Too much information -
August 12, 2001 - Nich Maragos
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.
Chigau--dekiru yo!
Don't say we didn't warn you.
Does it seem to anyone else that there are far too many top-quality games coming out in the near future? Not being able to keep up with everything you're vaguely interested in is one thing, but I'm talking about budgetary concerns stopping me from playing incredibly promising games. Sighhh.
| It could happen to you |
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Nich,
Greetings and salutations. In response to the "overexposure" question,
I'd say the answer is a resounding yes. Often times, there is way too much
info on games that you'd rather not know. (i.e. spoilers, etc.). However, I
really don't look at it as a curse. Yes, it can be obnoxious and yet another
example of any modern media's general tendency to saturate the viewer with
an excessive amount of detail. (I apologize for even mentioning it, but it's
not possible to utter the words "Chandra Levy" in my vicinity without
hearing a loud groan of disgust) However, the beauty of the internet is that
you don't HAVE to look at anything you don't want to look at.
Granted, it takes incredible will power some times to not look at
things I'd REALLY want to see. However, I think that any information that is
available (audio, video, news tidbits, etc.) should be out there as long as
it's properly marked and one is given the OPTION of seeing it. Lord only
knows how pissed I would've been if I'd have gone to, for example, the GIA's
front page and seen a pic of the whole Sephiroth/Aerith "thing" from the end
of Disc 1 on the front page back in the day. However, most savvy web sites have enough intelligence and common decency not to do that kind of thing.
To make a long story short (too late), even a glut of information is
good as long as it's presented properly, especially on the net. The TV is a
whole different story, but I guess that's why I don't really watch TV
anymore.
Dark Schneider, bummed cause he just finished FFXj and has nothing to play.
P.S. Speaking of a glut of useless information, I'd like to make a minor
correction, and I know you've probably already either a) been told this 50
times already and/or b) know this and/or c) don't give a rat's ass, but Doc
Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine was just the American version of the Genesis
rev of Puyo Puyo. Not really his own game, more like a little case of
name-dropping for marketing reasons.
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There's a story about overexposure I never get tired of relating, partly in case any current or would-be journalists are reading. People joke about having the Aeris thing spoiled, but it actually happened to me. Why? Because I made the mistake of looking at IGNPSX's (then called PSX Power) index, where it was spoiled in the headline of the letters column. Because of things like this, we've always made an effort to consider every reader when writing up stories; the only time we've lapsed in recent memory was when our Final Fantasy Chronicles review linked to the FFIV and Chrono Trigger vaults without warning readers that the vaults were written with archival intent, rather than as non-spoiler game reviews.
And yeah, I knew about the Mean Bean Machine's previous life, but it was a little more difficult than I'd anticipated to come up with valid games starring the archenemies of major mascot characters. So I stretched a bit.
| There for the taking |
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Hey Nichm,
It's getting harder and harder these days to play a game without knowing most
of the plot details. Sure, there have always been spoilers out there, but now,
you can't even find previews of some games without bumping into 'WARNING!
SPOILER!' links. The more high profile or
popular a game is, the less likely it is to be kept top secret for too long.
People say the movie business is bad- that trailers give away everything. The
gaming community is even worse- here we don't have the makers of the game
handing it to us, we have our only sources of information leaking entire
stories. It seems that the choices for gamers include being completly left in
the dark until a game is released or knowing half of it before the release date
is even scheduled.
For the most part, major sites (the gia, gamespot) have been OK with not giving
away too much...but just how much is *too* much? Reviews, stats, production
sketches and trailers are good...as long as they keep teasing the reader
without letting them know what's going to happen. Ruliweb is a prime example of going to far...I think the best way to decide what to show and what not to show
is thinking along the lines of "If this game was already released, would we be
posting this?" I highly doubt that Ruliweb would've bothered with taking that
servere pounding on their servers if FFX had already been released in the
States and Europe.
-Twister
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In a sense, though, the makers of the game do hand us all that information. When I say "us," of course, I mean the news community. I think a much greater factor in Ruliweb's posting of every single FMV from the game was the fact that one of the towns features a man who sells access to all of them, without even the requirement of already having reached that particular scene. It must have been a snap to get ready to record, buy a movie, and capture the hell out of it, and it was Square who made that possible.
Square was also indirectly responsible for the glut of reportage on Final Fantasy X. They released so much information so steadily that it was seen as a risk not to cover every single update of PlayOnline.com, for fear that we'd lose readers to sites who did get it all. While I would hesitate to call any of the official updates from Square "spoilers"--the biggest plot revelation, involving Yuna, was deemed so nonthreatening that it appeared on PlayOnline.com's splash page as well as the cover of the game's instruction manual--it still could have been more information than some people were comfortable with.
| Proceed with caution |
| If I really wanted to find out about the entire plot of a game before
playing it, I'd just go read a walkthrough. A little after you guys
started covering Final Fantasy VIII, I just stopped reading about it.
And I've avoided any story spoilers for games since then. I knew
nothing about FFIX and I know next to nothing about FFX other than the
sphere system and the general premise of the game. I'd have to say that
it is much more enjoyable to play a agame when I don't know what's going
to happen. There's a reason why good book reviews don't give a summary
of the entire plot. I jsut come here to see what games are coming out
that I might want to buy. Otherwise I'd have no clue what was out
there.
