Slightly annoyed that Sony charged me the 12 month PS+ sub yesterday despite me always having automatic renewal turned off (but it looks like it has an habit of turning itself back on, go figure). I think this is the first time it's happened in the years I've been using PS+, I usually just manually extended my sub whenever there was a sale. Not only is it shady, but I also really would have preferred to just wait a few days until the new tiers become available in Europe to resub, but oh well.
Video Games
- Thread starter Shockbox
- Start date
I hope I feel that way in the end, that the good outweighs the negatives. I can deal with an all male party. It's mostly the battle system I'm worried about. It looks quite shallow for Final Fantasy.
I think people didn't complain about the all female party simply because female characters, while overall pretty prevalent in the JRPG genre, are not as well represented in gaming. Also, this forum stans pop girls, so it makes sense that nobody on PJ complains about an all female party.
I think FFX-2 is pure cringe though. IMO, it reeked of thrown together cash grab with a terrible story and an even worse structure. Yuna as a pop star has to be the most contrived and unconvincing thing ever.
It took a long time to happen but Tokyo Mirage Sessions is falling apart a bit as I get closer to the end. One of its biggest strengths was a pitch perfect difficulty but the boss I'm currently on (I believe it's the second to last boss) it's cheap as fuck. I hate bosses that are good at everything. I especially hate bosses who one shot the player. Why can't these developers come up with a better way of making end game bosses difficult than giving them instant death spells?
The story has its moments here and there (regrettably, the best story content is found in sidequests *rolls eyes*) but it's getting downright embarrassing as it wraps up. I can't believe the developers had such a unique premise and then somehow ended up with a generic JRPG plot anyway. The fuck? It's ridiculous how the game promised to be a modern RPG in the entertainment industry yet somehow the end game is awash in old timey RPG tropes. The mind boggles. Forced Fire Emblem incorporation was one of the worst things to happen to this project. But they still could have done better even with the whole weird crossover thing hanging shadow-like over them.
The thing I hate the most is how they try to force the shitty protagonist (who, I assume, they came up with in five minutes) on the player. He's such a fucking Mary Sue and he has absolutely nothing going for him. It's downright irritating how they try to convince you that every woman in the game is in love with this dude who makes cardboard look charismatic. Then they have the nerve to lock him into your active party, limiting the configurations you can play with. Basically, gameplay suffers slightly because the developers had an agenda with this ridiculous "character."
I swear, sometimes I think video game stories rival pop music lyrics in terms of how "this will do?" they can be.
/rant over
The story has its moments here and there (regrettably, the best story content is found in sidequests *rolls eyes*) but it's getting downright embarrassing as it wraps up. I can't believe the developers had such a unique premise and then somehow ended up with a generic JRPG plot anyway. The fuck? It's ridiculous how the game promised to be a modern RPG in the entertainment industry yet somehow the end game is awash in old timey RPG tropes. The mind boggles. Forced Fire Emblem incorporation was one of the worst things to happen to this project. But they still could have done better even with the whole weird crossover thing hanging shadow-like over them.
The thing I hate the most is how they try to force the shitty protagonist (who, I assume, they came up with in five minutes) on the player. He's such a fucking Mary Sue and he has absolutely nothing going for him. It's downright irritating how they try to convince you that every woman in the game is in love with this dude who makes cardboard look charismatic. Then they have the nerve to lock him into your active party, limiting the configurations you can play with. Basically, gameplay suffers slightly because the developers had an agenda with this ridiculous "character."
I swear, sometimes I think video game stories rival pop music lyrics in terms of how "this will do?" they can be.
/rant over
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FFX-2 is pure camp and my baby gay, pre-teen self was living for it.
Doesn't hurt that the battle system is actually very good.
X-2 is the best battle system in the series! It's a fuck ton of fun to play and the plot actually has a lot of character to it divorced from its original game: a tall order of course, but time has been very kind to it.
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Admittedly, the battle system is probably the funnest in the entire series but it's just not enough to make up for the rest of it.
This is harsh, but I think what especially puts me off about the game is how inorganic it feels. I always have this vision of this corporate meeting where ones of the big wigs says, "Okay, FFX sold really well, so we WILL have a sequel. Does anybody have any ideas? We're not leaving until we have a plan." But everybody's really fucking hungry, so some heroic person throws out a bunch of terrible ideas, hoping but not really believing that it will get them out of the room. And then miraculously the powers that be likes the terrible ideas and the rest is history.
