As a member of a Final Fantasy forum, you might suspect that I would be on top of new releases or hear about games when they are in production.

Back in 2008, I remember feeling like The After Years was released out of nowhere. I don't remember there being any big announcement for it. I don't recall any trailers or hype leading up to it. One day, it was just out and people were talking about it. It also seemed random because nine times out of ten I hear requests for a sequel to one of the PlayStation titles, so this seemed like a game that no one asked for.

Was I just out of the loop at that time? Was it because the game started as an episodic mobile title and it was a silent port? I don't know.

Was anyone else blindsided by this release in the west?

Sequels like X-2 and XIII-2 were always front and center in gaming news for me, so this one felt like it flew under the radar for some reason.