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Jump Festa (and more important, Square Enix's Japanese youtube channel) gave us our first trailer for the upcoming mobile game Final Fantasy Legends: the Space-Time Crystal, which we announced last month under the different translation "Crystal of Time." There are a few glimpses of combat which, as we already knew, will take its inspiration from the company's classic SNES RPGs - hey, that's our department! Actual footage of the game - which as its title suggests will focus on time travel - is very sparse, but includes a Behemoth and Atomos.

Additionally, we finally have the full track list for the "Second Performance" expansion for Final Fantasy Theatrhythm. These are:
"He of the Name" (Bravely Default)
"Evil Wings" (Bravely Default)
"The Serpent That Devours the Horizon" (Bravely Default)
"Horizon of Light and Shadow" (Bravely Default)
"Chrono Trigger" (Chrono Trigger)
"Ultima" (Final Fantasy 15)
"Hard to Miss" (Final Fantasy 15)
"Zero" (Final Fantasy Type-0)
"Ardent Rhythm" (Romancing Saga: Minstrel Song)
"Title Screen" (Romancing Saga 2)
"Battle #4" (Saga Frontier)
"Meridian Dance" (Secret of Mana)
This comes just after the announcement of a March 2015 Japanese release date for Theatrythm Dragon Quest. Perhaps the sad lack of Chrono tunes might be ameliorated in a similar matter sometime down the line?

Finally, there's another new job for Bravely Second, and it's a Cat Master. Yes, it involves cats. No, I don't know why.

Source: Square Enix Youtube, Polygon, Siliconera

Final Fantasy XV got a lot of big updates out of Jump Fiesta this weekend. A new trailer was aired at the event, featuring a new female character, a new town, a new summon, and assorted other new things: you can see the trailer in English (French subs) here. What’s even more exciting, however, is the series of comments on the trailer provided by its (still fairly new) director, Hajime Tabata.

The trailer features a new character, Cindy, who had been revealed in some screenshots earlier this week. Don't get too excited though, as she (sadly) won't have much of a role in the game's story.

The massive, uh, thing towards the end of the trailer is Titan - taking up his accustomed role as summoned monster in a truly titanic proportions. Tabata clarified that this is indeed the same size Titan will take when you summon him. Apparently, Titan will also play a big part in the story.

There is a new town featured in the trailer, a semi-tropical locale called Lestarg. This video shows a bit exploring around the new town, which is evidently quite big - but not the biggest that will be accessible within the game. There's also a "Dog Cam." I'm not really sure what's going on there, but it's cute so I'll approve for now.

Speaking to technical matters, Tabata pointed out that the clips in the trailer are seamless. Tabata said that the aim is to make the entire game transition seamlessly, but that loading time will likely be required in some places, particularly leading up to big plot cinematics.

Tabata also shared some interesting details on the game's use of time. One day is equal to an hour of gameplay, with daytime lasting some 40-45 minutes. Tabata pointed out that this means some battles will last multiple days. Eating and sleeping will be important in the game, providing stat bonuses and maintaining those bonuses, respectively. If you neglect sleep for three days, you'll start to see negative effects, and you won't be able to level up unless you take time to rest. The team appears quite excited about these elements of the game: Tabata said they hope it'll not only make the world more realistic but make the characters feel more human.

If you were unimpressed with the range of battle moves, the FFXV agrees with you: they're working to add more variety to physical battle, and look to make some big improvements to what they consider a currently-lackluster magic system (for this reason it was not shown in the trailer). Tabata stressed that while the trailer is indeed meant for advertisement (and not merely 'this is where we're at'), the team is hoping to continue improving just about everything featured in it.

Source: Square Enix Youtube, Youtube, Siliconera

We last had a big update of Square Enix mobile games last month, and true to form, there's more information coming out now - in one case a new game and in the other a new release.

First with the new game, there's new info in Famitsu this week detailing the new mobile title "Mevius Final Fantasy." It's billed as being related to Final Fantasy games, but not a remake. This game has a bit more firepower behind it than many mobile games, though, with Yoshinori Kitase at the helm and several staff members who have worked on older games in the series. It'll be out in Spring for iOS and Android, at least in Japan.

Already out as of last week is a remake, but it's not from the Final Fantasy series. It's a release of Dragon Quest III, with a polished-up graphics and interface similar to that of the first two Dragon Quest mobile remakes. This leaves only Dragon Quest IV of the Famicom originals not to show up on iOS and Android, so one might think we'll see that crop up in the next year.


Source: Siliconera, Official Dragon Quest III

Last Christmas, I gave you my heart. And the very next day, you listened to a Christmas CoNcast in which Tiddles and I talked about holiday memories and played mairocrat wii.

With our podcast pace remaining slow, and the holiday season already in full swing (and with Tiddles now in possession of a streaming device hooked up to his Wii U), we decided to give it another try this year, this time running mairocrat 8 and streaming it to Twitch. (What, you didn't know CoN had a sometimes-used Twitch channel?)

Anyway, see below for this cast. It's full of us yelling at our Wiis and sharing the best parts of gaming at the holidays, like unwrapping games on Christmas morning or buying games we'll never play on Steamsale. It's also a nice, compact, exactly-forty-minutes that you can devour on the train or plane as you travel for the holidays. Share your holiday gaming memories with us, too!

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

Square Enix has just provided the first taste of what Final Fantasy XV's voice acting will sound like in English. You can view the clip here, at Square Enix's official UK YouTube channel.

The trailer, originally shown in Japanese at Tokyo Game Show 2014, occasions dialogue from several protagonists ranging from trivial to epic to a hearty helping of battle-grunting.

