A Blurb on the Remake of FFVII

The recent announcement of a Final Fantasy VII remake has got me thinking about that classic title.  I have a mixed relationship with Final Fantasy VII.  As Jaconian has said in the past, I think it's one of the most overrated games of all time.  You should read his post on the subject for further thoughts.  However, I have played through the game several times, and when I take a moment to daydream about the games aesthetic, I find myself welling with pleasant nostalgia.  

It's not to say I don't like FFVII -- I do!  Heck, I've revisited it several times throughout the years.  My issue is that, right from the start, it was hailed as the greatest game ever, or the greatest RPG ever or some other expression of the highest possible praise.  And, often enough, this praise game from people who had not played previous iterations of Final Fantasy games. 

At the time of its release, it was the first Final Fantasy on a non-Nintendo System.  I had to buy a Playstation just to play it!  So I was already a little annoyed.  Actually, wait, I was a teenager, so I was actually shocked and betrayed and hurt.  I think I stamped the game as tainted or something, and I became an outspoken Final Fantasy VII critic.  But I do really like it.  

I guess I don't have much to say about the potential remake, except that I really hope for a remake of the Super Nintendo game, FFVI(III) to follow.  Additionally, I want to say that I really like the blocky graphics and rendered backgrounds of the original VII.  I think the characters look like little puppets and are fairly expressive; enough to get the job done.  On the other hand, the soundtrack should be great!

But I get it.  FFVII is the legendary greatest of all games.  Of course this one will get the remake, simply from a business standpoint.  It's not the game that has the most to gain from a remake, but it is the one that is most likely to sell copies.  That's fine.  But I'll cross my fingers for Final Fantasy VI(III)

-D

Things that Kind of Went on at E3: 2015 Re-Edition

I've had this banner-thing lying around since 2013 and I figured that either I used it or throw it in the local incinerator.  If you didn't know, we're all about recycling here up here in the PNW.  I'm not going to bore you with a breakdown of the most interesting games for each system or show you a scientific ranking based on the amount of endothermic radiation tabulated during each presentation.  I will bore you with a generic list of games that caught my attention (based on my own pre-existing personal tastes) while looking over what happened during the last four days from this three day convention of this Electronic Entertainment Exposition for consumers.

ADR1FT: Sounds like Amnesia: The Dark Descent, but in space.  Which I am perfectly okay with.

Attractio: An FPS puzzle platformer that, by description alone, sounds similar to Portal.

Bravely Second: End Layer: The sequel to Bravely: Default, of which I still have yet to play, but the demo kept me entertained.

Catadoomed: An interesting game for Android devices that is available now (I just downloaded it) and it's free, so why not at least try it out.

Dark Souls III: Thanks to Extra Credits' "Side Quest" series, Dark Souls has its proverbial hooks in me once again.

Doom: What made me sad about seeing the gameplay footage, was that I felt that some of the animations would now no longer be a surprise.  For example, I saw the same chainsaw cutting-in-half animation at least twice and thought, "Oh, it's this one again then?"

Dragon Quest Heroes: Apparently there's going to be another Dragon Quest game, although this one's a PS4 exclusive and by the description at box art, looks like Dissidia: Final Fantasy, but with characters, or shall I say, heroes from the various Dragon Quest games.

Dreams: A PS4 exclusive and an interesting concept if done the way I think it should be done.

Earthbound: Beginnings: A Wii U virtual console exclusive of Mother (1989, Famicom), which boggles me a bit as to why it's not coming out for 3DS virtual console either.  Although I never did play Earthbound on the SNES.

The Elder Scrolls: Legends: A free to play TGC from Dire Wolf Studios and published by Bethesda.  I will reserve judgement until after I play, but I probably will play it on PC as the only other mentioned platform will be iOS.

Everybody's Gone to the Rapture: I am still sad that I may never get to play this game (PS4 only), but I've loved what the people at The Chinese Room have done with Dear Esther and Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs.  And EGtoR now has a release date of August 11, 2015.

Fallout 4: I feel caught up in the excitement machine with this game seeing as how I've played on the first Fallout, and not ever to completion.

Fallout Shelter: An iOS game that I may have to have Conklederp download to her iPad.  I like the idea of a micro SimCity-type post-apocalyptic simulator.

Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water: Kind of surprised that this is a Nintendo Wii U title with a very Japanese theme.  You use the Wii U pad while exploring/detectivizing a forest where people have been committing suicide.

