A mod for the original Final Fantasy 7 that adds full voice acting to the game is set to release today after seven years of work. Tsunamods’ Echo-S 7 mod has actors from around the world voicing every character in Final Fantasy 7, including the battle barks. You can see a trailer of the mod in action below, but if you’re watching in the office on your lunch break then be aware that there’s a fair few cuss words in it.
]]>JRPGs can be grindy affairs at the best of times, but imagine playing through one while actually swinging about Cloud Strife’s cumbersome giant blade. Custom controller maker Super Louis 64’s done just that, crafting a Buster Sword that lets him play through Final Fantasy 7 Remake in true Cloud style. When he shared a clip of his antics on Twitter, Super Louis insisted the whole game is playable using the big knife. The honorary Soldier says he’s hoping to have a full video of his time spent pretending to be Cloud up on his YouTube channel today.
]]>Square Enix are threatening to overshadow the 25th anniversary of Final Fantasy 7 by partnering with Enjin, a cryptocurrency platform, to launch non-fungible tokens (NFTs) based on the long-running JRPG series. To coincide with the anniversary, Squeenix will be releasing a digital collection of cards on Enjin’s Efinity network for owners of physical cards that are expected to go on sale in 2023. There's an NFT linked to a Cloud Strife action figure too. Feel free to watch the trailer for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth below to take your mind off this woeful event.
]]>The Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters have launched today, bringing versions of the early Final Fantasy games to PC that we hoped would finally be prettier than the not so nice-looking mobile ports we'd been treated to in the past. They are prettier, indeed, and even have new music, but all that was slightly overshadowed by the frankly terrible interface font choice. Fortunately, fans work fast and there are already instructions for "fixing" the pixel remaster fonts just hours after launch.
]]>Final Fantasy IV turns 30 today and to celebrate, Square Enix sat game designer Takashi Tokita down to talk about memories from development. It was the first Final Fantasy game he was involved with from the very beginning, he explains, so he's able to share some neat details on how the game's design evolved. He chats about character designs, romance plots, and the unlikely inspiration for the first ATB battle system that somehow came from watching F1 races.
]]>To make way for the upcoming Final Fantasy 1-6 Pixel Remasters, the current versions of Final Fantasy 5 and Final Fantasy 6 will be pulled off Steam later this month. Since these are the ugly mobile ports, I think it's safe to say they won't be missed, though. Both Steam pages for Final Fantasy 5 and 6 have been updated with disclaimers that they'll "no longer be available for purchase after July 27th 2021". They then say you should buy the remastered versions instead which are "coming soon".
]]>After spending several years making vintage Final Fantasy games look worse with remastered re-releases toting blurry graphics and ugly menus, Square Enix might give people what they actually wanted in the first place. During their E3 showcase today, Squeenix announced a "Pixel Remaster" series of Final Fantasies I through VI. Information is vague right now but they sure do look like ye olde FF games with ye olde pixel art.
]]>As some of you will no doubt remember, when I joined this site I made a promise: that by the end of 2019, I would complete the game so good its subtitle comes before its series title: Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. Well guess what? I did it! With just half an hour to go until midnight on December 31, I hung up my bustus sword and put the chocobos to bed, after a gruelling battle with Lightning’s final boss. Look - there’s me shaking hands with series creator Sakaguchi Hironobu, as he congratulates me on my victory, right there in the header image. Feat proven, job done. Verdict: it was a decent game. Now let’s all forget this ever happened and move on into 2020.
Hm? What’s that? You want me to name the final boss from Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII? Oh.
]]>Whenever someone asks me what my favourite Final Fantasy game is, the answer is always Final Fantasy VIII. It's getting on a bit (20 years, in fact) but its tale of time-travelling witches, lovestruck teens, cannonball dogs and bonkers floating military schools is still, for me, one of the best things to come out of this never-ending series.
It is, however, one of the more trying Final Fantasy games to get running properly on PC. The 2013 PC release is, let's face it, a bit of a fudge. The music isn't right, the controls are fiddly; it's aged horribly. Good thing, then, that today marks the release of Final Fantasy VIII Remastered, a spruced-up, PC-friendly version that finally does it justi-- wait... What's wrong with those SeeD students? And those backgrounds? And oh sweet Guardian Forces WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO SQUALL'S FACE?
