Final Fantasy I and II Are Coming To the iPhone and iPod Touch 142
jonasvdc tips an announcement by Square Enix that Final Fantasy I and Final Fantasy II are being developed for the iPhone and the iPod touch. The graphics and UI have been modified to look and run better on the touchscreen devices, but everything from Cecil to the classic Black Mage is clearly recognizable. The announcement did not include any information on a price or release date.
Re:Um, Cecil? (Score:3, Interesting)
I believe the submitter got confused between Cecil and Kain (y'know, the good/bad/good/whatever guy from FFIV), and further confused the Dragoon in the screenshot with him, leading to his statement in TFS.
Question for anyone with an iPod Touch (Score:3, Interesting)
These seems like as good a time as any to ask...is the iPod Touch worth buying just for games available on the platform? It seems like there are a ton of cool games out there for it, but I don't really want to plunk down the cash if it isn't worth it from a gaming point of view...
Opinions?
NESoid (Score:4, Interesting)
I assume you mean aside from playing it through NESoid? [nesoid.com] I'm currently in the middle of a game of Nobunaga's Ambition on my Nexus One. (I might have started up a game of FF1 instead, except i was already playing that on the Wii Virtual Console =) Even if you want to be entirely ethical (since you apparently don't already have an old copy lying around) i personally wouldn't feel any qualms about buying a copy for some other system (even an old used copy) and then d/ling the rom.
"I personally never played any of the FF series, only because I hadn't heard of it until like 7 or 8 came out, and I thought I'd have a lot of backstory to catch up with (though people have reassured me that I really don't)."
I wouldn't suggest playing FF1 for the first time now unless you're already very familiar with how clunky those old NES games could get. FF1, along with Dragon Quest 1, were both exploring how to do RPGs on the console format, and there's a lot of UI issues that got resolved in later versions. (In particular, having to buy each item one at a time, no descriptions for any items, no way to view stats without equipping an item and switching to the status screen.) And even aside from the difficulties the UI imposes it's probably the most challenging game in the FF series. (It's hard to say if the fact that attacks targeted on enemies that die before that character's turn don't get re-targeted to another enemy is a UI bug or just an unneeded increase to the difficulty, but in either case they got rid of it in later games.)
I still think it's a great game despite all that, but i admit that i come pre-equipped with a pair of rose-tinted glasses which you would be lacking
Am I the only one that saves their games? (Score:2, Interesting)
Now look, I understand that Square Enix republishing games for new platforms is both financially savvy and also a boon for those of us that may have lost our old games, but really? FF1 has been published for no less than 3 platforms already (NES, GBA, PS-nevermind emulators), and I still have copies 2 of them (NES and GBA, though to be fair the GBA version was to get the first official US version of FF2).
I have nothing against exploiting existing intellectual property if it'll make you money, especially when it'll make people happy, but you'd think-at least on a place like slashdot-that there would be a significant percentage of people that boxes up their old games the same way "normal" people box up old pictures and such (like me). If you do that, and you have the urge, then you don't have to pay for the new version. Of course, then you have cases like Chrono Trigger for the DS which has a new ending; of course you have to give in then. (That said, I still have my original SNES CT cartridge in my closet.)
Re:Looks better? (Score:4, Interesting)
It doesn't always mean better when graphics are a substitute for gameplay, but the exact same FF gameplay with updated graphics? Yes that's better! It's not like the original developers went with a 16-color palette and pixelated graphics as a stylistic choice. They made it as pretty as they could, and did a good job, but would they rather have had SNES graphics capabilities or more? Do the screenshots look like what they would have gone for, had they been able? Yes and yes.
Other games that were better after a graphical update include Kings Quest I and Heroes Quest (I mean Quest for Glory) when they were updated for VGA from EGA. Super Mario Brothers was improved by its release as part of Super Mario All Stars. Quake was vastly improved by the switch to OpenGL (oh god and how!), and today open-source mods improve it further just by adding shader effects. Star Control II is improved in its Ur Quan Masters form by the simple expedient of anti-aliasing the rotated sprites.
In summary: Same game play, with better graphics that are in the same spirit as the original? Yes please!
Re:Exclusive? (Score:5, Interesting)
I point you in the direction of Muramasa: The Demon Blade [wikipedia.org], which was released just a few months ago, uses sprites for all in-game characters/enemies, and is quite a beautiful game. Here are a couple screenshots:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_NXLKQR2FNpY/SwitorQly1I/AAAAAAAAAGs/unJ2YjKwJ3M/s1600/muramasathedemonblade-3.jpg [blogspot.com]
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/2009/06/custom_1244093929468_Muramasa2.jpg [gawker.com]
It looks even better in motion, I highly recommend you look up some videos of the game in action. Using sprites [wikipedia.org] doesn't necessarily mean it will look pixelated, it just means it isn't a fully rendered character. Considering the quality of 3D back in the PS1 days, it was a mistake to move the series to 3D then. I know that it would have eventually happened, I'm just questioning the timing of the move.
