The news is weird. Not great. Not awful. Just....weird.
It was announced on the Playstation Blog today that the Vita version finally has a release date and details, now that it's been like, months of basically little to no word about it. It will be releasing on March 18th, all the same as the PS3 version, but the way it's being delivered is...different. Ever since the Vita versions of X and X-2 were announced with a proper date in Japan, and announced to be released as separate games (with a twin-pack version available) we have been hoping that we would get that. Especially when the alternative seemed to be getting both games as Digital-Only releases. On the one hand, it was near impossible to reconcile Squeenix releasing FFX HD and FFX-2 HD physically for $20 each, but on the other, it was hard to imagine them expecting you to give up a large portion of memory card space (and I do mean -large-) for the privilege of playing the games after a full-priced, digital-only release. Hilariously, Squeenix picked the option we never considered and split the baby.
Final Fantasy X and X-2 HD will release physically...in a sense. When you purchase FFX HD for $40 (the same price as the PS3 bundle) you will also have a download voucher for FFX-2 HD. You still get both games, you still pay the same price, and you still have to devote some memory card space towards the group. It's...basically both sides giving up something which is rather strange and different in these days, but I can't actually fault the logic. I am annoyed with the fact that FFX-2 HD will be like 3.5 gigs and that the only way to get it will be to download it, but it is what it is - I'm in the market for a larger memory card anyway. We'll see if I get any gift cards or whatnot that I'll be comfortable using towards the purchase of a 32 gig or (please friggin release it over here) a 64 gig.
What this means is that I'm finally going to put a pre-order down on the game. I don't want to send Squeenix a "Digital is a-okay" message, but I'll only be half-doing that, technically, by going with this route. I can't just -not- get it either, because I've been itching to replay X ever since it was announced, and I want to do it in the palms of my hands on the glorious OLED screen. I've also wanted to encourage FFXII International Zodiac Job System on Vita as well, so here's really my one shot. Since Squeenix is dragging their heels on throwing anything else on the Vita. HINT HINT. Jerks.
It is finally good to know that it's coming out here officially, even if the way it's releasing is non-standard all around. It's better than the alternative of saying "Free up ~7 gigs of space or go fuck yourself" as everyone was really, honestly assuming Squeenix would do. That option will still be available, of course, as the Digital Version of FFX HD works the same exact way - buy it to get X-2 HD as well. You won't be able to buy either game separately, or at least not right away, but, well, I have always wanted to at least -try- X-2 properly, despite all the stuff that I know will make me roll my eyes so hard they might fall out of my head. So eventually, I will get to do so! It's just a matter of getting everything in order and waiting for March...or rather, waiting til sometime in April or so when I'll -actually- play it. Because, you know, PS4, inFamous: Second Son...all that fun stuff.
it's funny how like nobody ever would have come up with this solution
Stretch your memories all the way back to September 14th, 2011 when Final Fantasy X HD was annoucned for the Vita and PS3 (in that order) and realize that it's been over two years between then and now. Keep in mind that the PS3 version of the game was sort of announced as an "Oh yeah, that too" deal. Keep in mind that X-2 was added later on. Just consider all of that for a moment, as the only version of the game that we have a release date for at this point in time is the PS3 one. March 18th, 2014, a full two and a half years after the original announcement of the Vita game, is when the also-announced PS3 version is getting released. With no news on the Vita version, as in the version of the game that was originally planned and announced. I'm not sure that I'm harping on this enough.
Of course, in Japan, the games have a singular release date of December 26th, just before the end of this year, making the time between announcement and release...well, not really all that better, no. There's something to be said of the type of release over there, however, as the PS3 version is releasing with both games on one disk, as it's planned over here, but the two Vita carts will be bundled together in one box for the exact same price. One might take this as a hopeful sign for the Non-Japan releases, but then again, one probably hasn't dealt with Squeenix all that much if they take it as a sign of anything at all. As we know by now, Squeenix just does things and the less sense we try to make of it all, the better we'll all be in the long run. Though, I suppose -some- rationalizations could be made.
Releasing a digital-only game in Japan, I suspect, is just short of a death knell for any potential sales you hope to see from it. One of those little 'secrets' of the game industry as a whole is that Japan, by and large has a certain approach to video game releases. Games are bought up on release or a little after, beaten and then resold to the retailer in much greater numbers than such a practice sees here. This is generally why you see re-releases of popular games that only have a few alterations made to it, because you're trying to sell this version of your game with new stuff to the people who already bought it, played it and sold it back because it was finished. Kill the ability to resell and recoup some of that money on the consumer-side is simply something that is not on in Japan, so despite them being one of the world leaders in Internet availability and speed, they are just not having that Digital Future bullshit. Which...I could make something of, but another night.
The issue most at hand here is that it's been widely thought that outside of Japan, FFX HD and FFX-2 HD would be digital-only on the Vita because fuck you. I say 'because fuck you' since...well it's kind of obvious. Space is something we're constantly fighting for because the largest memory stick available, the 32 gig, is simply not enough space for most Vita owners. Both FFX HD and FFX-2 HD will not fit on the same Vita cart. I don't know the full size that a Vita cart can offer, but some Vita games are already in the 3 Gig range. So if you figure on both games, combined, being ~6 gigs, then that's already too much for half of the Vita memory sticks out there. (4 and 8, I'm figuring the 8 only actually has ~7 gigs available and I don't know how much of that would then be OS stuff or what have you) Basically what I'm getting at is that FFX/X-2 HD being Digital-Only is not merely bad as it is most of the time, but it's downright unfriendly to the consumer since they're just projecting the image of not caring about what the consumer is going to do for the 'privilege' of buying and playing your game.
Hopefully the delay is simply attributed to the logistics of bundling the two carts together outside of Japan and making a shiny package with it, or maybe even setting up some sort of wacky Limited Edition specifically for Vita buyers. Hell, maybe they're just waiting to announce that every copy of the Vita version comes with a download code for Type-0. Also Chocobo/Moogle plushies. I'm being facetious because I figure it's better to imagine wild, never-going-to-happen scenarios and be disappointed when -they- don't happen, rather than looking at the reality of the situation (in which it's honestly not too much of a fucking hassle to release goddamn Carts) and being ultimately let down (as I always anticipate Squeenix doing anymore). So I'll just be over here with my delusions, thank you very much.
I'm kind of stuck buying the games no matter what because I want Squeenix to acknowledge the Vita, but I'll be damned if I'm happy about buying something digital-only from them
It's a statement that comes up a lot and for obvious reasons - remakes are easy money. Simply by the flow of time, you have people who just aren't exposed to certain things the first time around and it's just easy enough to repackage those things and sell them brand-new to the folks who just haven't experienced them as well as the people who have and want to see what the 'new' experience is like. We've seen a lot of the remake and remaster situation this generation because we've reached a point where a -lot- of people haven't been around for as long as we have, or at least not been in it as some of us have, which just means it's easy to capitalize on. Well, easier since, well, remaking/remastering a game is honestly a very simple process. Yet...some companies just seem to completely miss the point. So here's a nice little refresher course on how to properly make a remake.
If you change something big, try to make it optional - Yes, everyone knows the whole point of giving a game a remake is giving it another go while not making it a wholly different game, but that doesn't mean you should change -everything- about it. Or if you do, then it's a good idea to leave the original there as well to give new and old alike an idea of just -what- you changed and be able to quantify just how much work you put into it. Dragon Fantasy Book I (which I still need to review >_<) was absolutely wonderful about this, in that the guy remade the map assets and music from scratch to make it better looking and sounding, -but- they also included an option to turn it back to 'retro' to see how the game was in its original state. (they also patched in the ability to pick between retro visuals and sounds if you were so inclined) Compare this to, oh say, Chrono Trigger DS wherein Squeenix completely and totally changed the script without including the original. Also the new script was terrible, thus making it all the more groan-worthy that there wasn't an option to not stomach it.
