Final Fantasy XIII was a highly divisive game when it released last year. I found myself enjoying its finer points, but also finding fault in some of its design leading me to write a rather mixed review. With a sequel on the way, the opportunity for a more consistent experience has been opened.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 takes place three years after the first. Lightning has disappeared and Serah (her previously unplayable little sister) is out to find her with the help of a new character named Noel. The demo wasn’t heavy on exposition, but there was enough talk of “points in time” and “anomalies between dimensions” to pique my interest.

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Sure, Square-Enix might be concentrating its North American focus on Final Fantasy XIII-2, but Japan will soon get a far more interesting looking game in the series. Final Fantasy Type-0 is a fast paced action RPG and is part of the same Fabula Nova Crystallis mythology. While it may not be confirmed to come overseas, a Japanese demo has been released that will work just fine if your firmware is up to date.

Having played through the demo myself, I left quite impressed. The large number of characters you can play as with their varying weapons and abilities have a nice sense of variety. And each of the demo’s levels have a lot going on, some even involving multiple miniboss monsters. I’ve pieced together some highlights from each demo stage below for your viewing pleasure. (more…)

Following in the footsteps of albums like Chip Tuned Rockman, Square Enix is taking some of its beloved music from the post-8bit era and rearranging it into new chiptune remixes for its latest album SQ Chips.

Love SQ (the first album in the series) has already shown us how great 8bit remixes of Chrono Trigger can be thanks to the talents of Sexy Synthesizer. And while we don’t know which artists are contributing to SQ Chips, we do know most of the games it will feature. Aside from more Chrono Trigger, expect to hear music from Secret of Mana and its Japan-only sequel Seiken Densetsu 3, Einhänder, Threads of Fate, Brave Fencer Musashi, Saga 2 and Unlimited Saga, Project Sylpheed and of course, the Final Fantasy series.

SQ Chips will available on September 7th for ¥1890 (approximately $23.50) from Amazon Japan, the Sony Music Shop and the Square Enix eStore. Until then, you can check out a sample by listening to the background music on the official site.

Source: Square Enix (via GamePro)

Poor Square-Enix music collector. Try as you might, you’ll never be able to keep up with all the soundtracks and remix albums raining down on you. Today is no exception as SE unleashes More SQ on us.

More SQ is the third album in the SQ series of remix albums following Love SQ and the more downtempo Chill SQ. The new album doesn’t stick to any genre in particular and features a completely different artist for each of its 13 tracks.

Interestingly enough, More SQ doesn’t stick to one era either. Featuring remixes from various Final Fantasy games, Chrono Trigger, and even Nier (aka 2010 Soundtrack of the Year), there’s a lot to love in SE’s latest. (more…)

It’s no secret that Nobuo Uematsu, the legendary composer behind the classic Final Fantasy games, likes to rock. For about seven years, Uematsu played keyboard in the face-melting progressive metal group known to us mortals as The Black Mages. But after three albums, it seems the super group has disbanded as of late last year.

Was this the end for Uematsu’s rock career? Far from it! In fact, he’s already working on a new project in the same vein. Enter the Earthbound Papas. No, they don’t cover songs from the SNES classic, Earthbound. Instead, they cover various works from Uematsu’s career (including, but not limited to Final Fantasy) and perform new material. (more…)

On a very special one-hundred-and-second episode of ‘Barrel Roll! A Video Game Podcast’, Jonah is still here with no babies to show us at all. Is he making the whole thing up? How long can he keep up this charade? You’ll have to listen to find out!

Oh, and I guess we also talk about video games. Square-Enix released a whole bunch of Final Fantasy stuff and Nintendo dropped a metric crap-ton of Nintendo 3DS details. Also, Wes returns with his take on Little Big Planet 2 and The Last Express, Jesse writes about himself in the third person while playing more Monster Hunter Portable 3rd and Dragon Quest IX, Jonah tries to convince us he’s having a baby while playing Assassin’s Creed and Mass Effect 2, and Adam… well… he just listens.

All this and more on our fantastical podtacular showstravaganza.

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Now here’s something interesting. We’ve heard of episodic games, but what about episodic albums? Rather than waiting several years to release all five discs of their new album, Final Fantasy V: The Fabled Warriors, OverClocked ReMix has decided to do make it available one disc at a time.

Of course, like all OCR albums The Fabled Warriors is 100% free (and available in both MP3 and FLAC formats). Each disc is labeled after a different crystal with Disc I taking the name “Wind”. While we may only have access to one disc at the moment, it features 9 songs spanning many different genres from a variety of artists including Sixto Sounds, Zircon, DarkeSword, and more.

So head on over to the album’s site and grab Disc I. Afterall, it’s free. Still not convinced? Check out the teaser video after the break.

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On a very special fifty-sixth episode of “Barrel Roll! A Video Game Podcast”, Jesse and Adam hijack the show to talk about Mega Man 10. I don’t know what it is, but those two really like that little blue robot.

I was all like, “What about Heavy Rain?” And Adam was all, “More like watching a movie with quick time events. Burn!”

Then I cried a single tear.

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On a very special fifty-third episode of “Barrel Roll! A Video Game Podcast”, we gather around the campfire while being serenaded by our own Wesley “Ukulele Master” Johnson.

This week, there are a lot of things discussed when talking about what we’ve been playing. Of note is Jesse’s completion of No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle on the Wii, Wes’s acquisition of a Wii and his playing of various Zelda related titles as well as Muramasa, and Jonah’s noticeable lack of Wii playing.

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"This screenshot pretty much tells you everything you need to know."

Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers may share the Crystal Chronicles name with three multiplayer action RPGs, but other than taking place in the future of the same universe, it has almost nothing to do with the previous games; at least not in terms of gameplay. Instead, it is a singleplayer game that’s quite unlike anything I’ve ever played, and is frankly quite bizarre.

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