Ramblings of a Crowe

I am so looking forward to FF12, it's not even funny. I know you didn't care much for it, but I actually quite liked FF10 - though FF9 was probably the best of the last few (FF7 was great too, though it's starting to show its age - I have to wonder what a re-make would look like). Waiting for the film, too.

Heck, while they're at it, they should re-make FF3 (US). That may have been my favorite of all.

Yeah! Me too! The more I read about it, the more excited I get. If the battles system is like the one in SO3, I'll be jumping for joy (real time battles). If Japan gets it in March, I hope we won't have to wait six months to get ours...*sigh*

If you ever get the time, I do recommend playing Star Ocean: Till the End of Time. Square did an excellent job on that one too.

Advent Children looks incredible. There's a new trailer out.

Anyway, I too would like to see a remake of some of the older games. I started playing the FF series on #9 (my second fav), then back tracked to #7, so I missed a few of them. I'm also really happy FF7 is getting a lot of attention. Another game for the PSP is in the works too, something called Crisis Core. It's *really* new, but apparently it'll revolve around Zack, the solider that fought with Cloud and the events that led up to Sephiroth going crazy. *I need to get a PSP*

No, I didn't care much for ffX, but I did decide to give ffx-2 a try. *shrug* I bought it today and added it to the stack of games I need to finish. *laughs*

I'm bummed none of these will be ready for a winter release. I was hoping to have at least one of them to play over the lay off.

I saw that there was a new Zelda game for pre-order at Hastings today. Is that the much talked about new one? If so, I need to go reserve myself a copy.

As the FF games progress, the characters seem to be wearing less and less clothes. Advent Children looks great, although I heard it was just a movie, is that still the case? I've not kept up on videogame news, especially since I think we get games later than you do.

Me? I'm waiting for the new Zelda game! ^___^

Heh! I love the FF games. I need to play some of the older ones, if I can find them. I think there's one called Tactics and one called Chronicals. FF12 looks simply incredible. I hope the storyline is better than the last one though...ffX failed to impress me. And I really didn't like Tidus or Yuna (the main characters). I thought they were boring and uninteresting.

There's some Zelda game coming out soon...not sure which one it is though. J would know. Devil May Cry 4 looks awesome so far too...but that's a long way off and a PS3 game if I remember correctly.

I do think you guys get games later than us. Not sure why though.

I dunno why either. It goes in a triangle - Japan, USA, England.

Yeah, Twilight Princess, it's been called. It looks incredible. I have FFX and FFX-2 but I haven't played them yet. I got addicted to SO3 first! (And Metroid Prime 2!) Yeah, FFX went into all the lovey doveyness (okay they do that in every game, but it was worse in this one!) It'd kinda be cool if they made a game where the main female and male characters were friends, a bit like Rikku and Tidus. I personally prefer the look of the FFVIII characters, although I'm kinda sick of the cheery girl characters they appear to have in nearly every version. I guess people are more optimistic in Japan? Personally, I want a sombre and pessimistic character who doesn't look gothy like Paine.

The fanfiction for FFX is terrible. I've found two good fics and they're by the same author. Aaaagh.

(Zoso)
> I think there's one called Tactics and one called Chronicals

Chronicals is interesting, but very much not a typical FF game. Its multi-player aspects are cool, but it's not something you'll probably want to play by yourself. I got kind of bored with it, quickly.

FF Tactics, though, is great. Don't expect an incredibly epic storyline, but it's still decent enough in that respect. It's more of a tactical battle game. Seemingly primitive on the surface, if you've ever felt that the battle system in most RPGs can be boring (select action, select action, select action...) it may be a breath of fresh air. You have to decide upon where you want to place your characters, which to put in battle, etc. It's basically a turn-based strategy type ordeal. Very, very different.

(DR)
> Personally, I want a sombre and pessimistic character who
> doesn't look gothy like Paine.

(staying away from Roman numerals here, as I suck at them)

I don't know. I saw plenty of that in FF8 (Squall), and it got a bit tiresome. When you think about it, FF7 had a pretty somber tone to it, too.

While this is well and good, it was getting a bit close to being a bit overplayed in my opinion. FF9 was a breath of fresh air - a return to what made FF2/FF3 (US) so great - and FF10 was good as well.

I did enjoy FF10, though. Call me a sap, but I thought the interaction between Tidus and Yuna was good, and the conflict between Tidus and his father was very well played. Unlike other games in the series, it also seemed to have a pretty cohesive plot and story arc. That's important.

