Square Enix

Here’s A Final Fantasy VII Remaster You Can Play Right Now

Back in January, we showed you a beta version of a fan-made Final Fantasy VII remaster, which used machine learning to automatically clean up the game’s visuals. It just hit v1.0 and is ready for release. Here’s some of the stuff the mod features/does: AI neural networks upscaled the game’s visuals to 4x the resolution…

I Can’t Go Through This Again, Final Fantasy VII

One of the most heartbreaking moments in gaming history has a new voice and a new face, thanks to last week’s Final Fantasy VII remake trailer. I have no idea how long it’s going to take for this game to arrive, but I’m already lamenting what’s to come. Aeris is going to die all over…

The official Twitter for Square Enix’s Studio Istolia is M.I.A., and the studio’s official site is gone. In March, former Tales producer Hideo Baba, who had been working on a new game for Studio Istolia, left the company. The status of the game, known as Project Prelude Rune, is still unclear. 

After Playing Episode 3, I Think I’ve Been A Bad Brother In Life Is Strange 2

The third episode of Life Is Strange 2 has the player grapple with the fact that protagonist Sean Diaz’s younger brother Daniel is his own person. It can go very badly. Each episode of Life Is Strange 2 is a delight, albeit the kind of delight that has me covering my face with worry. Sean…

The Final Fantasy VII Remake Finally Re-Emerges

After a long period of development hell, the Final Fantasy VII remake is finally back in the real world, with Square Enix dropping a short teaser trailer today and promising more to come in June. It looks great. First announced at E3 2015, the Final Fantasy VII remake went through some mysterious problems, with Square…

Final Fantasy XII Is Great On Switch

The Final Fantasy XII remake came to Switch this week, and the good news is that it runs pretty well in handheld mode. The even better news is that it’s got some killer features that should probably have been in the game from the start, which sure sucks for anyone who bought it two years…

New Visitors Are Shaking Up My Once-Exclusive Final Fantasy XIV Server

As of Tuesday, Final Fantasy XIV’s World Visit service is live, allowing players to zip between servers and check in on other worlds. The result has been a wonderful sort of chaos. New friendships, massive economy shakeups, and a few troublemakers trying to stir up the pot. Once closed-off servers have now been opened, and…

Final Fantasy XIV’s New Crossover Event Is All About Chilling With Prince Noctis

Final Fantasy XV’s protagonist prince Noctis spends roughly 80 percent of his life in crossover events, from Cup Noodle sponsored quests or battling in Tekken to geeking out about Assassin’s Creed. His latest destination is Final Fantasy XIV, where he stars in a quest that’s all about slaying monsters and hanging with your bro, bro.…

Previously a Switch exclusive, Octopath Traveler will come to Steam on June 7. Square Enix made the news official today with a new trailer after it had previously come out early in a now deleted blog post. The Japanese role-playing game has some great music and combat but can get repetitive.

Former Tales Producer Hideo Baba Has Now Left Square Enix

In February 2017, it was announced that former Tales producer Hideo Baba was heading up a new studio at Square Enix called Studio Istolia. Last month, however, Baba and Square Enix parted aways. Prior to joining Square Enix, Baba produced Tales games at Namco Bandai. Studio Istolia was working on a completely new IP called…

First Look At The New Dragon Quest Movie

There’s a new animated Dragon Quest movie headed to Japanese theaters in August, and the first full trailer for it has just been released. If you are here for slime, you are in luck, friends. No word on an international theatrical release, but you’d imagine we’ll at least be able to get a subtitled version…

Man Arrested After Threatening To Kill Square Enix Staff

A 25-year-old nursing care worker has been arrested after allegedly emailing Square Enix, threatening to kill staff. According to Livedoor News, the man is accused of sending an email on February 5 to Square Enix’s Tokyo office that read, “Hey staff tomorrow I’m going to kill you get ready [for your punishment]” [SIC]. In Japanese,…

Final Fantasy XV’s Episode Ardyn DLC Made Me A Fan Of The Villain

Final Fantasy XV’s final installment of downloadable content and its animated prologue have changed the way I feel about the game’s roguish antagonist. Not only is Ardyn Izunia a much more sympathetic figure now, he’s also a complete warp-striking, demon-converting bad-ass. Don’t expect Final Fantasy XV: Episode Ardyn, available today for $10 on PlayStation 4,…

Final Fantasy XIV’s Newest Races Are Gender-Locked, And Players Are Not Happy

When a new rabbit-eared race called Viera was revealed for Final Fantasy XIV’s upcoming Shadowbringers expansion during last month’s Paris Fanfest, only female versions were shown, but players were hopeful that the male version of the Viera would be announced at the Tokyo Fanfest this past weekend. Instead, Square Enix added a whole new race,…

Japanese TV drama Final Fantasy XIV: Dad of Light is getting a feature film adaptation. It will star Kentaro Sakaguchi as the son and Kotaro Yoshida. In the original TV show, Yudai Chiba played the son and Ren Osugi, who passed away last year, was the father.

The Second Cutest Final Fantasy Spinoff Is Back, And It’s Brought Friends

Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo’s Dungeon passed the “cutest Final Fantasy game” crown to World of Final Fantasy and its hordes of adorable critters in 2016, but that’s okay. The 2007 Wii game, remastered today for the Switch and PlayStation 4 and renamed Chocobo’s Mystery Dungeon Every Buddy, is still one of the sweetest and purest…

A Beautiful Musical Celebration Of 20 Years Of Chrono Cross

One of the greatest things about the 1999 PlayStation role-playing game Chrono Cross is its soundtrack. Composer Yasunori Mitsuda, who created the music for Chrono Trigger on the Super Nintendo four years earlier, took the “Chrono sound” to dizzying new heights for the sequel. Now 29 artist have come together to pay tribute with Chronopolis:…

Final Fantasy Gunblades, Ranked

Seriously. Final Fantasy VII was the first game in the series to have guns. They added to the game’s modern and mature mystique at the time. Prior to that, the series’ weaponry was purely medieval, primarily focused around swords. But what if you could have a sword that was also a gun? Final Fantasy VIII…

Left Alive Isn’t Fun But Its Depiction Of Mechs Is Great

Left Alive is not a very fun game to play. Its mashup of stealth gameplay and mech combat is clunky and frustrating. But these gameplay shifts do create spectacular contrasts that capture one of the most important features of the giant robot genre: the human costs of mech combat. In Left Alive, the outbreak of…

Octopath Traveler is getting a prequel for smartphones called Octopath Traveler: Tairiku no Haisha (Conquerors of the Continent). Announced for Japan, the free-to-play RPG features and all-new story set a few years before the first game.