Recent Fabula Nova Crystallis News

PSM3 Reviews Final Fantasy XIII, Gives Very Average Score

Sun, Feb 7th, 2010, 10:07 pm (EST) by Ronin90

PSM3 Magazine, one of the main magazines in the United Kingdom, have managed to get their hands on Final Fantasy XIII for their March 2010 Edition. However, their review wasn't overly flattering.

They gave the game 70%, which by video game standards is as average is it comes - not exactly promising news. This is just one publication though, and they are generally quite harsh. Time will tell if other publications have a similar opinion, as other magazines also publish their scores ahead of the game's release in a month's time.

Either way, we've been waiting a hell of a long time for this game and even if it doesn't meet the high standards that Square Enix have set for the franchise, there will certainly be a lot of hours clocked on this bad boy.

Tags: Final Fantasy XIII, Fabula Nova Crystallis, PSM3 Magazine

Final Fantasy XIII Comes Second To Mario In December

Tue, Jan 12th, 2010, 8:00 pm (EST) by Ronin90

We're almost half way through January, but Famitsu have released sales figures for December 2009, a month which saw Final Fantasy go head to head with one of gaming's most iconic figures, Mario.

Unfortunately, Final Fantasy came out second best, as New Super Mario Bros Wii sold just under 2.5 million copies. Final Fantasy XIII only managed to sell 1.7 million, but it was still a pretty impressive showing nonetheless.

It'll be interesting to see how the game performs throughout January, as it had quite a sales drop-off in its second week.

Tags: Final Fantasy XIII, Fabula Nova Crystallis, New Mario Bros Wii

Final Fantasy XIII OST Gets A Commercial

Fri, Jan 1st, 2010, 4:18 pm (EST) by Kyle

Square Enix are really pushing Final Fantasy XIII's Original Soundtrack in Japan, so much so that the company has published a two minute long commercial for it. The commercial samples quite a few songs from the four disc OST, while panning around the OST sitting open on a display.

A few extras are also shown off, including the nifty box the whole thing comes in. The OST hits retail on January 27th for 5250 Yen, and is even available for pre-order for all you importers out there. Check out the Final Fantasy XIII Original Soundtrack commercial in our full story.

Tags: Final Fantasy XIII, Fabula Nova Crystallis

Official Final Fantasy XIII Twitter and Facebook Pages Launched

Sun, Dec 13th, 2009, 9:53 am (EST) by Kyle

Square Enix has opened official Final Fantasy XIII Twitter and Facebook pages leading up to the March 9th North American and European release of the game. Square Enix's reasoning for jumping on both social networking sites is obviously to coincide with the games forthcoming marketing campaign, however, the hope to make both pages the "direct source for all things FINAL FANTASY XIII leading up to the game’s launch on March 9, 2010, the sites will provide insider updates on the much awaited game."

The two pages were announced in a press release from Square Enix Inc. in North America, and besides news, they will also release screenshots and videos through Twitter and Facebook. There however was no word on whether Square Enix will engage with fans on either service, but considering the platforms, there's a fairly good chance they will.

Check our full story for the Facebook and Twitter links.

Tags: Final Fantasy XIII, Fabula Nova Crystallis, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Galenth Dysley, Rygdea Named For Final Fantasy XIII

Fri, Dec 11th, 2009, 9:38 am (EST) by Kyle

The names of two previous know characters have been revealed in Famitsu. The first is the man that looks like a priest or King with a veil is named "Galenth Dysley". Galenth hasn't been seen with other characters in screen shots (that we're aware of), however he is said to relate to Cid Raines somehow.

The second character is the long-haired man that has been seen alongside Cid Raines in a few screen shots. The man's name is "Rygdea", and he is a part of the same military group that Cid Raines is a Brigadier in.

Famitsu lists the name of their military group as "Cavalry", however it's unclear if they're simply calling the group a cavalry, or if that is indeed their name. To see the Famitsu scan of the newly named character, check out our full story.

Tags: Final Fantasy XIII, Fabula Nova Crystallis

New Screens Feature Tense Final Fantasy XIII Cast

Thu, Dec 10th, 2009, 12:28 pm (EST) by Kyle

Continuing the marketing push surrounding Final Fantasy XIII's Japanese release, which is only 1 week away, Square Enix has released another batch of screens. The half dozen screens feature the main cast of Lightning, Snow, Hope, Oerba Dia Vanille, Oerba Yun Fang, and Sahz, in a number of different scenes. There's lots of tension in this bunch, check out the screens below.

