[Pai Pai Master]

SQUARE-ENIX is currently holding their DKΣ3713 Private Party 2008 event today in Shinjuku. This thread will be updated with news coming from the event.


-PARASITE EVE: The 3rd Birthday is coming to the PSP system.

-FINAL FANTASY VII: Advent Children Complete will ship with a FINAL FANTASY XIII playable demo on an extra Blu-ray disc. New video footage of FINAL FANTASY Agito XIII and FINAL FANTASY Versus XIII will also be provided on the disc.

-In Japan, there will be a PLAYSTATION 3 + FINAL FANTASY VII: Advent Children Complete hardware bundle arriving in March of 2009.

-FINAL FANTASY Agito XIII is also coming to the PSP system.

-FINAL FANTASY XIII is confirmed for a 2009 Japanese release.

-FINAL FANTASY Versus XIII is a worldwide, PS3-exclusive simultaneous release. Date TBD.

-There will be a PSP + DISSIDIA: Final Fantasy bundle coming at the end of the year in Japan.

-There will be a new Final Fantasy POTION promotional item sold in Japanese stores for DISSIDIA: Final Fantasy.

Jesus christ, SE, trying to warm back up to Sony or something after E3? Let's get some DS + Wii announcements here.

-KINGDOM HEARTS: 358/2 Days will arrive in late 2008-early 2009.

-KINGDOM HEARTS: Birth by Sleep will arrive in the second half of 2009.

That appears to be it. Looks like SQUARE-ENIX is warming up to the PSP after it's been strongly outselling the PS3, DS and Wii constantly in Japan this year. The show floor is open to the club members and press who are present, impressions from Famitsu and whatnot will be posted later.

For clarification on the FFXIII release, it goes something like this:

1. FFXIII PS3 (Japan)
2. FFXIII PS3 (North America and Europe)
3. FFXIII PC (Regions TBD, probably staggered)
4. FFXIII 360 (North America and Europe, no Japan release)

SE confirmed at E3 that the PS3 version will not be a worldwide simultaneous release, but they hope to localize the game for worldwide release much faster than they normally do. I'd expect 3-6 months between launches so depending on when the game comes to Japan, we could still see it stateside in 2009. The PC version is confirmed but there hasn't been any mention of a release window, but that it might finish development before the 360 version since the game is being developed ground-up for PC and completed for PS3 first.

It looks like the Cellphone versions of PARASITE EVE: The 3rd Birthday and FINAL FANTASY Agito XIII are both canceled. SE may be rebuilding the games ground-up for PSP. We never saw any actual footage of the cellphone versions of either games, and now they've been announced for PSP with no mention of any other versions. I assume they're PSP-only now, and will be developed according to PSP spec instead of ported from cellphone.

Little bit of trailer news:

DISSIDIA: Final Fantasy (PSP)
-Kefka is a confirmed character. The trailer clip shows him fighting alongside Sephiroth.
-It appears that FFVI's chosen hero is Locke. (unconfirmed)

KINGDOM HEARTS: 358/2 Days (DS)
-Organization XIII's 14th member is a woman named Xion. Looks kinda like Kairi.

[Malacite]

Bitching! New PE Game At Last!

[TheGrandMom]

Originally Posted by Pai Pai Master

-PARASITE EVE: The 3rd Birthday is coming to the PSP system.

I cried tears of joy...

[Malacite]

Wait, is that Golbez in the top left? I recognize everyone else but... wtf? And why is Garland on the "Good Guys" side? (It kinda looks a bit like Cecil, but if you look at FF Origins you can tell it's Garland)

[Pai Pai Master]

It seems that previous hints at FFXIII and Versus XIII's progress by Square Enix were unclear. They're currently showing real-time footage of both games.

Impressions:

-Gameplay field is like a "highly evolved" FFXII system.
-There is now the ability to jump during battle.

-FF Versus XIII footage is not battle-related, just shows The Prince walking around in an area that looks very ancient-Greek.


Re: Dissidia:

That's Garland up top. Warrior of Light opposing him.
Emperor of Palamecia below Garland. Firion opposing him.

And just in: Golbez and Exdeath are mentioned as FFIV and V's villains. Heroes for both games are still unconfirmed.

This brings the cast to:

FINAL FANTASY
Warrior of Light vs. Garland

FINAL FANTASY II
Firion vs. Emperor of Palamecia

FINAL FANTASY III
Onion Knight vs. Cloud of Darkness

FINAL FANTASY IV
??? vs. Golbez

FINAL FANTASY V
??? vs. Exdeath

FINAL FANTASY VI
??? vs. Kefka (translator apparently confused Firion for Locke, awaiting confirmation)

FINAL FANTASY VII
??? (Obviously gonna be Cloud) vs. Sephiroth

FINAL FANTASY VIII
Squall vs. Ultimecia

FINAL FANTASY IX
Zidane vs. Kuja

FINAL FANTASY X
Tidus vs. Jecht

FINAL FANTASY XI (unconfirmed as a game appearance)
??? vs. ???

