Slashdot Mirror
Final Fantasy Movie Trailers
Splitzy writes, "Square has finally released the site for the Final Fantasy movie. It includes background on the movie, and two short trailers in Quicktime format. You can check out the site here." The movie was first mentioned here a while back, but Hooboy, this looks like a good one. Ving Rhames, Steve Buscemi and Peri Gilpin? It's a far cry from FFIII on my NES.
When does phantasy star online come out? Now that would be worth talking about! Hope they come out with shining force 4 and panzer dragoon saga 2 while they are at it.
I've been looking for a player that can play QT... does such a thing exist?
Ditto...FF did not even allow me to play until 10 minutes into the game...it is so linear and cheesy, a choose your own adventure has more interactivity, or may dragonslayer.....there was interactive....FF is just more jap crap that too many stupid americans will rush out to buy.
And don't forget, like in most japanese animation, the 'women' all look like 11 year olds with big eyes. Am i the only one that really doesn't like japanese animation? I think Riven and Myst have more interactivity than Final Fantasy does.
And don't forget, the hero has to have big dumb looking plastic hair and a stupid-looking insanely oversized sword.
And don't forget the overblown 'transformation' sequences when they jump in the air for 20 minutes straight waving their arms around like they're conjuring up a storm.
The 'plot' of FF is so ridiculously contrived and cookie-cutter formulaic... I find it hard to believe there are so many fans of the series out there.
If you want kick-ass plot, try Planescape: Torment on for size. Makes Final Fantasy look like, well, a typical empty console game. Or any of the older Ultimas (not Ultima IX, which is a disaster of epic proportions). The Black Gate and Serpent Isle have deftly written plots with twists and turns that should be written into novels.
I'd much rather see one of these games made into a good movie (and I stress good...there haven't been any game->movie translations that have been good, EVER).
The story is completely irrelevant, and no one plays FF for that. First of all, it sounds like you haven't played the original FF's. When they came out, they were THE shit. I mean, Dragon Warrior/Quest for the NES was pretty good, but it was nothing compared to FF. FF1-3 (English) were way ahead of their time. I don't think I ever loved them for the STORY though. I loved those games becuase of the incredibly unique and fantastic WORLD that Square created. The graphics, the music, the characters, and the gameplay all add up to create a game that you become PART of when you play it. It's an experience that I haven't had with any other game.
I think above anything though, it's the music that makes FF what it is. The composer of most of the FF music, Nobuo Uematsu, is a genius. His music never fails to grab my attention, and that is probably what made those many, many hours I spent playing those games as a kid so exciting. The level of mastery he's been able to achieve in such a diverse array of compositions is amazing. I would highly recommend getting the arranged versions of the FF soundtracks. The symphonic main FF theme is so beautiful it brings tears to my eyes every time I listen to it. The vocal arrangements in Liberi Fatali are haunting. If nothing else, new versions of FF will at least showcase this man's extraordinary talent, and for that I am grateful!
Incidentally, it's no surprise that FF is so popular in Japan - the Japanese tend to have much more progressive taste in music than Westerners (especially Americans).
Excuse me, sir, but you appearantly haven't any knowledge of the non-US releases of Final Fantasy. Let me educate you. FF1 for Famicon & NES FF2 Famicon only FF3 Famicon only FF4 Super Famicon * Super Nintendo (aka FF2) FF5 Super Famicon only FF6 Super Famicon * Super Nintendo (aka FF3) FF7 Playstation (US & Japan) FF8 Playstation (US & Japan) FF9 PSX & PSX2 (US & Japan) FF10 PSX2 only (US & Japan) FF11 PSX2 only (MAY only be released in Japan) Does that clear things up for you?
Remove the "tomboy friend from his youth" part and it applies pretty well to FF VIII too.
What? Being a loser or rmrs!ascii?
I realize that lots of people love it (otherwise it would not be in its nth sequel) but I find these games stupid, annoying, and essentially "fluff." I tried ffVII and thought, gee, nice scenery, too bad I can't touch it or anything. I mean, a huge matte painting and all I can do is run in a straight line across it. I got ffVIII from blockbuster and Ditched it after about a half an hour. What the hell was up with all those cards and stuff???
I would say it was a problem with square, but really, Xenogears is by far and away the greatest game I have ever played on Playstation, and second only to Zelda64 overall. If you have never played Xenogears, do it. Awesome, awesome game. Took me like 70 hours (in total) to beat, but I didn't cheat or anything, plus I'm not very good. I played it for about 2 or 3 weeks before beating it. Definitely worth the money (the $10 for the 2 cdrs and the rental, though it would be worth it for even the normal price).
But imho, the entire FF series blows, and I will never understand why anyone likes it.
I forwarded a picture from a previous Slashdot article (of the female lead) around the office, and one of my coworkers was wondering why I sent him a picture of some girl until someone else told him it was CG.
Natalie Portman duh! Of course if she isn't naked and petrified we'll have a lot of angry people on /.!
(Flamebait)
uh... these clips are 4 seconds long. Is this correct? This is their idea of a trailer?
Well, I'm the original poster... I've played through (like beaten) Final Fantasy IV, V, VII, and VIII. I've played (and not beaten) I and VI. Not VI because my ROM was broken. )-; So you've played as many as me, except for the fact that you beat I and VI. Shrug.
And I still stand by my belief that the Final Fantasy stories are starting to suck. To tell you the truth, it's not so much plot line - wise, but it's character development wise that the newer Final Fantasies disappointment.
I'm sorry, but I thought Final Fantasy VIII kinda blew. The graphics were spectacular and the sound good, but the gameplay had some issues (don't even try to argue this point... c'mon the limit break "Blasting Zone" took like 1 minute to execute). And I thought the characters were just plain dumb. I hated the relationship between Squall and Rinoa... just because it was just... stupid. Squall was supposed to be this cold an outwardly unfeeling bastard, but nope, Rinoa kept on going after him even after he dissed her a few times. And in a little while he can't help pining after her. Ugh. His character changed a little too fast for me to accept. And the other characters had very little personality. There wasn't a character in that game who I thought was cool, or even memorable, or even original.
I have nothing against a love-themed game, but if it is you NEED to have characters you care for, or even characters that are memorable. Squall and Rinoa weren't, at least to me they weren't. I just couldn't see them as being real characters.
