How familiar are you with the Final Fantasy games that came before VII? Howabout the game that is most frequently cited to challenge VII’s dominance over the fandom? Have you played it before at all? If so, how long ago was that? Would you like to give it another run-through? Maybe you love this entry so much you’ll jump at any excuse to play it again – I know that’s how many of us feel about it.

Whether you have played it before or not, join us as we journey together through Final Fantasy VI; experience the game that gives Final Fantasy VII a run for its money and presents us with one of the most memorable villains in all of video gaming!  While we progress through the game, pausing at checkpoints, join us for discussion on what you’ve just seen. How did you react? Did you interpret things differently than others? Of course, you can also seek help from more experienced players in tough battles and special items.

Final Fantasy VI is the journey of a group of people fighting, for various reasons, an oppressive empire. Magic, lost to humankind after a war which nearly destroyed them, has reappeared, and one man has set his sights on its source. Will you help us stop him?

Can you?

We just started today, and the checkpoint is to merely play through the game’s opening moments. See here for more details and discussion!

I’ve put together this article for the launch of our newly re-organized Compilation of Final Fantasy VII forum structure which now includes a Fan Content Section. This is speculation and theorization based on as much data as I can put together from all of the pieces of the Compilation, for the potential of the final events leading to the ending of the the FFVII Compilation, allowing Gaia to finally become the paradise that is seen 497 years after Dirge of Cerberus. This is a fairly in-depth article, spanning 3 pages, so don’t forget to click “Read the rest of this entry.”

Enjoy, and be sure to check out our new sections in the forums!
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Icicle Inn

Welcome to Icicle Inn, snowbound mountain resort town, and the polar *rimshot* opposite of its counterpart, Costa Del Sol. I’ve always like the atmosphere of this town better than a lot of the other ones, even if you are here for like, half a second. It has a very ‘solid’ air that the game obviously intends for you to feel, similar to Midgar, Costa, or Kalm. Even the music is trying to get you into the groove.

Buried In The Snow

I mean come on don’t you want to make snowmen listening to this shit? However though, I think it’s kinda apparent that Square was kinda running out of ideas at this point in the town design process; I wouldn’t be surprised if I. Inn was around the last towns they developed in the dev process. While there isn’t very much to do with a snowbound town in the middle of nowhere, I. Inn is a far cry from the character of say, Midgar (with this said I literally do not understand how some people don’t like Midgar. It’s easily one of the most unique environments in any RPG, ever).

I think the fact that Gast and Ifalna lived here might be a nod from Square to say “HEY WAIT DON’T LEAVE SO FAST THERE’S INTERESTING SHIT HERE WE SWEAR”

However, maybe that’s how it was supposed to be. I have no real complaints with this town at all, it’s nice, serene, and one of the last stops in the game before shit gets real.

Also if you’re reading this and you’ve never let Elena punch Cloud when the Turks show up, try letting Cloud get blasted on your next playthrough. She decks the shit out of Cloud. I mean pow, right in the god damned kisser. In the case of a possible remake, they gotta keep that shit as is, Cloud sinking to his knees and all.

The next and final town, Mideel!

Bone Village

Yeah Bone Village is kinda weird for me. I don’t have a lot to say about it (that’s why I’m doing I. Inn right after this), but that’s only because the game doesn’t do much with it. Now this time I can’t blame Square; this is simply one of those towns that’s just a pit stop to more interesting places. It’s interesting in its own right though; an excavation center on a relatively low key and sparsely populated continent. I thought getting the Lunar Harp was a weird little thing to do; apparently they’re not a big deal considering the excavation team just kinda says you have to dig one up to enter the Forgotten City like it’s no big deal. The dialogue sort of implies that its a well known artifact; couldn’t they have loaned Cloud and co one? I guess not.

And what the fuck is up with that fighter jet? Sure you can explain it away now with the retroactive connection with FFX’s world and the lost technology thing, but what were they thinking at the time of them adding it? SHIT’S WEIRD. I liked the digging thing though, even if it was pretty tedious. I usually just grab the unique items and bounce. It’s a good backup if you lost some one time only things, such as the Bahamut Zero or the Phoenix Materia.

Anywho, there’s not a lot to say about this place, I guess. On to the next one, Icicle Inn!

Greetings faithful readers! As a surprise, we’re releasing the first On the Way to a Smile novella – Case of Lifestream as the second TLS exclusive audiobook, since it was completed a little ahead of schedule. (Don’t worry, Case of Tifa & Denzel are still on their way).

