Video Game News and Miscellany

Square really needs to take a cue from the FF14 team, they're doing some solid work and the game's tons of fun. I haven't enjoyed a FF title this much since Tactics.
 
*I'm going on the assumption that the Ivalice we see in the original Final Fantasy Tactics is the dark ages, where they talk about airships and robots being mystic relics, whereas the other games show us Ivalice in the time of St. Ajora when it was a thriving techno-magical wonder.[DOUBLEPOST=1381443795,1381443640][/DOUBLEPOST]
The storyline is...

- FF12 \
- FF12 Revenant Wings | - These three all have Vaan, confirming they are concurrent. Height of Ivalice.
- FF Tactics A2 /
- FF Tactics Advanced - Hallucinatory, but set during this time.
- Crystal Defenders \
- Crystal Defenders Vanguard Storm | - Has stuff from before the fall.
- FF Tactics | - Hundreds of years after the last game. Ivalice is just a small country now, but magic is common.
- Vagrant Story | - After the Durai Report. Hails characters from FFT as heroes, where as they were ether dishonored or
unknown before this. Magic is no longer common and hailed as witchcraft by the Church. This is basically the Inquisition era of Ivalice and the furthest along the timeline.
 
Goddammit, Square.

And thanks, Ash, that clears things up. Obviously won't be holding my breath for more from the sub-series.
To be fair, the "hallucinatory" bit only means that it didn't happen from the character's perspective. The Ivalice they were in was one based on the real Ivalice, but changed towards their desires. Marche had lots of friends and lead a strong group, Mewt was a prince so he wouldn't be picked on and had his mother back, Cid was one of the most important people in the region, ect... so it was an illusion based on their desires. So when Marche finally ended the dream, everything went back to normal. Whether this means it was all a dream or that Ivalice was actually, temporarily changed isn't really commented on.

This is different than what happens in A2. In A2 the main character writes himself into the record of Ivalice that Marche and his friends used to go to Ivalice in the first place. This ended up inserting him directly into the history of Ivalice instead of making another world based on it. So everything in A2 DOES happen, but only because the circumstances are different.
 
To be fair, the "hallucinatory" bit only means that it didn't happen from the character's perspective. The Ivalice they were in was one based on the real Ivalice, but changed towards their desires. Marche had lots of friends and lead a strong group, Mewt was a prince so he wouldn't be picked on and had his mother back, Cid was one of the most important people in the region, ect... so it was an illusion based on their desires. So when Marche finally ended the dream, everything went back to normal. Whether this means it was all a dream or that Ivalice was actually, temporarily changed isn't really commented on.

This is different than what happens in A2. In A2 the main character writes himself into the record of Ivalice that Marche and his friends used to go to Ivalice in the first place. This ended up inserting him directly into the history of Ivalice instead of making another world based on it. So everything in A2 DOES happen, but only because the circumstances are different.
But I've heard A2's story still sucks. I didn't get very far--a lot of time seemed taken on hunt-type missions. It's been three years or so since I got rid of it though, so I can't remember perfectly.
 
And "micro" is putting it quaintly. They have no fucking idea how to price anything anymore. Bunch of shmucks.
This is the real problem.

In Japan, Square is selling iOS social slot/pachinko games for $20(!!) a pop...and then inside those games they're selling button-pushes for $1-2 a pop!

They're making so much money selling at outrageous prices to Japan's parlor gambling culture that they really don't give a fuck about anything else on iOS. They figure that only the hardcore fans will buy FFgames for $20, but they don't care, they're making their money.
 
I'll add that to the "when I get a PS4" list.

Devil Survivor Overclocked went on the 3DS eshop yesterday, finally.

Oh, and tonight, something very special happens ...

 
I want to really like this.
I really, really do.
Please don't mess it up.


(4 days left on the Kickstarter, $10k CAD left to go)

--Patrick
 
I like the project and the gameplay video was decent but I want more. A lot of awesome projects are wrapping up this week.
 
His comments on FF13 are dead on. Completely devoid of the charm of the previous titles... but Square Enix had to make back the money they spent on the engine SOMEHOW.
 
Let me put it this way... I've replayed every Final Fantasy game I own at least 4-5 times at this point. But 13? I can't even get past the intro before I stop caring. I just save and don't go back to it for months at a time. Its that bad.
 
Let me put it this way... I've replayed every Final Fantasy game I own at least 4-5 times at this point. But 13? I can't even get past the intro before I stop caring. I just save and don't go back to it for months at a time. Its that bad.
This 100% the same but for FF12.
 
This 100% the same but for FF12.
The problem with 12 is that there are 2 characters that don't have any real connection to the plot beyond the first few hours and they get ZERO development after that. The rest of the characters are actually pretty cool and the story isn't bad once it gets going. Some people just can't get past the battle system though and I won't hold that against them, as it's wildly different that most other systems. Plus it's designed to let you sequence break if that's your thing!

The problem with 13 is that there are only -2- characters I actually give a shit about (Fang and Sazh) and that everyone else is ether a whiny emo who doesn't get his shit together, an utter dumb ass who never owns up to the shit he's caused, a soulless and uninteresting woman that we're supposed to give a shit about over 3 games, and someone who doesn't give us a reason to care about her until the game is almost over. It also lacks the memorable moments that every other game in the series. It... it just fails at almost every level.

That said... I... I'm actually kind of interested in 13-3. The battle system looks really fun.
 
I liked 12, but the last 1/3rd of that game felt REALLY cobbled together.
Same, especially the final boss. The easiest of any FF I've played to the end, without a doubt.

I agree with him on 13, also. Hell, the MMO's have more charm.

Let me put it this way... I've replayed every Final Fantasy game I own at least 4-5 times at this point. But 13? I can't even get past the intro before I stop caring. I just save and don't go back to it for months at a time. Its that bad.
Same here. I've replayed every other Square RPG I have at least 2-3 times to the end, but I have yet to replay 13 after finishing it (same for 12). Hell, I've played Chrono Trigger multiple times on multiple systems.
 
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