If you want a game with good characters, play chrono trigger.
You make it sound like a bad thing
are you retarded? FF3 was for SNES not NES, cmon, are you lying, or do you not care enough about squaresoft to remember what system its on!!!!???!?! jeeze.
He isn't retarded, just a console purist.
American FF3 is actually FF6. FF3 WAS on the NES, and FF6 (our 3) was SNES.
'Wah?'
When you pay for the development, only then do you have the right to bitch.
The way I heard it, from a Sakaguchi interview in Next Generation magazine, was that Sakaguchi intended FF to be his last game. However, the idea of Squaresoft doing badly in those days doesn't seem too far-fetched; Rad Racer/Highway Star, 3D World Runner and King's Knight weren't exactly runaway hits...
The trailers are a whole 2 seconds long and don't even have sound!
Besides, Aya is just sooo........ *ahem*
The movie team manages to create three seconds of the movie a day. Three seconds, each day. Wow.
yeah and two of those seconds are spent looking at a motionless eyeball..a nicely rendered quarter of a face, but nonetheless quite boring
Seriously, IMO:
Good_Game + Awesome_CG != Good_Movie
When you saw "Mortal Combat" did you think, "man, if this had good special effects, it'd win all kinds of Oscars!"
Why did you do that with Xenogears? The fun of the game was in the talking. You missed out on some great dialogue.
What are YOU talking about? Willow was great!
I was referring to being a loser. I see nothing wrong with living in my parent's cellar downloading pictures of Sarah Michelle Gellar...
Nasty! Don't touch that mirror. IGN is the Microsoft of gaming news publishers.
Evil! Evil! Evil!
If I ever meet you, I will kick your ass.
Damn, how the hell does shit like this get moderated 'Insightful'? Is it just because it's the first post that a pimply moderator with kit-kat drool hanging off his lower lip happened to come across that didn't mention NP/Grits?
Here's another insightful observation: "I dunno if shit is as smelly as farts, but it might be."
Anus.
The thing is, though, all those super-powerful techniques take hours to uncover all the components for. Unless you used a strategy guide. You're not honestly saying a game's too easy when you use a CHEAT for it are you? Now be honest.
-Elendale (feel free to moderate this any way you like)
Actually, in Japanese it was called "Ultimate" Fantasy at first, but translation into English made it "Final" Fantasy. Hence, 8 "final" fantasies, with 9, 10, and 11 on the way.
THX is not a sound format, It's a set of standards, besides the soundtrack will be DTS with a dolby downmix.
Well, since the site seems to be slashdotted, I can't see it.
I've seen the trailer for it about maybe a year ago, and I'm telling you that the CG is really good. There was one old man in the trailer, and squaresoft has really gotten the facial movements down. I think it might even be better than some dull-witted, expressionless actors (not going to name names here). The facial expressions really do contribute to overall tone of the movie, and, if Squaresoft plays it right, can draw the audience into the movie by allowing them to sympathize and identify with the characters. I think it's going to be a blast.
(too lazy to log in. besides, /. is being very sluggish. again.)
Nope. Not even our God-given defender of justice and all that is good, Jon Katz likes you.
How could you forget "Street Fighter" and "Mortal Combat" the movies. They sucked just as bad and it it is not fair that you don't include them.
moderate this up: +5,Troll
Outdated, since when does art get outdated?
Hey, I know! Let's get distributed.net to render movies...better use than stupid math stuff :)
Yes it exists. U R ! 31337!!!!!! /. H45 4N 31337 C4B4L. U R N07 0|\| IT! HA!!!!11!!!!&^^!%$@$@#@#!~
SPAM!
b
all CG! I cant wait!!!
Mitsuda has left Square. This does not mean he will not still work for them, eg. he did the music for Chrono Cross as a freelance. I think Mitsuda is much better than Uematsu. IMO Uematsu is overated, he used to be good but his work in Final Fantasy VIII was very disapointing.
Posting articles like this perpatuates the nerd stereotype for slashdotters. Just when girls were really starting to think we were cool because of our expensive cars and fancy portable mp3 players at the gym, slashdot up and posts some RPG rubbish!
Until a 19-year-old Playboy centerfold lists Advanced Dungeons & Dragons as one of her hobies, I'd recommend we all avoid RPG like the plague.
$5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
are you retarded? FF3 was for SNES not NES, cmon, are you lying, or do you not care enough about squaresoft to remember what system its on!!!!???!?! jeeze.
Dont let school get in the way of your education
Dont let school get in the way of your education
~Noah~
It's not just that non-interactivity doesn't translate well onto the screen; it is that the final fantasy battles, if you don't control them, are stupid, one dimensional, and amazingly boring. Have you ever tried watching someone else play final fantasy?
It also doesn't help that the fucking Japs are getting all touchy feely about the plot lines. What is the deal with the guy in charge of the story line? I read an interview on the SS fansite, and he went on about his wife dying and how this was reflected in his games. I'll say. They've all gone to shit, ever since FF6. Love? Emotion? It's pathetic; the site sounds like a page from a self-help book =)
The only way I can see the FF movie being anything other than a major disaster is for the CG to be so good that everyone forgets that every other aspect sucks dick. But I don't think there _is_ CG that good...
And for that stupid post you abandoned your chance to make some poor troll very happy?
Well, after Final Fantasy III (japan) the Final Fantasy Series became really linear in terms of story line. And yes, there are an absurd number of them, but the one thing I liked about the final fantasy series is the fact that Square pretty much comes up with a new world and new story line. The link between the Final Fantasies aren't that great. They have some of the same creatures (like chocobos), the same magics/abilities and the same main game engine (ie over world map, active battle system). Besides that (seems like most of them game though, doesn't it) it's generally different. I mean, the world and storyline of course and in each one square tries to throw in a tweak on their engine too. Ie Junctioning Guardian forces, materia, the Final Fantasy V class system.
The one thing I'm worried about though is the quality of the Final Fantasy stories and characters have been dropping. I didn't play all the way through Final Fantasy VI (or III in the united states) but I've heard that was the best of them. Anyways, I feel that the Final fantasy stories have been getting worse and worse (from VI to VII from VII to VIII). Hopefully though, they'll stop that trend with this movie since they aren't restricted by having to change a story into a game.
