Fresh! - January 21st, 2002 - Drew Cosner
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this column are those of the participants and the moderator, and do not neccessarily reflect those of the GIA. There is coarse language and potentially offensive material afoot. Blah. Don't say we didn't warn you.
I have no intro.
| Sexxxy |
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Well, with Eidos behind it, every game will have ultra-sexxxyT marketing
campaigns focusing on the fact that large breasted ultra-sexxxyT women play
them and you should too.
I mean, it worked so well for Tomb Raider and Legacy of Kain, it's just
BOUND to make the kids buy 'em, isn't it?
All I know is, we get another Japanese RPG released domestically for the
PS2, and that makes me happy. Breasts be Damned.
~Irontetra
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I may as well just set the tone for today's column right now. To wit: most people have caught on to Eidos' modus operandi, and they revel in making that clear in their letters. I've tried to filter out most of the letters that were merely broad swipes at Eidos and its pratices, but that sarcastic tone works its way into a few letters I did print. Yes, surpsisingly, even I have my limits on the amount of single-note sarcasm I can take.
And now that I'm done pimping my own decision-making process, let's get this show on the road.
| Big ole weirdo |
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"A game that forces the player to hunt around for save points, trap them extensive dialogue sequences, or otherwise prevent them from playing in 5-10 minutes bursts will not work. A GBA Xenogears will not work."
Actually I think it can work. The save point thing, which would be the biggest hurdle to playing the game in bursts, is easily fixed. In Dragon Warrior 3 for the NES (and DQ3r for the SFC). You had to find save points and couldn't just save anywhere. But lo and behold when the SFC remake was ported to the GBC you could save anywhere you wanted. AMAZING. So a GBA Xenogears could work. The only problem would be that some of the more lengthy dialogue scenes would prevent short play time bursts every once in a while. For the most part it could work though.
I'm really excited about the Fresh Games thing. Hell in a perfect world the U.S. would get every game ever made in Japan. Sure, there a LOT of weird games I could care less about like that popular Japanese Hamster game but there are always gems to be found and discovered. I'm most excited about the Legend of Legaia sequel. Yes I was one of the few people who really enjoyed the first Legend of Legaia. I really loved the martial arts style of fighting it had. I was really surprised that anybody decided to pick this up and publish it over here though. It sold REALLY bad in Japan. I don't think it even got 100,000 copies sold. After seeing this Fresh Games concept I have to say that Eidos is bad ass. On top of this cool Fresh Games concept they were also good enough to successfully publish Dragon Warrior Monsters in America! , which led to the return of Enix of America and the Dragon Warrior series in general.
Pendy the DQ/DW guy
P.S. I also liked Seventh Saga and Legend of Dragoon. I guess I'm just a big ole weirdo. [Yes. Yes you are. -Ed.]
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In Erin's defense, I don't think she was saying Xenogears absolutely, positively could not be ported to the GBA in any shape or fashion. Rather, I get the impression she meant that a game with the same save mentality as the PSX Xenogears wouldn't work; i.e. hours at a time without any save point in sight. And, honestly I agree. Assuming, of course, my interpretation of her words is correct. Moving along.
And now for my official Unwelcome and Unpopular Stance of the day: I'm glad every game that makes a release in Japan doesn't see Western shores. For all the ballyhoo over the "foreign gems" that never make it to North America, ther is a whole lot of crap that, mercifully, stays put. Especially now, when pretty much every worthwhile game makes it to our side of the ocean, translated no less. I pretty much look at the localization process as a "crap filter." Sure, there are a few decent games that don't make it Stateside even now, but for the most part, we're getting the good part of the deal. Although you can feel free to dissent, as always. That's just my take on the matter.
But just to put things a bit differently:
| The question is... |
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Hi Drew,
Two questions:
1. If someone wants to give you a huge lump of gold, would you care if it
was "Fresh!" or ten years old?
2. If someone wants to give you a huge lump of frothy, maggot-infested
elephant diarrhea, would you care if it was "Fresh!" or ten years old?
Friarjohn
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Unless I'm interpreting this letter incorrectly, the good Friar here feels that plenty of what didn't make it to America is and was crap. We may get a few neat titles out of the deal, with a little luck, but let's keep things in perspective, and all of that.
| Spazzing out
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Drew -
One word...Spaz.
Peace,
Ray Stryker...and I call myself a WD fan...
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Touché. Although I will say this: Spaz was limited to a specific style of gaming, whereas Fresh isn't. Hopefully Fresh's wider options will keep the label afloat.
| What's that giant sucking sound? |
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Drew -
Fresh Games is bringing Ka to America. I think that's all anybody needs to know.
-An'Desha - These people deserve a medal.
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You know, I never understood the fascination with Ka. I've played it; it's really not that great. I think it's the perfect example of a game that everyone lusts over, quality aside, specifically because it will probably never see a Stateside release, a la Final Fantasy V. And then, to compound matters, the people who were 'leet enough to bother importing pump these games up to be far better than they actually are. Let's face it: if you put the effort into importing a title, you're a lot less likely to tell your buddies it sucked, thus shining a poor light on yourself for having sought it out.
