Ding dong, the witch is dead! I watched the Wizard of Oz today, all right? Not much in the ranting department today. A fairly typical crowd of letters, with one controversial Rant Du Jour (Connectix's Virtual GameStation and its impact on the PSX market), some comments about Dragon Quest V that DQ fanatics are going to hate me for, and some general nastiness. The longer I do this column, the more unbalanced I become. I blame the "smelling salts" that Vestal sends me every month in an unmarked brown package, but that may just be the whiskey talking. | Assorted nuts and berries | Hey Allan, it's been a while since I last wrote in, but I have thought up more question for the Omnicient Double Agent to answer. 1. Have you ever played the old SNES RPG "The 7th Saga?" I tried it the other day, and I didn't think it was very good, even though it was made by Enix, who are normally associated with high-quality titles. 2. How can Enix justify releasing crap titles like the 7th Saga in America, but deny us awesome ones like Dragon Quest 5 and 6, and Terranigma? 3. What kind of grades did you get in high school? Were you like a 4.0 GPA student? 4. I know this might be out of your realm of coverage, but do you know if there is any possibility at all of a sequel to Metal Gear Solid in the future? I would hope it would be on PSX2, because that is the system I'm planning to buy, but I might just get Dreamcast just for that game if it was on Sega's system. 5. Do you like lightgun games, or do you find them mindless drivel? 6. Do you know if a Dragon Quest 7 release in America will mean an Enix of America re-opening, or will the title sort of be Enix's "put the toe in the water before getting in" kind of thing? Well, if these get answered, my deepest thanks go out to you, and your family. Ummmm, and all your friends too. Kalahari |
1. 7th Saga sucked. I've said it before, I'll say it again. It was unimaginative, derivative, had poorly-implemented innovations, the most obnoxious battle music known to man or God, and about as much plot and characterization as Super Dodgeball. The difference being that Super Dodgeball was a hell of a lot more fun. Unless you find level-building to be exciting to the point of arousal, I'd suggest staying away from the game. 2. Dragon Quest VI and Terranigma were developed after the collapse of Enix of America. Sales simply didn't justify porting any further titles for US release by that point. As for Dragon Quest V, well, maybe they realized that it was crap, too. Subpar graphics, a generally lousy soundtrack, no gameplay innovations - it wasn't even as good as DQIV, and that was an NES game, for pete's sake. At least 7th Saga had, for the time, fairly impressive graphics. DQV was a blot on the DQ series name. America didn't miss much, there. 3. Er... I'm Canadian, specifically an Ontario student, so we didn't have GPAs calculated. I did well in high school, though. I lost some major marks in one English course, however, for being belligerent and snarky... I wonder why? 4. No word on a MGS sequel yet. 5. Light gun games can be very fun, as is the case with Virtua Cop and the arcade version of The Lost World. There are a slew of terrible ones, of course, but there's something wonderfully visceral about just blowing the hell out of a few hundred dinosaurs. Of course, the ultimate in "smart" shooters is Elemental Gearbolt, with its fantasy stylings and experience points, not to mention the fantastic soundtrack. So yeah, I like light gun games, when they're good. 6. Most likely, DQVII will be ported by another company. If it and Star Ocean 2 do good business, Enix might reconsider opening up shop in the US, but not before they have hard proof (i.e. sales figures) that will show that it'll be worth their while. | Misconceptions by the gross | First this quote from the FF Movie Production Details article (well, fromthe actual article linked in *that* article)... *** Each Final Fantasy, at its heart, is defined by its story and the characterswho inhabit its world. The Earth is dying from within, and the people awaitthe fulfillment of a prophecy: four warriors, each with an orb, will arriveto renew the world. These four warriors are the Light Warriors. The game begins with standard fantasy mini-quests: rescue the princess,awaken the sleeping Elf King, placate the blind witch, dethrone an usurpingpretender, and so on. There are heroes and villains. *** No, no, no! It's all wrong...they make every Final Fantasy sound likeFF1... ...people aren't going to realize that FF has had some of thegreatest stories of all time, surpassing most books and movies, if theywrite stuff like *that*. It was painful...I was disgusted...oh well.... Uh, yeah...your take on this senor Milligan? |
Andrew Vestal says the answer to this question is that the text you quoted is plagiarised from the History of Final Fantasy article he wrote for videogames.com, and it taken out of context. I think that's beside the point, frankly; there's a larger issue at hand, here. The FF Movie is going to be dragged through the media mud from start to finish, in all likelihood, due to its origin in video gaming, which is widely regarded as the sole province of brain-dead adolescents and children. The above summary, while inaccurate, it almost certainly going to be perpetuated, and limit the audience of the FF movie in the future, which is a damned shame. | Do I look like a Max to you? | Hey, Max...er...I mean Allan, How can we tell why you look like a Max, if we don't have a picture of you toflee in terror of? --Matt Elder |
