kariyanine

  20 Years is a long time. Things change a lot over the course of two decades and Final Fantasy, the series I began following in previews of gaming magazines in early 1990, has hanged quite a bit since its American debut on the Nintendo Entertainment System and I have been there every step of the way. I don't tell you that to imply that my love of the franchise is any more than yours, nor is it to imply that I know every little nugget and detail of the series but rather just to give you a point of reference for things I will say.

My first experience with the series dates back to my time in the sixth grade and leaching off of Mike Flannigan for any sliver of gaming news, who had a subscription to Nintendo Power. The two of us had similar tastes, mostly sword and sorcery type stuff, and we both latched onto what, at the the time, we thought was going to be the coolest gaming experience ever, Final Fantasy. The game had been out in Japan for a couple years by that time but we had no idea about imports (or how to read Japanese) so instead we waited for its release, sometimes not so patiently. I remember quite clearly that the game was still not out yet but we took our bicycles to the local Toys 'R Us and pestered the clerk who would go back and get the games from the back for a good long hour about it until management finally threw us out under threat of calling our parents.

Of course being in sixth grade meant that we had a serious cash flow problem and we would need to come up with a way to secure the money for it once it came out. Mike had an easy way of securing money because he had a lawn and as a result owned a lawn mower however I had no such luck and I was going to be seriously short on funds when this game came out and I would be missing out on it. Turned out that Mike was somewhat short on funds when it released as well and as a compromise to allow us both to get it, I ponied up half the money (which turned out to be $35) for the game under the stipulation that I got to take it home first.

What I got when I opened the package was pure magic. Inside my box was the game cart, a fold out map/bestiary, a fold out dungeon map/magic chart, and an 80 page Explorer's Handbook. Games just don't release with the flair they had back then. Tossing all the cool stuff to the side though, I popped the cart into my NES and started up an experience that I still cherish to this day. I played the game for hours on end, stopping only to answer my mother's call of dinner. My parents politely asked me to go to bed, and then not so politely after I ignored them, and I paused the game, turned out the lights and pretended to go to sleep until I was able to sneak out of bed, grab the controller and play the game in the dark.

To keep this long story from getting longer, I loved it and it remains, to this day, one of my all time favorite games. Some people that have come into the series later believe that the game does not hold up well. I disagree, especially if you are playing the game on the PSP or the recently released iPhone version as the ability to save anywhere and the mobility of those platforms plays well into the level grinding gameplay that it requires. But I digress. I like it. Some don't. End of story.

Square continued to work on the series and I continued to stand behind it. Little did I know that my Final Fantasy II was actually Final Fantasy IV and my Final Fantasy III was actually Final Fantasy VI. Imagine my shock when I finally got the internet and found out that I had missed out on half of what I considered to be my favorite series.

I needed to play these games somehow. Enter emulation and fan translations. I scoured the seedy parts of the internet for emulators and ROMs, eventually finding fan translated versions of the games. To this day I think the fan translation of Final Fantasy II and III were actually better than the official translations Square has provided to English speaking fans. I also fell in love with Final Fantasy V and the gameplay changes the title brought to the series, the story maybe not so much but that is a tale for another day. By the time I was done with my “catching” up on the series Final Fantasy VII was getting hype in North America and I was all aboard that train.

Final Fantasy VII was something different, at least on the surface. It was something shiny and new and everyone, including those that had never played an RPG before, wanted a piece of it. I would be lying if I said that I did not act like a bit of a Final Fantasy snob when VII was released. Of course after VII everything changed and the genre became a cultural phenomenon that not only giant geeks like me loved but seemingly everyone did. Looking back Final Fantasy VII gets an awful lot of shit for not being such a “great” game. Honestly, it is all in the eye of the beholder and no one can dispute what Final Fantasy VII did for the Sony Playstation and the JRPG genre of games.

