Square Enix Officially Unveils Final Fantasy XII

squareamp writes "According to 1UP's in-person report from the Tokyo unveiling, Square Enix has officially taken the wraps off of the latest Final Fantasy game - Final Fantasy XII. There are new images available of our main characters: Vaan (1), Vaan (2), Ashe (1), Ashe (2) - who are both described as Humes (taking a page from the race system of Final Fantasy XI: Online)." 1UP's coverage of the event also reveals "there won't be any branching-path system in place", possibly making the game more freeform, which could be "a large (and welcome) step away from the very linear scenario design of past Final Fantasies." The creators also indicated the game is 70 percent done, and is currently "due to be released in Japan in summer 2004."

Re:Bah

[Spleener12]

And if I hear one more time that this is going to be "the most revolutionary Final Fantasy ever!" while being shown the same cookies from the same mold, I'm going to kill something.

Well, I don't know if it will be revolutionary, but it should turn out to be more different from the rest of the series than any other game aside from possibly FF8, mostly due to the fact that it's being directed by the guy who did Vagrant Story and FF Tactics, as opposed to Sakaguchi, who's done every single other FF, if I recall correctly. So you could say that it's the same mold with different cookies.

Mmmmmmmmmmm... cookies...

Perverted (yet serious) observation

[Spleener12]

You know, I don't think that the pictures of Ashe are really of the same person. this one [squareamp.com] not only has blonde hair as opposed to brown, but she also has significantly smaller breasts than this one. [squareamp.com]

Could be a trick of the light, though. Or something.

Re:Yawn-Inducingly Bland

[PainKilleR-CE]

why should you look like a spiky-headed huge-muscled freak when you're supposed to just be a normal kid?

I like the fact that they look like real, normal people. It makes them fit the role a lot better.

Generally, most of the games don't make any reference to the characters' ages. On the other hand, the only thing that prevents all of the characters from being fairly androgenous is the fact that they tend to make the female characters look like 12 year old girls with the breasts of a 16-18 year old. The males just look like 10-12 year old girls.

On the other hand, the games are Japanese, and the characters may more accurately reflect older (mid to late teen) Japanese people than Americans.

Of course, all of the ideas of them looking like normal people go out the window when you have characters like Cloud (FF7) carrying (and using) swords bigger than they are, in both width and height.