Tag: Square Enix

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Live A Live is a magnificent, worthy companion to Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger

Square games have held a special place in my heart for most of my life.

Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Kingdom Hearts… the journeys they’ve taken me on, and the long-lasting memories and friendships that came about from them, have meant a lot to this socially awkward nerd. Whether it’s the emotionally resonant stories, deep character progression and robust combat, there’s just a magical quality to these games.

Imagine, then, when I found out that a long-lost SquareSoft RPG was getting another shot, nearly 30 years later. Enter Live A Live, a fascinating 1994 title that was only ever released in Japan on the Super Famicom (SNES for my fellow Westerners).

While disappointing sales put a stop to any subsequent plans to bring Live A Live overseas, it’s nonetheless a notable title, as it hails from Takashi Tokita, the lead designer of Final Fantasy IV, co-director of Chrono Trigger and director of Parasite Eve. Now, Square Enix has brought Live A Live to the Nintendo Switch in a remake that changes little from the original experience beyond sprucing it up with the stunning ‘HD-2D’ visuals introduced with 2018’s Octopath Traveler. 

Given my lack of knowledge about Live A Live, though, I didn’t quite know what to expect. Would it be like Chrono Trigger or Final Fantasy? But much to my surprise, Live A Live was decidedly different from those other Square works — both from the ’90s era and in the decades since. And by the end of my 25-hour playthrough, I came to an unforeseen conclusion: Live A Live deserves every bit of the recognition enjoyed by fellow SNES Square RPGs like Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI. By masterfully playing with genre conventions, Live A Live proves to be a superb and unforgettable experience. Impressively, it offers that same sense of wondrous magic that I look for in a JRPG, easily making it my current Game of the Year.

A beautiful anthology

There’s so much to love about Live A Live, but its greatest strength no doubt lies in its radically different seven main scenarios. In “Prehistory,” a young caveman (Pogo) defies his tribe to save a young woman from being sacrificed. “Imperial China” follows an aging martial arts master (the Earthen Heart Shifu) as he seeks three final pupils. A shinobi named Orobomaru is tasked with rescuing a political prisoner and assassinating a feudal lord in “Twilight of Edo Japan.” From Asia to America brings us “The Wild West,” in which a mysterious gunslinger known as The Sundown Kid defends a small town from bandits. Years later, in “Present Day,” martial artist Masaru Takahara pushes himself to become the world’s greatest fighter. Meanwhile, “The Near Future” shows us a psychic-powered orphan Akira Tadokoro who takes on a corrupt government. And, finally, “The Distant Future” tells the story of Cube, a robot tasked with investigating mysterious incidents on a spaceship.

Live A Live character select

Each premise offers its own terrifically unique flavour, driven in no small part by sharp character designs from renowned manga artists like Detective Conan‘s Gosho Aoyama (“Twilight of Edo Japan”), Skull Man‘s Kazuhiko Shimamoto (“The Near Future”) and Basara‘s Yumi Tamura (“The Distant Future”). These creations were already exceptional and unlike what was found in other JRPGs in 1994, and the Switch remake’s gorgeous HD-2D aesthetic only makes them pop all the more. It really feels like a marvelous short story collection, rather unlike the many bloated experiences we get today.

The variety of each chapter is further enhanced by an eclectic soundtrack from legendary composer Yoko Shimomura, best known for Kingdom Hearts and Street Fighter II. Shimomura’s sublime music has helped me through a lot of rough patches in my life, so it’s been an absolute delight to finally experience her first project for Square. Of course, it helps that the Live A Live original soundtrack is downright phenonemal, and the remake only elevates it. Free from 16-bit hardware limitations, we now have new arrangements overseen by Shimomura that effortlessly mix a considerable assortment of instruments ranging from guitars, saxophones and piano to violins, organs and choirs to sensational effect. Oh, and Hironobu “King of Anime” Kageyama, the Dragon Ball Z opening singer, handles the Japanese and English vocals of the delightfully over-the-top song that plays when Akira commandeers a giant mech. Need I say more?

Ever-changing gameplay that constantly innovates

But strong presentation only gets you so far; you have to care about what’s actually happening in each of these chapters, and they have to feel different. In that sense, Live A Live more than delivers with one of the most refreshingly innovative and diverse gameplay experiences in any JRPG I’ve ever played. Admittedly, the trade-off with the “short story” approach is that you don’t get to spend nearly as much time with any one character as you would in a single narrative experience like Final Fantasy or Chrono Trigger. It’s a worthy compromise, though, allowing Live A Live to stand out among its peers and, even, avoid many of their pitfalls. Compare it to Octopath Traveler, best known for unabashedly trying to emulate Final Fantasy VI. It was a decent game overall, but one that suffered immensely from each of its eight stories feeling too disparate and repetitive in their ‘town-cutscenes-dungeon-final boss’ designs.Live A Live Oboromaru

