Pinch hitter - May 21, 2000 - Chris Jones
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this column are those of
the participants and the moderator, and do not necessarily reflect those of the GIA. There
is coarse language and potentially offensive material afoot. When I consider the sheer
amount of ads on TV that I'd never buy the products for, it makes me wonder why they
bother. Don't say we didn't warn you.
AK's still moving, so he asked me to step in for him today. And step in I shall, tho I
don't have much to work with. (Nobody's fault, it just happened that way.)
Guess what I'm gonna do now? That's right, it's more ranting about Vagrant Story!
[sound fx of crickets chirping from old Bugs Bunny cartoons]
Well, I'm gonna talk about it anyway, so there. I'm starting to have some insight on
how much of the FFT team remains at Square, and how much went off to work on Hoshigami.
Square seems to have kept the good bits, meaning the smart, innovative, creative
developers, while the Hoshigami team may be comprised of the people who repetitively do
FFT/Tactics Ogre type games.
That's not to say I don't like FFT, or that I'm not looking forward to Hoshigami. But
Vagrant Story is just DAMN good. The graphics are so wonderfully gothic they make
Castlevania:SotN look like the castles in SMB1. The music is not at all like the music in
FFT, but it's dark and ambient and reminds me of what good videogame music is supposed to
be about - not rousing battle themes I want to listen to outside of the game, but
background noise that blends seamlessly into the gameplay and helps set the tone for the
action.
And to everybody who scoffed at my idea that menus might not be around forever, take a
look at VS and tell me if I'm still loopy.
Onward.
| Emailing only during breaks from VS, as it
should be |
| Okay, I can see that White Dragon in Vagrant Story isn't going to die
anytime soon, so maybe its time to finish this email. >Wow. I knew politics in
Quebec made life there... interesting, but I had no idea this effected all of Canada. That
must certainly suck for >the English-speaking majority, or for bi-linguists who don't
care about politics. But then, I'm from Texas and I'm not sure our own >linguistic
policy is all it's cracked up to be.
I tend to think of it as the "Whats good for the goose...is good for the goose, so
all you ganders out there better swallow that damned pill!" policy. Hopefully Sony
will send a few lawyers to keep us from bilingual packaging (a common trait for
groceries).
>Out of curiosity, can't you just order straight from an online US site? NAFTA
should ensure that the price would be compatible and >direct mail would circumvent the
whole repackaging thing. That's probably not workable for some reason or another, but at
least it's an >idea.
Cost is the issue. The cheapest method usually has a shipping time of 2-4 weeks. UPS
Ground costs quite a bit in the dollar conversion, and it is still slow. And if you don't
go through a registered courier service, customs tends to open up packages and charge
"handling" fees. I try to stay away from USA orders of any kind unless its a
large purchase (video game soundtracks, for instance).
KZ |
I know little about Canadian politics, so I'm gonna steer clear of the first bit so as
not to tick off any Quebecois - I've heard they can be ornery. Wait... oh damn.
Figured that idea about importing wouldn't work. In the meantime I guess all you can do
is wait for external intervention. I call upon gamers all over the world to pray to Sony
for intervention by their holy lawyer/paladins.
| The Goods: Relatively spoiler-free FF Movie
synopsis |
| Hi. I read the link from AICN you provided because I don't really care
about spoilers. Here's a summary that should be pretty benign. The main characters in
the movie are Aki, voiced by Ming-Na, a woman with a mysterious talent for dreams, and
Gray, supposedly Alec Baldwin, a hard-nosed soldier type who seems to have some kinda past
with Aki. Sounds familiar right?
Supporting characters are soldiers from a unit called DEEP EYES named Neil, Jane, and
Ryan. One of them will be the wisecracking sidekick no doubt voiced by Steve Buscemi.
There's also a Sid in the movie, "Dr. Sid" to be precise -- he's some kind of
scientist or researcher as usual.
The story centers around most of the earth being abandoned by humans because it is
infested with alien creatures they call "phantoms." The DEEP EYES unit operates
to contain these phantoms and protect the few remaining refuges on earth. Supposedly the
phantoms can "infect" humans and kill them / turn them into new phantoms so
there is a very "Aliens" like feel to the movie.
Anyway the script you linked to goes on about secrets of the past (especially as it
concerns Aki who seems to have a "gift" for seeing the future), the nature of
the Earth and what the phantoms "really" are, and looks to have a lot of plot
twists underneath a shell thats supposedly a lot like Aliens. It also reminds me of
Evangelion when it comes to a few specifics about the phantoms and how they are
rationalized in the typical Square mystical worldview. This is par for Square though,
elements of Evangelion found their way into FF7 and Xenogears. (I even once heard that FF7
and Xenogears are the same "core" story, told in different ways.)
Anyway that's the best way I can describe it. I'm looking forward to the movie but it
appears there will be no shortage of goofy anime conventions, like we have in the
videogames. Ah, well. As long as it can give me the same impression one of the games does,
I don't care what it looks like or who it plagiarizes.
