Final Fantasy 14's battle content designer Masayoshi Ishikawa says that he put Absolute Virtue in Windurst: The Third Walk just to show how strong Shantotto is. He also jokes that the menace could've been the first boss of Windurst if Shantotto hadn't destroyed it in the pre-fight cutscene.

In an interview with Famitsu, Ishikawa discusses the ways he tried to show Shantotto's strength in the finale to the Final Fantasy 11 crossover, Echoes of Vana'diel. Despite being the first boss of Windurst: The Third Walk, Ishikawa wanted her to appear particularly powerful.

As translated by GamesRadar+, Ishikawa says, "As she's the first boss, there are limits on how strong we can make her. In the distance Meteor rains down in the middle of the fight exploding in chaos, and as she casts a large number of mage actions, FF14 players can easily tell 'this is a powerful black mage.' She shows her strength in a number of ways, like the dynamic way Quake raises walls up from the ground."

However, it's not the damage she deals in battle that best demonstrates how formidable she is, but who she defeats before the fight with her even begins. "The cherry on top is that she defeats Absolute Virtue in the cutscene before the battle starts," Ishikawa explains with a chuckle.

The interviewer then asks Ishikawa if Absolute Virtue would have been Windurst's first boss if that cutscene didn't exist. "Could've been," Ishikawa replies with a chuckle. He shouldn't have teased us with a good time.

Absolute Virtue stands as one of Final Fantasy 11's most infamous bosses due to how hard it once was. To be honest, at the peak of its powers, it was probably among the hardest super bosses you could face in the whole Final Fantasy series.

In the years following its release, Square Enix got heat for discounting teams for not beating it by legit means. While the devs did eventually release some tips on how to topple the beast, they eventually conceded and nerfed Absolute Virtue. Mind you, it did take us a few years to get to that point.

Square Enix just killed Final Fantasy 14's mobile port before it could even launch globally, offering "sincere apologies for being unable to meet your expectations"

It turns out that getting a development team together for Final Fantasy 10 was trickier than you might expect, all because of a completely separate game – Kingdom Hearts 1.

Final Fantasy 10 producer Yoshinori Kitase (who also directed Final Fantasy 7, 8, and more) discusses this in a recent interview to celebrate the JRPG's 25th anniversary.

"First of all, assembling the FF10 team was difficult," he begins. "Tetsuya Nomura and I worked on FF7 and FF8 together, but then he was assigned to Kingdom Hearts. He was involved with FF10 as a character designer, of course, but his main project was Kingdom Hearts, and some of the other staff were assigned there too."

As the director of Kingdom Hearts, it's little wonder that Nomura didn't have as much time available for Final Fantasy 10. The two games only released a few months apart, too, so there was a lot of crossover in their development times.

His absence, along with the other staff members who were shifted onto the RPG, meant that "the first thing we needed to do was to find people who could lead teams to handle core 3D elements like 3DCG motion graphics, backgrounds, and character models" for the Final Fantasy entry, Kitase says.

To handle that, a number of new staff members were brought onto the team, but Kitase says that "mostly we promoted people we had worked with before to handle key aspects of the project."

And, of course, the team still had plenty of veterans to support things, too – Kitase gives the example of Yusuke Naora, the JRPG's world art director, who'd already been credited on multiple Final Fantasy games including 3, 7, and 8.

Flash forward to today, and Nomura is still splitting his time between Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy. As well as having Kingdom Hearts 4 on the horizon (though how far away that is is another matter), Nomura is also one of the creative directors on Final Fantasy 7 Revelation. He's clearly a busy guy.

Kingdom Hearts 4 updates could be coming soon as series "deep dive" is confirmed for D23, 2 months after Square Enix's surprise new trailer.

Final Fantasy series leads Takashi Tokita and Yoshinori Kitase claim that Square Enix considered skipping Final Fantasy 4 as a promotional stunt. If the company had decided to go directly to FF5, the multi-entry JRPG series' fifth entry would've launched before Dragon Quest's.

In an interview on Final Fantasy's official website, Final Fantasy 4 lead Tokita reveals that Square Enix considered calling the series' fourth entry Final Fantasy 5 in order to surpass the company's most popular JRPG series, Dragon Quest. Originally launching one year before Final Fantasy's first entry, Dragon Quest continues to hold the title of Square Enix's longest running series.

Tokita began his first principal position at Square Enix working as lead game designer on Final Fantasy 4. As he had previously worked on the JRPG's third entry, he saw the move to development on the SNES from the NES as an opportunity to catch up to Dragon Quest.

"In the NES era, Dragon Quest was released before Final Fantasy," Tokita explains. "So it felt like we were constantly trying to catch up. But FF was released for the SNES first, and while that came with its own pressures, it was also a chance to pull ahead since both series were tied with four titles each."

This advantage apparently led to company higher-ups discussing how to make the most of the situation. "Now that I think about it, wasn't there talk of skipping 4 and making 5 instead?" Kitase asks. "There was," Tokita confirms. "The CEO at the time stated that we would skip 4 and go straight to 5 to beat Dragon Quest. Talk about an innovative approach."

If Square Enix had gone through with the idea it wouldn't have been the only time it went with an unconventional numbering strategy for the series. In North America, Final Fantasy 4 was infamously labelled as the series' second entry, while six had the honor of being American players' Final Fantasy 3.

Despite the confusing unconventional numbering causes, Kitase believes it would have been "kind of a brilliant idea." "Game development was certainly changing," Tokita adds. "But the way games were being promoted was changing as well."

Final Fantasy 10 leaned into the fantasy genre after devs "learned that The Lord of the Rings was in production" and thought it would be "the next big global trend."

Final Fantasy 14's planned mobile port – a release that Square Enix hoped for the world to see after its launch in China – is now off the table entirely, apparently.

In case you're out of the loop on Final Fantasy 14 Mobile, it first kicked off years ago when "a small team of die-hard" fans proposed the idea to MMO director Naoki "Yoshi-P" Yoshida, "armed with a 100-page proposal" – a proposal that interested the lead, to say the least.

It's largely been off the radar since its announcement and development at Tencent, however, with little news popping up about it aside from its release last summer in China. Now, sadly, it seems it won't be coming out anywhere else – even though the rest of the world was set to see Final Fantasy 14 Mobile sometime after that initial region-exclusive release. And, to top the disappointing news off, the Chinese edition is going offline as well.

Square Enix confirms as much in a new announcement on the canceled project's official website, first looking back at the mobile port's June 2025 launch in China.

"On the launch day of Final Fantasy 14 Mobile (Chinese Edition) in the Chinese mainland, we said, 'Resonate with the Light, and blaze as one,' and promised that the adventure had just begun. Over this time, it is you who have truly brought 'Mobile Eorzea' to life. Every suggestion you shared on gameplay, experiences, and features guided us to build the game world."

It's heartwarming to hear, but it wasn't enough to save the port, it seems.

"Today, however, we must regretfully share an important announcement. Due to adjustments in business operations and changes in the market environment, Tencent and Square Enix have, through amicable negotiation, decided to terminate the licensing agreement for Final Fantasy 14 Mobile (Chinese Edition)."

The game will go offline in China on September 30 this year – and, once again, will not be coming overseas.

As Square Enix states, "To everyone who has been looking forward to the global version, we also offer our sincere apologies for being unable to meet your expectations" – which, you know, makes it pretty clear this is indeed the end end of Final Fantasy 14 Mobile.

Unfortunately, it's not the first Square Enix or Final Fantasy title on mobile devices to bite the dust. The Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles remaster went down last year.

Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis is also shutting down after three years, much to fans' dismay. At least we've got Evercold to look forward to, I suppose – and, you know, the Nintendo Switch 2 port, which arrives next month with a free trial.

It's disappointing to learn that the MMO seemingly won't ever be available to play via our mobile phones, but perhaps it's for the best. I'm not sure I can imagine tackling a Savage on my Samsung Galaxy, honestly.

Final Fantasy 14 hit with yet another stalking mod, not even 2 weeks after the MMO's last one shut down.

Final Fantasy Resonance is going heavy on the Final Fantasy fan service – from the iconic series heroes who temporarily join in on battles to the nostalgic pixel art and fate-defying story – but the fan service goes so deep here that the upcoming game even includes a callback to one of the franchise's most infamous challenges of all time, Final Fantasy 9's jump rope minigame.

Final Fantasy Resonance is somewhat of a celebration of the entire series. After all, you can literally summon fan-favorite characters, such as Cloud and Lightning, to slash enemies into tiny little pixel squares. But good fan service celebrates the uglier, less popular parts of the fandom, too. Enter, Final Fantasy 9's jump rope.

Square Enix recently revealed a couple of minigames you'll be able to partake in when the turn-based game launches later this year, including one that has you play hide-and-seek with Moogles and another that tests your timing with a skipping rope. (Thanks, Gematsu!)

Anyone that's played even the first few hours of Final Fantasy 9 might remember a section that puts us in the oversized shoes and pointy hat of Vivi, the black mage, who can choose to simply remain in the early-game area and jump rope with some kids forever. Or until he becomes delirious since the minigame is really tough. Like, my knuckles are aching and my brows are clammy and all I can hear is the sound of Vivi's boots knocking on the ground, echoing up and down my skull, kinda tough.

Better yet, the challenge was tied to a few really powerful cards used in Final Fantasy 9's Tetra Master minigame. Nowadays, completionists and super fans are even more incentivized to reach 1,000 consecutive, successful rope jumps thanks to two achievements – a challenge that one fan twisted into a FromSoftwarian nightmare by going in with a blindfold.

Either way, for better or for worse, you can partake in the jumping of ropes in Final Fantasy Resonance thanks to a group of kids playing in a village. Perhaps Square Enix will take it easier on our thumbs this time around...

Each town supposedly has a different minigame, so the door's open to other fan-favorite/fan-abhorred activities as well. Blitzball? Fort Condor? Just fishing? We'll find out when Final Fantasy Resonance comes to PC and all current consoles on October 22.

More traditional Final Fantasy remakes could happen, as Square Enix says it'll follow what "truly resonates" with fans, even if that's not open-world action.

It's been 25 years since Final Fantasy 10 Jecht-shotted its way onto the PlayStation 2 in Japan on July 19, 2001. I feel like I could turn into a big pile of dust at any moment, as I remember playing the game shortly after release and being bewitched by the world of Spira. I even went through a period as a teen where I'd stretch my hands out and bow like I was praying to Yevon to friends and family; that's how much the game became part of my personality.

These days I settle for collecting the best toys rather than roleplaying as summoner Yuna, and there's plenty of merch out there. To celebrate 25 years of Final Fantasy 10, you can get your hands on an LP Vinyl Set of the soundtrack, which features a curated selection of 20 of Nobuo Uetmatsu's amazing tracks. Personally, I'm a bigger fan of the Suteki Da Ne music box, which contains a small and adorable rendition of the song that plays during one of the game's best cutscenes.

If you don't want to collect merch that'll make you cry, there are plenty of TCG accessories too. Final Fantasy 10 characters have featured within both the official Final Fantasy TCG and Magic: The Gathering, so there's sleeves, deck boxes, and playmats available featuring Tidus and Yuna. The official Square Enix online store has also rolled out new plushies available to pre-order, so you can soon give the pair a cuddle, which they sorely need after the events of the game. If you know, you know.

With 25 years under its belt, there's too much Final Fantasy 10 merch to list, so I've just picked out some of my favorite and widely available favorite pieces. As a heads up, some of these are pre-order items like that fabulous Eternal Calm LP Vinyl set. It's definitely worth grabbing before resellers get their hands on it, as it may be your last chance.

Check out our best Legend of Zelda merch, best Super Mario merch, and best Animal Crossing merch guides for more quality video game collectibles worth adding to your shelf.

Stop us if you've heard this before, folks, but the Final Fantasy 14 community is grappling with yet another stalking mod… you know, not even two whole weeks after the last one was on the chopping block.

In case you missed it, Memoria – a plug-in that, put simply, allowed for in-game tracking of players' entire history – went down earlier this month following a plethora of complaints from concerned Final Fantasy 14 fans. Its creator assured "the service is now closed, and all collected player data has been permanently deleted," but people were understandably still upset… both by its existence and the lack of action Square Enix took about it.

Now, some 13 or so days later, a new plug-in fans fear can enable stalking and harrassment has entered the limelight – and it's safe to say that it, coupled with the timing of its arrival, is not going over well with fans.

A worried player first pointed EchoVault, the add-on in question, out on Reddit a few days ago, explaining that, much like Memoria and Playerscope (another controversial mod), it can track player data… but that's not all.

Playerscope is back, and Alt Tracking is still very much possible from r/ffxiv

Allegedly, the creator behind EchoVault is the same creator who made Memoria. As the fan who notes the new plug-in claims, "The domain for both websites is the same, and on his 'shutdown message' for Memoria, he felt the need to put this line here."

The alleged line? "Every echo finds its vault, in time." Oof. The evidence is quite damning, if true – although it's worth noting that this line is missing from a different screenshot of the statement that was circulating earlier in the month. Either way, it doesn't seem like Square Enix is catching onto it.

Players have likely filed various reports since the callout post, seeing as the fan who made it provided feedback links for the MMO's developers, and hundreds of people interacted with it – but we've seen no word from Square Enix since, and the plug-in is still up as per its website (and boy, is it something).

On top of this, the person behind the Reddit thread has returned today with a new update on how the mod "just got worse."

EchoVault (Playerscope clone) just got worse, now tracks you automatically through Player Search from r/ffxiv

As per their findings, EchoVault "just pushed an update that further automates the process by using Player Search." In short, the plug-in can run player searches for users while they idle, "cycling jobs to discover more characters across your world." I… yeah.

