New Square RPG Unveiled - The Last Remnant

1up is reporting on content from Game Informer magazine from this month, talking about Square's next big non-Final Fantasy RPG. Entitled The Last Remnant, it sounds like an interesting blend of the old and the new. While the action will stick with traditional turn-based mechanics, several elements reflect the changing landscape of the games industry. Square/Enix intends to release the game worldwide, localizing the game to an English audience as the game is created. Additionally, the game will have two selectable protagonists: one is to be a traditional heroic Square character, and the other more of an anti-hero for the American market. "The Last Remnant's been designed on Unreal Engine 3, and we should see the first official media come from [Square/Enix's announcement party] on May 12 and 13. Going with Epic's technology isn't too surprising considering the company's emphasizing the focus on Western gamers ... We don't know much about combat, but it's turn-based, more action-oriented and has a cinematic flair."

traditional heroic Square character

[earnest murderer]

traditional heroic Square character, and the other more of an anti-hero for the American market
Read as...
disaffected youth with spiky hair, and the other a disaffected youth with long hair

I enjoy these games as much as anyone else, but as their name implies their character development is about as flat as my display.

Re:

[Poltras]

And I guess you don't use those old CRT displays, uh...

I have to agree there, though I find it much more specific to the FF franchise than the rest of the industry. For me, every last FF are looking the same.

Re:traditional heroic Square character

[C0rinthian]

Nah, the americanized anti-hero will be 'buff' to the point of anatomic impossibility, scarred, tattooed, and posess trendy yet intimidating facial hair. He will also posess a brash personality and mysterious past.

Rediculous body armor is also a possibility, as are very, very large guns.

Re:traditional heroic Square character

[zerocool^]

Mysterious past?!?

What kind of Square RPG Fan are you!

Obviously one of the lead characters will have AMNESIA. It's a requirement!

Re:

[C0rinthian]

Remember, I'm talking about the new 'Western' main character. You're confusing that with the traditional Square lead that carries a melee weapon weighing in at approximately 2x their body weight.

Re:

[KDR_11k]

It's using Unreal Engine 3, the latest and greatest in rendering space marines with gigantic body armor and moonboots.

And the Anti-Hero...

[Khyber]

I guess the anti-hero guy will have black hair, black clothing with an anarchy symbol somewhere on it, wear lots of white makeup, have lots of cuts and scars around their wrists, and be pierced all over?

Re:

[ravenshrike]

what sort of two-bit pussy whipped anti-hero would try to kill themselves with a knife across the wrists?

Re:

[Khyber]

Most don't try killing themselves, they bleed themselves to be able to feel.

Re:

[Dachannien]

disaffected youth with spiky hair, and the other a disaffected youth with long hair

But will they have gigantic forearms?

Re:

[SP33doh]

examine the main characters in all of the final fantasy games over the past ten years. they're all completely different. examine the secondary characters, they're completely different.
look at the stories. completely different, original, and for the most part, deep.
 
stop artificially making square cliche.

Re:

[Nazlfrag]

Even Cid plays a similar yet different role each time.

Re:

[Canthros]

Completely different and original? There's a ridiculous preponderance of protagonists who are young (FFII, FFIII, FFV, FFVI, FFVII, FFVIII, FFIX, FFX, FFXII), are male (FFII, FFIII, FFIV, FFV, FFVII, FVIII, FFIX, FFX, FFXII), have a mysterious past or are amnesiac (FFII, FFIII, FFIV, FFVI, FFVII, FFVIII, FFIX), are disaffected (FFIV, FFVI, FFVII, FFVIII, FFX), not what they seem to be (FFIII, FFIV, FFVI, FFVII, FFIX, FFX) .... I think FFXII did a much better job than usual of breaking out of the bulk of tho

Re:

[SP33doh]

you're judging character development based on exceptionally naive criteria.
try comparing the important aspects of character development, their emotions, their personality. the characters are extraordinarily different. take cloud and tidus for example, they're not even remotely similar.

sure, I'll agree that the main characters have some, albeit very mild, cliches, but they're by no stretch of the imagination adequite to claim that the character development is "as flat as a display".

the character develop

Re:

[SP33doh]

wait a sec, what definition of disaffected are you using? tidus isn't disaffected at all...

and I don't think squall is really either, though there may be a definition that I'm unfamiliar with that squall fits into.

