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PlayStation (Games) Role Playing (Games) Entertainment Games

Square Enix Officially Unveils Final Fantasy XII 87

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."
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Square Enix Officially Unveils Final Fantasy XII

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  • Is Vann supposed to be a member of Glay [glay.co.jp] or of L'arc~en~ciel [geocities.com]?

  • Bah (Score:3, Funny)

    by ElleyKitten ( 715519 ) <kittensunrise@NOspaM.gmail.com> on Wednesday November 19, 2003 @11:17AM (#7511306) Journal
    Van looks like he's twelve. And Ashe doesn't know what a skirt supposed to be. 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.
    • Re:Bah (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Spleener12 ( 587422 ) *
      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 re

      • My revolutionary comment was a result of seeing too many articles like this [gamesarefun.com]. Articles that say the game is nifty and unique but gives nothing solid to be excited about. I love Final Fantasy. I want to be excited. But being excited about the fact that it's on two discs or the game is huge or that they expect people to say "Is this Final Fantasy?" when they play it? I'll pass.
    • by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Wednesday November 19, 2003 @12:28PM (#7511898)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Welcome? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ivan256 ( 17499 ) * on Wednesday November 19, 2003 @11:18AM (#7511315)
    If you don't like the type of game past Final Fantasy games have been, then please don't pretend that you can say anything objective about them. There is nothing wrong with a linear story line. Many of us enjoy that type of game. If you don't then go play one of the millions of other games out there that don't, and end up being massive slash fests instead.

    Also, in a preemptive response to the inevitable "Final Fantasy games invented the need for a strategy guide" comments: Shut up! Just because you're too dumb to figure out how to do things in the game without the guide, or you're too lazy to take notes while you play so you can actually remember the important details and figure things out on your own doesn't mean the strategy guide is *required*.

    It amazes me that people think like this and then wonder why the adventure genre dried up. /me dons asbestos clothing....
    • Re:Welcome? (Score:1, Troll)

      by pmz ( 462998 )
      wonder why the adventure genre dried up.

      It's interesting how the popularity of classic adventure games seems inversely proportional to the popularity of Microsoft software...
    • Re:Welcome? (Score:1, Flamebait)

      by Ieshan ( 409693 )
      If you don't like the type of game past Final Fantasy games have been, then please don't pretend that you can say anything objective about them.

      You win most ridiculous, arrogant, and ignorant statement ever posted on Slashdot. Here, let me reword that for you:

      If you don't like something, you're unable to offer an objective opinion of it's faults.

      In other words, you are either:
      Convinced that everything you do is correct.
      Lacking in grade-school logic.
      Still in grade-school.
      • Can I give you a stupidity award?

        Here, let me reword that for you:

        Sure, go ahead and boil my statement down into something it doesn't say. If you don't like a particular type of thing, then you are ill equipped to offer an objective opinion on something of that type relative to other things of the same type. End of story.

        Next time you want to go rewording somebody's statements you should first make sure you have a firm grasp on comprehension. Once you have that down we can talk about interpreting subtl
    • HAHAHAHAHAHA.... ...take notes...

      hahahhaha

      whew...thats was a good one.
      • It's obvious that some of us have a different idea of fun than others.... You don't see me laughing at what you like to do though... Then again, I don't know what types of games you like. Perhaps I would laugh.
        • ah..hehe.... ..sorry man, didn't mean that to sound like a diss, it's just that I never heard the arguement of 'taking notes' when trying to describe how fun something is.

          different strokes(notes) for different folks!

          BTW - I dig Final Fantasy - although I havn't played any of the 3D ones.
    • "Also, in a preemptive response to the inevitable "Final Fantasy games invented the need for a strategy guide" comments: Shut up! Just because you're too dumb to figure out how to do things in the game without the guide, or you're too lazy to take notes while you play so you can actually remember the important details and figure things out on your own doesn't mean the strategy guide is *required*."

      In some cases, I would concur - there -are- games which do not need a strategy guide in order to be played an

      • However, there are some things in the Final Fantasy series which are damn near impossible to figure out without one - I'd refer specifically to Final Fantasy VII as the trendsetter for this.

        Bull. Final Fantasy VII in particular went out of the way to make sure you could do every little thing with in-game info only. There were multiple clues in the game about how to find and how to get Knights of the Round. It stopped short only of spelling it out for you. Perhaps you weren't able to put the pieces togethe
        • I don't think the Knights of the Round is a good example of somehting you couldn't figure out without a strategy guide. You got the gold Chocobo after spending way too much time and effort breeding and racing, and then once you get it, it's kinda logical to go to the only place you couldn't get to on the airship. I never got it because I didn't like the chocobo breeding.

          One thing I never got how you were supposed to figure out the ultimate weapons in FFX by yourself. I found all these crests and sig
  • More screenshots (Score:2, Informative)

    by Antisthenes ( 579582 )
    See also here [the-magicbox.com] for some more screenshots.

    (Thanks be to Tycho [penny-arcade.com] for the link.)

  • Am I the only one who interpreted "no branching path system in place" as "extremely linear gameplay with one ending".

    The way I see it, a branching path system involves different results to your actions... something I don't recall any FF game having.