And if they don't, we'll still be treated to some unparalleled eye candy.
Yeah, yet another thing that /.'s authors should try to remember...
--
Ski-U-Mah!
Stop the MPAA
"Trust is a trick that dogs play. They don't want you to know how delicious they are."
If you like CG in movies, check out the Dinosaur trailer at http://www.apple.com/trailers/disney/dinosaur/480. html
I don't think you will be disapointed...
PS: Please, keep down putting '@' everywhere. It makes you look like an '3l1337 D0ob'.
Dinosaur is afaik *not* a full cgi movie. There are a lot of live action segments in it as well, and the two have been combined.
for an example, look at much of the vegetation and particularly the splashing water when the egg-thief is running away, over the stream.
frankly i'd be happy with it if there were no story - just a 'documentary'. hopefully the story angle won't screw it up.
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
Ah, but you forget about the power of TRON, my son.
(actually, TRON doesn't count; the movie was written before the video games, but the games were done before the movie was - that's why the grid bugs play a mildly significant role in the game, and appear for 1.3 seconds in the movie...)
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
>ead their discussions about bounce, squash,
>stretch etc.
Mmm. Bounce.
- Glytch, who is praying that the Squaresoft CGI folks are consulting Gainax artists for the upcoming movie.
I played it way too much so my guys where way too beefed up. I had KOtR, but didn't use it because I knew it was cheap. Instead I had two players with 4x cut materia each hitting for around 9k per swipe consistently, that's around 36k per player per turn (the other would use mime), I turned sepiroth into swiss cheese without even using much magic at all.... and having the final attack phoenix combo up to level 2, I had no fear :) I guess my point is that damn I love actually kicking some ass in a game, NOT getting my ass kicked. That's why FF serious is addicting for me and a lot of other people... no one likes to lose... Can't wait for that movie though, wish they'd put out a "real" full length trailer :)
---
Didn't he work for Marvel in the mid to late '60's? (Last time I read them)
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
I can feel the wrath of /. right now :) But it's handling fine.
Just one note. Any loss of realism in the picture is due to my fault while compressing the final jpg image. I made it a point to have as less compression as possible.
--
I went to see Toy Story 2 a few weeks ago (it was great), and saw the trailer for that Dinosaur film. I almost puked - something about the flickery, jerky motion and the huge, slightly fuzzy screen... Anyway, that trailer was followed by one for another film - Chicken Run. No fancy computer graphics here - pure plasticene. It looks brilliant. It's from Aardman, makers of such wonders as Wallace and Gromit and Rex the Runt.
Ford Prefect
Tedious Bloggy Stuff - hooray?
I kinda doubt they hooked up a bunch of little white balls to the actress's eyelids to do that...
(Then again, I might be wrong..)
They're doing a new Dune movie right now. TV mini series. 6 parts. Each about an hour. Productions shots look rather good. Have a look. Babelfish-alert!
Most of my friends love Final FAntasy, are looking forward to movie, etc... although they seem unimpressed by the trailer.
I had the game for the NES, but I hated it. I just couldn't get into it.
Perhaps this means I'll be the only who likes the movie then... I'll be watching simply to see the awesome effects/quality.
- Hugh Buchanan
- Userfriendly.com
The final fantasy games are not sequels of each other, each game is different.
Its true, the movie is being made in english with the lips synched to the english actors and dubs built in and all... I find it kinda funny that our friends in japan have to watch the badly dubbed movie now, lol...
actually, Square's said on previous occasions that they're doing all the textures themselves. They've got the motion capture and voice acting thing going, but there still is quite a lot of stuff being done by artists so I think this qualifies as computer-generated.
I know what you said was ment to be a joke, but just to elaborate on it...
The movie is being aimed at americans and being made in america. I heard James Wood is signed on to lend his voice talents.
I am very excited about this. I think the next time i am in hawaii (i live there when not at school) i am going to try and stop in to see this movie being made.
This and Titan A.E. are the movies I'm really looking forward to this year.
If it's rendered on a computer, then it's CG.
Don't trust a bull's horn, a doberman's tooth, a runaway horse or me.
and that's why God invented mimes and then animators strapped some mo-cap equipment on them.
Don't trust a bull's horn, a doberman's tooth, a runaway horse or me.
Everyone's talking about the clips having good animation. All I saw from them was 2 camera pans and a blinking eye. Not enough to tell if the animation is good. The images look photorealistic, but they didn't show enough to tell how good the animation is so stop comparing it to Pixar stuff because their animation is truly amazing.
Don't trust a bull's horn, a doberman's tooth, a runaway horse or me.
Really? Try out Selphie's Limit Break, "The End". It'll kill just about anything, except the very very last boss.
But that's cheese fighting anyway. :)
--
Come on, guys (and girls.) I got a good laugh out of this. If you didn't, that's fine, but this is definitely not a "troll." Sheesh.
We're going down, in a spiral to the ground
Don't forget the classic "The Last Ninja", which spawned The Last Ninja 2, The Last Ninja 3, and Ninja Remix (a rerelease of Last Ninja 2 with an added intro and different music).
"The good die first." "Most of us are morally ambiguous, which explains our random dying patterns." --- MST3K
Maybe he played the Japanese FF3 then :) Here is a little Table for Japanese and US FF games:
:) And I know NES in Japan was Famicom, and same for SNES, but this is simpler :)
Japan US
________ ________
FF1 -NES FF1
FF2 -NES
FF3 -NES
FF4 -SNES FF2
FF5 -SNES
FF6 -SNES FF3
FF7 -PSX FF7
FF8 -PSX FF8
They really confused things by skipping so many numbers in the US
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
Well this won't be FF9, this will be a non-interactive movie.. But that was an excellent summary of the FF series.. I'm a fan of the series in any case.
:) Or bye the Anthology in the US for V....
