For all the Squenix fanbois, all two of ya

[Daydreamer]

FFXII Hands on, with date and new director
No games from Mistwalker yet, and already they are a thorn in Squenix's side

So FF has gone pseudo-action-RPG, in the vein of FFXI.  I sure didn't see that one coming.  More interesting to me, however, is what is going to happen to the director Yasumi Mitsuno, who has made nothing but amazing games in my experience (Ogre Battle, Tactics, Ogre, FFT, Vagrant Story, FFTA), but  many have come to suspect he is more than a little unstable.  No reason for the change is , and with any luck he has moved on to a new project (Please be a Chrono sequel, PLEEEEEEEEASE) while a steadier hand finishes FFXII, but I can't help but get this sinking feeling that Squenix didn't entirely approve of his work on FFXII and his actions re: Mistwalker.

Oh, and just to round things out a bit:
Kingdom Hearts II is looking good for a December release
And Dirge of Cerebrus just might not suck
And Dragon Warrior VIII is still tentatively scheduled for early October

[schild]

The only thing I'm really looking forward to is the FFVII sideproject for the PSP which they didn't comment on and Dragon Quest in Oct. Now, Mistwalker - yes yes yes. I've known about Blue dragon for a while but just to state the obvious - Hironobu Sakaguchi and Uemetsu together again and Akira Toriyama doing the character design; you mean there's a chance the characters won't all be metrosexual?



I give it a thumbs up.

As for Mitsuno, unfortunately he has slowly gotten worse. FFTA was crap. Sigh.

[schild]

Oh, I'm still more excited about Ninety Nine Nights and Lost Odyssey (that's a link to a movie). My excitement for Lost Odyssey knows no bounds.

[Velorath]

Hmmmm, I haven't been a Square fanboi since FFIX disappointed the hell out of me.  There seems to be some interesting stuff lined up here though.  Enough to make me take a closer look anyway.

[Merusk]

FFX had a nifty system in the sphere unlocks.  I enjoyed it, and it was far far better than 8 or 9, neither of which I finished.  However, I think I'll pass on 12.  Fuck, if I wanted MMO combat I'd, oh I dunno, play an MMO.  Autoattack in an RPG jesus fucking christ on a crutch.

This one killed me too:

The A.I. of your partners is pretty sharp too, as Ashe may cure Vaan or Basch when their HP gets low, which really takes a lot of the stress and micro-managing away from the series.

What the fuck.. .it's an RPG, micro-managing is the entire fucking game!  Expect more cutscenes than you can shake a Masamune at and very little actual challenge or thinking involved. 

[Strazos]

Oh, I'm still more excited about Ninety Nine Nights and Lost Odyssey (that's a link to a movie). My excitement for Lost Odyssey knows no bounds.

Show me the actual game, and then I might care.

You know...combat mechanics, perhaps.

And damnit, I know the devs are From Japan, but I'm more than sick of so many RPG's with such heavy asian overtones. It gets old, just like medieval fantasy gets old.

Someone gimme my god damn Roman-Grecco mythological asskicking RPG.

[schild]

get Shadow of Rome or God of War. It doesn't get better than that. Colosseum ain't half bad either. On that note, neither is Gladius.

[Margalis]

I don't think Mitsuno worked on FFTA at all. He has been chomping at the bit to do another Ogre Battle game though, I think Square did (or was going to) buy the rights to the series so he could make an Ogre game under the Square-Enix banner.

[Strazos]

get Shadow of Rome or God of War. It doesn't get better than that. Colosseum ain't half bad either. On that note, neither is Gladius.

Arrg, you know better than to toss PS titles at me.

Regardless, thanks for the Gladius suggestion. I was looking for title more akin to IE games, or Tactics/Ogre. Gladius looks...promising enough to check the price when I go to pick up DS2 and Advent Rising.

[HRose]

Vagrant Story, FFIX and God of War are masterpieces.

[schild]

God of War is a masterpiece. Vagrant story is a near masterpiece. Valkyrie Profile is probably better. Final Fantasy VII is better. Final Fantasy IX can't be a masterpiece because VII is already. Discuss.

[Strazos]

They're all PS games, so their existance, and conversely my opinion of them, is moot.

[schild]

They're all PS games, so their existance, and conversely my opinion of them, is moot.

You're such a tool.

[Strazos]

Hey, at least I admit my opinion on those games is invalid.

[HRose]

God of War is a masterpiece. Vagrant story is a near masterpiece. Valkyrie Profile is probably better. Final Fantasy VII is better. Final Fantasy IX can't be a masterpiece because VII is already. Discuss.

When not about mmorpgs I tend to agree with you.

I like more FFIX over the VII because I like a lot more the style of the art and the fantasy setting over the Sci-Fi. I love pure fantasy Square games, if they have some steampunk, even better.

[Daydreamer]

Final Fantasy VII is better. Final Fantasy IX can't be a masterpiece because VII is already. Discuss.

But FFIX's greatness depends geatly upon knowing the cliches and history of FF and FF-like RPGs, including FFVII, and it builds on that with friendly nudges and winks.  It sort of like saying that derivative works, or works of homage can't be great because their inspiration was.  FFVII (though I personally prefer VI) and IX are both great games, but I think in different but related fields, much like I would consider both FFT and Disgaea great but separate games but for different reasons - the first for depth and originality and the later for personality and spunk.  But maybe thats just me.

Oh, and thanks for the video, I missed that one last time around.  Drool.