Need more cofee

[Chris Burke]

New Square RPG -- The Last Laundromat.

Hmmm, intriguing, but I'm not so sure it'll work out.

Re:

[Lawn Jocke]

Every time you make a bad joke, a kitten dies. In other news, dogs everywhere make to the streets in celebration...

Re:Need more cofee

[earnest murderer]

Come on, it's a tragic story of how the aristocratic management raises dryer rates while lowering the temperature to get more money out of their customers. Eventually you'll discover the purpose isn't just to make more dough, but to fund their super secret Laundro-Bot that will subjugate the entire human race before summoning METEOR to rain bloody vengance upon their competitors! Mostly because the owner was jilted by a girl that worked across town at another Wash & Dry. You will eventually prevail over the mad manager, but it will be too late to stop Laundro-Bot.

All of this because long ago the owner was jilted by a girl that worked across town at another Wash & Dry. A woman who turns out to be... YOUR MOM!

There will be a side quest involving a giant chicken and a homeless man with his own rocket.

Re:

[shotgunsaint]

Don't forget that to power the Laundro-bot, they need YOU to collect lint from every dryer in the shop to form some kind of super-lint. Just before you collect the last piece, you'll stop (in a grand cinematic), renounce your manager, and refuse to take any more lint. That's when he'll attack you from behind.

Re:

[Hotawa Hawk-eye]

Before you're able to collect the lint from the dryers (even though you'll have had access to the dryers, with the lint inside, since the beginning of the game) you'll have to take this shirt to the owner who mistakenly picked up someone else's shirt. You'll then have to take the shirt they took and return it to its owner, and take the shirt _that_ person took, and *skipping the stories of a few dozen people who each took someone else's shirt and then moved to different cities or countries* you'll finally

Re:Need more cofee

[Dutch Gun]

Don't forget the oh-so-subtle undertones in the story about how humans-are-not-living-in-harmony-with-nature and/or weilding-a-power-too-awesome-for-us-and-may-destro y-us-all.

Re:

[Amouth]

and i waisted all my mod points yesterday.....

+1 UnderRated

Re:

[Ngarrang]

Not having played the game, I was wonder how an RPG could be square, let alone the possibility that one could then also be circular, hexagonal, etc.

Re:

[_Hiro_]

Cartridges are Square(ish), while DVD/CD-ROMs are Circle, so obviously this game is being released for the NES, with it's nearly-square cartridges.

Right? :P

Hmm

[kitsunewarlock]

Wasn't Square working on Blue Dragon recently? I mean, with Toriyama and the rest of the Chrono-crew...they already have so much merchandise I assumed they'd be focused on that...but I guess when you have an all star developing cast like that, you don't need to spend time on design since the little Ota like myself won't even consider it COULD be a bad game.

Re:Hmm

[Rycross]

Blue Dragon was done by Mistwalker Studios. Sakaguchi, who designed Final Fantasy, left Square and formed his own studio.

Re:

[revlayle]

Blue Dragon is not a Square-Enix production. The game is based on a design by Hironobu Sakaguchi (who created the FF series, IIRC). Blue Dragon is developed by Mistwalker and published by Microsoft.

Been there, done that

[Pengunea]

An RPG with a turn-based system that has a traditional heroic character and an antihero? Been there, played that. Just one similar game that comes to mind is Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits. But these are preliminary details at best. How the characters are presented could be different than this wide brush-stroke of an explination.

The sentiment the anti-hero is "for" the western gamers is an interesting one. From what I've seen fan response-wise on this side of the sea antiheroes are preferred.

