What was old is new again -
January 17, 2001 - 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. Must have food. Soon. With relish.
Don't say we didn't warn you.
A quick rant, if I may: please, please, PLEASE, don't send
giant attachments to me or the rest of the staff via email. I'm
not really involved with the news and media section, but I assume
they've got their own methods of transferring large files that
they've requested that don't involve polluting everybody's
inbox with gigantic multi-meg files. Some of us have broadband
connections, but some of us still connect via dialup, and it's an
enormous pain in the ass to have our network connections tied up
for hours on end. So please, don't do it, ok?
Onward.
| Coexistence |
| Chris
Reviving and updating new series has always been a tricky buisness,
especially these days with the whole 2d to 2d paradigm shift. However, I
think Nintendo's the one company that has everything down. No one
complained about Zelda or Mario on the N64. These were great games that are
only going to get better (that GameCube launch is going to be mighty good),
but the Big N also has a proverbial ace up its sleeve. That bastion (and at
times, bastard) of gaming, the Game Boy.
With the arrival of the GBA, companies, Nintendo themselves especially, can
release sequels and updates to their franchises on the GC, 3d and all, and
then release different versions of these games on the GBA; 2d versions whose
graphical splendor is at least as good as their last SNES installments. The
idea of a portable SNES has always appealed to me, but this takes it one
step further. If handled correctly, and embraced by the gaming community,
we could see a whole old school gaming culture thrive on the GBA, while
gaming continues to progress on the consoles. The beginnings are already
their, with Castlevania coming to the system, Metriod rumored, and a ton of
2d RPGs in development. Now that, my friends, is what the GBA can do for
us.
Justin Freeman |
I really like where you're going with this - my only concern is
that the GBA, being a portable system, won't get the kind of
recognition it deserves. The GBC version of Metal Gear Solid is by
most accounts an excellent game, but it hasn't gotten one hundredth
the recognition that the console version or the PS2 sequel have. The
FF 1-3 remakes are solid titles, but most of the interest in them
seems more of novelty value than anything else. I'd love to see the GBA
presented as a 2D alternative to modern photo realism on the TV, but
I'm not sure how likely it is to actually happen.
| Keepin' it real |
| Chris:
How to make the old new again? Preserve the essential features. You know, as
I sit here and think about it, it seems to me that most of the charm of
Super Dodge Ball was seeing those deformed little guys get smacked by the
ball and go flying. I think that if they tried to revisit the game, it would
be sad to see them lose the lame, charming hilarity of the original in a
rush to hit all the modern benchmarks (fully 3D, blah blah blah...).
They can do it. I haven't played a MegaMan title since 2 or 3, but I picked
up MegaMan Legends 2 the other day, and it turns out to be a perfect example
of how to modernize a classic without losing any of the charm of the
original.
--DarkLao |
The main problem with moving things towards 3D, as much as
anything, seems to be finding a visual style that captures the original
2D charm. And unfortunately, at this point, there hasn't been much to
suggest that a 3D game can extend the original 2D style - games like
Jet Grind Radio have a unique style all their own, but nothing that
really derives from something like RCR. It may be possible, but there
doesn't seem to be a big effort to find it, at the moment.
| Bliss is ignorance |
| You know what I'd like to see a return to in RPG's? Not knowing anything.
You remember the days, right? Back when all of the games you mentioned were
released, the Internet had been around for a while but gaming sites hadn't
advanced to the lofty news mega-conglomerates of today. You were basically
out of luck if you wanted some of the things we get today, unless you could
read Japanese. FFX is a few months away from a release in Japan, and we
already have screenshots, character names, and plot details. By the time
it's released there, we'll have major plot details, ending movies, and
walkthroughs. I don't want that. I basically want to know nothing about them
until I play through. If anything, I'd like to see more of the small,
secretive things The GIA has gotten a hold of, like that hidden camera
footage of the FFX preview video or those FFIX design screens. Things that
look like whoever got a hold of them went to great trouble to get them.
Nowadays we've got Square announcing their entire plans for the next few
years and providing screenshots themselves. There are no secret RPG projects
anymore; things that remain hidden until shortly before release. There's
just too many sites blasting you with the newest, hot off the presses RPG
news that spoils it for some people. Those in favor of these stories could
plausibly argue that if there are any that don't want to see these they can
just ignore them, but it's the Pandora's Box thing. I know I don't want to
see FFX spoilers, but I can't help to gaze. Here's to hoping that more
smuggled camera footage and less plot info surfaces on RPG's in the next few
years.
- Water Buffalo |
Not a lot to say in response to this - it is possible to avoid
spoilers, I can say from personal experience. And there are a few
well-kept RPG secrets out there; Chrono Cross, for example, was kept
secret nearly right up until it's Japanese release, if I remember
right. But you're got a point that there's a mystery missing from game
news these days... we're a victim of our own success, it seems.
| Some things are best
left unsaid |
|
I hated Secret of Mana, but loved Secret of the Stars(still do. Would
gladly play it again). I also liked FFMQ(again, I'd play it again), and FF4
makes me physically ill. Am I going to jail?