Live A Live, though, is far more ambitious in its pacing and structure, and so all seven scenarios, while clocking in at roughly three hours each, don’t play out even remotely the same. Take “Prehistory,” which I picked first: it’s completely dialogue-free, told instead through lively sprite animations and the occasional emoji. Such a novel manner of storytelling lends this chapter a significant amount of lovable charm, particularly through Pogo and his loyal gorilla friend Gori’s amusing bickering. This contrasts nicely with something like “Distant Future,” which, outside of an optional minigame, has no combat until the end. Instead, you’re given free roam of a large ship, the Cogito Ergo Sum, to determine who among the crew is responsible for a deadly series of events. It’s a dark and eerie mix of an Agatha Christie-esque “whodunnit” mystery with an Alien setting, and it’s extremely engrossing. For something tonally in between those chapters, “Imperial China” is a touching fable about a wise old man trying to leave a positive impact on the world before his time comes while having his hands full with young and impetuous apprentices. That’s to say nothing of the engaging Western antics of The Sundown Kid and his rival/begrudging ally Mad Dog, the endearing relationship Akira has with his fellow orphans or Orobomaru’s incredibly stylish ninja running and somersaults through moonlit, trap-filled pagodas in the Feudal Japan chapter.

What does unify each chapter, though, is the combat. Like a lot of classic JRPGs, Live A Live features a turn-based battle system, but it’s got some nifty twists. Namely, it takes place on a traversable 7×7 grid and focuses on a slowly filling bar that’s reminiscent of the Active Time Battle gauge in the Final Fantasy series. In Live A Live, basic attacks can be carried out immediately, but moving tiles or carrying out powerful maneuvers that must be charged will allow your enemy’s bar to increase in the meantime. What makes Live A Live‘s combat so solid, though, is that it’s all about positioning. Not unlike chess pieces, many attacks have unique radiuses covering different directions, requiring you to be strategic about how you move your characters. Do you risk charging up The Sundown Kid’s handy multi-hit, area of effect gunshots, which might end up being avoided or even interrupted by certain heavy attacks from enemies? Maybe you’ll carefully line him up so he can attack with a move that hits through a group. Specific tiles can also be ensnared to cause periodic damage, which only further encourages you to be thoughtful about where you move and attack. While I’ll always have a soft spot for the static turn-based systems of Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger, the mobility of Live A Live‘s battles feels fresh and exciting for an old-school JRPG like this.

Live A Live Western

If there’s an issue with the combat, it’s that there’s a general lack of difficulty balancing across the seven chapters. By and large, most can be completed with few, if any, deaths, making them feel a touch too easy. However, some chapters, like the more combat-heavy “Prehistory” and “Twilight of Edo Japan,” occasionally have battles that come off as overly punishing. That said, this is largely a forgivable issue, since Live A Live, as its title suggests, is more interested — and at its best — when it just lets you live in its manifold settings. Combat isn’t necessarily the focus, at least in several chapters. In this way, it thankfully avoids the grinding tedium that can befall many JRPGs.

Moreover, each level offers its own unique gameplay gimmick, many of which impact combat in some genuinely creative ways. For example, Pogo’s ability to sniff out where random encounters will occur and Oboromaru’s to hide from enemies are both brilliant ideas to avoid conflict and add a layer of strategy. These help offset some of the uneven levels of challenge, as you’re afforded a welcome bit of freedom in whether to fight in the first place. On a similar note, The Sundown Kid’s uneasy alliance with Mad Dog has them gathering supplies to set up traps with the townspeople, which, in turn, affects the final boss fight. Live A Live‘s willingness to let you alter or even avoid combat entirely is genuinely revivifying for a JRPG, and I wish we saw more of this from other titles in the genre.

It’s also easy to see how Live A Live‘s regular introduction of new mechanics could be quite messy, but impressively, it manages to pull off nearly all of them. I say “nearly” because Akira and Masaru’s individual hooks feel disappointingly half-baked. The former has a mind-reading ability that serves no real purpose narratively or mechanically beyond revealing some optional dialogue, although it’s at least ameliorated by a small, chapter-specific mini-city overworld that serves as a neat segue between areas. Masaru, though, doesn’t get anything nearly as cool; all that changes with him is that he can automatically learn abilities that enemies use on him. On paper, that might sound like a compelling angle, but his chapter — which adopts a Street Fighter-esque “Arcade Mode” boss rush format — means your opportunities to use these moves are mostly limited. Worse still is the fact that Masaru is easily the blandest of our heroes; he wants to become an unrivalled fighter, and that’s literally all that defines him. Some brief cutscenes in between each fight could have gone a long way towards shaking his chapter up while providing some insight into who he is beyond “muscly meathead.”

But wait, there’s more…

Live A Live Middle Ages

You might have noticed that the key art for this game features eight characters, and I’ve only mentioned seven. Indeed, there’s more to Live A Live after everything I’ve mentioned thus far: eighth and ninth chapters that bring everything together. Unlike Octopath Traveler, which featured a bunch of disparate stories which awkwardly came together by the end, Live A Live smartly plants connective narrative seeds throughout each scenario. As you go through all seven, there’s a certain key element that brings  everything full circle, and you’ll likely begin to notice it over time. But it’s not until you’ve cleared that the eighth chapter, “The Middle Ages,” is unlocked, and it’s here that Live A Live truly lays out its devilishly clever grander scheme. This scenario, which focuses on a young knight named Oersted as he leads a party to save his beloved from The Lord of Dark, is outstanding. What starts off as a seemingly standard fantasy story reveals itself to be downright tragic, and, moreover, a brilliant means of recontextualizing the game as a whole.

