Go go Gadget Column! - June 26th, 1999 - 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. Always two there are -- the master and the apprentice. Don't say I didn't warn you. :)
Let's get to some sexy letter goodness, shall we? Read now or forever hold your peace.
| Terran Enigma |
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Hello there, and hi. I've got several questions, hope I'm not too
annoying...
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Yes.
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1) When are we going to be told the results of the Vault writers
conte-...I mean applications?
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Not now but not never. Sooner than never, if ever. Will that confuse you forever? I feel rather clever.
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2)Have you or anyone else on the staff played Terranigma? Hmmm? Just a
matter of intrest...
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Our good buddy Allan has, I reckon.
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3) Speaking of Terranigma, and this is the whole reason for this message,
do you know ANYTHING about the Terranigma/Tenchi Souzou OSV? I've heard
from...reliable sources that it exists, but they weren't quick enough to
nab it... Know anything?
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I've seen absolutely nothing about it, and I'm pretty darn sure there's no OSV. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
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4) And the final and last question: Considering that Terranigma had an
English translation for Europe, has the strategy guide been published in
English? I don't want to order the Japanese one if I can get one fully
translated...
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I'd imagine.
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Thanks for any help you can offer, long live the GIA, etc etc etc etc....
-Dais
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Thanks to genetic manipulation, that will soon become a reality. You'll never be rid of us. Never!
| Grumpy Old Men |
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Hi.
While I think most people will agree that the day will never come when
our grandparents play video games as a normal activity, there is one
thing you are forgetting here. One day, *we* will be the grandparents.
Who here can honestly say that we will one day "grow out" of video
gaming, as so many of the older generation constantly seem to expect?
Video gaming is here to stay, for our generation at least. It's not
something you do when you're a kid and then give up at a certain age.
Numerous letters to this column in recent weeks have compared video
gaming to movies and TV, even going so far as to suggest it might be an
art form. Well, perhaps the main stalling point here is that it is only
the younger generations, in general at least, that "get" video gaming.
Maybe when we become the older generation things will gradually change,
as more and more of society accepts video games as just another normal
form of entertainment.
I can't see my grandparents playing video games either. But neither can
I see myself ever stopping.
-Thorfinn Tait
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It's true that most gamers now are either gamers from the days of the Atari 2600 and the NES, or younger newcomers. I'm just worried about arthritis. That's gonna be a bitch.
Oh well, at least I can get rid of those pesky bathroom breaks by wearing Depends and blaming it on poor bladder control. Since I'll probably never manage to execute my "toilet in front of the television set" idea, that's the next best thing.
| Descent |
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Greetings, GIA letter-answering type person fellow human person guy.
I think that the magic and armor system used in
FF2 (japanese) was good. Now the implementation
sucked, but the idea was great. Every character
could use any weapon or magic, it just got better
and stronger the more you used it.
For those who don't remember (or who have never
played it) you start at level 0 for all weapons. Each
time you attack with it, you get points. For each
100 points, you go to the next level. Then the attack
power goes up, and accuracy, etc... It works the same
for magic too. Even the HP and MP work well. The
more you get hurt in battle, the more HP you gain.
The more MP you use, the more you gain. This
way, all the characters can become good at whatever
you want them to, and your party will be as balanced
as you make them. That's a pretty flexible system.
There's always going to be somebody that gripes, but
you can't please everybody now can you?
-Dr. Evil
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That basically gives you the same deal as the materia system did. Whether that's a good or a bad thing I'll leave to you to decide for yourself, but I just want people to realize that the idea of all characters being able to have any powers you decide to give them is as old as the second Final Fantasy, and not a recent sign of Square's descent into pure evil.
| Substandard parts |
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On the subject of less than well manufactured consoles, there are three
things you have to consider. First, cartridge systems like the N64 have
no
moving parts like the PSX, so they are less prone to breaking down.
Second,
the PSX was really one of the first CD-based consoles (Sega CD and 3DO
don't
count because they lasted about three days), so there was no real
established blueprint for Sony to use. Third, Sony is a big company.
When
they decided to break into the game industry they had no idea that the
PSX
would make them the amount of money that it did, so I doubt they were
using
their best parts.
Which brings me to my next point. With Sony really pushing to get the
PSX2
out soon and to keep it's cost down, I seriously think this thing will be
made with substandard parts to keep it sub $300. Expect it to be like
the
original PSX: the first gen one broke down and overheated continuously,
while the second gen corrected the problems. You'll probably want to buy
two or three of these things, and keep the extras in the closet just in
case...
Well, that's all I have to say for now, other than that a DC Phantasy
Star
would make me shed tears of joy!!
-Peace,
Darian Knight
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Well, I don't know about that. I have about a 3rd generation PSX, and it still has occassional overheating and lock-up problems. On the other hand, I have one of the very first generation of Saturns, and that thing hasn't locked up or overheated on me once. Not only that, Sega bothered to do a silly little thing like incorporate memory into tha machine itself so you don't have to run out and buy a memory card right off the bat. It's a real shame the Saturn's graphics just weren't up to snuff, it is.
