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Final Fantasy 10 Released in Japan 144

Posted by Hemos from the eagerly-awaiting-it dept.
tenchiken writes "Following up on the release of the Final Fantasy movie (which will at least break even for square), Final Fantasy, the first installment of the game for the PS2 has been released. There are reviews at gamespot,IGN,the gia, etc. All of them seem to agree... Final Fantasy raises the bar on storytelling and graphics for RPGs again, ho-hum. Square also released some details (a movie to wit) for FF11, the long antcipated online game. Square has said that they want to be cross platform, but so far only PS2 and PC platforms have been announced. Korean Site Ruliweb which broke most of these videos is already slashdoted (and the story has not been posted on /. yet ;-) but copies are Here. FFXPosed also has details. Go Square..."
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Final Fantasy 10 Released in Japan More

Final Fantasy 10 Released in Japan

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  • Yet again (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    is there a computer game based on a film. Can't they quit this? What's next, a game based on Blair Witch Project?!
  • One thing that I really loved about the Bouncer was that Square left the Japanese voice track in the American release, and they even included a subtitle option. It is really really cool to have the cutscenes subtitled, plus the Japanese voice actors for that game were pretty good.

    Down that path lies madness. On the other hand, the road to hell is paved with melting snowballs.

  • Re:Naming convention (Score:5)

    by jandrese ( 485 ) <kensama@vt.edu> on Friday July 20, 2001 @05:32AM (#72781) Homepage Journal
    Nope it's just you. The original Final Fantasy was made when Square was a failing company (look at their pre-FF stuff) and it was the last game they were going to release before going under. After that, the branding of FF was too strong to ignore, so they kept the name. Besides, each FF is in a different world, so you can consider each FF to be the Final Fantasy for that world (especially since many of them deal with the depletion of magic or destruction of the world).

    Plus most people don't get hung up on game names, especially since a lot of them are really stupid. The name doesn't really affect gameplay anyway.

    I suppose you won't buy any book with a crappy looking cover either.

    Down that path lies madness. On the other hand, the road to hell is paved with melting snowballs.
  • Part of the cited cost in the $150+ millions is their new movie house and computer farm. They already have deals for more movies. I would suspect that they never intended to recover all the costs of becoming a movie house on their first film. So I believe your idea that there won't be a second movie is already hasty judgement.

    Vermifax
  • I recently started playing some of these games again under emulation. I didn't even remember how good they were. They're so much better than the current offerings, it makes me just sad. Not to say that there haven't been other good RPGs, just that they pale in comparison to SNES ones.

    One thing that's interesting is how long it took to get those games out. I don't remember when the SNES came out, but these were some of the last games to come out for that platform. I think VII only came out about two years after VI (III in the US.) Square really takes their time with Final Fantasy. In my oppinion, they didn't even really finish VII until the movie came out; I think there were things they wanted to put in VII, but didn't, for one reason or another. A lot of those aspects made it into the movie however (In a comment I made a while ago, I covered a lot of these similarities. Check out my My thoughts on the movie. [slashdot.org])

    In also seems that most Square RPGs are about fun gameplay, Secret of Evermore, Chrono Trigger and more, but the Final Fantasies I've played have all been about story. VI has one of the best stories, and the deepest casts I've ever seen. Xenogears comes close, but I'm not done with that game yet.

    I think that getting older makes it possible to fully absorb their depth. It sounds cheesy, but I feel like I understand the game better, now. Also, it's really impressive, some of the graphics they acheived with that primitive hardware.

  • "The Spirits Within" cost a bundle (in the $150 million range), but just isn't making much money (debuting in 4th in the US). And with the latest Jurassic Park gobbling up its audience, I don't think it'll have legs at the box office.

    Whether or not the film is good is a topic for another thread.

  • Part of the cited cost in the $150+ millions is their new movie house and computer farm.

    Last I read, $50 million of the $150 million budget went to facilities construction. However, the movie is unlikely to make back either the fixed cost of the facility *or* the cost of film production. Given that the film was released in a very favorable time of year and with plenty of advance hype, it seems unlikely that Sony will finance any additional Final Fantasy pictures after seeing its box-office performance since the chance of re-couping the costs seems slim.

    The reasons for Final Fantasy's poor performance are also subject for debate, but that's material for another thread.


  • Japan has started issuing xxx.jp domains as part of the I18n domain name system. Of course, that doesn't mean that the domain names have to use characters outside ASCII, which is why slashdot.jp exists.

    Until they started issuing these domains, the only Japanese domain names that didn't have .co.jp, .gr.jp, .ne.jp etc. on them were ntt.jp and kek.jp, both for historical reasons.

  • It's possibly the best of the series, vying with Tactics and II (US). It brings the whole fairytale atmosphere back, and there's a load of characters you can't help but get attached to. It's very well done, and I enjoyed it tremendously.
  • Obviously not, judging by the eight million people who posted this same damn comment before you.
  • Most of the conversation here has been focusing on Final Fantasy (given, the story is about final fantasy...). But how many of you played "Vagrant Story"? Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge FF fan. I own a copy of all of the FF games released in the US. However, I thought that VS was far more captivating than the later FF games, equal in quality to FFII and III. I never understood why it didn't sell very well here.

  • Yeah, that's the only problem I have with the games - I want to find out what happened to the characters after the game is over, but the next sequel never really comes back to that. It's good that the games continue to be forward-looking, but sometimes you want to know what happened.