And, "once again," the fan bringing all of this to light begs fellow Warriors of Light to report the add-on to Square Enix. Not everyone is convinced it'll help, though.

One commenter writes, "Unfortunately, from all appearances, Square just doesn't seem to care." Another adds, "Mods are cooked."

From issues with the built-in blacklist system and complaints about it not being protective enough of users, to contention stemming from such questionable plug-ins that enable harassment, this isn't the first (or last, let's be real) time that the topic of stalking will come up in the Final Fantasy 14 community.

As a longtime fan of the MMO myself, it feels like a broken record – and while Square Enix does step in sometimes, it's evident that it's not enough. Here's hoping things change for the better… and that every third-party tool that can't be used for nefarious purposes doesn't suffer for it.

World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy 14 fans can now earn up to $15,000 in scholarship money by tackling achievements with a less than "1% global completion rate."

World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy 14 players can finally earn some cash by playing their beloved respective MMOs and put it towards a real-life degree – but it's not as easy as it may sound.

The University of Silicon Valley in California has quite an offer on the table for a few very lucky select students (10-15 annually, apparently) – the Max Achievement Scholarship, as the educational institution outlines on its official website.

If you've not heard of it before, it gives folks a chance to score up to $15,000 in scholarship money… but it's far simpler said than actually done. It isn't only a matter of playing games, you see.

As the university explains, "The Max Achievement Scholarship recognizes students who have demonstrated extraordinary mastery, persistence, and systems thinking through the completion of rare and demanding achievements in digital gaming environments."

Yes, that means that aspiring players need to get to grindin' in their game of choice. We're talking "ultra-rare accomplishments" for the "Legendary Tier" of awards.

Many of these, as the University of Silicon Valley describes, require "500+ hours of sustained mastery across complex systems (typically <1% global completion rate)." For example, World of Warcraft players need to have Loremaster unlocked, all 13 professions maxed, and 25+ Exalted reputations, plus the Keystone Master achievement.

As for Final Fantasy 14 players, the requirements are higher than the in-game requirements to become a Mentor.

I know, I know, those aren't exactly ridiculously high themselves – but the university's are. Players need all 20 combat jobs and eight crafter/gatherer jobs at level 100 (the game's max level), plus all role quests and "all 12 extreme trials cleared," although it's not specified which ones.

I'm assuming Dawntrail's trials… and then some? The bottom line is that this scholarship money isn't easily obtainable, regardless.

MMOs aren't the only games up for the cash, either – heck, there's everything from Minecraft to Dark Souls (good luck with that one). You can even apply as a general PC, PlayStation 5, or Xbox Series X|S gamer, but you'll need platinums and perfect games galore.

Put simply, there's no quick way to have a go at the Max Achievement Scholarship money. If you think you might qualify, though, the university is accepting submissions now.

Multiple achievements may be submitted, too – but "achievements earned via modded, private, or emulated servers are not eligible." So, if you're a World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy 14 (or insert another game name here) stan, shoot your shot.

Blizzard knows World of Warcraft's removal of raid add-ons is "controversial," but the MMO's lead says its new UI "has been successful so far"

We could be getting Kingdom Hearts 4 news quite soon, as the franchise is confirmed to make an appearance at D23 next month, Disney's conference for all things House of Mouse. The series will get a showcase celebrating its 25th anniversary, because apparently my lower back pain isn't enough of a reminder of my age.

The event, simply called Deep Dive into Kingdom Hearts, was revealed in the D23 2026 programme of panels and such. "Join us for a journey through light and darkness as we commemorate 25 years of Kingdom Hearts," reads the official description. "Discover how this saga united Disney, Pixar, and Square Enix, with insights from the creative minds, character voices, and more behind the magic."

From the sounds of things, it'll be mostly retrospective, with members of the old guard at Disney and Pixar providing insight into how they worked with Square Enix to turn the likes of Alice in Wonderland, Tarzan and Aladdin into compelling action RPG locations. I wouldn't expect too much from Square Enix's side of things, beyond perhaps a video message from series co-creator and longtime overseer Tetsuya Nomura.

Some kind of added tease for Kingdom Hearts 4 seems likely, though. Just last month, we finally got a second trailer for the game shown during a Nintendo Direct of all things.

D23 seems like the perfect place to show off some of the movies and shows we'll be visiting for this installment. The Jungle Book, Zootopia, Inside Out, Encanto, and Cars are five worlds I can imagine showing up, if I had to guess. But we'll see what emerges.

Although it's already been four years since the fourth mainline Kingdom Hearts installment was announced, I wouldn't expect a release window here. That's more likely to come on Square Enix's terms, since that's the actual developer and publisher. Disney is really just weaponizing the most lucrative video game venture it has right now.

Whatever the case, we're almost definitely going to hear another rendition of the anecdote about how this collaboration got moving because of a chance elevator conversation. Much like Steamboat Willie, it's timeless.

D23 is set to take place from August 14 through 16.

Could Kingdom Hearts 4 include Star Wars and Marvel worlds? Sora actor once said he'd "never put it past" Square Enix.

If any game typifies annoying side characters, it's The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and that pesky Navi. "Hey, listen!" is embedded in the brains of anyone who's ever taken that particular quest to stop Ganondorf, and another adventure's suffered the same plight, leading to a patch.

In this instance, it's recently released action-RPG The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales, a game published by Square Enix. There are clear Zelda influences in the use of a single, sword-wielding protagonist on a mythic date with destiny, who's accompanied by a glimmering butterfly named Faei.

Though meant to be helpful, it turns out Faei's contributions were a little more irritating than intended. "Think Navi from Ocarina of Time except it's [around ten] seconds of hammed up anime girl interjections," reads a negative Steam review. "Add that to Elliot's 'Hyah' which only has [three-to-four] variations. and jumping noise, it's like one of those brain rot simulators."

The devs are aware of these complaints, and have decided to remedy the situation by adding an off switch. The latest patch lets you simply remove Faei's insights entirely, and you can feel a certain sigh of relief emanating from the community.

There were settings for minimizing how often you heard her in-game, but according to the same reviewer above, even the lowest option still has a voice line across several more activities than you might like. Generally speaking, choice is good, and while some may enjoy Faei, it's clear plenty don't, and letting them switch it off seems like a wise move.

Nintendo has never offered any such thing for Ocarina of Time. I can't imagine, even if patches existed in the late-'90s, the company would've bothered. It's just not how the house Mario built ever operated. I lament this each and every time I head back to Hyrule, to be honest.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 lead says Zelda: Breath of the Wild was "the first open-world game that actually delivered on the promise of an open world"

Modders have been reanimating classic games inside of other classic games for almost as long as reanimation has been a thing (200 years or so; thanks, Mary Shelley) - from a Morrowind remake built within Elden Ring to, now, a Final Fantasy Tactics mod that plops the strategy game's combat onto Final Fantasy 6's scenarios.

Over the last three years, a modder known as Conman on the FFHacktics forum has been hard at work on a mod called FF6: Tactics, alongside a group of other contributors.

Rather than remaking the entirety of Final Fantasy 6 in Tactics' style, which would probably take much longer than three years, the goal was to "avoid any world map/randoms/stores and just jump from one battle to another."

Conman called this a "battle rush style" with the mod assuming "the player already knows the story." Final Fantasy 6's biggest battles, but in a strategy format, then.

That includes having most of Final Fantasy 6's main cast playable with their own quirks along for the ride: Terra's a scarily powerful magic user, Locke can steal, Cyan can pull off fancy sword moves... You get the idea.

New stages, reworked sprites, and that banger soundtrack filtered through FFT's sound font. After all that hard work, the mod is finally done and out now - you can find it here.

As you might be able to tell from the adorably chunky assets on show and the project's development timeline, the mod is built off the back of the original PS1 version of Final Fantasy Tactics, not the more recently modernized The Ivalice Chronicles remaster, so don't expect its quality-of-life improvements or cleaner graphics to show up in the mod.

And elsewhere in the realm of remakes, Square Enix recently said more traditional and official Final Fantasy remakes could be in the pipeline depending on what "resonates" with fans the most.

Perhaps that sparks hope for that long-rumored Final Fantasy 6 remake, but even if that's a far-flung dream at this point, at least we have the above gorgeous mod that's halfway there.

Final Fantasy 7 Revelation lead thinks a potential Final Fantasy 6 remake would "be in better hands if it went to another creator in Square Enix"

You may or may not be aware that we got a new Final Fantasy 7 spin-off a few years ago. Yes, in addition to Rebirth and Remake. It's called Ever Crisis, and it's a gacha game retelling the whole franchise from the ground up, and if you haven't looked into it yet, you only have a limited window since it's now being shut down.

Square Enix has announced that Ever Crisis will cease operations on October 6, 2026, implying that maintaining the game has become untenable for one reason or another. "Since the launch of the App Store and Google Play versions on September 7, 2023, and the Steam version on December 6, 2023, we have worked to provide the best possible experience for our players," a statement from the company reads.

"After careful consideration, however, we have determined that it will be difficult to continue doing so and have made the decision to end service," the post finishes. We don't have hard data across all platforms, but on Steam, Ever Crisis peaked at 4,756 concurrent players, and now averages around 500, according to SteamCharts.

Unless the mobile playerbase was remarkably different, that's low by any standards, never mind for something tied to one of the most beloved games of all time. Red Crystals, the in-game currency, are now already off sale, but you're free to use any you already have until October 6. Story events will remain until the whole thing goes dark as well, giving players a few months to experience anything they haven't already.

Besides retelling the compilation of Final Fantasy 7, there is some original material in the narrative. Sephiroth's backstory gets more fleshed out, thanks to a plotline set 15 years before the original JRPG.

This is frustratingly common practice for Square Enix – see the nebulous lore of Kingdom Hearts – and it's irritating no method of preservation has been forthcoming. The publisher commented recently that it will look at ways of keeping releases 'enjoyable' on a case-by-case basis, which may mean the best we get are official uploads of the cutscenes on YouTube.

In an added wrinkle of irony, a redo of Final Fantasy 7: Before Crisis kicked off in the latest update. Before Crisis is another mobile game, from 2004, which never released outside Japan before it was discontinued in 2018. It focused on the Turks, and it looks like it'll become lost media for the second time. Reno, Rude and the boys just can't catch a break!

You have until October to enjoy this slice of Final Fantasy 7. Then, we go back to waiting for Final Fantasy 7 Revelation.

Final Fantasy 7 Revelation "payoff" will leave you "sobbing," Cloud actor guarantees, even "if you haven't cried in the first two yet."

There are a few moments strewn across Final Fantasy 7 that seem expressly made to engineer a lump in your throat. So far, the remake trilogy has delivered several of its own, and one of the main voice actors believes that the third part will be the most emotional of the lot.

At KawaCon, Cody Christian, the voice of Cloud Strife for the Final Fantasy 7 redux, gives a little hint of what's to come in the climactic finale of the blockbuster RPG. "There's so much emotionality, there's so much vulnerability," he tells Ally B.

"There are moments in this that if you haven't cried in the first two yet, I guarantee you'll be sobbing in this third one," he adds. That's a rather large claim to make, but then, I'm not expecting much less.

Final Fantasy 7 Revelation will cap off almost a decade's worth of storytelling, after Square Enix took the original JRPG and expanded it in just about every way imaginable. There have been many narrative alterations too, making what happens difficult to predict, leaving those of us who know the source material well vulnerable to having our heartstrings played just like anyone else.

Christian finishes by saying, "It's a payoff," and it truly will be. Development on this project has been going on for well over a decade by now, and it'll be a seven-year journey once Revelation lands on shelves. Even just having Cloud and Sephiroth face off for the last time is going to feel like the end of an era.

For me, at least, the most bittersweet part will be the epilogue. Nanaki and his cubs looking at an overgrown Midgar hundreds of years later is just such a poetic climax. All things fade, and all things heal, given enough time and energy. It's beautiful. Is it 2027, yet?

Final Fantasy 7 Revelation DLC includes "Story Expansion Pass," according to Epic Games Store database listings

As soon as I saw Final Fantasy Resonance sporting a 2.5D pixel art aesthetic, it instantly shot up in my most-anticipated list for this year. The new spin-off, a sort-of remake of a mobile game, is delivering on the retro-inspired ideals I've been hoping to see from the franchise for some time, and it appears the response to this may decide how quickly we see more of them.

During a question-and-answer section of a recent shareholders meeting, Square Enix responds to an inquiry over the scale of its remakes and remasters. Essentially, could we expect more smaller projects like Resonance, with games that update an older title's visuals but retain traditional combat systems, unlike the huge open-world, action-driven Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy? The answer isn't fully committal in either direction.

"As part of our market-in approach, we engage in trial and error to establish what is best for contemporary customers based on current market needs and trends," the company says, per a transcript. "In doing so, it is extremely important to us that we strike the right balance between our approach and the expectations of players who loved the original works."

This all makes sense – the higher-ups are watching what sells, and what kind of feedback any given release garners. "While specific titles may call for specific mechanics, we will continue our development efforts by assessing what truly resonates within the current market environment for both original titles and new remakes," the answer finishes.

If something is popular, they'll make more of it, seems to be the gist here. Resonance isn't the only game to test the market here, we also had Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles last year, which maintained the isometric visuals of the original.

Square Enix has already embraced the beauty of 2.5D with Dragon Quest, where we've seen several of the early entries be remade in this style. They are gorgeous looking, and seem to have successfully allowed the property to find multiple generations of new fans.

