News

After a decade, we're actually going to get this game: Final Fantasy XV has now gone gold. Of course, going gold doesn't really mean as much as it did back in the days where every game was on a cartridge or a pressed CD; just because the game's now ready for distribution doesn't mean that there won't be a big day-one patch waiting for you early adopters to download before starting. Even so, though, this is a huge step for Square Enix' flagship franchise and the gamers who are waiting for it.

Since they were announcing that anyway, hey, why not some announcements on DLC and a new trailer? For the former, the XV team announced that there will be DLC scenarios for each non-Noctis party member to have an adventure outside of the main story and collect items and treasures, as well as co-op DLC in which you can play scenarios with partners. For the trailer, Square Enix partnered with Digic Pictures, the company behind Kingsglaive, to produce a new four-and-a-half minute trailer, called "Omen." It's a bit of a stunner - catch it below.

Also, today I learned that the ESRB has put a "T" on Final Fantasy XV, in part due to "partial nudity." So, that's a thing. Reminder, the game will be released here a month from this coming Saturday.

Source: Siliconera

I heard the other day that Japan was getting a demo for the super-cute World of Final Fantasy, but I didn't report on it because it was being announced just for Japan. No longer! Now we're getting one in the West, as well, on Monday October 17. Completing the demo will unlock a special Magitek Armor that can be collected in the game's coliseum once the full game releases on October 25.

If you click through the link above, you can also see the anime opening cutscene for the game, and it looks fairly bonkers. So do that as well, then get the demo and report back to me if I should consider getting this game to play with my kid.

Source: Siliconera

I'd completely forgotten that a Final Fantasy-themed CCG existed. It's been around for quite a while in Japan, but never any inkling that it would make inroads here; that's a product that seems like it might have had trouble making the leap.

Well, no longer! Starting on October 28, people who like CCGs in Europe and North America are going to get these cards in English. The initial set will have 216 cards, which doubles to 432 when you factor in the fact that each will also have a foil-stamped variant (which may or may not be a more powerful version of the card). The cards will be offered in randomized packs of a yet-unknown quantity of cards, as well as pre-built starter packs that are also not yet confirmed.

Pricing and availability are unknown, but we'll find out in just under a month. I've reached out to a friend with extensive CCG experience, and he tells me that the rulebook for this game looks like it might be pretty overcomplicated, which sounds pretty par for the course for something Square Enix has cooked up lately, right? Let us know if you're planning to pick up some cards just for fun or in an effort to play the game!

Source: Kotaku

Apparently, there is a non-Distant Worlds Final Fantasy symphony tour that has been around a few years, but I don't recall having heard about it until just the other day. It's called Final Symphony and differs significantly from Distant Worlds; while the latter features arrangements that are largely orchestral takes on the original pieces, Final Symphony combines themes from a few select games into acts of a symphony, with each movement attempting to express a portion of a game's world through a new interpretation of its music.

Being a symphony, each show plays the same music, with no minor setlist deviations as one might find at a Distant Worlds show, and the bulk of the show comes in three acts, first from Final Fantasy VI, then Final Fantasy X, and closing with Final Fantasy VII. There are four shows currently scheduled:

• San Diego, July 21
• Baltimore, July 23
• San Francisco, July 27
• Auckland, October 21

There's also a variation on the theme, called Symphonic Fantasies, which has a more wide-ranging Square Enix bent. In four parts, this symphony arranges music from the Kingdom Hearts, Mana, Chrono, and Final Fantasy series. The only currently scheduled show for this series is in London, on October 6.

On top of this, there's a second iteration on Final Symphony, with music from Final Fantasy XIII, IX, VIII, and V - amazing as that sounds to me, though, there are no currently scheduled performances.

Final Symphony is available for digital download from Amazon.

Late last night, following all of the daytime Pre-E3 stuff, Square Enix put out their Final Fantasy XV Active Time Report for the conference.The lead story within is the Trials of Titan demo for E3; while we posted to social media yesterday that it appeared at the Microsoft press conference, we have yet to cover it here. The Trials of Titan is a new demo of the XV combat engine, in which Noctis and company are required to fight off the massive creature in order to prove their worth to him and allow them to summon him going forward. This is a take on what will appear in the final game, but not exactly the same as what will show up on disc in September; the demo will be playable at E3 on the show floor. For those of us not going to California, Square Enix Presents will stream more gameplay of the demo later this week.

There's also a new trailer for XV that will be playing on the show floor. It's got a lot of focus on huge monsters and summons, with Titan, Leviathan, Ramuh, Malboro, and Behemoth all appearing; a fair number of vehicles appear as well, with the aircar, Chocobos, and a train all rumbling through. It's soundtracked by Afrojack, if that's your thing. You'll note that the music is still Final Fantasy - it's a custom house mix of tracks that will actually be in the game.

Following that trailer is... a trailer. It's a new trailer for Kingsglaive, all in Japanese, no subtitles. So, it's exceedingly pretty with some great new visuals of war scenes - Cerberus specifically looks incredibly impressive - but there's not much more that I personally can say about how this movie is shaping up.

If you watched the initial episode of the Final Fantasy XV anime, "Brotherhood," you'll be pleased to note that the second episode will be out today. The new episode will feature a young, chubby Prompto and how he meets Noctis. Luna and Ignis will also appear, along with some cute animals.

There's more Final Fantasy XV to be streamed on Twitch and YouTube this week. Today at 3pm Eastern, there will be an hour-long "Final Fantasy XV E3 Kickoff" show. Tomorrow from 1pm to 2pm Eastern, another Active Time Report and then from 5:30 to 6:30 a playthrough of the Titan demo. Finally, on Thursday the 16th, from 7pm to 8pm Eastern, Hajime Tabata will answer the "Top XV Questions for FFXV."

Finally, outside of the ATR at Sony's E3 event, Sony announced Final Fantasy XV content for PlayStation VR. Called "VR Experience," you get to play through some battles in VR as Prompto, who is also wearing a VR headset through the entire thing, making for a rather strange meta experience. The trailer was rather short, so it's not yet clear how much content there will be, whether it's all combat, or anything else.

Source: Square Enix Japan YouTube Channel, Siliconera

It's that time again - about three months since our last Final Fantasy concert update, so a new group of shows has just been announced.

Last time around, the news for Distant Worlds, the older, larger brother among the concert series, was thin: just one new date, July 23 in Houston. There are four more shows to speak of now, from September to January of next year. Dallas will get two shows on September 2 and 3, with Susan Calloway in the concert hall to provide vocals. A week later, on September 10, the series will arrive in Phoenix, again with Calloway in tow. It appears that Final Fantasy VII's "Cosmo Canyon" will appear in both setlists, which is something I'm not familiar with having happened before.

The last new show will not be until January 28 (at least until they start backfilling some of the gaps, which they often do). That show will be in Newark, New Jersey, and will have Nobuo Uematsu in the crowd.

As I've mentioned before, we're going to see more and more concerts in the A New World concert series, as it's a little easier to put on a show that requires a smaller set of players and a smaller venue. Beyond the shows already announced, there are now five more coming:

• Madison, Wisconsin: September 16
• Ann Arbor, Michigan: October 28
• Grand Rapids, Michigan: October 29
• Indianapolis, Indiana: November 18
• Quebec City, Quebec

For all of the above shows, tickets are on sale currently only for those previously announced and for Phoenix.

Source: Distant Worlds, A New World