News

A while back, a wise newsposter said that the Final Fantasy III PC release could be a precursor to Final Fantasy IV. That handsome fellow was right, as the game showed up on Steam yesterday at the same $16 price point of FF3.

Not only that, there was another surprise today, when Final Fantasy XIII showed up as well at the same price point but on sale for 10% off as of this writing. Say what you will about Final Fantasy XIII (and so will I - I got sucked in after about ten hours and absolutely adore it), but the Steam version is as of right now the top selling game on Steam, and it doesn't even release for another two and a half weeks.

2014 could be the start of a very good run for Final Fantasy fans who are also PC gamers, as the two XIII sequels are also confirmed to arrive by early next year. Type-0 HD is even coming to Steam next March!

The timing of these releases and announcements is clearly tied to Tokyo Game Show, and there is a lot more news from Squenix this week. These two games are on sale right now and that puts them to the top of the queue, though, so keep an eye out for another recap in this space soon.

Source: Kotaku

Active readers of CoN news (and of course, Distant Worlds fans) will already know that there's one more show coming in North America in 2014: Toronto, December 6. That show will be conducted by Arnie Roth, and will feature regular contributor Susan Calloway as a vocalist. Uematsu will be in attendance as well.

With the upcoming list getting thin, it's about time for some new shows to get announced for 2015, and that list is here! On January 31, the team will do two shows in New Jersey, at the Performing Arts Center in Newark. There will be a matinee and an evening show on the same day, and VIP tickets are available that include meet and greet packages. Not only will these shows include Roth, Uematsu and Calloway, they will also feature the first North American performances by Rikki, the original vocalist for Suteki Da Ne from Final Fantasy X. Tickets are on sale now.

In May of 2015, the series returns to St. Louis, Missouri for shows on the 15th and 16th. Uematsu won't be there, but Roth and Calloway will be performing and the composer for Final Fantasy XI, Naoshi Mizuta will be in attendance for the first time. The program will be changed up somewhat, bringing back the Final Fantasy VI character medley first performed for the 20th Anniversary show and two new arrangements from Lightning Returns and Final Fantasy VII. In addition, each show will have two other new additions to the program; the first will add in new Final Fantasy X and XIV music, and the second will add in Eyes on Me and Melodies of Life. These tickets are also on sale now.

The spinoff series from Distant Worlds, covered in our last post, has wrapped up its live performances in America for now, and has just two more upcoming - one in London on Halloween, and one in Paris on November 30th (tickets available now). However, a recording from a previous London performance is coming soon for purchase. It's described as "over sixty minutes of music and a virtually all-new repertoire" performed by a much smaller chamber orchestra. It seems like a digital performance is already available to buy from Bandcamp for a minimum $9.99 purchase, but there's no indication as to what will be different about the new release or whether it will be available only digitally or also on physical media.

Source: Distant Worlds, A New World

I looked, once upon a time, and discovered that it had been weeks since we'd done a CoNcast. Then, I forgot about it. Later, I looked again to discover it had been three freaking months since we'd done a CoNcast, and that was just not acceptable.

So, here's episode twenty-five of the CoN podcast for you. This time around, our panel is reviewing the subjectivity of "retro" gaming, particularly as it relates to Final Fantasy. The idea of what makes a Final Fantasy game "retro" is something that can change based on your own experience or lack thereof with the series, and to address that, we talk not only about what makes particular games in the series retro to our minds, but also what we as gamers can do to communicate effectively about the series to those who have a different perspective.

Do you agree with our thoughts on what makes a Final Fantasy a retro game, or which games fall into that bucket? What other games give you the feel of a classic, retro FF? Draw your own conclusions by listening to the newest CoNcast now!

Source: The CoNcast Subscription Feed, The CoNcast on iTunes, This Episode

Dragon Quest IV was the final game of the series to be released for the Famicom, back in 1990. Since then, it's been released in Japan on the Playstation, and in all territories again for the Nintendo DS, receiving the typical graphical and other enhancements along the way. The game's humble origins but number of remakes and ports would seem to make it a prime candidate for a new mobile release, and that's just what has just happened.

The game tracks closely to the most recent remake, and becomes the second Dragon Quest game released for mobile devices, after VIII. The game is listing in the States at $14.99 for both iOS and Android platforms.

Also, check out that website. So many images.

Source: Dragon Quest IV Official Site

I posted earlier today about Type-0 being localized, and how Square Enix sneaked that news into the end of their announcement trailer for Final Fantasy Agito. None of us were aware, though, that the Type-0 news there was actually not the big one of the day: the company just announced that this game, AWOL for so long, will actually appear on the Playstation 4 and Xbox One.

The new version will be in HD, of course, but absolutely no other details have been released, including whether the original handheld version will be localized now, or not. Naturally, this is causing some distress among some who clamored for the original game to be released, as they seem to feel betrayed by the fact that the game they asked for will not be on a console they currently own.

This has been a whirlwind first day of E3, so don't be surprised if more details are yet to emerge!

Edited to add: OK, so I probably should have figured this out from the first post. I guess I was really too quick on the trigger, eh?

Source: Square Enix

Quick E3 update for you all: the headline says most everything. Final Fantasy Agito has been confirmed for iOS and Android outside of Japan; both versions will be free-to-play with IAP - big surprise.

The real big surprise, though, is that Square have finally heard enough of petitions and tweets: Final Fantasy Type-0 is now confirmed to have a future Western release, with localization underway. As yet, there is no further information.

Just a quick one to move you on down the road today. Maybe we'll get more soon!

Source: Square Enix