  • Yes, the final fantasy legend series was released for gameboy. I, II, and III. Don't forget Final Fantasy Adventure either!
  • I kinda view FMV scenes as a sort of "pay off." You worked really hard to get past this quest, now sit back and enjoy a fully rendered scene of your discovery or reward.

    I will admit they over do it at times. Where as FF7 used a decent amount of FMV (which helped flesh out the envirnoment and reward the player), FF8 used it to the point of Square showing off it's CG abilities. There was definately a case of "can I play too?" with that one. They redeemed themselves nicely with FF9, which is a really enjoyable game.

    Here's hoping FF10 doesn't over do it.

    FF11 sounds interesting, since it's an online experience. It'll be more difficult to put cut scenes into that I would think.
    --
  • Don't expect to see any new N64 software out soon, considering Nintendo's getting ready to release their new console in a few months. And Square's made it clear that they'd really like to work with Nintendo (they'd make a killing re-releasing old games on the GBA). It's just a matter of time really...

  • GameCube practically confirmed (Score:3)

    by edwdig ( 47888 ) on Friday July 20, 2001 @05:06AM (#72794)
    While they don't confirm GameCube development, Square says they really want to - or rather have to - develop FFXI for it. http://cube.ign.com/news/36560.html
  • Explanation I've heard is that in Japanese the title means more along the lines of Ultimate Fantasy than Final Fantasy, but Final was the translation chosen. Just a minor translation issue...
  • I've been a die-hard nintendo fan for a long time. I'm sorry, but the company that gave me the Mario series, and the Zelda series will always have my loyalty. However, it looks like I'm being childish in not buying a PS2, because the good games count is going up.

    If supporting both platforms makes me a turncoat, well so be it.


    ---
  • Well, even in Japan it's called "Final Fantasy", or Fainaru Fantaji, as it were. I doubt the meaning of the word "Final" was fully understood, or it probably would have been Ultimate Fantasy (something like that).
  • I haven't read the interview in question, but chances are it was with Hironobu Sakaguchi, a known drama queen. Square Inc. / Squaresoft has been successful (by varying degrees) since the company began.

    Anyway, just because something sounds romantic doesn't mean it's true.

  • It's an Internet MYTH, mod it back DOWN (read) (Score:3)

    by __aatnwq2381 ( 78727 ) on Friday July 20, 2001 @06:23AM (#72799)
    Square was actually pretty successful early on with their Rad Racer games, and King's Knight, though people make fun of it, did pretty well in Japan also.

    The "Final" in Final Fantasy does not refer to it being Square's last game. It was chosen because the alliteration sounded cool, plain and simple. Rad Racer, double 'r's; King's Knight, double 'k's (yeah, I know, kn != k, shut up); Final Fantasy, double 'f's.

    Japan has never been known for making the most sensical of video game names. This is just more Engrish.

  • ...cant we sue them for false advertising tho??

    Surely, FFX, this time round there just rubbing our faces in it:)
  • Wrong. There was an interview with the Final Fantasy producer in Next Generation a year or two ago that asked about why it was "Final" Fantasy. It was the last project Square green-lighted for production. If Final Fantasy had not succeeded, Square would not be the RPG powerhouse they are today and would probably have died with the NES. Nathan

  • If you are looking for a great PS2 RPG to hold you over till FF X makes it here, I recommend Summoner [gamespot.com]. It has a good story with nice twists and I also enjoyed the gameplay and the graphics.

    --Ty

  • When they say "cross-platform" what they mean is the Xbox and Gamecube. At least that's the buzz [zdnet.com].
  • The Doom movie died in pre-production. They couldn't find a passable script with a PG-13 rating.
  • FF1 is the only numbered FF game without a Cid. (In FF2, he rented an airship. In FF3, he had a hidden airship in the desert. In FF4, he joined your party. In FF5, he amplified the power of the crystals. In FF6, he mentored Celes. In FF7, he joined your party. In FF8, he ran a garden. In FF9, he ruled a nation.)
  • JP3 was terrible. Spielberg apparently threw a bunch of semi-random shit together and called it a plot, put in some bad special effects (JP1 had more believable dinosaurs--at least they didn't look like poorly-done claymation), and released this stinker. Granted, the FF movie was a little slim on plot and stole many ideas from Aliens, but given a choice I'd see FF again over JP3 any day.

    -Legion

  • This sounds a lot like part of the story in the anime movie Windaria.

    Also known among my friends as the "keep the suicide hotline number handy before you watch it" movie. Those couple of minutes are the most brutally emotional scene I've ever watched in an animated flick.

    -Legion

  • I've always told my friends when they ask me what console I'm going to get. "I go where Square goes"
    =\=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=\=\= \=\=\=\
  • ... I don't think they know what "final" means if we are on number 10.
  • I think some of the best FMV cut scenes i've seen used are actually in the Odd World series. THough it is not a fast paced action-ish kind of game the same basic philosophy they've used for doing FMV transitions still hold well.

    For anyone out there doing video game design (especially where you think you'll be doing work with Full Motion Video) I highly recommend that you go out and pick up the games in the Odd World series to get a good perspective on how FMV cut scenes can be done well.