-Eric Wright
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This is one way of getting around the information overload, to scan the headlines carefully and don't read any stories that get too in-depth. On the other hand, you say that you read the site to find out what you want to buy, but how much information is enough to make that decision? You apparently already know you'll want the latest Final Fantasy games, so it's easy to stay safe on those, but how about lesser-known titles? What's your information threshold there, out of curiosity?
| No, we are not retarded |
| When gaming "news" (as some sites call it) gets to the point where
someone ruins a game's major story points, experience, and/or overall fun
of the thing, then that's crossing the line. Posting the entire ending
movie to FFX before it even hits North America? There's no reason for
anyone to do that, let alone major news sites. You know that there are a
lot of people who are going to download things like that and play the
game, so basically, they'll know how the game ends before they even play
it. It's ridiculous, and it spoils what's most likely a great ending to
a great game. (I have no plans to play the game as of yet, but I don't
want to see an ending if I didn't put in a good amount of time earning
it, no matter how spectacular it may be.)
I also have a problem with people posting insane amounts of screenshots.
(The GIA comes to mind. :) Sure, every single site out there absolutely
needs screenshots to go with their previews/reviews, but there is a
limit. You really only need 5 or 6 screenshots per situation of a game
to show the reader what the game looks like. However, when you guys (or
any site) post 300 or 400 screenshots to a game, it's as if you've taken
a still of every frame you've played through. Screenshots are meant to show what the game looks like, not to act as a storyboard.
But that's a minor offense to posting the whole goddamn ending to Final
Fantasy X. Major endings like that need to be earned, things you're only
allowed to experience once in a lifetime. Would it be okay to put up a
movie of the ending in a year or two? I'd think it would be less
offensive then, considering that the majority of the people who read
these sites have already played and beaten the game and seen such
"sensitive material" already. But doing it before the game is already
out is just bad practice.
-Steven "WindyMan" Rodriguez
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While some would say the amount of shots we post (649 for Final Fantasy IV, 653 for Chrono Cross, a whopping 1250 for Vagrant Story) is excessive, we do have a reason for it. Some people, for whatever reason, will occasionally need a screenshot of a very specific moment in the game, and we try to be the resource where they can find it. We don't force them upon people, so it's fairly harmless. That's why we always include a few representative non-spoiler screenshots within the main body of the review or preview, for precisely the reason you mentioned--so that fans can get an idea of what the game looks like without having to resort to the in-depth media galleries.
I suppose you could say the same thing for the people who are putting up FFX's ending movie, but there's something about that which strikes me as a bit rude in a way that screenshots don't. It is, as you say, taking the easy and unearned way out. Square put a lot of effort into the game, and seeing the ending is supposed to come at the end of 30 to 40 hours of appreciating their game and plot revelations. It's not meant to be something anyone with a lot of bandwidth and a little patience can download anytime and watch.
| Rationalization |
| As an owner of the limited edition Final Fantasy X Original Soundtrack
(and God do I love that ending theme), I'm not exactly the most
obsessively spoiler-weary gamer around. I knew Aerith would die in FFVII
before I even owned a PlayStation, I read the entire script to Xenogears
before I even picked up the eighty-hour quest, and I watched someone else
play Lunar SSSC from the second disc 'til the tear-jerkying ending (he
did the whole thing in a night, too!). You see, in my experience, you
cannot avoid spoilers in this Age of the Internet. With downloadable
soundtracks, messageboards, commercials, broadband modems, and sweet FMV
encoded into MPEG to take the 'wow' out of almost every point in the
game, the 'net is just too tempting a place *not* to fall into
spoilation. I just don't freakin' care anymore. Perhaps this is
reflective on my gaming habits in general, which have swayed from the
light of the RPG genre in favor of other, more action-oriented games that
can still hold their own in the story department, like Metal Gear Solid.
To me, the hours upon hours of customization, random battles, and
turn-based combat just don't make the plot, FMV, and dialogue as
rewarding as it used to seem. When I find out one (or two, or three) of these spoilers, I do so with the intention of not finishing the game
anyway--knowing I will be an old man before I ever see the credits roll.
Look, I'm not putting down RPG's here, it's just that if there was more
to spoil, then maybe I would care more. To me, hearing a remixed,
orchestrated tune in the ending is not a spoiler. Watching an FMV from a
key point in the game is not a spoiler. Even knowing certain dialogue
and events isn't that big of a deal. Christ, by the time you get to that
part in your sixty-hour quest, you'll have forgotten about it anyway.
But spoil something in MGS2, and I'll have to put my stealth camo on,
sneak up behind you and snap your neck. You see, it may not have the
deepest of storylines or character development, but it has enough
interesting gameplay to keep me playing *until* I reach that certain
cutscene which is there, let me remind you, TO SIMPLY ENHANCE THE
EXPERIENCE OF THE GAME. It *is* a game after all, and gameplay should
come first. Sadly, I believe I have outgrown the cookie-cutter,
monotonous "gain the AP to get the new move and press the button when the
move is highlighted on the menu" gameplay present in the sheep-like RPG's of the present. Surely even you, Nich, a die hard RPGamer, must admit
that today's RPG's don't exactly push the limit of human intelligence.
