Tha MonkeyClan of the Angry Monkey (FFXI)
Your opinion
Submitted by Tamara on Tue, 09/26/2006 - 23:11.

Penny-Arcade posted these links. How do I know about Penny-Arcade? A fellow FFXI player kept INSISTING for five minutes I needed to check the site out.

Windows Media

Quicktime

It is supposedly a game in-development for the PS3. The claim (not Penny Arcade's claim - other sites claim this) is that the CG animations you typically see in FFXI CutScenes (and other games like Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth) have now started to move into the actual game itself. I guess you could say that you will, in the future, no longer even be able to recognize a CutScene when it begins, except maybe through some kind of loss of control.

Do you agree with this view based upon what you have seen? Is it an accurate view, that you will now play within extended CG CutScenes? Or yet again just another overblown game review?

I suppose in 2007 I will get me either an XBOX 360 or a PS3 if these are the capabilities of the new game consoles. I don't care about platform wars - just want to play nice RPG games.

Downloadable videos?

Are these videos downloadable somewhere?

The site is pretty Win32 centric, and the Javascript on the page wont even show me the embedded video object in Firefox under Linux. So I can't look at them to share my opinion.

I have a 360, and what it can render is indeed very impressive. As an example, the live game footage from Rainbow 6 - Las Vegas from E3 is simply remarkable.

Vis Maior's Journeys
http://maior.samhart.net/

Tokyo Game Show - White Knight by Level 5

Also known as: Shirokishi Monogatari

http://www.1up.com/do/gameOverview?cId=3153824

This page claims it has HD download links
http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/6341

http://ps3.ign.com/objects/856/856638.html

lo-res video downloads
http://media.ps3.ign.com/media/856/856638/vids_1.html

The Gametrailers site has HD versions. Pretty impressive for a free video, took a while for it to accumulate on my PC so I could view it.

other comments

So it looks like no one else wants to comment on the new form of RPG story-telling? Well that is fine, I mentioned these videos to someone else and (following a viewing) they commented that the transition to gameplay, from preceeding cut-scene, was "nearly seamless" - which is all I wanted to know, whether I was imagining things.

Apparently I am not, someone else admitted that the game graphics are now so high they match the image quality usually reserved for cutscenes. In the videos it was pretty much like watching an anime movie, with a press on a controller button allowing a 'time-out' from the 'movie' to set up combat options.

I really do not know if the game-play will be any good, but with graphics like this the story-telling should be top notch. For some reason the start of the quest in the White Knight Story videos reminded me of Wizard of Oz - maybe it was the colors, maybe it was the road.

PS3 or XBOX360

Well... I'm a console centric person.. I own a 360 and plan on purchasing the PS3 when it comes out. If you are looking for rpg... definately go with Sony as they have the JP publishers in their corner as far as role playing games are concerned. Although I enjoy my 360, I can presume the PS3 will occupy most of my time in the comming years.. unless I can only play FFXI on 360. LOL!!

FFXI and the PS3

Sony has already confirmed they have no plans for FFXI on the PS3.

Additionally, they've confirmed more titles for the 360 than they have for the PS3 (5 titles versus only 1).

As far as having Japanese publishers in their corner, I was shocked at how strong the 360 was at this years TGS (Tokyo Game Show) and how many Japanese (and faux-Japanese, e.g., stuff done by MS that looks like it came from a Japanese developer) games they were showcasing for the system.

Personally, I'm not a fanboy of any system or company. In fact, I personally have had a major grudge against MS for years. That being said, the PS3 is going to have to amaze me beyond belief before I plunk down $600 for it. Sure, I'll get the console at some point (I'm a collector, I get every console), but I may wait until it's come down into the 360 range before I invest in it.

Honestly, if the PS3 doesn't have something akin to Live, it will be a very hard sell me thinks. Live has just spoiled me too much.

Vis Maior's Journeys
http://maior.samhart.net/

well

I read today that sony was going to make FFXI compatable with the PS3 in the near future. The only reason we cannot do it at launch is because the PS3 hard drive in not compatable with any PS2 game that needs a hard drive to play (like FFXI)
and they do have a "Live" system set up and it is FREE so there you go Maior go plop that 600 bucks down. Or you could always pay $2k for a recept on E-bay.

