Topic: Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary Collection announced

[Lumi Kløvstad]

RPG fans, TAKE NOTE.

For the first time ever, Square-Enix is looking to release an (almost) complete Final Fantasy collection. The boxed-set contains all of the core games in the series, now 25 years running, and comes in collectible packaging.

The full list of games is as follows:

    Final Fantasy
    Final Fantasy II
    Final Fantasy III
    Final Fantasy IV
    Final Fantasy V
    Final Fantasy VI
    Final Fantasy VII
    Final Fantasy VIII
    Final Fantasy IX
    Final Fantasy X
    Final Fantasy XI
    Final Fantasy XII
    Final Fantasy XIII

The two “core sequels,” Final Fantasy X-2 and Final Fantasy XIII-2 will not be included, nor will any other spin-off series such as Crystal Chronicles or Mystic Quest. This is due to the collection being Sony-exclusive, with each game being released in its original format, except of course for the original titles that appeared on Nintendo cartridges. Altogether, the complete collection comes to a total of 22 game discs discs: 17 PSone, 3 PS2, and 1 PS3, though Final Fantasy III will be released in UMD format.

The collection also features a host of extras. Each game disc has new art, and are packaged individually in thin, stylish cases which also feature original artwork. A two disc soundtrack will be included that has music from the long series, and gamers will also receive a “special anniversary video disc.” Exactly what the video disc contains remains to be seen.

Releasing many of these games on their original  format is an odd decision, as many gamers who have a PS3 may not also have a PlayStation 2 for which to play Final Fantasy X, XI, or XII. Releasing Final Fantasy III on UMD is also an odd decision, as many who have upgraded to the Vita will not be able to play it. Nevertheless, it’s a very interesting collection, though it comes with a hefty price tag. Those looking to purchase this anniversary collection will be able to do so for ¥35,000, which is the equivalent of $447. Unfortunately, as of right now the collection will only be available in Japan, as Square Enix hasn’t announced plans to bring such a collection to the US or Europe.

Square Enix has struggled with the Final Fantasy series in recent years, but the games still remain as classics that can be played again. This is the first time that they will all be available in one collection, which is ideal for those looking to catch up on the series and get their hands on a copy of Final Fantasy VII or VIII, which can still be hard to find.

Source



My thoughts: Yeah. The UMD for FF3 is a bit odd, but I'm glad this is all on disc, rather than a digital release. It shows that, for whatever reason, Square Enix still cares about their epic franchise (and the fans thereof) to some degree. How MUCH they care, and whether that care translates to Europe and America getting a taste, remains to be seen.

[Laina]

I see...15 year old me would've been losing her goddamn mind right now; 27 year old me is saying,'...meh, maybe...".

I love the classic games a great deal, loved 7 & 8 when they first released, even liked 9 & liked 10 too. Also, actually loved 10-2 (chortle, puns!)-come on, I'm a girly-girl of sorts. Playing as an all female team, essentially playing dress up whenever I needed to change classes, fighting to bring back the love of Yuna's life-that's a formula to elicit SQUEEEEAAAALLLS from me. I has a sad that it won't be there, but that's okay, I have a working PS2 & my original copy in my t.v. stand right now. Anyway, back on track-they lost me at 11, 12 did nothing to bring me back. I TRIED 13, oh, how hard I tried it! But alas, after LITERALLY tearing up so bad from frequent yawning that my mother had to ask me several times over my 4 hour session, "Why're you crying, sissy?" (term of endearment in the south, pet name for "sister")...? Well, it was just time it got the hell outta my XBOX. Haven't played 13-2 because of my bad experience with 13, but I've seen a few videos on youtube & God help me, it's made me consider trying it again.

It boils down to this-I've been let down by Square a few times now. I feel like I'm trying to preserve a dying relationship out of devotion to what it once was. Square is trying, just it's not hitting the mark anymore. I wanna believe again, but I think things can be summed up with this-"fool me once Square, shame on you. fool me twice, or at this point 4 times, shame on me.'

[Ratty]

Wait what, Final Fantasy 7 and 8 are hard to find? Has the writer ever heard of ebay? Sure 7 is a bit on the expensive side (I think I might have been better off paying someone $30 to punch me in the face, at least that wouldn't have taken 50 hours.) but rare they're not. This sounds really half-assed, like they couldn't be bothered to remaster the older games onto a 2 or 3 blu-ray collection so they decided to just re-press the PSX discs and ask almost $500 for it.
I would love to see some nifty new cover artwork for Final Fantasy IX and VI, some of my favorite games ever, but judging by the rest of the effort expended here I expect it'll just be photoshopped concept artwork. Still, not as half-assed as the Mario 25th* or the non-existent Castlevania 25th celebration.

*"Oh look we put an SNES game on a Wii disc and made a commemorative booklet! Limited Edition so buy now!"

[Lelygax]

 I didnt believe that, some information in this site must be wrong, why Square will launch a FF XI (11) this year if its unplayable in an actual PS2? Only in the first model you can use a HDD, needed to play XI, since you need to install, update and pay monthly fees to play. Also I doesnt even know if their servers still online for this game since they launched their new FF MMORPG (is it XIV?).
 If this site is right, Square is crazy (since their new FF shown in E3 looks more like a game set in Brazil "favelas" than a medieval game with swords and magic, I think they are).

[Inccubus]

I see...15 year old me would've been losing her goddamn mind right now; 27 year old me is saying,'...meh, maybe...".

Same here, but additionally, 34 year old me is staring at this and asking if there's ANY new content that would make it worth while to bother with a bunch of games I've already played to death? Where the hell are the 3D versions of FF1 & FF2?

