Kotaku:
Next week, we'll finally be able to get our hands on the much-anticipated demo for Final Fantasy XV, which is basically the Half-Life 3 of JRPGs. This continues a long tradition of publisher Square Enix releasing demos for their big RPGs alongside other games... like the demo for Xenogears, which launched with the horror game Parasite Eve way back in 1998.
Though I have fond memories blasting through some of those old demos, I never actually saw the one for Xenogears until last night, when Kotaku reader Michael Eamma brought it up in a conversation on Twitter. The chat got me googling... which led me to this gem. Really, all you need is the first 40 seconds. If you've played Xenogears but have never seen the demo, you are in for a mindfuck, grammatical errors and all.
Gary Green said: With my fondness for (most) Final Fantasy games and my side goal of finishing off games in my collection with loose ends, a return to Final Fantasy XV seemed inevitable. It also serves as my third Final Fantasy platinum trophy after VII and VIII, a reasonable substitute since Final Fantasy IX is nigh on impossible to master.
Final Fantasy 15's director has revealed why he left Square Enix back in 2018.
Hajime Tabata famously resigned from Square Enix two years after Final Fantasy 15 shipped in 2016. In a special livestream at the time, Tabata announced his decision to resign from the company, cancelling three of four new story-focused DLC episodes for Final Fantasy 15 in the process.
Man inherited a train wreck and was expected to release this game in under two years after it spent a better part of a decade in development hell. At one point there was even plans to make FFXIII Versus a musical. He did what he could.
Whatever the behind-the-scenes went on over the many years, at the end of the day it was a radical change in direction that I could not go along with. Also why I never bought 16.
Square Enix's interest in reviving its classics is the long-awaited ray of hope and the ideal chance to resurrect adored gems like Xenogears.
Seriously, I mean if anything an HD Remaster. I wish they had the balls to allow the entire story to be made, but I get the financial gamble won't all for it.
I WAS JUST REMINISCING ON THIS DEMO!!!