Last March, Square Enix released a rather interesting job listing that invites game engine system programmers and 3D graphics core programmer to join SE in their mission to create a new gaming engine which will be used for future projects.

What made the recruitment post so arousing was that it used the eyes of Cloud Strife of Final Fantasy VII as the classified ad header; surely it has become known to Final Fantasy fans about the possibility of a Final Fantasy VII remake, and with Square Enix finally unveiling the name of a new gaming engine, Luminous, which the company hopes to incorporate in future projects, the myth is starting to look very well alive.

Yoshihisa Hashimoto, producer and technical director of the project, announced that Luminous intends to create  “a game engine that can truly take on the world head on.”

Hashimoto and his team will be working on Luminous as soon as possible.

Source: Andriasang

Technorati Tags: Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy VII remake, Luminous

In this week’s The Making Of A Realm, musical genius and Final Fantasy battle theme composer Nobuo Uematsu shares his thoughts about Final Fantasy XIV and his comeback after 10 years of not making a single musical contribution after Final Fantasy IX.

Uematsu’s unique style of concocting melodies right in front of the sequencer without the use of a music sheet will bring a lot of meat to Final Fantasy XIV, and even though the open beta was delayed due to some bugs and glitches, anticipation will surely grow as every Final Fantasy game with Nobuo Uematsu on the credits list had moved on to become very successful on an international scale.

Just last month, the public was saddened by the sudden break-up of The BlackMages where Uematsu played an important role in building the band’s reputation as Final Fantasy’s main and battle theme players.

Here we see Uematsu being interviewed in his very own Ping Pong Studio (you’ll eventually know why he has a studio called like that) and distill some juicy information about Final Fantasy XIV and the musical themes used in the MMORPG.

Here’s the video. Credit again goes to FFXIV Core for the English translation.

Technorati Tags: Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy XIV, Nobuo Uematsu, The Black Mages, The Making Of A Realm

Well, according to Final Fantasy XIV’s game director, Nobuaki Komoto, Final Fantasy XIV will be governed by an experience reduction mechanism called the Fatigue System. According to Komoto, every 8 hours spent playing, the Fatigue System kicks in and decreases the amount of experience gained by the character, significantly downgrading the character’s effectiveness in terms of combat making each encounter less rewarding.

When the time counter clocks in 15 or above hours, there will be no experience gained. Komoto emphasizes the need to create a gaming equalizer between those with more free time and users with work and social life to attend to.

Nobuaki Komoto signifies that the system, which is also embraced by different Free-to-Play and Pay-to-Play MMOs though the penalties have contrasting repercussions, will help curb those with all the time in the world to trudge Eorzea almost endlessly and grind their levels unlike players who still consider working and going to night clubs more important than slaying quest marks.

Though the implementation of Fatigue System helps in disciplining players, it will not silence Final Fantasy fans into thinking that the newest addition to the FF compendium is hampered by rules of time limit and debilitated experience values.

The threshold, the 8 hours limit that Komoto strictly imposed, is sort of a Red Alert warning, a bleeping metaphor that cries out that the player’s time of bashing monsters for the nth is coming to a freezing halt and, it will take a week to renew the Final Fantasy XIV Fatigue System before it sets out again.

In spite of the issue, Komoto has clearly stated that the Fatigue System ain’t all that bad. According to him, whether the player wants to linger in Eorzea is up to his/her choice: the drop and spawn rate of monsters remain the same and, other in-game “bonuses” is impervious to the downgrade.

Komoto, however, will be reexamining the overall impact of the Fatigue System and will carefully gauge the fan base suggestions and reactions towards the baronial penalty.

“At the very least, we can promise that players won’t be running into the threshold penalty in the same short time span as they did in the beginning of Beta 3,” Komoto said in an interview.

Final Fantasy XIV’s open beta for the PC will be released this Wednesday and the game is set to hit gaming shelves this September 30.

Technorati Tags: Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy Fatigue System, Final Fantasy XIV

I just received three deviations from Final Fantasy girls staple, Remorsefulpromises and this time, she’s decided to become Final Fantasy X-2’s sweetheart, Yuna.

Once a devout follower of Yevon, this summoner defeated Sin by distancing herself from the corrupt teachings of Yu Yevon and, ended her pilgrimage without sacrificing anyone and herself in the High Summoning ritual.

We all remember the stern and outrageously witty Yuna of Final Fantasy X-2 right? She duped her Summoner get-up, the silky white arm warmers, long clear blue skirt and staff, and metamorphosed into a more dynamic and talkative character that she got from the quirky Rikku.

Here we see her strike a pose as the Gunner Yuna that thwarted Leblanc’s disguise during the early scenarios of Final Fantasy X-2.

Her lip piercing, though not part of the original Gunner Yuna (and all her other dresspheres for that matter), makes this cosplayer hotter and gives more depth to the “what if” scenario. Imagine, Yuna donning the same piercing, eye shadow and tussled, long brown hair of Ms. Remorsefulpromises, the equation more than sums up the frivolous and sharp-witted Yuna of Final Fantasy X-2.

