A Final Farewell...

FFi | July 21st, 2008

It was only a couple of days ago that I was raving about my progress on Version 2. Now, the decision has been made to shut down this website indefinitely.

Many, many circumstances have led to this conclusion, though not just the ones that most people are expecting. No, the site isn't closing because of our lack of traffic. And no, it's not closing solely because of our recent forum issue, though it did factor in.

I've always said that FFi was overdue for a huge traffic boost, and I wasn't lying in that regard. I had made arrangements several weeks ago to do some freelance work for a high-profile fan site, in exchange for some heavy FFi exposure there. I am still planning on doing that work, though now obviously FFi won't be in the deal.

So why is Final Fantasy Illumina being abandoned?

First, the technical side.

With the aforementioned forum issue, we discovered that we would have to completely change our brand of forums. I had previously stated that all of our posts and members would be lost, but I was mistaken--there are ways to save it all and use it on the new forum.

However, a more pressing issue is our artwork submission system, which has been custom-coded from scratch by our host/developer Moiph to work with IP Board. If we changed to a new forum, all of our artwork coding would be messed up completely, to put it simple. The site-forum connection is quite complex, and with a bit of work would be salvageable--but Moiph is doing other things as well, and likely would never have the time to essentially re-code the entire website.

So, with all of these issues into play, allowing FFi to continue in its current state would prove to be too much work and time for either of us to manage.

As for the other factors that have lead to this decision, none have been as important as my dwindling amount of interest in being a do-it-all web administrator.

I still love Final Fantasy, Ashe, and graphic design.

But I think I'm going to retire from coding websites and all of its highly-detailed aspects.

Instead, I may take up some permanent and/or temporary art director/concept designer positions at other websites. A few high-profile names have already shown interest in letting me join their design teams.

For those jobs, I would just be the designer of the initial concept and/or help to direct the visual progress of the site, rather than being the one doing all of the individual images, CSS, and coding. Certainly, I see my ability to guide/direct others and make critical stylistic decisions to be a strong part of my personality.

To have worked on a small site like FFi (which I see as a bit "indie") for so long, and then to be picked up by larger organizations--I see it as an opportunity to spread the style and mindset of my work on FFi to an even wider audience. To be able to leave my design "touch" in other places is an exciting concept for me.

I don't see this as moving up and "to better places." There will always be a part of me that loves the idea of taking a site from scratch and bringing it up myself with a small team. I've always had an entrepreneurial spirit and, even through its down times, working on FFi has fulfilled a part of me that couldn't be filled any other way. Final Fantasy Illumina will always be loved.

What will happen to the site?

Although the site will no longer be maintained, it will remain online, if only to serve as an archive.

The forums will be removed. Likewise, all interaction with news or art will be disabled.

All affiliates will be removed. All staff will be officially relieved of their positions.

As for the address, I will continue to financially support the domain FF-IILUMINA.NET.

However, these URLs are also owned by me, were very recently registered (a few this month), and are now for sale:

FFDISSIDIA.COM
FFDISSIDIA.NET
FF-ARTWORK.COM
FF-ARTWORK.NET
FINALFANTASYART.NET

Send an email to JAYHAWK.KU @ GMAIL.COM if interested.

What will you do now?

I am going to run my personal portfolio website at TSUAII.COM. So, if you'd like to keep up with what I'm up to, including my personal art, work for other websites, or life events (if you really care :P) that would be the place to go.

Finally, thanks.

I'd like to give a deep, heartfelt thanks to everyone who has been a part of this experience. From the staff to the members, to the artists who contributed their art--you all have helped to mold an important part of my life.

Thanks to hateradio and Moiph, I went from not knowing what CSS and XHTML even were a year ago, to being able to design and code a site completely by myself. Without classes, tutorials, or books, but rather just by working with you two and studying your code, I've developed all of my web design knowledge, and it will all be useful to me for likely the rest of my life.

Seeing the site start as a PSD, to becoming a static HTML page, and now this--I feel like I've truly accomplished my original goal that I set way back in 2006, on the night before FFXII was released. Both of you have put so much time into the site, and dealt with so much of my super-controlling demands. :lol:

Thanks to the rest of the staff, especially Snake, who was solely responsible for the "February Rush," which saw the most activity at FFi to date. To see my website reach that level of popularity was such an experience.

To all of the regular forum members, and especially to Hullabaloo and Delita Heiral, who have been truly dedicated to the site through its highs and lows, I give my thanks. This site was made for people like you. I hope the passing of the site doesn't signify the passing of our relationships.

Thanks to anyone who submitted their art to the gallery. Your contributions were what made this site so special.

Also, a big thanks to Kyle, Reldin and Ram, founders of FINALFANTASYXIII.NET, CREATIVE UNCUT and FOREVER-FANTASY.NET, respectively, for their help in teaching me about SEO and how to be a good webmaster. Your guidance was invaluable.

So, from me, Jon (aka Jayhawk) and everyone at FFi:

Farewell.

It was an adventure.

Final Fantasy XIII to be Released on XBOX 360

FFXIII | July 14th, 2008

Today at the E3 Media & Business Summit, Microsoft announced that Final Fantasy XIII, once thought to be PlayStation 3-exclusive, is now in development for the XBOX 360. In addition, it will release on the same day as the PS3 version. A launch date was not released.

In related news, the official website (Japanese) of the game has gone live and features a new high-quality trailer, many aspects giving motion to scenes that were only previously shown in magazine scans. The "Pigtail Girl" and "Mr. 33cm," as the two currently-unnamed characters are known, make extensive appearances in the trailer. The Shiva and Carbuncle summons are shown as well.

How much does this news surprise you? Does this change your plans for buying next-generation consoles? Discuss this in the official forum thread: So FFXIII is going to the Xbox360...

