Video Game Discussion Thread

[FaustWolf]

So who was completely disappointed with jrpgs being practically non existent at E3?

Sounds downright alarming. New times we're living it; I never would have guessed we'd come to this point when there were enough JRPGs to go around for everyone back in the 1990s and early 2000s!

For now, I suppose it's always welcome to fire up discussion about specific games in the General board.

[Licawolf]

I never heard before about the Itadaki Street series and I was actually surprised when they announced a Dragon Quest/Mario Party game, I wasn't expecting that from SE  I wonder if we could ever get Crono in a Smash Brothers game...

[Syna]

There's been a real backlash against JRPGs. It's disappointing, since games like Demons Souls have been solid, and the genre still has new directions it could go. The developers need to innovate more and Western fans need to stop being self-involved snobs about how WRPGs are better, IMHO.

[Acacia Sgt]

I never heard before about the Itadaki Street series and I was actually surprised when they announced a Dragon Quest/Mario Party game, I wasn't expecting that from SE  I wonder if we could ever get Crono in a Smash Brothers game...

I think the probability of that to be very low. There is a new Smash Bros. game to come, and assuming they keep the '3rd Party allowance', if SquareEnix joins on that... well, you're going to expect more someone from FF, or perhaps DQ. Oh well...

[Mr Bekkler]

The developers need to innovate more

This is the only part I disagree with. Not even fully. I feel like the constant pressure on devs to innovate and break new ground with each game is a flawed and transparent business model. The phrase "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" comes to mind. At least Square Enix, and at most every big developer end up making games that don't tell a story well or that have tons of bugs or just aren't fun because they are afraid to stick to what worked already. Battles don't have to be difficult to understand for them to be fun. Usually the easier it is to pick up, the more likely the player will finish the game.
For example, FF13's paradigm shift, and really all the pseudo-foreign names for summons and magic users and monsters are all intended to make the game more immersive, but they really just make it feel long-winded and gimmicky. I guess I'm more of a back to basics guy.

[Syna]

Hmm. I think the nature of the video game medium demands some innovation to make best use of the technological advancements. I understand the 'back to the basics' sentiment, though, and I guess the real issue is just that there have been so many mediocre JRPGs of late. If they were good JRPGs with nothing new to offer in terms of mechanics, I could conceivably quite satisfied with them, as long as they didn't flagrantly misuse any of the said technological advancements.

I definitely don't mean "innovate" in the WRPG sense. Bioware and Obsidian have gone on record saying that they don't consider JRPGs to be RPGs at all (because they're linear and you can't customize the PC). I love both developers, but damn, that's stupid. It's so limiting. I am a greedy gamer and I want all kinds of games!

[Mr Bekkler]

I guess to clarify, innovative storytelling is always welcome, but innovative programming isn't as necessary as devs think. I don't think a customizable character makes a game better, most games get along just fine without them and sometimes they just don't fit. I must be thinking of innovation as a quality pushed from the bigwigs to the working devs in the most superficial way possible, like "teamwork", "think outside the box", etc.

[Jutty]

I don't think it's anything to do with innovation or anything. It's just we simply can't buy jrpgs if they aren't released here. It's a lot to do with the media bashing every jrpg released. People trust these reviewers and pass up on what little we do have. I love wrpgs as well as jrpgs but honestly I'm not expecting a ton of innovation with my jrpg I just want a well crafted story with interesting characters.

[ZealKnight]

Honestly I haven't played many good JRPGs lately. I try some and they just aren't as interesting or as fun the the PS1 and earlier generations. Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, Eternal Sonata, Infinite Undiscovery, Star Ocean 4, Tales of anything after Abyss, Any non main series KH or FF game, I can't seem to bring myself to care for Ar Tonellico. Resonance of Fate is the only JRPG I have been wanting to play (other than FFXIII) in years, and I from what I hear from friends it's forgettable. Fact is I wish Western RPGs had the story, characters, and flashiness of JRPGs. I may not have liked Oblivion, but I liked Dragon Age and Mass Effect. Those are the only RPGs I've been playing for a long time, I've even found myself coming here less and less because now I spend most of my time playing fighting games which have been great this genre I might add.

[Licawolf]

What a misleading trailer xD very awesome, though.

[1st Mate Bob]

I'm tired of all the guns... seriously.

I guess that's what appeals to the Western market, though. Oh well. *goes back to re-playing Chrono Trigger again*

[Trebuchet]

I'm sure it's already been discussed, but...
999: 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors kicks a lot of ass. A game hasn't made me think that much for a while.

Also, Radiant Historia is a fantastic game.

[Bard_of_Time]

I found myself really enjoying Psychonauts, for one reason or another. If I so desired, I could set someone on fire (or at least try to), lift things, and then realize that the world is going to be destroyed by a mad dentist with SUPER SNEEZY POWDER. I swear that that stuff is evil.

[Licawolf]

I got my Ocarina of Time 3DS, I've only played through the first dungeon, but I'm very pleased I particularly like the way the first person view works with the nintendo 3DS, you actually move the 3DS around in the direction you want to look at (I spent many minutes stopping at every spot to look around while saying "oooooh" "uuuuuuh"), and that can be used for aiming with the weapons too, very precise and easy. The 3D graphics look great, particles like the little shiny things that float around in kokiri forest, look amazing, and distance is really clearly discernable...  but sometimes I have to turn the 3D feature off because I'm not yet used to it and my eyes get tired after a while. The remastered graphics are not radically stunning at first view ( except for Link's face which is pretty obviously better xD), but they do give a "new" feeling to the game, it's all small details: the colours are more vibrant, most textures are improved, models are more polished and smoother, some backgrounds are more detailed (the kokiri shop is now full of posters and other items hanging around, like Majora's Mask shops, I love it xD), even the movements of some NPCs is better (the way Mido moves is so teatrical and fluid now). Since I played the original game so many times, I can't help but notice other very little changes like some cutscenes having one or two new camera angles, and Navi having some messages I didn't remember ( but I'm guessing some of this changes may have already been in the gamecube port which I never played ).

All in all, I'm very happy with the game, I'm still getting used to the way the menu and the items work with the two screens (no C-buttons!), I'm still curious to see how the ocarina works here.

[FaustWolf]

Crap, so Nintendo of America isn't releasing Xenoblade stateside. Nor The Last Story for that matter.

http://wii.ign.com/articles/117/1179222p1.html

Apparently that giant buzzing sound you hear is every US citizen downloading the Wii emulator...