E3 2009: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy XIV
For fans of the Final Fantasy series, E3 2009 has been something of a bonanza. Final Fantasy VII is being re-released, there was a new English-language trailer for Final Fantasy XIII, and Final Fantasy XIV was announced, although whether it’s actually a PS3 exclusive or if it’ll also be coming to the Xbox 360 isn’t yet clear.
Final Fantasy VII
OK, so it may not be the Final Fantasy VII PS3 remake a fair portion of us would like to see, but it’s better than nothing. Final Fantasy VII is now available to buy from the Playstation Store. So while early adopters of the PS3 are swapping their PS1 discs around, the rest of us can download it to our PS3s for the frankly bargain price of $9.99 and forget all that malarkey.
The game is 12 years old now but still stands up to scrutiny. At least it did the last time I played through it in full a couple of years ago. The graphics look as dated as hell, as is to be expected, but the storyline and gameplay is still there and as top quality as it was the first time we all played it. And we did pretty much all play it back in the day.
Final Fantasy XIII
There wasn’t much news on Final Fantasy XIII at E3 2009. Mainly because this is the game we’re all waiting for and the less said the better in order not to remind us all how damn long the translation is taking. The game is already out in Japan and is just under a year away from release in North America. Us poor saps in Europe and Australia are left hoping we’ll actually get our hands on it before the end of 2010.
There was some comfort at E3 in the form of a new trailer, including (shock horror) English language. The footage is not any different to what we’ve already seen but the fact those of us who aren’t blessed with speaking Japanese can actually understand what’s going on is a bonus.
Final Fantasy XIV
And so we come to the big announcement of E3, probably one of the biggest surprises of the whole show because there had been no word, no rumors, and no speculation about Final Fantasy XIV prior to E3 2009. The game was unveiled during the Sony press conference as an online MMORPG which will be released simultaneously on the PC during 2010.
Sony stated that the game would be a PS3 exclusive but that’s not quite accurate. Square Enix has since explained that the company will be “considering all options”. Which means it may well be coming to the Xbox 360 as well, just don’t quote me on that. I’d guess the game will be a PS3 exclusive but Square isn’t willing to say that quite yet. Maybe it’s waiting for Microsoft to offer a truckload of cash for it not to be the case.
Final Fantasy XIV is going to see a return to the medieval style of former games rather than the sci-fi styling of more recent releases. It’s also being designed to cater for as many people as possible, those who want to play with friends for short periods of time and those who want to veg out all day in front of their TVs.
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38 Responses to “E3 2009: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy XIV”
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June 4th, 2009
“Hashimoto would like to clarify some confusion regarding the exclusivity: [11:56] Through a translator, he says that some folks interpreted that it was an exclusive, the announcement would be coming to the PS3 and PC. We are considering all options at this time, including Microsoft hardware.”
e3.gamespot.com/story/6210518/square-enix-considering-ffxiv-online-for-microsoft-hardware
I see… the translator is to blame?
June 4th, 2009
i jizzed a lil when i realised that i could at one time have FF13, FF13 versus and FF14 all in my hot hands before the end of next year, THERE MENT TO GIVE US TIME TO PLAY EACH GAME, NOT THROW THEM ALL OUT AT US (not that im complaining
)
June 4th, 2009
It will be interesting to see if they lose versus as well as 14.
June 4th, 2009
Not really a loss if they never ‘really’ had it
I still feel for Tretton, that man is sitting in a hotel sobbing and drinking whiskey from a bottle in a brown paper bag right now.
But he’ll feel better when he remembers he has a nut load of cash and 4 hookers from northern Europe in the next room.
*sigh* I wish I was Tretton…
June 4th, 2009
Just made it up to the part when Arith gets taken by the Turks, and sector 7 gets destroyed.
I’ll play XIV if it’s free to play. At least PS3 owners will have it first. I’m going to level up like crazy, so if/when the 360 players get there I can destroy them.
June 4th, 2009
Barnabe Jones:
No one ever said FFXIV was going to be on Xbox 360. And it is exclusive the Square-Enix guys were finalizing the agreement Sony is way too fast remember E3 2007 in mid E3 they got the exclusive rights to have Unreal Tournament III timed exclusive.
June 4th, 2009
As far as VII’s (or 8 or 9s) graphics, the back rounds and cut scenes still look pretty good. The characters themselves look a little dated. Still it looks just as good as anything on the DS.
