Final Fantasy

Happy 25th Birthday, Final Fantasy. It’s Time To Get Your Act Together.

Happy birthday, Final Fantasy! You were first released in Japan on December 18, 1987. You’re 25. Good times. Now listen. We need to talk. There used to be a day when seeing the name “Final Fantasy” meant we were about to play something fantastic, when your “brand”—as the kids like to call it these days—was…

Square Enix’s Next-Gen Engine Sure Makes Eyeballs Look Pretty

We may know nothing official about the next generation of consoles, but we do know what Final Fantasy overseers Square Enix hope their games will look like on them, courtesy of its 2012 debut of the Luminous engine These two videos give us a closer look at the tech demo first shown at E3, zooming…

Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade is Live and Pretty Disappointing

Sneaking past me onto iTunes this morning, DeNA’s Asian import Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade is now available for free download. Just don’t expect much in the ways of bells or whistles. In fact, there’s no sound at all. Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade is one of those collectible card games I love so much, only instead…

This Is What Didn’t Make the Final Fantasy Tactics Final Cut

Back in the days before the infamous Grand Theft Auto “Hot Coffee” scandal, it was common practice in game development to simply leave unfinished content on the disk. Sometimes this data was cut due to time issues, other times it was old data from early in the game’s development that no longer fit the vision…

A Bento Box. Shaped Like a PS3. No, Really.

To show its gratitude to the Final Fantasy and the Metal Gear series, Sony is launching a special “character bento” (kinda like this, I assume). Sony hasn’t yet unveiled the actual meal, but today it did show off the bento box the food will go in. The bento box that looks like a new PlayStation…

Chun-Li vs Tifa In a Brutal Fistfight. Who Would Win?

Sorry if that sounded like an idle fanfic question. I couldn’t care less what your imagination says. What I do care about is videos going to the trouble of dressing up professional stunt people/fighters and having them go at it… in the name of idle fanfic curiosity. Chun-Li vs Tifa (Street Fighter 2 vs Final…

The Smartest & Dumbest Things Square Enix Did in 2012

Square Enix. It’s a name that evokes some powerful memories: what gamer hasn’t formed some sort of emotional connection with games like Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest over the years? If you play video games, you’ve probably played something developed or published by Square Enix. They’ve got tentacles everywhere. 2012 was an interesting year for…

Looks Like Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy Is Coming To iOS Today

There’s a listing for Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy up on the New Zealand iTunes Store, which almost certainly means that the rhythm game will be out in North America later today. Theatrhythm is a tap-tap-tap game in the style of Elite Beat Agents or Guitar Hero in which you strum your fingers across the screen to…

There’s a teaser site up for a Theatrhythm game. Smart money says it’s a mobile port.

Square Enix Sale Drops Mobile Final Fantasy Prices to Near Reasonable Levels

In celebration of the holidays and the impending release of the 3D Nintendo DS Final Fantasy IV remake on iOS. Square Enix has lined up a slew of iOS game sales, starting with slashed prices on those excellent-but-pricey mobile FF games. It’s hard to resist a mobile Final Fantasy game, but those that managed to…

Now That’s How You Ride a Chocobo

The magnificently-named Randis Albion takes the humble chocobo and toughens it up in this beautiful piece, which he’s hoping will get him a meeting with legendary Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu. You can see the full image below. Go Chocobo Go! [CGHub, via Super Punch]

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII Makes Players Manage Time

Lighting Returns, the upcoming Final Fantasy XIII title, uses a time mechanic. In the game, the world has only 13 days left before it ends. In a recent interview with 4Gamer, game designer Motomu Toriyama went into slightly more detail about the game’s time mechanic. As mentioned above, the time limit in-game is 13 days.…

The Lightning Returns Logo Took a Very Long Time to Design

Some things can be finished quickly. Some things take time. The Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII logo, it seems, took time. A lot of time. On the game’s official Twitter, someone from the Square Enix publicity department said “it took an exceedingly amount of time to arrive at the design”. Creating it was a long…

There’s a New Mobile Final Fantasy Game on the Horizon, and We Hold the Key to Sephiroth

The airships are coming! Following a highly successful launch in Japan, DeNA Co. and Square Enix are preparing to bring Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade to North American Apple and Android devices. Airborne Brigade, the first free-to-play Final Fantasy social game to be released in English, casts players as airship pilots exploring an FF-inspired land, banding…

Getting Up Close and Personal with Square Enix’s New Engine Blew My Mind

This last Friday and Saturday in Tokyo, Square Enix held their 2012 Open Conference. While there was some talk about the relaunch of Final Fantasy XIV, the majority of the two-day event focused on Agni’s Philosophy: Final Fantasy. Agni’s Philosophy is the real-time tech demo of Square’s new Luminous Engine that was first presented at…

Here’s What Makes a Final Fantasy, According to Square Enix

This last weekend in Tokyo, Square Enix held an open conference centered around its real-time tech demo, Agni’s Philosophy: Final Fantasy. While presenting the technical aspects was paramount in the design of Agni’s Philosophy (as it was meant to showcase the detail and flexibility of Square’s new Luminous Engine), its creators were adamant it feel…

Here’s A Stunning Minecraft Re-Creation Of Final Fantasy VII‘s Midgar

Earlier this year we showed off someone’s great Minecraft re-creation of Final Fantasy VII‘s iconic city Midgar This one might be better. Kotaku reader Jason sends in these pics from the Minecraft FF7 map he’s been working on (which you can find over at Aegis Gaming). Behold, enjoy, and shake your head at just how…

It’s Final Fantasy XIII, But with Drunken Sex Talk

Binge drinking. Jerking off. Squids. It’s just another wild night in the world of Final Fantasy That’s because someone, let’s call that person a genius, decided to combine screenshots from Japanese role-playing games Final Fanatasy XIII and Final Fantasy XIII-2 with Texts from Last Night. Texts from Last Night, of course, is a website that…

Final Fantasy XIV Will Get Marriage, But Not Gay Marriage (At Least For Now)

When Final Fantasy XIV relaunches as Final Fantasy XIV: Let’s Pretend This Game Didn’t Happen A Realm Reborn in the near future, the people behind it plan to add a whole bunch of new features. One of those features, to be added in a future patch, is marriage. The traditional version, with men and women…

Final Fantasy XIV Ends with Cinematic Bangs and Server Whimpers

Here’s the end of Final Fantasy XIV, Square-Enix’s MMO getting a reboot in the form of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. Fittingly for a flawed endeavor—one Square-Enix officially apologized for—the last day didn’t go so well for some users. A glut of traffic is to be expected whenever you’re bringing down an MMO—who doesn’t…