What is this gibberish I'm hearing? Metal Gear Whatnow? Which dogs? What Division? Ryse: Son of whom!?

Pah. Waste your time with inferior "video games" all you like. Stare at a screen all your life. Never amount to anything. Rot your brain. Pah! See if I care. It's clear your mother never taught you that The Witcher 3 is going to be the greatest game ever made and played.

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Fine, we will stop arguing about who won. But MS definitely lost this year E3.

Better cartoonish wrestler than a new The Boss. My heart is still broken.

 

I'm not saying Sony won E3. I'm saying it won the console war this gen. Big difference.

 

This. So much this.

Saw a bust of The Boss over at Sideshow Collectibles this morning, my heart broke all over again...

 

I would have preferred to have gotten the original Metal Gear Solid: Rising game they were making, which would've taken place between MGS2 and 4, instead of "Revengeance." The game we got just seems ridiculous, even for Metal Gear. I haven't played it yet though.

 

Revengeance is fucking incredible, I will hear nothing against it.

 

But... stopping the war economy by boosting the war economy...

 

Played the demo on the 360, I thought it was terrible. Movement was twitchy and inaccurate, and the combat was awkward and repetitive. I get that it's just a demo, but demos are supposed to make me want to play the game, and this one failed.

Admittedly, I only played the demo, so I can't speak for the full game.

Then again, I've hated Raiden since MGS2.

Whoops.

That damn gameplay yesterday made me remember just how much I love Metal Gear as a series. I even dug up my copy of VR Missions. Now I just need to quit procrastinating and finish my work so that I can actually play it.

 

The combat in Metal Gear Rising is its best part. It is very, very good. Maybe the demo wasn't great, I dunno.

 

The combat + the soundtrack = Gold

Metal Gear Rising was amazing for that alone.

 

For what it's worth, Revengeance's systems aren't explained very well*, and they don't really fully unlock until you beat the first Winds of Destruction boss (unsurprisingly, the boss of the first real chapter.) You see, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance actually kinda works on a Mega Man level, where Raiden will gain his enemies' weapons. They become his secondary weapons, which really ramp up the amount of shit you can do. Prior to that, if memory serves (it's been a long time since I played without a secondary weapon), Raiden just uses his sword as a heavy attack.

Additionally, you can't buy upgrades in the demo, and there are two upgrades that are absolutely critical to playing the game well: The Air Parry (which allows you to block in mid-air) and the Dodge Attack (which allows you to dodge enemy attacks and has invincibility frames). There are other upgrades (such as the game's equivalent of Viewtiful Joe's Red Hot Kick, which I can't remember the actual name of) which also help a shitload, but those two are the critical ones.

*Seriously, the command list is in the start menu (not the normal in-game menu like the in-game store) as "Help." It should be "Skills" or something, but welp.

 

Second that. I love me some Halo, but no way will I buy the Xbone just for it if it turns out the way it's going. Besides, the one game I want is coming out on PC anyways, so eh.

 

Versus/15 gameplay vid.

Welcome to Behemoth Land! Home of the Behemoth! Have you seen our latest selection of Behemoths? Here... try one out.

 

I'm honestly not willing to acknowledge that game as a Final Fantasy. Spoken as one who has played all the Final Fantasies. The only things left are some monster designs and probably some obscure crystal references. I look at that setting and gameplay, and I see a hollow shell of mediocrity I have no interest in playing.

 

I never did really get into the Witcher. Couldnt hold my interest for some reason.

MGSV, Watch Dogs, Last of Us, Lightning Returns(if only for the spetecle how insane can this story get? Can it even get more nutty. IT SURE CAN!)

Poor poor Microsoft... They kind of shit the bed on this. Depending on a loyal hardcore fanbase that will buy it anyways. Hmm Kind of sounds like they're taking a page out of Apple's strategy.

"We're Apple Microsoft. They'll buy anything!"

Except that only really worked when Apple cornered the market on smart phones and MP3 players early and Microsoft... well you've got the WiiU and the PS4 both arguably on the same playing field and a cheaper price.

Shot yourself in the foot there didnt ya?

 

I do think it was silly to rebrand as 15. They should have just dropped the 13 and called it FF Versus. Now people are going to whine that it's not a 'real' Final Fantasy title, even though the entire FF fanbase has been waiting with baited breath for news of Versus for half a decade.

Tetsuya Nomura doesn't make bad games when he has control of the creative reigns. Even the very worst of the KH titles are still fun as all hell. It's not traditional FF no, but I wouldn't write it off just yet.

 

You'd have to debate what makes a 'real' FF game FF.

Turn based combat?
World maps?
Random encounters?
Moogles, chocobos and Tonberries?
Protagonists incapable of growing facial hair?

I love FF too. Played every one of them, but i'm not blinding myself to the fact that since IX, FF has been a slowly ecolving franchise.

Should they just find 'perfection' and just pump out different stories? (like tales of x games) or should they try innovate with each iteration?

I dunno, but XV looks to play like KH, probably one of my favourite games of all time (that no.1 spot will always belong to you, Snap). You won't hear me complaining.

 

I was pretty happy with the levels of innovation that existed in FF7-12. Different job systems, equipment systems, customisation systems, levelling systems, voice acting, the sphere grid, mini games, modes of transport, always visible enemies, etc. And obviously the world, story and characters change each time.

You don't need to go full action RPG to innovate.

(I still weep for the loss of the world map).

That said, XV does look awesome - definitely far better than XIII. Just not as awesome as it could have been with turn based combat. I like to be able to think in FF combat. To plan my moves. To have the time to scroll through a list of 50 possible actions and consider each one before attacking. Not be running around like a headless chicken spamming attacks as quickly as I can, selecting the most convenient options in a blind panic rather than the best possible combinations.

My ideal Final Fantasy:

Story and characters: VII
Music: VII
Aesthetic/art style: IX
Graphics: XIII
Voice acting (if any): XII
Character development system: combination of X and IX (sphere grid but constrained by a job system, each job has a grid and you can't change)
Combat system: Turn based and unlimited character switching of X
Mini games: X
Chocobos: VII
Summons: X
Enemy encounters: Always visible enemies of XII
World map/world openess: VII
Transport: VIII (trains woot)
Money system: VIII (job with salary and promotion)
Equipment customisation system: X
Card game: VIII

 

I thought the one thing XIII nailed was combat, lol. It had a steep learning curve though for when you go from panic to tactical mastery.

 

FF15 looks amazing. Look at it, ignoring the labeling (I've long stopped considering Final Fantasy to be a series), and just look how pretty it is. Just a few years ago this would be the highest level CG prerendered video, and now it's actual gameplay?

Remember the scene in X where you jumped off the airship to assault a castle? Now you can play that scene.