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Well, we're now all getting over the hangover of so much
E3 news. There were lots of surprises, but sadly no Dragon
Quest VII. It's hard to be disappointed though,
Nintendo really hit out of the park to the point where it
was almost hard to remember the other companies had press
conferences. Plenty to look forward to on the Wii U and 3DS.
Oh, and we're getting the Vita TV!
Anyway, let's get to it.
- Michael
"Wheels" Apps
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This Edition's Contents:
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XIII
My choice of FF game was the only FF game I
played before but didn't give a fair chance: Final
Fantasy XIII. I got it launch day, played it a while,
and like many others I seen online I was less than
impressed. I think it stands as the best example of giving a
second chance, because the first one was hardly fair.
Wheels' Comment
I was hoping
someone would give Final Fantasy XIII a
second chance. Too many wrote the game off
without really giving it its due. We all knew it
was going to have a slow start, and too many
seemed to weigh in as if they had gotten to the
meaty middle and end, yet hadn't. Anyway, let's
see how this went!
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As for the game itself, I have to say that it ended up not
being my least favourite in the series that I have finished.
The battles are flashy, there's some interesting monsters
and areas to run through, there's even a little bit of
character development and maybe a chocobo or two!
Wheels' Comment
There's plenty to
like about the game, and overall at the very
least it is a joy in the audio and video areas.
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Sazh was cool through most of the game and it was a
possible heart sinker when he's alone with Vanille at the
point just after seeing his son. Hope actually changes
enough throughout the game that I didn't want to see him get
chopped by behemoths anymore, so that's something. Also,
Vanille and Fang are actually pretty interesting as the main
characters. Lightning was really just a party character,
rather than the main like you'd be lead to believe.
Wheels' Comment
Yeah seriously, so
much of the game was the Vanille and Fang show
and that was a very good thing. This is
something the sequels utterly failed on. The
cast as a whole made the first game enjoyable,
and to not have at least some of the major
players as party members in the first sequel was
a shame. Instead they were replaced with two
largely unlikeable characters. Whoops!
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Problems, though, plague the
game. It has a combat system that is actually a great idea!
But it has AI that doesn't use it well enough and you're
stuck relying on them for the entire game. It has item
customization! But what was the point of having 101
different upgrade pieces? I mean really, there were only so
many that were even worth using. It has a story! That takes
too long and is only actually interesting or exciting just
before the game ends. It has pretty graphics! With lots of
re-skinning of monsters and no real way of enjoying the
scenery.
Wheels' Comment
One thing Final
Fantasy XIII is not, is a perfect game by
any stretch. We'd probably find a fair amount of
disagreement on just how bad some of these
issues are, but they are issues no doubt. I will
strongly disgaree that it is "only actually
interesting or exciting just before the game
ends." The game gets good as soon as you
regularly have a three person party.
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I can't say I hate the game, now that I've beaten it. I will
say that if not for the AI and the constant cap on what you
can do and how much your character can level up, I would
actually have enjoyed the game. As it stands though, I'd
like to end this opinion email on something I said in the
RPGamer.com forums:
Sazh uses Libra
Monster weak against water, strong against physical attacks
Lightning uses water, waterstrike, water, waterstrike, aero
every time. the whole game.
~lolwhoops
Wheels' Comment
I think that
nicely sums up the game's issues, and thanks for
the entry!
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Why?
Mailbag Defend the Indefensible time! "The FF Type-0
news from E3 is the best RPG news ever!"
-severinmira
Wheels' Comment
Why would you make me do this?
You know I'm not a huge Type-0 fan! I
think the only way I can frame this, is that it
is the best RPG news ever because it means any
old game can eventually find a second life on a
new platform and make its way westward. Then
again, we already knew this since we eventually
saw all the missing main series Final
Fantasy games make their way Westward.
So, don't give up on 7th Dragon just
yet, we could see it as a PS4 game! Perhaps
that Dragon Quest VII remake will show
up on Wii U? Who am I kidding, Dragon Quest
is pretty much toast in the West for the moment.
Well I think I have sufficiently failed at this
challenge.
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Top Tweets
Wheels' Comment
No, please no more
of those weird horrible intro songs. Oh dear,
why am I downloading Inazuma Eleven from
the eShop? Why am I importing the sequel from
Europe? What have you done to me?!?!!?
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Hot Topics
Here are some hot topics I've seen around
the net:
- JRPGs don't seem to be having much trouble selling
decently in the West, so where has Dragon Quest
gone?
- Atlus is quickly loading up PSN with their PS2
classics. What other Atlus PS2 releases would you like
to see on PSN?
- If Child of Light is a success, will we see
more RPGs with the UbiArt engine?
- Do you smell what the Rock is cooking?
See you next week!
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