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My Final Fantasy Wish List

January 29, 2017 Kennedy

There aren’t many game series that have managed to not only survive, but thrive as long and as well as Final Fantasy. Final Fantasy has practically become synonymous with the JRPG genre and in many ways, is its mascot. That doesn’t necessarily mean that Final Fantasy is without sin, though.

Get it? I’m hysterical. via finalfantasyunion

I find it hard to call myself a longtime Final Fantasy fan in light of just how long it’s been around, even in the States (1990) but I have been a fan of Final Fantasy for just over a decade now, and I have played most of the main series games and many of the sequels, prequels, and spinoffs. In other words, I know my way around the franchise well enough to know exactly what I want from it. Ever since the release of 15 I’ve been thinking a lot about things I’d like from the franchise since it’s been changing so much in its last few entries: New concepts that could be interesting, old ones that I’d like to return, things it should hang on to and let go of, and so on. So without further ado, here’s my wish list of things I want to see in Final Fantasy.

via fanpop

Remake or Re-Release of Crisis Core

Since Final Fantasy 7 is getting remade, it’d only be appropriate if its wonderful prequel, Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core, got a remake, too. Or at the very least re-released. It was originally released for the PSP in 2007 (or, if you live anywhere but Japan, 2008) and is, in fact, the tenth best selling game on the PSP. Despite being a clearly well-loved and well-selling game, a very crucial part of the Final Fantasy 7 story, and yet on a handheld console that was largely overlooked and underrated, Crisis Core never got a re-release of any kind. Not even on Steam, where you can find a sizable portion of the Final Fantasy franchise, for better or for worse. I’ve been playing a lot of Final Fantasy 7 lately, and the only thing it’s making me want more than to sink my teeth into the remake is a chance to replay Crisis Core. Not only is Crisis Core simply a wonderful game, but it fleshes out 7’s story entirely–but sadly, unless I want to go buy another PSP, I can’t do that unless it’s re-released. Once the remake is out, we’re going to see a flood of new Final Fantasy fans wanting to get into the series and older fans wanting to relive it. Crisis Core is a large part of reliving the joy of Final Fantasy 7, and Square Enix can bank on that easily. There’s no reason for them not to re-release it.

via gematsu

3D Remakes of Final Fantasy 5, and 6 (or at least 6)

Currently, Final Fantasy 5 and 6 are the only main series Final Fantasy games that were never made or remade in 3D, despite 1-4 all getting 3D remakes on the DS (7, of course, is when they started getting made in 3D right off the bat.) Final Fantasy 5 I can sort of understand why it was never remade in 3D: It’s not one of the particularly more well-loved Final Fantasy games, generally has okay reviews at best, and is generally only well-known for being the first Final Fantasy game to expand the job system and add more customization options. In other words, it’s easy to see why it wouldn’t be high on Square Enix’s priority list for Final Fantasy.

The reason Final Fantasy 6 hasn’t been remade in 3D escapes me completely. There’s no reason for it not to have been remade in 3D. Final Fantasy 6 is constantly hailed as one of the greatest entries in the series. Many fans agree that its antagonist, Kefka, is the best in the whole franchise, the gameplay is more polished and perfected in 6 as opposed to the other 16-bit Final Fantasy games, the characters are very well-written, this was the first time a Final Fantasy game dug this deep into its story, it was emotionally gripping, the list of reasons why this game is so beloved can go on forever. This makes it all the more curious why it never got a 3D re-release or remake of any kind, sans a very poorly made mobile port with some slightly 3D sprites (which, in case you’re wondering, doesn’t constitute being called a 3D remake.)

