Last month we had a lot of Square Enix news, but very little video to go along with that was shown at the Square Enix Party. It wasn't until just a few days ago that we finally got to see the Final Fantasy IV cinematic DS trailer, and a week before that the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers Wii trailer. Spike TV has another video for us to finally get a peek at -- late tonight on Game Head, at 1AM, they'll be showing the video preview for The Last Remnant that was shown previously at the Square Enix Party.

With a combat system altogether different than what Square Enix has attempted before, it will be fun to see the battle tactics in action. The Last Remnant still doesn't have a target release date yet, although it will be released in America and Japan simultaneously when it's ready to be shipped.

Before this weekend's Square Enix Party kicks off, they got the 2007 conference report out of the way, bringing us many early hints at what's to come soon.

First up is the Star Ocean series, Yoshinori Yamagishi revealed that a full remake of the first Super Famicom Star Ocean game will be coming to PSP as Star Ocean: First Departure, and a remake of the PS1 Star Ocean game will also come to the PSP as Star Ocean: Second Evolution. Damn. These last few months have been treating the PSP nicely, I might finally have to pick one up. Yoshinori also announced that a Star Ocean 4 is being developed by tri-Ace, although it wasn't said which consoles we might get it on. PS3 is the obvious bet, but it's too early to rule out other platforms.

Then Shinji Hashimoto mentioned that a new Chocobo Dungeon game was in development for the Wii, but nobody cared. A chocobo cosplayer fell down on their face, and the next speaker came to the stage. Next up was the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles series, with Akitoshi Kawazu and Toshiyuki Itahana doing the talking. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates is coming to the DS, and to put fans' worries at ease, it will be more of a traditional RPG as far as gameplay and level progression goes. However, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers for the Wii will have more of an adventure feel to it, bringing thoughts of Skies of Arcadia to the minds of those who got to see the short video clip.

Last up was The Last Remnant. They showed a few short clips to go along with the pictures we've already seen, and then Hiroshi Takai gave a few early details. No target release date was mentioned, although it was confirmed as a title for both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Combat involves large scale battles and the ability to shout out orders combined with simple button combos to control the crowds fighting with you. Some of the scenes and graphics reminded people of Final Fantasy XII, although the timing aspect of gameplay is more along the lines of Shenmue.

It's still too early to tell exactly what kind of combat style The Last Remnant gameplay is shooting for, but it's high on the list of titles I'm looking forward to hearing about this weekend. No new news on Final Fantasy Dissidia yet, although this should be a great week of news for PSP owners. Expect some sporadic posts this weekend as the Party details trickle in from overseas.

According to Jeux-France, the newest Game Informer magazine issue should have news about Square Enix's new game The Last Remnant that will be coming out on PlayStation 3 and/or Xbox 360. Instead of coming out in Japan first (or being announced in a Japanese magazine first) it will release simultaneously in America and Japan. With the Unreal Engine 3 technology within his reach, Hiroshi Takai will direct the new RPG with help from Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy: Spirits Within's Kouzi Kobayashi.

The two main characters are Rush Sykes and The Conqueror, although Rush is the only playable character, and the gameplay revolves around Remnants:

“of one era the magic fragments spent, entered in contact with the human beings thousand years ago” which destabilize the world from their immense capacity, these Remnants can take the shape of vehicles, weapons and even of the creatures. The adventure begins on a called insulated island Eulam on which Rush and its Irina sister live peacefully. But Irina is unfortunately kidnapped by a mysterious organization, and Rush is found in the middle of a war related to these invaluable Remnants if coveted.

The Conqueror is the guy with the red clothes in the pictures, and his goal is to find the greatest number of Remnants. However, it seems like Remnants and their length through a certain timeline is important, so I'm gonna predict he's either the last Remnant from the future looking for the first, or he's actually Rush Sykes from the future. Combat consists mostly of magic battles and large numbers of enemies, and four races are available to join up with: "Mitra (of human), Yama (of the watery creatures), Qsiti (of small lizards humanoïdes), Sovanni (of the cat-like beings with four arms)."

Square Enix has definitely set up a unique looking Intellectual Property, but I'm not convinced it will be much fun at all. Check out the interfaces in the scans below, the morale bar could be fun to push around with different battle tactics, but everything else looks pretty simple and repetitive so far. Maybe Square Enix is trying to create a White Knight Story styled game of their own, we'll have to wait for this weekend's Square Enix party for more details on characters, combat, and story.