DisquisedJustin

As someone who actually likes Tetsuya Nomura and his brand of visual style and over the top craziness (come at me, Patrick Klepek!!!) I'd say I'm mildly optimistic. I mean, as someone who has enjoyed a decent share of anime in the past (yep, I'm a jerk) I've always liked his visual style, even if I think his weird zipper fetish is a bit much. And say what you will about Kingdom Hearts and Advent Children, they at least had flashy scenes that looked badass, and if this can duplicate that, I'm on board. Of course, I also want a fun story with the same craziness that the series that series once had as well as a fun, big world to explore, and Nomura has been very upfront about saying that a big reason the game was never finished on PS3 was because it couldn't handle the massive world they wanted to make, so I don't think we'll have to worry about that. My only fear is that if this game comes out, becomes a huge hit and save the Final Fantasy brand, what does that mean for the series future? I'm all for this action RPG combat, but I hope Square doesn't look at this game's success and decide to never make a turn based RPG ever again, especially after Bravely Default was a surprise success for them, we'll see. I also find it ironic how people are excited for this game that is a numbered Final Fantasy game that isn't a turn based RPG but all seemed to hate FFXII for the very same reasons, it's like what is it that you people want?

I for one am excited for this news. I'm a HUGE Metal Gear fan, and have loved pretty much every Metal Gear game, and while I've only seen Hellboy and Pacific Rim on the Del Toro front, I enjoyed them enough and have been meaning to see Pan's Labrynth that I take this as great news as well. I'm not a huge Walking Dead fan, but I Norman Reedus is obviously the most consistent thing in that series and I loved him in Boondock Saints so that's a bonus as far as I'm concerned. I am hoping though that Kojima's involvement is actually something worth while as opposed to his limited involvement in Lords of Shadow, but we'll see, as a big Metal Gear fan even I'll contend to taking issue with the fact that Konami has failed to do anything good as of late with any of their other franchises (and I'm still burned over Igarashi leaving) but I guess we'll wait and see what the future holds.

Now, I didn't actually say what franchises I've lost interest in on my last post as that was a response to someone else post, but for me it'd be annualized franchises like Call of Duty and Assassin's Creed. As I stated before in my last post concerning Zelda, I reason why I'm able to still enjoy the Zelda series with each new installment is because I don't approach the Zelda franchise from the perspective of "I really want them to change it up" because you only get a new Zelda game once every 3 or 4 years, and since so few franchises copy the core Zelda structure of go to a dungeon and get a new item, for me when a new Zelda comes out it's been enough time since the last installment that it feels fresh again. That said, when you have game like Call of Duty and Assassin's Creed that are annualized and only make a few differences here and there, it really makes how minimal those differences and how wrote the whole thing seems stick out even more compared to game like Zelda that you only see once every 3 to 4 years. I also take issue with the whole fact there are basically 2 different branches of Call of Duty between IW and Treyarch, the fact the 2 developers seem to refuse to acknowledge each other in the add-ons and gameplay enhancements between each game really gets on my nerves, it's like I'm going 1 step forward, and 2 steps back with each new installment. With Assassin's Creed, I just find the main mission design in those games in recent years has been terrible since Brotherhood, I mean, did anybody enjoy those chase sequences from 3? Whoever designed the camera during those chase sequences get an F, and I speak for everyone when I say that the eavesdropping missions can go fuck themselves. Lastly, they completely ruined the storyline in 3, was a major bummer.

I'd also go with God of War since their have been 2, count 'em, 2 prequels since 3 came out, and they were both meh. Just tells me they don't know what to with that series going forward, and the fact that there have been several God of War clones over the years has really made that core gameplay kind of stale also.

@billymaysrip: Huh, wow, IDK who you're talking about, pretty much everybody I know personally and most things I read on the internet tell me that the vast majority of the Metal Gear fanbase (me being one of them) have nothing but the purest and heartfelt love for the franchise, I mean, the backlash that MGS5 got when it was announced that David Hayter wasn't going to return as Snake really pissed a lot of people and made some pretty big waves all over the internet, and I feel like that backlash was testament to how dedicated and loyal most of the fans are, so IDK who you're talking about, but I'd argue that the vast majority of the Metal Gear fanbase are very dedicated and hold the entire series up to a pretty high standard (hell, I've even heard several people call MGS2 their favorite in the series, and some of those same people were some of the ones initially disappointed by the game with the whole Raiden twist at the time, but w/e). I feel like you hear these complaints you mentioned mainly from the casual Metal Gear fans, people like Patrick and Brad for example who aren't super into it, I've definitely heard those statements made by casual Metal Gear fans who think the series went off the rails, but I'd say the vast majority of fans have had almost nothing but good things to say about the entire franchise in general, just comes to that person's personal investment in the series as a whole, but the really dedicated fans like me have a personal attachment to each game in some way or another.