The same could be true for the early Final Fantasy games, while the 17th mainline game and whatever other remakes forge forward in terms of triple-A development. Wouldn't that be nice? I know I'll be picking up Resonance to do my part. Will you?

Square Enix doesn't promise to keep games playable forever, but it will "continue to create pathways" for fans to enjoy them "even after service has ended."

As beloved as the MMO is itself, the Final Fantasy 14 community is certainly no stranger to controversy… especially when it comes to in-game stalking, sadly.

If you've been playing the Square Enix gem for a while, you'll probably recall some of the conversations surrounding stalking over the years. From issues with the built-in blacklist system and complaints about it not being protective enough of users to contention stemming from some, erm, questionable mods that enable harassment, it's not as though there's exactly a shortage of discussion about it – and this continues to be the case.

Most recently, a plug-in (yes, the ever-eternal third-party tool controversy and what have you) known as "Memoria" has taken the limelight as the latest Final Fantasy 14 mod to essentially allow for… well, in-game stalking.

In case you haven't seen ads – or, more likely, posts about the add-on – Memoria's creator described it as a "free" plug-in that "tracks every player you encounter automatically and builds a history over time" on GitHub.

As for what it "remembers," they said, "Memoria captures what the game already exposes to nearby players, then adds public Lodestone data on top." So, think everything from a player's name and world history to their appearance changes and progression.

It's not hard to see why this wouldn't be welcomed by most Warriors of Light, as it tracks everything and lets others see it. Should you want to get away from someone, it becomes virtually impossible.

Players immediately took note of Memoria and shared it on forums like Reddit, calling for the takedown of the mod and attention from Square Enix.

A new stalking plugin emerges, post everywhere to get the devs attention. from r/ffxiv

As one user's post reads, "Plug-in developers will continue to push the line further and further with the development team's lack of action against them. Cheating, botting, harassment, and stalking continue to be amplified with the continued advancement of plug-in development."

The conversations over on Twitter showcased similar worries, with one fan asking, "Why is no one talking about the new stalking plug-in? That thing shows your frequent areas, your character models, and they have now just disabled the fact that they can see your alts?"

They clarify that, as per Memoria's creator, people would have to contact them via Discord to remove their data – not that the modder was very receptive to those requests, either, it's alleged.

Well, thankfully, Memoria is no longer up for download (although it was available for a good few months, seeing as it first went live in April) – but its creator's farewell message isn't any less controversial than the plug-in itself.

"Memoria set out to remember the people you crossed paths with in Eorzea: every sprout you helped, every static that drifted apart, every stranger you could swear you had partied with before," it begins.

"The service is now closed, and all collected player data has been permanently deleted," the takedown notice continues, assuring fans their data isn't up anymore. "To everyone who installed it, tested it, and helped make it better: thank you. You made a solo project feel like a team."

Admittedly, it leaves a bit of a sour taste in my mouth, too – as much as I'd like to think the mod came about with good intentions, the implications are hard to ignore here, regardless of what its creator had in mind.

As the player sharing the post from Memoria's creator puts it, the add-on "infringed on people's privacy and could've caused a lot of potential harm with its location tracker."

It's a tale as old as time with Final Fantasy 14 at this point, sadly, and I'm sure it'll continue to be so long as plug-ins exist. It'd be nice for Square Enix to crack down on problematic mods like Memoria more hastily in the future.

With new Final Fantasy 14 expansion Evercold also approaching, the topic of stalking and blacklist functions is sure to come up again – here's hoping the devs are prepared.

Final Fantasy 14 devs pulled off the best relaunch "in the history of video games," Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 lead says.

Game preservation is a hot topic right now, on the back of Sony's decision to end physical discs for new PlayStation games come 2028. It came up during a recent shareholders' meeting at Square Enix, where the company stated it has ways and means of keeping releases available to some extent, even if they aren't necessarily what fans would like.

A questioner raised how, although Square Enix is publishing a lot of remakes and such at the moment, much of the original software is unavailable on modern systems. Likewise, a number of live-service and phone-only games, which are often very difficult to preserve meaningfully without publisher help, have been shut down. The question finished by asking what the general policy is towards keeping media available.

"How we enable customers to enjoy a game after service has ended depends on the nature of a title," Square Enix's response starts. "For instance, for the Nier series, we share information through official livestreams. For other titles, we preserve cutscenes on video streaming platforms."

Square Enix then gives a broad platitude about finding ways to maintain availability. "We will continue to create pathways befitting each title to ensure that players are able to enjoy them even after service has ended or the story has reached its end," the answer finishes.

To be blunt, as nice as it is that cutscenes are uploaded to YouTube, I don't believe this constitutes a meaningful effort when compared to making the actual game playable. Even for Nier, a huge series that's been involved in a long list of crossovers, you can only get the remastered first entry on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S or PC, not the original.

There are multiple other examples here. Kingdom Hearts itself is littered with them. The Game Boy Advance version of Chain of Memories is still relegated to those cartridges, as only Re:Chain of Memories, the PlayStation 2 remake, was included in 1.5 Remix.

Two entries in the franchise, 358/2 Days and the mobile game X, are only included in the Kingdom Hearts collections as extended films stitched together from their cutscenes. There are allowances here, since 358/2 is a DS release, making it difficult to port anywhere else, but given the evidence that Kingdom Hearts 4's first trailer directly references X, there's room for improvement in making sure fans can go back to these games.

As the industry pushes towards digital distribution, it's important to remind companies like Square Enix that preservation and physical media matter. Buy discs where you can, and where you can't, don't be afraid to demand the option. Your favorite game's future may depend on it.

Just one generation ago, PlayStation couldn't shut up about how great physical games are: "Keep it forever."

It's no secret that Final Fantasy 14 had one of the biggest comebacks of any MMO (heck, any game) when director Naoki "Yoshi-P" Yoshida stepped in for A Realm Reborn – even Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 lead Guillaume Broche thinks so.

The RPG's creative director says as much in a new episode of Video Game Club via Konbini on YouTube (below), first saying that Final Fantasy 14 is "in the top three games I've played the most in my life."

He then recalls A Realm Reborn, and how "Square Enix pulled off the best thing in the history of video games when it comes to relaunching a game." Broche explains why he thinks so, going over how the MMO's developers did it.

"Basically, they released a first version, and it was a disaster. Everyone was playing it, and it was terrible. And what they did was, after a year, they released an in-game cutscene showing the end of the world. An eight-minute cutscene with Bahamut arriving and blowing up the world."

Indeed, they did – I still go back and watch that scene online myself. The public chat was filled with countdowns and excitement… there's nothing quite like it.

Broche agrees, saying "everyone had seen that cutscene" – even folks who had never actually played the game. That didn't stop them from asking, "'What's going on at Square Enix?'" Then came A Realm Reborn.

"They relaunched it a year later," as the Clair: Obscur Expedition 33 lead puts it. "They reworked everything, relaunched the game, and it was truly exceptional. So it's still a huge hit today." That it is.

I'm a hardened Warrior of Light myself, and I'm still not done with the MMO after pouring in thousands of hours – nor will I be any time soon, with new expansion Evercold underway.

"Rebuilding an MMO in one year – I don't know how they did it. It's impossible," Broche continues. "To do that, and then, after a year, relaunch it and have it work. I think that's just too good to be true."

Perhaps my affinity for the game has to do with how Square Enix takes "more creative risks," in the words of Broche, but he's certainly right about one thing: "The game is exceptional. It still has its expansions, and there's still a super active community."

He praises everything from its music (massive shoutout to Masayoshi Soken) to its bosses, amusingly even admitting he played as a Lalafell – which I can't get over, honestly.

Should you be a Final Fantasy 14 fan yourself, I'd genuinely suggest giving the interview with the Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 director a deeper watch for more.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 lead says Zelda: Breath of the Wild was "the first open-world game that actually delivered on the promise of an open world."

Final Fantasy 14 heads to the new Evercold expansion having walked a bumpy road. Things like story and content rollout have needed some improvements on the fly, though plenty of the combat encounters have felt like the MMO at its best.

As such, given the opportunity to ask assistant director Tsuyoshi Yokozawa a few questions about The Arcadian series over email ahead of Final Fantasy 14's Anaheim edition of Fan Fest, how could we refuse?

We put forward questions about how the eight-player raid series for Dawntrail came to be, what surprised them most when it landed, and what lessons the team is taking on board and into the future. Given the expectation of a new expansion at Fan Fest, we thought the last point to be especially pertinent. You can find the answers below in their entirety, as we received them.

How would you say previous raid tiers and feedback surrounding them influenced the development of the Arcadion series?

Tsuyoshi Yokozawa: Thank you for your question.

Our experience from previous raid series, along with feedback from players, played a very important role in the design philosophy of the Arcadion.

In previous series, especially at the time of Pandæmonium, our emphasis was on a policy of comprehensively ensuring player comfort and stress reduction.

This approach did help make content more accessible, but at the same time, by pursuing that philosophy so rigorously, there were moments where it unintentionally limited our ability to explore more creative ideas when planning mechanics and theatrics. We also moved towards designs that reduced the possibility of mistakes – for example, by increasing hitbox sizes. However, as that approach continued, we began to see a new challenge emerge; there was less room for individual players to demonstrate their true abilities, resulting in a heightened sensation of "going through the motions" when tackling the fight. To break through these challenges, we decided that with the Arcadion, we would return to the mindset we had during the Heavensward era.

This entailed not being bound by convenience alone, but rather focused first and foremost on "novel experiences and surprises", approaching encounter design with a freer, more flexible perspective. At the same time, we placed importance on striking a balance, where overcoming moderate challenges would deliver a strong sense of achievement. As a result, I believe we were able to create exciting battles filled with new surprises, and that led to positive feedback from many players.

How did the team find balancing mechanics between the Normal tier and the Savage tier of Arcadion, to meet the expectations of both casual players and fans looking forward to each new set of hardcore raids?

Yokozawa: Adjusting the difficulty level so that a wide range of players can enjoy the raid is always a great challenge for us.

The basic idea is to meet the expectations of different target groups at the same time, so right from the design stage – serving as the foundation of the battle – we intentionally incorporate some mechanics that can be expanded on with additional elements, with the Savage tier in mind.

The Normal raid allows players to experience the basic movements of the encounter. Then in Savage, we build on that foundation by layering in more complex decision-making and stricter, more demanding reactions, allowing us to deliver a level of challenge that feels appropriate for each group of players.

That said, because this series was designed with novelty and surprise as the top priority, there were many instances where we could not significantly change the core flow between the Normal and Savage encounters.

Finding the right way to clearly differentiate the difficulty—while still maintaining consistency in the core presentation and overall experience—was one of the most challenging aspects for the team.

This was especially true for AAC Cruiserweight M3.

In any raid series, across the series as a whole, we believe it's important for the third encounter to serve as a major "wall" for players to overcome. Therefore, we designed the raid not only in terms of the difficulty of individual mechanics, but also as a "flow of battles" including numerical aspects such as damage values and endurance values, so that players could feel a solid sense of challenge and accomplishment.

The Arcadion is pretty widely praised by the community as one of the best raid tiers to date – why do you think that is, and what sets it apart?

Yokozawa: I believe there are three main reasons why the Arcadion is so highly regarded.

The essence of the Heavensward era and a more free-spirited approach

As I mentioned earlier, a major factor was a return to the design philosophy that prioritized "surprise and novelty", which we pursued at the time of Heavensward.

By building mechanics with a more open, unrestricted mindset, we feel that this approach resonated well with the expectations of today's players.

Cultivation of characters players can grow attached to over time

Rather than treating the bosses simply as one‑off enemies to be defeated, we placed strong emphasis on each character's unique personalities with the goal of creating characters that players could continue to enjoy and appreciate over the long term.

By conveying the backgrounds and appeal of the characters through the battles, I hope the players have developed a deeper attachment to them compared with any bosses from previous raid series.

Unparalleled immersion through live commentary

Another key feature of this series was the introduction of live match commentary, which we feel worked extremely well. The commentary adds a real sense of being part of a live event, as if the players themselves are participating in the match. From a presentation standpoint as well, we're proud to have delivered an experience that stands apart from previous raid series, offering a distinctly heightened level of immersion.

Is there anything the team tried that didn't work in the end?

Yokozawa: With over a decade of experience in battle content development, we have built up a rich array of knowledge about system constraints and what's realistically achievable within the game.

Therefore, we are able to determine to some extent what is feasible and what isn't in the early stages of planning.

Thanks to this accumulated know‑how, it's very rare for us to run into major issues after production has already started that would force us to abandon a plan altogether.

That said, there were a few ideas we explored during the concept phase that ultimately didn't make it into the game. For example, we had several stage transformation ideas for AAC Cruiserweight M2; visually dynamic ideas such as a transition to a fantasy-style sea of trees with fairies and mysterious mushrooms or shifting to night and a meteor shower falling across the arena.

Additionally, for the Neo Bombarian Special in AAC Cruiserweight M3, we had considered different theatrics in the early drafts of the plan. Specifically, buildings collapsing on impact would get hooked onto other structures like bridges, and the players would actually cross over them as pathways.

However, this brought up a number of game design challenges, such as making movement across those structures feel enjoyable as a gameplay element, and the difficulty of arranging the buildings in a way that wouldn't feel unnatural as actual architectural structures, which ultimately led us to settle on the current form.

In Final Fantasy 14, there are also inherent system limitations when it comes to dynamically moving collision elements, so we look for ways to maximize what we can achieve within those constraints.

What have you learned from the Arcadion and feedback from fans for the series that you think you might potentially carry over to the next tier?