Of course, I should mention that I like most systems that bombed, it's one of my things.
| An undead movie |
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Just a quick correction of the info posted about the Resident Evil movie
yesterday: George Romero will not be directing the film. In an interview
with Capcom producer Yoshiki Okamoto at this year's E3, he claimed that
there was no script yet for the movie. When asked about Romero's
involvement, Okamoto stated that "his script wasn't good, so Romero was
fired". Personally, I see this as a godsend. I'm worried enough about
the Final Fantasy movie; a movie based on a line of games with
traditionally deep plots. Do we really need a film based on such a
one-trick pony as Resident Evil? Besides, what justice would there be in
making another mediocre film about undead zombies, while Evil Dead 4
remains just a product of wishful thinking?
-Unidentified Floating Orange
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A good script is imperative if Resident Evil plans on breaking out of the videogame-inspired move rut. I'm glad to hear that Capcom is serious enough about this whole idea to fire a respected writer like Mister Romero to asure quality rather than trying to capitalize on his name.I do have to wonder how Capcom intends on making a serious flick out of a totally campy series.
Romero's script was 4 hours of zombies getting the crap kicked out of them by sharks and biker chicks, and didn't feature any protagonists. For some reason, Capcom didn't go for it. According to the president of the Willy Beamish fan club, "It would have ruled".
| Timing is everything |
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Squaresoft was never the friendly little company we all knew. Little,
maybe,
but not friendly. Anyone want to go a round about the quality of Final
Fantasy II US? Or the with-holding of FFV? And Square playing off of
franchises is new? Ha! Don't forget the sale of Seiken Densetsu and SaGa
gameboy games as Final Fantasy. Or the release of the abysmal Mystic
Quest.
The fact of the matter is, videogame companies haven't been "friendly"
since
before the days of Nintendo, who arguably became successful due to their
rigidity. Debate all you want that the game industry should change, but
don't revisit history with nostalgia.
As far as the 'mass market' goes, we have only one game to owe for the
explosion of RPG successes in the United States, and that is Final
Fantasy
VII. Just like a solid, mainstream movie will open the door for other
types
of the same movie to be funded (because now producers will view them as
profitable) so the same thing happens with game developers. I seriously
doubt we would have gotten Azure Dreams, Legend of Legaia, Tales of
Destiny
or other small-time games had it not been for the FF7 converts running to
the stores each week and asking, "Any new RPGs?"
But, games will never be viewed as artistic forms of expression until
they're divorced from profit. As for now they're created as toys, played
as
toys, sold as toys, and viewed as toys. Probably inaccurate, but it's a
better description than "art."
-PUNKIN FORD
P.S. Do you visit the Square or Sony Usenet groups? They're pretty hairy
places.
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Final Fantasy VII had a case of The Myst Syndrome©. It was at right place at just the right time. RPGs had slowly been gaining in popularity for a while. Chrono Trigger, one of the later games made for the SNES, sold even more than even Final Fantasy 3. The time was right for an game with mass market appeal to burst the RPG scene wide open, and coupled with a marketing blitz couresy of Sony, Final Fantasy VII was it. Fortunately, FFVII wasn't the mindless piece of "interactive" trash that Myst was, thank those lucky stars. That would've seriously marred the reputation of RPGs in the eyes of many newcomers.
Luckily, FFVII was a hit, and suddenly RPGs became a commodity in the eyes of publishers.
| 32 or not? |
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I heard from one of the letters that the new PSX2 is not going to be 128
bit or even 64. The letter said it was going to be another 32 bit
system. From all the other specifications I've heard elsewhere (the
umptillion polygons per second, the incredible processor speed, etc.)
this doesn't quite fit in. If Sony wants to create a new system, isn't
it almost REQUIRED to be a higher bit? Maybe they're doing it for cost
reasons, but it doesn't seem like a good idea. You look at the 128
(maybe its 64) bit dreamcast and the dolphin, rumored to be something
like 256, and think "Wow!" You then see the brand new 32-bit system and
think "wow."
You didn't correct the guy who sent the letter in, so I got kind of
worried. That's why I wrote this whole thing...
-Alexander3025
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Somebody's been lying to you, or just doesn't know what their talking about. All the next generation consoles are 128 bit, even the Dreamcast.
| 2D or not 2D. That was such a crappy pun. |
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Double Agent guy,
In response to the letter about 2D games, as well as to your response.
Who gives a frickin crap if the character sprites are small in games
like Lunar:SSS,or how anything else looked? RPG's are played for the
gameplay and the story. Sure, it's more engaging and enjoyable if it
does look good, but that's second fiddle to story and gameplay. I,
personally, got loads more enjoyment out of Pokemon than I did FFVII.