Re:Am I the only one that saves their games? (Score:3, Interesting)
I still have the NES cartridge and a working NES (though without fixing the connector issue by one of various means it's a pain in the ass to use and thus it sits collecting dust). Not everyone who played FF on the NES can say that. I don't have a GBA or a PS, and the later is probably less likely to still work than most people's NES (the curse of optical drives).
Then again I don't have an iPhone either.
But if I did, would I be more likely to play FF on it than to bust out the NES? Yeah. Would I pay for some version of FF that was portable, were I to have a portable gaming device? Yeah. So... it makes sense to me at least, even if there are a lot of people who don't need it.
After the Final Fantasy Games on the DS and Wii... (Score:1, Interesting)
After playing the Final Fantasy Games on the DS and Wii and after replaying the originals in emulation, I've found that even though I have pleasant memories of those games from my childhood, everything in that franchise before FFVII -- with the notable exception of Final Fantasy Tactics -- is very very VERY (and did I say "very") boring and usually annoying.
So, this time, I think I'll just pass.
(Please don't kill me for saying that.)
Re:Looks better? (Score:3, Interesting)
I believe the GBA version of FFI also had 4 new lengthy bonus dungeons. I assume this content might also go into the iPhone versions.
Square has also done updated cut-scenes for many of their remakes.
Re:Exclusive? (Score:3, Interesting)
The reason I pinpoint the series jumping the shark with VII is because that was when the games went from having complicated, mature, fully believable characters to whining brats. Placing the emphasis on technology while fantasy was placed in the backseat didn't help either.
I suppose I should clarify...for me, the series jumped the shark and has just never been the same since it went 3D. The series going 3D isn't necessarily the cause of it (although it is a contributing factor), they both just happened to occur at the same time.
Re:Looks better? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Exclusive? (Score:3, Interesting)
Ok, I don't know where the rest of you guys are coming in, but everyone I know was in awe with how good the graphics for FFVII were at the time. I mean come on, this was 1997, 13 years ago.
Feh...maybe console-only gamers were in awe. It didn't really do that much for me or other pc & console gamers. Yes, it was 1997, but also remember the visual difference between console gaming and PC gaming was WAAAAAY bigger than it is now. (For reference, I'm 26 and started playing games on a Commodore 64 when i was four years old.)
but that was the first game I remember that had FMV and multiple camera angles during summons.
If you mean FMV in a Final Fantasy game, then ignore this last part of my post....
Final Fantasy VII was the first game you noticed that had FMV?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Jedi_Knight:_Dark_Forces_II [wikipedia.org]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantasmagoria_(video_game) [wikipedia.org]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wing_Commander_(video_game) [wikipedia.org]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_and_conquer [wikipedia.org]
Just to name a few. There is also the HUGE number of Sega CD games [wikipedia.org] that had FMV.
Re:Question for anyone with an iPod Touch (Score:3, Interesting)
is the iPod Touch worth buying just for games available on the platform?
I wouldn't say it's worth buying as a gaming platform alone, but it is definitely an added incentive. In my opinion, an iPod Touch is worth buying since it's a music player, web browser, email client, address book, calendar, calculator, note pad, photo album AND you can play lots of cool games. I've sold my DS since I got my iPod touch, because several of the games I owned on the DS are available on the iPod Touch for a fraction of the price. For instance, there's Civilization Revolution [tr.im] for $6.99 or Puzzle Quest [tr.im] for $4.99 (Warning: Links launch iTunes). Both of these are a fraction of the cost of the DS versions, and the graphics are as good, if not better, and the game play is about the same, though you don't get multi-player with Civ Rev or the game of the week. I also like not having to carry around game cards, so that's an added bonus.
Re:Exclusive? (Score:3, Interesting)
I always thought Cecil was a pretty whiny bastard, and that's not to mention the spoony bard. :)
True, but that was the whole point of their characters. When the entire cast is like that though...
Technology (and angst) played a big role in VI too.
They certainly did, but the tone of the story focused on the fantasy elements. An example: technology was used on the Espers to exploit their abilities for Magitek, also a technology. The focus, however, was placed on the fact that the Espers were used, rather than why they were used and the results from it. An entire segment of the game takes place in a giant Magitek factory, yet we learn very little about the actual process or the potential technology that can be built from it. However, considerable time was spent on establishing an emotional connection to the atrocities committed against these creatures, and why what was happening was such a horrible thing.
Even the MagitekArmor was like this...we knew, based on the name, that they had to be created using the life force of the espers...but that's it. Were it not for the name, they could just be any other mech. The focus wasn't on the fact that they were mechs, but the fact that they were powered by the essence of an Esper.
This is the sort of focus on fantasy that I mean, rather than focusing on technology.
But yeah, there were definitely thematic changes in VII and I can understand being put off by them.
It's not just VII...I have tried and really wanted to enjoy all of the numbered entries in the series from VII on, but with the exception of X, I just couldn't. Even with X, I was only marginally kept interested. It's kind of frustrating, since the first 6 entries are some of my favorite games of all time. It's frustrating and a little disappointing seeing all these people so enamoured with the latter half of the series, while I can't stand it. i really want to...I just can't :-/
Re:Question for anyone with an iPod Touch (Score:3, Interesting)