Wark Digest #230 - Focus Crisis
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 this week two worlds collide in Ever Crisis, while another world may expand further than we expected in the Final Fantasy VII Remake series.
This week’s newsletter is 1915 words, a 8-minute read.
Final Fantasy XIII Hits Ever Crisis Next Week
Where most other mobile games drop Halloween events, Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis is introducing a different kind of costume in a collaboration event with Final Fantasy XIII, starting next week.
What’s going on:
Announced at the game’s anniversary live stream last month, the FFXIII “crossover” “Flash of Destiny” arrives October 29, at 7PM PDT
Like the previous FFVI and FFIX events, the crossover will feature an original (non-canon) story, but this time it’s the guests entering the world of FFVII, instead of the other way around—the trailer seems to show Lightning speaking to Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith in Nibelheim
Lightning herself will be the event boss,
Lightning’s signature attack Army of One will be obtainable as a new “Enemy Skill” ability, unlockable by completing panel missions
Tifa and Aerith both get to borrow Lightning’s wardrobe, if you’re lucky enough on the gacha pulls, and new weapons grant them abilities inspired by her
Glenn also gets a new outfit and weapon, inspired by Lightning Returns-era Snow—which thankfully is obtainable through the panel missions as well
What we thought:
It will never not be weird to call a crossover between FFs a “collaboration”
Previous “collaborations” have been some of Ever Crisis’ more memorable events, and their stories are entertaining fluff, so I expect/hope for the same here
Lightning’s model looks great in the EC engine—it’s a shame she seems to be the only FFXIII character coming over
On that note, this crossover feels a little thinner than usual; either they’re holding back some secrets to reveal later, or it’ll really only be three outfits (two of which are technically recycled)
The FFVI and FFIX events had 5 (Terra, Edgar, Locke, Sabin, Cyan; then Zidane, Amarant, Garnet, Vivi, Kuja), but FFXIII is only paying homage to 2 characters
Again, Vanille or Serah’s looks would be a better fit for Aerith (as good as the Lightning skin looks), and since the event is pulling from Lightning Returns for Snow/Glenn, there was a literal closet of garbs they could have pulled from
We’ll see how much interest this event drums up for the game, which feels like it has a target on its back lately—as the only current mobile FF game left in English, with a new game coming, and a major story arc now complete
What’s next? If you’ve been putting Ever Crisis off, now’s a good time to check back in, as The First Soldier storyline has drawn to a close… and left us with as many lingering questions as answers.
An Intermission For Remake Part 3?
While the Final Fantasy VII Remake team keeps toiling away on part 3, director Naoki Hamaguchi is finding himself in front of the microphone more often lately, doing media tours for the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 port. A newly published interview with WCFFTech at the Tokyo Game Show explores the possibilities of programming for the new platform, as well as the future beyond the third installment…
What they’re saying:
“The utmost importance right now is to work hard towards that third installment and make sure it gets released as soon as possible with the highest quality achievable”
Rebirth may not have had DLC, but maybe part 3 will?
“There were definitely some ideas to create a Rebirth DLC and that was the plan at a certain point in time, but when we revisited this topic and we thought about what our priorities should be and what the fans are looking forward to the most, we figured that what fans want the most is to bring the third installment as soon as possible”
“Once we release the third installment, there is the possibility of having a DLC for that third installment. With the conclusion of the [FFVIIR] trilogy, there’s probably going to be a much wider audience for Final Fantasy as a whole. Whether we bring another new DLC or a full title, that’s something we are actively considering”
By the same token, once part 3 is out, “a solo Queen’s Blood title is definitely something we can consider“
When asked if the decision to put the Remake games on a Game Key Card instead of a physical cartridge was because of the cartridges’ read speeds, he clarified:
“Personally, I feel that the loading speed issue for the game cartridge is more about the hardware spec of the Nintendo Switch 2. I’m not with Nintendo, so I can’t really speak to that side”
“That said, I do feel that the Game Key Card format that Nintendo created for the Nintendo Switch 2 is a really amazing new idea that they had offered for us. I don’t personally see Nintendo working towards trying to improve the loading speed for the cartridges. Rather, I feel that Nintendo will put more effort into popularizing the Game Key Card format“
While Square Enix has been talking a lot about bringing their games “to as many players as possible,” don’t count on mobile platforms getting the trilogy
“When we look at the market landscape of the mobile side, particularly iPhone and Android users, we don’t really feel that there’s quite the demand to justify us creating a mobile port […] We will continue to look at the market trends”
What we thought:
The team has their head on straight: after Rebirth, it wasn’t worth it to dawdle around doing anything other than getting us to that finish line (and, more importantly, not holding back the resolution from that ending)
The prospect of DLC for part 3 is an unexpected but potentially intriguing idea
Intergrade was as much DLC as a working experiment for the team to learn how to develop for next-gen hardware, and it worked wonders… but the time and place wasn’t right to do something similar for Rebirth
But once the story’s complete, who’s to say what they could get up to?
