Great article about the Final Fantasy series

Retr0gamer

GothPunk wrote: »

I'm playing through FFVII at the moment on my PSP, which is my first time playing the PS version, and already I'm noticing how much the translation must have been improved for the PC release. I think that's one of the only reasons I'd like a remake of FFVII, for a better translation.

They didn't change a word of the translation for the PC release.

GothPunk

Retr0gamer wrote: »

They didn't change a word of the translation for the PC release.

Have you played both versions? Because they most certainly did fix it up quite a bit. Particularly the bad spelling.

noodler wrote:

Not very impressed with Dark Chronicle by the way GP, did you try it?

Havn't had the chance to yet, I've been playing FFX, Dead Space and Zone of the Enders. I'll probably play Dark Cloud first though.

Retr0gamer

GothPunk wrote: »

Have you played both versions? Because they most certainly did fix it up quite a bit. Particularly the bad spelling.

The first time I played it was on my awful PC at the time at about 5 fps but that was ages ago. I thought they didn't really touch the translation. I think they might have fixed the bad spelling but they didn't change the context of the dialogue. I remember that in both the PC and PS1 versions the dialogue implies that you should attack the first boss when it's tail is up despite it being the opposite thing to do. Anyway could be wrong but I'm not wrong with the first boss thing.

Anima

Hmm I played the PC version also and I don't think the dialog was much different from the PS version. Could be wrong but its always been fairly bad whenever I've played the game Damn fine game though!

GothPunk

Anima wrote: »

Hmm I played the PC version also and I don't think the dialog was much different from the PS version. Could be wrong but its always been fairly bad whenever I've played the game Damn fine game though!

Oh yeah, the dialog is hardly changed at all, but surely you noticed that most of the glaring grammatical and spelling errors were fixed?

It's a lot of fun hearing peoples responses about the translation, because a lot of us seem to just let the game away with it, but if we played a new game like that we'd be pissed off most likely. How times have changed!

Retr0gamer

http://www.socksmakepeoplesexy.net/index.php?a=ff11

Think this will be his last one. FFXI gets a hammering.

jethro081

well, i'll not be playing that then so. Just out of interest, have any of ye played it or any similar online adventure. are they really so bad?

SmileyPaul

thats pretty cool

noodler

Retr0gamer wrote: »

The first time I played it was on my awful PC at the time at about 5 fps but that was ages ago. I thought they didn't really touch the translation. I think they might have fixed the bad spelling but they didn't change the context of the dialogue. I remember that in both the PC and PS1 versions the dialogue implies that you should attack the first boss when it's tail is up despite it being the opposite thing to do. Anyway could be wrong but I'm not wrong with the first boss thing.

No wonder you hate it then!

The idea of FF online scares the hell out of me. I like the finite nature of the offline games, where you can play it a second game to do the crap you missed and that will be that.

I was addicted enough to RA2 online-can only imagine what kind of bad things a online FF (or WOW) would do to me.

Retr0gamer

FF11 wasn't the last one.

FF12 now covered:

http://socksmakepeoplesexy.net/index.php?a=ff12

The_Hat

No FFX-2? Probably a good thing. There's a game I never want to live through again.
Still great articles, even if I though he went on about the VA in X way too much. Other than the laughing scene its not too bad...

Mr. K

It'd be cool if he did a general article on the spin-off games. It'd kinda ruin his menu design though...

seraphimvc

i have to salute Sir.Pitchfork after i read his FF12's review just now.

tip to toe.he covered everything - pros and cons.everything in ff12.mygad!!absolute brilliant writer

never feel so content after reading a 'game review' lol the man spoke out all i felt and he tells me something more that i didnt realise.

*salute pitchfork* if i ever have a chance to meet the man,defo buy him a big pint of guiness!!

same looking forward to ff13 - ff12 was terrible,but still i cant recall which RPG spent me more time than it did in the last recent years!

seraphimvc

http://socksmakepeoplesexy.net/index.php?a=ff13

13's review is out.we pretty much covered what he said before but obviously he put everything nicely together.

Memnoch

Though I disagree with him about the battle system a little, I think he got 13 spot on for the most bit.

I think what the FF series needs is what's happened to Star Trek. It needs to die. It needs to sit on the shelf with nothing but nostaliga to bind it to our memories for a good ten years. Until the IP is just another catalogue for some company to buy.

And then it can be revived by someone with intelligence and passion, because god knows, the current masters don't have any. Until then, we all keep hoping for a great new final fantasy that will finally recapture our imagination the way the series did when we were first introduced to it while the money men continue to ride on the coat tails of past greatness while serving us watered down forumla.

