This week’s newsletter is 2440 words,…

Read more

This week’s newsletter is 1808 words, a 8-minute read.

Subscribe now

Expanding the Duel

We’re now a couple weeks into Dissidia Duellum Final Fantasy‘s era, with the playerbase beginning to solidify and find its groove. With the launch out of the way, producer Naoya Matsumoto spoke to Siliconera about the game’s prospects, and

What they’re saying:

• The game’s vertical orientation was chosen for two reasons:

  • “We prioritized controls that allow for casual, one-handed play on smartphones“

  • “We’ve also placed a strong emphasis on community features. One of our key concepts is to create a space where Final Fantasy fans from different parts of the world, regardless of age, gender, or region, can gather and connect […] When we considered providing an experience that is easy to use on a daily basis, similar to social media platforms like Facebook and X, we felt that a vertical screen would be more natural and stress-free to use”

  • Therefore “we chose the vertical screen so that players can comfortably enjoy not only the gameplay but also the communication aspects of the game”

• Contrary to what some may assume, the tighter portrait orientation does not rule out potential ports, as Matsumoto added: “While we cannot provide specific details at this time, we are currently exploring the possibility of a PC version“

• True to its predecessor, Opera Omnia, Duellum’s early roster was chosen to showcase characters other than the main “face” hero of each game, but also for more practical reasons:

  • “We place strong emphasis on role diversity in battle in this title. Our main goal is to give each character a distinct personality and concept so that players can enjoy a unique gameplay experience with each one. […] We wanted to create a title that effectively conveys both the diversity of [Duellum’s] roles and the wide-ranging appeal of characters unique to the FF series”

• Matsumoto doesn’t quite agree that Duellum is a massive change for the series, as Dissidia “has always been a series with competitive elements“ (apart from OO) that “emphasized multiplayer”

• “One of the core concepts for this title is to bring Final Fantasy fans together to form a large, connected community and to further energize the FF brand as a whole. When designing the game with an emphasis on these ‘connections between players,’ the gameplay experience naturally centered around multiplayer“

What we thought:

• I’m personally inclined to agree and disagree here on most points

• The portrait orientation does work naturally for the game, more than you might think from the outside when you see how pinched the screen can look—but managing the camera while steering and holding your phone is not a task for only five digits

• Should Duellum see life on PC (or any other platform, for that matter) Square Enix will almost certainly need to accommodate for the different perspective somehow

  • Would seeing a normal wide perspective of the arena provide an unfair advantage, or would it change nothing? It’s hard to say until they actually build a PC version and put it to the test

  • I’d hazard a guess that it would mainly be a cosmetic change, since players can already track all the action on the minimap, but the visual effect will be liberating in a way

• The in-game community has been a pretty chill experience for the most part; it was a feature that stood out back in the beta, with efficient means to set up social circles around a simple idea (like which game you like, where you’re from, etc), and thankfully it has carried into the main game

  • As for hoping it will unite the larger fan base, well… good luck with that

• The notion that Dissidia has always focused on multiplayer specifically, however, is skewed: people bought it because it combined characters from different games, offered a fighting game engine with RPG elements, and had an interesting story mode, with multiplayer modes being a cherry on top and not the main event

  • Personally, of the people I knew at the time who owned a PSP, 90% of them played Dissidia (some even buying a PSP for it), and it’s also the only PSP game I ever played multiplayer on… but I didn’t buy it for multiplayer

  • There’s a fundamental reason why Dissidia NT didn’t work as a console game while its core did work as an arcade game: people expected a single-player core, and the single-player features felt tacked on to the arcade gameplay and poorly integrated

  • So yes, multiplayer has always been a part of Dissidia, from the optional modes on PSP to the (ill-advised and self-sabotaging) multiplayer focus of NT and even the co-op features of Opera Omnia… but it was not originally the main emphasis, and Dissidia has always worked better when it led with the single-player experience and story

• All that to say… I’m still having fun playing a couple matches of Duellum daily, and it is refreshing to see another younger developer step into Final Fantasy’s spotlight—while it’s drawing all the usual and predicted gacha criticisms, it still seems to be holding ground better than many people expected

What’s next? Matsumoto teases “plenty of story content” down the line with new stories at approximately a monthly pace. Meanwhile the second batch of additional characters, Firion and Balthier, will likely arrive in a week or two, keeping pace with the initial road map they shared before launch.

The Wing of War Has Folded

Final Fantasy XI can be a brutal, punishing challenge (and not just during the initial account creation step), but a major achievement was finally earned by a brave group of players this week.

What’s going on:

• The Master Trial “Wing of War” was officially cleared for the first time since its release almost two full years ago, in the May 2024 update

• This high-end bout is a notorious monster battlefield that pits players against both Bahamut and Chaos, but requires the bosses to be beaten simultaneously; if one falls first, they’ll fully rejuvenate, and there’s a hard 60-minute deadline

• Players have batted their head against this wall for the past two years unsuccessfully, trying to determine if there’s a “intended mechanic” that the devs included that would open the door to success… and even though the fight has been cleared, the conquering players chalk the win up to luck

  • In short, there’s a recurring point where Bahamut can use either “Invincible” or “Elemental Sforzo,” with Invincible being considered a major nail in the coffin

  • On this particular run, Bahamut didn’t cast Invincible, and though “it took a 50/50 coin flip 4 times in a row” to win, the odds worked in their favour

• To be fair, the FFXI team did warn that it would be one of the hardest encounters in the game… and they weren’t lying

• Even then, players speculate that there was a “stealth nerf” of sorts, meaning to some that the “original” Wing of War was never beaten, only the new, supposedly-nerfed iteration

What we thought:

• The whole affair is somewhat reminiscent of Absolute Virtue, another infamous Notorious Monster in FFXI

  • Absolute Virtue was added in 2005 and never (legitimately) beaten within its own time before power creep made it more attainable

  • A few teams did successfully beat it, but the dev team retroactively deemed their means illegitimate and removed those methods from the game

• Since the conquering party effectively cleared Wing of War due to a series of lucky coin tosses and not some genuine, deliberate strategy to overcome the hurdles, it’s possible that a similar situation could arise here, with the devs invalidating the group’s success and recontextualizing victory… but no such effort has been made yet

  • Maybe it really is as simple as a boss getting tails on four consecutive coin flips while also having the means to whittle both bosses down appropriately within an hour

• The changes eventually made to Absolute Virtue are a lot more drastic than those speculated to have affected the 2024 encounter, so even if there will be an asterisk next to this victory on a technicality, it’s still close enough to be commemorated as a major achievement

• Again, it’s amazing that FFXI not only has so many active players 24 years after its initial launch, but still inspires the kind of love and devotion required to grind out such grueling content; truly, who could’ve seen anything of the sort coming back when everyone was divided over the idea of a mainline Final Fantasy being a MMORPG?

What’s next? Kudos to you, brave adventurers of Vana’diel, for finally putting a two-year old trial to rights. Even if there are moves to officially discredit or diminish the achievement after the fact, it’s still an impressive feat.

Around the Union

Striking from the shadows, our first video this week is “The Complete Evolution of Ninja!” The Job Evolutions series returns [heralding the impending arrival of the Kickstarter for our third book, coincidentally all about Jobs] with a look at one of the series’ most prestigious classes in Final Fantasy, from being one of the original twelve Jobs to being FFIII’s most potent physical class, to the title of two elusive, optional ninjas, all the way up into Jack Garland’s edgy party in Stranger of Paradise. Which iteration of the Ninja is your favourite? Let us know in the comments!

…and then join us for part 2 of another ongoing series, breaking down the illustrations that define each game’s covers in “Final Fantasy’s Most Iconic Logos Explained!” These are some of the most recognizable icons in Final Fantasy, if not all of RPGs, and we break down their significance and symbolism!

Speaking of all RPGs, lastly, over on Datalog we took a look at “7 Incredibly Hard Super Bosses You Definitely Didn’t Beat First Time!” Other series besides Final Fantasy can come out swinging for the fences with punishing optional bosses—how many of these have you felled?

Now you’re up to speed! From the whole team at Final Fantasy Union, thank you for subscribing. Please let us know what you think of our coverage, and what you’d like to see covered in our weekly installments. As ever, if you’ve enjoyed our work, please share it with your friends!

Join the discussion on our Discord!

Or, find Final Fantasy Union on social media: Facebook | Instagram | Bluesky |

Until next time, kupo!

Share

This week’s newsletter is 1514 words, a 6-minute read.

Subscribe now

Fan Fest Scheduled

As it’s now April (already? somehow?), we are now only a few weeks away from the first of three Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival events this year. Round one takes place in Anaheim three weeks from today, and now we know the schedule for its festivities.

What’s going on:

• The full schedule was posted yesterday, featuring most of the usual components (the following times listed in Western timezone, event-local, or 8 hours behind UK)

• For Friday, April 24, day 1:

  • 7am: Registration and lines open

  • 10AM-12:15PM: Naoki Yoshida’s Keynote address

  • 12:15-12:30PM: Welcome Ceremony with Matt Hilton (FFXIV Community Team)

  • 1:15-2:15PM: The Roulette Game Show, hosted by Aya Montoya, featuring CrystAAHHL, CuriousJoi, Jesse Cox, and Mrhappy1227

  • 2:45-4:45PM: Development Panel with Naoki Yoshida and Hikaru Tamaki, Battle System Designer

  • 5-6PM: “Glamoured To Life” Cosplay Walk, hosted by Aya Montoya and Sarah Vargas

  • 7-8PM: Piano Concert, performed by Keiko

• For Saturday, April 25, day 2:

  • 10AM-12PM: 2026 North American Crystalline Conflict Regional Championship, hosted by Naoki Yoshida, Aya Montoya, Brian Ricardo, Frosty, and Merlin

  • 1-2:30PM: “From Tacos to Tenders: Serving up the Lyrics of FFXIV,” where Michael-Christopher Koji Fox will speak to the songwriting process for FFXIV’s beloved songs

  • 3:30-4:45PM: “A Random Q&A with Yoshida,” where players can submit questions and “luck will play a significant part into how ‘difficult’ the questions are to answer”

  • 7-8PM: The Primals, live in concert

What we thought:

• For those not attending in person, perhaps the most worthy thing to pay attention to is Yoshi-P’s keynote on day 1 (1PM EST, 6PM BST)

  • These keynotes are always the biggest info dumps—historically, these are where major expansions are announced (and if we’re lucky, a little cosplay from Yoshi-P to tease a new job?)

• Second priority is Yoshi-P’s Q&A on day 2 (6:30 EST,11:30PM BST)

  • His Q&As are usually quite insightful, a nice counterpart to the sheer news dumps of the main keynotes, and especially interesting as it’s in direct response to player queries

  • Although, the “random” or gameified element of the proceedings could either make this talk a lot more fun, or… a lot more shallow

• Most of the festivities will be livestreamed, but if you’re hoping to catch either of the concerts, you’ll have to purchase a digital ticket to tune in

• Between panels FFXIV players will get to take a break from queueing in the game to… queue in real-life lines for the facilities! (Hopefully including some G’raha-inspired taco stalls)

What’s next? What do we expect to hear about at the show? An expansion announcement is a likely or safe bet, given historical precedent, but what would be really nice to hear is some word about a potential Nintendo Switch 2 port. The Xbox Series X|S version launched in conjunction with Dawntrail, so the next expansion would be a great onboarding point for Nintendo fans. But time will tell!

Final Fool’s Day (And Dirge Returns)

April also brings with it the tradition of April Fools (even if the practice feels a little less enjoyable now than it once did?), and the teams behind Final Fantasy joined in the fun this year.

What’s going on:

• Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis made waves last year with an “alternate universe” take on FFVII, “Ever Crisis Academy,” that transported familiar faces to the world of an anime high-school drama—and these weapons and outfits returned to the game’s gacha for a limited time

• More importantly, a new event was subtly added on Wednesday, starting with a message from Hojo tasking players to gather data on some “special research subjects”—alluding to new Rare Encounter monsters

• The Dirge of Cerberus event has returned for part 2, which is where players can potentially fight those rare encounters… against polygon-chibi versions of Cloud, Zack, and Sephiroth

• Your reward for besting these special encounters is a special Save Point-shaped currency which can be used to unlock the skins for yourself

• Elsewhere, Square Enix parodied their own “Party Chat” video series for the occasion, with a chat between a Moogle and a Namazu,

• Also a countdown started for “NieR: Cosmic Horror”—despite being posted on April 1, the countdown started at 19 days, so… is it for something real?

what we thought:

• If nothing else, Ever Crisis understands the assignment when it comes to jokes, between these annual events and the gag weapons obtainable through the Guild exchange

• This year’s joke isn’t quite as involved as Ever Crisis Academy, but nonetheless it’s a really cool concept that will be fun to see pop up unexpectedly year-round

• Proportions on the polygon models are a little bit strange, since the EC models are too tall to accurately recreate the original, so they aren’t quite as charming as the versions found in FFVII Rebirth… but nonetheless, they balance that careful divide between “pure farce” and “tongue-in-cheek easter egg”

• Is… Is Yoko Taro trying to set us up for a combination April Fools/Four-Twenty joke? Because that would be bizarre, even by NieR standards

What’s next? You can’t just give us three polygonal skins for the main cast, Squeenix! We need the rest of the FFVII OGs in this form too!