For the love of God, don't make it worse - This one should be the most goddamn obvious of them all, but it's hilariously sadly one of the ones that gets tripped over the most. If a game ran like X on this platform, it's just....just a given that you can figure out -some- way to make it run like at LEAST X if not X+1 on more advanced platforms. Since everything is more advanced now than what you're remaking at the moment. If you can't, then don't fucking do it. The more recent examples have been the Jak and Daxter HD Collection on Vita and the infamous Silent Hill HD Collection debacle, but those aren't the only ones. Hell, it'd take a while to name all the worst ones. But one of the particularly bad ones, I think, is Squeenix's handling of Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions which was a remake of Final Fantasy Tactics. While I personally didn't have too much of an issue with it, there were many, many folks who complained of some slow-down that happened during magic casting and the like. It's a valid complaint. Where it gets egregious is when that slowdown is still there in the next port of it (on the iPhone) and is also still there in the next next port (on the iPad) when that port came six months later. Did fucking nobody QA this damn thing at any point?
Realize what it is you're doing and market it appropriately - Remakes and remasters can be really, really exciting since you're basically getting new fans while also allowing old fans to relive the fun of whatever it is you're remaking. But a remake/remaster is never, ever, ever going to be, on the whole, more exciting than a new iteration of the particular game or series. (Yes, even THAT remake that will never happen, shut up) So never forget that. Promoting the announcement of your remake for days, even weeks leading up to said announcement is just the height of cruelty and is completely unnecessary. I doubt I need to remind everyone about the whole The World Ends With Youdebacle. A week-long countdown site for an iOS remake that wasn't even a universal app. Who in the actual fuck thought that was a good idea?
Give the most complete game you can - If your game released and then you did something else with it, tweaked it, added DLC (which obviously isn't a thing -yet- but will be in future remakes) or whatever, include that shit. Different regions get different versions of a game meaning some regions don't get -everything- of a game. So if you're remaking/remastering that game, make every version standard as the version that had the most content. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever even consider the notion of selling these extra bits of content additionally, squash any rumor that's saying you're thinking about doing it, or at least let people know you're giving them the whole game when somebody fucking asks you about it since that also gives you a chance to explain your strategy. Because, you know, we always assume you actually have one, being that a remaster/remake is still a release.
I hope this handy little guide helps anyone who is thinking about releasing a remake or remaster of a game in the future. It's a complicated thing, I know, but it's rewarding and valuable if you put in the right effort. But if you're repeatedly making big mistakes in your remakes or remasters, then perhaps you should consider either not making those mistakes or not constantly torturing your fans with shitty remakes and remasters. Of course, it's not like there's any company that is fairly consistent in releasing bad remakes and remasters, right?
this post is very tongue-in-cheek and I am very proud of it
So, the presser was pretty much -all- about the PS4 which, as a Vita fan makes me sad sad sad. Still, we did get Destiny of Spirits announced, and with the Indie Push, I would hope most, if not all, of those indie titles also end up on Vita (as well as some others that are current) and there is still plenty of time to announce things on the showroom floor. Though, I suppose we might have to wait for TGS to see the likes of Gravity Rush 2 announced. Also....probably all the other stuff I suggested since most of it is Japan-centric anyway.
Except a new Vita God of War/Uncharted. Come on. Give me -something- here.
Regardless, Sony came out swinging with the PS4 and I shouldn't have to point out how.
E3 is that magical time of the year when game developers, companies and all their ilk come together in a grand-standing attempt to one-up each other by sending out announcements that they think will send shockwaves through the whole community. It's their biggest chance in the year to be looked upon by the greatest number of eyes and wave their wands to produce something magical, and you cannot deny that, even in the previous years, some companies have done just that. With this year's E3 mere days away, one would think that the attitude through the internet would be jovial, hopeful and with all sorts of fun speculation. That's....what the attitude is supposed to be, at least. It's like Christmas specifically for eletronic-minded folks, and Christmas should be fantastic. Unfortunately this year, the mood is rather dire, and many, if not most, of us are looking towards E3 with trepidation, pessimism and going on the offensive about all sorts of issues.
It's not at all unwarranted, of course, which is the sad part. I've contributed to the animosity and I'm not really sure if I should be upset by that or not, but I won't be bringing that up directly. I'd like to -not- be an angry person for one night at least, so this is honestly going to be my attempt at bringing up some E3-centric ideas and predictions, as well as some reasons for and why I think they're likely, and not just something I have fever-dreamed. I just want to try and be excited again, since very little of the E3 lead-in has legitimately made me excited, or if it has, it's been heavily out-weighed by the things that have put a damper on my mood, as well as a goodly amount of others.
I'm going to get Microsoft out of the way first because it's....the most difficult one for me, obviously. I just don't rightly care about anything they'll have to offer because of my disinterest in the XBone, but I also just haven't had any real interest in the 360 or their first-party efforts with it. Yet E3 is going to be a big stage for Microsoft and they are going to announce things, so I should at least try and take a guess at them because I do believe they'll be the ones to beat in terms of actual game announcements, surprisingly. They've promised a whole host of exclusive titles, likely through their 'partnership' with publishers that the XBone seems to revolve around (read: Moneyhats and maximum profits for all) and you can bet that at least one or two, possibly even three of them will be the "Oh, goddamnit" titles for XBone detractors.
It's been said a few times that Microsoft has spent a fat, fat truck-load of cash on XBone games, which I assume means expanding their First-Party Studios (which we know they have been doing) as well as, you know, just sort of buying games that otherwise would be multi-platform or not made at all. I would say with some degree of conviction that Titanfall's Exclusivity (which was likely supposed to be announced at E3 as a 'megaton') weighs at least somewhat on hats made out of money, and something else that's been rumored, a possible Mirror's Edge 2 being XBone Exclusive (Or at least on XBone and PC only) would also have this ideal to thank. Mirror's Edge 2 would be huge, potentially even if it was, as there are some concerns out there, essentially a tech-demo/advertisement for Kinect 2.0. Add into the mix that Rare is going to be allowed to resurrect one of their classic IPs (Most of the speculation points to a new Killer Instinct, but a new Banjo-Kazooie or Perfect Dark would draw some attention, surely) that will likely be shown means Microsoft has a lot of punches they could throw.
Let's not forget that Microsoft also has Halo, which they can continue to pimp out on a glorious scale because it'll get bought over and over and over again. With an HD Upscaling of the first Halo already done, one for Halo 2 is likely, barring any conflicts with Halo 5, which I honestly don't know when it's supposed to release. And after googling it, it seems like it hasn't -technically- even been announced, so bam. Double-tap of Halo 2 Remake while you wait for Halo 5 and you're golden. We might hear some people whinging about the over-saturation, considering that would be two more projects announced on top of the TV Series and the Windows 8 Exclusive Spin-off, but I highly doubt this will make the market get sick of Halo quite so soon. Basically what all of this means is that Microsoft has the potential to completely whiff on the Hardware aspect of the XBone (which they have already) and manage to knock it out of the park regarding their games, leaving the bulk of us in a sort of muddy, indecisive area, contemplating whether we want more, shiny, fun games or if it's more important to not buy a console that is literally terribly designed.
It's not all about the Big Three, of course, since Developers will be there as well and if there's anyone to watch this year, it's going to be Squeenix. Probably. Squeenix optimism isn't all that high, especially in light of recentdecisions, but they have Final Fantasy news this go around. Well, they always have Final Fantasy news, but this time it's a big deal because they'll be showing off a bit of "The Future of Final Fantasy"....which they also always do, but okay just roll with it, seriously. The point is that this year, they're going to be showing off something brand-spanking new with the Final Fantasy name on it, almost definitely Final Fantasy XV, and that's always good for a headline if nothing else. Sure, the game won't come out for years and there's a possibility that it is literally a re-branded Versus at this point which is the laziest kind of cop-out but, it'll still be something.
