Final Fantasy XIII is still months from release (in Japan… we’re still closer to a year from release here in the U.S.) and god only knows when FF Versus XIII will be out, but Square Enix has decided to tempt us with the next installment in the series.

Yesterday’s E3 attendees saw the first footage of Final Fantasy XIV. The game will be coming to PS3, though not even a tentative timeframe was given for the release. MMO fans rejoice… XIV will be another online title, a la Final Fantasy XI.

I may finally have to break my rule about not getting involved in MMOs. I missed out on XI due to not having broadband (or… you know… money, really, for that matter) back when it first came out, and never got around to trying it after becoming a member of the gainfully employed elite. And until about a month ago, my PC would have choked and died had I attempted to put WoW on it. With my two top choices out of the picture, it didn’t seem worth the effort to risk having my life taken over by some other MMO. But I’m a sucker for just about anything Square Enix is willing to throw at me, so it looks like I’m sold.

Ever wonder what the Final Fantasy IV characters got up to after the game ended? (Well… the ones who lived through it, I mean…) I guess now we’ll find out.

No, really. There’s a Final Fantasy IV sequel out today on WiiWare. Apparently I missed the memo on this when it came out on various mobile phone platforms in Japan last year, because this is complete news to me (I’m almost ashamed to call myself a fan for not knowing about this).

For a mere 800 Wii Point, you can pick up FInal Fantasy VII: The After Years.

From Nintendo:

Sure, some fans have derided Advent Children as pure fan service… the cornerstone of a lucrative cash-in on what is arguably of Square Enix’s most successful and beloved game to date. Sure, those same fans are probably going to say that Advent Children Complete is just SE’s way of squeezing more money out of FF7 fanatics.

Sure, I already own four copies of the damn thing…

Available June 2, only on Blu-Ray, Advent Children Complete puts a new spin on Square Enix’s Final Fantasy VII sequel. Essentially the director’s cut of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Advent Children Complete adds additional footage to the original film, bringing the run time from 101 to 126 minutes.

I’ve pre-ordered it. Now… does anyone know where I can get a good deal on a Blu Ray player so I can actually watch it?

Though it hasn’t been released in the U.S. yet, I finally broke down and imported this one from Japan a while back. Dissidia is sort of the Super Smash Bros. of the Final Fantasy world, bringing together the heros and villains of the series and letting them beat the stuffing out of one another. Exclusive to the PSP, the game is slotted for a release in the U.S. some time this summer.

The premise of the game is that in the war between the goddess of harmony (known as Cosmos) and the god of destruction (called Chaos) things have suddenly shifted in Chaos’ favor. Though evil appears to be winning, a small band of heros band together to restore the balance.

The game itself is a straight-up fighter, very much in the vein of Smash Bros., with a little Soul Caliber thrown in. The battle field allows you to move the characters in full 3D (one of my major grips about SSB Brawl was that it lacked true 3D environments), including the ability to wall-walk and climb pillars and other structures, and slide on rails. Like most fighters, the object is to reduce your opponent’s HP to zero.

During battle, both opponents begin the match with equal BP (Brave Points). Damage to HP is dealt based on the difference between your BP and that of your opponent. There are two basic attacks… a BP attack, which steals BP from your opponent and adds it to your own guage, and an HP attack which depletes your stores of BP in order to damage your opponent’s HP.

In addition, battles also feature Break Mode (in which a character’s BP is reduced to zero and all attacks against him or her result in critical damage), and EX Mode (in which the EX Gauge fills and enables the character to use their EX Burst, Dissidia’s version of a limit break).

The story mode is completed by clearing “chapters”, each chapter being represented by a chessboard-like field that contains battle, treasure, and bonus icons. The object of each chapter is to move and battle your way across the field until you capture the Chaos square (usually occupied by a boss icon).

Each and every hero has his or her own storyline to play through that contributes to the overall plot, and a hero from Final Fantasy I through XI is included in the line-up. Access to the villains (who also have their own storylines) must be unlocked by earning Purchase Points during gameplay and then purchasing them in the in-game shop. Adding to the playtime, clearing the initial “chapters” unlocks the Shade Impulse “chapters” (which in turn, when cleared, unlocks Distant Glory and Inward Chaos).

My overall impression of the game was very favorable. Though it lacks the combo moves that many gamers expect in fighting titles, Dissidia is a solid fusion of one on one fighting with an RPG feel to it. Admittedly, I probably missed out on a lot of the story-related content, my Japanese not being exactly fluent, but it didn’t really detract much from my enjoyment of the game.

So overall, how did it fare?

Story: n/a
I’m going to refrain from giving this a rating until I have a chance to play it in a language I fully understand. But what I did manage to pick up gave me the impression that Square Enix’s strength in crafting a plot hasn’t diminished.

