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Default Prime writer Kyree Leary has recently been thinking about bosses in video games. Specifically, how many of them cause him to not finish the game. From Final Fantasy to Shank, Kyree goes on a rant about his problem with some of their bosses.
"Ask yourself, if you will; what is a game?
I suppose you could see the question from any number of angles, any number of interpretations. You could view it mechanically – a typical game involves an actor, maybe several, multiple mechanics, parameters. You could take each individual aspect of a game and put a magnifying glass to it. Or you could take it at its most literal definition; something to be played."
"GamingUnion: "Although the original suffers from mixed feelings amongst Final Fantasy fans, Final Fantasy XIII-2 is something that's very real and is coming out just next week, believe it or not. Since this is the case, we thought it’d be best to throw out yet another Final Fantasy themed cast list and focus on who we’d want should a live action Final Fantasy XIII film be made.""
In the last several years, there's been an evolution in RPG games that has seen some of the oldest concepts of the genre forgotten and treated as bad words. But is this necessarily a good thing? PushStartSelect looks at what's happened to RPGs and why a return to old-school dynamics may be best for the genre.
With fall releases in full swing the crew at Goozernation looks back to their ever growing backlog which includes games such as Red Dead Redemption, Fallout New Vegas, Goldeneye 007, Enslaved, Borderlands, Bulletstorm, LA Noire, and Metal Gear Solid 4. The bigger question here is how can a gamer find anytime to play this stuff and how did these games end up in the backlog?
"When a game has tons of characters in it, like Final Fantasy does, there are your stand outs; and then there are your standaways. Some characters are truly annoying, so annoying that you have to look away from their dialog boxes. Really, you shouldn't have to listen to someone nag or cry when you can't skip cut scenes."
"When it comes to media, the two most important things to me are story and character. Whether it be movie, book or game, I want to be drawn in by it. It's for this reason that I prefer the action/adventure and, to a greater degree, RPG genres in games. Unfortunately, these genres (especially RPGs) are afflicted with a terrible and awesome thing: Cutscenes."
"Of the Final Fantasy series’ very long history, perhaps the most controversial release it has ever seen to date is also its most recent “numbered” single player game – Final Fantasy XIII.
The epic story of a small group of heroes fighting against destiny saw a relatively lukewarm critical response (83 on metacritic) and a substantial backlash from many of the Final Fantasy faithful fans.
Was it that bad compared to the greats in the series?"
"So, while the criticisms that the Japanese market struggles with fostering creativity (a complaint that can be equally levelled at the Western market, mind you, and has been levelled at the Hollywood for years now) are reasonably justified, it's ridiculous to claim the industry itself is going anywhere. With Nintendo dominating the hardware sales, and the likes of Capcom and Square Enix and Namco Bandai making wise investments in social and casual gaming, the businesses themselves are placed ..."
"All gamers probably know of the recent natural disaster and unfolding tragedy currently going on in Japan. On March 11, an 8.9-magnitude earthquake hit the northeast region of the country, not only causing damaging shaking to cities across Japan, but devastating coastal villages and cities with tsunamis, and even causing a nuclear power plant to become a danger to the countryside it resides in. Although the media of Japan and the West have conflicting reports on just how bad the damage to the..."
"'m actually asking myself just what I should be doing. I'm too filled with trepidation to move anywhere in particular, as walking in the dark in an unfamiliar place, particularly a big one, is usually prone to being either: A - Incredibly easy to get lost in, or B - Filled with nameless horrors with more fangs than the entirety of Dracula's family. So, for me, sitting on my little bit of rusty machinery is keeping me quite content for the moment. It doesn't feel particularly safe, but, for th..."
"The beginning of a game is important in deciding whether a game will end up being played for an unhealthy amount of time or back in the store with a pre-owned sticker on it. A good opening will hook you with mystery but also unveil a lot about the story early on but it has to do it in a interesting way (explosions). So lets look at games that I feel had great openings and then lets look at some of the games that failed in crafting an interesting opening. Please note that I will discuss how th..."
"Tell me this isn't familiar: you decide to return to that great RPG you never finished. Maybe it's weeks later, maybe months. You boot up your mid-story save only to realize you've forgotten where you were, what you were doing and how to do it (or anything). Congratulations: your barrier for entry is now a giant, fiery chasm of doom."
"Elementary my dear readers, I go into games with Low Expectations! Yeah, it doesn't sound like the best course of action, but many times I end up pleasantly surprised and end up really enjoying the games, probably more than if I had played them expecting greatness. I'm going to key you into a few of these games I expected very little from and how they ended up being some great titles and how one of them even made its way into my favorites."
