A new Final Fantasy game will be arriving to the Japanese mobile marketplace as it gets released for iOS and Android devices later this year. Final Fantasy: Record Keeper is a free-to-play title developed by DeNA and published by Square Enix. The game will also feature microtransactions and they will in-game items like equipments and weapons.
Square Enix hasn’t revealed much about Final Fantasy: Record Keeper or its gameplay mechanics yet, but there are some things we already know. The main storyline is to help Deshi, Doctor Moogle and Cid to re-record all lost Final Fantasy games that the chaos hid somewhere in the world. This means you have to enter in the Final Fantasy worlds, experience and record the most iconic events of the games in order to recover them back to the library. After recovering a title, its characters join your team and you can use them in battles.
During the gameplay sequences, you will be taking control of all Final Fantasy characters and even the summons such as Ifrit, Shiva and Ramuh. Final Fantasy: Record Keeper seems (not confirmed) to be featuring the same gameplay mechanics as we have previously seen in Final Fantasy: All the Bravest. It means abilities are performed by touching the characters on the screens and waiting their gauge to refill to attack again. You could also spot a gauge from the trailer. In All the Bravest, it allowed players to go on “Fever Mode” and deal a huge amount of damage. Perhaps in Record Keeper it’s used for calling summons and perform powerful attacks.
Stay tuned for more information!
Categories: Final Fantasy
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I think that Nostalgia is a poison that might slowly but steadily kill the FF fanbase in the long term!
Everywhere I go I see people arguing about which Final Fantasy is their favourite. Usually it’s the first one they played and they are adamant on their opinion that it’s the best in the series (which is usually FF VII) and flag any other opinion stupid or one that doesn’t come from a “real FF fan”.
The bad thing is that they always try to compare any new title with the old ones and that doesn’t go good because Final Fantasy is about reinventing everything and trying fresh new things with each title! If you expect a game to be exactly like the one you love, then why don’t you go back to that game and keep comparing it with the new one finding flaws that aren’t there in the first place for anyone else other than you? I really can’t understand why people are so persistent with what they think is the best Final Fantasy title.
Doesn’t FF XIII include villages like FF VII did? Well guess what, they are two completely different games so it’s only natural they won’t have the same stories. Do you want villages? Don’t search for them in FF XIII, go and play FF VII again, do you not want villages? Then do the opposite! Don’t you like Snow or Lightning as a character because they aren’t like Cloud and Zack or Vanille isn’t like Aerith? Or Fang like Lulu? Well guess what, it’s a different game so of course the characters won’t be the same! If they were everyone would call it a reharsh (and they would be right) without a doubt. Square Enix tries VERY HARD to create likeable characters and sometimes it just won’t work for you maybe. Well I liked Vanille but some others didn’t because they think she is a very cheerful person in the wrong times. I admire that because she won’t let herself get depressed despite the odds being against her and her party! I won’t force you my opinion but don’t force yours on me either!
This was just an example and I mentioned mainly FF XIII and FF VII because these are the titles I’m most accustomed too from the series! I came pretty late in the fanbase and XIII series is my favourite but I will welcome FF XV and it’s characters! I really liked the XIII trilogy and it was fun following Lightning (and her sister) along with her friends to a journey that defies gods and goddesses! I think it’s time for a change though and I can’t wait to try the new characters and the story that Tetsuya Nomura and his team has set in stone for us! The same holds true for any new Final Fantasy AAA title that will come in the future! I’m not really interested in that thearym FF or any sort of these low quality (In my opinion) titles so I will just stick to the main ones.
I’m sorry if I got a bit carried away from the subject but this is my opinion! I really hope that someday all the Final fantasy community will unite and respect each other for their decisions and tastes similarly to how people act here in this small community of ours! Cheers!
I consider myself as a fan of the Final Fantasy series and I really appreciate the series. RPGs are incredible in every way and for me, FFXII is the best so far, and I also think the ending of FFXIII was very epic and unforgettable.
In spite of several complaints about Final Fantasy XIII being too linear, I still got so much enjoyment from its battle system, the great character design and art direction.
