Just say YES, fool! -
January 29, 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. Yamauchi strikes me as someone who has a lot of angst.
Don't say we didn't warn you.
I know, I know, you want to talk about Yamauchi, but I gotta
save something for tomorrow's topic. As a stopgap measure I'll
follow Andrea's lead and talk about the Super Bowl.
Um... it kinda sucked. The game at least, the commercials were
tolerable, but not great. The best thing I saw all night was the EDS
"running with the squirrels", but that was just a rip on their own "cat
wrangler" ad from last year. I dunno, a lot of people were critical of
the dot coms blowing half their startup money on a single ad, but at least
it made interesting viewing.
Onward.
| Now is not the time |
| "Would Square benefit from adopting a more personal,
friendly, dedicated-to-please-you image like Working
Designs?"
Not unless people start making donations. As Steve Tran's and so many other
people's letters pointed out, Square is in serious need for money. As Drew and
Chris keep on pointing out, we hardcore gamers that Square has a tarnished image
with are in the serious minority, but those who see Square as a producer of frequent
powerhouses are the ones that keep on buying the games. If Square waits on FFX,
the will lose a lot of cash.
Not to say I wouldn't like to see them be more like Working Designs (and
it's not to say they haven't been trying, FFIX was a gift to old schoolers),
but now is not the time. That time came and went after Square was very well
off with FF7 and Xenogears, but you can't change the past.
~Dr. Uzuki |
Square becoming more like Working Designs is an interesting idea,
but frankly I just can't see it ever happening - the two companies are
simply miles apart in how they seem to view what games should be, and
what their relationship with their customers should be. I shouldn't
have to explain too much what I mean by that; suffice it to say,
Working Designs acknowledges that they have customers to please, and
Square just makes their games, and puts them up for sale. Maybe you
buy them, maybe you don't - it's all the same. Not two design philosophies you can ever really merge together.
| It's not Hiroshi
Yamauchi we should fear, but Victor Ireland |
| Hey Chris!
No, I sure as hell don't want Square to go the Working Designs way! I
sure as hell don't want to wait until the PS3 is here before I can play FFX
on PS2 and I sure as HELL don't want a "funny" localization with
Austin-bloody-Powers references!!
Of course it sucks that there will still be random battles in FFX, but no
game is perfect, and the way I see it they'll fix the problem for FFXII
anyway. Then there will be things that couldn't be included in THAT game
because of time constraints and they'll include THOSE things in FFXIII! So
man, what's the problem?
Sir Farren, all out of expletives.
|
And here we see that there are people who run screaming in fear or
rage whenever WD is mentioned, which is only to be expected, since you
can't please everyone. And to their credit, WD seems to understand
that, so more power to 'em.
| Stop your complaining
and listen to mine |
| Hola.
As far as random battles are concerned, I don't see why everyone has such a
problem with them. People say, "They're too often and break up the flow of
the game." But what if it's done well, giving a sense of accomplishment and
some experience to help out against tough boss battles, or maybe even
::gasp:: fun? And besides, games like Chrono Cross that don't have "random
battles" still have random battles. You just get to see the enemy for a
split second before it rams into you and forces you to fight it.
"But at least you see the guy coming. It's more realistic." If you are
playing console RPGs and desire any element of physical realism, you are,
frankly, a moron. If you want realism, change the fact that a five-foot long
sword doesn't chop an unarmored man in half with one swipe. You can save
non-random battles for later. Or even better, just go play Fallout on the
PC.
I'm not saying I like random battles better than Chrono-Cross style battles,
I'm just saying they're not the Antichrist. Lay off FFX for a while.
Business is business. The sooner people realize that the sooner we won't
have to listen to them bitch any more.
Which leads me to my next point. Square pushing FFX out the door before it's
due is not a horrible, awful thing. Sure, it stifles the creativity of the
development team. But most hardcore RPG fans seem to forget the fact that
Square is, indeed, a corporation. Corporations need to make money, or they
get shut down. It's not like they're putting out a half-finished, unpolished
game; they're only missing a few features. Gamers should be thankful that
Square is rushing FFX. The less money they lose, the more they have to make
their next game. If they went out of business, we wouldn't be getting *any*
FFs, unfinished or otherwise.
Sometimes people need to shut their yaps and count their blessings.
-Eightball |
Oooh... good letter, but lost some points for the gratuitous
"Fallout is perfect" shot. 8.0 out of 10.
I've said it before, I've said it again - I'm simply TIRED of random
battles. I've been playing RPGs for over a decade, and I'm well past
having a feeling of accomplishment over beating up swarms of pretend
wolves, goblins, or hapless guards. I'd actually like to see more realism
in RPGs, but that's not why I like to see my enemies coming - it's so I
can avoid them and get to the boss battles and plot points, which are the
parts of RPGs I still see as worthwhile. (And I was able to avoid a solid
80 or 90 percent of CC's random battles when I wanted to.) I still like RPGs, I'd just like
to see them grow up as I have, and I'll stick with them for as long as
that takes.
