Oddball FFXII news...

[Ghost Rider]

Take it like you will but so far I've checked a few sites and some of the info stays relative consistent(wish I had famitsu)

Okay...

Two weeks after the introduction on FFXII, Squaresoft held a meeting in Tokyo (Japan) to confirm information related to FFXII. In the meeting, Square owner Wada Youichi claimed : FFXII has the most number of staff members : 1026 members. The game is still created by Sagaguchi, but this time there's the cooperation with the famous movie maker Yokoshi Toda (with the series "Late Sakura" in 1997). Consequently, FFXII has modern movie style, especially after Square's failure on "Final Fantasy : The Spirits Within" which forced them to sell their movie studio.
About storyline, FFXII still preserves the traditional rule that it will have separated story from other FFs. This time FFXII is a mixture of Japanese history and myths.
FFXII takes the players to the longest journey : 2200 years. The story began when the first Japanese was created with a previous gem called "Tomatsu Yukio" hid by the Goddess of Sun in a mysterious stream. The gem made the stream eternal, bringing the immortal life for those who drink that water. But the truth of the gem is much more bigger which is mentioned in a poem of the Goddess of Sun. Only the people of wisdom can find the answers for these mysteries. This was also the reason of many wars in which people leave their lives to find the stream...
Like the previous FFs, FFXII has two main characters and other fellow characters. The player can take roles of all those characters. As each different character, FFXII gives you different stories with different endings. With two main characters and six fellow characters, the player can play in eight different styles. That's why it takes 350 hours to beat the game (basically to complete each character's scenario, NOT INCLUDING secrets).
Wada Youichi emphasized : "FF is the most popular series, and FFXII will be the one which will have the best number of sold copies".
The two main characters have been revealed by Square : Galya (female) and Toka (male). The model for Toka is a Japanese actor : Ueno Toshida. The model for Galya is a Japanese actress who was Miss Japan 2001 Atashi Fumi.
The JP version will be released on March 19th 2004. The NA version will be later : September 19th, 2004.

Dunno about the dates...but if I find something more precise I'll post it here.

[Joe]

Interesting, very interesting. After the more Westernized FFs (FF8, FF9, and FFXI) it's interesting to see them giving the series a more Oriental flair, with this one and FFX.

I guess this one will have the full force of both Square AND Enix behind it. I hope it turns out to be as good as it sounds, since Square needs to put out something truly revolutionary.