Just when we thought all hope was lost for the Mana series, Square-Enix surprises everyone and trademarks "Circle of Mana." It seemed like after the debacle that was the World of Mana project (Children of Mana, Dawn of Mana, Heroes of Mana), after which series creator Koichi Iishi left Square-Enix to found his own game design studio Grezzo. It seemed like that was the final nail in the coffin for Mana. Yet here Square-Enix is: trademarking a new title for the series.

Just what exactly could this trademarked title refer to? At this time, nothing is known. However it seems likely that this could be one of three things. Firstly: finally an English localization of Seiken Densetsu 3. The beloved title has never officially seen the light of day outside of Japan and with Secret of Mana seeing release on the Nintendo Wii's Virtual Console and then a graphically-updated version for the iPhone and Android, it would make financial sense to finally give the people what they want and bring that hidden gem out of Japan. It would make more sense ...

Yoshi P and the gang did a live steam information session dubbed the Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary: FINAL FANTASY XIV Special Talk Session, giving players a chance to learn a little more about the upcoming Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. The hour-long clip is on Youtube already - and will be shown at the bottom of the article - but for the time poor, some of the major points will be summarised here for you!


Lead Battle Designer Akihiko Matsui wanted to remind everyone that A Realm Reborn was being rebuilt from the ground up - including the battle system. "It's completely different from the current system," he said. The changes in battle will mostly relate to TP and timers, however. In the current version of FFXIV, TP builds up by hitting things with the standard attack. But in A Realm Reborn, TP will function more like MP - characters will have a full bar at the start of a fight with it being depleted as the battle wears on. Abilities will still have similar timers to the current system, but spells (which use MP) and weaponskills (which use TP) will have ...

Do you currently play Final Fantasy XIV? Would you like the current version to stay live even after the worlds shut down in November in preparation for A Realm Reborn? Well you can have a say!

In a previous update, Yoshida told fans that the current version of the game might stay up for free if enough players wanted it to. Now Square-Enix has put up the fourth edition of its FFXIV Player’s Poll to ask you about that very issue.

The poll will close at 7:59 AM PDT on September 18, 2012. Really, I think everyone should vote to keep it open. It certainly doesn’t harm anything, and it allows people who currently enjoy the existing game to keep playing it with their comrades-in-arms. But be warned, in order to take advantage of playing 1.x for free (if it does happen), you need to be an active subscriber as of September 30, 2012. ...

Are you playing Final Fantasy XIV and are interested in getting a sneak peak at A Realm Reborn? Well the recruitment sites to become an alpha tester are now online and accepting applications.

Applicants must meet the following requirements:

The minimum requirements are similar to FFXIV’s existing requirements, so alpha testers should not have any difficulties if they can already play the game. However, the alpha testing will focus on keypad and mouse mechanics, and so gamepads are not supported.

North American players can apply here, European players here, and Japanese players here. ...

It’s the weekend of the Penny Arcade Expo, and that means a lot of stuff is happening in the video game world. Earlier today, Square-Enix released a new trailer of gameplay footage for Final Fantasy XIV that shows off a new ability: Limit Breaks!



Did you see the mage at the end summoning the massive rock to drop on the dragon? How incredibly badass was that?

Limit Breaks are just one of the many planned new abilities and features for A Realm Reborn. This is not just an individual ability, but an entirely new feature that emphasizes group dynamics. A party can build up a shared group limit break by their collective actions, and utilize them for devastating results.

This video was first shown live at the 25th Anniversary event last night, where an SE rep held a brief content presentation on changes to FFXIV. This was supposed to be streamed, but I can only find this recording of it. It’s fairly long, so I’ll break down some highlights of the changes discussed (minus the Limit Break info discussed above):

• Reworking combat ...

Following on from a few weeks of rumours and speculation, Square Enix has announced Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII which as you may suspect from the title, stars none other than Lightning in a whole new quest.


From what little we know, it sounds as though Lightning will be something of a lone wolf in this game, and it will be the final installment in her story. Players will have a lot more control to shape Lightning the way they want, in terms of appearance, fighting and movement style.

This particular episode will take place several hundreds of years after what happened in FFXIII-2. The game is set in a world called Novus Partus, a Latin name which can be very roughly translated to "New Birth". It consists of four islands, all interlinked with a monorail system.

A very intriguing gameplay element that has been made known is the Doomsday Countdown. The world of Novus Partus is destined to come to a screeching halt after 13 days (Final Fantasy THIRTEEN... see what they did ...