Around the Union

In case you haven’t already heard, the time has come to summon “Defenders of the Crystal…”

That’s right, the Kickstarter campaign for our third book, Defenders of the Crystal: An Unofficial Guide to Final Fantasy Jobs, is launching soon on Kickstarter! You can preregister for the campaign now, to be notified when it goes live or we have other news to share.

As part of the feedback from our previous campaigns, the people spoke and declared they’d like to see us tackle the history of Job Classes next—and that’s exactly what this book will be all about. The new tome will chronicle over 80 classes and feature amazing original artwork from artists in the community, as well as a foreword from a creator in the FF space!

We’re excited to present another weighty tome exploring Final Fantasy history, particularly with such a prominent element of the series, and we hope you’ll come along for the ride with us! Click here to check out the Kickstarter campaign, stay tuned for more updates, and let us know in the comments which classes you’re most looking forward to reading about!

Weapons and armor get all the advertising when it comes to equipment in games, but a good accessory can really tie a whole character together. This week we take a look at “7 Overpowered Accessories That Broke Final Fantasy,” highlighting some of the most notoriously stacked trinkets in the series’ history. Do you have a particular accessory that carried you or made all the difference in a previous playthrough, and did it make the cut for this list or not? Let us know in the comments!

Over at Datalog, we explore a fascinating and offbeat tale: “The Complete History of Mother,” aka Earthbound Beginnings! When Nintendo green-lit an RPG of its very own, it chose an unconventional approach at just about every turn, right down to its convoluted publication history outside of Japan. (And if you’re looking for even more Earthbound, check out the Datalog Patreon community for SideQuest, a “book club for games” where we play a different RPG every two months—and our inaugural game is Earthbound/Mother 2!)

Lastly, in this week’s Kupo Chronicle we examine Final Fantasy’s problems with demographics—how gamers have discovered the series differently over the years, and how it can gain appeal with younger generations.

Now you’re up to speed! From the whole team at Final Fantasy Union, thank you for subscribing. Please let us know what you think of our coverage, and what you’d like to see covered in our weekly installments. As ever, if you’ve enjoyed our work, please share it with your friends!

Join the discussion on our Discord!

Or, find Final Fantasy Union on social media: Facebook | Instagram | Bluesky |

Until next time, kupo!

Share

This week’s newsletter is 2418 words, a 10-minute read.

Subscribe now

In a series of interviews conducted for Dissidia Duellum, where creators behind some of the characters spoke about the process of adapting their characters for the game, Naoki Yoshida dropped some interesting comments on the series’ overall relevance with new audiences:

Since Yoshida’s comments suggested or implied that “Final Fantasy has some kind of a problem,” there was an inevitable round of rabble-rousing on social media, with fingers pointed and wagged. And thus, it bears investigating this issue—to dispel some of the perceived and/or overinflated cons, to find some unlikely pros, and suggest ways that the franchise’s keepers might use this information to move forward.

How Did We Get Here?

There has been a fundamental shift in the time between mainline, numbered Final Fantasy games, and it lies at the heart of a lot of issues the series (and its company) encounter—not necessarily an inherently Bad Thing, but a factor that impacts how the series, and each continuation thereof, is perceived.

Read more

After spending some time away from the world of book publishing, we made a successful return last year with The Guardians of the Crystal. It was a huge success, with 2,296 backers and over £200,000 raised, and this built upon what we’ve achieved with our first book, The Legacy of the Crystal (both of which can be purchased via PDF here).

As part of the previous campaign we asked backers what they would want to see us explore next via the written word and the majority of them said Jobs.

Introducing Defenders of the Crystal

This new book will document every useable Job that has featured within the mainline Final Fantasy games. It will therefore feature:

• Over 80 different Jobs, from Warrior through to Mime.

• Context as to any inspirations and allusions related to each Job, but also lore and general Job evolution if they have been featured throughout the franchise in both mainline and spin-off games.

• Approximately 50,000-60,000 words

• A foreword from a well known creator in the Final Fantasy space.

• Key Art from fourteen fantastic artists including the likes of Tholia Bentz, Tylor Hepner and Colin Tan who have been tasked with creating their own interpretations of iconic Jobs.

• Three unique covers designed by Colin Tan, perfect for those who have a particular favourite amongst the Job roster.

If this all sounds remotely interesting, we’d please ask you to follow the project on Kickstarter!

So, What’s Next?

As with last time, the objective now is to try and gain as many Kickstarter followers as possible prior to launch.

Not only will this help to prove that this idea is just as viable as our first and second books, but it will increase the spotlight on the project on the Kickstarter platform and improve the chances of the project succeeding upon launch. And if the project succeeds, then it will become a tangible thing that can become a part of everyone’s growing Final Fantasy collections.

Outside of following the project, any additional support you could offer would be much appreciated. That could be through telling friends you know who love Final Fantasy or sharing it amongst communities you’re part of - every little helps. Also, if you have social media, make sure to Re-Post and share our announcement!

Thank you all so much for your support! We’ll be sure to update you all once the campaign goes live (should you not want to follow the project just yet!).

Here’s to making something new and exciting a reality!

~Darryl

This week’s newsletter is 1601 words, a 7-minute read.

Subscribe now

End of the Brave

The time has come to say goodbye once more, as Square Enix has announced service will terminate (again) for War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius in May.

What’s going on:

• War of the Visions’ global version went offline last May, and now days are numbered for the Japanese version, which will fall on May 28, 2026

• The team expressed their thanks to all fans who have supported the game over the years and apologized for the bad news, but claimed they have “come to the conclusion that it will be difficult to continue providing a service that satisfies our customers”

• As per usual, further purchases were immediately suspended, and two months remain for players to spend their remaining resources

• Just the day before, Square Enix released Volume 2 of the game’s Original Soundtrack on digital streaming platforms

• …and since the cancellation, they also announced a new artbook called Phantom War Memorial Archives, containing over 700 illustrations from the game’s 7-year run—including unreleased materials

  • The artbook goes on sale in Japan May 14; of course, no word yet of an international release

What we thought:

• A year left in one region is frankly twice as long as I might’ve expected

• This brings an end to the era (for now, anyway) of the Brave Exvius franchise and Squeenix’s collaboration with Gumi… which is a net positive

  • Gumi’s monetization practices before BE were more aggressive than SE’s, and may’ve been a bad influence on the whole mobile game division

• The move is in line with the company’s plans to “enhance productivity by optimizing the development footprint in the Digital Entertainment segment”—the benefit of developing and sustaining WotV is no longer

• The decision comes right before the end of SE’s fiscal year (and with purchases suspended, this will keep WotV from impacting the figures for next year), which was probably as much of a factor in the decision as declining satisfaction—trimming a loose end, as it were

• The art book is a nice capstone for the game at least, giving players a “yearbook” of sorts and preserving the materials that went into its creation (because not preserving things has never been a problem, right?)

What’s next? This leaves Record Keeper, Ever Crisis, and Duellum active in Japan. This should be a sustainable selection, in theory, but we’ll see if anything happens with the remaining games.

Oddly Exvius

With the door closing to the world of Brave Exvius (again, for now, at least; who knows if they’ll revisit it?), it’s worth taking a moment to remember a couple of the oddest contributions the mobile games brought to Final Fantasy.

Over the years, both Brave Exvius and War of the Visions saw a plethora of crossover events, as is the norm for long-running mobile games. This included units from Brave Frontier, Gumi’s pre-existing gacha, and Bravely Default, obviously a different “brave” property at Square Enix; it also expanded to Deus Ex, Just Cause, and Fullmetal Alchemist, SE-owned or -published properties that didn’t quite fit the tone. WotV got to go a little further and collaborated with Atlus to bring Persona 5 Royal characters in for a limited time, crossing company lines.

But perhaps the strangest were the popstars.

Brave Exvius saw several events featuring Ariana Grande and Katy Perry—not posing as Final Fantasy characters, or lending their likeness to in-universe characters like Gackt did for Genesis, but as themselves. Before Grande was a Good Witch, she appeared in four different forms (Dangerous, Chic, Sportive, and Charming Kitty), and before she went to space Perry entered the world of Final Fantasy in two different variants (Popstar and Immortal Flame). WotV tried to follow suite with a lesser-known idol, social media influencer Addison Rae.

They seemed more like pop culture cash-grabs than collabs with honest fans who happened to be celebrities, and some were better than others at playing along with even knowing what Final Fantasy is in the first place; if nothing else it’s just bizarre that these happened at all, and a strange chance at exposing the series to a new audience. So goodnight and farewell, unlikely Warriors of Light.

Start of a Duel

One door is closing and another door has opened. As we’ve been covering lately, Dissidia Duellum has launched this week, and the new kid on the block has seen a decent start.

What’s going on:

• Duellum went live on Monday evening, and prior to its launch, there was a fair amount of chatter online among players waiting to hop in and take it for a spin

• Prior to launch, Square Enix confirmed that the game would support controllers, which is a welcome addition

• So far, Duellum is charting fairly well on SensorTower’s Top Charts for Apple’s iOS App store (following info as of 3/26):

  • In Japan, it reached #6 on the Top Grossing chart

  • On the top Free games chart, it reached #5 in Japan, #7 in US, #8 in Canada, and #21 in the UK

  • Ironically, despite having the beta on Android, it doesn’t seem to be charting well on those devices now that the game is live

• Early impressions are fairly positive overall, or at least more positive than many expected; concerns have arisen about certain “pay to win” elements, while it’s easy to find posts from players who aren’t usually into MOBA or PvP games who are nonetheless enjoying the game at first blush

What we thought:

• I had a chance to check out the game again last week; you can read my full impressions here, but overall, the gameplay feels subtly refined from the beta, while I remained apprehensive about the wider appeal

• Having controller support is an absolute saving grace; controllers don’t suit every player’s style, but having the option is huge (and it really makes the camera a lot more manageable)

• The pay-to-win problems seem much more prevalent at the highest ranks, which take a lot of investment to reach, but there are some problems at the lowest ranks too

  • Since each character’s abilities need to be drawn from the Ability gacha, it can be difficult to get the rarer abilities for the characters you want to play, or the characters who may be more beneficial in the meta—so players who can throw money at the problem start with an advantage

  • Also, to full buff those abilities, you need many copies of it, combining them to break the level cap—a standard practice in live-service, but again, those who can throw money at the game have a leg up

  • At the highest levels, the caps go insanely high… but how many players are going to reach those pinnacles?

• That being said, one doesn’t need all 4 of their chosen character’s abilities to be successful—fundamentals, strategy, and some of the medium-rarity abilities can go a long way too

• The response among the community has been negative for many of the reasons we could have suspected… but also, honestly more positive than I expected when the game was announced, which is a refreshing change, so let’s hope the game can sustain its momentum as it begins to add new characters over the coming weeks

• In light of the WotV news, it is kinda funny how this sort of thing has happened at least twice in recent memory: Duellum launches as WotV’s end is announced, just as Opera Omnia went offline as FFVII Rebirth launched

  • It’s a side effect of decisions being timed around the end of the fiscal year, but still seems like an odd coincidence… or is it deliberate, fateful poetry?

What’s next? For those who are playing, look for the “FinalFantasyUnion” Community in-game, or swing by the final_fantasy_mobile channel on the FFU Discord to discuss the game with other players in our community!

Around the Union

With this year being the game’s 10th anniversary, this week we looked back at “Why Square Enix Abandoned Final Fantasy XV!” As big and sprawling as FFXV’s world was, the story behind it is even grander… and more convoluted. Check out the whole sorrid tale here and join us in pouring one out for the game we could’ve had.

And afterwards, join us as we begin a massive undertaking: combing through every iconic logo illustration and explaining their significance, starting with “Every Major Final Fantasy Logo Explained (Part 1)!”

Meanwhile over at Datalog, we looked back to the “golden age” of JRPGs on PS1 to find “7 PlayStation RPGs You Probably Have Not Played!” How many have you checked off?

Now you’re up to speed! From the whole team at Final Fantasy Union, thank you for subscribing. Please let us know what you think of our coverage, and what you’d like to see covered in our weekly installments. As ever, if you’ve enjoyed our work, please share it with your friends!

Join the discussion on our Discord!

Or, find Final Fantasy Union on social media: Facebook | Instagram | Bluesky |

Until next time, kupo!

Share

This week’s newsletter is 2180 words, a 9-minute read.

Subscribe now

Unleash the Beast

The last leg of the Dawntrail has begun to be revealed, as the latest Live Letter broadcast drew a rough road map for what Final Fantasy XIV players can expect for the next six months or so.