June 4th, 2009
Barnabe:
“I’ll play XIV if it’s free to play. At least PS3 owners will have it first. I’m going to level up like crazy, so if/when the 360 players get there I can destroy them.”
jajaja your funny.
hey Metal Gear Solid 1 is coming to the PSN, 360 ower are never going to get the full story of any games. if the buy Resident Evil 5, they wont know what the hell happend before as they will need a PS3 to buy all the PS1 games (if they didnt have a PS1)
Final Fantasy XIII is going to be a trilogy/ 3-game story. Final Fantasy XII, FF versus and FF XIII Agito. Verson is PS3 Exclusive and Agito is only available on the PSP.
Metal Gear Rasing, MSG4 Is only available on the PS3, MGS1 on the PS1 and Portable Ops on the PSP. Devil May Cry 1,2 and 3 were all available on the PS2 only
Tekke 1-5 are only available on playstation
June 4th, 2009
Roca:
You right they won’t get the full story since they missing almost everything. They don’t have Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Metal Gear Solid 1, None of the PSP versions.
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker looks really good.
As for Final Fantasy we got %99 of the collection they got nothing yet.
Devil May Cry also they just got 4 we got all four.
As for our beloved fighting game Tekken we got everything.
PlayStation started real gaming. Without PlayStation there’s no gaming.
Final Fantasy will never be going to the Xbox because it going to be made from ground up te PS3 specs and technology like Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.
June 4th, 2009
Actually Kojima is only involved with MGS: Peace walker for PSP. The new game Rising for PS3 and 360 is a spin off and not handled by Kojima.
So at least the PSP is getting another true Metal Gear game.
June 4th, 2009
Yup true we always get the best
June 4th, 2009
also Metal Gear Solid is its own series that started on the playstation 1. The key word is “Solid” as those games revolve around Solid Snake.
There has been 2 other “Metal Gear” games:
Metal Gear 1 and Metal Gear 2 (they are not Metal Gear Solid 1 and Metal Gear Solid 2)
and now the have METAL GEAR RISING <- again not part of the Metal Gear Solid franchise/story
June 4th, 2009
“How many discs are you expecting the Xbox 360 version to have?
Not a ridiculously massive amount. We want to keep it to a minimum as the more discs a game has, the more expensive it is to produce.”
joystiq.com/2009/06/03/interview-final-fantasy-xiiis-yoshinori-kitase-and-motomu-tori
Which is what I’ve been trying to say all along, and have been constantly getting shot down….and by logical extension, this must mean that the PS3 version is being affected in some capacity by their desire to keep the size down.
June 4th, 2009
or they are going to compress the whole game to make it fit in a 360 disc which means it is going to be inferior to the PS3.
compressing games = less graphics, glitch, lags, pop-ups, foggy looking game, horrible sound track, etc.
June 4th, 2009
Who cares, I’m just pointing out that multiple discs clearly is a big deal for devs and pubs, because I was being lectured that it was not an issue.
June 4th, 2009
“compressing games = less graphics, glitch, lags, pop-ups, foggy looking game, horrible sound track, etc.”
Right like you can’t find these problems in a PS3 game. Roca your so Bias and full of shit.
June 4th, 2009
why would you need to compress a PS3 game, when you have extra amount of memory on a blu-ray disc
June 4th, 2009
@Lock down
Well he does not ‘Not a ridiculously massive amount. ‘ that still leaves ‘a massive amount’ available
hehe 5 discs here we come.
I jest! (and really don’t care!) if they plan the game and make the disc swapping so it doesn’t become a pain in the ass (anyone who’s played star ocean and started the dungeons after finishing the game may understand what i mean here), so that you’re not swapping them between 2 locations you need to goto often then swapping is fine.
June 4th, 2009
Ugh, I mean to say ‘well he does say…’
June 4th, 2009
SW, I’m not making the disc swapping itself the issue here…I’ve always said that only an open world game like GTA on multiple discs is where there would be big problems; I’m making the point that cost wise, there clearly IS an issue with developers splitting content onto multiple discs…because he quite clearly admits so here.
If multiple discs is not an issue for developers, there would be no problem. But the fact that he SPECIFICALLY says that they are trying to keep the number of discs down “to a minimum” because more discs make it “expensive” to produce, shows that there are issues.
I’ve been saying that for some time, but some people haven’t wanted to project the assertion that is no problem with shipping multiple discs. No-one can now deny that is the case.
June 4th, 2009
*have wanted* even…
get an edit button blorge.
June 4th, 2009
I would hate for the PS3 version to get gimped. Even if they had to package a few extra DVD’s into the 360 version, they could just raise the price by a few bucks… but after what happened with the demo, they probably think it “wouldn’t be fair” if the 360 version cost a few dollars more… so we all get screwed in the end.
