Square Enix Reveals New Final Fantasy XIII Un...

Square Enix Reveals New Final Fantasy XIII Universe

Little did we know last month, when Square Enix first announced a modest E3 2006 line-up, that they still had not one, but two big aces up their sleeve! As revealed in their E3 press event yesterday, Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII are both coming to the PlayStation 3, along with other games that will be developed for various platforms (including mobile phones) as part of a new universe, called "Fabula Nova Crystallis - Final Fantasy XIII"!

"Fabula Nova Crystallis, defined in Latin as "the new tale of the crystal," is made up of several different titles based on variations of the Final Fantasy XIII universe. However, while each title in the project features different characters, different worlds, and different stories, all are ultimately based on and expand upon a common mythos."

It's much like they did with the Final Fantasy VII franchise, which is still being continued with additional games (like Dirge of Cerberus) and of course the Advent Children CG movie. For the time being, development for "Fabula Nova Crystallis" entails the two PS3 titles mentioned above, as well as Final Fantasy Agito XIII for mobile phones, with more announcements regarding other facets of the project scheduled for the near future.

Key development staff for Final Fantasy XIII includes director Motomu Toriyama (FF VII, FF X, FF X-2) and character designer Tetsuya Nomura (FF V~VIII, FF X, FF VII Advent Children, Kingdom Hearts), with Nomura also acting as director & character designer for Final Fantasy Versus XIII, and character designer for the mobile Final Fantasy Agito XIII. You can see what he's been up to for these new games in our new local galleries - here and here.

What's more, a Dragon Quest game - called Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors - was also confirmed as a Nintendo Wii launch title. So I guess this would be a good time to say "watashi wa Square suki desu!".

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)