The beginning of the next era of video games - January 29th, 2000 - Andrew Kaufmann
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this column are those of the participants and the moderator, and do not necessarily reflect those of the GIA. Spark a flame in a heart, tear tears apart. There is coarse language and potentially offensive material afoot. Don't say we didn't warn you.
Final Fantasy IX. Final Fantasy X. Final Fantasy XI. Who'd have thunk it?
The events of the past 24 hours have been crazy, but now that they've happened,
let's try to make sense of it. The speculation is only just beginning!
As a letters columnist, I think it's my responsibility to be at the forefront
of the speculation and spread as many of my opinions as possible. I'm not sure
why, but I feel it is my destiny. Or something along those lines. Let's rock
and roll.
First off, Final Fantasy IX. We haven't seen much of it, but I'm quite
excited about this title. More so than any Final Fantasy since FFVI. Admittedly,
I'm one of the more old-school guys on GIA. FFIV is still my favorite FF, and
I'm tickled pink to see a more medieval-style fantasy setting. From the little
I've seen, FFIX looks like a souped up Final Fantasy Tactics in a straight-up
RPG style, rather than tactical style. Everyone's biggest fear is that of
uncreativity in the title; since it's returning to a more "cliche" environment.
I think that the style of the game is inconsequential toward a final assessment
of quality; a game that is well executed in whatever style it aims toward will
be a successful game. Whether or not FFIX succeeds in its goals remains to be
seen, but if you prefer the style of FFVII and FFVIII to that of FFIV, V, and VI,
don't count FFIX out.
I imagine that FFX is hard to describe without having seen it in true motion.
Badly taken stills likely don't do the game justice. So don't panic if what
you see at the moment isn't quite up to par with your expectations. Square
is putting a lot of energy into PS2 development, and obviously the FF franchise
is going to be the main recipient of said energy. The online element sounds
interesting, as well; tips available on the fly. Besides that, there's not much
to speculate about at this point, but money says this will be a money game.
FFXI is the variable in the three-pronged equation. Initial reaction is that
of worry, as evidenced by this first letter. What a smooth segue!
| Douglass Adams says, "Don't panic!" |
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What can I say about Square Millenium other than: yuck! To think that Square
is devoting their future to creating "massively multiplayer" online games
just makes me want to pull out my hair. There's a reason I bought FF7
instead of Ultima Online, there's a reason I bought FF8 instead of
EverQuest... those games totally suck! They're repetitive, simple, and
boring. I play RPGs for the storylines, because it's more involving than
watching a movie. I don't play RPGs to go on little quests and fight
monsters, while some pimple faced 12 year old shouts obscenities at me.
Last night after reading the update, I really seriously pondered giving up
gaming altogether, if this is where Square is planning to take things. But
this morning something hit me -- nobody, not even Square will be able to
force this crap onto people. First of all, I have SERIOUS doubts about their
"broadband network" thing. Just imagine little Johnny telling mommy she has
to buy him an ethernet card, cable modem, and then pay $40 a month so he can
play "nintendo" online. HA!
You say broadband prices will drop? To what? $30 a month? $20 a month? Ad
free internet access over phone lines is now as low as $8 a month, with
companies like NetZero and Freei offering totally free internet access. PSX
may have sold 70 million consoles, but most are to casual gamers who are not
going to drop hundreds of dollars to play online games. I doubt even half of
them have internet access.
And then there's the problem in Europe... PSX sold 25 million in europe.
Cable is extremely unpopular there, and even local telephone calls cost an
arm and a leg. I don't know about DSL, it might have problems with the old
phone lines that most european cities have. And DSL costs $50 a month, $40
for the DSL and then another $10 for the ISP, unless you want to use a free
ISP and pay $40 a month to be bombarded with ads.
Will this "massively multiplayer online" stuff catch on? It's really hard to
tell. Just how many people are really interested in that sort of thing? It's
hard to tell. One thing I do know is, in that kind of market, only one...
MAYBE two games can survive. The little new can't compete unless he can
offer a major improvement. EverQuest would've flopped bigtime if UO had gone
3D. Just look at all the EQ ripoffs, they're not doing too well. Can Square
compete with EQ? Probably not... Square will have trouble adding their
unique magic to such a bland and stale premice. How can you have story, how
can you have character development, when you have thousands of people
playing the same game at the same time? You just make a character, kill
monsters, and build your character. That's it. Any story Square could
provide would not affect the game, it'd be like the story of Doom or Quake
-- translation: who cares?
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OK, I sense a little concern in your tone. But that's OK! That's what we're here
for. I'm going to try to assuage your fears. Of course, I could be off my rocker,
in which case you're more than welcome to ignore me.
Basically, I think Square is going to redefine "multiplayer online game." Square's
been a trailblazer in the past, and I think they will be again at this point. I
just don't forsee Square plopping down tons of money into development of their
network and games only to produce an Everquest clone. I honestly think that our
man Sakaguchi is too sharp a cookie to do something like that.
That having been said, I do understand your worry about the monetary logistics
of the whole online thing. A monthly fee for FF? Plus online costs? PS2
broadband modem? If there's a fee for each, things could be messy. The exact
plans haven't been outlined yet, however, as I understand things. I could
easily foresee Square including unlimited FF online action if you're a subscriber
to their network.
