News

In further fanfiction news, we now have a new FFVI fanfic by Zephir, titled "Diary of a Man... Long not a Soldier."

The focus of this fanfic is a soldier in the Imperial Army. His story starts before the events that we know as Final Fantasy VI. It's a nice one-shot fic written in the form of a journal and/or inner monologue.

Please visit our FF6 fanfiction section to read it.

Through the last few days, we've made several changes and additions to the site that you might not notice right away. So, to make it easier, I've put together a list of what we've done:

• There is a new CoNPoll on the main site, dealing with FF12.
• We've added a new affiliate, Square Sound, who specializes in music from Square games.
• Added two tools to edit DexDrive-format savegames for FFT.
• Added four tools to edit FF6 ROMs.
• Added a selector in your forum controls so you can display your gender in your profile.
• Added twenty-four new fanarts from Kobayashi, Narratorway, and Kame.
• Finally disabled signature images in the forums (OK, so only the staff will cheer about that).

Hope you enjoy all the new stuff!

I'm happy to announce that we have a new addition to our humble FFIV Fanfiction section. There is a new fanfic by SpacemanSpiff, his first for the CoN, called Beneath the Mask.

It is an in-game fanfiction, and I encourage you all to check it out if you have not done so yet.

Remember, we accept fanfiction submissions for FF4, FF5, FF6 and FFT, so if you have one you'd like to submit, make your way to the Site Submissions forums. If you're not a writer yourself, you can help out the authors by reading and commenting on fanfiction, as well as fanart.

Alexa.com, one of the largest monitors of traffic and relational links online, has a really sorry set of data for CoN. I'd like for you all to help us out a bit by writing some reviews for the site. I know a lot of you like the site a lot, and a short review might help us garner some more new traffic.

If you're interested, it's easy. Just visit the review section for the site and submit! Your submissions will go up in a week or so.

Please post here to let us know you've done it, thanks!

News is flying out of Squenix's doors about Final Fantasy XII today. They revealed more information on both the staff and the storyline behind the game.

As previously known, Yasumi Matsuno is working as Director/Producer while Akihiko Yoshida did the character designs and is the 3D Map Director. Both men were heavily involved in Final Fantasy Tactics. Isamu Kamikokuryuo of Final Fantasy VIII and Final Fantasy X is involved with the background art with Hideo Minaba behind the "Art Direction" (Minaba has previously worked on Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy IX).
Nubuo Uematsu returns for FFXII, but only in a limited role. He will focus on the main theme of the game as Hitoshi Sakimoto will be composing most of the game's soundtrack.

The game is currently about 70 percent done. Interesting to note is that Squenix is lowering the number of polygons of the character models slightly. They are doing this in an attempt to increase both the quality of the backgrounds and lighting affects and to make the in game animation smoother.

As R51 posted earlier, the title is set in Ivalice. Arcadia has just conquered country of Dalmasca. Ashe, the main heroine of the title and princess/heir apparent in Dalmasca, forms a rebel outfit lead by Vann, the main hero, in order to regain their independence.

Source: Games Are Fun

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I have never played FTT or FFTA (a crime I know, yes, but I will eventually), so the setting in Ivalice does not really bother me. It really isn't a surprise though with both Yasumi Matsuno and Akihiko Yoshida having ties to the game(s). The art in FFIX was both good and bad at the same time in my opinion. Hopefully Minaba will present more of the good this time around.

Games Are Fun have released some news that has the potential to annoy, if you are anything like me. Luckily, they wrapped it in some fairly interesting new screenshots and art from Final Fantasy XII. The highlights of the screenshots, to me anyway, are seeing the airship and chocobo shots, all of which are beautifully rendered (even though the chocobo has gotten a bit creepy-looking).

What's the bad news? Well, if you are a diehard Final Fantasy Tactics fan like I am, you may be saddened to learn that FFXII is set in Ivalice. Yes, Ivalice, as referenced in both FFT and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. According to the GAF article, the Ivalice is the one from FFTA, which based on my limited FFTA play seems to be very different than the one in which Ramza lived. However, if this turns out to be incorrect and Squenix plans to use FFT's Ivalice, it could be disasterous to the legend of FF Tactics. In this writer's humble opinion, of course.

Here's hoping for the best.