Final Fantasy XIII, Dissidia rock Square Enix Party

By Ricardo Torres, Tor Thorsen, GameSpotPosted May 12, 2007 12:58 am PT

PS3 RPG, PSP Final Fantasy VII spin-offs dominate presentation at publisher's massive Tokyo expo; new Kingdom Hearts revealed.

MAKUHARI--Today in Tokyo, more than 38,000 gamers rushed the Makarhari Messe convention center to attend the Square Enix Party 2007. As the name implies, the festive two-day event is being held by the titular Japanese publisher to show off its latest slate of games. As the paying public swarmed outside, around 300 members of the international gaming press packed into the grandiosely named Closed Mega Theater for a special, closely supervised preview of Final Fantasy titles.

Once the throng settled and the obligatory warning against video recording was issued, the lights dimmed, and the first trailer began to unspool. With the sonorous strains of harp music playing in the background, the title "Final Fantasy 20th Anniversary Exclusive Project" appeared on the screen. Then a trailer for the new PSP game Dissidia: Final Fantasy began, showing Final Fantasy I characters and FFIX's Zidane duking it out with foes such as FFVII's Sephiroth, Super Smash Bros. style. The game currently has no release date in Japan, let alone elsewhere.

After a brief plug for Square Enix's various mobile endeavors, the next trailer was for the new DS game It's a Wonderful World. Sporting stylized, hand-drawn graphics, it appeared to be some sort of 2D side-scroller targeted at the Japanese market. No US or European release plans were announced, but GameSpot did preview the title at last year's Tokyo Game Show.

Following another mobile game presentation, a montage of Kingdom Hearts titles was shown off. However, the flurry of snippets was merely a teaser for a new installment in the franchise, which will be unveiled at the 2007 Tokyo Game Show this September.

After the logo for Fabula Nova Crystallis--the overarching name for all Final Fantasy XII games--flashed on the screen, a new trailer for Final Fantasy XIII began. The trailer featured a woman named Lightning as she dispatched a series of opponents without breaking a virtual sweat. Afterward, her companion (a blond man on a motorcycle)summoned a spirit (who looked like a biomechanical version of the Indian deity Shiva)from a crystal, before the trailer ended with a giant PlayStation 3 logo.

Then came a trailer for Final Fantasy Versus XIII, the PS3 action game set in the FFXIII universe. It showed a hero, sporting one of the series' trademark ornate coifs, cutting through a throng of soldiers with a gigantic sword, aided by some complex martial arts moves. To the strains of melancholy music, he teleported among his opponents, avoiding rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire. As he finally emerged in a throne room to face off against a new opponent, the screen faded to the Final Fantasy Versus XIII logo.

Next was a snippet of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete, a new, expanded version of the popular computer-animated film. Quelle surprise, the film will be released on Blu-ray Disc, the PS3's proprietary format, later this year in Japan. No US release date was given for the movie.

After two brief trailers for Before Crisis Final Fantasy VII and Dirge of Cerebus for mobile phones, a preview of Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core for the PSP began. The game's highly detailed graphics, which are near the quality of the original Kingdom Hearts and appear superior to Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, mingled with some cinematics. Several characters of note appeared: the villain Sephiroth, the famously dead heroine Aeris (who is still alive in the prequel), and the spiky-haired hero Cloud. The game is due out on September 13 in Japan, with no US release date yet announced.

Check back over the weekend for more news and previews from GameSpot's coverage of the Square Enix Party 2007.

585 Comments

  • Koruptshin

    Posted May 13, 2009 4:46 pm PT

    i think was a mistake releasing last remnant but they're bouncing back

  • kairikh

    Posted Apr 25, 2009 10:33 am PT

    Square will always own...wish they had a square party in North America...

  • lol-patrol

    Posted Aug 30, 2008 8:37 am PT

    square are producing great games. I think its a great idea that the gameplay is changing, for good or bad, because if you look throughout ff history the gameplay is only improving. for instance, ff12 produced the best rpg gaming in a long time, who knows, the gameplay for dissidia could turn out to be fantastic, or may end up evolving into somthing greater in later years.

  • CSZ18

    Posted Aug 28, 2008 9:11 am PT

    cuz its time to move on in the gaming world

  • cas11123

    Posted Apr 10, 2008 12:38 pm PT

    "so when is squareENIX finally bringing an crazy japan oldskool styled RPG, instead of those fancy new styled normal human like uninteresting RPG things playing in some stupid future.. where is that feeling of FF6, 7 & 9.. or even better Chrono Trigger & Cross.. Those games where deep, emotional and had a proper feeling.."

