FF XII Re-make, New RPG Announced By Square/Enix

Yesterday was Square/Enix's annual media party, and there were a couple of interesting announcements. Game|Life's Chris Kohler was there, and reports on the most interesting announcement: a Final Fantasy XII re-envisioning entitled International: Zodiac Job System. The title will feature the same story, a further-refined combat system, and a series of 12 separate license boards. Each board corresponds to a traditional FF 'job', like Monk or Red Mage; at the moment there is no plan to release it in the states. Other announcements include word that Star Ocean will get the remake treatment, with the first two games coming to the PSP sometime in the future. They are also working on a next-gen Star Ocean 4; no details about that. Crystal Chronicles for the DS drops in August in Japan, no US release date was given. Finally, screenshots and videos of The Last Remnant capped off the event; we talked about the game earlier this week when it was announced.

Comments

Out of ideas?

[Turn-X Alphonse]

Is it just me or is Square really out of ideas now? In Japan special editions are common things and a lot of big titles get them, but very few companies would make a special edition for every game they release, yet here is Square with about 10 different games in a row getting special editions. Isn't it about time they either give up on releasing games and just refine one to the point or perfection or admit they are just releasing half arsed unfinished games before they are ready?

I'm looking forward to FF:CC:DS but I find it a shame that they had to do the traditional story thing rather than giving us a sandbox like the original, which would have played perfectly over wifi with the mics for communication between party members.