    -shpoffo
  • I agree with you about 6.
    Xenogears had a rediculously epic plot, and could have eclipsed FF6 as my favorite had the second disc not been such a let-down (sorry, you'll see :P)
  • I read in Discover that Square Pictures is done after this. They don't plan to do any more movies, funded or no.
  • So what about us PC-gamers? I'm still waiting for FF9 to be released for my PC. Or did FF8 kill off the FFPC game market?
  • There are two Final Fantasy anthologies for Playstation 1: the first one has FF V (never seen in US) and VI (3 for the SNES) which are direct ports; 16 bit all the way. The only changes are that there are intro and I think outro FMVs. Everything else is the same as the SNES/SuperFamicoms. The second anthology has Final Fantasy IV (2 in the US) only retranslated, not hacked down, and with some other improvements. The other title in that set is Chrono Trigger, another widely-regarded classic from the SNES days. Final Fantasy Anthology [ign.com]
    Final Fantasy Chronicles [ign.com]
  • Another Xenogears game? Shit. Now I have to buy a PS2. Congrats, Sony, you just proved once again that a good story will sell crap hardware. As it should be.
  • I just couldn't get into vagrant story. But Xenogears... now there be a classic Square game. Look for the soundtrack, then look for the Creid album.
  • Donkey Kong is so named because Myamoto-san's Japanese-English dictionary had 'donkey' listed as a good translation for 'stubborn.' And I believe they thought that 'kong' was a standard term for 'big ape' as opposed to a proper name. Hence, "Stubborn Large Ape" is translated as "Donkey Kong."
  • Why did they chose the name Linux, huh? After all, it's a play on "Unix". It's not spelled "Unux", so why "Linux"?!

    Now, before you post indignant responses about exactly why the name Linux was chosen, realize that you are just proving my point. There are perfectly good reasons for the name Linux, just as there are perfectly good reasons for there being ten games named 'Final Fantasy'. Yeesh.

  • I remember when I was in about sixth grade, after Final Fantasy (I) had been out for a little while, rumors of the Final Fantasy III being available in Japan got exaggerated (as young kids do so well) into Final Fantasy 10 is available in Japan! So perhaps the PlayStation 9 is really available in Japan, and Final Fantasy 35 will be coming to the US soon...
  • ... to buy a PS2 just for this and A-Spec.

    But two games does not a system make (well, not a $300 system anyway.)
  • God were those awful. You know it's time to quit when all three games together are going for 25 at Best Buy.
  • actually i'm pretty sure Sabin's "pummel" was Left-Right-Left (or at least that was some move of his)
  • First off, to respond to allegations that the movie will "at least break even": it will probably lose money. Meaning, Square will be richer because of it, but that money will simply magically appear in their bank account-- anyone foolish enough to ask for a share of the profits will, of course, be told that the movie lost millions. Now, on to the topic.

    I saw this bit on ps2.ign.com:
    This world, like Tidus', is threatened by the encroaching power of Sin. Sin is, at this point, a somewhat nebulous concept. Sin is an invisible force. Yet Sin is also a gigantic hideous black-hole thing that launches black spawning horrors that our heroes have to battle.

    A lot of FF fans think, as do I, that the villains have just been going down hill. FF7 was one of the best not just because the pacing was good and the game mechanic was fun, but because Sephiroth was an interesting villain. He was evil, he did brutal things, and he made you chase him as he gloated. And, of course, he had a bit of motivation for all of that. The villains in 8 and 9, however, more or less sucked. We had a jealous guy from another planet, and some evil witch or something-- I don't remember because I really didn't care. There sure as hell better be someone cool behind this whole Sin thing, and they'd better make an appearance before disc 235.

    One brief note of optimism, however, which I'm sure we'll all be thankful for (from the same article):
    The speedier battle system in FFX looks as if it may tidy up some complaints about the persistence of random battles.
  • Actually I was under the impression that FFX (and presumably FFXI) were being re-written for the PC, no direct porting. Imagine actually being able to TYPE in your character names.....

    Now as long as the PC port is on a DVD like the PS2 version, I'll be happy. Disc swapping be damned.
  • Sure they do, next up is Final Fantasy XI - Crystal Lake : Jason Learns Magic
  • I thought the same thing, although the number I've come across is more like $210 when you include marketing costs.

    Anyway, I was curious enough to look up the latest daily results [boxofficemojo.com] (as of Wed.):

    Jurassic Park III -> $19 million
    Legally Blonde -> $2.8 million
    Cats & Dogs -> $1.7 million
    The Score -> $1.6 million
    Dr. Dolittle 2 -> $1 million
    Scary Movie 2 -> $979,000
    The Fast and the Furious -> $956,000
    Final Fantasy -> $793,000

    Dr. Dolittle 2 (which has been out for 27 days) is currently in front of Final Fantasy (which has been out for 8 days). The Final Fantasy movie can be catagorized as nothing short of a complete failure, despite how it does overseas and on sales/rentals. A $200 million movie that brings in ~$30 million in the US box office is a disaster. There will be no Final Fantasy: The Movie 2.

    Methinks the "break even" comment was just a Square fanboy trying to put a positive spin on things.
  • Oh okay, thanks for refreshing my memory! :) I forgot the events leading up to it, but the scene in the forest, watching his family waving goodbye from the train will always stick with me. More than any of the details, it's the way that scene in the forest made me FEEL. It might be the saddest thing I've ever seen in a work of fiction. Brilliant!

    I agree with you SO much about FF Tractics. I consider that possibly my favorite game of all time. I loved the tactical combat, and I thought the storyline was amazing as well.

