The Summer Wind... - September
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. ...came blowin' in, from across the sea...
Don't say we didn't warn you.
Wow.
Lots to talk about there, but a system that combines Capcom,
Konami, Bungie, and Valve is just... damn cool. Now if they can
just get Blizzard and/or Square, Microsoft will destroy all those other puny
companies as easily as Elvis inhaled a fried banana sandwich.
Onward.
| You've been freebasing
gaming goodness all summer, now it's off to rehab... |
| I must say that I bought into the Summer of adventure. I went out and bought
CC, which I thought was wonderful, and a whole slew of other titles. Intent
upon parking my posterior in front of the BoobTube for a few months, I even
got myself a new chair. While I must say this summer saw a huge share of
titles, it also marked a huge line-up for years to come with the
introduction of a few new consoles. And just as I was happily thinking I'd
never peel my eyes from my TV again, I decided to do something I haven't
done in years. I went outside for a breath of fresh air. It was so nice, I
spent the next 5 weeks outside. Not a TV, not a handheld, not an
electronically operated entertainment device for miles. Now that fall is
here and I'm back to work, I can hardly describe in words how wonderful it
is to have shut my brain off to gaming for a few weeks.
is this a period that you're gonna mark as a gaming high point for years
to come?
My answer is yes absolutely. This is the year I returned to gaming. With a
fresh perspective about what is, what has been, and what is coming. It pains
me to see the gaming public so tightly wound around having the best
graphics, the most perfect battle systems, the perfect elements to the
perfect story, all perfectly balanced with an epic soundtrack, and
characters so unforgettable we'll want to name our children after them.
I think if it's one thing this summer has taught me, it's that the
gaming public has overdosed-- heavily. We're saturated with so many new
products that our judgment about the quality of those products is failing
us. The gaming public is in such a rush to cram down their games, vomit out
discussions with little relevance, and grab blindly at whatever title
developers are hocking next, that we almost forget to breathe. Readers,
don't worry so much about discussing CC, it's not going anywhere, enjoy it
while you still remember what fun is. Take break. Drop your controllers I
say....get the hell out of your house and get dirty. Follow the GIA's lead
and take a damned vacation already.
~EidosWetsuit--Going to go play in the yard...anyone wanna join me? |
I like where you're going with this, but let me take the opposite
tack... what if this is just the beginning? Not from Square, because I
don't think any company could possibly push more content then they
just did, but from the gaming industry as a whole? Between the
Dreamcast, X-Box, Game Cube and PS2, companies are going to be going
at it tooth and nail, which means there's almost certainly going to be
an increase in great games. What if every single season is
like this from here on out, with more games than you can possibly deal
with?
Actually, there's little doubt that games have been dramatically increasing in
both quality and quantity recently. I'm sure I'll get the standard
rants about how nothing's been worth playing since the SNES, but that
reaction may itself be a function of how many games are out. When
there was only an RPG every month or two, as a fan you were much more
likely to learn to love something, regardless of the actual quality,
because that was all you had. Now in comparison, not only are there
enough games out to force a reexamination of what's actually good, but
even really good games don't get as much time to be appreciated as they
probably deserve.
And maybe this isn't a bad thing. It can't hurt the industry as a
whole for quality and quantity to increase, and maybe it's a good
thing for people to expect more from their games. Maybe what was
acceptable as a game in 1996 shouldn't be now. (Not that I'm looking at
anyone in particular... certainly not at LoD...) I appreciate where
you're coming from, EW, but I think we should be embracing the deluge,
not hiding from it.
| Please read my crappy,
worthless column if you can possibly spare the time |
| Chris,
Judging from the last column, it looks like a lot of people believe that the
accents in Chrono Cross were stuck in there just to help differentiate characters.
This is completely untrue - in Japanese, varied speech patterns like in CC are
nothing unusual - it's just that this is the first time that anyone has attempted
to try to rewrite the dialogue to provide an English equivalent to the characters'
different manners of speech in Japanese. Heck, if Star Ocean 2 or the Suikoden
games had been translated by the same person/people, they would have been exactly the same way. In Japanese, there are so many age- or gender-specific words, levels of politeness and formality in speech, and dialects with unique vocabulary that reflecting in English the very subtle differences in how people speak is difficult. (There are, for example, over a dozen equivalents to the word "I" in Japanese!) Although game companies can get away with having all the characters speak in standard English 95% of the time, this can lead to slightly confusing situations and misunderstandings - sometimes characters will come across completely differently in the English version of a game because the clues to their personalities and temperaments found in their speech patterns are missing. (This doesn't happen *too* often, though. The only character that I can think of off the top of my head that severely suffered from this problem is Breath of Fire III's Momo.)
