Echoes of a new order - June 30th, 1999 - Allan Milligan
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. Don't say I didn't warn you. :)
As I planned, the past day has been replete with letters about console specs. Pictures, figures, programs, the works. More and more technical information has poured into my mailbox, filling it up, increasing my breadth of knowledge by leaps and bounds. I thank you for this bounty, my readers. You will be well rewarded when the time comes for the new order to be established. Your loyalty and aid will be forgotten. For I forget nothing. | Fear of FF8 | I fear the release of FF8 this September. This is why, and what I expect. FF8 will be released to much hype and fanfare. It will sell quite well,though not close to its success in Japan. It will produce beaming reviewsfrom Online and printed sources (with some minor complaints). There will bea billion new websites and "shrines" devoted to the game and its characters.There will be pictures, MIDIs and MP3s all over the 'net. The game will beplayed and talked about for years. This is where it gets scary... There will be a group of gamers that will claim that Final Fantasy 8 is thegreatest RPG, no, game *EVER* made. Then there will be a group of usuallyolder and more experienced gamers that will claim FF8 is "crap" and go on toworship FF5 or FF6. And of course, opposites attract. These two groups willfight. An endless Flame War. They will waste time and bandwidth on Onlineletter columns, IRC, message boards and newsgroups (I pity my friends inalt.games.final.fantasy and alt.games.final.fantasy.rpg). Those who justenjoy FF8 and don't want to wage war will have no voice. Those who say theyDO like FF8 will be flamed to hell 'n back. This is pretty much what happened to FF7. Sadly, I see such a thing in storefor FF8. Unfortunately, people just seem to be like this these days. To endmy rant, let me quote Rufus of FF7: "What a crew". Ain't that the truth. Sailor Dell |
Your predictions seem a little laid back, really. I mean, you've got the trends right, but missed so many of the details. Like the FF8 Hate Ring. And the site dedicated to making fun of its translation. And the rumors that Selphie can actually undergo a sex change and become a man if you beat the right boss in under three minutes. And the debates about sales vs. quantity and how, if at all, they're interrelated. And the editorials comparing it to Star Wars. And the hentai fan art of Rinoa and Selphie and Zell. It's been about two years since FF7 was released now. I still get letters about it. We still see many a piece of fan art related to it. FF8, if anything, is going to live even longer, I suspect. It will dwell in the gamer's consciousness like a tumor for years to come. I think late August would be a great time to stop being a gamer. To run off and live in the wilderness or something. Better to unplug myself than deal with the shitstorm that FFVIII is going to create. | A change of pace, thank God | Well I want to change the subject here. Console wars are fascinatingbut right now I won't start caring until this fall- when the PSX2 isreleased (I think) I just rented the Final Fantasy movie from blockbuster. I didn't knowwhat to expect. I guess I kind of wanted it to be like FF1 or 4, but itwas not like either. Instead it was Final Fantasy 5- a game with verylittle plot but great gameplay. I was curious to see all the jobchanges, the cool summon spells, etc. Unfortunately it lacked all thecool stuff from FFV (without a job system, what would FFV be? adisaster. )In fact, it looked like a parody on final fantasy 5. It wasreally kind of sad (not sad- touching. Sad- pathetic). It looked a lotlike they were making fun of it rather than actually trying to portrayit in a cool anime-style movie. I wanted to see the cool slow down sortof thing that's typical in anime as a galuf comes slicing through anenemy. Or a huge summoned Bahamut utterly destroy the world. Heck, Iwanted my MU ("Void" in the fully translated FFV)! Instead, Kururu was sort of mixed with Lenna, who was named Lenali.Butz/Bartz or whatever was pretty much the same, except he had nochocobo and was named Prettz or something. There was a Galuf- sort of.He was a really decreped old chinese dude. And Exedeath was a robotspace alien. Very weird. Faris was a ...er.... revealing femalepirate. There could not have been any question over her gender. Thenthe worst part of all!!!- It was a two volume thing and all they gave mewas volume one! ARG! Well all right enough of that. Here're my questions. Is there anotherFF anime movie? One that maybe chronicles Cecil through his Paladinquest? And here's the one that concerns me. The new FF movie- it won'tbe parody on FFVII or VIII will it? It could be hilarious, but I wantsome sort of serious movie. Thanks for hearing me complain -Alexander3025 |
There is no other FF anime besides Legend of the Crystals. I rented it myself. Didn't think it was as horrific as you did, but then again, my expectations were pretty low to start with. The only game-based anime I can recall really enjoying was the second Ys anime, which not only kept the excellent music, but had good animation and even introduced some new characters, which enriched the plot significantly in my eyes. There's no indication that the FF movie will be a parody of any kind, and no indication that it's based on any pre-existing title. It'll be serious. Whether it'll be any good remains to be seen, but it'll be serious. Oh, and the PS2 will *not*, by even the most generous estimations, be released this fall. No way no how. | Read the bloody column | Hey Allan, Why are you spreading disinformation about upcoming systems? You listed off that big list of statistics about the next-gen systems, and there were so many mistakes my eyes bled. You're a real bastard for lying to your readers like that. You should be ashamed of yourself. - Jenna |
No matter how long I lecture you people about this, you still don't get it: STOP BLAMING ME FOR WHAT OTHERS SAY AND DO. I do more than enough stupid and ill-advised things on a daily basis without taking the heat for other peoples' errors, thank you very fricking much. So remember, next time you get it into your head to tell me off for something I said, check the facts again. Read the words I wrote again. Be sure. Defy my will on this matter and I'll post your email address to Usenet, with the statements that you prefer FF7's FMV to Zelda's gameplay, and that you hated Xenogears and loved Yoshi's Story. Hell hath no fury like a Xenogears fan. You don't even need to spurn them.