My biggest complaint is regarding to the time it has taken between the previous and next Final Fantasy game, FFXV was announced in 2007 and now 2014 is not currently available.
As a gamer, I hope the would a new Final Fantasy every 2 or 3 year. I would like to expect quick releases and great games with lots of to explore and full of missions. I don’t really care about graphics being so impressive, I just hope we get new games soon.
Helped a bit with the comment and made it a bit fluent. I hope it’s okay. :) – Johnny
I wanted to clarify the development behind Final Fantasy XV:
Even though Final Fantasy XV was announced back in May 2006, it hasn’t been in production more than a few years, since 2011. After that there was quite a long pause in the development, because the first version of Final Fantasy XIV wasn’t a success. Since Square Enix is a very proud company with a long history of successful titles, they couldn’t just turn a blind eye to a mainline Final Fantasy which was consider a big mistake and a flop. This is why they decided to fix it.
It took a few years to rebuild Final Fantasy XIV from the beginning and it took lots of resources from the company, including the developer team behind Final Fantasy XV. Eventually, Final Fantasy XIV was successfully relaunched as Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn in August 2013. After that all non-FFXIV teams returned to their own projects such as Final Fantasy XV, which has now been in a full development for over a year.
I’m pretty confident we will be hearing more about the game at Tokyo Game Show this year, and if things go well and Square Enix really pushes themselves, Final Fantasy XV might be released in Japan in the end of 2015. Let’s hope we will hear more about it soon! :)
If there’s anything to criticize with how Square Enix have handled Final Fantasy XV, it’s with announcing it too early without any definite or concrete plans of promoting it *properly*. Incompetence and lack of communication within the teams and towards the fans were what really blurred the company’s vision for the franchise. This was proven more with the success of Final Fantasy XIV’s reboot, with Yoshida’s great management and the team’s constant communication with the fans. Final Fantasy XV’s team has yet to prove this.
It’s hard to have one hopeful with TGS regarding Final Fantasy XV’s appearance. On the other hand, Final Fantasy Type-0’s future is more assured and I’m hoping for more news about it in the near future.
Cheers! You don’t know how happy I am after seeing all these great comments! And I have to say, I agree a bit with all of them!
The “Final Fantasy” brand is quite well-known from its re-innovating style and how each entry differs from others. I think this is the main reason why I fell in love with the series in the first place. Each title attracts different kinds of people and brings them all together. Many of you may have already noticed it may cause conflicts between fans who disagree with certain things. I really think it isn’t really about the differing opinions, but perhaps because the discussion is lacking respect. This often leads to bad conversations where are people trying to make their “opponent” feel stupid and that their opinions are worthless.
Which is why, I am happy to see it hasn’t been the case here, even though you guys have been sharing strong opinions here! It’s also great to see that people are writing long comments with arguments and actually explaining, why do they feel and think this way.
As mentioned before nostalgia can be dangerous but it doesn’t make the older games any worse than the new ones or other way around. I think the main problem with Square Enix has been problems to adapt in the West, they kinda lost their touch here when it comes to pleasing the audience. Instead of being themselves, they desperately tried to mimic Western RPGS such as Mass Effect with all this decision making stuff etc. Basically, FFXIII-2 was just adding everything the reviewers wanted, but you saw, it didn’t please the reviewers much either.
The thing is that people don’t really know what they want. This is why they are so fond of older games they liked and this is were things get problematic and nostalgia comes to add its poison. It’s something safe and theyknow it, but if someone gives them the game of their dreams and expectations, it would likely end up being flat experiences with no surprises. In my opinion there is nothing better than game surprising you with it’s writing or new direction it has taken. Sometimes it is a hit or miss but it doesn’t make or break the series to me. This is why I hate when people want so hard to define what’s Final Fantasy. It can be anything to me.
Yeah, I think the real “poison” with Final Fantasy these days is nostalgia.
This series can’t move on until people stop thinking the older titles, especially FFVII, are the only ones the define the WHOLE series. Fans have to open their eyes to fresh new experiences, worlds and characters instead of always comparing recent titles to the older ones and expect them to be something they’re not supposed to be. Final Fantasy is about reinvention, you can’t expect Square Enix to repeat the same formula over and over. If you think so, I believe when this series is dead, it will because of the fans, not Square Enix, because they tried to bring new stuff to the table over and over but what everyone was expecting was another FFVII.
