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You give the game your all...you stay up latenights...you've hunted around on the web...and still
you just can't get past that point in the game. Not all is lost!
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Journey to the Promised Land Warning: include(inc-ffwNav.php) [function.include]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /web/sites/hustler/tipstricks.com/features-FFW-May12.php on line 43 Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening 'inc-ffwNav.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/local/lib/php') in /web/sites/hustler/tipstricks.com/features-FFW-May12.php on line 43 May 12, 2007The first day of the show the fans are lined up hundreds deep in anticipation of the doors opening. A thin line of Square Enix staff members holds them back by sheer force of societal politeness. The huge line is compressed to one side and is more orderly than the line I stood in for Starbucks in LAX a few days ago, and that line had three people in it. The press gets to check in a tiny bit early, but the Square Enix VIP members, who are serious fanatics, are raring to go the moment the thin little rope separating them from a deluge of Square Enix merchandise is finally pulled back. People actually run inside without knowing where to go, just wanting to be the first to get there. Eventually, the VIP members realize that the non-VIP members are still stuck outside, and settle down.
The very first thing I see is a person in a Chocobo costume. Since he/she is not falling over or juggling I rapidly lose interest and then decide to try and check out the Closed Mega Theater. When I inform the Japanese PR person that I’m with the media, he smiles and nods politely and then escorts me to the very back of the line. After standing there for approximately 15 minutes, I realize my first interview is coming up and I don’t have time to dawdle like I’m waiting for a ride at Disneyland. Luckily, a US Square Enix PR representative rescues me by giving me a ticket to cut to the front of the Closed Mega Theater line at noon.
I finish my Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings interview, then head straight back to the mysterious black box that no one is allowed to photograph or film. Since I can’t run any photos of what was shown, here’s a brief list instead: Dissidia (PSP) is revealed to be a fighting game with Final Fantasy characters, including Sephiroth, there’s a hint that you might get another hint about the next Kingdom Hearts game during Tokyo Game Show, gorgeous new trailers for Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII, there’s a long music video set to images from Subarashiki Kono Sekai (It’s A Wonderful World) and a lot of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII footage as well. It takes 40 minutes and people stumble out in a daze.
The rest of the first day is taken up by interviews with the teams from Final Fantasy Tactcis A2, The Last Remnant, Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII, so I barely have time to check out the booths and the merchandise store. (The interviews for The Last Remnant, Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII are for print only, so check them out in the August issue.) I run through the merchandise store, ticking off all the items I want to spend all my money on, then run into a brick wall at the checkout counter, since I realize I barely have enough cash to buy two cheap meals at Lawson’s, the 24-hour convenience store inside my hotel. They also don’t accept credit cards, so I’ll have to wait until the U.S. online store opens later this year to get my dead Moogle doll fix on.
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