Sunday, November 23, 2008

Infinite Undiscovery, Last Remnant and the Decline of the JRPG

Let me start with a comment you'll probably all agree with me on: this console generation is a lousy time to be a JRPG fan, if the review scores are to be believed.

First, right out of the gate, the only promised titles are FFXIII (years and years off), and Enchanted Arms, which turned out to be sub-par and had the worst, most offensive character archetype in the history of video games (thanks, Makoto). The years ticked by and the releases finally began to trickle out of the studios - mostly for Xbox 360 (much to the chagrin of Sony fanboys who bought the PS3 believing it to be THE JRPG system of this gen - which it should have been - but its slow start cost Sony dearly), and slowly increasing in quality. Following Enchanted Arms, there was Blue Dragon, then Lost Odyssey, then a couple of oddball strategy RPG hybrids from Atlus (PS2 ports from Japan), then Tales of Vesperia, then Infinite Undiscovery, and now Last Remnant...with the promise of Star Ocean and possibly Final Fantasy XIII (FINALLY) next year.

But something happened along the way...the games came out, but really didn't get any better, if the critics were to be believed. Blue Dragon scored subpar reviews, Lost Odyssey did marginally better, Tales did okay, and Infinite Undiscovery and Last Remnant got hit _HARD_. Most of the complaints for all the JRPGs up until Infinite Undiscovery had to do with "more of the same". Apparently, the US-developed Space Marine or WWII games can get away with "more but prettier" content, but Japanese games get absolutely crucified in reviews for doing essentially the exact...same...thing.

Now it should come as no surprise that the two most "revolutionary" RPGs to hit the next-gen consoles so far, Infinite Undiscovery and Last Remnant, were also heavily criticized, but for completely different reasons. In Infinite Undiscovery's case, it was an (admittedly) minigame-glutted first 10 hours which, if you are an achievement completionist, would be one of the worst gaming experiences of your life.... make no mistake. The stealth "can't get hit" minigame. The castle siege. The ANNOYING villager rescue. The prisoner rescue where the enemies kill the prisoners before you can save them. The ridiculously cliche plot...UP TO A POINT.

Somehow I get the impression that the reviewers got fed up and never played past the first 10 hours, because the plot takes off at the end of the first disc and doesn't let up until the end of the game...and the gameplay gets better. The minigames fade away and what's left is pure FFXII style exploration and combat bliss - with an element of danger because your party members can turn on you with little warning during battles (can't explain why - plot spoilarzzz). There are a few "groaner" plot twists, the kind you tick off on a checklist, and the areas admittedly could have used a bit more polish. Overall, I'd say it certainly didn't deserve the bashing it got from the mainstream press, although it was admittedly a B-effort from a farmed-out team. Not Square-Enix caliber.

In Last Remnant's case, well, let's investigate...

I've spent the past few days digging into both Last Remnant on 360 and Tales of Symphonia: Knights of Ratato...errr, Dawn of the New World on the Wii.

As far as graphics are concerned, Last Remnant is absolutely gorgeous. It's built on UNREAL and shows that the engine can do more than display various shades of brown, red, and grey. Square-Enix vistas are brilliantly brought to life. My only concern is that the towns I've explored so far kind of blend into each other - similar archetecture and thematic elements, and all very reminiscent of FFXII's Rabanastre. Dungeons are rendered gorgeously.

The battle system is revolutionary. You control groups of units rather than single units, and get to choose actions from a predetermined pallet for each group. The camera swings wildly about the arena while the battles are taking place, as you can comandeer upwards of 20 different units simultaneously in the psuedo turn-based skirmishes. The battles require a different kind of strategy since you're not exactly sure what commands the game will give you on any given turn (this is the biggest problem with the new system), and you may be left without the ability to heal on a turn where you need it. That said, this was a very nice first attempt at trying something a little new and different - something that could be perfected with a little polish.

So why did the reviews blast it? They weren't comfortable with the new battle system, and were put off by minor technical issues. They didn't like the loading times or the fact that there was framerate stutter on occasions, and dropped the score (in some cases, such as Gamespot, quite significantly - 6.5) . Normally this wouldn't bother me, as I noticed those issues at first as well and was admittedly put off...until I installed the game to the HDD and watched those issues disappear. No more long loading times, and framerate stutters became much less common. They failed to mention this fact. Somehow I get the suspicion the mainstream press is being overcritical of the JRPG if they manage to overlook Fable II's many flaws and award it a 10, but yet give something like Last Remnant a 6.5.

