Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood‘s New Zones Are So Pretty

Final Fantasy XIV is one of the prettiest massively multiplayer online role-playing games going, and with next month’s Stormblood expansion it’s only getting prettier. Here’s a video tour of some of the new lands (and waters) players will be able to explore come June 20. There are plenty of fresh sights in the Eastern lands of…

Square Enix Moves Final Fantasy VII Remake Development In-House

Previously, Square Enix was working with external studio CyberConnect2 to develop Final Fantasy VII Remake. But now, Square Enix will be making the game in-house. Third party studio CyberConnect2 is perhaps best known for its Naruto and .hack games. Back in 2015, it was revealed that Square Enix was working with the studio on the…

How A Man Born Without Eyes Plays Video Games

Toby Ott is 27 years old. He’s been playing video games since he was five, when he first tried out Mortal Kombat in an arcade. Which sounds like a fairly common gaming past, until you learn that Toby has bilateral anophthalmia, a rare condition which means he was born without eyeballs. While this obviously presents…

Oh Hey, It’s Tifa Lockhart

This is Russian cosplayer Shade Cramer with a damn good Tifa Lockhart from Final Fantasy VII Photos by B.Y. Photo+

Square Enix Had “Record-High” Sales Last Year 

Even though things might sound grim with the IO Interactive split, Square Enix proper is doing well. Really well, it seems. “For this fiscal year,” Square Enix stated in an official release, “the Company reported record-high net sales, operating income, ordinary income and profit attributable to owners of parent, respectively.” Year on year, Square Enix…

My Final Fantasy Keyboard Has Quina Instead Of A Q

Along with giving folks a comfortable means of typing for hours on end, a decorated mechanical keyboard can also reflect the passions of the user. Since no existing keysets adequately reflected my love of Final Fantasy, I made my own. A nice set of keycaps can completely change the look and feel of a mechanical…

Tokyo Tower Turned Into A Final Fantasy Dungeon

Last Friday, Tokyo Tower was turned into level 50 dungeonCrystal Tower. Typically, it appears an orange-red when lit up, but on April 28, it also illuminated blue to mark Final Fantasy’s 30th anniversary.  Below are images of Tokyo’s one-night only Crystal Tower: A special Final Fantasy 30th Premium Store also opened at the foot of…

How Three Kids With No Experience Beat Square And Translated Final Fantasy V Into English

One day in the late 1990s, Myria walked into the Irvine High School computer room and spotted a boy playing Final Fantasy V. There were two unusual things about this. The first was that Final Fantasy V had not actually come out in the United States. To play the 1992 Japanese game in English, you’d…

Some Excellent Final Fantasy XV Cosplay

Narcisse, the master of Final Fantasy cosplay, returns with this Noctis outfit from Final Fantasy XV The costume was a joint effort between Narcisseand his girlfriend Lady Zero And in case you’re looking at this and thinking “well, it’s a dude in a lotta leather”, check out the detail work that went into making sure…

Real Life Should Have JRPG Victory Music

JRPG victory music is one of the best types of video game music. Every time you emerge from battle victorious, a familiar, stirring theme plays. I want that music to play in my everyday life. This post originally ran on 4/26/2012. Five years later, I’ve bumped it up and made a few edits, because Persona…

Final Fantasy VII Player Hits Level 99 In The First Reactor

Over the weekend, a Final Fantasy VII player who goes by the handle CirclMastr got Cloud and Barret to level 99, which isn’t particularly impressive. What’s impressive is that he did it before the game’s first boss battle. It took roughly 500 hours, by CirclMastr’s count, to pull off this ridiculous accomplishment. He’s been plugging…

Random Encounters Are The Bane Of A Final Fantasy Speedrunner’s Existence

The Final Fantasy Series Relay Race III is going on right now, with three teams of seventeen people competing to see which can beat every game in the series first. Begun back in 2015, the annual event is streamed across several days with speedrunners on each team dedicating themselves to completing a specific Final Fantasy…

A Dire Warning About Final Fantasy’s Black Magic

Let’s go back. To a time before Jack Thompson, before age ratings. Back to 1980s Canada, when the most pressing concern with video game content—and how it was destroying the youth—was the black magic found in Final Fantasy. “And once again, it’s about how you can get in touch with your wizard”. If you’re short on…

The New Day Enter Wrestlemania With Final Fantasy Tribute

It’s Wrestlemania time, and hosts The New Day are doing their thing, entering the arena with a Final Fantasy homage. There are also Moogles present.

Final Fantasy XV‘s First DLC Is Short And Pointless

Final Fantasy XV, a Cup Noodles commercial cosplaying as a video game, got its first piece of downloadable content this week, and you really don’t need to bother with it. It’s short, straightforward, and—unless you’re particularly attached to Gladio—really boring. Episode Gladiolus, which came out yesterday for $5, starts off with the Final Fantasy XV…

Final Fantasy XIV‘s Free Trial Isn’t Limited To 14 Days Anymore

Good news! Square Enix has announced that it is no longer limiting the MMORPG’s free trial to fourteen days. According to the FFXIV’s most recent patch notes, “The 14-day limit of the free trial has been removed.” Below are the full trial notes: The Japanese patch notes are a bit more specific, explicitly stating that…

Final Fantasy XV Now Has An Alternative Chapter 13

If you are one of the many people who hated Final Fantasy XV’s thirteenth chapter, you will be pleased to hear that you can now skip it entirely, thanks to a new route that’s full of beefy Gladiolus shots and even political humor (see above). The “alternative” Chapter 13, which you can access from the…

Final Fantasy XV’s update 1.07 is live, setting up Episode Gladiolus and making big changes to the polarizing Chapter 13. If you’ve already beaten the game, you can see the revised chapter from the menu. If you can’t imagine subjecting yourself to it again, stay tuned: I’ll check it out tomorrow morning and report back…

The next time you want to skip those animations, World of Final Fantasy players, think of the poor artists.

Just Because A Game Is Old Doesn’t Mean It Must Be Cheap

I’m nuts for Secret of Mana. That blend of Final Fantasy RPG gameplay with Zelda-style action combat was the game that made me a fan of what we used to call “Squaresoft” back in the day. Today, all Square Enix has to do is put up a website that auto-plays one of the tunes off…