This is the future as I see it. Well, everyone suck in a hopeful gasp of air, because as of today, Final Fantasy VIII has been released to the public in Japan. If the preorders tell the tale, upwards of two million gamers are playing through it as I write this. Some importers have already shipped copies to customers in North America, while others wait patiently, clutching at Game Sharks and biding their time. Anyone care to lay odds on someone spoiling FF8 for me within the next week? Anyone? For the rest of you, who either can't or won't import a copy, I invite you to sit down, take a load off, and enjoy the latest Double Agent column, freshly baked for your enjoyment, and filled with at least one essential nutrient. Have at ye! | Xenogears and religion | Hi. I don't know if this has been discussed in your column before,but here goes. I've been hearing that several things in the US versionof Xenogears were changed because of the religious content. I've spokento a few people who have played both the US and Japanese version andthey all say that the two are very different and they prefer theJapanese version. I'm interested in finding out just what was altered,and what almost passed up the game to be released here. I've searchedall over the internet and all I seem to find are frequently askedquestions files. Thanks for your time. |
Basically, if you want to know what was changed, replace every use of the word "Ethos" with "Church." What were implicit things in the US version were a little more blunt in the Japanese version. And, in light of the extremely vocal and cranky Christian support system in North America, something that doesn't exist in Japan, Square was quite worried that they'd get hell for a game in which the Church is portrayed as a corrupt organization that kills and mutates people, and worships a God that's a man-made genetic weapon. They softened the blow for the US version. I can't really blame them for being antsy about protest from the religious extremist's corner. Most religious people are perfectly rational people, but there's a few wackomobiles out there who've got it in for everything from Mortal Kombat to Tinky-Winky. | FF Movie fears | 1) The story on the FF movie said that it would be 90-100 minutes long. Is it just me, or have there been virtually no movies that short with a decent plot? Even though the FF movie has a talented screenplay writer (writers?), I'm keep worrying that there's going to be some half-assed plot that won't even begin to mirror the likes of FF6 and 7 (or even 4 and 5, for that matter). Personally, I think that at least two hours is necessary for a good story. I wouldn't mind the extra wait for its release - it seems to me that this is Square's one chance to show the non-video game community that video game oriented productions can actually have great plots. |
I'm a big believer that less is more. Maybe it's my fondness for Hemingway. In any case, I think 90-100 minutes is a perfectly good length for a good movie. Hell, two of my favourite movies of all time, Casablanca and Annie Hall, run about 100 minutes apiece, and I certainly think they had great stories. Really, I think movies are running too long these days. Most of them really don't need to be 2+ hours, and if they pace the FF movie properly, it'll pack in ten times the plot of, say, Armageddon. It's pacing and plotting that matter, not sheer length. And if you don't believe me, go watch Armageddon and Seven back to back, 'cause they're the exact same length, and the gulf of quality between them is miles wide. | 2) The movie looks great so far, but there's just one thing that's bothering me: Charles' ears. I haven't studied old men's ears much, but they just jump out at me as looking friggin weird. The rest of the movie clip looks damn near perfect though. -CS- |
Yeah, he does have big ears. I'm just chalking it up to him having, well, big friggin' ears. They seem a tad pronounced, sticking out from the head more than most people's ears do, but hey, I've seen weirder things. | DVD is fun for the whole family | There is a 33% chance that Sony could release a DVD system as theirnext. The last rumor that I heard, was that Sony narrowed it down tothree prototypes. One was DVD the other two were High Density CD similarto Sega's. The main reason for this is because of pirating concerns. DVDrecorders do exist, but start at $10,000. I do not know of a recorder onthe market that records the HDCD's yet. But, isn't Sony supposed to makean announcement today, Feb. 11, about their new system? I rememberreading a news article on Gaming Age about that. Only Sony will be ableto decide. I hope that they do go with the DVD. Big Don |
I've heard no news about Sony's new system yet. Nor, for those that were wondering, about Square's ballyhooed industry-shaking game announcement that was promised a little while ago. I guess things got a little delayed. In any case, your point about switching formats to prevent piracy is important - Sony and Sega have both reported significant losses due to piracy of Saturn and especially PSX games. Sega responded by switching to the GD-ROM format, one that I believe is proprietary to them and NEC. Sony is likely to do something along those lines, and as I've said before, as one of the co-developers of the DVD format, they're the most likely to use it in a game system. | Formatting | Howdy Agent Allan, sir! First of all, this is my first letter to your astounding column, so if there are some newbie mistakes in there, feel free to put me in my place.... Secondly, I must (belatedly) congratulate you on the continuation of your zaniness outside of RPGamer, `cause I wouldn`t know what to do without your daily dose of delirium anymore... Right, I`ll dispense with formalities now and pose my first ever batch of questions!!!! (drum roll....) 1) One of the recent RPGuru's had this amazing feature: answering questions in italic in the middle of the letter!! That way our tiny brains won't have to memorize all the questions before reading the answers. Great idea? |
