The Video Game Thread - anything and everything...

[The Brahma Bull]

Sifu was released last week. The game is great. A game in the setting of old Hong Kong Kung Fu movies. Many references to films (including Old Boy). The gameplay is great. The story is quite simple and short. But the game challenges the player to play the levels several times and to master the fighting system. A clear recommendation!

 

[Nth]

Definitely getting Sifu and Shadow Warrior 3 out soon as well. Comes with the first two games if you preorder as well, although I already have them. Also rumours abound that Mad Max 2 is in development. Love the first one but I am waiting to get a PS5 before I play through it again so I can enjoy the performance boost.

 

[JediMichael]

These guys find all these old sealed games. Bet they are worth a ton.
Although, its labed as 1994, but they have Chrono Trigger, which came out 1995.

 

[HeartBlade]

Yeah Chrono Trigger is a great game. I honestly think it’s still one of the best JRPGs ever made and really wonder why SE doesn’t continue the IP. I suspect it’s because the Chrono series really depends on the ATB to make combat work (duel and triple techs) and SE has slowly but surely been moving away from ATB toward action-RPG oriented games.

Yeah, Radical Dreamers is basically a visual novel with brand new characters except for one iirc. It was a visual novel with not much visual (given graphics capabilities at the time) so I think Square didn’t bother to export it to the US. Never played Chrono Cross so excited to give it a go although I heard mixed things compared to Trigger.

Yeah Sifu is hard but great. It’s also an indie game so if you want to support the devs and play on PC, it’s probably better to buy through Epic than wait for a steam release. They get a better cut in general (88% vs 70% on steam), it’s already released, and the devs probably got a discount selling through Epic since Sifu uses unreal 4 engine.

 

[JediMichael]

Yeah Chrono Trigger is a great game. I honestly think it’s still one of the best JRPGs ever made and really wonder why SE doesn’t continue the IP. I suspect it’s because the Chrono series really depends on the ATB to make combat work (duel and triple techs) and SE has slowly but surely been moving away from ATB toward action-RPG oriented games.

Yeah, Radical Dreamers is basically a visual novel with brand new characters except for one iirc. It was a visual novel with not much visual (given graphics capabilities at the time) so I think Square didn’t bother to export it to the US. Never played Chrono Cross so excited to give it a go although I heard mixed things compared to Trigger.

Cross is differnt from Trigger but does has its story ties to it.
When it came out in 2000, we were expecting, Crono and gang go on another new adventure...and thats not what happens at all.
As for a new Chrono game, there was rumors if something called Chrono Break and Square even held the copyright for the name, but it never happened and the copyright expired.
Many believe its because all the main guys that worked in those 2 games have all quit Square and moved on elsewhere, so Square focused on its Final Fantasy games instead.

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

I think all game designers who make timed sections should be flogged! I was replaying the Crusader games (No Remorse/No Regret) and in the second game there's a timer because the station's self destruct was set. So you have 15mins to get through a big level. I think if you somehow run you might make it. I thought I had it and then ended up on another floor of the level with the computer saying "1 min to self destruct." so I just rage uninstalled.

 

[Nth]

I think all game designers who make timed sections should be flogged! I was replaying the Crusader games (No Remorse/No Regret) and in the second game there's a timer because the station's self destruct was set. So you have 15mins to get through a big level. I think if you somehow run you might make it. I thought I had it and then ended up on another floor of the level with the computer saying "1 min to self destruct." so I just rage uninstalled.

Second this. Anyone who has played Dante's Inferno remember that one notoriously brutal part in the game that relies on a timed battle. That one part of the game alone has actually deterred me from playing it over and over again because I honestly think the first time I got through it, I fluked it after about twenty tries.

 

[JediMichael]

When I think of a time limit, this sound just instantly brings out the anxiety.

 

[HeartBlade]

Cross is differnt from Trigger but does has its story ties to it.
When it came out in 2000, we were expecting, Crono and gang go on another new adventure...and thats not what happens at all.
As for a new Chrono game, there was rumors if something called Chrono Break and Square even held the copyright for the name, but it never happened and the copyright expired.
Many believe its because all the main guys that worked in those 2 games have all quit Square and moved on elsewhere, so Square focused on its Final Fantasy games instead.

Yeah, apparently the reason was the devs wanted to focus on a Final Fantasy approach of different story so you didnt need to have played Trigger to enjoy cross. They also chose to move away from time travel since it would be a rehash and envisioned cross as a story taking in the same “universe” as trigger but following a different party.

I do think this then justifies a Chrono Trigger 2 lol. I did hear and was excited about the rumored Chrono Break but that apparently was cancelled because the creators and management didnt see eye to eye. Might have been for the best since the dream team is gone and management always has the keen ability to screw things up.

 

[HeartBlade]

Yeah timed missions suck. I struggled with the timed sewer level in Ratchet and Clank on PS4. Its a pretty easy game overall but that timed sewer level led to many deaths lol.

Timed missions are also often badly designed imo. They either give you too much time (to the point where the timer is just a place setting) or far too little (where one wrong move or hit/knock down guarantees a restart).

