Square Enix Message Board older than one year ago

Final Fantasy VIII is on Steam starting today, Square Enix just announced. It's going for $11.99, and it comes with an optional cheating tool called Magic Booster and the mini-game Chocobo World.Read more...

The eagerly-awaited sequel to role-playing game Bravely Default (pictured) has apparently been announced for Japan. According to an unconfirmed leak, it's titled Bravely Second. And it's a brand new game.Read more...

The global PS4 beta for Final Fantasy XIV begins on February 22, 2014. An April 2014 release date was also announced. It's unclear if that's Japan only or worldwide. [Thanks, Alex!] Read more...

Would it be possible to transform League of Legends into a JRPG, specifically, Final Fantasy VII? The answer is yes! Read more...

Not all the time. Just occasionally. Like...when wandering swordsmen get robot arms and giant swords.Read more...

Square Enix is gearing up for Turkey Day with a bountiful collection of deals at its online store, delivering juicy, gravy-flavored discounts for Hitman: Absolution, Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX, and other featured games.

During the weekend-long sale, Square Enix's PS3-exclusive Kingdom Hearts remake will run you $19.99, while the Game of the Year version of Dead Island is $14.99. Other highlights include the PS Vita strategy game Army Corps of Hell for $14.99, Saints Row 4 for $29.99, Hitman Trilogy HD for $14.99, and the downloadable PC version of Final Fantasy 7 for $5.99.

Hitman: Absolution's Professional Edition is down to $14.99 on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and the publisher even has a few copies of the PSOne classics Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy Anthology, and Final Fantasy Chronicles in stock for $7.49 each. Square Enix's store-wide sale runs through Monday, December 2.

One of them is bad. But that's okay, I guess? Behold some of the latest Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII downloadable content.Read more...

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years hits iOS and Android today, and while it's not as egregiously offensive as some other games in the once-beloved series (like the microtransaction machine All The Bravest), it is a terrible game and you should stay away.Read more...

Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song, because Final Fantasy 4: The After Years is available now on the App Store and Google Play for $16. Oh hang on, this isn't the one with Fred Savage that isn't The Wizard - your ears are safe for now, then.

Instead, we'll note this is a complete 3D remake of the Final Fantasy 4 sequel that came to the Wii, PSP and Japanese mobiles a few years back. It's set 12 years after the original, and sees returning heroes get by with a little help from some new friends. Also, if you like your smartphone 3D remakes in widescreen, it has fullscreen display on iPhone 5 models.

Square Enix continues the growing trend of bringing Japanese vocals to the west as downloadable content, this time with Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy 13. Rather than just throwing the voice-work over the English animations, the DLC also includes lip-syncing adjustments to make everything fit together.

If you don't need the subtitles, you can import the (region-free PS3) game and get the same experience, since Lightning Returns is out in Japan today, well ahead of its February 11, 2014 launch in North America (and February 14 in Europe). The DLC will be available for free across the RPG's first two weeks at retail, after which it becomes a priced add-on.

This glitch in Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn will get your character stuck in MMO emote hell, as you can see in the above GIF. To get similar results with a frozen upper torso, type "/sit," then press the emote and the "w" buttons simultaneously. If you get lucky, you won't fly away completely.Read more...

We've seen classic Disney heroines as Street Fighter characters, but they'd make an even more outstanding and complete party as Final Fantasy characters, with all the essential jobs assigned to them.Read more...

Despite carrying the leading role in her own two games, Lightning has appeared in Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn's land of Eorzea. Lightning's debut in the MMO brings with it a new story arc, the completion of which will reward players with up to eight new weapons and gear for male and female characters.

Lightning's new quest is already on its second chapter, but players can still access the arc's first chapter, as well as all future installments, until the event concludes on December 9 at 10 a.m. Eastern. The story's future chapters will unlock on November 18 and November 20 and will require a character equal to or higher than level 38 or 45, respectively. If you've yet to try the game out, new accounts are granted a 30-day trial.

