First information on Square Enix's two newest PlayStation 2 titles as well as the newest PC-based addition to the company's online platform PlayOnline has been released in Japan today. Akitoshi Kawazu's newest project is a PlayStation 2 remake of the Super Famicom hit Romancing SaGa. Titled Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song, the game will feature 3D map and battle visuals. Tomomi Kobayashi will return as illustrator. Players can choose between eight protagonists, all of which are generated as 3/4-sized models. Director and producer Akitoshi Kawazu's development team views the game as a compilation and hence will implement systems which are representative for the entire SaGa series, such as the free scenario system. In a character named Dark and a minstrel, two new characters have been added as well. The original Romancing SaGa for Super Famicom was released in January 1992 and has sold 980,000 copies in Japan.

Romancing SaGa: Minstrel SaGa will be available in Japan in spring 2005.

As the company previously hinted, a new Final Fantasy VII-related title featuring Final Fantasy VII's Vincent Valentine has been in development for some time. The PlayStation 2 RPG Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII will take place one year after the events of the upcoming DVD movie Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. After peace has returned to the world, a group calling itself the Dirge of Cerberus appears and attacks a city. Square Enix promises the game's story will solve the final mysteries of Final Fantasy VII's world. The first magazine scan can be seen below, courtesy of SquareNet.

Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII will be available in Japan sometime next year.

In addition to the two new PlayStation 2 titles, the company also revealed a new PC-based PlayOnline title. Fantasy Earth: The Ring of Dominion is an online RPG. The game has yet to receive an official release date, though the company has opened an official website for it.

• Quiter