Schlagwort: square enix

  • Marvel’s Avengers confirmed as free upgrade to PS5

    Marvel’s Avengers confirmed as free upgrade to PS5

    Reading Time: 4 minutes

    I became a serious game development hobbyist when I was a kid and I’ve worked as a professional game developer for the past 18 years. I’m now the Chief Technology Officer at Crystal Dynamics, where I am working with a brilliant and passionate development team on Marvel’s Avengers.

    Throughout my life, there has been little that excites me as much as getting my hands on a next-generation video game console — and PS5 is no exception. I have had the tremendous pleasure and privilege of having a PS5 development kit on my desk for some time. When we received our first few kits, I rushed to put an engineering team on the task of creating a PS5 version of Marvel’s Avengers as quickly as possible. I wanted to push Foundation, our proprietary game engine, to its limits on PS5 and see what it could do. Take a look at what we’ve accomplished so far!

    PS5 greatly lifts the performance and graphics bar for consoles. The new GPU allows us to increase our texture resolution, push a higher level of detail farther from the player, enhance our ambient occlusion, improve our anisotropic filtering and add a variety of new graphics features such as stochastic screen-space reflections with contact-aware sharpening.

    If you’re a technophile like me, you enjoy having a bit of choice in how you leverage your cutting-edge console’s capability. As gamers, we sometimes want every ounce of power put into extra graphics features to achieve the highest image quality possible. For this, Marvel’s Avengers will offer an enhanced graphics mode on PS5. At other times, we want the most fluid gameplay experience possible. For that, Marvel’s Avengers will offer a high framerate mode on PS5, which targets 60 FPS with dynamic 4K resolution.

    The GPU and CPU improvements on PS5 are exciting, but even more exciting is the introduction of an ultra-high speed SSD with lightning fast load speeds. This is a transformative improvement in consoles that will reduce load times down to one or two seconds and enable real-time streaming of massive worlds at ridiculously fast speeds. Without any optimization work, the loading and streaming of Marvel’s Avengers improved by an order of magnitude on PS5. When optimization is complete, loading content will be nearly instant, allowing players to seamlessly jump into missions anywhere in the game world. And as Iron Man flies through content-rich levels, higher resolution textures and mesh will stream in instantly, maintaining the highest possible quality all the way to the horizon.

    The new PS5 DualSense controller offers advanced haptics and resistance triggers, and the console itself offers enhanced 3D audio and new platform features that allow you to jump straight into the action. We have great ideas on ways to leverage these features in Marvel’s Avengers and are looking forward to seeing our players’ reactions.

    At Crystal Dynamics, we are gamers and we have a gamer-first mentality. We want to make it easy for Marvel’s Avengers players to enjoy the additional features PS5 brings to the game.

    Therefore, we’re happy to announce that when you purchase Marvel’s Avengers for the PS4 platform, either digitally or on disc, and later upgrade to a PS5, you get the PS5 version of the game with all of its enhancements free of charge!

    In addition, PS5 gamers can play Marvel’s Avengers online with PS4 gamers, so anyone can upgrade at any time and continue playing with friends on both platforms.

    Marvel’s Avengers launches on September 4, 2020 and will be available on PS5 when the console launches Holiday 2020!

    Website: LINK

  • How Square Enix created the Summons in Final Fantasy VII Remake

    How Square Enix created the Summons in Final Fantasy VII Remake

    Reading Time: 8 minutes

    My name is Naoki Hamaguchi, and I worked as Co-Director of Final Fantasy VII Remake. I wanted to share a behind-the-scenes look at what I think is one of the coolest parts of the game — the Summons.

    For newcomers, Summons are powerful creatures that can be brought into battle to help you take down even the most challenging foes. They’re an important part of the Final Fantasy series, but for Final Fantasy VII Remake we approached them in an entirely new way.

    In the new game, these visually spectacular allies fight directly alongside you — provided you’ve earned them of course. Read on and I’ll explain how we came up with this new system, and some of the challenges we faced along the way.

    The big idea behind Summons

    The central concept for the Summons in Final Fantasy VII Remake is collaboration in battle.

    In previous Final Fantasy games, including the original Final Fantasy VII, when you activated a Summon, it would launch its big attack and then leave. For this game, we knew we wanted them to fight with you.

    Our idea was to build a system in which the summon would stick around and help you for longer in battle — and even let you control them to an extent. Of course, coming up with an idea and making it happen are two very different things!

    Building the Summon system 

    We originally tried a new mechanic where each Summon has a personal ATB bar — when the bar filled up, you would be able to give it a command, just as you can for the rest of the characters you control.

    And that was the problem. While it achieved the goal of ‘collaboration in battle,’ it made the Summon feel like just another member of the party. It didn’t change the feel of battles in a meaningful way, and lacked the special feeling you want from summoning something strange and powerful.

    So we scrapped that system and tried a new approach. This time, players had to consume their own ATB to cast a Summon’s special attacks. This still gave a strong sense of fighting together, but it crucially also felt like something different and special. That was when we finally knew we had got it right.

    We also implemented another change — you can only Summon during a limited window. The reason we did this is because we wanted to create meaningful moments during battle. 

    If the player could bring a Summon in at any time, it would just become a part of their usual range of tactics, but by limiting the availability to certain time slots, it becomes much more memorable. It’s an event.

    By having no MP consumption to call a summon, as well as limiting the summoning conditions, I feel that we eventually managed to establish a good balance in the battle system overall. 

    Designing the Summons

    With the system in place, we had to make sure that the Summons looked as good as possible. These are unbelievably powerful, elemental forces so it was vital that their appearance reflect that.

    What’s more, six of the Summons that appear in Final Fantasy VII Remake were taken from the original game, so what we came up with needed to retain the same essence as those designs. 

    We quickly realised that recreating them exactly as they were in the original wouldn’t have been good enough for today’s graphical standards. I feel that these magnificent, supernatural and majestic beings would have looked quite weak.

    So as you can imagine, we spent a lot of time re-working the ideas from the original game. To demonstrate what I mean, here’s a look at some of the designs for Bahamut. 

    As you can see, we thought long and hard about both how Summons and their special attacks should look.

    This version of Bahamut didn’t make the final cut, but it does give you an idea of how much iteration each Summon went through during development!

    The final designs — and the one that got away

    Our ultimate approach was to keep the original silhouettes but added a lot more detail to them. For example, Ifrit is a fire summon, so we expressed his ferocious brutality through cracks in burning lava and black volcanic rock formations. 

    For Shiva, we changed the original color tones to be cooler and made her look colder by adding a lot of metallic accessories. 

    In addition, to depict all the summons as these transcendent, supernatural beings in Final Fantasy VII Remake we used lots of glowing particle and other effects to really capture their unique essence.  

    I’m happy with the final designs – although I do have one minor regret. We actually originally wanted to include Ramuh as a Summon — fans of the original game will remember him fondly!

    Unfortunately, we had to give up on the idea for two reasons. Firstly, we thought there would be fans who would like to use Leviathan in Mako Reactor 1 like you could in the demo for the original game. Secondly, we also thought that fans would be disappointed if they could not see Bahamut in a Final Fantasy game — I know I would be! 

    So unfortunately, Ramuh doesn’t appear in the game – but he’ll definitely be in the running next time we make a decision on what Summons to use!

    How we made Summons feel rewarding

    As well as feeling special and looking good, there was another element we had to consider too. Summons have a role beyond simply helping in battle. In both Final Fantasy VII Remake (and most of the other games in the Final Fantasy series) they’re a reward for the player.

    The original Final Fantasy VII featured multiple Summons, many of which were earned by exploring carefully, or completing difficult side quests or battles. In the remake we wanted players to feel an even greater sense of achievement when they got some of them.

    To do this, we set a clear rule very early in development — you can only obtain a new summon materia if you can defeat that monster in battle.

    Why VR battles?

    Once we had made the decision, we faced a new challenge — how do we actually present players with these encounters?

    It wouldn’t make sense for Cloud to simply run into them. After all, in the lore of Final Fantasy VII, these fearsome creatures are the embodiment of ancient knowledge condensed in materia — they’re not exactly wandering free in Midgar!

    That’s when we hit on the idea of VR battles.

    The concept already had precedent within the Final Fantasy VII universe — it was supposed to be used for training SOLDIER operatives in Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (a prequel to the original game released in 2007 for PlayStation Portable). We saw an opportunity to pay tribute to that in the new game.

    We thought that by analysing the knowledge contained with materia, Shinra’s researchers would be able to recreate the summons in a virtual environment. Then, by entering VR Cloud and the rest of the party could face off against these foes in a really fun, exciting way.

    Of course, when you solve one challenge, another one inevitably rears its head! Now we had to find a way to actually deliver these challenges to the player. If the Shinra Building was the only place where a player could use VR, that would have meant you wouldn’t get any summon materia for most of the game!

    The solution lay with the character of Chadley.

    Creating the portable battle simulator

    Chadley is a character you meet in various locations in the game. He’s a researcher for Shinra’s science division, though he has no love for the company he works for. If Cloud’s group helps him with his research, he’ll aid them in their struggles with new, powerful materia.

    Considering his connection to Shinra, it would make sense that he would have access to its technology. Giving him a portable headset style battle simulator meant that we could provide access to the summon battles at various points in the game, in a way that makes sense within the setting of the game.

    To tell you the truth, we got the inspiration for the portable battle simulator from PS VR! We even used an image of the PS VR headset as a reference when creating the design for the headset! 

    I hope you found that look into the Summons of Final Fantasy VII Remake interesting. I’m personally very pleased with how the system turned out.

    All of us on the development team put a lot of passion and effort into this aspect of the game, and I hope you enjoy using it. 

    Final Fantasy VII Remake is out now on PS4.

    Website: LINK

  • So haben wir die Esper in FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE erstellt

    So haben wir die Esper in FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE erstellt

    Reading Time: 7 minutes

    Mein Name ist Naoki Hamaguchi und ich bin der Co-Director von FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE. Heute möchte ich euch mit einem Blick hinter die Kulissen das vielleicht coolste Element des Spiels zeigen – die Esper.

    Für alle Neueinsteiger: Esper sind mächtige Wesen, die ihr im Kampf zu Hilfe rufen könnt, um selbst die stärksten Kontrahenten zu besiegen. Zwar sind sie ein wesentlicher Bestandteil der FINAL FANTASY-Reihe, aber für FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE haben wir uns für eine andere Herangehensweise entschieden.

    Im neuen Spiel kämpfen diese optisch spektakulären Gefährten direkt an eurer Seite – vorausgesetzt, ihr habt sie euch zuvor verdient. Im Folgenden werde ich euch erklären, wie wir dieses neue System entwickelt haben und welche Herausforderungen wir dabei meistern mussten.

    Die große Esper-Idee

    Im Kern geht es bei den Espern in FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE um die Zusammenarbeit im Kampf.

    In früheren FINAL FANTASY-Spielen, darunter auch FINAL FANTASY VII, führten Esper nach ihrer Beschwörung einen mächtigen Angriff aus und verschwanden dann wieder. In diesem Spiel wollten wir, dass sie mit euch kämpfen.

    Dahinter steckte der Gedanke, ein System zu erstellen, in dem Esper länger anwesend sind und euch im Kampf unterstützen – und ihr sie teilweise sogar steuern könnt. Aber natürlich sind die Entwicklung einer Idee und ihre Umsetzung zwei Paar Schuhe!

    Die Arbeit am Esper-System

    Zuerst haben wir es mit einer neuen Mechanik probiert und jeder Esper ihre eigene ATB-Leiste gegeben: War die Leiste aufgefüllt, konnte man der Esper einen Befehl geben – genau wie bei den anderen Charakteren, die ihr steuern könnt.

    Und genau darin lag das Problem. Zwar war die gewünschte „Zusammenarbeit im Kampf“ so gegeben, aber leider wurde die Esper dadurch nur zu einem weiteren Mitglied eurer Gruppe. Das besondere Gefühl, wenn man diese geheimnisvollen und überaus mächtigen Wesen beschwört und dadurch das Kampfgeschehen maßgeblich beeinflussen kann, ging verloren.

    Deswegen haben wir dieses System über Bord geworfen und noch einmal neu angefangen. Dieses Mal sollten die Spieler erst ihre eigene ATB-Leiste aufbrauchen, um den Spezialangriff einer Esper zu beschwören. Auf diese Weise blieb das Gefühl, gemeinsam zu kämpfen, erhalten, aber gleichzeitig fühlte es sich nach etwas Besonderem an. Und da wussten wir, dass wir unser Ziel erreicht hatten.