Of course, in the united States it went Final Fantasy, then Finaly Fantasy II And then Final Fantasy III, and then Final Fantasy VII and then VIII, you have to get the japanese/translations for the REAL 2,3, and 5
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
I'm usually not one to wander off-topic, but I hate Xenogears more than any other game I've played or book that I've read. Through the first 68 or so hours, it is the deepest, most involved story I have seen in a video game. You really feel like you are affecting these peoples lives, even if the game is static and linear. Then all of the sudden near the end of the game, instead of doing things yourself, you are told what goes on and what happens. UGH!! This is quite possibly the most frustrating game ever. To be so good to invest so much time into it only to have the story taken out of your hands. If they were going to try this kind of story telling, they should have put it at the beginning, where we hadn't gotten spoiled by such a great game.
Uhhh, no offense but what do you mean no magic in the Conan movies (or Ladyhawke for that matter)? Wasn't James Earl Jones character some evil magacian in the first one? And that Chinese guy in Conan the Destroyer was a magacian also. As for Ladyhawke the whole movie was based on the spell that turned them into a hawk and a wolf during different parts of the day. And I agree... they were decent movies. I hope that this lives up to the hype.
And of course, the BBC has already come out with a brilliant documentary on dinosaurs, featuring a clever blend of CGI & puppeteering.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dinosaurs
It's not how much crap you create with the tools, it's how you balance them out to get quality results. TheBench.org, anyone?
"The most common element isn't hydrogen, it's stupidity."
Actually, the game that I'd compare to FF VII is Phantasy Star II, in that Nei reminds me of Aeris both in the fact that she's only partly human and she gets killed(;_;).
Of course, it is true that the plot of most RPGs (RPGs that have plots, that is) tend to involve either the horrible evil villain who is going to take over the world or the villain who is going to destroy it. So, there are some similarities in that way, between Kefka and Sepiroth. But then, aren't a lot of epic plots like that? Certainly the Star Wars series seems to fall into the same catagory...
If you want to try another J-RPG series, you could try Lunar. Lunar:SSC is coming out for PC (though not for Linux, darn it!), I like the Lunar series as much as the Final Fantasy series, myself...
For more information about the Lunar series, consult Working Designs
All the creatures will die, And all the things will be broken. That's the law of samurai. (Jubai, 1605)
Final Fantasy: Legend of the Four Crystals
Unfortunately, I haven't seen it... because, as Chris Peterson would say, "I'm not made of money ;_;"
I kind of like the Fatal Fury OAVs and Movies, too...
All the creatures will die, And all the things will be broken. That's the law of samurai. (Jubai, 1605)
Actually, you missed the fact that he will be assisted by a phenomenally mechanically gifted man named "Cid".
They have similar styles of story, but it's not always the same. I suppose if you boil them down to the extent you did, yeah the protagonist (or at least one of the major characters) is a brooding silent type, there's often a triangle (though they've become more pronounced lately, and VII had two overlapping triangles), and the world needs saving. But, hey, if you're going to be a real hero, saving the local village of 50 people just isn't as impressive as preventing the world from exploding...
Intolerant people should be shot.
For those who want the entire collection from beginnign to end, FF2 can be found online in translated ROM format. Be warned, the translation sucks. Bad. But, you can play. FF3 I have not seen in ROM format before, but there are a lot of groups working on translating good RPGs into English, so it wouldn't surprise me if someone it doing it. You can get FF5, either in translated SNES ROM format (better translation, much more playable) or in the Playstation FF Anthology collection. Of course, you can only legally get the rom if you have the original cartridge blah blah delete in 24 hours blah blah.
I just want to know why there are more (english) Final Fantasy titles for the Gameboy, than there are for any other system. There are four (FF Adventure 1-3, FF Legend) for the GB, and at most 3 for any other (SNES, with Mystic QUest, FF3, & FF2; PSX, with FF Tactics, FF7, and FF8)?
Toodles D. Clown
Here's a comparison of the different incarnations of Final Fantasy:
Japan Title: Final Fantasy 1 (Famicom)
US Title: Final Fantasy 1 (NES)
Japan Title: Final Fantasy 2 (Famicom)
US Title: Not Released
Japan Title: Final Fantasy 3 (Famicom)
US Title: Not released
(now, hold your horses, keep reading)
Japan Title: Final Fantasy 4 (Super Famicom)
US Title: Final Fantasy 2 (SNES)
(Note: The US version is substantially different that the Japanese version)
Japan Title: Final Fantasy 5 (Super Famicom)
US Title: Final Fantasy Anthology (PSX), under title Final Fantasy 5. Has been spruced up with some added scenes and CGI. First time released in US.
Japan Title: Final Fantasy 6 (Super Famicom)
US Title: Final Fantasy 3 (SNES). Also under Final Fantasy Anthology (PSX), under title Final Fantasy 6. Has been spruced up with some added scenes and CGI.
(IMO, the best of the series... I haven't tried the anthology version, though.)
Japan Title: Final Fantasy 7 (PSX)
US Title: Final Fantasy 7 (PSX)
Japan Title: Final Fantasy 8 (PSX)
US Title: Final Fantasy 8 (PSX)
I know I'm leaving out Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, Final Fantasy Tactics, and others. I'm not sure what their equivalents are. Also, don't ask for dates... I don't know those, either.
If you want to play any of these games nowadays to experience them, you must either find a way to get one of the originals, or use an emulator, and download the ROM image of the game. I cannot tell you where to get either, because use of emulators has been determined to be illegal. All I can say is if you're reading this, you are smart enough to use a search engine.
At least that's what the scuttlebutt on the various CG mailing lists I'm on is. Not that the guys at Squaresoft aren't total badasses anyway, but motion captured animation is a pretty good way of getting all the subtle nuances of things like human movement. AFAIK, it's being modeled, setup, and animated in Maya and rendered by Pixar's PRman.
$.02,
Brian
Hello everybody,
.mov's.
I guess this is a good time to ask:
What Linux player can play those trailers? I looked on freshmeat and all but I didn't find one that didn't crash on these
Some pointers, urls would be greatly appreciated.
Roland
Actually in some cases they throw the data out entirely. most motion capture systems suffer from jitter as well as other errors. Kaiser-Wallsach (sp?) was the company behind the CG for the new spiderman ride, they originally had actors doing the motion and captured the data. They had so much trouble working with the data that they ended up tossing it out the window. In fact the only case where motion capture seems to have worked really well was in the ghost catching performace at cooper union
"Have you seen my marbles"
Has anybody converted these clips into something that can be viewed under OS's other than Windows or Mac?
