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Shoo Catastrophe, I'm Busy. |
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Googleshng - January 31 '04- 2:00 Eastern Standard Time
Did you ever read I Feel Sick? You know that part at the end where
she's trying to get home but is impeded by a gauntlet of cats puppies and psychic fat ladies? I can
relate to that this month.
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An intriguing notion.
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From what I've read about FFCC, it doesn't have any sort of experience
system, it's not turn-based, and it has no plot. On what level is this
more of an RPG than SSX Tricky? In Tricky you levelled up your character a
little bit every time you successfully completed a goal; it's more of an
RPG than a number of games this site features. I demand you either stop
covering FFCC and the Zelda series, or start covering the SSX games.
LockeZ
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Googleshng:
There's honestly a few things that RPGamer shouldn't really cover but does. I once proposed a ban on all
future Action/RPG coverage actually, on the grounds that the line between Action and Action/RPG has more
or less completely disintegrated, and it would save on hassle. Instead we pretty much wound up on a system
motivated largely by popular opinion. Things like Zelda and Harvest Moon really aren't RPGs no matter
how you slice it, but people consider them such, so we cover'em. Of course, with FF:CC, you also have to
factor in that we cover the Final Fantasy movie.
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I want my, I want my, I want my FMV...
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Now i know this is way late, but i don't remember anyone finding the
"playing with power" quote. It's from the description of the berserker
garment sphere in X-2.
On a completely random note, has anyone noticed the decline in the number
of CG's in more recent square games? I'd always loved the art in these and
my memory card would get filled up with saves right before really cool CG
scenes. But in FFX there just dont seem to be as many scenes as in say
FFIX and what there were weren't even that cool, X-2 only has maybe 3? And
Kingdom hearts only has an opening and an ending CG (though they were
really cool). Is Square's CG department (the best outside Blizzard in my
opinion) not being funded or something?
Or maybe i can't count, who knows.
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Googleshng:
I assume you're refering to pre-rendered movies here, since CG stands for computer graphics and would
thus cover everything found in the game. Well, the short form of it is that they are operating under
the false impression that the PS2 can deliver in-engine graphics that are so good you don't need to fork
over the cash to the Honolulu folk to get your eye-popping visuals. It's something that's actually been
working out just fine for a lot of companies (See: Shenmue, the Resident Evil series, a few others that
slip my mind at the moment), but between the visual style Square's been using lately, and the fact that
the PS2 is relatively underpowered, I'd have to agree the in-engine stuff isn't really cutting the mustard.
Of course, it's also entirely possible that they've been intentionally cutting back on the eye candy,
for financial or creative reasons.
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You're asking the wrong person you know.
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What makes MMORPGs so appealing? Certainly, it can't be the gameplay. If
these games were single-player, they'd be so beyond-bad that we'd never
touch them
again...no, it's the social aspect we all love. Even if you don't know
them,
the concept of playing a game with other, real people in a fantastic, huge
world is just too cool to pass-up. So why can't we have one with GOOD
gameplay?
Yes, I love FFXI. I just completed the Samurai quest, and am back to
whomping
Forest Hares in mygood 'ol hometown, San d'Oria. It's fun. But, once again,
even in larger parties, I must express my anger that battle is no more than
hitting "attack" and then going downstairs to eat a slice of cheese and
then
coming back up a minute later. Oohhh, wait, no, in a few levels, we can use
TP
every seventeen attacks and do TWICE as much damage in one attack! Wow!
Okay, I'm
overgeneralizing, but item use in FFXI is an absolute minimum, and even
skillchains and magic bursting don't add much to the formula.
Perhaps the problem arises in the fact that with current technology, a
battle
requiring lightning-quick decisions and true skill simply cannot be
supported
by lower-end internet connections. I would just LOVE a battle system like
Tales of Destiny, everyone working together in true accord, dynamically
shifting
roles, or just something to give a REAL sense of teamwork. I far too often
see
five warriors stand in a circle around a plant, whack to death, and
compliment each other on their great "teamwork". Oh, come on.
This is getting too long, so I'll stop here. I don't really have too much
of
a problem with all this, but I just thought I'd feed the column. I live in
South Florida, and thus consequently don't care about the game of hockey,
but,
uhmm...Go Canadians! (Or whatever team you root for.)
- Feep "My battle theme is Kill Bill"
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Googleshng:
I care about hockey? News to me.
Anyway though, yeah, combat is decidedly lacking in every MMORPG that I'm aware of, but honestly, I think
the social aspects are rather overrated too. Every MMORPG I've ever taken a look at had a population breakdown
something like this:
- People just individually and mindlessly leveling up: 80%
- People who never seem to be at their computers: 5%
- People who wander around in their underwear hitting on everyone: 5%
- People who stand around all the time talking to their friends: 4%
- "heal plz!!!!!1111": 3%
- People who do bizarre stuff to amuse anyone who happens to glance at them: 2%
- People who legitimately attempt to interact with strangers in character: 1%
When you look at the population density of these suckers, that's not a very good pay-off. I mean, there's
more total members of that last 3% present when I sit down for a traditional pen and paper RPG, which
are also cheaper and have spiffy combat.
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