    It just seems to me that they're trying to pretty up the same old game using new-fangled wording.
    • by moronga ( 323123 ) on Wednesday November 19, 2003 @12:11PM (#7511773)
      Am I the only one who interpreted "no branching path system in place" as "extremely linear gameplay with one ending".

      Yes. Those of us who RTFA saw the rest of that paragraph:

      ...rather, the scenario has been designed such that the players have a wide breadth of possibilities within the scenario, giving them the opportunity to choose their focus within the wider scope of the story. If true, this would be a large (and welcome) step away from the very linear scenario design of past Final Fantasies.
      :)
    • RTFA, though it's partially the poster's fault for quoting it like that. Here's the whole paragraph:

      That's all we know about the gameplay so far, but Matsuno did have one more thing to say: Final Fantasy XII is not a movie, he stressed. It's an interactive game, and hence "the wishes and preconceptions of the player will affect what they find out of the story." There won't be any branching-path system in place; rather, the scenario has been designed such that the players have a wide breadth of possibiliti

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • www.ff12.com (Flash site)

    The images linked in the submission are taken from the Characters section.
  • by Spleener12 ( 587422 ) * on Wednesday November 19, 2003 @12:10PM (#7511767)
    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.

    • Maybe plastic surgery is one of the character skills in the game.
    • You know, I don't think that the pictures of Ashe are really of the same person. this one not only has blonde hair as opposed to brown, but she also has significantly smaller breasts than this one.

      Well, we all know that the PS2 hardware is starting to show its age. They probably realized half-way through development that the hardware wasn't up to the task so they had to reduce the Boobygon (TM) count :-)


      Mechanik
  • Square Enix? Shouldn't you see an andrologist for that?
  • I haven't been a huge fan of the PSX/2 Final Fantasy incarnations, but I can't believe the attitude (pervading this comments) that this one is going to be like all the previous games; I think there's a lot of hope for innovation. People working on the game (and who exactly escapes me at the moment) have said that people won't know this is Final Fantasy and the fact that a lot of staff from FFTA is working on this game is a good sign. Also, as mentioned on FFXII [the-magicbox.com] is supposed tot take place in Ivalice, the s
  • Man, Square-Enix does it again. They've taken the male hero model and turned it on it's head by having two young ladies take the spotlight and save the world.

    Damn Square-Enix, you just don't know when to stop innovating, do you?
    • Re:Two heroines (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 19, 2003 @03:04PM (#7513356)
      you know, i think there are two problems related to this issue of androgyny. the main one is that there appears to be a huge cultural gap here. in the west, the preferred type of male is the "macho" one. if he's not, then he's uncool, weak, feminine, what-have-you. but in japan (and the orient in general), it's perfectly acceptable for men to be beautiful. in fact, the most beautiful guys i've seen are more beautiful than girls could be. to me, neither tidus nor vaan look like women. if you think they do, you ain't seen androgyny yet. ^_~

      the other problem is that most of you aren't girls. you'd be surprised how many girls like beautiful men. ^_~ and they're straight too (both the aforementioned girls and men).
      • Yeah, I guess I'm bitching 'cause they all look the same now. I took one look at XII and was pretty sure I was looking at X.

        Personal preference I guess. I wish they'd go back to the surreal style ala VII and IX.
  • "In keeping with the general "new" approach to the franchise, longtime series composer Nobuo Uematsu will only be involved in creating the key theme song this time. The rest of the music will be composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto, who worked with Matsuno on (say it with us) Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy Tactics."

    Say WHAT?

    Uematsu's works have always been some of my favorite, and I'm a video game music freak. I can prove it, I even donated to GamingFM... The removal of Uematsu is, IMHO, a bad thing, because
    • Huh? No more Uematsu soundtracks? Dammit. I agree, removing him was a bad thing. I didn't like it when they installed those other guys as additional composers for X, and this will probably just get worse.
    • Well, this is a negative to the series, but I am sure that Square-Enix would not leave ol' Nobuo out of the loop and I am positive Sakimoto will be getting input from him. Then again Sakimoto is not to shabby himself. His work includes Vagrant Story, Final Fantasy Tactics, and my personal favorite, Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter. With this being said, I'm only a bit worried about the outcome of the music in this game. I'm sure Square-Enix wouldn't let their game music fans down.
      • He's not, I know: I've heard varying reports that Nobuo is doing either the main title music or "The music in the background during one very important scene", to quote... they're all running together, um... Gamespot.

        And nothing against the new guy, but I've heard his stuff, and it's not on the same plane as Uematsu.
        • Of course it isnt, Uematsu can be considered as a game music god, only second to Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Xenogears) IMO. And he is only concentrating on the main theme of the game, but I hope that he will give input to Sakimoto. Even so I like Sakimoto's style so it should be decent at the worst...
  • '"due to be released in Japan in summer 2004."'

    So... thats what for the USA? Spring 2005 shortly before the announcement of FFXII-2?

  • Everyone's having a pretty good time bashing Vaan for looking really excessively girly, and bashing FF12 for that. And yeah, he does look pretty bad, but if you remember the concept art for FF6 (or FF3 US), generally considered one of the best of the series, Locke was pretty girly looking. And Zidane from FF9 just looked stupid, but that ended up being a great game too.
    I guess my point is that you can't make judgments about the game based on some poor character designs.
  • by Kelz ( 611260 )
    seems like square is pandering to yaoi fans. yech.

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