    Yeah, I played FF7 and thought it was really good, but it never floored me like FF3 or Tactics did later on. There were some gripping scenes though, like the one scene where Red13 discovers his father's remains, and learns the truth about his heroism. I did get kind of attached to Tifa though. I was hoping they'd hook up on that monorail ride in the amusement park. :) And I did like the total mind-fsck the story took in the end when the truth about Cloud and Sephiroth was revealed.

    FF8 didn't even make me want to play it at all. It looked like a pretty-boy soap opera. I dunno, seemed very "mass market". FF9 looks like a possible return to old-school values (well, old-school chara design at least) so I'll play it if/when it comes out for PC.

    Ooooh! While we're digging out the memories, here's another trademark Squaresoft heart-wrenching scene from the 16bit era. How about in Chrono Trigger, when Robo meets up with his fellow robots, and they all turn on him. Now that was damn sad. My description doesn't do the scene justice, of course, but people who played the game know what I mean.

  • Also, I love how the battles take place right on the map, instead of doing some effect or other and going to a different screen.

    You're right! That may have been the coolest part of Chrono Trigger. Why don't more games use that? The Black Isle AD&D roleplaying games for the PC (Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale) have this feature as well. Well, so do the MMORPG's, obviously. :) If I was gonna be producer on an RPG that would be a huge design goal of mine. It's so disruptive to have some swirly effect and then switch to a different playfield to fight an actual battle, like all the FF games do.

  • I don't know, but I sort of miss the SNES roleplaying games of yesteryear. As cheesy as it sounds there was something I really loved about those low-tech graphics. I don't know, maybe it's similar to the nostalgia people feel for the text-adventure games.

    I remember one scene in Final Fantasy 3 (6 in Japan). It's been many years, so I may have a detail or two wrong but the gist remains. Anyway, war is sweeping the land. At one point your adventurers come upon a young woman and her daughter. The woman is bedridden, gravely ill. She asks you to take a message to her husband, who's off fighting the war. By the time you can return with her husband, though, she's dead... killed as the fighting swept through her village.

    The husband is very stoic. He said something to the effect that since he was a soldier (and therefore part of the war) too, he had no right to be upset or angry. And he walked away.

    Later in the adventure, you're traveling through an enchanted forest when you meet up with the soldier again. It turns out there's a train traveling through the forest... a supernatural train that takes departed souls to the afterlife. As the train pulls away, your party and the soldier stand there watching it. And then you see the ghostly image of the soldier's wife and child standing at the back of the train, silently waving goodbye to him. The soldier takes a few fitful steps after the train and then just quiently falls to his knees, sobbing.

    I swear that was the most heartwrenching thing I've ever seen in a videogame. Hell, 99% of movies don't have anything that powerful emotionally IMHO. What was my point? Oh yeah, that I miss those "old-skool" RPG's, and that they had some awesome stories too that didn't rely on graphics. Having said that though, FFX does look awesome so if they can combine the wonderful storytelling and drool-worthy graphics I guess it will be cool. I'm just a little skeptical that's all.... yeah yeah I know... memories are often rose-colored... maybe FF3 would seem retarded if I played it today... I'm probably being a cranky 25 year-old bastard.... :)

  • Um, Warcraft's honor should go to Dune II. Significantly different, yes, but didn't start the genre.
  • As FF11 will be Internet based, Square has said that it will be developed on all major platforms, even the Xbox if it doesn't fall on its ass.
  • I knew I shouldn't of taken that speed reading class!! ;-)

    My apologies.

    --
  • What about the original final fantasy for the NES??

    I still play that game!

    --
  • I thought there was already some bad blood between Square and Nintendo, well before this campaign started. If I remember correctly (too lazy to research) Nintendo was very restrictive and controlling of their developers.

    I'm not a fan of Nintendo (The only reason I bought their consoles in the past was for FF games), but I am a Square fan. The more platforms they are on, the better.

  • Several reasons:

    1. Final Fantasy X comes on DVD pretty much fills the whole thing up. So that's several gigs of data there. An N64 cartridge simply couldn't handle that, unless people are filling to shell out a bazillion dollars for a multi gig ROM cart.

    2. Development costs -- who the hell would spend the cash to squeeze such a huge game into a 256 meg N64 cart? The game probably already cost SquareEA dozens of millions USD, downsizing it to fit into the N64 would mean a near-total re-write of the software.

    3. The rift between Square and Nintendo. When Nintendo decided to go with cartridges for the N64, Square was pissed because it wanted CDs. That's the essential idea behind the rift, and it's never quite healed.

    4. Not enough Pokemon content. Maybe if they make Pokemons out of Chocobos...

      I wouldn't be surprised if you see them on the Gamecube, though, unless Sony locks them up with exclusive deals...

      J
  • Good grief people, lighten up.

    I saw the "Final Fantasy 10" story go up on Slashdot. I live and teach in Japan, and much of my time is spent trying to fix the English that my students hear and memorize that has been slaughtered by advertisers.

    If you've ever lived in a non-English speaking country (and no, Mexico doesn't really count) you know what I mean.

    Anyway, the article went up, and I sat down to reply when it was new. Unfortunately, this was the exact moment my toddler son chose to endanger his own life.

    Five minutes later, I get back to my computer and hit "submit."

    Ooops. Seems like 50 other people had the exact same thought at the same time as me, and boy, am I redundant. Whoops. Oh well.

    I check back later and I've been modded down. Fair enough. But SIX replies filled with abuse?

    Ritalin. Learn it. Love it. Live it.

