Re: Games Discussion Thread
I rather liked the castlevania re-boot we got, sure it's a little trite that dracula is the first belmont but that's castlevania for you. The only thing I really couldn't get behind was the final battle of the first *derp, switch colors to run over lines* was an awful gimmick to have placed on the final battle. I do concur about the Iga-vanias though, people who bitch and piss and moan about Iga ruining castlevania and wanting a return to 'classic' castlevania are annoying as all hell. Because, yaknow, doing a jump wrong and having to start the game over WAS SOOOOOOOOOO FUCKING FUN, WASN'T IT?
Final Fantasy however... They really just chose the WRONG game to make sequels of. XIII was one of the MOST HATED titles to come out of the series, mostly because of the shit mechanics choices they made. Wanna get stronger because random battles are kicking your ass? NOPE THERE'S A LEVEL CAP ON EACH AREA. Want to explore some of the world, go to locations at your own pace? NOPE FREEROAM IS LIMITED TO A SMALL LATE GAME AREA.
Funny thing is, XIII-2 fixed these problems and was a far better experience because of it. Unfortunately they made the horrible decision to keep time flowing while you were in menus during a character's turn in a fight, and with the speed of fights it was far more useful to just let the damn computer decide what moves to use, add in enemies that take forever to beat (there must have been some internal friction, because a faster ATB system really doesn't make sense if you're just going to give all the enemies bigger numbers), and you've got a pretty dull experience for the player.
Then lightning returns was released, and damn I gotta say: Throwing out the old ATB system was the best choice Squenix has made in 3 games. However, yet again what could have been a really great title was hamstrung by a few shitty decisions, the intention of the game is that you don't have enough time to win on your first play-through. FUCK THAT. I'll sink a hundred hours into a game without batting an eyelash, but NO WAY IN HELL am I going to watch the same cutscenes and do all the same quests and manage every second I play perfectly 3 or more times to see the good ending. Which oddly enough was a great ending for the FFXIII setting!
To anyone who says Squenix isn't trying to breathe new life into FF by taking risks and looking for alternatives to classic formula I say: You're blind.
. Some may feel differently, but I feel the same way about Final Fantasy as I do the Resident Evil series. Sure, FF 7, 8, and 9 were all OK, but still yet they led the series to what it's become today. No more turn based battles. Even the FF7 remake is going the way of live action fights. I thought Dirge of Cerberus fared rather poorly because of the lack of turn based fights in it. I wish they would return to their roots and make something like FF6 (aka FF3 on SNES) again. Go back to that art style, the mechanics, etc..
First: They made a sequel to one of those pre-7 FFs, it was not good from what I hear.
Second: NO, to everything I just quoted. If you want to play the games of yore, just grab a rom and emulator off the net. If you want to play games like them, you will find a MULTITUDE of indie/small dev team games JUST LIKE THEM. Hell, you don't even have to go very far from this page to do so, just go into the Hgames section, there's at least a thousand turn-based JRPGs there plus they also include porn! This is the exact same mentality Squid just mentioned industry execs having: churn out more of the thing that made us money last time.
I, for one, would rather be a little disappointed by something new and innovative than to pay 60$ for a 30 year old fuckin game I've played over a dozen variations of. Sure FFXV has a shit-ton of product placement, and that saddens me a bit, though from the footage I've seen it's rather tastefully implemented and you know what? I'm DAMN EXCITED for Final Fantasy: DELUXE BROMANCE CAMPING GOODBYE SHIT TURN-BASED BATTLES EDITION 2.0
As an aside: Capcom is horrible at making decisions about what to do with their series, one only needs to have played Megaman Legends to know this, why the fuck would they return to pushing out the old side-scrolling crap in 2.5d?