Tidus: Ahh, the borders... They're squashing me!!!

 February 17th, 2002 - Another Final Fantasy game, another delayed release this side of the pond. Final Fantasy X, released in Japan back in the summer finally came to the United states of America just before Christmas. Whilst the lucky Americans are following the adventures of Tidus, Yuna and friends, people in Europe and Australia are still playing the older games in the series. With Final Fantasy IX being released on the 21st of February, 2001, you would expect the tenth installment would come at the same time.

Unfortunately, the two nations do not have the game yet, and will not get it this winter. Or this spring. The manager at my local Electronics Boutique said that the game will arrive in Europe around JULY! . And even then he didn't sound too convincing. That is, for want of a better word, a crap date for a game that was released in America 7 months ago, and 12 months ago in Japan. According to our poll, you'll all quite agree that summers are for flirting and reproduction - in between being dave the badger - and not cooped up in a dark room playing the game you should have been playing 6 months previous. And the icing on the cake is that the game will cost people in the United Kingdom fifty pounds sterling (note: to our continental readers here that's... erm... 65 'euros'?).

The reason for this long wait and price is not exactly known. "Square Europe" (surrounded in quotes because we're sure they don't really exist) will have to change the game to suit the PAL televisions, and translate the game, both voice and text in to German, Spanish, French, Dutch and many other languages.

Ah yes. The voices. If I'm paying 50 fat ones for a game thats been delayed more times than I've had hot dinners then I'd expect the voice-overs to be done by English actors - not whiney Americans proclaiming "Hey Dude!" at every opportunity. Surely this isn't too much to ask? The bad guy with a cockney accent? You know it makes sense.

So what do the Final Fantasy: Worlds Apart residents think about the long release date?

Karen: Square can **** off if they think I'm paying £50 for it after they make us wait about a year longer than anyone else, I'm storming their vault and stealing a copy.

Nick: I have one question to ask. If English & American Languages are so close together why does it take so to convert it into PAL as its just the wiring is set up? Surely they would of made some sort of program that does it automatically by now? This wait is just stupid and plain annoying!

Raiden: Square has obviously underestimated the value of keeping good relations to European gamers.

Cain: Localizations for 4 languages require time, plus they have to change the video signal from NTSC to pal. 6 months are too much tough.

Final Fantasy XI

On other news, the online Final Fantasy coming soon, Final Fantasy XI has been announced to have plenty of new features. To earn mini-quests in the game, players have to interact with non-playable characters. When the player completes the quest, they get useful tips and information to help them in the game.

The second new feature is to allow players to express emotion to other players whilst playing. We think that the only need for this is to really show how happy or sad you are with the other players.

Final Fantasy XI has been planned for a release in Japan during summer. Just when those limeys will be getting Final Fantasy X. Oh, the humour.

Final Fantasy VI

More news for those in Europe. As reported by Final Fantasy: Worlds Apart, Final Fantasy Anthology finally is on its way to our shores. The latest news states that Anthology will ONLY cost £9.99, but will only contain two discs. The first is the Final Fantasy VI game, which most people in Europe can play the fantastic adventure of Terra and friends. The second disc contains the Final Fantasy X demo. So is £10 a good price for a classic 16-bit RPG and a 128 bit RPG? We think so.

The graphics may be a bit crusty by today's high standards...	... but FFVI has killer gameplay, and a fantastic plot.