Square Enix Announces 'Winter of RPGs'

A collection of three PlayStation classics will be hitting PSN, with the first coming in just 5 days.

Today on the PlayStation Blog, Charles McCarter, Product Manager for Square Enix announced a brand new campaign due to start in just five days. The Winter of RPGs will bring a total of three classic Square Enix RPGs to the PlayStation Network over the next few weeks, the first of which, is Chrono Cross, sequel to the SNES fan-favorite, Chrono Trigger.

This will be followed on November 22 with the release of Final Fantasy V, originally seen in America as a part of the Final Fantasy Anthology on the PlayStation. Final Fantasy VI, also featured in the same collection, will come just two weeks later on December 6.

Square Enix hasn't announced if any other titles will be featured in the promotion, nor have they announced the pricing of each of the titles.

#Square enix #Winter of rpgs #Chrono cross #Final fantasy

Mike Wall Staff Alumnus

11/03/2011 at 06:07 PM

Just played Chrono Trigger for the first time about a month ago, so I'm definitely going to have to pick up Chrono Cross when it makes it's debute on the PSN.

Jason Ross Senior Editor

11/03/2011 at 07:16 PM

Maybe you should reconsider that. They're hardly alike in any way. The whole thing was a bit of a mess, but perhaps it'll help to know you shouldn't look for a direct Chrono Trigger Sequel in Cross. It isn't there.

Kathrine Theidy Staff Alumnus

11/03/2011 at 08:23 PM

I don't know what price these games are going to be on the PSN, but on Amazon, you can still buy these games brand new. Chrono Chross is $13 at the time of this comment, and Final Fantasy Anthology, which contains both Final Fantasy V and VI, is also $13. I'm pretty sure that most PS1 games work on a PS3, plus this way you'll have actual physical copies and won't have to worry about the murky waters of digital games.

Jesse Miller Staff Writer

11/03/2011 at 08:34 PM

Not if you have a slim system they don't. Sony stripped the backwards compatibly out of the newer models so gamers like me will have to pick them up that way.

11/03/2011 at 08:48 PM

Or you could get a real PS1. They're like $5. ;)

11/03/2011 at 08:49 PM

That's PS2 backwards compatibility. I used a slim system to play a few PSX games just a few months ago. The PSX BC has remained, the PS2 BC was taken out.

Travis Hawks Senior Editor

11/03/2011 at 11:09 PM

I've only heard complaints about the PSX versions of FF V and VI, primarily about the load times. I wonder if having it running from the hard drive will eliminate those issues.

11/04/2011 at 12:28 AM

They do have some special features, though I'm not sure what they contain. The PSX version of Chrono Trigger has a few anime cutscenes to introduce characters, a new opening cutscene, and things like a sound test, a bestiary, and even treasure maps. It included those same loading times back then, but like you, they may fair differently on the PS3. FFIV, V, VI, and Chrono Trigger were all released about the same time, with IV and CT titled "Final Fantasy Chronicles" and V and VI titled "Final Fantasy Anthology." If anyone is interested in learning more about them, I'd imagine knowing those two names, as Nick pointed out the second one in the article, would help.

Esteban Cuevas Staff Alumnus

11/04/2011 at 03:07 AM

CHRONO CROSS!!! YAY!!!

Also, the PS3 slims do have PlayStation one backwards compatibility. I haven't heard of any serious complaints so I don't see a problem with purchasing either the discs or these downloads. Although previous Square PSone games have retailed for $10. So this way might be cheaper.

Kyle Charizanis Staff Alumnus

11/06/2011 at 12:26 PM

Hmm that's interesting, it's kind of a loophole that lets Sony sell SNES Final Fantasy games :P although that version of FF6 is actually slightly different, if not in any important ways, and I think that's still the only official North American translation of FF5.

11/06/2011 at 06:41 PM

Final Fantasy V was released on the Game Boy Advance a few years back.

chocobot

11/08/2011 at 12:35 AM

I'm looking forward to playing FF6 for the first time but I'm kind of wondering if I should stick with the one on Virtual Console... but then I can't play it on the PSP that way. Decisions :/

11/08/2011 at 12:42 AM

If you can, try to get your hands on the GBA version. It fixes some glitches and actually has a great post-game dungeon with some relatively challenging bosses. Truthfully, I love Final Fantasy 6 for it's low-level game possibilities. With a great strategy, any boss fight can be won with a very low-leveled team of characters, and with the fixes of the glitches and bad formulas in the prior releases of FF6, the challenge feels more "right" in the GBA version. Also, extra bosses don't hurt.

PixlBit