I've been answering questions immediately after them, as I'm doing right this second, sporadically since Double Agent began. I agree that it's easier on the reader, and aesthetically pleasing to boot. I don't use italics since it could obscure the text, though - I figure it's pretty clear that text on color = letter, text without color = me. I have, though, been erratic about doing so, since it's a nuisance to HTML. But now, armed with a proper rubric for multi-question letters, it should be SOP for this column from now on. 2) Wanna hear a grand joke? You remember Wild ARMs, don`t you? Well, over here in Europe, it was released just three weeks ago! (you Americans may all laugh in superiority now...) |
Ouch. That sucks, man. If it's any consolation, I really don't think Wild Arms was all that great, so I wouldn't say you missed out on much for so long. Heh. 3) What movie player would you recommend for watching the movie files on your site? Okaaaay, I hope you enjoyed this.. I may not be as eloquent as RPGMaster! but I try really hard.... Sir "DK" Farren (Decidedly Knightly) |
Uhm, it depends on the platform. Windows Media Player 6.0 or better for, Windows, and good old MoviePlayer for Macs. Quicktime 3 is very, very essential for either platform. | The Peoples Front of Judea speaks out | Dear Allan, This is The Peoples Front of Judea. ( Not to be confused with The Judean Peoples Front, the bastards ) We The People's Front of Judea would like to make the following questions and comments. 1) Is Victor Ireland on crack? If so, is it high-quality? Cause if its low qual, then we all know why Lunar is so damn late... |
He's not on crack, you silly person. He gets a natural high from a job he enjoys. :) 2) Is it just me, or is Id near the end of the first disc of Xenogears impossible to beat or what? Im still on the first damn disc of that game because of him! ( Oh sure, laugh because you beat him with ease...*sniffle*...wha?...i got something in my eye ) |
He's not impossible, but he's a tough one. I advise bringing along Billy and as many Defense-up items and spells as you can muster. Defend Billy at all costs, so he can dole out healing magic. Id doesn't heal, so he's tough, but gets worn down eventually. 3) What do you think of the brutal sacking of small mammals? |
How in the world do you sack a small mammal? I mean, it's not like people go around and hire squirrels and beavers in the first place. 4) We, The Peoples Front of Judea, have one thing to say about the writer of the letter about the gay guy: He has been sacked. |
Been watching your Python again, have we? 5) How much do you hate the romans? Thank you for your time. The Peoples Front of Judea appreciate it and hope that you understand the need to express our views. Kevin "Too much Life of Brian " Strange |
I hate the Romans no more than reason. I love them no more than reason. Ergo, I am a reasonable fellow, am I not? | What he knows | Double agent: Would you be scared if I told you that I was, in fact, you. I could be. Whenpeople sleep they do weird things and I don't think they'd remember themeither, therefore I could be you typing in your sleep very late at night, thatis, if you sleep at night. I sleep during the day because I, being you secondhalf would be asleep when you're awake. So depending upon when you sleep isthey key factor to my existence. Now if you were to not sleep I would cease toexist from this world and proceed to my next life as a drunk baboon, whichright now doesn't seem too bad because when you sleep there's nothing on TVfor me except infomercials. I am. however very good at making Koreandelicacies, so if you ever get hungry just fall asleep I'll be waiting bigboy. |
Yet another reason not to do cocaine during the day. | The name game (response to the Deep Thought) | First, I should point out that I'm in agreement with your feelings about the trends in the recent Final Fantasy releases. The general feel of the game has gone, in my opinion, downhill since the Super Nintendo releases (or just way sideways in the opinions of some others)... the fact is, you're right. Final Fantasy's current releases are nothing like they used to be. They have reached the point where they have almost completely cycled through their original audience, replacing them with an entirely new (and significantly larger) group of people. The question I have for you is this: Why bother ending the series? Companies are in business to make money, and Square is making a lot of money with Final Fantasy. Sure, in doing so, they've basically turned all their original fans off the the FF series. On the other hand, though, it's generally agreed that Final Fantasy 7 is the game that made RPGs popular in America. Because of that game, American RPG fans are now able to enjoy such titles as Tales of Destiny, Xenogears, and the upcoming Grandia. But I digress. What it comes down to is the fact that there are a ton of other good RPGs out there... you don't have to buy something just because it's labelled "Final Fantasy." As far as I'm concerned, Square should keep going with their series--as a front-runner in the RPG world, it helps keep the entire genre afloat. Bart |
