July 2020

Here you can find news items that were posted on Hell and Heaven Net in the past.

Square Enix

Square Enix has recently announced that the Nintendo Switch version of Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age, called Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive Edition, will make its way to the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC on 4 December 2020. This will be the first game from the Dragon Quest series that will be available on Xbox. The game will be available on Xbox Game Pass at launch.

Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age follows the perilous journey of a hunted Hero who must uncover the mystery of his fate with the aid of a charismatic cast of supporting characters. They embark on a quest taking them across continents and over vast oceans as they learn of an ominous threat facing the world.

This version includes the following upgrades and enhancements:

  • New character side stories – Get to know your fascinating cast of companions more than ever with individual side stories and adventures
  • Retro 2D mode - In addition to stunning 3D, you can also choose to play in 2D with retro inspired graphics of classic 16-bit RPGs
  • 16-bit World of Tickington – Journey to past Dragon Quest worlds full of additional side-quests reimagined in the retro style
  • Japanese audio – Choice to play the entire game with all-new Japanese voice-over or the original English
  • Fully Orchestrated Soundtrack – Ability to switch between the symphonic soundtrack or the original synthesized soundtrack as you travel the world of Erdrea
  • Photo mode - Immortalize your adventure with the perfect image. Rearrange characters, set different poses, change angles etc. are just some of the features available in Photo Mode

You can watch the Xbox announcement trailer with Yuji Horii, creator of the Dragon Quest series, below.

Final Fantasy IX

On this day 20 years ago, on 7 July 2000, Final Fantasy IX was released on the original PlayStation in Japan. The game returned to the roots of the Final Fantasy series with it's medieval fantasy setting (unlike Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII) and references to past Final Fantasy games.

Square Enix celebrates this with an interview with creators involved in the original development of the game: Kazuhiko Aoki (Event Design), Toshiyuki Itahana (Character Design) and Hiroyuki Ito (Director). They have split the interview into three parts and part 1 is an interview with Kazuhiko Aoki. You can read it on the official website.

In 2019 Square Enix released the Inside Final Fantasy series on YouTube . In these series a dive-in into the making of several Final Fantasy games will be shown together with interviews with the developers of the game. If you haven't watched the one about Final Fantasy IX, you can see it below.