If I haven’t made it clear enough, if only 1 of these games were to get a 3D remake, it should be 6. It confounds me how it hasn’t been remade in 3D yet. The gorgeous visuals and jaw-dropping atmosphere are 2 of the biggest hallmarks of Final Fantasy. So why not, Square Enix, bank on one of your most loved games and make it the visual indulgence we’ve all imagined it to be for over 20 years now? After the 7 remake is done, 6 should, without a doubt, be the next to get remade. If Square Enix wanted to take the next decade or so and not make any new Final Fantasy games and focus on remaking some of the classics instead, I honestly wouldn’t have a problem with that.

via hardcoregamer

A return to turn-based combat

If this were a numbered list, this would be number 1. If only one thing on this list were to happen, I’d want it to be this. I didn’t care for the combat in Final Fantasy 12. It got worse in 13. I give 14 the same leeway I give 11 because they’re both MMOs and therefore should be played differently because they’re a different genre of game, and of course, I’m not a fan of the gameplay in 15. One of the hallmarks that made early Final Fantasy stand out was its turn-based combat with a timer that was used in the first 9 games. In 10, the timer was removed and it was purely turn based. Final Fantasy 11 is when the average player could start noticing some pretty large changes to the traditional Final Fantasy combat, but as I already said, it’s an MMO–obviously the combat would be different. Enter Final Fantasy 12, which in terms of gameplay, feels like an identity crisis from start to finish. The timer from the early games is still there, but it’s not turn based–it’s a Frankenstein of gameplay elements. It’s the game that transitioned the series from its traditional turn-based combat to action JRPG combat.

Make no mistake, I like action JRPGs. In fact, there are many I love–most notably the .hack//G.U. trilogy which is one of my all-time favorites. The problem lying in Final Fantasy as an action JRPG series is that the gameplay is messy, gimmicky, and in many cases, needlessly complex. It had its time to experiment, but has failed not once (12), not twice (13 and all its spinoffs), but 3/3 (15) times now. Many fans miss the turn-based combat this series branded itself with–including myself. Change can be good, sure. And yes, there is a shortage of popular turn-based JRPGs (as opposed to action JRPGs) in recent years. I think that’s all the more reason Final Fantasy should return to its turn-based roots, especially if they choose to bring back the style from 10 which (in my opinion) was the best gameplay the franchise has ever had. Not only will several older fans be happy, but it’s an effective way to dominate the sizable niche of fans who prefer turn-based JRPGs (which is likely to be become bigger real soon with the release of Persona 5 on the way) and improve the overall quality of the games in general.

via movienewsguide

If you’re going to require watching an anime to understand a game, at least attach it with the game

This has been brought up on the podcast a number of times, but if your game–Final Fantasy or otherwise–practically requires you to watch an anime, please attach the anime with the game somehow. Put it in the case. Attach it with the files on Steam. Put an option to watch it in the main menu. Something. The original .hack// series attached DVDs with the .hack//Liminality anime with the games, so why can’t Final Fantasy do it, too? If it’s more of a spin off (like Advent Children) then this isn’t necessary, but in Final Fantasy 15 they practically make it a necessity to watch Kingsglaive and Brotherhood–yet they’re no where to be found with the games. Luckily, Brotherhood is available on Crunchyroll but Kingsglaive, however, isn’t. You have to pay $13.99 to stream it or buy it on DVD/Blu-Ray, unless you’re okay with pirating it. (Square Enix certainly isn’t, which makes it all the more baffling why it’s not more accessible.)

In summary, I don’t mind watching an anime to better understand the world of a Final Fantasy game–but if you’re assuming your audience has seen the anime (as Square Enix does with Final Fantasy 15) then give them access to the anime. There’s a difference between using an anime to help your storytelling and requiring the anime to help your storytelling–Final Fantasy 15 is the latter. If you’re going to do this, attach the anime with the game. It highlights its importance to the story. If you’ve bought the game, you’ve bought the anime with it. Square Enix doesn’t even have the courtesy of making Kingsglaive more accessible, which is, for lack of a better phrase, a scummy thing for them to do–not to mention confusing. Is trading accessibility for a higher price honestly more profitable for them in this scenario? Anime is one of the easiest things out there to pirate or stream illegally. I honestly think that if they charged a reasonable price for Kingsglaive, Square Enix would see many more people more willing to pay the extra few dollars to support it. But by asking so much to see it–especially after paying for the game with a retail price of $60–that seems like more money than necessary. Again, this wouldn’t be a big deal if it were a spinoff like Advent Children was, but unless you want to be left without context several times in-game, watching not just Brotherhood but also Kingsglaive is a necessity.

