@plaintomato @user_pt In the beginning the combat in XIII did seem X X X = win. However, later on in the game the combat system really shined with harder enemies with different weaknesses and such. You can quickly shift between different paradigms and you also had to customize them before-hand so that part was indeed strategic. The gameplay itself was much faster than previous FFs and I believe they took the original FF system and put a slight twist on it. I liked the paradigm shift system and that part imo was indeed very strategic.

Since you didn't play XIII-2, they added a key feature to the combat, which allowed you to switch the character you were controlling, and also switch to a secondary if your primary died. This imo was what XIII was missing from combat.

Also in the beginning of other FFs, it was also X, X, X = win. But later on it gets harder The fundamental system is the same from FF7 to FFXIII except the inputs in FFXIII are far faster. The only caveat to this is the AUTO option. I never used it in FFXIII because I wanted a challenging experience. If you did the same perhaps later on the game you can see how much harder it is.

@TirOrah @saucex4 @baral-o I think you hit it on the mark there with it being "blatantly obvious" in it's linearity. And yes since there is a set narrative I don't expect the game's story to be anything other than linear, but I did however expect to be able to move freely around the world they created using some sort of transport system at some point.

Don't get me wrong I still liked XIII overall, it's just I tend to enjoy a Chrono Trigger, FF7-esque exporation experience more.

@TirOrah @baral-o In terms of the combat system I think they improved in XIII-2. I hated the fact you couldn't at least switch between characters or died because your front line character died. In XIII-2 they added character switching, and if your main died you changed to your secondary character. The pet thing was also interesting.

The sad part about XIII was it's linear world, with XIII-2 it wasn't as linear but didn't really have that exploration experience. Yes XIII at the end you had the open area but that was a small part compared to the rest of the game.

I'm hoping that Lighting Returns furthers FF innovation

@ASnogarD @Cloud_imperium Shogun 2 has long load time in the beginning, but aside from that it runs fine. I've never lost a save file in Shogun 2 (playing for the past year).

I'm not sure what issues you're still suffering from but I'm sure as a PC gamer you can figure them out, as most PC gamers do.

@Cloud_imperium There is a massive bug in coop where if you do any type of seige the game starts to desync, and eventually you will end up having to restart the game only to find that it desyncs immediately unless you sync your save files (not autosaves, you must actually save your game every turn just in case).

Shogun 2 had the same issues on release, but it ended being absolutely fantastic. I believe Rome 2 will be the same.

I'm still having lots of fun with Rome 2, but I hope they iron out some of the multiplayer issues, as well as the AI bugs (AI likes to send their crippled armies to their deaths)

If I was a developer I wouldn't want to work on the same IP for 2 or 3 development cycles. If they are working on a different Batman perhaps, that's fine. But if they are not at all, I think that's fine too. Wouldn't it be awesome to see another IP taken by Rocksteady?

The Japanese voice for snake is awesome. I may take some flak for this...no wait, I will take some flak for this, but I thought the English snake voice was overly exaggerated just like Christian Bale's Batman voice (not how they sound, but in terms of the scruffy exaggerated sound).

I say this is a good thing. The flock always hates change. Good thing I'm not apart of the flock.

@Kevin-V @TKH258 @SPUDIRL3 I had a different opinion. You seemed very neutral throughout the interview, which I prefer because it lets the person say what he/she needs to say. I do not like interviewers adding their opinions or saying positive or negative things about a game because it steers the conversation in a certain direction.

In that interview you asked great questions, and in turn got the answers a lot of people wanted to hear. Questions is really all we need to hear from you in an interview imo. Great job.

@ccgod @saucex4 They barely updated the graphics huh? SC1 was 2D....come on SC2 is in 3D.

Also you assume Blizzard was working on SC2 for 10 years. That simply isn't true. They started development in 2003, and the game was released in 2010.

As everyone knows Blizzard takes a lot of time to make their games. They made a new engine, as well as created a new story. Do you remember all of SC1's missions? Are you seriously telling me that SC1 had more content than SC2?

You simply base this on the fact that SC1 had 3 campaigns. But all 3 of those campaigns had very little mission variety in the single player in comparison. It was just do next mission, build up forces and destroy. Some micro based missions yes, but that's pretty much it. SC2 WoL and especially HotS has a lot of mission variety and a pretty decent story. Some say it's bad, but I really liked it.

Also if you're talking about fanboyism you're got the wrong guy. I boycotted Blizzard for years because of their association with Activision, until I realized their management was completely separate.

I'm looking at the cold hard facts here, and not just assumptions. It's quite clear that present day games that are in the most part 3D take much more time and resources to build than games in the past which were mostly 2D.