Earlier known to the gaming public as Final Fantasy Agito XIII, Final Fantasy Type-o was originally released in Japan last October 13, 2011 and it’s quite unsure whether the “PlayStation Portable” exclusive would reach North American shores. Localization has become one of the game’s weak points. The playable demo released last year, August 13, 2011, was only available in Japanese and it was clear that Type-0 had become hopelessly unavailable to North American and European regions wherein Final Fantasy still role-playing cult status despite the the ongoing devaluation of Final Fantasy XIV.

Out with the old, in with the new.

According to 1 UP’s PSP and PS Vita 2012 handheld season opener, Final Fantasy Type-0 would soon reach a much-awaited North American release, this time, for the PS Vita. The site is confident that Final Fantasy Type-o would reach North American gaming shelves based on their overall assessment over the game, which reads:

“Formerly known as Final Fantasy Agito XIII, Type 0 is easily the most ambitious PSP title ever published; the Japanese release came on two UMDs and featured insane loading times if you didn’t install the game. No worries, though. We have it on good authority that Square Enix will be bringing the game to the U.S. as a Vita release, which should relieve some of the game’s technical issues and work around the fact that the PSP market is moribund in the west. Even on PSP, it looks great, with fast-paced mechanics descended from Crisis Core and The 3rd Birthday but considerably deeper. Type 0 centers around cooperative play and RPG-derived action with a team of magic academy students out to turn the tide of a losing war with the use of spells, weapons, and summons.”

Final Fantasy Type-0 for the PS Vita is a hand-in-glove fit. PS Vita is a powerful handheld console and as one of the most atmospheric Final Fantasy games available today, Type-0 would flourish under a new touch and point interface. Playing the demo of Final Fantasy Type-0 felt like navigating through Final Fantasy Crisis Core’s mechanics, reducing the game into a tedious hack and slash adventure.

Final Fantasy Type-0 would really look good for the PS Vita, and the costly two UMDs for the game would be avoided.

Technorati Tags: Final Fantasy Agito XIII, Final Fantasy Type-0

Monsters in Final Fantasy are considered vital – they serve as the game’s sacrificial lamb for a character’s growth. When Final Fantasy XIII-2 was announced, players were given preview of a new combat mechanic where beasts can actually become members of Noel and Serah’s investigative team as they search for the whereabouts of the latter’s sister, Lightning. Unlike in other Final Fantasy games, enlisting the help of creatures to aid in battle is impossible, although “Confuse” can sometimes inflict the element of betrayal inside the battlefield, unswerving fealty never really exists among the ranks of Final Fantasy’s eccentric hybrid of monsters.

Party customization in Final Fantasy XIII-2 is somewhat limited but at the same time, extraordinary beyond its predecessors. Limited because players only get to control Noel and Serah throughout the adventure, and this particular setup can impede characterization. Are we going to receive a shortage of customization for Final Fantasy XIII-2? Depends on how you look at it and along the road, Final Fantasy XIII-2 sounds like a depressing game diffused of the vigor and camaraderie established in other Final Fantasy titles.

Although technically Final Fantasy XIII-2 is built on extrapolating the relationship between Serah and Noel, players will not suffer too much Noelism or Serahism given this drawback of getting to play two primary characters in an expanded sequel that promises to unveil the mysteries of Lightning’s disappearing act. Serah and Noel will be provided with backup from the monsters that the player had slain during the course of their adventure. This may not sound new to you, but our Japanese friends whom are already Final Fantasy XIII-2 are sharing some of the basics of collecting and taming monsters.

How to Catch a Monster?

Players don’t need Pokeballs or bait to capture a monster. Slain beasts transform into crystals and are afterwards stacked to the player’s backpack of defeated souls or something like that. Interestingly, players have now full-control in creating a party based on a captured monster’s strengths, opening up new combat layers that can either make a boss battle a walk in the park or a swim with the sharks.

How to Strengthen a Monster?

