Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis Includes Special Dungeons and Battles

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Final Fantasy 7 fans have quite a bit to look forward to in the coming years between Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade, Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis and Final Fantasy 7: The First Soldier. Creative director Tetsuya Nomura provided new details on Ever Crisis when speaking to Famitsu, like how all of its chapters would be free. Gematsu's translation has revealed even more including what new content can be expected.

First up, there will be special weapons that have original costume sets, which probably ties into the game's gacha system. While Final Fantasy 7's story takes place over 10 chapters, the escape from Midgar will be in Chapter 3. The First Soldier will also have an original episode as characters, including Shinra officers, make an appearance in younger form.

"Special" dungeons and battles will be available as well but these exist outside of the story. This means that players can create a dream team of sorts and fight against tougher foes. Sephiroth and Cloud on the same team perhaps? It could happen. Fans can also expect music to be arranged based on the original release. Nomura also acknowledged "requests to play each title [in the Final Fantasy 7 compilation] on consoles." However, he said that, "Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis is not meant to be a substitute for that, but it is designed with the concept to allow anyone to freely embrace the world of each title of Final Fantasy 7."

Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis is in development for iOS and Android, and set to release in 2022. Final Fantasy 7: The First Soldier is out for the same platforms this year with a closed beta planned.

Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis Will Have Gacha System for Weapons

Final Fantasy 7 Ever Crisis

Along with revealing new details on Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade, creative director Tetsuya Nomura also talked more about the upcoming Final Fantasy 7 mobile titles. In an interview with Famitsu (translation by Nibellion), he confirmed that Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis – which remakes the entire compilation – would have free story chapters. There will also be content not present in the original release, though for which property isn't clear.

Furthermore, you can expect to tackle the story of Final Fantasy 7 across 10 chapters in Ever Crisis. The catch is that a gacha system will be present for weapons (which likely means having to roll for higher rarities, both with in-game and premium currency). It will also "tackle" the story of Final Fantasy 7: The First Soldier, the upcoming battle royale title.

Nomura spoke a bit more about The First Soldier and noted that it was an "attempt" to reach audiences that weren't close with the Final Fantasy brand. Currently, it's aiming to provide a "solid experience" and "amazing visuals" for smartphone users. Summons and melee combos have already been confirmed but there will also be a Job system with different skills.

Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis is slated to release next year while Final Fantasy 7: The First Soldier is out this year. Both titles will be coming to iOS and Android.

DOOM Eternal: The Ancient Gods – Part 2 is Out Tomorrow, New Gameplay Revealed

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The war against Hell finally comes to a close in DOOM Eternal: The Ancient Gods – Part 2. Bethesda and id Softworks released a new trailer for the DLC, which showcases the Slayer riding a dragon, acquiring the Hellbreaker and massacring scores of demons. Check it out below.

Along with the Hellbreaker, the DLC adds new enemies like an armored Fireborne Baron, and new levels with platforming challenges and underwater exploration. Eventually, the Slayer and Sentinels will take on the Dark Lord and his armies in an all-out war. This means giant robots punching giant demons which we're all for.

DOOM Eternal: The Ancient Gods – Part 2 releases tomorrow for Xbox One, PS4, PC and Google Stadia. It's a standalone DLC so you don't need to purchase the base game to play it. Those interested in the latter can play it on Xbox Game Pass – it's available for Xbox consoles, PC and the cloud.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade – Yuffie Episode Features New Summons, Materia

Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade

Square Enix unveiled Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade at the last State of Play, showcasing visual improvements for the base game and announcing new story DLC with Yuffie. In a new interview with Famitsu (translation by Nibellion on Twitter), creative director Tetsuya Nomura provided some new details on the story episode. He confirmed that Yuffie is the only playable character with Sonon jumping in during combat by hitting L2.

