Except people already don't buy that, and they don't buy the claims that EA didn't want this, so...

The future of DRM is the "service" argument, I'm sure. I think OnLive is a publisher's wet dream.

If it wasn't a fantastic failure, I guess. Locking customers down seems to be the end game for most, like gas or credit. They've become all of a sudden terrified of people not playing their games, which is testament to me that they know AAA games suck usually.

Also, the on-again/off-again cockteasing Square has been putting forth. Yeah, they have no plans of re-releasing their most highly marketed and profitable juggernaught ever, but will whore out all the characters to spin off titles and prequels for consoles, handhelds, and even frickin' PHONES before it was the cool thing to do (i.e. pre iPhone) and unrelated games, make animated features about said game, and even make the tech demo for the "new PS3" THE ENTIRE GODDAMN INTRO FOR FINAL FANTASY VII LIKE THAT WASN'T GOING TO PUMP THE RUMOR MILL... every Final Fantasy game preceding it has been revamped... some more than others (how many ports of FFIV alone exist now..?)

SquareEnix: professional trolls.

From the CEO - Yoichi Wada on why they have yet to remake FF VII:

http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/...asy-vii-remake



So what I take from it is that they basically admit that FFVII was the last in the series that did well (by his definition), and if they remade it now, consumers would not want to play any other FF installment because of the awesomeness of the FFVII remake.

They just need to remake it already and realize the amount of profit they are sitting on.....

You're quick to label it a failure when people were falling all over themselves to play such an obviously shitty game.

Thankfully, nobody buys into the hype as you can get it on PC and install mods.

I was talking about OnLive, which people were not tripping over themselves to play.

Which might have had something to do more with the specifics.

Unless there's a major sea change, OnLive is the future of gaming. It'll be under a different name, just like the SimShitty service, but EA has demonstrated people are too busy shouting "shut up and take my money!" to actually be bothered with the consequences.

And while fucktards dance around championing the departure of John Rikki Tikki Tavi and financial troubles for EA, anyone with any fiscal savvy would tell you that their financial problems right now have little to do with the practices people are complaining about. Unlss you count "shifting to digital services" as a whole.

I've never been a fan of a game company being on a list the worst companies in America. It's things like that which puts gamers in a bad light.

Thinking about the FF series.... what is it that made VII so great? Was it the fact that it was one of the first console RPG's that used polygons that was made widely available? Was it Aeris getting gutted by Sephiroth? Just the overall game?

Really don't get what they want in terms of "exceeding the quality of VII" before they will rehash it?

I thought VIII was meh, IX was decent, X was great, X-2 was crap.

You know, that's actually a pretty common tactic of good consumers who want results. And it had more of an impact than any "reasonable" response. If being a good consumer puts gamers in a bad light, it's mostly because the shithead plebes have forgotten that companies are supposed to work for their money.

FF8 and FFX-2 were faves of mine. I think they, as well as FF12, destroy FF7 in terms of just about everything. FF7 was seriously not that good.

But what was it, for you, that made it not as great as others feel?


Personally, I enjoyed the package as a whole. Great story from start to finish and once leaving Midgar, it felt like a new game almost. The combat (on active) was fun as well. Hell, I enjoyed the music and have the soundtrack even.

Maybe it was just a younger age when I played through the first time or something. I can still pick it up today and play it again though.

Overall it's a decent Final Fantasy. Decent story, decent visuals, decent battle system - which is the only three categories I put FF games through. FF7 stands out no more to me than FF9 or FFX. It's not 'bad' but not the god-tier FF game that should be remade above all.

Honestly, it got the love it got for justifying a Playstation purchase before Metal Gear Solid came out. And a party member died (not even a first for games). Whatever. I do love Advent Children, though.

:y:

Respect

Dunno, feel like the environments and characters in ff7 drew me in far more than its sequels.

I think ff7 does a better job of making you care about the characters right from the onset. Also I think a big part of ff7's hype comes from Midgar. The environments in the sequels look pretty and more impressive, but they lack the heart and atmosphere of Midgar.

