Wark Digest #201 - A Place We’ll Return To Someday?
Welcome back to the Wark Digest, your weekly newsletter of new developments and historical insights from the Final Fantasy universe. I’m Chris, aka Hoogathy, and it was a big week, from a collective heart attack from Final Fantasy IX fans, to Square Enix supporting a new console reveal, and… the return of the Bunberry.
This week’s newsletter is x words, a y-minute read.
A Place We’ll Return To Someday?
Square Enix announced formal celebrations for Final Fantasy IX’s 25th anniversary with, at least, a new line of merchandise and some celebratory art—and as you can probably imagine, reignited hope for a remaster in the process.
What’s going on:
On Monday, Square Enix first teased the announcements with new artwork by Toshiyuki Itahana, of Zidane, Garnet, and Vivi alongside an airship
This was then revealed to be a fragment of a complete playable cast portrait, featuring all eight playable characters, which will be the cover of a new commemorative album, Timeless Tales
The album will feature liner notes by Nobuo Uematsu and a newly recorded version of “Melodies of LIfe” (along with a download code)
This was the top of the merchandising iceberg, as it turns out:
Zidane and Garnet are recreated in new “Formism” figures, at 6930 yen each
New plushes of the playable cast, Beatrix, and Kuja have a familiar chibi look, for 4400 yen each
If you want your very own Cubic Zirconia replica of Garnet’s necklace and pendant, it can be yours… for 38, 500 yen
Some kind of collab with eyewear company Zoff is in the works, with their “first collaborative eyewear,” available in three designs with a “limited edition eyeglass cloth and case,” plus original capsule toys which will be available at select Zoff locations
The real star of the show, however, is a new Final Fantasy picture book: "The Day Vivi & His Grandfather Set Off on Adventure," written by Kazuhiko Aoki and illustrated by Toshiyuki Itahana
Naturally, this sparked hopes of an upcoming announcement for a remake or remaster, possibly at Nintendo’s Switch 2 presentation… but it didn’t come to pass
What we thought:
Putting a positive foot forward, the new artwork is perfect, and the merchandise shows a lot of careful design, even by the high standards of SE’s merch teams
The Zidane and Garnet figures are particularly inspiring, teasing what a hypothetical “new” game might look like with today’s tech
If nothing else, they clearly aren’t just phoning this in
However, some of these aren’t so cheap… which, is also to be expected, to a point
That pendant is £2000/$3700 CAD, making another “who is this for?” scenario
And commemorative eyewear from an expensive brand? Is there going to be a Beatrix-inspired eyepatch or something?
IF there is, indeed, a remake/remaster in the works, perhaps it would’ve been better to lead with that, instead of the merchandise
Even if this is just some commemorative merch, it’s still good to see Square Enix show a little love to this cast, and preemptively acknowledge the 25th anniversary (it’s a lot more than Final Fantasy VIII received last year)
And again, a new Aoki/Itahana storybook is the kind of wholesome dose of dopamine we could all use right now—their previous book, “Chocobo and the Airship,” is a charming read to share with the little ones in your life
What’s next? The actual 25th anniversary for Final Fantasy IX is coming up in July, so there’s plenty of time left for some kind of bigger announcement… if one will actually come at all.
Going Hoppy With Spring Events
With the holidays in April come seasonal in-game events, and the remaining online Final Fantasy games understood the assignment this year:
Ever Crisis teased a sort of alternate universe event where the cast are students at private academies, a trope or cliche a lot of Japanese franchises have borrowed…which appears to have been an April Fool’s joke
It might’ve actually been kinda cool, but at least we got some more awesome Risa Fujise artwork out of it
Ever Crisis’ actual Easter/spring-themed event kicked off last night, with the return of the Egg Hunt Battle, new rewards… and the fearsome Bunberry
Final Fantasy XIV’s annual Hatching-Tide event returns next week; starting April 9, players can pick up the questline with “In Pursuit of Eggcellence” in Old Gridania and earn this year’s item, the Archon Egg Parasol—nothing fancier than walking around with a blinged-out faberge egg umbrella?
Square Enix Shows Up For Switch 2
Nintendo finally pulled back the curtain on their new console, the Nintendo Switch 2, and amongst the bombardment of third-party titles confirmed were two Square Enix/Final Fantasy titles—one predictable, and one unexpected.
