Riku on 10 May 2007 01:50 pm
Square-Enix Party 2007 Line-Up *Updated*
The line-up of the Square-Enix Party 2007 (taking place on the 12th & 13th May) has been revealed!
Update: More titles have been revealed on the official Square Enix Party 2007 website, and the map has been put on the site! Click the image to go to the official map. Putting your mouse over the circles will reveal the event or game associated on the site itself:
Videos/Announcements Only
- Final Fantasy XIII (PS3)
- Final Fantasy Versus XIII (PS3)
- Final Fantasy: Anniversary Edition (PSP)
- Final Fantasy II: Anniversary Edition (PSP)
- Dragon Quest Monsters: Battle Road (Arcade)
- Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete (Blu-Ray)
Updated - Dragon Quest: Monster Battle Road (Arcade)
Updated - Dragon Quest IX (DS)
Updated - Final Fantasy XIII: Fabula Nova Crystallis (PS3, TBA)
Playable Demonstrations and Videos/Images
- Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker (DS)
- Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings (DS)
- Final Fantasy Tactics: The Lion War (PSP - Solo & Multiplayer)
- Itadaki Street DS (DS)
- Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen & The Tower of Mirrors (Wii)
- It’s a Wonderful World (DS)
- Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core (PSP)
- Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates (DS - Solo & Multiplayer)
- Final Fantasy XI (PC, PS2, Xbox 360)
Updated - DS: Style (DS)
Updated - Final Fantasy Tactics: A2 (DS)
Updated - Final Fantasy VII: Before Crisis (Mobile Phone, TBA)
Updated - Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus - Lost Episode (TBA)
Updated - Final Fantasy XII: International Zodiac Job System (PS2)
Updated - Monotone (TBA)
Updated - Seiken (TBA)
Updated - Friends of Mana (TBA)
Updated - SaGa (TBA)
Updated - Chocobo de Mobile (TBA)
Updated - Dragon Quest: Monster Mobile (TBA)
Updated - Dragon Quest: Dungeon Mobile (TBA)
Updated - Final Fantasy 20th Anniversary Special Project: Final Fantasy (TBA)
Updated - Final Fantasy 20th Anniversary Special Project: Final Fantasy II (TBA)
Update: Other Areas
- Square-Enix Official Goods Shop
- Square-Enix Music CD Shop
- Magazine & Comic Area (including playable demos)
- Star Ocean Museum
Regardless of the fact that it’s been previously announced that Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+ will have a playable demonstration at the Party, it’s not in that line-up for some reason.
The “surprise” videos and demonstrations are obviously not shown, and considering Tetsuya Nomura has said about there being a surprise that may be related to Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts may make an appearance, even though the Party’s based mostly around Final Fantasy’s 20th Anniversary.
Square-Enix Party 2007 Commercial
on 13 May 2007 at 11:57 pm 30. Shakespeare
Triple Triad is my favorite of the Final Fantasy card games. I got to be so flippin’ good at that one…I was good enough at Tetra Master to gather most of the cards, but I still haven’t completed my collection. As for long side quests…I didn’t care how long Chocobo Hot and Cold took me, because I had a blast with it. (However, I couldn’t stand the Chocobo Breeding sidequest in FFVII. I never managed to get the Golden Chocobo, and I spent about as long trying on that as I did beating Hot and Cold.)
The music for FF always rocks, in VIII it’s very calming…but man, Liberi Fatali is just such an epic opening song…and the opening video to FFVIII is one of the coolest things I’ve seen in a long time. However, I enjoyed the story of FFIX far more, and I enjoyed it on all 4 discs. You’re right, FFVIII probably could have just ended at the end of Disc 2. I would have been satisfied.
(Think of it this way: I judged a karaoke contest where there was a three way tie for first place…they all got perfect scores, but one of them had to go home with the third place prize, y’know?)