    Außerdem setzten wir noch eine andere Veränderung um – Esper lassen sich nur noch in einem begrenzten Zeitfenster aktivieren. Unser Ziel war es, dem Kampf spannungsgeladene Höhepunkte zu geben.

    Wenn die Spieler jeder Zeit eine Esper aktivieren könnten, dann wären sie nur eine von vielen möglichen taktischen Entscheidungen. Aber durch die eingeschränkte zeitliche Verfügbarkeit werden die Esper-Momente unvergesslich. Sie werden zu einem Event.

    Ohne den MP-Verbrauch, aber mit der zeitlichen Einschränkung für eine Esper-Beschwörung, haben wir meiner Meinung nach insgesamt für ein gutes Gleichgewicht im Kampfsystem gesorgt.

    Das Esper-Design

    Zusammen mit dem eingeführten System wollten wir sichergehen, dass die Esper so gut wie möglich aussehen. Sie verfügen über unvorstellbar mächtige, elementare Kräfte. Daher war es wichtig, dass ihr Erscheinen im Spiel auch genau das widerspiegelt.

    Außerdem haben wir sechs der Esper aus dem Original für FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE übernommen. Alle zusätzlichen Elemente mussten daher im Wesentlichem ihrem Design entsprechen.

    Allerdings haben wir schnell festgestellt, dass eine schlichte Kopie des Originaldesigns nicht ausreichen und den heutigen optischen Ansprüchen nicht gerecht werden würde. Für mich hätten diese herrlichen, übernatürlichen und majestätischen Wesen dann einfach nur schwach ausgehen.

    Wir ihr euch sicher vorstellen könnt, haben wir viel Zeit in die Überarbeitung der Konzepte aus dem Originalspiel investiert. Zur Veranschaulichung haben wir hier ein paar Bilder von Bahamut für euch.

    Wie ihr seht, haben wir lange und intensiv darüber nachgedacht, wie Esper und ihre Spezialangriffe aussehen sollten.

    Diese Version von Bahamut hat es nicht ins fertige Spiel geschafft, aber ihr bekommt eine ungefähre Vorstellung davon, wie viele Überarbeitungen jede einzelne Esper durchlaufen hat!

    Die Designergebnisse – und der Ausreißer

    Letztendlich sind wir so vorgegangen, dass wir die Originalsilhouette behalten, sie aber mit vielen Details bereichern wollten. Ein Beispiel: Als Feuer-Esper wollten wir, dass Ifrit seine fürchterliche Brutalität durch Risse, aus denen brennende Lava glüht, und Formen aus schwarzem Vulkangestein zum Ausdruck bringt.

    Bei Shiva haben wir die ursprünglichen Farbtöne verändert und ihr einen cooleren, kälteren Look durch zusätzliche Accessoires aus Metall verpasst.

    Um sie deutlich als übernatürliche, metaphysische Wesen in FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE darzustellen, haben alle Esper zusätzliche Leuchteffekte und andere Elemente erhalten. So wird ihr einzigartiger Charakter wirklich greifbar. 

    Ich bin mit den Endergebnissen überaus zufrieden, auch wenn ich eine Kleinigkeit bereue: Ursprünglich wollten wir Ramuh als Esper ins Spiel bringen – Fans des Originalspiels werden sich liebevoll an ihn erinnern!

    Leider ließ sich das aus zwei Gründen nicht umsetzen. Erstens haben wir uns gedacht, dass viele Fans lieber Leviathan im Mako-Reaktor 1 einsetzen möchten, genauso wie ihr es bereits in der Demo des Originalspiels konntet. Und Zweitens waren wir uns sicher, dass es ebenfalls eine große Enttäuschung für euch gewesen wäre, ein FINAL FANTASY ohne Bahamut zu spielen – für mich auf jeden Fall!

    Daher hat es Ramuh leider nicht ins Spiel geschafft. Aber bei der nächsten Entscheidung, welche Beschwörungen wir aufnehmen, ist er definitiv wieder in der engeren Auswahl.

    Deswegen fühlen sich Esper so belohnend an

    Sie sehen nicht nur fantastisch aus und geben euch ein besonderes Gefühl, es gibt auch noch einen weiteren Punkt, den wir beachten mussten. Esper haben auch jenseits ihrer Unterstützer-Rolle eine Bedeutung. In FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE (und das gilt für die meisten Spiele der FINAL FANTASY-Reihe) sind sie eine Belohnung für die Spieler.

    Das Originalspiel FINAL FANTASY VII beinhaltete verschiedene Esper. Viele davon erhielten die Spieler nur durch sorgfältiges Erkunden oder den Abschluss schwieriger Nebenquests oder Kämpfe. Das wollten wir im Remake noch vertiefen. Wenn die Spieler eine Esper erhalten, sollten sie das als eine noch größere Errungenschaft wahrnehmen.

    Um das zu erreichen, hatten wir bereits sehr früh in der Entwicklung festgelegt, dass man eine neue Esper-Materia nur erlangen kann, wenn man die entsprechende Esper vorher in einem Kampf besiegt.

    Warum VR-Kämpfe?

    Als wir diese Entscheidung erst einmal getroffen hatten, wartete schon die nächste Herausforderung auf uns: Wie sollen wir den Spielern diese Begegnungen ermöglichen?

    Es würde für Cloud keinen Sinn ergeben, wenn er einfach so auf Esper stoßen würde. Ein wesentlicher Bestandteil des Final Fantasy VII-Universums ist es, dass diese furchterregenden Kreaturen die Verkörperung uralten Wissens sind, konzentriert in Materia. Sie spazieren nicht frei in Midgar umher!

    Da kam uns die Idee der VR-Kämpfe.

    Das Konzept selbst war nichts Neues im Final Fantasy VII-Universum – es sollte vorher schon Teil des Trainings für SOLDAT-Einsatzkräfte in CRISIS CORE: FINAL FANTASY VII werden (einem Prequel des Originalspiels, 2007 veröffentlicht für PlayStation Portable). Diesem Aspekt konnten wir im neuen Spiel Tribut zollen.

    Unsere Überlegungen dazu waren wie folgt: Mit dem Wissen innerhalb der Materia gelang es den Wissenschaftlern von Shinra, Esper in der virtuellen Realität nachzubilden. In dieser virtuellen Realität könnten sich Cloud und der Rest der Crew dann auf eine echt spaßige und aufregende Weise gegen diese Gegner behaupten.

    Aber kaum löst man ein Problem, taucht auch schon das nächste auf! Jetzt mussten wir einen Weg finden, diese Herausforderungen an den Spieler zu bringen. Im gesamten Spiel ist das Shinra-Gebäude der einzige Ort, an dem die Spieler VR einsetzen können. Dadurch hätte man in weiten Teilen des Spiels keinen Zugriff auf Esper-Materia!

    Auf eine Lösung des Problems hat uns der Charakter Chadley gebracht.

    Die Entstehung des tragbaren Kampfsimulators

    Chadley wird euch an vielen Ecken des Spiels begegnen. Er steht im Dienst der Wissenschaftsabteilung von Shinra, distanziert sich aber wenn möglich von seinem Arbeitgeber. Wenn Clouds Crew ihm bei seinen Forschungen hilft, greift er ihnen beim Umgang mit diesen neuen, mächtigen Materia unter die Arme.

    Durch seine Verbindungen zu Shinra erscheint es nur logisch, dass er Zugriff auf diese Art der Technologie hat. Dank des tragbaren Headset-Kampfsimulators haben die Spieler an mehreren Stellen im Spiel die Möglichkeit, die mächtigen Esper im Kampf herauszufordern, und zwar so, dass es sich optimal ins Spielgeschehen einfügt.

    Hand aufs Herz: Vorbild für den tragbaren Kampfsimulator war PlayStation VR! Die Vorlage für das Design unseres Headsets war tatsächlich ein Bild des PlayStation VR-Headsets!

    Ich hoffe, dass euch der Einblick in die Esper von FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE gefallen hat. Ich persönlich bin mit dem Endresultat des Systems überaus zufrieden.

    Jeder aus dem Entwicklerteam hat sehr viel Leidenschaft und Arbeit in diesen Aspekt des Spiels gesteckt und ich hoffe, dass ihr damit viel Spaß haben werdet.

    FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE ist jetzt für PS4 erhältlich

    Website: LINK

  • Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition erscheint am 27. August auf PS4 mit neuen Features

    Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition erscheint am 27. August auf PS4 mit neuen Features

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    Wir freuen uns euch das Veröffentlichungsdatum für Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition zu verraten. Das geliebte RPG erscheint auf PS4 am (dramatische Pause)…

    …27. August 2020!

    Wie es der Name schon verrät, stellt es eine Remastered-Version des klassischen Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles dar, das im Westen im Jahr 2003 erschien.

    Das bedeutet, dass es jetzt das erste Mal ist, dass dieses Spiel auf PlayStation erscheint – und glaubt mir, das Warten hat sich gelohnt! Es ist so viel mehr als eine einfache Portierung.

    Das Team hat das Abenteuer verbessert, zahlreiche Elemente überarbeitet und komplett neue Features eingebaut. Wir werden hier darüber sprechen, aber ihr könnt auch schon einige im Trailer oben entdecken.

    Bevor wir uns jedoch mit der Liste der Verbesserungen befassen, sollten wir das Spiel wahrscheinlich für alle vorstellen, der es noch nicht kennen.

    Was ist Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles?

    Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles ist ein 1-4 Spieler-RPG, das sich um eine Gruppe junger Leute dreht, die als Crystal Caravans bekannt sind. Sie sind auf einer epischen Reise auf der Suche nach Myrrh. Diese besondere und wertvolle Flüssigkeit wird benötigt, um den großen Kristall zu reinigen und er erhalten, der alle in ihrer Welt vor einem giftigen Gas beschützt.

    Ihr werdet, allein oder mit bis zu vier Freunden, tolle Quests absolvieren, wunderschöne Landschaften durchstreifen und ihre Geheimnisse erkunden. Dabei seht ihr auch zahlreichen Monstern ins Auge.

    Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition on PS4Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition on PS4
    Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition on PS4Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition on PS4

    Was ist neu in der Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition?

    Wie bereits erwähnt, gibt es eine Menge Verbesserungen und zusätzliche Dinge im Spiel. Es ist so viel, dass wir es vermutlich die Remastered Addition nennen sollten. Ich meine ja, es ist ein furchtbarer Witz der kaum Sinn ergibt, aber ihr wisst schon, was ich meine.

    Hier ein paar Beispiele von der Fülle an Dingen im Spiel, die ihr in der verbesserten Version erleben könnt:

    Verbesserte Visuals und Audio: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles hatte immer einen einzigartigen Stil und es sah nie besser aus als jetzt auf PS4. Das gilt auch für den Sound. Ihr könnt die riesige Welt mit HD-Visuals und verbesserter Musik genießen.

    Charakter Voiceovers: Die Einwohner des Spiels wurden mit neuen Aufnahmen zum Leben erweckt.

    Online Multiplayer — mit Crossplay! Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles ist eine tolle Multiplayer-Koop-Erfahrung. Die Remastered Edition macht es leichter als jemals zuvor, mit anderen zu spielen. Ihr könnt mit bis zu drei anderen Spielern reisen (4 insgesamt) – Crossplay bedeutet, dass ihr mit jedem spielen könnt, der das Game besitzt!

    Neue herausfordernde Dungeons: Diese neue Version des Spiels beinhaltet neue Dungeons für euch und eure Freunde, in denen ihr kämpfen werdet. Wir könnten jetzt mehr verraten, aber lassen euch das Ganze selbst erforschen.

    Ein ganz neues ‘Mimic’-Feature: Indem ihr Stempel sammelt, Moogle Häuser besucht oder schwierige Dungeons meistert, bekommt ihr Memory Crystals. Damit lässt sich die Optik eures Charakters verändern – und zwar in den Look eines anderen Charakters, den ihr während eurer Reise getroffen habt!

    Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition on PS4Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition on PS4

    Wie ihr sehen könnt, dürft ihr euch mit Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition auf viel freuen. Ihr müsst auch nicht mehr lange warten, bis ihr es selbst erfahren könnt. Das Spiel steht ab dem 27. August 2020 zum Download im PlayStation Store bereit.

    Bleibt wachsam für mehr News — und vielleicht sehen wir uns online!