Re:

[aichpvee]

I agree, going by the popularity of FFVII over here I'm pretty sure Americans go for the ultimate in anti-hero. That is, a little crying brat who wants his mommy. Particularly telling when compared with the macho persona so many of us try to project.

On the Japanese side, do you think they'll finally just hire Meg Ryan to do the voice work and get her head scanned as the "hero" or will they just have another, slightly closer, interation of generic-Meg-Ryan-a-like filling the role?

Re:

[Hatta]

Sure it's more of the same, but it's a great formula. If it ain't broke, why fix it?

Chrono Trigger...

[morari]

I always liked that one... Square games (and films) tend to be a little too cliche to be interesting for the amount of time intended. I think all J-RPGs do though. More like watching an interactive film than truly roleplaying a character who has to make choices.

The strategy makes sense.

[RyanFenton]

It makes sense that when making an Unreal engine game (which implies an "anything-but-Nintendo systems" release), they'd start the design with a highly western-friendly set of themes, based on the fact that non-Nintendo consoles just don't seem competitive right now in Japan. I doubt we'll be seeing Planescape: Torment or anything, but it'll be interesting to see if they can make an interesting title when learning such new sets of technology (likely training a lot of developers for the future with this project), and attempting to cater to a somewhat alien audience.

I don't know what it is, but a lot of their non-Final Fantasy games have seemed sort of, well, disingenuous or empty in similar circumstances, even if still good in some ways. Here's hoping it's not a Brave Fencer Musashi.

Looking back, I think you can probably guess what the game is going to be like by looking at the title - Final Fantasy is not going to end. Musashi is going to be an unfocused, unhistorical romp. Last Remnant, therefore, is going to involve drowning in remnants.

Ryan Fenton

Re:

[Applekid]

While I do think it's completely plausable that some Square-Enix exec said "Unreal = Western-friendly game," it just makes me shake my head.

I don't see what benefits the Unreal Engine provides versus a home-grown system except:

A) [Almost] trivial multiplatform porting.
B) Easier to subcontract out work on a familiar engine.
C) To trick FPS players who don't like RPGS into picking one up.

I don't think C will work very well. B is unfortunate as a lot of talent seems to be shifting away from the big co.s into na

Re:The strategy makes sense.

[LordVader717]

The same goes for the Final Fantasy VII and VIII games that were released on PC. The way all these games played made it seem like "hey, if you want play real games, buy a Playstation"
It made me save to "Slot 1" and "Slot 2" on my PC.

Re:

[Applekid]

Ah, yes, I forgot about that. There were also some similarly crap-tastic PC versions of Final Fantasy VII and VIII. Thank you, AC!

Re:

[_Hiro_]

You're somewhat mistaken with one of your assumptions.... Alt+Tab while in FFXI in Windows does not cause the game to crash. The original design was to cause a D/C from the game to prevent scripting / botting / etc. This "feature" (and yes, it's a documented feature, not outright bug.) is scheduled to be removed in a patch this summer.

Re:

[_Hiro_]

The error message is specifically "FFXI Lost Full Screen", not some inability to render, which leads me to believe that it was an intentional disconnect.

And as far as the other botters, there is a windowing wrapper available that tricks FFXI into thinking it always has fullscreen. Which is probably why they're disabling the full-screen "protection" this summer, since at this point it's just bothering the honest players.

Re:

[_Hiro_]

Except FFXI Doesn't crash. Losing full-screen puts you back a level to the character selection, which is still part of FFXI, not POL. Threw an Error, sent you back to the main menu.

Re:

[_xeno_]

Whatever excuses have been given for FFXI abruptly closing when losing focus, it's ultimately inexcusable. It's one of (many) reasons I quit playing. I want to be able to receive email and IMs while running the game, and Square-Enix's refusal to allow it helped convince me to quit. (One reason out of many, but I don't need to get into that.)