What you say about most people getting introduced to FF through FFVII is true…there are ‘generations’ of FF fans, of sorts. There are those who have been with the series from the beginning, the ‘old school’ systems. Then there’s the ’second generation’ who got their start on FFVII. Then there’s the ‘third generation’ who were introduced through FFX. Everyone’s opinions kind of differ based on when they started playing.
on 13 May 2007 at 11:22 pm 29. Riku
Because they’re so popular basically. All of them have things in common, but the storylines always vary - There’s a lot of variety, while keeping the very popular elements. It’s a format that works brilliantly.
on 13 May 2007 at 8:39 pm 28. vinan123
Everybody seems to really like these games, and I’m excited about getting my first one when Final Fantasy Versus XIII, but could somebody PLEASE explain to me why there are so many Final Fantasy games?
on 13 May 2007 at 6:34 pm 27. Riku
Final Fantasy IX was undoubtedly my favourite Final Fantasy of all of them, mainly because it included a more in depth storyline than any of its predecessors as well as masses of sidequests. The whole system, as well as the music, was fantastic.
I think Final Fantasy VIII was criticised way too much. The only reason people didn’t like it as much was because too many people were expecting it to be similar to Final Fantasy VII, but actually SquareSoft had done the same format for the previous games. Most people were introduced to Final Fantasy through Final Fantasy VII, which is one of the reasons it’s so popular.
I’ve personally enjoyed every Final Fantasy in different ways, and completed every one including Chrono Trigger, excluding XI and XII - I’m playing XII at the moment but being so busy, it’s difficult to find the time for it. I just don’t have the money to continually play XI unfortunately.
I thought Final Fantasy VIII was actually a pretty decent game, although I did find it kind of annoying that they could’ve ended the story at end of the second disk without any real connections to Ultimecia from earlier on in the game. I thought the music was great though, and the graphics at the time weren’t bad at all. Also, it also brought the most popular Final Fantasy mini-game into being, “Triple Triad”, which was a well-designed card game.
on 13 May 2007 at 5:48 pm 26. tazmanianchocobo
FF IX in the end is a good game. My only problems with it was that the graphics were too cartoony and alot of the side quests were alot longer then they should have been. All and all, it was a good game. I don’t think it is an FF that people need to play (because basically FF IX really didn’t offer anything new or really didn’t make that great of an impact on the series). I like the fact that they included all that stuff from the past games. I was kind of fun seeing saying “I know that it is from FF IV” or whatever FF it was from.
on 13 May 2007 at 5:09 pm 25. Shakespeare
Yeah, the more Final Fantasy games I play, the less I like FFVIII. It was awesome at the beginning when Edea was still the villain, and Laguna is pure love (as are the Moombas; holy bejeezus they’re cute)…but a few good things here and there as the game goes along doesn’t make for a good story. It felt really weak by the end.
I liked FFIX; I really liked the job class system. I never had to worry about having a white mage or the proper Eidolon on hand, since number one, I could have four (!) party members at a time, and number two, there was no way for Bahamut to get lost in the shuffle between characters. The final fight of the story (Necron doesn’t count -_-) is challenging, but by no means impossible, and I feel really proud of myself when I spot things in the game from older games (especially games that I haven’t played; I found Locke wandering around Lindblum).
on 13 May 2007 at 3:19 pm 24. vinan123
Is X-2 really that bad? I got that game for my cousin and she enjoyed it. Of course, she’s not really a respectable gamer.
on 13 May 2007 at 7:23 am 23. tazmanianchocobo
Man you guys just don’t understand. Look here is list of FF games everyone should play. FF I (it’s the original and it show you how they started.) FF II (It has one of the most interesting systems out of all the FF’s) FF IV (Most revolutionary RPG of it’s time, changed the face RPG’s giving them actual stories, great story, and just straight up good game) FF V (This gives you experience of the multi - job class system. Allowing you to change jobs as you go along.) FF VI (The first FF to make a huge impact on the western market. You will also see where they got a lot stuff for FF VII) FF VII (The most popular of the games. Great story and great system. Actually the materia system is probably the system in any FF. With the multi - job system coming in second. It is one of the best stories.) FF X (Good game, decent story, cool characters, and one of the best summoning systems. Just don’t play FF X - 2. It’s really stupid and no respectable gamer should have ever finished the game.) FF XII (It shows you where they intend to take FF in the future.)
