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Not so final after all.

Final Fantasy is the stuff of legend. No, seriously-- it is. Just ask any enthusiast about the origins of the series. Watch as their eyes gleam while recounting the story of how it all began. Legend has it that a long time ago (1987) in the land of Japan, a fledgling company known as Square (now Square Enix) wasn’t doing so well financially. Despite earlier releases like Rad Racer and 3-D World Runner, their games weren’t selling well enough to pull them out of the slump. It seemed as if all was lost. Wanting to go out with a bang, Square chose to develop a role-playing game. They called it Final Fantasy (*cue epic music*).

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This one's for you, asrealasitgets!

Well, we're a man down this week, but instead of leaving you lovely listeners hanging, Julian and Angelo have a special edition of Nerds Without Pants just for you. Yes, you! Come back next week for a bonus episode of NWP, followed by your regularly scheduled Panstless Ones. It's three weeks of rambling!

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There's a lot of Final Fantasy on the way, but is it the Final Fantasy people want?

Final Fantasy. Just saying the name conjures up all manner of conflicting thoughts these days. Square Enix is not the company it once was, and its flagship RPG series has encountered a lot of negativity and lukewarm receptions in recent years. Don’t count this legendary franchise out just yet though; there are plenty of interesting developments for the series coming from E3, including more than one mea culpa from the development side of the equation. With games coming down the pipeline from FF X to XV, I think it’s best that we tackle them in Roman numerical order, don’t you?

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We give Square Enix some friendly tips for keeping the Fantasy alive.

When Jesse Miller, our resident features guru, asked if I would be interested in doing a Final Fantasy retrospective for the series’ 25^th anniversary last year my answer was a resounding “yes!” In the months that followed, I poured all of my love and dedication into a five part series detailing the 14 core Final Fantasy games. It was a labor of love for me; no series of games has been more influential or important to me as a gamer. I’m a staunch defender of these games, even when they go into weird territory like iOS time-wasters. That doesn’t mean that I’m blind to the fact that the series isn’t what it once was, however. As excited as I am for the future of Final Fantasy, I think that the fine folks over at Square Enix need to take a good long look at where the series stands. To that end, I have 5 things that I think could help immensely as we move forward into the next generation.

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And are we going to see a Final Fantasy XIII-3?

With this being the 25^th anniversary of Final Fantasy, it was only a matter of time before we saw news of the special plans Square Enix has for the auspicious occasion. This week, we got the first volley—the announcement of Final Fantasy VII on PC. But that may only end up being the tip of the iceberg.

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