01.02.07
Lots of Square news
新年明けましておめでとうございます。Or as most people in the world would say it, Happy New Year. A month’s break from writing has been good for me. There’s more to write about (finally) and I feel like writing it. Mind, for the next few days, Japan’s going to be still in holiday mode, so no new news from there for the duration. As it is, here are some stuff I missed while up north gorging on food and getting drooled on by dogs…
Legend of Mana 4 screenshots can be found here – the one that’s coming out on PS2 sometime this year (came out 21st last month in Japan for approx. £37). The reviewer says that because of the range of things you can do in the game, it may be hard to come to grips with at first. For example, within the game, there are several ‘Mono’ lying around, which you can use to hit your mobs with. Just going into combat without these things might very well cause more damage to you. (Kind of sounds like Children of Mana (DS), using rebound action to go through a level.)
Final Fantasy Tactics – The Zodiac Brave Story - site has officially opened, though as per usual with Square Enix sites, they use a lot of Flash… so download time can be excruciatingly slow. When it’ll be out or how much it’ll cost on what platform, is still unavailable. As long as we’re on news from Square, Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix + is due out on 29th March in Japan for approx. £40 – this, because fans of the game wanted to hear the English voice actors!
20years since its creation, Dragon Quest series has announced that its next project will be on DS, due out sometime this year, at least in Japan. Titled Dragon Quest IX – 星空の守り人 (roughly translates to Guardians of the Starry Skies), it hopes to use the DS’s multi-player capabilities for better gaming.
FF XI Original Soundtrack Premium Box is due out 28th March for approx. £55. It includes 7CDs (2 bonus discs: piano collection and collectors-only disc) and a book of musical scores.
Finally, something that isn’t related to Square Enix… Mist of Kaos (PS3, Feb, £36) has a lot of hype going on around it at the moment. Personally I can’t see anything that’s unique about it from the article, but then again, the author of said article may have missed something. Judging from the pictures though, I think I like those frog people :)