Monsters don’t level up nor do they have the capacity to change multiple Paradigms in battle making them somehow one-dimensional. To help address this disadvantage, players can upgrade a monster’s Paradigm to the fullest, making them worthwhile allies capable of becoming mighty powerhouses or destructive spellcasters on their own right. Additionally, monsters gain bonuses from items dropped by untamed monsters, which can be invested on opening a beast’s Paradigm nodes.

Anything Else I Need to Know?

Oh yeah, players can also suit up their monsters with fancy clothing and unnecessary headgear to make them even more frightening. Accessories range from parasols to ridiculous party hats. Very frightening, indeed.

Recently, Famitsu has given Final Fantasy XIII-2 an impressive perfect score of 40/40 and the game continues to generate ground-breaking sales records in its production birthplace of Japan. Final Fantasy XIII-2 is set to be released on January 31, 2o12 in North America and we could only cross our fingers that the game, despite the adoption of new content, will not destroy its reputation given that Western fans of Final Fantasy have become antagonistic to what the game is trying to prove.

Siliconera, via Dengeki PlayStation’s cannibalized story, has revealed to the world on how difficult bosses are in Final Fantasy XIII-2. According to the main sources (Square Enix’s Motoru Toriyama and Yusuke Matsui) of the recent gameplay update, bosses of Final Fantasy XIII-2 will pose more of a threat than Final Fantasy XIII’s storyline bosses and Gran Pulse’s population of over-sized breasts.

If players find themselves overwhelmed or unable to progress through the main storyline because of the augmented battle skills of the sequel’s bosses, they can always resort in toning down the game’s difficulty level, setting it to Easy. What’s the point of feeding these bosses with virtual steroids if the players themselves can shrink their danger levels? Additionally, Final Fantasy XIII-2 would become the first entry to the Final Fantasy saga to implement an interchangeable difficulty setting.

The translated English version of the recent Final Fantasy XIII-2 updates can be read here.

Is There Anything Terrifying Than The Neochu?
The Neochu is a mutated, more dangerous version of the normal Ochu. Found atop waiting at Gran Pulse’s open canyon, Neochu is proficient in inflicting almost all known negative status effects to combat participants unprotected with the right accessory. Flanked by the equally hard-hitting Picochus, the Neochu is definitely one of the most difficult sidequest bosses that Lightning and her comrades will face in the forsaken, monster-populated fields of Gran Pulse. Can Final Fantasy XIII-2 outmatch the challenge? Or is this overestimating on Toriyama and Matsui’s part?

Shifting Between Paradigms Is Not an Update

According to the English translation of Dengeki PlayStation’s recent Final Fantasy XIII-2 update: “Players can now switch instantly between Paradigms. This will help out with the pacing during the game’s basic battles, as the focus for these is on speed. For the bosses and tougher rare monsters, however, you’ll need to actively and strategically switch between Paradigms or you won’t win.”

Frantically switching between stored Paradigms is not new at all.

Technorati Tags: Final Fantasy XIII-2

It’s been awhile since I featured Remorsefulpromises. To those who are unacquainted with Remorsefulpromises, she is a talented and beautiful cosplayer based from the United Kingdom who suits up as one of favorite female Final Fantasy heroines. More recently, Remorsefulpromises sent me a few Deviations containing her latest Serah Farron cosplay attempt and once again, this feisty Deviant succeeded in portraying the Final Fantasy XIII-2 lead character in full detail.

Surrounding herself with flowers, Remorsefulpromises outshines the mild sunshine with her captivating and curious downward stare. Her powerful reanimation of Serah in this exclusive photograph posted on her official Deviant Art page shows how surreal she is in an environment that appropriately captures the emotion connecting Serah’s character.

Remorsefulpromises’s also excelled in copying Serah’s single ponytail strewn sideways, while the white elbow band significantly hides the L’cie mark that she had in Final Fantasy XIII.

Catch Remorsefulpromises on her official Youtube channel as she exposes her love for Final Fantasy with a few clips of her favorite FF moments.

