Level Up! Seize the Experience!

IGN is hosting a slew of demos and trailers on their site. If you’re frothing at the mouth while waiting for Final Fantasy XIII, you don’t want to miss these. I enjoyed watching what is yet to come for me in 2010, even though the demos don’t really show me anything I don’t already expect. I expect the gorgeous graphics. I expect the turn-based play. I expect the incredible fighting moves from Lightning.

However, the demos also seem to show that the battles won’t exactly be random encounters. It’s more like Eternal Sonata, where enemies are running around on the field and battles (except for bosses) are triggered by encountering these enemies. That kind of goes against the normal Final Fantasy formula, but I guess it can’t hurt to shake things up a little bit.

The other big FF13 news this week was Squenix’s announcement that it would be released in Japan in Winter 2009, earlier than previously planned. Does this mean that we’ll see it sooner in the US? One can only hope!

It was hard to believe any gaming news yesterday with it being April Fool’s, but I found confirmation today that the news stories I read about Tales are true. Huzzah!

Tales of Vesperia is indeed coming to the PlayStation 3. It’s going to have an additional character, but no news on whether the story will also be altered or added to. I haven’t bought Vesperia yet because I still haven’t played Tales of Symphonia for the Wii. (I’m still remaining true to my New Year’s resolutions: I can’t buy a game from a franchise until I complete a game.)  But I had played a demo of it, so it was on my to-buy list. Now I think I’m going to wait for it to come out for the PS3. The only thing I’ve done with the PS3 is play DVDs and watch my husband play Killzone 2.

I know that this announcement doesn’t help the PS3 and its lack of exclusive RPGs, but it’s something for now.

But there is other Tales news.

A new Tales game, Tales of Grace, will be hitting the Wii later this year too. Way to go Nintendo! That’s two RPGs for the Wii this year. We’re making improvements! I’m even more eager to finish Lost Odyssey so I can start Tales of Symphonia. I thought this year would be filled with Final Fantasy games, but it looks like Tales may fill my gaming calendar as well.

NIS America recently announced that Cross Edge is coming over to America this May. It’s going to be a conglomeration of characters from NIS, Capcom, Namco, and other developers in one new RPG. You can read more about it here .

At first, I was excited to hear the news. One of my wishes for 2009 was for more RPGs for the PS3, so it looked like my wish was on the verge of fulfillment. Then I found gameplay videos on YouTube. My excitement depleted faster than it arrived. The gameplay appears to be identical to Disgaea, and well hey, a few characters from Disgaea are on the roster so Disgaea fans should be very happy indeed. The graphics are also straight out of Disgaea, which is once again great for Disgaea fans, but that’s a joke for a platform as powerful as the PS3. These graphics belong on the Nintendo DS or a PlayStation 2, but not on the PlayStation 3.

At the very least, bring us the graphical content similar to Tales of Vesperia or Eternal Sonata. That’s not asking too much.

So I guess I’ll keep playing my Xbox (when I get a chance… I’m really missing playing games!) and Nintendo DS until Final Fantasy XIII comes out NEXT YEAR.

America’s economic recession has been hitting the international circuit, and now it appears that Square Enix is feeling it a bit as well. Sqeunix’s stock dropped 11% on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the lowest it’s been in five years. With this plummet, rumors are now circulating that Squenix may postpone releasing both Dragon Quest IX and Final Fantasy XIII, although it’s more likely for Dragon Quest than Final Fantasy.

Personally, I think if Square Enix tries to push Final Fantasy XIII back any further, rabid fans will be storming the building with torches and pitchforks. Pushing back Dragon Quest — not that I’m saying there aren’t a lot of fans of this series — is probably the wiser decision. Of course, this is all speculation. None of this has been announced… yet.

This is honestly the first time since I’ve owned both consoles that this quandary has come up. My philosophy used to be to always put the PlayStation first. I was more familiar with the controls, and the controller is the most comfortable. But ever since I got the Xbox, and the console has come out with far more games for me than the PS3, I can no longer keep with that argument. Both controllers are equally comfortable and familiar to me.

A couple of months ago, I decided that I would get Final Fantasy XIII on the PS3 because Final Fantasy in general seems to fit the PlayStation better than Xbox. All of the FF games I own (including remakes… I don’t own any of the remakes for the DS… yet…) are for the PlayStation, so playing a FF game on the Xbox seems a bit sacreligious. Not to mention the fact that I haven’t had the best of luck with Square Enix games on the Xbox. I know they won’t screw up FF13 for the PS3 since it’s a PS3 exclusive in Japan. Or I guess I should say that they’re least likely to screw it up on the PS3 because it is a PS3 exclusive in Japan.

So why I am wondering about which console to buy the game for?

Well, it’s a little silly. It’s the Achievements. Ever since I scored my first Achievement (defeated 10 enemies in Marvel Ultimate Alliance), I’ve been obsessed with this gimmick. I know my Gamerscore essentially means nothing, but I still like to rack up those Achievements! That’s one of the reasons why I want to play Fable 2 again. I also know that PlayStation has implemented a Trophy system — something I haven’t gotten into because I haven’t played any games on my console since the rewards arrived — but it doesn’t seem to be the same. And I’m probably just being petty.