I played a bit of FF10-2, but just couldn't get into it. It had a bit too much of a Britney Spears/Spice Girls vibe for me (GIRL POWER!), and in the first few hours I honestly couldn't tell what the overriding conflict was. It just seemed like random encounters, with no sense of urgency/danger or epic-ness. I suspect that some point further in the game it would tie into the previous installment, though, so I may have to pick it up again.

Oops, I meant a female character. I agree with you, though. That's also the thing that's putting me off playing FFX-2 - the girlie vibe. Tidus cries in FFX, doesn't he? I like male protagonists that cry! I should probably try actually playing these games more. There's so much stuff on the internet that I know lots about the game with very little playing time.

Now, if only Metroid Prime 2 wasn't so addictive...

Yeah, Squall was pretty dark and so was Cloud, but the story line of 8 was just unexciting. To me, #7 seemed epic and I got sucked in. However, unlike most fans of FF7, the entire Aerith scene didn't move me at all. *shrug* It has potential to make me weepy, but I didn't see the connection between Cloud and Aerith as significant for some reason. The end of Shadowhearts I and parts of Shadowhearts II made me bawl, so I know I'm not *that* insensitve. *laughs* FF9's ending made me cry...at first. Ha ha!

I tend to enjoy the dark and gloomy characters the most, but I really loved Zidane, despite his optomistic attitude. However, Tidus just annoyed me...he was kinda a dork--and whiny. *laughs* I do agree that the interaction between Jeckt and Tidus was good. I also liked the pilgrammage aspect of FFX. That was interesting. Over all though, I just didn't care much about what happened to Tidus and Yuna.

FFX-2 is okay so far. I try to ignore the girlie girl BS (as difficult as that is), but I do enjoy the mission based structure of the game and the "no pressure" attitude. I didn't get intreagued in the storyline until I saw the sphere of that guy in the cage. Now I want to know what that's all about.

I had a brainfart when I mentioned Chronicals. I have that game and it's so much fun. I only like it on multiplayer though. J and I were playing every Friday and having a blast. Singly though, the higher levels get hard, since it's geared for more than one player, which sucks.

I'm really excited about the new FF's "Real Time" battles. That'll be fun! Star Ocean and Tales of Symphonia had battle systems based off of RT and they were great.

What's the word on the new Zelda game?

As long as you don't go into it expecting a dramatic thing, FF X-2 is pretty awesome. I liked it a LOT better than X-- especially the battle system. They totally sped it up and made it fun! And once you get into the later stages, the story isn't half-bad.

Definitely looking forward to (and getting, the DAY it releases) Digital Devil Saga 2. The first was awesome in almost every respect; the second can only be just as good.

I'm not too keen on Kingdom Hearts, but if Mulan's in it I'll definitely have to look into it. I loved that movie. Plus, AURON. :O

And FF12 should be pretty nice, too-- I just hope they're still up on their storyline. I wasn't impressed with FF10's, and FF11 didn't do much for me, either. We'll see, I guess.

Is there any word on Before Crisis? Because... well... TURKS.

[*resumes lurking*]

Zelda should be coming out soon... but whenever Nintendo say 'soon', they mean 'three years'. I love the consistency of the Zelda games, although I still want a sequel to the N64 stories (which I guess probably won't happen). Consistency in some games really bugs me at times, because it's not well done. Especially in games I like.

I don't own FF7 *cries* (but I have an MP3 of the theme tune zomgs) but it appears to me that it has the stronger storyline (having looked at internet sites and fanfiction). One thing I've noted in fanfiction is that Cloud/Aerith and Cloud/Tifa fics are both as popular as each other (unlike the Tidus/Yuna fics which rule ze world), which might suggest, shock of horrors, better character development!

I really hate how people complain about lack of character development in movies but then say it's unimportant in videogames because the characters aren't real. They're not real in the movies, either!

Suu~

Yeah, that battle system is really fast. Sort of caught me off guard there for a bit. *laughs* I like it though; it keeps me on my toes.

It took me a while to get into Kingdom Hearts. I'm not a big fan of Disney right now...however, once I gave it a fair shot, I got sucked in. I'm excited to see PoC and Beauty and the Beast (my fav). Halloween Town in cool too! From what I hear, the worlds will be a big bigger, when different sections to travel to.

Hnnn...I haven't heard much about Before Crisis yet. I've got it on watch over at Game Spot.

When does the PS3 come out? Do you know? I'm kinda leery of buying first gen...