Somewhat off-topic: re: Burning money on Open source: how about licensing the Sorenson codec, and making an Xanim plugin?
Perhaps a jihad is needed against Apple and Sorenson...
www.eFax.com are spammers
Final Fantasy games are about as low on the "interactivity" scale as one can get. The games are completely linear in plot, and really are just "movies" that the "player" adds to with a few choices of which weapon to use, or which chocobo to breed.
I don't see why it wouldn't translate into a great movie. It would save me all that wasted time trying to kill the giant spider, or march perfectly in the parade.
Don't get me wrong, it's a superbly designed game, but it's really not any sort of mental challenge, and there's no "role playing" involved (despite what it says on the packaging).
Ultimate means final. You DID know that, right?
--
The other side is crowded. The dead have nowhere to go.
Um since when were limit breaks cheats? And all the components for weapon construction i.e. Lionheart, were easily obtainable during the course of the game
Uhh the last boss in FF8? Piece of cake, simply obtain the Gilgamesh card and turn it into 100 holy war drinks. Won't even get scratched. Like the previous poster said, FF games are only as hard as you want them to be. Oh and as for any "super overly-powerful attack" Squall's limit can do some 200,000+ damage So can Zell's Selphie has "The End" etc..etc..
uh, wait just a minute there man. What about the conan movies and ladyhawke? surely those were good, i know i liked em, although they don't have elves, dwarves, and magic, they are still good movies!
"The object of war is not to die for your country, but to make the other poor sons-of-bitches die for theirs." --George Patton
Maybe I shouldn't admit this on a public forum, but I still watch the Conan movies anytime they come on TBS.
But you're right, fantasy movies tend to automatically suck for some reason.
for this! I've played (and own) several ff's and I've been counting the days till something like this happened. I really hope they get ahead of schedule, cuz it seems like a good promise of Square. I can only hope they don't bomb it, though. Many videogame transformations to movies have failed (anyone remember street fighter?) but I think (and desperately hope) that it will be pretty good.
"As many of you know, I was very instrumental in the founding of the Internet" --Al Gore to Katie Couric 3/99
Ummm....I was *joking*. I made that summary up from my limited experience playing FF VII. Are they all like that?
Frightening.
I think all the FF after 3 for the Snes where stupid... they all got away from the Midevil Times, where magic and swords ruled the world, and kings and evil races Corrupted the towns.
And... from what I have seen most movies made
from video games have been flops:
Street Fighter
Mortal Kombat (best out of the bunch)
Mario Brothers
Wing Commander
-> Never Trust a Skinny Cook!
I'm unable to view the trailer, but is this animated or live-action? It seems to me that this movie should be done in a completely-3d animated way, considering the game's recent reputation for glitzy graphics. Or shouldn't it? Anyway, they're going to need a considerable amount of animation in it.
"The romance of Silicon Valley was about money - excuse me, about changing the world, one million dollars at a time."
Visit
Considering that the girls of FF just seem to be getting cuter and cuter, I can only wonder who's going to be in the movie! :o)
ICQ: 49636524
snowphoton@mindspring.com
Got Rhinos?
Do you havve any idea how long those idiots at Disney have been working on that damn thing? Since 1994 at least! and how over budget??? GOD what a mess that is.... As for FFTM I'm actually surprised that the thing is going to make it out the door. I never heard anything good about the progress of that thing.. I think Pixar made TWO, count them TWO full length CGI films in about the time it took those idiots over at Square to make ONE. Of course the never made one before... Well for all the time, money and effort they put into it, it better be good!
Actually, I don't know how far youve gotten in FFVIII but the majority of the cast were friends in their youth, including major villians(Seifer and Sorceress Edea)
These were more like nano-clips.
If New Line ever decides to put the 2 minute montage from ShoWest the other day up on http://www.lordoftherings.net, then *that* could be considered a trailer. But only because it contains actual footage that will not hit the theaters for 21 months.
Dracos
the gameboy final fantasies really aren't; the final fantasy legend games are actually the first three Saga games, whose snes incarnation, romancing saga 1-3, was huge in japan but unreleased over here. we've gotten the saga frontier games, which at least superficially resemble the gameboy ones. Square changed the name no doubt to prosper off of the success of the final fantasies on the bigger consoles. Final Fantasy Adventure is really titled Seiken Densetsu- you might know its sequel named as Secret of Mana. The sequel to secret of mana, seiken densetsu 3, was also fan-translated, and very well at that- do a search for it.
Face it, things are pretty good at the moment, comparatively. Don't believe the doom and gloom of a media who wants your attention. Try not to look in old 50's sitcoms for the perfect society which never actually existed.
There's nothing wrong with escapism. To say that a topic on Final Fantasy shouldn't be approved because there might be children reading is just rediculous.
Alright, here's what I know...
Although...if more people would be informed...I could have used my moderator points!! Sigh...Anyway, the guys at Square use motion capture to get a general idea of what stuff should look like...then replicate it without using any of the mo-cap data. I read this from an article in a gaming mag somewhere, where they interviewed some of the CG guys on the Square Hawaii staff. (For those who don't know...Square, the mother company is in Japan...Squaresoft and Square/EA are HQed in Costa Mesa, and the hardcore animation staff and bigwigs are in Square Hawaii.) He also went on to say that while they get many influences for their characters, no character is really based off of one particular person. (I heard that Squall was supposed to be a combination of Leo DiCaprio, the lead singer Teru, from the J-Pop band Glay, and a few other people...Maybe that's why his dialogue is bad...) Anyway, I believe this one is true for about 95% of the characters...
I wonder if I'm going to be able to get into an advance screening of this, or if my old cronies ar going to be bastards about this one...
Netjak.com independent reviews of domestic & import video ga
Well your are correct, all if not most of the backgrounds are live actions plates and all other thing (dinos and FX) were composited over them. Though plates were digitally manipulated and digital matte paintings were used.
This year at SIGGRAPH (the premier event in Computer Graphics) they will have a course on the making of Dinosaur. Here is the course list for anyone interested:
SIGGRAPH 2000 Courses
Last SIGGRAPH they actually had a panel where one guy from Disney showed some clips of the work in progress. Interestingly enough on that same panel there was a guy from Square that also showed some clips from the movie: one was a something like a space station blowing up, the other this big huge Harrier like ship (probably the one pictured as the first prop), landing on a deserted street at night and blowing trash and a car away because of the exhaust vents. Looked pretty good IMHO. One more reason to go to SIGGRAPH, you never know what cool things might one could look at.