Everyone goes on about how great the graphics in FFXIII are, well, I don't care. I wasn't that impressed, I get good graphics watching 24 on my HD TV, and a better story to boot (sad, 24's story is better than FFXIII's).

But the inescapable truth for me as a gamer, is that I haven't been satisfied with an FF since X. I might give XV a try, but that's probably going to be the last straw for the series to recapture me before the brand loses all value.

And also, shame on the hacks that call themselves journalists and reviewers in the gaming industry. They are a major part of the problem. If they had trashed XIII like it deserved, then maybe it would make the creators wake up a little instead lying in a big circle jerk on the floor, euphorically convulsing with their thumbs inside each others collective bums.

I also don't buy all this tripe about appealing to younger/new gamers. Surely a quality game is much more likely to tie someone to the franchise, or has the human gene pool been secretly polluted by some virus that turns todays teens into vegetables? (Maybe on the evidence of twilight, it has).

Xluna

Memnoch wrote: »

Though I disagree with him about the battle system a little, I think he got 13 spot on for the most bit.

I think what the FF series needs is what's happened to Star Trek. It needs to die. It needs to sit on the shelf with nothing but nostaliga to bind it to our memories for a good ten years. Until the IP is just another catalogue for some company to buy.

And then it can be revived by someone with intelligence and passion, because god knows, the current masters don't have any. Until then, we all keep hoping for a great new final fantasy that will finally recapture our imagination the way the series did when we were first introduced to it while the money men continue to ride on the coat tails of past greatness while serving us watered down forumla.

Everyone goes on about how great the graphics in FFXIII are, well, I don't care. I wasn't that impressed, I get good graphics watching 24 on my HD TV, and a better story to boot (sad, 24's story is better than FFXIII's).

But the inescapable truth for me as a gamer, is that I haven't been satisfied with an FF since X. I might give XV a try, but that's probably going to be the last straw for the series to recapture me before the brand loses all value.

And also, shame on the hacks that call themselves journalists and reviewers in the gaming industry. They are a major part of the problem. If they had trashed XIII like it deserved, then maybe it would make the creators wake up a little instead lying in a big circle jerk on the floor, euphorically convulsing with their thumbs inside each others collective bums.

I also don't buy all this tripe about appealing to younger/new gamers. Surely a quality game is much more likely to tie someone to the franchise, or has the human gene pool been secretly polluted by some virus that turns todays teens into vegetables? (Maybe on the evidence of twilight, it has).

Video game reviews often review a game on hype or by what people want a game to be like. I remember when many video game magazines considered Mortal Kombat three better than Super street fighter 2 turbo. Which has stood the test of time better? Most video game reviews could'nt review a JRPG if there life depended on it. I remember Suikoden getting alot of 6/10s in magazines. There was me on the day I bought it,expecting an average game and instead was introduced to one of my favourite series of all time. Same with Lost Odyssey, so many reviews with a 7. Give them a half decent FPS and they'll be practically jacking off on the video review. Modern Warfare two is another good example. It was a pretty average game compared to MW 1 and World at War,which got some undeserved critcism because it was simply set in WW2.

I totally agree about this BS of "getting with the times" adapting to new audience. It's crap. The truth is they want to maximise profits and the mainstream person tends to be extroverted and enjoys fast,short thrills,shinny graphics,explosions and wants to avoid reading dialogue-the opposiate of your typical JRPG fan. No wonder Lost Odyssey was given average reviews;" Oh my God. We have to read stuff!?" Sadly introverts are in the minority and as gaming becomes more "social" many big franchises will adapt games to the mainstream tastes to make more money.

OxfordComma

I headed straight for the FF XIII review (I've become obsessed with seeing what people's opinions are of this new game) and, while I feel he didn't give the game any credit for its battle system (which I enjoyed a lot, especially towards the end of the game) he definitely hit the nail on the head as regards the anaemic storyline and alarming lack of exploration, depth and fun in this game. I've become very disillusioned with the Final Fantasy series recently, and this article very much reflects how I feel myself about FF XIII. *sigh*

Aurongroove

tsk! emagine reading a music album review which read "I didn't play the last few tracks"

the ending in XIII was great, and the end game stuff is fantastic as well, and it's easily a better title then XII.
His writing abilities and judgment, I felt, were ironically mirrored by his appraisal of the very things was reviewing; his abilities seemed to peak at VI and VII and go down hill from there, by XII and XIII is writing was insufferable and, like his XIII review, I didn't finish reading it.