[Bloodreign]

Could be interesting though I played and finished 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, I never went through 1-4, then again I don't play RPG's these days as they are time consuming, and my free time isn't much (hence why with 2 Shining Forces in my collection along with 4 Phantasy Stars for Genesis, a Breath of Fire 3 PS1, and NES Final Fantasy 1  all unfinished), plus the fact that I don't seem to have the patience for slower paced games anymore (Crusader of Centy on the Genesis is nice, but the puzzle elements of it nearly turned me off, plus it's pacing). I would definitely need the 24 year old me to return to have the patience for these kinds of games again to enjoy them, not the nearly 37 year old me who over time has stuck with yesteryears twitch games because I like their faster pacing.

But man this is tempting, other than 7, 8, and maybe 9 (I enjoyed 9 for some odd reason). After 9 it all went to meh for me anyway.

Edit: And after seeing the price tag for this, they can keep it, I already have most of these releases in other formats or what formats they originally came on.

[Ratty]

(I enjoyed 9 for some odd reason)

Being one of the best games in the series and generally awesome might have something to do with that 
Final Fantasy 9 Title Screen
Still one would be better off buying the game on PSN or hunting down the game discs.
I bought mine brand new a few years ago for $15 after playing someone else's copy and falling in love with it.

[crisis]

Hmm well.. the 16 year old me would've been somewhat excited as well, but the 47 year old me DOES NOT WANT


am currently playing Final Fantasy Tactics psx version o.o;

[Lelygax]

FF is one of my favorites franchises along with Sonic, Megaman and Castlevania. I finished 1 and 8; played 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 12 (Tactics and Chocobo Dungeons 2 and Racing too. disliked Tactics Advance). But I didnt wanted to really play the newer ones from 10 on, instead I prefered Kingdom Hearts.
 I also played FF1 and FF5 online made by fans in BYOND, 5 have the exactly same fell and dinamics from the original 5, but another players join your party, (also when you change classes the map sprite changes unlike the original) they have newer classes too. BYOND is much underated.
 FF1 online is better than the official FF MMORPG in my eyes, it have FF1 NES graphics but the battle mechanics is like zelda but with attack turn based (like in Parasite Eve and Vagrant Story), this game is years ahead of the others MMO, the shop is composed of like 20 slots, the majority is from items that have been selled by the players to the shop, so you can find all type of things in this items shop. They have mechanics like in a RTS in the mainland, so you can build houses anywhere, that can spawn soldiers too like in a RTS, the king of a city is a player, he that decides what build and how spend the city money. To become a king you must kill every NPC soldiers, all players inside the city (they can run away from the city, the important is that you are the only live thing in the city) and kill the king, so you becomes the new king. Soldiers atacks PKs and heal themselves and innocent players, also all building are destructible, if you use fire magic they start to burn, so a player or npc needs to cast a ice or water magic to stop the fire. They have a mechanic that you only see what your char sees, so if like, there is a wall in front of you, you cant see the other side, the pixels turn black, but you can hear though. Also you dont know the names of the other players, it appears a generic name in their heads like "black mage"; to you know their names, they need to say their name near to you, like if they introduced herselfs.

Do you believe that it existed like 4 years ago in BYOND and for free? The truth is.... YES! So if you think that WOW or Star Wars online is innovative, think again, they are being lazy and being paid for that!

[Laina]

Same here, but additionally, 34 year old me is staring at this and asking if there's ANY new content that would make it worth while to bother with a bunch of games I've already played to death? Where the hell are the 3D versions of FF1 & FF2?

Well, that art book has piqued my curiosity, but I'm not shelling out around $450 for it. To the ebay!

[Abnormal Freak]

This sounds pretty damn obnoxious. Why not just emulate all the games on one or two Blu-ray Discs? A multi-disc, cross-platform "collection" sounds terrible.

[Laina]

This sounds pretty damn obnoxious. Why not just emulate all the games on one or two Blu-ray Discs? A multi-disc, cross-platform "collection" sounds terrible.

Agreed. I'm also with the fellow asking where 3D re-do of 1 & 2 are. A lot of folks didn't like it, but I'd like to see 5 get that treatment & I'm certainly quivering at the thought of such a thing happening to 6. I understand it could fall short, not do the original justice, but that's the ting for me-6 was such a damn fine game to me that I would love to see it revisited, getting the same treatment as 4 got on the DS. I would take a chance on a terrible port for there being a good chance of a wonderful one.

[Bloodreign]

Hmm well.. the 16 year old me would've been somewhat excited as well, but the 47 year old me DOES NOT WANT


am currently playing Final Fantasy Tactics psx version o.o;

47, riiiiight! I know you aren't older than me, I'm like grandpa here I've watched gaming grow.

[CircleBoi6]

Not that it's bad, but I'm going to have to pass. $447 is a little too much, since I still have half of the games presented in the collection (that still work to an extent).

[Ratty]

This sounds pretty damn obnoxious. Why not just emulate all the games on one or two Blu-ray Discs? A multi-disc, cross-platform "collection" sounds terrible.

Yeah that's what I was thinking, especially considering these are guaranteed to be the same old PSX compilation discs from the 90s/early oughts that had ungodly loadtimes and spotty sound emulation. The only one of those collections worth playing today is "Final Fantasy: Origins" since it appears to have been an actual port of the games from the wonderswan color, rather than poorly done SNES emulation. The loadtimes are a lot less and the completely remastered midi soundtrack is beautiful I know that much.

My guess is Sqeenix has no interest in releasing an "ultimate collection" since they want to keep repackaging and reselling the golden age games as many times as they can, so they just made this as a trap for the insanely hardcore collectors.