> But yeah, those battles where you barely come out alive are some best, don't you think!
:) Squaresoft makes great games. I love the Bushido Blades, Einhander, Musashi, FF Tactics and so on, but they've lost me and nearly anyone I know on the FF series because it is less and less of a game. I would love 4 (heck, 2) CDs full of WORLD(s) to explore, not a small world and CG sequences out the yin-yang. Movie sequences are nice complements to a game, but I shouldn't have to change CDs so the next movies will be ready. I spent about 15 minutes on FF7 disc 2 because other than new movies, it was pretty much identical to disc 3.
oh, hell yes! I can remember fighting my ass off against anything and everything I could wander to and raising loads of levels, just to get stomped by the current boss character and go play more to get stronger and try it again. Though the battle system is more action-style, Secret of Mana is an excellent example of this: it was a great time running around slaughtering the enemies and when you're confident that you can take the boss on...SMACK! But know there has to be a chest somewhere with a weapon orb you didn't find, or find new armor for the sprite child. It was fun getting killed by the boss, even when I was sure I could kill him, even if I destroy the controller in a fit of rage
"You point your finger at the moon, the fool stares at your finger."
Does anyone else remember the part where they mention their last names? I think it went something like "We're the Super Mario Brothers! I'm Mario Mario, and this is Luigi Mario!"
The cure for 1933 is 1917.
>> It's a far cry from FFIII on my NES. FF3 on the nes (or FF6 on the SNES, ah hell, any FF anywhere) is still an interactive game... I dunno if a non-interactive movie, no matter how good the CG, can match an interactive experience where we're feeling what our little avatars are feeling...
--
Peace,
Lord Omlette
AOL IM: jeanlucpikachu
[o]_O
A long time ago when news of this movie first started appearing, this comment came up. Sure, there are other CG movies, and more will come out before this one is released. The Final Fantasy movie does something that no other photorealistic CG movie does -- humans. It's probably much easier to animate toys or bugs or dinosaurs than it is to render humans, especially realistic-looking ones.
And this Dinosaurs movie... to me, it seems a bit too... Disney.
It seems that Finalfantasy.com was Slash-dotted!
Oh well, I'm looking forward to it anyway. Terra and FF6 rule!!!
I love... No, I love Final Fantasy. I've been playing the games since a friend of mine sold me his copy of Final Fantasy I for $1 dollar ten years ago (RPGs weren't very popular back then, and since I am from Mexico, english was a barrier for the enjoyment of the game, so)... However, I have my reserves about the Final Fantasy movies. I don't know... It looks absolutely gorgeous, no doubt about it. As someone said before, it makes Pixar look like South Park. The problem is that this is not a Final Fantasy game. It looks way too cyberpunkish for a Final Fantasy, even for FF7 and FF8. I liked the setting for the two latest FF, but into a Final Fantasy movie? The story worries me, too. While the games have a great story, I can't help but wornder about the quality of the movie story. The synopsis from the site reminds me too much of the storylines of Final Fantasy 7 & 8... Maybe it was done on purpose? Anyway, I'll be the first one to see it when it arrives to Mexico. However, I won't be going as a Final Fantasy fan, but as a CGI aficionado... Oh, and I hope it doesn't get a G rating... oterwise, I'll have to see it dubbed instead of subbed (*shudder!*) And hopefully, they will get Uematsu to do the music!
Yeah, they were really movies! Is that cheap or what? FF6 was an interactive movie, too: all you have to do was get the Ragnarok Esper and learn Ultima and it turned into a SNES movie. And what about the Economizer? *ugh!* The horror! And in FF4, when you played your ass off to get the Adamantium Armor, they ruined the game by giving you such a high defense that not even the final boss could damage you for more than 2HP! Interactive movies, all of them!
</sarcasm>
My point is: console RPGs, Final Fantasy in general, is only as hard as you want them to be. Square does hide those powerful secrets... And the keyword here is *secret*. They are not part of the main game... and they have been present since FFI in a way (not even Chaos was a worthy oponent when the fighting system made you want to fight all the time and leveled your characters into Level 45).
Besides, is not like the game forces you to use Knights of the Round. If you think it is too cheap (even with the prohibitive casting cost), then simply don't use it!
Nth Final Fantasy -- if you've got endless sequels to a "Final" Fantasy, then its not really final, is it...
Oh well, the games are cool and the movie should be at least entertaining...
Final Fantasy MCCXII - the "FINAL" Final Fantasy (we promise!)
Final Fantasy deliberately borrows many storytelling elements from the "Star Wars" movies; apparently Sakaguchi and his buddies are real SW fans. The plots smack strongly of Star Wars: young boy with sword and moppish hairdo meets girl, destroys villain and evil force, saves world.
N4st0r, trixx0r h0bb1tz0rz! Th3y st0l3 0ur pr3c10uzz!
Idunno, Mortal Combat 1 wasn't horrible (no comment about the sequel or the series)... not good either. Seen the Japanese animated Street Fighter? It's got no plot and minimal crappy acting, but the fight scenes are cool, and its got awesome music (KMFDM, Alice In Chains, etc.) so its worth watching.
Yah, also, every theater needs to be equipped with little buttons right on the armrests that have to be pressed each time anyone says anything before anyone else replies, and people must speak slowly and drag everything out. Anyone else simply change the channel/input and keep clicking the button during long conversations when they play Xenogears or FF8? Just me? K.
Right, but with KoTR, Sepiroth was a bit TOO easy. Now the guy at the end of FF8, that's a challenge. How long has it been out in the US? Have most people got to that point yet? I'll just say that that battle took me about an hour of real-time battle to win. And my characters were pretty strong, too. I don't think there is any super overly-powerful kind of attack in FF8, which made it a lot more interesting, all the way to the end. But yeah, those battles where you barely come out alive are some best, don't you think!
(anyway, I don't know for sure if there are any powerful types of attacks, since in the end I was able to finish using normal game abilities. Maybe they changed somethings in the US version, too?)