IGN ponder one of the greatest mysteries that face gamers today: Why don't we finish more video games? No matter how much money seems to be spent on a game, the price never guarentees completion. Why is that? IGN attempt to delve into the minds of gamers world wide in order to answer this question. Personally, I think it's down to the fact that games get awefully pretencious after you've poured oh-so-many hours into them. But, what do you think?
"2) Fanboyism
4 years ago I was in a conversation with two game design students who were telling me how lame my Xbox 360 is. They were telling me how much Halo sucks, and the graphics aren’t that good (really, that’s all you’ve got?). They said the PS3 will cure cancer, act as a slurpee machine, and acts as a ticket into heaven. Also, it would be home to the next iteration of Final Fantasy that would cure the remaining cancer the PS3 couldn’t as well as AIDS. Of course these people didn’t own..."
"Linearity. A phrase that, a few years back, wasn't even considered as something to describe a videogame. Can you imagine a reviewer of Crash Bandicoot back in 1996 saying that the game was too linear? No? Me either. Looking back, yes, the game was in fact basically running up or down one straight path, but did that make it any less fun? Again, the answer is no. So why, in modern society, is a linear game considered to be the devil's own evil at work?"
"Both Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy truly define the Japanese role-playing genre; lengthy stories, involving fantasy plots and turn-based combat are just a few things each series is known for, and over the past two decades, each has helped define JRPGs the world over. However, the big question is, how do they stack up side by side?"
"Critical Gamer writes: Final Fantasy XIII essentially told a simple story. I know this now because I had someone explain it to me. Reasonable accusations about my intelligence aside, the logical conclusion is that the developer failed to tell the story effectively. That is somewhat surprising considering just how many cutscenes there are in which the plot could have been conveyed in a comprehensible manner."
"So do RPGs, along with every other genre need storylines? I say yes. Without them, we’d be left scartching our heads on what we’re fighting for without feeling any emotional attachments to anything. If Red Dead Redemption’s single-player campaign didn’t involve a characteristic lead like John Marston, and players caring about his family, then would we even bother with the game’s lengthy campaign mode? It honestly would have become a free roaming game where you can either shoot other cowboys ..."
"1. I founded NORA (No Obligation, Rules, or Authority) which started off small by hunting wild animals and turned into the rebel group fighting the Sanctum.
2. I almost tried out for the Bodhum baseball team, the Mud Frogs, and that was the same day I met Serah.
3. My Crystarium crystal is heart shaped. Not very manly if you ask me….
4. Unlike the other founders of NORA, I'm a cat person. They all prefer the smell of wet dogs in the morning. Ugh...
5. Regardless of Lightning’s di..."
"Balancing a compelling storyline with non-linear gameplay has always been the biggest challenge developers face when creating an open world game. Sometimes a compromise is made, such as side missions that don't interfere with the main plot (Assassin's Creed, Assassin's Creed 2). But, more often than not the story is simplified, sacrificed on the altar of player freedom."
2010 is shaping up to be one of the most jam-packed years in the gaming industry with many excellent games already released in the first-quarter alone. Here are ten can't miss games so far this year.
"Early in the tale of Final Fantasy XIII, players will encounter a raven-haired woman from Oerba Village, donning clothing resembling a traditional Indian Sari adorned with tribal accessories, and bearing the mark of a l'Cie on her right shoulder. Oerba Yun Fang wields a spear, and her Eidolon is Bahamut, a creature that can take flight when in Gestalt Mode. In this latest digital art tutorial, fans of the game will be able to create their own impressions of this vivacious heroine."
"I like a good story. Something with characters I can relate to, genuine people with their own hopes, dreams and fear.
Something with a plot that twists and turns, surprising at every turn but always making sense. Something personal, as if it was constructed only for me and my unique journey through the game.
Something I will never see.
It's a simple fact: the perfect narrative does not exist.
I can't be anymore blunt than that. Try as I might, I have yet to find a game that can conn..."
"The Final Fantasy Noob diary continues with thoughts on the third night of playing Final Fantasy XIII. I’ve never played a Final Fantasy game before except a very brief experience with III on the DS before giving my DS Lite to my daughter."
"Welcome to the second night diary of my first experiences with Final Fantasy XIII. If you remember from Part 1, I’ve never played a Final Fantasy game before except a very brief experience with III on the DS before giving my DS Lite to my daughter."