on 12 May 2007 at 7:25 pm 22. vinan123
Yeah, I saw a picture of the main character on wikipedia.com and he looked awesome.
on 12 May 2007 at 5:29 pm 21. jayme
vinan123-yea me too that looks like the only coool final fantasy
on 12 May 2007 at 5:28 pm 20. jayme
today is the big day!
cant wait to see the videos
on 12 May 2007 at 11:01 am 19. britt
ff 1 and 2 are being remade for PSP. its says it on the front page of this site and a few others.
on 12 May 2007 at 9:01 am 18. Claws
i hope they make remakes of all the ff games cause they did it with I II and III i got III on DS last night :3 so hopefully they’re making final fantasy IV on DS? or PSP?
on 11 May 2007 at 11:29 pm 17. tazmanianchocobo
If you want the one that the KH team was working on then you want to get Final Fantasy Versus XIII.
on 11 May 2007 at 11:27 pm 16. tazmanianchocobo
Either late this year or early next year.
on 11 May 2007 at 9:27 pm 15. vinan123
Does anybody know when Final Fantasy XIII is coming out? That’ll probably be the first Final Fantsy game I get.
on 11 May 2007 at 6:39 pm 14. tazmanianchocobo
Well I have to agree with there. It did seem a little weird that they drop Ultimecia in to your lap like that. But that just goes to show you how screwed up the story is to FF VIII. It has the worst love story of them all, worst story period of them all, and the worst magic system of them all. It has a system the discourages the use of magic. Because if you use your High level spells you get weaker because you have that junction into your HP or your strength. All your weaker level spells really want do anything at that level. If you use draw to cast a spell there is only like a 50% chance it will work. You’re really meant to use the GFs alot, but there is really no point. I mean it gets boring after the fourth time casting Ifrit. Not to mention if your really lucky you can get Lionheart on disk 1. That has only happened to me three times. Any other time I just go ahead and get his second best weapon in the game. Which makes it really easy. I know that is cheap, but they should have thought about that before finalizing the game. Anyways I really didn’t mean to bash on FF VIII this much. I like the game and everything, but there is just so much wrong with the game itself it isn’t even funny.
on 11 May 2007 at 1:54 pm 13. Shakespeare
Woah…no clue why I put my name as ‘Sephiroth’ there…I need to get more sleep.
on 11 May 2007 at 1:20 pm 12. Sephiroth
I know that Ultimecia was controling Edea…but it was still Edea, so that reason isn’t good enough. If I had actually SEEN Ultimecia do those things, then it would be a different story. It would be like Sephiroth had mind controled someone whose appearance he couldn’t change to make look like himself and made them kill Aerith. The punch wouldn’t be as strong.
Besides, they wait until the end of the game to let you know that it’s Ultimecia. I’ve already been mad at Edea and gotten over it by that point, and I was just glad I’d beaten Adel. I hadn’t had a personal encounter with Ultimecia, so I have no motivation. She feels like she was just kind of dropped in at the end to me…like Necron in FFIX. (I had no motivation to fight HIM, either, since he REALLY didn’t do anything to me; he didn’t even control someone like Ultimecia did.)
on 11 May 2007 at 7:27 am 11. tazmanianchocobo
Actually Ultimecia was controlling Edea at the time you fought her. And was controlling Rinoa after your second fight with Edea. When Edea is first introduced into the game she was fully under Ultimecia’s control. So if you want reason there you go. She is really responsable for everthing that has ahppened so far, well at least most of it.