Of course, you could just say that I wanted to be the big, bad final word on a much-discussed game to boost my ego. I guess that's kind of true, too.
| Push it to the limit! |
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Dear Drew,
I thought it was a GIA April Fool's joke when I saw the new Kingdom Hearts character designs, featuring a bizarre DBZ-style fusion of Cloud and Vincent, an ichthyo-ized Sora, and a mutant ninja turtle Goofy. And then I saw the actual screenshots…
Anyway, kudos for Nomura for pushing the Final Fantasy and Disney licenses to the limit!
-Fares
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I just hope Kingdom Hearts ends up being more peanut butter and chocolate and less ice cream and chum. Or something to that end. Being metaphorical has never been my strong suit.
| Bat-Cloud |
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Sucking. That's what'll come of it. Sucking. But in a good
Mosquito-simulator way.
Or maybe in a bad way. It is Eidos.
Look everyone! It's Cloud! And
he's got bat wings!
~Ian P.
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You guys are all just as cynical as me; it truly warms my heart.
| No dissertation today |
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Salve Drew,
Well, the way I see it is that the Fresh Games label will be for games what the minor art-house labels are for other media. Basically, console games have never had a place for the quirky, small interest games to be published in the US. With a label like Fresh Games, they will, and more people will be exposed to these quirky games. In addition, if the label does well, then other game makers may rethink their import policies, and start bringing over other games to the US that the may have not before.
Sincerely,
-AngelKnight, who isn't in the mood to write a dissertation today.
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All of my cynical babble aside, I am equally curious to see how this all works out. On one hand, yes, it is nice to be given the option to pick up quirky titles in a language I don't totally suck at. On the other hand, I have to wonder if there's actually enough of us who care. Only time will tell.
| Nice going, Eidos |
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Drew:
Fresh Games... a label to promote obscure Japanese games that otherwise
wouldn't see the light of day here. From a personal perspective, I think
this is great; it means more games for us to play. From a business
perspective, this is the stupidest thing I've seen come out of Eidos since
Daikatana.
Ka is a game where you play as a mosquito and, near as I can gather, buzz
around, spy on folks, and generally irritate as many people as you can. I
know a lot of people who play every kind of game out there, but I don't know
anyone who'd be interested in this. There will probably be a very small
group of people scattered across this country who will get a kick out of it,
but with that in mind, you really can't make any money off of a game like
this.
It, along with a couple other of the games Fresh is publishing, fall into
the category of games that are innovative for the sake of being innovative.
They're not necessarily fun; they just go against the grain. Sometimes, that
kind of philosophy works, but most of the time it doesn't; people don't like
mainstream games because, as some of your readers have suggested over the
past couple of days, said people are stupid. People like mainstream games
because they contain common gameplay elements that make them very fun to a
very large percentage of the gaming populace. Games like Ka strip these
elements away and replace them with new ones in the hopes of finding some
alternative formula for success; it's like throwing darts into space.
Given that Eidos is in poor financial shape at the moment, I don't see
why they're taking this sort of risk.
-Nij
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Indeed. An interesting point, to be sure. And, honestly, I tend to agree. Sure, a pogo-stick simulator would be original, but it would take an absolute genious to make it fun. For the most part, that doesn't happen. To use my favored band analogy, it reminds me of the music scene: you have small bands trying something off-the-wall, and chances their music will work for a small audience. However, occasionally someone brilliant does come along, doing something people haven't seen before, while making it sound good.
Of course, just what is "good" is easily debated, be it games and music. So, again, it's a matter of whether or not enough people will care about these games and enjoy them that will determine if Fresh has any staying power. At any rate, my hat is off to Eidos for taking what is potentially a stupid risk. I suppose I'll shed crocodile tears if it does put the company under, just because I'm an asshole like that.
| Disney has lost it |
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Drew,
Of all the things that Disney is even RELATED to, including a defunct
television station, a fast food chain, and all things Mickey, only Kingdom
Hearts seems to be promising. Yeah, Square develops it, but kids are going
to think "Wow, a Disney game!" and pee in their pants for weeks on end. Kids
will like it because of their favorite Disney characters, Square fanatics
will like it because of all the FF-cameos, and Disney will like it because
it will create a huge mountain of money for the company.
...Seriously, though, some of the cameos are sort of unusual, especially
this new one in thegia's updates. Since when did Tetsuya Nomura think it
would be a good idea to have Vincent Valentine and Cloud Strife to have that
bastard child in the pics!? It boggles the mind, quite frankly. Cloud looks
cool with the cape, but after pondering for a few seconds, I realize the
cape is Vincent's. And what's this? The left hand has either been infected
with Jenova, or some rare form of leprocy. ...The wings are a nice touch,
though, but I'd like to know why they are there! Sheesh, what's next, Red
XIII becoming the brother of Tigger. Gasp! So he isn't the only one after
all!
Don't get me wrong, though. I'm looking forward to the game, but I'm just
shocked at all the makeovers these characters are getting.
~Chris "the boy who can't wait to see Donald Duck and Cid Highwind get into
an argument" [no last name]
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I may as well let somebody else develop a topic for me, since my brain is flapping along at half-mast right now. So here it is: given what you've seen of Kingdom Hearts thus far, what do you think the chances are that its developers will succeed in what they're attempting? What will it take for the game to succeed? If it fails, why will that be? Do enlighten me.
Closing comments:
Well, I guess putting the topic in a response to a letter kind of makes this part of the column useless. Oops.
-Drew Cosner
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