The final chapter, meanwhile, is all about sweet, sweet payoff — a fantastic culmination of all previous narrative threads and gameplay mechanics into one thrilling, meaty package. The ways in which each character is brought into the fold — and the greater emphasis on exploration and combat therein — create a more traditional, yet nonetheless exciting, JRPG experience. To say more would spoil the copious amount of surprises, but suffice it to say Live A Live absolutely sticks the landing.

A gem no longer hidden

As a lifelong fan of Square JRPGs, it’s difficult to express how much joy Live A Live brings me. With an avant-garde premise that still feels new nearly three decades later, Live A Live provides something I rarely feel from modern JRPGs: a true sense of discovery. Whether it’s the absolutely sensational character designs and music, wonderfully varied approaches to storytelling, immaculate turn-based combat and enlivening gameplay twists, I was constantly excited to see more. Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger might get much of the attention from the SNES era, but Live A Live, without question, deserves to be in the same conversation. Not only is it my favourite game of 2022 so far — it’s an all-time classic.

Live A Live will release exclusively on the Nintendo Switch on July 22nd. A free demo covering three chapters of the game is also available on the eShop.

Image credit: Square Enix/Nintendo

Categories
Mobile Syrup

More developers should approach remakes like Square Enix has with Final Fantasy VII

I’ll be honest: the recent reveal of the long-rumoured The Last of Us PS5 remake didn’t do much for me.

The original PS3 classic isn’t even 10 years old and still looks quite solid, on top of having already been re-released with updated visuals on the PS4, so it feels largely pointless to remake it. While it certainly looks better visually and should further benefit from the mechanical improvements being brought over from The Last of Us Part II, I’d ultimately just rather the time and resources be put into something new. After all, it’s telling the exact same story as the 2013 game, and we’re going to be getting, for the most part, another take on this narrative in the upcoming HBO show. Both the remake and the TV series are giving us the same Joel and Ellie story again — not even a different spin or new tale in the same world.

Indeed, the “necessity” of The Last of Us Part 1 has been a hot topic during this busy not-E3 month of gaming news. It’s also one that I find myself revisiting following Square Enix’s big 25th-anniversary stream for Final Fantasy VII. The two biggest announcements out of that show were a remake remaster of the fan-favourite Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII and the highly anticipated sequel to the critically-acclaimed Final Fantasy VII Remake, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

Both are, effectively, remakes of previous Final Fantasy VII titles, and yet, the way Square Enix is approaching them is so much more exciting than The Last of Us Part 1. And I say this as a big fan of both properties; while Final Fantasy VII is my favourite game of all time, The Last of Us — and its brilliant, unfairly hated sequel — are also high on my list of all-time greats. I also understand the financial incentives to create remakes, especially in the age of massively budgeted — and potentially unsustainable — titles.

But the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy shows that you can have your cake and eat it, too. The Crisis Core Reunion is there to give fans and newcomers alike a chance to experience an improved version of a game that has been stranded on the PSP for years, which certainly justifies it getting the re-release treatment. It also provides players with an introduction (or re-introduction) to popular VII hero Zack, protagonist Cloud’s deceased best friend and Aerith’s former lover. But even if this remaster didn’t exist at all, Final Fantasy VII Remake would be more than enough.

When it was originally released on PS4 in April 2020, fans who played until the end were surprised to see the story — which had, until that point, been remarkably faithful to the original 1997 PlayStation game — make some pretty big story changes. In so doing, Square Enix revealed its true intention with the remake.

Note: spoilers for the original Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VII Remake follow:

Essentially, Final Fantasy VII Remake, by adopting a multiple timeline structure, is both a metacommentary on the concept of remakes and a sequel of sorts to the original Final Fantasy VII. The long and short of it is that the original game’s version of Sephiroth, the series’ iconic villain, has entered a new timeline, in which Remake is set. On top of that, Zack is actually alive through a separate timeline, which has further implications for where the story may go. And if there was any doubt that there would indeed be major plot departures, the Rebirth trailer leaned heavily into this concept, teasing Zack’s expanded role while directly asking, “what is fact and what is fiction?”

Zack in Crisis Core Reunion

Zack in Crisis Core Reunion. He’ll also play a major role in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth in one of the Remake trilogy’s biggest deviations from the original game. (Image credit: Square Enix)

On the one hand, this is all somewhat misleading for a project that’s branded as a “remake,” and it becomes less approachable to newcomers as a result. It has also already alienated some fans, who are hesitant or downright opposed to the idea of making deviations to a beloved story. I, myself, have previously admitted that it’s been a bit clumsily handled and has the potential to devolve into Kingdom Hearts-levels of convolution.

But for me, it’s also absolutely exciting. The original Final Fantasy VII is available on pretty much every single modern platform if you want the pure, unchanged experience. Square Enix is also giving us another, more direct remake in the form of the Ever Crisis mobile game. With all of that out there, why do we need the same Final Fantasy VII experience again? We’ve seen Cloud and friends go on a journey across Gaia to stop the evil megacorporation Shinra and its former soldier-turned-madman, Sephiroth. While we’ll certainly get similar beats in Rebirth and its untitled sequel, the idea of not fully knowing what to expect is tantalizing.

