Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

Knightfall Protocol – Batman: Arkham Knight

Ending your life as Batman (spoiler, by the way) isn’t easy. In Arkham Knight, you have to make sure all the villains are locked up, completing all the Most Wanted missions. “But wait” you say. “To get to the Riddler, I have to collect all the Riddler Trophies!” And in truth, all you really get for your work is an extended bit of ending that doesn’t make it clear if Bruce Wayne’s Batman is really gone or not.

Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XIII games were a massive PR disaster for the company, steadily declining in sales and critical acclaim with each subsequent release, and also eroding the massive amount of goodwill the Final Fantasy brand had built up over two decades. That said, the announcement that all three of these games will be making it over to the PC via Steam releases is making me unduly happy.

Why? Because, well, it’s more major AAA support for the PC by Japanese publishers, who, at this point, remain the only holdouts from the PC. I long for the day when I no longer have to buy a PlayStation just for Persona or Final Fantasy, and if this is the first step towards that, then I’m all for it.

Anyway, back to this- Square Enix have confirmed that Final Fantasy XIII will be releasing on Steam on October 9, for $16, with a further 10% discount if you pre-order. For context, this is actually cheaper than many of their mobile releases, so at least it appears that they know the value of this game. The other two games in the series are also due to release on the PC by Spring 2015. All three XIII games will support Steam enhancements such as achievements and trading cards.

Stay tuned to more coverage.

The middling reception for Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy XIII-2 wasn’t enough for Square Enix- no, to round out a generation of the most reviled entry in what used to be one of gaming’s premier flagship franchises, Square Enix needs to give us a third game to round off the saga.

To that end, we get Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII.

Admittedly, Final Fantasy XIII-2 was good (and it would have been received so much better by players if it hadn’t followed the incredibly underwhelming Final Fantasy XIII); Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII looks good too, by providing a fast, action take on classic Final Fantasy gameplay, a take that also seems mindful of all the criticisms leveled at the previous two games in the ‘XIII’ saga.

The video above shows us eleven minutes of footage. Unfortunately, for as good as the gameplay looks, the story and characters sound as cringe inducingly bad as always. We’ll see if the final English version fares any better though.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII will be the third (and apparently final) entry into the (extremely long drawn, and frankly unwelcome) Final Fantasy XIII saga. The upcoming game, which takes place in the Final Fantasy XIII universe a few hundred years after the events at the end of Final Fantasy XIII-2, is more of an action game than a true RPG like its series’ ilk, but so far, it looks like it might be the best original Final Fantasy branded game in years.

If you are interested in learning more about the game and its development process, check out the video above that talks about ‘getting inside the square,’ and describes the development of the game and the process that went into it. It’s the first video in a series of three (just like the Final Fantasy XIII games themselves!), so there will probably be more soon. And I will probably be put to putting them here for the five of you who care enough to watch.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII launches next year for Xbox 360 and PS3 in all territories except for Japan, where it will launch in November this year.

Final Fantasy Versus XIII, on the other hand, was looked upon as the hero that fans craving a console-exclusive Final Fantasy wanted. The fact that it took a more action-oriented approach, with a darker and mature tone, and was helmed Kingdom Hearts director Tetsuya Nomura was enough to get anyone interested. Nomura himself had just come off the immensely entertaining The World Ends With You, often cited as the last great Square-Enix RPG of this generation.

And then Final Fantasy XIII released. The immediate problem wasn’t with the graphics after all – the entire game was extremely dumbed down. Gone were the towns and open worlds one could explore. Long were the hours devoted to just learning the mechanics of the game. Confusing was the story that proposed this story of La’Cie and Fal’Cie that no one in their honest to goodness sanity could get invested in.

Meanwhile, Versus XIII was nowhere to be found. Gameplay footage released many moons showed us what were in for, along with some other story details. It appeared to be the Final Fantasy game that was needed more than ever. Despite the long gap, including the fall of the Fabula Nova Crystallis project, it still looked as amazing as ever.

Unfortunately, it never materialized and we got Final Fantasy XIII-2. Despite improving on the original, the sequel still told a ho-hum story with boring combat and a severe lack of closure. That players had to purchase DLC to find out what happened to main lead Lightning was only worse, to say nothing of the fact that it would pave the way for a third game.

As rumours began leaking regarding Versus XIII’s cancellation, there was another more credible source that stated how the game wasn’t exactly dead. It suffered a great change of direction, and components of the previous concept were being used to create the next Final Fantasy, assumed to be FFXV.

This was compounded by the reveal of a clothing line in Japan, Roen, which had been contracted to create clothing for Noctis and Stella that listed the game as Final Fantasy XV (this was later changed to Final Fantasy Versus XIII, the earlier name having been a “labelling mistake”.

As Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII was announced and gameplay details emerged, a few odd things stood out. Lightning is the only playable character this time around, and can utilize multiple attacks within the span of a single battle. It’s also been confirmed that monsters can attack towns now, not to mention platforming elements and interactions with the environment. Flash back to Versus XIII protagonist Noctis’s interactions with enemies and the fact that he functioned as a venerable one man army, we can’t help but ask.

Were components of Final Fantasy Versus XIII used to create Lightning Returns?

The games look as different as chalk and cheese, with different visions and storylines. Lightning Returns apparently features a mechanic where players can slow down time while Versus XIII allows for multiple party members.

However, the use of weapons in environments such as towns, offering no segregation from where the battle may be happening – just like Kingdom Hearts – reminds us a lot of the same in Lightning Returns. Of course, there are battle transitions and the latter still uses the Active Time Battle system (apparently).

Nonetheless, the permanent presence of Noctis, who can take on different allies depending on the scenario, and Lightning’s over-whelming power (with some assistance here and there) are too similar to ignore.

