This game, together with Final Fantasy 3 on android and iphone, cements the fact that Square Enix is not shying away from the new form of "next gen portable gaming". This might even be considered their endorsement of Apple and android products. Future xbox and playstation consoles better beware, for all the graphics and fidelity in the world, nothing beats a classic style JRPG from the originators.

Wait, why does it have Final Fantasy Legends as an alias? Is this a remake of the first SaGa game? Or is that its name in Japan or Europe or something?

It's really too expensive though, isn't it?

@Morningstar: Well, it's not out yet but it'll definitely be more expensive than other iOS games. But I think if we ever want deeper games like this on iOS, higher prices have to be viable.

@yoshimitz707 said:

@Morningstar: Well, it's not out yet but it'll definitely be more expensive than other iOS games. But I think if we ever want deeper games like this on iOS, higher prices have to be viable.

Still, 30 bucks seem a little steep(or 28.99 to be precise) Will be interesting to see if people will buy it though, and if so, what that market will look like going forward.

@purspike said:

Future xbox and playstation consoles better beware, for all the graphics and fidelity in the world, nothing beats a classic style JRPG from the originators.

Xbox and Playstation have nothing to worry about because there are tons of people who don't like JRPGs.

@Video_Game_King: It's just the Japanese title. This came out two years ago over there. Personally I'm not surprised at the price. The game looks like trash compared to the PSP remakes that came out five years ago, so SQEX set the price point high to milk all the people who buy anything just because it's named FF. No one else is going to pick it up, so why not squeeze every drop of blood from their fans?

@Morningstar: more than a little. there are tons of interesting jrpg-s out there for free damn it..

@sodacat said:

@Video_Game_King: It's just the Japanese title. This came out two years ago over there. Personally I'm not surprised at the price. The game looks like trash compared to the PSP remakes that came out five years ago, so SQEX set the price point high to milk all the people who buy anything just because it's named FF. No one else is going to pick it up, so why not squeeze every drop of blood from their fans?

That is the funniest abbreviation of Square Enix I've ever seen.

Anyway, I'd much rather play the PSP or even the GBA remakes. If I had an iPod Touch, you can bet your bottom dollar that it would be nice and jailbroken so if I wanted these games on there, I'd already have them on there.

Bringing back the old school with touch controls! Just like I played my first Final Fantasy, on my iphone!

@Morningstar said:

@yoshimitz707 said:

@Morningstar: Well, it's not out yet but it'll definitely be more expensive than other iOS games. But I think if we ever want deeper games like this on iOS, higher prices have to be viable.

Still, 30 bucks seem a little steep(or 28.99 to be precise) Will be interesting to see if people will buy it though, and if so, what that market will look like going forward.

When you said expensive I was expecting like 10 bucks, but 30 is insane for a phone game, as much as I love FF games.

$30 is pretty crazy for an iPhone game, but if it's reviewed well and conducive to 3 minute sessions before classes and on the can, I'll pick it up.

I kind of hate how much attention they're giving to apple devices, but this game looks interesting. I don't really care about the price, they're totally allowed to charge 30 dollars if they want, expecting every game to be only a few dollars is stupid.

Can anyone make sense of the release history?

According to Wikipedia FFD was a series of episodes in Japan (each, I assume, with its own fee). That might explain the price. That said I like the fact that this is an "expensive" game, because, seriously, fuck all those 99 cent games. They're totally warping mass perception into believing games should be dirt cheap.

@GERALTITUDE: The game has nine episodes. in the west it'll be released as three sets: Episode 1 for $3 and Episodes 2-5 and 6-9 for $12 each. Or something to that effect. It's the same way FF4AY was released.

I don't see how $0.99 games are adversely influencing the market, especially when console games keep getting more expensive (with content being cut for DLC).

Oh yeah, it's certainly bringing back the old school...

It looks like something I made in RPG Maker 2000. In fact, I'm fairly sure I made one of the EXACT ROOMS in the preview screenshots.

@sodacat Thanks for details dude.

I don't mean the console market, but the handheld/tablet market. 29.99 is a fine price for a big ass, content full game, regardless of what platform it's on. But these days people have the idea that if the game is for a small device they should only have to pay a small price for it. There's just such a flood of super cheap games, it's driving the average price way lower than it should be. The longer it stays like that, I think, the harder it will be to convert people to higher priced games, like this one.

So we are celebrating a well-funded and staffed company for making something that was cool in the early/late 1990's? I feel that this type of behavior is okay in the independent industry, but far from reasonable from a larger company. I don't mind companies making business-sound decisions, but this is a bit too obvious as a cash-cow.

@ck1nd: this is probably a very small team doing a throwback to there own classics, i don't see whats so offensive about that.

square is my new favorite ipad/phone developer (kairosoft is a very close second) after playing the ff3 and the world ends with you ports.

a cool game is a cool game, larger developers experimenting with smaller stuff is not a bad thing

@andriv: I'm hardly offended by it. I just merely see the truth behind such a nostalgic push and I wish that the team at Square Enix would put their efforts to something a little more modern. I can't agree with them "experimenting" with something that is a tried-and-true resource. It's not experimentation if they already know the out-come.

I also have a little bias that they seem okay in releasing games on the iOS platform for outrageous (in comparison) pricing points.

@ck1nd: they are experimenting with it on a relatively new platform, both with the content and the prize.

i don't see a problem with spending 20-30 $ on something i spend 10+ hours on, but i'm new to this market.

Sad that a mobile phone game is the most exciting thing about FF in like 10 years.