I think that is what it is for most people too. It is the highest grossing FF game to date in terms of total sales, 2nd highest grossing Playstation game behind Gran Turismo. Overall, it would cause waves in (most) of the gaming community and would make a killing with numbers.

I also enjoyed the Ruby and Emerald weapon fights :D

Daily Gaming News:
1) Edios Montreal has released a mini-teaser trailer for Thief 4 which revealed an actual teaser trailer is arriving on April 2nd.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/xbox_...oming-april-2/

2) Grasshopper Manufacture and Suda51 teases they will be working on a new game in the No More Heroes series after they finish working on Killer is Dead.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/suda...e-heroes-title

3) Freebies & Sales include Hitman Absolution being on sale for $10 this weekend on Steam, Epic Games releases the free Haven DLC pack for Gears of War Judgement, and all of Skyrim's DLC packs are currently 50% off on Xbox Live until April 1st.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/...-weekend-deal/
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/...now-available/
http://www.destructoid.com/skyrim-dl...--249966.phtml

To a lot of the market, FFVII was the first FF they played. Maybe even the first RPG they played. It's a watermark not because of quality but because of familiarity. There were tends of thousands of little Fangerls who felt a tingling in their loins over a generic antagonist with a big sword and mopey eyes.

I do see a lot of people trashing FF7 as overrated drivel and then going on to proclaim FF6 as the best RPG ever made even though it features a lot of the problems people blast FF7 for and has a much less enjoyable battle system.

It's the hip thing to do :|


Regardless of personal flavor of FF, there is no denying it would be one of the gaming industry's most talked about remakes for quite some time.

Im in two minds about it, loved FF7 and its one of my favourite Final Fantasy games but I wasnt fond of the "universe" they created around it. If they remake FF7 from the ground up they'd probably go with the grey pallette and horrible versions of the characters they had in Advent Children, Dirge of Cerberus, etc.

I wouldn't out and out blast the game, it just seems like another JRPG to me. Then again, and as KK noted, I was versed in JRPGs long before FF7 so I guess people hold that game as their sacred entry to the genre. Like GoldenEye and how people feel about console FPS games.

FF8 was my introduction to the series and I played FF6 on rom before I picked up 7. Still prefer it to both of them.

Ah, that makes much more sense to me now. In line with other JRPG's I could see how VII could come across as "just another rpg".

Some of the most fun RPG's were/are JRPG's I think :)

I used to live for JRPGs, but I don't have a taste for certain battle systems these days. I'm more a real-time guy. The genre still has the best artist in the industry, though. Thinking about how much content is in FF12 still blows my mind.

It's a shame FF12's story and characters were abysmal, the monster hunter sidequest was better than the main game. Loved the detail they put into the bestiary too.

I've learned not to look for coherent stories in JRPGs a long time ago. They all pretty much come off as deeply introspective anime tropes, which is fine. I found the rise of vilifying JRPG tropes a few generations ago very strange, though that coincided with the fad of everybody becoming literary game critic out of nowhere. People who grew up digesting DBZ (and still swear by it) are gonna turn around and talk about how nonsensical DMC4 is.

Whatever.

The original Xenogears didn't have a terrible story :)


I think a lot of the player base has migrated toward a "IT NEEDZ TO LOOK REEAL" kinda like the same way movies have shifted. There are some fantastic comedies out that get trashed simply because they are "too goofy" or whatever label you wanna put on there. You're pretty spot on with your comparison there.

Less serious business in the world, moar fun.

I liked the fact that the characters weren't strictly shoehorned into "story intended" classes in 12. If you wanted to make Fran a badass, bunnyeared warrior princess, you could do that... granted you know which direction to unlock.

I agree with the sidequest being better than the game, though. It's also the only saving grace for 8 with me. I have yet to get "into" the title, because it didn't engage me from jump. I play the card game a few times at Balam, and then get bored and shut it off. Makes me wish they had Hope in that game. I wouldn't be missing anything. Incidentially, if 9 had Triple Triad and not that random-ass Tetra Master game and also toned down the random battle count a bit, it would make FFIX my favorite of all time (it's already close).

