Ben's Week In Review: April 12

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Happy Easter to all; I hope you get lots of tasty candy and...I dunno, bunny rabbits or something.

We need to keep an eye on End of Eternity

I know we only have magazine scans to go on, but from what I can gather, this is one RPG that needs your attention if you're a fan of the genre. Sega may not be the dominant company they once were 15-20 years ago, but we've already seen Valkyria Chronicles and End of Eternity looks very intriguing. I can't wait to see some gameplay details for this one; the artistry and ambiance seen in those pictures has already piqued my curiosity, and in the past month or so, I've started to let my role-playing roots breathe a bit more. I really can't sit around waiting for Final Fantasy XIII and with 2-3 years of the generation gone by (depending on when you believe it started), this is right about the time the RPGs begin to surface. There's plenty of reason to believe that tri-Ace may have a definite winner with Eternity, and if they can pull it off, all RPG fans should be appreciative of their efforts. Of course, now that I've started a bit of hype, the game is going to suck hardcore and everyone will be disappointed. Heh.

I'm just hoping it's something special, and not necessarily an RPG I've played before. I always look for freshness and innovation despite my long-time love of turn-based mechanics, and if tri-Ace wants to introduce a new fighting style, I'd be more than willing to give it a chance (just don't give us a repeat of what's in Star Ocean). It certainly has more of an "adult-looking" style than some JRPGs in the past, but I can't decide if that means we can expect a more Western-oriented approach to the gameplay. Hack 'n slash all day? No thanks.

Kitase went and started it AGAIN

He could've just said "no comment." He could've just denied any possibility of a remake. But noooooo, he had to go and say something that caused hope to spring eternal in the minds of all Final Fantasy VII fans. Oh, so a remake would require "a lot of thought and work?" How are we supposed to interpret that? When you suggest a downright ludicrous theory to a publisher, they are quick to tell you it's ludicrous. Over the past five years, Square-Enix has done nothing but scoff at any journalist who brought up the idea of a FFVII remake, and they would even provide us with many reasons as to why it's extremely unlikely. Obviously, what Kitase said doesn't imply that such a project is indeed in the works, but if you see enough responses from executives in this industry, you start to recognize trends. Publishers tend to have trends they follow when dealing with the press, and Square-Enix - while occasionally a little erratic - has remained mostly solid in the past. Not once did anybody from that company go on record with a quote that referred to this remake as a feasible concept.

And so, the world is all waiting once again to be let down. I've said in the past that I don't really want a remake; that I'm fine with the classic as is, but this is the kind of news that keeps me interested. What can I say? I love FFVII.

Personal gaming update

So I'm at the 16-hour mark in Star Ocean: The Last Hope, and while I do like it, the battles are starting to get to me. It's like I spend the vast majority of time in battle; as an indication, I had already participated in over 500 battles after 15 hours of play time. ...that's just ridiculous. Thing is, I'm not really going out of my way to fight a bunch of extra enemies; I'm just going along with the story. Granted, I don't believe in running away and I always fight everything I see on the map, but then again, you have to fight most of what's there anyway. Well, you do if you want to get stronger, of course. At 16 hours, the four characters I use are all at Lv. 28 and I've got four more characters to get, so the game is obviously long. But the battles...damn. They're fun and everything but they start to get extremely irritating, especially when it takes three hours to get through a certain section. A section that, realistically, would take about half that time if the number of encounters was more normal.

And hey, I know I want to play Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 now. It's a true turn-based game that's new! Holy God. What a freakin' concept. I was playing it to do the review and it's great. I almost want to trade in Star Ocean to get it, but...'sigh' I can't. I think I'm already committed.

I think that's it. Perhaps unfortunately for the sake of drama, I'm currently in a "I really don't give a sh** about women" phase. They tend to last a few months or even a year, but it comes and goes. What can I tell you? ;)