    Website: LINK

  • Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition Hits PS4 August 27 With New Features

    Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition Hits PS4 August 27 With New Features

    Reading Time: 4 minutes

    We’re excited to announce the release date for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition. The beloved RPG will arrive on PS4 on (dramatic pause)… 

    …August 27, 2020!

    As the name implies, this is a remaster of the classic Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, which originally released in the West back in 2003.

    That means this is the first time the game will be available on PlayStation — and believe me, it’s been well worth the wait because this is far from a simple re-release. 

    The team has refined and improved the adventure, enhancing numerous elements and even adding entirely new features. We’ll talk about them here, but you can see some of them in action in the new trailer above.

    Before we dig into the laundry list of enhancements though, we should probably introduce the game for any of you who aren’t already familiar with it.

    What is Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles?

    Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles is a 1-4 player RPG that focuses on a young group known as the Crystal Caravans, as they embark on an epic journey to search for myrrh. This precious and rare liquid is desperately needed to cleanse and maintain a crystal that protects them, and their world, from a poisonous gas.

    You – either on your own or with up to four friends – will embark on perilous quests, explore beautiful lands full of secrets and face the dangerous monsters that lurk within.

    What’s been added to Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition?

    As mentioned, a host of enhancements and features have been added to this new game — so much so we should probably call it Remastered Addition. I mean, yes, that’s a terrible pun that barely makes sense, but the overall point stands.

    Here’s just a sample of what’s in this new and improved edition:

    Improved visuals and audio: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles’ always had a unique sense of style, and on PS4 it’s never looked — or sounded — better. You’ll be able to explore this expansive world with updated HD visuals and even enhanced audio.

    Character voiceovers: the inhabitants of the game have been brought to life with new voice acting.

    Online multiplayer — with crossplay! Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles is an amazing co-operative multiplayer experience, and Remastered Edition makes it easier than ever before to join people to play with. You’ll be able to travel with up to three other players (four players total) — and crossplay support means anyone who owns the game will be able to join!

    New challenging dungeons: This updated version of the game also features new dungeons for you and your friends to battle through. We could say more, but we’d rather let you discover them for yourselves.

    An entirely new ‘Mimic’ feature: By collecting stamps, visiting Moogle Houses or completing difficult dungeons, you’ll get Memory Crystals which you can use to change your characters’ appearance to that of various characters you’ll meet on your adventure. If you want to add a bit more pizazz to your party, now you can!

    As you can see, there’s a lot to look forward to with Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition. You won’t have long to wait before you can experience it all for yourself — the game will be available to download from PlayStation Store on August 27, 2020. 

    So look forward to that — and perhaps we’ll see you online!

    Website: LINK

  • Share of the Week – Final Fantasy 7 Remake

    Share of the Week – Final Fantasy 7 Remake

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    Last week, we equipped our favorite Materia and asked you to share your best moments from Final Fantasy VII Remake using #PS4share and #PSBlog. From scenic heartwrenching views to delightful Chocobo sightings, here are this week’s highlights:  

    Cloud looks down at tragic destruction in contemplative shot by GamerSWIG77.

    IxionVII shows Cloud, Barret, and Tifa posing in front of some Avalanche graffiti.

    Anyone need a ride? Lorsteibel shared this moment with a Chocobo carriage.

    Cloud and Aerith share a moment amongst the flowers in this share by scottoka1.

    Virtua_photo shares this striking portrait of Aerith.

    Cloud makes a visit to Wall Market and all its neon lights in this share by Vlladan_P.

    Search #PS4share and #PSBlog on Twitter or Instagram to see more entries to this week’s theme. Want to be featured in the next Share of the Week? 

    Theme: Green

    Share by: 9am Pacific on Wednesday, April 22

    Next week, we’re feeling green. Share verdant fields, emerald gems, lime neon lights, and everything in between in the shade of green using #PS4share and #PSBlog for a chance to be featured.

    Website: LINK

  • Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age Update Adds License Resets, Original Soundtrack, More

    Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age Update Adds License Resets, Original Soundtrack, More

    Reading Time: 4 minutes

    If you’ve been looking for an opportunity to dive back into the world of Ivalice, then we have some great news — a new update for Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age is releasing today.

    It’s also just in time for today’s Big in Japan sale, which goes live later today, and in which the game is a massive 50% off! If you haven’t tried it, now’s the time, because the new patch brings some significant changes to the game — many of which have been highly requested by fans. 

    Here’s just a brief look at what’s being added:

    You can now reset licenses

    In Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age, you assign each character in your party up to two licenses. Think of these as jobs – they define the role they’ll play in battle. 

    So for example, the dashing Balthier could deal out damage as a Knight, and soak it up with the big buff brawny Foebreaker license. 

    Or the noble Ashe could couple the destructive magic of a Black Mage with support spells of a Time Battlemage.

    It’s an incredibly flexible system that gives you a lot of control – though fans had one issue with it. Once you had assigned a role to a character, you couldn’t reset it.

    That’s not the case anymore. Simply head over to Rabanastre (the city where the game starts), and visit Montblanc, the leader of Clan Centurio. He’ll let you change your licenses, allowing you to re-spec characters and try out new combinations to your heart’s content!

    You now have 3 Gambit sets

    Another key part of Final Fantasy XII is setting Gambits. These allow you to set remarkably precise behaviors for your team in battle — if someone’s health drops to critical, cast a healing spell, or prioritize the strongest enemy in a fight and so on.

    Experimenting with different Gambits is one of the most entertaining parts of the game, and now it’s even more convenient. You can set up to three sets of instructions, and switch between them at will.

    That allows you to create team set-ups for different scenarios much more easily than before. Say, for example, your current tactics are focused on taking down mobs of enemies quickly. If you run into a powerful foe or boss, they may not be particularly effective.

    Now, you can instantly switch to a new Gambit set-up — perhaps one that’s more focused on dealing damage to a specific target, or keeping the team on their feet. It means you can spend less time in menus, and more time focusing on exploration and overall battle strategy.

    The original Final Fantasy XII OST is now available 

    Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age features a fully re-orchestrated soundtrack — and it’s really quite wonderful in our opinion.

    But we know some people prefer the original — that’s why The Zodiac Age lets you switch back to the original PS2 music if you prefer. 

    With the new patch, there’s now a third music option available for everyone — the original game’s OST. It hews close to the PS2 version, but with higher quality samples and different instrumentation in some cases.

    You can switch between soundtracks in the menu, so take a listen and see which audio option you prefer. After all, there are no wrong answers here – they’re all great in their own way.

    Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age on sale

    We hope you enjoy the additions to Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age — they make a great RPG even greater. For anyone yet to experience this one-of-a-kind RPG, here’s a PSA: the PlayStation Big in Japan sale begins today, offering sizable savings on many of the greatest games from Japan. Naturally, that includes Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age.

    Other Final Fantasy games have discounts too, including Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition, Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster, Final Fantasy VIII Remastered, and more.

    Website: LINK

  • Editors’ Choice: Final Fantasy VII Remake is Worthy of its Name

    Editors’ Choice: Final Fantasy VII Remake is Worthy of its Name

    Reading Time: 4 minutes

    Final Fantasy VII is an important game. Not only to the millions of gamers whose lives it has touched over the past two decades, but to Square Enix as well — FF7 is far and away the most recognizable game developed by the JRPG powerhouse.

    So the idea of going back to square one and retelling this timeless story with a completely new game built for modern hardware seems like an impossible task. The tech of the 1997 original may be dated at this point, but the feelings we all have for our first visit to Midgar have only strengthened as we’ve grown older. How do you rekindle that love? How do you recreate Final Fantasy VII without disappointing — or enraging — one of the most passionate fanbases in gaming?

    Many of the cinematic shots in Remake will pluck at the heartstrings of those who played the original game, while still evoking a sense of magic and wonder for new players.

    Final Fantasy VII Remake, against all odds, achieves this and more. 

    The act of playing Final Fantasy VII Remake is a fascinating experience. This is not a slavish, blow-by-blow recreation of the original game with a new coat of paint. Instead, it feels like Square Enix used the original as a framework and asked “What kind of game would Final Fantasy VII be if it were made today?”

    That isn’t to say this grand, ambitious revisit doesn’t tug at my ever-nostalgic heartstrings — it manages to find just the right balance between old and new, impressively evoking its legendary pedigree while simultaneously surprising die-hard fans by sprinkling in clever twists and entirely new sequences. A special shout out to the vocal performances on display, too: Characters are cast perfectly, somehow sounding just like I imagined they would during my very first playthrough of the 1997 classic.

    Fan-favorite side characters like Shinra’s Turks are impeccably realized, supported by pitch-perfect performances that highlight their distinct personalities.

    The music in Remake is a high point (I, uh… may or may not have already pre-ordered the 7-disc soundtrack). These are not just orchestrated versions of the songs we know, but ground-up rebuilds from their very foundations, honoring what made the original compositions legendary but taking confident — and wholly earned — liberties with them. This one’s gonna be in my daily rotation for a while.

    And the cutscenes! In the JRPGs of the 32-bit era — Final Fantasy VII included — cutscenes always felt like a reward for conquering a section of the game. I was constantly waiting to see what graphical marvels the next pre-rendered scene had in store. Technology has improved to the point that the lines between gameplay and cutscene are dramatically less clear, but Remake still has plenty of bombastic action sequences up its sleeve. More importantly, the cutscenes in Remake evoke the same direction and quirky energy of the original, often drawing a clear line in my mind between the two and reinforcing that this is, indeed, still Final Fantasy VII.

    Final Fantasy VII Remake embraces the quirkiness of the original game, especially when it comes to some of the more… outlandish Summons you can invoke during battle.

    In battle, characters have unique, wholly distinct abilities and fighting styles, all of which are built around the character’s personality and how that character would, you know, actually fight. Tifa’s setup is most intriguing to me: her kinetic, lightning-fast flurries of punches and kicks weave effectively with her more powerful command attacks, making for a playstyle that should be interesting to see at higher levels of play, once players start to truly wrap their heads around the potential of Remake’s combat system. An honorable mention goes to Aerith, though: as you hold Square, she twirls her staff with a carefree grace, deftly lobbing long-range magical attacks from a safe distance.

    Trying to sum up this grand, ambitious, almost impossible project is exceptionally difficult. The word that keeps coming to mind when I try to describe Final Fantasy VII Remake to people is “spectacular.” But I don’t just mean spectacular as in “really good” — I mean it in the literal sense. This game is a spectacle on multiple levels.

    Aerith’s magical prowess earned her a permanent spot in my party by the end of the game. Combining her devastating spells with Cloud’s unrelenting physical attacks can make short work of most enemies if you know how to exploit their weaknesses.

    Final Fantasy VII is a rare entry in the pantheon of all-time gaming greats that truly deserved to be remade so a new generation of players could experience this timeless tale, and so those of us who grew up bathed in the light of the lifestream could experience that magic once more. Final Fantasy VII Remake stands proudly alongside its forebear, ready to inherit its legacy and keep its flame burning bright.

    Website: LINK

  • Trials of Mana: A New and Improved Action RPG

    Trials of Mana: A New and Improved Action RPG

    Reading Time: 5 minutes

    Way back in the long long ago of 1995, a new action RPG was released in Japan: Seiken Densetsu 3. A sequel to the classic Secret of Mana, it quickly won critical acclaim and a legion of fans. 

    25 years later, a full remake has arrived on PlayStation 4 — Trials of Mana. And when we say remake, we mean it — this is a complete reimagining of that earlier game, designed for a modern audience.

    The game launches in two days on April 24 and retains everything that made the original game so beloved in its native Japan — quirky characters, an imaginative world, fast-paced gameplay and memorable music. But it also includes brand new mechanics, deeper combat, beautiful visuals and so much more.

    Here’s just a quick look at some of the things that are new and improved: 

    What’s improved

    Graphics

    To say that the graphics are better in the new Trials of Mana is something of an understatement! The game has been remade with vividly vibrant visuals — from the characters to the world itself, everything bursts with detail and color.

    But the legacy of the original game still shines through clearly. The team has taken great care to capture the unique look of the original characters, enemies and areas. For example, take a look at the skilled swordsman Duran here:

    What was once (admittedly beautiful) pixel art has been fully modelled in 3D. All the details present in the original are there, from his proud stance to his lustrous mane of red hair, but he’s much more detailed and much better animated than before. I mean, his abs alone are a good showcase for how technology has marched forward in 25 years!