I am totally enamored with Remorsefulpromises’ striking new rendition of Yuna. More to come in the future and next time around, I’ll be interviewing this cosplayer and squeeze out some trivia out from her.

Technorati Tags: Fantasy Girl Of The Week, Final Fantasy Girls, Final Fantasy X-2, Remorsefulpromises, yuna

Don’t get your hopes high for Final Fantasy Versus XIII as Square Enix admitted that they can’t commit in releasing the game this 2011. The trifecta, Fabula Nova Crystallis, includes Final Fantasy XIII, Agito XIII and Versus XIII in the line-up and it looks like both Agito and Versus XIII will have its own share of development issues and detrimental delays.

This was Yoshinori Kitase’s statement regarding the non-committal fiasco that Square Enix has for Final Fantasy Versus XIII’s pace of development. I believe that we’re far from the situation where the production team is putting on the finishing touches to this eye-candy exclusive for the PS3.

“We have no release date information to update. Unfortunately we can’t say anything about that. We can’t commit ourselves to 2011 either.”

The game has been included in E3 2006 and will make another appearance at the Tokyo Game Show this September. I believe that only a handful of scenes will be shown at Japan’s largest gathering for gaming exhibitors and developers themselves. Expect to see numerous spliced CGI-rendered scenes showing Noctis’s red eyes and unknown characters which have been featured in fan-made previews as such.

Expect this game to make waves this 2012. Waves? (*gulps)

Technorati Tags: Final Fantasy Versus XIII, Tokyo Game Show

This time, The Making Of A Realm focuses on how the graphics team conceptualized on Eorzea’s different venues and it’s looking very rustic and the parallelism of some of the artwork included in the Youtube video creatively captures some real-time places like medieval castles, old-England villages, spring’s winding roads and  bridges that seem to resemble towers.

Tomoki Chiba, Final Fantasy XIV’s map designer, explain in detail how the game actually emulates realistic breathtaking vestiges in order to evoke realism even though the player is playing under a wide array of impressive static backdrops and virtually-groundbreaking vestiges. Past MMOs offered bland environments while Final Fantasy XIV gives players something to talk and relish during their stay at Eorzea’s majestic lands.

As part of the whole realism stage, Chiba understands the need to interchange landmarks with new and refreshing vistas – the development team (as you can see on the four-minute video below) carefully plots the advanced geometrical structure of  Eorzea’s environment giving players that impression that they’re really immersed in an grand scale never before seen from a MMO.

Added to this, every object found inside Hydaelyn’s nook and cranny have been designed to utmost perfection. Watch the video below to find exactly what you’re in for once Final Fantasy XIV hits gaming shelves this September 30,2010.

Technorati Tags: Final Fantasy XIV, The Making Of A Realm

The successful release of Dissidia Final Fantasy last August to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Final Fantasy prompted fans of the game to persuade Tetsuya Nomura to come up with a sequel. Who wouldn’t ask for Part 2 of the PSP exclusive? Banding together 22 characters from FF I to XII and create a three-dimensional, free-roam battlefield with innovative fighting elements surely made the anniversary a pleasant tribute to the eponymous role-playing game.

With Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Agito ready to wrap up Square Enix’ flagship title, Fabula Nova Crystallis and with Final Fantasy XIV ready for September 30, there’s a big chance that we might not be getting Dissidia 2. The staggering amount of positive reviews that Dissidia had received from users could become the pivotal drive that it deserves and, with forum threads already talking about it, the power has shifted to the fans and the pressure is on SE.

Just this week, I have found many open discussion about the possibility of Dissidia 2 hitting next-gen consoles and, with the overwhelming pages dedicated to ideas, character inclusions, gameplay modifications and others, it’s really nice to see some bloggers and forum junkies channeling their hopes towards a wish for a follow-up.

The Dissidia 2 rumors are spreading like a virus.

However, there are some posts that dumbfounds the core concept of making Dissidia 2 a very powerful sequel that could very well break its all-time records in terms of sales and fan appreciation. Here, I want to share Wikia page that has made me frown because of the writer’s debilitated creativity, decision-making and logic.

“Final Fantasy VII: Tifa Lockhart (Cosmos) and Vincent Valentine (Chaos). Yeah, screw you Zack (too similar to Cloud), Genesis (not much for moveset potential) and Weiss (why?). Again, Vincent goes to Chaos due to being a “dark” character, even though he’s heroic in all of his appearances – chalk it up to Chaos being into vampires. And Tifa, from what I know, is incredibly popular (and also fights like a Monk, a “class” Dissidia doesn’t have yet). The Compilation of FFVII has a number of other worthy characters though, so my choices could vary drastically.”

What? Who would appreciate this kind of transition, better yet, a character draft for the roster? Putting Vincent Valentine on the flaming side of Chaos? Just because he sustained a role as Chaos doesn’t mean that the ex-Turk should align himself with the Bedlam master himself. I’d go with Tifa or Zack anytime but puh-lease, this has got to be one of the worst suggestions yet.