With the release of VIII, I finally ran into a core game in the series that I did not love. VIII had a lot of quirks that just did not stick with me at the time. I hated the draw system. I hated Squall. I hated the pseudo-political goings on in the game. And despite spending an awful lot of time with the game, getting all the way up until the final disc, I ended up hating the game for the fact that my memory card glitched as I was nearing the end. As I have matured Squall still annoys me but I do appreciate the story more and the draw system is not quite as bad as I remember it being so I may one day through my PSP go back and finish it all the way.

My disappointment in VIII was completely turned around by what I consider to be the best entry in the series on the PSOne, Final Fantasy IX. IX was a throw back to all the old games in the series. I loved the characters, particularly Vivi in his black mage outfit I loved the art style. I loved the fact that the game revolved around crystals for the first time in a long time. I tend to believe that if you don't love Final Fantasy IX, you don't really love Final Fantasy because it combines everything that was great about thee previous eight entries in the series and delivers one fantastic title. (By the way Square and Sony, where is FF IX on the PSN?)

Final Fantasy IX marked a distinct end to an era of the Final Fantasy games though because since then, nothing in the series has been anywhere near as playful. In fact I feel the spirit of the series has been adopted by the Kingdom Hearts franchise but I'm getting off track. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed Final Fantasy X immensely but there was something different about it. It just didn't have the same magic for me.

After X, I started to drift away from games. It was not a long hiatus but it was a hiatus and as such I missed out on the release of XI and X-2. XI held no interest for me because it was online and I wasn't really equipped to set it up. X-2 was a game featuring characters from X that I did not really care much about. Something drew me back though, possibly the impending release of XII but I don't think so and I did eventually play X-2.

A lot of people hate on X-2 and say it is not a real RPG. I contend that argument could be made about a lot of JRPGs but no one ever seems to want to listen. Anyway, I did not hate X-2. Sure it was silly and the story made little sense but I found the battle system to be fun in a weird I like to play with Barbie's kind of way.

Then XII came out and I was pumped for it. XII was to take place in one of my favorite video game worlds ever, Ivalice. I do not love Ivalice because of the wonderful tactical strategy game, Final Fantasy Tactics but rather because of a little title known as Vagrant Story. Being as I loved the setting and the idea of a more mature and somewhat political Final Fantasy I was all set to love the hell out of this game. I made it two hours and set it down for nearly three and a half years. I am enjoying it more on this current playthrough but I still don't love it, especially this back half that I am currently in.

In between FF XII's release and now I played through Crisis Core, the DS versions of Final Fantasy III and IV, watched the strange Advent Children film, thought about playing Dirge of Cerberus and bought Dissidia. I have mixed feelings about that lot but that is for another post.

All of this of course brings me to this week. Final Fantasy XIII. Excited is not really the proper term for what I am. It transcends excitement and enters into a whole different realm. My history with the title grants that to me. Its like seeing a loved one for the first time in a long time. You know they've changed but you can't help but smile when they come down the runway.

That is not to say that I am looking upon Final Fantasy XIII with blind faith though. You may still love that loved one that you haven't seen in a long time but maybe you don't love them in the same way anymore. The early reviews are not great, although they are not exactly in bad or mediocre territory either, so we will see what happens when I get my hands on it myself. (It gets delivered Tuesday but it may wait for me to finish XII first) 

  Still one of my favorites.

 

@SJSchmidt93 said:

" The only alternative to just making the fraction out of 100 is to actually read the review and for metacritic to "estimate" how much the reviewer liked the game out of 100. (That's roughly what they do with 1UP). The latter would blow. 
 

That's not what they do with 1UP at all.  In fact 1UP has at various points since moving to the letter grade scale brought up Metacritic and how they take their grades and translate them to a static percentage.  In fact I am pretty sure Garnett got fairly upset when his review of 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand got equated to a Metacritic of 50.

@Karmum said:

" @RaikohBlade said:

" No, play it on the PS3, it will be a better experience.  "

Just curious, how so? I'm sure it is going to be great on either platform, but how is the PS3 version better? Aside from the fact that it will have less disks. I also plan on getting the PS3 version, by the way.  

Simply put the PS3 will not have to compress audio or visuals the way the 360 does, thus presenting a better overall experience.  Of course that speculates that Square will take care to present it properly.  
 