  • Re:Import/Export, anyone! (Score:3)

    by jeko ( 179919 ) on Friday July 20, 2001 @05:35AM (#72838)
    Sorry. I live in Japan. I can personally assure you from bitter experience that Mr. Custom Guy's ENTIRE job is to ensure that the price of melons stays at least at 4000 yen.

  • Final Fantasy has always been full of these kinds of tear-wrenching scenes, such as:

    FF2 (4 in Japan): Two young kids, who have been assigned to teach a jaded Dark Knight the ways of kindness, have succeeded. They have taught him the innocence of childhood through example, and shown him that that innocence is not a weakness; indeed, their strength has been the only power which has helped the party survive during that black-hearted knight's errors in judgement and doubts of heart. As he finally transcends his past and becomes endowed with the spiritual guidance of paladinhood, those children cheer him on, ever faithful and good. At a tragic turning point in the game, the spectral will of a recently defeated boss has prepared a trap; they have won a battle, but it will cost them their lives, as they are locked in a collapsing room of a huge stone castle. As their final lesson to this fledgeling paladin, the two kids struggle to prop themselves against the crumbling walls as firmly as possible, and turn each other to stone; imprisoning themselves eternally to live unblinking, unmoving, forever, in order to help the paladin save the world.

    All the stories (since 2US/4JP) have had this kind of heart-wrenching skill. You spend more time with these people than you would with any character in a novel. Square tells exquisite stories of philosophy and human passion. Thank goodness they also happen to sell like hotcakes.

  • Re:Naming convention (Score:5)

    by The Abominous Salad ( 182076 ) on Friday July 20, 2001 @05:42AM (#72840) Homepage

    I answer this question at least once a month, it seems.

    Every Final Fantasy title is just that; it is the ultimate event in one planet's history. Every FF title takes place on a different planet, and they are not really sequels of each other. The only exception to this is a little cross-villaination between FF1 and FF9, and the occasional joke (such as the ending of FF9, where it is claimed in a theatre performance that the hero will be with his lover, and "no cloud, no squall shall deter me." -- Cloud being the hero of FF7, Squall the hero of FF8.) This, and certain common themes aside (celestial beings, background creatures, and the trademark struggle between citizenry vs. ultimately powerful corruption) are all that link the stories together. So, each of them is a Final Fantasy.

  • ow there sure is a whole lot of negative attitude aimed at squaresoft! First the guy who wrote this "article" says "ho-hum" at the idea of another blockbuster game from square? What is so boring about the best rpg gaming company ever pushing the envelope again? I've been a loyal and avid square fan since the beginning, both imports and domestic games, and I'm superhyped at the idea of a crossplatform FF. The movie was great and FF10 is just awesome!!! (Get it early if you can speak japanese). As for the people who have questioned this article's pertinance to slashdot....I'd have to say that not all of us care about everything that has been written here before but it you don't care for the article, don't post a reply. If squaresoft is guilty of anything then it's releasing Final Fantasy's too close together and not allowing for waiting periods in between. The PS2 has a plethra of extremely well designed games (did I mention you can play Q3 and Unreal Tournament?) with nothing but good things to come. The gaming world doesn't consist purely of Quake and Half-Life! Square should be commended for their brillant storytelling andvisuals, not hissed at because people feel they are becoming to much of a mainstream conglomerate. Anyways I for one eagerly await the arrival of ff11
  • VS was sort of an experimental game for them, testing out the rpg storyline in a tombraider style setting. I think it came out nicely don't you!! I loved the game up unil I got stuck at the Jinn My overall complaint would be that the weapons/energy system was a little rough and complicated but I think in a sequel they could fine tune it and create a stunning game ^_^
  • it seems that your comments are in essence directed at FF and I find many of your points valid but if you examine the development of square's games as a whole over the past few years, they are trying out a number of new battle technics in an effort to eliminate that crappy FF battle system. Character development is definately something that needs to be improved upon it seems as if they focused on it a whole lot more back in the beginning before graphics were so important. The storyline has always been phenomenal though. But I have found myself wondering from time to time where the hell that demi dragon got 10,000 gil from and if he's so damned tough, why do i have time to run up to him in the middle of a fight and rummage through his pockets (aka Mug)??? While ff has been sliding downhill in some areas, some of square's other games are creating new and rather innovative ways to kill off every living thing on the planet, (PS did you ever notice that an ecological inbalance never resulted even though you kill off half the planet's life?)
  • But he did say the PS2 he saw playing DVD's was outstanding

    I, personally, have no problems with the actual playback (though like your friend, I don't really have anything to compare it to). It's mainly just the user interface that's screwy. Even after playing a dozen movies on the thing, I sometimes have trouble convincing it to do what I want. On the other hand, once it's chugging along, it's fine. But I'm not qualified to rate the relative sound and video quality other than to say that it generally required cranking the sound up on the TV for my setup (I was using just the plain RCA jacks), and the picture was definitely nicer than a videotape. Other than that, I can't really say.

  • is there any way to turn off the PS2 (or rather put it in standby mode) when playing DVDs

    I'm not quite sure what you're asking. If you're asking if you can pause the PS2 game you've got, play a DVD, then go back to it, I'm pretty sure the answer is no. (You generally reboot the whole machine to play a DVD.)

    If you're asking if you can pause your place on the DVD, shutdown the machine, come back later, and resume where you left off, then my answer is that I'm not aware of the feature. It might exist, but I haven't come across it. Generally, I just use the chapter/scene feature that most DVDs support to jump to something relatively close.