The problem with the "prevent scripting/botting" claim is that it's simply unsupportable. It's obviously flawed in that it never worked - there have been bots playing

Re:

[Psmylie]

Other folks have covered the ALT+TAB thing, so I'll tackle a couple of other things in your post.

First, that it looks like crap: I have to disagree. The game looks fantastic on my PC. The only way you can say that it looks the same as the PS2 is if you use all the lowest settings on the PC.

Second, that it requires a game controller to play: I've never used a gamepad, except when I've tried the PS2 version. Keyboard works just fine for me, thanks. I don't even need the mouse.

As far as it not being multiplat

Re:

[Psmylie]

"You do understand that all the excuses Square-Enix have given are complete bullshit, right?"

I understand what you're saying, I simply disagree. I think you are an angry, angry person who is extending far too much effort to bash a game you obviously don't care for. Why do you expend that effort? Just for the sake of arguing? To piss on other people's parades? Sad. Please feel free to move on. You may just find a life outside of being bitter.

So, what's your point in comparing those screenshots? That has n

Re:

[Psmylie]

Ok, first things first. I never said I "Bought it". I do think that was part of the original intent in not fixing it, to make botting a little less trivial to implement. Another reason would be that, because PS2 players can't alt-tab and go browsing, they didn't want PC players able to do it. You're whole argument was that SE was too incompetent to fix it, I disagreed.

Second, I didn't start the WoW vs FFXI comparison. You did. You said it looked like crap, I said I disagreed. It's apples and oranges. Go an

Re:

[mcvos]

I don't see what benefits the Unreal Engine provides versus a home-grown system except:

Seems to me the rather obvious benefit of using the Unreal Engine over any home-grown system is that it's there already. Developing your own system takes time and money. Writing your own engine is pretty silly these days, unless you really must have some new feature that nobody else has done yet.

Re:

[skobar]

Red Steel is using Unreal engine 2.5

Re:

[LWATCDR]

I haven't looked at the Unreal 3 engine but it might run just fine on the Wii. Red Steel used the Unreal 2.5 engine.

Unreal 3?

[PygmySurfer]

The Last Remnant's been designed on Unreal Engine 3

I wonder why they're using Unreal 3, and not the White Engine [wikipedia.org].

Re:

[El Gigante de Justic]

Probably because the White Engine is designed to work with the cell processor in PS3, while the Unreal engine can be ported to just about anything (including PC).

Re:

[shalmaneser1]

in fact they've said unreal3 wont run on the wii [slashdot.org] b/c the shader model is too different. which probably rules out low and mid level pcs as well.

The Trend

[Applekid]

Judging from the success of the Final Fantasy series...

The title "The Last Remnant" implies the game will not have a sequel, therefore it will do great and there will be a continuing string of sequels made for next 20 years.

I kind of wish they'd pay more love to the Chrono series and the Final Fantasy Tactics line instead of coming up with new franchises that they'll only half-heartedly support.

Re:

[Verteiron]

The original Tactics is being ported to the PSP, and a completely new Tactic game is being developed for the DS.

With you on the Chrono series, though. Hopefully they can release a sequel to Chrono Trigger that -doesn't- kill off all the main characters and utterly destroy the significance of anything done in the previous game....

Re:

[Mprx]

As Chrono Trigger completely disregarded causality, there is no significance to the events. This doesn't mean it's a bad game, and you can still appreciate it for the characters/music/graphics. Chrono Cross did the best job possible with such illogical source material, it only failed as a game because of the weak characters IMO.

Re:

[jeffasselin]

It's not so much that the characters are inherently weak, but with FORTY-FIVE characters, there's no way they can be reasonably well-developed.

Re:

[jfodale]

Agreed. They did an alright job with the few that they attempted to develop, but there are simply too many.

Re:

[twistedsymphony]

Well it's not a Sequel but Blue Dragon is supposed to be an "extension" (the creators words not mine) of the Chrono Trigger world. It also helps that it's being created by the same guy. I would suspect he wanted to do a Sequel but Square owns the rights and he's with Mistwalker now.