....hrm. I'm not doing so well with my positivity, here. Okay, let's re-group here for a moment.
There is a very, very real chance that Squeenix will be showing off Final Fantasy Versus in a state through which it will be completed. Some rumors out there state that Sony sent in their development ninja squad to help out with Versus' development to ensure it releases (and that it remains exclusive) and whether or not it comes out on the PS3, the PS4 or both is still high-up in the air. Which, fortunately or unfortunately, that could very well be the news that we are to 'Please Be Excited' for from all the way back at the PS4 reveal. Which would be a little underwhelming for me personally, which is why I'm honestly hoping for a little something else. A little something with a Type-0 Flair. Like Type-0. On Vita. Some would argue that that's -more- under-whelming than Versus being announced again, basically, on PS3 or PS4, but to those people, I say shut up, I want Type-0.
I also hold out hope for an off-handed mention of Drakengard 3. This is what it's about, people! Hoping upon all hopes on impossibilities! This is the magic and excitement of E3 right here!
Nintendo isn't officially at E3 in the same capacity as everyone else, in that they won't be having a big on-stage presentation this year, but rest assured, they are at E3 and they're likely looking to make their presence felt. They've already promised exactly what they're going to deliver, which is a bunch of videos of games that are announced that are kind of big deals. Super Smash Bros. alone will sent Nintendo fans into a frenzy no matter what's shown off, if only because it'll be a confirmation that it's happening and happening soon. On top of that, we'll see footage of a 3D Mario game (apparently), The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD, Pikmin 3, Mario Kart Wii U and New Super Mario Luigi U at the very least. That's all before we get in a few surprises, which I like to assume are assumed going to happen. It would be....underwhelming if Nintendo's E3 was just videos of highly anticipated games, strange as that sounds.
It's very, very likely that Retro Studios is working on something and whatever they're working on is potentially a big, big deal. Popular guesses are a Metroid game, though I've heard the idea of a StarTropics Revival for the Wii U which is almost too silly to be true....or too silly to be false, I'm not quite sure yet. In either case, Retro's involvement would basically be a 'megaton' alone, so that would hit the high notes, especially if they were working on a new Metroid game. As far as the internet goes, that's....really the biggest thing I've seen. Which is somewhat confusing and disheartening, so maybe I should've researched a little more intently before this set-up. Hrm.
As for Sony, well, being that I'm primarily a Sony gaming person, I have quite a bit to say about predictions and expectations, so I'll leave that for tomorrow. It'll likely be large enough to be a post all it's own, of course, which is why I think trying to fit it here would just end poorly. Also because I have to go off and resume grinding in Soul Sacrifice (which I still totally want a sequel for) so I can launch some rather LARGE elemental arrows into Magusaur's stupid face.
If' you're unaware of what Final Fantasy Type-0 is, then you're likely part of the overwhelming majority which likely includes at least half of Squeenix itself. So, for the uninitiated, Final Fantasy Type-0 is the renamed Final Fantasy Agito XIII, which was one of the three games announced back when Final Fantasy XIII proper and Versus were also announced, all as arms of the Fabula Nova Crystallis branding. In 2006. And, as we all, know, that has gone so swimmingly with one and a half of those three titles having actually seen release. I say half, of course, because one of Final Fantasy Type-0's many changes, aside from the transition from a Cell Phone game to a full-fledged PSP title, was its name to Type-0 for its Japanese-only release. In 2011.
Being that it's been so long since its Japanese release on a platform that didn't particularly do well in the West, most everyone has just assumed it will never see a Stateside release. Or rather, if you still believe that it will see a release in the West, you're one of the outliers, since there's almost no reason, no incentive to do it. Except making fans happy and selling a product, but who the fuck cares about that. Certainly not Squeenix unless it's Eidos-developed, sells more than any iteration in the entire franchise it's a part of, yet is still 'underwhelming' which I am not bitter about at all, no sir. None of this is helping, however, and is only tangentially related to the game, so let's shift gears.
As stated, Agito XIII began its life as a Card-based game for Cell Phones and eventually transformed into a sort of real-time action RPG with online and social elements that eventually was known as Type-0 on the PSP. A game so large that it required two UMDs, and remains one of the few titles that have ever needed this functionality. To say that it grew and evolved into something quite different than it started is an understatement, and that's not only for the game itself. In its humble origins as a Cell Phone game, nobody seemed to really care for it, as it would just be another After Crisis or similar - a game that wasn't very good and we didn't get it anyway - and it was only after it started evolving, became a PSP game and went unreleased long after XIII came out to its polarizing opinions and Versus became considered vaporware that it was turned to, latched onto, even. There had to be one project from this Fabula Nova abomination that wasn't going to cause some sort of rift, the same opinions as XIII or the same nebulous assurance of quality unseen with Versus. Type-0 was all at once something more tangible and more tantalizing than either of the other projects.
With that set of circumstances, it's not hard to see why the game has a sort of cult undercurrent of support and hope behind it. From its pre-release information, the videos that showed it off, it seemed to have the things that are missed from older games, that it had some itch of the Final Fantasy Formula in it. A story that seemed genuinely heartfelt, or at least keyed to play on your emotions. An overworld that you eventually gain an airship to traverse, as well as Chocobos to do the same in a much more limited fashion. It felt like taking those classic games and actually 'evolving' them with the multi-player aspect to it, rather than taking a game and tacking on something to it. Or attempting to attach it to every single mechanic the game offers. Or at least, this is all the impressions I've gathered since I've barely heard a peep about it since it was actually released in Japan.
It's not impossible to consider that Type-0 has become much more than it actually is because of all of this, and that, should it ever actually see a release, it might be taken as "underwhelming". In fact, I would almost bet on it, since we are a fickle bunch like that. Still, we can all be proven wrong on things. If this trademark registration of "Final Fantasy Agito" (dropping the XIII entirely) is, in fact, indicative of a re-release of Type-0, a Western release at that (or even an international release that is actually international), then it will prove enough people wrong there to believe anything. But I personally don't buy it. Perhaps I'm overly negative of Squeenix these days, but this seems to easy. It would be a soft-ball pitch to just do this and have it mean an actual localization of the game. Or even an enhanced Vita version of it that would actually be released to the west. I'm betting on them taking this opportunity and striking out, and in a spectacular fashion.
So really, I'm either betting on a PS3 HD Remaster that will stay Japan-Exclusive, or that this is just for a Cell Phone/Tablet game and will actually be the card game promised all those years ago. Prove me wrong, Squeenix.
no, seriously, prove me wrong and while you're at it, announce a Drakengard 3 localization so that I can love you forever
I probably do it more than I realize, but I will say that I specifically don't like 'Rage-posting', or sitting down with a topic in mind and just writing up something vitriolic and annoyed over a situation or thing. It can be cathartic, of course, and at times, it's warranted (topically enough, for Final Fantasy XIII-2, it was certainly acceptable) and this is one of those times. While I'm sure this is a "Moving Parts" scenario, or a thing where there's a lot more going on than what is obvious, and all that other such rot, I don't really care. This is a situation in which the solution to a problem is completely and totally in front of their face, and they refuse to actually understand that and acknowledge it. Yet, they are more than willing to completely misappropriate things in whatever way they can to try and put a spin on it, which is the last thing they should be doing at the moment.
