Random Gaming Thoughts

[Sarge]

Well, I generally dislike MMOs, so I can see that, but Final Fantasy XIII being one of the three worst video games you've ever played? Harsh, man, harsh.

Just so I can dissent... I actually enjoyed FFXIII for what it was. And I actually liked it a bit more than FFXII, which is sure to rub Exhuminator the wrong way! But it's not a "true" Final Fantasy, assuming you can nail down that moniker with any precision these days.

I'm actually interested in FFXV, because it doesn't look like it turned out to be a complete train wreck. That's what I was expecting, but it seems like it pleasantly surprised most of the reviewers out there. Probably not much JRPG in there anymore, but eh. I'll live.

(Just don't touch my Dragon Quest, dang it.)

[darsparx]

FF and most major "yearly"/long-running series really don't have any way to nail that down anymore. I'd be more inclined if they used something like the parallel universes like comic books here tend to use, and used more creative names. It's just weird to me that both DQ and FF have used the same name since conception. Especially since FF didn't actually ending up being the last square would work on and apparently it'll take them doing something much worse than some of what they have to go out now. It seems that FF from what I've seen, heard, and tried to play share common elements(and I"m wondering how many of those are in XV beyond Cid who from what I can tell is in every iteration somewhere).

[MrPopo]

What drives me crazy about the FFXV footage is that they've demonstrated they still know how to make a good Final Fantasy game with Bravely Default.

[CFFJR]

I have a copy of XV on the way from Amazon.

I've seen very little of videos and such, but I wonder how much it'll actually feel like Final Fantasy. I'm optimistic though. At the very least I'm sure I'll like it more than XIII.

Granted, that's painfully easy to do since I could barely stand XIII and never finished it...

[ExedExes]

It was the $60 level, not $50. $50 I did for Mystery Science Theater 3000 But I'm still getting a physical PC copy of III.

[Xeogred]

Well, I generally dislike MMOs, so I can see that, but Final Fantasy XIII being one of the three worst video games you've ever played? Harsh, man, harsh.

Just so I can dissent... I actually enjoyed FFXIII for what it was. And I actually liked it a bit more than FFXII, which is sure to rub Exhuminator the wrong way! But it's not a "true" Final Fantasy, assuming you can nail down that moniker with any precision these days.

I'm actually interested in FFXV, because it doesn't look like it turned out to be a complete train wreck. That's what I was expecting, but it seems like it pleasantly surprised most of the reviewers out there. Probably not much JRPG in there anymore, but eh. I'll live.

(Just don't touch my Dragon Quest, dang it.)

Yeah, I beat XIII and even did some post game stuff in the open sections. To say I hate it would be a grand stretch... but the characters are definitely mostly terrible and it's insanely flawed. It's a weird game. It looks gorgeous, the battle system is honestly pretty solid once it opens up 30 hours in, and the music is incredible (once you get past that it's not Uematsu). Too bad the story is complete garbage and there's no real standout recurring villain. If anything, 90% of the main cast are the real villains. I think I walked away only being okay with Fang, everyone else pissed me off a few times over. People try to defend Sazh, but I just remember him crying about his dumb son.

On the flip side, I really enjoyed XIII-2. The systems are open from the start and there's an awesome recurring, iconic looking villain dude... what crazy concepts? And both Serah and Noel were likable, as they seemed fairly human. Unlike Lightning. Whenever she showed up it was guaranteed bad.

Couldn't stomach more than 10 hours of LR. I'll just stop there.

FFXV has an old school composer, looks like they're going for the 7-8 aesthetics which is cool to me, Numura leaving at some point is a plus in my book, a lot of the key staff are veterans of the older games, and from what I'm gathering on the reviews and everything... FFXV is just simple and fun. I bet that's why the reception has been pretty solid. The movie was actually really good I thought and got me more interested in the game. It sounds like a pretty simple tale on paper, dude prince and girl princess need to wed as a treaty split between nations and were actually childhood friends so it's mutual, and the dude is on his path to find her. I'm cool with that and a strong bromance (as it sounds like) to get to the goal. I'm not sure what else others would have wanted from a FF by this point story wise? I'm glad it doesn't sound incomprehensible with made up words and inept Shakespeare like XIII's world.

