Kingdom Hearts 3 had a strong showing at this year's Tokyo Game Show, with plenty of new stuff shown!
First up, we finally received footage of Big Hero 6! This was announced some time ago, but until now we had only seen a piece of key art; that's all changed thanks to a brand new trailer!
There were also new story sequences revealed, some information about returning characters and there's also plenty of interesting morsels from an interview with Tetsuya Nomura... including talking about the secret ending!
We're now approaching the end of the 31st anniversary for Final Fantasy, and we just had a ton of announcements! Were these the games Hashimoto was talking about throughout last year? Who knows!
Either way, we couldn't be more excited about the announcement of the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition and with more content coming to World of Final Fantasy, classic games coming to Xbox One and Nintendo Switch and the announcement of a Chocobo Dungeons remaster, it was quite the explosion!
With the Tokyo Game Show not even underway yet, there's also the chance that we may get even more news too - so keep your eyes and ears peeled!
Tokyo Game Show 2018 proposes to be a pretty huge event for the Kingdom Hearts franchise with plenty of stuff already confirmed! And that's what this episode is all about, building the hype and discussing what's going to be at the actual show.
Outside of that, there are plenty of updates relating to Kingdom Hearts Union X and we have the customary questions, which relate to side content in Kingdom Hearts 3 and unrealised potential within the franchise!
There's been another mini Kingdom Hearts 3 news explosion, but we've also had some rather interesting questions asked this episode!
As part of a new wave of press, the Kingdom Hearts 3 team have spoken more about the role of the Gummi Ship in this latest iteration, that there will be secret World Bosses that they won't reveal before launch and they also went into detail about the whole localisation process.
We've also got some great questions from the community around unexpected worlds we think will appear in Kingdom Hearts 3, other characters we'd like to play as and whether we think the next game will act as a reboot for the franchise!
With Square Enix focusing so heavily on remakes and remasters in recent years, has this been hindering their creative efforts elsewhere? That's the main topic of our show today, as we talk through the pros and cons of remakes and remasters!
In addition, we've also got a whole host of questions from the community, relating to topics such as Final Fantasy X-3, likes/dislikes when it comes to the various mobile titles and whether or not we think there will ever be another game released within the Final Fantasy Tactics franchise!
It's an action-packed episode full of plenty of discussions!
Perhaps it's too early to think about it, but that's where we're heading this episode... as we we're taking a look at what's next for Kingdom Hearts as we progress beyond 2019.
Of course though, there's still plenty of time for some news and with Gamescom on the horizon, there's going to be a ton of stuff to look forward to and discuss!
There's also the classic question about how to best prepare for the release of Kingdom Hearts 3 - are you guys going to start right at the beginning and have a huge marathon?
With Octopath Traveler doing so well, should it have been positioned as a Final Fantasy game? That's the topic we're discussing today, and we also branch it out into wider games like the Bravely series.
It makes for an interesting debates about the merits of being associated with Final Fantasy, or whether it's sometimes better to go it alone!
In addition, we've also got numerous questions from bosses that we think would be good parents, through to who we think should be the main composer on Final Fantasy XVI!
With so much happening right now related to Kingdom Hearts 3, we often have to pick and choose what we cover, so today, we're running through the news that we often don't cover!
So, we're talking about game length, Nendoroids and interesting prize draws that are being run in Japan at the moment! There's also time for a bit of news about Kingdom Hearts Union Cross!
Outside of that, there's a whole host of questions to run-through, relating to the best numbered titles, how certain characters may have an impact on the story of Kingdom Hearts 3 and the secret ending of Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded!
We're taking plenty of questions this episode, and our main topic delves into the realm of us... becoming the CEO of Square Enix!
It makes for some interesting discussions and some unique angles as to where and why Square Enix should focus on certain things!
Outside of that, we've got a whole host of other questions related to the enemies we feel most guilty about beating up, through to Dissidia NT characters and future remakes!
Nomura has been conducting interviews in Japan, and it means there are a ton of new juicy details being released about Kingdom Hearts 3.
It means we've got some new information about Twilight Town, mini-games and weapons from the Frozen World, and the fact there won't be a demo that's made available to the public. Nomura has also clarified that the aim of Kingdom Hearts 3 is to make sure everyone's story is settled, so therefore the number of characters featured will be enormous!
We've also got a rather interesting discussion about the topic of dubbing in non-English/Japanese languages, so hopefully you enjoy!
Expanded universes have become more common place, but is it a good thing? It's time for a good ol' discussion as we explore the topic back to its roots and relate it to our expectations around Final Fantasy XVI.
It means we'll be discussing the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII and the Fabula Nova Crystallis sub-franchise, but we'll also be looking at some of the sequels, like Final Fantasy X-2 and Revenant Wings.
Hopefully you enjoy the discussions, it's a long one!
There's been a huge news explosion around Kingdom Hearts 3, as Tetsuya Nomura has talked about numerous topics, such as what we can expect from the Pirates of the Caribbean world, a secret movie and what we should expect from the game's downloadable content!
We're also pleased to welcome one of our Patreon supporters onto the show to discuss loads of fun topics, including their journey into Kingdom Hearts and what their expectations are for Kingdom Hearts 3.