The situation, as it stands currently is that CEO Wada is going to step down as the company restructures in the face of posting a $106 Million loss. Technically, Wada's in place until at least June when they vote on whether or not he can actually step down, I guess, but let's face it - dude is gone. That part? That's whatever. Good luck to that dude or good riddance - it's a judgment call as to which one you're saying and you're probably justified either way. The other part, the whole restructuring and losing a ton of money is where stuff starts to get interesting, and by 'interesting' I mean that Squeenix lets their patently Squeenix colors fly, meaning they felt the urge to say something dumb and make the situation worse for themselves. Because that is just how they roll, you see.
You see the primary reason, they said, that they're doing so financially poorly at the moment is because their latest games are selling so bad. You know, Sleeping Dogs which is a prettygreatgame, Hitman: Absolution, which admittedly saw something of a mixed reaction and Tomb Raider, which sold over a million copies in forty-eight hours. Only a million, of course, and then only 3.4 million retail copies by the end of the month, based on their projections. I will say and specify retail once more because they are not counting downloaded versions of the game, of any of the games, which means they're actually short-selling it when the goddamn game was available on Steam and PSN on day-one at least, if not XBL as well, all of which will comfortably add a million to the total at least. In a month. Since it was released on the fifth, the fiscal year ends on the 31st and that is the window that they estimate 3.4 Million disk sales after I assume they did not update their sales forecasts after delaying the game for over a year. Yet the sales are 'weak'.
You might think that it's funny that they're just sort of blaming the western games, and make no mistake, they are just doing that in a pompous sort of way. Though, there's really nothing to compare it against because the last Squeenix proper game that came out was Theatrhythm in goddamn February of 2012. Or, if you don't count handheld games, then Final Fantasy XIII-2 in January of 2011. The former being a wacky spin-off of a spin-off and the latter being a shitty sequel to a game that was collectively despised more than it was touted. Before those, it was Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection in March of 2011 and before that, Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy in the same month. My point is that Squeenix is not good at making and putting out their own games, so whinging on and on about games that have actually entered development, finished and released in the same span of time that their own game has solely been in development (Not counting the years prior to it) seems a little silly. Be glad you're releasing anything at all, because that means money at the end of the day, which is certainly not something -you're- bringing in.
Really, the bulk of the losses is because of the restructuring that they're doing in the face of losses. So they're throwing out more money because they're losing money. This, of course, makes perfect Squeenix sense and just lends itself to allowing us to stand by and point and laugh. They have plenty of money to print if they would just do it - Lightning Returns might not actually be terrible, so I might pick it up, and I would definitely buy a digital copy of Final Fantasy Type-0 on my Vita if such a thing ever happened. The upcoming FFX/X-2 HD Remasters will also gain a few bucks depending on the strategy they go for it. If it's $40 for the PS3 package and $20 for each Vita game individually, well, good on them. I do, of course, expect $30 per Vita game and will continue to believe that until I am proven incorrect. Because Squeenix are, clearly, assholes that will do that, if just to have something else to blame when their shitty things don't sell well.
What that means is that this likely isn't dire straights for the company. But they will probably act like it is and the next year or so of Squeenix will either be -awesome- or -horrible-. We're used to the latter, so I'm not sure we'll notice much of a change, really. Regardless, as I implied with the title, they should really take the advice of one of their own published characters. And all I gotta say beyond that is that if Drakengard 3 doesn't get localized, I'mma cut a bitch.
I have been putting this off and putting it off more than usual and that's mostly because I've been given the leisure to do so. It is Game of the Year time, or at least, it -was-, but given that I use the voting over at a few forums, namely the Penny Arcade ones which didn't start until this week (Last Sunday, I believe), to make my list, I've just been stewing on it til tonight. Tonight, I sat down, I opened a spreadsheet and input the games I'd played last year (well, 20 of them. I played 21 friggin' new games last year) and began the arduous task of ordering them. Ranking them from 20-1, wracking my brain the entire time over whether I wanted this game over that one or that game under this one. Twenty Games is a -lot- of goddamn games, so it makes a hard decision that much more difficult, but I managed to come up with a list that I'm satisfied with even though it was damn rough putting it together.
2012 was a friggin' big year in gaming, because even as I perused the list of games to add to my own, I must've ticked off three or four games at least that I -could- own, that I -could- have played, that I sort of -wanted- to own and play, but there was just no damn time for it. This last week and a half, I played over five of the games that ended up making my list and that's not because I was -waiting- to play them or anything, simply that it was opportune to do so. I could swing playing them now and be able to give them a fair shake. Granted, I did stray here and there last year playing games that I -couldn't- vote for (namely Final Fantasy XIII and Demon's Souls) but there were reasons for those (for the former, so I could appropriately judge FFXIII-2, and the latter because it's goddamn Demon's Souls) and most of these games that I played just recently weren't in my possession prior to December anyway. Still, I'm stalling now, so I'm going to jump right in this. As I have twenty games in my list, it's going to require quite a few posts, but I don't want to straggle them out too much. This first post will have my bottom five, and perhaps tomorrow I'll cover a good portion of the next bit of it over a single post or maybe two. Just to get them out there and get this done and dusted.
20. Final Fantasy XIII-2
You're probably thinking, "Woah, hey Mogs, you hated Final Fantasy XIII-2! Why is it on your Games of the Year list?" And that is an entirely valid wonder to have. Because I kind of wondered myself on whether or not it would even show up. The only thing I had below it was MotorStorm RC (Because fuck that game, stupid goddamn drifting and grumble, grumble) and it would have been a simple matter to leave them -both- off my list, to only have 19 games to cover. That probably would've been the wisest course to take, really, but there is something important to Final Fantasy XIII-2, much as I am begrudging to admit it. Final Fantasy XIII-2 was Squeenix's attempt, a real honest attempt, to do all sorts of different things, to go wild after the wildly constrained Final Fantasy XIII, and to improve it. That they failed miserably, utterly and completely is its own condemnation, but I do have to hand it to them for at least -trying- instead of directly going to the next numbered Final Fantasy game that A) won't be out for like two or three years at -best- and B) will be all sorts of different itself, possibly in good ways, possibly in bad ways, but not very likely to have a lot in common with XIII.
Final Fantasy XIII was a good game mired in bad decisions and Final Fantasy XIII-2 was a bad game dragging down good ideas. They're victims of their own extreme natures, but that there was -something- good about XIII-2 is enough to qualify it for my list, even if it is the very bottom spot. There is also a very small (read: like huge) chance that the voice-work of Liam O'Brien and Laura Bailey in the same game did wonders for its playability when the actual game itself did not. While it may a bit silly that I would hold either of those in that high regard, in some ways, there is something to be said for production values and the things associated with that, as even the most fun game could be dragged down by less-than-quality voice-overs for the simple fact that you do still have to listen to those at some point, much as you have to play a mini-game at some point (for, let's face it, like most games) or have to really take a look at some of the texture quality at some point. It's all just to get a general opinion of a game and that is the name of the game here.
19. Resistance: Burning Skies
The fact that I played Resistance: Burning Skies, got the Platinum trophy in it and reviewed it, yet I don't really remember a whole lot about it is probably a good indicator of why it went so low on my list. At the end of the day, Burning Skies just wasn't a very memorable game one way or another. It was decent in quality, neither good nor bad and I think that that's almost worse than being bad since it just leaves it to get forgotten as you move on to other games that actually invoke something in you, whether it is positive or negative. It's only because I actually liked the game a little bit for not being bad that it topped FFXIII-2, for instance and otherwise it was just a game that existed, that I bought and played and then moved on from. Really, for as much as I like Resistance as a series, that's quite an unfortunate turn of events, but is not, in itself a condemnation of the game.