  • Re:I've made my decision... (Score:3)

    by Erasmus Darwin ( 183180 ) on Friday July 20, 2001 @05:54AM (#72846)
    Both for it's DVD features, and for it's quality games being produced for it.

    One thing to keep in mind is that the DVD player on the PS2 could use some work. I haven't run into compatibility problems, but the user interface is painful. You either need one of the add-on DVD remotes or lots of patience. So I'd be tempted to consider the DVD-playing capabilites a bonus, rather than a selling point. If a significant part of your buying decision revolves around the DVD playback, I'd recommend at least trying it at a friend's house or in the store, first.

    That being said, I do use my PS2 as my only DVD player, and it does fulfill my needs. But it's quirky enough that I strongly suggest that you check out what you're getting first. (Which may not be an issue in your case, as you also mentioned the games as a reason you're buying it.)

  • Just as a side question, is there any way to turn off the PS2 (or rather put it in standby mode) when playing DVDs with either a remote or a DualShock 2 controller?
  • Cid was the name of the guy who said "if only I had a FLOATER..." or something like that
  • Actually, reviews are saying that they're cutting back on the FMV. They also eliminated the tedious fade into battle and give you the option of turning off spell graphics to speed up the game. What they particularly got rid of was the long FMV introduction to the game -- instead, it's live and apparently more "interactive". It seems complaints of previous Final Fantasies having a slow gameplay have not gone unnoticed...
  • By my unofficial estimate, at Playstation 9 we should be up to about Final Fantasy 35.

    While I have nothing against the name "Final Fantasy", unlike others on /., I really hope by 35 they'll have started a new line of names. At least once or twice.
  • I know there's a cid in FF2/4, and again he's the airship/engineer type, the "scotty" of FF. I don't think there's a cid in FF1 however, since the only characters you get in that game are the four you start out with, though it's been a LONG time and i could be wrong.
  • You're the third person, by my count. Square was going out of buisiness, so it was going to be final, etc. etc. In conclusion, don't be redundant.
  • I won't begin to argue with you about FF9 (I loved the game, I just don't want to argue about it), but I can't entirely agree with your opinion of Chrono Cross as an altogether better game. While the battle system was certainly innovative and complex, I hesitate to say it was "more fun", simply because of the sometimes ridiculous micromanagement you had to do to advance (before completing the game, anyway). And please, no comments about how I'm not intelligent enough to figure out such a simple system. I thoroughly destroyed the game (and wasted a lot of time in the process), but I thought the idea was not to have to play endlessly with spell allocation for the sake of mastering the (overly complex) battle system, but to just have fun. I mean, isn't that the point of video games? I get enough complication and mindless detail in the work I do, and I don't play video games to have to expend more time and mental energy.

  • Import/Export, anyone! (Score:5)

    by imadork ( 226897 ) on Friday July 20, 2001 @05:19AM (#72854) Homepage
    After a recent trip to Japan, I've concluded the way to Make Money Fast is to bring a suitcase full of Melons over there and sell them, and bring a suitcase full of Japanese PS2 games back and sell them here. I'd probably make more money on the Melons, I saw some selling for 4000 Yen!

    I wonder what Mr. Customs Guy has to say about my scheme...

  • Ah, but Xenosaga will be coming out for the PS2 as well. As if Xenogears didnt suck up weeks of my time, now they're makigna prequel. Looks like I'll be putting off my masters for another year . . .
  • Who complains about FMV's? No they don't make for spellbinding GAMEPLAY, but they do add a cinematic element that's beyond currently acheivable interactivity. The FF games have had some of the best FMV's ever, they're used to introduce characters, illustrate important key events and give more atmosphere than can be acheived in the bitmap backgrounds or the polygonal character models. Most of the action in the FMV's consist of actions that the user would have NO control over, like catching someone's fall, mourning someone's death, looking lovingly into someone's eyes, Or would you rather those were minigames?

    "Continually press [x] to advance the SEED fleet across the ocean to the shores of Galdabia."
  • The text "Final Fantasy" has an insteresting translation here in Taiwan. People call it "Tai-Kom-Gen-Shi" in Chinese, which means "Space Warrior", though I wonder if it has somthing to do with "Sky Walker." Maybe the translator happened to be a fan of sci-fi.
  • Actually, I thought the idiocy peaked when they made a video game version of a movie version of a video game [gamestop.com].

    ~Philly

  • I remember one scene in Final Fantasy 3 (6 in Japan) ... [A woman's husband is off fighting in a war, when he comes back his wife is dead, and he watches as a supernatural train carries her soul away]

    Hell, 99% of movies don't have anything that powerful emotionally IMHO.

    This sounds a lot like part of the story in the anime movie Windaria [imdb.com]. Very good movie, with great music. One of my favorites. (I haven't watched it in a while, but still listen to the soundtrack often.)

  • ...most of these videos is already slashdoted (and the story has not been posted on /. yet ;-) ...

    We have a case with slashdot readers gaining ESP superpowers that can "sense" a slashdot article before getting posted!.

  • PS9 (Score:1)

    by alanwj ( 242317 )
    I'm sure everyone has seen the "futuristic" commercial about Playstation 9 (the on where the kid touches the elevator button and gets crack injected directly into his brain).

    I was disappointed that they failed to mention what versions of FF run on it.

    As a side note, has anybody ever found a good connecting element between all the different FF stories? I think it would be amazingly cool if Square made a FF that somehow linked the them all (or some of them, at least. It would be darn hard to come up with a decent story that connected ALL of them. They are just too different.)