Re:

[syrion]

Actually, since they're naming it The Last Remnant, I halfway expect them to make fifteen of them. I mean, we saw how it ended up when they named something the Final Fantasy.

Re:

[WobindWonderdog]

Last Remnant
Last Remnanter
Last Remnant with a Vengeance
Live Free or Last Remnant

Re:

[syrion]

Last Remnant Last Remnants Last Remnant^3 Last Remnant: Resurrection LRvFF: Last Remnant vs. Final Fantasy

Re:

[__aailob1448]

hear, all ye good people, hear what this brilliant and eloquent speaker has to say!

Oh, how I would love a Final Fantasy Tactics 2 on the 360...with online play..and coop. Ah, the possibilities...think of the possibilities.

Cross Platform

[ironwill96]

Also is rumored to be for 360 and PS3, so Sony may be losing exclusivity on future Final Fantasy titles if this goes well for Square.

Re:

[Applekid]

My guess would be that sales reports of this game could help make up their minds if exclusivity is THAT beneficial for Final Fantasy.

Re:

[Reapman]

I thought they already lost that exclusive license?

Pandering

[ALeavitt]

I just see this as Square-Enix pandering to their two largest markets in a crass attempt to maximize sales. Creating main characters to appeal to a specific market is nothing more than folding to the focus-group mentality that the most widely acceptable option is the best one. This is not an artistic choice, it is a financial one. Ultimately I think that it will leave the game feeling like an empty attempt to seem "cool" or "badass" but without the underlying je-ne-sais-quoi that can make games truly great.

Re:

[CelticWhisper]

Agreed. See "Chaos Legion" for another prime example of style over substance. At least it had some replayability in sudden-death mode.

Square, where good ideas die.

[kinglink]

Honestly, I'm a little sick of Square, they want to keep FF13 around for 10 years make it a variety of games, a whole universe. They want to make real time games, but keep turn based around. They want a lot of stuff.

Personally I'm fine with them branding everything final fantasy, it lets me know which products to avoid. I've no interest in them anymore. When Sakaguchi left to make mistwalker a lot of Square's power left. They may still get the sales, but sales have been proven to be a false indicator of market sucess, (halo and madden do well every iteration and neither are particularly excellent).

Maybe it's just that I don't have 60+ hours to throw at every game any more. I recently started working in the industry and the big change I find is I am now over analytical of the games I play, because I'm learning from them and about what the game play will notice. But I think the bigger problem is that when I pick up an RPG if I put in the 60+ hours I need to actually be interested in playing it. I played Tales of Abyss and Zelda for more than 40 a piece, and not many others recently. I thought the reason is I don't want to hook up my PS2 again, and that's possible, but the real reason is I don't want to put in 60 + hours on a game that's not worth 60+ hours, and sadly a lot of Square's properties hit that area, even Final Fantasy XII didn't grab me in 10 hours and placed it down.

I think the real problem is Square has constantly been commited to graphics over gameplay and story. Even Dragon Quest 8 (which is part of the Enix branch of the company) was graphically interesting, but utterly lacking in any sort of gameplay improvement that could have made the game less tedious.

I think the big three ideas that should be attempted for "next gen" RPGs is
1. Less tedious gameplay.
This is simple, don't make me have to level everything, give me risk vs reward style of exp over a normal base amount, make me always fighting new things. FFX did this well, FFXII not so much. If you fight a enemy more than 20 times, the game is sunk. If your boss on a closed off area (where you can't explore the world) requires them to level up to it, you're sunk. Players doesn't know where to go next? You're lost.

2. Real time gameplay, not real time menu choices.
Star ocean and tales gets this. The action is real time. If you want to promote real time gameplay let the player control the character, not just issue orders and have to wait to get control back. All FFXII was is a version of Grandia II and Wild Arms where you issued orders they did the little motion and you issued a second order. You could roam but it didn't improve anything.