It all just seems so forced. The soulless and mechanical airship-based structure of the game just re-enforces this feeling. When your airship is just a menu (rather than a whole world ala Skies of Arcadia), it's probably not the best idea for it to be structural foundation of your game.
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I actually feel the opposite. It feels to me like someone was in a meeting and said, “You know what? Let’s have some fun with this.” And clearly did.
X-2 definitely feels like the peak of the like turn-based ATB battle system of so many of the previous entries. It really hits the balance of feeling fast-paced enough but also strategic plus the ability to switch jobs on the fly keeps it fresh the entire way through tee bee aich. It's just pure fun and has a lot more replay value than a lot of the "better" games in the series.
Nn what about the gayification of X makes you think it was just thrown together? Yes there are certain dress spheres that feel pandering to the male gaze but it's also big Sailor Moon energy. It feels like for once they shirked expectations and let some of the queens at Square into the development meeting.
Regarding the airship, that's essentially the same way X is? X is even more linear for 90% of the game given when you get the airship.
*X-2 diss siren* Not my high camp, fashion, popstar, eXTraVaGanzA! The gameplay! The looks! The music! An all female party!
Also this is probably the most left of field the X saga could have gone, I think the most *men in a boardroom meeting* this could be is ‘boohoo sin is back lol’ (which as we know and ignore, did eventually happen). Instead we got something that had a great juxtaposition to the original, the change in tone now that people were not fearing for their lives and Yuna trying to fit into a changed world that initially didn’t need her anymore.
Also this is probably the most left of field the X saga could have gone, I think the most *men in a boardroom meeting* this could be is ‘boohoo sin is back lol’ (which as we know and ignore, did eventually happen). Instead we got something that had a great juxtaposition to the original, the change in tone now that people were not fearing for their lives and Yuna trying to fit into a changed world that initially didn’t need her anymore.
I have to admit, I hated X-2 when I played it for the first time but I actually enjoyed it a lot when remaster came out. The story isn't great but it was nice to see how Spira changed, different sides etc. And I liked how Yuna evolved. This might be unpopular opinion but I like the sad ending more because I honestly think Yuna grew during her journey, having Tidus back isn't that important really. I do hate the fact you get a brief scene, not even a damn cutscene after you get 100%. It is such a hilarious thing though that, even if you swallow all the crap in that audio drama, that Yuna and Tidus break up after everything you go through. But you know what, I like it, not everyone stays together. I do hope they don't go ahead with X-3 though, Sin is back plot would be so lazy so its just better to leave it alone.
Wasn't X-2 always planned? Tidus emerges from the water after the credits so it doesn't look like an afterthought thanks to the original's success.
Wasn't X-2 always planned? Tidus emerges from the water after the credits so it doesn't look like an afterthought thanks to the original's success.
X-2 is iconic, the only thing about it I don't like is how you have to follow a guide all the way through to be able to get 100%/the best ending. And even if you do it's not a guaranteed thing because it's very easy for some minor thing to go wrong somewhere along the way (which is what happened when I last played the remaster dd).
The difference for me is that in FFX, you get the airship relatively late and it's pretty much just a fast travel option. The pilgrimage before you get the airship feels very thought out and organic. Whereas FFX-2 giving you access to the airship from the start makes the game's structure feel very mechanical and unimaginative.
Linearity is not the issue with X-2 since, in a way, it's much less linear than FFX (and I actually prefer linear games these days, assuming they don't go to extremes ala FFXIII). But FFX felt disciplined and cohesive whereas FFX-2 feels like they threw a bunch of things at the wall to see what would stick. And for me the only thing that stuck was the battle system.
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They/Them
Any and all X-2 hate is illegal and cause for extermination. It is one of the best in the series. The sheer camp FUN that it is was much needed and felt like a natural shift for Spira post Sin. People were able to just live and enjoy life.= and that also included Yuna. Also it is made fairly obvious that Yuna (and Leblanc at the start) was just being embodied by Lenne in the Songstress dressphere, and some of that stayed with her due to this connection they had as heroic summoners in Spira.
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I got over my rage toward Tokyo Mirage Sessions, but it's building back up. I'm grinding in one of the optional dungeons, the last one that only has savage enemies. These savage enemies give a ton of experience but they fuck you right up. The weird thing is that every single encounter is the same group of enemies, but this is a good thing because you can figure out a strategy to easily dispatch them and gain a lot of experience and thus a lot of levels. However, the game has suddenly decided to give me a new batch of enemies and now I have to figure out another strategy not to die over and over again (frustratingly, the characters I need to grind the most are always the ones with severe weaknesses to the enemy attacks). Why, after serving the same enemies over and over again, has the game decided to replace them with new enemies? I feel like the game knows I want to beat it and is actively fighting against me.