As for the person who said the 360 will display in both gameplay and cutscenes in 1080p that is most likely true but it won't be in true 1080p, the 360 upscales to 1080p whereas the cutscenes on the PS3 will run at a native 1080p, ultimately presenting a better picture to those who care about such things.  For me, I'll probably get both versions (or at the very least rent the 360 one) so I can see how both compare to each other.

I don't particularly dislike any of the maps, I think they all do a good job at making you play differently but I don't like that certain maps seem to come up far more frequently than others, no matter what gametype you are playing.

@DickDarlington: I think it was the Rebel FM from two weeks ago but Anthony said that his team basically griefs the other teams in Ground War with a nuke.  They play by getting a member to 25, then pull back allowing the other team to get within striking distance of the win and then they deploy the nuke.  it seems shady and I wouldn't be happy if it happened to me.

@oldschool said:

You don't have to.  I am not saying no personal experience of the writer, just that it should be weighted appropriately.  A game should be compared against other games in the same genre and that is where the personal opinion comes into it for me.  If you review Forza 3, then it is reviewed with Forza 2, Gran Tursimo, Need For Speed and PGR3/4 in mind.  You get your baseline from that and it should be noted how it compares against what has come before it.  An actual score is more about what it does above "perfectly acceptable" or average.  What it does better than average pushes that score up.  Better still, no score at all as a number is really quite meaningless.   
 
It is probably true to say that writers write purely to entertain, but in doing so, they cheapen the worth of what they write.  It is also true that some people want to be entertained by the review.  I still it can be done without ruining the integrity of the review.  If we disagree that a review cannot be objective, then we will never agree.  I am not going to take it personally.  I have a lifetime of being analytical and critical of journalists in general.  I don't feel the need to just settle for what they dish out. "

I believe you may be right that we will not agree on this issue.  I just don't believe that people can be purely objective on the level you seem to be referring to.

@oldschool said:

" Yes and no.  A review should have 2 very distinct components, personal opinion (whether they liked it, the story, the characters et cetera)  and relevant facts (that affect the game like camera, pop-ups, glitches et cetera).  The score should reflect the technical aspects of the game more than the personal opinions.  ........ dons flame guard ............ "

I don't necessarily agree with this.  While technical aspects are important, after all nobody wants a sloppy game, they can't (and shouldn't) hold more weight than the personal experience of the writer.  By your theory a game could be technically perfect and as such the score for that game should reflect that more than the opinion points.  However what if that game does everything right but is outright boring and just not  fun?  Does that game deserve a high score?  I think if reviewers started doing things as such 
 
I've never liked review scores that break out the aspects of the game (ala IGN or Gamespot's old formula) because by doing so you are implying that each technical aspect has more weight than if the game is actually good or not based on the reviewers opinion, which by the text of any review it obviously does not.  Could you imagine if Roger Ebert reviewed movies and broke the film down by technical aspects and let those talking points influence his ratings more than his personal opinion?  There are only  two reasons we read reviews and that is to get someone's take on something we are going to buy or for said reviewer to validate our purchase and it all comes down to whose opinions do we want to trust more.

@TwoOneFive said:

28 Days, Signs (dude it freaked me out when i saw it in theaters), Sixth Sense, Saw, and umm oh yeah The Decent. That movie had me goin with all the claustrophobic shit.  "

I am assuming you are referring to 28 Days Later?  In anycase 28 Days Later and The Descent are both Brit horror films not American ones.  Signs is at best a sci-fi thriller and the Sixth Sense is a horror film by material (ghosts) association only.  You are not making a very good argument for American horror flicks with that statement.
 
In anycase I would argue that Saw II (along with the original Hostel) are the only two decent examples of "torture porn".  Saw (which could be said to have ushered in the "torture porn" phenomenon)  is a good psychological horror flick but it suffers from weak pacing, poor writing and some ham-fisted acting by Carey Elwes and Danny Glover.

