The Square Enix Phoenix

I don't think it's a big secret to all of us that Square had been in a bit of a rut in the West during the last console generation. Final Fantasy XIII wasn't really resonating all that well with fans, XIV had earned the not-so-coveted title of Worst MMO Ever and Tomb Raider was deemed a complete failure after selling even millions of copies having only achieved profitability THIS YEAR.

You did good Lara, you did good.

But it seems as though things are starting to turn around, which makes me very excited. I've been a fan of Square's work ever since I was young and even consider Final Fantasy IX my favorite game of all time. It seems as though Square is finally realizing what its fans truly want. But what steered them wrong in the first place?

I really do like you, but here's where it all went wrong.

Square simply got caught up in what some have taken to calling the "Hollywood-ization" of gaming (or the less subtle term "The Call of Duty Effect") You see, Square noticed that big blockbuster games sold well. Pretty cutscenes, lots of action and the so called "epic" moment had become the main selling points of gaming. If you consider this it's easy to see part of the reason that Final Fantasy XIII went so, so wrong. An overly-simplistic level design coupled with an insane focus on graphics over both gameplay AND story led to a pretty mediocre title overall that instilled a fiery rage in many a Final Fan. I personally didn't mind the titles that much but compared to their earlier work it's easy to see that this route would make anyone who was a fan of a deep story that didn't require reading a Codex to understand a little bit angry. Square did begin rectifying its mistake recently. I actually consider Lightning Returns one of the most fun Final Fantasy titles I've played and praise its difficulty and inventive battle system. But two titles are really turning Square around and that's Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn and Bravely Default.

I love you guys. Especially Ringabel......mostly Ringabel.

I'm not really going to delve into FFXIV because there's actually an entire other post I have dedicated to that game and Naoki Yoshida. But Bravely Default really deserves some praise. It's a prime case of a company going back to their roots and realizing that they didn't need to fix what wasn't broken. The battle system is complex and challenging, the jobs are unique and fun and every character you encounter is absolutely delightful. I hear the game has some issues with repetition late into the title but I actually haven't finished yet just because I'm having so much fun grinding away. The success of Bravely Default has made Square realize that the West does want JRPGs. That's an absolutely monumental achievement. I'm hoping this will make them rethink their strategy overseas. And maybe they'll do something else for us. Like, I don't know, release Final Fantasy Type-0 in the West?

I just want it so badly.

It's clear that Square-Enix has realized that there is a better path to achieve the success they want. And they're taking the opportunity presented to them instead of just continuing to do things the way they have. I'm hoping this turnaround means a second coming of the old Square I knew and love. I'm hoping it leads to a rebirth of the JRPGs that garnered so much love in the PS1 era. But that may be asking a little much. Right now, I'm just hoping this means Final Fantasy XV is as awesome as I pray it's going to be.

Hope Noctis is less moody than I think he's gonna be. Oh well, his blonde buddy seems fun.

Pokemon X & Y: Easy Doesn't Equate to Bad

I’m sure many of you are knee deep in Pokemon X and Y. Most of you have probably even beaten the main story by now and are moving on. But there’s one thing that’s been causing quite a stir with fans of the series.

I am talking, of course, about the new EXP. Share.

For those of you that don’t know the way the new EXP. Share works is that it gives all of your Pokemon a percentage of the experience points you gathered in the last fight. Because of this it’s quite easy to level up an entire team of Pokemon in less than half the time you could have in the other games. However, this has also presented what some people see as a problem. Your team of Pokemon is usually vastly overleveled when compared to your counterparts. This causes players to more often than not completely saunter through the main story with little to no challenge.

I’m here to say that’s completely ok.

A game doesn’t need to be difficult to be enjoyable. There’s a staggering amount of players out there that simply just want to be able to complete the game. There’s many that just want to sit back, feel good about the progress they made and be an unstoppable force.

"But what are the rest of us supposed to do?" Well luckily for the rest of you this Pokemon game has presented many different options for you to have a more challenging game experience. You just need to think outside of the box. Here’s some ideas:

-Turn the EXP. Share off: This is probably the most simple solution. Turn the thing off and simply play through as if the object never existed. That’s why this is presented to the player as an option, not a necessity.

-Do a Wonder Run: That Wonder Trade feature is pretty nifty right? Well why not trade for a bunch of random Pokemon? And why not make those random Pokemon your team for the entire game, regardless of type disadvantage? That should be interesting, especially since there may come a point where those traded Pokemon refuse to listen to you. That’s far more realistic in my opinion.

-Don’t use Mega Evolution: Some people like it, some people don’t but there’s no denying that mega evolution is insanely strong. If you decide not to use it that should surely up the challenge of your game.

-Nuzlocke Run: Nuzlocke is a popular way to play Pokemon that emerged around the Ruby/Sapphire era. If a Pokemon faints you can never use it again. This has lots of variations but no matter what you do you can be sure that the game will be more difficult as a result. In fact, why not combine this with a Wonder Run?

These games are far more accommodating to all of the players far more than we realize. The game itself has its own rules, but we can also impose are own rules on ourselves to make things more challenging. So many gamers are so used to games telling them what they can and can’t do that they often forget that they can impose their own rules when the occasion calls for it.