ROM hackers have overhauled an unofficial 8-bit version of Square Enix's Final Fantasy 7, turning what was once a barely-playable bootleg into a demake that's surprisingly faithful to its source material.

Released as an unlicensed Famicom cartridge in China, Shenzhen Nanjing's unsanctioned port of Final Fantasy 7 featured familiar characters and settings from Square Enix's PSOne classic, but removed many key story elements while upping the difficulty dramatically, rendering it an impressive but flawed curiosity.

After the subsequent release of a fan-made translation patch, a team led by modder Lugia2009 set out to address the game's many issues. The final product features redrawn graphics, improved music, and an actual ending, among many other bugfixes and improvements.

Speaking to Destructoid, Lugia2009 revealed that his next project is a translation patch for Shenzhen Nanjing's unlicensed NES port of Pokemon Yellow.

For all the flack we’ve given Eidos Montreal’s reinvention of Thief, I will say that I’m quite happy the developer seems to be listening as of late. The game as a whole still might look rather bland, but at least a trendy-as-tight-pants XP system is out. Better yet, loathsome QTEs failed to press X to avoid the mighty game development guillotine, so they’ll be joining it. Read on for Eidos Montreal’s reasoning.

(more…)

First-person games, maybe all games, need “a thing”. “A thing” is a technical term, referring to the unique mechanic that defines a game and make it seem exciting. It’s separate from theme, or character, or setting. It’s specifically something you’re going to get to do if you buy the game. ‘I can’t wait,’ you’d say, ‘to [fight that Big Daddy/ride those skyrails/explore that island/free run across those rooftops/toss physics objects into those faces/vault myself with a portal].’

Thief‘s problem is that it doesn’t appear to have a thing. Let’s go looking for one in these seven new screenshots.(more…)

There's always something to ruin millenniums of peace for everyone, isn't there? Such is life in the universe of Project Carnival, a role-playing trading card game in joint development between Square Enix and Argentinian developer Okam Studio.

In Project Carnival, the gods responsible for babysitting the world just up and left one day, leaving its inhabitants to get along on their own. Naturally, many of them strapped on armor and started swinging sharp things at each other. In order to teach these warriors a lesson, a terrifying, flaming crown-wearing figure called Momo trapped them all inside playing cards. Momo plays a game with these cards on an annual basis known as Project Carnival.

Okam Studio's website states that the game is "designed to be played individually," but that it includes "elements of cooperative play and player-versus-player." Project Carnival is scheduled to draw its first card in 2014 on iOS and Android devices.

We told you about the facial mapping tech in Square Enix's vampire hunting game, Bloodmasque, back in July, but it wasn't until today that we truly got to see how ridiculous the game can get if you use the feature in the right way.Read more...

Square Enix is chasing the cloud-based gaming market with Project FLARE, a newly announced streaming service that claims to leverage "virtual supercomputers" in order to minimize latency while upping in-game performance and presentation.

Comparing Project FLARE to existing streaming services like OnLive and Gaikai, Square Enix notes that its own project offers exponential scalability, making it capable of delivering richer world detail and "real-time, Hollywood-quality" animation. Square Enix demonstrates Project FLARE's potential in a pair of concept videos for Deus Ex: Human Revolution (embedded above) and Final Fantasy XI, showcasing the service's enhanced physics simulation and online multiplayer capabilities.

Speaking with Engadget, Square Enix's director of business development Jacob Navok revealed that the company may set up a new business division in order to support the service. "We're very open right now," said Navok said. "We can be our own product, we can offer it to other partners. It's so early now that we don't have a specific way to bring this to consumers just yet."

Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn, the re-launched version of the original FF14, has found new life in the form of 1.5 million accounts being registered to explore its new world, Famitsu reports.

That doesn't mean that 1.5 million people are actively playing the game, of course. Still, considering the initial launch prompted Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada to suggest the game had "greatly damaged" the Final Fantasy brand, it's a decent victory for the title's rebirth to draw such attention. With the PS4's beta version planned to launch on the same day as the Japanese PS4, the game's player base stands a chance to continue growing significantly in the coming months.