Yokozawa: Our experience with the Arcadion has served as a firm guideline for our future battle content development.

Although some of the points below overlap with what I mentioned before, we would like to strongly carry over the following three points in particular into the next raid series:

Pursuit of unique experiences without fear of risk

What this series has reaffirmed for me is that surprise and novelty are at the very heart of what makes content truly entertaining.

Rather than taking a more conservative approach by prioritizing convenience and efficiency, I would like us to continue to challenge ourselves with free thinking, prioritizing "unprecedented experiences", even if it entails some degree of risk and resources.

Creation of boss characters that players can genuinely connect with

One of the great responses we got with the Arcadion was the very enthusiastic support from the community for the boss characters.

Instead of having them exist purely as enemies to defeat, we want to further emphasize portraying their individuality, background, and personality through the battles themselves—so that they can be appreciated and loved as characters over the long term. This is something we plan to place even greater importance on in the next series.

Designing gameplay that allows for flexible problem-solving

Rather than forcing players to utilize a specific strategy, we value leaving in room for players to approach situations in their own way, using their creativity and judgment to overcome challenges.

At the same time, while we will continue to include mechanics where mistakes can lead directly to a full wipe, we want to be more deliberate about where those moments occur. By expanding the opportunities for recovery—through tools like healing, resurrection, and limit breaks—we aim to enhance both the excitement of progression and the sense of accomplishment that comes from overcoming difficult situations through players' own resourcefulness.

Just for fun, which boss was your favorite to design (and see fans go up against)?

Yokozawa: When it comes to my favorite boss, this does lean quite a bit into my personal preference, but I would have to say Honey B. Lovely! She has a profound sense of professionalism as an idol, and I respect that unwavering professionalism first of all.

Naturally, as a professional, she should be able to play the role of a cute idol, but in the middle of a battle, she'd inevitably end up showing her true colours, no longer being able to contain the boiling rage that bursts out... It's that intense contrast that I find so compelling. It feels like her inescapable "human side" really comes through in those moments, and that gap between her composed persona and her true emotions is what makes her so memorable for me.

In addition, all the elements, such as the mechanics and music tied to the character design, are perfectly matched, and I feel that the raid was completed to a very high level of polish as a single duty.

The most memorable part about the raids was when I saw the players take on the Lindwurm in the latter half of AAC Heavyweight M4 (Savage). The Development team was thrilled to see how the community would figure out the mechanic, which was difficult to grasp from the setting.

In the end, players were able to come up with efficient solutions far earlier than we had anticipated, and we were once again impressed by just how adaptable and resourceful the community can be.

Also, although not a boss, it is yan who is strongly etched in my personal memory.

I designed the framework of the battle myself in AAC Cruiserweight M2 (Savage), and the trial and error involved in its creation made yan very memorable, for better or worse.

One final fun one – as the Arcadion series is wrestling themed, which wrestler in real life do you think would make a good raid boss?

Yokozawa: It's precisely because the raid series deals with a very passionate theme of wrestling that my imagination runs wild thinking about the answer to this.

I'm a little afraid to mention real-life wrestlers, because I'm worried I might come across as rude...

That said, looking at types we didn't feature in the Arcadion, wrestlers like 'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt and The Great Muta, who have a very clear duality as characters, are very appealing to me.

As a designer, being able to dramatically shift the atmosphere and even the "feel" of the gameplay within a single fight has a lot of creative potential, and I'm confident we could create something really engaging and rewarding with that kind of concept.

Next, as a baby-faced female wrestler, Bianca Belair would also make an interesting design.

In particular, the attack of using her hair as a whip can very easily be imagined as a battle mechanic for the raid.

(Truth be told though, it is very difficult to actually reproduce the smooth movement of a whip in FF14, but allow me to answer without feasibility factored into the equation!)

Anything else to add?

Yokozawa: Thank you so much for enjoying the Arcadion and for sharing so much warm and thoughtful feedback with us.

We always take our players' voices seriously, and we're committed to creating battles that deliver both excitement and a strong sense of accomplishment.

Of course, we have much to learn from missteps and areas where we reflect and

Improve – but we take all of that forward as motivation to keep delivering experiences that can only be found in FF14.

I look forward to seeing you all on the battlefield in the next challenge. We hope you will continue to look forward to FF14's battle content in the future!

What's the best MMO for you? If it isn't Final Fantasy 14, chances are you'll find it on this list. Maybe.

With Final Fantasy 14 expansion Evercold underway, it's hard for us raiders not to consider what the 8.0 tier might look like – after all, Dawntrail's own Arcadion arguably stands as one of the best the MMO has seen to date.

Just why is it so good, though? Dawntrail as a whole left many players disappointed, after all, teetering back and forth from "Mostly Negative" reviews on Steam since its release – but its raid series, the Arcadion, never met that sort of poor reception itself.

I got to ask assistant director Tsuyoshi Yokozawa about this, questioning what Square Enix had learned from its past tiers… and how it implemented this knowledge into the Arcadion.

"Our experience from previous raid series, along with feedback from players, played a very important role in the design philosophy of the Arcadion," he tells me. "In previous series, especially at the time of Pandæmonium, our emphasis was on a policy of comprehensively ensuring player comfort and stress reduction. This approach did help make content more accessible," but it also limited developers' ability to "explore more creative ideas."

They saw another problem there, too. As Yokozawa says, "There was less room for individual players to demonstrate their true abilities, resulting in a heightened sensation of 'going through the motions' when tackling the fight. To break through these challenges, we decided that with the Arcadion, we would return to the mindset we had during the Heavensward era."

That's right – the Alexander era. I love it, you probably love it, many fans love it. I've even got a soft spot in my heart for the more recent Ultimate.

If you're newer to the MMO, you might be wondering what he means here, however. He explains: "This entailed not being bound by convenience alone, but rather focused first and foremost on 'novel experiences and surprises,' approaching encounter design with a freer, more flexible perspective."

Square Enix also "placed importance on striking a balance, where overcoming moderate challenges would deliver a strong sense of achievement."

That's why the lead thinks the team was "able to create exciting battles filled with new surprises" out of the Arcadion – "and that led to positive feedback from many players."

It certainly did. I, for one, see it as one of the best Savage (and Normal, honestly) tiers. The Arcadion is up there with the Alexander raids in terms of novelty, coming as a much-needed breath of fresh air amid Dawntrail's other content.

Yokozawa stresses this once more, describing the Arcadion as "a return to the design philosophy that prioritized 'surprise and novelty,' which we pursued at the time of Heavensward."

He concludes that, "By building mechanics with a more open, unrestricted mindset, we feel that this approach resonated well with the expectations of today's players." I'd say he's most definitely not wrong here.

Across discussions on forums online, you'll see people praising the Arcadion as a top-tier… well, tier. Heck, you'll even find folks noting that it's as boundary-pushing as Heavensward's raid series was. I'm just hopeful Evercold's will prove similarly brilliant.

Final Fantasy 14 Evercold raids follow The Arcadion's lead as the MMO's assistant director teases they'll value "surprise and novelty" over "convenience and efficiency."

Final Fantasy 14 expansion Evercold is on its way, so it's a great time to take a step back and look at what might just be one of the best raid tiers the MMO has seen to date: the Arcadion.

It's no secret that Dawntrail, as an expansion, left many of us a bit disappointed – I mean, they can't all be Shadowbringers, am I right? It has dipped in and out of a "Mostly Negative" rating on Steam (now sitting at "Mixed" reviews overall). But, still, it didn't go wrong in every delivery.

In fact, its raid series, the Arcadion, is widely regarded as one of the greatest… both for casual players and hardcore fans tackling the Savages.

As a dedicated raider myself, I'm interested to see what Evercold's own raids might bring – and what Square Enix learned from the Arcadion's solid reception. So I ask assistant director Tsuyoshi Yokozawa during a recent interview what the developers are considering carrying over into the next tier.

"Our experience with the Arcadion has served as a firm guideline for our future battle content development," he tells me… which, yeah, makes a lot of sense.

"We would like to strongly carry over the following three points in particular into the next raid series." The first is the "pursuit of unique experiences without fear of risk" – something I'm certainly a fan of.

"What this series has reaffirmed for me is that surprise and novelty are at the very heart of what makes content truly entertaining," Yokozawa explains. This means risk-taking while battle planning and "'prioritizing unprecedented experiences.'"

This might cost more resources, but it's clearly worked with the Arcadion. I don't think I'll soon forget the fight designs from Dawntrail's high-tier raiding, and I'm ready for more of that. I'm also ready for more of the lead's next point – the "creation of boss characters that players can genuinely connect with."

Is he low-key talking about Honey B. Lovely here and how she became a community icon? I'd like to think so.

"Instead of having them exist purely as enemies to defeat, we want to further emphasize portraying their individuality, background, and personality through the battles themselves," continues Yokozawa on raid bosses, "so that they can be appreciated and loved as characters over the long term." This approach is something Square Enix plans "to place even greater importance on" in Evercold.

The third point the assistant director brings up might have a greater effect on us hardcore raiders than anyone else: "designing gameplay that allows for flexible problem-solving."

According to Yokozawa, "Rather than forcing players to utilize a specific strategy, we value leaving in room for players to approach situations in their own way, using their creativity and judgment to overcome challenges." Comparing different statics' clears proves his point, honestly.

Square Enix "will continue to include mechanics where mistakes can lead directly to a full wipe," but the devs "want to be more deliberate about where those moments occur."

They'll do this "by expanding the opportunities for recovery" – think limit breaks, healing, and rezzes. It's all about the feeling "overcoming difficult situations through players' own resourcefulness" gives us as raiders, and I get it.

Just think about how much better a kill feels when you think you've truly contributed to the static's overall ability to get it – it's a feeling I know well as a healer main. It's nice to see devs acknowledge its power.

As Yokozawa concludes, they "always take our players' voices seriously" and are "committed to creating battles that deliver both excitement and a strong sense of accomplishment." The Arcadion serves as proof.

"Of course, we have much to learn from missteps and areas where we reflect and improve – but we take all of that forward as motivation to keep delivering experiences that can only be found in FF14," he admits, before signing off with a heartfelt message: "I look forward to seeing you all on the battlefield in the next challenge. We hope you will continue to look forward to FF14's battle content in the future!"

I know I already am – my fellow static members definitely are, too. All of these points, along with the upcoming job changes, have me at the edge of my seat.

Final Fantasy 14 fans make their own in-game Tinder, with gil-hungry bunny boys and modded cat girls galore.

For a series all about jumping from one disjointed Disney world to the next (and maybe stopping to chat with Final Fantasy friends in between), Kingdom Hearts 4 has been pretty shy about which movies might be depicted in the upcoming game. But Sora's long-time voice actor and Oscar-nominated child star Haley Joel Osment has had his picks locked down for ages: Star Wars and Marvel.

Kingdom Hearts 4 recently popped out of the shadows with a surprise new trailer earlier this month. Perhaps more surprising than its mere appearance was the omission of any Disney worlds or characters – though, from previous looks at the game, we do know Donald, Goofy, King Mickey, and Hades will appear – which has left the fanbase to speculate wildly off on their own.

Ravenous Kingdom Hearts fans aren't the only ones theory crafting, however. Haley Joel Osment himself took a couple guesses at which Disney properties might show up in the sequel in a 2024 interview with TheMovieDweeb that recently resurfaced thanks to all the Kingdom Hearts 4 hype.

"Now we're linked up with Marvel and Star Wars, right? I don't know if they ever would connect those," Osment said at the time. "That might be a little too complicated, like connecting all that, but you know, I would never put it past them [Square Enix]. It's a bunch of really creative people."

As for his favorite worlds in the series, well, they might surprise you. "We've done a Tron one. I like the Steamboat Willie one," he added, "the animation in that was really cool. So, yeah, all these [worlds] that may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of a Disney video game. I love when they really stretch in that direction. I'm excited to see."

Any deeper cuts seem preferable for the Sora actor, but the recently-reposted clip has now seen fans get involved as well. Comments under the video has droves of people begging for Treasure Planet representation. Oh, how I'd like to shake all your hands! Coco, Zootopia, The Incredibles, and Atlantis are other common suggestions.

In the meantime, the only Kingdom Hearts 4 worlds we've seen so far are Quadratum, the life-like city shown off in trailers that's implied to be an afterlife of sorts, and the tiniest glimpse of a green forest with what looks like a Star Wars AT-ST foot stomping about. Endor-coded, much?

Disney now owns so many properties that it's pretty easy to come up with a dream wishlist. Mine would probably include Sora being stalked by a Xenomorph before engaging in an overly long chicken-fight with Peter Griffin.

After voicing Sora in 12 RPGs, Kingdom Hearts actor says maybe "the best thing to do" is let the long-running series end: "Even if you have something that you love."

Have you heard of the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy 14? Well, Deltarune Chapter 5 is trying to spread the word.

Deltarune Chapter 5 continued the game's story with another new and bonkers episode yesterday, but hidden in between its vibrant pixels is an Easter egg with the subtlety of a sledgehammer smashing eggs. Spotted by Redditor MaximumCompany8921, there are some lines in the new chapter that not-so-quietly nod at Square Enix's evergreen hit.

FFXIV nod in Deltarune Ch5 from r/ffxiv

"There's some drawing by Temmi of her with an additional set of ears)", a text bubble reads. "(Seems to be motivating you to play a certain MMORPG...)" - perhaps one with an expanded free trial...

For those who don't know, Temmie is a cat-like character in the shared Undertale/Deltarune universe who's based on one of the real-world artists behind the game, Temmie Chang. Both share a name, and both evidently love Final Fantasy 14.

