Disclaimer
Of all the entries I have to write about in the series, this has been the one I’ve both looked forward to the most, and yet one I’ve dreaded as well. VI for me holds a dear place in my heart as many other articles I’ve written can tell. Yet, I’ve tried to resolve myself with these articles to be more fair and objective. Like IV before it, I could write a novel about this game if I wanted to, so trying to focus on what needs to be said and staying concise will be the greatest difficulty for me. Likewise, for all of my biased feelings towards this game, VI is also where I feel the series began a transition into a form that I would later come to be disappointed with. So my overall goal here is to look at this entry in a balanced light as opposed to me just gushing about it for the next ten to fifteen pages. I hope that those who read this will understand this.
To explain the birth of Final Fantasy VI we first have to look at a different project being worked on by Square during the same time as FFV’s development. Nintendo had partnered with Sony to build a CD gaming system that would hook up with the Super Famicom to create a whole new level of content for developers and gamers to experience. Most people know this story and how Nintendo foolishly chose to scrap the project in part due to the ease of piracy that CD formats would bring. Sony took this system and retooled it into the PlayStation a few years later. What many people don’t realize is that while this new peripheral was being developed, Nintendo had asked a few game companies to start creating
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The world is called Valisthea and it's studded with large mountains of crystals the people of this world use to build their countries. These are the Mothercrystals mentioned in the trailer.
Mothercrystals generate a power called Aether which is used to create magick and helps the people of the world live comfortably.
The world has six great nations that have built their homes near these Mothercrystals. An uneasy peace has existed between them but that is all changing thanks to something called the Blight.
Summons are called Eikons and they reside in a chosen person called a Dominant. Dominant's are treated differently based on their country with some being treated as royalty while others are mere weapons to their people.
The Grand Duchy of Rosaria is where Joshua and our hero Clive live. The nation fights over their Mothercrystal,
When I studied psychology in college, my class discussed family dynamics among siblings, middle children were always the more interesting ones to discuss because more than the other children, they have to work harder with differentiating themselves from their fellow siblings. This concept couldn’t be better illustrated by the middle child of the 16-bit era, Final Fantasy V. Like FFIII before it, FFV has a very different reputation within Japan than it does in the West, largely due to the game being released years later abroad than in its home country. Yet, I feel it should say something to the sheer craftsmanship of the game’s overall design that unlike FFIII, which will always be relegated as a relic entry of the series along with its other 8-bit brethren, FFV has actually managed to find its own footing among the fanbase just as a middle child will also find their own identity to separate themselves from their siblings.
FFV begins an interesting and powerful transformative time for Square. This is the last Final Fantasy game Hironobu Sakaguchi personally directed before he moved into the executive producer role for the series. Hiroyuki Ito returned as the battle planner and designer but afterwards would be pushed into the director’s
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In celebration of FFXV reaching it's two year anniversary, Square-Enix has released a free Wallpaper and uploaded a thank you video down by the English voice cast.
FFXV will receive one more DLC next year in Episode Ardyn, the rest have been cancelled due to a combination of circumstances such as Tababta's departure from SE and the XV Team has been changed into the Luminous Productions studio who are currently working on next gen titles for SE. The team has hopes to release the three DLC that were cancelled in some capacity, but no further details have been given, though Ardyn's VA in this video may have spilled the beans on what SE plans to do...
FFXV has a new free event available where Noctis teams up with Terra Battle 2's Sarah in a promotional event for Mistwalker's upcoming Terra Wars game which will feature characters from the first two Terra Battle games. Here's the trailer:
Like previous events, you net yourself some cool new stuff and it's nice to see Sarah get new life since her own game was pulled off the market this month. For those wondering, Terra Battle 2 launched last year and was developed by both Mistwalker studios and the Bravely Default team Silicon Studio. The game had a rough time both in the West and Japan so Mistwalker announced last June they were pulling the plug on the title with the Western version shut down at the start of the month while the Japanese version will end on the 28th of this month. The only explanation given for this sudden action was that the game was hit with too many unforeseen struggles and the team couldn't keep up with it. With that said, Terra Battle 1 is still going strong, though it will release it's final major
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I know it's been awhile since the last article, it has been difficult getting back to this particular game because this is the first FF title which holds a very special place in my heart. It doesn't help that I already wrote an article on this game a few years back for the 25th Anniversary Fan Project, which I frankly felt was a pretty good article. I almost decided I should just write up a few more elements from the original uncut version of said article and just release it for this series, but that just felt incredibly lazy to me and I felt I could do something more for this series of articles than just talking about how they are great, instead focusing on why they are great and how the series builds upon itself and other games in the genre. So I decided it would be best to take another look at the game and maybe expand on some points I made before, but bring it together into a larger narrative.
The other problem here is that we're entering my favorite generation of the series. As a whole, I feel the 16-bit era represents the best qualities and potential of the franchise, and while I agree it can be great to read something written by someone who really loves the subject, I also feel it can be really grating as well, especially if your views are very opposing. This is the other reason I didn't use the other article
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Square-Enix released a video today giving an overview of the upcoming Dissidia Final Fantasy NT game coming out in January worldwide for PS4. Originally an arcade game exclusive to Japan, SE announced earlier this year it was finally bringing it to PS4.
The game is being developed by Koei Tecmo, but still retains most of the gameplay features and basic battle system of the original Dissidia entries with players using Bravery attacks to build up their bravery so they can use HP attacks to lower their opponents health. New to the game is the fact it's now a 3 on 3 team battles instead of the one on one of previous games. Players will have to choose between 20 characters, based on four battle types, to build a balanced team to fight off their opponents.
While the game still lacks the full roster for the original, it does give players several new faces to play with such as Y'shtola from FFXIV, Noctis from FFXV, Ace from Type-0, and Ramza from FFTactics. Who will
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Square-Enix is still churning out some great videos showing off the 3D remake for the SNES classic Secret of Mana. Today, they revealed the new opening/prologue video which depicts the battle between the Mana Beasts and the Mana Fortress.
Secret of Mana will be available on February 15th 2018 for PS4, PSVita, and Steam.
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Wow, that's a mouthful. So perhaps I've been watching too many YouTube Vids about the Dark Souls games, and this topic comes up way too much, but I figure I'll give it a try for a series I've spent way too much time with. Though I will state right now that this list will omit the MMO bosses due to me never finishing any of them, so I can't make a fair judgement. I am also not going to count battles that are obviously fixed story fights such as Cloud's final duel with Sephiroth or the Yu Yevon fight since those battles are more about story than actual battle mechanics.
I will also say right now that this topic obviously contains a bit of a story spoiler for the series, specifically newer entries people haven't played yet, so if you don't want the final boss spoiled for you, I would turn back now.
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Square-Enix has begun to tease info for their first story DLC focusing on Gladiolus and featuring one of Final Fantasy's most beloved dimension hopping blowhards, Gilgamesh.
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So with the street date broken, we all now know the game has a 7GB patch for day one, today, SE released a statement detailing what to expect from it as well as a statement from FFXV Director Tabata apologizing for the game breaking its street date and warning players to be wary of FFXV news that may spoil the game for people.
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That's right, "books". The Ultimania has been split into two books, one detailing the scenario and world while the other deals with the battle system. Together, they come to 1,360 pages, making them one of the beefiest Ultimania's to be released for any single entry in the series.
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Final Fantasy has some great tracks over the years, and while creep and horror are not exactly the first words that come to mind when thinking of Final Fantasy, let alone it's sweeping scores of passion and adventure, the series has had it's fair share of tracks meant to unsettle the player.
To make this more interesting, I plan on taking only one track per game.
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