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I'm not saying they're bad

They're just so fucking samey

Like I can't even get through a full album

As much as I like Woolsey's work... I still really don't care for most of VI's cast. Character development is bare-bones because of how many different stories they're trying to tell; a lot of characters you expect to become hugely important barely get any screentime after a few major plot threads are resolved. Sabin and Cyan never advanced beyond the scenes where they're recruited, Shadow gets even less than that, Terra is gradually phased out over time, Setzer's pretty much always "the guy with the ship," and so on. The only ones who really interested me at all were Edgar and Celes, and then only briefly. FF has always had this problem, but in VI it's exaggerated due to a larger cast and a scattered plot.

Meanwhile, I can't see what people dislike about most of VIII's cast. They're all really expressive and they all have these little quirks that make them so much more human - a benefit of those additional animations. The only one who strikes me as radically unlikable in the beginning is Squall, and they do succeed in taking the edge off him; he doesn't become Mr. Sunshine, but he learns to work with and effectively lead a team, and they all grow to care about his well-being eventually. Almost every character gets a little bit of input in whatever they're doing, if you take the time to stop and talk with them, and each of them matures slowly and subtly. Rinoa starts off downright childish, but that kinda gets beaten out of her by the sorceresses pretty quick, and she has to find the courage to keep marching on. Zell is confrontational and kind of a brat at first, but in the thick of war he eventually becomes a model soldier - even if he still mouths off from time to time. Irvine isn't even the suave womanizer he appears from the start; memories of his shared experiences with the others dampen his mood and interfere with his mission many times, and he has to cope with that while the others remain blissfully ignorant.

VI set out to tell a story with no main character and a cast united by a common cause, while VIII aimed to tell one about a close-knit group that keeps finding its way back together and matures communally. We seem to be at odds on which of them succeeded.

He meant VI. Woolsey did VI's translation.

U SHUT YOUR WHORE MOUTH SFORZATO IS A PIECE OF SHIT

MAH GURL 2 STRONK LOVE THE JAYN LIVE THE JAYN

wow nobody got it i hate all of you

not actualdrunlk just sleep

DID SOMEONE SAY LET'S PLAY TRIVIA?!?!?!??!?!?!!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!!

Iss gud man I gotchu

Ok listen

I feel the way about PewDie that I feel about Rise Against

When you first start listening it's great!

But then you sit down with it for too long and you start to realize

it's

all

the same

and then you can never go back

(Like him in collabs tho)

I just I can't

I don't understand

Why is Kha'Zix in mid why is Elise one of the top 3 tOP LANERS WHAT IS THIS LIFE

That and holy shit if one more guy cusses at me in Spanish because I overextended I might actually light someone's house on fire

Back when I was still on The Middle Ground, Let's Plays were a budding concept. I believe they originated from SomethingAwful, but the internet tends to think everything comes from there. I was first acquainted with them on the MG forums, where someone would post several screenshots from the game and narrate, making fun of the characters or remarking on something odd, as well as offer any choices the game posed up to the other posters. It was sort of like playing the game communally. Pokemon was a popular one, since the forum could pick the player's team and name any newly caught Pokemon.

Variations existed, of course; one guy, Creepy, elected to post a naked run of Castlevania SotN ("naked" meaning no equipment or weapons), only in lieu of screenshots, he related his progress in the game as if it were some twisted story of a nude beautiful man storming through Dracula's castle and beating all of his minions to death with his bare, bloody hands. Tell you what, that guy was a crazy fucker, but he was one in a billion, and his run was a better read than anyone else's in that hellhole.

Wouldn't be a year or two after that until I started seeing videos cropping up on Youtube with Let's Play in the title. At this point, it seems to be a catch-all term for gamers with a capture card. So yes, a lot of people see it as game play with a commentary, and the point is the commentator is supposed to make the run more entertaining, but if you ask me that's just the blandest form of it. Totally unedited footage? Goes on for chunks of 30 minutes to an hour? Dude makes a half-hearted attempt at humor every minute or so? Few can be entertaining for that long. After a while it just becomes game footage with some idiot talking over it. Chrissakes guys, throw in some jump cuts or something.

The only exception I know of is PhantomSavage. That man can make his videos however the fuck long he wants, he is Phantom Motherfucking Savage.

I'm... about 75% sure Nas knew that.