What’s going on:

• FFXIV director and producer Naoki Yoshida, along with community producer Toshio Murouchi, returned to unveil patch 7.5, dubbed Trail to the Heavens—the next big update for the game and the last of this expansion cycle

• As usual, the last patch in the cycle is a little too big to be just one patch, and will be staggered out across updates over several months:

  • 7.5, or Trail to the Heavens—Part 1 will go live on April 28, after the North American Fan Festival in Anaheim April 24-25

  • Patch 7.51 will follow sometime in early June

  • Patch 7.55 will then arrive in late July (presumably the last week of July, after the Berlin Fan Festival)

  • Part II, containing the next batch of Main Scenario Quests, will drop in early September as patch 7.56

• Across this slew of digestible updates, players can expect a fair amount of content:

  • A new expert dungeon from the MSQ, set in Garlemald and called The Clyteum

  • Windhurst: The Third Walk, the last part of the Echoes of Vana’diel Alliance Raid series in collaboration with Final Fantasy XI

  • A new trial featuring Final Fantasy V’s superboss Enuo, with an extreme difficulty as well

  • A new ultimate trial, which will be debuted at the first Fan Festival

  • The Forked Tower: Magic will build upon the foundation in Forked Tower: Blood—a 48-player field operation, now with a normal mode for those who want the story without the challenge of the extreme mode (and will be matchmade accordingly)

  • After completing the three allied societies’ questlines for Dawntrail and Inconceivably Further Hildibrand Adventures, a new capstone quest will become available to unlock Tiisol Ja as a custom delivery client

  • Field operations to the North Horn will expand, including a new explorable zone and pushing the maximum knowledge level to 40

  • A new planet awaits in cosmic exploration, called Auxesia

  • Houses will have their capacities improved considerably

  • The vast number of dyes that are available will be consolidated, changing this aspect of the glamour system; Yoshida will reveal more on this area at Fan Fest, a spot that he believes needed a rework desperately

• Dawntrail’s limited job, Beastmaster, is finally coming in these updates as well

  • Having a Disciple of War or Magic class at level 50 and beating A Realm Reborn are the main requirements—no need to finish Dawntrail, but you do need to own it on your account

  • This melee DPS class’ focus is to capture beasts, then call them to fight alongside you

  • Up to 50 beasts are available to be tamed, essentially filling in your Pokedex (or Master’s Bestiary), and you can have up to 3 out at your side at once

  • One-handed axes are their weapon of choice

  • Beasts can be trained in the Crucible of the Unbroken, a new “dedicated single-player experience”

• As a result, updates for the Blue Mage limited class have been temporarily delayed, as Beastmaster prep has taken precedence

• In perhaps the coolest and most unexpected part of the broadcast, Yoshida announced they’ve been working on a service that would allow players to order custom figures of their own playable characters, using screenshots for reference

  • The program has been in the works for a while, but wasn’t shaping up to their standards at first

  • More info on this will come at Fan Fest as well

What we thought:

• It’s a very long-term schedule, but it’s a relief to know the outline of most of the rest of the year at this point, at least

  • On paper it sounds a bit like a drip-feed of content, but after the last few years, players are used to that

  • There’s a lot to catch up on, and a lot of time to do it

  • Yoshida teased that there’s a big reason why these patches are spread out—will we get to find out why? Is it a good big reason or a bad big reason?

• If 7.55 is coming after the first Fan Fest in April, and 7.56 is coming after the second Fan Fest in July… can we expect 8.0 (aka the next expansion) in early November, just after the third Fan Fest in Japan?

• Now that it’s been officially debuted, Beastmaster is an interesting premise, like the previous limited class before it, Blue Mage

  • Crucible of the Unbroken looks unique, with its board game-like presentation

  • The signature look from Final Fantasy V has been retained, judging by the fuzzy, woolen hood shown in the screenshots

  • Now time will tell if they can keep up with providing updates for both limited classes, since it seems getting Beastmaster ready has been draining enough

• These announcements feel like the team serving up the ball before smashing it into our faces at Fan Fest next month

  • By all means, spike that ball in our faces; FFXIV could use the hype

• Bespoke figures of players’ Warriors of Light is a really great idea, and the figures look pretty decent for something this custom, but what price will we have to pay to have ourselves manufactured and shipped?

What’s next? While we wait for Fan Fest and patch 7.55, the annual Easter-themed event Hatching-tide will kick off next week. From March 23 to April 6, players can pick up the quest in Old Gridania, with this year’s story rewarding some outlandishly festive headpieces and other props.

Thundaga Round!

• The Square Enix Publisher Sale has become something of an annual tradition, and escalating from last year’s video of Ben Starr recommending which games you should check out, they upped the ante by adding Matthew Mercer (and a surprisingly, felty third) into the mix

  • Check out the video here, especially f you ever wanted to see Ben holding the Invictus face off against Matt with the Buster Sword (a very specific dream, but we’re not judging), or hear an esteemed voice actor reciting the FFXIV meme with perfect conviction—it’s just the right amount of chaotic fun

  • Beyond their more timely recommendations, practically every modern SE game is on sale for up to 60%, so it’s a great chance to check out something you’ve been curious about (or snap up an old favourite on another platform… which is something I’m totally not guilty of doing)

  • The sale is on now at local retailers and online storefronts until March 26

• The animated Final Fantasy IX series received a small update this week, being listed as “in development” on studio EuroVisual’s website

  • Not much has really changed since December, aside from reconfirming the previously-reported plot revolving around Vivi’s 4 “children”

  • However the episode count has shifted from 13 episodes to a round 10

  • EuroVisual initially listed it as “in production”, which would imply it’s farther along in the process, but this does not appear to be the case

  • Given this, it’s getting hard to believe we’ll see it before 2028, especially with how long the project has been stewing

• In sadder news, Hydaelyn’s Japanese voice actress has passed away at age 87; Masako Ikeda will be remembered not only for her role as FFXIV’s matron and the Cloud of Darkness in Dissidia, but for a long career in voice acting, including Ranma ½, Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete, and dubbing many of Audrey Hepburn’s live action roles

Duellum Begins Next Week

The hype train for Dissidia Duellum Final Fantasy is headed for a big ramp, as we now have a release date, the reveal of our next batch of playable characters, and a surprising product tie-in.

What’s going on:

• A launch trailer for the new mobile game dropped earlier this week, announcing the game will go live on March 24 (or late March 23, depending on timezones—seems North American players will probably be able to join in Monday evening)

• The trailer also shows off the remaining five “Ghosts,” who won’t be available at launch, rounding out the main series representatives as previously teased: Firion, Onion Knight, Rikku, Iroha, Balthier, and Clive

• We also get to see another terrifying enemy players will face, the Malboro

• At the trailer’s end they tease “who are the next Ghosts?” while displaying thirteen spotlights… is this a deliberate tease?

• In a pleasantly surprising twist, a release of the game’s soundtrack was announced yesterday, and will apparently go on sale alongside the game next Tuesday

• In an update earlier today, producer Naoya Matsumoto announced the six new characters will be released over the next two months, while also discussing some other finer points of the game’s content, like the solo Challenge stages that serve as tutorials for each character

  • Onion Knight and Iroha arrive first, followed by Firion and Balthier later in April, then Rikku and Clive in May

  • Matsumoto: “I want to grow Dissidia Duellum together with all of you, so I truly appreciate your continued support“

What we thought:

• Again, the marketing push seems stronger than Ever Crisis received, though Duellum’s concept gives it a more uphill battlefield

  • At least Square Enix seems committed to giving it a decent chance

• The newcomers to the cast look every bit as surreal and classy in their “real world” garbs as the others, from Onion Knight’s “iPad kid” outfit to Balthier’s stylishly-patterned jacket to Clive’s leather jacket

  • Rikku’s design also harkens back to Final Fantasy X-2, alluding to Paine’s outfit with a shoulderless sweater and red straps—perhaps to make up for her complete absence from Opera Omnia

• Clive and Rikku is a pair I didn’t expect to see, either; bet those conversations will be interesting (though it’s still weird to hear Clive speak without Ben’s voice)

• Final Fantasy mobile games have always had some exceptional rearrangements, and so far Duellum seems to be on par with its predecessors, so it’s nice to see a soundtrack arrive sooner rather than later

• Matsumoto confirmed that “many more Final Fantasy characters” are in development, though “new additions may not come every month,” so it’s still unclear what kind of update timing we can expect beyond the six confirmed characters

What’s next? When the game goes live next week, for those of you diving in, keep an eye on the introductory instructions; with any luck, the full game may allow players to reroll some of their initial gacha pulls to start with a preferred character, as it worked in the beta. You won’t want to waste the chance to stack the deck toward your preference, if it’s possible.

Around the Union

With bosses, you win some and you lose some… and sometimes you get clowned on. Final Fantasy has a storied history of keeping first-time heroes humble with some downright dirty boss tactics, and this week we explored these dastardly foes in “7 Bosses That Humiliated Final Fantasy Players!” Did your favourite boss/archnemesis make the list? Let us know in the comments!

Over at Datalog, we’re headed back to Nihon Falcom territory to explore “The Complete History of Ys III!”

And lastly, this week in the Kupo Chronicle we’re gonna party like it’s 2000… and by party I mean dig into the initial critical reaction to Final Fantasy IX. The third PlayStation installment has been one of the most universally-hailed in the entire series for the last 26 years, but did the pros at the time feel the same way about it as we do now?

Now you’re up to speed! From the whole team at Final Fantasy Union, thank you for subscribing. Please let us know what you think of our coverage, and what you’d like to see covered in our weekly installments. As ever, if you’ve enjoyed our work, please share it with your friends!

Join the discussion on our Discord!

Or, find Final Fantasy Union on social media: Facebook | Instagram | Bluesky |

Until next time, kupo!

Share

This week’s newsletter is 2694 words, a 12-minute read.

Subscribe now

Reputations change over time, even for masterpieces. It’s a natural part of the artistic process: a creator makes their work for the time or the moment in which they are creating it, and then it continues to exist well beyond that moment, taking on new meanings and being interpreted by fresh eyes (many of whom didn’t even exist when the creation was first unveiled). That’s why we’re always mindful here of how games were received at first, over the years, and at the common moment.

And when it comes to Final Fantasy, the pinnacle of artistic achievement is considered by many fans to be Final Fantasy IX. Many others will disagree and make a case for another mainline game, but the objective and subjective arguments in favour of FFIX hold up somewhat better than most other contenders. It helps, also, that FFIX isn’t trotted out as often as several of its brothers—frustratingly, it’s been kept at bay from the same level of “follow-up fever” as Final Fantasy VII and X have received.

Today, FFIX is seen as the golden entry of the series: a watershed moment, the crowning glory of a former era, and a place that people have very much wanted to return to over the years. It remains the highest-rated Final Fantasy by MetaCritic’s aggregation, with a critical score of 94 and a user score of 8.9, after 2000 ratings. The others of its generation garnered a 92/8.9 and 90/8.5 respectively, and its crown was only briefly challenged recently, when Final Fantasy VII Rebirth debuted at a 94 before settling at 92.

But what was the consensus at the time of launch, before rose-coloured glasses could fall over our eyes, or the power of hype could potentially distort the reality?

Setting the Stage

To set the stage, Final Fantasy IX arrived to western audiences in November 2000 or February 2001, depending on your side of the Atlantic. Final Fantasy VII had debuted just over three years prior, and North American fans were introduced to Final Fantasy VIII only 14 months prior. Those three years had seen the original PlayStation become a juggernaut, largely thanks to FFVII and a handful of other killer apps, and well over 50 million consoles had been shipped by the end of the century.

Read more

This week’s newsletter is 1962 words, a 8-minute read.

Subscribe now

Ahead On Our Way… to Wutai & Rocket Town

The low boil of anticipation for the third installment of Final Fantasy VII Remake continues, but director Naoki Hamaguchi has turned up the heat slightly with some rapid-fire confirmations (and tasteful dodges) of what elements of the original game will make the cut.