    Well if you want that then maybe you should ask Square to sell their license to EA. What makes Final Fantasy so great is that it's always evolving. Personally, I found FF12 was one of the best yet in terms of gameplay. I'm sure if Square kept the gameplay the same every time you would be complaining about how they're just releasing the same game with a different plot.

    For better or worse, at least they're trying to improve upon an already great series... maybe not every interation is pure gold, but they're not bad either.

    As for the "proper feel" of the old games, I think that has to do with the way they were told then as opposed to now. We didn't really have voice acting and fancy movies (at least for 6) cause the games were limited by the technology of the day. If those games were to be remade now, the feeling would be dramatically different from the old game, even though it's the same story.

  • crisiscorefan52

    Posted Mar 31, 2008 7:54 pm PT

    square is the bomb

  • RenoTurks

    Posted Mar 4, 2008 9:14 am PT

    It's true that Square might of been better if they didn't join together but
    they're still dishing out great games
    Sqaure Enix is still one of the best RPG developers around

  • Duttygyaal

    Posted Dec 21, 2007 12:09 pm PT

    Yes! Squall is back and alive, people. Hater should just shut up. Cloud and Sephiroth already had their overused time in the spotlight. It's time for other heroes to get their chance.

  • Heaven_Moon

    Posted Nov 6, 2007 11:40 am PT

    haiz.....i only have PS 2,why didn't they make it for PS 2. By the way , how many final fantasy characters inside??? I saw Sephiroth,Zidane and Kuja.
    Others no idea XD

  • Spongeskeeter

    Posted Oct 23, 2007 6:46 am PT

    I agree with DaMastaGangsta. This is something I felt a long time ago, but Square-enix really lost their edge after the 2 companies merged. If they hadn't merged, Enix and Square would've been at tight compettition and the games would've been much better, not the money making dissapointments that came out recently.

    I'm a die-hard RPG fan, so I guess I'll always buy Square-enix's games, but I really am tired of being dissapointed every time.

  • snake2075

    Posted Oct 6, 2007 7:14 pm PT

    does anybody plan on getting this game?
    i personally this would be pretty cool.

    and to the other 3 comments before me squall isnt the best but he still is pretty cool. and i see what you mean. ff8 was more realistic than other final fantasies. but you forgot 10. 10 was probably one of them that had a good story. Excellent story.

  • Donnyp

    Posted Oct 4, 2007 9:07 pm PT

    Squalls an emo punk who shouldnt have been a main Character. Zell was in love with Seifer and Squall was in love with himself

  • jimmyhat999

    Posted Sep 24, 2007 9:42 am PT

    BRING BACK SQUALL BEST CHARACTER EVER!!!!

  • DaMastaGangsta

    Posted Sep 21, 2007 3:40 pm PT

    so when is squareENIX finally bringing an crazy japan oldskool styled RPG, instead of those fancy new styled normal human like uninteresting RPG things playing in some stupid future.. where is that feeling of FF6, 7 & 9.. or even better Chrono Trigger & Cross.. Those games where deep, emotional and had a proper feeling..

    I dont really think this new FF13 is going to be that interesting.. of course it will look very very next gen, costs lots and lots of money, has fancy attack moves etc. etc. That might make it a pretty good fit in its time, but doenst make it legendary or memorable.. I think Square really lost it, since they melted with Enix.. shame

  • dark-liger

    Posted Aug 25, 2007 3:45 am PT

    kingdom hearts will look great on ps3

  • GameProXtreme

    Posted Aug 7, 2007 4:27 pm PT

    SquareEnix already has a game out on the 360 called project sylpheed or something. its a space fighter game or something with star ocean 3 graphics its actually not bad if your into airplane games.

  • BlueyesCyclone

    Posted Aug 1, 2007 11:54 am PT

    Final Fantasy 13 is now only coming out on the ps3

  • echowind01

    Posted Jul 23, 2007 8:35 am PT

    WOw sounds great but what could they possibly add to the new FF7AD movie im not complaining though heheh just a question?

  • Valmier

    Posted Jul 12, 2007 9:18 am PT

    I'm still hopeing for a multiplatform Final Fantasy. Square won't get anywhere sticking with the PS3: they would just go down with it. And what's with the spoiler about Aeris?!?! Some people still haven't played that game, and, coming from a devoted and crazed fan, that is one thing people SHOULD NOT find out about until it happens. Grr.

  • Kasume58

    Posted Jul 7, 2007 12:45 pm PT

    since this game will be on ps3 does anyone know if you could still play it on ps2???

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