    Combat

    The new action RPG features a completely redesigned combat system that’s fast, fluid and tactical. It’s all about utilizing combos, controlling the battlefield and unleashing special attacks at the right moment to deliver maximum damage.

    It’s a completely different combat system to the 1995 game’s — but then it has to be. The original Trials of Mana took place on a 2D plane, so you never had to worry about enemies getting above or below you. 

    But 3D space is… well, 3D. Characters and enemies can move in all directions, and combat had to be retooled to accommodate that. For example, you can now jump, perform aerial attacks, flank enemies and more.

    It’s particularly vital to consider your positioning in a fight. Enemies can assault you from all sides, launch attacks at range, and send powerful strikes towards you — if you’re in the way, it’s going to hurt. 

    It all adds up to gratifying battles that only get more strategic and satisfying as you progress through the game. 

    Music

    The move to modern platforms like the PlayStation 4 means that composer Hiroki Kikuta’s incredible score sounds even better than before — and that’s saying something!

    The latest game adds new instrumentation and arrangements that bring these unforgettable tracks to life like never before. But you don’t need us to tell you that — if you’ve tried the demo and spent any time in the Rabite Forest, that tune’s probably lodged firmly in your head by now!

    What’s new

    The developers of Trials of Mana didn’t just upgrade what was already in Trials of Mana — they also added loads of new features, from additional story to entirely new mechanics that deepen the game’s RPG elements. 

    For example, the full game includes:

    New Abilities System

    Whenever you level up in Trials of Mana, you’ll earn TP (that stands for Training Points by the way, not what you’re probably thinking). You can then spend these TP on all kinds of new upgrades for your characters.

    Some of these are useful passive boosts, such as increased attack power, or more health. Others can provide entirely new moves for you to unleash in battle — and that’s barely scratching the surface.

    There’s more than 300 abilities to unlock in the game, and they allow you to build your character in the way you want.

    New voiceover

    As you’d expect from a 1995 RPG, the original Trials of Mana didn’t include any spoken dialogue. That’s not the case in the new game. It features fully acted scenes, which helps the characters’ personalities shine like never before.

    New Story

    When you start Trials of Mana, you have to pick three characters (from a selection of six) to form your party. The narrative you experience will play out differently depending on the heroes you choose.

    Regardless of who you go with, the Trials of Mana remake features brand new story elements for you to uncover.

    New Classes

    We’re dancing round this to avoid super-spoilers, but at a certain point in Trials of Mana’s epic story, you’ll be able to change a character’s class. In essence, this changes their role in combat, giving them access to new strengths and new abilities. 

    As in the original Trials of Mana, there are multiple classes available, but this new version includes even more.

    When you complete the story, you’ll have the opportunity to seek out Class 4. Not only will it change your appearance, it will give you a whole new way to play the game!

    As you can tell, Trials of Mana is a thorough update on the original game. That’s just a small taste of what awaits and we hope you enjoy digging into this action RPG opus this Friday.

    Website: LINK

  • Final Fantasy VII Remake Out Tomorrow on PS4, 7 Combat Tips

    Final Fantasy VII Remake Out Tomorrow on PS4, 7 Combat Tips

    Reading Time: 5 minutes

    Final Fantasy VII Remake arrives tomorrow!

    Taking on an organization as powerful as the Shinra Electric Power Company won’t be easy — even with a former SOLDIER on your side. But don’t worry — we’re here to help. We’ve put together 7 (see what we did there?) top tips to help you make the most of your trip to Midgar.

    Get Final Fantasy VII Remake at PlayStation Store

    1. Use ATB as much as you can

    Final Fantasy VII Remake’s combat system revolves around ATB. As you battle, two bars will fill up beneath the characters’ HP indicators. When one of these is full, you can spend it on an ability, spell or item.

    Standard attacks don’t do much damage, but they do fill up the ATB gauges faster so you can issue more commands. Switching between characters regularly also helps, as your input will fill their gauges faster too.

    When you have ATB available, use it because these spells and abilities are the best way to cause damage to enemies.

    2. Remember that you can block

    There are two basic defensive techniques available from the start of Final Fantasy VII Remake: a block and a dodge-roll.

    If you block, you’ll take reduced damage from enemy attacks. Rolling away, on the other hand, can negate damage entirely. With that in mind, you’d be forgiven for assuming that the dodge-roll is always the best option. It’s not.

    For one thing, the timing can be quite tricky — if the enemy lands a hit, you’re going to suffer the full effect. Blocking the attack is much more reliable and is often the safer tactic — particularly if you’re facing a speedy foe like the Shinra Shock Troopers.

    Blocking has other useful effects too. Some enemies have attacks that knock you off your feet, but blocking often negates this effect. While you will take a little bit of damage, it leaves you close enough to counterattack very quickly.

    Also worth noting is that if you block a melee attack while Cloud is in Punisher mode (activated by pressing triangle), he will retaliate with a powerful counter. This is fantastic against certain enemies – like the afore-mentioned Shock Troopers.

    3. Heal between battles

    The denizens of Midgar are dangerous — many can deliver dramatic damage to your party. So make sure you enter every fight in tip-top shape.

    You can heal in battle with magic or items, but this will cost you a bar of ATB. That means that if you dive into the fray with your HP in the red, you may be taken out before you have a chance to even issue a command.

    Fortunately, you can use items and magic freely outside of battle, so make sure you take a few seconds to heal up when you get a break in the action.

    4. Take advantage of enemy weaknesses

    Many enemies are weak against certain elements — if you can hit them with one of these attacks, they’ll definitely feel it.

    In the introductory sections of the game, a good rule of thumb is that if the enemy is mechanical, they’re likely weak to electrical attacks. Squishy, fleshy organic beings, on the other hand, won’t like fire.

    Past the opening stages though, things get a lot more complicated. You’ll have to experiment with different types of attacks to uncover what works on what enemy.

    That said, you can get a bit of assistance. At some point in the adventure, you’ll be able to acquire the Assess Materia. When equipped, you’ll be able to use it to see a detailed view of your foes’ various vulnerabilities. It’s very handy!

    5. Understand how to stagger

    If you want to really dominate in battle, you must learn how to stagger enemies.

    As you fight, a stagger gauge beneath your opponent’s health meter will fill up. When this maxes out, not only will your foe be unable to attack you, all of your hits will deal much more damage!

    Staggering is very powerful, so it’s useful to understand the basics of how you can fill that meter. 

    A good first step is to deal a lot of damage to the foe very quickly, so try to coordinate your party’s spells or abilities to hit in quick succession. If you do a lot of damage in a short time, your foe may enter a ‘Pressured’ state. 

    While Pressured, your target’s stagger bar will fill up much quicker than usual, so use stagger-building attacks like Cloud’s Focused Thrust and Barret’s Focused Shot to max it out fast.

    Of course, things are not always quite that simple. Some enemies are easier to stagger than others, so you’ll have to experiment with your ever-expanding options in battle to develop strategies that work for different encounters.

    6. Take the time to explore Midgar

    Final Fantasy VII Remake typically points you to your current objective, but most of the time, there’s no need to rush. Make sure you explore and look around — not just because Midgar is often staggeringly beautiful, but because it’s also stuffed full of things to find.

    From restorative items, to MP-regenerating Mako shards, to music discs that you can play on a jukebox… there’s all sorts of goodies hidden away. 

    What’s more, many of them will make your adventures easier, or help you out of a difficult situation, so it’s well worth going out of your way to poke around at the corners of the world.

    7. Try Classic Mode

    If you’re not a big fan of action mechanics, or merely want a change of pace, you should try out Classic Mode. You can activate this from the System menu.

    In this mode, characters move, attack and defend automatically, so you can focus entirely on giving them instructions via the Command Menu. Because you don’t have to focus on standard attacks and blocks, you have more time to consider your overall strategy.

    It’s a little bit reminiscent of the menu-based system of the original Final Fantasy VII, so fans of that game will hopefully enjoy it too.

    Website: LINK

  • A Close-up Look at One of Trials of Mana’s Biggest Bosses

    A Close-up Look at One of Trials of Mana’s Biggest Bosses

    Reading Time: 5 minutes

    We recently sat down for a PlayStation Underground play session through a segment of Trials of Mana — an exciting new action RPG that launches April 24.

    You might not be aware, but the game’s a full remake of a classic 1995 RPG that originally released exclusively in Japan — Seiken Densetsu 3. The new game has been built with an impressive degree of reverence for the 16-bit classic, alongside fresh new ideas — and there’s a part of the PS Underground playthrough that demonstrates that perfectly: the boss battle against Fiegmund, the Water Benevodon.

    Meet Fiegmund — my how he’s grown!

    During Trials of Mana, your party of courageous companions must face off against eight powerful beasts called Benevodons. These are creatures of pure destructive power that once brought the world to the edge of chaos. In other words, they’re bad news. Inside the labyrinthine caves of Frostbite Fields, a particularly nasty example lies in wait — Fiegmund.

    Here’s how Fiegmund looked back in 1995:

    This is what Fiegmund looks like now:

    How far visuals have come in 25 years!

    Of course, it helps that Fiegmund always looked great. The original Trials of Mana has some first-class sprite work, and that gave the team a fantastic reference point when recreating this fearsome foe. You can see how the new version successfully captures all the key elements, from its razor sharp fangs, to the unsettlingly spiky haunches.

    However, adapting a 2D sprite into a 3D model has its challenges. In this concept art we can see how the team had to visualize everything from how the beast’s body would realistically look, to little details like the bottom of its feet!

    Reimagining a boss fight

    Of course, it’s not enough to make Fiegmund look better — it has to fight in a much more complex way too.

    Back in the long, long ago of the 90s, Fiegmund leapt around the battlefield (with surprising grace for something so large). The key to victory was to take every opportunity to deal damage before the brutish Benevodon launched itself out of reach.

    That’s still the case in this new version, but the battle also throws in additional complications. Unlike the original game, Fiegmund has three dimensions in which to operate — and it takes full advantage of them. It leaps to the ceiling and sides of the area, staying well out of reach of most of the team’s attacks.

    It also throws new attacks into the mix — launching powerful icicles from above and attacking with painful ice attacks.

    It’s another brilliant demonstration of how the developers have taken elements from the original Trials of Mana and reinterpreted them through a modern lens. The DNA of the original is there, but the execution is fresh and exciting.

    It’s not easy beating green

    In the PlayStation Underground footage, you can see the team handily beat Fiegmund — but how exactly did they do it? We’ll walk you through some of the tactics they used.

    This frigid foe is equipped with many powerful attacks, but the deadliest by far is Frozen Crack.

    Fiegmund leaps well out of harm’s way and drops a number of powerful icicles down onto the battlefield. If you fail to deal with these in time… well, let’s just say that you’d best have some healing items to hand (although at least the team shouldn’t have any trouble finding an icepack for their bruises).

    Dealing with these powerful icicles should be your priority – and there are lots of ways to do it. In the video, for example, we see Kevin acting as Ice Removal Specialist, using brute strength to take them apart before Fiegmund can launch its brutal attack.

    But that’s just one method. Trials of Mana features a lot of flexibility over how you develop your party. For example, you can choose different classes for characters, which let them take on different roles in battle.

    In addition to the improved leveling system, there’s also a brand new feature that’s been developed for this version of Trials of Mana – Abilities. After each battle, you’ll earn Training Points, which you can spend on various upgrades to your characters, such as boosting HP or increasing strength.

    In our game, Kevin has been built up as a very powerful front-line fighter, but you could choose to spec him very differently (if he’s even in your party at all).

    If you were using less physically strong or lower level characters, for example, you could use the game’s tactics system to order your party to attack the same target as you. With their powers combined, your team should be able to whittle those icicles down to shavings in seconds.

    There are other strategies you could use too — but we’ll let you work them out for yourself when the game’s out!

    With the icicles iced, Fiegmund plummets to the ground. Now it’s stuck on his back, flailing pathetically. You’d almost feel sorry for the beast – at least until you remember it’s an evil entity of ultimate destruction.

    Regardless, it’s vulnerable. The party now has a brief window of opportunity to pull out their awesome abilities and magic to deliver some serious damage. By coordinating their attacks, the team is able to send Fiegmund to an explosive end.

    When is Trials of Mana out?

    That’s just a very brief look at one of the brilliant bosses in Trials of Mana. Hopefully you can see how lovingly recreated it has been — and how the new mechanics and moves that make the battle even more dramatic. That mix of classic Mana series concepts with new ideas sits right at the heart of the whole game.

    You’ll be able to experience it for yourselves on April 24 when Trials of Mana releases on PS4.