What they’re saying:

• In an interview with Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, conducted after the Remake launch event at Nintendo New York in January, Hamaguchi “went rogue” (to quote a member of the PR team) and answered some questions that previously would’ve been dodged outright

• Rocket Town is confirmed to be a part of the story, having been “one of the elements we had to switch around with Rebirth”

  • He played coy on a follow-up question about going to space, but added “considering Rocket Town is a yes…“

• By the same token, Wutai is “one of the main locations”

  • “Yuffie’s made a very prominent appearance, stating her case about her homeland. So if Wutai’s not featured, I think the fans are going to yell at me”

• He wouldn’t confirm if the Highwind will allow players to “fly anywhere,” but promised the famous airship “is a very large part of the third installment” as the team looks “to expand on the gameplay experience“

• Hamaguchi could neither confirm nor deny chocobo breeding, but promised a new element involving everyone’s favourite birbs

• As for the underwater segments, Hamaguchi pointed out that “perhaps [Motomu Toriyama] has injected himself into there,” as he handled the submarine segment in FFVII… “and I will leave it at that”

• Hamaguchi couldn’t confirm the scale of Great Glacier but pointed out that it’s the next location in the original game after the Forgotten City, where Rebirth ended, which “hints at how the third installment will begin“

• As of the interview in January, Hamaguchi claimed the team had already begun fine-tuning and polishing the game, having hit the ground running with so much of the gameplay foundation in place from previous installments

• The high retention of staff between installments continued for part 3, which Hamaguchi claimed was the secret to Rebirth’s considerably fast turnaround; he estimates about 95% of the staff stayed on the third project

• “We didn’t want the three installments to be a reskinning of the same game over and over again. We want to make sure we’re expanding with every installment in terms of scale, as well as retaining that freshness as you go into each installment”

What we thought:

• Most of these “hints” are things we could have assumed would be included, but it’s nice to have some confirmation, as in the lull between releases some people have begun to speculate or fret that beloved parts of the original would be totally omitted, particularly Rocket Town and Wutai

  • Given the increased prevalence of Wutai in the Remake project, Hamaguchi absolutely would’ve taken flak from fans if it was skipped—Yuffie’s mouth has written a large cheque that the dev team needed to cash

  • Mideel didn’t come up, but it’s similarly likely that part 3 will head there too

• Considering the events of FFVII disc 2, where the party largely revisits previous locations with new goals and circumstances, it makes sense to save a couple towns to keep things fresh for players and prevent it from feeling recycled

• Toriyama’s fondness for the departments he focused on in FFVII led to memorable new set pieces in the first two Remake games so far, like the dancing and parade minigames, and the general over-the-wall tone of Wall Market… so this could make for a very interesting underwater adventure

  • That “rhythm” minigame deserves to show up somewhere in part 3, after being used in the first two parts… but where would it fit best?

• Speaking of Toriyama, he claimed back in 2024 that the Highwind would be used to fly freely around the world map, while Hamaguchi is now a little cagey about it—perhaps he’s trying to play some cards close to the chest, or did they change their plans in development?

• Chocobo breeding is a beloved grind of a side quest with many stunning rewards, but it also entirely defies immersion (especially once FFVII’s plot claims there’s a hard deadline to beat Sephiroth, and Cloud spends weeks, if not months, breeding and training generations of racing chocobos)… so I’ll happily take a reworked replacement or spiritual successor to that system instead

  • After all, if people thought Rebirth was grindy, they wouldn’t want to see how long the breeding “minigame” quest would take if it was expanded similarly

What’s next? Hamaguchi was still hopeful that the big reveal of the game or its title would “not be too far in the future.” I’m still looking to the aftermath of Rebirth’s launch on Switch 2 this June to be the earliest potential curtain-pull, though. Surely we’ll keep hearing more from Hamaguchi-san in the meantime as people eager look for new morsels and clues.

Thundaga Round, Duellum Edition

• As discussed last week, the Dissidia Duellum character trailers continued “counting down” through the launch roster, introducing Rinoa, Cloud, Terra, Krile, and Kain, ending yesterday with the Warrior of Light

• Still no release date confirmation thus far, though the official social media did confirm it was “launching this March”—which likely means Square Enix will save it for the last week of the month

  • The fiscal year in Japan ends on March 31; if they time it right, they give themselves a few days for the launch hype to inspire a quick influx of gacha money, hopefully ending the year on a bit of a high note for the mobile games division

• As for the results of our poll in the last issue, it seems most of you won’t be checking out the latest mobile game:

Do you intend to try Dissidia Duellum Final Fantasy?

30% - Yes
14% - I’m still undecided
56% - No

In light of such a resounding result, we’re curious…

For those of you boarding the hype train, which character are you most excited to play as? Let us know in the comments below!

Nomura’s Gathering

The Magic: The Gathering crossover set with Final Fantasy is in the TCG’s rearview mirror somewhat, but this week Wizards of the Coast published an interview conducted last May with Tetsuya Nomura and Soichi Ichikawa of Square Enix and several leads from the MTG team, providing more insight into the collaboration.

What they’re saying:

• Despite a long career in designing games, Nomura was impressed with how card games can convey so much information in a single piece of artwork, where he’s used to a medium with heavy movement and animation

• Nomura’s mission was to balance artists’ styles with fans’ expectations: “to preserve the artist's uniqueness without straying from the fans' image“

  • He recalls approving two pieces of art for Sephiroth (Planet’s Heir and Fabled SOLDIER, profile version) immediately with no notes

  • Similarly, the art for Locke’s card (above) impressed him, rendering a scene from a pixel-art game into a fully-realized illustration

• When asked about why he chose Sephiroth for the illustration he personally provided, Nomura said it was inevitable for a couple reasons:

  • As Remake is still in development, “there is a brand-new FFVII actively in progress“ (and a new version of Sephiroth, by extension)

  • Even if he wasn’t working on the Remake, “it would've been a 'long time no see, Sephiroth' type of feeling“

  • FFVII transcends generations, beloved by fans old and new alike

  • Plus, “I work on so many projects and games, and everyone comes to me asking ‘Hey, can you make me a character like Sephiroth?’ It makes me think that everyone must really love him! In that sense, he’s a character that is approachable to both old and new fans, and the fact that so many people keep coming to me asking for ‘Sephiroth! Sephiroth!’ must mean people love him”

• The “Through the Ages” variants which repurposed concept art from the games—including his illustrations of Cloud, Lightning, and one-winged Sephiroth—made him feel “a bit awkward”

  • “To be honest, it was a bit embarrassing looking at my own art! These are art pieces from 20 or 30 years ago, so to me it feels like someone in their 30s looking at sketches you drew when you were a toddler“

  • “Back then, those concept arts were meant to be blueprints for the dev teams, not finished pieces. So being placed next to brand-new artwork created specifically for [MTGxFF] made me feel a bit inadequate and embarrassed, so I just kept thinking, 'At least make my cards powerful!'“

  • “But I know how meaningful those memories are for fans, so I figured, 'I may be red from embarrassment, but here you go, you can use it!'“

What we thought:

• Though Nomura’s sense of embarrassment for his older work is relatable, the artwork used on those cards is dearly beloved by fans, having been utilized in many places officially and unofficially over the years, and the concept wouldn’t have been complete if he’d excluded himself

• One has to wonder if people keep asking him to make them a Sephiroth-type character solely because of the character’s own legend and gravitas… or because Nomura himself simply can’t leave him alone?

  • Nomura certainly doesn’t seem to want Sephy to become a memory, keeping him at the top of FFVII’s identity through the Compilation and crossovers

• His remarks illustrate some of the subtle differences between Final Fantasy’s audiences—from the way he was impressed with the crowd at the set’s PAX reveal “wearing their hearts on their sleeves” as they reacted, to the way artists express themselves differently in other countries

  • For example, how he doesn’t put much attention into backgrounds, while western artists utilize backdrops more for worldbuilding

  • It goes to show that even a legend still has things to learn, and can still hone their craft with other mediums and perspectives

Really? The interview ended with Nomura getting to open the first Play and Collector Boosters ever, pulling Vivi and, in a bizarrely fated twist, Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER.

Around the Union

This week we went deep into the weeds of worldbuilding to present “50 Lore & Story Secrets In Final Fantasy VIII!” Beneath the tale of sorceresses, time, and international conflict waged by military school students is a more intricate web of mystery and intrigue than many may realize. So grab a hot dog from the cafeteria (if you can) and pull up a chair as we turn the spotlight on this underappreciated classic, and let us know what burning questions you may still have afterward!

Now you’re up to speed! From the whole team at Final Fantasy Union, thank you for subscribing. Please let us know what you think of our coverage, and what you’d like to see covered in our weekly installments. As ever, if you’ve enjoyed our work, please share it with your friends!

Join the discussion on our Discord!

Or, find Final Fantasy Union on social media: Facebook | Instagram | Bluesky |

Until next time, kupo!

Share

This week’s newsletter is x words, a y-minute read.

Subscribe now

Ever Crisis’ Soul of Rebirth

Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis marks its 2.5 Year Anniversary today, and is celebrating with an interesting new in-game event. Check out the trailer here, and we’ll break it down:

What’s going on:

• Though the actual landmark is today, the anniversary has already been in full swing with daily login bonuses and free draws

  • Most demanding of these bonuses are the Panel Missions, where tasks like playing the daily event mission for 7 days can take up some of your time… but usually for a good reward

• There’s another “non-canon” story event, Weapon Showdown: Battle For The Planet, with the Lifestream presenting another “possible reality”

  • This time, it’s a showdown within the Lifestream, where Sephiroth has created his own Weapon, the Ultima Weapon Majeure, and it’s up to Aerith, Zack, Angeal, and Team Glenn to put a stop to it

• Ultima Weapon Majeure is a sort of crossover between Ultima Weapon and Bahamut offers the game’s third Enemy Ability, alternate Limit Break techniques that imitate a former opponent’s signature move; in this case it’s Shadow Flare, which joins Lightning and 2B’s powers from their respective crossovers

• A new Customization upgrade is available on select weapons, with conditions that change depending on the weapon involved

  • For example, the joke weapons from the Guild medals can unlock new perks that boost the character’s ATB and grant the party a perk to boost a certain type of elemental damage, depending on the character (though the resources for those particular weapons is not yet available)

• The first banner for the gacha focuses on Tifa and (grown-up) Sephiroth, which isn’t surprising for this game at this point—but there’s a chance to pick up garbs from previous events up through October 2025 as well

• The season pass’ content and rewards “will be improved,” “adjusted to match the current state of the game”—and the current pass’ wallpaper is an emotional gut-punch featuring Aerith

What we thought:

• Thematically, Aerith’s story campaign here is one of the more interesting original things Ever Crisis has done, effectively showing reunions in the Lifestream—in a way it’s almost like Ever Crisis’ own take on Final Fantasy II’s Soul of Rebirth campaign in its GBA port

  • It’s almost a shame this is another non-canon “gaiden” chapter… unless part 3 of FFVII Remake gives some similar story beats

• The game’s revenue has begun to point upward recently, which may be a good sign… if it can continue beyond this event

  • Historically even struggling mobile games can rally briefly with a good old-fashioned anniversary event, even if it is a half-year milestone, but maintaining that momentum afterward is harder

• For what it’s worth, this event is pretty solid, suggesting they’re not simply coasting along until the next Remake is out, and chatter amongst the community is a little more optimistic… so who knows what the future holds?

• It’s hard when there’s no road map at this point: when will the FFVII campaign continue and take us into the events of disc 2? Are we getting any other new characters anytime soon, or summons for that matter? When’s the rest of the Dirge event coming down?

What’s next? With Dissidia Duellum coming along, one has to wonder if there will be some kind of cross-promotional campaign, but again, Ever Crisis is virtually leaving players to walk blindly, almost like walking through the Forest of the Ancients.

Duellum Spotlights Its “Ghosts”

Speaking of the new kid in town, Dissidia Duellum Final Fantasy has begun a countdown of sorts, showcasing each member of its launch roster.

What’s going on:

• The official Square Enix YouTube channel has been focusing on individual members of the roster with daily trailers, starting with Final Fantasy XV’s Prompto, XIV’s Gaia, XIII’s Lightning, and IX’s Zidane

• Each trailer shows a taste of the character’s original appearance, then in Duellum’s story mode, and showcases some of their new skillsets

• In the process, we also get a taste of their voice acting, the artwork accompanying their skills, and some fresh new remakes from their respective games

• Presumably this means we’ll see Rinoa, Cloud, Terra, Krile, Kain, and Warrior of Light from today through Wednesday…

• …and what happens when this countdown is complete? Nothing? A release date announcement? A sudden go-live date?

• Meanwhile the game’s social media pages have been sharing some quick 4-panel comics about the characters learning to interact with smartphones, just for a lark

What we thought:

• Brief as they are, these trailers are a pretty effective marketing tool in theory, showing a cross-section of the game through familiar characters

  • Though how effective a marketing tool is depends on the quality of the product being marketed and the receptiveness of the audience…

  • They’re putting forth the effort to get this game in front of people, they just have to hope that people will want to pick it up and give an honest shot

• By virtue of counting down from the newest mainline game, this has front-loaded a couple characters who aren’t the heaviest hitters, most recognizable, or most beloved, necessarily

  • Even amongst FFXIV players, there may be a lot of people who haven’t actually met Gaia or really seen her before, as she’s tied to the Eden raid series in Shadowbringers and thus doesn’t appear until several expansions in

  • Prompto, as well, comes from a maligned entry in the series and, while he has his fans, isn’t even the main character

• Thus this is a decent test of Duellum’s decision to avoid leading with only the protagonists, as Opera Omnia did before it—it worked well for OO in the end, but seemed a gamble before launch

• The carefully-chosen snippets of dialogue also provide a glimpse into the unique setting and story:

  • Zidane: “That’s exactly why people call us ‘Ghosts.’ We disappear the second they see us.”

