• 3Sep 08

  1 Day Down, 105 to Go...

  Basic post of my first day back to College, not much else special about it. So here's how it all went...

  - Woke up, drove, and forgot my entry slip. My campus has a system where you have to bring a slip to the parking lot so you can gain entry through the gates. Thankfully they weren't up today, I'll have to remember to put it in my car next time I go.
  - The Savage Gecko (My College Game Store) that used to be there is now "E-Zone". Basically, the place got a minor rennovation, the Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and Dance Dance Revolution arcade machines are still there as well as a prize grabbing machine. What's changed is that they been moved and there's a stage for multiple people to play Rockband on the 360. While visiting, I got two new games, Chameleon Twist for the N64, and Silent Hill 4: The Room.
  - Cla sses were only about half an hour long since they were basically introductory days. I tried to work on my Sonic '06 novelization during my break, but my laptop didn't start for some reason, then it worked as soon as I brought it home and plugged it in to the main cord (I guess it ran out of power).

  That's my day in a nutshell, onto the gaming portion.

  Chameleon Twist is just old-school N64 platforming fun, and it's just awesome to play. I never owned the orginal, but I owned and loved Chameleon Twist 2 when I was a kid. I personally don't see why these games got so much negative attention, I think they're awesome. It would be so cool if a new Chameleon Twist game came out today, but unfortunately it will never happen seeing the developers aren't encouraged to do so since the fanbase that might exist out there is so small, and Sunsoft is out of business.

  Silent Hill 4 is my first Silent Hill game since I've been trying to find the Playstation original but can't find a reasonable price anywhere. It's pretty creepy and has a cool atmosphere, and the plot is promising too. I'm having some trouble though since I can't seem to kill the zombies that appear out of the wall no matter what weapon I use. It doesn't help that they seem to drain your health when you're around them in general.

  My first boring post in a long while, well it's just my first day, so things might get more hectic someday. It also doesn't help that College demands so many papers to write as well, so don't be surprised if I'm not around as much.

  That's the news from Myviewing as of September 3, 2008.

  • Posted Sep 3, 2008 6:34 pm PT
  • Category: General
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• 30Aug 08

  Thoughts on Final Fantasy XIII in General

  Where I been at:

  1. Finally beat Odin Sphere at long last and got the best ending.
  2. Soon to start up Final Fantasy X as a way of prepping for XIII, since I haven't had much experience with a "next-gen" Final Fantasy.
  3. College starts Wednesday, this is my schedule since many others are posting there's:

  Mondays and Wednesdays:
  Intro Public Relations 12:30 p.m.-1:45 p.m.
  Non-Verbal Communication 3:00 p.m.-4:15 p.m.

  Tuesdays and Thursdays
  Social Problems 12:30 p.m.-1:45 p.m.
  Technical Communication 2:00 p.m.-3:15 p.m.

  Okay, so now the drama is out of the way yet again, I am going to be posting my thoughts on the current state of the development of Final Fantasy XIII. I might do Agito and Versus if I ever get a chance or if I learn enough about them, I'm just glad right now that Agito is on PSP and not cell-phone only, as my current cell-phone cannot run jack, but that's all other stuff. So anyone who's read my blog post "Thoughts on Upcoming Sonic games- Sonic Chronicles: Dark Brotherhood", they would know that there are two things that I tend to look for in an RPG which is what I'm sure is what RPG gamers in general look for: The battle system, and the story. Sure this is Final Fantasy, and we can expect only the greatest fupping story ever told in each release, but it's still worth covering since... Oh boy does it sound cool thus far.

  So here is what we're given about the story so far: There's a race called the fal'Cie who exist beyond humanity and mark those who give them a greater purpose the I'Cie. 1,300 years ago (A 300 year difference in the typical time set, what innovation!) a Crystal instructed the fal'Cie to create a paradise for humanity called Cocoon, which is also maintained by a Crystal. Below Cocoon however is a menacing entity known as "Pulse", serving as the antimatter to the matter of Cocoon. The Crystal of Cocoon creates life forms and machines for humans to use, and as a result flourish. Overtime however, people begin to worry for their safety of Cocoon; that it would fall from the sky due to Pulse below them. As a safety measure, a Holy Government is now in place that quarantines all people who have been influenced by Pulse and are exiled from what must be the only city they live in.

