All right, this thread begs a question in particular, and I can tell from a cursory glance of the posts so far that it's been brought up. But I'm just gonna set aside my feelings on XIII for a second, because there are other more pertinent things to talk about - trends that can be traced much farther back. Now, I started with FFVII, but I have since reached back into the series to the more memorable 16-bit titles; the only ones I haven't touched (yet) are the first three. I've also played chunks of XII and XIII. The thing I notice is that, over the years, the more the technology that powers the series has evolved, the more Square and Square Enix have begun to take control away from the player. Until FFX, there really was no such thing as a "cut scene" in Final Fantasy. What we got instead were short CG scenes as a reward for reaching certain milestones in the game. They're short because they take up a lot of processing power, but that's what makes them so sweet; the developers knew they'd have to fit as much as they could into as short a frame of time. More importantly, in lieu of fully realized cut scenes, often the story was advanced by long stretches of dialogue. But even these weren't ever completely hands-off; every now and then Square would throw a curveball at you, with one character interrupting another's speech bubble, or posing a choice to you, or allowing you freedom of movement while someone was talking. That meant you never put down your controller. It kept you invested, kept you alert, made you feel like you were always in control, even at points where you had to hand it over. As much as I love Final Fantasy X, I believe it was the start of some disconcerting trends in the Squaresoft design philosophy. Kingdom Hearts showed shades of this as well. They started to take control away from the player. They started telling the story without the player instead of depending on you to advance. They completely mistook what fans loved about the series to date: the richness and depth of setting and the feeling of actually playing a role in a grand epic, slaying dragons, discovering grand treasures, raging against the heavens themselves, what have you. They began to phase that out and focus on more pretty things, more CGI. This is what led to KHII being a clunky piece of garbage, I believe it's partially responsible for the quality of Final Fantasy XIII, and it's probably a piece of the "Why hasn't Versus XIII been released yet" puzzle. But it's only one point of interest, and there are many more. If you compare Squaresoft's list of games to Square Enix's, you'll probably notice that they didn't start going crazy with ports, sequels, and spin-offs until they made that merger. (That's also around the time these flashier main series entries started coming out, but no need to beat a dead horse.) Square Enix is a nostalgia factory. A recycling plant of video games. Squaresoft created all these beautiful titles, kickstarted so many excellent series, and it seems that their successor is just trying to cash in on that instead of continue the tradition. I can name the number of unique, enjoyable Squeenix titles I've played on one hand, whereas I'd need an extra person to help me with the Square games. If it seems like I'm pining for the old days too, well, you might be right about that. But I'm also not one to deny the bare facts. This started with Squaresoft. All of the games that brought about this change can be traced back to the original company. Hell, Square put out X-2, and that was a disaster in all but the combat. But we don't exactly blame Notorious B.I.G. for the collapse of mainstream rap, and we shouldn't blame Square for doing what worked, especially since they never exaggerated it to Square Enix's degree. (Of course, maybe Nomura's the P. Diddy in this analogy, but I wouldn't know enough to follow up on that.) SE is the one who put out All the Bravest, and that might be the greatest travesty of a "game" anyone's ever heard of. It's pretty clear, no matter how long Square had the ball, Squeenix snatched it up and took off like a shot. Ok, those are the two points everyone sees coming. But I think there's a third item to address, which I don't hear people talk about very often. Squaresoft, and even moreso Square Enix, love to experiment. And what both companies definitely have in common is they're not very good at it. Exhibit A: The Bouncer. I picked this game up for less than ten dollars back in the early 2000's, and I thought I was getting a bargain. Then I sat down with it for an hour and realized I'd been scammed. "Unplayable" is generous; "a steaming pile of the devil's excrement" is a compliment. If you managed not only to endure that game, but beat it, you might actually be the next incarnation of the Dalai Lama. And that was early Square! Square Enix would go on to release such "memorable" titles as Dirge of Cerberus - which I honestly liked a lot, mind you, but I can still admit it has its share of