Corrections and comments time. This clears out about half the letters I received recently... First and foremost, dozens of Heroes of Might and Magic III owners wrote in to tell me that it does, indeed, contain MP3 music files. Okay. Groovy. This conversation is NOW officially Dead. Second, Ogre Battle 3 coverage, which has been lingering in limbo like an especially disgusting piece of rotted food in the dorm floor fridge since we launched, will be done Real Soon Now. The person in charge of it has been sacked, beaten, and kicked down a hill while diseased badgers were chucked at him. He will pay for his laziness with blood. Thirdly, a Sketch Artist update is forthcoming. There have been some major changes in that department, as you'll see and understand once the next update goes up. And lastly, no, I don't do the exotic dancer thing anymore. Satisfying a career as I found it, my thighs are just too flabby to really do it properly anymore. I look like I've netted a sea lion in my fishnets, and that's just not good. | Jumping ship | I'm pretty sure not many people have been really thinking about this, but isn't it entirely possible that, while Square is currently planning for PS-Y or 2 or whatever, that if Nintendo releases the full specs for its new system in the coming months, that Square would jump ship again? Sure, it seems unlikely, but it seemed rather unlikely that Square would go to Sony of all people back in the the birth of 16 bit too. Wouldn't THAT throw the war of the consoles into total chaos? ~Riisuke |
Chaos? Sure. Total chaos, eh, probably not. Square's a major developer, sure, but its movements aren't enough to make everyone else shift in their seats. Hell, Namco signed on with Dreamcast, a major switch from their previous pro-Sony stance, but it didn't send things into chaos, and Namco's a much bigger player, on the wide scale, than Square is. In any case, predicting how Square would react to the release of a nice new Nintendo machine, along with appropriate deals cut. I wouldn't slot Square developing for the big N into the "impossible" category, by any means. Then again, Sony has treated Square pretty well, and scored a lot of excellent publicity and licensing profits from their products, so they'd probably go to great lengths to keep them in their camp. | Enix returns? | With Sony handling Star Ocean 2nd Story, and DQVII, is it possible Enix mightreopen their US office? Enix closing it's US offices never quite made senseto me. Think of all the games we would have gotten it they hadn't!! DQ5/6 andthe first Star Ocean, not to mention numerous others. Or could they mergewith another company, as Square did with EA? |
Enix closed its US offices because they were leaking money horribly. Their games got poor reviews, their reputation was in the crapper, and they were selling very poorly. Simple as that. Enix of America became a liability, so it was collapsed. There's little to suggest that a no-name game like Star Ocean would have sold well in the US, and the Dragon Warrior name was well past its prime in the US market, so I wouldn't even stake money on those being games that could have saved the local branch's neck. They came, they saw, they failed. Now, in a much friendlier market for RPGs, Enix might have a chance. I imagine they'll be watching the US sales of Star Ocean 2 very, very carefully. If it sells well, a partnership, or a re-establishment of EoA might be in the cards. If not, they'll probably just hand over translation rights to whoever asks, but essentially concentrate in their home market. | Be careful what you wish for | You know what's really been buggin' me lately? The fact that no one hasmade a REAL console RPG for...well, since Ogre Battle, I think. Whatdefines an RPG to me? Simple, having your OWN character in the story,not some pre-made garbage that no matter what you do, you have no realeffect on the outcome of the game. Maybe on the next-gen systems we'llsee something like this, however this seems, at the moment, unlikely.I'm sick of living others people's lives, I want to live my own again.BTW, when the hell is Working Designs gonna release Lunar? I'm startingto get pissed, and I'm already unstable to begin with. . . juno reactor |
I'm sure there'll be a hefty number of people who can list off RPGs where you create your own character, though I can't think of any off the top of my head. To be quite honest, considering how unpopular games without a real, defined character as the star tend to be, I wouldn't look to see that trend re-emerging any time soon. The best you can hope for, I suspect, are heavily customizable ones. Lunar is due in early April. EB's listing it as April 14th, I believe. As an aside, please note that Lunar isn't, by your definition, a "real" console RPG, having a pre-made main character. Buyer beware and all that jazz. | Fishing fun | Double-Agent: I'm having trouble getting the Dark Stonein the Sky City Shevat. According to GIA'swalkthrough to XENOGEARS, I should beable to get the Dark Stone by fishing in thefountain. But I've pulled out a dozen fish andlost 7 spiderwebs for fishing and whenever Ipull out a fish, all that happens is Fei says"Not a bad catch" and tosses it back. Is therea trick here I don't get? Is it a 1-in-64 chanceof pulling out the right fish? What the heck,how do I get that dang Dark Stone? HELP! CraigInMN...2! |