  • FF3/6 and the future of FF (Score:3)

    by Zoisite ( 250130 ) on Friday July 20, 2001 @05:29AM (#72862)
    I beat FF3/6 for the nth time last week...

    Graphics may get old, but a beautiful, epic story never loses its appeal. And FF3/6 has the most haunting story I have ever lived. I remember crying when the music started and the curtain rose on the Opera scene...

    I wish Square would revisit the past and give us something better than the mass-market drivel that were FF8-9.

    I wish Square would once more give us strong, capable female characters which are not emotional wrecks.

    But more than that...

    I wish Square will make enough money with the FF movie to hire a character designer. I mean, Rinoa, Garnet, Yuna and Aki LOOK THE SAME! Tidus is Squall with bleached hair! Come on Square, you can do better than that!

    Zoi (who'll be playing FF3/6 again when everyone else will be in front of FF10)
  • If a video game wants the player to use his imagination, it should be a pure text adventure. If a game wants to go for sensory overload, it should be like a movie or amusement park. On the PS1, Square was torn between these two extremes, and on the PS2 they've chosen the latter.

    I'm glad that Square's settled with one or the other; games with movie-caliber graphics but no voice have always felt incoherent to me. Maybe later they'll make a pure text adventure, but otherwise I think they should lean for sensory overload.
  • Try http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/
  • huh? Firstly, Sony doesn't produce FF...Square does. Square says when the game comes out and for what systems. Sony does not have an exclusivity agreement with Square, as is evidenced by the fact that FFX and beyond will most likely show up on the game cube...and be a hell of a lot better than the PS2 version. You should really read the news a bit more, because there is far more to the gaming world than just Sony. Much, much more.
  • Your comparisons of game systems, especially the Saturn/PSX comparsion is crazy. While their hardware may be _slightly_ simular, that's where it ends. The saturn was notoriously hard to code for, which greatly hurt it's game base. Also, when saturn came out, Sega was in a bit of financial trouble and was not able to put a huge sum of money into development. Lastly, the PS2 and GAMECUBE are not very simular at all. One is a home entertainment system, while the other is a thoroughbred game system. They have totally different hardware and the games on each system will have their own distinct look.
  • Well, I've made my decision. After reading the Gamespot review [gamespot.com], I'm officially hooked on getting a PS2. Both for it's DVD features, and for it's quality games being produced for it. Now if only they'll build a really good team, online multiplayer FPS like CounterStrike for it... I'll be able to ditch Winbloze entirely! I've already converted most all of my operations to my Linux Mandrake8 box, all that's left is getting a good gaming machine that doesn't rely on Winbloze exclusively, and I'll be set.
  • I think the reason the old-skool graphics and text-based adventure games appeal to us so much is because they're the MOST like an interactive story. Your imagination kicks in and you involve yourself more than if you were just watching a movie. Ever notice how the book is ALWAYS better than the movie? Same thing applies in video games I think. That's why SquareSoft does have to be given credit for pulling off quality games that are graphically intensive. It gets exponentially harder to really involve the player the better the graphics and 'eye-candy' get.

    I remember the part you're talking about, as that was my first FF game I ever played! I spent probably a hundred hours playing that game with friends. Not because we couldn't figure it out, but just because it was fun.

    I have 'rediscovered' Civ2 recently and have enjoyed playing it even more than some of the more advanced games like Alpha Centauri. KISS definitely applies to epic games like FF and Civ. The stories are just told better without the graphical fluff to get in the way. Needless to say, I'm in awe of how well SquareSoft manages to tell an involving story, while supplying outstanding graphics. That, is not easy to do.

  • You'll also notice the use of voice in the game. While Square first began dabbling in voice work with The Bouncer, FFX is the first FF game to use voice acting.

    This strikes me as something I would both like and dislike. First, the dislike. As someone else pointed out, those early final fantasy games had something in them that made them truly fantastic. I personally like FFII the best, but the stories were great, and I remember caring about the character and what happened to them. I remember in FFVII when the woman got killed by the Antagonist: I was pissed. The early games had this same quality.

    Having voices attached to the characters may remove some of this appeal. It's sort of like reading a book. You have to imagine the characters' voices in your head. It's sort of like when you are chatting online with someone for a while and then get sent a picture of him or her. Somehow, I never imagined them looking that way. I want to be able to imagine what characters sound like and what the tone is like. Somehow being given that information seems like it could ruin that aspect of the game.

    As for the good, well, it is obvious. This game continues the proud tradition of high quality story lines that are non-linear. Side games, and being able to do things out of a strict sequence appeal to me. The graphics look fantastic, and voice-overs are just an extension of the technology, just like high graphics were. In the end, I think this development will add to the overall story line. I guess I am buying a PSII so I can check this out!

  • Final Fantasy is great - FMV however is not... (Score:3)

    by PeteSlater ( 412250 ) on Friday July 20, 2001 @05:16AM (#72881)
    The Final Fantasy games have always been wonderful.

    They remind me of why I play games in the first place - to escape reality, a fact lost of many games designers today who try their best to emulate the real world... Shenmue anybody?

    But one thing has always bothered me since the days of FFVII and that is that FMV in games is a bad thing.

    Granted Square have always made the BEST use of FMV in their games but after playing Skies of Arcadia on Dreamcast and seeing just how good cut scenes using the in game engine could look, I can only view the use of FMV as a sloppy, time wasting excercise.