problems. FFXI was such a radical break from formula that I barely know any FF fans who've actually played it at length, and I'm told that XIV is disliked even by MMO fans. Now, at the same time, these experiments occasionally yield beautiful results; after all, what else can we call Kingdom Hearts? And it's been successful enough to bring us all together here. The World Ends with You is another stand-out example, one that far too few of us have played for how brilliant and enchanting it is. The problem, sadly, is that Squeenix's win-loss ratio on these gambles is discouraging. They may have been able to afford these risks at one point, but now each hit they take is costing them dearly. I only foresee this ending one of two ways: Either they will stop taking risks entirely, leading to bland games that barely meet their sales goals and essentially have Square Enix living paycheck to paycheck; or they will continue to bet big bucks on these hit-and-miss experiments, and ultimately go under. Ok, now that that's out of the way, LET'S TALK ABOUT HOW MUCH I HATE FINAL FANTASY XIII. It's not even a f#$%♪@& fantasy! Every other game in the series has incorporated scant to moderate amounts of sci-fi elements, but retained the focus on the hero's journey, the wonderment of exploring a new realm and unlocking its mysteries, and the ultimate clash of good and evil. FFXIII is cyberpunk with magic. That's the plain and simple truth. Everyone with any ounce of purity is either a wuss or a ditz, and everyone else is either an insufferable jerk or crooked as an abortion clinic wire hanger. There's no fantastic world to explore because it just drags you along for the ride and feeds everything to you in journal entries and data files (JUST BECAUSE IT WORKS FOR MASS EFFECT DOESN'T MEAN IT WORKS FOR EVERYBODY, SQUEENIX). No one really learns anything in the end, except how utterly screwed they are. This approach works fine for some people and some stories, but it's not Final Fantasy. Of all the myriad things Final Fantasy has been, it has never been this. There has never been so great a break from tradition before now; no matter how angsty the characters got, no matter how many flashy, beeping deelywhoppers they got to mess around with. This is in addition to faults in the combat and story in general, and there are plenty. So not only is it not Final Fantasy, but for what it is, it's not even that good! More italics are necessary to prove my point! I believe Final Fantasy XIII is the culmination of the three cardinal flaws in Square Enix's design philosophy. It is flashy, it features lengthy cut scenes that move the game forward in baby steps, and it keeps control of the game away from the player. Many of its characters are shallow throwbacks to well-liked characters in Final Fantasy's history; this has been admitted. (Not the shallow part, that is, but the throwback part.) And it is such a dramatic step away from the classic formula, such a bold and dangerous foray into territories untested, that it couldn't help but receive some backlash - and really didn't come out much better for the effort than games where they just did what they do best. Yes, Final Fantasy is falling apart. If Square Enix does not fix this, it is going to tank. I believe that with all my heart, now matter how it aches to think of it. It's their flagship series; if people lose interest in it, the company's options will start to shrink. I think Squeenix realizes this as well; it's probably why they acquired Eidos, though that doesn't seem to be going well, either. I just wish I knew what to do about it. They've been saved by miracles before, but those miracles came from bright minds with brilliant ideas, and the drive to make them a reality. Unfortunately, those kinds of people don't just turn up every day. Nomura's been at the wheel on several projects for a long time, and I believe he's trying his best, but one man can only provide so many ideas. After KHIII and VXIII finally come out, and maybe (crossing my fingers 'til they break) we see a bona fide TWEwY sequel, what else will he do? What else can he do? I dunno, my forecasts for the Sonic franchise were as grim as this around the time Sonic '06 came out, and they managed to pick up the pieces. Maybe SE can manage it too. It just stings to see a company responsible for so many fond childhood memories suffering like this. As an addendum can I just say that y'all need to stop hatin' on FFVIII that sh#% was fun LAGUNA'S BETTER THAN YOUR FAVORITE FF CHARACTER
BOKU NO BIBLETOADS
HEY YOU SHITMAT WHERE'VE YOU BEEN <3
Impossible There'd have to be way more blushu
My hair used to be out of control. Then I realized I was only growing it out to emulate somebody nobody liked, so I Locks of Love'd it. Christ it was great to cut all that off. Made washing it so much less of a chore. Except now it's growing out again because I can't find anybody to cut it; the lady who did it the last few times doesn't work at the salon anymore.