Still, I'm not gonna leave in disgust over FFX's battle system... I've
sat through it before, I've sat through it again, and I think most people
feel the same. That's all.
| Something I'd just as
soon not think about... |
|
Drew,
Monsters obviously consume their victims. This would give them a reason to
attack the heroes. Coincidentally the monsters eat the money of the people
they eat when they eat the people. One this thing that would not explain is
how a thief character is able to steal money from the monsters. Perhaps they
carry an anal probe of some kind....
Graben
|
And thank you so much for that image. I'd just like to point out
that one of the few games that tried to handle money in a rational
manner (FF8, as a salary) largely got nuked for it, but maybe
somebody, someday, will figure out a money management system that makes
sense. Meanwhile, most times I steal from monsters, I don't get money
but rather the antidote for whatever status ailment said animal is
capable of giving. And as we all know, monsters carry those potions on
a strap around their neck, not unlike a St. Bernard, just because
they're so darned polite and helpful.
| Delays as a positive
force in society |
|
Hi,
A few days ago i was reading a few interviews with the people working
on FFX and I see "Oh we were going to do this but we don't have enough
time.." Then a few days later we all find out FFX is delayed for a few
months in order to make it a better gaming experience.
Now I know in Japan alot of their gaming mags are a weekly deal, but who's
to say these interviews aren't a month old, and the delays we're seeing in
the release of this game is the big cheese listening to the designers.
Hopefully the designers will have that time they need to add all of the
improvements which were to be cut due to time and abolish random battles
while they are at it.
Cheers
WhiteLancer
|
I get the impression that these delays are just the standard bug
fixes, and maybe some extra time to add in the extra features
associated with the 2 DVD special edition... I doubt they'd be trying
to add in genuinely new design features at this point, or that they'd
have enough time to do so if they tried.
Still, could happen.
| Yes, I REALLY DO! |
| Drew,
square be like WD? Do you REALLY wanna wait an extra year and a half for the
next Final Fantasy, Seiken Dentsu, SaGa, etc?
Nameles |
A year and a half? Come on, that's something of an exaggeration, isn't
it?
Oh, wait, it's not. Never mind...
| Just as long as the
games keep coming... |
| Dear Agent:
Square could tell me to take a broom handle and stick it where the sun don't
shine, and you know what? I'd still buy their games. A good game is a good
game, no matter what the company's "image" is. As I see it, people who deny
themselves good games because they think a company is greedy, or too commercial
are trying to get rid of a fly on the nose with a shotgun.
----
Jere, Lord of Pendragon
|
I partially agree with this - some people push arrogance to
such an extreme that I genuinely don't want to be associated with them,
but for the most part I will judge a game on the final product, and
not by the behavior of its creators. Of course, at times that behavior can
impact on the game itself, but still, I'd rather give a company the
benefit of the doubt more often than not.
DQ7? Don't know what you're talking about, I've always loved
DQ7, really...
Closing Comments:
Ok, there's not that much else that I can talk about but
Yamauchi's comments. I just didn't print any email on them so far
today because I'd like to see if people can come up with something more
interesting to say than the stock responses I've listed below.
I've also held a bunch of the letters I got today on Yamauchi over for
tomorrow's column, just so I have a better selection to work with. So
if you sent in a Yamauchi letter already, you haven't been ignored.
Back tomorrow, and in the meantime, enjoy the general vibe we've been
seeing over this announcement:
| RAGE. |
| Yamauchi's an idiot...
-Ron Garcia, who believes the GBA just lost a lot of appeal
Yamauchi says no to square.
In other news, Sega's patented "Shoot your self in the foot" team is now reportedly
working as Yamuchi's personal manegment assistent's. More to come.
Yo Chris,
I like Nintendo and all (even though they abandoned the N64), but don't you
feel like giving Yamauchi a gigantic kick to the ass?
--The Steve
Are you [censored]ing kidding me? No plans to sign a contract with Square.
SQUARE. To deny the most succesful third-party publisher ever is quite a bold
statement, and as far as I'm concerned, a statement towards Yamauchi's SENILITY.
I'm disgusted even as I write this... If they're willing to even consider going back to
Nintendo after their initial treatment of Square, they should maybe... wake up? Like
lots of people have been saying for years... *too upset to write anymore*
-Angry.
Chris -
1. Hiroshi Yamauchi is the head of a great game company.
2. Hiroshi Yamauchi knows a lot more about running said company than I
do.
3. Hiroshi Yamauchi is a fucking moron.
- MeekayD
|
-Chris Jones, has to give
Yamauchi credit: "He makes my job a lot more interesting."
|
