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This week's title sounds a bit like "kneecapping." However, this week's crew was really, legitimately excited about a lot of E3 2013 and as such we mostly didn't turn the snark up to crippling levels. We had some miscommunications around episode eight that ended up nixing our original plans for the episode theme - was lucky for us, then, that we had E3 the week before recording and we had a lot to say about it. Lucky even moreso because the very time we recorded was the time that Microsoft were making their epic turnaround on their always-online, Kinect-watches-you-sleep plan.

Because of all that, we had good times! We talked quite a bit about the E3 that Square Enix had (spoilers: general consensus was that it was quite good), and we also hit all of the other big names in gaming briefly. There are plenty of references to 80's pop culture, and even, I do believe, a nice callout to Fisherman's Horizon - at least, if it didn't get cut. I can never remember what I leave on the cutting room floor. Anyway, join me, Tiddles, lasz and Jav for episode eight, available right now for streaming or in the source links for subscription time.

Source: The CoNcast Subscription Feed, The CoNcast on iTunes

Just wanted to comment on something Tiddles mentioned in this Concast. I am actually sad that they're moving away from ATB. I'm not a huge fan of 3d action platformers. To me, it seems the FF series has been getting farther and farther away from traditional JRPGs and trying to be more like mainstream action games. I kind of feel like FFXII was their last real attempt at a Final Fantasy game and for anything after that, they may as well change the name. Watching the trailer for XV just kind of cemented the fact that I'm not the customer they are marketing to anymore, and haven't been for some time.

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Wha? Thanks to me?

psst.. FFXIII was ATB. *runs and hides*

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www.youtube.com/blinje
The victor sacrificed the vanquished to the heavens

Quote (Blinge Odonata @ 27th June 2013 03:53)

psst.. FFXIII was ATB. *runs and hides*

My fault for not being clear. My issues with XIII aren't about ATB, it's the visuals, character designs, and overall feel.

Here's how I feel about the last few FF games:
FFX was ok. I didn't like the story at all. I didn't like most of the characters. The combat system was interesting until you realized that every character could just OHKO the final boss with one physical attack. Blitzball was tedious, frustrating, and not fun.

FFXI and FFXIV are online games, so I haven't tried them and I don't know why they numbered them instead of just calling them FF MMO.

FFXII could have done without Vaan who's sole purpose in the game seemed to be to remind me how much I don't like Tidus. Otherwise, I liked the visual style and game mechanics. I was interested in the story. Sadly I got distracted at some point and never finished it, but I really enjoyed what I did play of it.

FFXIII, on the other hand, seemed too focused on HD graphics and the characters just don't seem interesting to me. Lightning's kind of a jerk, Sazh is annoying, and Snow seems boring. . . and that's as far as I got because I was nauseous from the graphics. I swear I intend to try it again at some point. . . but I'm not in any rush based on what I've seen.

So to go back to my other statement, I just don't feel that the franchise is heading in a direction that I personally will like and hasn't been for some time.

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Wha? Thanks to me?

If you've listened to any of my comments in these things, you'll know I tend to agree with that! But in my view, that's because they've been focusing in all the wrong places; actually uplifting the gameplay to the extent that the outdated-fifteen-years-ago ATB and menu based combat goes away would finally be a step in the right direction, by comparison with where the direction has been up until now.

Re Hyperduck Soundworks: Looking at the list of games they've done stuff for, I now remember I know them for the ARES soundtrack. Speaking of which, I need to get around to playing that game. Also, Iji, whose soundtrack I know to be by "Chris Geehan and Dan Byrne" with some contributions from "Tom Mauritzon", so I presume one or more of these people now goes by the name Hyperduck Soundworks.

Re Final Fantasy games, action-oriented gameplay, and other party members: seeing a SoM-like multiplayer experience in a Final Fantasy game, but with FF-like story and setting depth, would be really interesting.

Re ATB and real-time action: I haven't played FFXIII, but thinking back on a related topic: I like the idea of a stamina meter in a real-time action game, but I didn't like Secret of Mana's -- it's like it penalized you for swinging your sword just too early before your meter goes back up. And giving everything that same stamina meter (even the enemies) meant that you had to be just perfect to hit the enemies. Or something. (Or they'd trap you with a spell.)

So how might that be fixed? Well, I thought of one stamina system that I did like: that of Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia. You have a stamina bar. Different things take different amounts of stamina. You can spam stuff several times in a row, up until you run out of stamina.

Anyhow, I think that ATB is still a worthy thing to exist. It's just that it shouldn't really be compared to real-time action gameplay, because they basically make two totally different sorts of gameplay experiences. Real-time action is about doing stuff on the fly, while ATB aims to introduce just a taste of the mental excitement/anxiety of ATB to a turn-based system (and incidentally also allows some time-based effects as well). They're two separate gameplay styles and should be designed around differently.

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current games (2024-02-19):
Fairy Fencer F ADF
Pokémon Perfect Crystal

finished so far this year:
Gato Roboto
drowning, drowning
New Super Mario Bros.
TMNT 3: Radical Rescue

tabled: Lost Ruins