What was meant by FF VII being the big shift in the worlds is that FF VII took it from 2D to 3D, that is what is meant by that. Really FFI - FFIII kept it pretty basic with the whole western fantasy world thing. FF IV & FF V kept it that except they included alien technology in their worlds as well. FF VI took you into a full on Techno - Fantasy world with Mechs, guns, Robots, and Castles with air conditioning. FF VII - FF VIII have the more technolgy based worlds. FF IX is the fantasy worlds of ald with a little alien tgechnology. FF X takes place in techno world where technology is outlawed. FF XI online RPG with Fantasy based world. FF XII a well balanced Techno - Fantasy world. FF XIII appears to be full on Techno world.
on 11 May 2007 at 3:10 am 10. Shakespeare
I admit, I don’t have the systems to play any FF game before VII, and I know very little about them, except for the fact that Kefka is the villain of FFVI, and that people have frequent arguments about whether Sephiroth or Kefka is a better villain. From what I understood, FFVII was where the biggest shift in the setting took place, and, knowing that the earliest FFs were in a traditional Western-style fantasy realm, I assumed that this included FFVI as well.
And I agree with your statement regarding the story of FFVIII…it feels rather weak next to the other FFs that I have played, and I have absolutely no motivation to want to beat Ultimecia, mainly because SHE hasn’t personally wronged me in the game. Edea did; she stabbed Squall with her Ice Javelin. Adel did because she took me so many tries to beat because my party was horrendously underleveled. Oh yeah, and she kidnapped Rinoa and stuff. But Ultimecia has not come down from her flying castle and done anything bad to me personally, so why should I want to fight her?
And Rinoa just annoys me…I really didn’t want to save her all that much by about the 150th time I fought Adel.
on 10 May 2007 at 11:51 pm 9. tazmanianchocobo
Actually, Shakesphere you got the whole concept behind the first six final fantasy wrong. Final Fantasy VI really made the Final Fantasy brand popular in America. It was technology based fantasy world. Actually Final Fantasy VI and VII have alot in common including the fact that Cloud is basically a revamped version of FF VI’s Cyan. Cyan was basically the only charcter you need to beat the game. Just cast the spell from the Esper Raiden and Cyan becomes a god. During the Omni - slash move two times in a row everything his turn comes around made the game really easy. Now up until FF IV the FF game basically head a group of heros that saved the world. There was no character development, or anything like that. Just a basic story line. In fact most RPG’s at that time were like that. When FF IV came out that changed everything. It was in a fantasy world where your characters where already given their jobs, but the characters changed with the story. There was this one scene before Cecil had to become Paladin in which he had to except himself for who was and that he had to change. That game changed the way RPG’s were made.
Now every FF works off a different system and tells a different story. Actually FF I, FF III, and FF V basically work off the same system. With FF I being stuck with the JOBs you choose for that charcter and the rest after that you could change which job you’re character took. FF X-2, FF XI, and FF Tactics work that way too. With FF X-2 and FF XI allowing you to change class in the middle of battle. FF VII had the Materia system, FF VIII had the GF system (which is actually a revamped version of FF VI’s Esper system.) FF IX was JOB class system that stuck your characters with default jobs that you couldn’t change, like in FF IV. FF XII uses the license system, which is basically a messed up version of Sphere system used in FF X.
Now every FF has a different story line. FF I has the basic we are the chosen ones let’s save the world story line, in fact that is the actual story line right there. FF II is about four friends that save the world. FF III is about four orphans that save the world. FF IV is about the journey of Cecil and his group to save the world from the threat of Goldbez. Each character goes through self discovery on this journey to save the world. FF V is about Bartz and people he meets along the way that save the world from X-Death. Each character finds the missing pieces in their lives along the way. FF VI is about a young adventure, Locke, and the people he meets along the way. They join to stop the power hungry King, and his evil adviser Kifka, who wants nothing then to access to the Esper world and get ultimate power. FF VII - FF X people have already stated. FF XI is an online RPG. FF XII is Vaan and a group of resistance fighters that stop the Archadian (I think that is right) from taking over the world. There is no love story in FF XII. And FF VIII has possibly the worst story of them all.
