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Post by TidusandYuna1983 on Nov 10, 2017 14:34:17 GMT
Games that I love,which not many people have played.
To make the list more interesting,I'm not going to put well-known cult classics such as NIER,Yakuza etc. Ar Nosurge
An RPG,and one of the most memorable stories I experienced from the 7th gen,and a very creative one too.It's hard to explain what makes the story for this game great without spoilers,but I will say it has a creative take on the Aliens vs Humans thing,and I like how the game shows the journeys of 2 groups of characters at once,and the story allows you to create romance(have sex).The battle system and PS2 quality graphics left a bit to be desired,but it's atmosphere and music added to make it a great experience for me. Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom
People who love ICO,Shadow of the Colossus and The Last Guardian will probably enjoy Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom,since just like in those games,you have a companion on your adventure.Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom is influenced by Chinese fantasy,and you control a young male,and a giant,but gentle creature named Majin as you attempt to travel through the world and solve puzzles. Otogi 1 and 2
Made by the developer of Demons/Dark Souls,Otogi is hack n slash action/adventure,but with an elegant style and beautiful dreary atmosphere.It's one of those games which is hard to explain why it's so enjoyable to play,but when you play it you will see why. Pandora's Tower
I have met many JRPG fans,but many of them have never heard of this game.It focuses on a love story,about a woman being inflicted with a curse that's turning her into a monster,so her lover and her travel to a giant tower,and her lover needs to travel up a series of towers to get flesh from a certain beast in each tower to feed his girlfriend to cure her of the curse.The battle system is unique,because you can use a chain to disable enemies,before you hack n slash them. You use the chain in intricate ways for puzzles,and the love story has some heart warming moments,but the game has multiple endings,and some of them are very heart breaking.
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Post by endorbr on Nov 10, 2017 15:14:07 GMT
Definitely not the mainstream stuff. I've never even heard of these.
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Post by TidusandYuna1983 on Nov 11, 2017 15:39:58 GMT
My opinions about the decline of Final Fantasy
This has been on my mind for years,but I couldn't talk about it at our previous location because a certain person threw a hissy fit at the slightest criticism of Square Enix.
Many people have said they regard Final Fantasy X as the last great Final Fantasy game.The reasons I often hear are because the FF games released after FFX don't have a good story,or they don't like the new battle systems.
I think even if Final Fantasy kept the turn-based battle system intact,they likely would have been lacking in the storytelling department,because Sakaguchi left Square in 2003.Now,before anybody says, 'but Sakaguchi was only a producer for FF6,7,8,10'... He still had a big influence in the story creation process of Final Fantasy 6 and 7. It was Sakaguchi's idea to make FF6 have every character be the main character,and he created the premise for FF6's story.
Sakaguchi came up with the idea to make FF7 be set in a futuristic city,and he came up with the concept of Midgar.Sure,other people wrote the stories for FF6 and 7,but my point is the stories for those games would have turned out very different without Sakaguchi giving the writers some sort of direction first.Without Sakaguchi's involvement,FF7 could have turned out as another medieval fantasy game.
Sakaguchi wrote the story for Final Fantasy 9,and he wanted Final Fantasy 9 to focus on humor. Nowadays,Square Enix lets listens to what fans say about how a story should be,rather than using their own creative vision. Many fans said they wanted FF12 to focus less on story,and more on gameplay,but when SE listened to them,many fans said they didn't like FF12's story,because it wasn't presented very well. Many fans said they felt SE owed them something,because they felt SE let them down with FF12,and I remember many fans in forums said they wanted FF13 to have an epic,100 hour story. Anyways,they sure got an epic,and complex story with FF13,but then many fans complained FF13's story was too complex and confusing...
Anyways,Sakaguchi went on to create Lost Odyssey and The Last Story,neither of which were anywhere near the huge commercial success that FF12,13 and 15 are,BUT,many old school Final Fantasy fans who dislike FF12,13,15 absolutely love Lost Odyssey and The Last Story.Many old school JRPG fans regard Lost Odyssey as the real FF11 or 12.Many people say the storytelling for Lost Odyssey and The Last Story is emotional,and they make you care about the characters,but they don't try too hard to be confusing.Sakaguchi said he didn't like making confusing stories. Many people whom were initially put-off by Lost Odyssey's turn-based system eventually said they missed turn-based combat after experiencing FF13's action/turn-based hybrid battle system. Hence,Bravely Default(a turn-based JRPG released in 2013),was loved by many.