Joe
well, if you want to get picky about FF games getting easy, nothing was easier then beating kefka at the end of FF3 (or FF6, whatever). When any and all characters can cast Ultima, then the game is just a joke. Now FF2. that was a game. Oh baby.
Steve Buscemi is god.
:-)
(i like the AOL handle
is the Tomb Raider movie still in the works (not that i've searched for info). that crap show "Relic Hunter" w/ sexy Tia Carrera is a total rip. I'd like to see that chick they model Laura Croft as act in it. i think she's in Lycos(?) commercial. she is too sexy.
Wing Commander IS Battlestar Galactica.
Ø-----ØØ-----ØØ-----ØØ-----ØØ-----ØØ-----ØØ-----Ø
0h! you mean Christina Ricci as "The Expressionless"--man, she's got a great rack though...
Ø-----ØØ-----ØØ-----ØØ-----ØØ-----ØØ-----ØØ-----Ø
Now all we need is a Dune movie (wait, they have that, but it was still pretty crummy. should've have done the whole series, but that would've taken forever)
I'm sure there are others like me who hate Quicktime with a passion. Are these movies available anywhere in another format, like MPEG?
Im not going to go out on a limb and defend any american 'video game inspired' movies like the horrid mario brothers or street fighter or what have you... but let's not forget that the creative engine behind the final fantasy movie isnt american blockbuster filmmakers. if any of you have seen street fighter II the anime, final fantasy: legend of the crystals, or any number of animated japanese titles based on videogames, you'll know that treatment tends to be MUCH better than what we get here. (ok, except tekken. tekken was pretty mediocre).
so... by your logic, we wouldnt have posts about how quake3 was released as it is violent, or so forth. also, saying 'even the title makes you _feel_ the brutal, antisocial flair, one expects from one of these nowadays trendy leftwing conspiratory propaganda films.' makes you feel like a dumbass.. there's too many commas, for one, and how do the words 'final fantasy' engage thoughts of brutal anything? it's a freaking fantasy!!! man, you're just plain ignorant. ps. i especially like calling final fantasy the movie 'uneccesary, bold brutality' i assume that you're a fucking moron and assume that a movie based on a game will be 'mortal kombat 4' go rent final fantasy 8 and get back to me. baka ^^;
But wait, if it's even half as good as "Wing Commander"...oh, that sucked, too...
Not a good track record so far...
Don't even try to download the files if you aren't on Windows or Mac.
Will there be a Cid? I'll be pretty let down if there isn't.
BitwizeGHC dun said:
Oh, it's incredibly obvious. Hell, at points it's downright blatant that they're SW fans.
Among other things, in every Final Fantasy game since at least FF5 or FF6 there've been two characters named Biggs and Wedge (for those who remember A New Hope aka the "original" Star Wars, Biggs and Wedge were wingmen with Luke Skywalker). Specifically: FF6, in the beginning of the game; FF7, they were AVALANCHE members; FF8, they were opponents with rather serious delusions of grandeur :). If THAT isn't just a wee bit of a Star Wars in-joke, I don't know what is. :)
(I will resist the urge, by the way, to make bad jokes here about Han Solo naked and petrified. ;) Besides, someone already DID that joke already. :)
-Windigo The Feral (NYAR!)
Oh, come on! That is the most childish RPG I've ever tried!
Nobody and nothing ever dies, there's nothing remotely resembling an adult plot, all the main characters are children, and it's very easy (it takes a long time, and there are a lot of little details you can learn, but it's still easy). Everything about it suggests that it was made for children.
Actually, I don't think the play balancers counted on you getting Kotr before you'd beat the game. Most everyone I knew beat the game in "the proper" order. Just because you hit a weak spot in the play balancer's list doesn't mean the rest of the game is a movie. I was about level 70 going into Sephiroth and it took me 2 hours to beat the guy before him. (In one sitting, one battle) I finished the game with two guys dead and one hit point on RedXIII. I doubt I'd call that a movie.
A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
POKEMON! Come on, why didn't anyone remember this? Its recent and successful and all (tho that doesn't mean its good, the ending is just horrid)...
For those who don't know or are misinformed, Pokemon started as a gameboy game. A roleplaying game with a very unique playing style that was not made for children. Then they made a cartoon from it and after that the hellstorm of Pokestuff began. Lots of people think the childrens cartoon begat the gameboy game, but no, it was a non-childrens game which begat a childrens cartoon. Sort of like Ghostbusters going from a good adult movie (sex, living nightmares, etc, I think that qualifies as an adult movie) to a childish cartoon...
Esperandi
Even though I haven't touched a Phantasy Star since II, the first two were so good and so far ahead of their time that I can't help but think highly of the entire series. For anyone who hasn't experienced the majesty that is Phantasy Star, there's a pretty good page with screen shots, tips and spoilers of all the games at The Phantasy Star Pages.
Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
www.teslabox.com
As far back as I can remember, I have been a fan of fantasy literature. During this time period, I don't believe I've ever seen a pure fantasy movie that was any good. Now all of a sudden we have a Final Fantasy movie, a Dungeons and Dragons movie, and a Lord of the Rings movie coming. If only one of them is good, I will be the happiest little camper you've ever seen.
-Now vilified fantasy nut
Will there be a subtitled version, (with subtitles in blue boxes), so ican feel like i am playing a FF game?
Sig 404
I'm glad to see they finally decided to stop kidding themselves that FF is a game series anymore and just call it what it has been since FF7: A MOVIE. Don't get me wrong, I love the FF series...up to FF6. FF5 ROCKED (especially once I got a translated version, then even better (aside from slowness) on PSX. FF7 though, it just wasn't a game (for long enough). It was downright annoying (frustrating even) to go through Midgar holding materia without being able to even use it until a bunch of annoying plot devices were out of the way. If your gonna let me hold it, let me fucking use it! It was even worse if you played your ass off (strategy guides are for sissies) to get the coveted Gold Chocobo, because as a reward for being such a hardcore player, they ruin the rest of the game for you! Nothing can stand up to Knights of the Round except the weapons (like Emerald was even hard or fun). WTF is with Sephiroth biting the dust after ONE KotR summon?!? Once you had KotR you could walk through the world fearlessly, so it became a movie. FF8 was worse. Graphics improved and gameplay took a blow. Hell, it had a cool battle system, but what good is that? All it does is make you want to fight all the time and beef up your character until you realize that you are so powerful nothing can challenge you. So again, it turned into a PSX movie. FF7 with 3 discs and FF8 with 4, and FF3(FF6) STILL HAS MORE GAME TO PLAY IN A TINY CARTRIDGE!!
