Not that it matters any longer because Final Fantasy XIII is an almost universally reviled game, its legacy being only to ruin what was once a premium brand for nearly two decades for a generation of fans and symbolize the decline of JRPGs and Japanese games in general, but the PC release of the title has revealed some pretty interesting stuff. Notably, some data that people have managed to dig up seems to hint at some areas in the game that were planned for inclusion but ultimately never made it in.

The area is called the Seventh Arc, and the (unused) in game text for it says “One of the military installations of which the legends of Gran Pulse speak. The Fifth Arc is clearly an arsenal ready to combat invaders; the Seventh, instead, has as its principal function to awaken the hidden power of the l’Cie.” There was also a boss planned for this area, Nemesis, and its text reads “Fal’Cie lord and master of the Seventh Arc. Its work consists of harassing the l’Cie in the middle of cruel tests and obligating them to surpass their own limits. Apparently it trains them to fight against someone, but it is not known who. Nemesis and its Arc already existed in the times before the construction of Cocoon.”

Of course, just the inclusion of this all in the final game wouldn’t have necessarily made it a better game or anything, but still, it’s fascinating to find stuff like this.

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.

Think about it for a second. With Eidos Montreal’s new Thief game, there were delays, staff members leaving, name changes, stages of limbo where it wasn’t even sure whether the game would be released, severe changes to the gameplay made with only a few months until release and much more. The Last Guardian, despite being fairly bereft of information since its initial reveal, lost Fumito Ueda as its director and fell into development hell as well. We haven’t seen the game since though Sony maintains that it’s alive and well.

"It just felt like Square Enix was continuously hammering away on the game until the time was right to showcase it to the world."

By comparison, Final Fantasy 15 has only had rumours and rumblings dogging it. When Square Enix killed the Fabula Nova Crystallis project – which involved releasing Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Final Fantasy Agito XIII within the same time frame – it did so with the express purpose of expanding on the Lightning Saga. Final Fantasy Agito XIII became Type-0 and Versus XIII quietly sauntered off, never to be heard from for years on end.

We heard whispers that Square Enix’s focus on ventures like the Lightning saga and Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn was costing the publisher lots of money but nothing that indicated that the development of Final Fantasy 15 was causing a problem. If anything, it was a victim of extenuating circumstances from a publisher that desperately wanted to cater to the Western market.

So while Final Fantasy 15 may have been in limbo for a long time, we never really heard about the changes going on. We never knew it would become Final Fantasy 15 until a clothing line-up designing costumes for the characters in-game leaked this news. We never knew the focus shifted to next-gen consoles until E3 2013 when the spotlight was on the Xbox One and PS4.

We never even knew that the publisher was aware of the abject lack of information it was presenting. It just felt like Square Enix was continuously hammering away on the game until the time was right to showcase it to the world. If anything, it was the Half Life 3 of Final Fantasy titles, except Final Fantasy 15 actually exists in video form while Half Life 3 remains in purgatory.

"Of course, we don't blame Final Fantasy 15 for wanting to impress us right off the bat with its explosions, destruction and giant monsters. Who has time for exposition when you're trying to make an impact at the biggest stage of the year..."

The question is: Are these facets representative of a game that might actually be good?

We were initially blown away by the very first trailer of Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Final Fantasy 15 didn’t fail to impress. Square Enix has emphasized on the game’s action adventure elements and party system along with the massive foes and summons. It hasn’t deigned to reveal how any of this actually works though. Yes, we know Noctis can warp from one place to another and that he can perform combination attacks with other party members.

Yes, we know his kingdom has been invaded and that he’s fighting as part of the resistance. But thus far, Square Enix has shown as nothing but vignettes. It’s in danger of simply making passing references to all the things going on in order to keep the story moving, while sticking the real meat of the game into the game’s encyclopedia, a la Final Fantasy XIII.