As it stands, there could be plenty of other mechanics that may have once been a part of Versus XIII and not revealed to the public, only to resurface in Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. Both games sport their own end-of-the-world scenarios, with Lightning racing against annihilation (or a new world being born – as usual, Square Enix is sketchy on these kinds of details) and Noctis fighting an invading kingdom.

With Tetsuya Nomura promising more information regarding the same in the coming weeks, and E3 2013 starting from June 10th, we can only hope this means that Final Fantasy Versus XIII will be coming to us sooner than later.

We can also only hope that it retains the elements that made it appealing in the first place, rather than being a skeleton of former parts now indecipherably nuzzled in inferior games.

This includes Colosseum Fights and costumes (though the crossover items like the N7 Armour from Mass Effect and an Assassin’s Creed costume for Noel, won’t be included).

It also features DLC packages like Sazh: Heads or Tails, Snow: Perpetual Battlefield plus The Lost Report which retells the story from the perspective of Rygdea and Yaag Rosch, two PSICOM operatives.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 Digital Contents Selection will release on July 18th for 5,040 yen, while the Ultimate Hits version will retail for 2,940 yen. A digital release for FFXIII-2 will also be available as a download for 2,940 yen/2,000 Microsoft Points on July 16th for PSN and Xbox Live Arcade along with just the DLC for 2,100 yen/1,360 Microsoft Points.

And sadly, the West won’t be seeing a similar package…for now.

A series that’s taken everything about Final Fantasy and contorted it to center around this one woman and this one battle system, without any scope for anything that doesn’t involve beautiful cut-scenes and battles interlaced with QTEs and plot points.

No, this is simply about the fact that Square-Enix just can’t do this any more.

It can’t focus resources on projects like Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, devoting over 300 staff members to it while interesting efforts from designers we trust like Tetsuya Nomura’s Final Fantasy Versus XIII remain development limbo. It can’t decide to put out yet another Final Fantasy XIII when gamers are already frustrated with the series and want to move past it (keep in mind that FFXIII-2 hasn’t been as successful as previous series entries). It can’t delay dream projects like the inevitable Final Fantasy VII remake!

Then again, this is not the same Square that we’ve known. When it merged with Enix, what did we get out of the deal at first? Unlimited SaGa. This was quickly followed by the ho-hum but still sold Grandia 3, before Nomura (remember that guy?) pulled through yet again with Kingdom Hearts 2, Dissidia and The World Ends With You. From there, it’s been a complete dearth of creativity and marketing plans.

When Final Fantasy XI couldn’t establish the franchise as a veritable MMORPG for the West, what could possibly make Square-Enix conclude that Final Fantasy XIV will do so now? FFXIV currently has 30K concurrent users on PC – Guild Wars 2 launched with over 400K concurrent users, and let’s not even get into World of Warcraft, with the Mists of Pandaria expansion pack on its way. Square-Enix has actually been focussing a lot more on the West, especially in publishing efforts. It picked up True Crime: Hong Kong and had it rebranded as Sleeping Dogs, bought Eidos and became the publisher for series like Tomb Raider and Hitman. And make no mistake these have all brought good will to the company.

But this is about Square-Enix’s premier franchise. This is about the series that made the company, that saved it from declaring bankruptcy. If Square-Enix is so desperate to ruin the decades of good will it’s built up, then it’ll continue on its current path. Heck it’s been doing so for a while now. There hasn’t been another film like Advent Children. Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance feels like it’s arrived way too late, despite being a stellar effort.

We’re still in a world where Duke Nukem Forever has been released but Final Fantasy Versus XIII is looking to share the same fate. There’s been no news on Kingdom Hearts 3, or even a new Grandia, or heaven forbid Xenogears. This isn’t to say Square-Enix doesn’t care about gamers – it’s just grossly misreading its current situation if it thinks it can devote time and resources to projects few people will be supporting upon their release.

Square Enix has released its fiscal year 12 results and that should make them happy because they are profitable. They cited the growth of packaged goods and credited FFXIII-2 and Deus Ex: Human Revolution for bringing in a lot of revenue.

They posted a profit of ¥6.06 billion, which is quite good after last year’s loss. They seem to be on the right track and this fiscal year contains a lot of software and looks promising for them. However, Tomb Raider has been delayed to Q1 2013.

It has to be noted that Final Fantasy XIII shipments aren’t given in the fiscal year results, but Deus Ex: Human Revolution shipped 2 million units and was also well received by people. Final Fantasy Brigade for the mobiles was also successful and has 2 million users.

Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

Square Enix announces that two brands from different realms: fashion and video gaming, have come together in the latest issue of Arena Homme+ where characters from the recent game Final Fantasy 13-2 showcase Prada’s 2012 Spring/Summer men’s collection.

“Our Spring issue focuses on a world of direction and escapism, and having a visually stunning videogame franchise such as FINAL FANTASY work alongside us and a leading fashion brand like Prada to create something so unique is incredible,” said Max Pearmain, Editor of Arena Homme+. “I’ve always been interested by the power of videogames and their place in society, and the amount of work that’s gone into this project blows my mind. We’re incredibly pleased with the result.”

Yoshinori Kitase, Producer of FINAL FANTASY XIII-2 added, “The FINAL FANTASY series is known for its creativity and innovation; so working with Prada, a renowned fashion house with such beautiful clothing, was a very exciting opportunity. The images we have been able to create together are vibrant and unique.”

Check out the screens below.

Update:Square Enix would like to clarify that this project was undertaken as part of the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the FINAL FANTASY franchise – and is not a direct collaboration with Prada, who simply provided the outfits for the purpose of creating the images.