My problem with the game is that  the release of Shadow Complex proved that full sized games can come out on XBLA and PSN for a budget price point.  I can't justify spending $50 on this game because of that.  I'll play it (through Gamefly) but $50 is a little steep for me to pay for it at retail.

  ...that people play a game properly.

I've been playing online games long enough that I understand there are a select group of "special" individuals who make it their life's goal to make other people's leisure time a giant pain in the ass. Be it homophobic racists in Halo, assholes who leave the map in Gears of War, or even people who take advantage of the ever present blue-line glitch in the NHL series, they are out there and all of us have to accept it.

I've recently developed a strong addiction to Battlefield 1943 and while I can't stand the asshole in the game who is standing on the aircraft carrier in Air Superiority waiting for planes to spawn so he can blow them up with a rocket launcher I've come to accept his stupidity. What I can't stand is his/her moronic counterpart. You all know the guy (or girl), the one who gets in a plane and has no idea how to fly it, treating it more like a flying bulldozer than a fighter jet.

News flash to players of Battlefield 1943, the blue team is yours so it behooves you to maybe not try and run them out of the sky as you pursue a kill because all you are going to do is get yourself and your teammate killed. I myself am not the greatest pilot and still generally get more kills in a plane by running it head on into my opponent but I do know to avoid running into my own team members for both our sakes. Oh and in the game proper when you choose the sniper class please find yourself a nice bunker or grove of tress to hang out in, you aren't meant to be front line troops and trying to back up regular infantry with your bolt action rifle generally just means you and your squad mates are going to die. Really its OK to camp if you want to be a sniper.

I love when my plate becomes a sea of blood.

@Azteck said:

" It's when you realize after hundred of hours in a game that "Holy mother of god, there's a sun out there". Then you go out there and eat an ice-cream.That's how you beat a multiplayer game. "

I do love me some ice cream.

@NickM said:

" When you realize that literally no one else is playing the multiplayer for the 360 version of Unreal Tournament III. I clearly won that game.  "

I have that game too, sad thing is there is really no one playing it on any of the three platforms it was released on.

Growing up beating a game was a big deal. Completing Super Mario Bros., Castlevania or Metal Gear was like a badge of honor and you wanted everyone to know. Games have changed since then but somewhere in the back of my head I still keep a small running tally of what is going on. Halo, Gears, Call of Duty, Killzone 2, Resistance, etc... all have something in common, they are great multiplayer shooters that have a single player component. You can easily say I beat (or finished) Halo 3 because there is a campaign that you can play through but what about games like Shadowrun, Team Fortress 2 or the recently released Battlefield 1943?

I am currently having a blast traversing the Pacific theater, taking over strategic points, killing people with my trusty SMG and crashing into trees whenever I try to fly a plane but the game got me thinking, how does one beat a game like Battlefield 1943? Can you claim superiority over the title once you max out your rank, reach prestige, achieve some other arbitrary factor or is it something else entirely? For that matter is it even possible to claim you've beaten a multiplayer game?

With no endgame the lines of understanding are not only blurred but completely invisible. Where and when can one actually claim they beat a multiplayer game or has gaming moved past such tangible badges of honor?

And can you ever really beat WoW? (outside of quitting the addiction that is)

dahuman said:

I agree, that's also why this game isn't a 2/5, because it's not that bad on those fronts either, been done before doesn't mean it's done bad, because everything on something like KZ2 has been done before and done better, except for the graphics in motion department, for a console game. /shrug "

The problem with that argument is that KZ2, at the very least meets the standards set for modern day shooters whereas parts of The Conduit work for today's gamers (controls, multiplayer) a lot of it meets the standards of FPS games from almost a decade ago (single player, level design, voice acting) and that is just not  acceptable.

@dahuman said:

absolutely not, it's the 3rd party(MP3 shooting felt fine, but that's first party, and this game is in fact better on the control front,) but that's another topic, however, you can't deny that a lot of people(reviewers) are having problems with this game at the start because they are not as used to the controls, and will not mark it very high but the truth is that this is the best "console" FPS when it comes to controls to date, the question is, do you suck at it? "

Except the game should not just be judged on its controls.  It is the sum of its parts, single player, multiplayer, level design, graphics, sound, controls, etc...

