Wii and 360 are dead to me.

Real-time is… okay, once in a while, but honestly if I didn’t also have the kind of game where I could constantly pause it to choose my tactics, I probably wouldn’t be playing as many RPGs as I do. RPG fans are notorious for a lack of hand-eye coordination and quick reflexes, and I for one feel that a genre that focuses on storyline, exploration, and strategy shouldn’t penalize one for not reacting fast enough. That’s not to say that real-time RPGs don’t have a place (they’ve been around since the first Seiken Densetsu) but I’m a little leery of the trend towards entirely phasing out menu-based games.

I’m absolutely in love with FF12’s story and presentation (seriously, it flows so well and the dialogue is so professional that it blows away literally any other RPG I’ve ever played). Gameplay-wise… it’s interesting, but I’m spending way WAY too long running around beating enemies for loot. Equipment is so damn expensive. >_<

You prefer a game of knowledge to a game of skill, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I don’t like it because recent games make it too easy to gather knowledge. They don’t leave much up to the gamer to figure out, they play themselves and they’re easy. I want to fight an Ultimate Weapon in real time, one that people can’t beat just by reading a FAQ. You can’t pause in real life and I’m a big fan of realism.

I think the problem is that unless you’re making an Action RPG, an RPG in real time is hard to do right.

Let’s take FF12 for example:

First of all, you can choose active, or wait. Wait makes the game stop when you bring up the menu; the game defaults to wait. Active makes the game run entirely the whole time. Suffice to say, once you start playing Active, you’ll never wanna go back to wait.

Now your game is in full real time; however, you’re managing three people and you have NO MACROS. What this basically means is that you rule ass in normals fights because there is nothing to worry about, but boss fights are so fast and hectic (and bosses don’t need to micromanage) that you’re at a severe disadvantage by being on Active mode…and I’m not talking about the fun type of disadvantage…I’m talking about the “this could have been fun if it were just BETTER” disadvantage.

I’ve definitely been becoming more and more an advocate of Action RPGs. I await the day when people start taking them more seriously, and make a really, really good one.

I know the type of disadvantage you’re talking about and it’s the last thing I want. I do want a good aRPG though, or even a non-rpg FF. That’s why I’m so looking forward to this O_O

I agree with the desire for good action rpgs. So many are crap. Did Square decide to stick with the PS3? Last I heard they were going to be making FF games for all the next-gen consoles this time. I don’t keep up with the latest gaming news though.

FFXII is fun, but it doesn’t feel like a final fantasy at all. Trying to think of it as a final fantasy makes me nostalgic and I don’t have much fun playing it. Thinking of it as a different rpg makes it more enjoyable.

If that stupid little fag Testuya Nomura is involved (and he must be if there are already a million FFXIII games set to come out…bastard) then I will stay as far away from it as possible.

I will agree that the PSIII looks awesome, and that I think that the PS3 is a solid console. With that being said, I cannot afford a PSIII console (I can barely afford a Wii, honestly). Of course, I also prefer the Wii because I enjoy its concept, games, blah blah blah, but I won’t get into that here because this is about FFXIII.

The only thing I really don’t like is that FFXIII is slated to have several sequels that will not only come out on PSIII, but on mobile phone. So I’d have to play a fucking game on my phone just so that I could get the full world’s arc. No thanks.

They don’t leave much up to the gamer to figure out, they play themselves and they’re easy.

Depends what you mean by “figure out”. I’m no fan of trying to chase after obscure secrets which aren’t even hinted to in the game. I’ve heard the best weapon in FF12 can only be found by not getting specific treasures, apparently picked at random. I prefer being given enough hints to get me going, with enough little side things that require exploration. I don’t like having to devise my own strategies based on exploitation of abilities or skills.

And there’s no such thing as a game that “plays itself” - well, until FF12, anyway. 8p Sure, it’s always possible to sit around leveling up until there’s no challenge, but I never found myself drawn to doing that. And frankly, though being challenged is good and healthy, it’s really just a way to keep one’s interest; and if the game is interesting enough in other ways (exploration, story, character building) then challenge isn’t really necessary to keep me going.