Because it could have, rather easily, been the exact same thing we’ve seen before. We’re in an age where nostalgia is so often manipulated for a quick buck; cheap fanservice is prioritized over telling any semblance of a decent story. It’s how we get things like J.J. Abrams’ The Rise of Skywalker, an utterly abysmal and creatively bankrupt husk of a film. Considering all of that, I find it quite admirable that a developer like Square Enix is willing to take something so beloved and be bold with it.

And, to be clear, this isn’t “messing” with someone else’s creation; many of the key figures of the original Final Fantasy VII are spearheading the Remake trilogy. Outside of Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, who co-wrote and produced the original VII but is no longer with Square, Remake involes producer Yoshinori Kitase (original VII director), creative director Tetsuya Nomura (original VII co-writer and character designer) and scenario writer Kazushige Nojima (original VII co-writer). The notion of these talented people working with both old and new blood to reimagine their own iconic work is extremely compelling.

After all, decades have passed and the developers are older. They may have more they wish to say. And with age comes wisdom and new life experiences, which can inform how the Remake team approaches this classic tale. I think back to Sony Santa Monica, the studio behind the God of War series. Director Cory Barlog has been candid about how much he’s grown since his work on the original games, particularly through marriage and having a son. That helped shape the mature, emotional and much-adored 2018 God of War reboot, which also has a highly anticipated sequel coming later this year. That’s to say nothing of directors Hideki Kamiya and Shinji Mikami, who have given Capcom their blessings to expand and evolve their original visions in remakes of Resident Evil 2 and 4, respectively. (The former is one of the most well-reviewed horror games in years). Hell, even The Last of Us co-creator Neil Druckmann was inspired to take a risk on The Last of Us in the first place — a marked departure from Naughty Dog’s previous lighthearted works — in part due to his own experiences with fatherhood.

And so far, we’ve already seen Square Enix accomplish all of this, as Final Fantasy VII Remake took considerable care to improve upon the shortcomings of the original game. In place of the spotty English translation came an exceptionally strong script. Gone was the homophobia of the Cloud cross-dressing quest; instead, there was an earnest push for inclusive messaging. Characters who barely had any lines in the original have become fan-favourites with fully fleshed-out backstories and personalities. All of that, plus a general reverence for maintaining the spirit of the original — themes of spiritualism, environmentalism, class and all — ensured that Remake was a genuinely fantastic game.

Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade Cloud

Square Enix did so much right with Final Fantasy VII Remake that it’s earned the benefit of the doubt with some of the game’s more outlandish twists. (Image credit: Square Enix)

It’s for these reasons that I have a great deal of faith that Rebirth and its sequel will deliver. Of course, there are many ways in which it could fall short. The inclusion of parallel timelines and once-dead characters could get extremely messy or even be bungled entirely. The deviations could further upset fans, including, even, more optimistic ones like me. And many of the Final Fantasy VII prequels, sequels and spin-offs are, admittedly, mediocre or shoddy, with Crisis Core, itself somewhat flawed, being the shining exception. In other words, fan apprehension isn’t unwarranted.

But ultimately, I can’t help but be elated over the prospect of Remake and its sequels. I’ve often likened it to reuniting with old friends and going on brand-new adventures with them; the fond memories of VII will always remain, but you also have fresh ones to look forward to creating. These will include Zack, one of my favourite characters in gaming, and the yet-to-be-seen significance of his return — both to us, the fans, and characters like Cloud and Aerith. I don’t believe the creators would bring him back without having a meaningful role for him, especially all these years later, and I’m eager to discover what that means. And even if you’re not vibing with the general direction of the Remake saga (which, to be clear, is totally fair!), Square Enix should be commended, at the very least, for taking a risk.

Sure, a prettier repeat outing with Joel and Ellie could be fun, but the promise of new stories with other old friends? Now that’s exhilarating.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is set to release on PS5 “next winter.” Crisis Core — Final Fantasy VII — Reunion, meanwhile, is slated to launch “this winter” on PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch and PC.

Image credit: Square Enix

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis gets new trailer, closed beta for Android and iOS

Square Enix has revealed a new trailer for Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis on Android and iOS during its special Final Fantasy VII 25th anniversary stream.

 

First unveiled in February 2021, Ever Crisis is a mobile retelling of the entire Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Square Enix’s long-running metaseries surrounding Final Fantasy VII. As such, Ever Crisis will cover the original Final Fantasy VII, as well as the prequels Crisis Core and Before Crisis and the sequels Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus. Notably, Advent Children is a movie, so this will be the first time that that story is told in a game.

In the new trailer, we see a closer look at all of these older games (and movie) in action. Like the original Final Fantasy VII, Ever Crisis features combat based around the Active Time Battle system, a form of turn-based gameplay. In battles, the visuals are fully 3D, while character models outside of combat are blocky in a way that’s reminiscent of the original Final Fantasy VII. Character portraits and other artwork have been drawn by Lisa Fujise.

Key members of the original Final Fantasy VII team are also involved, including Tetsuya Nomura (original co-writer and character designer) as creative director, Kazushige Nojima (original co-writer) as the scenario writer and Yoshinori Kitase (original director) as producer.

Ever Crisis will be free-to-play on mobile with in-app purchases for lootboxes, which will contain random weapons and costumes. Interestingly, while a September release has been reported by the game’s co-developer, CyberAgent, Square Enix did not confirm a date during the stream. Instead, it simply said a closed beta test is coming later this year.