on 10 May 2007 at 10:25 pm 8. Riku
Depressing that you can’t go you mean? lol - Happy Birthday for Saturday or Sunday.
on 10 May 2007 at 10:08 pm 7. madam_flutter_by
It’s kind of depressing that this is taking place on my birthday. Ah well, they’ll be plenty of footage, I’m sure ^-^
on 10 May 2007 at 9:52 pm 6. vinan123
I’ve never played any of the Final Fantasy games myself. I’ll probably get the new one that Nomura is making.
on 10 May 2007 at 7:17 pm 5. KH3Owns
theres too much to say about all of them so just play the biggest titles and find out.:FF7,FF9,FF10 and 10-2,and of course when they come out, ff 13
on 10 May 2007 at 3:28 pm 4. Josh
I hope they say something about the nexr KH project.
on 07 May 2007 at 2:11 pm 3. Shakespeare
Depending on what game you play, the gameplay is different. Some games have class systems, others don’t. For every game, you pretty much have to relearn how to play.
In FF7, class, magic, and abilities were handled by equipping Materia. Different combinations of Materia yielded different results (Using Quadra Magic tied to any spell, including summons, allowed you to cast one summon four times. Having another party member use the Mime Materia allowed for another four summons to be cast without losing any more MP.)
In FF8, the ability to do anything was tied to your summon monsters, or GFs. Without a GF, you couldn’t even use an item in battle, from what I remember. Drawing magic (yes, you drew spells from enemy monsters; a rather frustrating system), summoning your GFs, and boosting your ability scores via Junctioning your magic to them were all handled through this system.
In FF9, there was a rigid class system, unlike the prior games. Unlike FF7, where you could make Cloud a healer and Aerith into a super destructive tank with just a press of the ‘Switch Materia’ button, you HAD to have Dagger be a summoner and a white mage, Zidane HAD to be a thief, Freya HAD to be a dragoon, etc. New skills, abilities and summons were gained by equipping various armor, accessories and weapons.
Then in FFX, you had the Sphere Grid, which allowed for a loose class system. Characters like Yuna and Lulu were given staring places on the grid that led them along paths for White and Black mages, respectively, while characters like Auron tended to be placed in starting points that had high strength bonuses and the various Break abilities. However, you can change this and make Yuna into a tank and Auron into your party’s main healer, if you so desire.
Every Final Fantasy has a different story. The first six are very much ‘traditional’ Western fantasy, i.e. Middle Earth. Final Fantasy VII and VIII were very futuristic and were very much ’sci-fi/fantasy’. Final Fantasy IX was a call back to the traditional fantasy days of earlier FFs (and also features little homages to prior FF games). FFX was traditional fantasy, but in a non-traditional fantasy realm (it has been stated that FFX was inspired by southeastern Asia, and was intended to show that ‘fantasy’ didn’t just mean elves with bows and dwarves running around in forests).
The games are as difficult as you make them. FFVII was incredibly easy for me (I breezed through the game without ever getting a Game Over, and beat Sephiroth before the second verse of One Winged Angel began), I still haven’t beaten FFVIII (that game ramps up the difficulty as you progress by increasing your enemies’ levels as you level up), FFIX is fairly easy, but with insane sidequests, FFX is rather easy (except for Blitzball), but you can make it way difficult by never using the Sphere Grid, etc.
on 13 Apr 2007 at 4:06 pm 2. Blind
Its a random battle sequence so gameplay can be jumpy at times…the story changed per ff so its all about what story u like…and it can be difficult….not to play…but the bosses can tick u off sometimes….i liked ff7 best! The graphics weren’t the best but the story was great…
on 13 Apr 2007 at 12:32 pm 1. Kairi
Iv’e never played FF but i’d like to one day. I’d like to play all of then up to XIII. Can you give me some more infomation on FF please.
What’s the gameplay like?
What’s the story?
Is it difficult?