News

A slightly abbreviated tidbits today, both because the good news is a bit thin this week and also because I'm not working today. Funny that I have more time to post the news when I'm at my office, right?

Let's start with the news that is my favorite for the week but has the least overall impact on the gaming world: the original Final Fantasy is now available for the Nintendo Virtual Console. For 500 points, you can play the true original version, with all of its (by today's standards, anyway) slow gameplay and clunky mechanics intact. Will users have any use for this release beyond nostalgia, with revised ports already available for no fewer than three platforms in North America? Probably not, but feel free to prove me wrong here, Wii owners. We... do have Wii owners who read the site, right?

Next up is a followup to last week's tidbits with the subbed Final Fantasy XIII trailer. This week you can get the real deal - an authentic English voice-acted trailer straight from Square Enix. Since the rest of the trailer is the same as you've no doubt seen by now, what do you think of the English dub? As usual for voice acting in Squenix games, it seems to be pretty polarizing—I personally didn't really expect too much, but it does seem like the syncing from voice to character action is a little worse in this video than I would have expected.

Finally, Square Enix released some early monster renders for Final Fantasy XIV this week. This is a nice small news item, and from what I hear several of these renders are pretty much just updates of existing designs from Final Fantasy XI, but they're pretty cool nonetheless. I am a particular fan of the crazy zebra-dragon-velociraptor hybrid and the cactuar's pimp strut. And that marlboro? That thing is legitimately terrifying.

Oh, and just to see if anyone actually reads these posts, I want to point out that you need to start taking quizzes during October if you want to be qualified to win the prize at the New Year. You have to have at least ten quizzes in your name by then to qualify, and if you miss the ones that are open right now, there's no way to catch up!


Source: Nintendo, Kotaku, GameTrailers

Good news for those gamers who haven't grabbed one of the FF1/FF2 remakes yet and who own a PSP: Final Fantasy I and II are heading your way this summer.

Originally announced only for Japan, the remastered versions of the first two games in our favourite series will mark the twentieth anniversary of Final Fantasy. The original Final Fantasy will appear on 26 June 2007, followed shortly by Final Fantasy II on 24 July. Both games will go for $29.99.

Source: Gamespot

Honestly, I have a hard time getting excited over this. You can already buy these games together on the original Playstation for far less than the combined price of $60, and can't you rip PS1 games onto memory sticks if you just have to make them portable?

I just don't see the appeal. Square is releasing two of the weaker games in the series separately at an expensive price for a handheld no one can afford to own. Why bother?

As earlier mentioned by Elena, Final Fantasy I + II Advance is slated for release later this month in Japan.
Aside from a convenient new "save anywhere" function in FFI and extensive graphical and audio overhauls in both games, each title will feature new items, story elements and dungeons unique to the GBA release.

Final Fantasy I will include a new dungeon accessible at the end of the game, where players will be able to begin the "Soul of Chaos" quest.
To complete this quest, players will be required to defeat, in sequence, more powerful versions of the game's four fiends: Lich, Marilith, Kraken, and Tiamat.
And during the quest, bosses from Final Fantasy III(j) through VI(j) will appear in battle, including FFIV's Four Fiends, FFV's Gilgamesh, and FFVI's Chupon.
Additionally, a span of new items will be available, including an Ultima Weapon sword and full set of Crystal armor.

Final Fantasy II will include an extra chapter in the game's story, entitled "Soul of Rebirth." During this chapter, players will follow the activities of a new party composed entirely of assisting characters from the original game: Ming Wu, Scott, Joseph, Richard, and Cid.
Enemies during this segment of the game will be equipped with powerful new spells, and will include a new boss named Ultima Weapon.

Final Fantasy I + II Advance's July 27 release date is still tentative, as Square Enix has already pushed back the release once (from it's original schedule of July 15) due to a coding glitch.
The game is set to retail for 6,090 yen ($55-58).

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Though it's nice to see some classics getting deserved attention, and the new features sound like fun, Square Enix seems to be pushing the early Final Fantasy titles a little far--along with this upcoming GBA release, official releases have recently been made for the PSX (Final Fantasy Origins), the Wonderswan Color, and even newer Japanese cell phone models using the NTT DoCoMo service.

It was recently announced that there will be a tweaked version of FF1, for the GBA. So far, the news includes bonus dungeons, a tentative release date in Japan of 29/07 of this year, and the fact that you can apparently fight Gilgamesh, Shinryuu, Ultros, Chupon, and the Four Fiends.

The Official Website for this release, though all in Japanese, provides some interesting screens to look at. Use the convenient gloved-hand menu navigator to load pictures.

(FF2 is also mentioned, but unfortunately we do not have further information on it at this time.)

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We hope to get more information on this from Phoenix, our newsie currently staying in Japan. And the character images are very cute, but that's to be expected from a GBA, for some reason.

Square Enix announced earlier today that Final Fantasy Origins has been shipped to stores in North America

The release is a compilation of Final Fantasy I and Final Fantasy II (never released in North America) for the Playstation.  The games (which were originally published for the Nintendo Entertainment System) have been fairly reworked. The basic features of the compilation include:

Enhanced graphics (think of the WonderSwan Color graphic if you've seen them)
Cinematic movies
Updated Music
New Gameplay modes (There is an Easy and Original difficulty modes for FFI)
An Amano art gallery
An a bestiary of monsters from each game

For more information on Final Fantasy Origins, check past news updates here at the Caves of Narshe.

Source: Gamespot

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Final Fantasy Origins is definitely worth the purchase in my opinion (for what that's even worth).  I've only played Final Fantasy I on the compilation thus far, but I have really liked what I have seen.  It almost makes me nostalgic to get out my old Nintendo, but after fiddling around with FFO, I don't think I'd want to play the original Final Fantasy anymore.  It takes a lot of the peskiness out of the original.  For one, a run button has been added.  There is also no more "INEFFECTIVE" after one of your characters tries to attack an enemy that has already been dispatched.  Plus, it's two games in one. A bargain alsmost.

I know a few of the Staffers at the CoN already have it, but whom else here thinks they might be purchasing this?

(On an off-topic note, I believe this also leaves FFIII and FFX as the only Final Fantasies that cannot be played on the Playstation)

From: Gamespot

Square has announced that the North American release of Final Fantasy Origins will be on April 8th.

The retail price will be $30 for two games on one disc.

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Maybe a bit overpriced, but still 2 good games for the price of 1 is a plus in my book.

http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2910606,00.html