News

The Caves of Narshe has expanded again, this time offering one of the most complete and innovative Final Fantasy Tactics sections available on the net.  I could write all about the different sections that are available in the new section, but it's probably best for you to check it out for yourself.

http://www.cavesofnarshe.com/fft/

The CoN staff is extremely proud of this section, and we'd like to ask you to post your comments and reactions to it right here, as well as beginning discussion in the newly-opened FFT section.  Enjoy!

And there will be even more added once all of NP's awesome caricatures are finished.  Enjoy two pieces of fanart each from Kame and Narratorway, and one each from seventh and Hikaroo!  

Visit http://www.cavesofnarshe.com/fanart/new.php for all the newest fanart.
Visit http://www.cavesofnarshe.com/fanart/ for all fanart!

Nintendo has finally released new info and screenshots (news and screenshots both courtesy of Games Are Fun) for the lastest incarnation of the Mario Kart series for the the Gamecube, titled Mario Kart: Double Dash.

Changes have been made in this versions since the N64 and Super Nintendo games.  One of significance is that there will be two riders on each kart now.  The idea being that the front character drives and the one located in the rear controls all of the power-ups and weapons.    The cast of characters has also changed.  Included are Mario, Luigi, Peach, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Yoshi, Birdo, Wario, Waluigi, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Bowser, Bowser Jr., Koopa, and Paratroopa.  Poor Toad must have come down with a case of SARS or something because he seems to be in quarantine for this title.

One more tid bit on the gameplay for now.   As mentioned, each kart has two characters.  You can switch the two characters mid-race for different effects to change balancing and such during turns and going up hills.  

Source:  Games Are Fun

/~~~~~~~/

It is games like these these that make me wish I had a Gamecube.    The screenshots look pretty fantastic and it looks like the game could be a lot of fun, especially when played with friends (for those of us who actually have those anyways .)  And it is nice that they are making some changes in the gameplays while keeping the basic Mario Kart formula intact.  Even though it was one my favorite N64 games, I've heard that it was a disappointment to many after the SNES versions.  Hopefully this will make it up to those who viewed the N64 Mario Kart in this manner.

Thoughts, opinions, flames? Toss them at me (or the game)

It may be in Japanese, and the game it's from still way out of reach from our Canadian and American hands (further out of the reach for you folks in the UK and beyond) but here it is. The Intro Movie for FFX-2, courtesy of www.rpgamer.com

http://www.rpgamer.com/games/ff/ffx-2/ffx-2mov.html

That link will also take you to a few other tasty bits of footage.

For the intro itself, I liked it well enough. It first opens up into an arena that I was sure was going to be blitzball. Instead, we get Yuna, first in her summoner's outfit. She changes classes, into her pop singer costume. While she sings a song in Japanese that is catchy, but sounds like the same sentence over and over, Rikku and FFX newbie Paine cause mischief in the audience. An interesting, colourful intro (though Rikku's braids still look very very fake, even in FMV) leaving the viewer with lots of questions (one of which may be "Why??" for those of you still against FFX-2 on principle).

Courtesy Gamespot
http://www.gamespot.com/gamecub....21.html

Capcom, one of the top video game developers, suffered 19.5 billion yen ($163 million) in losses in 2002.  This happened because many of their games which they expected to be big sellers fell short of what they expected.  For example, three of their main sellers combined to sell 760,000 less copies than they expected.  This accounts for much of the loss, which was explained by the president, that the market was moving in a different direction than their titles.  Capcom's loss caused them to shelve 18 of their games that were in development, which is a huge hit to the company.

------------

It's interesting to think about other reasons why things fell so flat for the company in 2002.  The American economy, at least, was suffering for much of the year, but it seems to easy to blame it on that when there are many markets around the world that are buying the games.  It would also be nice to know if any other companies had losses to their sales to see if the video game market is in a slump right now.  I think market confidence needs to be up before people will start buying more.  I can safely say that I only got two video games last year, Wild ARMs 3 and Suikoden 3, and neither of those are Capcom titles.  If Capcom wants to get back into the market, they'll probably need to start developing different types of games, and maybe that's the aim in the cancellation of so many games.  What does everyone else think?

To almost coincide with the opening of their North American website, Square Enix has opened up a public online application for those who are interested in beta testing Final Fantasy XI,  their upcoming (already released in Japan) online RPG.

There are applications for both the Playstation 2 and the PC versions of the game. Listed below are the requirements for each that one has to meet if he or she is even going to apply:

For the PS2 version
-PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system (duh)
-Network Adaptor (for PlayStation 2)
-Internet connection (56k or greater)

For the PC version
Pentium® III 800Mhz
-Windows® 98/98SE/ME/2000/XP
-DirectX® 8.1 (included)
-32MB Direct3D compatible AGP video card
-128MB RAM
-CD-ROM drive
-5GB of free hard drive space
-Internet connection (56k or greater)

You also have to be older than thirteen years of age and be a resident of either the United States or Canada.  Keep in mind that most people will not be selected.  There are no numbers on the amount that Square Enix even plans to chose

Source: Square Enix
/~~~~~~/

I put in an application to beta test the PC version.  I probably won't get chosen, but it will be interesting to see how many beta testers they do actually select.  The application for the PC version was easy enough (it only took about 5 minutes) so I assume the application for the PS2 version would be more simple than that.  It would be neat if someone from the CoN was selected to beta test either version.