Technorati Tags: Remorsefulpromises, Serah Farron

Naoki Yoshida of Final Fantasy XIV has revealed the Magitek Armor upgrade for the game’s 2.0 upgrade, which will arrive sooner for PC subscribers and a bit later for the PS3. The initial design of the Magitek Armor was suited to a male thaumaturge as illustrated on Siliconera. Additionally, the Final Fantasy XIV Version 2.0 upgrade will feature additional gameplay changes, including:

1. Re-organization of class name titles – Siliconera reports that the conjurer and thaumaturge will revert back to its original class specification known as the Black Mage and White Mage, respectively. Aside from older jobs going back to their classic Final Fantasy roots, Yoshida adds that a new playable class identified as the Dragoon will soon become available in the upcoming 2.0 upheaval. The Dragoon will be allegedly accompanied by a Wyvern, though its size and fighting capabilities are yet to be divulged.

2. Mini-games – Finally, Yoshida will like to see Final Fantasy XIV prosper with interesting mini-games that are reminiscent of the activities inside Final Fantasy VII’s Gold Saucer. Will Final Fantasy XIV get another chance to play some asteroid basketball or fight their way out of a penalty-ridden Battle Arena? Our eyes and ears are on Yoshida as he tries desperately to revive Final Fantasy XIV’s fading glow.

Story and Image Source: Siliconera

Technorati Tags: Final Fantasy XIV

Prisoners around the world, convicts punished to spend the rest of their lives behind the rotting bars of justice always think of nefarious ways to escape. We’ve seen prison breaks end in bloody fashion, but nothing bloodier that was reported just hours ago. A prisoner in Monmouthshire, Wales took took matters into his own hands by crafting eerily familiar tools of destruction based in the world of Final Fantasy. The convict has reportedly activated his special skill going on a rampage by summoning the blinding light to execute a Blasting Zone, and…

Just kidding!

According to Kotaku, the convict’s replicated set of Final Fantasy Weapons do not pose a threat to the jail’s security since all of them were fake. However, civilians who are unaware of its artificiality may panic at the sight of the convict swinging Squall’s Gunblade while posing for the fanfare. Aside from Cloud’s Buster Sword (those colored orbs were never there in the first place), the convict has also in hand a few swords taken from reference in Bleach.

The prisoner’s Governor, Steve Cross, and his staff were unaware of the weapons’ cultural and iconic status. Cross had no idea that such weapons existed even before the convict surrendered it for security measures. Europe is a military powerhouse, but crossing out Final Fantasy gear out from their war reference is inexcusable.

Image Source: Kotaku

Technorati Tags: Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy Weapons

There are memorable mini-games that made Final Fantasy a unique role-playing experience. In Final Fantasy IX, Zidane assumes the role of a treasure hunter by allowing Choco to search around the land of Gaia for hidden treasure. Backtracking with Final Fantasy VIII, Squall gets a break from all the time-bending action through card battles, which allow players to synthesize useful materials in strengthening their weapon models or acquire useful piece of battle items. Finally, who could ever forget the Gold Saucer and the gambling lifestyle Cloud had to go through to acquire his most powerful Limit Break – Omnislash.

Final Fantasy VII was dark all around, but Gold Saucer’s Chocobo Racing helped minimize gameplay tension; players breed Chocobos and register it to compete in a race track entombed with stunning visual effects. After slowly reducing the roles of Chocobos as overworked treasure diggers, Final Fantasy XIII-2 decides to put these giant birds back inside the race track where they “truly belong.”

Siliconera reveals that Final Fantasy XIII-2, along with the returning Chocobo racing mini-game, will also indulge players into slot gambling wherein they can win coins of up to 50,000. Square remains mum on how would these coins assist the players.

Details for the Chocobo Racing mini-game are:

1. There is no Chocobo breeding involved. Players get to pick a Chocobo upon entering the race format.

2. Chocobos are endowed with different skills. Speed determines how fast the Chocobo is, Stamina tests how the Chocobo will last inside the race track, Skills are useful abilities that can give players unfair advantage over their opponents, and Race Points (RP) computes the statistical penalties that the Chocobo suffered after the last race (huh?).

