Final Fantasy for the Gamecube Revealed!

[K-BOMB]

Not a ton of info available yet, but Nintendo realeased a new TV ad in Japan that has quick scenes of the new Mario, Metroid, Star Fox, Eternal Darkness, Resident Evil 0, and (drum roll please)...Final Fantasy.

This is the first real info on the game, but it appears to be well into the development cycle. The ad shows a battle in a dungeon full of baddies. While it's not 100% certain, the battle appear to be in real-time (action-RPG, ala Zelda) instead of traditional menu-driven, turn based RPG. Having never been a fan of the latter, I wasn't really looking forward to FF on the Cube. But, I would be MUCH more interested in a Zelda-style Final Fantasy game.

A version of Final Fantasy is also in the works for Game Boy Advance, and it will link up with the GameCube version. Details are sparse, but I could imagine them doing a lot of different things. For example, you could build up your character while away from the house using your GBA, or perhaps tackle sub-quests to the main game.

[K-BOMB]

It's not cheating...more like re-connecting with a long lost friend after you got into an argument and stopped talking for several years, only to realize what you got mad over was pretty stupid in the first place. :hug

Don't worry, you will still see plenty of Square support on the PS2. They should be bringing the online Final Fantasy over here soon (hoping for better sales than Japan I might add - it's only sold a fraction of the units that a normal FF game usually sells).

[LA_MERC_Onji]

exactly, square needs to go back to their roots :)

[K-BOMB]

Couldn't agree more Onji...even though I'm not a huge fan of FF, it can only be good news for the Big N. I really hope it's more of a Zelda style Action-RPG - and I hope the GBA connection is fully utilized. The GBA is a lifesaver on long plane flights - it would be cool to be progressing on the game even though I'm away from home.

[Lexian]

yes i'd imagine they will pull a PSO with the new FF... are they making it story oriented or action with story in a distant second...

[K-BOMB]

No way to know at this time Lex....the few seconds of video are all that has been shown. It may not even be action-oriented - it just looks that way from the footage.

I'm all for a good story, but the whole "push a button then watch a FMV movie" doesn't really appeal to me.

Eternal Darkness is a great example of the right blend...awesome, deep storyline, but full of tense real-time action and tight gameplay.

[Omega_Prime]

blah blah final fantasy was never ment to be a zelda type game, leave it the way it has always been, i think square is making a big mistake by doing that, dont get me wrong i love there games but i really feel like they are messing up the name of final fantasy, i have nothing against nintendo but i think square should stay away from them, sony backed them when they were in the mist of going bankrupt due the the movie and i think they should stay with sony, but i do like the fact that new ff games comeing to the gameboy advance might have to go buy one of them.

[K-BOMB]

I never said it was meant to be a Zelda-type game, as it has obviously done quite well. I just said I would be more interested if it was, as the gameplay right now tends to bore me.

That FF movie just about killed Square (BTW, never saw the movie - was it any good?). But, I gotta disagree Omega about them staying exclusively with Sony. They need to generate as much revenue as possible. Developing for the GC opens up an entirely new user base and creates a new revenue stream. Developing for GBA is a no-brainer. The development costs for a GBA game are probably a fraction of the cost on a console, and the GBA has an absolute stranglehold on the handheld gaming market - they are almost guaranteed to make a profit.