Characters: 9/10
It’s hard to go wrong with classic, well-loved Final Fantasy characters. The only reason it didn’t get a 10/10 is because I wish they’d included more than just two per game.

Gameplay: 8/10
Controls are easy enough to pick up, even without an English language tutorial. Sometimes, maybe a little too simplistic. But that doesn’t mean the game itself is a breeze. There’s plenty of challenge packed in there.

Overall: 9/10
I’m still having a lot of fun with this game, and I’m eagerly looking forward to the U.S. release so I can figure out what all that dialog is about.

On sale in Japan later this month, is Advent Children Complete, the BluRay-format director’s cut of 2005’s CG film, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.

Not only that, but it’s coming in three editions (say what you will about Square Enix… they certainly know how to squeeze every last cent out of their fans): Regular Edition, First Edition (which comes with the Final Fantasy XIII demo and trailers), and First Edition PS3 Bundle (which comes with the demo and a PS3 to play it on).

So what else are they throwing in to get people to buy this? Well in addition to the 30 minutes of additional footage, how about a new anime? Those of you who purchased the limited collector’s edition (or imported a copy from Japan) probably remember the Last Order animated short that was part of the bonuses.

Advent Children Complete will include another 30-minute anime called Final Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile - Episode: Denzel. Presumably the short will be based on Denzel’s story from the novella that came with the limited collector’s edition. The short story recounts Denzel’s life just before the Meteor incident, the deaths of his parents, and his life leading up to the start of Advent Children, two years later.

How sad is it that I already own four editions of the movie and am still planning to buy this? Sometimes I think I take my FF7 fandom a little too far. I’ve probably got more money invested in FF7 merchandise than I do actual Final Fantasy games at this point.

It’s things like this that make me wish I’d taken up crochet or knitting instead of cross-stitch. Although given the state of most of my current projects, I’d probably never finish it…

But for a mere $130 (plus shipping), you could have your very own pixel-style Black Mage afghan. How awesome is that? Now if I could just find some matching White Mage pillow covers to go with it…

Final Fantasy XIII’s official site is offering up a new trailer for the game… with subtitles, even. The trailer shows some pre-rendered video a look at the characters and storyline, and, perhaps more interestingly, a fairly substantial amount of actual gameplay.

You may need to update your flash player to get the site to load… and you may also be waiting a bit for the video to buffer. Traffic seems to be slowing things down at the moment.

Given the sheer number of Final Fantasy fans out there, I’m sure I’m not that only person around the217.com who’s anxiously looking forward to FFXIII (and to Versus XIII). The former will be released over in Japan later this year, with a sneak preview available to those who purchase Advent Children Complete in March.

But what about us, here in the U.S.? According to guardian.co.uk, quoting Square Enix’s Yoichi Wada, “Overseas launches of the latest “Final Fantasy” game will come in the business year from April 2010 or later, Wada said.”

Yes, we’re stuck waiting at least a year from the day it drops in Japan. A year of avoiding internet spoilers, a year of subsisting on other RPG franchises… a year of waiting. I hate waiting. I accept waiting, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.

Really, if it were any other genre, I’d import the damn thing and be done with it… but RPGs are a little pointless if you can’t figure out what’s going on, and the only Japanese I speak is what I learned in a semester long class at Parkland five years ago, and what I’ve picked up from anime (which pretty much consists of various battle cries, and demands that my opponent not look down on me).

Final Fantasy fans may want to head over to the Fabula Nova Crystallis portal site. Square Enix just updated it with actual information. The portal now links to sub-sites for Final Fantasy XIII, Versus XIII, and Agito XIII.

Unfortunately the Versus and Agito sections don’t have much other than the game specs and a pretty picture. But the Final Fantasy XIII site has some nifty stuff, including some high quality screenshots (new and old), as well as character profiles (in Japanese, of course) and artwork for Lightning, Snow, and Vanille. The site gives you a little sampling of FFXIII’s music while you browse, and there’s also a Trailers section, but it hasn’t opened yet.

So… not a huge update, but it’s a nice placeholder for you all to bookmark. You may need to update your flash player to view it, though.

At last, something I really wanted to hear… Square Enix has finally announced a release date for the North American version of Dissidia Final Fantasy. Well… alright, a release range. Sometime mid-year, 2009. But at least they’ve finally confirmed that we’re getting the damned thing.

Dissida looks to be the Smash Bros. of the Final Fantasy world, bringing together the heros and villains of nearly the entire series into one fighter mash-up.

The PSP title released today in Japan. Along with it come the Suntory-produced Potions. This round comes in grape and grapefruit flavors, but each can bearing a Yoshitaka Amano illustration of one of 16 characters on it. There’s also a nifty commercial for the potions over on YouTube

… although it doesn’t even come close to topping the commercial for the FFXII branded potions awhile back.