It should be noted that Ever Crisis is one of two remakes of Final Fantasy. The other, appropriately titled Final Fantasy VII Remake, is a multi-game project to reimagine the events of the original PlayStation classic. The second installment in the Remake series, Rebirth, was also unveiled during the anniversary stream, as was a remake of Crisis Core. 

Image credit: Square Enix

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Square Enix reveals remake of fan-favourite Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII

A remake of the popular PlayStation Portable game Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII is officially on the way.

Square Enix confirmed the news during its special 25th anniversary Final Fantasy VII stream. Credible leaker The Snitch first seemingly teased the remake on June 15th.

Officially titled Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion, the game is a remake of the original PSP game featuring updated 3D models, full voiceovers and new music arrangements. It will release on PlayStation 4/5, Xbox consoles, Nintendo Switch and PC this winter.

Set before the events of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core follows SOLDIER Zack Fair as he is sent to look for missing SOLDIER Genesis Rhapsodos. Along the way, he works with his mentor, Angeal, as well as Final Fantasy VII favourites Cloud and Sephiroth. Unlike the original VII, Crisis Core is an action-RPG, allowing Zack to fight enemies in real-time using his sword and various Materia-powered spells.

Crisis Core originally launched on the PSP in 2008, but was one of the titles that weren’t backward compatible on the PS Vita, and Square Enix hasn’t ever re-released it since. Therefore, the remaster is the first time the game will be available on modern systems.

In addition to the Crisis Core remake, Square Enix officially unveiled the next Final Fantasy VII Remake game, titled Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Zack is poised to be a major part of the Remake saga, so Crisis Core Reunion will no doubt help as a proper introduction to the character following teases in the first Remake. 

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Square Enix officially reveals Final Fantasy VII Remake sequel, titled Rebirth

After months of anticipation, fans finally got treated to the formal reveal of the Final Fantasy VII Remake sequel during Square Enix’s Final Fantasy VII 25th anniversary stream.

The game is officially titled Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and will release next winter. It’s confirmed to be the second of three parts to Square Enix’s planned Final Fantasy VII Remake project.

In the brief trailer, we see a flashback of Cloud and Sephiroth in Nibelheim before the events of Final Fantasy VII. During this, we hear Cloud and Tifa recalling what happened, alluding to the fact that, as in the original Final Fantasy VII, the two have different recollections.

“What is Sephiroth’s endgame?” reads cryptic text.

Notably, the first Final Fantasy VII Remake ended right as the party left the city of Midgar, which is only about five hours into the original game. The story also made some deviations from the events of the original game. Therefore, fans have been eager to learn more about the sequel and what direction it will go in. It’s unclear how much of the VII story will be included in Rebirth, but given that it’s only three parts, it seems like quite a bit of territory will be covered.

Final Fantasy VII Remake originally launched on PlayStation 4 in April 2020. The game was later ported to PS5 in June 2021 and, six months later, PC via the Epic Games Store. A Steam release was also confirmed during the anniversary event.

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Final Fantasy XVI coming to PS5 in summer 2023

Square Enix has revealed a new trailer for its hotly anticipated Japanese role-playing game (JRPG), Final Fantasy XVI.

The trailer dropped during PlayStation’s June State of Play presentation alongside a summer 2023 release window.

In the three-minute footage, we see more of the game’s story, which follows Clive, the son of an archduke who embarks on a quest for revenge in the fantasy world of Valisthea. More of the action-RPG combat mechanics, as well as glimpses at classic Final Fantasy summons like Ifrit, Shiva, Bahamut and more, are also featured.

Notably, the game is being developed by Square Enix’s ‘Creative Business Unit III,’ the team behind the critically-acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV. Naoki Yoshida, the fan-favourite director of XIV, is a producer on XVI. 

Fans have been waiting a long time to see XVI again. The game was originally announced during the September 2020 PlayStation   5 Showcase, with Square Enix promising that we’d see it again the following year. However, the whole year passed without a new trailer, with Yoshida confirming on December 27th that development had been delayed by about half a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The next update was promised for spring 2022.

The last mainline entry in the Final Fantasy series, XV, was released in November 2016. Alongside XVI, Square Enix is also working on the sequel to 2020’s Final Fantasy VII Remake. 

More to come..

Categories
Mobile Syrup

The Final Fantasy IX animated series will be revealed this week

The Final Fantasy IX animated series will be revealed this week as a part of the Las Vegas Licensing Expo. Speaking with Animation Magazine Bruno Danzel d’Aumont, the vice president of international licensing and marketing at Cyber Group Studios, said that the Final Fantasy project would be one of four the studio will show off at this year’s event.

Square Enix tapped Cyber Group Studios to take on the FFIX series with an official announcement last June. The title has supposedly been in production since late 2021 or early 2022.

D’Aumont said that “[The Expo] will be a great opportunity to share our upcoming plans with our licensees, agents, and new partners.” And he confirmed that the studio’s “most recently developed shows — Digital Girl, The McFire Family, Press Start! and Final Fantasy IX — will be presented for the first time.”

An exact episode count or length has yet to be confirmed by Square Enix or Cyber Group. Despite knowing that a reveal is coming, there has been no indication as to when exactly it will happen. The entire Licensing Expo will be streamed online, so whenever it does show up fans will be able to take it in.