Shifting gears a bit, has anyone else out there actually played Radical Dreamers?
Does anyone have any idea how to activate the alternate scenarios? (I especially
wanna read the one where the heroes and Yamaneko/Lynx duke it out with mechas.
^^)
Tavila |
It's absolutely true that relative social position plays a big part
in Japanese as a language, but I think, for the most part, it's
completely appropriate that such things are removed when the games are
brought over here. It's fundamental to both our language and our
culture that I say "Hello" the same way to both the President and the
guy at the Kwik-E-Mart. If a character needs to sound imperious or
meek, then it's the job of the translator to change the speech to get
that impression across - that's why a good translation is closer to an
art that a skill.
Accents, on the other hand, are completely legitimate when they're
genuine. I wouldn't expect a 78 year old man from Mississippi to sound
the same as a teenage Vietnamese immigrant from LA, and it also made
sense that a lot of the characters in CC sounded different from each
other, although maybe not to the extent that they did. Dunno about the
Radical Dreamer endings, but if anybody has any info, send it this
way.
| Here, take my +1 Mace! |
| CJ,
"...because the lack of any verbalized emotion or thought on the part of
the main character forces the player to come up with their own, thereby
pulling them further into the game."
You're kidding, right? The fact that the entire plot of a game revolves
around strictly outside forces, makes for a more immersive experience? We
must be playing two totally different kind of games here. The modern console
RPG evolved from the classic Role-playing games that involved dice and a
Game/Dungeon Master, the key word here is evolved. The modern RPG focuses
more on the plot itself, provoking intelligent thought and a good ole
fashioned great story. I think less people would complain about CC's
admittedly shaky plot if Serge would have actually said something and
contributed to it. Or if they had realized that this game isn't to be played
like a modern console RPG.
Serge has absolutely no reason to be having this adventure, save for the
fact that he got sucked into a dimensional warp. In fact, since he doesn't
speak, the plot itself is only advanced as a response to a different
character's problems. This combines into an adventure in which you, the main
character, are dragged around doing innumerable side quests all for the
purpose of...what? What does Serge get out of all this?
In short, this game plays out exactly like a game of Dungeons and Dragons.
We have the player (Serge), and then we have a Game/Dungeon Master (Kid for
the most part) who then tells the story to the protagonist, telling him/her
where they need to go next. Don't get me wrong, I liked how CC turned out,
but plot was definitely not the highlight of the game. I never once felt
compelled to input my personality into Serge during his mute phases.
Because, quite frankly, that's what D&D, dice, and Mountain Dew are
for.
-Red Raven, who obviously loves Xenogears very much |
That's exactly my point. In a sense, CC is very much like a
game of D&D, because it does have such a cipher for a main character.
You might notice that I didn't say that it was preferable to the
more plot-based style of RPGs - I also would rather have a main
character provide their own emotional response rather than having to
transfer my own into the game. But a lot of people would rather it be
the other way, and I think that's a big part of CT's popularity.
| SoA = TMDM |
| I might be the minority here, but for me:
Summer of Adventure = To much damn money.
I bought Vagrant Story and CC, and their respective OST's. As for wasting
to much time, I think the job I had to get enable to purchase those (along with
a few other items) sucked enough of that away.
-XZeLlDx, who is still in debt to his parents. |
Wait... you bought two games, imported two OSTs, had a summer job, and
you're still in debt to your parents?
You do realize that jobs are supposed to actually pay you money?
Like more than once every few months?
| Point by point, game
by game |
| Hey Chris,
Long-time reader, first-time writer. Or something like that.
I've got to say, when I first heard about Square's "Summer of Adventure", I
got excited. The only reason I even have a PSX is to play RPGs. I've been
playing PC RPGs since Bard's Tale on my C64 (Zork doesn't count, right), but
the tech curve wiped me out a couple of years ago. So when I had the chance
to borrow my buddy's PSX to check out FF7, I got hooked. Now it's mine, and
the games are rolling in.
Anyway, back to the "Summer". Vagrant Story rocked. I loved this game. I
still love this game. Hell, I fired it up last night just to lay some smack
on the undead with my 2-handed sword. Mmmm. Big weapons. Anyway, I haven't
had that much fun killing stuff since Diablo. Actually, I had more - I love
turn-based combat. And the story was extremely well-written and gripping
(unlike the game I just compared it to).
Threads of Fate - oops. Missed it. I'm an articling lawyer, so I only have
so much time I can devote to game-playing.