  • Lightning’s banter with Cloud and referring to him as Captain reassures me that the interactions between characters from different games will continue to entertain, which has always been a highlight of Dissidia’s various iterations

• Judging by responses, the feeling amidst the community is still varied, from beta players who are eager to get back into it to haters who would never be convinced (to the token people who see FFXIII referenced and demand the remaster)

• One relevant refrain arises in the comments, though: will it see a version on PC like Ever Crisis and other prevalent mobile games these days?

  • Would reception be warmer if this was a free-to-play title on consoles and PC instead? Is being iOS/Android-exclusive akin to shooting themselves in the foot right out of the gate? Or would starting on console have changed anything for the better?

• If nothing else, Duellum is continuing the proud tradition of mobile games getting awesome rearranged music, like the new version of Shadowbringers’ motif, or another great take on “Blinded By Light”

• Side note, my favourite comment here might be the person asking if Zidane’s Trance animation is a reference to Neon Genesis Evangelion, and… now I can’t unsee it—and is it just me, or does Prompto still seem a little out of place with his selfies and firearms, even if this game is set in the real world?

What’s next? We’ve yet to receive any official confirmation on a release date yet, aside from it possibly coming by the end of this month. The increased effort definitely suggests sooner rather than later, but… time will tell for now.

Around the Union

There are some magic spells that truly demonstrate the sheer power and potential of their craft, and this week we’re examining the “7 Overpowered Spells That Broke Final Fantasy Games!” From Aura to Doomsday to an UItima that lives up to its name, these are the arcane tools that could truly blow their respective games wide open and immediately make your playthroughs a lot easier. Did your favourite busted spell make the list, or do you have another magical ace up your sleeve? Let us know in the comments!

And now that Dissidia Duellum is potentially upon our horizon, are you going to be checking it out right away or avoiding it altogether? Either way, let us know why you’re excited or not touching it with a ten foot pole:

Season 2 of Datalog is underway now, starting with “The Complete History of Phantasy Star II!” Sega’s response to the growing RPG trend played a unique role in the genre’s history in many ways, and the second installment’s story is as intriguing as the first. (Meanwhile we have another cool perk coming soon in the Datalog Patreon, so keep an eye out for announcements on that!)

And finally, in this week’s Kupo Chronicle, we consider and investigate the nature of worldbuilding in Final Fantasy games: whether the world exists to facilitate the story or vice versa, how these approaches have changed over time, and how lore (or a lack thereof) can bog a game down.

Now you’re up to speed! From the whole team at Final Fantasy Union, thank you for subscribing. Please let us know what you think of our coverage, and what you’d like to see covered in our weekly installments. As ever, if you’ve enjoyed our work, please share it with your friends!

Join the discussion on our Discord!

Or, find Final Fantasy Union on social media: Facebook | Instagram | Bluesky |

Until next time, kupo!

Share

This week’s newsletter is 2040 words, a 9-minute read.

Subscribe now

There’s a classic forum discussion topic that floats around every so often: what part of your favourite sci-fi/fantasy franchise would you most want to live in? Or a more specific variant for Final Fantasy, which game is your favourite setting?

It’s a fairly innocuous question in one sense. I’m always reminded of certain locations from the PS1 or PS2 era, specific camera angles or fixed screens of cities you pass through often during a playthrough—or even hear certain themes from those places, like the wistful melodies of Fisherman’s Horizon or Balamb Garden.

And yet, when you drill into it (or overthink it maybe), the settings in Final Fantasy games aren’t particularly… desirable. Even when you set aside all the natural and magical calamities, decaying elements, and open warfare in the stories themselves, most of the worlds in the main series wouldn’t be the best places to live. In fact, when you boil it down—as we’re about to in this week’s issue—setting almost seems an afterthought; a happy, accidental byproduct of making the rest of the game; or conversely, something that the fans or players themselves create themselves by extension.

Mapping the World

Final Fantasy has a reputation for compelling characters and stories, creating vignettes that lodge in our collective consciousness: the opera scene in Final Fantasy VI, Sephiroth stoically passing through the flames consuming Nibelheim, the Tantalus flying over Alexandria. These places cut memorable silhouettes.

Read more

This week’s newsletter is 1749 words, a 7-minute read.

Subscribe now

The Next Duel Approaches

After a couple months of radio silence, Dissidia Duellum Final Fantasy’s launch is now on the radar, and it may be coming very soon.

What’s going on:

• Square Enix hasn’t said much of anything about Dissidia Duellum since the closed Android beta back in November, until this week

• Unceremoniously on Wednesday night, the upcoming mobile game’s opening cinematic was posted to YouTube and was listed for preregistration in iOS and Android app stores, followed by official communications on Thursday

• Players who preregister now will receive a stockpile of early resources when the game goes live, including resources equal to 40 Ability Draw pulls, background music from previous Dissidia games, and 5 Character Tickets to unlock certain characters, among others

• The official announcement from Square mentions no concrete release date other than “2026,” but the iOS App Store claims the expected “delivery” date will be on or before March 31—it’s unclear if this is a crack in the chain of information, or just a placeholder

• Meanwhile the opening cinematic shows the launch cast going about their everyday lives in Tokyo until monsters arrive and threaten the peace, illustrating the unusual “alternate earth” concept behind the game

What we thought:

• The radio silence was expected as the team incorporated feedback, but if the game is truly dropping in March, they need to hit the ground running again to sell people on this unconventional title

• If preregistration is open now, it’s likely not too far off, if it’s not coming in March

• Apple’s projected release date window would make sense, as the fiscal year ends in Japan on March 31; assuming Dissidia Duellum sees a decent immediate influx of players, there could be a quick infusion of microtransaction profit to flood into the last days of the annual numbers

  • And yes, typing that hurts my soul a little bit, but Square Enix needs some wins here and unfortunately the modern games industry is designed to microdose those wins off our backs and wallets

• The rollout of the information seems disorganized, like the news itself was supposed to drop a good 12 hours earlier alongside the trailer and app listings—more on potential admin fumbles in our next topic

• All of that being said, the trailer has a pretty cool vibe; I’m finding myself genuinely curious about the setting itself and the prospects of how the characters will be living their best lives in the real world

  • The opening cast is somewhat unconventional, with some interesting potential for interactions between characters who don’t normally cross paths, like the way Lightning does a double-take at Gaia, or how Krile’s arrival distracts Angelo from playing fetch with Rinoa (Still not 100% feeling the fedora though, m’dragoon Kain)

  • It was hard not to feel a little excitement at hearing another version take on the Dissidia theme at the end

• Again, I was more impressed with the beta than I expected to be, so fingers are crossed here that the launch will be… shall we say, respectable, at least

  • It’s an unconventional idea on a tired platform, so it’s all uphill from the start

  • …but I said something very similar when Gumi got to make a FF game, and Brave Exvius had a good run, so time will tell

What’s next? While Dissidia Duellum gears up for a launch at some point soon, Ever Crisis is about to observe its 2.5-year anniversary (in mobile game world, a half-year anniversary = 80% of the weight of a real, full anniversary). This means a slew of rewards just for logging in, if not participating in the celebratory missions. As one might expect by now, costumes for Tifa and Sephiroth are among the main prizes here, while a new feature called Customization will allow certain weapons to be enhanced further.

If It Ain’t Broke…

The unexpected update to Final Fantasy VII on PC was dated and released early this week, yet for a small reworking of a nearly 30-year old game, the whole process was anything but smooth.

What’s going on:

• As Square Enix recently announced, a new iteration of FFVII has arrived for PC, replacing the 2013 port, which has now been delisted—those who own the game before can still access that version, and are also entitled to access the new version for free

• The swaparoo was proclaimed about 24 hours before it occurred, but at the appointed time nothing seemed to go right, starting with the fact that the new iteration of the game was seemingly uploaded to Steam’s servers… without the game files or executable file or anything, simply a 0-byte download

• Once the error was corrected and fans got into the “new” iteration, reports quickly came in of glitches and other problems that hadn’t existed before: stuttering animations, frame rate issues, complaints about user interfaces, blurry backgrounds from the bilinear filtering (which is meant to smooth textures when they get scaled up)

• The new version’s Steam reviews tanked immediately, sending it to a Mostly Negative, but as of this writing that situation has normalized to Mixed, after some quick patches fixed most of the technical problems

What we thought:

• What a strange situation

• The technical issues, like the 0-byte install, seem like a complete error on the backend; like the wrong build was uploaded (or not uploaded at all, apparently) on the part of either Square Enix or Steam… but probably Squeenix

  • The quick patches also suggest that either they knew something this could happen, or they had staff waiting to swoop on any potential issues… or maybe somewhere in-between? Who can say

  • It’s unfortunate that this all happened while replacing a 13-year old port of a 29-year old game; by this point, FFVII should be easier to maintain and update, and it’s an embarrassing look

• On the flipside, the new port (as intended) stands to be a net positive long-term, adding better controller support while removing archaic SE account connections

• FFVII has been on Steam in its last iteration since 2013, and has moved plenty of digital “copies” in that time, so the vast majority of people who own FFVII on Steam, for the forseeable future, have access to both versions—as much as SE likes an easy cash-in these days, they don’t stand to line their pockets much by making this version and effectively giving it away to a formidable segment of Steam’s user base

• Steam reviews have become a very volatile measure of media’s worth, like Metacritic user reviews (or conversely, AI-generated reviews published by so-called media, as we saw elsewhere in the industry this week)

  • There’s worth in voting with one’s wallet and leaving a strongly-worded review, but like any customer review, you tend to get the most feedback from the most fired-up segment of the player base, thus it gets filtered through some harsh filters

  • The legitimate problems were bound to catch flak, rightfully so, but there’s also a segment of users who will be extra unrelenting in chances like this because they’re mad about something else entirely, even if the product is good

  • To their credit, more good-faith users are beginning to alter their reviews, which has brought the ratings to (at the time of this writing) a “mixed” score, with 251 positive and 293 negative

• To this point, FFVII has a strong modding community on PC, and the new iteration is like hitting a reset button on all their efforts… assuming again, that the people who are already invested in them still have access to the old version anyway

  • Part of the intensified blowback could stem from users who are irate over this matter, or really, anything else that Squeenix has done

• At the end of the day, the people who should be most irritated about this are the people who will actually pay for this version in its undercooked state… but hopefully it won’t stay undercooked very long

• I personally booted it up to play from the first mission into Sector 7, and didn’t come across major issues—aside from the option to upscale the graphics, which would not take effect at all… but that’s probably a blessing, keeping me at 1920 where the backgrounds don’t get stretched beyond the creators’ intentions

What’s next? With the swift reaction time, hopefully it will only be a little while longer before the PC version is up to the same standard it should have launched at. Good news for achievement hunters who own the 2013 version, however; if you can stand to do it twice, the trophies for the new iteration are separate from the previous, so you have a chance to snag another platinum. Just don’t expect to load a near-platinum save file, as saves between the two ports are not compatible.

Around the Union

Final Fantasy IX has been thoroughly combed through and dissected by now, and despite being revered like a patron saint of JRPGs by some, it has some truly bizarre secrets and quirks. So this week we embrace that “Final Fantasy IX Has Some Weird Secrets,” that add to its charm rather than poking it full of holes. How many of these did you already know about? Do you have any kookier insights that could’ve made the list instead? Let us know in the comments!

Meanwhile, from a beloved classic to some niche selections, over on Datalog we spilled the beans on “7 Game Boy [Color] JRPGs You Probably Have Not Played”! Have any of these crossed your path?

Now you’re up to speed! From the whole team at Final Fantasy Union, thank you for subscribing. Please let us know what you think of our coverage, and what you’d like to see covered in our weekly installments. As ever, if you’ve enjoyed our work, please share it with your friends!

Join the discussion on our Discord!

Or, find Final Fantasy Union on social media: Facebook | Instagram | Bluesky |

Until next time, kupo!

Share

This week’s newsletter is 2031 words, a 9-minute read.

Subscribe now

Back To The Board (Game)

Final Fantasy continues to expand beyond video games—particularly to tabletops. Square Enix has announced a new deal to produce board game iterations of the popular franchise.

