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November 28th
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Translated Pictures
Irvine isn't a student of the Balamb Garden, but a student of the Galbadian Garden. He calls himself "The best shooter of Garden." He is a confident man and a titter (?!), though he sometimes seems insensitive, his character is delicate and sober. Cid Kramer was the founding father of the Balamb Garden and is now the principle of it. His manner is mild and speaks in a soft voice giving good attention to students. An incident made him establish this Balamb Garden, but no one knows the circumstances surrounding that incident. He is deeply trusted by many students, for he goes along with students without discrimination. Character Shots
Squall 1 - Squall and Quistis talk outside Garden. Battle Shots
Selphie Battle screenshots Quistis Battle screenshots 1 Quistis Battle screenshots 2 Zell Battle screenshots
I collected a fair amount of screenshots of the world map, Balamb, the recently announced Guardian Forces and some pictures of inside Garden. Phew! Character Update
World Map
Balamb Garden shown on the world map - Squall can be seen on the grass. Note how much more realistic things look, and how big things are now (Squall and Garden). Inside Balamb Garden
The cafeteria - Students can buy an assorted selection of foods like 'fried noodle bread'. Guardian Forces
Quetzalcoatl 1 | 2 - As previously thought, Quetzalcoatl is infact a large bird derived from an Aztec God. (see Nov 17th update). Balamb City and Trains
Balamb Car Rental - Here you can rent cars to drive around Balamb. This way you won't encounter monsters and is much quiker than foot.
A release date of 11th February 1999 in Japan (a national holiday) has been announced. This time it seems quite logical, so I would put my money on this being the 'big day'. Will it sell better than Zelda: Ocarina of time? Surely the biggest two games we've seen so far in gaming history... For those of you interested, Final Fantasy 8 will be on 4 CDs and will price at 7800 yen (the japanese currency), which translates to around $65, my American friends, and £45 to fellow Brits. Few bits of news concerning a new character, 'Quistis Trepe' (previously called 'Kistis Tulip') and a few Guardian Forces that have been 'confirmed':
Age: 18 Height: 172 cm Weapon: 'Chain whip' At 18 years of age, she is already a teacher at Balamb Garden - Called "Trepe Teacher" by her pupils. With her amazing fighting skills, she joined the elite GardeN at the age of 10, and entered SeeD at the age of 15.
Guardian Force's:
Final Fantasy 8 is to employ portions of the battle system found in Final Fantasy Tactics, where as your party becomes stronger, so do the monsters. This is different from previous Final Fantasy games (other than Tactics), and is going to make winning a battle harder. In accordance to your strength, the enemies attacks will change. For example, the enemy first attacks with 'Power Bomb', in which the monster catches Squall and lifts him above its head. In the second attack, the enemy uses 'Dribble' where it makes Squall into a ball and dribbles it. Finally, the party is very strong so the enemy uses 'Shoot', using Squall as a ball and throwing him at the other members of his party.
All is explained; The Dollet Dukedom (Final Fantasy 8's world is made up of 'Dukedoms', the only other known is 'Balamb Dukedom') is at war with the Galbadia Army and have requested help from the elite SeeD force (that Squall is in). Here is the demo's prologue:
"The Dollet dukedom,
The world renowned
The high-speed vessels in which they ride Some more screenshots:
Ahh $h^! they're censoring things again Biggs and Wedge! Wedge: 'Finished, sir?' Squall: 'Where are they?' [dollet square] A battle scene On the way to EM Tower Wise words from Seifer Start of summoning Leviathan Title screen Squall meets Seifer upon arrival in Dollet 1 Squall meets Seifer upon arrival in Dollet 2 Entering Dollet A battle scene in Dollet Rinoa in battle 'They're from Garden!?' [battle] They all meet in Dollet square...
Square have officially announced its first computer rendered film for a 2001 release.
Get this; it's going to be out in North America before Japan! The movie is to be made for the
English speaking market with the mouth movements being animated for English voices,
so the Japanese are going to have to put up with dubbing! The Movie will also be released in North Ameica
in summer 2001, before it reaches Japanese shores. Boy, the old Japs aren't going to be pleased
with that, an Asian release still hasn't been announced.
Distributed by Columbia Pictures, it is being directed by Square USA president Hironobu Sakaguchi and is under production at Square Pictures' Honolulu studio. The plot is being planned and co-ordinated by the academy award winning screenwriter Al Reinert of Apollo 13 fame.
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![Squall: 'Where are they?' [dollet square]](images/eng_demo/demo_3_51198.jpg){kind=link}
!['They're from Garden!?' [battle]](images/eng_demo/demo_8_41198.jpg){kind=link}