"Truth be told. I’m 35 years old, an avid gamer and really haven’t played a Final Fantasy game before. Shocking, I know. Now I did try the DS version of Final Fantasy III out for a while but didn’t get very far in the game mainly because I gave my daughter my DS at about the same time as an act of fatherly sacrifice. But the favorites like VII? Yeah, I never touched them."
"Sony has one week to get their stuff straight. While it's very likely that the recent issue with the Playstation Network and older PS3s (PS3 fats) will be resolved well before next week. It begs one important question. Will this affect Final Fantasy XIII sales?"
"It's only fair, right?
While my list of ten things I loved about the import version of Final Fantasy XIII was quite easy to make, this counterpoint was a bit more difficult. I didn't want to nitpick, but I did want to have an even ten to match up. To tell the truth, I could have gone on for a lot more than ten entries on the "loved" list, while this one was more of a stretch.
I want to be clear: I hope this list of negatives adds no weight to some of the unnecessarily negative and cynic..."
With all the negativity floating around the Final Fantasy XIII communities, it probably shouldn't come as a surprise that so many people are wary about the newest entry in the series. So, for a moment, lets forget the negatives and focus on the positives. Here are 10 things Destructoid loved about Final Fantasy XIII.
Go to the source for the full article.
Binge Gamer's newest writer Elissa Arms seems to be starting off things with a bang. An amusing piece regarding the much hyped (within the JRPG community) Final Fantasy XIII. I'd say take what she says in this article with a grain of salt, but for the most part, she means what she says.
"Everyone likes to game on their system of choice. It’s the unspoken right that every gamer has been privy to since the first console hit the market and was subsequently followed by its competitor. This kicked off what was known as the console wars and ever since, there have been new veterans joining the ranks every single day. While console exclusives are all well and good being, for the most part, system sellers. It is usually the cross platform titles that stand out the most as people will ..."
"Every so often I hear people talk about how they miss the days when Japan ran the game industry. I don't think they so much miss the days when Japanese developers were on top of the world as much as they miss the days when Japanese developers/publishers actually worked in large to promote creativity rather than just follow trends. Those days have faded. While many great games still come out of Japan, thanks mostly to their always shrinking console market and a lack of knowledge on how to revi..."
"It's an indisputable fact that the two most important entertainment properties in the world are Final Fantasy and The Jersey Shore. The former is a long-running Japanese role-playing game series published by Square-Enix. The latter is an upstart reality show about a group of lovable ragamuffins who live in Seaside Heights, New Jersey. After just a few episodes, those crazy Jersey Shore kids have become America's sweethearts.
On the surface, it seems like the two have nothing in common. Th..."
Final Fantasy XIII has recieved a handful of disappointingly negative reviews in the past few weeks, but many fans have shrugged them off as an attempt by little-known sites to gain hits through controversy.
But now some well-known sites are getting on the bandwagon, it looks like Final Fantasy XIII might not live up to many fans' expectations after all. With the game having been in development for so long, it would be a shame if it ended up disappointing long time fans of the series.
Go...
Since it's release, Final Fantasy XIII has recieved a fair bit of flak for it's linearity, departures from tradition and failure to live up to the hype. But criticalgamer.co.uk's Ian D believes that the negativity surrounding the game has been overexaggerated, especially considering much of it seems to come from people who haven't yet played the game.
Go to the source for the full article, including Ian's two cents on the game.
"No one can argue with the fact that FF XIII is one of the most anticipated games this generation. But since the game was released in Japan, criticisms have had started to pop up on the internet regarding some aspects of the game. FF XIII new design ideas in reinventing the JRPGs genre are the same points that will bother the most devoted fans of the series. We take a look at both of the good side and the bad side of those points:"
Today it was announced that singer Leona Lewis' new single "My Hands" would be the theme song for Final Fantasy XIII and already there is massive fan backlash over the inclusion of the song.
While previous FF theme songs were written specifically for their respective games, My Hands wasn't, and many fans believe that it simply doesn't fit with the theme or style of the game, thus it doesn't have the 'uniqueness' that previous themes had.
Go to the source for the full article.
Final Fantasy XIII is one of the most anticipated titles for the PlayStation 3 not only in Japan but all around the world. It was said that Final Fantasy XIII was to take the PS3's hardware to the limit and showcase how PS3's games should really be displayed, that's until Square Enix shockingly announced a Xbox 360 version earlier last year.
Since the developers made this announcement, they've constantly said that the PS3 version would not be affected by the 360 version, but we all know th...
Still think the Playstation 3 doesn't have many decent Japanese RPGs? Scrawlfx have put together a list of the upcoming JRPGs, including a summary of each game, the suspected release dates and a "hype meter" to show how hyped each game is. Go to the source for the full list.