I think people underestimate the role of a producer. A producer can give direction,and that's what Sakaguchi did when he was at Square.
It's important to note,during FF13's development,SE created enough story content for multiple games,and they weren't sure which content to use,and they lacked direction and listened to fans who wanted an epic,100 hour story.Just like when SE listened to fans who said they wanted FF12 to focus less on story.Now,SE have gone the open world path with FF15(which I don't have a problem with because I like many open world RPGs),but even during FF15's development,there were worrying signs,such as they let fans vote on whether FF15 should have a block feature for combat,and Square Enix purposely cut out story content from FF15,which made FF15 feel unfinished,so they could sell it as DLC.
On the other hand,Sakaguchi left Square because his exact words were ''I am sick of the money side of things''. This was also in reference to how Square Enix will do what it takes to make Final Fantasy be mainstream(turning it into an action RPG,and focusing less on story).
Don't get me wrong,I love Crisis Core,which is an action RPG,but the difference is,Crisis Core isn't a action/turn based hybrid,it's full action and focuses on being fun and exciting,not on trying to meet both action gamers and turn-based fans in the middle. Crisis Core is only around 25 hours long,but it has a story that many people regard as emotional and memorable. I bet if SE told fans they planned to make Crisis Core be a 25 hour long action RPG,many fans would complain,however,SE made Crisis Core the way they wanted to make it,not the way fans wanted them to make it,and it turned out to be a game that a majority of FF fans regard as be great.
It's kinda like how I mentioned earlier Sakaguchi wanted to make FF9 focus on humor and be old school,but I bet if SE told people the next FF game will focus on humor,they will complain,even though FF9 turned out to be very memorable.
The Last Story is around 30 hours long,it's linear,it's an action RPG,but many JRPG fans love it,because it has an emotional story that makes you care about the characters,and it's fun. Sakaguchi didn't let idiotic suggestions from fans ruin the game.
The old saying is...''Too many cooks spoil the broth''.
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Post by endorbr on Nov 11, 2017 17:05:55 GMT
I think the problem with Final Fantasy is at some point Square got greedy. They wanted FF to be more mainstream so they ditched the focus that had made these games great for so long and went with what they thought the "kids these days" want to see. Which of course means ditching turn based strategy and going action set piece heavy instead. Post FFX you can see it more and more with each successive iteration. It's also around that time they started getting sequelitis and felt the need to keep expanding stories into trilogies and spinoffs that watered down the story telling.
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Post by TidusandYuna1983 on Nov 11, 2017 18:06:07 GMT
I think the problem with Final Fantasy is at some point Square got greedy. They wanted FF to be more mainstream so they ditched the focus that had made these games great for so long and went with what they thought the "kids these days" want to see. Which of course means ditching turn based strategy and going action set piece heavy instead. Post FFX you can see it more and more with each successive iteration. It's also around that time they started getting sequelitis and felt the need to keep expanding stories into trilogies and spinoffs that watered down the story telling. Sakaguchi hates sequels au.ign.com/articles/2015/03/04/final-fantasy-creator-hates-sequels (just like with the money side of things),so that's why we saw only 1 direct sequel to a Final Fantasy game when Sakaguchi was there,but after he left,a whole heap of sequels came out Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, Final Fantasy XIII-2, and Lightning Returns. And as we know,FFVII Remake will be in 3 parts . Like you said,Square Enix are greedy now,purposely cutting out story content to sell as DLC,making changes so Final Fantasy is more appealing to a mainstream/casual gamer market,and Square Enix have said MMORPGs are the future(so they can charge people a fee to play them,and they don't need to put as much effort into creating a great story if they make MMORPGs).
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Post by TidusandYuna1983 on Nov 13, 2017 7:26:58 GMT
Why competition in the marketplace is important.
One thing that irritates me about fanboys,is their belief ''there should be only one'' ,and the 'one' being the company/product they think is the best.
