It is an awkward but awesome experience when you load a 2017 game and it ends up feeling like you are back in the old days, yeah...It happened to me and it was wonderful. Of course, before I begin let me get something really clear. This game is in no way dated or anything like that. It is just has a couple of design choices that make it an hybrid in terms of old school and current trends and that game is called The Surge.
In order to pay homage to the times this game takes me back to, I am going to do this review in a Game Pro style, so let's begin.
Graphics (4.5/5)
The graphics on The Surge are nothing to flip about, but at the same time they are good enough to give us this industrious feeling that will be the first thing that will remind a lot of gamers about some games of the past. Think about places like the facility in Dino Crisis, the Heimdal in Carrier, the island city in Blue Stinger and even some awesome wastelands in Half Life 2. Another nice thing is that the indoor places look spooky enough for this game to be as scary as a survival horror at some places.
Sounds (4/5)
The music and sound effects are decent and do their job (the country music that is heard on safe zones (med day) is so good that it has gotten stuck in my head and I don't even like country music. What the game needed to be perfect in terms of sound is some more dramatic music to enhance the mood and keep us in our toes.
Before going to the next category I will share the med bay song with you all.
Gameplay (3/5)
Game play in The Surge will be familiar to anybody who has played Dark Souls or any similar game. You have to go through various zones, finding safe places and defeating tough enemies to advance while getting stronger yourself. It also borrows the npc side-quest thing where you get npcs to join you in your safe zone with some of them having things for you to do. Now, what differentiates this game from Dark Souls and what makes it so old school oriented is that maps are a lot deeper, so just hacking and slashing won't take you anywhere if you don't know where you are going and since this game has 0% hand holding this means that you really have to think things through before advancing. The only reason why it gets a (3) as its score on gameplay is because it doesn't have an online component or a character creation option, both been things that are always fun in these types of games.
Fun Factor (4/5)
The Surge is a really fun game with all its complex exploration and places to find, but I have to admit that while I am delighted with how old school it is, some people may not agree with me since it lacks some of the elements that many see as a given in any game that is similar to Dark Souls. Not counting the side quests you can screw up in one playthrough, replay value doesn't seem to be much considering that no online component means no pvp, which is something that really extends the life of any Souls/Borne game.
Challenge (5/5)
With no hand holding at all, the challenge in this game is spot on without been too frustrating for anyone. It is not that hard when fighting after you get used to the enemy patterns, but it still keeps you in your toes, because sometimes a simple mistake can be fatal. Another challenging aspect is that the maps in the game are not linear at all and it takes a lot of planning and experimenting with your surroundings before you can confidently explore a place without been paranoid about enemies and traps waiting for you on every corner.
Final Score (4/5)
The Surge is not a perfect game, but it is one of those imperfect experiences that are fun enough for us to look past its rough edges and enjoy it like we do any of the popular games out there. If you consider yourself to be a hardcore and/or old school oriented gamer then this is a must buy, if not then research a little before deciding on it.
(+) Great atmosphere, really good on exploration
(+) Nice challenge and rpg elements (-) Lacks an online component and create a character option.
"It's been a long time... Too long. Not much longer..."
That phrase at the end of the Final Fantasy XV trailer still gives me chills because it has indeed been too long. Up until now the game looks like it's going to be epic, but at the same time fans of the Final Fantasy games of the golden years (late 90's) are still pondering about if this one will really be the revival of the franchise we were waiting for. Up until now everything points to a resounding "yes", but there are still a few things that the game will need in order to be up to par with its older brothers, so let's see what are those "things" that are mandatory for the newest entry in the series.
Garden Festival (FFVIII)
1) Diversity of Events
Out of every Final Fantasy game in the 90's, we got a lot more than just fighting non-stop in order to advance the storyline. For example we have events like Fort Condor in FFVII, helping Selphie do the garden festival in FFVIII and even the spooky doom train in FFIII (VI). What diversity of events means is that the game needs to put us in all kinds of situations that add value to our experience and give us a little more than just punching our way through the story. The protagonists in FFXV are on a cross-country road trip, so if Square Enix doesn't do this, they will be missing a great opportunity.
How close is FFXV from this?
It seems real close, judging for the city parts, demo gameplay and especially from the footage that shows how the game will be while infiltrating a military base.