What’s going on:

• Recently at the New York Toy Fair, KessCo announced a licensing partnership with Square Enix which will produce multiple traditional board games based off the Final Fantasy series, starting this fall with Final Fantasy: The Board Game, based on the Final Fantasy I-III Pixel Remasters

  • This co-op game for 1-4 players will adapt the classic experiences that kickstarted the series, allowing players to choose classes (and adorable chocobo “meeple” tokens), upgrade their personal equipment and spells, and fight bosses, with victory going to the player with the most experience

  • FF:TBG is designed by Anthony Thorp, who has designed 10 games or expansions for KessCo—including adaptations of Sonic the Hedgehog, One Piece, and Spy x Family

• Also in the works are a series of collectible dice sets “inspired by” all six 2D Final Fantasy titles (and again, specifically the recent remasters)

• For now it’s unclear what other games KessCo will work with after this first project

What we thought:

• KessCo is a relatively small outfit for Squeenix to work with (vaguely similar to their choice in animation studios for the Final Fantasy IX cartoon sequel)

  • Kess’ highest-rated game on BoardGameGeek is Sonic Roll, followed by Thorp’s anime adaptations, and other retro game products like Mega Man Adventures and Contra: The Board Game

  • Working with a NES-era franchise seems right up their alley, at least

  • While I’ve personally not played (or barely heard of) their products, I have seen Sonic Roll in game stores, and it nearly pulled me in with its retro-inspired packaging—which the Final Fantasy game seems to be drawing from

• There’s remarkably, regrettably little to go off of in the announcement, aside from a mock-up of the box, so it’s hard to guess what we might expect

  • The partnership was announced last week, but didn’t yield much substantial proof-of-concept until this week

  • In its announcement, the game was called a co-op experience, while the newer details say the player with the most experience wins, so it appears there’s still some kind of competition to be had

  • However, it can presumably be played solo as well (judging by the “1-4 players” rating), which is always a nice touch in a board game

• Meanwhile there’s still no sign of what these dice sets will look like, or even confirmation of which dice will be included

  • Where does the FFI-VI iconography come into play? Are these RPG-standard 7pc polyhedral dice sets?

• This is another merchandise department that Squeenix has passed over to a third party, despite having produced a few board games of their own, like Chocobo’s Crystal Hunt Deluxe or Moogle Bounty Mayhem

  • The Magic: The Gathering crossover may have helped inspire this particular decision, since it’s worked out so well for them—the tabletop company can make a tabletop game with their license, and they can collect the benefits if it’s successful or keep a distance if it’s not

• While I’m not floored by the initial presentation, I love a good tabletop game, and hopefully Final Fantasy: The Board Game will be a fun experience for fans and newcomers alike

What’s next? Final Fantasy will now truly be all over the tabletop gaming scene, covering its three main “food groups:” card games (with the FFTCG and the still-popular MTG crossover), roleplaying games (with the FFXIV Tabletop RPG), and now board games. It’s a full-circle moment, as tabletop gaming helped inspire the series in the first place.

Teach Me, Hamaguchi-San!

There’s no rest for Naoki Hamaguchi and no getting off this FFVII train we’re on, evidently, as once again the Final Fantasy VII Remake director has been answering questions about the project’s multiplatform future—in this week’s case, speaking to Automaton about the third installment’s progress, a particular fly in gamers’ ointment these days, and some of the technical fundamentals that they consider in multiplatform development.

What they’re saying:

• The never-ceasing debate about the Nintendo Switch 2’s Game Key Card system was called out, and Hamaguchi had a practical answer as to why these games have been using them:

  • “There’s simply no way around key cards in certain respects. If you compare loading directly from a game cartridge (containing all game data) to loading from the NSW2’s internal storage, the load speed difference is roughly double“

  • “Our game design isn’t built around loading all data upfront, with nothing further being loaded afterward. Even during gameplay, data is constantly swapped in and out [thus] the loading speed from a game card would inevitably be insufficient, leading to stress for the player”

  • “In addition, with currently available cartridge capacity, there is the practical limitation that the full game data simply wouldn’t fit in the first place“

  • “there are games that can only be released because the key card format made it possible […] we chose to use key cards [not to raise price margins but] because the games we aim to deliver simply cannot be realized on standard game cartridges”

• These limitations aside, the team is not being forced to compromise on the

• “Our decision to go multiplatform with the FFVII Remake series will not in any way lower the quality of the third installment. Our development structure simply doesn’t work that way to begin with. …I suppose I’ll just have to keep saying it [laughs]“

• He went on to break down four key elements for developing cross-platform, which we’ll cover below, but the big takeaway is their approach: developing for the highest-possible quality graphics for the strongest systems, then scaling and optimizing them down, to avoid impacting the quality of the high-tier hardware

• As for concerns that making the game work well on multiple platforms will affect the game’s quality, Hamaguchi has already accounted for that: “We have a dedicated unit within my team that handles porting work, and they operate separately from the team developing the third installment. […] I trust them and oversee their work from a distance. That allows me to focus on the third game”

Hamaguchi’s tech talk—the four main points of multiplatform development:

1. The CPU, “the computational side that governs character behavior and executes game logic”

   • On hardware with better CPUs, “we scale density elements, like increasing the number of NPCs in towns. As a result, towns feel more alive on higher-spec hardware, while lower-spec systems may display fewer NPCs“

2. The GPU, “which handles graphics rendering and related tasks“

   • The “main concern is that if development assumes hardware of a certain level as the standard, all platforms might be pulled to that level of quality”

   • “The highest-end gaming environment is PC […] The FFVII Remake series has sold very well on platforms like Steam and the Epic Games Store, so we develop assets with the broad PC market in mind. In fact, our 3D assets are created at the highest quality level based on PC as the foundation”

   • They regard PS5 and PS5 Pro as “mid-range platforms” internally, as high-end PC elements can be substantially bigger

   • Fundamentally, “we do not design assets to meet the lowest baseline. Instead, we create them for high-end environments first. We then apply what we call ‘reduction,’ adjusting assets and tuning them appropriately for each platform. This means that we avoid negatively impacting high-spec platforms. This isn’t unique to us, either, I believe it’s become fairly common practice among developers in recent years”

3. The third is RAM, or memory, which determines how much data can be loaded while the game is running

   • “You often hear that the Xbox Series S is difficult to port to, and that’s largely because it has less memory compared to other platforms. If memory is insufficient, it can even cause the game to hang […] By contrast, the Nintendo Switch 2 has ample memory, which makes it relatively easy to develop for in that respect”

4. Finally, ROM, “or storage media such as cartridges and discs”

   • “In the past, we often had to reduce data size to fit within physical media constraints”—it’s common for devs to run out of literal space on cartridges

   • On NSW2, using game key cards “means we don’t need to shrink data just to fit it on a cartridge or improve read speeds”

What we thought:

• The game key card issue is surprisingly still a hot topic, even this far out from the NSW2’s launch

  • I deeply prefer physical media, but Hamaguchi’s comments almost worry me that we may be approaching some kind of hard limit that will shift the scales even further toward digital supremacy

  • …and that possibility reassures me somewhat about game key cards, as they still give a tangible, physical item which can be resold/traded

• In the past I’ve also been skeptical of the practicality of going multiplatform now…

  • FFXIII and FFXV were multiplatform developments, which ended up divisive and, in some departments, undercooked and overambitious

  • Then when SE locked down exclusive launches for FFVII Remake, Rebirth, and FFXVI, there was a noticeable uptick in overall quality—more focus, less bugs and problems, etc

• …but, Hamaguchi is shaking my skepticism

  • Devoting a whole additional team to the port process, and working in this top-down fashion, seems very practical and efficient

  • We won’t really know if it this was a reckless gamble or not until the game is in players’ hands though, unfortunately… so fingers crossed it’ll all work out

What’s next? Hamaguchi reassured fans that the third game is “progressing very smoothly,” “almost exactly on schedule with the milestones we set at the beginning.”

”The game is already in a playable state, and right now, we’re in the final push phase, refining and building up the experience. We’re at the stage where the quality improves day by day, and each time we play it, the scenery feels different, so it’s genuinely exciting. I think it won’t be too long before we’re able to share some kind of update with everyone”

Around the Union

Peer into the world of could-have-been to uncover “The Curious Case of Chocobo de Battle!” Of all the scrapped games in the franchise, this might just be the oddest. See what Square was cooking up in 1997 and ponder… was the world ready for Metal Chocobo?

In the latest Kupo Chronicle, we look back at the last time a classic Final Fantasy got a complete makeover, and the philosophies that informed the OG FF dev who spearheaded the project:

And lastly, this week Datalog presents “The Complete History of Ys II!” Season Two is heating up as the players we introduced in the first season build upon their initial successes, and the new batch of history vids has only just begun!

Now you’re up to speed! From the whole team at Final Fantasy Union, thank you for subscribing. Please let us know what you think of our coverage, and what you’d like to see covered in our weekly installments. As ever, if you’ve enjoyed our work, please share it with your friends!

Join the discussion on our Discord!

Or, find Final Fantasy Union on social media: Facebook | Instagram | Bluesky |

Until next time, kupo!

Share

This week’s newsletter is 2375 words, a 11-minute read.

Subscribe now

A certain remake project has been the talk of the town for Final Fantasy fans for the last 6 to 10 years. Whether or not you love the original universe it’s adapting, its gravitational pull is hard to ignore, and the fabric of the franchise (if not the company that makes it altogether) is caught up in its pull.

There’s a growing assumption in some corners of internet discourse and consumer opinion that anything Square Enix “remakes” from now on will have a similar scale. Even Yoshinori Kitase, when asked recently about remaking Final Fantasy VI, shuddered at the thought of dedicating another decade or more to remaking another classic game (watch closely and for a half second I swear you can see his soul try to escape his body).

However, this was never the case for the series (or, really, the industry) before 2015, and in recent history a different mainline FF was successfully remade—arriving in a more consistent and cohesive whole, respecting and tastefully expanding the legend upon whose shoulders it stood. To see how this was achieved not so long ago, we can turn to the words of one Takashi Tokita.

The Multiclasser

Takashi Tokita is an OG Final Fantasy dev and one of the company’s longest-standing creators. He joined Square part-time in 1985, working on graphics by day while still pursuing a career in acting at night. He had a hand on several of the more notable early Square titles, including Aliens: Alien 2, Hanjuku Hero, and Makai Toushi SaGa—the latter of which saw him also dabbling in the sound effect department.1

Tokita was a big part of Final Fantasy’s visual identity (alongside Amano’s illustrations and Shibuya’s pixel designs) and Final Fantasy III’s aural landscape (complementing Uematsu’s score). For Final Fantasy IV, however, he made a huge leap to becoming lead game designer and working on the scenario, where his cross-departmental experience proved an asset.

His success there led to directing some of Square’s biggest non-FF games of the mid-to late-90s: Live A Live, Chrono Trigger, and Parasite Eve.2 Then he returned to Final Fantasy as Square Enix returned to Nintendo, producing the Dawn of Souls remakes of the first two games and, more importantly, directing Final Fantasy IV DS, the 3D remake of his first true game design.

Read more

This week’s newsletter is 1361 words, a 6-minute read.

Subscribe now

A Quiet State

Sony held a State of Play broadcast yesterday, and despite growing hope amongst fans, there was neither hide nor hair of Final Fantasy VII Remake’s third installment… or, well, anything Square Enix. But memes and eternal optimism aside, should we have been expecting one?

Why it’s not a big deal:

• The Switch 2/Xbox Series version of Rebirth was only announced a week prior, for a quick turnaround release in early June

• We’re already almost two weeks past the original game’s anniversary date, so that sense of “cosmic timing” has faded

• It would’ve been great to see part 3, but it was still a long shot—we can safely expect the devs to be focused on putting the finishing touches on Rebirth round 2, and hyping that up

• And while it’s a little unusual that Square Enix had nothing to add this time, when the stream was an exceptional 70ish minutes long, it was an unusually quiet broadcast for JRPGs in general—featuring only brief looks at a new game in the Brigandine series, Crimson Moon (from ProbablyMonsters), and Rev. Noir, a new RPG from… Konami?!

What’s next then?

• As things stand, this sets up a fairly golden opportunity for Square Enix to pull back the curtain in June: Rebirth hits on June 3, and Summer Game Fest kicks off on June 5

  • The dates in this scenario might be a smidge close, but SGF is a good centralized platform to drop a trailer and ramp off the launch weekend for Rebirth—likely boosting the profile of both

  • Then again, if trailer spots at Geoff’s summer show cost as much as the Game Awards, maybe Square Enix would be wise to save some money and do an announcement elsewhere

  • This would also be a good distance away from whatever gets announced at the Final Fantasy XIV Fanfest in Anaheim a little over a month prior

• If not then, well… the less fulfilling answer is, “we’ll get it when they’re ready to show it”

  • This really is the ultimate bottom line: it’s in everyone’s best interest not to announce it too early; Square Enix has gotten better with this than they were 10 years ago—the original FFVIIR announcement and Final Fantasy XV’s rolling release dates didn’t age well—and I’d like to keep it that way

  • Meanwhile Kingdom Hearts 4 is slipping farther into “why did they even announce this so soon?” territory with each passing quarter

Not gonna lie, though: Sony had me for half a second when they mentioned a game that’s been around for almost 30 years (which turned out to be Rayman).

Chibification

In a surprising move, Square Enix announced a partnership with another company for new Final Fantasy merch and there isn’t a FFVII character in sight (yet).