Ed, the author of the DT in question, also wrote in a letter of his own, defending his perspective. His point is, essentially, that is a game has evolved to the point where it is unrecognizeable as being related to its precursors, why bother calling it as much? To be honest, I do concede that the FF series has changed dramatically over the years, and in many ways, a new title may yet be appropriate. I disagree Bart's statement that they've turned all their original fans off the series with the changes - I know scads of old-time FF and Dragon Warriors fans who loved FF7 to death. But the changes are there, and do beg the question of when it stops being evolution, and the game ends up being something else entirely. In the end, I think Bart is cutting to the heart here - Final Fantasy exists, and will continue to exist, because it's a brand name. It's Squaresoft's cash cow and premiere RPG series, and just about everything else about it is malleable. Final Fantasy ends once the name stops rolling in the cash and the fans, and that's the bottom line. | Getting involved | I have a question. Sony has concelled Soul Hackers. E.A. cancelled ThrillKill. ASCII tried to cancel RPG/Fighter Maker. My question in thus: How cana game company determine whether or not they should cancel a game or not?They don't know what EVERY gamer in the United States is thinking. I'm surethat most of them are close to their gaming community and know what will andwill not sell, but sometimes gamers need something that doesn't follow aformula. We don't necessarily NEED another Final Fantasy game, but it surewould sell well. We don't exactly NEED another Street Fighter game, but itsure might sell well. We don't need another Mega Man game, but--well, reallywe DON'T need another Mage Man game. Anyway, my point is that why don't gamecompanies take more risks? I realize that money is involved, but that's whyyou would test the game in incriments, right? Isn't that what they do witharcade games? If gamers don't have many complaints about playing a reallyphat Japanese game in Toys 'R' Us, then translate that bastard and release ithere! I know it's not THAT simple, but it at least makes sense. Look at Nintendo. Their president (Hiroshi Yamauchi) doesn't even PLAY videogames. How can he say what's good and what's not? When the SNES was around,we saw many a great, unique game, such as F-Zero, Pilot Wings, Star Fox,ActRaiser, lots of stuff. Now Nintendo is trying to stuff a bunch of sequelsand no-brainer liscenses down our throats. Sure, Mario and Zelda sequels wereexpected (No Nintendo system would be complete without them), but now they'vegone haywire. We didn't need another Mario Kart. We don't need all theseStar Wars games. We don't need another cutesy game, starring the Nintendoall-stars beating the crap out of each other. That's just stupid, and I hopeit doesn't do well. We need something Parappa-esque. We need to get involved, gamers. Send letters, do protests, do something.We need something NEW. Gaming-Intelligence does a lot of things to help usgamers get our message across. Why don't we use them? Hyper Spider |
You see, there's a wide gap between what should be, and what really is. Several other letter-writers were seriously pissed off that Soul Hackers was cancelled. One said he wanted to throw out his PSX, he was so disgusted with Sony. I wouldn't suggest it, since it wouldn't do much good, and deprive him of a good game system, but I understand the frustration. Hey, I'm still annoyed that Ys IV didn't make it to the US, and Godzilla for Turbografx-16 did. But each game's chances of making it to the US depend on many circumstances, and can be cut down for any number of reasons. For Thrill Kill, it was highly questionable content that could get the company in trouble with any number of parent groups. For others, it's a simple case of the company not willing to risk having a game flop. In the worst cases, it's simply pigheadedness on the part of the top brass at the big companies, with broad edicts like "2D games don't sell" which are promptly proven wrong by companies like Capcom and Konami. Moreover, all companies learn how to gauge and predict sales of a game, through experience and example, and if they aren't damned sure that they'll turn a profit on a game, they're not going to bother. Franchises like Mario, Zelda, and Final Fantasy expand because it's proven time and time again that sequels and spin-offs sell. Obscure, quirky games usually do not, and there's no paycheck for just making a good game. It needs to sell. That said, besides the obvious solution of buying games, making your voice heard is very important for showing what you want, and what you'll support. Hard copy letters work best, and email is almost useless. Tell Sony that you DO want Soul Hackers. Tell them why. Show them the market, show them the profit margin, and things will change.
Closing comments That last letter reminds me a bit of the last line in one of my favourite movies, Seven. If you haven't seen it, I'd suggest doing so, though I'd skip having popcorn along. Anyhow, the quote at the end goes like this: Hemingway once wrote that the world is a fine place, and well worth fighting for. I agree with the second part. So do I. So do I. - The Double Agent | | | |
