Old-school RPG fans can now rejoice, for Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II are for the first time now available on mobile phones in North America. These iPhone releases mark the seventeenth (at least) re-release of the original Final Fantasy. Of course, these updated versions show all of the polish that comes with remastering a game once every year or so.

(more…)

Share On

During the 16 and 32-bit eras, role-playing games reigned supreme. Also during those times, Squaresoft saw a phenomenal boost in the sales and popularity of their games. With Squaresoft’s rise to power came a conflict within Quest (developers of the Ogre Battle series of games,) and many of the former employees of Quest signed on with Square. The result of this marriage was one of the finest strategy-based role playing games of all time, Final Fantasy Tactics.

Final Fantasy Tactics incorporated all of the best elements of both franchises. The intricate battle and leveling mechanics from the Ogre series were a perfect match for the previously-established line of Final Fantasy jobs as well as the generally-grand plots and character developments from the more recent games in the series.

(more…)

Share On

There’s really only two senses that video games have yet to tap into.  We see and hear games, we control them via our touching paws, but we can neither smell nor taste them yet (though some games attempt to bridge that gap by offering up cooking advice).  Apparently Square-Enix wishes to to provide the former because they’re releasing a Final Fantasy XIII perfume.

No, this isn’t a joke post.  It’s November still and April is many months away.  Square has actually commissioned their very own perfume.  You, too, can smell like Final Fantasy XIII’s upcoming lady protagonist, Lightning.  Personally, I think she’d smell like sweat and leather (which I’m totally okay with because I love an active woman), but those nutters in Japan seem to think she’ll have a “sweet peach smell followed by rose and then a feminine musk.”  I don’t even entirely know what that means or how to combine such aromas.  What I do know is that I’ll be importing myself a bottle to spray on my controller as I play my way through what will be the biggest RPG of 2010 so that I can tell people I played the game with all of my senses.  I will not say how I plan in incorporate the sense of taste into my experience.  I fear that will only alienate many of our readers.

Anyway!  The bottle costs 7,140 yen ($83) and chances of it hitting American shelves are pretty slim.

[Source: Siliconera]

Share On

Though I’ve been a fan of fighters for years, I’ve been on Team Final Fantasy for much longer. I’ve saved the world from imminent destruction simply via living vicariously through the tales woven by the multiple Final Fantasy adventures available to embark on and ultimately had a richer experience than I would have had I spent that time shattering bones and pulling off massive combos. In the past I had a staccato love affair with Square’s first attempt at a full-fledged fighting game that attempted to combine both genres, Ehrgeiz, but to be fair it was far from perfect. Upon Dissidia’s announcement, I knew I must obtain it both to feed my Final Fantasy fix and mingle with characters of my RPG history once again. Like a moth to a flame I was sucked into the world of Cosmos and Chaos.

(more…)

Share On

Final Fantasy as a franchise is forever branching out and taking entirely different paths. From the adorable minigame collections (Chocobo Tales) to the fighters (Dissidia), Square Enix is never afraid to create games other than RPGs utilizing characters or concepts within the universe. Upon playing My Life as a Dark Lord, a tower defense title obtainable as a WiiWare title, I am convinced that they can make any genre work, so long as they approach it with the right attitude and color palette. Having never previously played My Life as a King, I can’t quite compare it to anything I’ve played before, but rest assured, even through its sometimes intractable difficulty, it’s a whole lot of fun.

(more…)

Share On

Square-Enix remembers their fans outside of Japan less often then we’d like. I just got word that they remembered that we are just as obsessive a bunch as their motherland’s fans. They have announced a set of full-color, intricately detailed PVC figures making their way to Square-Enix’s USA store. Normally I would just glaze over this as a collection of incoming overpriced paperweights to pretty up my desk space, but they are overwhelmingly gorgeous figures of some of their headline characters from Final Fantasy’s Sephiroth, Kingdom Hearts‘ Sora (in his Halloweentown getup!) and even Edward and Alphonse from the hit anime and manga series Fullmetal Alchemist. Hit the jump for screenshots of some of the announced figures to hit the e-shelves of Square-Enix this week! Word on the streets says they might even be affordable, too. So how much do you think these figures are worth?

(more…)

Share On