Remember the overbearing hype when it was announced that Final Fantasy VII was coming to the PC? With some much needed good news the globally renown development studio Square Enix has recently announced that the critically acclaimed Final Fantasy franchise will be returning to the platform come October of 2014.
Yes, on the 19th of September the developer made it publicly known that the Final Fantasy XIII Trilogy will be coming to PC with the first game, Final Fantasy XIII being released on the 9th of October 2014. Successive titles Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Final Fantasy: Lightning Returns becoming available later in Spring of 2015. The initial title has been priced at $15.99 USD and will be made available through Steam, the Square Enix Online Store and "other digital download services", offering a wide range of choice for individuals looking to pick the game up later this year. This also being great news for those against digital rights management (DRM) on platforms such as Steam. It has also been announced that the game will include Steam trading cards.
For those new to the franchise, the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy is a collection of 3 Japanaese Role Playing Games. The 2009 released Final Fantasy XIII, 2011 released Final Fantasy XIII-2 and 2014 released Final Fantasy: Lightning Returns. Final Fantasy being the flagship franchise of Japanese video game developer, publisher and distributor Square Enix, producing an array of highly commended titles that have significantly shaped markets around the world. This is huge news for PC gamers as Square's limited library on the platform has been constantly critiqued against in previous years, the announcement of this release marking the end of a 5 year wait and potential turning point in Square's interest in PC.
With the stunning aesthetics present throughout the trilogy, this release will surprisingly not leave a large hole in PC gamers pockets. The minimum specifications of Final Fantasy XIII available on the games Steam page.
The large space requirement and recommendation of a game controller being concerning characteristics, yet with squares varying quality of PC releases we can only be left hoping (and deleting items from our hard-drives), with 2 games left to come the titles will inevitably have gamers grasping for gigabytes.
With a PC release of the three award winning titles on the horizon, there are various factors that must be discussed. The first being piracy regarding how it will effect Square, and how the developer will react to it. This was bound to be a large factor in Square's bold decision to release the titles on PC and possibly a deciding factor on their releases in the future. How high will piracy rates be? Will Square implement methods to minimize such activity? I personally believe that the company will attempt to implement benefits for individuals that have legitimately purchased the game, like Final Fantasy 7-esque cloud saving and achievements, with more restrictive methods being placed on the later 2 titles if piracy rates are high. What are your opinions on the matter?
It is expected with a PC release that the aspect of modding will also come into the picture, the PC modding scene has rapidly expanded in recent years and many are bound to take an interest in modifying all 3 games. The incorporation of modding will without a doubt pose a large effect to in-game content and should lead to greater diversity in one's gaming experience. The implications of this however depend on the modding community in its entirety.
The release of this trilogy should prove to provide a rich gaming experience to both final fantasy veterans and newcomers alike. In my opinion, you are all in for a treat and highly recommend it to all RPG fans looking for a new game.
You can pre-order the first game now on Steam and take advantage of a cool 10% discount. Bringing the game down to $14.39 USD until the game is released on October 9th.
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Originally written by: Tsumika
Edited by: Cakes
