FFXII, Kingdom Hearts II dated

By Tom Bramwell Published 1 August, 2005

News from the Square Enix Party.

Square Enix's latest publicity vehicle, the Square Enix Party, has come and gone in Japan and with it brought more details of several new titles - including release dates for Final Fantasy XII and Kingdom Hearts II.

Final Fantasy XII will be released exclusively on PS2 in Japan on March 16th, 2006, Square Enix said - the company has previously said we can expect to see it released in Europe during 2006 as well.

Kingdoms Heart II will be released in December in Japan, also on PS2. A US release is expected shortly afterward, and we're almost certain to see it in Europe sometime in 2006.

Composer Nobuo Uematsu was also on hand at Square Enix Party to unveil Final Fantasy XII's theme song, written by Uematsu-san with lyrics and vocals from Angela Aki. Called Kiss Me Good-Bye, it was completed two weeks ago and Uematsu-san apparently likes to listen to it in his car.

Meanwhile, 1UP reports that former director Yasumi Matsuno has actually left the project, but there's no word on when or why.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (31) Latest comment 7 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Blerk #1 7 years ago

    So.... Christmas 2006, then. If we're lucky. :-/

    The Magic Box is also reporting that a number of FFXII staff have left for Mist Walker, too. Signs of internal turmoil at Squenix, I wonder?

    I hope Mist Walker has a better attitude towards Europe. :-)

  • Rahul #2 7 years ago

    Mistwalker is a consultancy/design studio, so they won't have anything to do with publishing/distribution models. If it's MGS publishing Blue Dragon/Lost Odyssey, it's probably safe to say we can expect them at nearly the same time as release elsewhere.

    Also, 1up is in fact saying that Matsuno was removed after not showing up for work for a month when some of his staff (Akihiko Yoshida, character artist, for instance) left for Mistwalker.

  • Blerk #3 7 years ago

    I suspect if I didn't bother to show up for a month my boss would be pretty miffed too. :-)

  • Kafeen #4 7 years ago

    I've felt like testing that theory sometimes.

  • OnlyMe #5 7 years ago

    I don't think I care anymore. It's been too long. WAY too long. FFXII better be the best thing since sliced bread if they're spending 5 years on the game. Hell, they spent 3 years on FFVII, and that was because they went from a Nintendo to a Sony console. Which means FFXII should be almost twice as good as FVII.

    But i doubt it, and I have more confidence in Mistwalker now, especially after seeing the Lost Oddyssey teaser.

  • Rahul #6 7 years ago

    Again, don't forget that Mistwalker currently perform nothing more than a design and production role on Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon. Actual development lies with Microsoft Game Studios. So don't get your hopes up too soon -- MGS have minimal experience developing high quality RPGs, even if Sakaguchi and friends are experts at designing them.

  • Firewine #7 7 years ago

    I want FFXII, anything remotely to do with the Vagrant Story team is sure to get my attention. For all its changes, I'm confident it will be a better game overall (the hardcore fans may not be pleased but I really don't give a shit what they think).

  • Blerk #8 7 years ago

    Again, don't forget that Mistwalker currently perform nothing more than a design and production role on Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon. Actual development lies with Microsoft Game Studios.

    I... didn't realise that. Is that correct? That makes me more than a little worried, actually. :-/

  • Rahul #9 7 years ago

    I... didn't realise that. Is that correct? That makes me more than a little worried, actually. :-/

    Yes; Mistwalker is just a "design" company consisting of Hironobu Sakaguchi and perhaps a few others. However, those that left Square Enix to "join development with Mistwalker" didn't actually join Mistwalker (that we know); instead, they went freelance (Uematsu founded Smile Please!, and Akihiko Yoshida apparently also created a freelance company of his own that I can't remember the name of) much like many of the other former Square Enix talents that are now making themselves more freely available to other companies (many of the musicians did this, including Yasunori Mitsuda, Hitoshi Sakimoto and Yoko Shimomura, for example).

    Since Mistwalker isn't a development house, the teams for Sakaguchi's two games are drawn from other sources. MGS needs to build some image in Japan, so the more big Square Enix names they have, the better. Hence the involvement of Sakaguchi and Uematsu, and apparently Yoshida as well, and probably others, not to mention names like Akira Toriyama. However, the game itself is being made by MGS (even though MGS is being led by former Square Enix brass).