Final Fantasy XI was originally released on the PlayStation 1 in 2000. A modern version of the game can be played on Steam, Nintendo Switch, and mobile.

Image Credit: Square Enix

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Eidos Montreal on the importance of accessibility in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy and beyond

One of last year’s most acclaimed games was Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. 

Developed by Canada’s own Eidos Montreal, the game received significant praise for delivering a rip-roaring galactic action-adventure packed with a deeply emotional, award-winning narrative. Here at home, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy also won Game of the Year at the Canadian Game Awards — no small feat considering the number of games made in Canada.

But Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy has garnered a strong positive reception from another, often underrepresented community: gamers with disabilities. These players, who are visually impaired, hard of hearing and/or have limited mobility or cognitive impairment, regularly face many barriers when playing, like the lack of adjustable subtitles, high contrast options and closed captions. Altogether, an estimated 250 million gamers around the world live with disabilities. With that in mind, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy offers a variety of accessibility features, which have been well-received by players and accessibility advocacy sites like Can I Play That? and DAGERSystem.

To learn more about what went into making Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy more accessible, MobileSyrup spoke via email to two of the key developers at Eidos Montreal behind these efforts: Améliane F. Chiasson, accessibility lead, and Daniel Fortier (lead UI programmer). They spoke about the development of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, the importance of accessibility as a whole and what the larger industry and gamers alike can do to make games more inclusive for everyone.

Question: Your background in QA and User Research led into your current role of Accessibility Lead. What is it about focusing on prioritizing players’ experiences that appeals to you, and what does it mean for you to now be formally focused on accessibility with your own dedicated team?

Améliane Chiasson: My entire career, I’ve always had to put myself in the shoes of our players. Whether it was ensuring our games were clear of game-breaking bugs or ensuring that our experiences were enjoyable — my mind was and will always be set on ensuring that the players’ experiences are a priority. They are the ones who buy our games and engage with our creations, so I feel we must think of them — all of them — all throughout our development process. We can make games that we love, that represent us, but we must never forget we aren’t making games just for ourselves (that wouldn’t be a very business-savvy mindset, anyways).

Q: What are some basic accessibility features that you think should, ideally, be in every game?

Daniel Fortier: Subtitles customization is a must for sure. Allowing the player to adjust the difficulty of the challenges is also something that should make its way to becoming standard in games, as it directly translates to a better experience for everyone, which is what games strive for at their core.

Chiasson: Echoing Daniel’s comment, subtitles presentation and customization is absolutely crucial. I will also add full control remapping, input alternatives, closed captions and menu narration.

After that, it becomes a little more intricate, but — design-wise — ensuring all information is communicated through multiple channels (for example: audio cues also have visual cues and optionally haptics, too). Also making sure your UI/HUD, as well as environmental design (if you have in-game hints, signs or indications), are colourblind-friendly.

Q: Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy has received a lot of praise for its accessibility features. What work went into a) identifying key accessibility features and b) successfully implementing them?

Fortier: Accessibility was an ongoing discussion right at the start of the production phase of the project. The game has a lot of conversations and banter and it was clear that subtitles were to be very useful for player to get every last bit of it, so we made sure it was designed and implemented early to get the best results possible. Around the same time, we had a lot of discussions on the fact that we wanted this game to be playable and experienced by a large audience of all kinds, and that we wanted to throw down the barriers that might come on the way to that objective. That led to the design of the difficulty customization, which was centered around basically exposing values that are traditionally hidden from the player by designers, thus giving them total control to the player to adjust what they want in their experience of the game.

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy poster with Star-Lord pointing his blasters

Through Star-Lord’s visor, players are given various colour contrast options.

Chiasson: Being aware of the core pillars of our game, as well as the intentions that went with them, really helped in identifying what were the priorities and focus when it came to accessibility. And this was true even before our department was created. So when we got on board on the project, we already had a clear scope of what to expect. That being said, making and implementing those features—and doing it well—required the dedication and commitment of many team members. This was a new process for a lot of people, and we’re lucky we had the production’s support to make it happen.

Designing and implementing for accessibility was not a structured process for us before, so we learned a lot during our time with Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy and hope to apply those learnings for our future projects.

Q: What’s especially notable about your [Chiasson’s] role is that you’ve worked on several Square Enix games, not just Eidos Montreal’s. Since you’re based in Montreal, what’s the process like in terms of collaborating with the international teams on games like Just Cause and Life is Strange? [Note: this interview was conducted prior to the announcement that Square Enix is selling Eidos Montreal and other studios to Embracer Group.]

Chiasson: Our department’s level of involvement — and my own — will vary depending on a few factors. Of course when it comes to our internal projects, it’s a little bit easier to be more hands-on and be there early. But for our external games for example, we usually will connect with key members of the team who will act as accessibility champions and help connect that bridge with us. We will equip them with documentation, meet with them on a set basis, provide feedback on their work, connect them with consultants and review the game whenever needed. The earlier we can be involved, the better and easier it is to tackle accessibility. And this goes for all projects!

Q: I’ve spoken to accessibility consultant Steve Saylor, who you worked with [on this game]. He noted that a key reason many games lack meaningful accessibility features is because they’re not thought of early in development. What should developers do to ensure that accessibility is considered early on throughout all facets of design?

