SE Weighs in on the Next Gen War

[Claquesous]

SE may force me to buy a PS3 after all...

[Piraya]

This doesn't seem like anything new or different than anyone was expecting. Square Enix was already talking about ffxiii and another ff for the ps3. The biggest thing outta that article is that SE will be making a game for the Wii and 360 which i wasn't expecting at all. I'm a die hard nintendo fanboy...but by no means am I a die hard ff or SE die hard and this one company will not be motivation enough to pick up a ps3...especially at launch price.

[Claquesous]

Launch price is ridiculous. I may buy my PS3 after they launch PS4.

[Piraya]

No single game is worth the launch price, especially their launch line up of games. Ridge Racer 7 woot...
The final fantasy series has really digressed over the years in my opinion...focusing more on cut scenes and cinegraphics all shiny and sparkly but the playable screen is the same ps2 graphics. Personally I prefer ingame playable graphics and often times simply skip through a cutscene. I also dislike it when people hype final fantasy to be this amazing game with great graphics...the cutscene graphics are not what makes the game amazing IMO. Thats like saying a car that just got done by Pimp My Ride could beat a Ferrari in the quarter mile. All they did was make it look better not any faster. So until Final Fantasy turns to a real time crisp ingame graphics I'll never view the series as high tech or amazingly detailed as its easy to make a turn-based game look nice.

And regarding the ps3 launch I definately won't even consider it then. Maybe when they drop the price but even if its around the 360's launch price I probably won't get it. Unless they come out with a game that pulls me back like Zelda does Sony will never be where my fanboyism lands.

[Claquesous]

I am a completely unabashed FF fanboy. As someone with only a passing interest in FF, I would respectively argue, that you, Piraya, don't have a good understanding of what makes FF so popular.

I personally could hardly care less about these "flashy" cut scenes of which you speak. I personally play FF for the story and the music. I have played through FF1 about three times, FF4 about five and FF7 and FF8 twice each. Several of these play throughs were well after the graphics were completely outdated so clearly that wasn't the draw for me. Also telling was the fact that when I play FF4 I almost always let the crystal theme play all the way through. I commonly played Julia from FF8 on repeat on my computer. When I beat FFX, I would leave the game on for hours so I could listen to the end theme. Final Fantasy is beautiful.

For the most part, I think most people would agree with me in what makes FF great. I do remember that FF7 and FFX were marketed as games that look good, and I'm sure that benefited their sales, but it's still not why I enjoyed FFX so much. I think FFX probably had the best written story since FFVII and almost definitely the most coherent one ever. I could care less about how good it looks.

I'd love to hear Aelf's comments on this issue because I know he's a diehard FF fan just like me.

[Claquesous]

Oh by the way, Zelda is great too. I play it for some of the same reasons I play FF. I would say that it is better in it's cuteness factor. I love the sounds the boy Link makes in many of the games. Music is fairly even overall. However, the story is very similar in most of the games and I'd say that's probably why I don't enjoy it quite as much as I enjoy FF.

I bought PS2 for FF7-X and I bought Gamecube for Zelda.

[novia]

Bravo claq i couldn't have put it better mysef. FF is one of thebest series of games put out in my opinion.

[Piraya]

You my friend are notorious at misinterpreting my posts regarding this. My comments were directed towards the people who play up FF as having amazing graphics by judging it based on the cutscenes rather than gameplay bug me. I still play Mario Kart 64, I still play old games regardless of graphics but the fun factor left FF for me when they went with Sony and focused more on cinegraphics then gameplay for me. Analyze my post a little closer and don't refer to me as a passing by FF fan, I had FF 1-3 and played several on playstation and could never get into the ones for playstation.

[Claquesous]

My good friend Piraya, I think your reference to Sony is unfortunate. Square made a business decision early on to release on Sony rather than Nintendo. Whether you agree with this or not, it doesn't affect the actual game. If you let it colour your opinion of a game before playing it you are depriving yourself of the opportunity to enjoy the game to its fullest potential.

I think our difference in game choice is pretty clear. To me, gameplay is something that shouldn't get in the way of the story. For you, I believe it is nearly the opposite. RPGs in general don't have much gameplay, and I don't think they need it. You may have enjoyed FF1 because when there are two buttons and a directional pad game play isn't all that varied. Now that systems have advanced and there is so much gameplay you can do, the same cancel and confirm button pressing that has always existed in RPGs seems quite banal.

Square tried to add a little bit of varied gameplay in FFX through Blitzball and some of the other mini-games. I will gladly admit that they failed. It is still repetitive and requires very little skill. Nonetheless I played it for over 200 hours.

This off topic thread seems to have gone off topic, but let me conclude. The modern era of gaming has brought large amounts of varied gameply with which Square hasn't really kept up. Nonetheless, I think they have made some attempts at adding varied gameplay so your argument that they have digressed is somewhat unfair. Nevertheless, RPGs are inherently going to be somewhat repetitive. (Fight a monster get some loot and experience, repeat until really big and rich.) I believe that most RPG fans are more interested in the story/music/character development etc. I think Square has made significant strides in these areas so I would argue that the games have not digressed but rather have greatly improved over the years.

Novia, thank you for your words of support but please do add some details about why you enjoy FF or I fear Piraya may accuse you of being a mindless fanboy... err... girl.

[Piraya]

I'm done...you're idea and opinion of me are getting in the way of you actually reading what I had to write. Nothing biased here or was refering to any bias about Sony. Simply stating that the turn FF took when they contracted out to Sony exclusively made it a game I didn't enjoy anymore like the first 3. Where you read that b/c it was Sony rather than Nintendo of why I didn't like the latest in the FF series is beyond me but you got it somewhere...but it wasn't in my post. So where could it have come from? Your opinion and judgements that I'm that irrational of a person to post a nonbiased reason of why I didn't like FF on the playstation. I'll make it crystal clear now so you have nothing to be condescending about. I owned ps2 when it was first released....LAUNCH DAY!!! I'm not a microsoft fanboy, I simply prefer their product over Sony for personal reasons along with the games available. I did not care for the FF series after Sony made the others as they went in a different direction than I liked so I quit playing the games...not for the reason you're judgement is clouded with "I hate FF b/c its only on Sony".