3. Story Story Story.
Square seemed to forget this after 7 (hell even before 7) You're an RPG, You want your players to connect to the character, build the story. Graphics are flash and they get people in the doors but story is what gets them to stay. AND GIVE PEOPLE DAMM SYNOPSIS! When I put down FFXII and then pick it up a month later I forgot what I was doing and was completely lost. When I put tales of the abyss down for 2 weeks I was even more lost, and yet I found my way because they gave a synopsis that was easy to find and follow. We don't need 100 percent of the feeling and effect back, but at least give us a way to remember what we've done, not just "we need to go here next".

Listen, Square all your fans are no longer 18 year olds with short attention spans, some of us are now 20+ year olds out of college with real jobs where they can't spend 60 hours in a row beating your games. We're still willing to play them but let's meet half way, at least get us some tools where we're not playing games on the same system as we were in college or high school.

Huh?

[BDew]

I'm no MBA, but this:

"They may still get the sales, but sales have been proven to be a false indicator of market sucess, (halo and madden do well every iteration and neither are particularly excellent)."

makes NO sense what-so-ever. What other indicator of market success is there? Are people making money without selling things?

Re:

[C0rinthian]

The GP forgot that 'Quality' and 'Market Success' often have nothing to do with each other.

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:

[SSDNINJA]

See "Jaws Unleashed" sales against "Okami" sales. Quality of game is not a definitive selling point. "Hey I heard Okami has beautiful artwork and a simple, yet involving story!" "Yeah but cmon! Its GTA with a Shark!"

Re:

[myowntrueself]

What other indicator of market success is there? Are people making money without selling things?

Well according to a certain Nigerian Barrister of my acquaintance, yes.

Re:

[Sciros]

It took me since Halloween to finally beat FFXII, so the length was definitely an issue, but on the other hand it gave me something to play for that long so I can't complain. I agree about the whole "lost in the story after taking a break" problem -- they needed a "Theater Mode" where you could replay cutscenes you've already seen. That would have made me happy because I liked them and it would have also served as a "recap" if anyone were to need one.

As for the combat system, it was basically an improved

Re:

[kinglink]

New mayor from evil empire comes to town, mayor turns out to be evil final boss (or some other major enemy for the character).

Random rapscallion is picked by an underground resistance force to help them out. Random girl is found with in the first 5 hours, she turns out to be princess. Some people are loyal to the princess even though they work with the empire.

Honestly how can you say the story is that good when they continue to use the same cliches they always have. The first one is similar to so many ga

Re:Square, where good ideas die.

[Sciros]

You know, sarcastically simplifying the plot like that doesn't make a point at all. You can do that to so many amazing films and then say "wow how cliche" but the point is you can't judge a plot on a 2-line synopsis. The character development and interaction is what keeps things interesting. I can also go ahead and say something like "man crash-lands on the shores of an unfamiliar land. At first they see each other as enemies but eventually he adopts their way of life and and fights on their side. Woooo how cliche!" But that hardly does SHOGUN by James Clavell and justice, now does it? By the way, I personally hated Xenosaga's character design and the way they told the story. The plot was fine, but the way it unfolded was convoluted and drawn-out to the point that I was very angry at the game designers. The game's story wasn't its biggest weakness by a long shot, but I really don't see how you can bring it up as an example of something "better" than FFXII's. Of course, that's subjective too, but at least my issues are with the storyTELLING and not the basic premise (there's almost NEVER an original premise in video games anyway).

Re:

[steveo777]

I think the reason the XII has trouble immersing people (I have recently picked up the game) is that it runs on automatic far too much. With the gambit system, the only thing you have to do is tell your guy to run here or there. You're just the baby-sitter. I admit that it is great for grinding levels and money, but regardless of how intense the story is, the game requires minimal interaction, and thus, I quickly start falling asleep. Gambits are a great management tool, and they speed the game up, but

Re:

[Sciros]

I don't mind that kind of hands-off combat in a game or two. It gives the game a different kind of strategy, and it's completely optional (I think you can set battle speed in the game so if you want really fast-paced menu selection you can always go for that kind of combat too, I suppose).