*-LS-*
http://i.am/huggingvivi/
|
Good lord... I don't know about going to jail, but you're probably
going to hell for the damning heresies you've just sprouted. May
Sakaguchi have mercy on your soul.
| The Fifth Element |
| Yo Chris,
I have some equations...
Terra = Earth
Cloud = Cloud
Squall = Windstorm
Tida = Sun
Zidane = ?
Your help would be most appreciated...
--The Steve |
No clue. The only thing I can think of is that since Terra was
"Tina" in the Japanese version, her elemental alignment is accidental
and it's Zidane who's actually supposed to represent earth. Suggestions?
| On obis and exploding
people in Vegas |
| Obis really aren't that hard to fight in. Technically, all an obi is, is
the belt which is worn as a part of the traditional martial arts uniform. I
fight in a traditional gi (martial arts uniform) and obi (belt) all the
time, and once they're broken in from years of training, neither is all that
stiff.
Now...for new games...I think they should take real life situations (not
unlike Shenmue) and combine them with mythical situations -- like magic,
time travel, etc. -- I think it would be much more exciting that way, and
very few, if any, game developers have ever done it -- one which comes to
mind is Parasite Eve.
If they could make it into a good action RPG (similiar to Secret of Mana,
perhaps), I think it would be a revolution in RPG's. Imagine walking
through the streets of Las Vegas, stopping in at a casino, only to see the
person next to you explode in a blast of lightning which you have seconds to
counter...and meanwhile, people around you take it normally! I think it'd
be great.
Anyways, I'm sure it'd turn out to be a fluke, but it looks OK on paper.
Thanks for your time.
Later,
Sensei Ryoniyk |
Ok, point taken... I was thinking of obi only in the sense of a
huge, ornate bow on a kimono, but they are actually more generic than
that. My bad.
I agree with you about game stories: the fantasy writer Tim Powers once
pointed out that the best, most interesting stories are those that place a
single element of the fantastic in the mundane world. For example, you
could have a story where the Holy Grail lies undiscovered in a cardboard
box in the back of an old station wagon somewhere in Kansas, or a story
where washed-up gods like Coyote make their living as Vegas card cheats.
There's a huge amount of potential in having normal people exposed to
extraordinary situations, and I'd love to see an FMV treatment of what you
just described.
The main problem is that such a setup isn't what many people are
looking for out of a game. Escapism as many RPGs practice it is at odds
with stories that challenge and invigorate the audience, and as long as
traditional swords and sorcery sell in the millions, I'm not sure we'll
ever see more than what we've currently got.
| Some arcane form of
sarcasm? |
| Chris,
I feel like I ought to respond to this statement:
"Illusion of Gaia?!?! What on earth are you smokin', man? IoG was one of the
most generic,
pointless, tedious sidescrollers out there, and having it positioned in any
way as being near
Soulblazer is a travesty."
.....because IoG remains one of my all-time favourite SNES games. I know
some people don't
like it, but to me and to many others it remains a worthy sequel to
Soulblazer. Kinda linear, sure,
but with ample story to make up for it. I'm sort of wondering if maybe you
aren't somehow
confusing it with the admittedly abyssmal Actraiser 2--unless calling an RPG
a 'sidescroller' is
some arcane form of sarcasm of which I am unaware. Because otherwise, I
find the vehemence of
your reaction somewhat baffling.
--Geo |
I stand behind the basic thrust of what I said yesterday, but not
the way I said it: I basically made a statement of opinion with
nothing to back it up, and that's exactly the kind of thing I'd rip a
reader for if they tried to do it.
So why is Illusion of Gaia lame? First and foremost, the shockingly
bad plot and dialog. IoG felt like somebody took every SNES cliche
invented by that point, put it in a blender, and hit puree. The hero and
his friends went through a huge number of trials and travails, but none of
it was sold one tenth as well as the freakin' animals in
Soulblazer.
Beyond that, the gameplay was dull and far too complex. Neither
Actraiser nor Soulblazer had any truly complex mechanics - they were both
unabashed hack and slash games, and that was fine, because they were
fun. IoG was a mess of alternate identities, useless special
moves, and tedious, generic enemies. Yes, it had a 3/4ths perspective,
but none of the dungeons were near as good (or even as 2D) as Soulblazer,
and some areas like the Great Wall were little better than Final Fight as
far as direction was concerned.
If you like the game, fine... but you might consider that you could be
on a nostalgia trip as much as anything else, enjoying fond memories from
a time when there weren't enough good games out to exercise the same
kind of discretion we can today.
| Shadowrun revisited |
| Drewtwo, (That's your new name since I can't think of anything clever to
do with your real one)
I've spent countless hours pondering over how to remake a certain 16-bit
era game. I've considered how to update damn near everything about this
game from the graphics to the trade mark systems. The directions it
could be successfully be taken are many, to say nothing of the near
infinite implausible ones.