Whether it's the game/car/food/IT industry etc. competition is important. More competition means competitors try to be more innovative with technology,they try to make their products better,or at least try to make their products cheaper than their competitor.
I'll start with video games,Sony and Microsoft have price wars often by making the price of their console less than their competitor,or at least a price that is nearly the same as their competitor. However,after Sony started dominating the 8th gen,coincidently,the prices of many of their games went up,or at least remained stagnant. During the 7th gen,the video game market was a battleground,Sony had fierce direct competition from Microsoft,and after 2 years the price of a PS3 dropped by 60% to combat Microsoft releasing lots of cheap Xbox 360 models. Nintendo won the 7th gen,by being more innovative and cheaper than their rivals.
Console companies pay developers huge amounts of money to create AAA exclusive games,in order to make people want to buy their console,and it's not just big budget exclusives,but console companies try to get as many exclusives as they can,because even mid-budget JRPGs have fanbases too.
If you look at the mobile phone game industry,most of their games are shit,low-budget games,that's because their developers know those games will sell well because those games can be played on any phone/tablet that has android or OS.On the other hand,Sony's studio Naughty Dog spent a huge amount of money developing Uncharted 4,so it has realistic graphics and great gameplay physics,to make people want to buy a PS4 so they can have this type of experience. Microsoft spent a lot of money keeping Gears of War a Microsoft exclusive,and the developer of Gears of War know how to make great graphics,and good shooting mechanics.
When SEGA were in the console business,SEGA spent a huge amount of money developing Shenmue. But after SEGA left the console business, Shenmue 3 needed to be crowdfunded and has a small budget to work with,and this means Shenmue 3 will be linear and it's visuals so far look not so good,where as when Shenmue was funded by SEGA,it had a living,open world with so much to explore,and beautiful presentation.
Another example is how Sony and Microsoft refused to fund Bayonetta 2's development,so Nintendo financed it's creation,and Bayonetta 2 turned out to be one of the best action/adventure games of 2014.
As some people explain it,if Sony were the only company who made game consoles,they could sell the PS4 for a price of 800 dollars at launch,and the prices of games would be considerably higher.
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Lets move away from games for a bit,now I'll talk about competition in other sectors. Before Aldi came to Australia,the Australian supermarket giants Woolworths and Coles could set whatever prices they wanted. Aldi came along and sold food for 1/2,or even 1/3 of the price. This forced Woolworths and Coles to reduce their prices.
I've worked for Ford Australia before,and I know competition is important for the car industry. Some people wanted big tariffs on cars imported into Australia,but even though I worked for Ford Australia(who sell lots of Australian built Ford cars),I knew this wouldn't be good for the consumer because it would mean Ford and Holden would make less effort to produce quality cars. Many people have told me they find the parts in Asian cars to be of less quality and wear out quicker than those of Australian/American cars.However,Japanese cars are cheaper,have cheaper parts,have good fuel economy etc.
In Australia,people pay amongst the highest prices for internet in the world,while also having a poor quality of internet(Australia's internet is slower than Kenya's). Australia doesn't have much competition with ISPs,that's why the main ISPs can charge high prices and provide poor quality. This has also allowed the Australian government to do some shady deals with Australia's biggest ISP(Telstra) where they will use dated copper wire that degrades signals,and will try to force people to use the government owned NBN and pay extra for slow internet.
Now,I'm a socialist myself,I believe in universal healthcare,and a HECS system for education,but certain things should not be regulated,and certain industries need competition to grow and to reduce corruption.