Final Fantasy VII Remake: Yeah, yeah I know, it's on every other E3 list out there, why shouldn't it be on ours?  What interested me was the mention of changes/additions to the plot.  And even though the trailer says "Play it first on Playstation 4," I feel that that hints to a PC release as well.

Guided Meditation VR: An interesting concept with Oculus Rift support that is ready to play now via the game's website.  

Horizon Zero Dawn: I liked the setting and the idea based on the trailer (post-apocalypse meets The World Without Us meets the Monster Hunter franchise).  The "in-game" sequence got me a little concerned that the unnamed protagonist would actually talk to herself throughout the course of the game; an attempt at co-op play (as in announcer commentary?) in a single player game?  I'm not sure.

King's Quest: Yet another classic game that I have never played any iteration of, but this remake/reboot/update might be either the first I play or I'll go back and dabble in the old ways.

The Last Guardian:  I recall seeing something about this game around the time of PS4 being launched (I lied, it was back in 2011) and it looks like this PS4 exclusive has finally reached a point where it might actually get to be released.  This trailer almost makes me consider buying/acquiring a PS4.

The Legend of Legacy:  Yeah, I'm a sucker for JRPGs.  That's pretty much all I have to say here.

Mad Max: Post-Apocalyptic open world game in the Mad Max universe?  Yeah, I'll play that.

The Manus: A sleeker, sexier (but who are we kidding!?) version of the Power Glove.  Spiffy idea, but I get the feeling that it's a limited market.

Mirror's Edge Catalyst: As long as I don't dread the run-and-gun gauntlet stages and the fighting mechanic has improved (ie: I don't suck using the fighting mechanics designed for the game), I will be very happy.

NieR New Project: Apparently this is a sequel (not officially named) to NieR, and the game looks. . .nice?  I don't know really how else to describe anything about this.  The design and look of the game are pretty much all that is presented in the trailer, and not having played the first game (which will be unconnected to this one), I would have no qualms about starting here, if it is released on PC.

Overkill's The Walking Dead:  The trailer was pretty god damn intense and I'm assuming it was only there to set the mood, considering that this is supposed to be an FPS co-op game (Left 4 Dead in The Walking Dead universe I presume).  Hopefully it's better than the Dixon Brothers Walking Dead game that I never played.

RareReplay: I really love this idea of bundling a bunch (here it's upwards of 30) games from a studio's library, but I will be sad about this because it's an Xbox One exclusive.  Which, probably also means that there will be no Donkey Kong Country included here, but that's only a guess.  And it looks like Goldeneye 007 isn't included either, otherwise, one would assume, that it would have made it into the trailer.

ReCore: About time for another Xbox One exclusive that peaked my interest.

Star Fox Zero:  It's Star Fox and I would probably want to play it if we owned (someone gave us) a Wii U.

Super Mario Maker:  I love the idea of creating your own levels in a Super Mario game, until I immediately remember that general skulldickery will be responsible for the majority of the levels being made.  I can only hope that in order to either submit, publish, or complete making a level, the designer has to be able to make it through their monstrous demonseed creation.  And since it's a Wii U exclusive, I probably won't have to experience said skulldickery.

Tearaway Unfolded: A PS4 only title here that looks like Little Big Planet (same studio) and the trailer did what it was supposed to do.

The Uncertain:  There's a robot wandering around a house in what is described as a post-apocalyptic setting.  Yeah, I'm kind of a sucker.

Unravel: Little Big Planet meets LIMBO meets Yoshi's Wooly World.

Until Dawn: Another PS4 exclusive (bloody 'ell) that looks like Cabin in the Woods with some Tell Tale Games illusion of choice decision making; surveillance monitors and all.

What Remains of Edith Finch:  Yup, you guessed it, PS4 only.  I like the idea of playing as different members of the same family over generations (Eternal Darkness).

Whew!  That was a lot longer than I had initially intended, but there it is.  There were many more games presented in their varying states of completeness, so you're welcome to check out the full list of games at E3 this year.  There were also a handful of games that I was initially interested in until I looked at them beyond their title (World of Final Fantasy, Sea of Thieves, Metroid Prime: Federation Force, The Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes, Hyrule Warriors Legends) and then I decided that I wasn't as interested as I was hoping to be, all due to one reason or another (maybe a later post). I'm going to go drink a pot of coffee now.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

 Instrumental

Game of E-Thrones 3: The Painting of Coming in Winter

I have no idea what all of that means as a single title.  And just a forewarning, today's post is going to ramble quite a bit.