Not at all. If they relied to much in nostalgia they would have mDe that HD FFVII everyone wants so bad when they are going in new directions and making games unlike anything previous in the series such as FFXIII and XV. Sure they do a lot of stuff that’s nostalgic and goes back to their roots but who says that isn’t amazing too?? Besides that isn’t where most of their money is coming from but Sayare Enix knows what they are doing. Bravely Default takes everything great about a cassic old final fantasy game and puts new twists on it that make it simply amazing. Everyone is judging too hard and should love each game for what it is, nostalgic or not.
Inspired by your competition I thought to join here and share my thoughts on the latest news! I enjoyed reading this post since it was nicely detailed, bythe way. Keep up the good work.
Square Enix Relies Too Much on Nostalgia
Honestly, I feel Square Enix is relying too much on their old titles and this “nostalgia” which their fans are holding tight in their hearts. It’s true fans who like these retro titles, often bite and buy this kind of games. It means money for the company, which is important now when times are harder and game industry more cruel than ever… But I don’t honestly remember any good original IP coming from Square Enix for mobile devices since Chaos Rings, which was a bit mediocre as well. I truly believe there is potential in the mobile games since I have played a few good titles, and I don’t understand how talented studios from Square Enix can’t come up with something new and innovative.
I love Final Fantasy games but milking the big epic brand might backfire them because the series might suffer inflation after many random titles. This will eventually reduce the brand value. For example, I don’t see them milking the Kingdom Hearts series this hard and it’s likely related to Disney’s more strict brand control.
This comment isn’t to bash the mobile titles since there’s always people who love ’em and I enjoy them too. The thing is that I would love to see something original, something new and something awesome, just made for smartphones. One of these games could have been “School Girls Shooters” but it was never released here in the West. It wasn’t that high quality title either and it felt a bit missed opportunity, because of the cliché setting. (school girls are everywhere in anime and manga already) The gameplay mechanics could also have been more interesting than just fighting.
Chaos Rings is only new and good mobile game brand from Square Enix, even though the games have been quite mediocre. They are good but nothing mind-blowing, though, the third title looks promising and since they are releasing it on PSVita, it may show that the production values have grown a bit from the last entries. Still, it feels quite similar to Final Fantasy and I wish they could come up with more innovative titles for smart devices.
It’s time for Square Enix to shape up and developers to bring a new awesome series/title for the mobile marketplace that re-innovates the meaning of mobile gaming. Don’t mimic the big console games or handhelds, create something own and unique that stand on its own. Milking big brands is an easy and save way, but it may give a lazy picture of your company.
As much as I too am annoyed by this strong reliance on nostalgic contents, I have to admit fans—or a least a certain portion of fans—are definitely not helping. In the end, the Final Fantasy series, and the numbered titles to be more precise, have always been ambitious titles that tried to make the RPG genre move forward, or even move on, so much that now we cannot really consider them RPGs anymore. Or the genre actually doesn’t matter, to be honest. And even if you dislike FFXII or XIII or any other, it’s hard not to say these games are actually providing new approaches in different directions. These discussions already happened when FFVIII had the hard task to be FFVII’s successor, and so on with IX, X.
Anyway, my point is that as long as people will complain about these games being too different and/or beg for a FFVII remake because it’s “the best in the series” and “it was better before”, Square Enix will understand that fans are actually asking for more nostalgic elements. And so we risk getting new FF games that overuse references to past FF titles, just like FFXIV is doing at the moment. I’m worried about XIV’s reliance on characters or buildings that are directly borrowed from older entries. It’s okay in a cash-in mobile title or even a side entry like Dissidia, but I feel a mainline FF is too important to give in to nostalgia so easily.
Final Fantasy is one of the few series to rely on (almost) complete reinvention with each new numbered game. Even if they are now also making direct sequels for budget reasons, I think it’s still crucial to show that we appreciate change. So COME HERE, FFXV!