DR~

There's some Zelda game coming out soon. It's availible for reserve here. J or Jeff will probably know which one it is...they're bigger Zelda fans than I am. If it's the super cool one I've seen screens of, I want to play it!

Yeah...I don't get that comparison from live action movies to animation. Character and plot are important regardless of the media. That includes videogames too. Unless, of course, the videogame really has no plot other than to blow shit up, play some sport, or drive cars. Devil May Cry isn't the deepest game in the world, but I really don't care because Dante kicks ass and there's lots of destroying to do. *laughs*

All this talk off FF9 and FF7 have made me want to replay the games again. I'll have to dig them out now. Damn you all! *shakes fist* Sephiroth kicked my ass repeatedly at the end of FF7...that might be enough of a deterrant for me...Kuja (FF9) wasn't that hard though....

PS3's release date is still TBA, but with all the games in production right now, and all the tech demos and the like, if I had to guess, I'd put it at Summer/Fall 2006. Maybe Winter.

Before Crisis looks like one of the only spinoff games that I'm really going to be interested in-- mostly because I am horrible at shooter games, and I really haven't heard anything about Crisis Core that stands out to me. Plus, it could EASILY be ported over to PSP from the cell-phone format (which would be cool in itself, if our phones were as awesome. Which they're not-- mine drops charges like hotplates. ;-; )

I played through a good deal of KH, but I think the battle system just put me off. I really enjoy playing multiple characters, or at least having the opportunity (SO3 *coughcough*). Didn't really get that in KH. ...Which reminds me, I should hunt down Tales of Destiny 1 again. Hm.

Suu~

I don't have a mobile phone...I'm probably one of the only people left in the world that doesn't. ha ha! As a rule, I *hate* talking on the phone...which is probably why.

I played a bit of FFX-2 last night and kept getting killed. I'm still getting used to the dress spheres and whatnot. The behemoth keeps kicking my ass in Zanarkand ruins. *laughs* I managed to get to the zombie dragon thing, but it killed me too. *sigh*

I'll play more this weekend. Do you have to follow the "Hot Spots" as they pop up, or can I go check out other stuff then come back to them? I have to get to them to advance the story, that I know, but is there any particular order? I'm a bit confused about that...

Anyway, it's fun...but it's hard to play after work. When I play a game, I want to sit down and play...for at least a couple of hours.

Ha ha! I just noticed your *lurker* comment! I seem to have a lot of lurkers...which makes me boggle...I'm not very interesting... ;P

Take care!

BTW~ is Tales of Destiny very good?

I loved "Tales of Symphonia".

I'm also hoping Grandia III gets a release in the US...but no word so far...

Firstly, yes, you can do things outside of the hot-spots-- actually, it's really the only way you'll get 100% completion. Plus, it'll make levelling SO MUCH EASIER. And the best part about X-2 is the lack of truly linear gameplay, which means you can just do things in whatever order you like! I loved that. *sniff*

Tales of Destiny 1 was for the PSX, and it's the best RPG I've ever played. Ever. It totally whipped FF7 for me, and the characters are sprite-based, which is something I like. Then again, I'm probably one of maybe ten SaGa Frontier fangirls, so my taste is a little weird.

I want to play ToS! Oh, man, but I don't know that they're bringing the PS2 port over here. If they do, I'm going to do a little happy dance.

If it's coming out in America soon, then it'll probably be out here in the not-too-distant future. Why do we have to wait?! ;__;

I totally agree. Storyline, atmosphere and character development are the most important things by far in a videogame OR movie. Probably why I like RPGs so much. Blowing up stuff is fun though (XD, I typoed it as 'gun'!) I played Perfect Dark again today for the first time in ages. RC-P120 and a whole load of n-bombs... ^__^

DR~ Yeah, it's that awesome Zelda we've been seeing! It's out November here! I'm pretty excited about...since it looks waaaay cool! What is the usual time between your licenses and ours? A few months or a year or more?

Suu~

Then maybe I'll just go back to Zanarkand after I gain a few levels. Ha ha! I was shocked they started things out there, since the monsters are a pain in the ass! DIE BEHEMOTH!!!! (>-

Tales of Symphonia is awesome. One of my top five RPG's. I really loved the game play, the animation, the story...pretty much everything. I played it on Gamecube though.

Baten Kaidos (or however the hell you spell it) has been pretty fun so far. It's a card based RPG...I didn't think I'd like it, but it's different and cool. I haven't finished it yet. It's worth checking out.

Anything between a few months to a year, yes. Knowing Nintendo, it'll be a year or something. ;___;