The movie ought to be really good, they've had enough practice on the PSX.
"You point your finger at the moon, the fool stares at your finger."
In a response to what someone said earlier, this movie will be very great, even if it isn't interactive. Most of the interactivity of the final fantasy games is just random battles, and other essential (directed) fights. You could in no way alter the way the story was going to end up(ie, kill a main character, fall in love with the wrong teammate). Now, if any of you(and I'm sure there are many) have played/seen Final Fantasy VIII, you'll agree that the story(yes, along with the fabulous animation)really made the game. It's story line is, by far the best of any recent game that I've played. Square Productions pride themselves on the good stories they produce. It's because of the story lines that the Final Fantasy series is still around(and will stay around for a long while) and popular. They will not disapoint.
Along with the Lord Of the Rings and Titan AE, this is one movie I can't wait to come out.
http://www.dtheatre.com
WARNING! Contains spoilers if you still want to discover FF4, 5 and 6.
I think they all got the best stories.. now think about it..
Final Fantasy IV
The big whale that goes to the moon
The mystery of the crystals
The underworld people
Cid sealing the gate to the underworld
The airship battles
Final Fantasy V
The first and second world merging to form a third one. OMG that ruled
The mystery of the crystals
Gilgamesh
The crashing asteroids
Final Fantasy VI
The double personality of Terra
Magitek
The esper dying at the end, and you seriously worry that Terra will die too (great moment)
World of ruin, and again you seriously wonder what happened with your friends
Celes trying to suicide right after world of ruin (great moment)
The opera
Locke trying to save Rachel (great moment)
The three balancing statues before world goes to ruins
I just love being plunged in a real fantasy world, it seems to me that FF7 and FF8 are just too human for my taste. Final Fantasy should forever keep the Life theme, which is, let's not forget it, all about the best gift anyone can get (ok I got sentimental on that last one) :) Also, FF6 has that magic touch where we get to be attached very tightly with every characters, I don't remember any other game that did this as strongly as this one.
If final fantasy comes out next year, will it be outdated already? Disney has Dinosaur, also a full cg movie, and imho, it looks more impressive than the work done in final fantasy. The movie will be released memorial day and you can see the trailer (in quicktime) here .. This is a Disney produced and released movie, by the way, it has nothing to do with Pixar. It's their animated summer blockbuster this year..
Fast-forward five years when the processing power exists to render this stuff in real-time and combine it with stories generated on the fly... there are already computer programs that can write short stories which are indistinguishable from that of humans. Custom movies rendered on the fly tailored to your wishes that know how to push all of your emotional buttons. What tactics will the MPAA use against this technology? Will they hold the licenses to all the good digital actors/personalities. Will they club us to death with patents? Food fer thought.
Hello,
Here is a mirror of the character face (See how detailed it is).
NotE:, I'm on DHCP, my ip might go off any time. So pls mirror and post below.
Enjoy!
--
I'm a bit worried about the story for this movie, the FF games have had stories comparable to novels while the brief diddy on the site doesn't lend itself well to a story. I'm going to go see it either way. I am impressed with the 100% CG animation of the movie, George Lucas eat your heart out. I think it would be really funny to find out it was rendered on a processor farm on PS2s. As for translations (into Japanese among other languages) I think it might be possible to re-synch the lips to the other languages if Sony wanted to spend a few bucks to do it. Pixar re-rendered Bug's Life to fit into the 4:3 aspect ratio for the videos, Sony could do something similar so it won't look like a bad kung-fu movie. I say they should have the blue text boxes in any case!
I'm a loner Dottie, a Rebel.
Trailer A
Trailer B
john
-- john
So will the plot of the movie be similar to the game where the main characters spend 40+ hours leveling up and searching continent after continent for the mythical 'Purple People Eater' so that they can obtain the one spell/weapon/item that will actually keep them alive when they encounter the main villain?
If so count me in! I mean, it just won't feel like a Final Fantasy movie if it doesn't have these elements.
I've been following this one for a while. For those who didn't know, it's all CG, and it makes Pixar look like South Park. These aren't cartoonish, this are realistic enough to blow your mind. There was a video in Japanese I watched that showed both the antagonist and protaganist of the movie in action, and they almost look realy. You looking for freckles? They're there. Veins in the eyeballs. SOmething like 5 simulated muscles move when they blink. Absolutely amazing.
Oh, and FF3 didn't come out for the NES. If you mean the english FF3 (FF6 in Nippon) it was for the SNES (Super Famicon in Nippon). FF1 (english) and FF2(Japanese) were for the NES.
Check out the tribute movies on http://squaregamer.com . It has some of the highlights of all of the FF series in CG, set to a cool Offspring single. For those of us who went through and know just how cool the Opera house scene in FF3 was, you'll appreciate it.
Toodles
Toodles D. Clown
you posted this just to raise your slashdot purity score... didn't you... ;)
--
--
Point?   None.   Cob!
When you digitize real world textures, laserscan objects to get surface meshes, and motion capture the animation, is it still really CG? Or just digitally altered?
A lot of human effort besides mouse/keyboard/monitor interactions went into producing these images. Simply calling them "computer generated" is like calling rotoscoped cartoons "hand-drawn animation".
In the days before Final Fantasy, Square was barely getting by. Eventually, they decided that they would devote all of their resources to their next game in hopes that it would be truly spectacular. If it failed, however, they were through. Hence the name "Final Fantasy".
Final Fantasy XXVII: This time we *really* blow up the world! Our hero, a misunderstood youth with a mysterious past, is caught in a web of conflicting powers, ending in a spectacular fight to save the world, and his own soul! Complicating his struggle is the love triangle between him, the tomboy friend from his youth, and a flirtatious, mysterious woman who will play a large role in the future of humanity. Don't miss this latest installment of the saga for the survival of humanity!
Did I miss anything in the plot summary?
The first clip is mirrored here, and the second one is mirrored here.