My own person Video game discusion.

[king of the unknown]

Ok so my life is all over the place. So I will try to lift my head and keep myself happy. Who knows what will happen but at least I can let my thoughts out a little bit before my head explodes.

Today I want to talk about Final Fantasy as a series.

The story of Final Fantasy starts with a company on the edge of failure. As a last effort they created one "final" game. That game final fantasy saved the company. (This story is also very similar to the video game Dead or Alive oddly enough, not that I care about a game that turned sexism into a reason to buy a game but that is a discussion for another time.)

Final Fantasy was an RPG or role playing game (though this term actually describes most video games, since the purpose of video game is to play the role of someone else.) This term has been used to describe a game focusing on either character or story driven games but the term comes from table top RPG such as Dungeons and Dragons (A game that is known for being controversial from its ideas of magic and the mystic).

The ideas of RPG are really extensions of kids playing pretend though it is easy to see why that term was drop due to the negative context.

Simply the idea of an adventure outside of the normal mundane has inspired books, movies and almost any form of art. It is natural progression for standardization of adventures in terms of RPG to become a cash cow and create the basic blueprint for a digital format of RPG's.

To tell you the truth I know very little about the RP aka Role Playing seen that still exist in some circles but I have heard of the backlash against the Dungeon and Dragon game. I don't know all the ideas but I feel like the idea behind the game were more the cause then the mechanics of the game itself. If I am wrong let me know. I was before my time.

So back to Final Fantasy. Final Fantasy used basic RPG mechanics including a leveling up system and a class system but what really made the game was the complex story line. I believe if you stripped the plot and pitched it to a movie company it could possible be a wonderful movie (Of course making a good movie is more then just a good idea or a bunch of money, who knows)

As of know 14 main final fantasy games have came out not including follow up games, spin offs, remakes, re-releases, movies, games featuring final fantasy characters or other games with final fantasy in the title.

Each game is completely separate from one another to the point that no fan has the same favorite. Even the final fantasy games that many consider bad are other people's favorites.

 

[king of the unknown]

So I have to admit I don't know as much about final fantasy 1 then any of the later titles in the series. Unlike a lot of current generation video game series final fantasy has very little connection from one game to another. The main points that seem to carry on are the basic progression of character associated with the RPG's in general, such as basic leveling systems but most final fantasy games have multiple progressive systems unlike final fantasy 1.

Final fantasy did create some creatures that would reappear in latter games such as cockatrices but many of the more iconic and unique creatures such as the moogle and chocobo would be introduced in later games.

You could also argue that the tight RPG mechanics, which became an important staple in later games (even if they were vastly different from one another) but in my opinion nothing about the combat system feel extremely unique or complex. In fact there is a number of notable glitches such as a cancel action glitch that you could actually use to repeatedly attack opponents. Also because of unbalance of classes the best way of playing the game is picking a team full of "Red Mages" (A class that can fight but also has some magically abilities). I am not entirely sure if these issues were changed in the remakes for final fantasy 1.

The only real important idea that was established in final fantasy 1 and continued throughout the entire series is the focus on story.

It is also important to note that some elements in the game did appear in other games such as the chosen hero (also appearing in final fantasy 3 and 5).

Unfortunately I feel that final fantasy 1 has not aged well especially in comparing it to later games in the series. A lot of basic standard for present games simply were absent from the games such as a clear direction to go.

It is an interesting part of gaming industry and help to fuel the idea of story's in video games.

 

[king of the unknown]

Metroid Controversy

When E3 in happened in this year (2015) many of us games were very excited about the possibilities of new games and for many E3 was everything people wanted exceeding many expectations. With all the game announcements there were also many controversies. Today I would like to one that existed but wasn't covered by many.

Let us start with the backstory: Nintendo has a group of major franchises including Mario, Donkey Kong, and Legend of Zelda. One of the which is a video game series called Metroid. the first Metroid game simply called Metroid was a platformer for the Nintendo Entertainment System (Family Computer for Japan). Metroid was atmospherically a masterpiece for the time and also the first game of its time lovely called Metroidvania. A game that style focus on an expansive and intertwined world.

On top of that the main character was a women named Samus, who by many people consider one of the greatest female characters in video games.

Though the first game had mixed reviews the second game was a little known Gameboy game. The third game for the Super Nintendo (Super Famicom in Japan) Super Metroid has became the golden standard for teaching a player how to play the game. Many people consider it one of the greatest games of all time it has wonderful bosses, power up and the environments convey loneliness in a way many modern horror games can't.

For a while there was a drought of Metroid games mostly because the director who was the creator of Metroid died. That is until a couple Gameboy Advance titles, one being a remake of the first called Metroid: Zero Mission and a new sequel called Metroid Fusion. Both of these are considered must have games for the Gameboy Advanced

When the game series jump from 2d to 3d with Metroid Prime, it was arguably one of the best transitions in history. Created by the studio Retro (A game company which is now creating the Donkey Country Games). The game was so successful two sequels were created for it Metoid Prime 2: Echoes and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. It also had a spin off Pinball game Metroid Prime Pinball and a DS game called Metroid Hunters.

