[Guest]

I'm a bit disappointed by the two characters though. Does Vossler join you after he's betrays you then? That's a bit.....odd.

"Oh, you sold out the princess, the last remaining member of the Dalmascan Royal family and almost got us killed. Nevermind, come on a quest to quell the Empire with us! "

Stupid.

North America/Japan
Simultaneous release

And you wonder why I hate SE.

Meh. What is it? A strat-RPG or something akin to Dynasty Warriors? I have to say though - it didn't seem as impressive as other SE trailers I've seen.

“Double-Speed Mode” which allows you to complete the game faster

What?

Am I the only one completely boggled by this?

Brave Story is good, one of the best RPGs on the PSP, definitely worth buying.

Awesome, I'll look forward to buying it.

I can see where Himuro is coming from in regards to Nindy fanboys. Many people on my course say the DS is brilliant and the PSP is shite. But guess what? They all own PSPs. I know three people that have DS' and around six people that have PSPs (excluding myself). Now, this is just my personal experience, but whenever I ask people why the DS is better, the answer usually is "Because Nintendo made it" or "The games are more original". In the end, it's all up the personal preference - I like playing RPGs, so I bought a PSP - but keep in mind this is the first handheld console Sony has made (I think) and I think it's doing pretty damn well against handheld veterans Nintendo and the DS.

I agree. FF7 was pretty big back when it was released. But it was 10 years ago - to be honest, I'm a little tired of all the FF7 spin-offs and the like. I'd rather they focus all their attempts on FF13 or 14. If SE did that, then a truly amazing game would come about (hopefully). Square and Enix were both awesome companies as I've said, so I'm truly at a loss for why their latest games have been somewhat lacking.

Wow - PS3 has already had a price drop :corkysm17

I'd go for my PSP anyday. With a 4GB card, I can have all the music/videos/game saves I want and the games for the PSP are damned good. I currently own Valkyrie Profile, Innocent Life - A Futuristic Harvest Moon, Tales of Eternia, Monster Hunter, Tekken - Dark Resurrection, LocoRoco and Blade Dancer.

 Ok so Blade Dancer isn't that good, but other games are coming out that sound pretty cool. There's Monster Hunter 2, Riviera - The Promised Land, Brave Story - A Travellers Tale, Tales of the World - Radiant Mythology, Tales of  Phantasia - Full Voice Edition, Tales of Rebirth, Dragoneer's Aria and others. For someone who mostly plays RPGs anyway, this is more than whats being released on the next-gens right now.

Plus I can play them on the train and long car journeys : D

It's FF12 with 12 new License Boards and some new characters - Larsa and Vossler. Which were in the original game as Guests, but here they'll be proper characters with their own weapons. Gee, I'd really spend another £35 for that.

No news of a release outside of Japan and I doubt there will be.

FF13 looks bloated. The trailers where more focused on the frothing fanboys (females doing somersaults in skimpy outfits - check) than actually showing some gameplay. It seems the more money SE gets, the lesser the quality of the games. FF12 sucked arse, FF11 was a catastrophe (made much less money than they expected) for SE and Advent Children was a waste of time. Sure it was nice, but why not remake FF7? It's what SE seems to like doing best - remaking things. FF7 has various holes in it anyway - it had numerous sidequests and the such taken out before release so why not make it for a next gen console? It'd make SE truckloads of dosh which seems to be the only thing they care about these days.

On another note - are you telling me the PS3 is $600 in the US? Over here, the PS3 retails for about £450 - thats nearly $900.

Personally, I love my 360, but if you're looking for turnbased RPGs of any sort none of the newer systems are worthwhile yet. The oddest thing is that by the end of this year the 360 will have more Japanese-style RPGs here than the other two (Blue Dragon, Eternal Sonata, Lost Odyssey).

Seems like it'll be a pretty straightforward RPG, but considering the system only has one of those, I don't think it's a terrible thing.

The battles are very entertaining though. The use of camera angles and such is pretty much perfected there.

Yeah, the 360 does have the most RPGs at the moment. I don't have a next gen yet (if I do, I'll prolly get a PS3 when it's much cheaper) because of the lack of RPGs. Oblivion and Enchanted Arms are the only next gen RPGs I've seen on the shelves yet - both on the game whore that is the PS3 and the 360. I read the 360 is still not doing well in Japan yet.

Good point. I can't help but feel a bit disappointed though.

Yes, I've seen some battle screens. The main seems to have the blue dragon mimicking his moves behind him and everytime a character has their turn a giant portrait showing their face pops up. It looked quite nice, but the detail on the faces seemed a bit...minimal. I haven't seen a video of a battle yet though. One of my friends who owns a 360 is mad on Blue Dragon though (has the soundtrack on all the time) so when it comes out I'll watch him play it.

More like re-releases of remakes of rehashes.

I actually lol'd at that one.

It's out already in the US.

Goddamn PAL release dates/no shows.

*grumble grumble*

Guess I should be pleased PSPs are truly region free. There are loads of RPGs coming out on the PSP actually - Dragonier's Aria, Brave Story, Riviera (and the FF rehashes of course). Most of them are re-releases - I've read that Riviera was on the GB (not in Europe of course) so I'm pleased I'm finally getting the chance to play these long lost games. It was the same with Valkyrie Profile and Tales of Eternia (though I believe that was called Tales of Destiny 2 in the US).