And the engaging part actually is one of the reasons for the popularity of 7. In fact, the story started the second you jump off the train. You're already kicking ass

Like Kt said, it was a justification for buying a Playstation along with Metal Gear and Resident Evil 2. "Well done" CG was relatively new, and that helped. Pumping polygons into what used to be a 2d affair helped. Extensive A-List marketing- something unheard of for RPGs, helped. A top notch score helped. Scope in terms of actual game size (OMG! IT'S THREE DISCS!!!) and content therein. Midgar was huge, you spend a huge chunk of time there, and THEN the whole damn world opens up for you. There's a bunch of shit to do on the side, like breed birds to ride, defend a mountain, and play in an arcade/casino. The characters you meet, for the most part, each had their own charm (though the optional two either had that stereotypical Japanese "cute girl with spirit" that's honestly fucking annoying, and the brooding badass that you find by accident that only has minor stake in the plot if you even find him).

About that flower girl: true, it wasn't the first game to kill off people- major people (For example: Crystalis, anyone? First one that got me... MULTIPLE important people got slaughtered at a point 3/4ths through the game; it even rendered one of your abilities USELESS) Yeah, Aeris/Aerith's death affected a lot of people... but that's partially because they actually made her a bound character. You see her from jump. You spend half the game "protecting" her and setting up a love triangle between her, Cloud, and Tits McPuncheverything. You didn't really expect her to go all Obi-Wan mid-game. The other part to that is the fact that she gets a bad-ass weapon early on you can jam full of materia, so that feeling of loss was amplified when all that grinding went to waste.

I will agree that Final Fantasy VII being an untouchable sacred cow is a bit much, it had its flaws like the control scheme changing from fixed screen to fixed screen and unskippable summons (first 3 times you see Knights of the Round after doing all that shit to get it is AWESOME, around the 10th time, you almost don't want to use it anymore unless you're about to go make a sandwich) but it was a game changer in ways that GTA3 or Halo would eventually be.

If Square were to follow their own logic, they would have to somehow do the same thing again. But when you've already done something as monumental as bring RPG's to the forefront and make them as "cool" as action platformers (at the time), make the jump from 2d to 3d, and have a story that keeps people from beginning to end, how do you "improve" upon that? The remake would NEVER come to light.

That was way more than I intended to write. -_-

We need a new essay guy anyway.

I enjoyed the combat, the magic system, etc of FFVII enough that I rebought it on PSN. The story and characters, though, never did it for me. Even back in the day.

They don't need to. I though it was enjoyable. I just didn't think it was mind-blowing or Jesusy. Though the cut-scenes were great for the time, and that certainly helped sell the game.

And why Halo defined a whole new generation of shooters. At least, on consoles.

It's the "Your First Doctor" thing. And it's not just games. Hence why I likened it to a Doctor Who ordeal.

And it admittedly won't fit every person, but that doesn't invalidate it as a trend.

I remember this becoming a huge watershed moment in RPGs, where the JRPG became much more prominent in the US. Which was cool for me, because it meant local game stores started stocking them so I didn't have to pay exorbitant prices for so-called niche games at non-gaming shops. One of the things that kept me from playing a lot of JRPGs when I was younger was the fact that they were priced like imports in my area. Shelf space is an even more precious thing when you're in a region of small towns with small businesses.

However, even in places with running water and indoor plumbing, this was a huge explosion in JRPGs.

I feel like I need to go back and play the card game in 8. I don't think I played it once. I loved Tetra Master, and I played 9 before 8.

Everyone read this: http://socksmakepeoplesexy.net/index.php?a=ff07

It's like the author is trying to undercut his thesis at every corner.

Well, not every corner. More like 2/3.

I really have no idea what kind of point you're trying to make here.

So, forgive me, but what exactly is a remix? Is it just re-releasing the game with updated graphics? Does it involve updating the game's content? Could it even include a quest to revive Aeris?

For me, I think I liked 10 the most, followed by 6, then 7. I'd probably have 7 higher on my list, but I had a bad experience with is. I missed the Ramuh materia, because you only get a single opportunity to get it, and when I realized this, I just got kinda disheartened.