If I could add a P.S.
The one thing I did enjoy reading post VII, was his description of one of Yunalesca's attacks as a "telepathic bitch slap" I will probably steal that description should the occasion present itself

Memnoch

Aurongroove wrote: »

tsk! emagine reading a music album review which read "I didn't play the last few tracks"

the ending in XIII was great, and the end game stuff is fantastic as well, and it's easily a better title then XII.
His writing abilities and judgment, I felt, were ironically mirrored by his appraisal of the very things was reviewing; his abilities seemed to peak at VI and VII and go down hill from there, by XII and XIII is writing was insufferable and, like his XIII review, I didn't finish reading it.

If I could add a P.S.
The one thing I did enjoy reading post VII, was his description of one of Yunalesca's attacks as a "telepathic bitch slap" I will probably steal that description should the occasion present itself

I found the ending in XIII to be pathetic and make no sense. It was just fancy animation and graphics with no real purpose or emotion (hard when you have no connection to the characters), and the Leona Lewis song was horribly out of place.

Also your music track analogy is a bit of a fail, since he did watch all the ending scenes on youtube.

I've said before, I enjoyed the battle system and disagree with him about that, but he's spot on about the rest.

noodler

If you are going to review a game in any type of official capacity then you should play it through to the end IMO.

TheTosh

Very disappointed with 13, it lacked so much like npc interaction, mini-games, an in-depth story and decent characters just to name a few. Plus I didn't like the way they changed the names of magic.

FF8 FTW!!!

Prufrock

The articles ok but he bashes 8 a lot. Also 7 is hardly as perfect as hes making it out to be. Some good info in there though like how Basch was ment to be the main character of 12 and thats why Vaan is so.....pointless.

TheTosh

Ah Basch one of my favourite FF characters, 13 could of used someone like him

The_D_Man

If anyone is going to redeem the final fantasy series, for me at least, its Nomura with Versus 13. Its got air-ships and world-maps hence none of the linearity of 13 and "the tube". If Versus fails, I'm finished with Final Fantasy.

carbonkid

The_D_Man wrote: »

If anyone is going to redeem the final fantasy series, for me at least, its Nomura with Versus 13. Its got air-ships and world-maps hence none of the linearity of 13 and "the tube". If Versus fails, I'm finished with Final Fantasy.

Think everyone is pretty much thinking the same thing, although you might be giving Nomura too much credit...he directed advent children remember!!!

We also expected alot from the first FF for the PS3

The_D_Man

carbonkid wrote: »

Think everyone is pretty much thinking the same thing, although you might be giving Nomura too much credit...he directed advent children remember!!!

We also expected alot from the first FF for the PS3

I expected 13 to be a dissapointment from the outset what with Motomu Toriyama directing(the joker behind X-2 and revenant wings).

Advent Children wasnt all bad, especially the ending fight scene with Sephiroth which was class. You did need a fairly comprehensive knowledge of FF7 to understand all the references and such and sadly, I lacked those qualities the first time I watched it even though I had passed the game a few times(admittedly a good few years before so it was a bit hazy).

carbonkid

Does anyone know the history of the FF directors...are all the old directors from the square soft days gone at this stage? Im pretty sure Hironobu Sakaguchi left after X.

Damn, maybe there never will be another amazing FF game

Aurongroove

Memnoch wrote: »

Also your music track analogy is a bit of a fail, since he did watch all the ending scenes on youtube.

I've said before, I enjoyed the battle system and disagree with him about that, but he's spot on about the rest.

that's a bit stupid mate, your saying: he found the game bad, a game prized for high quality graphics and an engaging battle engine, by watching the cut scenes on youtube in order to complete the game


Its becoming more and more obvious that a lot of FF fans are growing up into sad adults who no longer have the capacity to get immersed in a world like FF.

The dodgy story telling for me didn't spoil the games immensely better qualities. (such as, the story itself, or the battling, or the exploration)

I predict a similar backlash against vs 13 despite all the traditional elements, but it won't matter because there are younger gamers ready to take the place of every disgruntled "series fan" running away in a huff because he dosn't know what he wants and because Square Enix didn't give it to him, go online, assign impossible levels of perfection on the game with the benefit of retrospect of it already being released.

Kiith

Aurongroove wrote: »

Its becoming more and more obvious that a lot of FF fans are growing up into sad adults who no longer have the capacity to get immersed in a world like FF.

Final Fantasy fans who cant get immersed in the world are unable to do so because the worlds aren't as convincing or interesting as they used to be. It doesn't make someone sad if they simply demand more from a title that claims to be the definitive JRPG.

Aurongroove wrote: »

The dodgy story telling for me didn't spoil the games immensely better qualities. (such as, the story itself, or the battling, or the exploration).

I can only speak for myself, but the story is the only thing that keeps me interested in a JRPG. The battle system, the exploration, item creation etc...are all a means to an end. And that end is the telling of a story.

noodler

The music in FF games (hell any music) needs to grow on you, you can hardly watch a fight on youtube and think it will have the same impact.