  Sure, so far the story sounds like it's only the setting for the game and we're not going to know anything about the characters yet, but the thing is, we actually do, and this is where the story really gets interesting. Apparently, a girl named "Lightning" has been chosen by the Crystals to be the enemy of humanity and (I'm not kidding) bring about the downfall of the world...

  My reaction is: WOW... This is probably the closest we're ever going to get to playing as Sephiroth in Final Fantasy VII. Seriously, this is actually the first time I can name in a Final Fantasy game, where you play as the person who's supposed to be a villain (what sounds like one at least). In Final Fantasy III, there are legends of four dark warriors who cleansed the world because the balance was too much in favor of the light. As it stands, so far it actually sounds like we're going to get a cyber-punk setting like in VII being mixed with that of the older settings as well, especially considering how much of an important role the crystals are playing. Not only that, but we also get to play as the warriors of dark who are obviously intent on bringing balance to the world. This is something cool because, usually the side taken is that of the light side in RPGs, but now Square Enix is going to put players in the shoes of a darker role it seems.

  Now that I have the story out of the way, I'd like to do a little thing about the main character Lightning, I'd do the others, but they apparently aren't fleshed out enough yet. Lightning huh? I think Thunder would have sounded more like an actual name, but I guess Lightning is a name you could get used to after saying it to yourself for a while. Well to be fair, Tetsuya Nomura was basically asked to make a "female version of Cloud Strife" (Yes haters, Cloud is a man, now shut up), so I suppose that he was trying to find a name that would fit that idea. Also, her weapon consists of a sword that changes into a semi-automatic firearm at will, and Lightning will also be able to use gravity as a weapon and a tool, like being able to use a gravity bomb to disable enemies. So far, this sounds pretty over-powered, but Final Fantasy isn't exactly known for staying true to the ideas of the human limits anyway.

  Off-note: Speaking of Cloud, rest assured there's going to be a big Internet fad when enough writers manage to beat the game: Cloud x Lightning fanfics. As I once said, I used to be a fanfic writer, and I've seen some weird pairings in my day like Cloud x Squall (blech...), Link x Saria (shudders...), and even Gen Fu x Tina (Yes, I actually read one where they "get it on"... Not in an AO way, but in an M way...). The reason for fics like these is that there will be a big storm of fics based on Final Fantasy XIII alone, but some writers will develop the idea that Cloud and Lighting were meant for one another because of reasons like, "Well where does Lighting come from?" and "They're both down on their luck protagonists who can only find solace in the arms of one another!" or just simply "They look so sweet together!" But that's just my little sampling I have to offer people of the world of fan fiction writers, so be ready for that.

  So now that the story sounds all awesome and such, let's move on to the battle system shall we? So even though the game is meant to maintain strategy and command based battles, it's also meant to have the excitement and speed of real-time battles and the battle sequences will be integrated into the environment, and Toshiro Tsuchida will return to develop the battle system itself. Another cool thing about the environments though, is that it will also play a role in the battles, an example is shown when Lightning throws a soldier into a light, and then multiplies the damage done to him.

  The system the developers are working on are based on the desire to create battles in ways like Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Like Advent Children? You mean, battles like this right?: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/yt-s5U1Rh8ixwk/final_fantasy_7_cloud_vs_sephiroth_english_dub/

  If the battles are going to be this awesome, I only have three words for Square, "I-R-SOLD".