Check out the rest of the screens in our full story.

Tags: Final Fantasy XIII, Fabula Nova Crystallis

PS3/Xbox 360 Final Fantasy XIII Differences Confirmed

Wed, Dec 9th, 2009, 11:41 am (EST) by Ronin90

A few weeks ago, we posted a rumour which talked about potential differences between the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of Final Fantasy XIII. Well, they've now been confirmed as true in the latest edition of Famitsu Magazine in Japan.

As disclosed before, Final Fantasy XIII on the PlayStation 3 will featured lossless audio, and 1080p cutscenes, something which won't be present in the Xbox 360 version of the game. Famitsu didn't release the amount of compression that will be found in the Xbox 360 version, but they confirmed that it will indeed be compressed - even though it will be coming on multiple DVDs, it simply couldn't fit. The PlayStation 3 version is going to take advantage of a single dual-layered Blu-Ray disc, meaning it's easily possible.

Tags: Final Fantasy XIII, Fabula Nova Crystallis, Famitsu

Final Fantasy Union: Episode 30

Mon, Dec 7th, 2009, 10:02 am (EST) by Kyle

With the show newly renamed to "Final Fantasy Union" (formerly The FXN Final Fantasy Podcast) Kyle, David and Darryl ring in the last episode before Final Fantasy XIII's Japanese release. The crew cover news of FFXIII's box art, Cid Raines, game mechanics, game length, and much more.

The Final Fantasy Union podcast is now part of the Final Fantasy & Kingdom Hearts Union podcast series. Full details are covered in this week's episode.

Subscribe to Final Fantasy Union on iTunes

Direct Link: Final Fantasy Union: Episode 30

Visit the Final Fantasy & Kingdom Hearts Union iTunes Page

RSS Feed

Podcast music "Behind Enemy Lines" is by Nutritious from the OverClocked ReMix.

Tags: Final Fantasy XIII, Fabula Nova Crystallis, FXN Final Fantasy Podcast, Podcast, Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts Union, Final Fantasy Union

Cid and Vanille Featured in Latest Final Fantasy XIII Screens

Sat, Dec 5th, 2009, 2:54 pm (EST) by Kyle

Final Fantasy XIII's Cid and Oerba Dia Vanille are featured in Square Enix's latest onslaught of screens. All the shots are of in-game graphics, with Cid in a few shots with Lightning, Snow, and Oerba Yun Fang.

Vanille pairs up with her summon as well, Hecatoncheir, in a number of battle shots. She even pulls out finger guns like Liquid Ocelot in Metal Gear Solid 4, nice. Check out the screens below, with the complete batch of 16 in our full story.

For all the screen shots, jump to the full story.

Tags: Final Fantasy XIII, Fabula Nova Crystallis

Toriyama: Final Fantasy XIII's Story 50-60 Hours Long

Wed, Dec 2nd, 2009, 10:30 am (EST) by Ronin90

According to Motomu Toriyama, the director of Final Fantasy XIII, the main story for Final Fantasy XIII will be around 50 hours long. He also believes that it could go up to 60 hours for players who are new to the franchise.

The quote appeared in a Japanese magazine, and it's definitely promising news. With side-quests included, it sounds like there will be quite a lot of length, but then this is common practice with Final Fantasy games. However, usually when directors make these claims, they are grossly over-exaggerated, so it'll be interesting to see how accurate it is.

Except even more little tid-bits to be released in the lead-up to the game, which is released in Japan in just a couple of weeks.

Tags: Final Fantasy XIII, Motomu Toriyama, Fabula Nova Crystallis

Final Fantasy XIII North American Box Art Revealed

Tue, Dec 1st, 2009, 6:08 pm (EST) by Kyle

Square Enix earlier released Final Fantasy XIII's European box art, and they have followed this up with North America's FFXIII PS3 and Xbox 360 box art.

The box art simply features Lightning and the Final Fantasy XIII logo. The image of Lighting is has been seen frequently in Final Fantasy XIII promotions before, include a desktop wallpaper on the official website for the game.

Box art for Final Fantasy titles in North America usually feature representations of characters, or a single character, so FFXIII has indeed followed suit in this case. However, the same box art will be used in Europe, where Final Fantasy games typically feature just the game's logo.

Check out the box art in our full story.

Tags: Final Fantasy XIII, Fabula Nova Crystallis