Here's what Fritz had to say on the matter: You need the spider web, then go fish in the fountain. Tap up, then left, to catch a fish (you may need to wait a while). Select the second option, then the first, to reel it in. From my experience, a healthy dose of luck doesn't hurt. If you fail, just reset the game, or reload, and give it another try. Also try going back and talking to chu-chus. | I needn't have worried about lack of debate | I just have one question: why does everyone say Zelda is so good? I mean, thegame is okay and all, but it didn't last. I remember playing LTTP years ago,and loving it. TOot didn't really do it for me, though. It's like, peoplebrand anything with the Miyamoto name as the greatest game of the year. This isn't just a hasty impression, either. I played through the first halfof the game before I stopped. I didn't get immersed in the game at all. Ithought the engine was a bit klunky, and the game a bit boring. There wasnothing to keep me going, especially for the fact that every time I started upagain, I would start from Link's house. I lost count of how many times Ispent walking from the Kokiri Forest to Hyrule Castle. I probably spent 50%of the time playing the game walking from place to place. The game was anokay game but not a classic in any form. I'll take FF Tactics any day. -Legion007, The Sixth Marx Brother |
And here I thought I'd cut out all opportunity for heated debate. Man, talk about a sacred cow. Anyone else feel the same as Legion007 here? I know at least two other people who feel that Zelda: TOOT is overrated and not nearly as brilliant as countless websites and magazines have rated it. Are there more of you? Don't be afraid. Tomorrow, if the response bears it out, I will present something unprecedented - a day of reasoned arguments against Zelda. After that, we get the democratic response, which I imagine will be pretty hefty and impassioned. I'll leave this one to the readership. Group A, your assignment is to answer his question, why Zelda is so good. Group B, come out of hiding and explain why it didn't work for you. Keep it clean. | Spritely niches | Everytime you talk about sprites v. polygons, you always talk like sprites are passe and on the way out. As the de facto drawing method, I agree. I do not believe however that sprites will ever fully disappear for the reason of style. Some atmospheres and game types simply work better with sprites than they ever would with polygons. Take movies for example. There are countless number of Technicolor movies out there now (or whatever the hell they call the coloring process today), yet every once in awhile, a director will decide to do a movie in black and white. And how about computer generated effects? Its been proven that effects sell, and they pop up every where, but not all movies use them (cost factor aside). A lot of the slasher flicks just use good ol' latex-based makeup and foam dummies. ---TorgVega Q |
Okay, point taken. Every time I write a response involving sprites vs. polygons, I write a "well, sprites might last due to stylistic reasons" paragraph, which always gets cut because I don't explain it very well. You've nailed down what, to me, is likely to be the future of sprites in game graphics: a stylistic choice, rather than the practical choice. I think, in the years to come, polygons will indeed be the standard graphic design tool for games. They'll do what sprites are used for today - detail, smoothness of animation, and so forth. But sprites will remain, partly out of nostalgia, partly out of cost-effectiveness, and partly out of style. | Nintendo and Miyamoto | Some people (like Keith in a recent letter) question whether Nintendo is atrue pioneer in gaming. Maybe not, but that doesn't affect my love forNintendo. I won't go on deeply into how Nintendo saved the gaming industry (read thegreat book Game Over for more information on Nintendo up to 1993),but it's not an understatement at all to say that Nintendo ended thevideogame crash of the 1980s in America (of course, we all know who startedit, cough, hack, ATARI!, cough cough). Sure, Nintendo made the NES look likea toy instead of a gaming system, but they had to. It was the only way toget the NES in stores! Nintendo has a genius working for them. His job is labeled "Game Designer".In case you didn't figure out already, his name is Shigeru Miyamoto. Hisgames, his visions, are absolute works of art. you could even say he is theSpeilberg of videogaming. I can't think of one other man that has created orat least worked in so many successful videogaming series and lovedcharacters: Mario series, Zelda series, the original Donkey Kongs, Pokemon,I would list more but there are too many (and for the record, Miyamoto wasnot the genius behind Metroid. The creator of the Game Boy, who past awayrecently due to a car accident, was behind the Metroids, and that is why Ibelieve Metroid 64 could never live up to the original Metroids). Look atthose games. They aren't just carbon copies of some other game. Many of themaren't even cinematic or whatnot. Many of Miyamoto's games (especially thenew Zelda) are worlds in a cartridge. They might not be as cinematic, or"Wow, this is like a movie!", but they don't have to be. Especially withZelda, they are immersive experiences. That's why when you think Nintendo,you think "classic games". It's interesting to note that during the GDC, when Miyamoto went up to thestage to give a speech, he was given a standing ovation. No other developerwas given such an honor. It's best described by an article given in NextGeneration Online: "These hardened professionals who had just spent the past few dayswatching eye-shattering