Nothing about the remarks Hamaguchi has made across many (many) interviews gives the impression that they’re holding anything back from the original game for this purpose; the mission is to complete the story as best they can, so likely this very hypothetical DLC would be something that fills in some gaps or enriches the experience
…which is exactly what Yuffie’s mission in Intergrade achieved: a new perspective on events that elevated the story and the character
Maybe it’s the “secret character” connection, but Vincent comes to mind—not that I doubt we’ll get the backstory we want from him in part 3, but he’d be a great candidate for a Intergrade-style experience with more distinct gameplay
The Switch 2’s Game Key Cards are proving very contentious, but Hamaguchi isn’t entirely off-base about them
To recap/for those unaware, game key cards are a compromise Nintendo offers third-party developers: they can obtain these cartridges for a very low price, or pay reportedly $16 each for a 64GB cartridge; the key cards, when popped into a Switch 2, allow the user to download the associated title, making them a halfway point between true physical media and purely digital licenses
Many gamers are annoyed by this and are seeking alternatives to buying these cartridges… but in reality, many physical games on PlayStation and Xbox are already doing this
At least Nintendo clearly marks the package to identify which games are key cards, unlike other platforms, so consumers can may educated choices
Key cards can, at least, be loaned to a friend or resold, just like true cartridges; however, you do need the internet to download the game the first time you pop it in, and that will lead to preservation/ownership concerns down the line
I’ll take this over Ubisoft’s latest paradigm: selling empty cases with a DLC voucher inside, as they’ve been doing with most Switch games
Anyway, this manufacturing compromise is beneficial to Square Enix at this time, as they fight their way out of a couple bad financial reports, and they’re far from the only third-party dev to be doing this—the list of non-Nintendo games on true NSW2 cartridges is very brief
As Hamaguchi tells it, the concerns about NSW2 cartridge read-times (which, to be fair, are the smaller part of the complaints by far) are more the system’s problem side than the media’s… which may also help explain why the Switch 2 requires a new Express microSD format for its expandable memory
Is anybody really looking or waiting for Remake to hit mobile?
By the time the trilogy is complete and the team has the bandwidth to even consider the demand to port them to mobile, smartphones should have the power to pull off a modest port… but
Realistically, Death Stranding has been on iOS for 2 years, so a Remake port should be feasible… but once you hit Rebirth, the tech jumps considerably
Games like the Pixel Remasters, which are more suited to mobile-style gaming, haven’t really performed well on mobile, nor the other ports before them… so I can’t imagine a market for mobile ports of much more intensive, 80-hour games
It’s nice to know the team is listening for other prospects, at least… now let’s hope they hear what they need to or should hear from us
What’s next? If you’re attending MCM London Comic Con this weekend, there will be a panel featuring Hamaguchi, Britt Baron (Tifa), John Eric Bentley (Barret), and Briana White (Aerith)… just a couple hours before the issue hits your inbox. However, keep an eye out for signings for all four!
Around the Union
Keep a hand on your pursestrings over on YouTube, as this week we broke down the “7 Rare Steals You Definitely Missed In Final Fantasy Games!” Some are notoriously hard to pull off, others could only be found if you were the type to steal from every enemy (or had the strategy guide)… and some are more valuable than others, but check out the list to see some pilfering challenges for your next playthroughs!
And, for those of you who already have beaten the game (or don’t mind very thorough spoilers), we break down “The COMPLETE Timeline of Final Fantasy Tactics,” in a supercut tracking Ivalice history from the Age of Myths to beyond the War of the Lions!
Over on Datalog, prepare for the remaster later this month with “The Incredible Dev History of Dragon Quest II!” As you know from our Complete History of Final Fantasy series, the tales of how early games made are rife with ingenuity and struggle, and DQII’s production is one of the more unique tales from the game industry in the 1980s.
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Until next time, kupo!
