so-called title. And then, it appeared...
Notice something strange at the end? Yes, what the internet had been on fire for weeks now has become official. Final Fantasy Versus XIII had claimed a mainline title. It has been reborn as XV. In an interview with "Square-Enix Presents" Tetsuya Nomura claimed that this name change occured when they heard about the next-gen consoles two years ago and decided to port the project there. FF XV will be available on both the PS4 and the XBox One, as announced by FF Brand Manager Shinji Hashimoto.
Mr. Nomura also went on to say that we might not see only one FF XV. There may be sequels. And this is because of the fact that the world that he and his team are creating is so vast and the story they want to tell is so enticing, that they might not be able to fit it all into just one game. Though the method of these "sequels" has not yet come to his mind. He does not want long development times and has promised to end the "radio silence" on this game, delivering as much information as possible whenever it becomes available. The next showing of XV is scheduled to be at the Tokyo Game Show in September.
And even though that was all from Nomura-san, the Final Fantasy brand still got a whole lotta love at this E3! Starting with Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII that was represented by a new trailer and a playable demo. Director Yoshinori Kitase and producer Motomu Toriyama also gave a lot of new info on the game, like the fact that Lightning will have more than 80 costumes (called schemata) available to her and that in the start of the game she will only have 7 days to save the world. The days can increase to 13 if the player completes certain quests.
As for the other FF Kitase-san and Toriyama-san are making, FF X/X-2 HD, that too got the same treatment as Lightning Returns (via trailer and demo) and also they revealed that one new scene was added to the original content of X. Where that is, though, will be up to the players to find out. They added that the game is almost complete but they cannot reveal it's release date yet, as they wish to make some final "tweaks" to it.
Final Fantasy XIV: A Real Reborn has been Square-Enix's centre of attention. They've been really trying to get it out there, considering it releases this summer and all the work that's been put into it. They released a new trailer for it saying that it will also be available on the PS4 and during a "Live Letter With The Producer" Naoki "Yoshi-p" Yoshida shown on "Square-Enix Presents" (and that's actually still on-air while this article is being written), one new class, the Arcanist and two new jobs, the Summoner and Scholar were revealed. Nice!
So, there you have it! A full line up (which, when combined with the news that Kingdom Hearts 3 is in development packs a pretty heavy punch!) of Final Fantasy games, ready to be delivered within the next 1,5 years at the most (rumor has it XV will be released a little after March 2014). Final Fantasy XV may have all the hype, but in no way are all the rest minor titles. XIV is perhaps the most highly anticipated MMORPG, X/X-2 HD has a lot of nostalgic fans eagerly waiting for it and Lightning Returns concludes the epic story of XIII. And considering where XIII-2 left off, I'd say there are many people that want to know how that ends! And with all that, I'd say Final Fantasy, that seemed pretty much a forgotten franchise at E3 2012, has been reborn!
Then Sony's spokesman began announcing future PlayStation 4 titles. And, near the end, Square-Enix's sign finally showed up on the big screen. It was a recorded message from the creator of Final Fantasy Versus XIII, Tetsuya Nomura, apologizing for the delay of information on the so-called title. And then, it appeared...
Notice something strange at the end? Yes, what the internet had been on fire for weeks now has become official. Final Fantasy Versus XIII had claimed a mainline title. It has been reborn as XV. In an interview with "Square-Enix Presents" Tetsuya Nomura claimed that this name change occured when they heard about the next-gen consoles two years ago and decided to port the project there. FF XV will be available on both the PS4 and the XBox One, as announced by FF Brand Manager Shinji Hashimoto.
Mr. Nomura also went on to say that we might not see only one FF XV. There may be sequels. And this is because of the fact that the world that he and his team are creating is so vast and the story they want to tell is so enticing, that they might not be able to fit it all into just one game. Though the method of these "sequels" has not yet come to his mind. He does not want long development times and has promised to end the "radio silence" on this game, delivering as much information as possible whenever it becomes available. The next showing of XV is scheduled to be at the Tokyo Game Show in September.
And even though that was all from Nomura-san, the Final Fantasy brand still got a whole lotta love at this E3! Starting with Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII that was represented by a new trailer and a playable demo. Director Yoshinori Kitase and producer Motomu Toriyama also gave a lot of new info on the game, like the fact that Lightning will have more than 80 costumes (called schemata) available to her and that in the start of the game she will only have 7 days to save the world. The days can increase to 13 if the player completes certain quests.
As for the other FF Kitase-san and Toriyama-san are making, FF X/X-2 HD, that too got the same treatment as Lightning Returns (via trailer and demo) and also they revealed that one new scene was added to the original content of X. Where that is, though, will be up to the players to find out. They added that the game is almost complete but they cannot reveal it's release date yet, as they wish to make some final "tweaks" to it.
Final Fantasy XIV: A Real Reborn has been Square-Enix's centre of attention. They've been really trying to get it out there, considering it releases this summer and all the work that's been put into it. They released a new trailer for it saying that it will also be available on the PS4 and during a "Live Letter With The Producer" Naoki "Yoshi-p" Yoshida shown on "Square-Enix Presents" (and that's actually still on-air while this article is being written), one new class, the Arcanist and two new jobs, the Summoner and Scholar were revealed. Nice!
So, there you have it! A full line up (which, when combined with the news that Kingdom Hearts 3 is in development packs a pretty heavy punch!) of Final Fantasy games, ready to be delivered within the next 1,5 years at the most (rumor has it XV will be released a little after March 2014). Final Fantasy XV may have all the hype, but in no way are all the rest minor titles. XIV is perhaps the most highly anticipated MMORPG, X/X-2 HD has a lot of nostalgic fans eagerly waiting for it and Lightning Returns concludes the epic story of XIII. And considering where XIII-2 left off, I'd say there are many people that want to know how that ends! And with all that, I'd say Final Fantasy, that seemed pretty much a forgotten franchise at E3 2012, has been reborn!
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