Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen

Both are known for wearing a large number of accessories, and large sunglasses. This is most likely a result of the merger with Enix, which was well-known for producing sequels and spinoffs associated with the Dragon Quest series. Though both have become style icons, Mary-Kate dresses more boho- (also called homeless-)chic, while Ashley is more conventionally stylish. Starting with that game, however, several such sequels emerged, especially the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII series of games/movies, all of which continue the story of the game Final Fantasy VII. Some known differences:. Until the release of Final Fantasy X-2 the idea of a "direct sequel," that is, a game which picked up directly from the story of a previous game in the series, was unprecedented in the series. A popular allegation among fans, albeit without reliable scientific confirmation, is that, although over a billion people are acquainted with the image of the Olsen twins, fewer than 400 can actually tell them apart. The original Final Fantasy I and Final Fantasy II are released in Final Fantasy Origins, and for the Game Boy Advance as Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls. Final Fantasy III has not yet officially been released in the US, and never rereleased on any platform in any market, but Square-Enix currently plans to release it for the Nintendo DS.

. Final Fantasy IV was released in Final Fantasy Chronicles for the PlayStation, while Final Fantasy V and VI were released in Final Fantasy Anthology for PlayStation. The song also makes references about the 2004 movie New York Minute which they both starred in. Later ports include translations of the Japanese games with their original numbering. The music video, which was also released in 2005, features the two as puppets who engage in lesbian activity together. FF3us or FF6j. The song was released as a single in 2005. To solve this, many fans use the disambiguating suffixes "us" and "j" for American numbering and Japanese numbering respectively, e.g.

There are mentioned in the song Ass Like That by Eminem. This has been a source of much confusion, with many American fans continuing to refer to IV and VI by their American numbers. Mary-Kate and Ashley were ranked at number three on the VH1 program 100 Greatest Child Stars. Starting with Final Fantasy VII the pretense was dropped, and all subsequent games used their original numbering, leading to an apparent "jump" over 3 games. In the episode of Family Guy "Fifteen Minutes of Shame", the Olsen twins replaced Brian and Stewie in the show-within-a-show The Real Live Griffins. Final Fantasy IV became "II" and VI became "III". They are reported to be worth $150 million each [3] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3672417.stm). Originally, Final Fantasy II and III for the Famicom and V for the Super Famicom were not released in America, so Square of America decided to change the numbers of the US releases to hide this fact.

The twins received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in April 2004 [2] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3672417.stm).
. Both are doing internships for credit, Mary-Kate with photographer Annie Leibovitz, and Ashley with fashion designer, Zac Posen. On the other hand, the single-player Final Fantasy X-2 has attracted negative attention for its status as the first direct sequel to a previous Final Fantasy game, and for its supposed overreliance on fan service. The two are currently (as of March 2005) going through some turmoil, living separately and hardly seeing each other, at least until their apartment is finished. A number of diehard fans have accused Final Fantasy XI for neglecting the traditions of the series by switching to a massively multiplayer online format. Ashley Olsen announced on February 16 that she was suing the company for about 40 million dollars for making that claim. Of the more recent installments in the series, Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy X-2 have been most frequently singled out for criticism.

In February of 2005, Ashley Olsen was featured on the cover of National Enquirer, a gossip magazine that claimed that she was using drugs. Fans of these games often argue that the nostalgia factor plays a significant role in many of the negative critical responses to post-Final Fantasy VII installments. They are currently studying at New York University at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study. Nintendo's Legend of Zelda, Konami's Suikoden, and Square Enix's own Dragon Quest franchises are strong competitors of Final Fantasy. The Strange Truth About Twins questions the supposed fact that they are fraternal twins, citing that just because they are different-handed, doesn't mean they have different genetics [1] (http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/columns/?article=twinsmain). More recent installments of the series (following its premiere on the Sony PlayStation in 1997) are especially attacked by critics within the video game community. The same day, rumors began to spring that Mary-Kate Olsen was rehabilitating for a cocaine addiction, contrary to the previous rumors of her having anorexia. Some cite a lack of interactivity (overuse of full motion video), rigid and often linear story structure, and unoriginality.