Burning Skies' only success, really was showing the world that First-Person games can be competently made and played on the Vita. Because of the way it controlled, with just a little more polish Burning Skies could have been a good game, one that you would speak of when not specifically asked about it, but doing that seemed a little bit out of Nihilistic Studios' abilities. It's very unfortunate that they then went on to be given the reigns to the Call of Duty game that was similarly tepidly received even though I'm assured that it controlled nicely as well. Still, people know that the ability is there, we just need somebody that will capitalize on it. Since Nihilistic is (thankfully) out of the way, having moved on to becoming a Mobile game studio, that leaves them out of the running to make anymore FPS games for anyone else that offers a quick buck. Regardless, Burning Skies was definitely not a need-to-play title, but I urge you, if you have the opportunity (perhaps if it is free for Playstation Plus), try it out and see that FPS games work on it, because Burning Skies will tell you that, even if it won't tell you much else.
18. Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack!!!
Speaking of things free on Playstation Plus, for a little while there, Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack!!! was one such title offered and I snapped it up, somewhat eager to see what the little title had to offer. I knew nothing about it other than it was a rather charming little platformer with a touch of puzzle elements and, well, that is pretty much what I got. Those impressions pretty much put everything on the tin and there's nothing at all wrong about that. It does make it a bit hard to say much else about the game since...well, there's not a whole lot of depth to it, really. Even the story, such as it is, is barely interspersed between chapters with no real dialogue, relying on some basic images to convey a basic story of the blob landing on the planet, getting bigger terrorizing everything and so on.
It's simplistic and that's most of its charm really - you navigate levels, eating whatever you can to make yourself bigger so that you can advance, and then you get to the end. The next level has you eating more things so you can get even bigger and so on. You start out as something that one might find on their desk and, in short order, are large enough to consider houses something to hop off of like stepping stones, chowing on cows for a snack and pulling in Helicopters for a good meal. The presentation doesn't necessarily do the scale justice, but it's done well enough that, if you think about it for a moment, it really sinks in. As it gets more and more complicated, however, as platformers and puzzlers tend to do, it becomes less and less fun, for me anyway, and for that reason, I didn't even bother finishing the second to last and last areas, since I just got overwhelmed with the puzzle elements and just found the levels to be a chore. Still, it was fun while it lasted, as they say.
17. Dynasty Warriors Next
If you're even a casual reader of Kupowered, you probably know that I was a man who enjoyed a good Warriors title. I say 'was', however, since KOEI, in their infinite wisdom, decided it was a good idea to stop making disk-based games solely for the PS3 and solely for the NA region. Yes, yes, there's that whole story about "Sony won't let us because blah blah blah", but it's a bunch of horseshit and I'll not hear anyone tell different. As such, Dynasty Warriors Next is probably the last Warriors game I'll be able to enjoy unless they release any new titles for the Vita since their download sizes will probably not be the 11 gig monstrosities that One Piece: Pirate Warriors, Warriors Orochi 3 and such have been. Next was not quite the best send-off for the series, either.
While it aspired to be Handheld Dynasty Warriors 7 in a way, it ultimately didn't live up to that specifically because the replayability is mired in a randomized, barebones attempt at an Empires game that doesn't even accomplish a good shake at that. Still, it -played- mostly like DW7 and that is a very, very good thing. Beyond that, it kept my interest for a long, long time, though not anywhere near the 78+ hours that would have been required for at least one of the trophies, which would put me that much closer to the Platinum for it, a task which I have fully acknowledged will never happen. Because I just am not about that. I don't have that kind of time. Clearly. All in all, however, I liked Next even if my opinion of KOEI and all things Warriors has changed dramatically since.
16. Sound Shapes
I had a lot of fun with Sound Shapes, and in my opinion it was a pretty neat little game, even if 'little' ended up being quite the descriptor. I'm not sure what gave me the impression, but I expected there to be full albums (which, admittedly would be three songs/stages) as DLC to accompany the post-release of the game and it was only a year later when the game got -anything-. It was not Album DLC either, but simply new tools to use for music in the creation tool which, while welcome, did nothing to extend the actual -game- itself. In all reality, that was Sound Shapes' biggest fault in that it just was entirely too short, especially for the build the game had going behind it. The online community reflected that in dying off fairly shortly, or perhaps that's just me being bitter because the level I created only got 4 plays and none of them were from anyone that reads this, I don't think. I even showed if off here, though that's only the visual side to it, not the audio, which I thought was pretty good!
Still, Sound Shapes was a fantastic little thing for what it was, and that's really what counts. The levels were fun and varied, the music was wonderful to listen to, and the package was fully there, even if it was a bit too easy outside of the challenge levels. If there had just been a little more to it - maybe a couple more albums, it would've rated much higher in public opinion, I think and it would've kept interest for a lot longer than it did. It's another case of "great while it lasted" and if only it had lasted a bit longer. If only. I could say it again and again, but the fact of the matter was that it just wasn't and still isn't. Maybe the community's put together something fantastic in the meantime, but I'm not sure and I probably won't be finding out since the 1 gig and change of space that Sound Shapes needs is being used up by something else that I'm actually playing.
So that was the bottom five games of my list. That...that was pretty much the easy part. It was everything after this where things pretty much got harder and harder to pick as it went along, and I ended up surprising myself quite a few times when faced with all the options I had. It wasn't like some years where I had x, y and z games that were -my- games, where the rest, I just enjoyed in some form. No, there were quite a few games that were -my- games, and it was hard putting them in order, though I think I did so in a satisfactory manner. Hopefully by the end of all this, I'll feel the same way, because man, I'm sure I can regret it and I fear that I might because of how close it was. Still, that's something we'll have to see about!
Something that I really worried about with the Final Fantasy XIII-2 review while I was writing it and while I wasn't writing it, since I did start it and then not get back to it for a while, was the fact that it was, indeed, a wholly negative review. It's not something that I relished doing, that I particularly -wanted- to do in the sense that I don't like being a complete negative nancy about things as I was. However, there's absolutely no way I -could- write anything about Final Fantasy XIII-2 other than what the review contains. The review is simply my opinions, my judgements and my appraisals of the game, just the same as any other review I've done. The only difference with the other reviews is that, generally, the games I reviewed that aren't Final Fantasy XIII-2 are games that I liked. Or, in some cases, games that I absolutely adored for the parts that they were compiled of.
That is the sort of pitfall I worried about way back when I considered Reviews being something beyond the scope of what I felt comfortable doing. Obviously, I'm not going to like every game, and we've all read enough reviews that are negative that we've simply tossed aside without a care. The reviewer didn't get this, didn't understand that, didn't know the importance of that, the list of reasons that we use to discredit reviewers that don't like the games we like is endless and they come so easily that we don't think about it. As the reviewer, there's no way you can back up anything you write as a reason for why you dislike a game because that's what it is - a dislike, an opinion, something that's steeped solely in your view of matters which is different from everyone else's. In the end, I just ended up feeling a little bad about writing so negatively about Final Fantasy XIII-2 is what I'm building up to, because even though I tried to be objective, tried to steep things in objective terms, it's impossible to do that completely.
Of course, when I think about the time I spent with the game, I don't feel anything but wholly and completely justified. It's a weird balance, I suppose, and it's a weird thing to just honestly dislike the game as much as I do, but that's what it is. Clearly I'm not writing a review of a hot new game to inspire site hits or anything, as I literally posted the review a year late for that, and I'm not trying to use hyperbole for effect. I just unfortunately thought the game wasn't good for reasons that exist on a mechanical level, something a little more concrete than not in the wholly wobbly situation regardless. I would try to be constructive about it, but I already gave all my constructive ideas for Final Fantasy XIII itself - the sequel went completely in the opposite direction, so all I would say is "come back and go the -other- way" which is really kind of an obvious thing.