demonstrations of future graphics boards, gamemachines of the next millennium, and next generation software demos; theseseasoned veterans who have been subjected to every form of hyperbole; theseultimate competitors who would never dream of admitting someone else's codemight run a little faster; these veterans of "if it moves, kill it"software; theseá"Game Developers"... rose to their feet as one to give thissmall, humble, sweet-natured, elder statesman of the art form a standingovation!" Nintendo's reputation has gone waaay down since N64 came out. But my lovefor Nintendo hasn't. They aren't in any other business like Sony is. IfPlaystation 2 bombs, Sony can just say "Oh well, we still have our CDPlayers and DVD movies!" But Nintendo IS videogames. And you can tell theydo the very best job to add to the art & entertainment form videogames are.As a software developer, Nintendo is the king. Very few developers comeclose. As a hardware developer, they may not be the best, but they've putout some very nice innovations. The Shoulder buttons and curved surfaces ofa controller all consoles must have now were started by Nintendo (SNES). Andremember when Nintendo introduced the analog controller and the rumble pak?Soon, all consoles had the same features. I have a ton of respect for Nintendo, in fact, I would be lying if I said Ididn't have a bias for Nintendo (as a software company, I don't prefer oneconsole over another). In fact, software companies I also have a bias on areSega, Square, Konami, and Rare. That is why I'm always eager to see whatthey have to offer.I look at those companies' games with higher standardsthan some other company. If Hudson Soft makes a 3 out of five star game, Iwouldn't be so surprised, but if Nintendo or Square (for example) did? Iwould definitely be shocked. That's why Parasite Eve's getting so much crapthrown at it, that's why Diddy Kong Racing (which is by Rare, not Nintendo)was bombed to hell, that's why so many were disappointed at Castlevania 64.All of those videogames were good games! But they weren't spectacular,something we would have expected from the companies that made those games.If, say, Crystal Dynamics made Parasite Eve, it would be like any othergame, some people would buy it, some wouldn't, life goes on. But ParasiteEve came from such a respected company like Square, so most of us weredisappointed at how it was "just okay". The point of this letter was.. there was not central idea, but it was a wayto let me explain how I felt about certain things, I guess. Oh yeah, whichreminds me, since when is Next Generation magazine famous for disliking 2Dgames? I never knew disliking 2D games meant they could give Castlevania:SotN such praise. Besides, you can't deny (at least in my opinion) that many2D games are getting tired and are simply there for nostalgia purposes. -Clyde "The truth is out there, man!" Hudman |
To start off, Next Gen has, on a few occasions, commented that games are inferior or poor simply because they use 2D graphics. I believe that was a significant part of their Tales of Destiny review, at the very least. This hasn't earned them many friends in some circles. I seem to have misplaced the letter archives, which is a shame, since I've been yelled at for their comments about 2D graphics on several occasions. It's apparently a repeatedly-stated bias of theirs, and the more they say it, the angrier people get. Secondly, I agree that we place certain companies on a pedestal, and expert a lot more of certain companies as a result. Their releases are scrutinized and picked apart much more thoroughly than any other release, which is why we end up with Soul Blade Hate Webrings and campaigns to end the Final Fantasy series, but people scarcely bat an eye when Legend of Legaia is released. With fame is attention, good and bad, and puts pressure on them to be the best, instead of just putting out good games. Third, if I have ever given the impression that I don't think Nintendo deserves a hell of a lot of respect, I apologize. I grew up on the NES, loved my SNES to death, which is why I am all the more disappointed by the N64, and the countless problems I perceive in the conception, marketing, and maintenance of it. Nintendo's contributed a huge amount to the gaming industry, but I really think they've screwed themselves over during the past three years, and much as it pains me, I've got to call them on that. Respect for past accomplishments can only go so far. Miyamoto is a genius of game design, without question. There are games by him that I felt were overrated, but every one of them was solid, innovative, and fun in some way. If you want a good gaming experience, you turn to Miyamoto. It's really that simple.
Closing comments Oh, and for a bit of closure on the Seiken Densetsu similarities thread from yesterday, I've received follow-up letters from a few people, and on the basis of those, I'm now convinced that Jason was right in that SD1 and SD2 are direct sequels to one another, whereas SD3 was clearly on a different world entirely. GameCat's letter still applies, though, finding the common themes between all three, and defining what really makes it a Seiken Densetsu game. Just before I go, I'd like to note that a few people have asked for more short and funny letters. Well, I'd love to answer some, but I don't have any, except for the 100 Questions that site-mate Andrew Vestal has called dibs on. So, as always, if you want it, you've gotta send it. Ciao for now, kittens. - Allan Milligan | | | |