On top of that there's also a question from the community relating to Don't Think Twice!
For today's episode we talk through everything that happened in and around the announcement of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake! To clarify though, we aren't stuck in a time warp, it's more that Nomura has just given some additional details as to why they announced it so far before they were ready to release it!
It leads to a rather lengthy discussion on the pressures of the video games industry, different practises Square Enix have employed and what we generally feel about the announcement.
On top of that, we've also got a small news update to round out the show, as well as an awesome arrangement of the main theme from Final Fantasy VII!
E3 2018 has come and gone and we have a ton of stuff to discuss with you about Kingdom Hearts 3 from the event.
We have the pre-E3 announcements like the official Kingdom Hearts 3 release date from the Orchestra World Tour concert. the trailers they showed off at E3, to director Tetsuya Nomura's interview answers post E3.
Let's hope it won't be too long now till we get our next morsels of information.
With E3 2018 well under way, it's time for us to discuss how we think things are going so far from the perspective of Final Fantasy!
That means we'll be talking all about the Square Enix showcase, amongst some brief conversations about the other press conferences that took place. Unfortunately though, Final Fantasy hasn't been a big focus for Square Enix at this year's show, with only a few small pieces of information coming out.
Still, that doesn't mean there isn't a lot to talk about, so join us as we discuss E3 2018 so far!
E3 is just around the corner, so it's time for some prediction madness (and some news!)
Yep, that's right, this episode we're running through all of the pre-E3 2018 news related to Kingdom Hearts 3, including the playable demo and the concert that will be taking place.
Then it's onto the big ticket item itself, Kingdom Heart 3's presence at E3 outside of the demo. The guys discuss thing such as new trailers, the theme song, voice acting, Final Fantasy characters, new worlds and of course, the release date!
To round out the episode, we then have some classic questions relating to the future of Kingdom Hearts after the third major game releases and DLC.
E3 2018 is only a few very short weeks away, so we felt it was the perfect time to run-through some of our juicy predictions for what we think they'll show!
We've decided to therefore split it into two segments. First-up, there's our "dream list" of Final Fantasy content; stuff that we would absolutely love to see, but we appreciate that there's a degree of luck involved. Then there's the "dead cert" stuff, that's almost guaranteed to be there.
To round things out, we've also got a small news update! It's good to be back, hopefully you didn't miss us too much!
We were lucky enough to be invited to play Kingdom Hearts 3 at the Kingdom Hearts 3 Premier Invitation Event in Los Angeles... and we're going to tell you all about it, as Churro is reporting on location this episode!
To give you a quick run-down on the aspects we're going to cover... of course we're going to look at the demo contents, how great it looked, the different mechanics available, the worlds and the mini-games. But, oh, there's so much more!
And even though there's so much to talk about, there's even a small questions segment at the end of the episode!
We've unfortunately had to delay episode 172 of Final Fantasy Union due to illness. Hopefully we'll be on the mend soon so that we can still record a show, but it'll likely come out this weekend.
Apologies that we couldn't make it work this time around guys, we've really tried, but our voices just aren't up to the task :(
We've learnt some new details about the release of Utada's theme tune for Kingdom Hearts 3, and there's speculation that it may coincide with the release of a new trailer in or around E3 2018.
Branden also quizzes Churro about his newfound obsession with Union Cross, and the how he feels about getting the chance to play some of Kingdom Hearts 3!
On top of that, there's also plenty of time for some questions to round out this rather action-packed episode of Kingdom Hearts goodness!
It's time to look to the future, so this episode we're talking about our hopes and dreams for Final Fantasy XVI!
We'll be running through numerous topics relating to Final Fantasy XVI, including when we think it'll actually be announced, what kind of experience we're looking to see and when we think it'll be released.
We're also got a ton of questions this episode where we'll be discussing mini-games, Theatrhythm, music and underrated Final Fantasy games!
Not too long ago, Square Enix hosted an event for KINGDOM HEARTS Union χ[Cross] and there was tons of stuff there!
This ranged from Kingdom Hearts 3 mini-games that were available to play, through to a new trailer for the game being shown off to those in attendance. It means there's an absolute boat load of things to discuss!
As always, we also have a ton of questions to answer and this time we're talking about the potential for an expanded Hundred Acre Wood story, the Keyblade War and potential future episodes of the podcast!
We've known it's been coming, but the new wave of DLC for Final Fantasy XV has now been fully revealed.
This episode Darryl and Lauren spend some time talking through the different Episodes that were revealed during PAX East 2018, including the content they will contain and when they will actually release.
There's also some other news relating to Final Fantasy XV in the form of Comrades becoming a standalone and some updates to the Windows Edition!
And, we're also talking about Final Fantasy cross-over titles. Which games would we like to see blend together with our beloved franchise?
It's time to talking some newmors this episode, as a voice actor has said they're working on a new "Kingdom of Hearts" game. Another voices have also said they're working on a game, but which one is it?
Branden, Churro and Sabrina discuss the possibilities here, while also tackling some rather intricate questions.
They'll be talking about whether they'd want a remake of the original Kingdom Hearts, but using Kingdom Hearts 3 as a base, and what they think will happen with saving in Kingdom Hearts 3, as the games often have a more traditional save system.