Sure there's a picture of me available. Look at the Staff section in the About GIA section. Sure, my wardrobe is a little extreme, but you can still get the gist, right? | Powering up challenge | ... that most RPGs today are concentrating more and more on storyline andless on their battle systems? For my example, I'll use a game almosteveryone has played; FF7. "Before their final battle with Sephiroth, Cloud, Tifa, and Vincent arewalking around the outskirts of Midgar (ooooo it's getting dark ^^), butwait! what's this?! a single enemy, level TWO attacks the party! Oh no!what shall our heroes do?! .... ok cut the dramatic pooh, anyone in theparty could destroy this monster with a flick of their wrist." Why is it that monsters don't level up WITH the heroes? I believe that itwould heighten the challenge of a game exponentially, finally you don't havea party full of level 99s running around doing anything they please! Everybattle would be worth something, and would make the player think wisely. Ibelieve FFT used this system somewhat, where monsters would be of differentlevels dependent on your party members, however, it shouldn't stop there!Imagine a world where monsters would not only level up during the course ofa game, but would also attain new skills, spells, etc. Now *that* would bea worthwhile game to finish, unlike the games we're receiving now. Oh yeah, is it just me or is there a HUGE loophole in FF8's magic system?Personally I think the Draw system is quite innovative, and Square should beapplauded for attempting to inject a breath of fresh air into the genre, butgood lord! There is ONE major loophole in the Draw/Cast/Stock system, andthat is the possibility of almost infinite spells. I view this as a hugeproblem, as players can basically stock spells up to 99 (I'm assuming) bysimply fighting lesser monsters and storing their spells till they reach themaximum (see? this is where the aforementioned monster exp. system comes in!^_~). Although FF8 is going to be released in a matter of days, and theyreally can't recall the game back (heh =P), for future use of the Drawsystem, Square should consider using some "weight" system for their spells.For example, we could have Cure1 with a weight of 2, Cure2 a weight of 6 andCure3 a weight of 10, this way you WILL be restricted to the number ofspells you can actually store, so you could only have 48 Cure1s, 16 Cure2sor 9 Cure3s... see? it'd work perfectly =D .... of course.. if Squareactually did this in FF8... I'll feel like a fool >_< Andrew "does it really make that sound?" |
Tactics Ogre and FFT both used enemies that automatically raise levels as your players do, but I don't think that would ever work in a traditional, linear RPG. You see, one of the key things that prevents the players from just skipping ahead in the plot is enemy difficulty - there are places whose monster and boss power is simply too high for you unless you've completed certain other tasks. As a consequence, while automatically adjusting enemy levels would even out the challenge level some, it'd completely screw over most of the general game design. The game would play more like SaGa Frontier than FF7. Apparently FF8 will have enemies that level up along with your party, so I guess we'll see how that works out. My guess is that they'll start doing event-based railroading, rather than enemy power-based railroading, to keep players from disrupting the linear plotline. But we'll see. As for the possible loophole in FF8's magic system, well, we'll see, I guess. I would also assume that the enemy's relative power would affect what sort of spells you can Draw out of them. Consequently, you could whup legions of weak enemies, but you're going to be stuck with a huge stock of Cure1s. Whoop-de-frigging do. | The importance of paragraphing | Hey allan milligan, or should I say, DOUBLE AGENT, I have yet something very important to say, and it deals with a certain company going by the name of Connectix. Be warned Allan, I am well known for my endless babble, and you may find yourself amazed at how good I am at "bs"ing through something. Cause I'm VERY good at it(how do you think I pass those darn essay tests*A's EVEN*). Ok this might qualify under the Deep Thoughts thing but I'm not sure, you decide. I am also sending this to RPGamer cause I want everyone to know what I think.OK then enough of that, back to Connectix. Well as you know, they have created a PSX emulator, and by the looks of it, I'd have to say it looks pretty darn good. But if you really think about it Connectix could jeopardise the gaming industry. How you ask? With just a measly emulator. Hell yes, it's possible. Emulators for older systems such as the NES and SNES are just fine(I can admit I use em), but to create an emulator for a system still selling quite well, that's just plain wrong. Ok let's just say Connectix gets this thing all over the market. Will Sony like this? I think not. Now here's how it could jeopardise gaming. Ok if there is this emulator on the market, Sony will lose a helluva lotta money. It'll probably outsell the PSX, though