- JOHN FORD |
If legendary director John Ford comes back from the dead just to deliver us a Final
Fantasy movie synopsis, you know it has to be good. The plot sounds in line with what else
we've seen in recent FF games, and I guess it wouldn't be a Japanese movie without a lot
of bizarre philosophizing and a 2001-like ending. Still, looks good. Thanks much for the
write-up, Mr. Ford, and to all those who sent in summaries.
| Me and my evil mind games |
| Hey Mr. Jones, I read your entire column Friday because of the
reference to Gundam Wing in the title. But, when I was finished, there was NOTHING in
there about GW! Don't do that to me man!
Wing Zero
PS. You do like Gundam Wing, don't you? |
Yeah, I like Gundam Wing. But this is a column about games, and just because I have a
reference to some obscure book, tv show or piece of music doesn't mean I'm gonna do
anything more with it. However, if it makes you feel any better, I'll make my next column
out of pure Gundanium.
No, I didn't make that word up.
| Warning: heretical opinions ahead |
| Double Agent, the entire scene seems to be raving about Vagrant Story,
an innovative Square RPG that actually has some playability involved. i for one am glad
that Square is experimenting with real time and turn based (you could mention Parasite
Eve, but the battle system was more of a tech demo for Vagrant Story than anything). it
brings up some thoughts about Final Fantasy X - do you think that Square will askew the
classic active turn based battle system that has been in the series and go for something a
tad more control oriented. i mean i love turn based combat but when you place it in a real
time setting muc like Vagrant Story, the battles are much more intense and require
technique rather than the hack/slash/spell/summon battles that Final Fantasy games have
become. so what do you say?
Moogle Charm |
I also got the impression that PE was something of a tech demo, but less for Vagrant
Story and more for the realistic character models in FF8. Square seems to do a lot of
this, using early games as test cases for programming techniques that get more fully
developed in later ones. It's yet another reason why I see Square as the best game
developer out there.
I wouldn't mind seeing something a little more innovative in Square's next RPG, tho I
think they've been doing a fairly good job of keeping things interesting lately. However,
I doubt we'll see anything too far out, since that would clash with the retro feel Square
seems to be going for in this particular installment.
| Excessive text in a Square game? What you been
smokin'? |
| Chris, Lots of people complained about the huge amount of text in
Xenogears. I have a suggestion for them, don't play Front Mission 3. I loved the text in
Xenogears, it added to the story in a great way. But the text in FM3 seems to bog down the
game for me. This is especially true when I get my butt kicked in a level and have to
start over from my last save. I spend ten minutes hitting the start button to SKIP the
text and get to the battle!
Xenogears excessive text = Intriguing
FM3 excessive text = Annoying |
I'm a little at a loss as how to answer this, since I still haven't played through FM3
and I'm clueless as to why I never really got into it. I don't think excessive text was
the cause - it may just be the case that the relatively straightforward political intrigue
in FM3 doesn't do it for you do the extent that Xenogears' Gnostic psychobabble does.
| Admit it X! You're just after my job! |
| Chris I’ve come up with this new idea called Smart Remark
Mondays. Every Monday I’ll send you a letter containing rants and/or raves about
gaming, music, etc. Whether you print them is up to you, but I guess it gives you
something to look forward to on Mondays. I’ll send you the 1st edition this coming
Monday. It will be set up like this:
Gaming Rant of the Week:
Here I’ll talk about something that had really pissed me off the previous week about
gaming. Get the anger out first I guess.
Gaming Rave of the Week:
Here I’ll talk about something that had really impressed me the previous week about
gaming. Vagrant Story would be a good example, although I won’t be able to play it
until June ‘cause of a lack of cash. Hey, stop laughing!
Music of the Week:
Music that I have been listening to over the week will go here. I have to warn you that I
don’t l! isten to videogame music often. I’m more off a rock/mainstream type of
listener. So shoot me!
Tidbit of the Week:
Pretty much anything goes in this part. The Noise (www.gamingnoise.com, BTW) is a great
example. You have gone there by now, haven’t you?
Quote of the Week:
"Jigglypuff my ass!"
-Chris Jones, Double Agent
I’ll get these quotes from anywhere and, of course, they’ll be from the
previous week, unlike my example.
Well, there you have it. I’ll try to send these babies every week, but I might
miss an episode or two every once and a while. If you want to print them, don’t worry
‘cause they’ll be under the word limit. Feedback would be greatly appreciated,
but if you can’t, that’s OK. Until Monday.
-Gamer X "this is gonna be cool...I can feel it"
P.S. Good lord, I’ve got a lot of time on my hands! |
It's a nice idea, but I don't know if we need such a wide-spectrum rant every week. In
fact, I'm generally more inclined to post one well-written topic than multiple mediocre
rants, so you'd be better off figuring out which of those you really feel good about and
running with it. Still, it's nice to see I inspire this much obsession, er, devotion, in
people.
Haven't been to that site yet, but that's just a combination of lack of time and
broadband access. I'll try to take a look when I can.
Closing Comments:
Sorry to say I haven't had time to put together the awards yet. But hopefully I'll be
able to distract you with something else tomorrow, and get the awards up for Tuesday's
column.
No topic for tomorrow, but I'll have one for Tuesday. See you tomorrow.
-Chris Jones, who wants to be a Vice Presidential Action Ranger |
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