via idigitaltimes

Keep the camera from Final Fantasy XV in future entries

There isn’t anything in Final Fantasy 15 that puts a bigger smile on my face than when I see Prompto has taken more pictures. It’s charming, culturally relevant, and a good way to share the game and get some free publicity and discussion on social media.Final Fantasy 15 is the first time we’ve seen such a large integration with modern technology in a Final Fantasy game, and for the most part, makes it work really well! Whatever direction Final Fantasy 16 takes–traditional fantasy (EX: 10), futuristic/dsytopian fantasy (EX: 7), or something with a more modern feeling (EX: 15) I really hope that Square Enix finds a way to integrate the camera. In fact, photographer can be a permanent class in Final Fantasy for all I care. Regardless, it’s a light hearted break to see our protagonists having fun during the rest of the despair and tragedy going on in the rest of the game–I hope it stays. In fact, I hope we’re eventually able to take our own in-game photos as well.

via vizzed

Bring back the questionable fashion choices

If you’ve played almost any Final Fantasy game before 13 you know exactly what I’m talking about. Skirts made out of belts, hats the size of your torso, a new character sporting a midriff for each day of the week, and who can forget the indescribable “style” of the blitz ball uniforms. With a few exceptions (most of the characters from 7 and 8 and a few other miscellaneous characters here and there) up until Final Fantasy 13 most characters in the series had wonderfully bad fashion taste. But of course, most of their attire fits in well with the universe–if anything, it helps build the universe. A glance at any character from Final Fantasy 9 will tell you that we’re dealing with a very traditional fantasy game–just as a glance of any character from Final Fantasy 15 will tell you that there’s less traditional fantasy in this entry.

But man oh man, despite that, I still miss the wildly imaginative–often over imaginative–designs given to characters. I consider these over-the-top fantasy designs practically a part of the Final Fantasy branding because they were used for so long. There’s nothing wrong with not having them, though–like I said, in a subtle way, it helps build the world. Such as in 15, they might not be necessary. But to someone who’s become so accustomed to the questionable designs of Final Fantasy–which is likely the vast majority of fans–it’s a little disappointing playing a game like 8, 13, or 15 and not needing to pause for a minute to wonder how someone’s hair is staying the way it is and how many hair products they consume in a daily basis. Or how part of an outfit was even crafted or where it was bought, let alone staying on their body. Or feeling pure shock and awe seeing a cosplay of it and wondering how the hell they did it. In 13 is when I think we saw the transition. If you went out dressed light Lightning, Vanille, Serah (her 13-2 costume, not her 13 one), or Noel you’d probably get some strange looks, but in the right environment (I say because of Fang) I think you could get away with dressing up as anyone else without anyone batting an eye. Will we ever see a character with hair as gravity defying as Cloud or Seymour again? God, I hope so. I miss the sensation of being able to look at a character design covered in 50 fabrics, a few unnecessary pieces of armor here and there, a dozen belts and zippers, probably either a midriff or a deep v-neck (maybe even both), and hair that would make Marie Antoinette jealous and without knowing anything else being able to identify that it’s a Final Fantasy character.

via avclub, illustration by Nick Wanserski @NWanserski

Rare Games That Don’t Suck: GBA Edition

August 2, 2016 dan

Two months ago, I wrote an article about rare games that are actually worth their asking price on the Gamecube. I did this because like many collectors, I’ve noticed that there’s a glut of rare games out there that are so outrageously expensive not because they’re outrageously good games, but more often than not it’s because of things like limited quantities of a game, exclusivity, a certain version or cover or edition of a game, etc. Sure, there are plenty of rare games out there that are so rare because they’re such excellent games and everyone wants a copy–games like Chrono Trigger, Suikoden II, and .hack//G.U.–but then there are your Flintstones: Surprise at Dinosaur Peak, Cheetahmen II, and Spud’s Adventure sort of games that are only rare and expensive because of the aforementioned reasons: The games themselves aren’t very good, they’re just elusive. I wrote my first Rare Games that Don’t Suck on the Gamecube because it’s arguably my favorite console of all time. Now, I’d like to tell you about rare games that don’t suck on what is by far my favorite handheld console of all-time, the Game Boy Advance.