I guess the point I really wanted to make here is that, in all reality, I'm just bummed that I didn't like Final Fantasy XIII-2. I was all prepped to do so, and perhaps that was part of the reason why I couldn't, but whatever the reason, my time spent with it was simply miserable and it had no reason to be. Final Fantasy XIII was a wonderful, if flawed base to make a game from, yet XIII-2 cannibalized only a few parts and not even in complete fashion, making it so that it honestly would have been better if they just hadn't tried it in the first place. It's rare when a sequel completely and totally underperforms its predecessor, by a measure that's clear and not a difference of opinion over trivial parts. This was a categorical failure across the board as far as I'm concerned, and unless someone can make me see the 'truth' or inform me of just what I was doing wrong, that's all I can say about the game. It's not fact - it can't be - but being as objective as I can be, I just can't see it any other way.
That's just a real shame. I'm not particularly thinking Lightning Returns is going to be the redeemer either.
It is a deep, extensive and grand loathing that I have for the game and absolutely nobody is more surprised by this than I am, I assure you. As with its predecessor I walk away from XIII-2 in a state of utter and complete confusion, but it's not at the paradoxical feeling that I like the unlikable, but rather that I am simply confused at how anyone could claim to like XIII-2. I am saying this literally and without exaggeration because it is something that I simply cannot comprehend - it is beyond my grasp. I do try to be objective, I say that a lot, and I have tried and I have tried, but there's just nothing I can pull out and hang on to, hold out and say "This, this is why I think people think it's a good game. I disagree, but that's that". I just cannot, for the life of me, say that the game is anything other than objectively bad which is a baffling statement for me and one that I don't take lightly.
The single thing, I think, that confuses me the most about Final Fantasy XIII-2 is that, where Final Fantasy XIII might have had only three real redeeming qualities, XIII-2 doesn't even have those. All three of XIII's redeeming qualities have been filtered through XIII-2 and came out worse off overall - something that truly astounds me. I wish I were using some sort of wacky hyperbole, that I was being uncharacteristically harsh on something for comedic value, but I just don't get it. It eludes me. Like nothing else has and I just can't help but express my frustration at that because I played the game. I languished through its 30 hours or however long it took expecting a turning point and it never came. It was un-enjoyable, mediocre drivel all throughout and perhaps with my admittedly excessive display, I'll be able to find -someone- that can actually quantify just what I'm missing, because clearly I am missing something if I am this far away from fun when it comes to the confines of Final Fantasy XIII-2.
It is for all of those reasons that it's hard to find a spot at which to start at. Indeed, I'm blessed with a wealth of options here and that's a rather unfortunate thing, something I certainly don't relish. I guess the best place would be to take Final Fantasy XIII's three points and extrapolate just -how- XIII-2 manages to wobble them so spectacularly, since that's about as good of an idea as any. It really is impressive to see, which I guess is -one- positive I can say about the game: It is interesting to watch like a train hitting a monster truck or something similarly strange.
Where Final Fantasy XIII was downright gorgeous for most of it, XIII-2 ended up dragging a little in that department somehow. I'm not quite sure if it was perhaps just the locals, the smaller areas, or perhaps even the NPCs which might've necessitated a little pull-back, but suffice to say, for the most part it was just "above average" in the graphics versus XIII's real astounding ones. The lessened amount of FMVs also hurt a little bit, I'm sure since there were about a handful in XIII and they were mind-blowing. XIII-2's -do- match up here but that's because...well, it's FMV. It's hard to make a bad looking FMV these days, especially with Squeenix. If they're good at anything, it's certainly making shiny sparkly FMVs that are damn gorgeous to look at. I should stress again that the game is definitely above average, and some locales are particularly striking (The Academia that isn't a horrible flatbed of monsters, in particular), but overall it just seems to lack that polish that it really needs to get up to Squeenix standards.
Something else that suffers in the graphics department, in a sense, is the actual identity of the world in which Final Fantasy XIII-2 takes place. Apologies for the spoilers here, but XIII-2 takes place after the events of XIII in which everyone who was on Cocoon must now make a living on Gran Pulse. You know, that place that had monsters everywhere that were looking for ways to absolutely murder everything in sight. Australia, in other words. Except, Gran Pulse in XIII had its own distinct style and Cocoon had its own as well, so you sort of expect something of a blend of the two....yet it's not that at all. The game starts in New Bodham, a settlement made by Snow and his cohorts and it's on Gran Pulse of course....yet it looks exactly like it did on Cocoon. (Plus some buildings) Similarly, some of the later areas look strikingly like Cocoon, yet aren't on Cocoon I guess? And some places are meant to be -from- Cocoon or something, since nobody went to Gran Pulse before XIII-2 I think? It gets confusing and, really that is the problem - there's no identity anymore. You're thrust into locales, told them roughly what they are and you just swallow that because there's no sense in trying to justify them in the same world.New Bodham is established on a beach fairly near to the Crystal Pillar holding the Cocoon shell high above the planet. Yet....300 years in the future, the Pillar is surrounded by a rainforest. Inconsistencies that take you out of things completely run amok in the design.
More than that, the character designs, which I actually praised in XIII, got out and out ri-goddamn-diculous in XIII-2 which is par for the course I suppose, but still. Serah's....weird....bondage get up is so goddamn out of place with everything, Fashion cycles every century or so, so people in 500 AF are wearing what people in 2 AF were wearing because 'it totally came back in style' (and not because Squeenix was too lazy to invent a new look for a new society built on the ashes of Cocoon so to speak) and Caius' outfit is beyond ridiculous. Hell, Lightning's outfit is beyond ridiculous - fully armored top, absolutely no pants of any sort (not even her XIII shorts) and a feather half-skirt. Noel is the only player here that isn't an abomination to look at and his style doesn't even make sense either because it's Gran Pulse style (from like a thousand years ago if Vanille/Fang are anything to go on) 600 years into the future (from the starting point of 1 AF or so). Every other character falls into the mentioned "it's back in style!" trend except for Snow who...took off his shirt and his beanie and got his jacket kind of ripped up, which isn't bad against the other glaring things.
So, one of my main complaints about the battle system in FFXIII was that it just wasn't any fun with less than the full three-man party, and XIII insisted on putting you through about half the game without the luxury of three-man teams. So when I say that XIII-2 gives you a third party member/slot pretty early in the game, that should mean that it's good, right? You'd think so, right? Well, surprise, but it's not. The third party slot is one filled by a Monster of your choice of which there are an over-ample amount of possibilities. Through the game, as you fight monsters, sometimes you'll gain their crystal, which allows you to summon one of their ilk to fight with you at your side. Some monsters don't convert completely - a rather imposing behemoth early on the in game, for example, simply converts into a bog-standard behemoth and other things like that. However, even though it sounds neat, it's hardly more than a Novelty.
Every monster has but a single class to them of the six available. Commando, Ravager, Sentinel, Synergist, Saboteur and Medic. There's all sorts of monsters of each type and as you might figure, some monsters are simply better than others in their class, meaning there is a 'paragon' monster for each class, if you will. You have to use a Zubat before you can use a Pigeot, if you'll excuse the Pokemon analogy, by which I mean of course the better examples of monsters are only later in the game, and most of them in certain places only. With a bit of training, by which I mean force-feeding materials down their throats (or equivalent) any monster can theoretically become 'useful' in battle, such as it were, but even at that, it's a little bit of an issue. Everyone in the game, Serah and Noel and monster alike, is never set up to be a shining example of their class when compared to XIII's cast. In a sense, I can understand that since XIII's party were basically demigods or avatars granted powers by a supreme being. XIII-2's explanation is literally "some people were able to use magic after the fall of Cocoon", which means there's as much or as little room there as possible. They went the latter route for some ghastly reason.
