Caves of Narshe: News from Europe

Final Fantasy IV Pixel Remaster Releasing September 8

Tue, 24 Aug 2021 16:35:59 GMT

The releases of the Pixel Remaster versions of the first six Final Fantasy games continues on September 8 with Final Fantasy IV, Square Enix have just announced. As with all the remasters, the releases are for Steam, Android and iOS and will be simultaneous worldwide.

Those who would like to play via Steam can currently preorder Final Fantasy IV alone on a 20% discount and will also receive a three-track soundtrack and two wallpapers. You can also order the bundle and get all the games that have already unlocked, all the future games as they release, and similar OST and wallpaper bundles for all six games also at a discount. The single game package is currently $14.39, and the six-game bundle is $74.82.

Sorry, still no information about a potential Switch release, for those of you asking.

Source: Gematsu

Dragon Quest Tact Opens Pre-Registration

Thu, 14 Jan 2021 21:36:58 GMT

The newest mobile, turn-based strategy game from Square Enix is releasing in under two weeks now, and as of yesterday pre-downloads were made available on both Apple and Google app stores. Released last year in Japan, Dragon Quest Tact is a monster-collecting, monster-training, grid-based strategy game developed by Aiming. It looks to be pretty standard mobile tactical RPG fare, but the Dragon Quest IP is really cute in context and the design and animation look pretty impressive too.

Anyone who pre-downloads the app before the release on January 27 will get a free King Slime monster for their party, too. Who could say no to that?

Source: Dragon Quest Tact

International Final Fantasy VII Remake Concert Dates

Thu, 6 Feb 2020 15:46:32 GMT

Have you ever gone to Distant Worlds and thought, "okay, this is pretty awesome, but what if they did it just for Final Fantasy VII? And used the new arrangements from the Remake?" Well, okay, they kinda did that last year, sure. But that one-off is now a real thing, and we have the first dozen-plus dates for it for 2020 and 2021. This concert series is going to include the new Remake arrangements, as well as

Seiken Densetsu 3 is OFFICIAL

Tue, 11 Jun 2019 17:40:58 GMT

Sure, it's 25 years later. But rejoice, Mana fans, as Seiken Densetsu 3 is finally, officially coming to the West. Times two, in fact. If you love the original Seiken Densetsu games, you can pick up Collection of Mana, a compilation we've talked about previously at CoN that will contain the first three games in the series. Those games are known here as Final Fantasy Adventure, Secret of Mana, and of course, Seiken Densetsu 3 as it was never previously localized - it's now to be known as Trials of Mana. The first game originated on the Game Boy, and the second two on the Super Famicom. Collection of Mana is available today for Switch via the eShop, priced at $39.99. Physical copies will be released on August 27.

If you want to maximize your Trials of Mana time, though, there's also going to be a full 3D remake next year. It's been announced for PlayStation 4 and Switch already; odds are that Windows and Xbox One versions will follow soon. It appears to take its cues from the recent Secret of Mana 3D remake, and the intro trailer makes it look pretty slick.

Given that Square Enix are taking the novel tack of releasing both the original version and a new one, it seems unlikely that they will be able to mess this up. How exciting!

Source: IGN, Polygon, Gematsu

New Concert News, Mostly Kingdom Hearts

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 17:09:58 GMT

Kingdom Hearts 3 is finally released, and as a followup Square Enix has announced a new Kingdom Hearts Orchestra tour in a number of worldwide locations starting in May. We've talked about the orchestra on the forums before during their previous tour last year, but now there are a lot of new dates for 2019:Singapore, May 18Chicago, June 1Orlando, June 22New York, June 28 and 29Atlanta, September 14Paris, September 28Sydney, October 19Dallas, October 26London, November 17Tickets look pretty pricey for the American shows; a spotcheck says that the lowest cost available is around $80 for a couple cities, and closer to $90 for others. If you're interested, though, tickets for all dates are on sale now.

On the subject of Square Enix music, though, while we're here - A New World announced recently one new date in Seattle on April 27th.

Source: Kingdom Hearts Orchestra Tickets, A New World

Final Fantasy Concerts Add Lots of Shows Worldwide

Fri, 2 Nov 2018 22:03:17 GMT

We're winding down this year, so it's a good time for the folks behind Distant Worlds to add a lot of new shows for 2019. Good news if you're one of our international readers, as most of the new shows being added are outside of North America this time. I'm sure more here in the States and possibly Canada will be coming soon, and there's still one new domestic date that I hadn't seen before, but for now here's a big list of mostly European show additions.Bangkok: December 1 and 2Nashville: January 22, 2019Hamburg: Valentine's Day! Adorable Date Night Opportunity!Berlin: February 15Dusseldorf: February 16Geneva: March 22Milan: March 23Rome: March 24The shows in Hamburg, Geneva, and Rome are new cities for the tour. In Bangkok, Yoko Shimomura is scheduled to attend (remember, Nobuo Uematsu is still recuperating his health). Tickets for all of these shows are on sale now!

A New World has added even more dates than Distant Worlds, in other far-flung locales, particularly in the South Pacific:Christchurch, New Zealand: November 9Auckland: November 10Singapore: November 17Sydney: November 23Brisbane: November 24Adelaide: November 27Canberra: November 29Melbourne: November 30Perth: December 1Los Angeles: February 23, 2019
(with two shows on the date)Atlanta: May 26Tickets for all of these shows are on sale as well; the Atlanta show is included with registration for MomoCon.