Final Fantasy VI Advance

Image Courtesy of GameFAQs

The first game I’m going to talk about is one that doesn’t really need much of an introduction. As the title suggests, it’s an enhanced port of Final Fantasy VI on the SNES. Final Fantasy VI Advance has been subject to critical acclaim, just like its SNES counterpart, with an 8.9/10 from GameSpot, a 9/10 from IGN, 9/10 from Eurogamer, a 31/40 from Famitsu and many more. On average, a complete used copy of Final Fantasy VI Advance is $59.48, with a brand new copy costing you about $80.

Final Fantasy VI is the story of a girl named Terra, who is captured by the empire and forced to fight against her will. She was eventually broken free and rescued by The Returners, who also want to use Terra for their own purposes in war, but they ultimately respect her freedom, and let her make her own decision. I’ll stop there because after that is when it gets really good. It has a fantastically told story, a truly unique world to explore, incredibly memorable characters, solid and consistent combat, and stunning visuals for what it has to work with. The limitations of the GBA caused a musical downgrade, but that’s really it. It’s still a faithful version of one of the greatest games of all-time.

Car Battler Joe

Image courtesy of GameFAQs

Car Battler Joe is one of the many, many hidden gems on the GBA. As a matter of fact a lot of the games on here are expensive because they’re hidden gems. Car Battler Joe is about this guy named Joe who is basically the standard kind of protagonist you’d see from a show like Beyblade or something, and that goes double for the game. It’s received relatively high acclaim from reviews (8.1/10 from GameSpot, 7.7/10 from IGN), and is one of my personal favorite GBA games. A used complete copy of Car Battler Joe will run you roughly $85. New copies for this game are incredibly hard to find, so getting an estimate on the overall price of a new copy is hard, but recently there was a copy sold on Ebay for $440.

You go around the world doing missions in your car, from fighting off bandits, to delivering packages, all the while collecting parts to either build new cars or upgrade your current one. These cars are equipped with various weapons that you can adjust and customize to your liking for combat. Basically think this weird version of that movie Death Race but if it were super anime, intended for children, and actually good. Mechanically speaking, it’s essentially a third person shooter/cart racer, but without the racing. In terms of sheer control, Car Battler Joe is fantastic. Each car controls differently and each weapon has different physics, and combining this with the tight controls means you’ll get consistently great gameplay. Customization is also complex, especially for a GBA game. The combinations of cars and weapons are incredibly varied, and just trying out different combinations will take up a lot of time in the game. It’s a truly fun experience.

Super Robot Taisen: The Original Generation 2

Image courtesy of GameFAQs

Alright, let me get this out of the way right now: I love me some mecha anime. Mechs are like the best things ever. Giant robots fighting other giant robots with high-adrenaline pilots and stupidly overpowered weapons? What’s NOT to love? Being a huge mecha fan, when I found out that there was a strategy RPG series about anime mechs fighting each other, I was all in. What I ended up getting was one of the best strategy games I’ve ever played, along with being loved by the others who have played it (8.5/10 from GameSpot, 85% from RPGfan). Good news, though! This is the cheapest game on the list. A complete used copy is worth about $45 – $60, and a new copy goes between $65 – $90. What a steal!

Super Robot Taisen: The Original Generation 2 (hereon referred to as SRT2) picks up right after the first game left off. I would explain the full story, but it’s so long and complicated that it’s not worth it. All you have to know is that in the first game, there was a war between our protagonists and a faction called the Divine Crusaders, along with an alien race called the Aerogators. What’s happening now is that the world is fixing up its mechs in case something like that happens again, and low and behold, something like that happens again. Only they’re much stronger than the Aerogators or the Divine Crusaders. The gameplay is just complex enough to encourage good decision-making and strategy, and it also has a really good difficulty curve; never getting too hard, but never being a total cakewalk either. The roster of mechs is diverse, and it offers many ways for you to build a personal team (mix and match pilots and mechs, upgrading mechs and weapons, etc.). It’s also absolutely gorgeous for a GBA game and has a fantastic OST.

