The Mana series has seen a boon as of late with a number of titles either being remade or remastered for various platforms through various means. There's even a new console game in development, which was announced during anniversary celebrations last year. Square Enix seems keen on continuing the series with further developments to come, the first of which has culminated in the upcoming mobile action RPG Echoes of Mana – a smartphone game that promises to be a love letter to the series for both existing fans and newcomers alike. We had a go with the pre-release version of the game ahead of the game’s pre-registration announcement. Echoes of Mana starts you off innocently enough. You’ll select between a male or female player character that will serve as your avatar, give them a name and into the tutorial you’ll go. It’s a short trip through some of the game’s basic mechanics – the likes of which encompass traditional RPG setups. Attack by selecting the appropriate action tapped on the screen including basic attacks and special abilities triggered after building enough Magic Gauge to do so. You can move your character along the screen in a side-scrolling fashion by swiping left

In the 68th Letter from the Producer Live broadcast, Final Fantasy XIV director/producer Naoki Yoshida and global community manager Toshio Murouchi (with translation by Aimi Tokutake) revealed information on the future of the game as well as answered a number of questions fielded by fans. We’ve summarized the major information below — check it out! A Decade of FFXIV Newfound Futures Looking forward to 7.0... Advancements as a solo and multiplayer RPG experience.The game's first graphical upgrade. This does not necessarily mean that PS4 support will cease in 7.0.Patch 6.x series roadmap.Future concept #1: an even better RPG - alone or with friends.In talking with fans at Fan Festivals and conducting market research, the team seems unable to answer two questions. The first is the group of Final Fantasy fans who have played them all save FFXI and FFXIV, which is a point of frustration.Final Fantasy XI received updates to make the game more solo friendly, but XIV plans to go beyond that. The second point are players who don't want to deal with interacting with others.In the next 10 years, Yoshida wants the game to appeal to players who want to play alone or with friends.Towards this end, the Trust system will grow to be compatible with all

Nova Crystallis had the chance to participate in the recent Media Tour hosted by Square Enix allowing us to get a hands on preview of the new Final Fantasy XIV expansion Endwalker. If you haven't seen our impressions of the media tour, you should check them out over here. With every new expansion comes an increase in level cap, this time to level 90, and with that means new changes to the jobs including tweaks to old abilities and the addition of new abilities. I'll be outlining all the major changes that you can expect to find once Endwalker releases. Keep in mind this is not a completely extensive list of all changes coming to Endwalker, just the main ones that I noticed. Disclaimer: This article is based on play of an in-development build of FINAL FANTASY XIV: Endwalker, and content in the final version is subject to change. Tanks Paladin The new poster-job for Endwalker. Just how does their cape move on the moon when there's no atmosphere? Magic? Probably. Paladins get some pretty cool changes as well as the ability to summon down countless number of swords... perhaps you might say... an unlimited number of them. Requiescat (Level 68) Requiescat has changed to now grant 5

Final Fantasy XIV is something special. Ten years on from its initial release, it goes without saying the game is absolutely thriving - not only because of various influencers and good word of mouth, but because the game really is that good as we have shouted about from on high time and time again. Despite today’s realities of an on-going global pandemic, things are shaping up for its fourth, latest (but not final) expansion due to be in reach of players hands within the next month. Whilst the strain of said pandemic has been hard on us all – particularly for the development team at Square Enix – producer/director Naoki Yoshida stresses to all of us his gratitude to the medical staff and all those who have had to work hard. That gratitude extends to the launch of Endwalker, where once again people around the world will be able to connect and share their experiences as a sort of relief from these trying circumstances. It’s to that end we were invited to participate in the latest media tour covering a first look at expansion content. Normally, we would convene in person, but obvious reasons dictated that a digital event was to

Last week, Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics released the first expansion for Marvel's Avengers titled War for Wakanda. Taking place after the Reassembled campaign that's boxed in with the base game's release, Wakanda introduces King T'Challa as the new playable hero: Black Panther. Accessed through the title screen's Operations menu, Wakanda can be played and re-played after completion, and comes at no additional cost to purchasing the game. Jumping in, the campaign in Wakanda kicks off with an AIM invasion led by hired goon Ulysses Klaue and his army, in the hopes of stealing the nation's secrets in utilizing vibranium -- a resource their technology. T'Challa pursues Klaue's men through his county, where we get more information about Wakanda and its place within the Marvel's Avengers world. Eventually, returning to the capital Birnin Zana, T'Challa reunites with his sister Princess Shuri to formulate a plan on repelling Klaue and AIM alike. While the campaign takes several hours to complete, the story is breezy, yet effective in telling a self-contained story transpiring in the larger plot of the Avengers combating AIM. T'Challa and Shuri both have different angles on how best to protect Wakanda, and the tension between them helps carry through what

