After the disappointment of Final Fantasy XIII and XIV, fans of the series have a new reason to look forward to future installments of the series. GameMaster UK reported earlier this week that a source has given them new information about Final Fantasy XV. Although the magazine was wrong initially about Final Fantasy XV’s unveiling, they insist that this time their information is the real deal.

Most notably, the source claims that this installment has been in production for over four years, including the concept planning and pre-production stages, and that it entered full production in January 2010. This was a month after the Japanese release of Final Fantasy XIII. Since then, a team of two hundred people has been hard at work developing the game. The game’s director, Hiroyuki Ito, also directed Final Fantasy VI, IX, and XII, some of the most acclaimed titles in the series.

The title is slated to be released on all major current platforms, although it is unclear if this includes the Wii. Previous current generation Final Fantasy games, like XIII and XIV, have been only been released for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.

The game itself will be very different from XIII, moving away from familiar linear format and instead opting for an open world, reminiscent of the sprawling game environments in XII. The battle system will also be an evolution of XII’s. Now, though, players can target different body parts of the enemy, much like the Squaresoft classic Vagrant Story.

Fans of Western-style role playing games (WRPGs) will also enjoy it. Yoichi Wada, the president of Square Enix, has a vision of the game including more content than Elder Scrolls: Skyrim. Those still not excited will be pleased to know he also thinks the game could be more a bigger critical and commercial success than Final Fantasy VII.

As for cities (for the most part absent in XIII), they made the cut, and purportedly rival Assassin Creed’s enormous cities. It is not clear, however, if they will be continuous, sprawling environments or like XII’s: lots of small, divided sections that together make huge game areas.

Overall, the rumored XV sounds a lot like XII, what with its massive areas, only less linear. There would also definitely be plenty of guilds providing side quests, much like Elder Scrolls Travels games.

Is this all just wishful thinking, or could the next Final Fantasy really turn out like this?

If this source has his or her information in order, this game could be just what Square Enix needs. Many complained of XIII’s linearity, and, including spin-offs and side games, Final Fantasy XIV is the lowest rated Final Fantasy game on the game review aggregate site Gamerankings. Final Fantasy XV could not only remedy this recent drop in quality, but also bring in new fans due to its open world.

On the other hand, it addresses so many issues that previous games in the series have been criticized for that it could just be a fan’s wishful thinking. If it does turn out to be a hoax, hopefully it will at least gain enough attention to make Square Enix make a few changes to its flagship series.

More information is available here at Gameranx.

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Dark Souls came out in early October of 2011 around the same time that games like ‘Batman: Arkham City’ and ‘The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim’ were also releasing. Because of this, there is a good chance that many gamers who otherwise would have picked this game up in a dry season, passed it over in favor of other games better covered by the gaming media and whose names were more familiar.

Many gamers might have missed this title, but there is good reason, now that “Skyrim Fever” is starting to simmer down, to take a closer look at Dark Souls.

What is Dark Souls about?

Who knows? Japanese story-telling can be notoriously opaque, convoluted, and hard to follow, but Dark Souls barely gives you a taste of what’s lying under the game world and why it is happening. It leads you on with vague hints and a few stray references in item descriptions, but that’s really all you’ll get to go on.

However, it doesn’t really matter. What you need to know is that you play as an immortal, undead warrior of sorts, and you’ve got to take down some of the most enormous, horrifying, grotesque bosses you have ever seen in game design. There are more than a few moments during Dark Souls that will freak you out more than any horror movie you have seen in the past year, but the game is also capable of landscapes and light as beautiful as any you will find in the real world.

An RPG or an Action-Adventure?

When you pick up Dark Souls, you will tell yourself, and the box will tell you, that this is a role-playing game. You level up (both your character and your equipment), increase your stats, and replace your old weapons with new, better ones.

But in many ways, this doesn’t matter either. At level 100, you can still be killed by the very first enemies you encounter in the game if you are not careful. At level 100, you are only marginally more death-resistant than you are at level 1. You must be on your toes at all times while playing Dark Souls, because you are not Mario here: you are the Goomba.

Weapons and armor make only a slight difference, when all is said and done. The real changes to battle mechanics come when using rings and other items that have a tangible effect, such as increasing your health bar, making your movements undetectable to enemies, or allowing you to cast more spells. You don’t level up in Super Mario Bros., you grab a Tanuki Suit or Invincibility Star, and that is what it is like in Dark Souls as well.

You can spend 50 hours gaining levels in Dark Souls, but you will often find that a single item would have given you all, or more, of the benefit of that time spent.