FINAL FANTASY XII (unconfirmed as a game appearance)
??? vs. ???

FINAL FANTASY XIII (unconfirmed as a game appearance)
??? vs. ???

I think they're stopping at X. Shame, would have liked to have Zeid and Kam'Lanaut included. They'd fit in very well.

[Feba]

...jump?

Well, I like action RPGs like KH. I wouldn't have expected a main series FF to go that far, though.

[Pai Pai Master]

Scratch that. FFXIII is not coming to PC after all.

Advent Children Complete contains roughly 30 minutes of additional footage, with some new fight scenes. It is Blu-ray Disc only, no DVD version. The entire film has been re-rendered with added effects.



Bruises!

Birth by Sleep Trailer Impressions:

"Birth by Sleep's gameplay follows a familiar style. It is action orientated, but the quality is the same as the PS2 games. Attack with the circle button, use magic and special attacks with the triangle button. When the gauge fills, a unique special move can be used."
Note: X and O are reversed in Japan


Inside a castle.
Aqua: "Is there a clue of Master Xehanort?"
Terra: "He is interested in hearts of pure light"
Aqua: "A heart of pure light..."
Terra: "We'll chase the light too."
Terra: "Master Xehanort should appear if we do so."

Snow White's World(?)
Snow White: "Oh! Who are you?"
Terra: "Aren't you surprised?"
Snow White: "Why?"
Terra: (I can feel the pure light...)
Terra: (After all, does this girl hava a heart of pure light?)

[Balfree]

Oh lawd a Parasite Eve title!

I can die happy.

Oh yeah I don't own a PSP.... crud! Guess this is my cue.

[Feba]

Also, just noticed that 358/2 has an Attack button. Man, a portable KH without that card bullshit. HI I CAN'T REALLY DO MUCH STRATEGICALLY WHEN I'M ALSO TRYING TO FIGHT MY ENEMY AND I ONLY HAVE ONE SLOW WAY TO SWAP THROUGH A VERY LARGE LIST OF CARDS. Card fighters? I really don't mind! I used to be pretty big on YGO TCG crap. COM? Painful!

[Malacite]

A PS3/360 PE would have been better, but I'll take a PSP title since it's been so damned long.

Never did beat PE2. IIRC I think I got stuck just before you got to the military base near the end. Damn that game was hard (and seriously creepy)


Edit: FF4 would likely be Cecil vs either Zemus or Golbelz. 5 would be Bartz (Gilgamesh would have been more fun than Ex-Death though)

You sure 6 will be Locke? I'd wager more on Terra personally.


And yes, Zeid vs Kam'lanaut (or Eald'narche) would have been epic. I find it just a smidge odd they picked Jecht though, since he was really a good guy who unfortunately got mixed up in the cycle of Sin. Why not Yu'Yevon?

[Mog]

Originally Posted by Pai Pai Master

-FINAL FANTASY Versus XIII is a PS3-exclusive simultaneous release.

/grin

[Balfree]

Originally Posted by Malacite

Never did beat PE2. IIRC I think I got stuck just before you got to the military base near the end. Damn that game was hard (and seriously creepy)

I beat the first one so many times I had massively uber weapons, also loved the second one, beat that game in all modes, its pretty awesome but I've been waiting for a new PE title so dearly... the villain from PE is as persistent as sephiroth, they can milk PE just as much as they milked FF7, and I so want them to start pushing those utters.

[Armando]

HI I CAN'T REALLY DO MUCH STRATEGICALLY WHEN I'M ALSO TRYING TO FIGHT MY ENEMY AND I ONLY HAVE ONE SLOW WAY TO SWAP THROUGH A VERY LARGE LIST OF CARDS. Card fighters? I really don't mind! I used to be pretty big on YGO TCG crap. COM? Painful!

While I respect the fact that many people may have been put off by CoM's battle system, it was freaking great. You just sucked at it. That didn't make it a bad system.

Also, <3 Kefka.

[Feba]

Originally Posted by Armando

That didn't make it a bad system.

Again, if nothing else, rotating the card wheel was a piss poor system. It would have been tolerable if it had, say, a WAIT system that would allow you to pause and select your moves, like FFXII.

[TheGrandMom]

Originally Posted by Malacite

A PS3/360 PE would have been better, but I'll take a PSP title since it's been so damned long.

It could be a feeler. They want to see how well a PE game will go over and then really hit the big time by putting one on the PS3/360. (HEY I can dream! )

EDIT:

Originally Posted by Pai Pai Master

Tetsuya Nomura's mentioned in a recent interview that a "shocking announcement" is coming from Square Enix next month at its DKΣ3713 Event. He claims that it's related to FINAL FANTASY VII and Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children COMPLETE, which will be one of the focuses of the event. Seeing as how they just made a rather shocking announcement, I'm gonna hold off on the hype until we find out what it is soon. Chances are it's not going to be "shocking" at all, and fairly useless. [/b]

Pai is psychic. I take it the "announcement" was the FFXIII demo coming in Complete.