Final Fantasy XII Details Leak Ahead Of Unveiling

Thanks to GameSpot for its coverage of pictures and details of Square Enix's Final Fantasy XII, as a Japanese print magazine released a very short preview ahead of "an official presentation of the game" on November 19th in Tokyo. According to the piece, the game "...will take place in a fantasy world where there are other races aside from humans, and flying vessels fill the sky", and "main characters in Final Fantasy XII are a boy named Van and a girl named Arche." The available media also contains a CG shot of "a soldier riding on a chocobo", for those worried their favorite winged creature would be excluded from this instalment.

Leak Happy

[May Kasahara]

Didn't the FF7: Advent Children leaks come from a Jump magazine as well? Someone there either really loves Square or really wants to annoy them. Or just wants to sell more magazines.

In any case, as for the pics, I kind of like that the characters have a more "cartoony" look about them than FFX's characters did. Still feels Tetsuya Nomura-ish... bleah :P

As an aside, I hope they bring the Overworld Map back, one where you can actually see your avatar/Chocobo/airship travel around on. That was the one thing I seriously disliked about FFX... no overworld (the little map that they gave you on the airship sucked for exploring).

Re:Leak Happy

[simoniker]

I think the street date of that Weekly Jump magazine is probably after/on the 19th, but somebody in Japan is getting copies early and posting them online, though I'm not sure - I would think Square Enix wouldn't want to scoop their own press conference by printing details early elsewhere. The magazine itself [ex.org] is _very_ popular, it seems - has a larger circulation than any US game-related magazine, though it seems like it covers other stuff too:

"What is JUMP? WEEKLY JUMP, rival publication of WEEKLY SHONEN SUNDAY, is a "phone book" anthology published every week, with a circulation over 4 million. It is filled with some of today's hottest titles targeted for school age boys, many of them familiar to anime fans. JUMP has among its esteemed alumni: DRAGON BALL, VIDEO GIRL AI, CITY HUNTER, FIST OF THE NORTH STAR, KIMAGURE ORANGE ROAD, SAINT SEIYA, SLAM DUNK, and YUU YUU HAKUSHO / POLTERGEIST REPORT."

Same Character Look

[neosiv]

Is it just me or do the main characters look exactly like the ones from X, just with different names?

Character Design

[swat_r2]

Is it just me or has anyone else noticed the Final Fantasy heroes to be made from a generic template? While I do appreciate the costume design creativity, the actual characters themselves seem to fit in the "so cute I just want to punch them" mold. And yes, the males are so de-sexed there's not much difference from the female counter-parts. Take for instance Square's upcoming FFVII CGI - Sephiroth wasn't supposed to look like a deranged female supermodel. I realize that we are a deeply vain culture and if something looks prettier we're more inclined to lay down our cash, so from a marketing perspective it does make sense to have uber-hot people as the protaganists.

I'm not the biggest Final Fantasy fan although I loved VII to death I've become less and less excited about the series, I seriously just looked at those pictures and went "meh".

Cool Game Character Design 101:

1. White Hair is all the rage these days.
2. Definitive scar over the eye.
3. Big Hair is Better.
4. Women's cleavage makes sense no matter what situation.
5. Only those with ~6% body fat need apply.
6. Sketch a woman, remove the breasts and makeup = instant male hero.


Anyone care to add to the list? :)

Even I can't understand why this is a problem.

[Ayanami Rei]

Sex sells. RPG's sell glossy guides.
Glossy guides + sexy game = auxiliary magazine sales at convience stores.

Oh, you mean for gamers? Wake up! They got bought by Enix. Hopefully they won't suck _all_ the fun out of the franchise.

On a side-note, I wish I looked that good in ass-huggers. I'll probably end up not playing it out of embarrassment.