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Continuing the Tradition

Final Fantasy X-2 was an unprecedented event in the history of games. Certainly it was one of the first big-budget mainstream games to market the phenomenon of girl power and feature its main protagonist in hotpants. But besides this exciting development, it was the first time that a sequel had ever been spawned from a mainstream Final Fantasy title.

Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings continues the tradition. A true sequel, Revenant Wings will feature the complete cast of Final Fantasy XII in the same world of Ivalace. The story picks up one year after the conclusion of Final Fantasy XII and is predominantly concerned with Vaan and Penelo's adventures as sky pirates.

Though the locales of the original are once again featured, Revenant Wings also offers new lands to explore with hordes of new loot to pilfer. According to director Motomu Toriyama (who coincidentally is also the director of the aforementioned Final Fantasy X-2), the new lands will provide "the ideal backdrop of our concept -- an uplifting and invigorating fantasy adventure." Revenant Wings' developers didn't stop at whimsy, vigor, and adorable cartoon sprites; they also engineered a precision-tuned strategy gameplay system that utilizes the touch-screen capabilities of the DS.

The Best Strategy: Touching

Tactical strategy is not a genre unknown on the DS platform. Indeed, it was such a viable option in consideration of the double screen and touch features that Microsoft-owned franchise Age of Empires was ported to the handheld in 2006. More impressive still is Square Enix's decision to port Front Mission to DS and localize the title for only the third time in the long-running series' history.

Continues Toriyama:

Each installment of the Final Fantasy series features an innovative battle system, and Revenant Wings is no exception. Before incorporating strategy elements, we placed a priority on utilizing the Nintendo DS's touch screen technology to command scores of characters in battle. The result is a unique brand of combat that combines the best of Final Fantasy XII's battle system and strategic gaming.

Just in cast you're not fluent in PR, Revenant Wings is a strategy game that, like its DS predecessors, will make use of the DS characteristics that are optimal for the strategy genre. Whether or not it will inherit the (arguably) impeccable game mechanics of the Final Fantasy Tactics series remains to be seen, but a release closely following one of the most treasured titles in the series (the recent reprise of Final Fantasy Tactics, The War of the Lions) probably won't hurt. Revenant Wings also develops in the midst of another anticipated strategy title, Final Fantasy Tactics A2: The Sealed Grimoire.

Various monsters return at the summoner's whim

Bonus Content for North American Gamers

As you may recall, in the Anglophone port of Final Fantasy VII, the game received additional full-motion video cutscenes, while Kingdom Hearts got some optional bosses when it came to North America. The stateside release of Revenant Wings will follow in their footsteps by featuring a new battle with Yiazmat, a boss named after Ivalice visionary Yasumi Matsuno.

Another alteration to feature in the Final Fantasy XII Revenant Wings localization: gameplay is being tweaked to correct against the Japanese version's silly-easy challenge level. Toriyama had this to say in an interview with IGN:

We're changing the overall game balance and adjusting that for the US audience. We've also placed new enemy units in battles and added new enemy unit gambits. The North American release will provide a completely different game play experience than the original domestic release.

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Revenant Wings will be released in North America on November 20. Be sure to check out the E3 trailer located below for an idea of how the English-language dialog is coming along.

Revenant Wings E3 trailer

YouTube version

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