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Post by TidusandYuna1983 on Nov 14, 2017 6:04:05 GMT
Before the mass exodus on Gamespot,I used to do an annual game of the year award blog,where I'd mention my overall favorite game,plus my favorite game from each genre.Anyways,I thought I'd catch up a bit,and I'm only going to count games that I've played. 2016
The Eden of Grisaia
I'm going to cheat with this award,because the localized version of this game came out early in 2017,but it won't stand a chance against Persona 5,and since I didn't play many other titles in 2016,I thought I'd count this as being close enough to a 2016 game. The grisaia series is about troubled people,who are sent to an academy,that's really a prison,so they can get educated,and put on the right path.Skip forward to the 4th game in the series,the main character(Yuuji) is suspected of terrorism,but at the same time,you see how him and Yumiko have created a romance,and want to live a relaxing life together. It's hard to talk about the plot without giving away spoilers,but I love this game because of the artwork and peaceful feeling it gives.Here is an example Honorable mentions No Man's Sky and World of Final Fantasy.Incase you're wondering,I don't own a PS4,hence I haven't played Uncharted 4. 2015
Witcher 3
Memorable quests/characters,romance,and a huge world to explore make this game my favorite game from 2015.I like how you see the world affected by the decisions you make.It's combat is fluid and requires various strategies with various weapons on the harder difficulties.You can spend 100 hours exploring it's world and discovering many interesting stories within it's world. Honorable mentions Metal Gear Solid 5 and Life is Strange 2014
Ar Nosurge
A creative and unique story,in which 2 pairs of characters begin on separate adventures,so you will see 2 separate stories viewpoints for a while,and 1 of the character pairs have a friend who is in possession of an ancient song magic that could be used to defeat aliens who have oppressed the human race,but she has gone missing. The story has some interesting plot twists,and is quite funny,and has an adult feel,despite being anime style.The game has romance choices as well.It's combat system isn't great,but at least it's different. Honorable mentions Akibastrip and Wolfenstein NWO. 2013
Fire Emblem Awakening
A lot of likable characters,lets you create romance and make children with your partner,and the permadeath will make the story emotional when a character dies,and can be tactically crippling for your party.The battle system has a lot of tactical depth,with many different unit types with various strengths and weaknesses,and it takes place on a grid style system.I like how the story has numerous things the characters need to deal with at once. Honorable mentions Beyond Two Souls and Ni No Kuni.
Game of the years for previous years:-
2012-The Last Story 2011-Yakuza 4 2010-Heavy Rain 2009-Star Ocean The Last Hope 2008-Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core 2007-Persona 3 2006-Kingdom of Paradise AKA Key of Heaven(PAL release date) 2005-Jade Empire 2004-Clannad 2003-The Legend of Zelda Wind Waker 2002-Shenmue 2(Xbox version) 2001-Final Fantasy X 2000-Final Fantasy IX 1999-Final Fantasy VIII 1998-The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time 1997-Final Fantasy VII 1996-Super Mario 64 1995-Phantasy Star IV 1994-Donkey Kong Country 1993-Disney's Aladdin(SEGA MEGA DRIVE/GENESIS version) 1992-Sonic The Hedgehog 2(SEGA MEGA DRIVE/GENESIS version) 1991-The Legend of Zelda A Link To The Past 1990-Super Mario World(Japanese release date) 1989-Mother 1988-Phantasy Star 1987-Final Fantasy(Japanese release date) 1986-Starflight 1985-Super Mario Bros 1984-Paperboy 1983-Ultima III
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Post by TidusandYuna1983 on Nov 15, 2017 15:40:10 GMT
My most memorable atmospheres in games.
Ecco the Dolphin Defender of the Future.Exploring the ocean and interacting with sea creatures provided so much tranquility.The music and sound effects helped add to the ambience. Flower/Journey/Flow
All made by the same developer. Flower has beautiful natural surroundings,and delicate music,while showing ruins of civilization to produce an abstract story. Journey has a more abstract artstyle,and has structures and ruins,and you aren't sure whether you are on another planet,or in the afterlife.The music but eerie music helps add to the intrigue. Flow is underwater,and a major part to it's ambience is the beautiful and harmonious music/sound effects.It fits the feeling of being a small creature that evolves into a bigger creature,since life did begin in the ocean. Final Fantasy 7Midgar being a polluted city,that shows many people living in poverty,as well as different city levels stacked on top of each other to made it feel dark and claustrophobic made it an experience to remember. Xenoblade ChroniclesIt's beautiful landscapes,unique and detailed vegetation and sunsets made me love exploring it's world. Shenmue 2A living and bustling 1980's Hong Kong,what more can I say? Final Fantasy X
A game known for it's beautiful and relaxing environments. Besaid and Kilika reminds me of relaxing tropical places I've been to in Southern Thailand.
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Post by endorbr on Nov 15, 2017 17:04:51 GMT
Final Fantasy X is definitely one of my favorites.