Fortier: Steve is totally right in his assessment, and the process is already underway in our current in-development projects. Another way to see that issue is that accessibility is often seen as something that you add to a feature to make it more accessible to disabled or impaired people, rather than something that actually improves the feature by making it more comprehensible, functional and, in the end, fun! So the best way to fix this is to change the mindset around it, discuss it as soon as conception and ideating to explore new ways to make the features accessible to everyone by design, rather than “fix” them later in the process. Everyone benefits from some kind of customization in games, might as well make it part of the design!

Chiasson: Steve and Daniel are correct. I would add that as a best practice, including accessibility in your intentions and vision can help your team commit to it from almost day one. The ideal process for this is to have an accessibility team be involved in key design processes with your core team from the early days… but if you don’t have such a team yet, identifying accessibility champions on your project to act as owners is a great way to ensure accessibility is never left on the backburner. Having a plan and clear objectives is essential — even if that plan evolves or changes — at least you’ll have people who are nurturing and pushing this important mission.

Q: What are some other examples of games that you think offer well-rounded accessibility options?

Chiasson: I’m very inspired by the work of many other studios when it comes to accessibility — AAA and independent studios alike. From unique, innovative games like The Vale: Shadow of the Crown to huge releases like The Last of Us Part II or Forza Horizon 5, there’s amazing new best practices and creative solutions setting new standards for us to work and strive for. Other companies like Xbox (Microsoft) are also at the forefront of this mission, setting new guidelines, offering services for testing games and developing adaptive technology for disabled video games enthusiasts.

It doesn’t matter who works for who; when it comes to accessibility, when one of us succeeds… we all win.

Q: The 2022 Game Developers Conference State of the Industry survey found that more developers are now implementing accessibility measures into their games. However, one respondent noted that “there is still a lot of pushback in implementing accessibility features.” Why do you think there’s this pushback and what can be done to help combat this resistance?

Fortier: As I mentioned before, there is this idea that still persists in some capacity that accessibility is something you use if you are disabled, not something that everyone could benefit. There’s also a misguided thinking that accessibility will impact and diminish the creative vision of a project, by making it easier than it was designed to be. The reality is that while in effect, it can make games “easier” with difficulty options, for example, it is also an opt-in experience, which allows players to decide what they want as their experience of the game.

The interesting thing is that this has been there for most of modern gaming history. Take, for example, Wolfenstein 3D, which allowed selecting the difficulty level when starting a new game. I think the resistance comes from a misunderstanding of what accessibility really is, which makes the best way to combat is to continue discussing it, making it an integral part of the creative process and then, as weird as it sounds, making it so standard that it becomes invisible.

The Vale: Shadow of the Crown poster (a knight looks out into a canyon)

The Vale: Shadow of the Crown is an audio-only game developed by Niagara Falls, Ontario’s Falling Squirrel. (Image credit: Falling Squirrel)

Chiasson: I think mainly there’s a lot of misconceptions about what our objectives and intentions are when we talk about making games accessible. We don’t want to “make your game easier” or throw a wrench at your creative vision. We want to work with you to welcome even more people into the world and experience you’re creating. Disabled people are part of your target audiences. And even beyond that, it’s been demonstrated time and time again that accessibility options and considerations are also appreciated and used by players who don’t consider themselves as disabled.

There’s also sometimes a frustration to acknowledge from developers who are swamped with work towards the end of a project that didn’t have an accessibility program in place and who are being asked to retroactively break barriers. These types of last-minute requests can be very difficult and at times impossible due to resources, budget and tech limitations. Those same developers may then have a bone to pick with people who talk to them about accessibility… when their issue truly isn’t with accessibility, but the lack of planning. That’s why we need to have these discussions early to avoid later hindrances that can cause bitterness about the subject. It’s never too late to see what can be done (if you didn’t do it before), but it’s important to be aware of the state and resources of a project in order to bring actionable solutions to the table.

Q: We also see gamers who just don’t seem to understand — or even try to understand — why accessibility matters. This especially seems to happen whenever people bring up adding assistive options to difficult games like Elden Ring or Sifu. What would you say to these people to help them become more empathetic?

Fortier: There will always be gate-keeping in every cause, and accessibility sadly isn’t an exception. That being said, as with all these other causes, the best way to fight this is open communication, reaching out, patience, and above all, not letting it affect ourselves. As developers and artisans, there is nothing more rewarding and touching than to see players of all walks of life succeed in a difficult quest or boss fight and see the pride in their eyes. Sharing that experience at large can only help make that empathy blossom in everyone.

Chiasson: Humans, in general, tend to deal in individualism, and it sometimes feels like a lot of us are unable to put ourselves in other people’s shoes. Fostering empathy in the gaming community can be hard on multiple levels, whether we’re talking about toxicity, social issues or accessibility. There is also a misunderstanding of what accessibility means and how it should be addressed in games. If you’re struggling to understand why accessibility matters, go and watch talks available on the subject coming directly from disabled players and accessibility specialists. Educate yourself before making assumptions. That being said, I don’t waste my time with people acting toxic for the sake of trolling.

Q: Outside of making games accessible themselves, more public recognition for accessibility is slowly coming from The Game Awards, Able Gamers (which just did an awards show with Ryan Reynolds) and more. What else would you like to see done to continue to promote accessibility in gaming?