What’s going on:
Nintendo’s new console retains the general form factor and design philosophy of the original Switch, but revitalizes it with a host of technical improvements, like a bigger screen, better processing, and so on
All of this new power will enable Square Enix to release Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade in the near future—a now-rare mainline release for Nintendo consoles
Specifically, it’s Intergrade, once hailed as a PS5-exclusive and the project that enabled the dev team to acclimatize to development on Sony’s new system, so the Yuffie Episode INTERmission DLC will therefore be included
If that indeterminate wait is too long, there’s another option coming to the new console on its launch day, June 5—Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster, an update for the 2013 Nintendo 3DS-exclusive successor to Final Fantasy: 4 Heroes of Light, which went on to spawn its own spinoff sub-franchise
The remaster reconfigures the original for one screen (adjusting from the 3DS’ dual screen displays) and the Switch 2’s upgraded video capacity, bringing the storybook world of Luxendarc to life better than ever
It will also include new features like fast forwarding in battle, redesigned UI and online functionality, and minigames that use the new mouse controls on the redesigned Joy-Con controller
It seems the physical version will use the new Switch 2 Game Key Card system, a compromise between regular physical games and “code in box” releases—where the cartridge acts more like a DRM key, allowing you to download the rest of the game data and use it while the cart is in the system
Of course, with the system’s backward compatibility, the SE games already available on the original Switch will be playable on the Switch 2, so there’s plenty for FF fans to play out of the gate too
There are a couple exceptions; Nintendo has released a list of games that are encountering issues preventing start up on Switch 2, and another of games that are playable but having “some in-game compatibility issues”—Final Fantasy is on the former, and Harvestella is on the latter, but both games’ issues are being investigated and could be fixed down the line
What we thought:
The Switch 2’s hardware sounds pretty impressive on paper, and it will surely make it more palatable to third-party partners like Squeenix
The elephant in the room is pricing, with the Switch 2 now costing almost as much as a PS5 or Series X in most regions, and potential increases to games
That it can handle Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade suggests that it’s close to the specs on a PS4 Pro, perhaps hitting closer to the PS5 through upscaling—using Nvidia’s DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) for machine learning-powered enhancements
Remake is a great way to come out swinging on the new platform, for both Square Enix and Nintendo
There are a considerable number of users who only own a Nintendo console, who might discover Remake now on a whim, or holdouts who don’t have the PlayStation or PC to have played this series yet
It’s also proof of the console’s power for Nintendo, a high benchmark to use as an example of its capability
It might prove a little frustrating if the system can’t handle Rebirth down the line… but that’s a future problem
And of all the things that could’ve been remastered… Bravely Default is a pretty great choice
While everyone’s clamouring for high-profile updates like FFIX, Tactics, or Chrono Trigger, Bravely Default started as a handheld Nintendo franchise, and its unique visual style is an opportunity to show how the improved tech can handle artsy presentations like this one, which are so important for Nintendo
Many might have missed out on the game originally, so it’s a piece of history that SE can share
In the grand scheme of things, this would’ve been on the easier side of remasters SE could draw from—removing the dual screen features and scaling to one display likely being the biggest hurdles
Having a fresh remaster on the new system from day one makes it a relatively high-profile launch too
What’s next? The Switch 2 launches June 5, right before Summer Game Fest, the next big opportunity to announce one of those other remasters everyone’s looking for. Whatever Square announces is next for Final Fantasy, Nintendo is positioning themselves in a much better position to receive those future games at or near their launch.
Around the Union
This week’s new video is something a little unconventional. We often look back at the PS1 era as a “Golden Age,” but behind the scenes, SquareSoft was going through tumultuous transitions. After the PS1, the company’s identity and staff looked very different—and we don’t just mean the Enix merger. Join us for “Why SquareSoft Burned Their Most Talented Creatives” as we explore the careers of the talented developers who made a name in Square’s golden era and left.
Our other video this week was also a little unconventional, in a different way. We presented “Final Fantasy Fonts Ranked - The Definitive Tier List,” which was in no way an April Fools’ joke, even if we posted it on April 1st. This is very, very serious business.
Leaping over to our premium newsletter, we have a new installment of the Kupo Chronicle this week, where we exhumed some more personal accounts from the Final Fantasy 20th Anniversary Ultimania!
Kupo Chronicle #30 - A Tale of Two Turns
Welcome to the Kupo Chronicle, the premium edition of the Wark Digest newsletter, where we explore the Final Fantasy universe in long-form and drill down into unique moments of the series’ history. I’m Chris, aka Hoogathy, and in this installment we look at the creation of two defining approaches to battle which have helped shape the series—and the inspirations behind them.
In this issue, we explore the inspiration for the Active Time Battle system, as well as the rationale behind ditching it later in the series—and as it turns out, the Active and Wait mode options available in most Final Fantasy games with ATB were a big factor in that change! Which got me wondering: Which setting do you use most of the time in games with Active Time Battles, Active or Wait? Has it ever really been a concern for you, or do you just leave those settings unchanged? Let us know your battle system preferences in the comments below!
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Until next time, kupo!
