Square Enix E3 2019 Press Conference Recap

Square Enix won the press conference battles this year. Not that competition was very fierce, but still it was nice to get jazzed about some news.

Final Fantasy VII Remake

This was the news most worth being excited for. Final Fantasy VII Remake looks absolutely stunning. We saw combat in-depth, and turns out there’s still a turn-based heart beating in there. Nothing I write here is going to do it justice, so just watch the demo and trailers below.

Life Is Strange 2

Dontnod‘s episodic adventure game got a quick bit of love at the conference. Just a simple reminder that the game is still ongoing.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition

I’m astounded that someone would remaster this GameCube game, but here it is. I only have bad memories of this game, but surely it appealed to some people. It is cool that it’s coming to mobile, however.

Octopath Traveler

Our own Scott Clark liked this game quite a bit when it came, despite hitting a grinding wall. It’s awesome that the game gets a chance to live outside of the Nintendo Switch. Maybe one day it’ll even come to other home consoles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BGGC0EB9s4

 

The Last Remnant

I have some fondness for this JRPG of the PS3/360 era. It’s neat to see Square Enix diving into lesser-known titles for remasters. It shows the true breadth of their catalogue.

Dragon Quest Builders 2

It’s Japanese Minecraft! I hate to be so reductionist, but it’s pretty clear where this game gets its inspirations. Looks fun enough for a certain audience.

Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age

This RPG dropped last year to critical and fan acclaim. It’s coming to the Nintendo Switch with a pretty cool addition, the ability to play the game in a 16-bit graphic mode. It looks super awesome.

Circuit Superstars

Square Enix Collective has put out a fair number of interesting smaller titles in the past couple years. This top-down racer is their latest offering, and it looks very interesting in an old-school way.

Battalion 1994: Eastern Front

I don’t have a clue what this game is about. Honestly, I’ve never even heard of it before. But it’s a WWII multiplayer-focused shooter, and some new content is releasing.

Square Enix Streaming Music

How awesome is this?! Final Fantasy soundtracks are streaming everywhere now! This is a really cool thing, as Square Enix has a rock solid history with RPG soundtracks.

Kingdom Hearts III “Re Mind” DLC

This should be exciting for Kingdom Hearts fans. It looks to maybe be some sort of arena combat mode, but the trailer is a little vague on details. Or maybe not. You can never really tell with this series.

Final Fantasy XIV Online

The new expansion Shadowbringers is releasing soon. The crowd went absolutely wild for these announcements, even if I didn’t understand any of it.

Dying Light 2

We learned about this partnership a few days ago, and it seems like it’ll work out well for both parties. Not much new shown with the trailer here. Game still looks pretty incredible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWSR42a5B3g

Romancing SaGa 3 & SaGa Scarlet Grace Ambitions

I’ve only ever barely heard of the Romance SaGa series before this. They always sounded neat, with their focal point on choice that drastically changes the narrative. Feels like I’m running out of excuses not to play these 16-bit classics.

Final Fantasy Brave Exvius & War of the Visions Final Fantasy Brave Exvius

Square Enix has had quite a bit of success with their mobile game through the years. Their newest addition, War of the Visions, didn’t show any gameplay here, but it had a bit of a Final Fantasy Tactics vibe to it.

Outriders

People Can Fly are promising their next game Summer 2020. That’s a short window of time for something so fresh to learn about. The studio has delivered some great shooters in the past, and there’s no reason to assume they won’t do so here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjRYfGBOi8Y

Oninaki

Tokyo RPG Factory‘s third offering releases soon. As is the studio’s forte, it’s going to be a classic, turn-based affair. The setting has a lot of promise and it should be interesting to keep an eye on.

Final Fantasy VIII

Our Editor-In-Chief Scott Clark has never been so excited. It was always bizarre to see every Final Fantasy besides VIII be ported to seemingly everything. But finally fans of this PS1 gem can rejoice. The wait is short, too. See Squall’s incredible journey play out later this year.

Marvel’s Avengers

Finally, after years of waiting, Crystal Dynamics showed off its Avengers game. Sort of. As you’ll see in the footage, we didn’t actually learn a whole lot about how the game plays. We learned about the star-studded voice cast and gazed at truly horrifying character models, but still feels like there’s a lot to learn. The jury is still out on this one.

 

All in all, it’s safe to say Square Enix had the best showing of conferences. A surprise here and there, and a stunning Final Fantasy VII Remake demo made sure of it. If you’re curious what the other companies had to offer, we also covered Microsoft, Devolver Digital, Bethesda, Ubisoft, and EA.

Stay tuned over the next three days for our ongoing coverage of E3 2019. Scott and I will be hitting the show floor hard first thing in the morning, and we look forward to sharing more information with you.