it has some very high tech specs. That'll deal Sony a big blow. Now here's what Sony might think after it hits the market: "If they can do this so easily why bother creating another system if they'll emulate it again." And I tell ya, that'd suck big time. I personally am waiting for a PSX2 to come out(I really don't think Dreamcast has much of a future, but only time will tell). I have just recently gotten a PSX and am loving it. To think that this "Virtual Game Station" could deprive us of another PSX, it just pisses me off. I am on Sony's side on this one. And I hope you will join me in my cause and post this letter. I must be heard! I will not let Connectix win another round of this lawsuit! Ok then, that is it. If someone else already mailed you about this, OOPS. Well until next time. -Ronald Yi(I am korean and we rock) aka Korean Pride aka Flare101(hehe) |
PARAGRAPHS ARE YOUR FRIENDS. Ahem. Now that I've shared my public service message for the day, we discuss Connectix. Well, I have put in an order for a Virtual GameStation. I plan to make good use of it. I do not expect it to collapse the video game industry, and I do not expect it to drive Sony out of the US market. Frankly, I expect that Sony's going to win the lawsuit, but that's me. See, the thing about the console market is that companies aren't making profits selling systems. Not one, not two, not seventy million of the things. Console systems are, as a rule, produced and sold at a loss to the company. The money in the gaming industry is made through software sales, not hardware. Consequently, especially since the PSX is late in its shelf life now, the VGS is probably not going to cripple the PSX market. If anything, it's opening up a new market for software sales. Is it legal? Is it moral to sell an emulator of a system that another company developed and markets at the same time? Probably not. But it's not going to hurt the segment of the market that makes the big bucks, the software sales. What it will hurt is the hardware, which is mostly at a loss, except for the peripherals, like memory cards and Dual Shocks and Official Sony CD Cleaners. Virtual GameStation will not be depriving anyone of a PSX2. You're welcome to be heard, but you're wrong. | Someone who's actually concerned about me | Hi Allan just a short question- How are you going to deal with the deluge of FF8 spoiler questions and rantsbefore you have had a chance to play the game? In your position as Double Agent, you're going to get a LOT of FF8 relatedstuff. I hope you get to play the game before the rest of us. |
Short answer: I'll have it spoiled for me. I'm going to try and avoid spoilers, but realistically, as part of a news site, at the forefront of public relations, I'm going to be buried in FF8 stuff. Ah well. | Nintendo hardware add-ons | I might be incorrect, but to the best of my knowledge, the CDROM expansion to the SNES was just that, an expansion, much like the Sega CD. Nintendo did hire Sony to develop it (and I think maybe one other company also.. maybe Phillips?), and then canned it. Because no one likes to waste valuable R&D money, this technology was later developed into the PSX. Nintendo made their own worst enemy (woah.. there's a news flash). At any rate, Bart Kelsey is quite right in his thinking that the "Super CD" could have led us to a golden era of 2D RPGs. One such RPG that was developed (and released) was Secret of Mana. I think I still have somewhere an interview with one of the game creators, who mentioned he thought there were a lot of places in the game where it didn't seem complete since they had to cut a lot of work out when it became apparent that the CD addon would never be released. While on the subject of hardware, I've heard some news recently that the DD is in fact still being released (allegedly) this year in Japan. I seriously doubt we'll see it stateside. ---TorgVega Q |
Yep, as far as we know, the 64DD is still on for Japanese release, and is a wash for US release. It's gone the way of the Famicom Disk Drive now. I wonder if it'll ever manifest on either side of the pond... | Break out the tranquilizer darts | I wanted that FFMovie clip. I stayed up past midnight to try to get it.And after three hours, completing more than 75% of it, the downloadcrashes. And now, I still don't have the goddamn movie. WHY does yourserver not support GetRight? If it did, I wouldn't have to stay up solate. I would simply download it part by part, and resume from where Ileft off. But no, the stupid server does not support resuming, and as aresult, I STILL DON'T HAVE THE GODDAMN MOVIE!!!!!! WHY DOESN'T GIASUPPORT GETRIGHT??????!!!!!! WHY??????!!!!!!!!!! |
Because we hate you. More seriously, our server simply doesn't support GetRight. It just... doesn't. Why? I don't know. But it doesn't, and isn't going to any time soon, so relax and feel free to use one of the ever-growing list of mirror sites. Well, GIA's had a good day in the publicity department, on account of the FF Movie clip thingie. It's hot flaming death to our server, but it's spread the word pretty good. So, if you're new to the site, I humbly suggest that you bookmark us right this second. We're cool, we're sexy, we're quasilegal, and we grow on you like a fungus. We're the GIA. Love us or we release the hounds. - The Double Agent | | | |