Insterested in any of the games on the list? Then check them out in the RPG forums.
"Two games have recently been released that bear several striking similarities. Both of these games are open-world sandbox titles featuring superpowered antiheroes who begin to realize a host of awesome abilities with which to distribute justice and/or malice as they see fit. While they share a lot of features, the two games are certainly distinguishable, taking the superhero model in different directions.
However, that doesn't mean we're not going to compare and fight about them anyway, ju..."
Japanese singer, model and TV personality Shoko Nakagawa's life is like some sort of bizarre game-related fairy tale. She recently bought an Xbox 360, then changed her mind and wanted to buy a PS3. She finally got her wish when hipster musician Meg Rock and transgender model Ayana Tsubaki bought her a "Cloud Black" PS3 bundle (which comes with FFVII: Advent Children Complete and the Final Fantasy XIII demo), because Shoko is such a huge fan of Final Fantasy VII. When asked who she wants to ma...
"It wouldn’t take the most discerning journalist to decree that a large proportion of the sales of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete would be a direct result of the inclusion of a demo version of Final Fantasy XIII. Though the series’ often overwhelming fanbase would undoubtedly have made every effort to help Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete become a success, how many of those disheartened by the original motion-picture have been seduced into purchasing another copy for th..."
By now I'm sure we're all aware of Resident Evil 5's racism issue, but racial stereotyping is an issue that seems to go beyond beyond just one game.
Darion White, from Edge Online, takes a look at the way black characters are portrayed in video games, both the positive portrayals and the negative ones.
The article mostly focuses on newer titles, such as Resident Evil 5, Final Fantasy XIII and Metal Gear Solid 4, while also taking a look at the games of a decade ago, including Final Fantasy...
"In a recent blog update, Yaguchi writes that she discovered during the Famitsu interview that there have been comments that she totally looks like a character in Final Fantasy XIII.
And Yaguchan's reaction?
quote"Cu-cu-cu-cute...
Th-th-th-thin..
(-.-;)
Even during my heyday, I wasn't that slender...
But, if I looked like that, I'd be really happy...
Everyone, be sure you make your opinion known (^w^)
"How many times have you been playing a video game and thought, "Geez, that character looks like so-and-so..." Well if you're like me, that happens a lot. I thought it would be a fun diversion to create a blog that highlights some of my favorite video game characters and their real-life doppelgangers. Some are obscure...some not so much. feel free to add to the list in the comments if I didn't include a pair you know. One rule though: if a video game character was modeled after a real person (..."
"Yesterday our own PS3 expert released a little story that some of you may have read. A story of intrigue,but today is a new day. Today you will hear the other side of this story. You will hear about What Final Fantasy 13 Will and Wont do for the Xbox 360. So sit back Grab a beer or your respective drink, and get ready to read Minimum Wage Gamers (MWGAMER.com) What Final Fantasy 13 Will and Wont do for the Xbox 360."
Well we thought it would never happen, yet it did, and the moment it happened, the gaming industry errupted, and the first thought on people's mind was - OMG This is going to kill Sony and the Playstation 3.
MWGamer take a deep breath and explain to us why that wont be the case... in short here are the headlines:
#Final Fantasy XIII Wont be released on the X360 in Japan
#Final Fantasy XI was on the X360
#Final Fantasy VII - Will History Strike Twice? (No)
#Blu-ray
#Spin-Off's and DLC
"Melodrama evokes a universe where a cosmic struggle between good and evil is being waged, a struggle that nevertheless remains hidden behind everyday appearances. Only at moments of heightened emotional intensity does evidence of this other world break through into our own. Melodrama tries to make this otherworldly struggle that structures our own existence visible through elaborate staging effects, a heightened delivery, and a reliance on gestural as opposed to verbal language.
That sound..."
"The allure just isn't there anymore for the Final Fantasy titles and we have to ask why. Loyal fans try to create hype, but the games are just not combining new and old expectations. Maybe it's because every game, we have to warm up to new characters and worlds. Square sets itself up for hit and miss titles with no character regularity. The only motif running through the series I can identify is a blond guy and clueless protagonists. Most of the recent Final Fantasy games (dare I say Square ..."
![Box shot of Final Fantasy XIII [Europe]](http://i.neoseeker.com/boxshots/R2FtZXMvUGxheXN0YXRpb25fMy9Sb2xlLVBsYXlpbmcvRmFudGFzeQ==/final_fantasy_xiii_frontcover_small_kJe0jbRjTu3lrz4.jpg)