Weekly roundups

The Final Fantasy collection guaranteed to make you jealous

by Flintlock January 20, 2013 0 comments

In this week’s roundup: the biggest Final Fantasy collection we’ve ever seen; All the Bravest launches to negative reviews; Lightning gets Cloud’s Advent Children outfit; plus lots from our forum.

Check out this huge collection of Final Fantasy games and merchandise

Lifestream forum member espritduo, who joined in July 2011, made the community swoon this week with pictures of his astonishing Final Fantasy collection. Not only does it feature at least one copy of essentially every game in the series, it’s also packed full of music and books, with some posters, t-shirts and other bits of merchandise thrown in for good measure. The collection’s proprietor says he is most proud of owning “every Final Fantasy Ultimania, the 25th Anniversary Ultimate Box and the 25th Anniversary Final Fantasy Orchestral Album (limited edition LP and Blu-ray)”. Most fans would be happy to claim even one of those three.

Asked how his collection began, espritduo said, “Well, the very first non-game FF-related thing I ever owned (outside of the stray strat guide and soundtrack) was actually that original edition of The Sky. I got it for my birthday … oh, 10 years ago? Once I got a full-time job a couple years later and could buy my own stuff, things sort of skyrocketed from there. First I got all the Ultimanias, and then figured why stop there? So I hunted down every Japanese FF book out there, and every Bradygame guide too, with a couple Piggybacks in there for good measure”.

With regard to which games he has played and which are his favorites — “I have played every FF except the MMOs and Typo-0 (still holding out hope it gets an English release!). Just can’t get into MMOs. FFVI is the best one, Tactics behind that. After that it’s hard to judge; I tend to love them all. FFVII or IX would probably be third; IV, V or I would be after that, and then it just blurs”.

As parting “words of wisdom” for this article, he commented simply, “I think ‘I enjoy Final Fantasy very much’ sums up everything I could ever say on the topic.”

You can see more of espritduo’s thoughts, as well as photographs of the whole thing in this thread. How does your collection compare? Sign up to our forum and share it with us!

Final Fantasy All the Bravest review: All the Worst (via IGN)

Final Fantasy All the Bravest exploits feelings of nostalgia in almost the most cynical way possible. Otherwise, it has no redeeming qualities. It barely qualifies as a video game. It’s a fireworks display – a lightshow – comprised of Cloud Strife, Kefka, Meteor spells and Cactuars. All designed to extract money with ruthless efficiency.

This would be a pointless (albeit harmless) time-killer, if it didn’t have so many awful monetary hooks built into it. In addition to paying to resurrect your party you can also pay $0.99 to unlock premium characters. There are 35 of these characters to unlock, and each purchase nets you one at random. So if you’re after someone specific like Cloud or Zidane… good luck.

Discuss Final Fantasy: All the Bravest on the forum (Hat-tips: Prince Lex, Forcestealer)

Dress Up As Cloud In Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII? (via PSXExtreme)

If you’re a fan of Cloud – and who isn’t? – you might just want to see Lightning dress up as the Final Fantasy VII protagonist. According to a recent FFDream interview with Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII producers Yoshinori Kitase and Motomu Toriyama, the developer is considering various DLC costumes for Lightning. As you can see, they provided two pictures of Light dressed as a 1st Class SOLDIER, which was of course Cloud’s rank.

But costumes really won’t help the die-hard fans much, will they? It’s tough to forget what Lightning Returns has become in comparison to past entries in the series…

Discuss Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII on the forum (Hat-tip: ultima espio)

More from the forum

• What would you like to see from a live-action Final Fantasy VII web series?
• Full scripts from Advent Children, Advent Children Complete and Case of Denzel
• On the very few unique events in Final Fantasy VII’s third disc
• “You only like Final Fantasy VII so much because it was your first RPG”
• Square Enix’s Japanese forum has voted for its favourite Final Fantasy females

Community news

• The community playthrough of Final Fantasy IX got under way this weekend. The first chapter ends at the Ice Cavern entrance.
• Happy birthday to Strangelove, Ryushikaze and Animexcel!