Final Fantasy

Tetsuya Nomura Picks The Three Best Lightning Fanart

Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy character designer Tetsuya Nomura recently judged a fanart contest at deviantART, which featured the Final Fantasy XIII series’ recurring protagonist and costume aficionado, Lightning. After looking through literally thousands of submissions, he picked three. Here they are. The press release announcing the winners also had comments from Nomura for each…

Everyday Choices Are a Lot Harder in Final Fantasy VII

When it comes to the routine of daily life, Final Fantasy VII doesn’t leave you with many good options. Take grocery shopping with Cloud, for example, as imagined by Fox’s Animation Domination Hi-Def

Final Fantasy Themed Weddings Sure Are Romantic

Sweet and adorable, too! If you plan on getting married, may I suggest doing something like this? While the bride and groom dressed as Final Fantasy characters White Mage and Squall, those attending the wedding were encouraged to dress as their favorite characters—Final Fantasy or not. “Not all guests and relatives know Final Fantasy so…

All The New Features In Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD

HD visuals, new dress-spheres, a crazy new tower dungeon in which every action is turn-based… these are the new features in the upcoming remakes of Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2, which are out on March 18 for PS3 and Vita. Really, the only thing not to be excited about here is that you…

‘Final Fantasy Has Arrived’

Via Steve Lin, a Nintendo employee newsletter from June of 1990. “Oddly enough, this first-of-its-kind blockbuster is called Final Fantasy, but you can bet that it won’t be the last.”

Do Final Fantasy Fans Really Want More Lightning?

Square Enix believes that Lightning, the main character of the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy, has a lot of fans. In fact, according to FFXIII director Motomu Toriyama, Lightning is so beloved that she might start getting Square Enix Cameo Treatment. “We know that Lightning is an extremely popular character, even when compared to other Final…

Final Fantasy XIV PS4 Beta Begins February 22. See How Pretty It Is.

Last month Square Enix announced an April 14 release date for the PlayStation 4 version of Final Fantasy XIV, but that’s not the date players were waiting for. It’s almost beta time, kids, and the game is looking fantastic on PS4. The PlayStation 3 version of the best MMO of 2013 is lovely and all,…

Final Fantasy VII’s Boss Music, Played By Floppy Drives

Anything can be an instrument, people—including a whole bunch of floppy drives! Sixteen, in this case, to be exact. (You remember floppy drives, right?) You might recognize this tune as “Those Who Fight Further,” which is the boss theme in Final Fantasy VII. Here’s the original, for comparison’s sake. Pretty close, right? Kudos to MrSolidSnake745…

Final Fantasy Tactics Wasn’t Supposed To Have Casting Times

You know how in Final Fantasy Tactics—the wonderful strategy-RPG released for the PlayStation in 1998—your wizards and summoners all had to deal with charging times? And how if you wanted to cast a spell, you’d have to wait X number of turns before it went through? Here’s a bombshell for you: creator Yasumi Matsuno says…

Happy Valentine’s Day Week—here is a beautiful new romantic trailer for Final Fantasy X, a video game about an athlete’s illicit love affair with a woman who’s just trying to save the world. The HD remakes of FFX/FFX-2 are out on PS3 and Vita next month.

Final Fantasy VI Is Out On iOS Today

One of the greatest RPGs ever made is out on iOS today. It’ll cost you $15.99, and it’s got touchscreen-adapted controls and a brand new coat of paint. Check it out on iTunes if you’re interested, and pick a side: Team Cool Remake or Team This Shit Is Gross. Or, if you’ve never played FFVI…

Watch This Rock Band Play A Killer Final Fantasy Medley

Good morning. Here is a rock band covering Final Fantasy IV music as a crowd nerds out at Magfest in Maryland. It is awesome. Enjoy. (via On Being Human)

How Bravely Default Became A Classic ‘Old-School’ JRPG

On Friday, Americans will finally get to start experiencing Bravely Default, a new role-playing game by Square Enix that’s really quite great. (Look out for my review of the game by the end of the week.) Last week I hopped on the phone for a chat with producer Tomoya Asano and assistant producer Shinji Takahashi.…

You Can Cosplay As Lara Croft In Lightning Returns

Tomb Raider DLC for Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII? Sure.

The Curtain Opens on a Special Final Fantasy 3DS XL

Aw, look at that! They’re all singing. How adorable. Upcoming 3DS game Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call is the latest entry in the Final Fantasy-themed music game series. To mark its April 24 release in Japan, the game is getting a special 3DS XL. No word yet about a Western release for the game or…

A Look Behind The Scenes Of Final Fantasy

The world of Japanese video game development can often feel mysterious to those of us in the Western Hemisphere, so it’s always cool to get these behind-the-scenes peeks at studios like Square Enix. Granted, this is a fluff video for the upcoming Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII (out next Tuesday for 360/PS3), so it doesn’t…

Final Fantasy, Summed Up In A Minute: the Final Fantasy franchise has been around for a long while—here is the Cliffnotes version of its twenty-six year history by LORE. Just in time for Final Fantasy VII’s birthday!

A Tale Of Two Final Fantasys

In 2003, two companies named Square and Enix merged, and everything went crazy. It was one of those Transformative Genre Moments, you know? The world’s two biggest JRPG franchises—Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest—now belonged to the same company. Since then, both series have gone down very strange paths. Final Fantasy went back to its medieval…

The Heroes and Villians of The Legend of Zelda, In Samurai Form

Man. I can’t be the only one that would play a Zelda game in this style, right? It’s it’s sumi-e, to be specific—it’s a type of Japanese brush painting. You might already be familiar with the style if you’ve played Okami. Either way, the Link above was drawn by artist myCKs—and there’s more where that…

Square’s 16-Bit Final Fantasy XIII Retrospective Is Just The Best

This might be the coolest thing Square has done in a decade—instead of just making a boring ol’ story recap video for Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy XIII-2, they made one in the style of Final Fantasy VI for Super Nintendo I seriously wish we could play this game instead of the real version.…