3. Players are free to command their Chocobos. Chocobos can either run at normal speed or dash at top speed, which the latter can drain a Chocobo’s Boost Gauge if used unwisely. Similar with Final Fantasy VII’s racing mechanics, conserving Stamina during the earlier leg of the race and dashing when nearing the finish line is a simple but effective tactic.

4. Races are comprised of five tiers. Winning a particular rewards the player with a useful item.

Image Source: Siliconera

Technorati Tags: Chocobo Racing, Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy XIII-2

Square Enix and DeNa: A recipe for success or a fusion for failure?

Is Final Fantasy losing its single-player magnificence? In Square Enix’s latest attempt to re-invent the Final Fantasy IP, the company has recently joined forces with DeNa to bring into reality a Final Fantasy social gaming platform for mobile users. Later in 2010, Square Enix had the same approach when it released two Facebook games entitled Chocobo’s Tower and  Knights of the Crystals, which both games enjoyed moderate success inside social networking’s indestructible kingdom.

Final Fantasy social will run on DeNa’s Mobage platform, which currently holds an unbelievable total of 30 million subscribers for the original Japan Mobage network alone.

According to Gameindustry.biz, pre-registration for Final Fantasy social is now open for players. Registration, despite the lack of gameplay information and social perks that subscribers will receive, will allow owners of the recently released PSP exclusive, Final Fantasy Type-0, to receive an undisclosed in-game reward.

Honestly, Square Enix should just work in regularizing Final Fantasy XIV‘s failed attempt to enrich the whole Final Fantasy MMO experience because basically, the game has the potential a social interaction titan. Additionally, circulating rumors that Final Fantasy XIV will become available for smart phones is truly enough to give one last chance of invigorating spark to Square Enix’s exhausting experiment to make Final Fantasy fit in the pockets of social gaming.

Technorati Tags: Final Fantasy Social, Final Fantasy Type-0

The long haul: Final Fantasy XIV is coming to the Vita, Xbox 360, and smart phones

Final Fantasy XIV is an ambitious MMORPG that met all kinds of criticism after its release in September 2010. Final Fantasy XIV crossed paths with Final Fantasy fans and reviewers whom agreed that Final Fantasy XIV damaged Square Enix and its eponymous role playing title because of poor quality of gameplay and drawbacks that could have stimulated SE to come up with another role-playing franchise in replacement for Final Fantasy.

Of course, no matter how Square Enix fails to give the Final Fantasy community what they want, Final Fantasy will always become the center piece for RPG discussion. With or without Final Fantasy XIV continuing its operations as the potential “WoW killer.” Nonetheless, Square Enix is pushing Final Fantasy XIV, despite the fact that the MMO has been negatively received by much of its customers; according to VideoGamer.com, Square Enix is planning to port Final Fantasy XIV on both the PlayStation Vita and Xbox 360.

Naoki Yoshida, Final Fantasy XIV’s director and producer, says that:

“Of course, because the game is developed on the PC, moving it to the Xbox 360 platform wouldn’t be that difficult, but as we said before, the thing we have to get done first is getting that PS3 version done. Once that’s done, we can take the next step from there.”

This response was based from his interview question regarding Final Fantasy XIV being transported to the Xbox 360. Square Enix executives such as Yoshida show great confidence with Final Fantasy XIV becoming available to other next-generation console systems, yet players struggle to embrace the game because of porting delays. Enix also had plans to port Final Fantasy XIV for the PlayStation 3, but it never got its way through, suffering another monumental stall.

Square Enix is also facilitating plans for a Vita release. Additionally, SE hopes to bring the MMO to smart phone users, which lay open to a new foundation for MMOs.

