Final Fantasy & Kingdom Hearts Union

There's been a huge poll conducted in Japan relating to Final Fantasy where almost 500,00 people took part and it has some interesting results! The poll related to favourite game in the series, favourite characters and favourite pieces of music. Join us, as we look into how the Japanese public voted as there are plenty of shocks and surprises!

Kingdom Hearts has now had quite a few entries into the franchise... but will it ever receive a definitive ending? That's one of the main topics for today's episode, which also has a wider look at gaming throughout 2020, expectations for the PS5 and XSX and a question about what happened to Final Fantasy X's characters in the Kingdom Hearts universe.

As we get closer and closer to the release of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Square Enix are revealing more and more information! This episode, we have quite a bit to discuss as Square Enix released the full opening cutscene, published details about a brand new NPC, who works with Professor Hojo and even talked about the quest system. In addition, we've also got some interesting questions relating to former creators and jewellery lines... so there's plenty of topics to discuss!

Kingdom Hearts: Dark Road has been revealed... but what exactly is it? All will be discussed this episode! Initial theories relate to it being a Kingdom Hearts Union Cross rebrand, but it could be something original as well. There's also quite a lot happening with the franchise as the original games are coming to Xbox and KH All In One is getting a physical release on PS4. Of course, there's also plenty of questions in what's another action packed episode for you all!

Square Enix surprised everyone this past week with a brand new trailer for the Final Fantasy 7 Remake... so it only makes sense to discuss the major details that were revealed! Throughout the episode we're going to be discussing various points, from the characters and sequences that were revealed, the new details relating to the soundtrack and whether or not the trailer showed off too much. We hope you enjoy the episode and also enjoyed the trailer!

Kingdom Hearts 3 Re:mind has been released and it conjures up plenty of discussion points that relate to the overall story and of course, the secret endings. It's also been a bumper week for news too, with Project Xehanort announced and the reveal that two new teams are working on Kingdom Hearts titles outside of Kingdom Hearts 3 and Union x. Music this episode is from Cateen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlVTWAjCA3A

As we kick-off 2020, there's a ton of news to run-through as one major game (Final Fantasy 7 Remake) has been delayed, and another (Mobius Final Fantasy) has been cancelled! Both were pretty unexpected announcements, but as we discuss within the episode, it feels like the right decision based on some assumptions we're making! We've also got an interesting question about Remakes and we take a broader look ahead to other games that we're looking forward to playing this year. Welcome back, and here's to another fantastic year!  

Kingdom Hearts 3 Re:Mind is releasing pretty soon, and we're super excited to dive into the game's next chapter! For our first episode of 2020, we're counting down to the game's launch, while also discussing some topics from the wider Kingdom Hearts community, the original voice actor for Yuffie playing the original Kingdom Hearts! Music is from Coffee Date: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b38dwMYFiuw

As we approach the end of 2019, it felt appropriate to do a big update around everything we've seen relating to the Final Fantasy 7 Remake over the past few weeks! It means we're talking about timed exclusivity, we're talking about progression mechanics for weapons and abilities and we're talking about Choco/Mog. There's also a little bit of time for us to talk about the delay of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remaster! Thank you all for listening to us throughout the year, next year should be a big one and we're incredibly excited! Music this episode is by SlayerSantiago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y-gjrDwJY4

We've had a huge update on Kingdom Hearts 3 and it's been confirmed that Final Fantasy characters are coming back! What we've seen so far confirms that Aerith, Yuffie and Squall will be featuring within Kingdom Hearts 3 Re:mind and we now have a release dates for both the PS4 and Xbox One editions (they're different!) Music from this episode is provided by FantasyReborn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2LLahQ6Ybk

Square Enix has unleashed a whole load of new information relating to the Final Fantasy 7 Remake and within this episode, we're going to be delving into some of it. Our main focus will be around the developer interviews, as Yoshinori Kitase, Tetsuya Nomura, Kazushige Nojima and Motomu Toriyama each had interesting anecdotes to share with us adoring fans. Music this episode is from Papos!

Square Enix must have been listening to our previous show as the original Kingdom Hearts games (1.5 + 2.5) are now coming to Xbox! But that's just the tip of the iceberg for this episode as there's a whole host of news to cover as well as plenty of questions to sift through!

There have been a ton of different female protagonists featured in the Final Fantasy franchise... but who's the best one? Well, that's our main topic of discussion for this episode! For this particular topic, we'll be running through each major female protagonist talking about what they brought to their individual game, but also the franchise as a while before each deciding on our favourite! Outside of that, we've got a ton of different questions from the community focussed around Final Fantasy XVI!

We spoke last episode about recruitment for a new Kingdom Hearts game, but it goes much deeper than that as the Kingdom Hearts team are now part of Business Division 1. What does this mean? Well, join us to find out! We're also discussing fun topics such as, why did the Kingdom Hearts HD collections never launch on Xbox or Switch and whether releasing numbered titles episodically would be a good move for the franchise. Music this episode is from SilverTom93: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGsOR9-0WqI

Hajime Tabata departed Square Enix just over a year ago and we felt like it was an apt time to review what happened and see where it's left us As part of this, we're reviewing the legacy of Final Fantasy XV, but also looking at Luminous Studios' output since his departure. And of course, we're taking a look what Tabata has been up to since he left Square Enix! Music this episode is from daigoro789: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKx5zMHbSrI

Square Enix is hiring for staff to develop a new HD Kingdom Hearts experience... is this Kingdom Hearts 4? Among the roles were a UI Designer, Technical Artist and Effect Designer. With the PlayStation 5 also being unveiled in an official capacity, with plans for a Holiday 2020 release, does this also have any impact on on the future of Kingdom Hearts? There's plenty to discuss on this episode, and we hope you enjoy! Music this episode is from Lost Son: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqYYThVDdQU

Final Fantasy XVI may well be in development at Square Enix and who knows, after Final Fantasy VII Remake Part One releases, we may learn more about it... but the key question we're discussing on today's episode is how it should be structured. Square Enix has had a few multi-part experiences in the past two decades, with the most recent example being the Final Fantasy XIII Trilogy, but with the Final Fantasy VII Remake also being multi-part, it begs the question... should Final Fantasy XVI follow a similar approach?  Music this episode is from Hashel05: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lX3MAHwwFRo

Tetsuya Nomura has just turned 49, so we look back at some of his best moments... which of course has a heavy focus on the Kingdom Hearts franchise! As always, there's also an absolute boat load of questions, which Branden, Churro and Emily run-through. These explore topics such as... whether we'll ever get to do to the Destiny Islands main island and whether Scala Ad Caelum is evidence of cut content within Kingdom Hearts 3! Music this episode is from Ferdk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRdwmG8vYzA

With Final Fantasy having such a rich history when it comes to spin-off titles, we figured it was a good time to talk through some of our dream spin-offs! It creates a lengthy conversation as we talk through SIX potential spin-offs that could exist, although some of this does depend on what your interpretation of a spin-off actually is! Music this episode is provided by Atilist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nk-bpikgTGs

Kingdom Hearts is now almost two decades old, but there have been plenty of other games released since then across a multitude of platforms. Within today's episode, we're discussing which games should be remade, to help bring them to a wider audience. We've also plenty of discussion points around the Kingdom Hearts 3 Soundtrack and which characters won't be appearing as the franchise moves in a new direction. Music this episode is by Moises Nieto: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV6MPgZNK8A