Aerith Gainsborough

One of the most memorable moments from the original Final Fantasy 7 is the date scene at the Gold Saucer. There was no way that Square Enix would leave that part out of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. In the original, it was almost an Easter egg of sorts to learn that you could end up going on a date with almost every member of the cast, not just Aerith. That’s because the relationship system was hidden and almost impossible to manipulate without a guide. Thankfully, Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth makes things much clearer with…

OD - The Game Awards 2023 Teaser Trailer - 4KPerpetual Game Awards fave Hideo Kojima revealed his next game coming exclusively to Xbox, OD, a horror game intended to show players what it’s like to overdose on fear itself. No real details were revealed, but Kojima is working with director Jordan Peele on the game, which will star characters played by Sophia Lillis, Hunter Schaeffer, and Udo Kier. OD - The Game Awards 2023 Teaser Trailer - 4KPerpetual Game Awards fave Hideo Kojima revealed his next game coming…

There are tons and tons of reasons people all over the world love the Final Fantasy series. Dating back to the NES, this JRPG series paved the way for games to grow into the medium we know them as today. Games of that era typically reserved their “story” for a small paragraph that was tucked away in the instruction manual and largely inconsequential to the actual game. Final Fantasy bucked that trend by creating worlds, stories, and characters that you grew to know and love, or hate, as the game went on. They were…

The grand finale of Summer Game Fest 2023 went out on a high note with brand-new footage of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, which is now slated for an early 2024 release date. The game is so big that it’ll release on two discs. Square Enix Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth is the second of three planned games in the Final Fantasy 7 remake trilogy, starting with 2020’s Final Fantasy 7 Remake. That game only covered the initial Midgar section of the game, though it expanded upon and added new content and features to flesh it out.…

Image: Square-Enix CollectiblesWhen Square-Enix, one of the most famous games publishers in the world, announced that it was going to be delving into the world of NFTs—even as the world of NFTs crashed and burned around it—gamers were concerned about just how their games, everything from Final Fantasy to, uh, *checks notes* Various Daylife, could be affected. It turns out the first steps are infinitely stupider than possibly imagined.Square-Enix’s first tentative foray into NFTs has begun not with its games, but its…

Image: Running PressThis week marked the 25th anniversary of Final Fantasy VII’s North American release—and a new book by Aidan Moher, out October 4, examines the game’s scope of influence, not just on its legions of fans, but on the realm of Western pop culture itself. io9 is pleased to share an exclusive excerpt from Fight, Magic, Items: The History of Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and the Rise of Japanese RPGs in the West, including a special introduction by the author.“Twenty-five years ago this week, Japanese RPGs…