The thing that I hate about XIII-2's use of the battle system is simply that it's....too simple. XIII's pace is fast, intense and you have to orchestrate your movements carefully for the most part, even in regular battles, if just to get a high score for a five-star rank. None of this matters in XIII-2 - first off, don't even worry about five-starring, okay? Or rather, did you get a pre-emptive strike? You did? Okay, you might get it. You didn't? STOP TRYING. A majority of battles simply require a pre-emptive strike to grant you a five-star ranking which is bullshit and kills the need for anything resembling strategy, though of course, so do the piss-weak monsters. And when I say requires a pre-emptive strike, I mean just that. In one particular area, I was running into groups of monsters that I could defeat in two seconds. Two. Pre-emptive strike? Five star! Not pre-emptive strike? Four star! Same amount of time, same tactics, same damage, same everything, just that extra 2000 points (I think) from PES is all the difference. That is ridiculous by any standard.
Another casualty to the simplification process is the very core of XIII's battle system - the Paradigm Shift. In XIII, it was a vital tool to keep and control the flow of battle, making the tides go in your favor and seizing the moment whenever it came. In XIII-2 it's....something you will use every now and then. If you roll with Noel/Com, Serah/Rav and a Sentinel or Ravager monster, you will not have to do any shifting for 90% of the battles you'll encounter. Those last 10% are, of course, boss fights and special encounters where you actually -do- have to fight to survive...sometimes. Provided you aren't ridiculously over-levelled which only counts every now and then. I recall vividly recounting my tale of the first encounter with Caius to a friend who played XIII-2 first. I had accidentally grinded....a little too much in an attempt to make short work of a boss and when I reached Caius, I steamrolled over him, having wondered if it was meant to be difficult at all. The incredulity in her responses to that knowledge was palpable and offered me a little smugness as I realized only then that it -was- supposed to be an intense, gripping fight, and that was short-lived as I realized the disappointment that creeped in with my knowing that it had been such a non-issue.
The balance that Squeenix so carefully crafted in XIII's corridors and broken doors and points of no return is nowhere to be found in XIII-2 and it's both slightly liberating and incredibly frustrating all at the same time. That little session of grinding for that one boss encounter effectively ruined the difficulty of literally the rest of the game for me - only when I was trying to gather materials did I ever 'grind' again, which is not to say that it was the goal, but merely the side-effect. Indeed, I eventually made it to level 99 in every class for Noel and Serah both which means most battles, I can simply let the game do what it will with the standard Com/Rav/Rav paradigm I used for 80% of the game. Again, however, classes long became unnecessary so long as those classes weren't Synergist or Saboteur since every other class proved to be useful -sometimes- (Com/Rav/Med the most, Sentinel was still limited) but Syn/Sab are useful for precisely two fights all game...if then. Any other time, they're honestly more of a hassle than not, which means you just won't really need to have them in your paradigm deck whatsoever now, will you?
Speaking of, the Paradigm Deck is still as limited as it was in XIII, literally one of the only hold-overs, and it's further complicated with the inclusion of the monsters. In XIII, most characters were only useful in three particular classes, with the other three being merely tertiary. This is something I lamented, but understood. Thus when you were making your paradigms, you usually built around those strengths. Those strengths don't exist in XIII-2 because there are no clear advantages for Serah and Noel in any classes (beyond, again, Commando and Ravager) so you'll probably just stick with those. The Paradigm Pack allows you to include up to three monsters for distribution within those paradigms which means that you are technically still only working with one 'person' who is strong in only three classes. Yet the whole thing is further complicated by every monsters individual stats which give you an extra facet to consider in your planning and the only six slots for paradigms becomes all the more limiting. Of course, since shifting is such a non-issue, this is also not that big of a deal in theory, but as someone who wanted to at least pretend it was still good, it was incredibly infuriating.
XIII's last strong point, the characterization, is similarly wasted in XIII-2 and possibly the most spectacularly of everything here. There is perhaps an hour of content in XIII in which Serah is not a giant crystal lawn gnome statue, and that single hour provides Serah with a much better characterization than XIII-2's entirety. In XIII-2, she is no longer the slightly tragic, tortured soul struggling to figure out her way, but is instead a vapid, incredulous upstart who cannot retain anything and is constantly amazed by the theory that Lightning is alive in Valhalla which is a theory that she herself propagated in the first place. She has a memory of Lightning being alive, well and certainly not a crystal at the end of XIII's events, however she is the only one with said memory as everyone else thinks Lightning is trapped inside the crystal pillar. She knows she's right in her heart and wants nothing more than to be able to prove it. Then....she has a dream about it being true and cannot believe it. THEN, Noel comes out of a goddamn time gate, hands her a moogle and says "Hey, I just got this from Lightning, your sister in a place called Valhalla and I was there with Lightning and Lightning said she was your sister and that it was in Valhalla AND LIGHTNING WAS IN VALHALLA, THE PLACE I JUST WAS."
Serah doesn't know what the fuck to make of that.
That is not the last instance. Oh lord, it is not by a large margin and it becomes more and more annoying with every time it comes up. Eventually it culminates in a meeting with Serah and Lightning herself as you might guess. After covering in just about every manner possible (Having the memory herself, being told by Noel who literally saw Lightning and was there with her, being told by Snow that Lightning talked to him a dream and helped him time travel, seeing fucking video footage of Lightning in Valhalla, plus others) there is Lightning, fresh from Valhalla to speak to her sister who has been looking for her all game. Looking for a way to get to Valhalla to find Lightning. In Valhalla. Where Lightning is and is established to be several times in the game.
So the first thing Serah says is "You're alive?! Where were you?!"
I understand that is a spoiler. I am not sorry.
Noel is certainly not much better, nor is...well any character in the game. The only other real stand-out is Caius Ballad who only transcends the rest of the cast by default and because he is voiced by Liam O'Brien who is one of the best VA dudes out there. Caius, at the very least, has a very clear purpose all game. Caius, at least, knows exactly how the hell to accomplish his goals. And Caius, at least, isn't prone to asking the same goddamn questions over and over again, nor is he confused when the wind blows east or similarly insignificant things that apparently prevented the main characters from retaining very vital information for hours at a clip. Of course, Caius is the villain of the game. This isn't a spoiler - he is literally shown fighting Lightning (in fucking Valhalla) in the intro of the game, and is made very apparent as the antagonist from every point thereon. He's the best character, by far, in the entire game and that's not saying much since his competition, in all reality, is only Noel and Serah who are dumb as goddamn bricks if I haven't made that abundantly clear.
"B-b-b-b-b-but at least it's not completely linear!", you say. "You have different areas and you can go explore them at will! For funsies!" That is, of course, true. I hope you enjoy the random battles you'll run into on every square inch of those wide open areas, though. Oh? You didn't know? About the random battles? Well, yes, gone are the on-field battles of XIII, replaced by a system that is so stupid I cannot even really understand it in my head now, much less when I was playing. Apparently, monsters only show up for Serah and Noel under the guise of temporal distortions (in 98% of the cases at least) which are picked up by Mog, the ever helpful magical Moogle Macguffin and he shows up as a Mog clock that displays their time in Serah and Noel's plane of existence. Or....shows how dizzy they are after being transported to this plane. Or something. I forget - it's simply a thing to explain that things show up, you hit them with your sword before they hit you with their body and you get a pre-emptive strike. Or if you get far enough away fast enough, you can force them back to the aether from whence they came.
