One thing's for sure--Agito, the third entry in the "Fabula Nova Crystalis" series of Final Fantasy XIII games, is a far more ambitious project than is to be expected out of a cellphone game.  Series director Tetsuya Nomura recently revealed to Japan's Ge-maga magazine that he and his team are considering putting off Agito XIII until the "4G" generation of cellphones are released in Japan.  The current generation, the "3G," is the platform that supports one of their previous cellphone titles, Before Crisis, which has, incidentally, not yet been released in the United States.

So what's the issue, exactly?  Well, 4G sets don't yet exist.  In fact, they haven't even been announced yet.  So while it's likely that they'll inevitably come to exist, we could be waiting for Agito for quite some time.  On the bright side, Nomura stated that the game is being given the same amount of attention any normal numbered entry in the series would.  Apparently, the game's plot has already been completed, and Nomura promises that it's "huge."

Lastly, unlike Before ...

In the most recent issue of Japan's Ge-maga magazine, several members of the Square Enix development team shed some light on the new Final Fantasy XIII battle system, which has, until this time, been shrouded in a certain amount of uncertainty.

While executives Tetsuya Nomura, Yoshinori Kitase and Motomu Toriyama have already been interviewed on several ocassions about FFXIII, a new face was present at this month's interview--Tosirou Tsuchida, who has previously worked on Final Fantasy X and the Front Mission series, and is now leading the development of XIII's battle system.

Tsuchida was in charge of the Count Time Battle system used in FFX, and had previously asked the higher-ups if he could do away with ATB altogether when starting work on the Playstation 2 RPG--as thing turned out, the CTB system wasn't so far removed from its predecessor.  This time around, Tsuchida was asked to create a slick battle system with plenty of flair, which was something he decided was impossible with the traditional ATB system.

The new system is still considered an ATB system, but apparently things are going to be quite a bit different than what we've seen in the past.  Square Enix's goal is to craft a battle system that worked as quickly and fluidly as an action game, but still allowed players to enter commands.  As a result, the battle system now offers more choices for controlling characters than ever before--for example, gamers can choose to carry out a simple attack, or charge forward at the enemy and ...

Good news, Tactics addicts: Final Fantasy Tactics: Shishi Sensou, Square's remake of the beloved Playstation 1 Final Fantasy Tactics, will hit the PSP on May 10th, 2007 in Japan, for 4,800 yen, or about $40 US.

While this isn't something for Westerners to be immediately excited about, we can be hopeful that North American and European releases will follow in short order.  With brand new FMVs, a couple new classes, and more, this portable FFT remake will be a great boost to the PSP library.

[Source: IGN] ...

If you live in Japan, or just happen to be going there for a quick visit this May, here's an announcement that may interest you: our favorite developer is holding The Square Enix Party 2007 at Makuhari Messe, just outside Tokyo, on May 12th and 13th.

While Square Enix opted not to hold the event last year, it was quite a success in 2005, drawing over 45,000 attendees.  While we don't know any details about the show right now, there's a decent chance some exciting announcements will be made at the show--in 2005, Square Enix announced the final release date of Final Fantasy XII at the party.  Best of all, it's free.

[Source: IGN] ...

In Japanese game magazine Gemaga, veteran game and character designer Tetsuya Nomura gave a few new bits of information about the latest Final Fantasy game to be announced, Final Fantasy Versus XIII.

The game will feature a new and unique combat system, which is being designed by Toshiro Tsuchida, who has worked on games like Final Fantasy X and Front Mission. According to Nomura, the new battle system is said to be a mixture of styles from Kingdom Hearts and Dirge of Cerberus. A notable feature is that the weapon equipped to the character dictates the view perspective, for instance a Gun will change the view to the First Person mode, while a sword will be used in the Third Person perspective.

On the subject of characters of the game, Nomura chose only to give a small comment about the Blonde haired character who appeared at Japan's Jump Fiesta 2007. Whether he is a villain or hero is unconfirmed, but Nomura said that the character is known as "Mr. 33cm", which is a reference to his shoe size. (Yes, that's right. Tetsy knew exactly what YOU were thinking.) ...

It's been a long while since the last front page update covered something other than Final Fantasy news (or the subject of our missing Chocobo Administrator, who, rumor has it, has been spotted in the most remote regions of Bangladesh).  But today is a new day, and it brings me great pleasure to announce the addition of quite a lot of new pages to Eyes on Final Fantasy.

First up is the all-new Advent Children section.  Eyesonac.com has long been dormant, containing outdated information and screenshots from well before Square Enix released their second film.  It's now been updated to included just about anything you could need to know about Advent Children.  Wondering what the difference is between each and every version of the film?  Want a rundown on the special feature?  Or would you rather just drool over the eye candy of a few hundred screenshots or every single AC trailer Square Enix released over the years?  It's all there--check it out.