  Onto the further details:

  Anyway, it's uncertain if the party members will be controllable or if the party leader will be the only one players get to control. As for the Active Time Battle system, it's going to run differently than other iterations, this time instead of waiting for it to fill up, the bar will gradually decrease with each action players input, then must replenish to input more commands. Tsuchida also says that he wants to give each enemy players face their own personalities and background stories, thus opening more potential for a deep combat system (You'll feel sorry for killing that random soldier at the beginning of the game... He had a wife and three kids!!!"). As if the gameplay didn't sound like enough, there's another new feature for the battle system called "Overlock mode". This feature is represented by a circular-shaped gauge in the upper right-hand corner of the screen that is somehow supposed to fill up, while activating this mode will allow players to induce the ability that Neo and so many others have only dreamed of achieving: The ability to slow down time.

  Now for the ability to summon, the summon system is still here, though they will also be taking forms of mechanical beings that players could probably use in and out of battle. Some well known names will also be retuning, Shiva, Ifrit, Siren, Carbuncle, they're all here. This time though, as I said before, they will be more "cyborgish" in appearance, like Shiva being a pair of sisters who merge into a motorcycle ridden by one of the unnamed characters.

  Final Fantasy XIII will also be taking online capabilities under its wing while still being a traditional offline experience. It's most likely the 360 version will use this to give access to achievements for players. What other ones there will be, I can't say just yet.
  
  So there's Final Fantasy XIII... Simply put: I want. If I could put everything I wanted to say in two words about what I've heard about Final Fantasy XIII so far, that's what I would say. So prepare yourselves, because Square-Enix is saying that next-gen begins with Final Fantasy XIII (And if they acquire Tecmo, their future projects might be even more ambitious). Gratifying your console in Japan sometime in 2009, no word on when anywhere else though.

  Expectations thus far:

  -Playing as dark characters and getting to see the world through the perspective of the "dark side".
  -Having battles as intense as Advent Children.
  -The ability to defy the laws of gravity and physics included.
  -Summons useable outside of battle.
  -Even if it does make the character overpowered, having the powers to destroy everything with the power of gravity.

  That's the news from Myviewing as of August 30, 2008.

  • Posted Aug 30, 2008 2:11 pm PT
  • Category: Games
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• 26Aug 08

  Final Fantasy XIII on 360: Yes It's A Good Thing.

  Hello my underlings, today I shall be writing about the upcoming modern classic, Final Fantasy XIII. Even though I have things I want to talk about in terms of the game itself, I have some strong thoughts about a certain issue that has hit the gaming community, Final Fantasy XIII for the Xbox360. So enjoy my explanation of how everything is going to play out for both systems.

  Before beginning, an answer for carljohnson3456 in his question regarding my Sonic '06 novelization. Basically, yeah, I'm taking the Sonic '06 story and making it more detailed, but I'm also planning to take some liberties with the story and make a few changes, since the actual story itself has plot holes and one of the worst cast of voice actors ever (It's actually worse than most Megaman games to be honest, definatley not X4 though). And the case is I'm probably one of the few people who thinks the story could have been fantastic if it had a bit more refinement (Better dialogue, development, and fewer plot holes), been given a better cast (at least my ideal cast, you can see it in the prologue) and made the relationship between Elise and Sonic touching via more development (Hey, I watched Peter Jackson's King Kong. Don't blame me if I think it could work.) Anyway, thanks for enjoying so far, hope you enjoy what's to come.

  So about a month ago, Square Enix showed off its upcoming epic RPG: Final Fantasy XIII at E3. What caught some people off guard though, is the fact that they made an announcement that Final Fantasy XIII would no longer be exclusive to the Playstation 3 as its previous installments like IX, X, and XII have been exclusive on previous Playstation consoles (VII and VIII were on PC, and XI was on Xbox, PC, and Xbox360, so they're not exclusives). My personal thoughts about this when I heard it happened were: "Great! Now I can get an Xbox360 without worrying about missing out on this game!".

  For a while I've been thinking about getting an Xbox360 or a Playstation 3, and I had reasons for wanting both, as the 360 had exclusives like Lost Odyssey, Ninja Gaiden II, and Dead or Alive 4 (Hey, I am a guy...), while the Playstation 3 had upcoming exclusives that I thought about playing like Folklore, God of War III and what was meant to be the exclusive Final Fantasy XIII. After I learned about the port though, I overall decided, "My choice is clear, Microsoft has really redeemed itself this gen in the game department!" I might get a Playstation 3 someday if it appeals to me more, it's just that as much as I love God of War, I need more than just that when I get a system (I already have about 8 games on my PSP and I still haven't managed to get my hands on Chains of Olympus.)