]]>For all the decades of ha-ha-hilarious jokes about a final Final Fantasy as the numbers kept climbing higher, we hadn't predicted that Square Enix would keep it going from the other end too with remakes and remasters aplenty. Up next is Final Fantasy VIII Remastered, a fancied-up version of the game which in 1999 was definitely the last in the RPG series for real ho ho! Squeenix today announced that it's coming real soon, on September 3rd. This is the game our Katharine declared the best Final Fantasy (and Brendan reluctantly agreed) so maybe I'll have a look next month.
]]>It is the height of summer; a lush July evening, and a Friday to boot, with a free weekend stretched out before me like so much blue sky. I’m planning to spend plenty of the next two days outside, with my wife and daughter, enjoying fresh air, laughter and good food. But there’s a dark pit in this fruit of fun; a bitter kernel which grows even now on the hard drive of my PC. This black node has a name. It’s Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII.
I've never played a Final Fantasy game before. I've barely played any JRPGs, in fact. But now my time has come. I've got to jump in to the second part of the thirteenth entry of a series that has spanned more than three decades, in a genre whose conventions are unfamiliar to me, and I've got to complete it by the end of the year.
]]>Square Enix are but a fading spectre of their former glory. Square Enix can tie a crate of Final Fantasy trading cards to themselves and get in the sea. Square Enix are all horrible bastards who don’t understand what makes a good RPG anymore. Never again will I have to say any of these clearly untrue and potentially libellous phrases, because Square Enix - who I’ve always said were the best - have now confirmed that they’re remastering Final Fantasy 8. Well heck.
]]>If you own Final Fantasy XIV on the Square-Enix store (as opposed to Steam), you can claim the increasingly popular MMORPG's first expansion, Heavensward, free here until June 27th. FFXIV is gearing up for the release of its third major expansion, Shadowbringers, but thanks to the game's commitment to a linear story, unless you don't care about the plot (you should) you're best off getting the expansions in order anyway. Today is also the last day that Twitch Prime subscribers (and free trial users) can claim a 'free' copy of the base game here, compatible with this giveaway.
Note: You may need to pick your Square-Enix store region to see the giveaway. Click the flag button in the top right corner of the page. Also, if you do buy an expansion later, the upcoming Shadowbringers comes with Stormblood (required to access it) free.
]]>Following the epic boyband road trip of Final Fantasy XV, Square Enix now plan to let us create our own pop trios in Dissidia Final Fantasy NT. Today they announced the 3v3 crossover brawler, made with Dead Or Alive developers Team Ninja and released on PlayStation 4 in 2018, is coming to PC as a free-to-play edition. I think my dream pop trio might be Noctis, Kefka, and Sephiroth? Or Yuna, Lightning, and Noctis could be an interesting musical dynamic. Squeenix insist the trios do fight each other, but I assume it's mostly about building and admiring your dream lineup.
]]>Final Fantasy VIII, aka the best Final Fantasy, is 20 years old today. Here's our list article about that.
So you thought you’d celebrate your 20th birthday by taking all your celestial god buds out for a drink, did you? Biggest mistake of your life, pal. Oh, sure, they’ll save your life from a time-travelling sorceress in a pinch, but when it comes to a night out, I’ve never seen a sorrier bunch of cheapskates in my entire life. Consider this your one and only warning before these mythical moochers take you for everything you’re worth.
]]>“If you notice,” says the catfish, “everyone is smiling around me.”
It’s true. This huge fish person has been waddling through crowds of people who grin even as they duck under the beast’s massive barbels. Several people are taking photographs. I peer into the gaping mouth of the fish. Two human hands suddenly lurch out, gripping onto the creature’s lips from the inside.
“I’m a namazu,” says Missy, the 32-year-old woman in the costume. “It’s a giant catfish… and they’re generally really dumb-looking, and I love them... I thought it would bring a lot of happiness.”
When I suggest that it is also slightly terrifying, Missy is unfazed.
“That’s a part of their joy.”
]]>We're still waiting for the PC release of Final Fantasy 16 and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth while jealously looking over the shoulders of our PS5 brethren. But that doesn't mean we can't ride some other chocobo, so to speak. There are tons of other great Final Fantasy games you can play on PC right now. Below, we've ranked the 10 best Final Fantasy games you can currently play on Steam, putting an end to the debate over which Roman numeral is objectively best.
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