News

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, the strategy RPG for the Gameboy Advance from Square, has been finally confirmed for a North American release.

Complete RPGamer Article Here

Released in Japan back on Valentine's Day, FFTA has been quite successful there.  The original Playstation Final Fantasy Tactics has been successful in North America (Note:  This is not a port of the Playstation game, it is an entire new game and story), so this news does not comes as much of a surprise.  While a concrete release date has not been set as of yet, Square is currently working on localization (translation) of the gameplay  (And considering the translation of the original, one can only hope this one will be a bit better ).

Source: RPGamer

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There was never really a question whether this game was going to be released on this side of the Pacific, but it's still nice to see a confirmation and to hear that work is progressing well on it.  For those who were unaware of this game's existance or just don't know anything about it, you can see a past news update of mine about it HERE

So... what does everyone think about this game?  Does it have a chance to leap over Ramza and the gang as the best Final Fantasy Tactics game?  

Special thanks goes out to new forum member Silent Moon for pointing out this story.

Square has reported a significant profit in the current fiscal year, which ends on the 31st of March.
Earlier projections estimated the company's net worth at 4.8 billion yen (39.85 million USD). Square now projects a profit  of 11.5 billion yen (95.47 million USD).

This is a significant profit for Square, especially when compared to the 16.6 billion yen (137.81 million USD) that they lost the year before.

Square cites the success of Kingdom Hearts in the US, and Final Fantasty X-2 in Japan as the reasons of their increased profits.

Source : RPGFan

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It's good to see Square getting out of the red, and back on their feet.
Though It was to be expected, with Kingdom Hearts selling 1.5 million copies in the US alone, and FFX-2 selling 1.2 million on it's first day in Japan.
Still it's good news, and we can expect some good things from Square this up and coming year.

Not often I get to leap in and make a news post, but I've just noticed that we passed 10,000 posts on the forums last night.

Ain't that special?  Special thanks to all the regulars and visitors who make the forum what it is.  It's been especially active the last few days, so if you haven't already, why not sign up and talk to us?

We'll have 20,000 in no time.  Keep on postin'.
(Unless it's spam, in which case... just get out of my house.)

Sorry, we didn't have time to get the FFV walkthrough up before launch. However, we do have it done now, and you can now check out another of Darrk Phoenix' excellent walkthroughs here.

The navigation is a bit spotty so far, but we're working on it. It's still perfectly useable and has the CoN-exclusive "w" technology, so you can look up stats on any enemy and any item you come across during the chapters.

Square finally has a release date for its Nintendo GameCube Final Fantasy game:

http://www.gamespot.com/gamecub....93.html

It is set for release in Japan on July 18th.  Square had previously decided to delay the game (see here for more information on that: http://www.cavesofnarshe.com/forums....;t=1071 ) to rework the battle system.

Square also has announced that they will have a big announcement about concerning the game during the E3 Conference (For those of you who don't know, E3 is a big electronics conference in which gaming companies comprise a significant section) in May.

Source: Gamespot

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Not much room for commentary on this one.  It's good to see that they have a release date for the game again though.

The release of Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, Square Enix's first game for the Nintendo GameCube (and Square's first for a Nintendo console since the Super Nintendo for that matter), has been pushed backed:

http://www.rpgamer.com/news/Q1-2003/031303f.html

The game was originally supposed to be released this spring in Japan.  As of right now though, a new date yet to be determined.  

The reason for the delay is that Square Enix does not feel the battle system is of good quality.  They are going to do a major overhaul to the system. Because of the possible significance of the changes, the delay could end up being quite lengthy.

Source: RPGamer

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While GameCube owners will probably be a bit disappointed by this news, the delay should be beneficial for the game in the long run.  Battle systems are an integral part of a game.  One of the main issues that people have with Final Fantasy VIII is its battle system.  There are those who will never play the game again just because of the battle system it used.  For Square to hold back the game to rework Crystal Chronicles' system to something they believe in being of higher quality can only a positive delay.  

This is a direct quote from an earlier RPGamer news update concerning the battle system of the game as it was before the changes:

The battle system supports up to four players, whose stats and mini-map are displayed on a Game Boy Advance screen, and uses corresponding buttons to either attack, defend, or use a special skill. The characters' hit points are displayed as hearts. Magic Stones will be required to use spells in the game; these stones are represented by spheres floating above the characters' heads.

You can read the article in its entirety here: http://www.rpgamer.com/news/Q4-2002/122102d.html.  From the sound of that quote its appears like the battle system was Secret of Mana-ish in style.  We'll just have to wait and see how the new system will turn out.