Prelude Although I have the honor of publishing stuff here at the fabulous Nova Crystallis, I'm just one Square Enix fan among millions. Perhaps I'm a bit wordier than some — and that's not always a good thing! — but otherwise? Writers and readers alike, we all visit this website because we're perpetually thirsty for all things Square. But how did we reach this point? And indeed, what is it about Square Enix's catalog that's compelling enough to have triggered the creation of sites like Nova Crystallis in the first place? There's bound to be a story behind every fan's first encounter with these games, and I'd be willing to bet that many of us also have heartfelt stories about how the games have been here for us through thick and thin.Each and every story is worth telling. Why, then, am I sharing mine? Well, I suppose for starters I simply enjoy writing. I probably wouldn't be here at Nova Crystallis if I didn't! But this runs deeper than that. You see, I've seen people ridiculed all my life for loving fictional worlds. "Snap back to reality," they've been told. "Get more real friends." It's important to acknowledge reality and to take care

Hello, it's your resident Drakenier enthusiast, mits! Having just finished NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139…, I’ve been more than happy that it’s served as a great reminder of one of my favorite experiences of all time! Now I don’t know about you but after having finished the original all those years ago, I craved to know more about its world so I thought it’d be fun to take a look at some of the supplementary material that followed after its release!  Square Enix has a long history of releasing a multitude of tie-ins that range from light novels, guidebooks, to even more obscure mediums like audio dramas that never saw their way outside Japan. Despite a handful of external materials being present for the original NieR Replicant/Gestalt I decided I’d focus on two of the most popular pieces - the contents of which most are largely unfamiliar with. Due to the spoilery nature of these materials I’ll attempt to refrain from mentioning specific plot points, but those who have had experience with the original should be able to pick up on what I'm alluding to. Without further ado, let’s begin our deep dive into the world of NieR Replicant! The first of these companion

It's been a long time since Bravely Default first graced Japanese shores and worldwide soon after. Releasing to critical acclaim, Bravely Default not only ushered in new fans craving a more traditional approach to JRPG gameplay but revitalized interest in many long-time fans of the genre. Nearly nine years later, Producer Tomoya Asano and his development team (lovingly dubbed "Team Asano" by fans) have gone on to develop many other titles such as Octopath Traveler and the recently announced Project Triangle Strategy. Needless to say, expectations are high for Bravely Default II, yet I wanted to take a look back on a title that I felt was overshadowed in comparison: Bravely Second End Layer.  Truth is, we've already gotten our sequel to Bravely Default quite a few years back. Originally released in Japan in 2015, Bravely Second: End Layer presented itself as a continuation of Bravely Default's story that would recontextualize and follow up on the legacy of Bravely Default's world. The problem is, many of the criticisms levied against End Layer largely stem from this recontextualization and expectation as a follow up to Bravely Default given the fact End Layer suffers from many of the same issues that sequels in

Back in 2004, I had the perfect setup to play Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: three friends, four Gameboy Advances, four link cables, one Gamecube, and one sprawling weekend afternoon after a long week of high school. Looking back 17 years later, it seems like a wonder that any such confluence of events could transpire. They're fun memories. In previous years, I sequestered myself while playing through the single-player mainline entries on PlayStation, so the prospect of playing a Final Fantasy title with others was well worth checking out. Crystal Chronicles would dole out different roles to each player during each dungeon -- one might be navigating the map for the party, another on the lookout for treasure chests, and so on. You would constantly be communicating and cooperating, whether you were plumbing dungeons, wandering around your village trading items to craft, or sharing what kind of build you were thinking up. So much of the game was built around couch co-op, that it's disappointing to report that the online co-op that's replaced it feels ill-thought out and barely resembles the spirit of the original game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdt2og-xXlc In recent weeks, we learned that the Remastered Edition wouldn't have offline co-op, opting to move the

It’s been one year since Final Fantasy XIV celebrated the successful launch of its third expansion, Shadowbringers. With the finale in the form of Patch 5.3: Reflections in Crystal only a day away from emotionally crushing the community while simultaneously providing us adorable stickers for our screenshots in Group Pose, I had taken this time to fondly look back and reflect on what made Shadowbringers such a fantastic expansion compared to those that came before. I found myself asking: Why was it so good? What was done differently this time around? What made Shadowbringers rival previous Final Fantasy games, matching them in greatness and nostalgia? As I thought about these questions, I realized it was because the development team hit five major story-crafting elements that ultimately led to the game’s success. In this piece, I will be going over those five subjects in hopes that it not only puts my thoughts about the expansion into words, but also help others see what I believe made the story so incredible, and why Shadowbringers was, and is, an incredible work of art that will be remembered for years to come. A warning for those still new to the game: There are going to be some