...Japs are weird Welcome to the Spamzone I BEG TO DIFFER WE ARE HAVING A VERY IMPORTANT DISCOURSE ON THE DESTRUCTIVE POWERS OF ALCOHOL
Yo fuck a couch nigga Fork ain't dead, he just migrated to Skype Haa haa I know where she went and no one else does~ WATCH YOUR MOUTH
BUSTA WOLF
Is now a bad time to mention I'm not all that into Auron ALSO THAT'S CLEARLY SACRED WATER WHAT BOOZE DO YOU KNOW THAT JUST LIGHTS NIGGAZ UP WHEN U SPRAY IT ON A BLADE
Excuse you my Kingdom Hearts OC is not Rock fucking Lee Besides drinking before a fight is like jerking it with IcyHot: You'll probably just end up looking stupid and injuring yourself, in no particular order
I love when mods drunkpost because they don't get auto-merged JAYN BBY YOU SHOULD SKYPE ME SOMETIME WHEN YOU'RE LUCID I MISS THE FUCK OUTTA YOU BUT AM LIKE MAD SCARED TO BUG YOU BECAUSE YOU'RE USUALLY BUSY ;_;
Rated E10+ for alcohol reference & fantasy violence Name • Lifa Age • 21 Gender • Male Species • Human Good hand • Left Weapon • Daybreak (Keyblade, self-forged) Element • Fire Title • N/A Appearance • 6'1", 288 lbs. Basically a rectangle with a six-pack, but with the sweetest baby face you ever did see. Ends up just slightly on the chubby side, depending on his weekly work-out to pig-out ratio. Auburn hair, which he rarely cuts and often neglects to shave. "Low ponytail" isn't just a hairstyle, it's a lifestyle. Eyes are a muddy, unimpressive hazel. Likes • Fighting, drinking, cheese danishes Dislikes • Killing, silence, bugs Personality • Lifa has an odd sort of "bar charm" about him; he doesn't seem like the cuddly listener type, but he makes friends and makes them happy through sheer magnetism and excited energy. Of course, the occasional free round of drinks can't hurt either. At nearly all hours and in nearly all aspects, he's like a kid at play, and most can't help but smile at his antics. But when he puts on the war face, people step back. Loves to fight, hates to kill, even his enemies - especially his enemies. As he puts it, "Murder always claims at least two victims: One life ends and another is poisoned." Naturally, he is only so eloquent when sober, which is not often. People fascinate him, and he makes friends quickly and in abundance. Looking out for someone to call his own, though his luck in love has been less than stellar. History • Descendant of a clan that survived the Keyblade Wars, though he doesn't know much about it himself - only that his family decided early on that they weren't up for killing their own and defected, slipping into seclusion before the worst of it arrived. Now they train, hoping to preserve the arts without exposing them to the still-healing worlds. Lifa isn't as talented with a Keyblade as he is practiced, but even then, he is much more interested in traveling than training; this puts him at odds with the folks, which he "resolved" on his twentieth birthday by leaving home without notice. Life on the waves has been kind to him so far: a lot of sights to see, a lot of brews to drink, and every now and then a fine occasion to flash the ol' brass teeth. But drifting inevitably loses its appeal with time, and considering the terms on which he left, Lifa fears what welcome may be waiting for him at home. Theme • Kokkovirsi (Bonfire Song) I MADE ALL OF THIS UP ON THE SPOT WHY AM I SO GOOD AT MAKING CHARACTERS AND SO BAD AT ACTUALLY WRITING THEM
Evangelion Drinking Game v0.1 1 shot for every instance of ham-handed Judeo-Christian symbolism 1 shot whenever Gendo is a smug prick who never reveals his jaw 2 shots every time the utterly neurotic cast fails to get over their problems 2 shots for every blatant reference to a dead white male psychologist/philosopher Down the bottle when Shinji gets in the fucking robot
OH DEAR GOD WHAT HAVE YOU D-THE DREAM IS REAL AAA-A-A-A YAA WEE DUBAYAAAA NAAMUNAYAA YA AAAA AAAA
Sounds like paradise to me~
...Oh So I am :v Sorry the December bit slipped by me I was multitasking
WHUPPED HIS ASS GOT THE MOONLIGHT GREATSWORD OFF TO KILL KALAMEET (Btw, tell me these tracks aren't perfect for Artorias, Manus and Kalameet respectively)
Your ascendant is Sagittarius? ...That makes sense, actually. Order restored \o/
OFF I GO, TO THE CHANNELER'S LAND
