Quote:
Square Enix announced last week it will release Final Fantasy IV -- The After: Return of the Moon for mobile phones in Japan, according to Famitsu, and now we have more details on the game.
The sequel features 2D graphics, similar to classic Final Fantasy. The story takes place 17 years after the events in the original game, with Ceodore, the son of Cecil and Rosa, as the main protagonist. Apparently, we can expect to see most of the characters from the original; so far we know Cecil, Rosa, Kain, Rydia, Yang, and Cid will be returning -- and some are confirmed to be playable characters.
"When we were making the DS remake of FFIV, there were talks on creating an after story of sorts as well as talks on working on a game for mobile phones," said sequel Executive Producer Takashi Tokita. "I have strong attachments to the characters and I was working on the remake so FFIV was always on my mind these days. After having played the remake, I thought that allowing users to download and play the continuation to the story on the mobile phone was a good idea."
The battle system won't be seeing any drastic changes, incorporating the Active Time Battle system in the original. However, Tokita adds "there will be a new feature to the system specifically for mobile phones which will also links with the story in the game."
Additionally, expect arranged versions of the music, as well as some newly composed tunes. Concept art is drawn by Yoshiitaka Amano, while the character art are done by Akira Ogura, who worked with Tokita on Hanjuku Hero in the past. Meanwhile, Kazuko Shibuya, the 2D sprite artist responsible for the series until Final Fantasy VI, is returning to work on the graphics for the sequel.
Final Fantasy IV The After: Return of the Moon will be released monthly in episodic chunks beginning Febuary 2008 in Japan, for both DoCoMo and au mobile phone services. The first episode will serve as a demo and available for free. Hopefully, we'll get to see this on a handheld system down the line or I will have to buy and switch cell phones again.