It's difficult to predict exactly how things will work out from continent to
continent; likely it will be different on each. I'm going to put reservations
behind my statement, but I believe that FFXI will revolutionize gaming in a major
way. I could be wrong, though.
| A letter about FF. Really! |
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I can't beieve Square announced three new FF titles. I was just
expecting IX, but believe me, I have no problem with getting two more.
IX sounds interesting because we are getting back the four-member
parties (something we don't see too often nowadays), and the
"super-deformed and very off-the-wall" characters may finally get all
those FFVI loyalists to quit bitching and moaning about how the series
is now just eye candy for losers. Of course, FFX will make them hate
the series all over again, since it's "exceedingly realistic". I can't
tell you how badly I want to see some screens for this game...
especialyl that lush green valley. It just sounds so damn cool. And I
really want to know how the multiplayer aspect will work. Since XI is
the huge online world, I highly doubt X will be like that... I'm going
to guess that they'll include a few dungeons or mini-games that can only
be completed by using multiple parties, which means you'd have to play
online to get the treasure or whatever. Let's move on to XI now... this
game could be very cool, but I say "could be" for one reason. Do you
think Square can create a large enough world to accommodate every
player, or will they have various identical worlds, and everyone will be
assigned to a world that they can't leave until there game has ended? I
only bring this up because I believe it was Ultima Online that had that
huge shortage of land in it, and lots were being sold at eBay and sites
like that for a ridiculous amount of money, simply so everyone could
play the game. That said, I do really like the fact that you monsters
and ogres, rather than just humans. You can be the bad guys, which
sounds really fun. Just get a bunch of your friends to be ogres and
travel around in a pack terrorizing village people... it'd be great!
Anyway, these are just my thoughts on the show. It's too bad Square
wouldn't let ad media sources release screens and movies for the
games...
-CTZanderman
By the way, AK, I have a doctorate in Crazy Talk and Nonsensical Babel.
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Well, as someone famous said some time ago, you can't please everyone
all of the time. Some people are going to prefer the medieval thing,
others are going to prefer the more realistic thing. FFIX should go
a long way in satiating the thirst for gamers like myself that want
some fantasy-style action, though.
There's no solid evidence that I'm aware of that this is the case,
but here's another bit of rabid speculation: could FFIX, FFX and FFXI be
the first Final Fantasy titles that are directly related to each other?
Here's a scenario: in FFIX, you go out with your party and save the world
as you normally do. In FF X, titled "The Journey Home," you go home from
your quest. And then in FFXI you hang out and actually live on this world
as new plotlines develop. It's a thought, anyway. The fact that the main
characters have different names is but a mere detail; I'll figure out a reason
for that later.
By the way, CTZanderman, I have a BS degree in BS.
| Surprise, surprise |
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Major props to you folks at the GIA for your scooping FFIX. But FFX and IX?
Did ANYBODY see this coming?
-coldjones
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We at the GIA would like to sincerely thank you for the props and politely thumb
our noses at the sites that laughed at us for being insane.
As for those next two titles being announced at the same time, I guess it just
goes to show that if life teaches us anything, it's that we should never be
surprised by the surprising.
| Another eyebrow-raising Square character name
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Hi there,
I write this to you not to comlain like a jaded gamer about FFIX. It's to
inform your readers(hey i'm one of them!). First, i live in Quebec, and i
talk french. So....It's just that the unofficial name of a caracter, wich is
"Pipi", is odd. Very odd. In french, it mean... pee!!!! WHAT a great start
for the new final fantasy! Imagine how people will laugh their heads off
here!!! What the f*ck did the guy who translate that was thinking about!
Perhaps he wanted to...*ahem*. If you dont believe me go translate the word
"pee" from "English to French" at www.altavista.com! If it works properly
you'll see.
If it happens by any means to be the real name of that caracter, i'm gonna
start a petition that i'll send to Square EA so they change the name!!
hahaha...what a laugh!
-Quezacolt
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Well, that's kinda cute, isn't it? At least the character isn't named
Cold Front or Whirlwind or something weather related. Gotta count our
blessings!
| Talk about another sequel |
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*sigh* I see this column and only two people seem to even be happy there is a
Chrono Trigger sequel. As I read on a website, 'when Chrono Cross was
announced, people didn't say, 'Yay! Finally!' they said, 'This sucks! It
isn't exactly like Chrono Trigger!'. Nomatter how good the game actually is,
people will still find some reason, some little detail which they think ruins
the gaming experience for them. It's actually quite sad, Chrono Cross isn't
even out yet and already people are saying it sucks. FF8 didn't even get
THIS much flac. There is a sequel to Chrono Trigger, people. The main
character is not Crono. It uses a new system. Live with it.
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Preach on! I agree with you entirely.
| Eyes on who? |
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I have you now, AK. You'll finally have to answer this question I've had
for you since...Last year.
The question? You ask in puzzlement...Yes, the question, I reply.
What did you think of Eyes On Me from FFVIII?
~Ian P.
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Poor Ian sent this letter ages ago, and I missed it, then resent it, and I
didn't do the column for a while. But finally, it will be answered!
I thought the song was very average. It was about as average as a song can
get. It sounded pretty generic and unoffensive, no risk taken. A female
voice crooning about love in a pretty standard pop format. So I wasn't
horribly impressed.
But it's not that bad to listen to. That's the thing about music; even
generic stuff can sound good.
Closing Comments
Well, if you've been wondering where I've been hiding, you're not alone. Let's
just say I've been busy. I'm sure we'll have more FF talk tomorrow, and more
concerns about the online thing. Send those letters!
-Andrew Kaufmann
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