[Multiplatform] The Last Remnant: Life at 12 frames a second is a beautiful thing.

Originally Posted by Soluzar

The fact that it's by Square-Enix is pretty much enough to put me off it. I'm interested in RPGs, and I will admit that Square-Enix are among the most technically acomplished RPG developers, but I'm more than happy to play less polished games if the story and characters are interesting. That's something that (for me) Square Enix just haven't delivered at all, since the PS1.

I agree and I'll chime in...I'm skeptical how they can have the "same" game with two totally opposite main characters. I mean, aren't NPC's going to respond differently and whatnot?

Sounds cool (and different) at first glance, but 3 seconds later, it sounds like a totally lame idea.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Metal Sphere

I'm gonna have to ditto you and Mucknuggle, on this one. As of late their games have been passing my "Am-I-Having-Fun?" test, so I really don't see where the hate comes from. Now, if I start expecting masterpieces from them, I think I'll understand where the others are coming from.

Well, yeah...You'd kinda think games that sell as much as Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy would be masterpieces though.

I really hate the mark Nomura has left on the Final Fantasy franchise (not to mention many other lesser Square games he's designed characters for...Can someone say "pallette swap"?) and I didn't enjoy the first Kingdom Hearts at all (so naturally, I didn't pay any attention to the sequel). I think Square has been downright awful for a long time now, but I don't think it's solely on Nomura's shoulders...That whole company has issues from the ground up right now. I do think he has been given too much control of their most important projects.

What bugs me is...Why are the two guys who basically made Final Fantasy working at another company (Sakaguchi/Uematsu), while those that remain at Square whore the living fuck out of it?

So yeah...The Square side of SE is pretty "meh" these days.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

*Shrug* Aside from Ys Origin and Wild Arms Vth Vanguard, the music for Blue Dragon is the best RPG score I've heard in awhile. And I'm finding out now I'd much rather have even uninspired Uematsu than some of the various replacements they've found for the series. Yes, even Hanjuku Hero 3D.

As for Sakaguchi...I'm not saying he's been god or that I'll buy a 360 just for Blue Dragon. I'm just saying he was the guy who oversaw the coming-up of FF (and Square, to be honest), so it's odd seeing him in another company and those remaining to have so little direction (other than to spam FF). Doesn't boost my confidence in Square at all. Seeing "OMFG! DEMO-fucking-GRAPHICS = innovation" for this particular game isn't helping matters.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I guess when he's hated as a character designer, it's only natural to hate him as a game designer and not distinguish the two. I do see he's not shy about remaining visible though, so that does give off the illusion he's more important than he seems.

That's interesting about the Bouncer though...Makes sense, now that I think about it (since so many people said the game was supposed to be a lot bigger, more interactive environments, etc and it turned out ridiculously short/simple to get in on the post PS2-launch). Shame, but yeah, XG had the same issue.

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Originally Posted by Enkidu

This has been brought up way too many times before, it's BUSINESS. As long as people still keep buying every port and every remake of an FF game, why WOULDN'T a company focus part of its activities on that game. I'm not trying to justify it all, but you can't be that naive that you think that SE would choose a risk like starting a new concept from scratch without having something to fall back on if something goes wrong. As for Sakaguchi, he may have been the brain behind the success behind the FF games, and even if they are "whoring the living fuck out of it", do you think that he cares now that he has his own business?

If I were naive about it, I wouldn't be questioning the motives and direction of the company (not to mention quality of games and the need for, say, 3 different versions of FFXIII and god-knows-how-many FFVII titles) and I'd be here screwing off to the FFX-2 girls like a good fanboy.

I'm just saying the misfits that are running Square now owe Sakaguchi a lot for establishing something that's keeping them in business, because they certainly aren't doing it any justice.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Enkidu

It's business, they don't owe him ANYTHING since he started his own company, there is no room for loyalty, legacy or other crap like that here.

Actually, losing consumer confidence is a very large part of business. I have a LOT more confidence in Mistwalker and Blue Dragon than I have had in Square and any game or production of theirs over the past 5 years and I urge people to question why Square's been in such a misguided frenzy since Sakaguchi's departure as well. It's not "they owe Sakaguchi", it's "the people there now aren't that good...Maybe Sakaguchi knew something they didn't when it comes to this stuff."

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Shin

I would hardly describe SE as losing consumer confidence. Sure, those of you who pay attention to the career paths of their employees and wish their lives away waiting for another FFVII might be wary but as Enk said, they're in the business of making money, not catering to obsessives and "Hard core" gamers (Such a contradiction in terms that phrase).

They churn out FF cash-ins because that's what the majority of the game buying public want and that's how they make their money. It seems to me that some people here are mistaking businessmen for artists...

And you can't also tell me games like DoC didn't ruffle a few feathers (casual or otherwise) and that a number of people (casual or otherwise) aren't sick of what what they're doing. It's actually pretty common even when I pop into Gamestop to take a few jabs at how they operate ("So how many Final Fantasy games are on the release list THIS month?"). They'll continue to sell...There's no doubt about that. But at some point, maybe people will want something more than an "average" game. With rising development costs, they can't afford to be shrinking their fanbase, casual or otherwise.

I mean, look at what happened when people discovered that Tomb Raider or the Twisted Metal (between 2 and Black) series wasn't that good...Or PS3...Over 3 million served, but it's hard to consider it a rousing success yet.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Kalekkan

It looks like they're going for a weird mix of RPG elements in large-scale battle situations. It certainly would be pretty refreshing.

I would highly recommend you play a Dynasty Warriors game.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Yeah, that's why I meant this didn't exactly strike me as "refreshing", since I've played through both DW4 and 5 already. I bet neither character here is as badass as a steroid-induced Sun Shang Xiang.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Jagged

But to SE's credit none of those games are same anyway. The only thing that connects them are the names.

Mmmm...Marketing scam.

*drool*

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