No Puns Required
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| April 20th, 2011 |
04/20- 12:00PM EST
Another week, more great questions from you, the readers. As
some of you have noticed on Twitter, I'm busy playing through Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes HD
this week, which has been an interesting experience. More on that when
I write the review for it, of course. This has meant less time to play Trails in the Sky, but with the
second part still a long ways off, I'm in no rush to finish it.
Enough about that, let's jump right into the letters...
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Resonance of Suikoden's Fate
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Regarding two of your "Hot Topics"...
I'll get Resonance of Fate
over with first. Yes, yes it does deserve a sequel of some sort.
Amongst JRPGs, it was fairly unique for embracing a combat system
revolving around guns; Plus, I love the steampunk aesthetic. A deeper
story and a few refinements here and there could propel it to a wider
audience.
Wheels
I agree completely. The problem is, I'm not sure Sega is the right
company to do it, and I can't see any other company publishing a
sequel. I just can't understand why Sega of America decided to publish
the game so close to Final Fantasy
XIII. Anyone could have told them it wasn't the greatest idea.
Resonance of
Fate is a flashy looking game that should have been able
to reach a bigger audience even if they wouldn't all have been
able to
get over the high learning curve of the battle system. The
saddest part of it all is that the localization team clearly put their
hearts into the job, and the voice cast did an amazing job A nice
sequel expanding on the great things about the first game and a more
focused story could make for quite an amazing game. Of course with Final Fantasy XIII-2 coming in the
near future, maybe they'd make the same mistake again...
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Now to the one most near to my heart... "Should Konami continue the
main series storyline of Suikoden,
or
start
fresh?"
Suikoden has
been my favorite JRPG series since it debuted oh so long ago.
While part of me wishes that they (Konami) would continue with the
world and timeline they set up in one to five, I honestly think
rebooting may be the proper route to take, as it's been years since V. Hell, regardless, I'd take
anything at this point... but rebooting would allow new fans an entry
point, which the franchise would need to survive in the long term. As
long as the politics, 6-member party system, strategic battles, and 108
stars remain, I'm pretty much good to go.
Just my two cents,
theBridgeburner.
Wheels
Well, the more I think about it, the more I wonder if there can't be
some kind of middle ground. Perhaps they can make a new title in the
same timeline/world, that is a self-contained story that helps answer
many of the questions of the series, but in a way that ties directly to
the current game. A tough task
to be sure, but why not give it a try? Then they could even repackage
the old games in some way (maybe excluding 4) so as to give new fans a
way to dig into the series as a whole. As long as, like you say, the
key series staples like 6-member parties, strategic battles, and the
108 stars are there. I think all Suikoden
fans can agree that the DS game, while
good, is not the best route for the future of the series.
Anyway, thanks for writing in, and here's hoping we haven't heard the
last of this great series.
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Tweeting About the Witcher
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@AskWheels also 4 the next askwheels: Your thoughts on the Witcher, and
its upcoming sequel? & CdProjekt's dedication to PC
environment?
@dimortuisunt
Wheels
Well, sadly I have yet to play The
Witcher, which is something I plan to fix once I'm in the right
frame of mind. I know it was noted for providing a lot of tough moral
choices, where there often wasn't a clear black or white choice. I'm
very curious to see if this really is the case. That combined with the
use of Bioware's Aurora engine make me wonder why it's taken me this
long to play the thing. You often see ambitious RPGs out of
Europe that suffer a lot from bugs and other technical issues. So, to
see one that uses an already established engine makes me think they
were able to do what many other developers failed to do, that being
actually succeed at delivering on those ambitions. Of course, I'll
reserve final judgment until I've played it, but it's on my short list
of PC RPGs to play. As for the Witcher
2? Hopefully it will be as well received as the first game.
There's no such thing as too many good RPGs as far as I'm concerned.
Now, CD Projekt's dedication to the PC environment is a whole different
topic. I know there were plans for a console version of The Witcher which eventually fell
through and it's likely that those issues prevented them from making
similar plans for the sequel. It's too bad, especially given the recent
success of the Dragon Age games
on
consoles.
These types of RPGs seem to be having increasing success
on consoles (Morrowond seemed
to get the trend going), so CD Projekt is really missing out on a big
opportunity to reach a mass audience. Perhaps if The Witcher 2 is a success, they'll
give it another shot?
Thanks for the question!
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Sir Wheels,
Firstly, and most importantly, I would like to know if you've had the
chance to play Xenogears yet.
If you have, please give me your thoughts. And if you haven't than
shame, shame on you Wheels!
Wheels
I did play it back in the PS1 days. I
want to play through it again now that I've got it again from PSN, but
I just haven't had the time yet. I can't say that I exactly have the
fondest memories of the game. I didn't care that much for the battle
system, and actually found the combat in mechs to be less interesting
than that on foot. That doesn't even get into issues with the story. It
was a long time ago, so I really need to just sit down and give
it another chance. I did the same late last year with Final Fantasy VIII and ended up
liking that game far more than I did when I was younger.