Granted, the Last Remnant is far from the "second coming" of the JRPG, but it takes a good many steps in the right direction.

So much so, in fact, that I have my sneaking suspicions that those looking forward to a gameplay revolution in FFXIII may be shocked at how similar the two games end up. Let's compare: the dramatic, sweeping camera angles, complex HUD that doesn't appear to actually do much, and a lot of action sequences that you don't control (in Last Remnant's case)...but honestly, do you really expect you'll be controlling Lightning most of the time during battles? It's going to be a gussied-up, polished, and slimmed down version of Last Remnant's take on battles, but with less characters - mark my words. In my opinion, that's both a good thing and a bad thing. The American mainstream press will dump hate on it, just as it has done with Last Remnant. But those of us looking for evolution in the genre won't care one bit.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Jingle Bells, Shovelware Smells





Ah, the holiday season.

Time for laughter, cheer, family gatherings...oh yeah, and a hype blitz followed immediately by a tsunami of game releases.

Every year, without fail, the same thing. The 8-or-so weeks leading up to year's end are flooded with big name releases. Week after week, more and more are dumped on the (mostly) unsuspecting public and cause those of us aware of the industry to sigh deeply as we trudge back to Gamestop yet again and whip out our credit card for the 7th time in the last 7 weeks. The saddest part of all this? The majority of us (hardcore of the hardcore excluded) won't get around to seriously playing any of these for WEEKS - if at all.

I write this knowing full well that my reservation for Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts is waiting for me a half-mile down the road at GameStop, but I have no intention of picking it up.

No, sir.

I'm currently hammering away at Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia on DS, Disgaea3, LittleBigPlanet, and Valkyria Chronicles on PS3, Naruto Clash of Ninja Revolution 2 on Wii, and Rock Band 2 on 360. I have my hands quite full and have no reason to buy another game at the moment. Oh - I almost forgot - Banjo Kazooie on XBLA - the reason for my Nuts and Bolts pre-order in the first place.

I think, for the first time in history, marketers are finally beginning to figure this out. Although this season is pretty jam-packed, it isn't nearly as bad as the last few years (including the console launches). A lot of high-profile games were released in the spring and summer months of this year - a welcome change. MGS4, for example. And this year seems to be the same thing - games are being delayed to Q1 and Q2 (SFIV, Resident Evil 5) to add polish and improve quality. No longer is shipping in Q1-Q3 instead of Q4 a retail death sentence. There are still publishers who believe that shipping in Q4 must be done at all costs, even if it means sacrificing features or quality to do so (and I will be writing an article on one such company soon), but their numbers are dwindling.

That being said, there are still plenty of software titles being booted out the door months and months before completion in order to take advantage of the increased likelihood of sales.

I find this trend interesting for a couple of reasons... first of all, given the state of the economy, shipping in Q4 does not, in fact, guarantee a sales boost. Secondly, unless you're a well known brand (for a kiddy game) or a GOOD game (for a hardcore game), your chances of getting lost in the tidal wave of releases is better than your chances at becoming a bestseller. Hardcore gamers listen to reviews (most of the time), so if you've been blowing smoke up people's asses with a strategically clever marketing campaign only to turn around and sell them a miserable pile of crap, people will know about it. Look at Kane and Lynch - or Assassin's Creed (sorry Jade...even your cute Canadian accent and "girl next door obtainable" hotness couldn't save that pile of dog doodoo you call a game). Reviews matter. Hype does too - but less so. The worse the economy gets, the more people will actually begin paying attention to whether a game is worthy of their hard-earned money (a trend that, sadly, all movie-licensed or kids titles seem blissfully exempt from).

I'd like to take this time to launch into a tirade about Sega deciding to domestically release Sonic Unleashed for 360 and PS3 in a few weeks despite a delay in Japan over "quality concerns". I smell a Sonic 2006-style turd coming out of Sonic Team, and it sure reeks. I have it queued up on Gamefly, and will be writing about my impressions when it launches. Hopefully this game, at least, won't have furry-on-princess makeout sessions. That alone would be an improvement.