In the end it might be the "best "console" FPS when it comes to controls to date" but the rest of it has been done before and better on other platforms.

So today I got to watch the E3 press conferences from the comfort of my own home on my television. Here are some of my thoughts from this mornings / afternoons conferences.

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Last year Nintendo kicked me in the balls with their press conference and it hurt. A lot. Since then I have been walking around with a special cup to protect against any spontaneous Nintendo attempts on my testicles. Needless to say I went into the Nintendo press conference with little to no expectations that Nintendo was going to announce anything remotely interesting to me. Surprisingly they did announce some things, although seemingly not what many of you wanted.

New Super Mario Bros Wii - I like Mario. This game is old school Mario, thus it is awesome.

Wii Fit Plus - I couldn't care less about this but my wife enjoys Wii Fit so if it is reasonably priced I'll probably pick it up.

Wii Sports Resort - Wii Motion Plus, yay, I guess? It releases end of July so I guess that's a cool thing.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers - I like Final Fantasy so this one could be fun.

Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story - The DS truly is the portable RPG machine. I've never been a huge Mario RPG fan but I might give this a go.

Golden Sun DS - I don't know anything about this series other than it is an RPG. I'll probably pass.

James Patterson Women's Murder Club: Games of Passion - ummm... OK, how did this make the cut into the presentation

C.O.P. The Recruit - a GTA like game for the DS. Sounds cool. Could be fun.

Mario Vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again - wow there sure are a lot of DS games.

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks - a lot of them...

And the WTF moment of the show goes to Wii Vitality. I am not sure what the hell this thing is. Is the Wii really a piece of hospital equipment. I can't wait for Wii IV or Wii Defibrillator.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 - I was happy with New Super Mario Bros Wii, this is like the happy ending after a nice massage. Why didn't Miyamoto introduce this one? Anyway it should be great and maybe it will have a Wii hospital accessory to be used with it.

The Conduit - not for me.

Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles - Nice but is it another light gun game? I'm not sure I want one of those again.

Dead Space: Extraction - Again nice but don't care.

Metroid: Other M - Oh My God! This is awesome. Yes its made by the remnants of the Ninja Gaiden Team Ninja but then again Nintendo isn't going to let Metroid suck so this should be as great as it looks. I wasn't a fan of the 3D Metroids and this seems like a return to the old style (mixed with some new style as well). Yes this game is awesome, why do I have to wait until 2010 for it. Ugh..... Anyway awesome way to end the show.

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Favorite announcements: Metroid: Other M, Super Mario Galaxy 2, New Super Mario Bros. Wii

Least Favorite announcements: Wii Vitality and James Patterson Women's Murder Club - seriously what the fuck?

Overall grade to Nintendo: A

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And then after coming down from my high I sat down to watch the Sony show. A lot had already leaked so I was expecting a rather boring conference from them even though the games were sure to rock.

Sony kicks off with a video montage of gameplay footage using Queen's One Vision as its song. Tretton on stage.... blah blah blah talking about the PS2 (nine years in, $99, huge value, blah... blah... blah) 100 new PS2 games this year.

Seriously do we need to spend that much time on the PS2? We get it, the thing is mad successful but can we get to the new stuff?

Infamous - already out....

Uncharted 2 - multiplayer beta starts tonight at Midnight. Demos single player story against a helicopter. Looks amazing. Nate is sarcastic as ever. awesome awesome looking. I am getting this.

MAG - Still a stupid name. Live gameplay of 256 person match. Not the best looking game but.... its huge. I'm getting this. It's awesome.

Sony is 2 for 2 so far.

PSP Bundles out the ying yang. We are getting bundles for Rock Band Unplugged, Final Fantasy Dissidia, Assassin's Creed Bloodlines, and Hannah Montana?

