Weekly roundups

Rumours suggest Final Fantasy VIII coming to Steam

by Flintlock March 12, 2013 0 comments

In this week’s roundup: Steam achievements hint at Final Fantasy VIII arrival; Square Enix to move away from social and mobile games; Yoshitaka Amano’s “The Sky” art book reviewed; plus lots from our forum.

Final Fantasy VIII Achievements Spotted On Steam (via Explosion)

Final Fantasy VIII can be considered as the basis upon which Squaresoft created the most recent Final Fantasy titles, with the exception of Final Fantasy IX: the eighth main entry of the series was the first one to remove the super deformed design for characters, as well as expanding on the modern-like setting introduced with Final Fantasy VII. The game may not have been loved by all Final Fantasy fans due to these radical changes but it’s still an important step in the Final Fantasy evolution.

After Final Fantasy VII’s recent re-release on PC, it looks like it will be followed by a new release of Final Fantasy VIII: some achievements have been spotted on Steam by a NeoGaf forum member, achievements that can only be tied to the game since they mention the “Draw” command, for stealing magic from monsters during battles and the Seed Salary, both prominent gameplay features of Final Fantasy VIII. This could also mean that a Final Fantasy VII Steam version could be coming as well: there were some rumors stating that the game would be coming on Steam together with the Square Enix official store version.

Discuss this rumour on our forum

Square Enix ditches social games, decides to focus on “epic and famous” … (via Nova Crystallis)

In recent times, Square Enix has latched onto the social game craze – a move that many fans have come to disagree with. 2012 saw the company release a wide variety of social games under the banner of established IPs – many of them free to play and on browser or smartphone platforms. Square Enix took to promoting these releases through vague countdowns and eventually a weekly blog on Famitsu’s App corner featuring mobile division producer Takehiro Ando.

“Goodbye Social Games” is the title of Ando’s latest entry, and in it he discusses a variety of things including Square’s first social game and how nearly all social games seem to ape the same reskinned concepts such as card collecting and gashapon games. He admits that SE is quite guilty of this as well, dragging down their own franchises such as Final Fantasy and World of Mana for the sake of catching a quick profit. While these titles have drawn in people who might not normally engage in video games, Ando notes that the hardcore gamers – the ones used to console and dedicated handhelds – are being left out in the cold. As a result, there is a plan to shy away from social games and focus more on higher quality games that long-time gamers can enjoy.

Discuss this story on our forum (hat-tip: Tetsujin)

The Breathtaking Final Fantasy Art of Yoshitaka Amano (via Wired)

The worldwide success of the Final Fantasy series of role-playing games is due in great part to the contributions of graphic artist Yoshitaka Amano. Born in 1952, Amano began his career as an animator for seminal Japanese animation series like Speed Racer and Gatchaman, before turning freelance in the 1980s and concentrating on illustrations. His artistic signature, quite different from the big-eyed, primary-hued anime style that had come to define postwar Japanese aesthetic, lent a truly otherworldly feel to the covers of the sci-fi and fantasy novels his work appeared on.

Last year, Dark Horse Comics released The Sky, a limited-edition box set of books collecting Amano’s illustrations for the last 25 years of Final Fantasy games, which quickly sold out. On July 19, it will release a “Slipcase Edition” of the collection, without some of the limited-edition inclusions but with all of the artwork presented in three hardcover volumes. Here are some of the pieces that will be included — plus a look at how the characters depicted ended up looking in the game itself.

If The Sky is a part of your Final Fantasy collection, let us know!

More from the forum

• Female protagonists in gaming (or the lack thereof)
• Final Fantasy VI rendered in 3D
• Alternate history: if the Final Fantasy series had been on Sega consoles rather than Nintendo
• Poll: which Final Fantasy game has the best soundtrack?

Community news

• The latest chapter of the Final Fantasy IX community playthrough takes us all the way to the end of disc two.
• We’ve reached the semi-finals of our “military might” battle. The army of Alexandria faces off against the Rozarrian Empire, while Shinra Inc take on Balamb Garden’s SeeD force. Don’t forget to cast your vote.
• Happy birthday to Lifestream members Soak, Loki and Arianna!
• A warm welcome to our newest forum members, Marcus and dark shadow!