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I'd also like to know your thoughts on the recent PS One Classics
releases. It seems that Europe is getting all the good stuff! FFV on PSN, Chrono Trigger on Virtual Console,
and a couple others I've seen in past weeks. Why, in your most educated
opinion, are we not getting these classics in North America?
Wheels
I'm not sure about this one. I don't think we'll necessarily miss any
of these titles, so it could just be a case of different branches of
Square Enix going with different release schedules. Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger re-releases have
sold quite well in North America, so it's simply a matter of when, and
not if. Why do you want FFV
on PSN? The GBA version has a better translation. The PS1
version had a terrible localization and the annoying loading times that
all the PS1 re-releases of SNES era Final
Fantasies
suffered from. Unless of course you
don't have access
to the GBA version. As for Chrono
Trigger, I'm all for a re-release playable on a big screen. I'm
sure we'll see it on the North American Virtual Console in the near
future.
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Compare the PS3 to the 360. Good and bad. Which is
the better system in your opinion? I'm biased, being a rabid Sony
fanboy since I was knee high to a grasshopper. (I might have asked you
this in my last email. Can't remember. Oh well. Answer away, answer
man!)
Wheels
Now that Microsoft has released a new
version of the 360 with fewer hardware issues, this is almost a
toss-up. I'd have to give the edge to the PS3 based on the blu-ray
drive alone, not to mention a better digital store and free online
play. That's not to say that the 360's digital store is bad, or that
you don't get a lot of value from having to pay for online
functionality. There really isn't a huge advantage for either system,
unless there are certain exclusives you have to have. Both systems have
many different positives and negatives, and I'd encourage anyone
thinking of buying one of the systems to look over everything about
each system before making a decision. Generally I think people find
that the 360 is better if you're focused on online games, and the PS3
is better if online games aren't as important a factor.
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Have you played Castlevania:
Lords
of
Shadow yet? It's a great play. With all these reboots
coming out, the boys over at Konami and Mercury Steam did a bang up job
on this little jewel.
Wheels
I have played it, and it certainly is
nice to finally see a great 3D Castlevania
game. I know some people had issues with it not being an open
experience more like the Symphony of
the Night style games, but that wasn't an issue for me. I
grew up playing the first and third Castlevania
games and this game is right up that alley. Never hurts to have Patrick
Stewart in your voice cast either. Looking forward to the (hopefully)
inevitable sequel.
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Lastly, do you like soup? And if so, what kind of soup? Remember,
chowder is not soup. It is a completely different subject in it's own
right and should be treated as so. Any man who thinks chowder is a soup
is an idiot, and any man who doesn't like soup cannot be trusted.
Thank You and Good Day,
Jamey
Wheels
That would have to be New England
clam....whoops, I mean I would have to say pasta fagioli. A simple, yet
filling soup that I love to get whenever I go to the Olive Garden.
Chowder is also great, whether or not its soup.
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PS: I like Chicken Noodle. So there!
Wheels
Does anyone not like chicken noodle
soup? It's a classic! Anyway, it was good talking games and soup with
you.
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Wheels,
I know this is soooo last month, but i just thought of this last night.
What about combining the extra-dimensional travel aspect some people
have discussed with one of Square Enix's already existing dimensional
travel game, Kingdom Hearts.
Crono, Lucca and Frog go through a dimensional portal to rescue Marle
from a mysterious kidnapper only to find themselves in a cartoony world
where they are saved by Sora, donald and goofy and the six team up? I
dunno, I'm more of an idea man, I bet one of the other readers could
actually do something cool with this idea.
~CronoVT
Wheels
An interesting idea for sure. I'm wondering if this would possibly be
better served in a Kingdom Hearts game.
Perhaps in Kingdom Hearts 3
instead of just meeting various Final
Fantasy characters, they could run into the cast of Chrono Trigger as well, and even
make a visit to their world. I've been quite disappointed in the lack
of Square Enix worlds in the series so far. I know the Disney worlds
are the driving force for the games, but it seems like they could fit a
few in there at least. Oh well, regardless, you've got a good idea, and
I'd love to see the two casts team up.
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That's all for this episode! I've got more good questions queued up for
next week, including one that will force me to somehow connect a movie
from the silent era to a modern day game. That should be quite
interesting.
'Til next week
-Wheels
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Links
About the Host
Quote Archives
What I can't wait for:
1. Tales of Graces F in English!
2. Disgaea 4
3. Hunted
4. El Shaddai
5. Deus Ex Human Revolution
On my Playlist:
1. Trails in the Sky Soundtrack
2. Queen
3. Resonance of Fate Soundtrack
Hot Topics:
1. How much can someone's perspective/mood change
whether or not they enjoy a game?
2. Did Bioware/EA rush Dragon Age II out too soon?
3. What character are you angry about not being in Dissidia 2?
4. Golden Sun Dark Dawn appears to be a success. Is it time for a
console entry in the series?
5. What makes Falcom's games so different than other Japanese games,
and why have they been able to have success on odd platforms for so
long?
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