Those Guys I Play With. They're Pretty Cool.

Have you ever asked someone why they play a video game and had their response be "Well all my friends play it," "The community is really fun" or anything of that sort? Of course you have. A great deal of us have. Some of us will even go as far as saying "Well this part of the game is lame but whatever, my buddies play it." Why is that so? Why are some of us willing to overlook a game's flaws just because our friends play it? Why will people play a game that they're unskilled at just because the community is good? Well honestly, a great community is a gameplay feature and can often be just as important, if not more, than even things such as balanced classes and great mechanics in some titles.

I've played plenty of online titles with my two mainstays right now being Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn and League of Legends. The first game is one I continue playing and enjoy a lot. League is another story however. A big part of they I continue playing Final Fantasy as well as why I've stopped playing League stems from the community.

Here's Costello. He's a Monk on the Brynhildr server. Still not perfect until I become a giant green Roegadyn though.........

I've talked a lot about Final Fantasy XIV. But one of the main reason I've stuck around is because my friends and the community are just great. Things have gotten a little worse with the launch of the PS4 version (more tanks dropping out of dungeons, I actually run into random people insulting me, etc.) but for the most part everything is still great. My guildmates, who consist of both real life friends and people I have met over the game, are all very friendly, helpful and just generally fun to be around. The interactions I have with them are a integral part of the gameplay experience. When the player encounters people that are generally rude, unhelpful and just plain terrible to be around their gameplay experience is usually not as enjoyable because odds are that this person was encountered to help them finish content and they are making tackling that challenge more frustrating than it should be. In games that are single-player this is no issue but when surmounting a challenge is so heavily dependent on everyone working together it's truly best if all of the players can get along.

Plus friends make enjoyable things like Ghost Beach Parties happen. If you can't see the enjoyment to be found in a Ghost Beach Party then we're probably not friends. Credit to my friend Pumpkin Spice for this picture by the way.

Now let's look at the game that I have stopped playing and that I'm really not sure I'll ever open again without a friend asking me to.

League of Legends on its own is honestly a pretty enjoyable game. I came from DOTA back on Warcraft III and it was pretty easy for me to hop in. The champions are pretty unique and most of them are fun to play. The graphics are pretty good, music is good, and the gameplay on its own is pretty awesome. But the defining factor that is keeping me from returning of my own volition is the community.

You cannot expect to enter a League of Legends game without someone getting angry and taking it out on the team. You cannot expect to enter a League of Legends game and not see one player insulting another. You cannot enter a League of Legends game and honestly expect at least half of your team to be people you would ever consider playing with again. This is League's main issue.

League is a pretty enjoyable game on its own merits or with your friends. But the second internet anonymity is introduced that all goes downhill really quick. League is a competitive environment. one team must win. One team must lose. And it is something about this environment that tends to bring out the worst in people. Losing can lead to frustration. But so many people on league take it to new heights that it is almost unreal. And this hyper-competitive nature is leading to an incredibly toxic environment. I have tried many different ways to facilitate a better environment for my teammates personally.

This includes, but is not limited to:

• Giving a fellow player advice when they are doing poorly
• Not intentionally attempting to antagonize the other team
• Not intentionally attempting to antagonize my fellow teammates
• Always trying to have a positive attitude
• Always trying to be the one who facilitates teamwork between my teammates

Unfortunately, most of the time none of this works. A player may spurn the advice and see it as someone talking down to them. A player may be antagonistic anyways and catch one of your teammates in his attempt to make them angry. A player may just feel so badly about their performance that there is no way to bring them out of their funk regardless of how hard you try. The list goes on. Riot has tried many ways to facilitate better player interaction such as using a system to punish/ban toxic players and an honor system to help reward players that aren't hurting the community. These are nice attempts but unless every player makes a conscious effort to do so it's not actually going to work. 

But why the difference? From what I can surmise there is a big distinguishing factor between Final Fantasy and League. Final Fantasy is for the most part a cooperative game while League is a competitive one. It may be that the competitive nature of League simply ends up frustrating players more than Final Fantasy when a fail state is reached because they know they haven't lost to a computer, they've lost to another person. This fact that another person has bested them tends to get under a lot of people's skin.

So what do you guys think? Is the competitive nature the cause of the communities of these games being like night and day? Or is it something else? Let me know in the comments and I'll see you all next week.

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.