E: And I was right.

Hi I'm Nova and I love this series ENTIRELY TOO MUCH for how indifferent I am to Halo

I didn't even think more was coming, so I'm excited. I kinda jumped in late - like way late, pretty sure 10 was already concluded by the time I caught up, but... yeah. Interested to see what they'll do with it now that the Freelancers are (presumably) out of the spotlight.

VIII takes a lot of heat for being scattered. And y'know what? I agree. I remember the plot as a pile of mush.

You know what other game in the series struck me that way? VI. And it gets nothing but praise. Why's one good and the other is garbage? Where's the justice? What makes Kefka so much better than Seifer, huh!?

YOU HEAR ME FANBOYS

YOUR CLOWN IS SHIT

ONE DAY I'M GONNA TELL HIM ABOUT MY ROMANTIC DREAM[DOUBLEPOST=1369121183][/DOUBLEPOST]

Disagree. Writing has established and effective conventions for a range of emotional expression and evocation, which is as much a part of the gaming experience as the bit where you hit the buttons and spin the sticks. It has rules, and breaking them should not be done lightly. It can be graded. The thing is, there are a lot of poorly written things in the world that are still enjoyable, even in the aspects of storytelling, and calling VIII bad is still a stretch. VIII has problems. But every FF has problems. VIII also does a lot of things right - enough of them that a sizable and fairly vocal part of the fanbase still regards it fondly after all these years.

The thing that most people - non-writers, I notice - don't get is that plot is only one part of a story. It's the part exclusively under the control of the writers. An equally important part, if not moreso in the case of video games, is atmosphere. And Final Fantasy VIII's atmosphere is beautiful. That is helped by the design of the characters, creatures, and setting, as well as a magnificent score with a host of memorable tracks. It also has a fair spread of stellar set pieces that help it along in the rough spots: early ones like the mission in Dollet, some in the mid-way such as the Deling City assassination, and even as far along as Ultimecia's Castle. These areas are fun to explore, the game play conditions are dynamic and unique, and all in all they just stick with you when you're done.

That is all part of the story of a video game. When you judge a game's story, you are looking not only at the work of the writers, who lay the foundation for the world, a plot set therein, and characters to move it along - but at the work of the artists, who bring those characters and settings onto the canvas; at the work of the designers and programmers, who mold the world into a playground for the gamer, a place where she learns to influence the story and becomes invested in it; at the work of the composers, who fill the silence of these wondrous worlds with equally wondrous music. When you understand what truly makes the story of a video game, you understand that Final Fantasy has never truly told a bad story - just one with a few bugs to work out, at worst. XIII being the potential exception-*brick'd*

I have enjoyed bad games before. I know the difference between a game I had fun with and a game I think is well-designed, and no, they do not always go hand-in-hand. But I guarantee you, FFVIII is no Shadow the Hedgehog. If you look at it as a whole, yeah, it looks pretty clunky, and the pieces don't quite go together. But those pieces are so damn great. Nostalgia goggles or no, even the most bright-eyed, naïve little toddler can be turned away from a game out of boredom, and VIII did not do that. Does that mean it's exemplary and should win awards? No. Would I have written it differently? Probably, yeah. Squall would've smiled more, for one, and I might've at least tried to explain where the hell Ellone got her powers. (And the Shumi tribe? Fuggedaboutit) But moment to moment, it is still entertaining; and as far as I'm concerned, that's reason enough to say it's not a bad game.

YEAH I CAN WRITE ESSAYS TOO LIBRE SUCK IT

What do you mean? It doesn't need to be justified, it is what it is. It's the start of justification for what he can do.

Gameplay and story segregation is hardly a new concept, and it affects some otherwise brilliant villains. Hell, I love Seekernort to death, but I don't believe I've ever died in a fight with him. Well... that second bit can be kinda brutal on Proud, but there are variables there. It happens that Squall is stronger than Seifer, but... put it one way, Seifer could probably take any of us in a fight.

That's odd, I didn't think XII was that hated. Just glossed over.

"Gently." My god, what a menacing name.

Man, if I knew a lick of programming, I might actually make a fangame based on these.

The only time I want to hear "Seifer" and "wasted" in the same sentence is "Dude Seifer just totally wasted Odin are you fuckin KIDDING ME!? THIS MAN IS UNREAL"

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