Of course, we don’t blame Final Fantasy 15 for wanting to impress us right off the bat with its explosions, destruction and giant monsters. Who has time for exposition when you’re trying to make an impact at the biggest stage of the year – a stage where your long-in-development title is being re-introduced to the world? While this all makes for great presentations, it seldom results in good story-telling, and that’s something the Final Fantasy franchise has been lacking for a long time now.

Coming back to the gameplay, Square Enix has an annoying habit of either telling and not showing or telling too much and showing even more. Lightning Returns was a victim of the latter and ended up far more superficial than it seemed. Meanwhile, with Final Fantasy 15, we have all this information about team-ups, hack and slash, using enemy weapons, executions, teleporting, multiple weapons floating around, and so on. Do we have any gameplay footage to show us how it works? For that matter, have we actually been told how it will work rather than just having it alluded to?

"It's a shame really, because there is such a rabid interest in the game. Square Enix should be expanding on the game's universe, releasing books, audio diaries, behind the scenes footage, manga and whatnot to fill in the blanks and get players invested."

Another way to look at it is that the developer isn’t really sure at this point and doesn’t want to confirm or show anything that might not make it into the final product. This seems to support the argument that what we saw at E3 2013 was either footage from an earlier build or even an incomplete build, or simply gameplay created in-engine to show players what they can expect (helpfully spliced together with cut scenes). Either way, if this is the case, Final Fantasy 15 won’t be out for a long time.

It’s a shame really, because there is such a rabid interest in the game. Square Enix should be expanding on the game’s universe, releasing books, audio diaries, behind the scenes footage, manga and whatnot to fill in the blanks and get players invested. It will arguably do this at some point closer to the game’s release but if the public is craving for information now, how hard would it be to just give it to them? You cannot convince me that a developer like, say, Bungie is making a mistake by providing new information for Destiny in its Weekly Updates.

And Destiny is by no means a small game – it’s just that Bungie has mastered the art of revealing significant information without saying too much. It’s started out slowly but surely to build interest in its new universe. You could again argue that Destiny is close to release, hence the deluge of information, but honestly, we were receiving references to the same since 2009. We didn’t receive any overt information about the game until 2012 when concept art had leaked. Bungie actually went a step further and added more information to the leaks. But then, Bungie had a plan for its game – a plan that wouldn’t be messed up, even if certain details had been leaked.

If only Square Enix could decide the plan for Final Fantasy 15. If nothing else, it could ensure that the company stays relevant in a console generation where it has no significant releases aside from the reboot of an MMO already available on PS3.

The hype behind Final Fantasy Versus XIII only escalated when Square Enix revealed that FFXIII would be on the Xbox 360 as well. The once hallowed Final Fantasy franchise had been contaminated and FFXIII was no longer the chosen one. It was now up to the Versus XIII to show what the PlayStation 3 was truly capable of.

And then the wait began.

"A world began to populate the Gotham-like noir introduced in the initial cinematic. The Hamlet-esque undertones now took a backseat to a full scale invasion and retaliation."

No one can be sure when the waiting just stopped and turned into outright forgetfulness that the title even existed. The franchise was going through its own transformations at its time – Square Enix poured boatloads of money into Western properties like Hitman and Tomb Raider while attempting to shove Final Fantasy XIV down consumers’ throats. Final Fantasy XIII was a great disappointment and not even because it released for other platforms. Square Enix seemed to have trouble supporting itself, much less to create the next big exclusive. The world itself had changed in several respects – third party studios were no longer supporting only PlayStation or only Xbox. Those that did had exclusive deals in place with either console manufacturer. But a third party publisher like Square Enix or Capcom putting their full weight behind either? That was mostly in the past.

Then Final Fantasy Versus XIII reappeared at E3 2013.

It was more or less the same game we knew before but different. A world began to populate the Gotham-like noir introduced in the initial cinematic. The Hamlet-esque undertones now took a backseat to a full scale invasion and retaliation. This game wasn’t about dominating the opposition – it was about toppling them in an effort to survive. It showed us what would happen if Final Fantasy’s mechanics were employed as real world military tactics – heck, why wouldn’t you send Summons to outright level a city as Leviathan did?

