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Kotaku East
In Final Fantasy XV, Cooking is Important
Camping is a big part of Final Fantasy XV. And what is camping, without some campfire cooking? As previously explained by director Hajime Tabata, is part of the core gameplay of FFXV, and plays a vital role in adventuring the vast open world. To recap, camping in FFXV converts exp gained through battles into levels.…
By Toshi Nakamura Published February 19, 2015 -
Kotaku East
Why Final Fantasy XV Has Fantastic Hair
As a rule, Final Fantasy games have amazing hair. But the ‘dos in Final Fantasy XV look especially good. Thank fancy tech, professional hair stylists, and wigs for that. During the last console generation, a glut of characters had buzz cuts or sported coifs that looked like they were drenched in hairspray. Those bad hair…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 19, 2015 -
Culture
Final Fantasy Speedrun Includes 28 Minutes Of Walking Up Stairs
This video features about half an hour of a guy doing nothing but walking up and down stairs in Final Fantasy for the NES. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Speedrunner gyre_, who set a new “any%” world record on Sunday by “completing” Final Fantasy in 59 minutes and 10 seconds, used a save-corrupting glitch…
By Jason Schreier Published February 17, 2015 -
The Iconic Final Fantasy Art Of Tetsuya Nomura
From Final Fantasy VII through to XIII (and Kingdom Hearts in between), one man has stood as a beacon of everything people love — and loathe — about Square Enix. And that man is Tetsuya Nomura. Joining Square over twenty years ago as an artist, Nomura had his first big break designing many of the…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 16, 2015 -
Dissidia Final Fantasy Takes The Fight To Japanese Arcades
Announced this weekend at the Japanese Amusement Expo, Dissidia Final Fantasy takes Square Enix’s franchise-wide fighting game from the PSP to the arcade with three-on-three battles between a horde of iconic characters. While more information is expected later this year, the first trailer (thanks Kev!) gives us a good idea of what Japanese arcade goers…
By Mike Fahey Published February 14, 2015 -
Final Fantasy Bosses Make For Great 3D Fanart
Three Eidolons from Final Fantasy XIII, Brynhildr, Bahamut and Odin, looking all amazing as custom 3D models. The 3D-rendered summon beast-slash-boss trio comes courtesy of NemoriS from model sharing site SketchFab. They’re embedded below—if you’re gonna zoom in a lot, make sure to use the more straightforward first-person viewing mode (the little eye icon) for…
By András Neltz Published February 13, 2015 -
Guy Turns His PS1 Into Final Fantasy VII‘s Midgar
Well, that’s one way to play the classic JRPG: With a miniature version of Final Fantasy VII‘s capital city on top of the console. MakoMod‘s creation, which took 10 months to complete, might look rusty and dark, just like Midgar, but the modified PlayStation and reads discs perfectly. The creator shared a gallery on his…
By Gergo Vas Published February 9, 2015 -
Kotaku East
How Final Fantasy XV Does Pre-Render and Real-Time
In Final Fantasy XV, pre-rendered and real-time graphics do look different. Not that different, apparently. Recent Japanese magazine scans show a pre-render and real-time comparison for FFXV character Cidney, the first female Cid While she’s not a playable character, Cidney appears as an in-game mechanic. Below, you can see the images via GermanFFBlog and website…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 9, 2015 -
Final Fantasy XV Sure Knows How To Do Nostalgia
Look, Square Enix—you can keep your fancy graphics and high-octane magic swordfights or whatever else you’re shoving into the next Final Fantasy. You guys know that all it really takes to reel back your old fanbase is a few bars of Uematsu. I mean, listen to this. LISTEN. This is the newly-released trailer for the…
By Jason Schreier Published February 5, 2015 -
Kotaku EastFinal Fantasy XV, The Cat Simulator
Just as Square Enix used a “Dog Cam” to show off FFXV, it’s now using a “Cat Cam” to do the same. At the recent Taipei Game Show, a feline friend explored an in-game train station. The below video is from ETtoday: Here’s the same footage, but at a slightly higher resolution: While right now…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 3, 2015 -