After 10 years, it sounds like a simple traditional game and story for the most part. I think that's the best route they could have gone. I'm getting defensive and wish some others here would be open to it, but I think we all really know by this point if you were ever interested in this or not before it was out. One of those things I'd say.

I'm open to a new battle system because this is Final Fantasy 15. Do I need to say more lol. That said, don't get me wrong, I cringe whenever people or developers try to claim that turn based systems are dead. I'd still eat those up if they were around. But I personally have no problem with FFXV trying something a bit different.

[darsparx]

Still after the series being as long of a series as it is, it seems bizarre to ride on coattails of the name. Seems like they need a name guy for the games or something. Can't see if I ever got into game development to do anywhere near the same thing as that...

[isiolia]

Still after the series being as long of a series as it is, it seems bizarre to ride on coattails of the name. Seems like they need a name guy for the games or something. Can't see if I ever got into game development to do anywhere near the same thing as that...

I just see it as more of a flagship series, and in turn, the one that they try new things with. There are some generally common elements, but it's not meant to be the same thing over and over for decades. Plenty of people would be complaining if it were

They're doing big open world because that's what's current. Same as the MMOs, which other than the original release of XIV, are highly regarded. Every fan won't take to every entry, and some aren't going to objectively be as good...but IMO, it's good to see big budget projects take risks too, and SE fairly consistently does that with the Final Fantasy brand - well, the numbered entries anyway - and really, that's what it is at this point. "Final Fantasy" is a household name, and in turn, one that SE tries to make more broadly appealing.

[Xeogred]

Still after the series being as long of a series as it is, it seems bizarre to ride on coattails of the name. Seems like they need a name guy for the games or something. Can't see if I ever got into game development to do anywhere near the same thing as that...

I just see it as more of a flagship series, and in turn, the one that they try new things with. There are some generally common elements, but it's not meant to be the same thing over and over for decades. Plenty of people would be complaining if it were

They're doing big open world because that's what's current. Same as the MMOs, which other than the original release of XIV, are highly regarded. Every fan won't take to every entry, and some aren't going to objectively be as good...but IMO, it's good to see big budget projects take risks too, and SE fairly consistently does that with the Final Fantasy brand - well, the numbered entries anyway - and really, that's what it is at this point. "Final Fantasy" is a household name, and in turn, one that SE tries to make more broadly appealing.

Yeah that's basically what I'm thinking. The games have always been experimental. Look at how wacky FFII's mechanics are. Then FFIII had the job system. I love that all the games have different mechanics and change it up. Sometimes for better and worse and no denying that FFXV's the biggest departure, but it basically just looks like more real time FFXIII now. I imagine Dragon Quest changes up the formula less.

As for naming schemes, maybe it's my love for Mega Man 1-6... but I still like numbers. I sure hope the next Playstation is Playstation 5. Plus in SE's case, it could be much worse if we let them have more leeway with the names. See Kingdom Hearts' titles for nightmares. I'll take a simple "Final Fantasy XV" over anything else. lol

And with FFVII's remake probably the next biggest thing, I don't think we'll be stuck in limbo with FFXV for ages like they shoved FFXIII down on us. Less sequels please and keep the series moving and dynamically changing it up.

I still definitely hate that the MMO's are part of the main series line though. Now that makes no sense.

Also I love that it doesn't sound truly open world. Many reports are coming in that the main story is probably around 20 hours long. Some people in Japan are speedrunning it in 12. Then there's a lot more content to do in between and after, some people have 60+ hours. But I like that it sounds like something I can burn through if I just want to see the main story finish, unlike other open world games where even that seems like it'll take forever to do. Time isn't really the issue here to me, but rather how aimless and bored I get of most open world/sandbox games thesedays. So I hope FFXV feels more guided for the most part or just does it better. I had no issues with Phantom Pain!

[BoneSnapDeez]

What's with all the Steam games (and I guess non-Steam games too but Steam is where I find 'em) with stupid ass capitalization, spacing issues, and random symbols added to the titles? Visual novels are especially bad with this.
CLANNAD
STEINS;GATE
fault complete edition
planetarian ~the reverie of a little planet~
Higurashi When They Cry Hou - Ch.1 Onikakushi
Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1
eden*
Lucy -The Eternity She Wished For-
Gaokao.Love.100Days
And those are just examples I pulled from the first page of results. Get your shit together Japan.

Sometimes I submit these games to RFGeneration and they "fix" the titles.