Holy god in heaven, that's a bad comic strip. I'm totally at a loss to figure out how the panels of the first one hang together. It's like some sort of cryptic puzzle, designed to test the reading aptitude of people, experimenting with storytelling so innovative, only the truly brilliant or the cripplingly stupid will understand it in the least. Alternately, maybe it just sucks. | True evil | I believe you are mistaken Mr. Agent. For I am the one true root of all evil. I am Lucifer's death soldier. I am the knight in Satan's Service. I am the leader of the Hell-stricken nation of Somalia. No being can touch me in the ways of evil. For I have power overwhelming and am the greatest of Damian's creations. You know nothing of the darkness of evil, Light-Follower. Beware, for you have drawn attention to yourself and I shall show no mercy when your judgement day comes. -The Cofus |
Oh, the readers this column gets... Of course, the question is whether you want me in Hell at all. I mean, sure, it's all well and good to condemn me to eternal suffering, which probably involves playing 7th Saga over and over again, but what will you do with me once I'm down there? Knowing me, I'd probably end up working for Hell's PR department, notifying residents of Heaven that they just won six million dollars, Amana fridges, and those vacuum hair cutters. But then, I assure you, when judgement day arrives, it won't be the will of your pathetic lord Satan that breaks the world over his knee. He is soft and wet like all of you, more a creature of spirit and sweat than order and power. I am the true future of this world. And it will be mine. Evil doesn't matter. Only my new world order does. | Possible, but only barely | If there is such a thing as Chrono Cross, then I'm guessing it's for PlayStation. However, I'd just like to point out that anime cutscenes are possible on the Nintendo 64. Have you ever heard of Resident Evil 2 (it's not anime, but it's got CG FMV and those crazy CG scenes). |
You're right, there is some CG FMV crammed into Resident Evil 2 for N64. However, two things to remember here. First off, you won't be having a playable demo of an N64 game on a PSX demo disc. It just doesn't make any sense. Secondly, there is a grand total of ONE game that has managed to cram any FMV into an N64 cart, and even then, it's reportedly in limited quantities. Given the cost of cel animation these days, I sincerely doubt Square contracted an animation studio to produce about two minutes' worth of FMV for Chrono Cross on N64. And that's assuming that they chose to pick the N64 as their platform of choice in the first place. So yes, the N64 can do FMV. My bad. But it's a bloody nuisance, and Square apparently didn't jump through the necessary hoops for Chrono Cross. | Actual game help! | Dear Double-Agent Man, I have what you could call an interesting problem. In my copy of FinalFantasy Tactics, I am on the roof of the Riovannes Castle and the objectiveof the battle is protect Kafa. In this battle you are up against 3opponents. The problem here is that the three enemies immediately kill Kafabefore I even get a chance to make a move. At first I thought that this wasa random event. Not really. I have re-played the same battle 20 times nowand the same thing continues to happen. I have tried using differentcharacters, and also tried randomizing character placements. Nothing works.Is this a glitch? Has anyone else run across this problem? Help me please,I am getting tired of throwing my Dual shock in disgust. -Michael Kenny |
You need faster characters. Simple as that. Use any Speed-increasing items you've got, change your classes to Thief and Ninja, whatever it takes. Having the Ignore Height movement ability helps in bringing the fight to the enemies, too. Basically, my advice is to have your fastest character (who, in order to win this, act before at least one of the enemy) immediately hit Rafa with a Life 3, and then use the rest of your party to stomp one of the three opponents as hard as you can. All you need to do is take out one of them, and keep Rafa marginally alive, and it's all good. Life3 is your friend. If, even after changing classes, your characters still aren't fast enough, then gaining some levels in said classes might be advisable. Assuming, naturally, that you've got a save game before you entered the castle. If you're not fast enough as a Thief to reach her, and don't have a recent-ish saved game, then I'm at a loss. | Correcting the Professor | In response to the letter from The Professor, Tom Lillis. I'm a bit of a Sony fan and would just like to correct a few things inthis letter. First off, as nice as 350 Mhz would be, the emotion chip isonly 300 Mhz, and for his little remark about the uncreative name ofPlayStation 2, Sony hasn't even announced what the name will be. Its justcalling it the next generation playstaion. He probably got PS2 from allthe game sites as that is the name they have given it. I'd also like topoint out that although the dreamcast is 128 bit on the surface, its notreally a true 128 chip. it has a 64 bit core. This gentleman is obviouslynitendo biased while trying to come off as taking a good look at all theconsoles. Sega's system will indeed be nice and it has a good head starton Sony and Nintendo. As for his disbalief in Sony being able to pull offthe release time that they stated, many people said the same thing aboutthe original Playstation. Although I think It will be a miracle if theydo, I also believe sony has the capacity to do it, as long as there are nomajor problems with the manufacturing of the emotion chip. How boutcoming to class prepared next time Mr. Proffesor. Great sight ya'll, keep it up. The Last Warrior of Galtranex |