Source: Distant Worlds, A New World

The Re-Releases Are Everywhere on Switch (and Everywhere Else)

Fri, 14 Sep 2018 13:49:12 GMT

Nintendo did a new Nintendo Direct late last night (America time, that is). And if you have a Switch and are a classic Square Enix fan, you are 100% in luck - there are now a ton of Final Fantasy games coming your way. First, five games from the late 90's/early 2000's: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy IX, Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2, and Final Fantasy XII were all announced for 2019 releases on the Nintendo system. One would have to assume that for these games, they will be ports of the most recent Windows releases, and in the case of X/X-2, will be purchased as a single unit as they have been previously for PS4 and PC.

The cute and simple version of Final Fantasy XV, called Pocket Edition, was released on mobile in February of this year, and for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One just last Friday. The Switch version was likely also ready for that release day, but as Nintendo Direct was delayed a week due to hurricanes in the Pacific Ocean, the announcement lost a bit of momentum and fell behind the other consoles. It's priced at $29.99 on Switch, but currently you can get it for 40% off as a release celebration.

World of Final Fantasy is also coming to Switch, on November 6. The Switch edition will be called "Maxima," will add in a new feature called "Avatar Change" in which the player characters Reynn and Lann will be able to change their appearance to that of classic Final Fantasy characters when in their non-Jiant modes. Cloud, Lightning, Yuna, and Noctis all appeared in the short video snippet as Avatar Change options, though it's likely that many more will be available.

Finally for new news, a remaster of Chocobo's Mystery Dungeon was also announced for release sometime this winter. This game was originally released a decade ago for Wii, and the new version is subtitled "Every Buddy" because in the new release, every monster is available as a friend option (and because two people can play by splitting the Joy-Cons).

If you don't have a Switch, though, you won't be left out. Xbox One and PlayStation 4 will be getting a number of these games as well. Microsoft gamers get the biggest lift, as most of the games were not previously available there: World of Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy IX, Final Fantasy X/X-2 and Final Fantasy XII will all be arriving on the XBO; WoFF will arrive on November 6 just as for Switch, with the others coming next year. PlayStation 4 gamers will also get Every Buddy, and can upgrade their WoFF to Maxima with paid DLC. WoFF will also be coming to PC!

Source: Siliconera

Kingdom Hearts III Release Date Announced

Sun, 10 Jun 2018 17:44:46 GMT

The Pre-E3 Kingdom Hearts Orchestra World Tour concert in Los Angeles was last night, after which Square Enix announced that Kingdom Hearts III finally had a release date. Unfortunately for CoN readers looking to get the game under their Christmas tree or other denominational holiday apparatus, that date is not going to be in 2018. However, it won't be that much more of a wait - Asia will get the game on January 25 for both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and North America and Europe will get it on January 29.

The announcement was shown in a new trailer exclusive to the concert, of which the highlight clearly must be Sora cooking with Remy from Pixar's Ratatouille. Tetsuya Nomura tweeted after the announcement that there would be more information and more trailers at E3 on the show floor; I expect that this new trailer will be among them.

Source: Gematsu

2018 Final Fantasy Concert Lineup Shaping Up

Thu, 15 Feb 2018 18:51:30 GMT

We've got some new concert news coming up for 2018, and it's been a while since we've done a major update. So, buckle up and hope for some new concerts coming your way soon!

The newest announcement for Distant Worlds is Cleveland, in what I believe is a first for the series. Ohio fans, be on the lookout with tickets already on sale for the June show. The rest of the 2018 scheduled shows lay out like this:Paris, April 21 (Matinee and Evening Shows)Vancouver, June 1Cleveland, June 16San Francisco, August 4Durham, North Carolina, October 13Durham is also a new location for the tour, so I hope that's good news for some of you! At the moment, Uematsu is confirmed solely for the Paris shows.

For A New World, we just got an announcement for a new show in Boston this week. Tickets are already on sale for the April 20th show, and VIP tickets are available. The rest of the year for the smaller chamber music series looks this way:Honolulu, March 4 at Kawaii KonQuebec City, April 7Boston, April 20Prague, May 5Vienna, May 6I literally can not pick which of those cities would be the best to see this show - seeing a chamber orchestra in Prague or Vienna just seems right, and who could complain about seeing Final Fantasy music performed in Hawaii? - but alas, I'll be attending none of these.

Zodiac Age Coming for Steam in February

Thu, 11 Jan 2018 20:46:50 GMT

In what should be a predictable theme nowadays, Square Enix today announced that Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age will be released for Steam on Windows on February 1. The HD remake of the original Final Fantasy XII, released on PlayStation 2, first added new gameplay modes and a fast-forward feature, as well as reconciling some other updates between the original and the International Versions of the game. The PC version will take it a bit further, adding in some cheat options to make the game easier, as well as support for 60fps and ultra-wide 21:9 monitors.

Once the game is released, the game's producer and director will be taking to a YouTube livestream to walk through the PC version's new features and respond to players' comments pre-organized from Twitter. That will happen in the wee hours of February 2 for us in the Western Hemisphere.

I personally had waited a while to pick up this game, intending to grab it used at some point. Now that I know it will eventually end up on Steam sale, well, I might just wait a bit longer.

Source: Siliconera