 

[JediMichael]

Yeah, apparently the reason was the devs wanted to focus on a Final Fantasy approach of different story so you didnt need to have played Trigger to enjoy cross. They also chose to move away from time travel since it would be a rehash and envisioned cross as a story taking in the same “universe” as trigger but following a different party.

I do think this then justifies a Chrono Trigger 2 lol. I did hear and was excited about the rumored Chrono Break but that apparently was cancelled because the creators and management didnt see eye to eye. Might have been for the best since the dream team is gone and management always has the keen ability to screw things up.

Most people agree, that after Square and Enix merged together, they just were making as good games, sadly.
I'd like to see a true Mario RPG 2 in that same SNES style graghics, if they could have just as good a story and all.

 

[HeartBlade]

Most people agree, that after Square and Enix merged together, they just were making as good games, sadly.
I'd like to see a true Mario RPG 2 in that same SNES style graghics, if they could have just as good a story and all.

I think it all started with the Spirits Within movie flop.

Spirits within is for all intents and purposes, a CGI demo to show how far CGI has come for its time and honestly, I still think its very impressive. Yes it is all CGI but the graphics shown in the movie arnt too far off from even modern games like Final Fantasy VI which came out a good 15 years after.

Spirits Within

Final Fantasy XV

As we know, Spirits Within was a huge flop. The film went overbudget, costing $137m to produce vs its initial estimate of $70m while the film only grossed $85m worldwide. This resulted in Sakaguchi stepping down and eventually leaving Square, the man who helped found the classics like Final Fantasy, spear-headed Chrono Trigger, and was the producer for FF7, Tactics, and Parasite Eve.

The merger with Enix was also questionable imo. Enix tended to outsource game development so it wasnt like Square was getting new programmers by merging with Enix, honestly just control of famous IPs like Dragon Quest. As the entity SE, they also seemed more focus on acquisition as opposed to new IP generation since the company has become too big in a sense and are now far more beholden to shareholders.

I do think what SE really needs right now is an injection of new talent. From the outside looking in, it does seem like Nomura is doing everything (Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy VII remake, FFXV). Dude needs a break and more time to focus on a single project with others taking the slack. Luckily, it seems that the new FF is produced under Yoshida who is the man responsible for saving FFXIV.

 

[JediMichael]

I have liked Kingdom Hearts series, but I felt 3 was building up to be so much more, but it gell flat, story wise.
KH2 was the best.
I wonder if Nomura having to many things going on made KH3 suffer?
I also felt FF7R suffered quite a bit as well over some issues.

 

[Halliwax]

How on earth do these people find hauls like that!! Wow

 

[HeartBlade]

I have liked Kingdom Hearts series, but I felt 3 was building up to be so much more, but it gell flat, story wise.
KH2 was the best.
I wonder if Nomura having to many things going on made KH3 suffer?
I also felt FF7R suffered quite a bit as well over some issues.

I agree. I think KH3 was good for what it was but had some major combat and story issues and given the development hell it went through, it turned out alright.

First, KH3 development kind of collapsed after they found the system they were using (Crystal Dynamics I think) just caused too many issues. Looking at a previous KH3 trailer, Sora looks much more like KH2 Sora and the skin tones look "right" compared to the final product where certain characters look kind of porcelain imo.

Then there was the dev hell that was FFXV. FF is still Square's flagship series so FFXV had to succeed. SE probably reallocated resources to prioritize FF at the expense of others at the time.

I suspect the poor story pacing was due to dev hell getting approval from Disney/Pixar. Apparently, the devs needed to get approval when depicting Disney characters which probably slowed things down alot. Disney also seemed to be more involved in KH3 compared to past entries which means another set of managers to gain approval.

Another big issue with KH3 is that is has kind of lost its roots imo. I do think one of the main selling points was the ability to delve into Disney worlds and fight against Disney villains. KH3 kind of lost that, the majority of bosses being heartless variants. It might be because recent Disney villains are more manipulative rather than physical threats but it sucks we cant beat up Zorg lol.

 

[HeartBlade]

How on earth do these people find hauls like that!! Wow

Lol true. Seems to be from a closed store. Really cool and probably worth a pretty penny right now since people seem to be "buying" old games at a premium because of the recent Super Mario sale.

Guess anything can be a collectable but some games are too good to sell lol.

 

[Halliwax]

Lol true. Seems to be from a closed store. Really cool and probably worth a pretty penny right now since people seem to be "buying" old games at a premium because of the recent Super Mario sale.

Guess anything can be a collectable but some games are too good to sell lol.

Like traveling back in time…

 

[Cephus]

I think all game designers who make timed sections should be flogged! I was replaying the Crusader games (No Remorse/No Regret) and in the second game there's a timer because the station's self destruct was set. So you have 15mins to get through a big level. I think if you somehow run you might make it. I thought I had it and then ended up on another floor of the level with the computer saying "1 min to self destruct." so I just rage uninstalled.

Agreed. I don't want to play timed anything. That's not my play style.

 

[Solo4114]

Agreed. I don't want to play timed anything. That's not my play style.

This is why I generally don't bother with RTS games and play turn-based strategy games and RPGs.

 

[Cephus]

This is why I generally don't bother with RTS games and play turn-based strategy games and RPGs.

Same here. Not my thing.