Wednesday, July 8, 2015

The Small One

Well there's no point in putting off any longer: Let's talk about the announcement of the Final Fantasy 7 remake. Yep, one of the big announcements of E3 is that there will be a FF7 remake regardless of my assertions that it shouldn't happen and we're better off without it. Well the egg is well and truly on my face: It would seem that someone at SqueeEnix saw my rants and decided to blow a lot of time and effort just to make me look small.

Bastards.

Ultimately though, this is the end result of years of pleading with SqueeEnix to do it and they've finally acquiesced. This the end result of people falling head over heels in love with Advent Children to a point where they forgot how the characters originally acted. This is the end result of people choosing to forget certain parts of the game. This is the end result of people acting like the JRPG genre ended with this game. This is the end result of people acting like Final Fantasy ended with this game. This is the end result of people acting like the entire RPG genre ended with this game.

So here's what I want to know: if this the end result then who is the winner here?
Yes the promise of a remake is well and good but it seems everything that was in the game originally will be included. So, like it or not, we will see Cloud in a dress, in all his HD glory.
Some may say that some changes should be made (ie the script and Barrett being a racist caricature) but still others would cry foul saying the game should be preserved as it is (warts and all). If all parties can't be pleased then the hard-fought victory isn't much of a victory then isn't it?

Then perhaps it is time we moved on

Friday, July 3, 2015

Dance to the Music

Recently I had a go at one of those dancing games. You know the kind: the one that requires to move about and having the players movements being picked up by a Wii mote.

Needless to say, I kinda sucked at it.

That's not to say I gave it my best shot but somehow I failed to register a high score. One could say that flailing my arms about like a nutter tends to do that....

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Let's Get Smashed

Last weekend I saw, for the first time, the latest iteration of the Super Smash Bros. Yep, I saw a bunch of people huddled around a Wii-U and playing it...

...to be honest I can't see much difference between it and Brawl...

Monday, June 29, 2015

R.I.P. Chris Squire













Original video located here. Accessed 29th June 2015

 R.I.P. Chris Squire












Friday, June 26, 2015

Change the Script

In recent months I've come across a pair of interesting fan-edit movies: Firstly, there's the Tolkien edit of the Hobbit which merges all three Hobbit movies into the one feature and keeps it in line with the original text. And then there is a Phantom Edit of the Star Wars prequel trilogy that, again, knocks three movies down into a single feature and subsequently rewrites the script into something actually likeable.
I have to admire the dedication of the editors behind these edits: they have taken an incoherent narrative and worked them into something manageable, even likeable.

So how soon before someone does the same to games?

I suppose it isn't much of a stretch imagining someone modding certain games and reworking the narrative. This is largely due to a) the edited movies exemplified above showed that there are people willing to correct someone else's mistakes and b) the continuing existence of modding communities.

Personally I would like to see someone take the script of Final Fantasy VIII and made the narrative comprehensible. And populate it with likable characters.
And while we're at it, how about rewriting the narrative of Final Fantasy IX and make the rest of game maintain the pace set by the first disc?

Monday, June 22, 2015

The Return of Personal Best

And here we are at post no.700! Yeah I don't know how on earth I've managed to last for so long in this blog either. I guess I could write it down as a case of having plenty to say about a topic I'm keen on but I think it's more a case of being too dumb to quit.

So for post no.700, I thought I might revisit the case of my Personal Best. It seems a natural choice for as years go on, our opinions change and our interests tend to wander into new areas. After all, what I liked in 2012, doesn't necessarily mean I will feel the same way about it in 2015.

And if anyone wants to compare the previous list, go here

Anyway, enough waffling, lets get into the new list!
  1. Ico
  2. Metal Gear Solid
  3. Baldur's Gate 2
  4. Mass Effect 2
  5. Red Dead Redemption
  6. Sid Meier's Civilization 2
  7. Secret of Mana
  8. Planescape: Torment
  9. Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past
  10. Super Metroid
  11. Final Fantasy 6
  12. Shadow of the Colossus
  13. Super Mario World
  14. World of Warcraft
  15. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
  16. Starcraft
  17. Rock Band 2
  18. Sid Meier's Pirates!
  19. Spec Ops: the Line
  20. Heroes of Might and Magic 2
  21. Super Mario Bros. 3
  22. Skies of Arcadia
  23. The Stanley Parable
  24. Resident Evil 4
  25. Shining Force 2
  26. Sonic the Hedgehog
  27. Super Mario Bros.
  28. Pharoah
  29. To the Moon
  30. Okami
  31. Phantasy Star 4
  32. Bastion
  33. Pool of Radiance
  34. Alien vs Predator arcade
  35. Metal Slug
  36. Dragon Age Origins
  37. Bioshock
  38. Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic
  39. Command and Conquer: Red Alert
  40. Last Ninja 2
  41. Vendetta
  42. Doom
  43. Ogre Battle 64
  44. Final Fantasy 10
  45. Bubble Bobble
  46. Actraiser
  47. The Dig
  48. Final Fantasy 7
  49. Final Fantasy9
  50. God of War
  51. Raiden 2
  52. The Chaos Engine
  53. Cannon Fodder
  54. Soul Calibur 3
  55. Burnout 3

Friday, June 19, 2015

The Big E3

So E3 2015 has come and gone, leaving a trail of big announcements, revelations and fan-boys creaming their pants in it's wake. Whilst there are significant announcements to discuss (and believe you me we will be discussing them), today we focus on one in particular.

That being that Microsoft has finally caved in and given the Xbone backward compatibility. I suppose it's better late than never but one can't shake the feeling that this is an act of a company not getting the numbers they are expecting.

Me? My love affair with Xbox pretty much ended with the 360 - which resulted in even more time spent on the PC. So, whilst I can imagine this act being the equivalent of the Xbox crawling back,it does however suddenly make the Xbox enticing again - even when the Xbone has done little to pique my interest.

Still, I can't help but think that my vowing off Xbox and PlayStation caught the attention of a thought van that drove past my house and which subsequently inspired action to be taken...