E3 starts tomorrow (June 16, 2015), which means if you add all the numbers together you get 3 (6+1+6+2+0+1+5=21=2+1=3), which is the number of topics that I will be rambling about today.  So E3.  Going into E3 week this year, all I knew ahead of time was the handful of announcements from Bethesda: Doom, Fallout 4 and Nintendo: Nintendo World Championship 2015.  That's all I knew about before I woke up this morning and since the waking, I read more Bethesda announcements which include an online TCG from Bethesda called The Elder Scrolls: Legends, which people are saying is akin to Blizzard's Hearthstone, of which I know the name and basic mechanic (there are cards used for fighting) and that's about it.

As for other games, there's a gigantic list here that I will be sorting through as the week goes on.

Hopefully there's some word on last years announced Steamboy, but as their site hasn't been updated since last year, I fear that this project may have fallen through; but I can still have hope.

Lastly, I wanted to talk a little bit about Game of Thrones season 5, part in the season finale that aired last night (6/14/15) and part on the whole season.  First off, I am very happy with how the season finale went as far as story, or as some people have commented, the lack of story and/or character arcs.  Yes, I agree that some characters (Sansa) didn't appear to have done much this season aside from going from one not great situation to an exceedingly worse off situation, but I have learned from this show (as well as other long running shows such as LOST and X-Files that character arcs may last multiple seasons and GoT is a fairly massive show with a massive number of characters and giving important and memorable arcs for even half of the characters every season, I feel would not leave time for the other half to have any on screen time.  Sure this would be great and for the show to follow the books more closely, but people age [especially the youngin's (Bran, Arya, Sansa, Rickon, Tommen, Myrcella)] so obviously things have to be cut out, reduced and characters should be doing things more interesting than their respective characters in the books.

That paragraph/semi-rant boils down to, I will reserve judgement on characters, their motivations, their arcs until the end of the show.  Now that I think about it, I'm sure someone has charted how much time has elapsed during each individual season and the amount of time passed between seasons.  I might just go and look that up.  

And again, I was happy with season 5 as a whole and I look forward to nine months from now when I can binge watch the season all over again, then again with all of the commentaries, because that's the way I like my cake.

Additionally, fan theories (regarding both the books and the TV show) about characters and how people think they should be connected make me almost irrationally irritated.  I always bring it back to fan theories/demand about Will Turner's father in Pirates of the Caribbean. I could lead myself into a long rant that won't get me anywhere except just more worked up and annoyed, so I will stop myself here.

And since we agreed on three topics earlier today, with any luck, I'm going to start painting some Reaper Bones this week for our D&D group.  It's been almost 4 years since I've pointed a paintbrush at some minis, but it's time I got back into the habit.  And with eight minis to paint (and then some), I think I'll have full for the remainder of the week.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Et ca me fait quelque chose.

SteamBoy: Steam Gaming on the Go.

Now why did I not hear anything about this until the Sunday after E3 was over?  Granted I was not huddled over my computer during the three days of the Electronics & Entertainment Expo but I am a little surprised that this one slipped by me until yesterday.  Although after doing a cursory search, it now looks like everyone, ourselves included is bringing up and talking about the SteamBoy.

The SteamBoy Machine, a split off of the whenever to be released Steam Machines looks to be mix of the Steam Controller and Sony's PS Vita.  While the "Steamboy Project" is not affiliated with Valve or Steam, this product makes me more excited than any of the other Steam Machine/Box projects that I have been hearing about in recent months.  

My biggest critique and maybe that is just because I do not understand the "concept" behind Steam Machines/Boxes, is that I already have a PC that I game on that I frequently connect to my TV via HDMI cable.  I also have a controller that works perfectly well with the games that I want to play that require a controller.

Which then brings us to the SteamBoy.  There are a lot of games that I not only play with a controller on Steam, but games that would translate perfectly well to a handheld device (Super Meat Boy, The Binding of Isaac, BIT.TRIP Runner, Braid, Limbo).  I can understand some people, primarily people who mainly game on a PC not liking the idea of the SteamBoy because of the size of the screen compared to the size of their current monitor/TV, but coming from a background of handheld gaming, I have come to accept that on a hand held device, gaming is going to be small.

The smallness of the screen would then lead to the obvious question about how powerful the SteamBoy will be in comparison to other Steam Machines and whether it will be able to play every game in your Steam library.  In an interview with the Escapist, the SBP stated that "SteamBoy won't be as powerful as other announced Steam Machines in the same way [the] Nintendo 3DS or PS Vita performance is not comparable to Wii U or PlayStation 4.  However, it will be possible to play the majority of current games in Steam."