In addition, the Final Fantasy IV section, which has long since ...

For those of you who haven't already heard from other sources: Final Fantasy XIII will not be arriving anytime this year.  That means you won't be getting your greedy paws on Square Enix's next major masterpiece until 2008--likely early if you live in Japan, and considerably later in the rest of the world.  Nothing official is set yet, of course.

To ease the blow of this bittersweet news, feast your eyes on an all-new, beautiful hi-res screenshot of Lightning, FFXIII's protagonist.

...

Much like the special edition DS Square Enix released with Final Fantasy III in Japan, Square Enix has revealed a white Nintendo DS emblazoned with the Revenant Wings text logo and several of its main characters.  The availability of this special DS will coincide with Revenant Wings's April 26th release in Japan.

It should be noted that it's extremely unlikely this special DS will make its way out of Japan, so anyone who wants one should likely be prepared to import.

To take a look at the Revenant Wings-themed DS, click here.

[Source: Joystiq] ...

Anyone who's played Gears of War would tell you that Epic's Unreal 3 Engine can pump out some truly gorgeous visuals.  The folks over at Square Enix may not have played Gears, but they know good technology when they see it.

Square Enix announced last month that they've licensed the Unreal 3 Engine middleware, allowing the developers to focus more on creativity and less on the more complex, technical portions of the design process.

We don't know at this time what, exactly, Square Enix will be using the Unreal 3 Engine for, but it's a safe bet that the Final Fantasy XIII titles for the Playstation 3 and the recently announced MMORPG for Vista and the Xbox 360 will benefit from the technology.

[Source: Joystiq] ...

Hiromichi Tanaka spoke to Pro-G recently and confirmed that Square-Enix are working on a new MMO game for Windows Vista and the XBox 360. Tanaka also said "PS3 is a possibility." Last April, Tanaka had actually claimed that the MMO was headed for PS3 and said nothing about a possible 360 version, so it would appear that SE have decided to go in a different direction with the game, which is probably going to be a sequel to Final Fantasy XI, but may be a new game altogether.

Seeing as Square-Enix has already confirmed various Final Fantasy XIII games to the PS3, it makes sense for them as a multi-platform company to give this new game to the Xbox first, and they can always create a PS3 version at a later date.

[Source: Joystiq] ...

Square-Enix have announced the release dates for the PSP versions of Final Fantasy I and Final Fantasy II. Final Fantasy I is scheduled to come out on the 19th of April, costing 3,800 yen ($31.48 US). Final Fantasy II is penciled to come out some time in late May, although the specific date has not been mentioned yet.

[Source: RPGFan] ...

Square Enix has announced that the Final Fantasy XII spinoff for the DS, Revenant Wings, will be available in Japan on April 26th, 2007 for 4,800 yen, or approximately $40 US.

Unfortunately, no release date has been assigned for a US or European version of Revenant Wings.  Hopefully, however, with the game coming out so soon, an English version will be soon to follow.

[Source: RPGFan] ...

At EoFF, we, the Site Staff, are dedicated to not only bringing you all of the most up to date news regarding Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts and the Mistwalker games, we are also dedicated to giving you the most comprehensive guide to every single one of these games. We feel we've done a pretty good job, too. However, work has slowed to a crawl recently, and this all comes back to one same reason.

I...I don't know how to break this to you people but...Loony BoB has gone missing. We can't find him. He could be face down in the back of an alley somewhere in downtown Edinburgh, or even worse, he COULD be somewhere like Wolverhampton. Or Rhyll. I don't know. None of us know. And without him here to head our team and organize everything, we're falling to pieces. SamuraiD has disappeared into a pit of despair somewhere, FlyingMullet has fallen back into his old ways and started hitting the bottle again; he can't even tell the difference between FFVI and FFVIII anymore. I've never seen him this bad. theundeadhero recently made a return to the Site Staff forum after an absence, and well...the state of things hit him really hard. You have to remember, ...

Well, it's been weeks since we last looked at images of Square Enix's hotly anticipated DS spinoff, Revenant Wings.  Thankfully, a new batch of magazine scans have found their way online, and they feature a good look at Revenant Wings's gameplay and in-game graphics, which look to be shaping up quite nicely.  Check them out below.

Revenant Wings scan 1
Revenant Wings scan 2
Revenant Wings scan 3
Revenant Wings scan 4
Revenant Wings scan 5
Revenant Wings scan 6
Revenant Wings scan 7


[Source: Destructoid] ...