Sheikah

It seems to be really well produced...they really do get better. I like getting the official FF guides mostly for the sidequesting/bestiary, and because they look pretty nice. Apparently I have copy # 209,122 out of 210,000.

I've just returned from a lovely couple of days at my girlfriend's family home again. On the first day she drove me out to town for lunch, then to her nearby stables where she showed me her horse and fed/groomed it and whatnot. It's really sweet...I'd forgotten how massive horses were. There were two lovely cats in the barn area; one was 20 years old and hardly moved, and the other was one of the most friendly cats I've ever seen. Then today we saw her horse again as she had to feed it, then we watched anime films Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. She'd never seen anime/films before (not proper ones, anyway), and was impressed. But who wouldn't be? They're awesome films. :p It's so awesome how we're choosing where to live for September... she has accepted a 4-year PhD offer from Cambridge and I've done the same with UCL, so we're thinking about Stevenage since it's partway between. It's not very expensive either... we'll have money! I'm happy that my life has such great direction and an awesome woman by my side now. I've honestly never been so satisfied with things.

Well you know someone has already lost it when they post an overused animated image to try convey what they want to say. FFVIII had pretty much the best characters to date. What I will say is that the vast majority disagree with this guy, so you will probably enjoy it more likely than not. It is probably rated as joint second best Final Fantasy in terms of popularity, probably alongside X.

That's good, I'll have started my PhD in London then. Maybe worth a look?

No matter what you try to convince people, they'll never believe that FFT had a more developed story or characters than FFVII, because it's simply not true. lol.

Strange you should say that...I found FFT fairly weak and the dialogue and story was almost medieval. Combined with the fact it was practically all battles and short political updates, it turned me off completely. As well as that, I downloaded Vagrant Story when it got released on the PSN store recently and found it to be very boring, at least in this day and age, whereas I've instantly been hooked on many other old titles. Just the gameplay and story of VS seemed really unenjoyable to sit through in the few hours I could be bothered playing. The only enjoyable thing for me in the Ivalice universe was Tactics Advance, purely because it didn't try to have a serious story and was simply 'life became a storybook fantasy'. Far better than the political drivel they have tried to shove in our face in FFT and FFXII. People like their story of heroes taking on evil villains, not sides waging war. It is meant to reflect fantasy, after all, and not full-scale wars driving the story.

To be fair though...unless you're playing through it again...it's not like you'd die in FFX to have to replay a scene. :p Really liking this game so far, it's much more like FFX and has so much more depth (character development and interaction-wise) than XII. And the battle system is top notch.

Yeah. The 360 version runs at 560p. Go PS3. :p

Well ShopTo did great then. I didn't order until Friday either, and it came first thing today. I only played about an hour before (at my girlfriend's now) but I could tell that it was extremely polished. Still hadn't got past the sort of tutorial sections yet, but it had me interested. It reminded me very much of FFX due to the initial fighting on thin walkways in a dark, futuristic city. It's certainly more appealing to me so far than XII.

Just got my copy of XIII in the post a minute ago, time to play it for a bit before I head out.

Sorry, but I found it strange to call utter bullshit and then agree with me on a few grounds. Of course, opinion. This really all is. Well, I disagree. And the RPGs that are the most popular games of all time (by a longshot) follow linear storylines, just as I said. Therefore, logically following on from this, the plots to games that people like the most are exactly as I described; not open-ended sandbox type RPGs, but ones with a set story. I'm not saying you can't be right, but what I'm saying is that my view of epic, linear plots being far more engrossing is backed up by an overwhelming support for these games from others as opposed to the support for sandbox RPGs. What do you mean, technically were extra characters? They were extra characters. It never had the option for multiple endings, so the game would have ended the same regardless. The player could have ignored them, but that would have been the 'wrong choice'. But at the end of the day, it was no huge dent to the main story. BG2 didn't have a sequel, leaving that wide open. And why wait for a sequel to deny what already feels real?

You're mixing up good story with cream of the crop. For me, no WRPG so far has had anything that came close to the plots from FFVI-IX, IMO. Bethesda games? Well I can tell you for one, Oblivion's story is a crock of shit, but that's not why I loved the game. Same for other games like Dragon Age. And while BG 1 and 2 (PC) had nice stories, they were yet again another fun passage from the somewhat cliched medieval fantasy tale; and yet again, it's not the reason why I loved those games. And if you think I am wrong, then you are one of a very small minority. I'm not saying you're right or wrong, but this is now basically a popularity contest. Look at the most popular RPGs of all time; the ones that have fans still to this day arguing with every ounce of passion they can muster. And one, in particular, that has had numerous sequels, prequels, and even a film made after it. The games you listed had good plots, particularly Fallout 3, but let's be honest- why don't fans fight over these games like they do with PS FFs? There has to be a reason. I believe it's because they have a certain charm, great characters and an epic story, on a scale that hasn't been matched so far in a WRPG. But hey, that's just me. Well, not really. With multiple outcomes, there is no finality, no 'definite answer'; no truth the the matter. Which is cannon? Fuck knows. Just picture this for a moment:

Well forgive me for being sceptical about this review, for a few reasons: - No main title Final Fantasy has ever really been unanimously considered anything below a 7-8; even if things were missing (character development in XII), every title has been, at least technically and gameplay-wise, absolutely brilliant - There's a basic formula to Final Fantasy games, and given that they all include this, it seems bizarre to consider that this game will be any different - No Final Fantasy game ever released, in my opinion, could ever be worse than XII. XII was rated 40/40 by Famitsu, and often maximum marks by a lot of other reviewers And of course, many titles such as GTA and Halo follow their respective formulas and continually sweeping up full/high marks. So yeah, forgive me for being sceptical. I'm actually happy to hear that a game I'm paying over £30 for will last me over 25 hours. And yet the true, joyous irony is that the Japanese RPGs that you detest repeatedly bitch slap sandbox RPGs into the planes of oblivion in terms of popularity (even after 10 years), and sales. :p I can't possibly see how anyone would still remember the story to FFVII or VIII were you able to influence every choice, arrive at any number of endings or create your own generic main character. People love and remember those games for what they were, not what they could have made them. I love a good Western RPG, but the ability to influence the story so much undoubtedly results in a weakened plot and far less memorable gaming experiences.

True. EDGE clearly don't stick to '5 = dead on average' since they give mainstream hyped games 8-10 all the time, just like other magazines do. But when questionned over a 5/10 people will say "That's just EGDE, they consider 5/10 to be average". I don't see the need to invent your own scale that means nothing to anyone. If over 95% of the public believe 6-7/10 to be average (which they do, about just about anything - games, films, TV) then just score that way.

Well, you have it in one there. They take games that could at worst be considered high average usually having minor faults and instead grade them a 5; it's not like they haven't done it enough for people to realise by now. Sometimes people like to have a poke at the mainstream title that everybody knows will sell ridiculously well and be praised by the vast majority regardless of its quality. But the fact of things is that main FF titles are pretty much all of a very high quality with the same essential formula, enough so to know that it's highly unlikely any title will actually be poor or unenjoyable.

I completed my first playthrough the other day, with over 55 hours clocked. This is easily one of the best games on the system, and I urge everyone to buy it. It really is true that so many these games are a breeze to play through, with the opportunity to take multiple hits and never really feel too much pressure in terms of dying. Dying far more easily makes you appreciate the game; I don't just mean having the option of a hard mode, because many people play on normal first and get their first taste of the game that way. Even then, I sincerely doubt most game's hard modes are anything like this. The online is also excellent. Being able to invade the worlds of others as well as being summoned by a boss to fight in his stead. And how people leave messages as clues - it's clever and fun. It might be a bit expensive to go out of your way to buy a copy off eBay or import (just over 40 quid for me - note that buying either US/Asian copies is fine, as they're both in English) but it's a stellar game and one that you'll feel proud to have found without all the hype that games like Uncharted had. A first class title.

I wouldn't be put off. They commonly go against what everyone else actually thinks anyway. My copy has been dispatched - hopefully playing it soon then!

I've just ordered this; really shouldn't have. I hope there's more interaction between characters than there was in XII, as it didn't feel like a Final Fantasy. Cheesy emotional dramatics like in FFX, please. Harharharharharharhar, Tidus.

Thanks man. They were happy, bought me a Chinese takeout and had a card with some money. I think we'll be celebrating on Friday somehow and my girlfriend will be here. It's nice to hear that you're getting work at a school - that's the way in. For me, the way in was contacting a supervisor and showing interest in his work, travelling to London to see his lab, etc. It's all about starting from the bottom and working your way up.

Hmm, I don't know about that. They've been making episodes for HL2 for ages now, it is a little dated (although a wonderful game).

Yeah I did think that actually! Especially since I thought they had no reason to be sorry given the interview was on Thursday, and I got told yesterday, which isn't really long enough to be sorry about. I'll be going for a good meal with people soon! My future supervisor was very happy too, e-mailing me to say congratulations. Yay!

Thanks!

Yahoo! Had this e-mail today: A fully funded 3-4 year Cell Biology PhD project at UCL for which there were lots of people who applied for, and only 3 funded places. Just blacked out parts in case any insane people were about. :p Me and my girlfriend have both got confirmed places and we'll be living together for the next 4 years or so. There's really been some huge steps in my life over the past 6 months, and so much for the better. I'll be getting 16.5k a year as a stipend and working towards a PhD with a wonderful woman who I love. Life is grand.

It's gone from blatant number in the logo in the Japanese version to less obvious in the US version. Following that trend, it'll be completely gone in the PAL. Seeing as DQ8 wasn't numbered, I doubt this one will be either.

Not really; most Xbox and PS3 owners couldn't give a shit about motion controls. In fact, heavy focus on that now is what drove many previous Nintendo loyalists to the other two consoles. It's all in the gaaames.