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!

This is Cookie Monster, overlord of what is deemed Great and Just.  I’ve been telling the site staff to make an announcement about this for months.  And for their reluctance, I’m posting myself.   We have made a twitter account that you all can find and follow right here.  We will be updating it soon.  So, let the tweeting begin, we hope to see you there.

Here at the Lifestream.net, we’re usually looking for new and interesting angles to examine Final Fantasy Seven from, and it is with this in mind we are announcing our new front page feature- essays and articles written and submitted by you- the fans. Towards this end, we are proud to present the first of what hopefully will be many user editorials, an essay by a girl named June- also known as Messenger of the Ancients- reposted in its entirety with her permission. For some context, this essay is in part a response to my and Squall of Seed‘s recent articles, as well as the Love Triangle Debate that has plagued much of Final Fantasy Seven Fandom, so you may wish to familiarize yourself with these before reading. In any case, please, sit back, relax, and enjoy the essay.

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So, given how long Voices of the Lifestream has been in existence, we’re not sure how many of you haven’t heard of it before, but since we here at Thelifestream.net are into all things Final Fantasy Seven and want to encourage fan projects of all sorts, we figured we’d tell everyone who wasn’t already aware know about this awesome fan orchestrated remix album to the great songs of Final Fantasy Seven, and let you listen to these awesome arrangements at the same time.

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So the final vote for the most memorable moment of the Compilation of FFVII begins now. Which moment has had the most impact amongst the fans of the Compilation? Well…it’s now a final match between these four events. Below you’ll find the ranking results of the previous vote. Now we’ll see which moment is most memorable of all.

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EDIT: Success!!! No more borkage! We’re now on hostgator.
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After much voting, and a few delays, the results of our first poll have been tallied and gathered. And some of what users nominated and voted for the most memorable moments of the Compilation are quite surprising.

The moments that made it into the top ten will proceed to the next tier of voting to see which moment is the most memorable of all. Below you’ll find the results of which moments made the cuts, the moments that didn’t, and the personal commentary of members who picked out these events for their memorability. So enjoy, and see what ends up making the cut next time, when only the top four are selected.

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Zack’s final moments on the outskirts of Midgar.

Aerith’s rescue from the Shinra Building.

The final confrontation between Cloud and Sephiroth high above Midgar.

Vincent and Lucrecia’s moment after the climactic ending of Dirge of Cerberus.

Out of all the moments of the Compilation of FFVII… Which moment stood out to you the most?

That’s what TheLifestream.net wants to know, and with that, we’re holding our first contest on which moments of the Compilation of FFVII are the most memorable.

The forum community has nominated twenty-one of the most memorable moments of the series, and we want to know which is the most popular and memorable of all. The first round of voting will be for the top 10. After that, the next voting bracket will be for the top 4. And from there, we will look for which single moment from the Compilation of FFVII has stood out most in the hearts of fans.

So if there’s a moment you want to win, be sure to vote for it here! If you haven’t registered for the forums, be sure to do so, so that you can have your vote counted. We will publish the results of each vote bracket on the front page, so be sure to check back, and above all else, vote and have fun!

Allakhazam has posted earlier a huge compilation of what Hiromichi Tanaka and Nobuaki Kumoto said to Famitsu, 4Gamer and GameWatch. They gave us a lot of details about Final Fantasy XIV mechanics and development.

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As a complete surprise, FF14 was just announced at Sony’s E3 presentation, complete with a short trailer.

It is currently set for release exclusively on PS3 in 2010.

And here is the trailer for it right here.

Be sure to check back for more updates!

Last week some of the Square-Enix staff, namely planning director Takashi Arakawa and Yoshinori Kitase (director, writer and producer) were present at a gaming event in Munich, Germany. Below is a translation (thanks to Tetsujin) regarding their writing of the scenario and possibly ideas for a sequel.
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We just received news that as of today, Final Fantasy VII International is available on the Japanese PlayStation Store.

The “International Version” included all the additions that were made to the US and European editions of FFVII such as the optional WEAPON battles as well as a few added cutscenes. However, it is in Japanese only.

The game is sold for 1.500 Yen.

Thanks to TLS member Shademp for bringing this to our attention.

Source: Gamefaqs, PlayStation Store