With all of these options available to the player can we really call this bad game design as so many have? I’m prepared to say quite the opposite. Pokemon X and Y are forcing players to think outside the box. They are being forced to use their imaginations to provide themselves with a greater challenge. Could it be that this was the developer’s intent the entire time? Who knows. But I’m convinced that it might have been.

Yoshi-P Shows Us That This Fantasy Is Never Final

After a month of playing I finally feel that I have enough experience with the game to write this article.

Let me be clear: I love Final Fantasy XIV. I think it’s an absolutely incredible MMO and an incredible game well deserving of all the praise it gets. But I didn’t always think that way.

I was like most people when they announced that Final Fantasy XIV was getting resurrected. “There’s no way they can ever do it.” “No MMO has ever been brought back. What are the chances of it happening now?” “Square-Enix is floundering. They can’t pull this off.” But one man caused me to look at the game a second time. He caused me to follow the dev diaries. He influenced my purchase of the game. That man is Naoki Yoshida or as fans affectionately refer to him as, Yoshi-P.

Yoshi-P was assigned to the FFXIV re-creation project. Honestly most would’ve considered such a job a waste of time. Subscription numbers were low and the game was a laughingstock. What could be done?

But he didn’t give up home. The man worked long hours and gained the trust of his team. And when they discovered that nothing could be done he and his team scrapped the whole old game and started anew. It was considered outrageous at the time. But time passed and Yoshi-P did not simply keep his fans out of the loop. He updated them, regularly about all of the plans he had for the game. And the fans sat and they waited and they listened.

Then the beta was released and Yoshi-P kept the updates coming. He kept the populace informed and made it his own mission to listen to what the fans had to say. the game was tweaked and tweaked and tweaked some more. Fans gave it a very positive reception. Launch looked like it was going to be a piece of cake. But then….

Huge server issues were present. People couldn’t log in and those that could were just staying on the servers. It doesn’t really matter if your game is good if people can’t play it. Some devs would’ve just brushed it off. But Yoshi-P was apologetic. He took it all upon his shoulders and accepted all the blame for every issue promising people that he would do everything in his power to fix the issues. And he did. And his team did. And now the game is in a better place than it has ever been.

The industry really needs more people like Yoshi-P in it. With all of the people in the industry that are so quick to completely disregard what anyone else says about their product. With all of the people that are so quick to say “If you don’t like my product don’t buy it,” it’s good to know that there are more people like Yoshi-P out there.

I used to be like those people. He made me change my tune. And his hard work brought me an amazing world that I can feel immersed in. Thanks Yoshi-P.

Review Scores: I Love You and Yet I Hate You and Yet I Love You

With all the recent talk and random internet yelling about Grand Theft Auto V I thought I’d take today to talk about review scores.

What sparked this was a webcomic I read recently known as Critical Miss by Grey carter and Cory Rydell. In the panel in question the characters are talking about reviewing Grand Theft Auto V.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/comics/critical-miss/10611-The-Sacrificial-Lamb

"Less than a ten? Angry mobs."

"We give it a ten? Snooty message board fucks say we sold out.”

Now here’s where lots of people tend to get messed up. So here’s what I’m going to do. Let’s get a simple break down of what review scores from one to ten really mean in the eyes of those that are actually reviewing the game and not in the eyes of angry twelve year olds on a message board. You might want to write this down.

1/10 - Atrocious. These are the true stinkers. These games not only play badly but look and sound badly in the context of the console generation as well. it has little to no redeeming qualities. Very few games are ever given this :coveted” score.

2/10 - Horrible. Honestly just a step up from the last one. These games are still marred with problems but have some redeeming qualities, but very little. Games with this score are still probably not worth your time.

3/10 - Very Bad. Yet again, just a slight step up. We have a few more redeeming qualities. Some people somewhere probably find this playable and/or fun.

4/10 - Bad. Not the best. Just enough problems keep this from being good or even average at best. Still, it probably has a niche audience that likes it somewhere. Perhaps they find its flaws charming. Or perhaps the game itself just only struck chords with a select group.

5/10 - Average. Yes, you read that right. Average. Games with this score are not that bad, yet not that good. Unfortunately the popular misconception is that something worth less than a 7 isn’t worth somebody’s time. Games with this score are definitely worth at least a rental.

6/10 - Fine. These games are better than average that’s for sure. Sure they may have their niche audience like those in the Bad camp but if you take the opportunity to look it’s pretty easy to see why those niche audiences like these games. Definitely worth a rental and maybe even a purchase.

7/10 - Good. As I said before most think that games given a score less than this are more often than not not worth their time. This is not the case. This is a good game. You will probably enjoy it. It’s most likely worth a purchase. But hey, those last two scores honestly could be too. This most likely just nets a wider audience.

8/10 - Very Good. These games really are above and beyond what others have done. Maybe they brought something new to the table and did it exceedingly well or maybe they didn’t but still did what they did exceedingly well. it’s rare that someone should be unhappy with this game.