Here is another trailer for Thief, a game whose series-legendary City we still haven’t seen much of despite an impending February release date. Oh hey, it says here that this clip is called “Stories from the City.” Well then clearly, that must mean…!

[Watches trailer]

Nope, no gameplay footage of The City. Or gameplay, for that matter.

(more…)

Bloodmasque, which we've yet to conclude is pronounced as blood-MASK or blood-MAS-que, is currently free for iOS devices until Midnight on November 7. The game has also added the "Hunter Rankings" feature, which is a set of weekend challenges for in-game items.

The Vampire-hunting app features French maid vampires. That's servants of darkness wearing French maid costumes, not blood-suckers made in France. Anyway, the Unreal Engine-powered game also features "photo-based customization" and is regularly priced at $6.99. Now you can save that $6.99 for in-app purchases.

Final Fantasy XIV hit 1.5 million registered players in its first two months, and if you're wondering what that means, here's one suggestion: A Realm Reborn was worth it.Read more...

One of the saddest game cancellations of the last few years has got to be Grin's Fortress, an ambitious Final Fantasy title that would have been the first major game in the franchise to be developed outside Japan. Those interested to see what a Western take on the series might look like, though, still have hope.Read more...

Thief hasn’t exactly been well-received by longtime series diehards, but so far Eidos Montreal has opted to brazenly stay the course, claiming that “fan resistance” of its new direction is unwarranted. Until now, anyway. In a maybe too-little-too-late but still heartening turn, the developer’s tossing aside an XP system that would’ve started Garrett off as A Pretty Good Thief – not, you know, the master of his sticky fingered art, that thing he’s known for more so than anything else ever. Little XP pop-ups might’ve put an arrow right between the eyes (and “I’s”) of immersion too, so I’m happy to see them go. Details below.

(more…)

Here's our first real look at Kingdom Hearts III in action since the brief snippet of gameplay shown in the announcement trailer back in June. Check out massive enemies, new weapons, and a mature Sora who doesn't seem to have aged a bit. Read more...

A mobile version of Final Fantasy 7 is still "years" away, according to Square Enix producer Takashi Tokita, despite the fact that the franchise's first six titles are already available for multiple mobile platforms.

Speaking with Shacknews, Tokita said that porting the 1997 fan favorite to mobile devices would be possible, but storage is a factor. "It's that currently, space will be an issue. Phones won't be able to contain the space it takes. It's over a gigabyte. People are probably going to have to wait a few years," he said.

When Square Enix re-released Final Fantasy 7 on PC last year, the game clocked in at 3GB. In its developer guidelines, Apple notes "iOS apps can be as large as 2 GB, but the executable file cannot exceed 60MB."

In Square Enix's home region of Japan, a plethora of mobile devices have penetrated the market. According to an April 2013 feature from CNET, the Sony Xperia V was one of the most popular devices in Asian territories. By default, the device is equip with 8GB of onboard storage, though it can be expanded.

While Tonika didn't rule out the possibility of Final Fantasy 7 eventually making the jump to the mobile market, he did reiterate that if it were to happen, "it's definitely going to be years before we do the port."

Last week, we reported that Square Enix wants to bring Final Fantasy VII to cell phones. Today, we've got an explanation for why that hasn't happened yet: the game is too big, Square says.Read more...

Got your skepticism goggles on? Okay. After months of gameplay footage and details, I'm ready to call it: Lightning Returns looks like the best single-player Final Fantasy we've seen in years.Read more...

Square Enix officially announced Kingdom Hearts 2.5 Remix this morning, a compilation that includes Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix, Birth by Sleep Final Mix, and remastered HD cinematics from Re:coded. It follows in the footsteps of 1.5 Remix by coming to PS3, due worldwide in 2014. There's no mention of a PS4 version in Square Enix's announcement.

2.5 Remix will mark western debuts for KH2 Final Mix and Birth by Sleep Final Mix, the respective PS2 and PSP games previously restricted to Japan. Both re-releases add many features to the original games, including new difficulty modes, mini-games, cut scenes, and a plethora of other tweaks.