Things That Bother You About Gaming

[Spark Of Spirit]

At least Sonic Team eventually learned.

Yeah, they've sure hit a Sonic Boom lately.

Sonic Team didn't make Sonic Boom.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Trust Talon to get simple facts wrong.

[talonmalon333]

Says the guy who said Togashi didn't plan for YYH to be a demon fighting show.

[gunswordfist]

Why are we saying Square is going to be good again?

The Final Fantasy 15 demo is pretty fantastic. As is the game that comes bundled with it.

Really?

[Foggle]

Really really. The FF15 demo is a cheesy, lighthearted romp through a semi-open world with four charming characters whose dialogue consist almost entirely of goofy jokes. The voice acting is filled with lovable B-movie machismo and the party members are all written in such a way that makes them feel like really good friends. The plot is that your car broke down while on a road trip, so you have to hunt a giant monster to earn enough gil to pay the cute Texan mechanic for repairs. It's very gameplay-centric with lots of fun party banter, excellent animations, and amazing music. The battles play like a 3D action game with a unique system the likes of which I've never seen before. There are more than a few rough edges and missing features, but it's more of a beta than a finalized demo, so that's fine.

Can't really comment much on Type-0's story, but the battle system is the best I've ever experienced in an RPG.

[gunswordfist]

  What? Square can't do all of this anymore.

That sounds awesome.

[Foggle]

It's that Hajime Tabata, man. He directed the criminally underrated Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 (which I honestly like more than the original FF7), Type-0, and now FF15. He knows how to make a damn fine action RPG and is actually capable of hiring good writers. He called Final Fantasy 15 "a return to the roots of the franchise," and if the demo is anything to go by, I believe him.

[gunswordfist]

What's Type-0? I have been ignoring the series for some time.

[talonmalon333]

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 (which I honestly like more than the original FF7),

Madness.

[Foggle]

It's a PSP game from 2011 that was never released in English despite localization being all but completed back then. An HD port just came out for the PS4/Xbone this week in the US and Europe. It's a surprisingly complex, fast-paced action RPG with 14 completely different playable characters and light RTS elements. The story plays out like a History Channel war documentary taking place in the same universe as the Final Fantasy 13 trilogy (do note that the writing is much better than those games). It has some balancing issues, was obviously a handheld game at one point, and doesn't start as strongly as it could (though the opening cutscene is very emotional), but once you get into the meat of the mission-based gameplay, it becomes addicting and amazing. The camera can be terrible and the English dub is kind of awful (thankfully remedied with a Japanese audio option), but it's as pure fun as RPGs get. Great soundtrack, too. Highly recommended!

Madness.

Have you played it? The gameplay and writing are both way better IMO.

[talonmalon333]

I haven't, but the concept of a good newer FF game just sounds like... madness.

[gunswordfist]

It does sound like madness. I'll definitely check it out if I ever can.

[Foggle]

Crisis Core is almost 8 years old, actually. It seems to have been ignored by most people, which I assume is because Dirge of Cerberus and Advent Children were... lacking.

But Square Enix still releases some pretty great RPGs. Type-0, Nier, Bravely Default, Deus Ex HR - stuff like that. I've also heard that Lightning Returns was surprisingly good from a gameplay standpoint. Their quality output certainly isn't as high as it used to be, but if FF15 is any indication, I believe them when they say they're going to try harder from now on.

It does sound like madness. I'll definitely check it out if I ever can.

[talonmalon333]

I do remember you not being the biggest VII fan, Foggle. How come?

[Spark Of Spirit]

He likes VI better.