The only negative part of applying (that I can see) is that I'm probably going to get a bit more spam E-mail because of it (The privacy policy is lacking.  They even say they will probably give out your E-mail address).  That isn't entirely too bad though because I used a yahoo E-mail address when filling out the application.  Also, since it is restricted to US and Canada residents, some of you forum members are not going to be even able to apply.

There are now two *new* fanfics in the ff6 section http://www.cavesofnarshe.com/fanfics/ff6/

One of them is by Narratorway, in the Lights section, "Cyan: The Tortured Light". The other is a songfic by SilverMaduin, at the top of the page, "The War of the Magi - Nothing Else Matters".

Thanks guys for the great works, we hope to see more. Also, I'll be adding more fanfics in the next week or so.

Also, An Esper's Soul, by me, is up on the site, in the same section.

Square Enix announced earlier today that Final Fantasy Origins has been shipped to stores in North America

The release is a compilation of Final Fantasy I and Final Fantasy II (never released in North America) for the Playstation.  The games (which were originally published for the Nintendo Entertainment System) have been fairly reworked. The basic features of the compilation include:

Enhanced graphics (think of the WonderSwan Color graphic if you've seen them)
Cinematic movies
Updated Music
New Gameplay modes (There is an Easy and Original difficulty modes for FFI)
An Amano art gallery
An a bestiary of monsters from each game

For more information on Final Fantasy Origins, check past news updates here at the Caves of Narshe.

Source: Gamespot

/*****/

Final Fantasy Origins is definitely worth the purchase in my opinion (for what that's even worth).  I've only played Final Fantasy I on the compilation thus far, but I have really liked what I have seen.  It almost makes me nostalgic to get out my old Nintendo, but after fiddling around with FFO, I don't think I'd want to play the original Final Fantasy anymore.  It takes a lot of the peskiness out of the original.  For one, a run button has been added.  There is also no more "INEFFECTIVE" after one of your characters tries to attack an enemy that has already been dispatched.  Plus, it's two games in one. A bargain alsmost.

I know a few of the Staffers at the CoN already have it, but whom else here thinks they might be purchasing this?

(On an off-topic note, I believe this also leaves FFIII and FFX as the only Final Fantasies that cannot be played on the Playstation)

I mean, wow. Something that I NEVER thought would occur evidently has. After being listed for five years on the Yahoo search directory, CoN has been elevated to the "most popular" category for Final Fantasy sites. You'll notice that we are in that listing with none other than FFOnline and the Compendium.

I am sure that this enhanced listing will help our traffic, and I thank every one of you who comes here via Yahoo for making this possible.

If you'd like to see the listing, simply search for Final Fantasy at Yahoo's main page, and click to the "Final Fantasy Series" directory, or you may visit the listing pages directly. Please do click the link to come back here, so we can maintain our status as popular. Thanks again!

The host screwed up this morning and changed opgaming.com's disk quota. Changed it so much we were over it. The stupid problem has now been fixed. Sorry for all the outages lately.

As of April 1st, the Square Enix merge has been completed.
No longer seperate companies, they have released their new website and logo.

Source :  NEWFF.com
/**********/

Woo. The merger has finally been completed, and the new Square Enix has been revealed.

I really like the new logo. It's really simple, yet it stands out.
It's good to see Square & Enix getting a jump on the future and a face lift at the same time.

What are everyone else's opinons on the new logo and website?

In a startling move,  Microsoft announced early this morning that they had reached an agreement with Square-Enix stockholders concerning the purchase of the corporation.  The Square-Enix stockholders will get 0.45 of a share in Microsoft  for every Square Enix share that they own.  Originally it was believed that deal might not go through because Microsoft was originally only offering 0.30 of a share. Said Masufumi Miyamoto (the main shareholder of Square Enix), "We just thought we were getting a raw deal, Dog.  Big Billie Gates has plenty of bling.  If he really wanted our company then he would ante up. Word to your mother."  

While Square Enix have yet to release a game, they have announced their first title for the Xbox. Chrono Break!

Read about Chrono Break here at RPGamer

Furthermore, every Final Fantasy after FFXII is going to be an Xbox exclusive.  The Square-Enix arm is rumored to be known within Microsoft as the Shirt or "Square Hides It's Real Motives." One can only guess what that means.  There is speculation that Square-Enix really let themselves be purchased in order to make a sequel to Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.  Or Shirt could also mean Square Enix is finally "clothing" the Xbox with some real software.

Source: TheGia

/~~~~~~~~~~~~~/

I don't even know what to say to this.   I'm quite literally shocked.  Sure, Microsoft bought my old favorite (that being Bungie), but I didn't see this one coming.  A Chrono series game on the Xbox?  Final Fanatsy an Xbox exclusive?  Even worse, a FF:TSW sequel?  Oi.  What next?  Nintendo buying Sega?  Give me your thoughts

You may have noticed some database errors recently.  Unfortunately, they've now got so bad that we've had to revert to an older style site.

This should clear it up somewhat.  If not, we may need to take more drastic measures.  We'll keep you posted.