  This isn't meant to be a big middle finger to all the people out there who enjoy their Playstation 3, if you enjoy its exclusives more, or just enjoy playing on said system more, then more power to you. It's just that the exclusives on the Playstation 3 don't really appeal to me that much despite the release of MGS4 which people are raving as the second coming of Jesus. Now the following hate address isn't intended for those who care for the Playstation 3, this is more intended to people who remind me why Youtube is basically the "Africa" of the Internet, please enjoy...

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-uTnqYHZ-I&feature=related

  Personally, if I could leave a comment, I'd say: "Wow... You make Chris Bores look like Will Smith..." (Mentally and physically by the way) But anyway, onto business. Apparently some people are really butt hurt over this whole thing of Final Fantasy XIII no longer being a Playstation 3 exclusive. On one hand, you have the total Sony fanbrats who are bickering and moaning over the fact they lost an exclusive to the evil "X-bot Empire" and are at the same time pointing fingers at Square Enix for making this port decision while proclaiming they have backstabbed and betrayed them. On the other, there's the fact that some people are complaining that now Final Fantasy XIII will no longer be the epic Square was planning because "Oh! They'd have to downgrade it just so it could be fit on the 360, blah, blah, fupping blech..."

  Let me start off with the people who proclaim that Square Enix has pretty much stabbed Sony in the back. First of all, take a good long look at this picture below:

  

  Now some might be wondering, "What the *($@ is Final Fantasy doing on a Nintendo console?!?1?!1?" Here's why: It's because Square originally stuck with Nintendo. Why is that the case then? You see, Square Enix is like any other corporation, they recognize that wherever the product can sell is where the product will go. In this tooth and nail world we live in, there is only one thing that gaming companies care about: Money. If the product sells, then more of the product is going to come out, and if the system can handle the game, then porting it over might be a good idea because it would mean more money. This is why we see Final Fantasy VII and VIII on the PC, Final Fantasy XI on the Xbox, PC, and Xbox 360, and now Final Fantasy XIII coming the 360.

  Now for the explanation of the exclusivities: Square realized that VII and VIII didn't sell well on the PC, so IX didn't go there. Square also had the chance to port Final Fantasy X and XII to the Gamecube and Xbox, but they didn't because those systems sold like crap in comparison to the Playstation 2, and they clearly thought porting them would be a waste of time. Finally, there's XIII on the 360, the Xbox 360 has managed to sell 19 million units since launch worldwide, and the Playstation 3 has managed to sell 14 million units since launch worldwide. So the idea going through Square's head is, "Hey, maybe if we make Final Fantasy XIII for the Xbox 360, people will buy it!"

  You see, the general economic market is really just one big gang war, and the gaming market is just one city of them all. Different gangs (Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony) led by certain people (Miyamoto, Kutaragi, and Gates) are going for supremacy and they along with their members (Square Enix, Rare, Ubisoft, etc.) are going to "backstab" and "change their ways" many times, and if it makes money, then they're just fine with doing so. So really, it's not like Square has long dedicated itself to Sony and made an oath of loyalty, even if they did it expired in 2003. So enough bickering about loyalty please, that's the equivalent of saying, "Oh Ubisoft has betrayed Nintendo for releasing the shovel ware title Nitrobike after releasing great games like No More Heroes and Rayman Raving Rabbids!"

