TGS 2006: Final Fantasy XII Update

Following last week's surprise announcement through Jump Magazine, we've at last gotten a few solid details on Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings thanks to the latest issue of Famitsu. As we detailed in our initial report last week, this spin-off of the latest numbered FF game is being developed for the DS.

Revenant Wings tells the story of Vaan and Panelo, two of the main characters from FFXII. Vaan is 18 years old in the game, and has just fulfilled his dream of getting his own plane. He keeps himself free of politics and family life and travels the skies as an air pirate. The 17-year-old Panelo serves as his navigator.

The game's director is Motome Torishima, who previously served as event planner on Final Fantasy VII, event director for Final Fantasy X and director for FFX-2. He's also working as director on Final Fantasy XIII for the PS3, so he's got some strong ties to the FF series. Serving as co-producer is Eisuke Yokoyama, the assistant producer on Dragon Quest VIII.

Torishima explained to the magazine the reason for putting this spin-off on the DS. Apparently, Torishima and his staff had taken note of a common scene throughout Japan: people playing the DS. They began to consider ideas for games designed for people who aren't into games. That's when the idea of a "My First Final Fantasy" came up.

To make a game suitable for inexperienced gamers, Torishima and crew planned to make something that uses the touch pen for control. They also decided to get rid of overly complicated elements from the battle system. While Torishima wouldn't provide specifics, he said we can expect a system that will allow you to defeat your enemies with minimal controls.

In addition to this vague promise regarding the battle system, we know just one detail on Revenant Wings. Flight will be a central part of the game. You'll be able to take to an air ship and travel through the land from the very start of the game, Torishima said.

Yokoyama and Torishima's details on the storyline were equally vague. The time frame of Revenant Wings in relation to the main FFXII story isn't important, explained Torishima, adding that the game's timeframe is merely an era when Vaan and Panelo were air pirates. The story of XII was, he admitted, that of Vaan and Panelo getting caught up in a storyline that was already taking place with Ashe and the other characters. In Revenant Wings, Vaan has the main character role all to himself.

Yokoyama added that the game isn't a sequel to FFXII. It's not, for instance, FFXII-2.

Famitsu doesn't have any screenshots of Revenant Wings, meaning we'll probably have to wait a bit for specifics on how the game will play. The Tokyo Game Show should provide for our first glimpse of the game, though, as Square Enix will be showcasing a trailer. Stay tuned for more details shortly.

Via IGN