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Post by TidusandYuna1983 on Nov 20, 2017 12:49:10 GMT
Eroges(hentai games)have provided me with some of the most emotional story experiences I've ever had. Straight away when people hear the words 'graphic sex scenes', straight away they assume it's just for perverts,and not someone who enjoys a meaningful story.But,I think hentai creates an atmosphere where a more realistic and darker side to humanity is shown.For example; Snow Sakura is an eroge visual novel,and one of my top 10 games. It's about life in high school.There's love triangles,which threaten to destroy friendships,as well as have the potential to break a person's heart. The main character deals with his parents being away on business trips,and it shows a scene MINOR SPOILERS where his parents are at a tropical resort,and his father is flirting with women around him,and his mother is flirting with other men near her,and they do this while near each other,and they don't care,and they video chat with their son while they're doing this,and they're saying they're having too much of a good time to come back and be with their son. END OF SPOILERS It's a humorous scene,but it does happen,there are unhappy married couples who do stuff like this,and there are parents who put their own desires in front of what's good for their children. Crescendo is another ergoe visual novel,which is a bit short,but it's quite emotional while it lasts. Basically,it shows students whom are nearly finished with high school,and as their graduation looms,they start to think about how they won't see each other much,or perhaphs never again after they graduate.So,some of the students feel the desire to express romantic feelings they have to another student,some of the students start having sex with other students because their graduation is looming,so they don't care so much about reputation anymore,and the students start doing things they normally wouldn't do so they have no regrets,such as possibly having sex with the school nurse. While it's a short story,it's one that has a fair amount of emotion to it while it lasts. It's the type of story many of us can relate to.
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Post by endorbr on Nov 20, 2017 13:12:16 GMT
We can have good storytelling AND steamy sex scenes. NOTHING wrong with that.
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Post by TidusandYuna1983 on Nov 27, 2017 2:44:34 GMT
Lately,I've been play a lot of Super Street Fighter II,because it's one of my top 10 favorite games,and has a high degree of playibility for me. What I like about arcade games is I can beat them in less than 30 minutes,and they have a high level of playibility since even if you lose,you can continue right after you left off,unlike console-oriented games which make you replay long segments if you lose. When I play fighting games,I like to play their arcade versions,which means I use an arcade emulator to play them(MAME or Kawaks),this is because console versions of arcade games are modified so they play a bit differently(but I like an authentic arcade experience),and console versions of arcade games allow you to play only 1 version of it(unless you purchase a Japanese version of it),where as I can choose which version of an arcade game I want to download. For example,I like to play the Japanese version of Super Street Fighter II Turbo,because it's difficulty is more fairer,where as the U.S version of Super Street Fighter II Turbo has an increased level of difficulty,resulting in very cheap A.I opponents,this is so arcades in the U.S could make players spend more money. See,Super Street Fighter 2 is the precursor of Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo(both games are similar but have noticable differences to gameplay),and the U.S version of Super Street Fighter 2 has a difficulty level that is fairly forgiving(same with the Japanese version),but the U.S version of Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo is very tough,where as the Japanese version of that game has much less difficulty. Anyways,back in 2008,I managed to find an emulator that could play the Japanese arcade version of Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo,and I played that game countless times,but a few years later,my computer stopped working,and I tried to find that same version of the Kawaks emulator again,but I was unable to.I downloaded other versions of kawaks that allow me to play the brutally difficult U.S version of Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo,but they cannot run the Japanese version. So,lately I've settled for playing Super Street Fighter 2(not the Turbo version),which is still lots of fun,but the Turbo version has extra things that make it even more fun,but like I've said,I want to play the Japanese version of the Turbo version,not the U.S or world versions which have brutal difficulty. I've noticed there's numerous versions of the NA arcade version of the original Mortal Kombat.The earlier versions have much easier difficulty,but the later versions have much harder difficulty,where the CPU will block most of what you do,making the game almost unplayable(again,another money sucking technique).Unfortunately,I've only been able to find ROMS for the later version of Mortal Kombat,and I downloaded MK Arcade Collection for PS3,but even that version has the later version of the original MK. I actually like to use a control pad,rather than an arcade style control stick when I play arcade games,and I've seen arcade machines that have control pads connected to them.I was thinking about creating my own arcade machine just for fun,but since I want to own my own guesthouse later,I have been thinking I could build my own arcade machine,and put it in the guesthouse,and people could pay money to play it. I've seen arcade machines that allow you to press a button to switch between games,so perhaps I could make the arcade machine use this feature,so people could choose whether they want to play Street Fighter,Mortal Kombat,Killer Instinct,Samurai Shodown,or various arcade beat em ups and shoot em ups.
