Final Fantasy Leads Square Enix E3 Charge

The bellwether series is getting milked to the extreme, but there's stuff for Enix fans too.

The annual Electronic Entertainment Expo is just weeks away and companies are polishing their games hitting over the coming year. Japanese mega-publisher Square Enix is always one of the biggest draws at the show and this year seems to be no different.

The name of the company's game this year is undoubtedly Final Fantasy, with six games from the genre-dominating series on show. The bulk of these are either remakes or tie-ins to Final Fantasy VII, suggesting a reluctance on the company's part to stray too far from what it knows.

One glaring omission from the Final Fantasy throng is Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. The debut PSP series instalment was announced in 2005 but there's been barely anything more since then. Square Enix told Kikizo that it'll have more at the show that it has announced so far, so there's a chance yet.

Another series being prepped for a multiplatform comeback is the Mana series. The PlayStation 2 will see the first true sequel in the series in a decade and there's a DS game coming too.

It's not just the Square half of Square Enix that's getting attention. Fans of the latter company will find more to excite them too, with two new Valkyrie Profile games already confirmed. The original never made it to Europe and bordered on unknown in North America, but it still built enough of a reputation over the years to garner PSP and PlayStation 2 quasi-sequels.

And Dragon Quest fans looking for something lighter after the epic Dragon Quest: Journey of the Cursed King will find solace in slime in the bit character's first DS outing.

Below is Square Enix's complete line-up for E3:

• Dawn of Mana (PlayStation 2)
• Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII (PlayStation 2)
• Final Fantasy XII (PlayStation 2)
• Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria (PlayStation 2)
• Final Fantasy XI: Treasures of Aht Urhgan (Online)
• Final Fantasy V (Game Boy Advance)
• Final Fantasy VI (Game Boy Advance)
• Children of Mana (DS)
• Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime (DS)
• Final Fantasy III (DS)
• Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth (PSP)
• Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII (Mobile)
• Final Fantasy I (Mobile)

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games