The Roundup is back! Things get heated this time as Ethos hits one of Riddles’ sore spots and the fanboy claws come out on both sides.
Apart from lovers quarrels, Riddles and Ethos discuss release dates for various forms of Final Fantasy, a potential sequel to Okami, and perhaps the dumbest world record to ever hit the gaming world.
Dive in, enjoy, and don’t forget to comment afterward.
Click here to enjoy.
Tags: Batman: Arkham Asylum, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers, Final Fantasy XIII, I refuse to call the DS Kingdom Hearts by its actual title, Kingdom Hearts: Dumb Name, News Roundup, Okami, Okami 2, Riddles apparently has it all, SoA or VC?, This Roundup has Ethos' favourite outtake, Xbox 360
-I wouldn’t exactly say that VC failed, it has sold 510,000. But I’m with Ethos on this, I’d prefer another SoA. Also to take what video games sites choose to award or not award as some universal qualitative truth is extremely naive, especially since we all know how much they hate JRPGs that are not FF.
-Also FFCC hasn’t been confirmed for NA this year, that was just the author’s speculation, which sounds waaaaaay off the money to me.
-In KH:DS I finally reached the first boss and left Twilight Town. Agrabagh actually has platforming like in the first game! I got stuck on the first Agrabagh mission though, due to the language barrier, though all things considered the game seems to have taken a turn for the positive. Square-Enix REALLY fucked up on the start though, three hours of mind numbing repitition.
-Dissidia has pushed park my purchase of Arkham Assylum also.
-@Oliver- Have you played Xenogears yet?
Lol how did I manage to write park instead of back?
Wait, didn’t I tell you I never got past the second battle in the first Xenosaga because I got bored?
- KH:DS – That SN’s description actually sounds a lot like the beginning of the KH2. If I remember correctly, it was a pretty long stretch of tutorial minigames. For some reason I haven’t seen that interested in the PSP and DS KH games, despite having throughly enjoyed the main series. I think Chain of Memories left a bad taste in my mouth for portable KH games. Stupid Riku. I’m hoping I can keep my expectations low, then I’ll be suprised if it comes out and people are enjoying it.
- I need to try Xenosaga 2 again. I got all the way through the intro sequence then put it down and never picked it up again, not sure why. I should see if I can find my savegame somewhere…
@Ethos: You need a PSP.
@Riddles: You have the love of your adoring fans. That’s more than Ethos can say.
-@DG- No, KH:DS is much, much worse. KHII as a slow start, but it’s also a good start, carefully thought through and designed. KHII’s start was actually my favourite part of the game (the seven wonders of Twilight Town FTW). KH:DS by comparison has about 20 missions at the start where all you have to do is run forward for a few screens and fight some enemies. All the enterences and exits of Twilight Town are blocked off by force feilds, except for those that you need to use to get where your going. Much, much worse than KHII. Agrabagh seems much better, but I’ve only touched the first mission.
-I’ve played through Xenosaga II in it’s entirety, and can honestly say that I wholly regret subjecting myself to that dank experience. Sadly PAL countries only got the bad entry in the series.
@Oliver- Boo.
@Ethos- Yay.
(For symmetry^)
@SN – Oh they hate Final Fantasy too at IGN! They just usually get the one guy who doesn’t to review them. And they gave ToV a surprisingly high school
-Yeah, we knew it was speculation, I guess we just didn’t drive the point home.
Re: Kingdom Hearts: Dumb Name – SN’s impressions seem to be lining up with Bozon’s. And yeah, Darth. The “training” was epic in KH2, but I liked it pacing-wise in terms of story. In terms of gameplay: uuhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
@Andogo – lol, I think you did tell me that. I didn’t specify you were a fan of the games! You just have soundtracks.
I didn’t see your second post when I was making my post, SN, but it looks like we agree on KHII’s beginning in some ways. I don’t dread it at all, and I think it serves a good build up until we finally see Sora and the logo comes up and I’m like “HOLY CRAP, THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING”
Then I go into fanboy spasms.
I was actually sad when the game shifted focus to Sora, Roxas just resonated so much more for me, hence my interest in KH:DS despite it’s lackluster opening and stupid name. Also I can’t believe the quality of graphics on display here, it is the PS2 game shrunk down and slightly pixilated.
- Yeah, I think “Story: Yay; Gameplay: OHGODWHY” about sums up KH2’s opening, but if KH:3.14159*r^2 is similar without the story, I shudder to think about it.
- Posting speculation as fact is how you get the scoops first!
- SN, are you saying that didn’t do a PAL verison of Xenosaga 1, but then they brought over Xenosaga 2? Who the devil thought that was a good idea? Go slap them for me.
-KH:DS has tons of dialogue at the start which will no doubt cushion the impact, but from a design standpoint it is pure fail.
-Yep they only brought over Xenosaga II *slap*. If you come accross any European or Australian gamers who violently dislike the series, now you know why. Untill I can afford a PC powerfull enough to emulate PS2 games, I won’t be able to play the first or third installments.
Actually the best way I can contrast the difference in design between the two games is:
KHII- Started off slow, and didn’t really give you access to the games core game mechanics, yet it did offer you very diverse gameplay. Solving the mystery of your stolen words, playing mini-games to earn cash to get to the beach, solving the seven mysteries of Twilight Town, participating in a struggle tournament and exploreing Namine’s mansion. I enjoyed doing all of those things. Moreover you had access to most of Twilight Town at any one given time.
KH:DS- You read a tutorial, run up to the guy who gives the missions, run forward, kill the moster, watch a cut-scene, rinse and repeat x20. It’s the same thing over and over, to the extent that I was able to complete the Twilight Town segment without reference to a translation FAQ because every mission was the same. On top of this superfluous areas of Twilight Town are sealed off, giving the game a stripped down feel, and making the player painfully aware that they’re playing the handheld spin-off rather than the fully featured console title.
-Hey does anyone else think that Twilight has ruined Twilight Town?
Yup, looks like KH:DN will have a slow start no matter what. Let’s hope the words give it SOME oomph at least.
And no, SN, Twilight doesn’t have enough power to ruin anything for me.
Noob, if there’s one thing I pity you for, it’s the fact that you only received Episode II. It is the worst entry in the series, and frankly impossible to enjoy if you didn’t love the first one.
And, uh, no. I haven’t played Xenogears yet. I DID loan it to my brothers, and they said it was amazing and I needed to play it. I’ve yet to take their advice.
Well then, I know what you need to play for Xenosaga week! The second disc sucks pretty hard, but the first one’s amazing (though you do need to make do with a Sony translation).