The Booth
Probably the main disappointment with Square-Enix's booth this year was that
it was almost identical to the booth that was used last year. Not that it wasn't
impressive like last year, but we did expect to see something a little more different.
The video arch was gone this year, which gave the booth a more open look. At the
front center of the booth was an information desk which was divided into three sections
for general information, media and to obtain theater tickets. Although the queue
for the tickets was known to go right around the booth at least two out of the three
days we were there
On the left, Kingdom Hearts II was featured, with demo stations and a statue of
Sora. On the right it was Dragon Quest VIII, with more demo stations and a display
of plushie Dragon Quest blobs in several sizes and colors.
The center of the booth as a large empty area which allowed people to queue to enter
the theater. The theater was at the back of the booth, but this time at the top
of the stairs. The doors to the theater were actually a large video wall which showed
the first half of their presentation.
An area to the left was dedicated to Final Fantasy XI. Demo stations were set up
with the game and an information desk. Throughout the day competitions were held
based on FFXI trivia and boss battles. Square-Enix also went down the path of many
other gaming companies and their "booth girls" this year, allowing people to have
their photo taken with the Mithra girls.
A similar area to the right contained more demo stations, with seats so one could
relax and play games. Two of the Dragon Quest VIII demo stations had a novelty blob
controller instead of the standard PlayStation 2 controller. In the center of this
area was an information desk on Square-Enix mobile. Cell phones were set up around
the desk where various cell phone games could be played, including Before Crisis
and FFVII Snowboarding. The staff at the counter here were dressed in suits to represent
the Turks.
At the very back of the booth was the merchandise display with the Advent Children
figures and jewlery. Also included were Full Metal Alchemist mangas and figures,
Kingdom Hearts II figures, and other Final Fantasy jewlery from FFVIII and FFX.
The Presentation
Square-Enix's presentation this year was based around the slogan "check your
pulse" which was meant to represent the excitement of their upcoming releases. The
presentation was divided into two sections, both running for around half an hour
each. The first half was screened on the outside video screen, which allowed anyone
to view this part of the presentation. However for the second half, a ticket was
required to enter a theater which was behind closed doors and enforced a strict
no photography/no video policy. On exiting the theater, attendees were given a soft
Dragon Quest blob.
The first half consisted of the following trailers:
- Front Mission Online
- Romancing SaGa
- World of Mana
- Square-Enix Mobile
- Full Metal Alchemist 2
- Radiata Stories
- Code Age Archives/Code Age Brawls/Code Age Commanders
Square-Enix saved all of their "best" trailers to the ticketed part of the presentation,
which were:
- Dragon Quest VIII
- Final Fantasy XII
- Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
- Advent Children
- Before Crisis
- Crisis Core
- Dirge of Cerberus
- Kingdom Heats II
Excluding the compilation trailers, the most impressive of these trailers was
the Final Fantasy XII trailer. This trailer was purely made up of FMV scenes and
no gameplay. It gave information about the game's setting and characters. The FMV
scenes were extremely high quality, and showed a dramatic improvement from the FMV
sequences from Final Fantasy X and X-2.
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