[Sairon]

I think this is partly what's so amazing about the Final Fantasy games, every installation is so diffrent but still so much a like. Personaly I hated FF8 but I my mates loved it, I also know a lot of people hate FF10 which in my mind was a master piece. The only game in the series which I think everybody loves is FF7. I think it will be intresting to see the system which they will use in FF12, I'm all for innovation. And with Nubou Uematsu they can't go wrong, that guy is a genious, he's on a totaly diffrent level than other composers. I've seen trailers on FF12 and it seems to look great atleast, and the characters seems cool enough. If the story is as good as it usualy is I'm looking forward to be draged into the FF universe once again, you must not forget to take a couple of $ off the price tag as well because when you play these games you feel no hunger or need for sleep, so you save some cash from not eating.

[Rasix]

FFIX will always have a special place reserved in my colon.  Stupid nonsensical end-game bosses.  "HELLO THERE, HE WASN'T THE END BOSS, I AM. MUAUHAHAHAHAH."  The end game cinematic saved it somewhat.  It also lost points for Steiners last ability making the game a complete joke and for the main protagonist having a tail.

FFX had great gameplay but some of that voice acting and writing made you ashamed you were playing it if other people were in the room.  That stupid laughing scene still gives me night terrors.

[Velorath]

But FFIX's greatness depends geatly upon knowing the cliches and history of FF and FF-like RPGs, including FFVII, and it builds on that with friendly nudges and winks.  It sort of like saying that derivative works, or works of homage can't be great because their inspiration was.  FFVII (though I personally prefer VI) and IX are both great games, but I think in different but related fields, much like I would consider both FFT and Disgaea great but separate games but for different reasons - the first for depth and originality and the later for personality and spunk.  But maybe thats just me.

I just found all the characters to be really dull with the possible exception of ViVi.  Off the top of my head I can't even remember any of the other character's names, and thought the character design was the worst out of any Final Fantasy game.

[Merusk]

I agree with Velo on this.  Part of it might be that I hate "superdeformed" characters, though.  I can't understand the love IX is getting, but from what I'm reading it seems to have something to do with the ending.  I couldn't get into it enough to care, so I never did finish.  It was an interesting angle that Vivi seemed more the 'main character' than any of the others, (Steiner is the only other name I remember..) but in all the game illicited a 'meh' from me in both mechanics and story.

[ahoythematey]

I think FFXII sounds an awful lot like .hack, with Final Fantasy trappings.  I plan to buy it.

[Fabricated]

Wonderful, so FF12 is going to suck. I had some hope for this one due to the character designs being done by the man who did Vagrant Story's. I can't wait to see what all gets left on the cutting room floor now.

I doubt they could possibly make a game worse than FF10, but if I see the word "skillchain" anywhere in the description of the battlesystem for the finished FF12 I will never buy another SquareEnix product ever again.

[Jain Zar]

Umm.. Gladius is also on the X Box and Gamecube.  Its not a PS2 only game.
What?  You only play PC games?  Enjoy the same 3 genres till the end of time.

And Final Fantasy has pretty much been little more than mediocre through sucks massive shit through a straw since the first installment anyhow.

Outside of Front Mission and Dragon Warrior (FFTactics Advance ruined any hope for the FFT series.) Squenix can go fuck themselves.

(Edited to fix spelling.  medicore?  WTF was going through my head?  Oh right.  Fanboyish elitism. Darn.)

[Daydreamer]

More previews:
Square still showing the FFVII PS3 Tech demo to much speculation
Advent Children still looking mighty fine

[Strazos]

Umm.. Gladius is also on the X Box and Gamecube.  Its not a PS2 only game.
What?  You only play PC games?  Enjoy the same 3 genres till the end of time.

get Shadow of Rome or God of War. It doesn't get better than that. Colosseum ain't half bad either. On that note, neither is Gladius.

Arrg, you know better than to toss PS titles at me.

Regardless, thanks for the Gladius suggestion....

Please, try to actually read the posts which you are cutting up responding to.

The 3 other titles are PS titles.

And so what if I only played on PC? I do own an Xbox, but I rarely buy games or play it. I don't think I'm missing much.

[schild]

It's worth buying a PS2 for Shadow of Rome and God of War.

It's worth buying a Gamecube for RE4.

Choosing one system over another is sooooo 1992.

[Strazos]

Choosing one system over another is sooooo 1992.

Or for those of us who simply do not have the money to drop on 3 different systems.

I did own a PS2 years ago, and traded it in for my current Xbox, because I couldn't find any games I wanted for the system.

[Velorath]

Choosing one system over another is sooooo 1992.

Fuck that, I had a Genesis, a SNES, and a TurboGrafix 16.

[schild]

Choosing one system over another is sooooo 1992.

Fuck that, I had a Genesis, a SNES, and a TurboGrafix 16.

Well, yea. I'm just saying - back then picking one camp over another was a big deal to a lot of people. Now it just means you're a Halo monkey. I need to find a racial slur for people who play Halo.

[Strazos]

Sorry, I can't seem to twist the world "Halo' into something suitably dirty-sounding.

I fucking hate Halo monkies. I haven't played it in months.

[Jain Zar]

Nothing wrong with Halo.  Not too much right either.
Its not an EA or Rockstar game though.  Guess that counts for something... right?

[Llava]

Sorry, I can't seem to twist the world "Halo' into something suitably dirty-sounding.

Here, this'll get you started:
http://www.rsdb.org/

(I recommend you scroll down to Ze Goggles and read that one.  Got a laugh out of me.)

[HaemishM]

I need to find a racial slur for people who play Halo.

Halots? Fratboys? Crackers?

[schild]

You know, I set up the barn doors and left them open on the racial slur for Halo joke.

Thanks to everyone for NOT getting the obvious answer. /le cry.

[Strazos]

You know, I set up the barn doors and left them open on the racial slur for Halo joke.

Thanks to everyone for NOT getting the obvious answer. /le cry.

I think you put the barn in the wrong state then.