Final Fantasy III is the entry with which I am least familiar. But I have done my best to look into the story and events leading up to the final dungeon and take into account the overall atmosphere it must have. But you’ll have to forgive me if I don’t place emphasis where it should be placed or vice versa.

Final Fantasy III: World of Darkness

This dungeon is very to the point. You are here to kill the Cloud of Darkness and you do not seek to do anything that does not directly relate to that end nor does the dungeon intend to provide you with anything contrary to that purpose save the boss gauntlet. The only items to be found in the whole thing are Ribbons, and as a matter of fact, the door to the final battle is literally directly in front of you when you enter the dungeon.

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Final Fantasy II: Pandaemonium

In stark contrast to the Chaos Shrine, Pandaemonium doesn’t require nearly as much imagination to realize how freaking awesome it is. Again, with our experienced eyes, its not much to look at as you can see, but the PSP version helps this immensely with the crystal sheen moving across your screen.

But, regardless of version, the fact remains that David Bowie The Emperor that you have killed did not magick himself back into existence, or find some contrived loophole in death, no. Death was simply not interesting enough and so he decided to overthrow Hell. Yeah. Remember this series is not about final bosses but final dungeons, however, what makes Pandaemonium so cool is the fact that you are entering the palace of Hell to kill the Emperor who has conquered it and brought it to the surface of the planet. Satan’s got some catching up to do. Damn.

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Greetings all, ForceStealer here, over the next few weeks or so I’ll be going over the final dungeon of each FF and relaying my thoughts and impressions. For several of these I have save files right before them to refresh my memory of some of the feelings I had when I first entered them. I may also be getting people’s help for few dungeons I’m not as familiar with. Also, I’m pretty sure this goes without saying, but FFXI doesn’t count, so lets go!

Final Fantasy I: [Past] Chaos Shrine

Any stirring of feelings you get going to the Chaos Shrine, as well as anything else in FF1, takes a lot of involvement of your imagination. It has that cool little twist that it’s the first dungeon you ever went through but now you get to see it in the past in its glory. In the geographic center of the four fiends’ lairs, the shrine is where you must take out Chaos to bring an end to Garland’s time loop.

The music is serviceable, but again not quite as stirring as some of the later final dungeon tracks become. The difficulty is as inconsistent as the rest of the game (that is, certain battles are an absolute breeze, while others just a few steps away crush you and admonish you like the daring little child you are). Making you fight the Four Fiends again is a tad cheap but not something later Final Fantasies were above. Honestly, when you’re playing through this game, the biggest deal about this dungeon is it’s the most story you really get at one time. The object of FF1, after all, was more of an explorative affair than a sweeping plot anyway.

What do you mean you want a minimap? You pussy.

Admittedly, playing the rest of the games makes it a little difficult to give the first final dungeon a totally fair shake. But its not a particularly tough dungeon even by Final Fantasy I’s own standards – it is an endurance test however. It gets the job the done, but its mostly uphill from here.

Not that my opinion means anything, what do you guys think?

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

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.

After latest news pretty much suggested that a remake would only happen once hell freezes over, they recently asked fans about their opinion for a remake of FF7 on their official Square-Enix Members Twitter account. It was immediately flooded with positive replies, so many in fact, that the author asked everyone to stop replying.

This is pretty much the first time Square-Enix themselves asked people about a remake.

Two days later, they even asked about fans’ opinions for a remake of FFVIII.

Here are the links to the respective twitter entries:
http://twitter.com/SQEX_MEMBERS_JP/status/9915740773
http://twitter.com/SQEX_MEMBERS_JP/status/10021366399

Source:
Japanese S-E Members Twitter
Cetraconnection.de

If you’re interested at getting a sneak peek at what FFXIV is starting to look like, you can apply to be a beta tester and get your hands on a copy of the game to help iron out the tweaks. Square Enix’s looking for players to test out the Windows version of Final Fantasy XIV. You can apply to play the online version here.

Just make sure not to be a pest and apply more than once, otherwise they’ll chuck all your applications. Guess they don’t like people who are too persistent. Thanks to our member Earl for bringing it to our attention!

Do my eyes deceive me…?

With the lack of Final Fantasy characters appearing in KH 358/2, I kinda wasn’t expecting any FF characters to appear in Birth By Sleep.

Was I wrong.

A new scan from Weekly Jump showcases our loveable SOLDIER, Zack Fair, making an appearance in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. And as an even more amusing nod to Crisis Core, Zack’s D-Link ability with Terra in the game, is an attack called “Heroes Pride.”

I think it’s safe to say this game’s cool factor got a +5.

Thanks Dark & Divine for bringing this to my attention!

Apparently Cloud Strife is continuing his foray into digital modeling and merchandising with the release of his new brand name cologne, “Cloud Strife.” The new cologne was showcased at Tokyo Gameshow 2009 in the Square Enix Merchandise booth. A bottle of the FFVII hero’s scent is going for 6,800 yen. No word for when it’ll be released over seas.

Because nothing says you’re SO CASH, than smelling like an JRPG hero from 1997! Although I am curious as to what this stuff would smell like…Thanks to Tennyo for bringing this.. rare gem of S-E news to our attention. Oh, and don’t worry female fans, the cologne is apparently unisex, so you can get in on Cloud’s sexy aura too. Glad to know Cloud’s still swinging both ways 12 years later.

Source: Destructoid Site

Take a look at the new trailer from Final Fantasy XIV: Online at Tokyo Game Show 2009! (more…)

The Dissidia Final Fantasy: Universal Tuning site has been updated with new CG character artwork for the 10 warriors of Cosmos. Cloud_S was able to extract these new artworks from the site, and we offer them to you below to use for your own nefarious creative purposes! With this current update, it’s almost certain the villains will be soon to follow. You can visit the official Janapese Dissidia site by clicking on this link. Oh, and take a look at the pretty cover while you’re at it.

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In an interview with videogamer.com, Yoshinori Kitase gave a promising hint of news of an FFVII remake, stating fans should expect news on it at a later date.

Also, at GamesCom in Cologne, Germany, Kitase was quoted saying regarding an FFVII remake through a translator..

There’s no official project that’s up and running for a remake of Final Fantasy VII at this point. Both Toriyama-san and Kitase-san were involved in the development of the game, however, and it holds a special place in their hearts. They do talk about it on a personal level, like, ‘If we did it it would be like this or like that.’

“So, they do talk about it, but there’s no official project yet. But there’s that PSN release that just came out, so if you could play that for the time being, it should be fun.”

So for now, fans will have to tide themselves over with the re-release of the original game on the PS Network. But it still seems the creators are toying with the idea and thinking on it fondly. Who knows where their discussion will lead.

Source: Videogamer.com and gamezine.co.uk