The Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary Event has come and gone, and we have a smörgåsbord of new topics to discuss. For those of you who missed the event or want an easy way to catch up, type “25th” in the search box to the right to look up all pertaining articles. So — let’s take a look at some of the major news to come out of the event!
Feel free to comment on what was shown, what wasn’t shown, and what you expect for the future of Final Fantasy!
FINAL FANTASY 25TH ANNIVERSARY ULTIMATE BOX + MEMORIAL ULTIMANIA
To open the event, a fantastic new Final Fantasy boxset was announced for Japan. (No plans for overseas release according to Square Enix North America.) The Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary Ultimate Box includes every numbered Final Fantasy game that has released except Final Fantasy XIV which relaunches in January. A combination of PS1, PS2, and PSP games in one collection, each disc has new and unique art from Final Fantasy series artist Yoshitaka Amano.
For more on everything included in this boxset, you can read on here.
Additionally, a Memorial Ultimania series was set for the numbered series — the Ultimania guides being lengthy full-featured encyclopedia of everything that went into making the games and will likely include new interviews and retrospectives from the staff.
LIGHTNING RETURNS: FINAL FANTASY XIII
Of course, the elephant in the room was the New Developments presentation which announced the third and final game in the Final Fantasy XIII series.
As the title dictates, Lightning returns as the main character of this title in the distant future where the end of the world looms in merely thirteen days. A major emphasis will be put on players exploring the world of Navus Partus and forging their own end to the series through Lightning’s actions. The doomsday countdown speeds up and slows down accordingly, and the world will change via a multitude of factors — including real life interactions through Facebook. Combat will be quite different as well, as Lightning will be able to manually move, block, and evade in real-time. ATB will return, but substantially different than it’s two predecessors.
You can read more about the developments by clicking here.
What are you anticipating with this third Final Fantasy XIII game? Do you think this departure from what we’ve come to expect in Final Fantasy XIII and XIII-2 is refreshing or disappointing? Leave us a comment below!
FINAL FANTASY XIV: A REALM REBORN
Final Fantasy XIV was in attendance at the event, with director/producer Naoki Yoshida showing off the game in motion. Much of the footage at the event was similar to the presentation at this year’s Gamescom, but there were a few surprises — such as the reveal of two new jobs: Arcanist and Summoner.
Also, a new feature present in FFXI called Level Sync will allow you to match your friends’ levels to quest with them without impeding your own progress to Level 50. In addition to that, a brand new trailer “Limit Break” was shown, showcasing the evolution of the Battle Regimen that was previously scrapped. An official soundtrack of all the music in Final Fantasy XIV has now been official released through iTunes called Eorzean Frontiers.
For more on what was presented, you can read our play-by-play here.
The alpha testing phase of Final Fantasy XIV is starting shortly, and you can sign up by clicking here.
FINAL FANTASY VERSUS XIII
Final Fantasy Versus XIII did not show up at the 25th Anniversary, and strangely we’ve had a bit of a back and forth on the next time we’ll be seeing it. Final Fantasy series producer Shinji Hashimoto chatted with fans at the event, and when they asked him about the game — he replied (and I paraphrase): “sorry, but there wouldn’t be anything this year in regards to Versus”.
On the second day of the event during the Future of Final Fantasy presentation, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VIII and Final Fantasy Type-0 director Hajime Tabata informed fans that he had a message from Versus director Tetsuya Nomura:
“Tetsuya Nomura wanted to give the message that he’ll soon show the future of Final Fantasy.”
It may be worth noting that Tokyo Game Show 2012 is only a few weeks away.
FINAL FANTASY TYPE-0
While Tabata-san pranked the audience of a otome Final Fantasy Type-0 game developed by Luminous Studio, Final Fantasy Type-0 was absent on the North American and European coverage of the event. Approaching a year since the game debuted in Japan, things have been deathly quiet in regards to the game’s localization status.
If you would like to see this game localized, we implore you to use social media to tell Square Enix North America why you want this game. Tell @SQEX_MEMBERS_NA and @PlayStation and use the Twitter hashtag #FFTYPE0. Together we can send a message that the world is still deserving of an excellent addition to the Final Fantasy series.
So that wraps up the major bits and pieces that emerged over the course of the Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary Event! But while we look forward to news on upcoming titles, we must reconcile that this is a celebration of the last twenty-five years of Final Fantasy. So please, share with us your fondest memories of Final Fantasy by leaving us a comment below — and thank you for visiting Final Fantasy Network for coverage of the event!
