News

The newest Square Enix Active Time Report was early this morning, and it was blessedly subtitled in English. The bulk of the report was, naturally, Final Fantasy XV, but some other things popped in as well. As in the past, Hajime Tabata and Akio Ofuji presented for a bit over an hour.

A good portion of the discussion today was seeming aimed at explaining to us as gamers what it means that the game is now truly Final Fantasy XV and not Versus, and it came across with a mildly apologetic tone and lots of reconciliation along the lines of statements like, "we tried very hard to keep everything from Versus with as little modification as possible."

Basically, Square Enix have come to a point where the game has changed significantly from what was previously known about Versus while maintaining enough to reasonably keep the game under the Fabula Nova Crystallis umbrella. Some things that they specifically called out were the loss of the previous female lead, Stella, to be replaced with the new female lead, Luna - more on that in a second. Additionally, the timeline of the events that start the game have changed, with Insomnia (Noctis' city) coming under attack from Niflheim after Noctis has left on his journey, and not as the catalyst for so doing.

Back to the female factor, it was clear that Tabata wanted to express a reaction to the oft-joked-about male-heavy look of the media released up until now and within Episode Duscae. The time spent on discussing Luna, as well as an un-named "dark-haired woman" and a "female dragoon" was clearly meant to show that there is more gender balance in the final game, but no real details emerged today to back that up.

In terms of technology, the pair brought up the Luminous Engine that was debuted a couple years back in the tech demo known as Agni's Philosophy; it's relevant now because the newest version, Luminous Engine 1.5, is a part of Ebony, the overall Final Fantasy XV engine. As such, they showed a new video showing Luminous Engine at work in Episode Duscae - the video was originally intended as an industry demo and recruiting tool, so it did contain some visuals that have not been public until now as well as some interviews with Square Enix personnel discussing the benefits of having access to Luminous. The video focused on very impressive particle and lighting effects, especially with regards to lighting of semi-opaque textures like human skin and the finish of a car. It also discussed (and showed via the use of wireframe overlays) the ways in which environmental influences like landscape and battle impact change the way that creatures and humans move in the world, and how it should avoid things like clipping or unrealistic limb movements. There was also a brief view of a city, Lestallum, that will be in the Final Fantasy XV world but had not yet been publicly discussed.

Also debuting in this ATR was a new tech demo called WITCH Chapter 0 [cry]. Yes. That is its name, and it is amazing. It's a demo leveraging Microsoft's new DirectX 12, coming with Windows 10; it was certainly used as a reminder that Square Enix are jumping on that boat early. The demo did look like a step up even from what we are seeing in Final Fantasy XV in terms of graphical capability. Real-time rendering of a day's sunlight in time-lapse over cliffs was a standout feature, as well as the realistic movement of feathers and dangly jewelry on what one assumes is the witch of the title. Even more impressive, though, was the "cry" aforementioned - the subtle changes to the character's skin and eyes as tears welled up and dried looked exceptionally realistic.

A few more tidbits of data were scattered about; one was a day out of date, confirming the release of Final Fantasy Type-0 HD for Windows. Additionally came confirmation that there would be no further new XV information until Gamescom (skipping E3), and no further Active Time Reports until after Gamescom as well. Finally, the team announced that Episode Duscae 2.0 would be released on June 9 with new scenarios to play through and refinements to the combat system.

Tabata exclaimed at one point in the middle, "Trust us!" So, do you?

Source: Square Enix Youtube, Gamespot

Yeah, we know we just published a CoNcast on the topic of Final Fantasy V. So, the fact that we're doing another already might seem weird, right? Well, not really, because this one is very specifically about what is fast becoming a summer tradition in the Final Fantasy community - Four Job Fiesta.

You might have already seen our thread on FJF, as registration is coming right around the corner. You might even want to post in that thread, like, right now, to tell us that you're joining the group of CoN members participating for 2015. Whether you're in or out, though, or if you're not quite sure what's going on with FJF, check out this CoNcast to find out more from some folks who have done it in the past. It's a quick listen, weighing in at about 36 minutes, and it's extra-strange for reasons best left for the listener to hear directly.