The ad in which they would have appeared read, in part: "we want our fans to be healthy". Although the franchise is extremely popular, it is not without critics. It was reported, on July 7, that the Olsens' participation in the Got Milk campaign would be cancelled, mainly due to Mary-Kate's illness. Unlike previous games, battles in both Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XII take place on the world map, with no separate battle screen. Rumors started swirling that Mary-Kate had also attempted suicide, the headlines accompanied by a photograph of a scar on her wrist. Early details suggest Final Fantasy XII will adopt a similar system. In this episode, Ashley, Mary-Kate, and Amy Poehler posing as photographers, yelled to "Mary-Kate", "You're too skinny! Eat a sandwich!". Final Fantasy XI featured a fully real time combat system similar to that employed by the game EverQuest: when confronted with an enemy, a character would automatically perform basic physical attacks unless otherwise instructed by the player.

She herself had poked fun at the rumors on an episode of Saturday Night Live, which she had hosted with Ashley. As this ranking was displayed on screen during battle, it was possible to know when a character and/or enemy would move several combat turns in advance, and to plan battles accordingly. Gossip had swirled for months that her appearance was more and more drawn, but the actress and her management refused to discuss the issue. In the CTB system, every creature in battle would be ranked according to speed. On June 22, 2004, it was revealed that Mary-Kate had entered a rehabilitation program for the eating disorder anorexia nervosa. Final Fantasy X abandoned the ATB system in favor of the "Conditional Turn-Based Battle System" (CTB). No one was injured in the accident. Generally each of these games included both "active" and "wait" modes: when "wait" mode was chosen, then all activity relating to the time gauge would pause whenever the player was using a submenu to choose a magic spell, item, or special attack.

Mary-Kate Olsen accidentally crashed into her bodyguard's car on May 21, 2004, when her brakes failed on a jammed Los Angeles freeway, and she could not stop in time to avoid crashing into his car. When a specific character's time gauge was filled, the character could act, which would then reset the timer. The film New York Minute was released to critical and commercial failure and ultimately became a box office bomb. The ATB system was semi-real time, and afforded every creature in combat a time gauge. On May 15, 2004, the girls co-hosted the season finale of Saturday Night Live. Starting with Final Fantasy IV, and continuing until Final Fantasy IX (and revived in Final Fantasy X-2), the "Active Time Battle" (ATB) system was introduced.
They also have a book series named Mary-Kate And Ashley In Action, where they are portrayed as secret spies, and has since been made into an animated series. The player would input all battle commands at the beginning of each combat round, which would then be carried out based on the speed rating of each character.

They starred in The Adventures of Mary-Kate and Ashley and the ABC show Two of a Kind (now rerun on ABC Family), as well as ABC Family's So Little Time. Final Fantasy I through Final Fantasy III all featured a traditional turn based battle system. As of 2004 the Olsen twins are popular figures in today's pre-teen market, following along the lines of such Hollywood child stars as Shirley Temple, Ron Howard and Macaulay Culkin among others. Often these special attacks are integrated into the "job system," which has appeared in several games in the series (Final Fantasy III, Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy X-2). Taking the world of pre-teens and children by storm, their names have become a very profitable industry, with their likeness seen in movies, posters, magazines, clothes, and even video games like Mary Kate and Ashley's Magical Mystery Mall. Most games in the series (from Final Fantasy III on) feature a variety of "special commands," over and beyond the traditional "Attack," "Defend," "Cast Magic," and "Run" battle commands, such as the ability to steal items from enemies, or performing a leap attack. Shortly after the end of Full House, they returned to the entertainment industry, riding the momentum of their role on Full House by heavily merchandising their image. Most games in the series utilize an experience level system for character advancement (although Final Fantasy II did not), and a point-based system for casting magical spells (though Final Fantasy I, Final Fantasy III and Final Fantasy VIII all featured different approaches).

Because the producers did not want viewers to know that Michelle was played by twins, the sisters were originally credited as "Mary Kate Ashley Olsen", but later credited as separate people. As such, Final Fantasy uses a menu-driven, turn-based battle system. The show was widely popular during the late 80s and early 90s, and both sisters played one character, Michelle Tanner, taking turns during the recordings to do so, in order to comply with child labor laws regarding child actors. Final Fantasy borrowed many gameplay elements from its primary rival, the Dragon Quest franchise. Born in Sherman Oaks, California, the Olsens started their acting careers on the television series Full House. The games often feature various minigames with their own graphical engines. Despite their near-identical looks, the pair are actually fraternal rather than identical twins. The games typically have several types of screens, or modes of interaction, broadly categorized as:.

Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Fuller Olsen (born June 13, 1986) are twin American actresses who have appeared in television and films since the age of nine months.
. The Challenge (2003). Final Fantasy X-2 utilized the same game engine as Final Fantasy X, and was aesthetically not much different. When In Rome (2002). Final Fantasy X was the first game in the series to use voice overs to any degree. Getting There (2002). Final Fantasy X was released on the PlayStation 2, and made use of the more powerful hardware to render certain cutscenes in real-time, rather than displayed in pre-rendered video.

Winning London (2001). Final Fantasy IX returned briefly to the more stylized design of earlier games in the series, but maintained most of the graphical techniques utilized in the previous two games in the series. Holiday in the Sun (2001). The full motion video sequences utilized a display technique wherein video would play in the background while the polygon characters would be composited on top. Our Lips Are Sealed (2000). Starting with Final Fantasy VIII, the series adopted a more photo-realistic look. Switching Goals (1999). As the only real user-interaction outside of battle was menu-driven, the developers saw no need for fully 3D-rendered overhead graphics.

Passport To Paris (1999). Released shortly after Final Fantasy VII, the spinoff title Final Fantasy Tactics, once again utilized sprites for the characters. Billboard Dad (1998). However, Final Fantasy VII's FMVs often lacked consistency, with characters appearing tiny and very indistinct in one scene, and extremely detailed in the next. To Grandmother's House We Go (1995). Final Fantasy VII was also the first Final Fantasy game to use full motion video sequences, part of the reason why the game spanned a full three CD-ROMs. How the West Was Fun (1994). The characters and entire game world were now 3-dimensional, with fully pre-rendered backgrounds.

Double, Double, Toil and Trouble (1993). 1997 saw the release of Final Fantasy VII for the Sony PlayStation and not Nintendo 64 as originally anticipated. New York Minute (2004). This would continue to get more advanced in Final Fantasy VI, and the trend would continue to make the games much more erudite. Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003) (sequel) (cameo appearance). Finally, in Final Fantasy V, the games began to use kanji. It Takes Two (1995) - The only film in which they don't play sisters. Much of the dialogue was simply clumps of text, making it especially hard for older gamers and foreigners learning Japanese.

The Little Rascals (1994) (cameo appearance). The text of the Japanese language versions of early Final Fantasy games was comprised purely of kana. These games utilized updated graphics and effects, as well as higher quality music and sound than in previous games, but were otherwise similar to their predecessors in basic design. The same basic system was used in the next three games, Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy V, and Final Fantasy VI, for the Super Famicom (known internationally as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System). On the main world screen, small sprite representations of the leading party member were displayed because of graphical limitations, while in battle screens, more detailed, full versions of all characters would appear in a side view perspective.

Final Fantasy began on the Nintendo Family Computer ("Famicom," known internationally as the Nintendo Entertainment System) as Final Fantasy I in 1987, and was joined by two sequels, Final Fantasy II and Final Fantasy III, over the next three years.
. The battle sequences that end in victory for the player in the first ten installments of the series would be accompanied by a victory fanfare that used the same nine-note sequence to begin the fanfare, and it has become one of the most recognized pieces of music relating to the Final Fantasy series. The Prelude is actually based off of Bach's piece by the same name.

The games often open with a piece called Prelude, which was a simple arpeggio theme in the early parts, with further melody parts added in latter installments. While the music in games offers wide variety, there are some frequently reused themes. The Final Fantasy soundtracks have also joined the catalogue of the iTunes Music Store. Music from Final Fantasy was first performed outside of Japan as a part of the Symphonic Game Music Concert series in Germany.

The next performance was February 19, 2005 in Rosemont, Illinois by the Chicagoland Pops Orchestra, and currently, as of 2005, the "Dear Friends" concert is on tour in the US. That concert was a three-day sell out. An orchestral Final Fantasy music concert in the United States was performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra at Walt Disney Concert Hall on May 10, 2004. Many video game and MIDI world wide web sites offer renditions of Final Fantasy musical pieces.

launched an America Online radio station dedicated to music from the Final Fantasy series, initially carrying complete tracks from Final Fantasy XI in addition to samplings from Final Fantasy VII through Final Fantasy X. On November 17, 2003, Square Enix U.S.A. Final Fantasy soundtracks and sheet music are increasingly popular amongst non-Japanese Final Fantasy fans and have even been performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. Other composers who have contributed to the series include Masashi Hamauzu and Junya Nakano.

