Category: Video Games

Square Enix is officially in on the joke surrounding Final Fantasy 14’s infamous low-poly grapes as the publisher is giving away real versions of them at Final Fantasy 14 Fan Festival.

Square Enix announced a goody bag for those attending the fan event in Las Vegas on July 28-29. Among the random bits of merch in that bag is a phyical version of the grapes that became an instant meme upon release of the Endwalker expansion.

Though the chunky piece of DLC was generally loved by fans, the internet erupted in accumulative laughter at one piece of its environment which featured the cuboid grapes.

The Fan Festival 2023 in Las Vegas is right around the corner!

We’re excited to showcase the IRL loot attendees will receive as part of their ticket to the event! :sparkles: https://t.co/63PGa95UMu pic.twitter.com/yX9XDsjHaW

— FINAL FANTASY XIV (@FF_XIV_EN) June 30, 2023

Anyone with a ticket to Final Fantasy 14 Fan Festival will get the grapes alongside a crossbody bag featuring the event logo, a 10th anniversary pin, a Loporrit Carrot pen, a Grebuloff magnet, and an Azem’s Crystal keychain.

It’s unclear if these exact items will also be given away at the upcoming Fan Festivals taking place in Europe and Japan.

In our 9/10 review of the latest major expansion, IGN said: “Final Fantasy 14’s Endwalker expansion brings its longest story arc to a satisfying close and cements its place as one of the best Final Fantasy stories ever told.”

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

Overwatch 2 likely won’t get any further story missions for at least the next two seasons following the launch of Season 6, Invasion, according to the game’s executive producer Jared Neuss.

“Don’t expect the next round [of story missions] in the next season and the season after that, or anything like that,” commented Neuss during a recent Twitch appearance alongside streamer Emongg, reported on by GamesRadar. “It is very much like trying to find that balance between getting [story missions] in front of players quickly because we love story stuff, and giving ourselves enough time to make changes or add features.”

Neuss revealed during a seperate Twitch stream in May earlier this year that Blizzard was outright cancelling Overwatch 2’s highly anticipated PvE Hero mode, much to the chagrin of the series’ many fans. The move was particularly frustrating as some players viewed the addition of the PvE elements as a key difference between Overwatch 2 and its 2016 predecessor.

Instead, Blizzard said it would focus on the release of story missions, which, according to Overwatch 2 director Aaron Keller, “take place on huge maps with new enemies” while featuring “fast paced, co-op gameplay”, along with cutscenes and story cinematics. However, the community was further incensed when it was revealed players would have to buy a $15 digital content bundle In order to partake in the upcoming story missions.

“To be fair, there’s a bunch of stuff that we want to do next year, or that are already in development for next year, that will fill the gaps that people will have in between,” said Neuss. “We’re trying to make it so that it doesn’t feel like ‘and then there’s nothing’ for a long extended period of time. It’s more like ‘there’s this cool thing!’ and ‘there’s this other narrative thing’, ‘there’s this other narrative thing’ – we keep telling interesting stories and moving that all forward.”

Overwatch 2’s next story missions are due to release as part of the upcoming sixth season of the team based shooter, titled Invasion, which is set to land on August 10. However, judging by Neuss’ wording, it seems unlikely that Blizzard will release any more story missions in 2023.

In IGN’s 8/10 review, we noted “Overwatch 2 breathes new life into what was once the sharpest multiplayer shooter around, before it had its edges severely dulled by Blizzard’s attention shifting away”.

Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer

The already messy situation around Ark: Survival Evolved’s remaster just got messier as developer Studio Wildcard has delayed the game to October.

As reported by PC Gamer, an update on the Ark forums revealed the push to October but no specific release date was shared. The controversial move from Studio Wildcard to shut down the original game’s servers has also been delayed to September 30.

The remaster, titled Ark: Survival Ascended, has also received a price reduction to $44.99 but those who buy it on day one will pay $39.99.

The delay is a result of complications in working with the new engine. “We’ve found it challenging working with Unreal Engine 5.2, but at the same time, it is incredibly exciting,” said Studio Wuldcard in the forums post.

“We’re discovering new ways each day to push the technology to the next level; combined with the work needed to support a fully cross-platform-moddable game ecosystem on consoles and PC, it’s clear that we’ll need a bit more time.”

It’s not the first time the developer has walked back decisions surrounding Ark: Survival Ascended as there was significant community backlash to its initial announcement. The remaster was announced as part of a preorder bundle for the sequel and alongside news that current game servers would be shut down.

Players who’d clocked hundreds of hours on PlayStation 4, for example, couldn’t continue playing the game without preordering a $50 sequel bundle and buying a PlayStation 5. Even after walking back the preorder bundle, and selling the game separately, it still requires users to upgrade to the next generation of consoles and buy the game again.

In our 7/10 review of the base game, IGN said: “ARK: Survival Evolved has some great moments of battle with prehistoric beasts, but just as many of AI bugs and grind.”

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.