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

Square Enix has announced that Final Fantasy Agito, a free-to-play mobile RPG release last year in Japan, will be making its way to Windows X, er, 10 sometime later this year. The game is somewhat of a prologue to Final Fantasy Type-0. The player takes control of a student in a military academia in the same world as Type-0, some of whose characters will cross paths with the protagonist. A port of the game has also been in development for the Playstation Vita for at least a year.

Mobius Final Fantasy, until recently called "Mevius," is set to release in Japan on June 4th for Android and iOS devices. The free-to-play RPG, which we last reported on in March, features a plot that involves becoming the Warrior of Light. Against Chaos. In a world with which the protagonist has no familiarity, where a princess awaits the arrival of the prophesied Warrior, and where a knight named Garland and a fairy named Echo offer aid and advice along the way. Alright, while Square Enix doesn't appear to be pulling any muscles with the plot setup, the game does boast an expansive world map and a touchscreen-interactive battle system. Still no word on a Western release, but with the effort their putting into this one (see our previous newspost), I would expect an import.

Finally, Tomoya Asano, the director for the Bravely Default series, has released a few new comments on the future of the franchise. Ideas for a third title do exist, Asano said, but the development team is debating whether the next title should take the form of a sequel or something "completely new." That doesn't give us much to go by, but Asano did say somewhat reassuringly that, in addition to their interest in trying out some new things, the team is carefully considering fan feedback from previous releases. Asano reiterated that above all, the team is currently concerned with the Western version of Bravely Second.

Incidentally, this is the first time anyone connected with Bravely has spoken of a Western release. So with that, it looks like we will indeed be getting it!

Source: Siliconera, Siliconera, Siliconera

Type-0 owners: your voices have been heard! Well, okay, it's nothing to do with Type-0, but obviously some folks out there bought the game just for the demo of... okay, never mind, this never really clicked as a lede.

Seriously, though, there's a new version of Episode Duscae coming out in a few weeks. It looks to be an iterative update to the original, with tweaks based on feedback from the first release. There's no current update that describes any new content being added in, but it wouldn't be surprising to see some minor things pop in.

Keep an eye out on your own PS4 and let us know when you see it!

Source: Siliconera

For our thirtieth episode, here's a CoNcast that we've had in the can for far too long. In the vein of our previous recordings, discussing why Final Fantasy VI is awesome and then later the same for Final Fantasy IV, we turn our attention to the third game covered on CoN: Final Fantasy V.

Final Fantasy V is sometimes maligned among the canon of Final Fantasy games, but that's not really fair. There is a great deal of stuff in Final Fantasy V that is done exceedingly well, and we're here to point those things out to you as a public service to those who haven't played it in years or at all. That said, because the consensus around this game isn't as easy to get to than our previous games, you'll get more debate to enjoy this time around as well.

As mentioned, this is an old cast that got repeatedly bumped down the schedule for other things. Ignore any dated references, and Neal's busted mic which he's since fixed!

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

From our friends over at Games Done Quick comes word that this coming week, RPG Limit Break will be running a charity RPG marathon from Salt Lake City (and, of course, on Twitch). The marathon will begin at 2pm Eastern on Tuesday, May 12, and run until roughly midnight on the 17th, collecting donations for the National Alliance on Mental Illness all the while.

The schedule contains thirty-one games from a huge variety of series, including Lunar, Wild Arms, Suikoden, Fire Emblem, Disgaea and Mother. Of course, for those folks who read CoN solely for the Square Enix content, naturally series like Dragon Quest, Kingdom Hearts, and Final Fantasy are also represented. Crystal Chronicles, Tactics, Mystic Quest, I, IV, and V will all show up, and the final game of the marathon will be Chrono Trigger.

To learn more, see the schedule, or donate to the cause once everything kicks in a few days from now, visit RPG Limit Break's twitch channel now.