What’s going on:

• Last week SE and Good Smile Company announced a series of Nendoroid figures based on Final Fantasy

  • If you’re not familiar with the name, Nendoroids are premium chibi-style figures based on a vast array of different IPs, from various anime series to Back To The Future to Persona, and beyond

  • Good Smile themselves also have a big hand in the statue market nowadays, across various product lines and price points; if you name an anime or game IP from Japan, there’s a fair chance they’ve produced merch of it at some point

• The first figures in the line will be a classic Chocobo and the Warrior of Light from the original Final Fantasy/Dissidia, followed by a wave of Final Fantasy XIV figures—Y’shtola, Gra’ha Tia, and Estinien

• Good Smile is also producing figures of Tidus, Yuna, and Fran, as well as some of the manga/anime properties under Square Enix Publishing’s umbrella (Fullmetal Alchemist, My Dress-Up Darling)

What we thought:

• New Final Fantasy statues aren’t necessarily earth-shattering in their own right, but it’s the “who” that’s more intriguing here

• Square Enix has always kept their merchandise close to their own chest; it’s not unprecedented for them to outsource to other companies, but generally speaking, they’re almost as protective of their IP as Nintendo

  • Nintendo, on the other hand, has collaborated with Good Smile often, including Nendoroids of Link and Zelda

• For the past few years, SE has produced their own line of chibi figures under the Adorable Arts line (and even announced a new, somewhat smaller size of this product line last week, including several FFVII characters), so it’s very unexpected that they’d team up with the direct “competition”

• Whether they’re Nendoroid or Adorable Arts, I’ve always found this style of figure overpriced, especially when you can often get more detailed or stylish statues of the same characters for about the same price, but it’s nice to have a variety of different styles on the market to suit fans’ tastes

• When it comes to distribution, Good Smile’s products have a vast reach while Square Enix Products are rare to see outside of their online store or pop-up shops, so this partnership has the potential to put some Final Fantasy merch in front of more people

  • There’s a considerable market out there of people who used to play Final Fantasy, who may get inspired to revisit the series when they see familiar characters when window-shopping—as the Magic: The Gathering set proved last summer

• That being said, it’s unusual to see a series-wide promotion without FFVII included

  • It’s like a new album of rearranged songs without “Clash on the Big Bridge”— practically a unicorn!

  • FFXIV (and particularly the Scions) are still merchandise powerhouses, and the Chocobo is timeless, but the human characters here don’t have quite the same universal eye-catching quality as FFVII’s cast (or, for that matter, VIII, IX, or X)

  • FFVII has reached the “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” point; we’re all a little tired of Cloud and friends getting all the spotlight, but also, that’s what the most people want to see

  • Don’t get me wrong, though, I’m thrilled anytime the OG Warrior of Light gets some love

• Now’s a good time for Square Enix to stop being quite so precious and entrust some merch to pros like Good Smile; keeping merch production in-house has allowed for quality control, but if we’re branching out with console production, it’s wise to expand this market a little as well

What’s next? Preorders for the WoL start next month, while it will likely take several months for it to start reaching customers. Meanwhile preorders for the Scions are probably a ways off, since they were shared as concept art, not actual models like the other two—maybe with a possible reveal at one of the three Fan Fest events this year?

Around the Union

The seals are broken, the fetch quests are complete, and now we can present unto you, worthy adventurers, “The COMPLETE Evolution of Ultimate Weapons!” The supercut is here, telling the full saga of overkill weaponry—perfect for your marathon listening needs, or researching which of these quests you still need to complete.

Meanwhile over on Datalog, we explore “The Curious Case of Chrono Break,” the sequel to Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross that never materialized—and Patreon-exclusive early access to our second season is now live, starting with Ys III!

Now you’re up to speed! From the whole team at Final Fantasy Union, thank you for subscribing. Please let us know what you think of our coverage, and what you’d like to see covered in our weekly installments. As ever, if you’ve enjoyed our work, please share it with your friends!

Join the discussion on our Discord!

Or, find Final Fantasy Union on social media: Facebook | Instagram | Bluesky |

Until next time, kupo!

Share

This week’s newsletter is 1234 words, a 5-minute read.

Subscribe now

Reborn Again… Sooner Than Expected

It’s barely been two weeks since Final Fantasy VII Remake arrived on Nintendo Switch 2 (and Xbox Series), and already we know when the second installment will hop onto the hybrid system.

What’s going on:

• During the Nintendo Partner Direct stream yesterday, Square Enix announced Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will reach the remaining consoles on June 3

  • Check out the new trailer/Rebirth’s segment here

• Much like Remake, Rebirth will include the optional “streamlined progression” boosters (which will be added to the existing PS5 and PC versions)

• The physical version will include a single promo Magic: The Gathering card instead of a full pack, but this card will be a variant of Zack Fair featuring Nomura’s art (as seen on the cover of the Rebirth Ultimania)

• Director Naoki Hamaguchi mentioned on social media that the team’s experience optimizing the game for Steam Deck helped them improve the NSW2 version by reducing the overall data size (reportedly from ~150gb to ~102gb)

• Hamaguchi also pledged “This year, we plan to share more updates on the FINAL FANTASY VII Remake Project than ever before […] we plan to be more proactive in sharing information about the [trilogy] than ever before”

What we thought:

• That’s quite the turnaround—about 130 days between the ports, making up for any lost time for people who are exclusively on Nintendo

• It’s a little unclear how much of today’s footage was from the NSW2 version, but assuming the Direct footage was on Nintendo hardware (and judging by some confirmed screenshots) the game is looking pretty damn good despite the steep increase in complexity from Remake to Rebirth

  • Safest to reserve judgement until it’s in our hands, but the outlook is good

• It’s arguable that this Nintendo port wouldn’t be coming together so nicely if Rebirth had been multiplatform, like the upcoming third installment will be… but that’s a matter for another day

• While I still think the streamlined progression options are more detrimental to the overall experience, I will absolutely not judge anyone who uses them to get a little boost through the solo Cait Sith segment

• The quick turnaround and promises of more updates than ever have many speculating that part 3 is closer than we think

  • It would be nice, and clearly the dev team is further along than we may have expected… but we may want to pump the brakes on a 2026 release

  • A 2027 release would coincide with the OG’s 30th anniversary and the series’ 40th, while giving the devs time to fine-tune multiple versions of the game at once

• At this rate we’re going to get Remake and Rebirth on NSW2 before we get that promised Elden Ring version… but also, where’s the Final Fantasy XVI port?

What’s next? Square Enix has a busy June ahead, as they’ve also announced their new game, The Adventures of Elliott: The Millennium Chronicles, will arrive a couple weeks after the Rebirth port, on June 18.

Course Corrected?

At the same time, Square Enix’s latest financial report has dropped, for the current fiscal year up through December 31, 2025, painting a slightly more hopeful picture… and illuminating the stakes for the company.

What’s going on:

• Overall the company’s net sales were down 13.3%, but operating income bounced back to a 39% increase

• The HD Games division saw fewer sales overall but a considerable increase in profits—partly due to “steady sales of new titles and higher sales of catalog titles year on year,” but probably also due to some of the cost-cutting measures implemented in the quarter

• The MMO division, for once, seemed to be among the bleakest aspects, citing the lull between expansions

• Mobile games reported improved profitability, thanks to “diversification of payment methods”, with all three remaining FF mobile games patted on the back (way to go, Record Keeper and War of the Visions’ Japanese clients)

• Amusement and Publication saw slight decreases to income and sales; interestingly, their publication sales have remained pretty consistently split between digital and physical (55-56% digital vs 44-45% printed)

• Merchandising continues to flourish thanks to the MTG crossover set

What we thought:

• The fiscal year is shaping up to finish on a stabilized note, depending on how the last quarter goes (up through the end of March)

  • Considering how the bottom has felt like it’s about to fall out for a while, and everything else affecting markets these days, surviving and edging closer to breaking even is a pretty good sign

• The slide for HD Games cites Tactics, Bravely Default, the Microsoft port of FFXVI, Dragon Quest I+II and VII Reimagined, FFVIIR, Octopath Traveler 0, and Romancing SaGa 2 NSW2 Edition… which is a real hodgepodge of games to credit

  • I doubt Romancing SaGa 2’s upgrade moved any needles, and two of those games came out well after the reporting period

• The post-expansion life cycle is really hitting FFXIV hard these days, but with the Fan Fests ahead, we’re about to enter the upswing part of that cycle, so hopefully Yoshi-P has some tricks up his sleeve

• The rest of 2026 (outside the fiscal year timing) could be positive, with the release date confirmations for Rebirth and The Adventures of Elliott causing some hype this week, so with any luck we may see the ship’s course corrected

What’s next? Square Enix has some considerable anniversaries they can bank on, with Dragon Quest’s 40th this May and Final Fantasy’s 40th next December. If they’re wise, they’ll use this milestones like northern stars and steer the ship toward those promising shores.

Around the Union

This week we turn the spotlight on “7 Villains Who Stole The Show!” It’s not uncommon for a secondary villain in Final Fantasy to be as compelling as the Big Bad, or even more so, and thus we’re highlighting the antagonists whose biggest crime is upstaging their superiors. Did your favourite baddie make the list?

And in this week’s Kupo Chronicle, we reassess Zack’s place in the lore of FFVII—did he become a hero, or was the wind stolen from his sails by the return of a certain other individual?

Now you’re up to speed! From the whole team at Final Fantasy Union, thank you for subscribing. Please let us know what you think of our coverage, and what you’d like to see covered in our weekly installments. As ever, if you’ve enjoyed our work, please share it with your friends!

Join the discussion on our Discord!

Or, find Final Fantasy Union on social media: Facebook | Instagram | Bluesky |

Until next time, kupo!

Share

This week’s newsletter is 2141 words, a 9-minute read.

Subscribe now

Final Fantasy VII turned 29 over the weekend; that fact, in itself, may be a surreal pill to swallow for those of us who played it on its original hardware.

Later this year, Crisis Core will turn 19. The period of time in which the truth behind Zack Fair, Cloud’s mysterious mentor, was obscured to us is dwindling. He’s become a beloved character in his own right ever since, with many fans cheering to see him return in a remastered version of his game, or in FFVII Rebirth.

So let’s delve deeper into what Crisis Core brought to the proverbial table, protect our honour, and ask ourselves: did Zack become a hero?

The Missing Piece

Nearly two decades and a remaster later, Crisis Core’s legacy is a tad… complicated.

Read more

This week’s newsletter is 1623 words, a 7-minute read.

Subscribe now

Final Fantasy VII… Refresh?

In a bit of unexpected news before the original game’s anniversary this weekend, Square Enix announced an update for the Steam version of Final Fantasy VII that will shake things up a bit.

What’s going on?

• The announcement came via FFVII’s store page on Steam yesterday, but said little aside from “We will be releasing a new version of [FFVII] on Steam. Following the launch of this new version, the current version will be renamed FINAL FANTASY VII – 2013 Edition” (while the new “2026” version will be listed simply as “Final Fantasy VII”)

• If you own the game, you’ll still have access to the pre-existing edition in your Library—and, you’ll be able to download the new edition for no additional cost

• Save games will NOT be compatible between the two editions; 2013 saves will not work in the “2026” client, and 2026 saves will not work in the 2013 client

• At this time, however, there’s no indication of what this new edition will actually change or include to warrant the shake-up

What we thought:

• As far as software rollouts go, this is fairly par for the course; older editions of other FF games have been phased out and replaced by modern updates, like when FFV and FFVI’s older versions were pulled after the Pixel Remasters released

  • However, unlike those instances, you’ll get the new version for free this time

  • Also unlike those older FFV and FFVI ports, the current version of VII actually looks fine, so the motivation to replace it is unclear (this has been my morally obligated joke at the expense of the FFV/VI mobile ports)

• It’s a curious move, to revamp a 14-year old port of an even older game so unceremoniously, but it’s likely to update some technical quirks:

  • The Steam version was built off the back of the original PC port, produced by a team of rookie engineers at Eidos who had so little help from the original devs, they had to practically reverse-engineer the game to make it work

  • In that original PC version, FMVs were compressed from the PS1 edition, the deliberately-hidden mouth on each character’s model were made jarringly visible (leading to new :o expressions at poorly-timed occasions), Chocobo Races would sometimes be inexplicably sped up, etc., and more

    • Are we about to lose the infamous mouths, like Sephiroth’s existential wailing seen above?

  • The 2013 launcher hasn’t aged well—resolutions and upscaling aren’t exactly optimized, controller support is spotty, etc

• This version’s been around in its current state for a long time, but… better late than never?

• It’s also a positive sign if Square Enix is looking at blemishes on its catalog and fixing them if possible… though I wouldn’t hold my breath for too many other games to get this treatment

  • FFVII is still the golden child after nearly 30 years, a massive 3-part remake, and multiple retellings and reinterpretations in other games

• One interesting wrinkle: the “Game Edition” of the FFVII Commander Deck from the Magic: The Gathering crossover set comes with a code to receive the existing PC version, so if anyone buys that physical product after the digital game is essentially delisted, what will happen if they use the code at that point? Will they get nothing at all, the 2026 version, or grandfathered into the 2013 launcher?

