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

Re:An honest question:

[jimstapleton]

I didn't get introduced to anime before FF games, so it's not that.

Until recently, they didn't have any continuous storlines - each was in a world of it's own, so it's not that.

Honestly, in my oppinion, the gameplay is fun (though it's gone downhill since 7 IMO), the graphics are usually pretty nice for the systems, the music is pretty good, but a with a few exceptions, and the usually have very nice storyline in any given game.

FFXII "remake"

[hansamurai]

I don't think remake is the right word for the new FFXII release. Many Square games have been re-released with changes in the Japanese and European markets (but generally for the European release it's the first release).

For example, FFX was re-released in Japan as "Final Fantasy X International". For the re-release they added some extra bosses, a secret ending, and the coolest thing was the new sphere grid. This is basically what they're doing with the new license boards in FFXII, so I'm honestly not surprised that they're doing this. This FFX International was the only game that PAL territories got.

They also did a FF7 International because for the American release of the game, they added some more bosses (I think Ruby Weapon and another super boss). So then they re-released the game in Japan again with these new enemies and maybe some other changes.

Anyways, I don't think we'll see this game in the U.S., or in Europe as they've already gotten the original game. With the Western releases they added 16x9 widescreen which is something TFA is touting as new. The only real new thing is the new license boards, which are basically used for leveling up your characters and giving them abilities and magic.

Yay! More FFXII!

[BitwizeGHC]

FFXII was a damned fine RPG, a refreshing outing from Square and, while rehashing old stuff can be tiresome, more FFXII is better than many of the alternatives, like more FFVIII, even more FFVII, or worse yet, FF Versus XIII, in which Square has slipped into the depths of self-parody. Have you seen the trailers? We have all the essential elements: black leather, self-cutting angst, girly men, and lots of huge swords. I think Square ought to just cut to the chase and make their next installment FF:BB, or Final Fantasy: Bankable Bishies. Make it an action RPG where your party consists of Cloud, Squall, Zidane, Tidus, Vaan, and for the purists, Cecil and they fight the multidimensional menace Kefkujaroth. Just get the visual kei fetish out of their system so they can concentrate on making wonderfully approachable fantasy RPGs like the old days. Of course, if the Kingdom Hearts franchise is any indication FF:BB is likely to spawn the inevitable sequel, threequel, fourquel, etc. so maybe that's not a good idea after all...

So when . . .

[hardburn]

. . . do the Chrono Trigger fans get some love?