New summons and Materia can also be expected but no additional DLC is planned at this time since the developer is presently focused on the next part of Final Fantasy 7 Remake. The initial plan was to release a PS5 version of Final Fantasy 7 Remake. However, working on Intergrade has helped the development team better prepare for development on the current-gen console.

Nomura also noted that the transition between sequel development has gone smoothly. Whether more DLC will be released or not is something that can be considered after the next title releases. Fans can expect more news on Final Fantasy 7 in the next year "and the year after that." Along with Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis and Final Fantasy 7: The First Soldier, it's possible that we'll see something from Final Fantasy 7 Remake's next part as well.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade is currently slated to release on June 10th for PS5.

Age of Empires Event Confirmed for April 10

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True to recent leaks, Microsoft have announced an Age of Empirs-focused event for April 10. Age of Empires: Fan Preview will be streamed on the day at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET / 5 PM BST, and you can expect plenty of major new updates to drop for the series.

The highlight of the show, as you'd expect, is going to be Age of Empires 4. No specifics are given as to what we can expect (fingers crossed for a release date), but the announcement trailer for the event promises new gameplay, and it's been a while since we last saw that– so there's definitely reason to get excited.

On top of that, new updates will also be shared for Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition and Age of Empires 3: Definitive Edition, which will take the form of new campaigns and civilizations being revealed. Whether both will get major new content announcement remains to be seen.

Either way, Age of Empires fans will definitely want to tune in. We'll be covering the event live, of course, so make sure you stick with GamingBolt for all the latest updates.

Outriders Dev on Lack of Microtransactions: "We Wanted to Take the Old-School Approach"

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Public opinion on People Can Fly's upcoming RPG shooter Outriders has really turned around of late. Though initially met with skepticism as yet another contender in the looter shooter space, Outriders has managed to win a lot of fans with its recent meaty demo, for which reception has been solid all around. One of the things that has been popular with fans is People Can Fly's insistence that Outriders is a full-featured game at launch, not a live service title, and especially not one that will release in an incomplete state.

Something else that goes hand-in-hand with that is the game's complete and total lack of microtransactions. Recently, GamingBolt sat in on a group interview with People Can Fly's Bartek Kmita and Piotr Nowakowski, who are creative director and lead game designer on Outriders respectively. When asked about the reasoning behind the decision to not have any microtransactions or battle passes in the game whatsoever, the developers reiterated that their sole focus was on delivering a complete game.

"We decided to go the old school approach, where we are just finishing the game and giving it to the players, not thinking about the microtransactions, game passes, and things like that," they said. "At some point, it was easier for us to think about the game that way, just delivering the whole product. We believe players will like that proposal, that they're just buying something."

They went on to say that though there is a chance that People Can Fly adds battle passes (or something similar) to the game down the road, that will still be tied with "bigger components" for players who want to experience more of the game, rather than revolving around smaller microtransactions.

"Of course, it doesn't close for us the option in the future to just add a battle pass or other similar content, but not like microtransactions, it would be more like the bigger components that can help those players who want to go deeper into our world, play in that world," they said. "But until then, we will have what we have created, and that is enough. Do we want to build on our world and mechanics? Sure, but not in the form of microtransactions."

Outriders launches on April 1 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Stadia. It will also launch on Xbox Game Pass (for consoles) on day 1. If you're planning on playing the game on PC, you can check out its system requirements through here.

We'll be going live with the full interview with the Outriders devs soon, so stay tuned for that.

Returnal Story Trailer Features Selene Pursuing the "White Shadow"

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Housemarque's Returnal is out next month and will launch exclusively on PlayStation 5. The developer is known for arcade shooters like Resogun but Returnal is a rogue-lite third person shooter with a heavy narrative focus. A new trailer highlights protagonist Selene's arrival on Atropos and how quickly things go wrong.

Upon exploring the mysterious planet, Selene quickly discovers her corpse (along with a brief vision of how she died). Eventually, she realizes that she's trapped with every death simply bringing her back to life on the planet. The "White Shadow" is mentioned and could be the cause of all this but it's still too early to say.