Candy and the Whip

There is a saying in Japanese, 飴と鞭–“candy and the whip”–which expresses the mentality behind some of the design elements in Dark Souls. There is an element of motherly care and provision when you do the right thing the right way and also vicious punishment if you mess up.

Powerful items are placed in areas that are accessible early in the game, but are guarded by difficult enemies that will likely kill you in your attempt to retrieve them. NPCs eagerly seek to help the player in whatever way they can. If you are playing online, the help of other players is also available to fight bosses, warn of ambushes and traps, and provide strategies and tips.

However, the game can feel rather unfair. You would be forgiven for thinking that Dark Souls is not a game, more of a death simulator. Levels, bosses, and common enemies seem designed with only one thing in mind: to kill you in many ways as quickly as possible. Everything that is not helpful is unwaveringly set against you, and even if you have acquired certain abilities or strengths, the next area will find a way to render them totally irrelevant. Victory often feels, not like an outcome of effort, but a fluke.

Let’s Get Together

So, why should you play this brutal, unfair game that seems designed by people who want nothing more than to frustrate the hell out of you? For one thing, the sense of accomplishment is tremendous when you finally pull through against a game whose only goal is to make you fail over and over again. However, the real diamond in the rough is co-op.

Joining a friend to romp through the desolate world of Dark Souls is like a breath of fresh air compared to solitary offline play. The difficulty does not scale up, so what seemed impossible as a lone warrior is at most a stout challenge with one or two friends. Online play also lets you read comments from other players (which are often very funny) and re-watch the recent deaths of players in your area. There is something relieving and humorous about watching a stranger unintentionally back off a cliff to his death while trying to fend off an unseen enemy.

All the elements of exploration and character customization that make great games so great are here in Dark Souls; and the music (sparse as it is), graphics, voice acting, and sound design are nothing short of masterful. Dark Souls has a lot to offer.

It is a truly open fantasy world where you can go, be, and do whatever you want, with your friends or on your own, and it has a steep, but very rewarding learning curve. All this amounts to one of the most robust replay value experiences of any game in recent years and is well worth the price tag of $40.

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The much anticipated fifth addition to the Elder Scrolls series, Skyrim, will be released for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC on November 11, 2011. Its predecessor, Oblivion, was released five years prior, sold millions of copies, and received much acclaim. Skyrim is set 200 years after Oblivion, and as in previous games, the player begins as a prisoner set to be executed.

The player is, in fact, the last of the Dragonborn, a dragon hunter meant to protect the land from Alduin, the Nordic god of destruction who assumes the form of a dragon. Bethesda has improved the details of the gameplay, scenery, and characters by utilizing what Todd Howard, the game director, calls the “Creation Engine”.

Skyrim is a sprawling, mountainous world, and like the previous Elder Scrolls games, it allows the player character to use “fast travel” to get from one place to another quickly and easily. Some of the new features of Skyrim include the ability to wield two spells simultaneously and use a power called “the voice,” in which the character can speak the language of dragons and magically shout.

When the player slays a dragon, they can also absorb the dragon’s soul and power. There are six different types of dragons, and Howard revealed that the player can earn the allegiance of a dragon and “call” him when in danger and in need of help. The Blades, who played a major role in Oblivion, are now called the Dragonguard and assist and guard the Dragonborn.

The Septim line has ceased to be, and the Dragonguard have nearly been wiped out. Another group that is an asset to the player is the Greybeards, who live at the top of a mountain called the Throat of the World. The Throat of the World is the highest mountain in Skyrim where the Nords believe the first humans came into existence.

The Greybeards are led by a great illusionist and know the power of the dragons. The player must climb 7,000 steps in order to be trained by them. Another nice feature in character relations is how the player can kill quest givers without forfeiting the quest. They are replaced by another quest giver, though they might harbor some resentment towards you for murdering the former one.

The player will no longer have to speak to another character to obtain a quest. If a conversation is overheard, it is automatically added to the log. When the player does speak to a non-player character, it no longer zooms in on them. They will continue to do their tasks while they speak with you, which is must more realistic. The ability to marry was also added into the game.

Howard believes that Skyrim takes after Fallout 3 more than Oblivion in certain ways. For instance, there will no longer be random conversations between non-player characters. They will be more specific and natural.

The enemies will be harder as you level up, but there were still be easy ones to defeat, as opposed to Oblivion where the enemies were all roughly around the same level the player was. In Fallout 3, an environmental type of storytelling was used in which the player would come upon a mysterious, unexplained scene. This type of storytelling will be utilized in Skyrim as well.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is now available for pre-order, and with some sellers, the pre-ordered game comes with a bonus map and discounts on other products.

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