I enjoy all sorts of combat setups myself, though. KOTOR, FFXII, Ninja Gaiden, Gears, Pokemon even. I tend to be happy with the variety.

Re:

[Applekid]

"AND GIVE PEOPLE DAMM SYNOPSIS!"

That would definitely encourage me to pick up RPGs I've abandoned. I have a save game in Final Fantasy III that I just can't bring myself to fire up since I don't have the foggiest on what's next.

Pokemon actually did it pretty good (at least on the GBA). When you load a saved game, major events that occured after the previous save in the storyline or location changes get read back to you in a "flashback" mode. I thought that was extremely clever and would love to see similar

Story in RPG is overrated

[Astarica]

I think of far more RPGs or at least RPGish games that have weak or nonexistent stories that turn out to be good games than RPGs with weak or nonexistent gameplay but a strong story and it turned out to be good. The entire Diablo and Grandia franchise basically exists only for the gameplay. The story, if one exists, is merely an excuse for the gameplay to exist. Gameplay always trumps story. There's a reason why you've never heard of anyone getting an award for writing the plot of a video game, while ga

Re:

[brkello]

I'm sorry, but if you are in the gaming industry and choose to ignore everything made by SquareEnix...then you just don't get it. I am 29, have a real job, have played nearly every single FF game out there, so I fit your final sentence. Square makes games that millions of people want to play. They can't peak the series every single time...but they very consistently deliver a game that is worth playing. The problem (it seems to me) is that you have changed and the kind of game you like is different. I a

Re:

[^_^x]

I agree entirely. My favorite era for Square was back on the PS1 when they actually tried different things with mixed results: Tobal, Brave Fencer Musashi, Parasite Eve, Bushido Blade, Einhander, Ehrgeiz... that was neat! Even the ones that weren't very fun were well debugged and polished, and at the time, I pretty much expected that from Square. If they kept experimenting on that path, I'd probably have at least a dozen current Square titles.

Instead, it's usually another (slightly) interactive movie with r

Turned based AND action oriented?

[PlayItBogart]

Aren't those polar opposites? It sounds like if you mated the original Dragon Quest with Final Fantasy X-2.

I decided a while ago I was going to stop giving Square my money. Unless Final Fantasy III gets ported to something besides the DS.

Re:

[LordVader717]

Just curious, but what do you expect them to port an 18-year old game to, that despite all efforts is going to be a very retro experience. BTW, FF IV has just been announced for DS, I think they've realised where they're market is.

Re:

[Applekid]

"Just curious, but what do you expect them to port an 18-year old game to, that despite all efforts is going to be a very retro experience."

PSP ([another] FF1 remake is headed there)? Virtual Console (cheap and easy way to sell it: just translate it and don't bother adding anything new)? Cell Phones (no comment on that FFVII spinoff)?

Re:

[Kelbear]

I could imagine an example:

Action-adventure 3rd-person gameplay, broken by time increments where everything in the world is paused and you can swivel around the selected character in mid-action for a fun bullet-time effect with fireballs, gunfire, lightning all around. (Seen the Timeshift trailer?)

From there, numbers resulting from that turn pop up, and a menu comes up asking for what the non-controlled characters in the party should do in the next turn. So the action comes from how you control your charact

Re:

[mcvos]

Depends on what you call "action oriented". If you mean "twitch", then yes, they're opposites, but if you mean "as opposed to story-oriented", then it's not. Icewind Dale was action oriented, Baldur's Gate story oriented. Same engine, same mechanics.

Aw shucks

[wbean]

Aw shucks, and I thought this was going to be about Report Program Generator :(

Re:

[jfodale]

If you're going to make that joke, at least use "Rocket Propelled Grenade".

One question

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

I have just one question: Can the hip and waist sliders achieve a hip-to-waist ratio of 1.6 or better on female characters?