Maybe I'm just odd, but my favorite Doctor isn't my first Doctor. Granted, my first Doctor is the First Doctor.

Triple Triad! That game was awesome.

Yeah, you're just odd.

Then again, Hartnell's Doctor was a dick.

The First Doctor wasn't really a dick, just a bit creepy and sexist. The Third and Fourth Doctors were definitely more dickish. Though maybe that makes the First Doctor more dickish, because he was only dickish to women?

But this isn't really the right forum to discuss this, is it?

You want to be on topic? On the internet?

Shocking, isn't it?

... not sure how I feel about being "that guy". :|

I like explaining myself, leaving as little to unintentional interpretation, but I hate writing/reading wall-o-text.

Tetra Master was okay, but too random. At least with Triple Triad, the cards were "fixed" (in both value and where they were in the world), so there was an element of actual strategy. If you lost a card to player X, player X would keep that card in their deck, and vice versa. The card value remained the same as well.

You wouldn't have the computer just unilaterally beat you because they happened to have a card that just happened to be higher than yours exactly where it needed to be on the last turn that they didn't have the last game you just played them in.

Re-make I suppose would be a better word. Basically re-made with today's technology, yes. In accordance with today's gaming "norms" I'm sure they could make some great DLC for the title (or any other applicable re-make)

I remember feeling the same way about Animus in X. I just played through again and got him though, too awesome :D I think Animus is one of my fav summons from the series.

Heh, I can just imagine the backlash if they offered DLC for a FF7 remake. "Pay just $10 to unlock the quest to revive Aeris!"

Also, I'm pretty sure Anima is a her.

The first time I played FF6 I stopped playing for like a year at the Floating Continent cause I couldn't do it, then like another year at the final boss and I finally beat it like the day before I started my sophomore year of high school, I remember this clearly. Then I played it again like a year ago because I wanted to do the Shadow flashbacks which I never did and I got to like the end of the game without realizing that I missed the opportunity to do them and I never finished the game for a second time, which was a shame because my party was awesome and I worked really hard on that. It was on an emulator the second time and everything got deleted. Oh well.

There was a period where I ragequit 7. Made it all the way to the north cave, and "accidentially my whole save file". So pissed that I had to start almost from the beginning (other save was at the crossdressing extravaganza... I was trying to see what triggered the Don to choose Tifa, since Aeris is default and Cloud needs every article of clothing and a gangrape). I learned that day to multisave, even without experimenting with story choices.

You know, we should just make/bump a Final Fantasy discussion thread.

Are you kidding? I'm pretty sure that's one DLC the consumers would get behind!

....Well, they'd bitch publicly, because that's what gamers do. But they would so buy it in a heartbeat. And then bitch some more that it wasn't worth the money and demand refunds on a no-refund product and threaten to boycott he next game which they'd probably buy anyway....

Sounds about right.

On the subject of being upset about missing the one opportunity to get something in an RPG... I rather wish there was a "Gone Forever" guide. As in, a game walkthrough that told you nothing except that you need to talk to this one guy before leaving this room (for example).

Or open that one chest in the corner instead of immediately going for the exit after that grueling boss fight, because the +11 Sword of Awesome Epicness will be sealed in that cave behind you once you leave.

Agreed. I've missed so many of those things because I don't want to use a walkthrough for everything.

Ahem.

I BELIEVE someone started a Final Fantasy discussion group.

And someone ignored the final fantasy 3 thread he started

Daily Gaming News:
1) According to Crystal Dynamics, the first week sales for Tomb Raider managed to become the best ever in franchise history.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/...stal-dynamics/

2) According to recent rumors, Battlefield 4's release date might end up being on October 29 at least for current gen consoles.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/rumor...on-xbox-blogs/

3) Ubisoft Toronto's Managing Director, Jade Raymond, states she believes "Triple A" games could benefit from having more user content as both a way to let players have more control over a game's content and to improve interactivity between players. She also believes this could end up playing a big role in helping to reduce the rising costs in developing games that has become a big issue for a lot of studios.
http://www.destructoid.com/jade-raym...t-250083.phtml

Anima is Seymour's crazy mother ;)

And it's deemed a failure. Logic!