That being said, I do know that Zelda fans, even the most dedicated ones, are very much annoying toward the series. I still love the series, but I hate talking about it with people, cause it seems like Zelda fans today don't know what they want with the series, yet still have this weird desire to see and play every new game that comes out, yet end up complaining about it in the end. No one can forget how devisive Wind Waker was at the time, and how Twilight Princess was going to "save the series" for everyone who hate Wind Waker for the art-style, yet those same people today claim to love Wind Waker and shit on Twilight for its art style which was MADE OUT OF THE RESPONSE OF THEIR BITCHING!!! Plus, Zelda fans are constantly knocking the series (at least the 3D ones) for keeping the traditional dungeon puzzle formula, I mean, what do you expect? It's Zelda, it has to have that, people bitched about Skyward Sword for doing that, and I just don't get it, if your tastes change that's fine, but I feel like most Zelda fans do what you claim Metal Gear fans do (and I've yet to hear an actual self-proclaimed Metal Gear fan bitch about the series or have as much divisive feeling for the series as you claim). But Zelda fans do that ALL THE TIME, I mean Jeff in particular is super cynical to the series, and now both Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword have become the 2 games in the series that are cool to bash on, when, while I'll admit have their shortcomings (tutorials) I still think are cool games that both added some unique features to the Zelda series, Skyward Sword in particular, yet no one EVER shits on the 2-D games for having that same formula. It's like what give people? I've yet to grow stale with the series formula, especially you only get a Zelda game like once every 3 or 4 years, and to me that's enough time for the formula to feel fresh again, but w/e, it's just something that's always baffled me about people concerning the Zelda series.

@extreme_popcorn:

Do u at least like Led Zeppelin? They are sort of the harbingers on heavy metal, but their music is way more hard rock compared to what came in the 80s like Metallica or w/e. Plus they did plenty of blues rock and folk songs as well, but with hard rock being at their core.

I would argue that the quality of music has declined significantly because, as someone mentioned earlier, it's all techno beat songs now w/o anyone playing instruments or trying any innovative studio techniques as it's all been done at this point, which for me takes away a lot of the fun out of it. Part of what made listening to Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, and Pink Floyd so enjoyable wasn't just how well it written or w/e, but from hearing them pull off studio and instrument techniques that no one had ever seen before. I'm still blown away by the techniques Jimmy Page could pull off with a guitar, and we really don't get that anymore. The era of hearing new and innovative techniques being made to music through studio techniques and amazing guitar moves is over, and while it's very possible that that could change down the line, it really doesn't seem likely right now, not with synchronized pop artists like Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, J Biebes, and all these boy bands we get every couple years keep coming up and dominating our radioplay.

Probably Led Zeppelin, though I still have an intense fondness for The Who.

@miyuki:

Final Fantasy VIII seems way more beloved in retrospect today then it did when the game originally came out, but I definitely see what you're talking about. I don't expect the same to ever be said for XIII though, given that the game came out during what will one day be known as the dark days of Square Enix, and also the fact that the sequel that they made for it was also harshly received and all that, but who knows.

I'd also put Dead Rising 2 and Heavy Rain on this list. Yes, Dead Rising 2 is very flawed and has way too many annoyances that could've easily been fixed that were from the previous game (psychopaths, having to go into the vent with the survivors than come back out as opposed to just sending them in their, long ass loading screens) and with its new mechanics introduces some new issues as well (no place to store weapons and items) but the core game of just killing zombies with ridiculous weapons and all the hilarious, goofiness that defines Dead Rising just sucked me in as much as the first game did.

As for Heavy Rain, as said before with L.A. Noire, I love games that are different and try to be ambitious in what they are trying to accomplish, even if they don't quite succeed all the way, I just loved all the characters in the game and found the tension and drama to be captivating, sure, the plot holes in the story were a bummer, and theirs of course the infamous "Jason" pun, but for me, most of what they game was trying to accomplish worked for me in a big way.

@sursh:

Wow, how weird! Well, w/e, point is that wee both have great tastes and everyone else is crazy when it comes to GTA4 :)

But yeah, I'm honestly surprised people are even excited for GTA5 given how much hate GTA4 seems to get, maybe because Red Dead Redemption was a huge hit across the board for both critics and most gamers? IDK, regardless, still kind of interesting to me that the follow up to a super divisive game is getting as much anticipation as it is.