So I’m still debating. I haven’t put in my preorder yet because I’m still debating. I have a feeling this will come down to the gods of the almighty coin toss, unless I’m able to wait and see what the reviews say.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Me? Wait? Oh God, I crack myself up.

Well I was at the grand unveiling at the Final Fantasy XIII game website this morning, and I watched the clock wind down to zero and then restart. After a brief moment of anger, the site cleared and a new trailer presented itself. The trailer is two and a half minutes of cut-scenes, views of gameplay, and some hints about the underlying story. The gameplay looks like it will be turn-based, like every other Final Fantasy game, and this is no real surprise. So far, the graphics look like Square Enix is proving that they still do dominate the CGI world. After their latest two releases, this is more than refreshing to see. I breathed a sigh of relief after I remembered to breathe after being so captivated by the beauty of the graphics and animation.

As for the story, it looks like another conflict either involving haves and have-nots or an anti-technology faction. You know, the usual. The game world is very reminiscent of the world from The Matrix, and whoa, these people are fighting against machines too. Although like the Final Fantasy games of the past, I’m sure this game is slightly deeper than just that. But I can only take what I can from a fast two and a half minutes.

What I have taken, though, has made me all the more excited about this latest installment in the series. I better get crackin’ at Final Fantasy VII!

Square Enix has posted a mystery countdown for Final Fantasy XIII on both their North America and Europe web sites, with no real clue what it is about other than a new vision will be revealed.  In order to find out what it is, you have to register for it and then the new vision will be announced to you on January 28th.

I’m trying to be optimistic about this new vision, but all I feel is “meh” and dread. I can’t get that excited about it, especially when I read on the Squenix blog that it’s “the first of many countdowns to come.” Countdowns for what, exactly? I know that we’re all chomping at the bit for the latest Final Fantasy installment, but are they thinking that random announcements about the new game will produce further froth at the mouth? Is this their way of trying to appease the masses since the game has been delayed?

I can’t speak for other fans, but personally, countdowns aside from the actual release of the game will do little other than annoy me. That said, it didn’t stop me from registering for the unveiling. I’m a sucker, I know.

Tune in on January 28th when I unveil the unveiling.

Well, after I calmed down and took a few deep breaths, I began to see that maybe the delay in Final Fantasy XIII’s release isn’t totally a bad thing. I remembered all of the issues with Infinite Undiscovery and The Last Remnant. Both games felt like they were rushed to get on the shelves, and as a result, they had some technical glitches, an overall feeling of incompleteness, and received very poor reviews. Perhaps Square Enix will use this extra time from the delay to ensure that they deliver a quality product to the masses. Maybe this one won’t feel rushed (and dear God it shouldn’t; they’ve been talking about it since 2006), and it won’t be as sloppy as the others. No one will say that this game had potential if not for blank. Final Fantasy fans will be just as happy as they were the day they played Final Fantasy X, and Xbox owners will be thrilled to finally have a decent Square Enix RPG for their console.

Isn’t it pretty to think so?

I, along with many other RPG fans, can only hope it to be so. If this game has gameplay-ruining glitches after these delays, Square Enix will have no one to blame and zero excuses.

Well I know I shouldn’t be surprised, but I had hope. And then Square Enix dashed my hopes to the ground. Final Fantasy XIII will be released in Japan by the end of 2009. The rest of the world will have to wait until April 2010 or possibly later. I have a zillion questions for the RPG giant, but I’ll save my energy. There’s no point in even thinking of asking them.

So now I’m not sure what I’ll be doing with my PS3 after I finish Disgaea 3. I may really postpone finishing it, just so I can say yeah, I play my PS3 every now and then. Unless Sony announces more games than they have, my PS3 may remain virtually silent most of 2009. Like I said a couple of blog posts ago, I don’t have any games for the PS3 after I finish Disgaea 3, and there is nothing in their library that interests me other than what I already have on the Xbox.

Well, I suppose this is good news for the ever-growing stack of games I need to play. At least the Xbox, PS2, and Wii will get some love this year. The PS3 may just get dust.

It’s taken me a few hours, but I’ve gotten into Disgaea 3. It’s my first Disgaea game, so I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. It’s very different from any other RPG I’ve played; it really forces me to use the strategic side of my brain, the side that sucks at playing chess.

However, as much fun as I’m having playing it, I really can’t get over the graphics. They aren’t horrible, but they don’t belong on the PlayStation 3, a console made for high-definition output. This game doesn’t exactly need high-definition graphics; it’s not like it’s a huge adventure through a fantastical world of typical RPG proportions. You mostly hang out at the Academy, bribe class reps to allow your characters to join clubs, and do battle in paneled rooms. All of which further emphasizes my thought that this game belongs on the Nintendo DS or even the GBA. And honestly, with the way the battle system works, it would be SO much easier in the DS format.

I’m not sure why NIS chose the Sony for development, but maybe I’ll find the reasons as I log on some more hours. I really haven’t gotten that far, so there’s plenty of time for the game to change my mind.