Daily Gaming News:
1) The newest trailer for Thief 4 reveals the game has been officially renamed to "Thief: Out of the Shadows."
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/...first-trailer/

2) During a recent interview with Eurogamer, Telltale Games revealed the Clementine character for The Walking Dead was almost dropped from the game due to the potential worries about players not being interested in taking care of a child.
http://www.destructoid.com/the-walki...e-250582.phtml

3) Sales - Major Nelson reveals 11 XBLA games are currently on sale (50% Off) with about half being avaliable to non-Gold account members.
http://www.destructoid.com/dust-and-...e-250589.phtml

4) According to the ESRB, Sony is planning on releasing several "Best of Playstation Network" compilation sets with Volume 1 planned to arrive in the near future.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/...network-vol-1/

Thief was pretty great back in the day.

Disney shut down LucasArts. 1313 is in doubt right now.

Damn.

Whoa.

Wtf

Darn

Battlefront 3 is fucked, that's all I cared from them anyway. They've done very little this gen otherwise.

Not really surprised considering for the past year or so most of the news involving LucasArts was bad.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/g...-wars/2050055/

It's not in doubt. It's dead.

Not really dead. There's a long shot chance that Disney could flip the license to some one else.

Keep your fingers crossed, fellas.

Feel like I havent paid attention to anything LucasArts put out after Grim Fandango.

http://kotaku.com/activision-lays-of...team-466330803

40 people fired from High Moon.

Daily Gaming News:
1) The Next Xbox controller is rumored to be completely identically to the current Xbox 360 controller with the only difference being a bit smaller in size.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/...current-model/

2) Square Enix revealed their actual sales expectations for the so called "failures" was in the 11.5 million to 13.5 million in combined sales so far. They only managed to sell 8.5 million with Sleeping Dogs (250,000 off) being the closest while Tomb Raider (1.6-2.6 million off) performed the worst.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/squa...r-failed-games

3) Bethesda announces they have cancelled Rage 2's development, cancelled the Xbox 360 and PS3 version of Doom 4, and have moved Doom 4's development to next gen consoles.
http://www.destructoid.com/doom-4-pr...s-250681.phtml

4) According to the Senoir VP of EA's All Play division, the market has been happy with what EA has done with the Free-to-Play model while stating those who are complaining are only a small vocal minority.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/...vocal-minority
http://www.destructoid.com/ea-custom...p-250651.phtml

Square-Enix needs to rethink how many core gamers are out there. Not as many as CoD leads one to believe.

EA is completely right about the F2P situation.

I doubt this was anything more than wishful thinking, as looking at their projections they were really trying to offset this "restructuring" deal.

Glad Doom 4 is going next gen.

So... no chance in hell for any sort of Maniac Mansion redux. Shucky-darn.

Yeah there is a chance. Looks like Disney is just going to license the fuck out of anything so if anyone has the cash, they can make their own one.

The Project Zomboid devs are donating all their profits for the next few days to the campaign of a fellow indie dev who needs $35k to get a life-saving operation:

http://projectzomboid.com/blog/index...k-save-a-life/

Had insurance and parents won't help out because of he sexual orientation, it's just fucked up. On the plus side, Zomboid is a terrific game even in it's current alpha status, so you get a good game and get to do something good.

Here's the direct campaign if you'd prefer to donate that way:

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/i-...survive?c=home

I would love a new Maniac Mansion game or a remake. NOT Day of the Tentacle. Maniac Mansion with Dave, Razor, Syd, Wendy, Bernard, Edisons etc.

Hope Telltale Games get the Monkey Island licence although they have taken on so many franchises I doubt we'd see a new game any time soon.

LEGO Monkey Island.

Daily Gaming News:
1) XSEED announces Pandora's Tower for the Wii currently has a release date of April 16 and is priced at $40 for North America . This is the final RPG game from the Operation Rainfall campaign.
http://www.destructoid.com/pandora-s...6-250728.phtml

2) Telltale Games has cancelled work on an episodic King's Quest series and returned the IP back to Activision. The unofficial reason appears to be due to Telltale Games lacking the resources and manpower to continue work on the project without it impacting development on their other projects.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/...-quest-series/

3) According to recent rumors, Blizzard's Project Titan game is teased to be using Earth as the main setting, designed with a focus towards eSports, involves time traveling, and the combat system is a mix of guns and magic.
http://www.screwattack.com/news/rumo...-mmo-set-earth

What does a focus toward eSports mean in the context of an MMO? Like, team-based PvP or something?