To note, the current specs released for the SteamBoy "could be" as follows:

• Quad-Core CPU
• 4 GB RAM
• 32GB built in memory
• 5" 16:9 touchscreen (no word as to screen resolution; 720 or 1080p).
• Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity
• 2 directional touch pads
• 4 Directional pad/buttons
• ABXY buttons with L/R shoulder-type bumpers, two trigger buttons and two additional buttons on the back.

Right now the biggest questions I am seeing are about the distance of the connectivity of the device, as in will you have to be connected to an internet signal in order to play if your game is not directly downloaded to the devices 32GB of internal storage?  Will you simply be streaming from a separate Steam account; although that does not sound too likely.  I would also like to know if there would be a separate memory card slot.  But, now that I am thinking about it, I do not think that I would want my entire Steam library on a portable device and not only because there are games that I only play with the keyboard and mouse.  I do not think that all games would transfer well to a portable device, but that is to be expected with any game that moves to a smaller screen and/or a differing control scheme.

Actually, the idea of downloading a couple of games to the SteamBoy then syncing them up to my main Steam account in order to maintain game progress, time and achievements is a very inviting notion.  If this is a possibility, then the SteamBoy would immediately become a much more attractive hand held gaming system than the PS Vita and, dare I say it, the 3DS.  I know that it will not replace my 3DS, but as far as buying a new hand held system, the SteamBoy may jump to the top of the list (are we tired of clichés yet)?

There has also been no mention of the estimated battery life, which would be one of my biggest concerns.  Right now, my 3DS can last about 5 hours if I do not have the 3D slider turned on and I feel that anything less than five hours would be very detrimental to the life of the system, both in terms of battery life and how well it sells.

At the moment, the word is that SteamBoy will be released sometime in 2015, which the beginning of is less than six months away, so if the stars are properly aligned, this will be a product that will see the light of day before the end of next year.  We will just have to wait and see in the coming months as new information is released regarding system specifications and almost as importantly, a price tag although the company's word is that "the device will balance performance and cost. . ."

It is now only a waiting game.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
You Might Get What You're After

E3 2014: Post Game Show Recap

Welcome to the day after E3 2014.  The Electronics & Entertainment Exposition has come to a close.  Following last years reveal of the Big Three's consoles, this year looked to be primarily focused on games and which systems you could  not play those games on.  I do not have an exact count (because I'm lazy) of the number of exclusives released for each system (PS4, Vita, XBone, Wii U, 3DS, PC), but as to be expected there were a handful (PS4: The Order: 1886; Vita: Persona 4: Dancing All Night; XBone: Sunset Overdrive; Wii U: Baynetta 2; 3DS: Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney; PC: Civilization: Beyond Earth).  Additionally there are games being released/announced this year that only last year were exclusives (Dead Rising 3).

And what about gaming products and peripherals (I cannot spell "peripherals" without help)?  I was surprised that I did not hear anything about the Oculus Rift or Sony's Project Morpheus.  And only a couple of days ago and not related to E3 did I hear about Valve's VR headset so I expected to at least hear something from/about one of these products looking to springboard us into the VR "future" of gaming.  I actually had to read an article from RollingStone about a comparison between the Oculus and Morpheus.  Even on Gizmodo I was unable to find anything E3 related, which I found a touch odd, but maybe they are boycotting this year??

Back to the games.

In my previous post, I mentioned a few games that interested me from my perspective of PC/3DS gaming along with a couple extras that I will not be able to get my hands on unless I acquire a PS4, Vita, XBone or Wii U, which does not look like it is going to happen anytime soon.  You know what, let us explore this idea a little bit.  Of the games that were revealed as exclusives, what game would convince me to buy that particular system.

Playstation 4: Everybody's Gone to the Rapture.  I love The Chinese Room from their work on Dear Esther and how they helped out with Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs.  I imagine that EGtoP will be a lot like both of those games.  A story that is told in FP view that probably will not include any combat, but may have enemies of some sort that you have to avoid.  And it looks absolutely gorgeous.

Vita:  Axiom Verge.  Although Axiom Verge is not a Vita exclusive, it is a Playstation exclusive and there only seemed to be a couple that were exclusive to the Vita.  I only found out about this game a few minutes before typing the paragraph two above this one.  The game looks like a mix between Contra (NES) and Super Metroid (SNES), which is a great combination to have.