Not that yesteryear's RPG's were any better (I'm not one of those
old-skool sympathizers), but the basic structure of turn-based gameplay
has not changed in ten years.
Simply put, I'm bored. Spoil me.
-Steve
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I'm not sure quasi-groundless accusations of RPG noninnovation are helping your fundamental argument, which is that the games are basically stories with perfunctory playable bits sprinkled in. Even accepting that thesis as valid for discussion purposes, though, I'm still skeptical that this makes it okay to watch all the posted movies--especially if it's a valid argument, because that means the basic worth of the game is in the story--which you get for free.
| Committed, in more ways than one |
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I laugh at the word "spoiler". I've downloaded over 1000 MB of Final
Fantasy
X videos from the web already (on a 56K modem!). I've seen the end of the
game and most parts in between, and this does nothing to lessen my
enthusiasm
for it. It's actually made me want to play it so much I was thinking of
importing, but have since just decided to wait it out. I love all the
coverage the web provides, and delight in a website that has lots of
great
content. There is never too much for me! If someone sat down and recorded
all
50+ hours of their complete play-through of FFX, I'd download that too!
-Ogopogo... Who really has to look into getting DSL...
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I am nothing if not impressed by your dedication, sir. Transferring ISO files takes six or seven hours on a T1 line, and those are "only" 640MB in size. I can't imagine what it must take to get that much data on such a dinky little connection. However much I disagree with you in theory, I must salute your tenacity.
| Just the facts, ma'am |
| Yo, Nich.
I have very small gaming needs, as far as news goes. Really all I need
is the basic storyline, the control scematic if it's an entierly new
game, or if it's part of a franchise what's new -- why I shouldn't just
play the last one and save money?
Now for the sotryline, I want somthing more than, "Boy meets girl, boy
falls in love with girl, girl is kidnapped by intergaltic bad guys/all
powerful uber-demon." But not the full spread you guys did on the
Xenogears story in your walkthorugh (Wow, one from the valuts, huh?)
As for the control scematic, I could go with what the give you in the
intruction manual -- a layout of the controller, with everything clearly
labeled. If there are different situations or senarios that would change
the use of the buttons, tell me. List it in a seperate digram or list
them all in divided lists, like in the FFIX manual.
And for the last bit... Well, just that. As well as you can, explain the new stuff to me before the game comes out. If you can't, I'll assume one
of two things -- A.) It is far too complecated to explain without
asctuall having played the game or B.) Once you use the system, it's
instantly intuitive.
Other than that, I'll just rent the game from Blockbuster. Tah.
-Raveled
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I realize that you probably don't get what you're looking for in the way of control description here at the GIA, so I'll explain why not. For one thing, we frequently don't know ourselves exactly how the game controls until we get our hands on a playable copy, which is often either very close to a game's release or afterwards. Mainly, though, we're more interested in describing how the gameplay generally works instead of providing a button-by-button breakdown of the controller functions. If the play style sounds appealing from our description, interested parties can rent or buy the game for themselves and find out how to actually play the thing from the instruction manual. We do try to note whether the control feels intuitive or not, but more information than that doesn't seem necessary.
| Shadow of underappreciation |
| Greetings unto thee, O' esteemed Sir Nich of Maragos,
My best friend finally gave in and picked up a PS2, so we've been renting
a fair bit, seeing what there is to be had (not much yet.)
So we got Shadow of Destiny, one of the few games that I was really
looking forward to seeing, and something caught my attention. If you
watch the credits at the beginning of the game and look through the
instruction booklet you'll notice the name Junko Kawano pop up time and
time again. Character Designer, Character Model Designer, 2D Designer,
Planner, Writer, and Director -- even the voice of "Cat." That's quite an
impressive list. Usually these tasks are split up among three or more
people. In this case, however, one could basically attribute the very
spirit of the game to this one person.
The point is, last I checked, Junko was a girl's name. That means that A)
there's a woman at Konami B) they essentially let her make an entire game
C) she rocks. Did anyone else notice this? On one hand it seems a little
asinine to make such a big deal out of it. I mean, I don't mean to sound like I'm surprised that a woman made such a terrific game. But I think
she deserves some extra attention considering that I can't think of any
other women that are game designers. So huzzah and kudos to Junko Kawano!
Hopefully we'll see more from her and women like her in the future.
-El Cactuar
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I like anyone who appreciates Shadow of Destiny, so let's make this tomorrow's topic.
Closing Comments:
We covered your favorite fictional gaming females last week, so this week let Chris hear about your favorite real ones. Do you enjoy Reiko Kodama's RPGs such as Phantasy Star and Skies of Arcadia? Think Yoko Shimomura's compositions beat the pants off both Uematsu and Mitsuda? Since it's a regrettably thin field, just this once we'll open up the topic to include PC games as well, so all you Roberta Williams and Jane Jensen fans can write in.
-Nich Maragos, Kiiboodo-Man
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