Two new SaGa games were announced at Square Enix's SaGa 25th Anniversary show earlier today, both slated for 2015 release. The first, for browsers, will be titled Imperial SaGa; the second, exclusively for the PSP, has only been given the working title SaGa 2015. A few screenshots of the former and a few sketches relating to the later are just about all we have to go by so far. Series composer Kenji Ito has been confirmed as returning for the PSP title, if not for Imperial SaGa.

Series creator Akitoshi Kawazu had said earlier this year that a new title was in development, but the announcement had been delayed more than once. With none of the preceding SaGa titles available in digital formats in western markets, fans of the series are sure to be excited. Right? If any of you are still around, out of the woodworks with ye!

Source: Siliconera, Gematsu

Yesterday the long-awaited Patch 2.45 launched for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. The biggest addition is the new Eternal Bonding ceremony, or, um, marriage. As announced at E3 this past summer, gay Eternal Bonding will indeed be an available option. Most of the rest of the content is minor, so if you're interested check out the source link below. This will likely be the last significant update prior to the massive Heavensward expansion due out next spring.

In addition to the ongoing PC free trial offer, a Playstation free trial is set to become available at the end of the month.

Source: Official FFXIV Site, Siliconera

For a brief period yesterday / this morning (depending on where you're reading this from), Square Enix's official French store website prematurely listed a version of the HD remastered Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2 combo for PS4. This hasn't been officially announced yet - hence the "likely" in this story's title - but the fact that it showed up on an official company webpage makes it seem a pretty safe bet. That and, of course, the fact that it isn't a particularly surprising move.

In the meantime, I'll just go back to pining for a FFX-3 (cue my topic on the audio drama "Will" included with the HD re-release.)

Source: IGN

Warning: these snippets are very snippety. Also, they do not include a FFVII remake.

In a recent interview, Kingdom Hearts 3 co-director Tai Yasue said that Marvel and Star Wars are available for use in the game. Everything in the Disney stable is on the table, Yasue says, and that the team is having a hard time deciding what to and what not to include. It's really busting my brain to imagine Darth Vader in KH, but we've already seen Disney's liberal employment of their franchises in the pursuit of cash-money, so perhaps it isn't so crazy as it sounds.

This next news is already a week old, but worth throwing in: a new trailer has been released for Final Fantasy Type-0, which will be released in March of 2015. It's safe to say that Square Enix is entering the pre-release build-up phase with this one. Hajime Tabata, the game's director and recently-appointed director has expressed the desire to make them into a series in their own right ('Type-1,' 'Type-2,' and 'Type-3' have all been trademarked for several years now), so there's a fair bit hinging on the upcoming title - aside from the oft-alluded-to financial pressure on Square Enix. Perhaps to encourage early purchases, this trailer says for the first time that the afore-promised FFXV demos will be included with Type-0 "while supplies last."

Finally, Square Enix has done a soft-release of a new, free-to-play, mobile PvP strategy RPG, Heavenstrike Rivals. As part of its soft-release, the title isn't available at all in the US; it is available on iOS in Canada, however, and I *think* on Android in the UK. At any rate: not available in US, currently exists in English, and will eventually be available for both mobile platforms. The art style is quite pleasant (check the third link below) and it boasts "over 230 units." Early reviews seem mixed, many agreeing that the game doesn't seem finished yet - no surprises there! - but seem to be positive enough that it's worth keeping an eye on. For our members in territories / with the appropriate platforms, see if you can check it out and let us hear your thoughts!

Source: Kotaku, Siliconera, Google Store

That's right, another great moment (read: not so much) in Final Fantasy VII Compilation history. At Sony's Playstation Experience event this Saturday, Square Enix big-man Shinji Hashimoto (corporate executive of the company's Production Department #1) announced that the PS4 would be seeing Final Fantasy VII, in re-release - not, repeat, not remake - form.

This prompted lots of people to all sorts of grumbling, probably because it was announced with the worst delivery possible. Hashimoto announced the title ambiguously enough that it can easily be mistaken mistaken for the announcement of an actual remake; that is, just before showing a trailer that made evident the fact that we would only be getting those same old beloved, clunky polygons ported over to a new box.

The company, understandably, is getting some (largely good-humored... maybe) flack for the move. We've certainly had a tendency here at CoN to be critical of Square Enix's money-grabbing tendencies when it comes to re-(re-re-re-re-re-)releases, but it stands to fact that these ports remain an important part of the company's profits - if they weren't, we wouldn't continue seeing them. And while some of these purchases are likely old fans re-buying, I'd be willing to bet they're reaching a lot of new audiences this way as well. To further play devil's advocate, Hashimoto is clearly not in perfect command of his English. All the same - let's rehearse that delivery a bit more next time. For the sake of my heart. My achy breaky heart.

It has nuns! No, it's just a pun! Ugh. Shoot me.

I'd been thinking about advent calendars recently because they're fun and it's that time of year. Some folks have LEGO ones, some (like me, blessedly) have them full of beer. For this holiday season, we're doing our own filled with fanart. It's not fancy yet, though hopefully I can work on that sometime before the calendar's all open - for now, though, we'll be adding a new fanart each day from now until Christmas, and logged-in users who place a vote on all of them before the end of the year will get a limited edition award on their account.

Here's the first, from one of the many new fanartists we've found recently, Aena. Vote on it now below!

Edited to add, the CoNvent Calendar page is now live - you can now see the calendar fanart as it's added so you can see all the things for which you want to vote. That link's below too!

Source: "Terra" by Aena, CoNvent Calendar 2014