Suddenly, I Want a New Bully Game

A few days ago, Take-Two took out a trademark for "Bully" which you might remember as a Rockstar-developed Playstation 2 game that saw a few ports thereafter.  Being a Rockstar title, it was a sandbox action title in the vein of Grand Theft Auto, but scaled down quite a bit in terms of language and violence considering the characters were more or less kids.  Of course it didn't -lack- violence completely, which is something that a lot of groups at the time came out in arms about, though ultimately it didn't lead to much I don't think.  The trademark casts a rather wide net for use, so the obvious line of thought for the internet is that it's an indication of a sequel.  At the mention of that, I thought about it for only a brief moment before deciding that yes, that would indeed please me.

The interesting thing about Bully is that it is pretty much a game that had to be very, very careful with what it contained, given that it was doing something that most developers wouldn't even dare try to touch.  It was giving us characters that were kids doing things we don't want to believe kids do:  Fighting, cursing, scheming, bullying, vandalizing and just generally being bad.  It was all mostly parody, of course and despite the name of the game, the character you play wasn't really much of a bully, in that yeah, you could do some jerk-ish things to other kids, but the actual bullying generally had to do with the story and, more often than not, our main character was set out against it.  Still, despite the parody aspect of it, it was surprisingly candid in the story aspect of it while also striking a rather nice balance of funny and serious.  At least, some people thought so, since it won some awards for its script, and being a Rockstar game meant that it was...well, a good game, that's for sure.

A sequel to the game is tantalizing because Bully was a good game by its own merits and Rockstar has upped their game several notches on the whole Sandbox front, so a sequel in the same hands as the original could be fantastic.  If there was anything I didn't like about the original Bully, it was that, for as large as the surrounding area around Bullworth was, it felt by-and-large empty which is something that wasn't exclusive to that single Rockstar game since they were still in the process of refining the techniques of it.  While I understand we are talking about different branches of Rockstar here, I can't imagine that things are not shared between them all, so the vibrancy that we've seen in recent releases would likely be present in whatever setting a Bully 2 would have.  The end result will likely be something that makes a go-kart an excellent reward, given how fast and easily it'll let you get around and explore, rather than just being something fairly neat to drive around places fast and...go...back to school when you're done.

Unfortunately, I am wary about thinking of another Bully game getting made in today's world, given the renewed vigor people were using in going after video games not too long ago.  Schools and video games are even more touchy than they were back when Bully came out the first time and not without merit, even if, as stated, Bully was not bad nor dangerous in any way.  By all accounts, it was extremely tame and restrained for a Rockstar game, even with the different team working on it.  Still, perception and reality are often far too far apart, and I do worry what would actually come out of a Bully sequel as much as I want one made on the merits of the original.  That's partially why I'm wondering if this just isn't a preface to porting the game again somewhere else (like the iOS/tablet audience) or simply just....registering the trademark so nobody else can have it.  The coming months will let us know -something-, I'm sure, but regardless what comes of it, if it just reminds everyone what a good game Bully actually was, well, that ain't a bad outcome at all.

yes, I know there were things to do in Bullworth's vicinity but they were kind of boring things so they don't count

Is Final Fantasy Type-0 Still a Possibility?

Probably not.  Still, hope springs eternal and all that.

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

'Rain' and 'Until Dawn' Are Things, I Am Curious

Reading up on the various news sites I frequent of a night to pick out something to write about if I don't already have something, (Which I kind of do, but I still have to prepare in the little free time I find myself with lately) I came across a post on Joystiq that pointed out trademarks from Sony and couldn't help but take a second glance.  It's Sony, after all, and the two trademarks, "Rain" and "Until Dawn" are things that I have not heard of.  Considering there is both the PS3 and the Vita that I am known to enjoy and own, and new things (generally translating into New IPs) are always good, this is good news.  Especially if either project ends up being for the Vita which could use a little more obvious support since all the support it -is- getting is conveniently being ignored.  So smart money is just to keep saying things are going to be on it until people -can't- say "Vita has no gaems" (as they did with the PS3 years ago) without getting called out on it.

The trademarks are very little help, unfortunately, as they don't, in any form or shape, specify whether or not the games are going to be for the likely easier-to-develop-for-at-this-point PS3, or the please-develop-for-this-because-it's-awesome Vita.  Easy money is on PS3 only or both, but I'm really leaning to at least -one- of the games being a Vita game at the core of it.  I'm pretty sure Sony has said the upcoming Gamescom is a place they want to show the Vita off more because of the lackluster showing it ended up getting at E3, but that might just be a fever dream of mine.  Easily could be, rather.  What this games end up being, however, is anyone's guess as there isn't a whole lot beyond the above image for the game known only as 'Rain' at this point.  If....that wasn't obvious.  Except....well there -is- something, but the validity of it is quite in question, given that it is basically conjecture.  Then again, everything here is as well.

The Joystiq post links through to another post that has a Gif showing off a rather cool little scene capped off with a Quick-Time Event featuring very obvious Playstation Button prompts, suggesting it is an early build of 'Rain'.  Watch it a few times to appreciate it, knowing full well that it could very well be an entirely different project, and that it could likely be something that -doesn't- get announced any time soon.  Still, we can hope.  And I do hope that you have studied it at least a little bit, because now I ask:  Does it seem a little familiar?  Not the look or anything like that, of course, since it could be safely disregarded from being early, and it's a low-res gif anyway.  What I want you to focus on is the animations, the movement, does any of that seem familiar to you?  Because I see, possibly through the power of suggestion, something that looks a lot like inFamous 2's engine with some obvious tweaks to it.  This does raise the obvious question of "What -has- Sucker Punch been doing since inFamous 2?"  The answer that we know it, is, basically "Festival of Blood and.....?"  So I am certainly interested now.