    Either way, the question is whether MGS can put out a quality game on par with Square Enix. Sure, Sakaguchi can (supposedly, even though he purportedly hasn't actually in 10 years) design good games. But without the talent to realise it, how far can you get?

  • Blerk #10 7 years ago

    Amazing... they kept that quiet! Is this MGS Japan, or are the games being produced in the US?

  • Tweakmonkey #11 7 years ago

    Very interesting - using famous consultants in this way might be a new thing for the games industry. It's a bit like those books by no-name authors who have a famous author's name put on the front cover.

  • Rahul #12 7 years ago

    Amazing... they kept that quiet! Is this MGS Japan, or are the games being produced in the US?

    They didn't really keep it quiet, it's just that (as they intended) everyone ignored it because Sakaguchi's name is plastered all over everything.

    And I presume it's MGS Japan, though I'm not sure, and even if it is I'm sure they'll do some flying back and forth to get staff where they're needed. HRM can't be that much of a big deal to a company as big as Microsoft.

    Think of it like Metroid Prime. It looked like it was going to be crap while it was being done by Retro Studios, but then a big name stepped in (Miyamoto) and applied some common sense game design to it and cleaned it up. If this is what Sakaguchi can do to Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon, then all the better. The question is whether he can make competitive, innovative games after being away from the drawing board for so long.

  • killyourtv #13 7 years ago

    1up says team members working on FFXII left during the project. What team members were they, anyone know?. That could mess up alot of things

  • Rahul #14 7 years ago

    1up says team members working on FFXII left during the project. What team members were they, anyone know?. That could mess up alot of things

    1up is just speculating around rumour, for one thing. It's known that Akihiko Yoshida left; he was the character designer for FFXII as well as Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy Tactics. Of the other big names for the project (Hideo Minaba, Jun Akiyama and Isamu Kamikokuryou), I recall hearing something about Hideo Minaba, but I'm not sure what exactly -- so I can't confirm whether or not it involved him "going freelance" along with the others.

  • Blerk #15 7 years ago

    Did Akihiko Yoshida actually leave Squenix? Or just the FFXII project?

  • Rahul #16 7 years ago

    That's the question. The thing is, Yoshida has been by Matsuno's side since the Ogre Battle days, so I could imagine it being somewhat of a blow if Yoshida one day said "Screw it, I'm leaving to work with the hack Sakaguchi who nearly destroyed the franchise with his soulless, miscalculated runt of a film attempt". Or something to that extent. I don't know, I'm bitter. So I don't know. I can imagine it being upsetting if he left, but then again, I don't think it's very likely that he did, unless Matsuno did as well. But the 1up article proclaims that Matsuno's still at Square. So until more syphons out our way, there's not much else I can speculate on.

    Edit; Just to correct myself before I end up looking hypocritical: it's known that Yoshida is involved with the Mistwalker projects, which alludes to him having left Square Enix (how else do you get involved with a project outside of Square Enix?). However, this doesn't mean he's exclusively working with Mistwalker/MGS and no longer employed by Square Enix. He may be doing both, as a freelancer. As do many, in fact.
    Edited by 1 at 01/08/05 @ 12:59

  • asha #17 7 years ago

    Kingdom hearts 2 still isint out?? i saw a preview for that game on game network about 3 years ago whats taken them so long????

  • Mint #18 7 years ago

    Conflict between the two "halves" of Squenix, maybe? I know that, s'far as anybody can tell, Square and Enix pretty much exist as seperate entities trading under the same banner (the only thing that's merged is thier assetts, thier IP's and thier management-mostly Enix), and thier rumours been doing the rounds about conflict between the Square dev teams and Enix (Who so far as I can tell, don't have dev teams, since they farm out all thier projects), essentially, the Square teams are apparently get pushed about and screwed around with by the upper management (which is mostly Enix holdovers).

    Sigh, this merger was a disaster for Square in the end, but great for Enix (if you wanna be cynical), they've pretty much chewed up thier greatest rival in Japan and spat out the remains.