Worth noting is that there are maybe a dozen unique locations in the game, only their instances are copy/pasted and altered to match other timelines, sometimes in dramatic ways and sometimes not quite so much. So, I hope you enjoy hoofing the same exact terrain three or four times over simply because this version of it is supposedly 100 years in the future and the only difference is that it's dusk and there are less barriers and for some reason different monsters entirely. Except the monsters only show up from temporal distortions? So who else is fighting monsters unless monsters are just constantly appearing from distortions and - okay nevermind. Of course, some -are- dramatically different in layout and such and those are the refreshing ones. They are also the rare ones. They also don't stand out very much in the grand scheme of things.
This 'free-roam' concept is further exploited with a 'quest' system that literally only exists as a vessel through which the player is handed useless Macguffin collectibles that will in turn grant you other Macguffin collectibles eventually. And most of the quests boil down to "Talk to someone, find the area they talked about and open the floating cube that has only since spawned there to get item, take back to person" affairs which, again, have you contend with the random encounters that show up out of nowhere for no discernible reason. That you have to fight using a severely hampered battle system that offers nothing in terms of enjoyment nor reward unless you hit a Pre-Emptive strike. Which you won't have because most of the time you'll have just tried to run away from the fight because the battle system is no fun. Problems compounding problems compounding problems - that is the name of the game in XIII-2.
No matter what, as is the order of things, you are still rail-roaded into different time periods and alternate histories eventually regardless. And should you go anywhere beyond those areas, your only reasons are to grind or to work on quests, meaning there's not a whole lot of worth in that free-roaming. Unless you're going to Serendipity, the Casino resort on the outside of time's constraints in which you can play slot machines and race chocobos....and play a card game if you buy some DLC. Literally, attempting to play at the card tables will instruct you to keep your eyes out for Downloadable Content that will unlock that feature. It's more than a little on-the-nose. And slot machines are just as frustrating as they are in literally every other game that includes them for reasons that are beyond my comprehension since gambling in video games is as fruitless, if not more, as real life. So of course, 100% completion -and- a separate trophy (for 100% trophy list) relies solely on winning at the slot machines. Which relies on chance - giving you absolutely nothing to tip the scales in your favor.
That...is pretty much everything, I should say. I covered why the story sucks, why the characterization sucks, why the battle system sucks and why the game has literally -not- improved on XIII in any way. I understand that, to a point, it's merely my opinion, but even objectively, I can't see it. The battle system has been nerfed considerably - there's no argument there. It would be like if Dark Souls 2 suddenly let you block endlessly, never taking your stamina for the pleasure. It is a subtle change but it would completely wreck the entirety of the fun of the game as XIII-2's lack of emphasis on Paradigm Shifts has done. Gone also are the concepts of fal'Cie and l'Cie in XIII-2, taking out the singular interesting, non-character-related story element from XIII. What's left is a silly time travel story that makes absolutely no sense at any single point in time (ha!) with characters that would have more depth if they were printed out on a sheet of paper. That is Final Fantasy XIII-2.
The Good
Caius Ballad is a pretty good character
Caius Ballad is voiced by Liam O'Brien
...
Caius. Liam O'Brien
The Bad
The story is nonsensical and poorly told
The characterization is flimsy and barely even attempted
The Battle system has been made less fun by making Paradigm Shifting a tertiary tactic, rather than a core mechanic
Monster collecting should be fun, but instead it's tedious and reliant entirely on luck
Serendipity. 'Nuff said
Seriously, Serah is like the worst character in anything
One area, Academia 400 AF, I believe, plays party to the literal worst section in any RPG ever thanks to the stupid Random Encounters and narrow, terrible map design
The entire Caius arc hinges on Serah and Noel being too stupid to use common sense (Spoiler: it works)
Random Encounters
Did you read the review? Literally like everything about the game
Mogs Says
Final Fantasy XIII-2 is a shallow, vapid romp through forgettable scenery with terrible protagonists playing out a stupid story that never gets off the ground and simultaneously never makes sense. I can only fathom a guess as to how anyone found it enjoyable, and that guess would be that it is a fairly easy game with above average graphics that lets you collect monsters for seemingly no reason. There is, however, nothing that screams 'quality' from the title, no matter how hard I really, truly tried to hear it. 'Disappointing' is not the word to use, but it conveys the gist well enough.
So, this is a thing that technically happened yesterday, but, well, so did something else, so I talked about that instead. Since THQ filing for bankruptcy is kind of a bigger deal than a leaked Squeenix trailer or a trailer that Squeenix released early because it doesn't make any sense and thus makes perfect Squeenix sense. If you were not aware or have forgot forced it from your memory, the next game in the Final Fantasy XIII series is called Lightning Returns™: Final Fantasy® XIII and it is....well, it is a thing. A thing that probably shouldn't exist because it only exists to finish XIII-2 which was a tacked-on mess which I assure you that I am still working on reviewing it to let you know the extent of that. Lightning Returns is also something that is completely not what I expected going off the trailer versus what we were told in the 'announcement' of it.
As a refresher, Lightning Returns was sort of introduced as a more Action-RPG hybrid game in which Lightning is out to single-handedly save the world because she is so special for reasons that are inherently unapparent. Don't get me wrong, I -like- Lightning, I'm just saying there needs to be more to a whole "Savior" angle than "Well, she got picked to be a Guardian for something", and I don't care if that -something- was important, it's still kind of dumb that there wasn't really a lot of backstory about it. Presumably that will be -in- Lightning Returns, or maybe they'll just run with it still and we'll just figure the reason is "The creators of the games really liked Lightning", since that's as good an explanation as any. The main theme to Lightning Returns is that, basically, 'Time is of the essence' in the most literal way possible because it is a malleable thing for Lightning at least, which, as I said, sort of gives it a Majora's Mask feel to it.
The similarities end there, however, especially since this trailer has come out and shed a little more light on the battle system. Now, you see the way it was described gives you an inkling of something a little more....well, like I said, Action-y than RPG which we're all pretty much used to by now. The pessimistic part of me looked at Dirge of Cerberus which was meant to be an action game and despaired and then looked at Crisis Core and only felt the barest bit more comfortable with the idea. Still, there was a chance that that sort of thing could've been cool - I don't know how it would've worked magic and paradigm switches but I would've left that up to Squeenix. You'll notice that is all in past tense and that is for a pretty obvious reason if you looked at the video (provided it's still up, I'll try to replace it with a new one if it gets taken down) and this is the point where I urge you to test the video and, if it works, move on to the next paragraph. Of course, if it doesn't, move on to the next paragraph anyway.
So yeah, that is definitely still a turn-based battle system. It does look like, indeed, there is more direct control over Lightning with it, but it is still Turn-based and that is positively worrying. Even though I liked Final Fantasy XIII, the battle system was -only- good when you had three characters in the party, which is to say nothing of XIII-2 which spent most of the game having three characters in the party and -still- ended up being terrible. To say that I can imagine a single-player version of either system being fun is a stretch that I'm not willing to make and while I'm sure it will be more tailored to the single-character experience, I cannot move away from being skeptical at best. I mean, unless they throw a good portion of the battle system and encounter design out the window, it's going to be a rather large annoyance and I don't think Squeenix is actually -capable- of balancing the game properly to keep the experience fun but challenging. Hell, I don't think they can manage just making it -fun-.
Honestly, there's not a whole lot in that entire trailer that instills me with anything resembling confidence. Lightning's new outfit is stupid - it's backless with all sorts of poofy things that flap in the wind as she walks and jumps around, generally just being superfluous and adding a lot of area to her character which is unnecessary. The game itself as it's shown in the trailer has to be alpha footage because it's...well, it doesn't look very good. And the animation is a bit choppy looking. Which begs the question "Why did they release a trailer that looked like that" and the answer is 'Nobody knows!' Hopefully some follow-up trailers paint the game in a more positive light, but, well, the whole 'skeptical at best' thing. If there's one positive that came from this whole thing, however, it's that this gif came from it. I mean, just look at that gif. How can you -not- love that?