Real-world Temmie Chang has notably created tons of really cool Final Fantasy 14 fan art over the years - like the one below - primarily of her Miqo'te character who belongs to the feline-humanoid-hybrid race. So, the reference to in-game Temmie's extra pair of ears likely implies that she, too, loves the Miqo'te (unless, I don't know, she bought a pair of bunny ears from the Gold Saucer or something). Very meta.

sketch request thread (ffxiv WoLs only ver)

— @tuyoki.bsky.social (@tuyoki.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-06-25T16:25:58.226Z

Will we ever see what Deltarune Temmie's Miqo'te looks like? Is she excited for Evercold? What class does she main? Our best bet for answers is probably in Deltarune Chapter 6, which is aiming to launch sometime next year according to lead dev Toby Fox.

Deltarune Chapter 5 update stops flirting from freezing the game and makes the final boss easier if you suck

Frequent Final Fantasy developer and Kingdom Hearts co-creator Tetsuya Nomura was actually inspired by a very different type of game when making the transition to three whole dimensions: Super Mario 64.

The iconic character designer and game director says as much in an interview with Famitsu magazine when talking about the games that have had the biggest impact on his career. (Thanks for the translation, Genki!)

"It differs from era to era, but the game that truly shaped my current guiding principle 'to be able to move freely in full 3D' is Super Mario 64 on the Nintendo 64," Nomura says.

Super Mario's very first 3D adventure actually came out a few short months before Final Fantasy 7 made the same transition on the PlayStation 1, but both games handled a new generation in totally different ways.

"At the time, the Final Fantasy game I was working on had also become 3D, but only the characters were 3D data, the backgrounds were made in 3D but rendered as a single image, so it was not yet possible to move around freely in 3D space," he explains. The PS1 Final Fantasies had players moving polygonal characters around pre-rendered, painterly backgrounds, usually from fixed camera angles – as opposed to Super Mario 64, which had a camera following the iconic plumber across entire worlds.

"I felt the sensation of running around freely, like Mario, was the thing that I wanted to create," Nomura notes.

Of course, that free-form movement and fully-realized levels are ideas that eventually showed up in Nomura's next project, Kingdom Hearts on the PlayStation 2, a game that still feels really unique in how it mixed sometimes-wonky action-platformer elements with traditional JRPG progression.

In Kingdom Hearts, you'd have to carefully swing between trees in a world themed after Tarzan or hop around rooftops in Agrabah from Aladdin, but that was in between battles where you'd fling out classic Final Fantasy spells and swing a bulky Keyblade like it was the Buster Sword. It's still a really unique mix even in its own franchise.

The Super Mario 64 inspiration is probably unsurprising, though. Nintendo's first proper foray into 3D platforming is one of the most impact games ever released, and countless games looked to it as the standard from then on.

Despite playing a key role in Final Fantasy 7, JRPG icon Tetsuya Nomura says "Kingdom Hearts has become my life's work."

The Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy intends to pull the entire FF7 story into its gravitational orbit, series director Naoki Hamaguchi says, so expect even more extended universe references and characters and concepts to show up in Final Fantasy 7 Revelation.

"Well, at this time it's best not to say whether Cissnei will appear or not," Naoki Hamaguchi teases at a recent Q&A event in Shanghai when asked about the side character who first appeared in the PSP prequel, Final Fantasy 7: Crisis Core, and then made a surprise reappearance in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. "But there is one thing I can tell you." (Thanks for the translation, Genki.)

"This Final Fantasy 7 Remake series is not simply a recreation of the original work, but rather, our goal is to create a single, new Final Fantasy 7 that incorporates the settings and concepts of all the previous spin-off titles such as Advent Children, Dirge of Cerberus, and Crisis Core," he adds, also pointing to the Dirge of Cerberus characters who pop up in the Intergrade DLC.

"So, since that concept will of course carry over into Revelation as well, not limited to Cissnei, for the last entry, there will be characters that have appeared in the various FF7 compilation games that I think will be there," Hamaguchi says, "and each of these characters has a large and dedicated fanbase, so we want to create a work that can satisfy the feelings of those people."

There you have it – Hamaguchi has previously been a little coy about how heavily Revelation will touch on compilation games, but it's now as good as confirmed.

Cloud and his party's world has expanded greatly in the three decades since their original clash with Sephiroth, as Square Enix has bolted on prequels and sequels and everything in-between to keep its cash cow milking. What's interesting is that Hamaguchi is potentially walking on thorny territory by folding slightly divisive projects into the ongoing remake.

Take PS2 shooter Dirge of Cerberus, a game most people agreed was middling when it came out 20 years ago and a game that hasn't received a big re-evaluation since. Animated sequel film Advent Children didn't fare much better, though it definitely has its fans nowadays.

The Final Fantasy 7 Remake games haven't exactly been strict when (kind of) retelling the original story, however. At least, so far, it seems like the Remake series is more a very liberal, alternate universe sequel to the original game rather than a straight one-to-one copy of it. Hamaguchi's also teased that any potential DLC could involve certain spin-offs, too.

We'll see how deep the references go when Final Fantasy 7 Revelation comes out on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch 2 sometime next year.

Final Fantasy 7 Revelation's portrayal of an "essential" scene from the OG JRPG made game director Naoki Hamaguchi cry in each of his 40 playthroughs.

Final Fantasy 7 Revelation, the third part of the JRPG remake from Square Enix, is sure to be part of many content creators' streams when it releases – but that doesn't mean it'll take away from viewers' own gameplay experiences, according to director Naoki Hamaguchi.

The lead explains as much in a recent interview with 4Gamer, stating that developers need to be careful with RPGs like Final Fantasy so that folks aren't satisfied by merely watching videos or streams – but that's not to say he doesn't approve of streamers and the like.

He's simply taken this into account while designing Final Fantasy 7 Revelation, ensuring it's a unique experience for everyone… every time. When the world is "changing," as Hamaguchi says, devs need to, too – and that means making sure a new title like the third part of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy is suited for both playing and streaming.

He clarifies his take in a follow-up post online, writing, "I fully support streaming culture," stressing once again that he's not opposed to content creation. "But as times change, I believe the way we design games also needs to evolve."

Hamaguchi concludes, "I'm looking forward to seeing how Final Fantasy 7 Revelation is received."

I'm personally excited to see how it goes as well – not only because I can't wait for the game itself, but because I want to see how Square Enix has managed to strike a balance between content creators' ability to host a fun stream or record an immersive video and players' capacity to enjoy the game firsthand themselves.

I don't often watch streams myself, but I do like gameplay videos here and there – and I see where the director is coming from here, honestly.

It's evident that most games weren't exactly designed with content creation or streaming in mind, even if there's been a rise in watching them rather than purchasing them for convenience, so it's intriguing to hear that some devs are taking this into account during production.

I don't think Final Fantasy 7 Revelation would have an issue with sales either way, though – sure, people will watch it… but it's also the third part of a remake trilogy of one of the best JRPGs to date. Something tells me lots of fans will be lining up to buy it.

Final Fantasy 7 Revelation's portrayal of an "essential" scene from the OG JRPG made game director Naoki Hamaguchi cry in each of his 40 playthroughs.

There's a point in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth where rookie Turks operative Elena takes a break from being a whiny firestarter and cools off with a stick of sea salt ice cream – a custardy, aquamarine treat featured throughout the Kingdom Hearts series also made by Square Enix. Reasonable fans therefore assumed Elena's frozen dessert was a sweet self-reference, but Final Fantasy 7 remake trilogy director Naoki Hamaguchi says no. Not at all.

Hamaguchi tells The Gamer in a new interview, "It might be disappointing to hear this, but Elena's ice cream isn't a homage to Kingdom Hearts."

Now, if you've suddenly started to hear a thousand distant howls, know that it isn't the wind. It's the lonely cries of Kingdom Hearts fans around the world realizing the franchise they constantly fret about being dead is more comatose than they first assumed.

Still, Kingdom Hearts is not dead dead. Sure, it would have been lovely to live in the world where Elena's salty ice cream is a sign that Square Enix loves Kingdom Hearts – in which Cloud-like champion Sora gets to shake hands with Donald Duck – just as much as its other children. However, Square Enix has devoted itself to something better than a measly sign. Kingdom Hearts 4 is definitely in production, the developer confirmed earlier this month, seven years after Kingdom Hearts 3 launched.

I understand, though, that it's hard for some people to feel soothed by that fact when there's still no release date for the action RPG in sight. That's too bad, Hamaguchi suggests. He continues to tell The Gamer that Elena's ice cream simply introduces audiences to the popular Japanese "soda-flavored popsicle called Garigari-kun, which we've actually referenced quite a bit during development." This pop has a mascot that's a hungry schoolboy with a concerningly red mouth, and he shoves Gargari-kun's blue, shaved ice filling into the gaping hole.

"As such, it's closer to say we were envisioning a slightly nostalgic popsicle, reminiscent of the summer," Hamaguchi concludes. Right. Well, now that I've stopped looking at the Gargari-kun mascot's gigantic, hypnotic mouth, I'm thinking you could also say that Kingdom Hearts – whose first installment released in 2002 – is also a slightly nostalgic confection, right?

Final Fantasy 14 boss Yoshi-P has "many game ideas" tucked away that he'd like to do something with, one being a "game design that combines AI and servers."

As the wait for new Final Fantasy 14 expansion Evercold drags on, the MMO's community is finding fresh ways to spice its time in Eorzea up… including via a Tinder-like add-on.

Yes, you read that correctly. We can all try and score our very own Limsa baddies in-game (a girl can dream, right?) thanks to AetherLove – a Dalamud plug-in that adds matchmaking to Final Fantasy 14.

I'm not promoting third-party tools or anything here, but should you be intrigued by the concept, AetherLove apparently functions much like Tinder does… albeit in-game, of course. It's all contained within a convenient mobile (tomestone) window.

All you need to do is set up your profile – you know, include all of the essentials like your favorite music and Final Fantasy character – and et voilà! You can swipe left or right on fellow Warriors of Light, depending on how you feel about their Miqo'tes and what have you.

Do be warned, you'll see a lot of modded outfits (and perhaps more NSFW gpose pictures than you've bargained for). In other words, AetherLove is exactly what it sounds like.

As one might expect, fans are already going wild over the unofficial Final Fantasy 14 Tinder equivalent. It's Lovebringer all over again, except now as a handy add-on – and I can't get enough of the chatter online (and admittedly, in my own Free Company chat) about it.

Heck, just take a peek over at X for AetherLove profile screenshots, ratings, and, of course, drama. It wouldn't be Final Fantasy 14 without some drama, eh?

From the bunny boys looking for sugar mommas to the cat girls seeking their one true love, it's all certainly something to behold. Just how long will it last before Square Enix cracks down on it, Mare Synchronos-style, though?

I do hope it stays up at least a bit longer so that I can continue browsing through the chaos on social media, if I'm honest… but I'm not brave enough to dip my toes into AetherLove's digital dating myself.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have amusing screenshots to share among my FC pals – and various new AetherLove profiles to judge.

Final Fantasy 14 boss Yoshi-P has "many game ideas" tucked away that he'd like to do something with, one being a "game design that combines AI and servers"

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth director Naoki Hamaguchi says that "the presence of diverse, authentic relationships" like the JRPG's same-sex couples help enhance the "realism" of the game's world, and he and the other devs at Square Enix were "incredibly happy" to see fans "paying close attention even to these subtle interactions."

If you watch and listen to the NPCs populating Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's world, you'll have no doubt noticed that there are multiple references to queer romance and relationships – whether it's a man talking about his "dashing" new partner as a friend congratulates him for finding "the one," or a woman asking a female friend if she'd consider dating her after she declares that she's "over men in general."

In an interview with TheGamer, Hamaguchi is asked about one specific pair of women whose relationship evolves throughout the JRPG – the one that starts with a slap fight in Kalm. "To us, what matters is the feeling of a diverse group of people inhabiting this world in an authentic manner," he says. "Rebirth is a game where you encounter many towns, cultures, and relationships throughout your journey. In my view, the presence of diverse, authentic relationships within that journey also enhances the world's realism.

"As such, it feels closer to say that even for these two characters, our goal wasn't to add a same-sex couple just for the sake of adding it, but to portray the stories of those inhabiting this world with sincerity and care," he continues. "In truth, it made us incredibly happy as the development team to see players paying close attention even to these subtle interactions and shifts in relationships."

It's nice to hear, and Hamaguchi has clearly been watching fan reaction closely, as he adds: "My impression is that players also pay close attention to not only whether these depictions are there, but also their detailed nuances, like the emotional distance and conversational tone between characters."

He reiterates Square Enix's aim to create a diverse, realistic world, and notes that "the presence of these relationships didn't feel like a distinct depiction for us, but rather a result of building FF7's world in an authentic way."

With that in mind, it sounds like we can probably expect more cute queer references like this in Final Fantasy 7 Revelation when it launches next year. We already know that it's going to have a "far bigger" open-world map than Rebirth, after all, so it'll be able to house plenty of NPCs for us to meet.

Final Fantasy 7 Revelation's portrayal of an "essential" scene from the OG JRPG made game director Naoki Hamaguchi cry in each of his 40 playthroughs.

Following accusations of Square Enix using AI-generated (or, well, AI-assisted) art on its cover for the Kingdom Hearts Collection, it seems some retailers have received a different version to swap the original one out for.

Kingdom Hearts fans have had quite a month after a surprise Nintendo Direct finally dropped news on Kingdom Hearts 4 and unveiled a nice bundle of the original three games coming to console (no more crappy cloud downloads, yippee): the Kingdom Hearts Collection.