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Post by TidusandYuna1983 on Dec 10, 2017 15:59:53 GMT
Final Fantasy VII's clever use of science.As some of you may have noticed,I have a strong interest in science,and I like hardcore Sci Fi. However,Japanese game developers seem to prefer to use Science Fantasy rather than very science-driven stories.The conundrum is I prefer Japanese games over western games,even though western developers make more hardcore Sci Fi stories. This is more to due with Japanese games being better at using emotions,and Japanese writers being more creative with plot twists and character design. One reason Final Fantasy VII is unforgettable to me(as well as to many others),is it's a very science-driven story,a very original one at that,while having the trademark JRPG elements(big plot twists,emotion etc). SPOILERS FOR FINAL FANTASY VIIWhen I played FFVII for the first time back in 1999,straight away,certain things stood out to me,and made it feel like it was going to be an epic Sci Fi adventure,rather than another fantasy story with some futuristic technology thrown in it. You jump off a train,fight past soldiers wielding guns,as well as robots,and blow up some reactors. You learn the reactors were draining the planet of it's life energy(I guess that part does have a fantasy element),but I like the way the story presents you with a cyberpunk-esque city,that feels dark and cramped because it has different city levels stacked on top of each other,and filled with slums and poverty. The concept of being in a city with different city levels stacked on top of each other is something I found memorable,and it's an interesting science concept,because it left me wondering ''how did they construct such a thing'', and would congested populations try doing something similar in the future? Because,Hong Kong and Singapore are very high tech,but they have such congested populations,they like to build upwards,where as large populations living in larger landmasses can spread out more. Another creative science concept FFVII uses is how genetically engineered humans have alien cells inside them,and Sephiroth was able to control the alien named Jenova because he has Jenova's cells inside of him.Jenova is a deadly,shape-shifting alien,who can fly,and Sephiroth used Jenova to do his dirty work while Sephiroth stayed protected at the center of the Earth. Science also comes into the story in other ways,such as the question of whether Cloud is a clone or not? There's also theories as to whether Cloud actually gained Zach's memory, or does Cloud visualize himself as Zach,and why has this happened? It's caused a tragic love triangle since Cloud was originally in love with Tifa,but after he starts thinking he is Zach,he becomes distant from Tifa and falls in love with Aerith(Since Zach was in love with Aerith). There's more examples I could use,but this is why I really appreciate the existence of Final Fantasy VII,because it dared to use heavy science,and JRPG elements together. Because of this,there is some people who dislike FFVII,saying it's story is too convoluted,or they wanted FFVII to be fantasy(another FF where you play as a knight,visit castles and meet elves etc).
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Post by Uesugi-dono on Dec 10, 2017 16:11:47 GMT
Man I need to replay VII. It's hard to remember it all now. Maybe the remake will be faithful.
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Post by TidusandYuna1983 on Dec 25, 2017 14:24:55 GMT
I'm sure most people would agree 2017 was a great year for gaming,and IMO it's one of the best years we've had in a while since even though 2016 produced gems such as Uncharted 4,and 2015 produced Witcher 3 and MGS5,2017 produced a big number of gems such as Persona 5,NIER Auto, Zelda BoTW, Mario Odyssey,Mario + Rabbids,and that's not counting games which many people regard as great although not memorable,such as Xenoblade 2. Too bad Valkyria Revolution didn't turn out better. 2018 is loaded with lots of great-looking games,and I can't mention them all,but I'll start with the first quarter releases. Death Mark is a horror visual novel,which will be released for Switch and PS4 in Japan in January. Although no word about a western release date. Lost Sphear is a JRPG coming to Switch and PS4,due on January 23. In March, things get interesting with releases of Valkyria Chronicles 4 in Japan and Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom(I'm not sure if it's only coming to Japan in March,or also in the west).
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