With 10 wonderful games under its belt the love of everything Metroid came to a screeching halt with a new Metroid game for the Nintendo Wii, Metroid other M. Metroid other M was criticized by people and has become a stain to many Metroid fan.

The game developer put in charge of the game, Team Ninja was known for risque women characters which lead many people criticized the games oversexualized version of the character Samus. The character in the game also seemed to "need permission" from a male character to use her abilities, the most extreme example being were she is burning alive in a lava pit and has to ask to activate her anti-heat part of her suit.

On top of that many didn't like the game mechanics which mixed the 2d and 3d mechanics of previous games. There was many other problems people had with the game but I don't think there is a real reason to talk about it.

Simply put after Other M's negative reviews Nintendo sat on the franchise for years.

Many people were wanting a new Metroid game though. Many hope Nintendo would get Retro to create a new Metroid Prime game.

So E3 comes around and a new "Metroid" game is announced. The problem: rather then a new story about Samus it is a spin off game called Metroid prime federation force.

People were outraged calling for a boycott of the game when it is released, demanding a "real" Metroid game.

So why do I want to talk about this situation because I am convinced that rather then helping a new Samus Metroid game instead boycotting the game may destroy the franchises all together.

Metroid prime federation force is Nintendo's way of testing the water to see if people want another Metroid game. They aren't going to see the failure as a sign to make another Metroid game but instead they will put Metroid back on the shelf for another 10 year. Take a look at Banjo-Kasooie a game series that hasn't had another installment since the spin off Nuts and Bolts.

So buy Metroid prime federation force don't let it die like Banjo! Metroid prime federation force deserves an honest chance especially if it help us get a new adventure with Samus.

 

[Krissy Cakes]

My favorite video games are Hyrule Warrior and Ratchet and Clank (All For One). :thumbsup:

 

[king of the unknown]

Upheaval in the video game industry

The video game industry is in the middle of some huge growing pains which have made many question where the industry is going. I personally think that these are necessary steps for the industry to figure out how the industry works. I know that sound redundant but the video game industry is different then other markets and just like many other industry has had a lot of trouble adapting to the expansion of the market. Today I would like to talk about some of the problems that the video game industry is dealing with now and how it is affecting the video game market.

1. The first one I would like to talk about is the separation between the game publisher and game developer. Here is the basics for you most video game developer are owned by a game publisher. Many video game developer who aren't own still need a publisher to publish there game. This means the publisher has a lot of power over the game developers and games that it publishes. The problem is that publishers often don't understand the time or money need to create a good game. This has become a huge problem due to the power of the latest generation of video game systems. Games simply aren't as cheep or easy to make as they use to be. Game publishers often don't understand why game require so much more time and money then they use to. Gone are the days of video games taking 1 year to be developed. As games get bigger the programming and possible bugs grows exponentially. The more game elements the more element interactions. Another problem with publishers is publishers are more likely to fund a game that is a safe success then to take chances. This many game series or games by the same publish feel like clones take a huge portion of mechanics or designs and repeating them. It is easy to blame the publisher for this problem but publishers are acting like over protective parents, they aren't trying to hurt the game industry but instead of allowing game companies to make mistakes and to take risks, they force game developer into situations that publishers think are successful. As an art this is horrible but as an industry this is a basic system.

2. The Middle man. Video game are expensive but did you know that often more then half of the money for the game goes to the people distributing the game because of this video game developers/publishers have been fighting a war to get more money in there pockets. Taking a page from mobile games videos game have start creating vast amounts of dlc or downloadable content. Instead of spending time on a second game in makes more since to make a small bit of game that is sold directly through the game and utilizes the game mechanics. Another way of securing costumers through pre-orders. Pre-orders is buying a game before it is out. The most pre-orders a company can get the fast the company can break even on there investment. Pre-order also help prevent day one used copies (distributors buying a game and selling to the costumer at discount price on day one). The game industry has also been fighting hard to stop piracy. With prices of games increasing some gamers have settled with pirating rather then actually buying games. On top of that distributors are also encouraging used games (100% of the money for a used game goes to the distributor) As the game industry grows video game companies are trying harder and harder to find the key to getting a higher amount of money for how much they spend.

3. The indie market. In the last years steam (a computer game distributing platform) has allowed more and more indie games on to their market place. Indie games are games created by small companies or even single people. These indie games often are cheaper, simpler, and more creative then big video game company games. The indie market has tapped into game types and artistic games that are absent in the bigger company games. Since the success of some indie games the market has flooded with these smaller games. The difference between the indie and triple A industries has highlighted the problems of the industries as a whole. Including the copy and paste system many companies use to save money. Many types of games that big companies have abandoned and selling very well in the indie market. The amount of money being spent on "free to play" games being much greater then then games with an upfront price.

These are just some of the problems hurting the video game industry as a whole.