Final Fantasy XIV Producer Naoki Yoshida released another letter today to discuss the game, focusing on the upcoming alpha test and “grand finale” for this version of FFXIV. For starters, Yoshida has assured us that this time, they plan to get things right:

The development team will be looking for alpha testers soon, and they will put up a tester recruitment site with all of the details. We’ll be sure to update you when that goes live.

As for the grand finale of FFXIV 1.x, Yoshida informs us that the last save maintenance for current character data is scheduled for November 1, 2012, with the downtime of all Worlds starting ...

Final Fantasy XIV got a rocky start but has recently made waves on the 2.0 version or what they are calling " A Realm Reborn." Who knew they really did plan on ditching all the old to bring in the new.



A retailer posted on the NeoGaf forums that he was issued a field destroy on the original Final fantasy XIV games. They say the Rep for Square Enix told them they'd credit $16 for each game. If you don't know, Field Destroy means to physically get rid of the games in retail stores. When questioned, Square had this to say originally ignoring the rumor.

When pressed further they released this statement:

...

Square Enix is trying to go back to it's roots with Final Fantasy Dimensions. Originally released two years ago in Japan as Final Fantasy Legends, Dimensions will finally be available for English speaking markets.

It will have a similar look to Final Fantasy IV: The After Years and a job changing system like Final Fantasy V. If you were a fan of the older games in the series you'll be fans of this one. It'll be available August 31st, 2012 for Android and iOS. ...

Final Fantasy VII for the PC has now been officially released on the PC. Unfortunately it's still having some problems. There have been various problems. Some people are having issues with the sound, others with the achievements. Mostly though it's another DRM problem. Many users haven't been getting their serial codes.

The game itself isn't really updated. The graphics are a little stretched on most screens these days. Square-Enix may have missed a perfect opportunity to even just slightly tweak the classic for a whole new audience.

Square-Enix has at least apologized about the DRM by releasing this statement.

...

I'll start with the pretty stuff rather than a wall of text, because if you're anything like me, you want the goodies.



Screenshots: ƒXƒNƒGƒj�AGamescom 2012‚É‚Ä�uFFXIV: �V�¶ƒGƒIƒ‹ƒ[ƒA�v�Å�VSS‚ðŒöŠJ - GAME Watch

For those who don't know, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (aka Final Fantasy XIV 2.0) is basically a sequel to Final Fantasy XIV, but your character from Final Fantasy XIV (the original/current one) gets imported into the game and Final Fantasy XIV (original/current) will cease to exist. It is, in effect, a completely new game. It has a new graphics engine, new server system, new features, new battle system, new gathering system... all the stuff from the current game, such as storyline and maps? The story will be 'in the past', the maps will be completely redesigned.

Something big and bad is coming to Eorzea, and it will involve all characters being sent to a 'timeless zone' and then dropped back into the game in A Realm Reborn, to explore the new maps, the new storyline, ...

Outside of the whole screenshots and gameplay footage found in the other thread, there is a lot being said on the internets about what is being said at Gamescom. Expect some things to be lost in translation (Japanese to German to English to Occasional Poor Journalist Putting Words In People's Mouths to ...me!)...

- It is likely that FFXIV's existing players will be given priority placement in the beta for A Realm Reborn.
- It is likely that, eventually, FFXIV's existing players will be given the ability to transfer their current character into the beta.
- A Golden Saucer-like place is being worked on where people can gamble away all their gil (economy impact sounds high for that one!). This will not likely be available at launch.
- The new story will be "very Final Fantasy".
- They are continuing to work on how best to implement FFVI-styled Magitek Armour (and FFIII's Crystal Tower).
- The graphics are apparently "the best in MMORPG history" - something that I can imagine some people will put to the test...
- Summons ...

Over the past weekend a little early gem popped up for fans. Final Fantasy VII for the PC went up for sale for $12.70. There was no hype, no news of this releasing so early. It was just a sudden release so fans were ecstatic.

Unfortunately for those people who went ahead and purchased it, it didn't work! Square Enix was testing their new site for the FF7 PC re-release. They uploaded an unfinished version of the PC game for testing. Being the internet, people found their testing before they were able to appropriately assess it. This is what customers bought though, the unfinished version. There was a DRM issue and a lot of frustration.

If you were one of these eager fans, SE is offering a full refund as well as the download for the game when it officially arrives for free!

Square Enix released a statement:

...

Destructoid has an exclusive interview with the three composers behind the soundtrack to Dream Drop Distance. They talk about how things like what their favourite songs are and how they felt about reuniting after all this time. ...