I actually loved the Kingdom Hearts games. Sure, it’s mainly mindless button-mashing, but there’s enough skills and strategy to make it interesting.

I have never used Active mode on any FF (including Dirge of Cerberus). That all has to do with thinking on your toes, and after a long day, I want to kick back and take it easy, not pump up my adrenalin. It’s not like it’s any more realistic - if people would be doing this sort of fight in real-time, they wouldn’t be slogging through menus.

As for FF12 not “feeling” like an FF, I have to say that at this point none of the FFs “feel” like an FF. Everything after FF6 had a very different “feel” to it, and FF12 actually makes far more concessions to earlier games than did FF7-10 (Moogles, crystals, familiar music themes, etc.)

I am going for a Wii before a PS3 as well. Mainly just because I’ve never had an N64 or Gamecube so there is a gigantic backlog of cheap good games that I can access for the Wii. It’d be a wiise investment.

So says the Asuka fan boy.

I’ll probably get a Wii because Nintendo makes - hands down - the best multiplayer console games. NFL Blitz and Mario Party for N64 were so much fun with friends + beer :stuck_out_tongue:

X360 seems to rely on the shooter games. But I hate console FPS game, though, especially since my friends can’t play them as well as they can play Mario Kart. Plus I’ve been shooting people online with keyboard & mouse for 9 years now so I find console controllers limiting.

I’m not a Sony hater like a lot of Internet folk, but I honestly can’t afford the system along with my planned mega-PC upgrade. That, and I never watch DVDs so I don’t give two shits about fancy, more expensive DVDs with a cool name like Blue-Ray :stuck_out_tongue:

http://www.kc-geek.com/cfl/diary/ffxiii-6.jpg

Look at those tiny boobs.

She definitely doesn’t have the tomboy thing going on, she looks like the apathetic killer that’s probably out to save her old neighbor’s uncle’s second best friend. And I don’t know how that cinematic could be actual gameplay, feels like there’s way too much stuff going on.

They’re not tiny, but they’re not Lulu either. That was my point.

And Sin, that was also my point :stuck_out_tongue: Only female pixels make me hot.

It’s funny that when boobs aren’t as big as Tifa or Lulu’s they’re considered “flat-chested”

Why do you talk?

Stop why must you fight. :frowning:

I’ve not seen the trailer, anyone got a link (I remember there was like a huge 200MB one of it floating around somewhere a while ago)? I agree with Hades pretty much, I’m really excited for this. FFXII restored my faith in the FF franchise, hopefully things can only get better from here.

You can find it on youtube but it’ll be low quality. I don’t know where else to get it.

FFXII didn’t restore my faith. Sin wants me to get it, but there’s something about it that bothers me profoundly. I don’t like its style. At all. I’ll play it eventually, but I’m more interested in FFXIII already, by FAR.

Higher quality trailers can be found here in medium and high quality or here if you want to download it.

They are not sequals. Final Fantasy XIII is supposed to be a set of 3 different games set in completely different worlds with almost unrelated storylines. From what I’ve heard, the only real connection story wise is that they involve the crystals (if I remember correctly.)

By the way, if they are going to do real-time in an RPG, star ocean the second story is a really good example of real-time done right in an RPG.

This game, FF Versus XIII and Assassin’s Creed are the three reasons that I’m saving up for a PS3.

I agree with Hades, when I saw the trailer for FFXIII I was really pleasently surprised, I had almost completely given up hope on a new RPG that was going to draw me in as much as SO The Second Story, FFVII or Tales of Phantasia (the SNES version) but this new FF looks very promising.

(btw, I also am not impressed right now with FFXII, I’ve seen nothing that makes me want to go out and buy it. I actually ended up choosing to buy .Hack://GU over XII. Something about the character design and the battle system justs bothers me…)

Assassin’s Creed is coming to 360 innit?