June 4th, 2009
“At least PS3 owners will have it first.”(FFXIV)
You mean like in Japan with FFXIII? I guess you’re right. Are you brushing up on your kanji?
June 4th, 2009
why would you need to compress a PS3 game, when you have extra amount of memory on a blu-ray disc
Did I say anything about Compressing a PS3 game? No I didn’t. You make the assertion that compressed games equeal less graphics, glitch, lags, pop-ups, foggy looking game, horrible sound track, etc. and that is BS when the same problems affect the Bluray disk. And as for Foggy Looking games, I have only wittnessed that foggy look on PS3 games. I have no clue what fog you may be talking about because it does not exsist over here. It funny that the 360 version of Prototype will have DTS Nutral Surrond. Not supported by the rest. But I guess you know better.
June 4th, 2009
It’s not out yet, but I would say Uncharted 2 has the best draw distance of any game to date. CAD, see the demo shown at E3, it’s worth it.
June 4th, 2009
Fogging is just an attempt to hide shitty pop in and draw distance. I don’t really see why textures would be effected because anything that far away is generally using a shitty texure on purpose until you get close enough the engine swaps it out for a nicer one.
@CAD ‘I have no clue what fog you may be talking about because it does not exsist over here.’
I know you’re talking about the 360 here, BUT, if you want a REALLY good example, fire up an N64 and play Turok, you can only see like 20 feet. Seriously.
Ere : firsthour.net/screenshots/turok-dinosaur-hunter/turok-dinosaur-hunter-fog-knife.JPG
June 4th, 2009
Carl,
Yeah, I just messed around with the Uncharted 2 multiplayer beta a few hours ago and, although I didn’t think of it at the time, the draw distance really is impressive.
Also, since it’s a 3rd person action game, they slow down the multiplayer just a tad, so it’s a lot less “twitch” and a lot more strategy and teamwork. Only played a couple rounds competitive, though.
-Arvis
June 4th, 2009
Interesting read….
.pcworld.com/article/166109/e3_whats_wrong_with_microsofts_xbox_360_motioncontrol_approach.html?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a41:g2:r6:c0.059644:b24881348
June 4th, 2009
Uncharted 2 has the best draw distance of any game to date. CAD, see the demo shown at E3, it’s worth it.
Oh I know it was one of the two games which includes gods of war which caught my attention for Sony’s conference.
June 4th, 2009
@Barnabe – That article pretty much sums up my feelings.
June 4th, 2009
I thought it was pretty interesting. The 5 questions article was good also. I’m really curious as to what the retail price will end up being.
June 5th, 2009
I totally agree with those articles Barnabe. I don’t think Natal was ever meant to be the end all or even replace physical controllers entirely, but rather as a supplement and bridging technology. The five questions also apply to the wands, but of course they had not been shown at the time of writing.
Ultimately, it would be a simple matter to add tactile feedback with less expensive devices, as the existing sensor unit and 360 would be doing the bulk of the processing anyway. I still agree with bourne though, with either tech it would get tiring for long gaming sessions.
June 5th, 2009
Well as much as I agree I have to look at the flip side. I read one article of a person who got to go try out Natal and they tried it on Burnout Paradise and they said that they thought that they would feel disconnected because of the feel of resistance when you play with a controller but to his suprise he actually felt involved and connected even though there was no controller. I also read somewhere an Idea about playing rock band and having the characters move the way you are and your still playing the guitar. The truth is the controller cannot be replaced for everything but I trully think that natal can be added to exsisting game play as well as change the complete game play entirely or just not be applied to certain game play whatsoever. It just takes some imagination and innovation. I’m still trying to wrap my head around how a shotter can be used with natal.
June 5th, 2009
You point your finger and go “pew pew” at the screen CAD. No seriously, I see what you are saying. If you (or anybody) would like to add their two cents for posterity (price estimate, release date, how it will effect gaming, if at all, limitations, incorporation into the next gen, comparison to Sony wand tech, game/application ideas, favorite past fictionalized games/applications – Minority Report, Ender’s Game, etc.), you are welcome to comment on the Natal thread I started here:
blorge.net/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=59
June 5th, 2009
Burnout Paradise? So I guess that answers the question of weather or not it’s backwards compatible?
June 5th, 2009
“I also read somewhere an Idea about playing rock band and having the characters move the way you are and your still playing the guitar.”
CAD, that would be so flippin sweet! Would it work with multiple players, you think? Here’s hoping that sort of ingenuity becomes standard with this kind of tech.
-Arvis
June 5th, 2009
CAD, did the article you read state how they controlled the acceleration and brake for Burnout Paradise? Just curious.
June 6th, 2009
They used their feet.