Here’s another:

“Final Fantasy IX: Vivi is the only consistently popular character to come out of FFIX, due to his ability to be so adorable yet so bad ass at the same time. And plus, Dissidia lacks a classic Black Mage; Terra sort of fills that role, but we all know that Vivi would Doomsday her ass. I doubt FFIX will get two more characters, but if it does, I would put Vivi on the Chaos side and add in Steiner for the Cosmos side.”

Yet another stupid user-generated proposal. Remember, wikis can be edited at any time at all and I would like someone to delete and renew these misdirections. Seriously, put Vivi, the wimpy, Mist-powered pipsqueak that worries about the term ’stopping’ on the side of Chaos; his spellcasting ability has got nothing to do with the dark side and Doomsday is not an exception.

If you want to read the full wiki post, go here. Actually, the page is solely dedicated to character selection – I could say it’s stupid to include Vincent and Vivi as part of Chaos’s team of villains but, we all have our opinions about this.

Technorati Tags: Dissidia 2 rumors, Dissidia Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy

If you have been Final Fantasy Girls, you may have stumbled upon a feature article containing the word Remorsefulpromises. It’s not an emotional ticker, the word actually is a username from a fellow Deviant who likes to cosplay (a lot) and her favorite subject is Final Fantasy and its feisty and eponymous female characters.

She has appeared twice in the site as Aerith Gainsborough and Tifa Lockhart and, she has this surreal portrayal of both characters plus, her radiating beauty and poise gave her the edge from other flamboyant cosplayers who usually enthralls crowd with their costume and props. This girl continues to share his craft to the public and does it with a smile on her face.

Three time’s the charm, isn’t it?

This time, Remorsefulpromises sent me a DeviantWATCH Message and look what I found inside my inbox:

Let’s see: Ms. Remorsefulpromises actually made a few quirky modifications with the costume, the black bands tied on Rinoa’s arms were removed and she focused of bringing the blue satin duster and rib-knit arm warmers into this image as she patiently lies at the pasture waiting for her Squall to lift her up from a not-so melancholic shot.

As we all know, Rinoa Heartilly represents what Squall is not. She’s brimming with confidence, her warmth towards her comrades replaces Squall’s cold and unappealing approach and, she’s one of those one in a hundred Final Fantasy characters that exudes the kind of confidence without faltering in the middle of the situation.

This spectacular portrait sent to me by Remorsefulpromises is one in a million and emulates a real-time Rinoa Heartilly in terms of costume, beauty and confidence. Maybe your fans would’ve enjoyed it more if you have included the Angel Wings, Angelo or the Blaster Edge to the mix but, your premise is respected.

Technorati Tags: Fantasy Girl, Final Fantasy Girls, Remorsefulpromises, Rinoa Heartilly

The countdown for Final Fantasy XIV begins and, with one of the most awaited MMORPGs of the year comes the reward of waiting for its official release, with each passing day, Square Enix always put something in the table that revolves around the game: sneak peaks, character screenshots, The Making Of A Realm and articles that paints a vivid picture of what the game is all about and how exactly will the game differ from other MMOs.

Upon purchase of Final Fantasy XIV for the PC, buyers will receive a packaged bonus of a security token, a concept art journal about the world of Eorzea and a certificate of some sort that lists the user’s avatar information. Here’s a few description about the three said items. Pictures courtesy of Eorzeapedia.

1. Final Fantasy XIV Security Token – A keepsake that ingeniously stores your authentication information. Originally introduced to players of Final Fantasy XI, this handy tool will keep your account details safe from those pesky hackers and other online attackers.

2. Final Fantasy XIV Travel Journal – A 160 page containing all the essentials about the game like a map of Eorzea and exclusive images. The journal is a guide that, whenever you feel lost or in need of some area consulting, this colorful guide will help you in no time and with extra note pages in between, you’ll be using it a diary for your adventure date logs.

3. Final Fantasy XIV Right of Passage Document – A stamp of approval, a document mailed to the player containing his/her character’s name, surname, race, clan, birthday and gender. Envy your friends with three available certificate colors depending on what state the character has started.

Watch this short video to find more information about the Final Fantasy XIV Collector’s Edition and cool behind the scene footage of the Final Fantasy XIV experience.

Square Enix continues to revive the already-dying legacy of Final Fantasy VII by giving the sequel to the original PS game, Final Fantasy VII:Advent Children, a high-definition image gallery that contains exactly 83 images and artwork which can be zoomed in and out in your iPhone’s calendar mode.

The iPhone application is aptly named as Larger Than Life.

Just a few months back, Final Fantasy XIII got the same 3D rendered treatment as, the app gave life to an already brimming title that featured graphical enhancements which totally pushed the boundaries of next-gen graphics. High resolution images of the game were carried down to the iPhone and, an iPad version came out with some cool 3D images unavailable for the iPhone.

Larger Than Life costs around 700 yen and is now available at Apple’s app store. The image compendium contains memorable Final Fantasy VII characters like Cloud, Tifa, Sephiroth and Aerith.

Technorati Tags: Final Fantasy VII:Advent Children, Final Fantasy XIII