Whatever? It all seems silly after Kaz Hirai (who seemed quite happy to be there) unveils Sony's newest piece of hardware called Called the Worst Kept Secret of E3 (Hirai is funny) or the PSP Go. Not replacing the PSP3000 and will be marketed along side it. Plays the same games. 50% smaller and 40% lighter than the original PSP. 16Gig and integrated wifi and bluetooth. MediaGo introduced, able to access the PS Store from your PC. PSP Sense Me (sounds like Apples Genius feature) 80% reduction in the cost of dev kits. All games will be distributed by the PS Store or by UMD. PS Store video service is available directly from the PSP starting today. PSP Go $249 on October 1.

I like it. I am going to get it, I think, maybe.... yeah I am going to get it.


Polyphony Digital takes the stage that can mean only one thing.....

Gran Turismo PSP. Full Scale GT. 60FPS. 800 cars, 35 tracks with multiple layouts. I want. blah....blah.... blah... Just give me the date already....... blah..... blah.... blah..... Really just give me the date.....blah....blah....car trading.... blah.....

I'm going to strangle this guy....

Game looks great and best of all it hits October 1

Kojima takes the stage. It's Metal Gear time.

"PSP is getting really hotter and Snake is coming back on the PSP"

MGS: Peace Walker is announced, no surprise there. 10 years after MGS3, true sequel in the MGS franchise. Kojima kinds of looks like a bird. He's writing the script and the main MGS team is on this game. Man he really wants to stress that this is his game. What does that mean for Rising? Peace Walker will be tailored for the PSP.

Multiple Snakes!!! Outer Heaven!!!!!

I want!

Sony is now 4 for 4.

RE PSP, LBP, Motorstorm Arctic Something or other and a bunch of other PSP games I don't know are coming soon. The PSP is looking up.

PSN Time...

Final Fantasy VII !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AVAILABLE NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SONY WINS

No need for me to buy a $200 sealed copy anymore, I can just download it. In fact as soon as this is over I am going to do that. (Accept it is still not there but Resident Evil: Director's Cut is....)

PS Home.....I don't care. Evidently a lot of people do though.

Agent - PS3 Exclusive from Rockstar North. Set in the 70s and is a spy game. It will probably play like GTA IV, which I didn't like, but I'll get it anyway because spys rule.

Assassins Creed 2 - the sequel to AC (duh?) quest for vengeance. Will interact with DaVinci. Looks amazing, I'll probably hate it but play through it anyway. Can connect the PSP game to the PS3 version for special unlockables to be used in AC2.

Final Fantasy XIII - Looks pretty. I'll be getting it on both PS3 and 360 because I am insane.

Final Fantasy XIV - WTF? Awesome. Seems like an MMO set in the "classic" (read not space shit FF universe). I might just have to start playing MMOs. Giant mounted chickens FTW! Oh and it is PS3 exclusive, nice grab Sony.

Uh oh.... motion control time. It's a magic wand. Its ridiculous. I want to crawl into a hole. I hate motion control.

five minutes later.....

I hate to say it but it is actually pretty impressive. Spring 2010. I'll be interested to see how it develops from this point forward, it has potential and Sony isn't just trying to show how we can have fun as a family they want to use it for "real" games. We'll see. I'm interested, against my better judgment.

LBP Disney costumes this fall. Cool I guess?

ModNation Racers - LBP style racing game. It's like Mario Kart but with user created content. Tools look easy to use and tracks should be easy to make. I want it.

The Last Guardian - Not really a surprise. Looks great, my wife thinks it looks stupid so it is bound to be awesome. What happened to the little fat Mexican kid though?

GT5 - Still looks awesome, evidently has NASCAR sponsorship but still no release date. I am beginning to think that this is vaporware too. At least GT PSP is coming.

God of War III - It looks like more God of War, this time with nut snatching action. Awesome.

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Favorite announcements: Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Gran Turismo PSP, Final Fantasy VII, PSP Go, Final Fantasy XIV, ModNation Racers, The Last Guardian, Sony Motion Control

Least Favorite announcements: I wasn't disappointed in any of their announcements, some of their non-announcements though could make a list of their own.

Overall grade to Sony: A+