The first English screenshots have been released, showing off the divine city of Luxerion, a staunchly religious city with a bad case of impending doom. While still images might not be the most exciting thing just after the release of the first Lightning Returns trailer, there's still new places shown and at the very least the environments - and Lightning herself - are beautiful.

Each of the stills comes with a caption, revealing a little more about the nature of the shot as well as elements within the game. From this, we've been able to glean a few tidbits which might interest you! With Lightning as the sole participant in battle, the system has been switched up a bit. No longer is she bound to a single class; instead, commands can be customised to ensure you're always able to handle every situation. Say goodbye to Auto-Battle, too!

There are some more hints on the plot, too. Lightning has been tasked with investigating serial murders happening within the city, probably tied to the strange group wearing hooded robes and meeting in the dead of night. Apparently, someone is also tracking Lightning; is it the group, or some other faction? How this all ties together is a bit of a mystery so far, but I guess that's the point of playing the game!

Clocks play a prominent role, with the passage of time ...

Square Enix made this arcade game about transforming cars that battle called Gyrozetter. It's pretty awesome. Then they turned it into an anime - Chō Soku Henkei Gyrozetter - to really pump up the popularity. Seems like the next step in Square Enix's plan for world domination is a collection of cards found inside Happy Meals sold in Japan from January 11.


To go with the anime, arcade game, and now collectable cards, Square Enix are also releasing a 3DS Gyrozetter RPG, which is set in the same universe as the arcade game, only with far more RPG goodness. No news on whether or not this Transformers-esque game will reach Western shores but suffice to say that Japanese kids will probably be loving it.


You can see the trailer for Super Speed Transforming Gyrozetter, the upcoming 3DS game below.

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This is a good time of year for bargains. You want savings? Square Enix is delivering them. There's huge price drops on a range of titles in celebration of Square Enix's "Winter of Mobile." We mentioned other Square Enix store sales recently, so be sure to check out the online store for all sorts of goodies.

There's also a Square Enix/Eidos bundle available on Steam as part of the Christmas sales. While it sadly doesn't contain any Final Fantasy titles, you should still check it out because there are awesome games up for grabs - including Thief, Hitman, Deus Ex and Tomb Raider. You should definitely check it out!

[Source: Square Enix] ...

Like a lot of people, I scrambled to try and find a working version of the leaked Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII trailer. After all, the world was supposed to be ending and instead we were getting a sneak peak at Lightning's own adventure with impending doom. And while, at the time of writing, there's still no official trailer, we've watched it enough times now to share some interesting tidbits with you!
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Still alive? Good to see the Mayan Apocalypse didn't get you either.

Final Fantasy fans with Androids will be interested to find that the tribute to old-school entries in the series, Final Fantasy Dimensions, has been released on Google Play today for the price of $19.99. Already released on Apple's App Store since August, this is the game's premiere on Android. ...

A trailer for the iOS port of Final Fantasy IV has been released in celebration of the game's debut on the Apple store. While mostly showing off the 3D graphics, the trailer does house one hint right at the end.


So it sounds like some love will finally be shown toward Final Fantasy V and maybe even Final Fantasy VI as well. The first four instalments in the series have been ported and remade and released quite a number of times, but it seems like a few more games might be in for the same treatment.

Square Enix has been focusing on the mobile market of late, with games such as Final Fantasy Theathrhythm, Demon's Score, Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade, and of course Final Fantasy IV all coming to mobile platforms - among others! The list is ever expanding, and we'll be looking forward to seeing some of our favourites hitting the mobile platforms soon.

Now if only there was some love for Android... Check out the whole FFIV trailer below.


[Source: Kotaku] ...

We’ve already seen a preview of combat and quests in the alpha version of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, but today Square-Enix released a new alpha preview featuring guild levequests and party combat (for those who haven’t played FFXIV before, levequests are simply quests given by NPC guildleve masters).


The video begins with levequests, showing off the streamlined new UI for selecting and accepting quests. The quest then shows up on the Duty List on the right side of the screen, where you can easily access the quest instructions and a relevant map. We then get to see the player massacre a bunch of innocent-looking lemurs.

The second half of the video shows two group battles against massive enemies. The fighting is fast-paced and exciting, really showing off how much the battle system has changed, which has been discussed before.

The last alpha phase began on December 3rd, so even though we have yet to receive an updated development roadmap, the alpha phase should be ending soon. The alpha gameplay ...

Last month after the finale of Final Fantasy XIV 1.x and sever shutdown, the worlds were brought back up so that people could still play on the 1.x servers while waiting for the highly anticipated relaunch of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (albeit with everything done after that point not brought over to ARR). There was one condition: that 30% of the active subscribers log in every month. If not enough people played the game, the servers would be brought back down again.