It was here that Final Fantasy XV was born. Obviously rebranded in an effort to appeal to those who felt soured by the Lightning-worship, Final Fantasy XV stood as a bold new direction for the series to take. It wasn’t about ATB bars or Dress systems or doomsday clocks. This was an action title that evolved from the remains of Kingdom Hearts 2 to become faster, more brutal and more visually appealing.

"You could make the argument that JRPGs themselves, especially on consoles like the PS4 and Xbox One, have to evolve their mechanics beyond the usual battle screens, stat juggling and fetch quests."

The question: Is this the direction that Final Fantasy should go in?

Make no mistake – if Final Fantasy XV is a success, this could be the template that Square Enix abides by for future titles. The old turn-based/real-time battle system had been killed by Final Fantasy XIII and the Lightning Saga. You could make the argument that JRPGs themselves, especially on consoles like the PS4 and Xbox One, have to evolve their mechanics beyond the usual battle screens, stat juggling and fetch quests.

But then a game like Child of Light emerges – one that mixes light albeit challenging and intriguing platforming elements with a strong turn-based battle mechanic. It showcases just how beautifully all the stats, skills, weapons and items can be compartmentalized for the sake of a more engrossing experience. It was once stated that the purpose of all these mechanics was to properly immerse a player in the RPG’s story.

The battles lent more to tactics; the skills and character progression tied into the character’s emotional development; the quests, whatever their nature, encouraged getting to know your world and the people that populated. As far as fetch quests are concerned, the hero doesn’t knock down a dragon every five minutes – he/she also partakes in everyday tasks, helping to make people’s lives a little bit easier by being a good person. Child of Light did this without making them as rote and boring as many other RPGs.

"It only remains to be seen if its action is simply a means to immerse the player in the story or, like Advent Children, mounds of flash upon a dash of substance."

Thus, this isn’t to excuse said horrendous RPGs that simply shoehorn these mechanics in without respect for character and world building. But as an action RPG, Final Fantasy XV will encourage more set-pieces, more linear battles, more barreling down each path to conquer the next strong foe and a more power-building as opposed to character building. It worked very well in Kingdom Hearts 2 but that was never a game about action, despite its mechanics. The story took centre stage at all times and even when it deviated to force other characters on to you, it was all for the express purpose of involving you in the world.

Final Fantasy XV at this point appears as little more than an excuse to pick a fight. We hear names of places conquered thrown out in a heartbeat. Characters speak in cryptic lines. Granted, its way too early to judge the game but then, these are some of the things that Final Fantasy XIII did as well while de-emphasizing the RPG mechanics its predecessors had carefully built up.

But let it be said once more that Final Fantasy XV‘s current direction is a welcome change of pace from the horrifyingly dull and plodding gameplay of the Lightning Saga. It only remains to be seen if its action is simply a means to immerse the player in the story or, like Advent Children, mounds of flash upon a dash of substance.

A petition has begun on Change.org to motivate Square Enix to bring Kingdom Hearts 3 to the Wii U. It appears to be aimed towards Senior PR Manager of Square Enix David Yang.

“Kingdom Hearts 3 needs to come to the Wii U. Not only because it would be a good fit and get the Wii U more sales, but because I don’t feel like dropping nearly $400-$500 to get a console that will be getting the game.”

Despite needing 100 signatures, the petition is currently stuck on 50 signatures overall. What a change 100 signatures will make.

On the flip side, series producer Yoshinori Kitase has talked to Digital Spy about whether elements and mechanics from Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII would be seen in Final Fantasy 15. “The next Final Fantasy game in the series, XV, was announced last year, so you’ve heard about that. That’s actually been developed by a different team to our one here, myself and Abe-san here, who made Lightning Returns. They’re probably going to be doing something quite different and using completely different systems in their game.

“From our point of view, the team we’re involved with, for our next game – it’s quite difficult to say really but no, we’re probably going to be doing something quite a bit different. Maybe some influences somewhere but I don’t think we’ll be using exactly the same systems and the ideas in the same way.”