XBone: D4 (Dark Dreams Don't Die).  I know that being a male video game player between the ages of 18-35, I should be balls out for Halo 5, Halo: The Masterchief Collection or Sunset Overdrive, but those are just not my bag of tea baby.  I did not like Halo the one time I played it and while Sunset Overdrive looks quirky, I like the idea behind D4 a lot more.  An episodic supernatural murder mystery.  That is just more up my proverbial light rail track (streets are so last year bro).

Wii U: The Legend of Zelda.  While I've stated before my growing disinterest in the Legend of Zelda franchise, but damn is this game pretty!  It will be interesting in the coming months to see what the storyline will be and while I can optimistically that it will not involve Princess Zelda being held captive by Ganon/Ganondorf, I will not be surprised if this is the case.  UNLESS!, this will be a Wii U remake of the original that came out back in 1986, then I might actually have to break down and buy a Wii U on the spot.

3DS:  Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call.  Okay, yes, I already own a 3DS, but if I did not, then this game would probably make me go out and buy the system.  My excitement over this game does have a bit of a hiccup though.  In the first Theatrhythm, there are roughly 60 additional songs that you can buy (at $0.99 a piece) to play in the game.  TFFCC touts a total of 200 playable songs and I really hope that that does not include the songs that Square Enix will be trying to sell me.  I also hope that there is a significant enough difference between the songs from the first game and this sequel, even with the inclusion of Final Fantasy Tactics, Advent Children, FF XIII-2, Lightning Returns and FF XIV: A Realm Reborn.

Lastly, a game that I am extremely excited to see released is Gunman Clive 2, the sequel to the awesome 2d side scrolling western platformer from Hörberg Productions.  Is it bad that being surprised by this games announcement was the most excited I became during all three days of E3 coverage?  I do not say this as a critique of the video game industry, or maybe I am and I just do not know how to articulate myself as well as I would like.  Either way, Steam starts their Summer Sale next Thursday (June 19th), so there is plenty of time to build up my self control and hide my credit card where I know it will not be found.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
But Just The Good Days


P.S.  Three additional games, coincidentially all Final Fantasy related that I did not have place for are a 3DS action adventure game akin to the  Monster Hunter series, a mobile game based on the FF VII motorcycle sequence and a f2p mobile game based off of the Japanese released PSP game, Final Fantasy Type-0.

E3 2014: New & Improved 2014 Edition!

Not to be all self deprecating, but if you're looking for up-to-date information about the 2014 Electronics & Entertainment Expo, you're probably in the wrong place.  Dr. Potts and I, while very avid fans of video games and other geek/nerdy/fun related activities, I would be hard pressed to say that either of us have our finger on the pulse of the video game and related industry.

Presently, if you want to find out about all things E3, you could head over to the official homepage or to Gamespot's, I'm assuming, up to date listings of things going on.  Even the Humble Bundle people are getting in on the action and for the three days that the convention graces the southern region of California.

Wait a damn minute!  E3 doesn't start until tomorrow (Tuesday June 10th), "officially," yet EA Games is doing a "special" conference right now.  Microsoft, Ubisoft, Sony and EA are hosting conferences throughout the rest of the convention (Thursday June 12th) while Nintendo will not be present, but instead have a live digital presentation, similar to their presentation last year.

The Wikipedia page for E3 has a current list of games that will be presented, but on E3's page for live video feeds starting tomorrow, there are, presently, three "Unannounced Game," so there "might?" be additional games added to this list later on in the week.  So, similar to what I did with last years article post-E3, these are the games that, on first glance, I am pseudo-excited to find out (more?) about from this years convention.

• Alien: Isolation (PC) - The Creative Assembly
• Assassin's Creed: Unity (PC) - Ubisoft Montreal
• Batman: Arkham Knight (PC) - Rocksteady Studios
• The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth (PC/ 3DS?) - Nicalis
• The Evil Within (PC) - Tango Gameworks
• Game of Thrones (PC) - Tell Tale Games
• Lords of the Fallen (PC) - Deck13 Interactive / CI Games
• Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor (PC) - Monolith Productions
• Mirror's Edge 2 (PC) - EA Digital
• The Order: 1886 (PS4) - Ready At Dawn / SCE Santa Monica Studio
• Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call (3DS) - Square Enix

Yes, an iteration of  Super Smash Bros. is going to be presented by Nintendo, but the couple of times that I've played SSB, I wasn't impressed and I didn't have a lot of fun, so I will join the very small minority of Nintendo fans and not be interested with this game.

There are probably more games that I will have an interest in, but this was only after a cursory glance and run through.

That's really all I have for you all today.  I might do a pseudo-half-assed recap on Friday, or I might so something else completely expected.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Instrumental