Final Fantasy Kitchen Knives Deal Critical Damage To Fruit, Vegetables
Yes, I know. I want them too. But, much as I’d like to own some rad Final Fantasy cutlery, these were custom-made for one specific super-fan. We can ogle them from afar, though, and ogle we shall The Super-Fan Builds team enlisted the help of the ever-talented folks from Man At Arms to construct four…
By Nathan Grayson Published February 2, 2015 -
Meet Twitch’s Newest Star: A Piano Player
For most of this week, I was pretty sick. There was an upside, though: it gave me the opportunity to stumble across one of Kyle Landry’s piano marathons on Twitch. That night, he became one of the most viewed anythings on Twitch, nearly beating Counter-Strike, Hearthstone, and Dying Light At first, it was just idle…
By Nathan Grayson Published January 30, 2015 -
Kotaku EastFinal Fantasy Explorers Is Crystal Chronicles Meets Monster Hunter
It’s time to team up and go hunt some of Final Fantasy‘s most iconic creatures. Good – Iconic Monsters There’s not a lot of plot to Final Fantasy Explorers. You make a character, come to the one town on a remote island, and receive quests from its inhabitants. The island itself is a macrocosm of…
By Richard Eisenbeis Published January 30, 2015 -
Kotaku East
Final Fantasy Explorers‘ Bosses Make for Great GIFs
Final Fantasy Explorers is a game all about venturing out into the world and slaying monsters—including the summonable creatures that have appeared in numerous games from across the franchise. To make these battles especially epic, the summons have pre-fight cutscenes—each of which looks just as cool in gif form. Shiva Ifrit Ramuh Cúchulainn Diablos Fenrir…
By Richard Eisenbeis Published January 27, 2015 -
If Zelda Had Final Fantasy Logos
The Legend of Zelda has its own logos. They’re great! But what if Zelda logos looked like Final Fantasy ones? Well, I guess they’d look like this. Tumblr site Shattered-Earth did a series of Zelda-meets-Final Fantasy logos in Yoshitaka Amano‘s iconic artistic style. So, The Final Legend of Zelda? The Legend of Final Fantasy? Zeldantasy?…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 27, 2015 -
Square Sure Put A Lot Of Work Into Final Fantasy Type-0 HD
Here, for your enjoyment, is an official Square Enix comparison video that shows how they’ve transformed Final Fantasy Type-0 from a dark ugly PSP game to a GORGEOUS new-gen console game. Well, OK, it’s not that gorgeous. Everything looks a touch too glossy, and a lot of the textures are clearly carried over from the…
By Jason Schreier Published January 23, 2015 -
Kotaku EastHow Final Fantasy XV Is Influenced by Back to the Future: Part II
Don’t expect DeLoreans, hoverboards and sports almanacs. But according to Wan Hazmer, Final Fantasy XV lead game designer, the title has found inspiration in an unlikely source: Robert Zemeckis’ 1989 sci-fi flick. In an interview with Travel Garage TV, Hazmer talks about how the game’s developers are striving to create believable environments. “A concept of…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 20, 2015 -
Kotaku East
My, My Cid, How You Have Changed
While each Final Fantasy tends to be set in a different world, there are a few staples you can expect in each one—most prominently, a character named Cid. And the newest game in the franchise, Final Fantasy Explorers, is no exception. Over the years Cid has gone through some changes since his first appearance back…
By Richard Eisenbeis Published January 20, 2015 -
Meet The New Man In Charge Of Final Fantasy
The director of Final Fantasy XV is reading your comments, Kotaku. Hope you’ve got good ones. Hajime Tabata, the newly-elevated Square Enix superstar who is helming the next two major Final Fantasy games—Type-0 HD (this March) and XV (eventually)—told me on Friday that sometimes, when he has spare moments, he goes through Kotaku comments and…
By Jason Schreier Published January 19, 2015 -
Kotaku East
The Up All Night Stream Plays Final Fantasy Explorers (Stream Over)
This past month a new Final Fantasy spin-off title, Final Fantasy Explorers, came out in Japan. So of course, the Up All Night Stream is here to play it with you all. Let’s find out together what happens when you mix Final Fantasy and Monster Hunter, shall we? Update: The stream is now complete but…
By Richard Eisenbeis Published January 16, 2015