The Lodestone is now reporting that all Final Fantasy XIV 1.x worlds will be shut down on December 31, 2012 at 6:59 AM PST (2:59 PM GMT), this time apparently for good. No reason was stated, but a link was posted for more details to the previous update that discussed the aforementioned conditions for the servers to stay up. It looks like not enough people logged on over the last month, and so the servers are being shut down again.

So be sure to log in and have fun while you can, and say goodbye for FFXIV 1.0, ...

The developer’s blog for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn has received a few updates recently, but today’s update is the coolest so far. Fernehalwes, the pseudonymous updater of the developer’s blog, first reminded us of previously leaked concept art of an armor set for chocobos:


If you recall from previous updates, players will be able to equip chocobos in ARR with armor sets. Well the design for this particular armor set is well underway, and we have been treated with a picture of the design-in-progress, which looks even scarier than the concept art.


The blog entry also implied that this armor set was designed after Behemoth. No surprise there! Behemoths were confirmed to appear in A Realm Reborn in a trailer released over the summer.

So how terrified would you be to see that running down on you in game? ...

Lightning's outfit in the upcoming Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII has debuted in Shonen Jump. Although not much has been truly revealed about the game, this is our first visual of Lightning and it is a step in the "new" direction. Next up to be revealed will be the http://home.eyesonff.com/content/216...t game trailer. It's certainly quite unlike any of her previous outfits, with a leather bustier, pauldrons, and a cape. It certainly invokes memories of other science fiction franchises such as the Matrix.


So, what do you guys think? Like it? Hate it? Discuss in the forums! Keep in mind, her costume is customizable in the game so it will certainly be interesting on how that develops.

Source: animenewsnetwork ...

The folks at Operation Suzaku are celebrating the 25th anniversary of Final Fantasy in their own way, more petitioning. Their newest operation, Operation Anniversary, requires "Four actions" and their creator Khalia (click here for our interview of Khalia), hopes it to be the biggest operation yet. The actions cover most forms of contact to Square Enix public relations, twitter, Facebook, email and mail. The first action is today, to tweet:

The second action is to check the NA Square-Enix facebook page for an anniversary post (not yet posted) and to request for a localization of Type-0 on this post. Of course you should wish Final Fantasy a happy birthday while you're at it!

The third action is to email rbrennan@square-enix.com (Senior Director of Public Relations) and mfischer@square-enix.com (Square Enix US CEO) a happy birthday and Final Fantasy Type-0 localization request. Operation Suzaku provided a good template ...

Amid rumors that layoffs had occurred at Square-Enix’s Los Angeles office and how they might impact current MMO games, SE’s Senior Director of Public Relations, Riley Brennan, confirmed yesterday that layoffs did occur, but that customers will not see any negative impact. Brennan emphasized that the decision to lay off some unknown number of employees “will not have any impact on the operations of MMO titles,” and that the upcoming launch of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn will not be affected. It’s currently unknown what specific departments lost employees, but Brennan’s assurances seemed to apply only to the MMO departments.

The layoffs seem to corroborate last week’s report about the disastrous original launch of Final Fantasy XIV and its continued financial impact on Square-Enix. Hopefully the upcoming relaunch of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn will allow the company to bounce back so that this trend does not continue.

Source: Massively. ...

Ten years after its release, Final Fantasy XI has been the most financially successful game Square Enix have released. Even with its successor - Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn - facing a re-release, the original FF MMORPG still has a loyal following and, it seems, plans for the future.

Not content to shut up shop, current producer Akihiko Matsui has given an interim report on what the team has been working on. It's a slow moving process, but it looks as though the development team understand the problems facing the ageing beast and are taking steps to fix it.

With the userbase far smaller than it was in Final Fantasy XI's "glory days," Matsui says that things need to change so that new players can experience the vast range of content. They haven't stopped with what content they already have though; the fifth expansion pack - Seekers of Adoulin - is slated for a 2013 release, so there is still growth and new content to be experienced.

It's all very promising for players and fans, and between ...

The iOS port of Final Fantasy Theatrhythm has launched for a tantalising price of absolutely nothing. Free! It sounds too good to be true, and like with most things, that's because it is.

Unbalanced pricing strategies aren't uncommon when it comes to the Square Enix mobile push. We reported on the problems with Demons' Score's pricing (although with it currently on sale, it's actually affordable) but it looks like Theatrythm has fallen into the same pitfall. The 3DS version of the game - retailing for around $30 - includes 76 songs with the base version, with a further 56 available for $0.99 a pop. The iOS version, however, only comes with two tunes straight up, with a variety of differently priced DLCs to complete your collection.

Siliconera ran some numbers, comparing the two, and the results are a little startling. The 3DS version - for the full package - will cost around $81.47, including the price of the game itself. The iOS version, on the other hand? Well, let's look at the equation:
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