We know that FF15 will have it’s own unique battle system and share some mythological links to FFXIII. Both Final Fantasy 15 and Kingdom Hearts 3 will release for the Xbox One and PS4 in the coming years.

Unlike the earlier years when Square Enix was quite cagey about providing new information about Final Fantasy Versus XIII, series producer Yoshinori Kitase has assured us that Final Fantasy XV is coming along quite nicely.

Speaking to Videogamer he stated that, “We can’t give too much information but certainly looking at Final Fantasy XV, it’s not as if it’s in competition with Kingdom Hearts 3 for resources or anything like that. It’s quite far into development now and it is being given a very high priority within the company itself, but that doesn’t mean Kingdom Hearts isn’t.”

And while it may no longer bear the “XIII” tag, it’s still very much part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis project that Square Enix had planned when it first announced FFXIII and FF Versus XIII.

“Right from the start when we first it announced it as Versus XIII, the game itself was backed up by the same Crystal legend: the Fabulla Nova Crystallis mythology that underpins the whole of the XIII series. So even though it’s not necessarily the same universe or the same game, they’re all linked and underpinned by the backdrop of that legend.

“Now it’s moved on – obviously the title’s been changed to Final Fantasy XV – but that hasn’t actually changed. The story and the world is still going to be linked and backed up by that. So yes, there is the link between XIII and XV, and they both share that mythology as a backdrop and a starting point.”

Final Fantasy 15 is currently in development for Xbox One and PS4. No release date has been confirmed as of yet.

Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XIII saga is widely reviled, but the upcoming conclusion, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, genuinely looks like it has some interesting gameplay mechanics.

The Doomsday Clock- the mechanic where the world ends in thirteen days, and players have to get everything accomplished within that period- originally sounds like it is something from Nintendo’s N64 classic, The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, but it is a quite different take on the idea, although it too will necessitate time management.

The video talks about all this and more. Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII launches worldwide February 11, 2014, following it’s December 2013 Japan release. In Japan, the game bombed terribly at retail, even compared to the underperforming Final Fantasy XIII-2. We’ll see if the international numbers for this game are any better.

The game will be launching on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and finally ends the Final Fantasy XIII saga. The next mainline Final Fantasy game is Final Fantasy XV, due out on PS4 and Xbox One next year.

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.

There are plenty of reasons to be excited for a new year, and plenty of reasons to celebrate as we send off the old year and bring in the new. Plenty of us go out with friends and family, to enjoy the festivities with just a bit of the warmth left from the holiday season in us.

Much of the same can be said for gaming too. While there have been some great RPG games in 2013, with a new year comes new games to play, some to share with friends and some to enjoy from the warmth of a brand new console generation. Some of the titles that are coming are continuations of a franchise, other are a fresh start with a new story. Whatever you’re into there is probably going to be an RPG in our little list that should tickle your fancy, even if it’s not coming out right at the turn of the new year, you’ll have something to look forward to in 2014.

Note: This list consists of one unannounced title.

The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt:

Gamers getting their hands on the new Witcher title is a pretty exciting proposition. Even at a glance, the game is absolutely gorgeous. The game’s gritty subject matter, just like always doesn’t seem to shy away from the more gruesome and gory bits of combat. Just like the previous Witcher titles, it’s also going to be presenting the player with a plethora of choices and decisions, from skills to quests and even dialogue. Developers, CD Projekt Red is also pretty confident in their ability to please gamers.

The PC version is DRM free and will look absolutely stunning. While it’s obviously not going to be a pushover on the new consoles, this game’s really going to shine on the PC platform, which is what the developers have intended. Be warned though, if you haven’t played any of the Witcher titles yet, go back and do so if you’re interested in this game. The Witcher 3 is the conclusion to the story arc that started in the first game and while you may really enjoy the eye-candy, you’re going to have a hell of a time following the plot if you’ve missed the first two titles. Sure, you could watch a Youtube re-cap or something like that, but where is the fun in that?

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.