  • Rahul #19 7 years ago

    In a way I hope it's more professional a reason than that, but I'm afraid that it's dead on as well. The Enix-based properties have been getting faster conversions, release dates, and more attention lately (with the exception of Kawazu's stuff, since he's a member of the board, and Nomura/Kitase's, because FFVII and KH are just plain unstoppably popular). Tri-Ace and Level 5 have had a huge amount of attention with DQ8 and Radiata Stories, and Kawazu has had a fair share of releases (Romancing Saga, FF1+2). Fullmetal Alchemist is also arguably an Enix undertaking and we all know how much attention that gets (3rd sequel and DS game out last week in Japan, as well 2nd game arriving in the US).

    It's not surprising that the Squaresoft talent that once may have had some sense of loyalty towards the company is now "leaving" en masse to form their freelance studios so they can at least put their creativity somewhere, anywhere, while still having some kind of attachment to the biggest publisher of RPGs in the industry. The only sad thing is that this "talent" often ends up not being done justice. Look at what happened to the Chrono series (dead) or Xenosaga (raped). And now Matsuno's MIA.

    Certainly the change in policies and newly introduced bureaucracy involved with such a massive internal change has affected the developers as well as the fans. It's a different company altogether, which is likely why many of us feel so disconnected from Square Enix's current IP portfolio.

  • sephy #20 7 years ago

    Either way, the question is whether MGS can put out a quality game on par with Square Enix. Sure, Sakaguchi can (supposedly, even though he purportedly hasn't actually in 10 years) design good games
    The last game he had a proper role with afaik was FFVII 8years ago.

    With FFVII he wrote the draft along with Tetsuya Nomura, and co-wrote the script with someone. After that I think he only had Executive roles

  • tengu #21 7 years ago

    This is the same garbage they've been pulling since the PSone days. Wonder how long they'll delay the Euro version this time, six months like FFX, or 'just' four months like FFX-2 :(

    I'll bet Kingdom Hearts makes it over pretty quick all the same... funny that...

  • sephy #22 7 years ago

    FFX did have a *lot* of stuff added for the PAL market that the yanks didnt get though

  • tengu #23 7 years ago

    Yeah, that's a fair point I suppose... It doesn't sound quite as 'bitter' as I was going for if I added that in though :)

  • Rahul #24 7 years ago

    FFX was pre-Square Enix. Don't worry too much about localisation, it should be swift and high quality now. Example: Star Ocean 3.

  • AlanOB #25 7 years ago

    My guesses:

    Kingdom Hearts - Nov 06
    FFXII - Feb 07

    Waaaay too long to wait IMO. Square can be so frustrating at times.

  • Rahul #26 7 years ago

    This just in: Akitoshi Kawazu is now the executive producer for FFXII and Matsuno has been reduced to the role of "original concept/scenario/supervision".

    Update: it would appear that Matsuno has been sick for a long time and as a result Hiroyuki Ito and Hiroshi Minagawa have taken over directing -- the rest of the staff hasn't really changed much. Akitoshi Kawazu replaces Hirobonu Sakaguchi as the series' executive producer.
    Edited by 1 at 01/08/05 @ 18:53

  • Azu87 #27 7 years ago

    Actually Matsuno was sick, so he wasn't away from work without a reason.

  • Mint #28 7 years ago

    Ah, I'd that Matsuno was sick, but I thought that was before Christmas and offered as a reason for the TGS no-show last year.

    If it's a long term illness that's affecting his career, then best wishes to him, because it sounds like it might be something serious. And he's a talented feller.

  • Blerk #29 7 years ago

    FFX did have a *lot* of stuff added for the PAL market that the yanks didnt get though

    It wasn't added for the European market, though. Our conversion just took so long that they'd released a 'bigger, better, expanded' version in Japan by the time they got around to us, so they converted that instead of the vanilla version.

  • Blerk #30 7 years ago

    By the way, congratulations to everyone involved for managing to hold a decent, reasonable, 'froth-free' conversation about gaming yesterday! I can't for the life of me remember the last time that happened. :-)

  • WulfBane #31 7 years ago

    Angela Aki, see http://www.angela-aki.com/