    Preorder now, and you’ll get six exclusive PSN Avatars, as well as a Rabite Adornment — a special accessory that allows you to gain more experience from battles (up to level 10).

    Website: LINK

  • A Newcomer’s Nostalgia-Free Excitement for FFVII Remake

    A Newcomer’s Nostalgia-Free Excitement for FFVII Remake

    Reading Time: 4 minutes

    With last week’s release of the Final Fantasy VII Remake demo, countless fans finally have a chance to relive the thrill of that first Mako reactor run. From returning to Midgar, recreating the game cover of Cloud gazing up at the hulking Shinra building, and hearing the impressively reimagined soundtrack, it’s easy to imagine how FFVII Remake is inspiring some major nostalgic feels. After all, who doesn’t immediately get transported back to memories of the original?

    Well, me for one.

    I didn’t play FFVII when it was first released. Until recently, I had never even played a Final Fantasy game. The legendary series has always been one of my biggest cultural blind spots, either due to age (in 1997 I was five), or from willful ignorance. JRPGs didn’t always click with me as a kid, and while I saw snippets of different FF titles while gaming with friends over the years, it never quite drew me in enough to play an entry on my own.

    Even in 2018 when I finally booted up FFVII on PS4, determined to give a celebrated classic a shot, I still couldn’t connect. There were elements of the game that excited me (The summons! The soundtrack! Tifa!), but even after reaching a certain pivotal plot point (you know which one!), I found myself losing steam and ultimately I didn’t finish it. Maybe I was coming to it too late, maybe my expectations were too high. But ultimately I figured I was firmly on the “Final Fantasy isn’t for me” train.

    Which is why after a hands-on experience last month, it’s blowing my mind that Final Fantasy VII Remake is easily one of my most anticipated games of 2020.

    At first I thought it was just the updated graphics. That opening sequence drifting through a fully realized and lived-in Midgar is nothing short of stunning. Seeing Cloud leap into action at the beginning of the Mako reactor run genuinely sparked joy in me. He and the AVALANCHE crew are stylishly realized, and seeing them move through the world was a delight. Their personalities shine from small quips during battle to longer fleshed out cutscenes, and I was immediately endeared to the bombastic Barret and sweet, kindhearted Aerith. It helps that the world they are moving through gleams with eye-catching environments. From the glowing metal walkways of the Mako reactor, to the harried and burning alleyways of Midgar’s business district, I couldn’t stop pausing to take in my surroundings.

    Square Enix’s updated vision of Midgar had successfully piqued my interest, but I felt like I was finally cutting my teeth as a true Final Fantasy convert during the fast-paced and kinetic combat. Y’all, I was having the time of my life during these battle sequences. Switching between Cloud and his party members is a fluid choreography that I was thrilled to learn, and once I had the hang of balancing my ATB charges and abilities, I felt like I could conquer Shinra and the world. That’s not to say I always had the hang of it — there were some particularly harrowing moments in a post-demo boss battle where I felt like I was using every ATB charge to force feed my party Potions. But once I found a steady rhythm, mastering the dance between characters and abilities felt natural. More than that, it felt exciting in a way that I had never felt about Final Fantasy before.

    This increased tenfold when I used a Summon for the first time. Unlike in the original FFVII, Summons are something that require teamwork to get the most out of. With a Summoning materia equipped, one character can unleash a Summon, but then all party members can use their ATB charges to guide it in battle. It makes the Summon so much more than a cool animation and hefty attack. Instead they are an active and lasting part of the fight that encouraged more of that kinetic back and forth that I was thriving on. I might not have a lot of feelings tied to the original game, but I definitely felt something powerful when I unleashed Shiva during a fight.

    It’s a feeling that stayed with me well after my playthrough, and again once I sat down to play the demo at home. It may have taken 23 years, but for the first time in my life, I think I’m fully on board the Final Fantasy train. I can’t wait to see where it takes me when Final Fantasy VII Remake comes to PS4 on April 10.

    Website: LINK

  • Final Fantasy VII Remake Creators Discuss Rebuilding Midgar

    Final Fantasy VII Remake Creators Discuss Rebuilding Midgar

    Reading Time: 6 minutes

    Reimagining gaming icons is no easy task. Yet two decades after fans said goodbye to Final Fantasy VII’s cast as the original game’s credits rolled, came a welcome reunion. And since that initial tease, Square Enix has introduced us to the ‘Remake’ versions of the likes of Cloud, Barrett, Tifa, Aerith and Red XIII. All were welcomed with open arms.

    And one of the biggest characters (literally) benefiting from the added graphical heft PS4 and Unreal Engine provides is Midgar. A spot you may have been exploring yourself this week in the newly released demo.

    Even back in 1997 and exploring barely a fraction of its entirety, the city left an indelible mark. From the filth-ridden slums that devoured its underside to the towering presence of the Shinra headquarters at its centre, the place felt tangibly real.

    The Remake’s recently unveiled opener showcased much which had been left to our imagination in the original version. Flying between skyscrapers and into the streets below, we glimpse not only the daily lives of Midgar’s inhabitants, but gain a sense of how extensive Square Enix’s changes are. The steampunk-influenced city-state is now fully-realized.

    And with that sequence’s promise of the expanded, yet familiar, Midgar that awaits for us all to explore on 10th April, we sat down with producer Yoshinori Kitase and co-director Naoki Hamaguchi to walk us through its key scenes and talk about the design decisions the studio has made when rebuilding this iconic city for PS4.

    1. Beyond the Wasteland

    The opening scene is completely different from the original, giving us a bird’s eye view (literally) of the area surrounding the city. One that’s devoid of life. I ask if this is an early nod to one of the story’s central themes: planetary devastation due to industrialization. Kitase acknowledges that was one reason. “We didn’t want to go over the top with it,” says the producer. “But there is very much the nuance that [Midgar] is damaging the surrounding area.”

    2. Advent Children references

    We then spiral into a gleaming, sun-kissed metropolis. A side of Midgar we’ve not seen since 2005 movie Advent Children. Did the studio use any reference material from the game’s subsequent tie-ins or did it start afresh?

    “We did refer to Advent Children and other previous series’ work when rebuild Midgar,” explains co-director Naoki Hamaguchi. “But one of the main things we actually set out to redo was the scale of the city itself. The original wasn’t that realistic if you consider the size of the individual buildings and how big they were in comparison to the overall city. It was quite condensed; we really set out to make Midgar realistic. The size between the buildings, the density… that’s one of the big things we set out to change.”

    3. City-building logistics

    So does that mean the studio has a fully-designed topographical map of Midgar? Sort of, according to the co-director. “We haven’t done it all to the same quality or same level of detail as the actual areas you do get to visit in the game, but we have mapped out the entire city and what’s in each of those areas.”

    But that hasn’t stopped the team answering an important theoretical question: could the city’s design work for real? “You know the structure of Midgar; you’ve the big central pillar, and each sector is supported by its own sub-pillar,” continues Hamaguchi. “We worked out the right size and construction, how big those pillars would need to be to physically support the weight of the plate on top of them. Also the honeycomb structure of the pillars and where the tunnels would have to go for it to still work as a physical structure.

    “That has all been mapped out and we understand quite a lot of detail about the realities of how Midgar would be constructed as a city.”

    4. Everyday life in Midgar

    Yoshinori Kitase: “We really wanted to show the everyday lives of Midgar’s citizens. [Partly] to show how they lived in this massive city powered by Mako energy, how and when they’d be using it, to tell that aspect of the story.

    “The original version went straight into the bombing mission. We wanted that feeling that things were already underway, you were in the middle of the action. Yet if you immediately went from there into the panic caused by the bombing mission afterwards, you wouldn’t understand the impact it had on the inhabitants’ everyday lives before that event interrupted them. That’s why we started with this domestic kind of scene.”

    5. Architectural digest

    Gleaming skyscrapers give way to smaller buildings made of brick. There are glimpses of construction work as we get to street level. A city constantly expanding, building on itself, building over its history. “The idea is that the city is being built from the center outwards,” says Kitase. “You can also sense the different architectural styles as you go out from the central pillar, with high-rises on the city edge. We’ve put quite a bit of effort into making you feel like it is modernizing as the city builds outwards.”

    6. A downtrodden playground

    A familiar sight to those who have poured over 2015’s announcement trailer, the playground serves as a storytelling tool to distinguish the economic inequality between Midgar’s citizens. But not just between those living on the plates and those in the slums underneath. “Within each sector you’ve got the difference between rich and poor. Each plate is its own city,” states Hamaguchi. “There are some areas within those that are older, beaten up. The playground is used to show there are downturned areas that aren’t so well off in the city areas too.”

    7. A city’s lifeblood

    Yoshinori Kitase: “Up to [this point in the opener] we’ve seen the benefits of living with Mako. It supports people’s comfortable lifestyle in the city. But the depiction here of the Mako reactor turning on is that it’s not all sunshine and rainbows; there’s a darker side to Mako as well.”

    8. A flower girl

    A callback to the original’s iconic opening scene appears some two minutes into Remake’s version. “I felt that it was a great transition,” says Kitase simply of the new version, as we swoop from the Mako-touched skies above the reactor to an alley and Aerith’s debut.

    9. A walk down Loveless Street

    A pan out brings us to the entertainment hub of Midgar, Loveless Street, complete with cinemas and other venues. We note its proximity to Reactor No.1, your actions in which will shortly devastate this peaceful district. “The player gets to see how the [Reactor bombing] impacts the city,” Hamaguchi explains. “We want them to feel conflicted about the effects of their actions. That’s why we depicted this area in such detail.”

    10. A beacon of industry

    In Remake, Shinra’s headquarters is relatively untouched. At least on the outside. “We didn’t want to mess with the outer form of the building, because it could really affect people’s memories of what Midgar should look like. The inside though, like the floor structure, has seen major rearranging.” Hamaguchi remains tight-lipped on specifics though. “It’s something we want players to discover when they’re inside.”

    11. A city of many experiences

    Naoki Hamaguchi: “The core concept we worked on was that the player must be able to experience Midgar for themselves. Each individual location within has distinctive concepts and personalities. There’s a different style of gameplay experience waiting in each one of them.”

    12. Lighting supplied by Unreal Engine

    Naoki Hamaguchi: “We’ve used new tech to enhance the game’s lighting, to make the city of Midgar feel as real as possible. A network of over 100 synced PCs do copious physics simulations, calculations to work out the exact realistic reflection and how the lighting beams will bounce off any object in the game. Through doing that we managed to create amazing atmospheric lighting for the city.”

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOA5GwRcBks&w=1032&h=581]

    What do you think about the reinvented Midgar? Leave your impressions of what you’ve seen in the demo thus far in the comments below!

    Website: LINK

  • Three Hours With Final Fantasy VII Remake

    Three Hours With Final Fantasy VII Remake

    Reading Time: 4 minutes

    By now you’ve likely seen the news – you can finally play Final Fantasy VII Remake in your own home via the just-announced PS4 demo. If you’re at all curious about this beautifully reimagined adventure, download the demo and run through the memorable “bombing run” mission for yourself. It wowed PS1 players back in 1997, and I’m happy to say the 2020 interpretation is just as riveting.

    If you missed the PS1 original or any of its subsequent re-releases, think of the bombing run as a cold open for the entire game. You’re thrust into a death-defying mission to take out a Mako reactor, a device the omnipresent Shinra Electric Power Company is using to fuel all sorts of modern marvels. The catch is this process may be siphoning energy right out of the planet itself, a fact Shinra chooses to ignore. Naturally this doesn’t sit well with some folks, namely the initial heroes of Final Fantasy VII.

    A NEW EXPERIENCE

    The demo – and main game – begins with Barret, Cloud, and the AVALANCHE group rolling up to the facility, breaking inside, and planting a bomb on Mako Reactor 1. A tense boss battle unfolds, the reactor blows, and the demo concludes. It was effective 23 years ago, and it’s a wild ride today.

    But where that demo ends, our hands-on experience begins. Immediately after the blast, Cloud and crew escape underground and then scatter into the streets. This sequence takes perhaps 10 minutes in the original game, with just a handful of scenes and camera perspectives to sell the action. In the remake, Cloud is hoofing it through alleys, up fire escapes, and across rooftops with Shinra soldiers at every turn. Civilians lie injured in the streets, chaos reigns in all directions, and you’re left to wonder, was the bombing worth all this?