I'm cold. I'm tired. I'm talking about Shadowrun.
Both the SNES and Genesis versions had merits more than worthy of being
refined and reproduced on later consoles. The keyword collecting
dialogue system of the SNES version made talking to NPCs over and over
again appealing, as every word gained potentially offered new and
interesting responses from everyone you spoke to. The personalities of
essential characters to non was continually being fleshed out through
the entire game.
The Genesis version's more-than-one-solution-to-every-problem format
made sure no run was ever the same twice. The random events made sure
traveling was never boring. You were rarely without stimuli regardless
of where you were and what you were doing, and even after you'd seen all
of the random events you probably hadn't picked all of the options they
offered.
There are just so many things that could be expanded on in these games.
The things that worked, the things that didn't, the atmosphere, the
stories, the characters. An update could be an RPG, it could be an
action game, it could be adventure game, it could be even conceivably be
a strategy game or a dating sim.
I'd better stop this fanboyish babbling now before I start to go on and
on about my fantasies of urban combat, or navigating the Matrix, or
random run generators, or Shenmue-esque lifelike futuristic cities
inhabited by decker elves, street-samurai trolls, and corporate
power-hungry dragons...
~Ian P.
|
I don't know if the Shadowrun license has anywhere near the kind of
strength it once had (which wasn't saying much, even then) but I'd
embrace a new Shadowrun game for nostalgia, if for nothing else. Yes,
both the Genesis and SNES games had a ton of gameplay that could be
expanded on, but what really tugs at my heart is the memory of the good
old cyberpunk days, where corporations were truly evil, where heroes
with cranial jacks really meant something, and where dwarves and elves
with machine guns were the coolest thing imaginable. We need to
return to those halcyon post-80's days, I think, especially now that
we've got a Republican back in the White House.
| On a new Metroid... |
| And I don't want to see any 3d gameplay.
This is not to say I dont want to see any 3d. I'm fully aware that having
sprite-based traditional 2d game would not fly. Fill it with all the bells
and whistles, make the environments 3d, heck even make the way the planet is
set up in 3d. But in individual corridors and scenes, I want my 2d
gameplay.
Nintendo's got a lot of talent working for them, and they've come up with
very workable 3d schemes in the past. But they fit the feel of their
individual games, and a 3d control sceme like in Zelda or Mario 64 would not
do justice to the type of game Metroid is.
I'd love to see some beautiful-looking 3d enemies, scenery, and Samus. But I
just won't like it the same if I have to worry about jumping and falling in
three dimensions, while worrying about the camera fixed on an enemy because
of a lock-on targeting system.
--pokey |
That makes no sense... I can imagine a few setups where a 3D world
is merged with 2D corridor fighting, but not in a way that feels
logical or feasible. If you want a 2D Metroid, the potential GBA
version might be up your alley, and in the meantime I think a 3D game
that combined FPS and the "over the shoulder" perspective of Soul
Reaver could work well. At least, I'd like to see it tried before
dismissing the idea of a fully 3D Metroid entirely.
| At the movies |
|
Chris, oh dark lord and savior,
As much as I'd like to see a revival of many a SNES series, I just don't
think it would be a good idea. One gets too close to the fingers of
old-schoolers when one walks that thin red line. It's like when they remade
Asteroids: nice idea, at first...
I look at games like the new Frogger, Pac-man, and the above mentioned
Asteroids, and I really have to wonder....if we had the technology we have
now back then, would they have turned out as bad as their revivals?
Also, I was thinking about Final Fantasy X and voice acting. I feel that
FF is most definitely ready for this. The problem is, are the fans...
And, to throw in a possible topic for Thursday: Video games to the big
screen. Most have failed. The same goes for a lot of comic books, books,
and TV series made into movies. So, what are your thoughts on that? Are we
doomed to constantly wind up with movies like Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles
III, or Street Fighter, or Double Dragon, or Super Mario Brothers? The list
goes on. Mortal Kombat was okay, but the sequel was a travesty! Dungeons
and Dragons had an opportunity to be really good, but ended up worse than
those old Buck Rogers serials from the 1930s. Can't we get a really good
movie version of at least one game?
-Banjax, feels that Hollywood is giving gamers a bad name. |
Topic sounds good to me, but let's wrap up first.
Closing Comments:
Ok, you heard the man. I personally think the Final Fantasy movie
will be what really makes or breaks video game movies, but that begs
the question of if games really need to be translated at all.
Something like Vagrant Story could never have been fit entirely into a
film, so what exactly is reason you'd even want to try? Let me know,
and I'll see you tomorrow.
-Chris Jones, drawing closer
to getting a GBA, day by day
|