Legend of Mana - hmm. Very different. It definitely rewarded the effort you
were willing to put into it, but the lack of an overall plot to keep things
moving made it difficult (for me, at least) to put the effort in. I gave it
a shot, but, well ... I traded it in when I got Chrono Cross (what can I
say, EB was offering a great trade-in deal here in Canada).
And I don't regret it one bit. Chrono Cross has to mark the pinnacle of PSX
RPGs to date. That's doesn't mean it's perfect (more on that below). The
graphics and music are superior to everything that's come before it. The
plot is well thought out and linear enough to follow with being forced
(also, if you *really* don't know where to go next, you can always save and
the check your savegame when you go to load it back up). The combat system
was different without being gimmicky. And it was turn-based.
Not only that, but VS and CC are worth playing through again, and not just
for the extras. I still find them enjoyable the second and third time
through (unlike, say, FF8, I was ready to run the CDs through a blender
after I finished that).
So overall, I think Square's "Summer of Adventure" was a success in terms of
providing quality games in the last summer of the PSX.
One thing though. Is it me, or are RPGs getting easier? At least, in terms
of combat. It seems like in FF8, LoM, and CC I never got wiped out in the
course of the main plot. There might have been a hard side-quest or two, but
after FFA and Lunar:SSS, there just seemed to be no risks in combat.
That's my two bits. Hmm. Looks more like four. Oh well.
Orin (yeah, that's my real name) |
No argument here. Good call, except I still like FF8's more
cinematic take on the genre and think FF9'll provide a good contrast
to what's been put out this Summer.
| Minty fresh |
| I think I had more adventures outside on my bike than in front of my TV, save
for the ten hours on one game.
Never got Legend of Mana, but it really didn't have much appeal for me...
Vagrant Story gave me a headache -- that's a WINTER game man, you play it
instead of doing your homework and staying up till one in the morning trying
to get through the moody stuff while wind howls outside... so I'll save that
for later, around January or February. Chrono Cross, when that came out,
summer was over up here... so I ended up playing that only on the weekends
and occassionaly after school, managed to beat it in a week. But I did have
fun connecting Cross to Trigger... loved the game, all in all... made me
wanna replay Trigger.
But Threads of Fate.
Oh MAN, there's a game. XD I breezed through it, yes, but that's because I
played it almost constantly straight two days in a row... phooooo! Fun fun
fun! Perhaps one of my favourite games ever, although my taste in games can
be a bit odd. ^_^ Easy enough to be beaten in a renting period, but... I
really wanna replay it... and I have been... mmph, am loving it too. ^-^
Again. *hypergiggle* Mint is my hero. Screw Kid. Fuwah!
All in all, the summer of adventure wasn't anything too special... just a
buncha games released one after another before the PS2 comes out...
bambambambam, okay... but now I haven't enough money for Valkerie Profile or
Wild Arms II... dammit Square! ;_;
~nezu, who is listening to her pocket monsters cd for the first time in
months. musashi! kojiro! *bonk*
|
I like your take on seasonal games - looking back, FFT probably
played better in late January then it would have in August, when the
Japanese got it.
Also agree with you about ToF. Still haven't finished it (which I'll
probably do before I get PE2 or Valkyrie Profile) but it was one of
the big surprises of the season for me, and the game that I actually
enjoyed playing the most. Even the demo felt good, and the
graphics fit well with the PSX - they felt much cleaner than I would
have thought possible.
And Mint rocked, no question.
| Nah, 3D0's at the
bottom of the console food chain... |
| Mr. Jones,
That guy from Microsoft was right. But he doesn't keep in mind that most
people don't read the Iliad for fun. When I want something fun I'll go play
my console games that's the whole point of games, to have fun (like comic
books). When I want the Iliad, I'll go read the Iliad, not go play some
brain freeze inducing game, to me games are to have fun, the Iliad while
enlightening is admittedly not very fun just like most PC games (without the
enlightening part, which just leaves not very fun).
As I've said before, and I'll say again, most console gamers own PCs and yet
most of them don't play PC games. A majority of the gaming market don't play
PC games cause while deeper, and more innovative, they simply take too much
to play and hence to most becomes not fun. A good game system should be able
to be understood in 5-10 minutes and yet be deep enough to keep the player
thinking for hours. This can be said of many console games, how may PC games
(other than FPS clones) can be played without a long tutorial?