Competitive multiplayer, either team or FFA.

The rumors were really brief but it did lean on the game being just team-based PvP for gameplay. Clan support was also listed and previously Blizzard did state they were trying to make it as different as their other big MMO game, World of Warcraft.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BHGFimiCIAA1JKH.png:large

If that's not a description that'll get you pumped, I don't know what is.

Hehe.

The remake of the first one wasn't bad, and II was my fav Double Dragon of them all. I'll get a demo and check it out

The end credits song of DD: Neon was amazing.

Oh boy, now I can die on crappy platform segments 100 times in gloriously remade he graphics.

It's quite different, really.

It is more fun than the originals, give the demo a spin ;)

Daily Gaming News:
1) Sega reveals the pre-order bonuses for Company of Heroes 2 includes the choice between extra campaign or multiplayer content.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/...order-bonuses/

2) Sega also announced they are shutting down their Australian studio, Sega Studios Australia, with the closure to occur later this year and is due to their recent restructuring plans.
http://www.destructoid.com/sega-is-s...o-250887.phtml

3) The developer of the Guilty Gear and BlazeBlu series, Arc System Works, announces they are working on a new fighting game series with the debut to occur on the PS4.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/...eries-for-ps4/

4) The possible next No More Heroes game or game based on its art style was teased by Suda 51 to be released next year for next gen consoles and will feature online gameplay.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/...yle-of-online/

Weekend News Edition
 

The legal problems involving the Killer Instinct trademark have been settled recently with Fox and Microsoft agreeing to let each other use the trademark.

While it probably means no Killer Instinct 3 coming any time soon, it does clear the way for the possibility of the original game(s) arriving on XBLA in the future.

http://www.screwattack.com/news/fox-...inct-trademark

I don't see how it would stop KI3, as long as it was a game and not a tv show.

Microsoft and/or Rare haven't been interested in making one in years and that was before the legal issues. Think all the rumors about a potential KI game usually pointed at a XBLA version of the original showing up first.

I think it was poor wording.

Anyway, I wouldn't count on there being a new KI any time soon.

Yeah, I'm not expecting KI anytime soon.

The Double Dragon II Remix is just awful.

Daily Gaming News:
1) Square Enix recently posted a break down of all their restructuring and losses for this fiscal year which included a 1 billion yen loss for shutting down a new US division, a combined 2 billion yen loss from its Japanese studios, and an overall loss of 10 billion yen ($101 million) loss for the year.
http://www.gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=199857

2) 343 Industries states micro-transactions could become a possibility in the future for the Halo series with future updates for Halo 4 as a potential start.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/...otransactions/

3) Ken Levine, developer of Bioshock Infinite, recently states the video game industry needs to do a better job closing the gender gap saying its currently at a "terrible" level with a lot of potential being lost because of the lack of female developers. A recent report revealed female workers only make up about 23% of the entire industry but earn between 19-65% less less than male developers depending on the position.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/...ys-ken-levine/
http://www.destructoid.com/male-game...s-251087.phtml

Good for Halo 4. Hated grinding for armor pieces.

Capcom asked a studio that contained some people to work on Metroid Prime to do the same for Megaman.

http://cdn1.sbnation.com/uploads/cho...ema_1920.0.jpg

Yup.

Any other company, I'd think this was a leftover April Fools joke.

Oh Capcom, you so wacky.

http://media1.gameinformer.com/image...25/241-610.jpg
Hooray it's official now. The trailer was mostly interviews with a couple of the magazine's pics thrown in, I tried to post it but it didn't want to cooperate.

Awesome it's coming out this year.

However, I am kinda worried that another team is doing development. Played the first Prototype and I enjoyed it. So.......

This needs its own thread now.