    And this sequence is what really made FFVII Remake click for me. I see how Square Enix plans to not just lengthen, but also enrich the original experience with moments and events that further sell the aftermath of such a momentous attack. While the original did an excellent job in 1997, 2020’s remake fully conveys the destruction with flames, injured NPCs, collapsing infrastructure, and an overall chaotic tone as you’re fired upon by Shinra goons. There are so many pivotal moments within the city of Midgar that could benefit from this treatment, so I can’t wait to see how they play out in the remake.

    Chapter 2 also adds an encounter with Aerith and, believe it or not, a flashback / hallucinatory manifestation of Sephiroth. This entire segment is new, and does a great job cementing Sephiroth’s looming, villainous presence within the FFVIIR world. He towers over Cloud not just in physical stature, but also confidence; as capable as Cloud seems in these opening moments, he’s clearly outclassed by this specter from his past. I won’t get into the words exchanged or what exactly happens, but it’s interesting to see just how much FFVIIR is going to play with existing fans’ assumptions. The end result seems to be a game that’s welcoming to new players, but fresh even if you know the original front to back.

    THOSE WHO FIGHT

    From this point we move to another save file further into the game. Melee expert Tifa joins Cloud and Barret, and we’re ready to take out another reactor. As you can determine for yourself via the demo, the battle system has you attacking to build up ATB charges and then spend said charges on Abilities, Spells, or Items. Each character also brings something unique to the fight, such as Barret’s long-range bullets or Cloud’s powerful Punisher stance.

    Some enemies are pushovers. Others require smart positioning, efficient use of ATB, and using all three characters to push enemies into a staggered state. Once staggered, you can really pour on the pain. Players are also given the option to choose between this action-oriented approach (complete with evade rolls and controller shortcuts to Abilities and Spells), or a Classic Mode where characters attack automatically and you direct the usage of ATB.

    The save we played had access to powerful Summon Materia as well. Materia grants characters spells and other abilities, while Summon Materia gives the equipped character access to that particular Summon – in this case, Final Fantasy mainstay Leviathan. Once summoned, the monster will fight alongside your party on its own, or you can spend ATB on powerful attacks (while still having access to your own ATB abilities). If the enemy you’re fighting is weak to the Summons’ powers, you can dish out a whole lotta damage in short order.

    Case in point is a battle against Abzu, a boss we fought later in the demo session. In this instance I had Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith in my party, with the latter having access to Ifrit. He bursts onto the scene with fiery… flare… and really tears into this boss, giving me time to heal and build charges. I didn’t sample Classic Mode but can say the default approach really makes you consider each action. Mashing Attack is good and all, but bosses and enemies have all kinds of tricks that make you change tactics quickly.

    MORE MIDGAR

    By the time our session wrapped up, I was eager to find new Materia, experiment with battles, and further see just how much content Square Enix has added to the original experience. Almost any moment I could recall from the past – President Shinra’s encounter with the trio near one of the reactors, or a simple button-pressing minigame, for instance – has been totally reimagined and dramatized in a way that makes even familiar moments feel new again. Love what I’ve seen so far and can’t wait to see the rest of what Midgar has to offer.

    Website: LINK

  • Final Fantasy VII demo out now

    Final Fantasy VII demo out now

    Reading Time: 4 minutes

    The moment many of you have been waiting for is here: The Final Fantasy VII Remake demo is out now! Visit the demo page and download now!

    While you’re waiting for it to download (or get home to play it), we can give you a little information about what to expect from this exciting glimpse into the game.

    Final Fantasy VII Remake

    What’s included in the Final Fantasy VII Remake demo?

    The new demo features a lengthy segment from the very beginning of the game: the iconic bombing mission against the Shinra Electric Power Company, and the subsequent escape.

    You’ll control two of the game’s cast – spiky-haired ex-SOLDIER Cloud Strife, and the ballistically-limbed Barret Wallace – and enact a dangerous plan to infiltrate and destroy Mako Reactor 1.

    It’s a very large complex, so you’ll have plenty of time to explore, find secrets, soak in the richly detailed environments and, of course, bash Shinra Security troopers with a giant sword.

    Final Fantasy VII Remake

    When you reach your target, you’ll encounter the Scorpion Sentinel. It may be the first boss of the game, but don’t expect this mechanical monstrosity to give you an easy ride.

    If you manage to beat it, don’t think you can relax – you still have to escape from the complex before it collapses around you.

    But did you give yourself long enough to do so…?

    Final Fantasy VII Remake

    What you need to know about combat in Final Fantasy VII Remake

    When you play the demo, you’ll get to experience Final Fantasy VII Remake’s combat system first-hand.

    It combines real time action and menu-based commands to create something that feels brand new, but still hearkens back to the original game. You’ll see what we mean when you play it.

    Everything revolves around ATB. As you attack foes with the Square button, you’ll fill a gauge underneath your character’s health indicator. This is the ATB bar – and when a segment is full, you can spend it to perform an action.

    For example, you can use an Ability – a special attack that deals damage or fills the enemy’s stagger gauge. Alternatively, you could heal with an item or cast a spell – magic can be devastatingly effective when used properly.

    Final Fantasy VII Remake

    We think it’s a really exciting system, but if you prefer strategy to action, you can also try Classic Mode. In this mode, the characters will attack automatically, so you can focus on giving them commands – similar to command-based RPGs like the original FINAL FANTASY VII.

    However you like to play, remember that spending ATB is the key to combat. Basic attacks don’t do much damage, and enemies can hit surprisingly hard, so make sure you experiment with all the tools at your disposal to find what works best.

    To get you started, here’s a pro tip that fans of the original game might remember: Shinra machinery hate electricity, so bring the Thunder!

    Final Fantasy VII Remake

    We hope you enjoy the Final Fantasy VII Remake demo.

    When is Final Fantasy VII Remake out?

    If you’re excited to play more, the good news is that you don’t have long to wait. Final Fantasy VII Remake releases April 10, 2020 for PlayStation 4! You can pre-order now at PlayStation Store.

    Website: LINK

  • How Square Enix Reimagined FFVII Superboss Ruby Weapon for Final Fantasy XIV

    How Square Enix Reimagined FFVII Superboss Ruby Weapon for Final Fantasy XIV

    Reading Time: 8 minutes

    Greetings, everyone! This is Matt “Bayohne” Hilton from the Final Fantasy XIV Online (FFXIV) Community team, here to deliver PlayStation.Blog readers a behind-the-scenes look at how the dev team brought the Ruby Weapon to life in FFXIV.

    Final Fantasy fans will no doubt recognize the Ruby Weapon as a challenging boss that players were able to battle in the desert outside of the Gold Saucer in FFVII. FF fans may also be aware that Final Fantasy XIV loves paying homage to the previous titles in the franchise, whether it be with locations, themes, or in Ruby Weapon’s case, even bosses.

    The most recent update to FFXIV, Patch 5.2 — Echoes of a Fallen Star, introduced the hulking Ruby Weapon as a brand-new 8-player trial for adventurers to tackle in both normal, and high-level difficulty “extreme” modes. We sat down with a few members from the team to discuss the inspirations and challenges they faced to introduce such a unique and iconic foe to the game.

    How much did the team look to Final Fantasy VII for reference or inspiration when creating the encounter? Whether that be from a visual standpoint or its attacks and movements.

    And, can you talk about the team balances preserving aspects of the original while providing a FFXIV flair? Would you say that this design is heavily based on the FFVII version of the monster, or is it more of its own thing?

    Masaki Nakagawa (Lead Battle Content Designer) and the FFXIV team:

    Let’s talk visual design first. Whenever we bring an existing Final Fantasy series character to FFXIV, there are two general paths we might take in terms of character design.

    In some cases, we will keep the FFXIV version true to the character’s original design — we don’t add any elaborate or original flair, but rather honor the design as it appeared in the original work. We would aim to recreate the character in a high-quality graphic environment while trying to make sure it doesn’t look unnatural. A recent example can be seen in the characters that appeared in the Interdimensional Rift Omega raid series from patch 4.x.

    In other instances, we’ll take only the name and basic characteristics of the original and add our original design to help blend the character in to the world of FFXIV. We have quite a few examples of this as well: cactuars, chocobos, Garuda, Titan, Ifrit, Leviathan, Shiva, and Ramuh just to name a few. The Ruby Weapon in FFXIV leans more towards the latter path, but that isn’t to say it is completely original. We still paid respect to its visual appearance in Final Fantasy VII, finding a balance between keeping the original characteristics well-preserved and bringing out some originality.

    Hiroyuki Nagamine, who handled Ruby Weapon’s art design took inspiration from the Final Fantasy VII version of the monster when he created the artwork for the FFXIV version of Ruby Weapon—specifically Ruby Weapon’s claws, which you might remember look like tentacles. Furthermore, the design silhouette (the overall shape of the monster) is very reminiscent of Bahamut, and I think that adds to the originality of the FFXIV version of this enemy. The reason behind this choice is because Nael Van Darnus, a character from the Binding Coil of Bahamut raid series, ties heavily into the FFXIV version of Ruby Weapon from both a story and lore perspective.

    Next, let’s talk a bit about the design from a battle perspective.

    Final Fantasy XIV’s Ruby Weapon has a deeply intertwined lore and story behind it, and the battle content places heavy emphasis on highlighting those points. We spent a great deal of time devising ideas for battle mechanics that would feel fresh and new. Our goal was to make the gameplay experience feel as close to an action game as we could possibly make it within the parameters of FFXIV battle mechanics, and there is a heavy focus on rapid attacks in succession. We poured a lot of time not just into the brainstorming, but also on animations, the creation of visual and audio effects, and programming the fight.

    However, there are also unique attacks that utilize the Ruby Weapon’s claws and quicksand in the battlefield — both of which take inspiration from the Final Fantasy VII version of Ruby Weapon. I personally thought the claws and quicksand attacks turned out to be especially interesting mechanics for this fight.

    As we mentioned earlier, the battle is available in both normal and “extreme” levels of difficulty, with the extreme version providing a higher degree of challenge. Where do you feel the extreme version of lands on the difficulty scale, compared to other extreme trials?

    I think perceived difficulty levels will differ from player to player, so it’s difficult to answer this by simply comparing the fight with other extreme trials. However, I can say that the team who fine-tuned the battle content all said that Ruby Weapon is more difficult compared to Titania (Extreme) and Innocence (Extreme) from 5.0.

    There are many new battle mechanics in the Ruby Weapon (Extreme) encounter that were never seen in any other extreme-tier trial, so I also feel that it might take a bit more practice in order to get past some of these. At the same time, this means that players get to experience new mechanics and new possibilities when it comes to FFXIV battles, so I hope that it provides an enjoyable gameplay experience that feels both challenging and new.

    Are you able to tell us some details regarding the creation of the weapons that players can obtain in the extreme trial? During the design and creation process, what aspects of Ruby Weapon did the art team use as inspiration to create these weapons?

    Are there any designs that you feel bring out the “Ruby Weapon feel”?

    Yusuke Mogi (Lead Character Concept Artist):

    Generally, my request to the team for any weapon that players obtain through extreme trials is to include visual motifs that reflect the boss’ design. I believe it’s important to be able to show something to other players that says, “I cleared this boss!”

    I hope that seeing these weapons will serve as a catalyst for communication between players who haven’t attempted the trial and those who have completed it.

    Diving deeper into the designs, the weapons for the Ruby Weapon trial were designed with the concept of integrating machinery and organic life forms. As this is close to design concepts that were adopted in Japanese anime in the 80s and the 90s, I was particular about creating a design that felt somewhat nostalgic but also had something that felt new — a ‘je ne sais quoi’ element, if you will.

    Switching gears over to the music, we have a question for Masayoshi Soken! What inspiration did you look to when composing music for this encounter? Were there any particular points from the fight you had to consider when crafting the music?

    Masayoshi Soken (Sound Director & Composer):

    I had some lengthy discussions with Main Scenario Writer Natsuko Ishikawa regarding the music for the Ruby Weapon battle. Ishikawa had two requests: to include an arrangement of Ultima — Ultima Weapon’s theme, and to create a song with a quick tempo to match the battle content.

    During these discussions, I remember that I also had a recording session planned for The Primals for something completely different. When I told Ishikawa about this, she asked if The Primals could create an arrangement for the Ruby Weapon music. The thought of The Primals arranging Ultima sparked a flame in my creative soul!!! I dove right in and started prepping, creating a mockup version and making edits to mesh with the battle content. I really thought to myself, “This is a perfect match for this battle! This will work!”