CastleVania: Aria of Sorrow

Image courtesy of GameFAQs

Ho boy this game. This was back when CastleVania knew what it was doing. It’s no Symphony of the Night, but it gets pretty damn close, as shown in its ratings. 9/10s across the board from all sources. Everyone pretty much agrees that Aria of Sorrow is one of the best CastleVania games. A used complete copy of Aria of Sorrow will cost you around $70, where as a brand new copy will cost you more around $90. You play as Soma Cruz, who is basically the second coming of Dracula except not really, and you’re sucked into Dracula’s moon castle and are trying to get out while also stopping someone else who is also basically the second coming of Dracula except not really.

You’ve got your standard MetroidVania style gameplay, except much better in terms of controls. The previous CastleVania games, Harmony of Dissonance and Circle of Moon, didn’t control nearly as well as Aria of Sorrow. Soma has the perfect weight to him, feeling just floaty enough for the environment while still feeling like you have to move him around well to succeed. It’s got a soul-absorption system which basically gives Soma the powers of enemies he defeats, and then standard RPG stuff like armor and weapons. The game looks and sounds fantastic, though the story is fairly weak. Combat is incredibly satisfying, and the enemies and environments are very well-designed. My only real complaint is that it’s pretty short, but other than that, it’s fantastic.

Ninja Five-O

Image courtesy of GameFAQs

There’s a chance you’ve heard of this one. It’s not incredibly popular, but those who have played it will say that it’s one of the best games on any handheld system ever. It’s received tons of ratings generally around an 8.5 – 9/10 from almost everywhere. But it’s also probably the single most expensive game in the GBA library, and by far the most expensive game on this list. A complete used copy of this game is worth an astonishing $356. What about a brand new copy, you ask? $515. Five hundred and fifteen dollars. And that’s not all. Even if you want just the cartridge, it’s still going to cost you over $100. This game is incredibly rare.

The game itself is a 2D stealth platformer where you play as a ninja, who can slash his sword and fling his projectiles. As you progress through the levels, you have to kill bad guys, rescue civilians, find keys to progress. You can use a grappling hook to traverse high ground, and also find power ups to make your attacks stronger and give you different projectiles. You really do feel like a ninja while playing this game; hopping up and stealth attacking opponents, catching them from behind to go for a kill, and sometimes even just running in guns blazing. The level design is top-notch, really lending itself to a slower-paced, more stealth and timing-focused style of game. Combine that with nice-looking graphics and a pretty nice soundtrack, and you’ve got a recipe for a fantastic game.

As I said last time, when you’ve got some spare cash, don’t be responsible and save it, go spend it on pointless video games!

5 Games I’d Love to see Announced at E3 even though I Know I Won’t (or 5 Games that Deserve Sequels)

June 12, 2016 Kennedy

With E3 starting later today, everyone’s getting out their bingo charts and praying to the video game gods that their dream-game is finally confirmed or that they’ll see new footage of that super-cool game that was announced a while ago. (Including myself. C’mon, Mother 3!) Last year we received several amazing, unlikely announcements for such dream-games finally confirmed: Most notably the Final Fantasy VII Remake, Kingdom Hearts 3, and Shenmue 3. With those finally confirmed, gamers are finding more games to fantasize about announcements for, and I’m of no exception. Here are 5 games that I’d absolutely adore to see confirmed at E3, but as I’ll explain, I’m very aware how very unlikely it is. (Alternatively, think of this as a list of games that I think deserve sequels.)

The World Ends With You 2

Image courtesy of PopMatters

The World Ends With You is a very interesting case. It sold well and is generally considered to be one of the best games on the Nintendo DS. Without spoiling it, I’ll also say that the ending is very heavy sequel-bait because so much of the story is left unexplained or unclear. Moreover, it’s a Square Enix game that got to cross over with Kingdom Hearts 3D. You’d think it’s a no-brainer for a sequel, and yet here we are 9 years later and still no sequel. The closest we’ve had to a sequel (other than cameos for the main characters in Kingdom Hearts 3D) is an iOS and Android release of the game. Especially if the TWEWY characters are going to be important to the rest of the Kingdom Hearts story, there’s no reason to not make a sequel—especially since Square Enix seems to be really pushing the new Kingdom Hearts games, which is a blessing and a curse. The reason I don’t see this happening anytime soon is because Square Enix seems to really have its hands full between Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy VII. I’d love to be proved wrong and to hear this announced, but I certainly won’t get my hopes up until at least one of those projects are complete.