Isn't Riviera being re-released for PSP? It's the one with Grim Angels or something, isn't it?

One thing that pisses me off about the latest FFs is the art style. The first FFs were your basic sprite-y RPGs on the SNES etc. I've played the PSone versions and they're quite nice. FF6 for me, is my favourite of the 2D generation. Then FF went to 3D and FF7 came about. The game had a really dirty, cyber-punkish vibe with its machinery, slums, super-spikey hair etc. The art style reminds me of manga and the harsh lines in the original artwork really correlate well with the themes and look of the game.
 
Then came FF8 - my all-time FF favourite - with it's more futuristic setting, very realistic characters and a full-blown love story. Although some hated it, others loved it and the style of the game is reminiscient of a fairytale set in some modern world. A brilliant game.

FF9 was next - the last of the PSone FF generation - and went back to basics. Something similar to the Job system was introduced to the characters (certain characters could steal, others cast Black/Blue/White magic etc) and the art style this time was quite cutesy and the models for characters were slightly deformed - almost chibi (well a little).
 So far, the PSone generation of FFs have all had different styles of art, design and such. Here's where FF started going downhill for me.

FF10 was released on the PS2 with a very similar character look to the models - it was as if FF8 had hopped to next gen. The game was....lacking in my opinion with the worst level up concept ever (I hate the bloody Sphere Grid). The lead was rather whiney and the love between the two leads never really reached that space scene in FF8.

After this a long time went by without a FF appearing on the PS2 (nope, I'm not counting X-2) and then FF12 was announced. I was already disappointed by FF11 being online and all, and other games had come out in FFs absence - Shadow Hearts, Lucifer's Call, Suikoden 4/5 - and then FF12 came out.

It's possibly the most disappointing and one of the biggest missed oppurtunities I've ever seen in a game.

First off, the art style - again - was of realism. After three generations of FFs having very different styles and the latest ones being rather similar, I was slightly disappointed to see it again. Ashe looks like Yuna in a punkier outfit and Vaan is Tidus with a haircut. However, Balthier and Fran looked like interesting characters. Ample character depth and development right? Hell no.
 Each character has very little character developement. Vaan is an orphan and hates the Empire (FF2). Ashe is a princess wants to reclaim her throne (FF9). The story is outlined to you in the first city (destroy the...can you guess?...Empire). The bad guy is obvious because he has long hair (I'm suprised it wasn't bloody SILVER - Kuja/Sephiroth/Organisation XIII) and is delightfully English (yawn). I can't ever remember finding out why he was so anxious to take over the world/Rabanastre.
 Plus, talk about missed opportunities. Example - there is a scene in Eruyt Village where Vaan asks Fran how old she is. She's a Viera so she lives much longer than humans do. An excellent moment for diving into this so far obscure character's history, here in her home village, right? Wrong. She huffs and walks off, whilst Balthier says that Vaan has offended her. Nothing important is ever mentioned about her again.

What?

Balthier has one little bit of development on the Phon Coast where you find out - gasp - [SPOILER]that his father is Cid[/SPOILER]. I mean, it's not exactly terribly original or very exciting. When I buy a FF, I want a skillfully woven story with twists and turns, various character sub-plots and the like. Not a save-the-world story and nothing else. I mean, nearly every RPG has a save-the-world plotline in there somewhere. It's how to hide it - Lucifer's Call gave you multiple endings, Shadow Hearts 2 [SPOILER]had Yuri killing himself to save his soul and the world he wanted with Alice[/SPOILER] and Tales of Symphonia's world saving was to create a world out of two split ones where people wouldn't discriminate against those who are different. All saving-the-world plots, but all have important, often very emotional sub-plots surrounding them. The end video of Shadow Hearts 3 made me cry for God's sake.

FF12 has no such luck - the character's are shallow (one word - Penelo) and therefore I didn't give a damn about their plight. The Empire - when I went there - was an alright place. Slightly snotty, but not exactly the black pits of hell I was led to believe it was. Why was it so important to stop them from taking over? Because of Nethicite or Nabudis? It sounds harsh, but in an RPG, levelling a town seemingly already ruined in the intro video the player has never been to isn't really enough to push me to kill the Empire - or rather one or two figures within it. Sure Vaine's a bastard but he's not exactly evil. He's not exactly Luca Blight.

Phew. Sorry for such a long post. With a lot of reviews online saying FF12 is the best thing since sex is rather annoying and I needed to rant at it a bit. It's that bloody Yiazmat I swear : D.

The point of that long-winded post? FF13 looks exactly the same but with an action twist. The characters have that SE "look" and, well - SE. Doing an action game. *sigh*

Call me dense, but....

what exactly happened in 2003? I can't remember - something to do with Advent Children or Radiata Stories?

Oh, don't misunderstand. I can see why people like Tori's art, it's just not my cup of tea. His characters just never look.....detailed enough for me. The huge eyes and basic clothing I just never liked. It's prolly because I like the Magna Carta-style art which some say is the direct opposite (proportioned, ultra-realistic bodies, gothic design, stupidly elaborate clothing etc).

Have you seen the jumping animation in Oblivion? It's hilarious.

Remember kids! Region encoding is about price control as much as "piracy".