    However, during the recording session the other band members and I went through much trial and error trying to create a track with this quick tempo…and that is where we hit a wall. We were originally supposed to be done with the recording in half a day, but we kept extending our recording session time over and over. We ended up using the whole day, and it was early morning by the time we left the studio…lol.

    And finally, for our readers who may have tackled Ruby Weapon over the years in Final Fantasy VII, do you have any advice for them as they look to defeat Ruby Weapon? What do you hope those who have also fought the original will enjoy in this encounter?

    Masaki Nakagawa (Lead Battle Content Designer) and the FFXIV team:

    As mentioned earlier, some of the attacks that the FFXIV version of Ruby Weapon uses took inspiration from those of the FFVII version. I’m sure players would notice these instantly if they challenge the Ruby Weapon trial. I hope players who have had the experience of taking on Ruby Weapon in FFVII enjoy challenging this FFXIV version, keeping an eye out for these details, and enjoying the trial from a different angle.

    Of course, in order to ensure players who don’t know the FFVII version of Ruby Weapon can also enjoy the trial as much as possible, the FFXIV version has been linked with a well-crafted story specific to FFXIV.

    The Patch 5.2 main scenario questline will introduce elements of mystery for the players. For example, the Ruby Weapon this time around was loaded with Nael van Darnus’ system data, but what kinds of systems will be loaded in the future Weapon series that we have yet to see? I hope players enjoy the trial while looking ahead into future developments with questions like these in mind.

    Huge thanks to the team for taking the time to offer a deeper insight into the creation of the Ruby Weapon battle in Final Fantasy XIV!

    Website: LINK

  • How Square Enix Reimagined FFVII Superboss Ruby Weapon for Final Fantasy XIV

    How Square Enix Reimagined FFVII Superboss Ruby Weapon for Final Fantasy XIV

    Reading Time: 8 minutes

    Greetings, everyone! This is Matt “Bayohne” Hilton from the Final Fantasy XIV Online (FFXIV) Community team, here to deliver PlayStation.Blog readers a behind-the-scenes look at how the dev team brought the Ruby Weapon to life in FFXIV.

    Final Fantasy fans will no doubt recognize the Ruby Weapon as a challenging boss that players were able to battle in the desert outside of the Gold Saucer in FFVII. FF fans may also be aware that Final Fantasy XIV loves paying homage to the previous titles in the franchise, whether it be with locations, themes, or in Ruby Weapon’s case, even bosses.

    The most recent update to FFXIV, Patch 5.2 — Echoes of a Fallen Star, introduced the hulking Ruby Weapon as a brand-new 8-player trial for adventurers to tackle in both normal, and high-level difficulty “extreme” modes. We sat down with a few members from the team to discuss the inspirations and challenges they faced to introduce such a unique and iconic foe to the game.

    How much did the team look to Final Fantasy VII for reference or inspiration when creating the encounter? Whether that be from a visual standpoint or its attacks and movements.

    And, can you talk about the team balances preserving aspects of the original while providing a FFXIV flair? Would you say that this design is heavily based on the FFVII version of the monster, or is it more of its own thing?

    Masaki Nakagawa (Lead Battle Content Designer) and the FFXIV team:

    Let’s talk visual design first. Whenever we bring an existing Final Fantasy series character to FFXIV, there are two general paths we might take in terms of character design.

    In some cases, we will keep the FFXIV version true to the character’s original design — we don’t add any elaborate or original flair, but rather honor the design as it appeared in the original work. We would aim to recreate the character in a high-quality graphic environment while trying to make sure it doesn’t look unnatural. A recent example can be seen in the characters that appeared in the Interdimensional Rift Omega raid series from patch 4.x.

    In other instances, we’ll take only the name and basic characteristics of the original and add our original design to help blend the character in to the world of FFXIV. We have quite a few examples of this as well: cactuars, chocobos, Garuda, Titan, Ifrit, Leviathan, Shiva, and Ramuh just to name a few. The Ruby Weapon in FFXIV leans more towards the latter path, but that isn’t to say it is completely original. We still paid respect to its visual appearance in Final Fantasy VII, finding a balance between keeping the original characteristics well-preserved and bringing out some originality.

    Hiroyuki Nagamine, who handled Ruby Weapon’s art design took inspiration from the Final Fantasy VII version of the monster when he created the artwork for the FFXIV version of Ruby Weapon—specifically Ruby Weapon’s claws, which you might remember look like tentacles. Furthermore, the design silhouette (the overall shape of the monster) is very reminiscent of Bahamut, and I think that adds to the originality of the FFXIV version of this enemy. The reason behind this choice is because Nael Van Darnus, a character from the Binding Coil of Bahamut raid series, ties heavily into the FFXIV version of Ruby Weapon from both a story and lore perspective.

    Next, let’s talk a bit about the design from a battle perspective.

    Final Fantasy XIV’s Ruby Weapon has a deeply intertwined lore and story behind it, and the battle content places heavy emphasis on highlighting those points. We spent a great deal of time devising ideas for battle mechanics that would feel fresh and new. Our goal was to make the gameplay experience feel as close to an action game as we could possibly make it within the parameters of FFXIV battle mechanics, and there is a heavy focus on rapid attacks in succession. We poured a lot of time not just into the brainstorming, but also on animations, the creation of visual and audio effects, and programming the fight.

    However, there are also unique attacks that utilize the Ruby Weapon’s claws and quicksand in the battlefield — both of which take inspiration from the Final Fantasy VII version of Ruby Weapon. I personally thought the claws and quicksand attacks turned out to be especially interesting mechanics for this fight.

    As we mentioned earlier, the battle is available in both normal and “extreme” levels of difficulty, with the extreme version providing a higher degree of challenge. Where do you feel the extreme version of lands on the difficulty scale, compared to other extreme trials?

    I think perceived difficulty levels will differ from player to player, so it’s difficult to answer this by simply comparing the fight with other extreme trials. However, I can say that the team who fine-tuned the battle content all said that Ruby Weapon is more difficult compared to Titania (Extreme) and Innocence (Extreme) from 5.0.

    There are many new battle mechanics in the Ruby Weapon (Extreme) encounter that were never seen in any other extreme-tier trial, so I also feel that it might take a bit more practice in order to get past some of these. At the same time, this means that players get to experience new mechanics and new possibilities when it comes to FFXIV battles, so I hope that it provides an enjoyable gameplay experience that feels both challenging and new.

    Are you able to tell us some details regarding the creation of the weapons that players can obtain in the extreme trial? During the design and creation process, what aspects of Ruby Weapon did the art team use as inspiration to create these weapons?

    Are there any designs that you feel bring out the “Ruby Weapon feel”?

    Yusuke Mogi (Lead Character Concept Artist):

    Generally, my request to the team for any weapon that players obtain through extreme trials is to include visual motifs that reflect the boss’ design. I believe it’s important to be able to show something to other players that says, “I cleared this boss!”

    I hope that seeing these weapons will serve as a catalyst for communication between players who haven’t attempted the trial and those who have completed it.

    Diving deeper into the designs, the weapons for the Ruby Weapon trial were designed with the concept of integrating machinery and organic life forms. As this is close to design concepts that were adopted in Japanese anime in the 80s and the 90s, I was particular about creating a design that felt somewhat nostalgic but also had something that felt new — a ‘je ne sais quoi’ element, if you will.

    Switching gears over to the music, we have a question for Masayoshi Soken! What inspiration did you look to when composing music for this encounter? Were there any particular points from the fight you had to consider when crafting the music?

    Masayoshi Soken (Sound Director & Composer):

    I had some lengthy discussions with Main Scenario Writer Natsuko Ishikawa regarding the music for the Ruby Weapon battle. Ishikawa had two requests: to include an arrangement of Ultima — Ultima Weapon’s theme, and to create a song with a quick tempo to match the battle content.

    During these discussions, I remember that I also had a recording session planned for The Primals for something completely different. When I told Ishikawa about this, she asked if The Primals could create an arrangement for the Ruby Weapon music. The thought of The Primals arranging Ultima sparked a flame in my creative soul!!! I dove right in and started prepping, creating a mockup version and making edits to mesh with the battle content. I really thought to myself, “This is a perfect match for this battle! This will work!”

    However, during the recording session the other band members and I went through much trial and error trying to create a track with this quick tempo…and that is where we hit a wall. We were originally supposed to be done with the recording in half a day, but we kept extending our recording session time over and over. We ended up using the whole day, and it was early morning by the time we left the studio…lol.

    And finally, for our readers who may have tackled Ruby Weapon over the years in Final Fantasy VII, do you have any advice for them as they look to defeat Ruby Weapon? What do you hope those who have also fought the original will enjoy in this encounter?

    Masaki Nakagawa (Lead Battle Content Designer) and the FFXIV team:

    As mentioned earlier, some of the attacks that the FFXIV version of Ruby Weapon uses took inspiration from those of the FFVII version. I’m sure players would notice these instantly if they challenge the Ruby Weapon trial. I hope players who have had the experience of taking on Ruby Weapon in FFVII enjoy challenging this FFXIV version, keeping an eye out for these details, and enjoying the trial from a different angle.

    Of course, in order to ensure players who don’t know the FFVII version of Ruby Weapon can also enjoy the trial as much as possible, the FFXIV version has been linked with a well-crafted story specific to FFXIV.

    The Patch 5.2 main scenario questline will introduce elements of mystery for the players. For example, the Ruby Weapon this time around was loaded with Nael van Darnus’ system data, but what kinds of systems will be loaded in the future Weapon series that we have yet to see? I hope players enjoy the trial while looking ahead into future developments with questions like these in mind.

    Huge thanks to the team for taking the time to offer a deeper insight into the creation of the Ruby Weapon battle in Final Fantasy XIV!

    Website: LINK

  • New Final Fantasy VII Remake Screenshots Show Red XIII, Side Quests, and More

    New Final Fantasy VII Remake Screenshots Show Red XIII, Side Quests, and More

    Reading Time: 7 minutes

    Final Fantasy VII Remake is just under two months away, but we thought you might want to see just a little more before you get your hands on it for real.

    We have some brand new screenshots from the game to show you — take a look:

    Red XIII

    Final Fantasy VII RemakeFinal Fantasy VII Remake

    Final Fantasy VII RemakeFinal Fantasy VII Remake

    What is Red XIII? As he himself says: “I am that which you see before you. Nothing more.”

    He may look like a beast, with his red fur, sharp fangs and tail of flames, but Red XIII is as eloquent as any human.

    He has been captured by Shinra for use as a test subject, and is being held in Hojo’s scientific facility. Speaking of the sinister scientist…

    Hojo

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    Final Fantasy VII RemakeFinal Fantasy VII Remake

    This enigmatic figure is the Director of Shira Electric Power Company’s Research and Development Division. He creates various biological weapons for the company, and he’s not bound by notions of morality.

    Hojo will not hesitate to take a life if his experiments demand it. In a previous collaborative role, he performed special surgery on soldiers to increase their physical strength, giving birth to the elite SOLDIERS.

    Tifa in battle – the basics

    Next we’ll look at one of the main heroes, and how she operates in battle. Tifa Lockhart is a swift fighter, who uses her martial arts to damage enemies.

    She can combo fast attacks with repeated presses of the □ button, and unleash unique abilities by pressing △.

    In the following screenshots, we can see her unleashing some of those skills.

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    Whirling Uppercut: Tifa launches an enemy into the air with an upwards strike.

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    Omnistrike: Tifa smacks into her foe with a powerful shoulder slam.

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    Rise and Fall: Tifa attacks with a series of brutal kicks, and finishes with a powerful striking fist.

    Tifa’s Battle Abilities

    When Tifa’s ATB bar is filled by attacking enemies, she can use a special ability. These screenshots show a couple of them in action:

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    Tifa’s True Strike move hits the enemy in front of her with a swift attack

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    She can also finish off an enemy with an intensely powerful dive kick.

    Materia and Weapons

    Here’s a look at some of the Materia and weapons you’ll be able to use in Final Fantasy VII Remake:

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    Healing Materia lets you use spells like Cure and Cura. In the screenshot above, we can see Aerith using Regen – a spell that will gradually heal its target for a while.

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    The Deadly Dodge Materia turns any attack made after evading an attack into a powerful melee strike. Any character can use it – not just Cloud.

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    When you equip a weapon, it will be reflected in your character’s appearance in and out of battle. This image is a reimagined version of a fan-favorite – we think the team nailed it!