As before, you can listen to it by clicking on the banner at the bottom of the page, or download it for your personal storage / transportation by clicking on the link just above the image. We sincerely hope that you enjoy this, and keep your eyes open for The Lifestream.net’s next audiobook installment! Click on “Read the rest of this entry” for embedded YouTube versions for your convenience.

Length – 11 minutes 50 seconds

Written by Kazushige Nojima
Translated by Hitoshura
Produced by Joseph Purdy

Narrated by Joseph Purdy
Sephiroth – Michael Lloyd
Aerith – Rinrinorikuriku

“Beyond The Wasteland” – ACC version by Kenichiro Fukui
“Lifestream” – written by Nobuo Uematsu, performed by dludi8hn
“Sign” – AC version by Nobuo Uematsu
“The Promised Land” by Nobuo Uematsu
“Sign” – ACC version by Kazuhiro Toyama and Kenichiro Fukui
“Lifestream Overture” by Reuben Kee

All characters and scenarios copyright © SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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Do you see this art? This was drawn by a forum member, name of Dacon, an aspiring artist, and a rather awesome person. In addition to his excellent comissions, he’s willing to draw us an entire comic book, roughly 25 pages, of any part of the compilation we as a whole might wish, and to vote on which he draws for us, you can head here in order to tell us which bit you’d like to see.

Read the rest of this entry »

Wutai

If you’ve been around here for a while you’ve probably already picked up on how I feel about Wutai. Wutai, at first glance, is just another small town entry in the age old ‘Japanland’ RPG convention, just another notch on the map, that a very casual player may never even see.

However, an astute player notices something a bit more. In the original game, very few comments here and there allude to ‘the war’, or ‘a war’, that Shinra waged long ago. The earliest direct comment to this is Elmyra stating that her husband had ‘been sent to some far away place called Wutai’. Comments about the war with Wutai are very few and far between until you get to Wutai itself, and then you realize that Wutai’s culture and world standing was completely castrated by Shinra during/after the war (sound familiar?). It was interesting hearing that this little podunk nowhereland was at one point strong enough to challenge Shinra in open warfare.

However, like most parts of FFVII’s past that are actually interesting and worth expanding, the original game’s narrative sort of completely glosses over it. Then came along the Ultimania which outright stated that not only was Wutai strong enough to wage war against Shinra, it was doing a damn good job of it and could have actually broke even or won outright if it wasn’t for those pesky SOLDIER/Sephiroth/Materia of Shinra. Interesting.

Then Crisis Core came and everyone was rubbing their hands together for different reasons. I for one was excited at hearing that the War was going to be expanded on, I was particularly excited at the screenshots featuring Wutai soldiers.

Alas, the game itself comes out and the War with Wutai is once again an afterthought, with it being more or less forgotten about after the first segment of the game in favor of the Genesis War (jesus christ, square). Even before that, the depiction of the war seemed pretty comical with Zack taking Fort Tamblin all by himself. Yeah, I know they were trying to portray Zack as a badass, but come on. That pretty much dashed my hopes of Crisis Core being a semi-serious attempt at displaying the brotherhood, horrors, and general pointlessness of wars, within the events of a particularly pointless war in FFVII’s world.

Could've fooled me.

I guess I sort of went into a tirade. Yeah, well, in the original game, Wutai is a pretty bangin’ place. While there’s no reason to go there after the sidequest, it’s a good place to get X-Potions, and the music is what’s up.

Next, Icicle Inn!

Rocket Town

Rocket Town is pretty nice. I like the concept. A bunch of bored engineers peter out a living in a boring suburb after a failed rocket crash. I think this town is the most realistic city in the game so far, mostly because it’s the first town to consistently display bathrooms in every house. Of course this place is most memorable because it’s the current city of FFVII’s straight balla shot calla, Cid Highwind. Why Cid is such a fucking badass would be another topic entirely, but one thing that always stuck out to me is how Cid kicks that comedian in Rocket Town in the balls in his own house.

I kinda wish you spend more time here. It’s very IN AND OUT, like most places in FFVII. It’s sometimes hard to really appreciate the places because you’re there and gone. That’s why Midgar is so memorable, it makes an impression and it really settles in, with the player spending hours there before they leave for the next town. In a possible remake, I hope they find a good way to slow it down just a little bit, while keeping the spirit of each location. I dunno. Here’s hoping.