    What do you think?

    Pete
  • I agree. I've been playing Final Fantasy VI and IV on my SNES emulator lately, and I think Square has forgotten a lot of the elements that made Final Fantasy so great. Gamers spent countless hours in VI and IV (II and III American version) walking around HUGE caves, fighting 255 battles to uncurse a shield, etc. Final Fantasy VII, which I sort of enjoyed, had a great storyline and great graphics, but I finished it in a week. I spent at least three weeks finishing FFVI on my emulator, and I already know all the secrets! The gold chocoboo and the weapon quests were cool and all, but I really feel it lacked the depth of previous Final Fantasys. By the end of FFIV and FFVI you're attached to the characters, and you really do want to see what happens to them after the "big battle". FFVIII was just terrible, and I didn't even waste my time with IX. Anyway, I think a game that was a good mix between old and new was the little famed "Xenogears". The graphics aren't final fantasy, but the story line is execellent and it's difficult enough to quench even the best gamer's RPG thrist. Also, if you can deal with sub par graphics, Tactics Ogre is the best RPG ever made. The characters are unique, deep, and the story line changes based on the decisions you make. It's extremely difficult, but the ending makes it well worth the 200+ hours you'll spend playing it. (It plays like FF Tactics). .:The God in the Machine:.
  • oops...This is what my original post should look like

    There are differences between previews and reviews. None of those sites you mention didn't have any reviews about the game just previews/impressions. The only "major" publication that reviewed Final Fantasy X is Famitsu which gave it 39/40.

    Final Fantasy Hater. Go buy Dragon Warrior III for GBC, instead.
  • has been the only thing getting me to buy a console system.

    Consider the RPG users who have bought the following systems for the following FF installments:

    Super Nintendo: FFIV, FFV, FFVI (ff2 and 3 in USA)

    Playstation: FFVII, FFVIII, FFIX

    and now... PS2: FFX
    Note that I didn't include the NES because FF was just being established. But FF1 was awesome.

    I will buy a PS2 eventually for FFX and FFXI because I'm too bloody impatient to wait for the (often shitty) PC port.

    Screw 3...

  • I played it again just this year. Once you get past the graphics, it draws you right back in.

    That was arguably squaresoft's masterpiece.

    Screw 3...

  • Re:Somehow.... (Score:3)

    by Johnny5000 ( 451029 ) on Friday July 20, 2001 @05:07AM (#72894) Homepage Journal
    Since you asked...

    The reason why it's called "Final" Fantasy is that back in the day, Square was going broke.
    So broke that they were about to go out of business. But, they were working on this great new game. Since it was the last game that Square was ever going to release, it was Final Fantasy.

    But, since the game was a big hit and made Square truckloads of money, they didnt have to go out of business afterwards. And the only thing that made sense after that was to crank out endless sequels, a movie, etc.

    If it hadn't caught on, it would have been final (for Square, at least.)

    -J5K

  • Hope its as good as the hype (Score:3)

    by Arcturax ( 454188 ) on Friday July 20, 2001 @04:56AM (#72898)
    About every FF since 7 has have about as much full motion video scenes as game play. Some even more than that. I get annoyed with games that make me sit through 5 minute scenes. Well ok, maybe once if it adds to the story but some are just eye candy that I'd rather skip, at least after I've seen it once already. I'm much more interested in actually playing the damn game. Hell I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually release a version of FF where you hit the start button and then sit back and watch one big scene. Oh wait they already have, its just not out of the theater yet ;)

  • Cid (Score:2)

    by Meffan ( 469304 )
    As a side note, has anybody ever found a good connecting element between all the different FF stories?

    One link between the FF stories is Cid, there's always a Cid in there somewhere. I've seen Cids in FF7, 8 & 9. I'm sure I remember a Cid from FF3/6.

    There's even a Cid in the movie.

    Does anyone remember if the earlier FFs had a Cid in? Guess it's back to ZSnes for me to go find out , or maybe Nesticle (Depending on how old FF2 is)

  • I played this game way back when too.. it stands out in my mind as one of the best rpgs I have ever played(the other two being Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy Tactics). Thankfully, all of these games(including FFT I think) have been recently re-released. I'm in the middle of replaying it, and I haven't got as far as what you're talking about, but it's crystal-clear in my memory:

    The guy you're talking about is Cyan, knight of Doma(didn't remember his name, gotta love the manual). You don't meet his family first.. that is from another bit of storyline. While you're busy sneaking through an Empire camp, the scene switches to the castle that the Empire is barricading. Troops are trying to break in, and the king wonders what's to be done. Cyan bursts in, says to let him take care of it, and singlehandedly bashes back the attack by killing the enemy captain. The enemy retreats, and you go back to your party. There they see the no. 1 bad guy, then chancellor to the Emporer, and a general.. the chancellor wants to poison them, but the general forbids it. The general is then called away on duty, so the chancellor goes ahead and poisons the water, killing most everyone in the castle(including Empire soldiers!) Cyan goes to see if his family is alive, but he is tragically too late. He goes beserk and charges into the enemy camp, where he meets your group, and they travel to said enchanted forest. From there you have it right.

    I really wish the final fantasy series afterwards could live up to this game. FF7 was ok, but it doesn't match the sheer quality of this game. FF8 was a disappointment, and I haven't tried FF9 yet. Square, IMHO, only redeems itself on the PSX with Final Fantasy Tactics.

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