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Huge news came yesterday afternoon for anyone who spends any time on this website - Square Enix announced that Final Fantasy VI will be released on iOS and Android devices. You may have seen CoN user His Shadow's post in the forums yesterday, but alas, with old age comes slow movement. Or something like that!

What we've got here isn't a strict port, but it should be added that what we've got is no remake either. FFVI will be tweaked in several ways: its graphics, for instance, will be improved - though still 2D. The battle system will be altered a bit for the mobile platform in the spirit of previous FF mobile releases, like the recent FFV. Battle-experience will also be altered in order to require less grinding for the sake of being able to "enjoy the game for what it is." It is possible that this may be accompanied with a dialing back of the random encounter frequency, something everyone has been wanting forever, but there is no indication of this.

These changes, however small, are still generating some discussion. For instance, in the most recent CoNcast, SE took a bit of a hit for releasing games that aren't really sensitive to the nature of mobile gaming; do you think this difficulty altercation will broaden the game's mobile-friendliness or restrain it? I've also seen a few complaints regarding the sprites from earlier FF mobile releases - anyone familiar have anything to say about that?

The announcement concluded rather open-ended-ly, with the statement that "if this Legacy project works out well, we would like to one day be able to work with VII." Let's just take a concluding moment to appreciate how many qualifiers are packed into that statement.

Source: Kotaku

I'm rather excited about this. Plus it will give me a reason to own a game on my phone!

I have no prevoius experience of mobile gaming, as I don't have a lot of time - but I'd make time for this.

A couple additional comments (prompted by facebook):

The graphics here are indeed being redone: just in a still-limited 2D presentation. Sprites are more crisp and larger; background environments are more mellow in color tone and texture, which has been improved in a few other ways as well (particularly shading).

Also, the price for FFV iOS is $15.99 - one can probably safely assume FFVI will fall there as well.

I wish they'd release this on 3DS or Vita. I hate playing games on my phone.

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Chewbekah ^_^

Currently Playing: Final Fantasy XIV: ARR, Attack of the Firday Monsters, Animal Crossing: A New Leaf, Lego City Undercover, Kingdom Hearts 1.5 Remix

Recently Finished: Fire Emblem: Awakening

Favorite Game: Suikoden III

I'm slicing right through the mobile phone debate this time around. They've got my money whenever this is released. I hope the prices aren't TOO rough but whatever.

I wish they'd make things for the Droid at the same time as they do for the iPhone. The delays are annoying.

FFVI seems to me the last FF where random encounters are supposed to be quickly dealt with. Later games have attack and intro animations that take just a few seconds longer each time you come across them, making the battle itself more important. Hopefully, whatever adjustment they make to the game, they'll stay in the spirit of quick battles where the strategy is largely composed out of equipment options and taught spells, not in-battle behavior, which is more what you'd want from a handheld game anyway.

I predict an enormous amount of backlash about the graphics. The leap in quality between FFV (SNES) and FFV (iOS) was great, yet people still complained a lot. FFVI's graphics are already much better than its predecessor, and the nostalgia factor is far greater as well. Without a doubt, the characters will look less like we'd imagined and more generic. I am excited about updated monster sprites, animations and tilesets though. Will they stick to the green MagiTek Armors or switch to the eldritch horrors Amano originally envisioned? How will the escape from the MagiTek Research Facility look, one of the things that the SNES team back in the day wasn't too happy about?

There will probably be a temporary surge in interest about the game in the months after its release, but if FFV for the iOS is any indication, that interest has little staying power. Even though the 'update' is in every way superior to, say, FFV for the GameBoy Advance, the latter has a more active community, and FFIII for the SNES holds more interest than FFVI for the GBA. No matter the objective quality of the game, graphics and bugfixes and whatnot, it seems people will stick to their originals.

However, even though the release will come and go, SE will see some sales, so they're happy and we get to relive on of the most prominent SNES-era games in a new coat of paint, so I'm happy that I get to play it by the end of the year on the iPad.

This post has been edited by Djibriel on 11th October 2013 09:37

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The Collapse of Heaven and Earth

Quote (Chewbekah @ 10th October 2013 21:52)

I wish they'd release this on 3DS or Vita. I hate playing games on my phone.

I agree I prefer gaming consoles over mobile phones that do everything. While I'm at it I'll say I like physical software like discs and cartridges over digital software. I hope this does makes the move to a 3DS or Vita cartridge or disc on regular game consoles.

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I treasure those who I love that love me in return. <3

When you walk that long, lonely snowfield to Narshe

God walks with you

Anytime.

I can't wait for this!!!! I think i will enjoy this very much, but will again have to get used to ios controls (touch screen)

I really hope WP8 gets some love from Square and gets this game.

Quote (bad andy @ 4th December 2013 15:07)

I really hope WP8 gets some love from Square and gets this game.

I didn't realize that Square Enix had released any games to Windows Phone, so I had to go check. I guess you could either be optimistic or pessimistic that WP8 users will get FF6 - it would be a good game to do given its popularity and to state intent for future development, but at the same time I wouldn't hold my breath given what they did release for that OS.

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

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