As for what the Gif shows, it depicts something deliciously futuristic, which is definitely an area that some consider over-done where others, like me, have barely seen a dip into it and want more, more and more of it.  It's hard to not say it borders on Blade Runner (I mean, just look at it, there are slowly spinning fans in the background) which needs to be in more and more games, and it shows off a pretty involved melee system as well as what I'm using the powers of conjecture to assume is something to do, perhaps, with stealth.  That little drop the guy character does from the arch or mini-tunnel and the stance afterwards is classic stealth positioning with just what little we have to see, which would just add to the deliciousness.  I think, even if this game isn't "Rain" it is definitely a game that I want, that I certainly yearn for, and I cannot wait to see what comes of it if it is not, in fact, 'Rain'.  Despite how it is very obviously raining which is something you would want to do in the trailer for a game named 'Rain'.

Unfortunately, there is no such thing for the game listed as 'Until Dawn' which leads to me doing a whole lot of nothing for it.  A point in its favor is that the European Trademark form lists "hand-held electronic games" in one of the several goods and services sections which would suggest that out of the two, this one would be a Vita game if anything.  But it lists a ton of other stuff as well compared to the same form for 'Rain' which just reminds me that I have no goddamn clue what I'm talking about with all this.  I am basically just extrapolating what I want, because I just saw the Gif, saw the Sucker Punch connection, and just really wanted to write -something- about it all.  Next week is Sony's conference at GamesCom, so there is definitely a good chance for that to be the first time we'll officially hear anything about either of these possible games.  I know what I'll be hoping for, certainly.

Drakerider Trademark Filed by Squeenix

So, Siliconera has informed me (and everyone else that visits them, of course) that Squeenix has put in a trademark for two things:  Drakerider and Blood of Chaos which might be for the same thing or for two different things, it's not really certain.  Now, more or less, you see stuff like that, and have no idea what to expect since it's obviously not the same name of an existing IP or anything, but Squeenix -has- published two games that deal with riding dragons before (as is inferred by the title of Drakerider, literally rider of drakes aka dragons) and as you know by now, I am all over that shit.  The above pictured Drakengard is something I've gone on and on about for several posts, so obviously I am very very excited for what this might bring.  Yet, at the same time, I am also very very worried at the prospect of it all since if it were the fabled continuation of the Drakengard series in some fashion, who knows what the quality is going to be like?

Drakengard the first was a terribly flawed game as far as actual gameplay goes, but the story was absolutely fantastic for as far as it was willing to go, which was likely a lot farther than most people wanted to go while playing it.  Drakengard 2 was absolutely terrible because it was a by-the-numbers anime-RPG-bullshit-wannabe that had one single good thing going for it that they proceeded to piss away over the course of the actual game itself.  Then you have Nier which is included in the franchise despite a notable lack of dragons and the riding thereof which was absolutely fantastic.  It's sporadic, is the point I'm trying to make and while I'm not trying to point fingers here, Drakengard and Nier both had the same Director in Yoko Taro where Drakengard 2's director was Akira Yasui whose involvement in Drakengard prior to being the director of the sequel was being the Chief Designer of Drakengard.  Quite a big jump he got to make and I'm kind of prepared to say that maybe he wasn't quite ready for it.  Just possibly.

I do think Yoko Taro is still with Squeenix, even after the whole of the nonsense that happened with Cavia in being absorbed by this developer who became this one where some of the team scattered or somesuch, but I also believe he's fairly busy with a Dragon Quest related project.  So whether they'd be willing to pull him off that and give him the reigns to yet another installment of insanity is in question, and even if they do, it's hard telling if that will indicate success right off.  Yet in the perfect scenario I've got going in my mind here is that this is what's going to happen, and a PS3 and/or Vita project will come of it and it will be awesome and Caim will be in it and kill a ton of dudes and and and....

Of course, perfect scenarios pretty much never happen, so I'm forced to look at the other theory in play here.  Blood of Bahamut is apparently a thing, which I have never heard of, and it's an Action RPG that was also published by Squeenix for the DS in 2009.  I probably didn't know of it because it never made its way over here in the states, despite Ignition Software offering to localize it for Squeenix because Squeenix is just dumb, I guess.  Were it a Wii game, I could understand, but the DS doesn't have the sort of exaggerated split between First and Third party purchases that I know of, so it's not like the game didn't have a chance of doing well, but I guess they didn't think it did.  Regardless, Blood of Bahamut, understandably, had dragons in it as well, so assuming that both Drakerider and Blood of Chaos are Trademarked for a sequel to Blood of Bahamut is not only possible, it's likely the -more- possible option here.  I'd imagine this project would be for the 3DS rather than the DS, obviously, and a lot of emphasis would be put on the giant monsters popping out in Threeeee Deeeeee and such, and a localization could apparently be questionable.

Still, there's a chance that the two terms could be for separate things and even if they're not I guess that wouldn't be such a bad thing.  I'd prefer no more Drakengard series games over another terrible one any day, and the worry of whether another game would come out terrible would likely drive me mad, but with that way lies the possibility of yet another fantastic game.  Which is the other part that would drive me batty; sitting by through the entire development, fervently scanning for any such update on its progress or indication of quality and micro-analyzing it all....Yeah.  We'll just have to see what turns up out of all this.  It could be one game, could be two, and said games could be terrible, amazing, and/or not even released over here, so it's a bit silly trying to work up a whole lot of excitement or speculation either way.