The story unfolds somewhat like Supergiant's Hades – players will encounter different narrative events on each run. The strange house that Selene seemingly has a past with is one such example but you may also find audio logs from other versions of her. Housemarque notes that the story is "mysterious and haunting" and asks "a lot of questions" so it may take some time to fully unravel.

Returnal is out on April 30th. Stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks.

Xbox's New Suspend Feature Rolling Out Is To Help Improve Download Speeds

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Of all the innovations we've seen over the last few years, the suspend feature that came with last generation consoles was probably the biggest game changer, at least for my money. The ability to stop and start most games almost instantly and restart it later was quite something. Now with the SSDs on the new generation consoles, coupled with the Quick Resume on Xbox Series X/S, it's been taken to a new level. Now there's even more, this time aimed at helping your download speeds.

Engineering Lead at Xbox, Eden Marie, announced via her official Twitter that a new update is rolling out for Xbox Insiders that includes a new Suspend Feature. You can now be informed when you have a game running in the background that could potentially impact your download, and you can instantly suspend it from the queue. It will also come alongside new banner in the Full Library.

March has always seen quite a lot of updates this month, including some that addressed the infamous controller disconnect issues that some Xbox Series X/S users have had. The current update Marie is referencing is rolling out to Xbox Insiders and should be live for all users relatively soon.

Crusader Kings 3 Is Free To Play On Steam Until March 21

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Last year saw the release of Crusader Kings 3. The unique strategy series is one based on using your very linage to navigate the many political perils and conflicts that arise. The game saw big critical acclaim as well as very strong sales, despite also launching on day 1 for Xbox Game Pass. Now, though, you can try out the game for free even without Game Pass.

It was announced that the game would be free to play via Steam for the reminder of this week. You'll get full access to the whole game and all free updates that have been released so far. If you decide that you love what you play, the game also is on sale on the platform for 20% off the base game as well as 10% off the Royal Edition that includes the game's Expansion Pass. You can see the full details on the game's Steam page through here.

Crusader Kings 3 is available now on PC. The game's free trial and current sale on Steam will last up until March 21st.

Dungeons And Dragons: Dark Alliance PC Requirements Revealed

Dungeons and Dragons Dark Alliance

After being originally unveiled in maybe the strangest trailer of all time, at least in my memory, yesterday we finally got a solid look as well as a release date for Dungeons and Dragons: Dark Alliance. The co-op title has quite the…interesting marketing in its videos and trailers so far, and promises lots of action and fantasy-themed carnage. The game is set to come to PC as well, and we also now what kind of rig you'll need to play.

The game's official Steam page has gone live, which you can check out through here. Overall, it's a pretty standard list. On the minimum, you'll need a AMD FX 8320 or Intel Core i5-6600K @ 3.5GHz along with a either a AMD Radeon R7 360 or NVIDIA GTX 750 ti and 8 GB of RAM. Recommended bumps up things a bit with 3.6GHz AMD Ryzen 5 3600 or Intel Core i5-9600K @ 3.7GHz and AMD RX Vega 56 or NVIDIA GTX 1660 ti while bumping the RAM requirements up to 16 GB. Both minimum and recommended state 50 GB of storage will be needed.

Dungeons and Dragons: Dark Alliance will release across most major consoles on June 22nd.

MINIMUM:

    • Processor: AMD FX 8320 / Intel Core i5-6600K @ 3.5GHz
    • Memory: 8 GB RAM
    • Graphics: AMD Radeon R7 360 / NVIDIA GTX 750 ti
    • Storage: 50 GB available space

RECOMMENDED:

    • Processor: 3.6GHz AMD Ryzen 5 3600 / Intel Core i5-9600K @ 3.7GHz
    • Memory: 16 GB RAM
    • Graphics: AMD RX Vega 56 / NVIDIA GTX 1660 ti
    • Storage: 50 GB available space