Silent Hills

Image courtesy of express.co.uk

There’s no suffering like the suffering of Silent Hill fans in recent years. It’s been a long time since Silent Hill has had a good game released, but Silent Hills (also known as P.T.) was ready to change that: Silent Hills was ready to bring life back into this dying cash cow of a franchise. Fans and new players alike were hopeful: I mean, why wouldn’t they be? Guillermo del Toro and Hideo Kojima were going to be working on it. There in lied the problem, though. Months later, Hideo Kojima left Konami, and Silent Hills left with him a cancelled game with no word on what was going to happen to it. To add insult to injury it was removed from the PlayStation store as well. In its spirit, an indie game called Allison Road hoped to fill the void that Silent Hills left behind, but only last week was cancelled. As far as we know, Silent Hills, despite its large following, is a dead project right now. Of the games on this list, I’ll admit that this one, while still unlikely in the near future, is still the most probable game of being announced on this list because it’s so recent and still so talked about—even by developers. The largest problem here though is Konami, who doesn’t seem very willing to want to reboot Silent Hill at all—let alone the right way.

Image courtesy of YouTube and Konami not knowing how to reboot a well-loved series. Metal Gear fans learned this hard lesson recently, too.

Final Fantasy VI Remake

Image courtesy of Neoseeker

Now that VII has been confirmed for getting a remake, why not make the next fan favorite of the older Final Fantasy games? I played this game for the first time last year, and while I was thoroughly impressed enough to call it my second favorite Final Fantasy game, there was one thing I couldn’t stop thinking while I was playing it: This game would be absolutely astonishing in 3D. The environments, the characters, the combat, it’s all begging to see the light of beautiful HD graphics. I want to see Kefka’s face twist and writhe as he laughs maniacally, I want to see a more animated transformation for Terra, I want to see the opera scene as cinematically as possible—and I know I’m not the only one, as Final Fantasy VI is generally considered to be arguably the best 2D Final Fantasy game, as well as one of the best Final Fantasy games of all time. Kefka, in particular, is still usually called the best Final Fantasy villain since he’s the only villain to have actually succeeded in his evil plans. If Square Enix took a temporary break from making new Final Fantasy games after XV is complete to remake some of the older Final Fantasy games as they are with VII, I’d be perfectly fine with that.

A New .hack// Series (that will get an English release)

Image courtesy of lukalovesgames.blogspot.com

I will proclaim my overwhelming love of .hack until I die: The .hack games, particularly the G.U. Trilogy, are some of the finest JRPGs to have graced gamers. Despite this, we don’t really see much love for them here in the West. The last time a .hack game was released here were the G.U. games—not to say Japan got much more, they got .hack//Link (basically a spin-off game on the PSP, nothing horrendously important), a crossover campaign with a mobile Sword Art Online game, and a fighting game that wasn’t entirely well-received. Kite, BlackRose,and Haseo are all playable characters in the Project X Zone games, and that’s as close as the States have got in the last few years. Especially with G.U. Celebrating its 10^th birthday this year, I think it’s about time CyberConnect2 or Bandai Namco or someone—anyone—announced a new .hack series. Especially with the implications we received in the .hack//Quantum anime and the End of the World movie that came out a few years ago, there’s plenty of ways to write a new storyline for a new, main series set of .hack games to be released both in English and in Japanese. At the very least, I’ll settle for an HD edition of either .hack series—something to make them more accessible, not to mention cheaper. Please, it’s been so long, we’re starving for new .hack content.

Portal 3/Half Life 3

Image courtesy of halflife3confirmed.tumblr.com/

Do I honestly need to explain these?