(Thoughts c/o ForceStealer: Cid definitely dominates the memory of Rocket Town, but important shit went down there. The theft of the Tiny Bronco, and the final launching of the Shinra 26 at Meteor. And how could we forget that guy dealing with some serious intestinal distress.
“I dunno what’s going to happen first, Meteor falling or that guy coming out of the bathroom.”)

Next: Wutai!

After 4 months of hard work, we proudly present the first TLS exclusive audiobook:

You can listen to it by clicking on the banner at the bottom of the page, or download it for your personal storage / transportation by clicking on the link just above the project information. We sincerely hope that you enjoy this, and keep your eyes open for The Lifestream.net’s next audiobook installment: “On the Way to a Smile: Case of Tifa.”

Update: The complete Audiobook is also available on our Youtube channel in a 7 part series. Here’s Part 1, and the download link is just below the video.

Click for Youtube Links: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7.

The Maiden Who Travels The Planet: Complete Audiobook (Right Click to Save As)

Length – 1 hour 15 minutes

Written by Benny Matsuyama
Original translations by LH Yeung (Xcomp)
Further translations by hitoshura
Produced by Joseph Purdy

Narrated by Tim Jewett
Aerith – Rinrinorikuriku
Jessie – Annie_Chan
Biggs – KaffeineKid87
Wedge – Dustin Dorsey
Dyne – Jack Li (satsugaikaze)
President Shinra – Steven Kelly
Zack – Daniel Yetman
Hojo – Joseph Vitaliano
Sephiroth – Michael Lloyd

Featuring music composed and performed by Roy Todd www.roytoddmusic.co.uk

“The Maiden Who Travels The Planet” and “Why” piano compositions written and performed by HypochondriacPiano
“Aerith’s theme” – piano composition performed spookyman89
“Shinra Company” written by Nobuo Uematsu, remastered by d33eniz
“Those Chosen By The Planet” written by Nobuo Uematsu
“Aerith’s theme – ACC long version” written by Kazuhiko Toyama

All characters and scenarios copyright © SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Yes, you’ve read it quite well! Square-Enix will launch this perfume in Mid-August, at a price of 7,140 yen.

Apparently, it will be an unisex perfume, with a light and refreshing fragance.

Now the only thing missing is Sephiroth’s shampoo with 12 different scents…

Source: FF-Reunion and Ami Ami

Credits go to Cloud_S for bringing this to our attention

There are cosplays, and then, there are cosplays. Every so often, something a fan does is so fantastic that it’s worth bringing up aside from the normal news. You may have seen some incredible cosplay renditions of photo-realistic Cloud & Tifa from ACC, but it takes some serious creativity to come up with a Cloud costume that’s accurate to his appearance in the original game (aside from his MP blue clothes, rather than the SOLDIER purple). All that’s missing is a boxy Buster Sword to match. Below is a video (posted by a youtube user named kotono116) that shows that this cosplayer’s even got all the right moves.

Source: Topless Robot

Classical pianist Benyamin Nuss will release his debut album for the record label Universal Music (Deutsche Grammophon/DECCA) this summer.

Entitled Benyamin Nuss Plays Uematsu, the album will commemorate Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu’s music with a wide range of creative and evocative piano arrangements. The album promises to demonstrate Nuss’ virtuoso technique and will transfer his emotional connection with the music to the audience. To be released this summer, it will be the first time game music has ever been commemorated by a major classical label and promises to be the greatest game music piano album ever released.

While still at the start of a promising career, Nuss already has several eminent recordings behind him. Last year, he recorded Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G with the WDR Radio Orchestra and performed Shimomura’s Kingdom Hearts fantasia at the game music concert Symphonic Fantasies – Music from Square Enix. Now 21, he is signed to the world’s biggest record label, Universal Music, and aims to appeal to game music fans and classical listeners alike with his most momentous production to date.

Classics from Nobuo Uematsu’s Final Fantasy VI to Final Fantasy IX will headline the album. The composer’s latest RPG scores will also feature, alongside a surprising tribute to one of his first composition works. While the majority of the arrangements are dedicated to specific pieces, listeners should also expect three expansive suites, dedicated to Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, and, of course, Final Fantasy VII. Readers should check back in coming days for full details on the track listings for the album. Featuring wonderful melodies, pioneering arrangers, and a passionate pianist, Benyamin Nuss Plays Uematsu is the most ambitious game music piano production of all time and looks set to at last bridge the worlds of classical and game music. The album will be released by Universal Music on September 17, 2010.

A big thanks to Square Enix Music for bringing us this interesting bit of info. This album sounds like pure awesomesauce to me. Check out the link to their site for more info on Benyamin Nuss and his career.