The set itself is exciting, but its reveal was dampened a bit as eagle-eyed fans spotted the cover art outside of Japan looked a whole lot like it had been at least partially AI-generated.

There are various threads on the allegations online, with folks pointing out Donald's odd fingers, Sora's shoe, and much more as potential indicators that Square Enix used AI to touch up its initial cover art – cover art that the Japanese Collection always boasted.

Now, though, it appears that the supposed AI-assisted version is being pulled from retailers' advertisements and replaced with the one used in Japan.

🧵THREAD - The AI-Assisted Kingdom Hearts Cover 🧵So, this cover have been pointed out for being ai-generated. Yeah it's shit. BUT after I did some dig in, it's actually kinda more complicated than this. So let me expand on this 👇

— @kahene.bsky.social (@kahene.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-06-22T10:13:53.652Z

Have a quick peek at Amazon, for example – the Kingdom Hearts Collection's cover art is no longer the strange overseas version… It's the OG. Not every retailer has updated its listing for the bundle yet, however.

You're still able to find the copy that fans believe was run through an AI generator over on GAME, for instance. Heck, it's still up on the actual official Square Enix storefront, a place you'd likely expect it to have been changed first.

It is important to note that Square Enix hasn't actually responded to any of the allegations floating about the web itself, seemingly opting to just quietly swap out the problematic cover art for its non-controversial version.

There's no telling whether the company plans to address the debacle publicly as of now, but hey – at least it's making changes… because let's face it, Donald Duck just doesn't look right, does he?

Searching for something else to wishlist? Here are the best new games coming this year and beyond to look forward to.

Final Fantasy 7 Revelation director Naoki Hamaguchi may have beaten the upcoming RPG around 40 times already, but there's one scene that still manages to make him cry each time.

Following the long-awaited reveal of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy's third part, Hamaguchi has been doing the media rounds to keep up the excitement ahead of its launch next spring.

He's not been shy in flexing how many times he's been able to finish the RPG before we even knew what it's called, but now he's revealed that there's one scene that still brings him to tears each time he watches it. Naturally, he can't wait for everyone to see it.

"There's this scene that's quite essential to the story of Final Fantasy 7 where Cloud goes into a moment of introspection and discovers his identity, and how it fits with Zack and Aerith," he says to Omlette. "I think the way we portrayed that in Revelation turned out very well, and we're eager for fans to see it.

"I've finished Revelation about 40 times, and every time that introspective scene with Cloud made me cry."

Adding to this on Twitter, Hamaguchi says that it's a "key scene from the original" that's "related to Cloud's identity." He also calls it "one of the most memorable experiences in FF7 Revelation."

Thinking it over myself, I wonder if he's referring to a scene at Fort Condor where Tifa and Cloud fall into the Lifestream, leading to the former piecing together the latter's memories. It's a big moment for Cloud in remembering who he is, though, naturally, I'm sure Final Fantasy 7 Revelation will add some extra bits – Hamaguchi talking about Aerith and Zack implies as much.

But anyway, that's just a theory. We will, of course, have to wait until next Spring to find out. Thankfully, that's not too far away.

Final Fantasy 7 Revelation director says streamers have caused "a bit of a crisis" for RPGs, and it's up to devs to make sure fans actually want to play a game themselves.

I already own the Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster on the PS Vita, the PS3, the PS4, and of course, both original games on the PS2, so you'd assume that I've had my fill of Spira. However, this new Switch 2 release launching on July 27 for $43 at Amazon Japan is calling my name, as it includes a unique slipcover featuring new 25th Anniversary commemorative artwork. The catch? I'm going to have to import it to add it to my collection.

I've done that before and managed to miraculously spare myself from any hidden customs fees. However, that was the exception and not the rule, and I'll need to come to terms with the fact that adding this version to my Switch 2 game shelf, as it's not available yet in the US or UK physically, will likely require parting with some more of my hard-earned Gil. However, I'm prepared to do just that to add the stunning and unique artwork to my collection.

The stunning artwork in question isn't just found on this unique Switch 2 release alone, as the official Final Fantasy X 25th Anniversary website showcases the gorgeous illustration of Tidus and Yuna on a range of new merch, including a set of Final Fantasy TCG Card Sleeves, and I have my eyes on those, too. It's just nice to see new depictions of my favorite Final Fantasy couple besides the blue-toned art that was used when the Final Fantasy X / X-2 HD Remasters were originally released in 2014. Though that art does appear to be used on one slide of the special included sleeve.

Sure, the new 25th depiction of Tidus and Yuna is just printed on what appears to be a cardboard sleeve for a game I already own, and the game itself is a game-key card release and is not fully available on the cartridge provided. According to the official producer page, I'll still need 30GB of space on my handheld to actually download and replay the two games again. However, that hasn't stopped my collecting mindset from wanting to grab this version while I can, and fortunately, I already have an Amazon Japan account to do just that.

If you want to do the same, be aware that shipping and customs fees may be a factor. You're also very unlikely to get your copy on the August 27 release day, as it'll need time to ship from Japan to the US (or the UK). Yet, having an Amazon Japan account, particularly if you're a Final Fantasy fan, can be pretty handy as it's regularly one of the first places where a ton of collectibles, like the Final Fantasy Ultimania books, are printed.

It can also be one of the rare places where some merch and limited game versions are available at all. For example, besides this limited version of Final Fantasy X / X-2 HD Remaster on the Switch 2, the Final Fantasy X 25th Anniversary Visual Art Book is available to pre-order for $17.56 (Amazon), which I have yet to find at US or UK retailers.

If you're on the hunt to add more physical Switch 2 games to your shelf, do remember that Nintendo Switch Prime Day deals are on their way. Bezos HQ has already dropped the prices of both full-on-cart and game-key card releases, so there's bound to be plenty more where that came from once Amazon Prime Day officially kicks off on July 23.

• View all Switch 2 gaming deals at Amazon

Check out our guides to the best Nintendo Switch 2 cases, the best Nintendo Switch headsets, and the best Nintendo Switch 2 controllers if you're looking to create the ultimate Ninty gaming setup.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles has received a new update that brings New Game+ and more. Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.

The news was revealed by the OG game creator, Yasumi Matsuno, on Twitter, who simply says, "To provide a more enjoyable gameplay experience, we have released a new update."

So, what are you getting? The headline feature is New Game+, which allows you to start a fresh save with unit levels, item data, and "more" carried over from a completed playthrough.

Aside from that, there are other neat quality-of-life features, like the Zodiac Compatibility function, which lets you view a unit's zodiac sign and compatibility on its status screen. It's all in the same, I suppose.

Aside from that, you're looking at adjustments that make it easier to remove all of a unit's equipment or check an enemy's status mid-battle. One neat change is that the unlock conditions for classes you haven't got yet are more clearly laid out, which may mean less time putting the game down and heading to Google – or whatever search platform you prefer.

You can read the patch notes in full over on Steam. All in all, though, a neat offering that's tempting me back for another run. It isn't immediately clear if New Game+ will scale enemies to your level or allow you to one-shot them like the all-powerful kupo that you are. Either way, it looks like I'll be returning to one of the best Final Fantasy games once more.

Final Fantasy Tactics beat Pokemon when the Mewgenics creators were trying to figure out how combat should work: "One has depth, and the other has the illusion of depth."

The director of Final Fantasy Resonance says that turn-based RPGs are hitting the mainstream once more because that's the sort of combat the people making games these days grew up with, and you only need to look as far as Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 for proof.

Following Final Fantasy Resonance's big reveal at last week's Nintendo Direct, some of the game's developers are doing the media rounds to keep the excitement coming. Naturally, as the JRPG is quite the throwback, some of the conversations center on what's old becoming new again. One half of that is how an HD-2D art style puts a modern shine on a nostalgic art style, though the other half comes down to turn-based combat.

Speaking to IGN about the latter, Final Fantasy Resonance director Hiroto Furuya is asked about the resurgence of turn-based combat in RPGs. Atlus has long been holding the fort with the likes of Persona, sure, but Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Baldur's Gate 3 have swept enough awards between them to make turn-based feel trendier from a triple-A perspective than it has been in a hot minute.

For Furuya, the reason we're seeing more turn-based goodness isn't mere development trends, but because developers are putting a spin on what they grew up with.

"I feel like a lot of us creators who had grown up playing turn-based games are now creating games ourselves," he explains. "It feels like there's this general movement towards revisiting and potentially reassessing or reworking some of the experiences we personally had when we were younger."

He adds: "When we're talking about Clair Obscur, I believe they are creators who grew up playing JRPGs."

Furuya then says that this kind of relationship with your inspirations isn't unique to games, and is the sort of thing we're also seeing in anime, manga, and beyond.

"Creators are now revisiting past projects, remaking them, and reimagining them," he says. "That's also potentially a factor that contributes to this kind of resurgence that we're seeing right now."

While it's important to say upfront that turn-based combat never went anywhere – Persona continues to do just fine – some of the triple-A developers you see at places like Square Enix have gradually shifted to real-time under the idea of 'modernizing' what they offer in flagship titles to reach a broader audience.

Obviously, the recent success of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Baldur's Gate 3 shows you don't have to emulate the likes of The Witcher 3. It's also worth shouting out the many excellent indies like Deltarune and Sea of Stars, also finding success. Heck, Team Asano – the developers behind Octopath Traveler and most things you see that are HD-2D – are doing just that under Square Enix's very roof.

What Furuya touches on, though, is why I'm so intrigued by Final Fantasy Resonance. It's by no means a mainline, triple-A Final Fantasy, no, but it does imagine what a mainline Final Fantasy might look like if Square Enix stuck closer to its roots. I have little doubt we're years away from seeing what Final Fantasy 17 will look like, but as Furuya mentions, the ongoing resurgence of turn-based combat and fans of old-school JRPGs now creating games paint an interesting picture of where things might go. Let a man dream.

"Too good to become unplayable": Final Fantasy Resonance exists because a JRPG veteran was "frustrated" players ignored their game the first time.

Nobody—not even Vincent voice actor Matt Mercer—mentioned just how massive Final Fantasy 7 Revelation's open world will be while on stage during the Summer Game Fest stream. But, according to a new interview with director Naoki Hamaguchi, we now have an idea of how huge it's going to be.

Not only will Final Fantasy 7 Revelation have loads of new areas we've never been to before, it will also have the entirety of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's open world in there too.

"One thing worth noting is that Final Fantasy 7 Revelation includes all of the continents from Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth," Hamaguchi told Automaton West when asked about the size of the open world.

Because of that, Final Fantasy 7 Revelation's open world will be stuffed with things to do—even in areas you might've seen before. That also suggests the game might be huge when it comes to installing it on your PS5. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth was a whopping 145 GB. Are we about to play a game double the size?

At that point, Square Enix might as well throw a hard drive into the box and sell it as a bundle. I fear for the Nintendo Switch 2 players out there who already spent most of their money on Mario Kart World: They might be stuck saving up for a beefy microSD card before they can jump in.

Let's all pray that storage prices go down before spring 2027 when Final Fantasy 7 Revelation is supposed to come out. And that's to say nothing of the amount of time you'll need to play mini-games and battle monsters as you chase down Sephiroth. No wonder we have to wait another entire year before we can get our hands on it. Square Enix is about to break the record for the most Final Fantasy in one game.

Final Fantasy 7 Revelation battle system has been "perfected", Square Enix claims, as it closes out its RPG trilogy

Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Rebirth's combat was already slick, but Square Enix is calling Final Fantasy 7 Revelation's iteration "perfected" at this year's Summer Game Fest.

Remake hit the gas on the turn-based combat that the original Final Fantasy 7 had, giving you direct control over your squad as you take on monsters and Shinra lackeys. In a clever nod to the OG system, it also let you pause combat and queue up attacks to setup powerful combos.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth pushed it forward with several small tweaks and a new ability to pair characters together to unleash devastating synergy attacks. Next year, Final Fantasy 7 Revelation will add the ability to change how each character is played through a "FIT" system where different outfits determine their skills. Tifa, for example, can put on some robes and ignite enemies as a black mage.

Cid and Vincent will join the party, and both look like fun characters to build a strategy around. Vincent can transform into a violent beast and pick up Cid to let him smash enemies with his polearm out of harm's way. The addition of these two alone suggests Final Fantasy 7 Revelation's combat will get even faster than it was in Rebirth, and it might demand a little more finesse as you face off against new monsters and eventually Sephiroth.

Square Enix stopped short of going into full detail on all the changes to the combat system, but I'm sure we'll hear more as the game gets closer to release. Everything it showed was mighty impressive, speaking as someone who hasn't gotten around to Rebirth yet. I've got time to dig into it: Final Fantasy 7 Revelations won't be out until spring 2027.

Final Fantasy 7 Revelation brings the JRPG remake trilogy to a close in 2027, and yes, it's "launching simultaneously on all platforms

It's official – three years after Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince, Square Enix is gracing us with a brand-new entry in its Pokemon-like spin-off RPG series.

Dubbed The Withered World, the new title was unveiled during today's short update from the Dragon Quest team on YouTube – the very same update that saw Dragon Quest 12 Beyond Dreams, previously titled The Flames of Fate, revealed.

It's the first entry in the Dragon Quest Monsters line we've seen since The Dark Prince arrived in 2023, and it's likely to feature the same 'mon wrangling action as before.

Although Square Enix doesn't highlight any actual gameplay, the teaser shows a variety of monsters running, flying, and scampering toward the viewer – and it all, of course, is in the iconic cartoon-y style we know and love Dragon Quest for.

