A little about FF Versus XIII is a RPG game announced at E3 2006 and not much detail has been released about this games, which is pretty typical of Square Enix. People from Gaming Union asked Yoshinori Kitase when the game will be released at the gamescon this year. Kitase replied quoting…

“We have no release date information to update. Unfortunately we can’t say anything about that. We can’t commit ourselves to 2011 either.”

This upsets me mainly because now, as we all know how slow the production team works, pushes Kingdom Hearts III back more.

Thanks to gamingunion.com for the information.

Discuss this on our Forums here.

Fantasy Lovin’

Naturally, Final Fantasy VII saw the most love, with appearances from Cid, Yuffie, Aeris, Cloud, Tifa, even Sephiroth, while VIII and X also saw quite a number of characters including, Selphie, ‘Leon’, Seifer, Fujin, Raijin, as well as Tidus, Wakka, Yuna, Rikku, Paine, and Auron. Some of these characters were critical and constant in the Kingdom Hearts story, such as Leon and Aeris, whereas others were introduced for more light-hearted moments, like the Struggle and smack-talk from Fujin and Raijin, whom I always adored when playing VIII. So I ask, who else would fit into Kingdom Hearts?

Sora in the Skies

XII characters have as good a chance as any to make an appearance, although I don’t think Fran would be one of them unless she got a costume change, but does Balthier seem like a reasonable candidate? He is a sky pirate, which could introduce some serious airship action, since Cid is the only other character famous for his sky mobiles, and until just recently, his world was destroyed and he had nothing left. I also think that Balthier’s cocky attitude would be a humorous addition to the game, balancing out Leon’s always serious and grumpy demeanor, not that we don’t love it.

Protection from the Paladin

Cecil from Final fantasy IV would probably be another good choice. At first I thought, maybe he’s a little too dark for what Kingdom Hearts is, but he would be a great leader character, possibly a defender of other survivors who managed to escape from their world before it vanished as well. Despite not being as popular as protagonists like Cloud or Tidus, Cecil was one of the first Final Fantasy ‘good guys’ for a lot of us, playing the game back in the day on the SNES and that long-time love spurred his appearance in other games such as being the leader in Dissidia: Final Fantasy. I picture Cecil’s appearance in Kingdom Hearts being inspiring and awing, giving Sora strength when he may be in a moment of doubt.

Robot Cats are Awesome

I know this one may sound goofy, but I absolutely adore Cait Sith and Reeve Tuesti from VII. I wouldn’t expect his scene to be long, nor very important, but given that there is a strange sense of technology in many of the Kingdom Hearts worlds and Reeve is a scientist, he could fit in relatively easy. If the WRO from Dirge of Cerberus was involved in his plot, I think the storytellers would have a lot to play with. Also, just the thought of Sora wandering into a lab seeing Reeve working on one of his Cait Sith dolls amuses me to no end.

What other Final Fantasy characters could you see working well in the Kingdom Hearts universe?

No official release date has been announced but I’m sure these two classic adventures will be a welcome to addition to the line up of games on the iphone.

New Features

• Optimised control system for iPhone/iPod touch interface, enabling users to play the game as intuitively as possible by simply touching the screen.
• Additional dungeons not available in the original 1987/1988 releases.
• Bonus content accessed once the main game is completed.

The Stories

Final Fantasy begins where four young warriors, each possessing a crystal, are summoned to bring the world back to a harmonious element balance. During their voyage, they discover a nefarious entity has created turmoil in the structure of time in order to take control of the world, causing the heroes to travel to places they never imagined possible.

In Final Fantasy II, a malevolent emperor has called upon monsters from a demonic realm to take over the world, ending what seemed to be an eternal period of peace. From the destruction rise four young survivors who will take it upon themselves to stop the merciless ruler and avenge the death of their parents

Screenshots

Final Fantasy XIII (PS3 and X-Box360)

First appearing at E3 back in 2006, the newest Final Fantasy story will become available in North American and PAL regions on March 9, 2010. XIII belongs to the Fabula Nova Crystallis collection, which includes two other games under the XIII title, although these have yet to get a release date of anything other than, TBA. The story follows a resistance team who fights to stop the purging of civilians and features a former solider named, Lighting. This game proves to be especially interesting, as no other Final Fantasy release has had a female lead, with the exception of X-2, which stems from its predecessor, X, where the main character was Tidus, not Yuna.

Final Fantasy XIV (PS3 and Windows)

Said to be released sometime within the 2010 year, Final Fantasy XIV is like XI, as it will be a massive, multiplayer online, role-playing game. The title is suppose to be released in all regions at the same time and will be available in French, German, English, and Japanese. The story follows the nations of Eorzea being challenged by the Garlean Empire. They banded together despite their past warring so they could repel the common enemy, however, the Empire never invaded, which left an enormous amount of soldiers and mercenaries without jobs. The game is said to have at least five playable races and four different disciplines which are, War, Magic, Land, and Hand.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (PSP)

While us Kingdom Hearts fans were hoping to get this title released last year so we could learn more about the three mysterious characters shown during the secret ending of Kingdom Hearts 2, it still is, most unfortunately, not yet out. However, the game has just been put on sale in Japan on January 9, 2010, where it was also sold in a limited edition bundle, so our time can’t be far off! General internet rumors put the release date somewhere within the months of June and July and realistically, that doesn’t seem too farfetched. Referred to by Nomura as Episode 0, Birth by Sleep is the prequel to Kingdom Hearts 1, taking place ten years before Sora’s first adventure and the three characters are keyblade apprentices in search of their lost master.

The 3rd Birthday (PSP)

This game is the third entry in the Parasite Eve series, although this is a spin-off title, which is why the name, ‘Parasite Eve’ was excluded. One of the designers of this to-be-released game, sometime in the year of 2010, is Tetsuya Nomura, lead director and character designer of such Square Enix series like Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts. The 3rd Birthday, though lacking in information, seems it will follow Aya Brea as the main character while she responds to an attack on Manhattan by creatures called, the Twisted. The game, said by director, Hajime Tabata, will be a true third person shooter.

Nier (PS3 and X-Box 360)

Nier, known as Nier Gestalt in Japan and there an X-Box 360 exclusive, will be released in North America sometime in the spring of 2010 on both the X-Box and Playstation 3. The Playstation 3 exclusive of the game, known as Nier Replicant in Japan, will not be leaving the country, as Square Enix designers were said to believe that the younger Nier will appeal better to only Japanese audiences and the older Nier was better for the Western gamers. The only major differences are said to be the aesthetics of Nier and his relationship with the character, Yonah. The story follows Nier as he searches for a cure to the Black Scrawl virus, which has infected his daughter. The game also features a hermaphrodite swordsman, Weiss, who serves as Nier’s access to magical spells and a demonic weapon named, No. 7.

Star Ocean: The Last Hope (International Version) (PS3)

This version of The Last Hope is a PS3 exclusive, featuring additional content as well as dual voices, (Japanese and English) and multiple subtitle options. The Playstation 3 release will be February 9, 2010. The story takes place on Earth in the year of S.D. 0010, where the planet is deteriorating and mankind is forced to live underground after WWIII has broken out.

Other Games

Square Enix is pretty good at keeping everyone on the edge of their seat, waiting for news conferences and reveals at conventions to kill rumors and set facts straight, which is why some of the following games have little information on them. Supreme Commander 2, a real-time strategy game is set to release in March on Windows and X-Box 360, there is news of a Dragon Quest X to be released on the Wii and Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Reverie for the Nintendo DS sometime within the year.