Squeenix "Classics" Hitting PSN All Winter

So, Squeenix just announced the other day that for the "Winter of RPGs" campaign they (and apparently only they) are taking part in for the Playstation Store, three "Classic" RPGs will be thrown up onto the store from as quickly as next week to December 6th.  The titles named are the above pictured Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy VI.  There are a few problems with this, as you might have inferred from my use of "Classics" in quotes as I did just there, but it's not all to do with the games themselves.  That's a big part of it, but I can't help but stop at the fact that it's the "Winter of RPGs"....but there's only three RPGs.  And they won't last through the Winter.  They won't last through half the winter.  There is a lot of Winter to come after December 6th, is my point.

That aside, the issue at hand is the fact that all three games are the PSOne versions of said games.  In Chrono Cross' case this is something of a "Duh" statement since it's only ever been released on PSOne, however Final Fantasy V and VI are the real problems here in all this.  Somehow, someway, with every Squeenix game that's been released on the store, they've managed to keep just about every bit of lag and loading in the games as you would expect from a disk version.  (Or so I'm told)  So, when Final Fantasy V for PSOne has been decried as "the worst version" of the game for its long and numerous loading times (among other things), well, it likely means it's something to avoid.  Which is really unfortunate for anyone who might be hoping to play Final Fantasy V as it's actually really good, but the only version worthwhile seems to be the GBA one that you likely don't have access to.

I think Final Fantasy VI suffers from this problem less, but it's still likely not the most optimized version you could find out there, so it's probably another safe miss.  Unless, again, it's your only way to get into it and you're really, really itching to play some Final Fantasy VI and you just don't have access anywhere else (like Virtual Console).  I unfortunately don't have any real love for FFVI, nor do I dislike it; it's a game that simply exists in a series that I never seemed to have liked as much as I thought I had, which only becomes more and more clear with every entry that I play.  For the most part, the earlier FF games don't really capture me or my interest in any meaningful way (which I know some would call blasphemy, especially in the case of FF IV and VI), whereas the latter caste of the series invoke almost uniformly negative emotions in me.  Seven and Eight are, as they say, "where it's at" for me, and you all know where I stand otherwise for the non-numbered entries.

Of course, the big, pink, stupid-looking and poorly explained elephant in the room at this point is Chrono Cross, which we've established as a fact that I really don't like Chrono Cross (mostly for the fact of how it influenced the remake enhanced port of Chrono Trigger to the DS).  I should really get around to writing up a Ragequit for Cross at some point, rather than simply relying on my Chrono Trigger DS posts to make this point.  Anyway, as I've inferred, I'm of the opinion that none of the three games being offered by Squeenix are worth the assured $10 price tag they'll have.  For that price you could buy Chrono Trigger (which, as I've said before, is the second best version of the game you could find) or even Xenogears, which some would call me silly for even mentioning, simply because you either love Xenogears or you hate it.  As with most of the classic Squeenix JRPGs, there exists no middle-ground, unless you're like me and just don't care about the games.

Still, as always your mileage may vary on any of these so by all means, if you're really, really interested and desperate, I see no real harm in giving FFV or VI a shot.  I, of course, cannot recommend Chrono Cross even in a passive-aggressive manner, but I also wouldn't antagonize anyone who decided to take the plunge on it and find out just how stupid the rabbit hole gets.  Not deep, no no not deep at all, just really really stupid and nonsensical, even as a stand-alone game.  I could hope that others will join this "Winter of RPGs" campaign to flesh it out a bit more, or that Squeenix decides to throw more things up, but for now, it just sits as a poorly-thought-out reason to coordinate putting three Squeenix games on the store without four months separating them.