Source: Video Gamer

Technorati Tags: Final Fantasy XIV

Peace, serenity, and economic abundance now surrounds Alexandria; the curse of the Mist has been lifted and all of Gaia’s people are enjoying the calm brought by the rogue efforts of Zidane Tribal and company. Alexandria shimmers in the dead of night – the blade encapsulates the castle’s stronghold as the mightiest defense in all of Gaia flanked by its ruthless female soldiers and Knights of the Pluto whom have metamorphosed as vicious sentinels of peace. While Alexandria is dreaming, one warrior walks its streets, armed with courage and unyielding conviction for the Queen.

“This alley?” General Beatrix spoke in a soft voice, “This alley brings back a lot of horrific memories; Steiner and I dragged the civilians to safety during Bahamut’s indiscriminate attack. The Mist Horrors – putrid and revolting – also made things harder for us to protect Alexandria’s panicking citizens. Even this mighty blade of mine that shows no sign of rusting couldn’t cut through their corrupted mane. Perhaps, it is I that is demonstrating signals of weakness and…”

“Gggh!” Beatrix staggered into a distance. Stands in front of her is a cloaked stranger armed with a menacing trident and posture that can easily intimidate the Goblins of Evil Forest. “I must say that it is very unusual for Alexandria to open its Holy Wings to uneducated vagabonds such as yourself! Show yourself, villain!”

“Is that how you greet a former ally? I must say General, I never imagined that I could take you down with a pathetic lunge like that?” The stranger took of her tarnished clothing, revealing herself as Freya Crescent, a Burmecian dragoon who accompanied Zidane in his journey in liberating Gaia from the accursed Mist. ”

Beatrix confidently stood up from her fall and slowly approached her former comrade. “Freya, I’m aware that you are a Dragoon of the highest level, but using your leaping abilities to greet me is inexcusable. Nevertheless, our short-lived partnership of taking out the Bandersnatches that were chasing Zidane down the castle’s hidden underground labyrinth is the only reason why you are still on you’re feet.”

“Your memory is sharp as your blade, but if memory serves me correct, those Tantalus performers pulled us from a humiliating death at the hands of your former master’s slaves.”

Insulted, The General quickly took out Save the Queen and pointed it at Freya’s throat.

“Never talk to Queen Brahne with such ill-mannered foibles! You know very well that Kuja was behind all the conspiracies that led to her Majesty’s fate! I will never sever my associations with the former Queen. One more assault against her would mean your grave!” Unfrazzled, Freya quickly disarmed Beatrix, throwing Save the Queen to the ground. The confident dragoon looked at the sword, and returned it to its surprised owner.

“Twice at the same night? Is this the same Beatrix that who have struck me down thrice in three different occasions? Honestly, I paid you a visit for a rematch but seeing your frantic disposition makes me uninterested in facing you in a blood duel.”

“So you came here to Alexandria to avenge your loss?” Beatrix slowly turned her back at Freya, hesitating to accept Freya’s bold invitation – “I accept your challenge. Meet me by the castle’s fountain when the clouds turn gray and the goddesses begin to cry.”

Outraged with Beatrix, Freya pointed her trident at the General’s rose-adorned back – “Are you mocking me?! Ridiculing me in front of a cold tempest, which witnessed my agonizing defeat against your wicked blade!” Calming down, Freya’s collected attitude came back, answering Beatrix’s challenge with unrelenting confidence – “When the first raindrop lands, my spear will come howling, resonating the anger that rivals the sound of the thunder!”

Freya’s signature leap left Beatrix alone in the dark alley where horrendous memories culminated as a result of Kuja’s machinations of the Mist. The General consulted her confused feelings, searching for answers, rummaging for reasons. “Freya’s strength… She would have defeated me back then if only…,” Beatrix stopped, waving her long against the cold winds of the night.

-To be continued-

Final Fantasy Girls will now feature short stories and encounters that will re-define the relationships of famous Final Fantasy heroines on titles which they appeared in failed to exploit to audiences.

Image Source: http://magestrial.net/freya/v3banner.jpg

Technorati Tags: Final Fantasy Girls, Freya, General Beatrix