9/10 - Great. Wow that was awesome! These are those games that should invoke that feeling in you. Audiences should be thoroughly impressed with what that game does. It will be both technically impressive and great by design. This is the point where people start getting mad if their game didn’t get this score.

10/10 - Masterpiece. This game defines what it means to be a game. it does almost everything right, is a shining example of its genre, has a great musical score, an awesome visual style and gameplay that should be fun for pretty much everybody. This game is nearly perfect and should go down in history. Note that I said nearly perfect. No game is ever perfect.

I hope what I said today has allowed some of you to put review scores into perspective. Now I just need you all to remember one simple thing.

Review scores are the opinion of someone on the internet. They are a guide to help you, the player, make an informed purchasing decision based on their own personal opinion. It is not something you should take to heart. It is not something that validates or invalidates everything the game you like has done. This is not something you bring up when discussing how great that game you like is.

Does GTA V deserve a 10? I don’t know. I haven’t played it yet. But just because somebody else decided it didn’t does not mean you have to go torches and pitchforks on them. And just because someone did does not necessarily mean they are being paid loads of money to say that.

The score itself is an arbitrary number that someone has attached so that people who don’t want to read their long studied review can just make a quick decision. You should take review scores into consideration but never let just that single number be the overall deciding factor of whether you buy something or not or whether you enjoy something or not.

Use your own judgment, try before you buy, actually read articles about the game to see if it is for you. Use the number as a guide, but don’t let it dictate your entire gaming lifestyle.

That’s it for me this week.

The Witcher: Video Game Storytelling At Its Finest

The Witcher series has managed to garner almost universal praise from the gaming community. Developer CD Projekt Red has managed to not only entertain but to completely immerse so many people in the world of Geralt of Rivia. This is in no small part to the incredibly strong source material but that’s only part of the overall picture. What is it about The Witcher’s story and the game’s construction that has managed to successfully bring so many into the fold?

The answer is all in the way the developers have laid the story out. They were not simply seeking to adapt a book. Using the source material as a springboard they have managed to build a story that anyone can easily jump into and be completely entertained no matter where they start.

Looking at some other games with sequels such as Mass Effect, Assassin’s Creed and certain Final Fantasy titles we start to notice a trend. Yes, the stories themselves are all pretty enjoyable on their own. But we run into a little bit of a snag. The stories themselves aren’t as enjoyable as if you had been a long time fan. These stories require continuity and fan investment incredibly heavily. Garrus is a very interesting character but if you have not played the previous two Mass Effect games the way he has grown throughout the series will not resonate with you which is one of the major strengths of how he was written nor will you as a player really understand the entirety of the Commander’s struggle. Desmond Miles is interesting but unless you’ve been playing since the first Assassin’s Creed most of his importance would be lost as well as the severity of the battles against Abstergo. Cecil is really strong and magnificent in Final Fantasy IV: The After Years but there’s no real appreciation for him or that world if you haven’t played the original.

The Witcher really does not have this problem. And due in no small part to how the game and its story are constructed. Anybody can simply jump in to The Witcher 2 and find that they enjoy it. I did so myself. But why is this?

Looking at The Witcher 2 it’s apparent that it is divided into three acts. While we do have the overarching threat of The Kingslayer touched upon in every single act that is but a small part in each act’s enjoyment. Every single act of The Witcher 2 is constructed as its own standalone story. One can play through but a single act and play through a very well written tale from beginning to middle to end. Each act has its own finality. Each act seems as though it could’ve been its own short, standalone title.

For example let’s look at Act I in the town of Flotsam. Throughout the whole act you are treated to what is pretty much a story about the town. It’s just a simple story following the “Stranger Comes to Town” formula that so many pieces of fiction utilize. And it executes it incredibly well. While you personally don’t find much on the overarching issues with The Kingslayer (as that is saved for Act III) you are treated to an interesting story about a town and its problems. There’s an oppressive regime that runs the town, Iorveth’s Robin-Hood esque band of Scoia’tel attacking merchants this way and that and plenty of other little problems that a town would suffer from in Geralt’s world all leading up to a climactic final battle with the imposing creature known as the Kayran. It’s a tight, well written story that feels as though it could simply be its own game. And each other act is stand alone as well, but I won’t mention them to avoid going into spoiler territory.

But this is not just limited to the acts. Even the sidequests within the acts all manage to follow this really tight storytelling. Once a sidequest is finished there’s always that satisfaction that a story has ended. There’s never really those slight feelings of “what if” going through the player’s head.

There are indeed memorable characters from other games that make appearances like the titles I’ve mentioned above. That part is true. But prior knowledge of them is not what primarily heightens the enjoyment of the game. The Witcher is not a story about a band of characters. The Witcher is a story about one character, Geralt, and the world he inhabits. It is a story about towns in trouble, monsters to be slain and bandits to be found and how one man, how you, choose to tackle those problems. The story is one that really lives in the moment. it doesn’t need you to know hundreds of different things to establish and interesting tale. The tales themselves are written as stand-alone. They’re interesting without any other input. And that everyone, is why The Witcher makes the case for quality game storytelling.