  Now onto the people who say, "It won't be epic anymore! They have to downgrade it so it can fit on DVD format!!!1!" One thing these people need to consider is that first off, this game isn't even out yet, so we don't know how long it's going to be. For all we know, it might not even fill up a DVD disc (Hey, two other games are making up a compilation, so it might happen). Even if the game did take up the space of a dual layer Blu-ray disc, there's a way to fit it on the 360. How? Two words:

  

  Lost Odyssey is an RPG, not only that, but it is a multi-disc RPG (I thought they were gonna die out by now too ) It also has very good graphics, and it is a game that on average lasts for about 50 hours. For a simple comparison, a single layer blu-ray disc has 25 GB of memory with a dual layer having twice as much while a dual layer DVD has about 8.5 GB of memory. Lost Odyssey is composed of 4 discs which gives it about 34 GB of memory, and only two more would be needed to fit the memory of a dual layer blu-ray disc. So there is the answer: If Final Fantasy XIII does take up 50GB of memory to fill up a dual layer blu-ray disc, developers will just make the 360 version six discs long. It's how it is possible for Konami to port Metal Gear Solid 4 to the 360 if they ever decide to do so.

  We should also take note that the 360 and the Playstation 3 have the same graphical capabilities as one another, some might look better than others, but they are still both the same. In fact when it comes to making a game for the Playstation 3, developers say they have a hard time developing their game because the Playstation 3 is so far ahead in technology it's hard to make games take full advantage of its capabilities.

  The Playstation 3 even has a similar process to the "Playstation 2 to Wii" porting system. Sometimes developers will just simply port the 360 game over to the Playstation 3 to save time and money while not bothering to make many changes because that's how hard it is on developers today, and it might even run worse on the Playstation 3 if the process isn't done carefully enough. Sure one could argue the new Bioshock for the Playstation 3 will look a bit nicer and have more exclusive content, but that's what happens when you take time to develop the game for a bigger system (Even though that didn't happen with Sonic '06 or Lost Planet didn't it? ). If you got a simultaneous release of the sequel though, they would both look the same.

  So overall, I hope I managed to get something for people out there to understand just why it is that Final Fantasy XIII is coming to the Xbox360. I'm sure if they could, Square would also port the game over to the Wii considering how well it sells to this day, but since the graphic capabilities on said system are not that great, it's not likely going to happen in this lifetime. But really, there's nothing to be going gaga over Square Enix for them making this move, if anything, it's a great move because now people who have been living off of Halo 3 for the last year or so will get to try something new, and it will show just how much Microsoft has shown its worthy of staying in the gaming market, especially after the complete joke that was the Xbox. Besides, it's not like the game is now Xbox360 exclusive, Playstation 3 fanbrats are just mad that they lost an exclusive that was meant to give their system a fighting chance against its competitors.

  To those Sony fanbrats who are still mad over this, if you want to keep pinning at Square's leg to take back their action, you can have fun doing so. Just bear in mind that doing so is not going to get you anywhere, since the sales market has already cemented the course of action Square is going to take for the port of Final Fantasy XIII. It's really overall Sony's fault that this is happening anyway, it's their fault because they made such a pricy console few people are able to purchase, feel motivated to purchase, or even develop for. Had they stuck with their policy from last gen by letting all of the "shovel ware" in and making the console cost-effective enough for the average consumer to purchase, they would be the ones ahead this gen instead of Nintendo.

  Off-topic: Yes, letting that shovel ware come in onto the Playstation 2 was indeed a smart move. It allowed for testing ground for developers to see what would sell, and as soon as they learned developing good games meant sales, they started getting their rears in gear. After all, people only bought the Playstation 2 for the DVD feature when it first came out, the masterpieces that were Final Fantasy X and Metal Gear Solid 2 came a year after. But what I'm talking about is a subject for another time.

  There you go people, that's how Final Fantasy XIII is going to be done on the Xbox360 and why it is happening. Even though it's being developed for two systems, we can all rest assured that we will see this game in this lifetime, and we can rest assured it will contain the same amount of prestige and fanfare on both systems, and both "cows" and "lemmings" alike will be able to enjoy the game. Stay tuned for the next post where I'll be posting my thoughts on the development of the game so far. 'Till then, have a good one.

  That's the news from Myviewing as of August 26, 2008.

  • Posted Aug 26, 2008 9:41 am PT
  • Category: Opinion
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