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'Final Fantasy XV' tricked me into buying Cup Noodles
I should have been turned off by the commercial advertising casually strewn throughout Final Fantasy XV. Coleman logos are plainly visible when the game's heroes set up camp for the night. Billboards for Nissin Cup Noodles line the highways of Eos. It's product placement so obvious it's almost laughable -- and yet, I now have an eight-pack of instant ramen on my kitchen counter. What happened? A beautiful, devious combination of empathy and nostalgia.
Jukebox Heroes: Guild Wars Prophecies
What's that, you say? A cheap tie-in, you say? Oh, pish posh. It just so happens that I appreciate the rich oeuvre of Jeremy Soule, and the alignment of the planets is... OK, it's a cheap tie-in. I can't help it; Guild Wars has been on my mind this past week, and since the full Guild Wars 2 soundtrack has yet to ship for DirectSong, this will do. Besides, as we well know, music doesn't age at the same pace as games. So why not hit up a soundtrack for the first Guild Wars while we dive into the sequel? At the risk of understatement, I think it's safe to say Jeremy Soule is somewhat well-known in the field of gaming. As a composer, he's tackled projects like Knights of the Old Republic, Icewind Dale, and the last three Elder Scrolls titles. In the Guild Wars community, he is the voice of the musical soul of the game. His compositions are the stuff of heaven: full, ethereal, dreamy. It's almost impossible to separate Soule's work on Guild Wars: Prophecies from the game, especially for those who played Prophecies extensively since its 2005 release. I'll be eager to digest and report on his newest work when it arrives, but until then, let's sample the highlights of his first foray into Tyria.
In defense of Xenogears
This is a column by Jason Schreier dedicated to the analysis (and occasional mocking) of his favorite genre, the Japanese role-playing game. Whether it's because they're too antiquated or just too niche, he believes JRPGs don't get enough attention in the gaming industry today. It's time to change that. When it comes to grandiose adventures, there are few games like Xenogears. Few games' stories are as stirring, as twisty, as poignant. Few games' characters are as bizarre and entrancing. But fans have skewered the sci-fi masterpiece for its second disc, a potpourri of cutscenes and monologues that may have been the consequence of rushed development. While the game's first 50 hours gave you access to a world map filled with towns, dungeons, and secrets, Xenogears' final act was more book than game, unfolding like a visual novel with very little player interaction outside of the final dungeon and a few boss fights. Gamers took umbrage at this sudden shift in pace. As one GameFAQs reader points out, "Xenogears would have been great... if it had been finished." Which is too bad, because I loved every minute of it.
Original Parasite Eve storyboards will blow your mind
The intro scene for Parasite Eve on PSOne didn't call for every audience member of a packed opera house to spontaneously combust on a whim -- every exploding pinkie finger was planned out by a twisted art director and put onto paper before it was recreated on-screen. Those very storyboards have now been shared with the just-as-twisted world by artist and former Squaresoft employee Marco Antonio Velasquez III. It may make us equally twisted to share them again with you, but we've never run this thing on a premise of morality, so enjoy these pencil sketches of flayed human flesh, straight from Velasquez's DeviantArt.
Vagrant Story re-told on PlayStation Network tomorrow
Xenogears last week ... Vagrant Story tomorrow ... and Parasite Eve soon. It seems the gears are finally in motion to bring all of Square's beloved "PSone Classics" to the PlayStation Network. (Still, North America has a long way to go before reaching Japan's lofty 600-game benchmark.) Vagrant Story will be available for $6 on the PlayStation Store once the PSN Tuesday update goes live tomorrow.
A set of Chrono Trigger figurines that you'll want
You have an empty shelf, right? Of course you do. So there's really no choice in the matter: You've got to fill it with something, and that something might as well be game merchandise. As luck would have it, we've got some particularly sweet merchandise in mind just for you. Specifically, we're talking about the nifty Chrono Trigger figures you see above -- or "Chrono Figures," if you prefer. As Destructoid points out, the statues recreate scenes from the original SNES instruction booklet. Entertainment Earth has the figurines available for pre-order -- scheduled to ship this October -- with the set of 4 statues available for $40. There's no indication of the actual dimensions of each statue, though each certainly appears detailed. The only question that remains: Where's Marle? [Via Destructoid]
VC Monday Madness: Secret of Mana and Street Fighter II Champion Edition
What a week for the Virtual Console, eh? We've got some classic 2D rumblin' and one of the greatest games ever made. Can you guess how I feel about Secret of Mana yet? Well, if you're looking for a clue, hit up the video above, then cruise past the break for more on this week's Virtual Console releases.