When is Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World set to launch, though? Well, we aren't entirely sure yet, but Square Enix does mention during its little showcase that the developers "hope to release" the spin-off sometime "before" Dragon Quest 12.

As for when 12 itself is coming, only time will tell... fingers crossed, there aren't any new delays in the future, and we see both games soon.

Regardless, folks are already sharing their excitement for The Withered World. As per the comments underneath its short teaser trailer, "Thank God they announced this after that DQ12 announcement. If all we got was news of restarted development, I would've been super disappointed... more Monsters games is always cool."

Other fans hope that it improves upon its predecessor, The Dark Prince – especially in the PvP department. "Dark Prince was a little undercooked; hoping for a big glow up," as one person writes.

Aren't we all, anon? We'll just have to wait and see how Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World plays, I suppose, but I have a feeling it'll be good.

Searching for more to look forward to? Here are the best new games coming this year and beyond to wishlist right now.

Square Enix has announced that Dragon Quest 12: The Flames of Fate is now Dragon Quest 12: Beyond Dreams after the game's development was restarted.

In the Dragon Quest 40th anniversary video, hosted by series creator Yuji Horii and series producer Yosuke Saito, we finally got another look at Dragon Quest 12, five years after it was first announced at the series' 35th anniversary celebration.

Saito explains, "Due to a reshuffle of the team and a restart of development, it's going to be a bit longer till it's in your hands." He adds that "work on the original version, Dragon Quest 12 – The Flames of Fate, hit a lot of hurdles along the way," before saying, "As we kept talking with Mr. Horii and pinned down what a mainline Dragon Quest game should look like, we decided to move things around and start over from scratch."

This was followed by a brief trailer showing a bit of the game in action, with a hero running around a wide open area filled to the brim with iconic monsters like Slimes, Hammerhoods, and Healslimes, alongside some cutscenes showing what are presumably the party members who will be joining them on this quest.

"It's the story of a young hero who is beset by strange visions in their sleep," Horii explains, adding that what lies beyond those dreams is "surely not a world of darkness, but a bright and exciting future." Crucially, Horii adds, "the game has gone in a different direction to the one we originally announced." Dragon Quest 12 was originally set to take the series into darker territory with a bit of a tonal shift, so presumably this refresh puts it more in line with the Dragon Quest people know and love.

Finally, Horii added that Dragon Quest 12, "like every game before it, will come with Akira Toriyama's characters and Koichi Sugiyama's music." Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama passed away in 2024, with series composer Sugiyama passing in 2021, four months after Dragon Quest 12 was announced.

Ahead of Dragon Quest 12 why not check our list of the 10 Best Dragon Quest games of all time, ranked

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The Dragon Quest 40th Anniversary draws near. With four decades to its name, this Square Enix-owned franchise has no shortage of merchandise for fans to collect, including everything from plushies, action figures, and even homeware - and you can bet there's plenty of Slimes to be found across the lot.

You can grab Slime mugs, Slime plushies, and even a Slime model kit so you can create your own. To celebrate the game's big birthday, Square Enix has even created a special 40th anniversary Slime plush. The big, blue guy is wearing a crown and a 40th rosette to celebrate the momentous anniversary that kicks off on May 27 2026, and is expected to release in July later this year.

If the spawn rate for Slime merch is a bit overbearing, don't fret. There are plenty of other toys available, including a Nendoroid figure of Dai from the Dragon Quest The Adventure of Dai anime series, and the Dragon Quest Illustrations artbook featuring a round-up of Akira Toriyama's best art that was released for the last major anniversary. To suit all manner of collections, I've gathered some of the best Dragon Quest merch below. If you don't see something you like, there's bound to be plenty more where they came from once the anniversary celebrations get going.

Check out the best Nintendo gifts and the best Lego sets for more collectibles inspired by the best and longest game franchises.

Like Nintendo with its upcoming Star Fox 64 remake, Square Enix is demonstrating its commitment to 1997 through its delectable Final Fantasy 7 remake trilogy… and that isn't ideal, according to former Square Enix director of business development and current Genvid CEO Jacob Navok. The company will never appeal to fresh, young Genshin Impact players that way.

"What is it going to take to get my kid to care about the brand?" Navok wonders in a new Twitter post discussing Square Enix's failure to capitalize on its Final Fantasy 14 live-service expertise and build an online empire that the little kids with iPad fingers will love. "If we solve that problem we can open up the rest of the opportunity."

"I landed on Disney, Roblox and other partnerships," Navok decides. "You have to be where the young people are. Imagine a Kpop Demon Hunters x Final Fantasy Collab, and how that would draw headlines and interest into the brand." He names Fortnite's Kpop Demon Hunters collaboration mode "Demon Rush" as an example of the "simple tweaks to gameplay, art, and sound" Square Enix could make to entice new fans.

"Yoshida would have been great at pulling this off," the exec muses about Final Fantasy 14 director Naoki Yoshida, who resigned from Square Enix's board of directors in 2025, though he serves as a member of the executive management committee. Considering Yoshida's eagerness to make even tonally dissonant collaborations with Diablo 4 or One Piece work – and the fact that a Fall Guys crossover with Final Fantasy 14 is something that happened in real life – I think Navok is right.

But, as is the case with Nintendo, Square Enix's current issue in recruiting new diehards isn't a matter of capability – because of course the Final Fantasy giant is capable of making a satisfying online game loop, that's the point of Final Fantasy 14. Instead, Square Enix has a problem with desire.

Navok says, "I think Square Enix is so used to being slow that it can't imagine what life would be like if it acted fast. There's a lot of internal red tape; the CEO's job is to make a decision and cut that red tape so that innovation flourishes." Former Nintendo marketing leads Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang made a similar observation about the Mario maker earlier this week, saying they were sad to see a "truly creative company" decide to bury "that part of themselves away because they were too scared to take the risk."

As a pre-existing Square Enix fan (who is aging and doesn't play Fortnite), I nonetheless see its focus on old IP as a creative disappointment, and also a financial risk. To this last point, Navok calls the developer's 2026 financial results "embarrassing" compared to Capcom and Konami in a recent Twitter thread, adding that Dragon Quest producer Ryutaro Ichimura was right when he said last year that Square Enix was overly focused on "safe" games. Ichimura left the company in 2023.

So we're not getting that Dragon Quest crossover with Bluey, then.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 brings back a big ol' nerd we all love to hate, lead confirms, who with a straight face says "many fans are fond" of.

The original Final Fantasy MMO – none other than Final Fantasy 11 – continues to go from strength to strength, and not even director and producer Yoji Fujito expected to be here.

Over the past year or so, Final Fantasy 11 has had to stop accepting new players to some of its most popular worlds because the servers clearly aren't currently built to handle that level of popularity. A nice problem to have, though not one the developers expected.

Speaking to Famitsu, Fujito reckons the surge in popularity is due to a Final Fantasy 14 crossover, free prize events, and a welcome-back campaign. I'd also float that Final Fantasy 14's less-than-popular Danwalker run might have sent a few grumpy Warriors of Light their way, but I digress.

Still, despite the surge in popularity, Fujito expected it all to calm down eventually. Expect it hasn't.

“Overall, the player count remained stable at a high level, and we never saw the kind of sharp decline we had anticipated, so honestly, the outcome exceeded our expectations and came as a surprise,” Fujito says, as translated by Automaton.

It's all rather nice, isn't it? As we previously reported, Square Enix considered winding down Final Fantasy 11 in 2024, but it's still drawing enough players to convince the powers that be to keep the good times rollin' on.

As for the future, Fujito says Final Fantasy 11 will live on. Major developments like a new world or story expansion, though, will prove tricky. There are technical limitations to overcome, and the team remains short-staffed.

Still, there's a desire on the team to overcome all of that, so Fujito would like you to think of the current moment as a preparatory phase where "we’re continuing to lay the groundwork for that sort of future development."

Final Fantasy 14 Evercold is the MMO's next big expansion, and it's coming early next year.

A former Square Enix executive has weighed in on the discourse surrounding Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi spotlighting a Final Fantasy 6 remake concept created through the use of AI.

Reacting to one of the many stories covering the situation so far, former Square Enix business director Jacob Navok comes down on the side of the JRPG veteran being free to explore AI, if that's what he wants to do.

"People telling a legendary creator about how creators should feel shows how far down the rabbit hole the madness goes," he says, "and how little rationale there is to it."

Naturally, the topic of artificial intelligence remains polarizing, even among past and present Square Enix staff. When Sakaguchi initially shared the Final Fantasy 6 mock-up that kicked this off, Akitoshi Kawazu – who helped design the first few Final Fantasy games before going on to direct the SaGa series – immediately jumped in to tell Sakaguchi to take it easy.

Of course, it is worth noting that it isn't clear if Sakaguchi knew what he was sharing was created by AI, and his response to the backlash somewhat backs that up, as he says he only did so instinctively. That, and the tech probably wouldn't be able to pull off a Final Fantasy 6 remake right now, though maybe in the future.

What this episode does tell us, though, is that many creators and fans remain unsold on AI. The news comes at a time when Square Enix is actively looking to AI to help with quality assurance and debugging, seemingly at the expense of staff.

Before that particular story broke, I had the opportunity to speak to Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth director Naoki Hamaguchi about his own stance on AI. For Hamaguchi, "however much" the technology might "try and intrude and take part in the creative side of things," he backed his team to do it better.

That stance roughly sums up the broader industry's approach at the moment. The idea of AI taking away the tedium so creators can create is consistently pushed to sell people on the technology, and while that might appeal to some of those making games, plenty of other people remain guarded about how much we give over to the controversial technology.

Baldur's Gate 3 director u-turns on the use of AI art in Divinity: "We've decided to refrain from using genAI tools during concept art development."

Although The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales features the iconic HD-2D style of other Square Enix gems like Octopath Traveler – it is led by those studio veterans, after all – it has not managed to escape comparisons to The Legend of Zelda series.

That doesn't mean developers drew inspiration from Nintendo's beloved franchise, however – in fact, Square Enix looked to its own games while working on The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales.

Producer Naofumi Matsushita reveals as much during a new interview with Polygon, explaining that the team actually expected comparisons to Zelda, nonetheless. Honestly, it's not hard to see why, but Zelda didn't play a role in the JRPG's conception.

"We anticipated that some players might be reminded of The Legend of Zelda series when playing this title, so we're truly honored to receive comparisons like that," admits Matsushita. "However, throughout development, we were consistently inspired by Square Enix's own action RPG heritage, such as the Mana series – particularly the Game Boy version of Final Fantasy Adventure."

For anyone unaware, that's the original Mana entry.

It's dubbed "Final Fantasy Adventure" as it was meant to be a Final Fantasy spin-off. Obviously, Mana became its own big name – and, apparently, the inspiration behind The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales.

As the producer recalls, "The Mana series was groundbreaking in how it blended RPG elements with real-time action combat, striking a balance between the thrill of action gameplay and the memorable storytelling of an RPG."

He continues: "That balance closely aligns with the core concept we set out to achieve with this title. Building on that foundation, we added unique elements such as the visual beauty of the HD-2D style, which is a specialty of our team, along with a controllable fairy companion and a story centered on time travel. The result is a game that offers a distinctive experience built around a balance of simplicity and challenge."

It's certainly something, all right – and Matsushita's words here especially make sense when you consider the comparisons between the Mana series itself and The Legend of Zelda folks have communicated over the years.

It does sound as though The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales carries its own identity, regardless, which is quite enticing. I am a fan of the HD-2D aesthetic, and the story sounds right up my alley.

If you're also interested in checking the new JRPG out yourself, there's a demo available to play over on Steam – plus, the full launch is only a month away now, with The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales releasing on June 18.

Searching for some new games to wishlist? Be sure to browse through our roundup of the best JRPGs around for more to play.

We haven't had a new Nier game in nine years, and that probably isn't changing any time soon. Sadly, you shouldn't take a potential tease to commemorate the massive success of the last installment to heart, according to series director Yoko Taro.

He sat down with Yosuke Saito, a producer on the Nier games, and they discussed a video commemorating 9 years of Nier: Automata. As you may remember, it ends with a "To be continued…", suggesting more is in the offing. In Taro's mind, that really means the franchising will continue unabated.

"I was the one who asked them to include that," Saito says, per Famitsu, as translated by Genki. "I don’t know if there is a continuation or not, but I felt that 'to be continued…' was absolutely necessary for the [ninth-anniversary] video."

Taro response: "My guess is that I think the message is something like, 'We're still going to milk it, we're going to make money.'"

Funnily enough, fans predicted the same thing, so at least everyone's expectations are in check. For a series that only has two entries, there have been a lot of crossovers and collaborations involving Nier. There's enough merchandise to fill a specialized shop, a stage show, a manga, and we've seen appearances in Soulcalibur 6, Overwatch, and Final Fantasy 14.

As the post-post-apocalyptic universe approaches the ten-year mark, its robust community can probably expect more of the same, based on Taro's comments. Saito believes a decade is a nice, round length of time for a game's general lifespan.

"To end on the ninth anniversary number is not a good stopping point, so I'd like to continue until the 10th anniversary," he adds. Let's see what late February 2027 has in store for 2B, then.

Nier Automata's Yoko Taro thinks his generation of directors has "a lot of weirdos", himself included, because "games weren't mainstream like they are now"

As you're no doubt aware, it takes a while for us to get new mainline Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest games these days. Seven years separate Final Fantasy 15 and 16, and we're nine years waiting for Dragon Quest 12 thus far. Developer and publisher Square Enix is working on ways to speed up development for both these and more entries for the storied franchises in the future.

