Final Fantasy XII Sequel Possibly in the Works

Various news surfaced last year of a new Final Fantasy, codenamed Final Fantasy Fortress. Speculation was in the air and I did my usual act of hoping it was a follow-up to Final Fantasy XII with absolutely no conviction. Well sirs and madames, it turns out that hoping for something with enough effort does indeed bear some reward. A tech demo of project Fortress, leaked on YouTube and now removed by Square Enix for breach of a 2009 copyright violation, reveals that the sequel was being created by Sweden's Grin development house and to be published on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 by Square Enix. See it here. The original source of the video maintains that this project has been moved to a different studio amid a concern for 'quality issues', which, supposed, in turn lead to Grin's demise. If true, here's hoping that it's in with Deus Ex 3 and Thief 4 at Eidos Montreal. Let's just spare a thought for old Grin. They worked six or so months on this and literally had the rug pulled from under their feet by Square Enix, who removed the project from their hands and subsequently forced them to close.

The video appears much more like a western RPG, with a main character who looks like he'd be more at home swinging a giant axe at Chris Redfield in Resident Evil 5. Many childhood fantasies of watching Barret race the chocobo at the Gold Saucer in Final Fantasy VII are also realised when we see the man riding through a forest, reminding us that this is a Final Fantasy. We also see a large-scale battle still reminiscent of Helm's Deep in Lord of the Rings, reminding us that this is a western fantasy game. There is no HUD of any sort, but it appears to show that his sword and bow attacks are at the press of a button rather than preset instructions. It's shaky, it's stubby, it's unfinished, it's nasty, it is a tech demo after all, but it's absolutely compelling. There are also some screenshots and concept art available here from different parts of the game if you're interested, mostly landscapes.

Source: Voodoo Extreme, Break, Kotaku (yay)