Super Mario RPG, Clu Clu Land press A to attack Virtual Console
Well, this is certainly a great surprise for Labor Day. We're pretty sure one of these Virtual Console games needs no introduction or description. It just needs your money. Clu Clu Land (NES®, 1-2 players, 500 Wii Points): Obviously the greatest game about a sea urchin ever conceived. Obviously. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (Super NES, 1 player, 800 Wii Points): A little-known collaboration between small developer Square Enix (at the time an even tinier Squaresoft) and struggling console maker Nintendo. The game is virtually unknown in all parts of the world.
How well do you know your Zelda grass? [update]
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/nintendo/How_well_do_you_know_your_Zelda_grass'; So, you think you're a hardcore gamer? Maybe you are. But, how well do you know your grass samples?These posters, which are being sold at a Viennese store called Subotron for €12 ($19 USD) each, will really put you to the test. To help you out a bit, there are two samples from The Legend of Zelda and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, while the other four are from Terranigma, Illusion of Gaia, Seiken Densetsu 2 (Secret of Mana), and Seiken Densetsu 3 (Secret of Mana 2). All the games without the word "Zelda" in them were published by either Squaresoft or Enix, which is why we haven't gotten them (and might never get them) on the Virtual Console.See if you can figure out what game each sample belongs to (despite the poor resolution). Don't worry if you can't discern which is which, though -- we've posted the answers after the break.
Final Fantasy VII ported to the Famicom. Finally!
Remember back in the late '90s, when Square was so frustrated trying to fit their opus Final Fantasy VII onto the cartridge-based Nintendo 64 that they made their famous defection to Sony? Well, just a short decade later, China's Shenzhen Nanjing Technology Co, Ltd has apparently done what Square couldn't, squeezing the PlayStation epic onto a cartridge. And not just any cartridge .. a Famicom cartridge. How's it feel to be shown up, Square?Of course, the conversion isn't perfect. According to a write-up from intrepid blogger CinnamonPirate (who unearthed the 2MB ROM from a Chinese blog) the polygonal graphics and cut scenes are gone, replaced with an impressively wide array of sprites, many stolen from other Final Fantasy games. The story remains surprisingly authentic, though, encompassing the entire three-disc epic while only leaving out a few optional side stories (bye bye, Yuffie and Vincent). The wide array of weapons, magic and materia from the original is a bit restricted in the port, but frankly, we're impressed that features like materia-leveling made it on to the 20+ year old hardware in any form.The company behind the cart is apparently now primarily makes MP3 players, so our hopes for a Colecovision version of Final Fantasy XII will probably remain unfulfilled.
Promotional Consideration: Hataraku Chocobo
Promotional Consideration is a weekly feature about the Nintendo DS advertisements you usually flip past, change the channel on, or just tune out.Square Enix has been pushing Final Fantasy IV hard this week in Japan, advertising the 3D remake with five different CG-filled commercials. We were curious to compare these spots with how the RPG was marketed when it first appeared on the Super Famicom, all the way back in 1991, and the two approaches couldn't be any more at odds!
New Square Enix RPG revealed: The Last Remnant
The latest issue of Game Informer reveals that Square Enix is working on a brand new RPG for new gen consoles. Entitled The Last Remnant, the game is being developed with both Japanese and US audiences in mind. In a first for Square Enix, the game is planned as a simultaneous release in both territories. While the Xbox 360 isn't mentioned specifically, the game's producer, Hiroshi Takai, notes that The Last Remnant will break Square Enix's tradition of console exclusive games (in other words, it looks like the 360's global market share is too tasty to pass up). The game offers two main characters from which to choose: a typical Square hero and a darker anti-hero designed to appeal to American gamers (check out the image above; we'll let you guess which one is which). Hit the "read" link for Siliconera's transcription of the article. You can also check out Xboxygen for some shots taken from the magazine.A brand new RPG from Square Enix on the Xbox 360? Is there hope for Final Fantasy after all?[Via Joystiq]