Chiasson: I think, mainly, that there’s a lot of room for more accessibility coverage in journalism and game reviews. And I’m not just talking about accessibility-focused articles, but normalizing discussing accessibility when reviewing games and covering announcements and development updates.

Also, I’d love to see accessibility being added in the curriculum of game development education, whether it be in universities or online courses. We need the developers of tomorrow to be aware and educated on the matter so we can continue to move forward in the right direction.

Q: Looking ahead, Amélie — you were one of a small group of people inducted into last year’s The Game Awards Future Class for your work on accessibility. (Congratulations!) What does it mean to be recognized like that, and what are you looking forward to doing with the Class?

Chiasson: Thank you, thank you! I was very happy and humbled to be part of this impressive class of inspiring creators, entertainers and game-changers. I love that The Game Awards started to recognize individuals who are pushing this industry to new horizons. I also love that marginalized communities are being brought to the spotlight because this can lead to more exposure and more professional opportunities. I’m looking forward to learning from my fellow class members about how they experience their own journeys, how we can help support each other and potentially identify areas where we can collaborate in concrete ways to instigate positive initiatives in the games industry. I was positively surprised to notice that we’re invited to meet rather often and that the organizers are treating us with impactful learning sessions from inspiring industry folks. The TGA Future Class program definitely isn’t just for show!

This interview has been edited for language and clarity. 

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is now available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch (cloud only) and PC.

This interview was conducted to coincide with Global Accessibility Awareness Day, which falls on May 19th, 2022. The annual event is intended to promote access and inclusion for the one billion-plus people around the world who live with disabilities.

For more information on accessibility in gaming, check out our Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2021 interview with Steve Saylor. Broader resources on accessibility, in general, can also be found on the official GAAD page.

Image credit: Eidos Montreal/Square Enix

Categories
Mobile Syrup

This Final Fantasy VI statue is so expensive that even the series’ creator is shocked

On the latest episode of “Neat-But-Crazy-Expensive-Final-Fantasy-Merch,” we’re taking a look at a statue based on Final Fantasy VI.

Over the weekend, Square Enix showcased the “Masterline” collectible, a stunning 1/6 build that features protagonist Terra Branford riding Magitek Armor, as she does in the game’s iconic opening.

The statue features swappable parts for Terra and Mog, one of the Moogle creatures that have become the de facto mascot of Final Fantasy. All told, it’s a really stunning piece based on one of the greatest games of all time, and original artist Yoshitaka Amano even consulted on it to add a level of authenticity.

There’s a catch, though. It’s limited to 600 pieces — 150 of which are exclusive to Japan, with details on the worldwide allocation of the remaining 450 currently unknown. What’s more, it’s priced at 1,485,000 yen (about $15,000 CAD).

Of course, limited edition items like this are expected to cost a pretty penny, but 15K is certainly crazy. Funny enough, Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, who was heavily involved in the making of VI, even said as much on Twitter.

“Yeah, no. Even in comparison to the cost of creating dioramas for Fantasian. Isn’t this a bit much? Are you okay, Square-Enix?” tweeted Sakaguchi (translation by @Cheesemeister3k), who currently runs his own independent Mistwalker studio. He was referring to the special hand-made dioramas that were created in real life and then scanned into his team’s latest JRPG, the Apple Arcade exclusive Fantasian.

Final Fantasy VI recently got a Pixel Remaster edition on mobile and PC that adds improved visuals, rearranged music and more. It’s currently unclear whether Square Enix plans to bring the game — or any of the other five Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters — to consoles.

Via: Nintendo Life

Categories
Mobile Syrup

This Final Fantasy VII Remake alarm clock costs $250

Square Enix has unveiled a special, insanely expensive Final Fantasy VII Remake-themed digital alarm clock.

Shaped like protagonist Cloud Strife’s iconic Buster Sword, the clock features an LCD display that shows time in various colours inspired by materia, the magical orbs used in the world of FFVII. Further, the alarm functionality features five songs from Final Fantasy VII Remake‘s incredible soundtrack:

  • The Airbuster
  • Aerith’s Theme — Home Again
  • Let the Battles Begin! — A Merc’s Job
  • Main Theme of FFVII — Sector 7 Undercity
  • One-Winged Angel — Rebirth

However, there are some significant shortcomings to this device. First, it’s $200 USD (about $250 CAD), which is outrageous for a digital alarm clock. What’s more, for a device that costs so much, you’d expect fairly pristine sound quality, but this clock unfortunately lacks even that.

As you can hear in Square Enix’s official trailer for the clock, the audio sounds echoey, which is jarringly juxtaposed with the sound clips from the game that play in the same video. Finally, there’s bafflingly no snooze button.

If none of that is an issue for you, the “Final Fantasy VII Remake Digital Clock — Buster Sword” is available for pre-order on Square Enix’s website. It’s expected to ship in January 2023. Final Fantasy VII is my all-time favourite game, but unfortunately, this clock — however cool it does look — simply costs too much for me to justify a purchase.

Outside of the clock, 2022 marks the 25th anniversary of Final Fantasy VII, and as part of those celebrations, Square Enix says it hopes to share more information on the currently untitled second installment in its FFVII Remake series. Remake was originally released on PS4 in April 2020, with a PS5 version following in June 2021 and a PC port landing that December.

Via: The Verge