The Best of Final Fantasy Illumina, Vol. 1

FFi | June 28th, 2008

We're over half-way through 2008, and already our Artwork Gallery has seen a great amount of high-quality work submitted. In appreciation of everyone who has contributed thus far, I've compiled the best works of the gallery into a 6-minute video: The Best of FFi, Vol. 1.

This video is available for download (for the highest-quality viewing experience) and has also been posted on YouTube. For this reason, I have created the FINALFANTASYILLUMINA YouTube channel. In the future, all of our videos will be posted on the channel, in addition to the higher-quality versions being available here. Expect to see video tutorials at FFi very soon!

» Watch Video (6:16)
» Download Video - AVI (30.9MB)

Dissidia Interview and Media, Website Updated

Dissidia | June 26th, 2008

An interview with Dissida: Final Fantasy producer Tetsuya Nomura, senior director Takeshi Arakawa, and planning director Mitsunori Takahashi has revealed quite a bit of new information about the PSP title, including an August announcement of a "not far off" release date.

Meanwhile, the official website for Dissidia has been launched and includes three new pages: Story, Characters, and Info. The Story page has an introduction to the game's premise, though it is only in Japanese. The Characters page features lengthy videos and several screenshots of the fighters from Final Fantasy I, II (III in the US), VIII, and IX. Jecht and Tidus, recently confirmed to be in the game, have not been added to the page yet. Lastly, the Info page has basic information concerning the game.

We've added several new, full-resolution screenshots of Dissidia to its media page. Also, we offer a new high-quality trailer for download!

» View Screenshots

» Watch Trailer
» Download Trailer - MP4

Dissidia Interview

Takahashi: We've currently revealed about 20% of Dissidia as a whole. Aside from the battle system, there are a lot of elements that haven't been shown. I think fans who have played the Final Fantasy series will be comfortable with them.

Takahashi: The original games are RPGs, so conceptually we're aiming for "Action-RPG plus competitive fighting," with the balance being half action and half RPG.

Takahashi: Regarding the battle portion, we're pretty much finished making the main characters themselves. Now we've got to spend a lot of time fine-tuning the combat balance.

Why Jecht over Seymour?

Nomura: Jecht may not have been the final boss (with Seymour being the mid-boss), but going with Sin would obviously not work. (laughs) I thought if we chose Seymour it would be hard to show a proper connection between him and Tidus, and we'd end up having to put Yuna in too. We decided the best choice with a solid relation to Tidus would be Jecht.

Arakawa: The scenes with Tidus and Jecht should be quite an interesting expansion. In the main FF10 story the two only got a chance to talk together in the final scene. This time we're telling the parts of that story that couldn't be seen before.

Are you saying we'll be able to see events that weren't shown in the main stories?

Arakawa: There will be quite a few. But what we're doing is fine tuning the original story details behind the characters' births, relationships, interactions. Tidus has a connection with the heroes, while Jecht is tangled with the characters on the Chaos side.

But there wasn't exactly much dialogue between the Light Warriors and Garland...?

Arakawa: To an extent there are understandable characterisitcs in FF1 and FF3. We really think it's important to give players a taste of our works, but basically if the story takes place in Dissidia we don't see [various series'] characters participating as strange at all. Smile and don't think too much about knowing the original stories.

When you say RPG, do you mean controlling characters as they wander around areas?

Arakawa: The main focus is more on character building, with customization as a key point. This game is to show our appreciation to players who've enjoyed previous Final Fantasy titles, so with their interest in mind even gamers who aren't into action gaming can enjoy [Dissidia].

This isn't like Kingdom Hearts, where you walk around locations and find yourself in combat. This also isn't that same mechanic of action-based fighting in continuous encounters. It's more like "Should I take this guy on next? Nah, maybe I'd better go with this one instead..."

Arakawa: Like a level 80 Squall fighting a level 20 Light Warrior, even if there's a difference in levels it's possible to pull an upset on the opponent.
Nomura: Choice" is very important.

Arakawa: We're also thinking about a community around Dissidia. Going forward we're looking more and more to incorporate a lot of original ideas into a Dissidia-suited communication system. Things like battle strength/ranking will be included, but basically we want to include a system where countless users can participate in one imagined "Battling Community", a world not about wins and losses but simply being connected to others trying to discover their own merits. Players who got together and can be excited about Final Fantasy.

Takahashi: Where you can learn to pull off really difficult challenges, and feel like "Getting to level 100 is where things just get started! (laughs)

Arakawa: Stories have their ends, but that's not necessarily true when you've played a game. After finishing one you can think "It's not over yet!", there's still this part of the game to do, still that to do...

Arakawa: Mr. Nomura has been at all the voice recordings, and the script is double the length of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII.

Nomura: We have a release time in mind, so now we've just got to work hard on the development. I'm positive it's not far off, so please keep an eye out in anticipation. We plan on giving a solid release date at an event in August.

Source: Forever Fantasy

FFT A2 Released in NA, Receives Average Reviews

FFT A2 | June 24th, 2008

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift for the Nintendo DS was released on North American shores today, eight months after its original Japanese launch. The game, a sequel to Final Fantasy Tactics Advance for the GameBoy Advance and featuring the same style of strategic gameplay, has received average reviews from most major gaming websites. Notably, GameSpot has scored it with a 7.0 rating, citing "excessively long battles with little payoff" and "restrictive battle rules" as its main weaknesses. It was, however, praised for having a sufficient amount of depth and replayability

Critic Reviews:

GameSpot -- 7/10
IGN -- 9/10
Game Informer -- 8.8/10
GamePro -- 4/5
Electronic Gaming Monthly -- 77/100