Microsoft is taking the wrong approach to this entire XBox thing. They think
to create a console that will based on PC games, but they don't see that
console gamers and most of the videogame market CAN play PC games, but
choose not to. There is a reason why the console gaming market is 10 times
bigger than the PC gaming market. Sure PC games are much more innovative,
but I believe that's because of the openness of the PC System. As we see
more and more powerful consoles with more possiblities you'll notice console
games getting innovative as well, perhaps not as fast as PC games, but it'll
happen.
When Microsoft stops looking down at console games, they might realize that,
instead they are at the bottom of the console gaming food chain.
Mr. Cruz |
Exactly. The thing to remember is that both great works of art and
PC games aren't necessarily enjoyable or even that good by today's
standards (although they often are) but that they were the first to
offer up some very important tricks and techniques. The Illiad's a
prime example of this.
Not all console games are limited to a 5-10 minute learning curve -
both FFT and Vagrant Story are excellent games with a fairly steep
curve. But your point is pretty valid as a whole. And I'm very
encouraged about the developer lineup from Microsoft, because it shows
a good blending of console and PC sensibilities. The X-Box could be
one of the most important platforms in years, if Microsoft doesn't
blow it with their usual ham-handedness.
| Proactive, not just
active. |
| I would disagree with Serge and Crono being basically the same
character. I know there's nostalgia involved with me liking Crono
better, but I'll still try and rationalize it, ya?
Crono happened to things, while things happened to Serge. This should
be about as un-spoilerish as an example will get: After Marle
disappeared through a big mysterious hole (should I work on my
wording?), Crono CHOSE to go through. A whipped Serge was sitting on
the beach listening to his girlfriend when he was sucked away without a
choice (again, maybe I should work on my wording).
Or maybe it's since all of Chrono Trigger's other main characters had
so much more to them than most of Chrono Cross' too numerous
characters, the way I perceive each mute hero is a reflection of that.
Joshua Slone |
I can't get too much into it until Monday, but it could also be
argued that both characters had equally major (but substantially
different) events happen to them later in the game, and took (or had
taken on their behalf) very differing degrees of action to correct
things. When all is said and done, I think both characters did about
equal amounts of acting and reacting.
| And tech support
couldn't help? <--(said with a straight
face) |
| You mentioned that "PC games tend to be totally unplayable". You were
referring to the quality of the games (I think), but in my case the remark
was literally true. The of the last 6 games I got for my family's computer,
I could never get 5 of them to work at all, and the sixth caused another
program to glitch. The computer was only about 18 months old, but had
several things upgraded on it and was loaded with a bunch of programs we
needed for the family/work that were more "important" than games. So my
wife bought me a Playstation (new at the time) and I have never even tried
to play another computer game. Insert disk, press power button, and it works
every time - no "fatal error" messages from Bill Gates. Hell, I've also
saved a fortune on the computer - only one upgrade (a new, cheap machine 2
years ago), and all non-game programs run fine.
Of course, gaming on the big TV (whether I am on the couch or the treadmill)
is much better than sitting at a desk, and the Xbox will do that also - but
I frankly don't trust Microsoft to make a bug free, easy to use device (if
they do, it will be the first time). It is that instant-on, bug free
gameplay that makes consoles enjoyable to play.
Oh, the big summer of whatever by square? If I didn't read this column I
never would have heard of it. The games got good reviews, so I'll probably
get them when they drop to $20.
The District Attorney |
There's some occasional complaining about PSX hardware problems,
especially with older models, but there's no question that PCs tend to
crash a lot, take a lot of maintenance, or both. For me plug and play's
not such a big issue, but it's definitely nice.
Something that's both a strength and a weakness for Microsoft is
their reliance on marketing for product decisions - to paraphrase Tom
Clancy, "Son, a Microserf don't take a dump in the woods without a
marketing study." If the system isn't easy to set up and use, it won't
sell, and MS knows that, and they'll work to ensure that.
| You have done well,
grasshopper... |
| "Creid almost feels like
CC OST-lite, in retrospect. And if I say it, it must be true. End of
discussion."
Chris, you've made an incontinent, hated old man proud. I'd stand up and
hug you if my arms had the muscle strength required to bear their own weight
and my pants weren't filled with an overburdening amount of my own fecal
matter.
-Drew |
*sniff*... I can die a happy man, now that Drew has given me his
approval... dammit, I love you, you crotchety old geezer!
Closing Comments:
Probably shouldn't have tried to shoehorn in another topic after
yesterday - I got enough good CC follow up letters to do a column on
that alone, and some people got shafted because of it. Sorry about
that, but you'll get your chance again on Monday.
Free topic day tomorrow, and spoiler discussion of CC Monday. Adios
for now.
-Chris Jones, enjoyed playing
Vagrant Mana Threads of Cross Triggers |
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