Uematsu is also involved with the rock group The Black Mages, which has released two albums of arranged Final Fantasy tunes. In the 2004 Summer Olympics, the American synchronized swimming duo consisting of Alison Bartosik and Anna Kozlova were awarded the bronze medal for their performance to music from Final Fantasy VIII. His music has played a large part in the popularity of the Final Fantasy franchise abroad. Nobuo Uematsu was the chief music composer of the Final Fantasy series until his resignation from Square Enix in November 2004.

Square Enix continues to outsource story and scenario work to Nojima and Stellavista. He partially or completely wrote the stories for Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy IX, Final Fantasy X, and Final Fantasy X-2. In October 2003, Kazushige Nojima, the series' principle scenario writer, resigned from Square Enix to form his own company, Stellavista. Akihiko Yoshida, who served as character designer for the spinoff title Final Fantasy Tactics, as well as the Square-produced Vagrant Story, has been announced as the designer of the upcoming Final Fantasy XII.

Following Amano's departure, he was replaced with Tetsuya Nomura, who continued to work with the series through Final Fantasy X, with the exception of Final Fantasy IX, where character design was handled by Shukou Murase, Toshiyuki Itahana and Shin Nagasawa. Artistic design, including character and monster design work, was handled by renowned Japanese artist Yoshitaka Amano from Final Fantasy I through Final Fantasy VI. Some key objects and concepts that have appeared in more than one Final Fantasy game include:. From the strong influence of history, literature, religion and mythology on the story to the frequent reappearance of certain monsters and items, these shared elements provide a unifying framework to the series.

Though each Final Fantasy story is independent, many themes and elements of gameplay recur throughout the series. In a way, the Final Fantasy franchise has been a creative showcase for Square's developers, and many elements originally introduced in the series have made their way into Square's other titles, most notably two of its other major franchises, SaGa and Seiken Densetsu. Many elements and themes would recur throughout the series, but there would be no direct sequels until the release of Final Fantasy X-2 in 2003. This unusual approach to sequels has continued throughout the series, with each Final Fantasy game introducing a new world, and a new system of gameplay.

Following the success of the first game, Square quickly began work on a sequel. Unlike a typical sequel, Final Fantasy II featured entirely different characters, with a setting and story bearing only thematic similarities to its predecessor. Far from being Square's last hurrah, however, Final Fantasy I reversed Square's lagging fortunes, and became Square's flagship franchise. Recognizing that the project could very well turn out to be Square's last game, the project was entitled Final Fantasy. At approximately the same time, Square designer Hironobu Sakaguchi began work on an ambitious new fantasy role playing game for the cartridge-based Famicom, inspired in part by Enix's popular Dragon Quest (also known as Dragon Warrior).

By 1987, declining interest in the FDS had placed Square on the verge of declaring bankruptcy. first entered the Japanese video game industry in the mid 1980s, developing a variety of simple RPGs for Nintendo's Famicom Disk System (FDS), a disk-based peripheral for the Family Computer (Famicom, known internationally as the Nintendo Entertainment System). Square Co., Ltd. As of early 2005, eleven games have been released as part of the main series, as well as several more spinoffs and related titles.

It is Square Enix's most successful franchise, having sold over 60 million units worldwide to date. Future installments will also appear on the Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable. The first installment of the series premiered in Japan in 1987, and Final Fantasy games have subsequently been localized for markets in North America, Europe and Australia, on nearly every modern video game console, including the Nintendo Entertainment System, the MSX2, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, the Sony PlayStation, the WonderSwan Color, the PlayStation 2, IBM PC compatible, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo GameCube, and several different models of mobile phone. It may be the most widely distributed "game series" of all time, including both standard console games and portable games, a massive multiplayer online game, games for mobile phones, a computer-generated movie, two anime series, and an upcoming direct-to-DVD movie.

Final Fantasy (Japanese: ファイナルファンタジー Fainaru Fantajii) is a popular series of role playing games produced by Square Enix (originally Square Co., Ltd.). Part of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII series. Cell-based OAV serving as a prequel to Final Fantasy VII from Zack's point of view. Last Order: Final Fantasy VII — forthcoming