    Mercenary Quests

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    Cloud can help out the many people across Midgar, including local merchants. These tasks are varied — he’ll be asked to deal with anything, from taking out troublesome monsters to finding lost cats.

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    In this quest, Cloud is asked to deal with some Drakes. He’ll get valuable rewards for completing the task.

    Battle Report

    Meet Chadley, a 15-year-old Research trainee, working under Professor Hojo. He’s researching new types of Materia, and needs a little help from Cloud.

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    You can collect Battle Report quests from Chadley in the Sector 7 slums. He’ll ask you to achieve various requirements, such as making a certain number of enemies burst or use Assess Materia a certain number of times.

    Complete these tasks, and he’ll develop more Materia that you can buy.

    Summons

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    Final Fantasy VII RemakeFinal Fantasy VII Remake

    The Chocobo Chick may look cute, but don’t be fooled — its magical attacks pack a serious punch! It’s included when you preorder any edition of Final Fantasy VII Remake.

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    Final Fantasy VII RemakeFinal Fantasy VII Remake

    This is Carbuncle — a mystical creature with a ruby attached to its forehead. It uses this gem to bestow a variety of powers on its allies. You’ll get this summon if you preorder the Digital Deluxe Edition from PlayStation Store.

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    Final Fantasy VII RemakeFinal Fantasy VII Remake

    Cactuar! This vacant-faced cactus can fire off thousands of needles at a time. You’ll get Cactuar when you preorder the Deluxe Edition, Digital Deluxe Edition, or 1st Class Editions of the game.

    Environments

    In Final Fantasy VII Remake, iconic locations from the original game have been recreated with amazing modern graphics. Not only that, there will be additional areas that you couldn’t get to in the original.

    Let’s take a look at a couple of areas:

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    The Mako Reactor sucks out Mako from the core of the planet. It’s then turned into electricity or liquid gas for cities — though it’s also used to produce Materia and for other research.

    The Shinra Electric Power Company has a monopoly on the resource, and have set up various Mako reactors across the world. However, some question the safety of this, and there have been confirmed cases of accidents in reactors at remote locations.

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    The Corkscrew Tunnel connects the slum streets to the nicer living areas on top of Midgar’s plates. The tunnel coils upwards in a giant corkscrew through the center of Midgar. Passengers on the train carriages are always checked for ID and movement between cars is closely monitored. When an intruder is discovered, military-grade weapons are deployed and intruders are dealt with quickly.

    Final Fantasy VII Remake releases for PlayStation 4 on April 10, 2020. To preorder, head to PlayStation Store or www.FFVII-REMAKE.com.

    Website: LINK

  • Tetsuya Nomura Looks Back on Kingdom Hearts III, Ahead to Re Mind

    Tetsuya Nomura Looks Back on Kingdom Hearts III, Ahead to Re Mind

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    It’s hard to believe, but Kingdom Hearts III was released nearly one year ago. This year, fans have the Re Mind DLC to look forward to, which will shed new light on the game’s bittersweet ending.

    Ahead of the January 23 launch of Re Mind DLC on PS4, the Square Enix team sat down with the game’s prolific director, Tetsuya Nomura, to discuss his thoughts on the game, his work, and what’s to come.

    Square Enix: 2019 was a really big year for you! Looking back on Kingdom Hearts III, what part of that game are you most proud of?
    Tetsuya Nomura: Everything, as I couldn’t put anything out there that I couldn’t stand behind with confidence. I did all that I could given all the different conditions that could arise during development.

    SE: Out of all the plotlines that are resolved in Kingdom Hearts III, which was the most meaningful to you?
    TN: A lot of things come to mind, but maybe Xigbar, because we spent a long time getting him to where he is.

    SE: The fans really seemed to enjoy the updated character designs in Kingdom Hearts III. Which of them are you most happy about?
    TN: For each of them, I would feel satisfied once I finished drawing, but after a bit of time, I would end up thinking about what I would like to do differently next time.

    SE: Back in April of 2019, you released the Critical Mode update, which added this higher difficulty mode to the game. Have you played Critical Mode yourself, and do you have any tips?
    TN: With my ability, not at all. Judging by the videos that have been uploaded online, I think the players’ gameplay would offer more insight than I can provide.

    SE: Are there any important details in Kingdom Hearts III which you haven’t seen fans pick up on yet?
    TN: If I were to say something like “the true identity of so-and-so,” for example, that would spoil the surprise for people later on. So, I can’t say anything specific, but sometimes I do see interpretations that make me think they could be overthinking things.

    SE: With the Re Mind DLC launching tomorrow, what are you most excited for players to experience there?
    TN: I’m always amazed by the KH fans’ interpretations, and I’m looking forward to how they analyze things this time as well.

    SE: Finally, we have to ask… Which Keyblade would you personally like to wield yourself?
    TN: Master Xehanort’s Keyblade.

    The Kingdom Hearts III Re Mind DLC launches tomorrow on January 23 on PS4. Fans can pick up the Re Mind + Concert Video package to receive 19 exclusive music tracks recorded from the World of Tres Orchestra Concert, which combine gorgeous music with live concert and in-game footage. The base Re Mind DLC package is also available for pre-order.

    Website: LINK

  • New Final Fantasy VII Remake Screens Feature Cloud, Combat and More

    New Final Fantasy VII Remake Screens Feature Cloud, Combat and More

    Reading Time: 5 minutes

    For many longtime PlayStation fans, the original Final Fantasy VII was a groundbreaking, genre-defining experience. We’re naturally eager to learn more about the fully reimagined Final Fantasy VII Remake, which dramatically updates both the gameplay and the storytelling of the beloved original.

    So when we received this latest batch of screens we asked our friends at Square Enix if they could provide some context for a few of them. Take a peek at the captions below these screenshots, then browse the full gallery below.

    Each weapon has its own unique weapon abilities that increase in proficiency the more they are used. When an ability’s proficiency level reaches the maximum, that ability is then learned by the wielder and can be used when wielding any weapon.

    Here we see Cloud’s Buster Sword upgrade screen. The different options allow you to improve the wielder’s status or increase the number of Materia slots available.

    Classic Mode can be activated by selecting “CLASSIC” from the difficulty menu. In Classic Mode, party members will act automatically, with the ATB gauge filling up as they do so. In this mode, the player only needs to select which abilities, magic, and items they will use their ATB charges for. This brings the feel of the gameplay closer to the menu-based battles from the original FFVII but with the amazing immersive graphics of the remake.

    It is also possible to revert to direct control at any time during Classic Mode by pushing buttons on the controller.

    The triangle button activates each character’s unique ability. Cloud’s unique ability is to switch between different fighting styles. He can switch between “Operator Mode” which has a good balance between attack and defense, and “Punisher Mode” [pictured] which is geared heavily towards offense. In Punisher Mode, Cloud’s movement speed is reduced, but his basic square button attacks are upgraded to even mightier blows.

    Chocobo & Moogle use their special move “Stampede” to run down the enemy with a herd of chocobos.

    While equipping Summon Materia, you will be able to summon a powerful ally once the special summon gauge fills up. Summons will fight alongside you automatically on the battlefield, but you can also use your own ATB charges to have them perform special abilities. Just before they leave the fight, your ally will unleash a powerful special move!

    Assess – Materia that allows you to use the Assess ability. When you use Assess on an enemy, you can see their resistances and weaknesses, making it easier to defeat them in battle.

    You can play darts at the dartboard in Seventh Heaven.

    Final Fantasy 7 Remake arrives on PS4 March 3, 2020.

    Website: LINK

  • “Classing” Up Trials of Mana with New Designs

    “Classing” Up Trials of Mana with New Designs

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    In Trials of Mana, releasing on PS4 April 24, 2020, players will be able to strengthen their characters, not just by leveling up, but also by switching classes. New classes allow characters to learn new class strikes and magic spells. Each of our six protagonists can become proficient in a variety of attacks, depending on if they decide to pick the Light or Dark class. For example, when Duran chooses the Light path, he can become a Liege who can equip a shield and use healing magic together. With the Dark path, he becomes an unstoppable Duelist with a ton of attack power.

    In creating this full 3D remake, the development team knew we couldn’t just take the original pixel art from 24 years ago and stick it in the game. We’re proud to unveil some of the character class renders for you today. In translating the design from the original pixel art, to the full 3D models, we had to completely rethink how the classes looked and make sure that the designs fit the characters.

    Here, we have two classes to highlight – Riesz’s Valkyrie class, as well as Hawkeye’s Ninja class, with a few notes from Mana-series producer Masaru Oyamada:

    For Riesz, she has many classes based on Norse mythology, such as her third classes, Vanadis and Fenrir Knight. Her second Light class, Valkyrie, is no exception, and we wanted to depict her with a mighty and powerful Valkyrie design. In the 16-bit version of Trials of Mana, the class designs were directly tied to the weapon artwork. As such, we envisioned her equipped with the Valkyrie mail.

    In the original release, her Valkyrie class pixel art was characterized with a dark purple armor. However, in this game, we limited the purple to the shadows of the design. I think this also helped capture her prim and proper nature very well.

    For Hawkeye, his first Dark class brings an image of an assassin. However, his second class Ninja is more intermediary. As the game already has a traditional ninja design with the Nevarlan ninja forces, we limited the traditional Japanese-style feel, and went for a ninja design that incorporates more fantasy elements. Additionally, we wanted to make his second class design more of a low or mid-ranked ninja, since there is also a third class, Ninja Master.

    In the end, while incorporating the green from the original pixel art, I think the final design came out very Hawkeye-esque, looking very slim and cool!

    The team worked really hard to add in details and features fitting for each character in these upgraded models and are really happy with how they turned out! If you want to take a look at the rest of the class designs we revealed today, or learn more about the game, you can visit the class section of our official webpage. We hope you try out the game and test out all the various classes that are available when the game releases!

    Website: LINK

  • Final Fantasy VII Remake Box Art Revealed

    Final Fantasy VII Remake Box Art Revealed

    Reading Time: 4 minutes

    The team at Square Enix is proud to reveal the box art for Final Fantasy VII Remake in North America and Europe.

    The artwork pays homage to the North American cover used in the original Final Fantasy VII and features our hero, Cloud Strife, ready to take on the tyrannical Shinra Corporation.

    Here’s one touch I’m particularly fond of: you can see two glowing materia equipped at the base of Cloud’s iconic Buster Sword. These colorful orbs allow our heroes to use powerful magic in combat – and the fact that you can see them equipped is a perfect example of the love, care and attention to detail being put into every aspect of the game.

    The new box art has been unveiled shortly after an onslaught of major reveals at Tokyo Game Show 2019.

    In case you missed it, check out some of the highlights from TGS below, as well as some brand-new screenshots just released today!

    Classic Mode

    Classic Mode allows players to focus on issuing commands in combat, without having to worry about dodging and blocking in real time.

    When you enter a battle, a gauge (called ATB – a fun nod to the original game’s Active Time Battle system) automatically fills up. Once those gauges have filled up, you can issue commands to spend those charges – for example, do you use a special attack, cast some magic, or use an item? It’s all up to you.

    Classic mode is just the thing for players who prefer to focus on tactics and strategy in combat rather than moment to moment action. And it’s perfect for fans who are nostalgic for menu-based RPGs like the original Final Fantasy VII.

    Spectacular Summons

    Summons were a big part of the original game, and in Final Fantasy VII Remake, they’re back and they’re better than ever.

    Summons are powerful creatures you can call to your aid in battle. At TGS, Final Fantasy VII Remake’s producer, Yoshinori Kitase, gave us our first look at one of these – the iconic flame-bound Ifrit.

    He also explained how Summons work in-game. Every hero can equip a Summon materia – it’s this powerful orb that gives them the ability to call one of these fearsome creatures into battle.

    If a Summon materia is equipped, a special gauge will fill up gradually over time. Once full, your hero can call forth the otherworldly entity to fight alongside you for a limited time.

    Ifrit battles independently but you can also command him to perform special abilities, and once the timer drops to zero, he’ll unleashes his ultimate attack: Hellfire!

    Marvelous Mini-Games

    Final Fantasy VII Remake’s TGS trailer gave us our first look at a new mini-game.

    Fans may remember the squats mini-game from the original Final Fantasy VII. This new iteration plays similarly to the classic version and requires players to input a specific sequence of commands to defeat their lycra-laden challengers.

    Final Fantasy VII Remake launches for PS4 on March 3, 2020. to receive a dynamic theme featuring Cloud and Sephiroth today!

    Website: LINK