:-)

Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar

Thinking of moving on to a PC MMORP game, in 2007, where I already know the story line =^_^=

http://lotro.turbine.com/

It appears to have a very WoW interface but the characters have a different flavor and are not quite so cartoony as maybe the WoW gnolls, etc.

Lots of new games out there

Maior wrote: "Personally, I'm not a fanboy of any system or company."

For me it is more a case of space (and the games available, of course). I am looking at all the new consoles: Wii, PS3, XBOX 360. The seamless integration of story with game is top-notch (so it appears) in White Knight Story but still...

I need to see the fantasy RPG games for each console, and I need to see some fantasy MRPG (where M, to me, represents: multiplayer-over-the-internet). I don't need to see mega so much anymore. So which console will I end up with first? Right now I honestly could not tell you. Zelda (rpg) looks like fun for the Wii, I see nothing in the must-have area for PS3, Culdcept Saga (very weak rpg) looks like fun for the XBOX 360.

Culdcept Saga is Monopoly bred to Magic (the card game); Culdcept is quite odd and is going to be Live based.

Right now I find Okami on PS2 to be a lot of fun, but in the future my console platform HAS to have network or it gets passed over. This is Crystal Chronicles, by Square Enix, for the Wii
http://wii.ign.com/objects/748/748546.html
network may only be local WiFi; but it will have multiplayer. CC Wii looks interesting.

I am studying Cost Accounting this term so although Square Enix says "no FFXI" on the PS3 I know that statement is pretty meaningless. If Square Enix decides to keep FFXI going over the long-term AND the PS3 sells well globally, SE will write a FFXI client for the PS3 from scratch. Its all just production & development costs, expended over time, in order to enhance revenues =^_^=

MRPGs and RPGs confirmed for the 360

There's actually a surprising amount, which is why I mentioned the TGS.

The one that I'm personally excited for is PSU. Hell, I'm so hopeful it'll be a good game that I made a site for it already. PSU will be MORPG although it wont be MMORPG (like FFXI is).

Beyond that, here's a good article on upcoming RPGs for the 360. This article mentions a few that sound neat to me:

  • Enchanted Arms : This is already out and has gotten good reviews. It's not a revolutionary title by any stretch of the imagination, in fact the reviews haven't been "great" because of how stereotypical of an RPG it is. That being said, the graphics are really spectacular, and the gameplay is pretty good.
  • Two Worlds : Honestly there isn't much known about this game yet other than it's a fantasy RPG and the graphics look amazing. Initial reports are saying it may be similar to Oblivion in gameplay (which would be a very good thing, considering how amazing Oblivion was).
  • Warhammer Online : MMORPG set in the Warhammer universe, woot! Ahem... of course, the pen & paper RPGer in me is probably more excited about that than your average console RPGer who's never played the original RPGs... But really, who can't be excited looking at screens like this, this, or this?
  • Blue Dragon : Former Square-Enix developers bring us this highly anticipated title.

Vis Maior's Journeys
http://maior.samhart.net/

Enchanted Arms

Enchanted Arms is one hell of a game, I don't understand why people aren't reviewing it more favorably.

It gets mediocre reviews because it is a traditional JP-style RPG? That's like saying the 2006 Mustang sucks because it is styled after the 60's series (which was the best of the Mustang line).

Doing well a style that's been done before isn't a bad thing.

Anyway, I'm not a fanboy of any company (lol, there comes a point in everyone's life where they just grow up and stop fretting over shit like that) but I'll say I personally don't have much hope for Sony. The PS3 is going to be too damned expensive, the PSP just doesn't have enough games, draconian DRM practices, and then there's the lawsuit with the force-feedback people. It really will make me sad to see them go, they have such great franchises....

Enchanted Arms Reviewed

Enchanted Arms got a great review in Penny-Arcade (which seldom reviews games). The review on Enchanted Arms was actually a review of a badly-done Enchanted Arms review; so maybe the review in Penny-Arcade was more of a rant.

To answer your question - yes, folks seem to agree that Enchanted Arms received poor reviews because it is a traditional JP-Style RPG. It would appear that a lot of game reviewers are tired of that genre; just like film reviewers loath dead-teenager (horror) flicks.

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