I really do still love the game, but this frustrating stretch made me think of ten things that JRPG developers need to stop doing.
1) Stop making people go back to the menu to heal. How this design choice didn't go away in the early 2000s when Chrono Cross came out and gave you an option to automatically heal after battle is beyond me. A fast heal option should be mandatory for JRPGs.
2) Stop using cheap methods to make your bosses hard. Insta death spells should be banned. They just make the battles come down to luck. I know JRPGs are all about probability and what not, but developers should actively work toward eliminating randomness.
3) Stop making players rewatch cutscenes when they retry bosses. Just give an option to completely skip them (and no, fast fowarding through them is not a substitute). Why is that so difficult? I already watched the cutscene. Why do I need to watch it again? The inability of so many developers to implement such a simple feature is outrageous. Respect the player's fucking time.
4) Stop making players rewatch the bosses's long fucking attack animations. This makes already frustrating battles unbearable at times. I can deal with getting my ass kicked by a boss. But watching the same endless animations while anticipating my party getting wrecked is stressful. Just let me skip it. It's very simple.
5) Get rid of grinding in general. Difficulty spikes are not it. Every single RPG should leave you reasonably leveled just by engaging in the fights you naturally encounter throughout the story. If you're skipping and running from too many fights, then yes, you should be underleveled and not able to manage the boss fights because you made bad choices. But you shouldn't have to artificially fight over and over again to raise your levels. It's ridiculous.
Basically, I chose the wrong genre to be obsessed with. I love JRPGs so much but a lot of them have some basic design issues that could be easily sorted out. I don't know why this genre loves to fight the player so much. The developers' mission should be to make the game naturally challenging enough through smart design choices that they don't have to resort to bullshit.
I really do still love the game, but this frustrating stretch made me think of ten things that JRPG developers need to stop doing.
1) Stop making people go back to the menu to heal. How this design choice didn't go away in the early 2000s when Chrono Cross came out and gave you an option to automatically heal after battle is beyond me. A fast heal option should be mandatory for JRPGs.
2) Stop using cheap methods to make your bosses hard. Insta death spells should be banned. They just make the battles come down to luck. I know JRPGs are all about probability and what not, but developers should actively work toward eliminating randomness.
3) Stop making players rewatch cutscenes when they retry bosses. Just give an option to completely skip them (and no, fast fowarding through them is not a substitute). Why is that so difficult? I already watched the cutscene. Why do I need to watch it again? The inability of so many developers to implement such a simple feature is outrageous. Respect the player's fucking time.
4) Stop making players rewatch the bosses's long fucking attack animations. This makes already frustrating battles unbearable at times. I can deal with getting my ass kicked by a boss. But watching the same endless animations while anticipating my party getting wrecked is stressful. Just let me skip it. It's very simple.
5) Get rid of grinding in general. Difficulty spikes are not it. Every single RPG should leave you reasonably leveled just by engaging in the fights you naturally encounter throughout the story. If you're skipping and running from too many fights, then yes, you should be underleveled and not able to manage the boss fights because you made bad choices. But you shouldn't have to artificially fight over and over again to raise your levels. It's ridiculous.
Basically, I chose the wrong genre to be obsessed with. I love JRPGs so much but a lot of them have some basic design issues that could be easily sorted out. I don't know why this genre loves to fight the player so much. The developers' mission should be to make the game naturally challenging enough through smart design choices that they don't have to resort to bullshit.
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To be clear, I don't have anything against grinding in general. I like a good grinding session sometimes; the repetition of it can be relaxing. But players should only have to grind if they want to. There should not be situations where you have to grind to beat a boss.
I haven't seen much talk about this excellent looking JRPG. The only thing I know about One Piece is that it involves pirates and the main dude has a straw hat, but I will be picking this up day one unless reviews are bad across the board. I don't think that will happen though. It's apparently made by some of the Dragon Quest XI people. I can certainly see the similarities.
I haven't seen much talk about this excellent looking JRPG. The only thing I know about One Piece is that it involves pirates and the main dude has a straw hat, but I will be picking this up day one unless reviews are bad across the board. I don't think that will happen though. It's apparently made by some of the Dragon Quest XI people. I can certainly see the similarities.
Y’all are making me want to play X-2.
I'm not really familiar with One Piece either but this does look very cool, and yes, very Dragon Quest-esque. Definitely piqued my curiosity.