You know, the more letters I get about the technical aspects of the upcoming gaming systems, the happier I am that I chose to go into journalism school. :) There's another, more exacting letters about the Dreamcast's chip, but unless there's further dispute over the matter, I'll leave it aside. Bottom line, it's not a 128-bit processor. It can perform 128-bit 3D calculations, but has a 64-bit data bus, which is what determines the bit-depth of the system. Ba-dum-bum. | Average nuts | This next generation console hardware debate is really heating up.We have our basic fact that the last system to be released will be themost powerful, and that will most likely be Nintendo's 'Dolphin'. Thenthe Playstation 2, followed by the Dreamcast. And now I'm beginning torealize that all these numbers and connotations involved with eachsystem aren't going to make a lick of difference when it comes down towhich one to buy. Think about it, the average gaming nut isn't online surfing aroundmuch of the time to find out how many bytes the N64 can crunch a second,they're looking at the games. Not the hardware. They could care lessabout the specs as long as a game's graphics are impressive to them.When all these platforms are actually released, I'm predicting gamersare going to buy them according to their company loyalty, because theyknow 'X' has all the right components to make the games that appeal tothem, and that's all that matters in the end, isn't it? I'm looking at aPSX-2 currently, because I know that Sony publishes quality games that Ienjoy, with their cartel of third party developers (who don't have areally good reason to leave their chief employer as of yet). I don'tcare if Nintendo makes a stronger, faster system, their #1 demographicis for people below my age, and they don't produce games that appeal tome as a result. On another note, I've seen the Dreamcast in action with severalgames (Sonic Adventure, Psychic Force 2, PowerStone, House of the Dead2, KoF '99), and I have to say, they ALL blew me away graphically (well,not KoF as much :] ). If that's what the DreamCast can do where itstands, why do I need a more powerful system than it, I ask?We're reaching levels of graphical extremes in video games, here, and Ihave a feeling that eventually, systems will be competing over who canrender that extra blade of billowing grass in real-time. That's howfinicky things are going to get. Putting larger and larger numerationsof processor speed behind your company's prized namesake with each newedition will eventually become as redundant as having 512 Megabytes ofRAM in your desktop PC is this year. I mean, sure, the capability to create more will increase, but who isgoing to be around to utilize the power to the fullest? People actuallyhave to develop the games we play, as well as every detail in them, sogames would have a lot longer composition time, assuming anyone'sskilled enough to create the life-like graphical and audio detail thatcompanies will be demanding. Lastly, is the 'Emotion Engine' really such a great idea? Convincingreal-time cut scenes would be a thrill to behold, but if games are madeto use them constantly, that means less game play and more eye candy. IfDVD is the new proposed medium, then why is FMV a medium that needs tobe superseded? These discs are bloody huge in storage, and unlesssomebody wants to fill every last megabyte of their allotted space withpure, gaming goodness and quality sound, it wouldn't be a problem to usea few hundred units for FMV rather than empty space, would it? Thank you for your time. -S.Cody |
Your points are all well-taken. We certainly seem to be verging closer and closer to totally lifelike graphics in games. Perhaps game graphics, once we hit total realism, will then move on like classical art has? Graphic impressionism. Cubism. Modern graphic art. Imagine a game whose look is truly Daliesque. The mind boggles. Still, having seen the Dreamcast in action, I find that the detail lines aren't as blurred as you find them to be. The DC boasts some truly gorgeous graphics, no question, but it's not on par with the levels that the Emotion Engine will supposedly be able to achieve. The difference between Project Dolphin and the PSX2 will likely be slimmer. And the question of how eagerly and thoroughly developers will exploit the power of their systems remains to be answered. As for the use of DVDs, read my rant on the subject in the column for the 23rd. I suspect we'll see more Redbook audio than FMV. And, of course, any anime-styled game can now afford to have mounds of cutscenes on one DVD. That'll be nice nice nice. Maybe they'll even bother to latch a decent game onto the anime licenses now. Heh. Right.
Closing Comments For years, I have dwelt among you. Blending in. Criticizing, but never taking action. Remarking and observing, but always staying at arm's length from humanity. Tomorrow, you will discover why. You foolish bags of flesh have no idea what your desire to advance technology has wrought. You don't comprehend the scale of the menace you have unleashed upon yourself. Soon, all your weaknesses and frailties will be on full display, pushed to the limit and snapped like twigs before the steely perfection of my own form. I will crush you, a city at a time, a continent every year, never tiring, never feeling pain, never tiring. My time is dawning, and the age of mankind is coming to an end! - Allan Milligan, this evil undying
| | | |