Yes, I'm saying that a GAME BOY game was better than a PSX one, and by
Square no less. Sure, the graphics sucked in Pokemon. But I don't
care. What I played it for was the innovative game system, with the
whole gotta catch 'em all thing. FFVII, on the other hand, was all
flash. It's plot was decent, and the game play was nothing new or
innovative. It's whole premise was to bring in the mindless gamers who
think that big weapons and flashy graphics are all that it takes to have
a game. I never actually finished FFVII. I got so sick to my stomach, I
went back and played FFI and FFIII on my nes and snes (I never did buy
FFII. Urrr..). Those were good games. FFI wasn't pretty. In fact it
was ugly as hell. FFIII was the pinnacle of flash and substance. It
looked great, played great, and was as exciting to watch unfold as a
fantasy novel.
-Miro
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I'll field this one, even though I didn't make the original statement. What Allan was saying, and what I also agree upon, is that 2D isn't necesserily an instant negative graphics-wise. Far from it, in fact. What both Allan and I would like to see are 2D games that try something new, rather than going with the exact same styles that were prevelant 5 or more years ago. Square's upcoming Legend of Mana is a perfect example. It's 2D, but it's going with the whole watercolored painting look, which is both new and refreshing, as well as something that couldn't have been accomplished in the 16 bit days.
I'm all for innovation, and if a developer can pull off something new with 2D, all the more power to 'em, I say. It just happens that most gamers feel the same way, and 3D games have been taking the boldest steps towards originality. Games that look like something from the SNES just don't cut the mustard, and in the end if they're good the excell despite their graphics rather than because of them.
| Fishing in the mainstream |
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Hail oh mighty Spanker of the Antelopes,
Frankly, i am a bit weary of all of the "hardcore gamers" who write in
and
bitch just to validate their own pathetic existence about how Square has
become a cold, calculating organization whose only goal is to hoarde the
almighty dollar . Though i am a bit saddened and disappointed that Square
would desecrate their sacred Final Fantasy franchise by releasing the
mediocre FF7 only for quick profit, I cannot blame them for becoming a
large
company and bringing Rpg's into the mainstream video game market. If I
was
in the same position, i would jump at the chance to expand, even if it
meant
becoming "impersonal". You can't pay the bills if you only cater to a
select
few gamers.
Linux rules!!!
-Kupop the White Knight
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It's true that only a limited group really care that much about the translation. A few companies have managed to carve out a niche catering to the more devoted set of gamers, Working Designs being an excellent example, but for a major corporation like Square, appealing to the largest group possible is important, and that group happens to care more about graphics than it does about translation.
I like the way you threw that little Linux plug in there. I'm sure somewhere out there somebody who was indecisive as to which operating system did in fact rule has now been fully convinced.
| The end is the beginning is the N |
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Allan- (Drew, you can harass me instead, if you want.)
You think Square will stay away from Nintendo?
I'm thinking the exact opposite. I know you're saying "Wait, isn't this
that biased idiot who loves Nintendo?" right now, but I have reasons
behind
my statement.
Numero Uno: The Dolphin is, or will be, technologically superior to the
PSX2. You can argue yourself blue, but I'm right. Nintendo puts out good
hardware, and they've got Sony beat now that they'll be using the same
software medium.
Numero Dos: Square does have that history with Nintendo prior to their
Sony
days. This may not count for a whole lot, but the companies have dealt
with
eachother in the past, as some have forgotten.
Numero Tres: Yamauchi is stepping down soon. Hiroshi Yamauchi (the
gentleman who runs NCL, for those of you unfamiliar with Nintendo
corporate
structure) despises RPGs. I personally believe that this man, who did the
world a favor in making video games a big part of society, has majorly
robbed RPG lovers. Less Yamauchi, more RPGs.
(Side bar: Now, watch. The old guy will stick around for another five or
six years just because I used this as an arguement...)
Numero Cuatro: They've admitted to looking at the hardware. That's a
sign,
gentlemen (and ladies, too...)
Numero Cinco: There's no agreement with Sony yet. You'd think that Sony
would've signed them on as an exlusive developer already. We shall see...
Five reasons, all of which could have no effect on the situation.
Personally, I'd like to see Square develop for both the PSX2 and P:D.
Mind
you, I'll then need to purchase all three next gen systems, but I'll
survive.
-The Professor, Tom Lillis
- "The hell?" Barret, FFVII.
- "The hell?" Me, examining materia, playing FFVII.
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Square grazes where the grass is greenest. If Nintendo ends up gaining the number one position in the upcoming console race, I wouldn't be surprised one iota to see Square working with Nintendo once again.
| Die! |
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Why won't pokemon just die? Why? I mean, it's all so annoying.
Whenever
something new about those demonic little furballs pops up on the GIA, the
voices in my head get louder and louder and LOUDER! Please be the guys
who
covers 100% of all rpgs, puzzles, and adventures, but no more pokemon!
Please...I think I just might go crazy otherwise. Hee hee ha ho
ho...Erm...
-Ryos
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We've decided to quit covering every game somebody might dislike or be tired of to better serve our readers.
We will be shutting down as of tomorrow.
Closing Comments I took a fish head out to see a movie. Didn't have to pay to get it in. -Drew Cosner, wanderer from Ys. |
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