The company says as much in its report for the fiscal year ending March 2026. "Steady progress is also being made in establishing a framework that enables regular new title launches for major IP," is written on a slide outlining all the releases over the past 12 months for the aforementioned RPG staples.

For Dragon Quest, you have the HD-2D remakes of the first three installments and the top-down redux of the seventh game. Over on the Final Fantasy side of things, Final Fantasy 16 came out on Xbox Series X/S, then you had the remaster of Tactics and the mobile release Dissidia Duellum.

That's a steady cadence for the two properties, providing a selection of experiences for fans to check out. In the case of the HD-2D games and Tactics coming back, you've got generations of players who'll be checking them out for the first time. More people learning that Final Fantasy Tactics is lowkey top five across everything moogle-related is always welcome.

More is coming this year, as well. Dragon Quest Smash/Grow, a mobile game, came out just a few weeks ago, and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth arrives on Switch 2, Xbox Series X/S and the Microsoft Store in June. New expansions for Dragon Quest 10 and Final Fantasy 14 are slated as well, for June of this year and January 2027, respectively.

Plenty to make the wait for the next big sequels that much easier. We're likely years out from seeing anything on Final Fantasy 17, but something on Dragon Quest 12 could arrive during Summer Game Fest, this year's Tokyo Game Show, or The Game Awards. Keep your eyes out for any slimes.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake had "no option other than a trilogy," lead says, since the "sheer volume" of the original PS1 JRPG was too absurd

Final Fantasy 14 is back in the limelight with its recent reveal of new expansion Evercold and patch 7.5, the latest post-Dawntrail update to arrive with a challenging trial and dungeon – a dungeon that contains a very, erm, chonky boss.

In case you haven't had the pleasure of experiencing it yet yourself, the latest Final Fantasy 14 dungeon – The Clyteum – harbors an end boss that's large and in charge… and incredibly meme-able.

He is everywhere in the community online right now, circulating the web in all his chunky glory, standing as the MMO's latest rotund icon (sorry, Fat Cat). Just look over on Reddit, where folks are already demanding mounts and minions of the boss: Chort.

[Spoiler: 7.5] Our party's reaction to the 2nd boss in the new dungeon on release day. We all stopped in our tracks. I'm the tank. from r/ffxiv

"We're gonna need a Chort minion, immediately," writes one fan. Others "concur," sharing that they're "devastated" to learn Chort isn't already a minion obtainable in The Clyteum – and, honestly, same.

A separate thread sees someone comment, "Welp, now I need a Chort mount. He can carry me on his shoulders." Another player jokes, "I am literally in love with Chort, sorry ladies and gentlemen." In other words, people are being very normal.

So normal, in fact, that Square Enix itself has caught on to all the memes, jokes, and amusing adoration for Chort. In its own post, the developer simply writes, "Chort" – and, yes, that's enough to leave us all in shambles. Does this mean a minion is underway? Probably not, but it's still hilarious.

The official Discord and Xbox accounts are even joining in on the fun, responding to Square Enix with their own variations of Chort's name.

There's plenty of fan art to go around in the replies, too – and, yes, begging. "We want a minion, guys," as one person points out. "I don't care what he's named in other languages. We need tiny Chort." Others ask, "Could we get a Chort minion?" I certainly hope so.

Although I'm personally unwavering in my love for the Sand Fox minion myself, I'd be lying if I said I didn't yearn for a little Chort minion to add to my ever-growing collection of silly pets.

He's just a li'l guy, after all, and he'd help tide us over during the wait for 8.0. Between him and the recent accidental Senor Otter Pack removal, the community is in dire need of something cute and minion-shaped… a hole Chort could fill (and then some).

Final Fantasy 14 Evercold promises to scrap the MMO's 2-minute meta and change its jobs for the better, and we're all thanking the Twelve: "Nobody will miss it."

Final Fantasy 7 Remake series director Naoki Hamaguchi says he's completed the yet-to-be-announced third installment in the remake project over 40 times already.

Speaking with Nintendo Life ahead of the Nintendo Switch 2 release of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Hamaguchi was asked about progress on the upcoming third – and final – entry in the remake trilogy. The developer responded "We’re very excited about how the game is currently progressing." Which makes sense, considering he's teased that we'll hear "more updates" on the series "than ever before" this year.

And despite the rest of the world not knowing a thing about it, the director explains, "I have already completed over 40 full playthroughs!" I don't know if it's an exaggeration, either. "It’s rare for me to make downtime with the intentional goal of 'relaxing,'" Hamaguchi explains. "I play games and watch films, but sometimes I’m not even sure whether I’m purely enjoying them or engaging with them as part of my own creative process."

He adds, "I can’t wait for as many people as possible to experience the game for themselves, and myself and the team are working hard to ensure we can create an unforgettable gameplay experience."

I don't know if I've ever beaten a game 20 times, much less 40. Even then my most completed is Crash Bandicoot 3, which takes about 2 hours. Considering how absolutely massive Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth was, playing through the third entry could be an even wilder amount of time. I never expected an episodic trio of Final Fantasy 7 remakes to work, but now here I am completely trusting that the third game will be a banger.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth director has "no intention" of altering the OG JRPG writer's "overarching story," but small adjustments are needed for your "emotional engagement"

Tragedy follows joy in the Final Fantasy 14 community after Square Enix accidentally gave out a pile of completely free and utterly adorable otter backpacks to players. Unfortunately, the impromptu giveaway was a bug, and the devs will soon be snatching those little accessories away – but hey, you will at least have the chance to acquire them again in the future.

With the release of patch 7.5 earlier this week, many players suddenly found the Senor Otter Pack among their fashion accessories. The apparent gift was a bit weird, but hey, free stuff, right? Unfortunately, Square Enix quickly confirmed that the distribution of the Senor Otter Pack was a bug.

"The internal ID for the Senor Otter Pack was incorrectly configured to the same internal ID as the Black Embroidered Parasol fashion accessory," the studio explains in a list of tracked bugs. "As a result, unlocking the Black Embroidered Parasol currently unlocks the Senor Otter Pack."

So yes, your Senor Otter Pack will be taken away "in an upcoming hotfix," but the adorable little backpack will be released for real "as a future reward." It'll likely be part of the annual Make It Rain event, which should kick off next month. "We hope you will acquire the Senor Otter Pack again when it is released through the intended method," Square Enix says.

I will never forgive SE for this! from r/ffxiv

In the meantime, players are heading to the meme mines to mourn the little guy, evoking Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's gommage, the Thanos snap, and that Brooklyn Nine-Nine quote – you know the one – as they say goodbye to their inanimate otter pal.

Nobody actually seems too broken up about losing their Senor Otter Pack in the comments, but the profiteers are already all over it. The Black Embroidered Parasol, which currently grants bugged access to the new item, previously sold for around 100,000 gil, according to online auction house trackers. That same item now sells for several million gil, depending on what server you're on.

You can, of course, spend your in-game money however you like, but you might wanna hold off on panic-buying anything right now. Yes, the otter is cute, but you're probably gonna be able to get him as a very basic quest reward in just a few weeks' time.

Yoshi-P hoped we wouldn't notice, but Final Fantasy 14 Evercold is indeed inspired by Norse mythology.

A former Square Enix exec reckons Sony's lack of marketing for Marathon suggests a lack of faith in Bungie's latest game from PlayStation.

On Twitter, Jacob Navok (former director of business at Square Enix Holdings) commented on Marathon's Steam player count, calling it "brutal." And while the numbers on PS5 and Xbox aren't available, Navok reckons Sony's marketing push behind the game isn't doing the job. "Sony owns a ton of digital real estate on the PlayStation dashboards to push Marathon," he says, adding that "Its lack of marketing push to support the numbers speaks to the lack of faith from the platform holder."

Of course, Sony has seen a few misses with live service games, but Marathon isn't quite Concord, as there is a section of players who do really seem to love its punishing gameplay loop.

As a user points out in the replies, Marathon was the most-played game on Xbox in the past month, and when it comes to the Xbox dashboard, typically puts its full weight behind whatever the new first-party tentpole launch is. That is, much like PlayStation does for its flagship single-player games, but hasn't here considering Arc Raiders has been at the forefront of the PlayStation Store for the majority of the time Marathon has been out.

That's not to say it's entirely on Sony. Clearly, there are a lot of people who don't really like Marathon, but when you cut through the tired "dead game" comments that everything faces, it does have a strong fanbase too – albeit one that's pretty small in the live-service pantheon. The issue is that you need to support that small fanbase and the game behind it if you ever want a chance at bringing it back.

Final Fantasy 14 was a failure when it first launched, but Square Enix invested in it, took a look at what wasn't working for people, and now it's extremely popular and probably the only MMO that has ever challenged World of Warcraft for the genre crown. I haven't played Marathon; I don't know if it has the sauce, but it won't matter if it gets the plug pulled pre-emptively.

Bungie makes Marathon's Cryo Archive less brutal, blocking spawn rush strats and giving free kits.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth lead Naoki Hamaguchi says tweaking the OG JRPG's beloved story is "one of the aspects of development we were most sensitive about," and that writer Kazushige Nojima has his trust.

With the demo for the Nintendo Switch 2 and Xbox Series X ports now available ahead of launch, Hamaguchi has been doing the press rounds to talk about the series. As part of that, Hamaguchi is asked about any personal tweaks or updates he's made to the overarching story and cast.

"When it comes to the overarching story, I place my trust in what Kazushige Nojima writes and have no intention of altering that based on my judgment," he tells Comicbook. "However, with the significant increase in visual fidelity in these remakes, arranging events and the passage of time exactly as they were in the original game can sometimes result in scenes that feel implausible.

"When changes in time or dates don't feel convincing, it also breaks the player's emotional engagement."

Hamaguchi goes on to explain that, "this time in particular," the team asked themselves whether a given emotion made sense at the point it appeared within the game – and if it didn't, how much more groundwork would need to precede it to give it a sense of flow. After all, the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy isn't a simple visual upgrade, but a full-fat remake that involves the kind of cutscene work and voice acting that you couldn't get when the original JRPG launched in 1997.

"It wasn't so much a matter of adding or changing the story, but rather adjusting things in a way that ensured that the player's emotional pacing aligned with the flow of time," Hamaguchi adds. "That process required revisiting scenes again and again, and honestly, it was one of the aspects of development we were most sensitive about."

How Square Enix handles the original Final Fantasy 7's story while remaking the game for new and old fans alike has been an ongoing topic of conversation since the game's initial release in 2020.

Of course, as Hamaguchi points out, part of that is inevitable as the original JRPG was designed to be read and not heard – so a 1-2-1 effort would likely feel a bit odd to play.

The other part, however, is more creative. The Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy has a meta-narrative alongside the classic story to keep things interesting for players – we're playing through a trilogy rather than a single game, after all. It's landed with mixed results thus far. The main narrative beats have largely remained the same up to now, though the journey between them has had a few attractions added to make the well-trodden path seem less familiar.

Tweaking any story elements of a beloved classic is sacrilegious to some, while others enjoy the sort of theory-crafting we can get up to between launches. Will they do this? Will they keep that? What does this mean for that? You get the idea.

These days, I find myself in the latter camp, though I'm not so firmly planted to refuse to leave it. I do appreciate that the original Final Fantasy 7 is still widely available to play, and, as such, the story remains faithfully intact. I also enjoy delving a bit too far into the odd narrative rabbit hole. That said, after wrapping up Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, I did feel that some of the original JRPG's most potent moments had been dulled thanks to various added layers of narrative mystery fodder.

I'm still looking forward to Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 – whatever it ends up being called – and the good news there is Hamaguchi once again says everything is coming along at a decent pace. We need only wait and see what that means for how the story wraps up for a second time.

77% of US Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth players were 30 or older, analyst says, as Square Enix fights to get young people to care about the JRPG series again.

In case you were in any doubt, Final Fantasy 14 director and producer Naoki 'Yoshi-P' Yoshida has confirmed that the upcoming Evercold expansion does indeed take inspiration from Norse mythology.

As part of the latest Final Fantasy 14 Fan Fest – held in Anaheim, California – a rather impressed Yoshida touches on the fact after being asked about it as part of a question and answer session attended by GamesRadar+.

Yoshida says that the developers "actually tried to obscure that it was Norse-inspired" in the teaser trailer, when asked whether the architecture and a mysterious figure give away what Square Enix is taking notes from.

"That's one of the reasons why we did not list any sort of names or proper nouns in the keynote presentation," he says. "And I think you'll start to realize that as we reveal more information. But yeah, if you would like to look into some of the cultures and the mythologies surrounding this sort of [thing], you might get a better understanding, or, like, enjoy it even deeper."

A quick glance at the Evercold trailer might not reveal all its Norse influences, but upon deeper inspection, it does sort of become obvious. From the serpent-adorned architecture to the decorated armor and frosty settings, it's hard not to notice after spotting everything once – and is that a suspiciously gray-haired, bearded, one-eyed Au'ra three minutes in?

Of course, Final Fantasy 14 Evercold isn't the first slice of the MMO to look toward Norse mythology – Odin is a primal you can fight in the game, and there's plenty of goodness to be found in Heavensward. Looking ahead, though, it's thought-provoking to wonder how Square Enix will use it to give Evercold's world some of its color.

Over the years, Final Fantasy 14 has drawn on various cultures and mythologies to give the MMO a sense of vibrancy and diversity – Stormblood looks to Asian influences, for example, while the more recent Dawntrail draws on Latin America.

Now, if you excuse me, I have some very Norse-looking cat people to study.

After 13 years, Final Fantasy 14 is finally letting healers be healers by removing cast times for attack spells and changing GCD heals: "We want healing to be a healer's main priority."