What’s next? We’ll see how widespread such fixes become in the future. In the meantime: If, for some reason, you really want to lock down access to the current PC edition of FFVII, but don’t have it on your account by now, better act fast!

Good Ol’ Final Fantasy

Meanwhile, elsewhere on the PC platform, Final Fantasy has debuted on Good Old Games (GOG) with four strong titles.

What’s going on:

• Also yesterday, GOG announced that FFIII (3D), FFIV (3D), FFVIII Remastered, and FFIX had arrived on their platform (with a 60% launch discount, no less)

• The releases are DRM-free and part of the GOG Preservation Program, an ever-expanding initiative that aspires to keep the games under its umbrella “remain playable on modern systems, even after their developers stopped supporting them”

• The store pages for each game reveal that GOG has verified their use on Windows 10 and 11, added support for modern controllers, and “validated stability”

• All four games shot to the top of the service’s bestselling games chart immediately

What we thought:

• DRM can be either a bit of a boogeyman or a legitimate concern, depending on the circumstances; this particular quartet of games has little real use for DRM (short of piracy control) so it’s a nice perk

• In my books, GOG is the real second-place platform within the PC ecosystem (you can’t sit with us, Epic Games) and classic FF is a perfect fit for their library

• The GOG Dreamlist program allows users to vote for “good old games” they’d like to see preserved on the service—and Final Fantasy X has a lot of votes in particular

• Not only would it be nice to see more FFs land here as an alternate option, the preservation angle can make certain games even more enticing, like having the PS2 original version of FFX playable on PC officially, or Crystal Chronicles—My Life As A Darklord, which is trapped on WiiWare

• Did FFVII get skipped here because of the upcoming Steam shuffle? Hmm…

What’s next? With any luck, this will just be the tip of the iceberg… but perhaps we can help the situation by participating in the Dreamlist program and voting for the FFs we’d love to see most.

Final Fantasy XI Fixes Problems With God Mode

Final Fantasy XI is the gift that just keeps giving—giving unlikely news stories, that is. This week has seen an unusual glitch arise… and Square Enix has decided unusual times call for unusual measures.

What’s going on:

• The game’s team reported, on the official forums, “an issue in Limbus where defeated Notorious Monsters may reappear in some cases“

• The problem arises “because the server-side data recording the defeat status of Notorious Monsters is unexpectedly being cleared,“ effectively not wiping the defeated Notorious Monsters from the map until the next month

• Left unchecked, this would interfere with the tally of slain NMs during the current kill tally period, thus affecting rewards, so the FFXI team “will treat all Notorious Monsters as defeated across all worlds“ for this period

• To achieve this, FFXI’s Game Masters are traveling from World to World to personally put the Notorious Monsters down, allowing the team to verify each has been irrefutably dispatched properly—in other words, sending elite God Mode judges to execute Limbus’ NMs personally

What we thought:

• Game Masters are Square Enix employees with special characters, allowing them to function like in-game guardians of the game experience and player enjoyment… and in this case, like angels of death

  • The special skillset on these characters allow GMs to instantly kill monsters or players if needed, while remaining invulnerable or undetectable by players if they wish, and being able to teleport between locations and Worlds/servers at will

• So if you’re a FFXI player engaged in the Notorious Monsters hunt, particularly in Limbus, there’s a chance over the last 24 hours that you might’ve gotten to see the invincible arbiters of the game’s will personally putting down all the NMs in the area to restore balance

• There’s something so kooky and unusual about this scenario—it almost sounds like the hook to some new anime/manga based on a weird MMORPG scenario—and I’m glad FFXI is still around to inspire and fascinate

• God Mode safari aside, this is a good way to handle such a problem: a server-side bug complicated the loot for a highly-desired region, complicating players’ abilities to earn their rewards, and the admins are ruling in the players’ favour, since there’s nothing the players could do about the situation

  • 24 years into the game, FFXI’s devs still care… and maybe that’s part of why the game is still running after 24 years

What’s next? Their grim task complete, let’s hope the Game Masters aren’t needed to dispatch any further supernatural incidents anytime soon.

Around the Union

We hate to exhume a specter from the past, but this week we delve into the unfortunate case of “The WORST Final Fantasy”—the bottom of the franchise’s barrel. It’s usually rare to get a consensus on something subjective like this, but this game has pretty firmly earned its (dis)honour. But the question is, did Square Enix learn anything from it?

Meanwhile over at Datalog, we looked to the other Square Enix game with a VII and a “Re-” in the title, breaking down “7 Reasons You Should Be Hyped Dragon Quest VII Reimagined!”

Now you’re up to speed! From the whole team at Final Fantasy Union, thank you for subscribing. Please let us know what you think of our coverage, and what you’d like to see covered in our weekly installments. As ever, if you’ve enjoyed our work, please share it with your friends!

Join the discussion on our Discord!

Or, find Final Fantasy Union on social media: Facebook | Instagram | Bluesky |

Until next time, kupo!

Share

This week’s newsletter is 1585 words, a 8-minute read.

Subscribe now

Switch Back To The Beginning

Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade is now officially available on all current-gen systems, with the release of the Nintendo Switch 2 and Xbox Series X|S versions. Read on to hear how the Switch 2 port is performing, and to see what director Naoki Hamaguchi had to say to mark the occasion.

How’s it going:

• The Switch 2 port is… really good, as it turns out!

  • As you may have seen from the recent demo, FFVIIR runs at a consistent 30fps in docked and handheld mode—which, yes, will be disappointing to any frame-heads in the audience, but it was easy to forget when the rest of the game looked so good in the process

  • In most technical departments, the Switch 2 is about on par with the PS5’s Performance mode; squint the right way or focus on specific details, and you may notice little issues, but this is by far one of the best-looking games ever available on Nintendo (especially amongst games with a “realistic” look)

• The game itself holds up pretty well, to boot; this is the first time I’ve replayed it since launch, and I was a little concerned it might not be as fun to play without Rebirth’s additions to combat, but those concerns were unfounded

  • Midgar is still great to explore, and getting to know these expanded versions of the cast all over again was a treat

  • Granted, most of the things that were irksome back then (Wedge’s writing, “loading corridors”) are still irksome…

  • …but I was able to appreciate some of the confusing/eye-roll-worthy plot points more in light of Rebirth’s revelations

  • Truth be told, I sank back into the Remake combat as though I hadn’t spent 100-ish hours playing a more advanced version of the same system, and didn’t even bat an eye at what was missing

• This is an excellent port, and I truly hope that other developers take note

What they’re saying:

• In an interview with Nintendo itself, Hamaguchi spoke about the way games have changed since 1997, and their approach to both the trilogy and this port

• “In the past, high fidelity gaming experiences like [FF] would typically be played at home in the living room on a big TV screen. Now, players can enjoy these types of game in their own room and on their own screen. People want to have those opportunities to play games in different places and in different ways. I can definitely see more people playing this game on the go somewhere with their friends and sharing the experience with them. ‘Ah, I love this scene! Come and take a look. Isn’t this great?’ Even online, you’ll see people posting screenshots and clips of their favourite moments. As a creator myself, I’m really happy to see that and I’m really excited to see what the possibilities of that are“

  • (From my experience, he’s leaving out one other prevalent way people share their games with friends: streaming directly, but I digress)

• “When we saw the game running in handheld mode, just looking at that and how it changed the gaming experience was actually quite surprising”

  • “We’re used to making console games where the experience involves having a controller in your hand and a TV in front of you. There’s also a bit of distance between the player and the visuals and sound coming from the TV screen. Having everything together in a form that’s much closer to the player really changes the overall feel of it”

  • “When you see something, it’s right there in your hands. […] It seemed to improve the immersion and the feeling of consistency“

• Hamaguchi and the team were dedicated to ensuring the NSW2 version could “stand up to all the other hardware platforms, even in handheld mode,“ and found one key factor to achieving this was lighting

  • Changing the lighting too much makes the characters begin to feel different, and slowly the entire visual identity begins to change

What’s next? Hamaguchi added: “I can reassure players that we’re working on the Nintendo Switch 2 version of [Rebirth], and the third game too. They are being worked on for Switch 2 alongside the other platforms right now. […] I've got a personal policy where I don't want to make any versions of my games different or offer a different gameplay experience just because they're on different hardware. That might get confusing for players, and they might wonder which version of the game they should buy. That’s something I’d very much like to avoid. The Switch 2 versions are being developed in a way that keeps the gameplay experience pretty much exactly the same as all the other platforms”

After the Crisis Comes The Dirge

Beyond the Remake trilogy’s gravitational pull, Ever Crisis is preparing to shift gears as this week marks the end of the Crisis Core campaign, and a move toward something new.

What’s going on:

• After a long wait, the 8th and final chapter of Ever Crisis’ story has been added to the game, covering events from the final dungeon through… well, “the Price of Freedom”

• Part of the new Gacha banner is a tanky garb for Zack called “Heavy Shield Armor,” for those who aren’t still chasing the New Years’ banner rewards

• Meanwhile, an in-game announcement heralded the start of a “DC Event Countdown Login Bonus,” where players who login daily between January 21-28 get up to 1000 Blue Crystals and other prizes

  • Given a particular cameo in Crisis Core’s finale and this chapter, “DC” is all but certain a tease for Dirge of Cerberus

What we thought:

• The conclusion of CC is handled pretty well overall, here

  • We get the whole spectrum of this game’s visuals, and even some video from the actual source material

  • The narrative impact of the end of Zack’s story is a little diminished in this version of events, admittedly (but even if it’s gacha chibis with no DMW, I’m not crying you’re crying)

• After an eight month wait between chapters 7 and 8 of CC, that 7-day DC countdown feels either disingenuously short, or disingenuously named—it’s highly improbable they’ll jump straight into a DC event the week after the last story missions dropped, even if the current New Year’s events wrap up shortly

  • Then again, FFVII’s 29th anniversary is next week, so… could there be some kind of anniversary push?

• When Dirge does arrive, we now have to wonder, what form will it take? A proper story alongside FFVII, First Soldier, and Crisis Core? Or a painfully abbreviated summary like the recent Advent Children adaptation?

• The content drip on this game has been one of the most painful to watch; Ever Crisis was clearly intended to keep diehard fans fed until FFVII Remake’s part 3, and the inconsistent pacing (coupled with a discouraging gacha system) is not achieving that well

What’s next? Maybe it’s all the crumbling gacha games in our wake that make Ever Crisis’ current state feel discouraging… and after all, the game isn’t dead yet. Fingers crossed that the Dirge event comes at an appropriate time in an appropriate form, because it’s one of the Compilation pieces that stands to gain the most from being adapted here.

Around the Union

Somebody must’ve used the Magic Lamp because this week we delve into “The Complete Evolution of Diabolos!” One of the most iconic “mid-list” summons, this pointy boy has an interesting trajectory from Final Fantasy VIII through Final Fantasy XIV and War of the Visions, so let us know in the comments—which is your favourite iteration?

Also this week in the Kupo Chronicle, we discuss the history, deeper meaning, and yes, overuse of an evergreen battle theme, the “Battle on the Big Bridge,” and why Uematsu-san recently said that he doesn’t quite understand why it’s become so popular compared to his other compositions!

And lastly, over on Datalog, we’ve put together a compilation of our first wave—”The Complete History of JRPGs, 1986-1987!” Those of you who have been following along will also notice that Final Fantasy is included in this supercut, presented in its proper context for a truly complete picture.

Now you’re up to speed! From the whole team at Final Fantasy Union, thank you for subscribing. Please let us know what you think of our coverage, and what you’d like to see covered in our weekly installments. As ever, if you’ve enjoyed our work, please share it with your friends!

Join the discussion on our Discord!

Or, find Final Fantasy Union on social media: Facebook | Instagram | Bluesky |

Until next time, kupo!

Share

This week’s newsletter is 2172 words, a 10-minute read.

Subscribe now

Nobuo Uematsu doesn’t get why we like “Battle on the Big Bridge” so much—or at least, he wishes it would get a little less spotlight.

In a talk hosted by Hyphen Tea & Music in Tokyo (and shared via Genki!), the legendary composer lamented, “you never know what song will become a hit.” He admitted that he’d prefer it to get less attention as “there was no big inspiration or idea behind it,” wishes there had been “more of his own personal touch to it,” and would love to see other songs from the same game get more attention instead.

This may seem incredibly counterintuitive to many fans, as this particular battle theme is among the most commonly rearranged and remixed themes in the entire series, overshadowed only by the series’ theme and the Prelude. So why does the Maestro think he doesn’t deserve flowers for it?

A Bridge Too Far?

Although Uematsu claims there isn’t much meaning or inspiration behind the song, the same can’t be said for its original application—the titular “Battle on the Big Bridge” is both an all-timer sequence and a pivotal moment for the series’ development.

Read more