Celes thinking about ending her life (FFIII or VI)
2) Dramatic and touching situations
Drama and touching/sad/cute moments are part of what made the old Final Fantasy games so special.Tifa and Cloud talking about their childhood dreams while sitting in the park where they used to play in FFVII and the scene where Celes is singing alone at the top of the hill thinking about ending her life in FFIII (VI) are great examples of AAA story telling and Final Fantasy XV will need this in order to captivate players to a point where the game becomes unforgettable. How close is FFXV from this?
It seems too early to tell, but at least we know that Noctis has a seemingly deep background story involving his family and the war which shows a lot of promise. Let's just hope that there are a lot more stories like that.
Treno: The Dark City (FFIX)
3) Towns that feel alive
Towns are a big part of what encompasses a good rpg game and as older Final Fantasy games have taught us, a good town in a FF game is one where everywhere we explore we find something cool, be it an item inside a house, a side story or just a cleverly placed dialogue. As FFXV is a next (current) generation game, fans expect it to have towns that mean a lot more than mere resting hubs (I am looking at you FFXIII!).
How close is FFXV from this?
The FFXV demo proved that this can be done in the game, as the garage had a lot of detail even though it was just a small place. They only need to keep this level of detail on the cities that Noctis and his friends will explore and this requirement will be fulfilled.
Zach's side quest (FFIII or VI)
4) Side quests that actually mean something
Older FF games had some side quests in them and most of them had a good purpose and reward, rather than just killing x number of enemies for experience points or fetching something for an item. We all know that the game will be open world and that this type of design makes it hard to add significance to everything, but at least they could throw some quests now and then that makes us feel that we did good when we decided to stray from the main story of the game.
How close is FFXV from this?
This one is really an unknown factor, so we will all know about it when we actually play the full game. If they manage to pull this off even when the game has an open world design, they will definitely receive a lot of appreciation for it.
Sephiroth (FFVII)
5) Have cool and admirable characters
From the days of old up to our present time. Rpg fans have always appreciated cool and/or admirable characters that we can feel catharsis for. Be it a brave girl with a troubled past, an iron clad military general that fights his/her rival on an epic fight or just a mercenary that redefines the term "coolness", FFXV definitely needs to have something along those lines or else it will not be as memorable as its predecessors.
How close is FFXV from this?
Well, the protagonists are cool, but we need some other characters because the heroic/evil factor can't just fall on them alone. The footage where they show the characters going through a military facility shows a mysterious lancer type character (later revealed to be a girl called Aranea Highwind) at the very end of the video so yeah, we may get some cool characters after all.
Hello my friends! It's good to be back and now that I'm here blogging again let's have something for my favorite genre of all, which is Japanese RPG games. I've recently noticed how even some of my friends (who are also hardcore jrpg fans) are kind of lost about what the Japanese role playing game scene will offer to us in the near future, so I've decided to stop my almost non-stop marathon of Xenoblade Chronicles X for a while and make a little guide of whats heading our way in the form of confirmed west side releases.
Note:Although this guide is supposed to be only composed of games that will be released on 2016, I will start it by mentioning one that is coming this month.
Exist Archive
Platforms: PS4, PSVITA
Western release date: December 17, 2015
It still baffles me that not many rpg fans are aware about this game, especially considering that this is in fact the successor of the Valkyrie Profile series, sharing the same gameplay elements and featuring a similar plot involving life beyond death. So far the gameplay footage that the developers have released into the public shows that the game will be a side-scroller, but the fights within the game will be turn based and the story goes around the main character dying and instantly appearing on a strange alternate dimension. What is different between Valkyrie Profile and Exist Archive is that the side-scrolling exploration on this one has a lot more interaction and will probably have backtracking and puzzle elements similar to a "metroidvania" game, which is something that will add a lot to the overall game. This one is coming up soon, so prepare those wallets.
Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness
Platforms: PS3, PS4 Western release date: TBA 2016
This one began as a simple tease by Square Enix where they published an enigmatic website sometime ago, but finally after a long stream of trollings and false hopes, a new Star Ocean game was actually announced. If you look at the gameplay video, you can see that the game will take sort of an action rpg-ish style, but at the same time it keeps all of the original goodies that we are accustomed to when we talk about a Star Ocean game. The game has no specific release date for the west, but considering that the Japanese version of the game will be released on February, I'd say we will probably be playing Star Ocean by Summer.
Nier: Automata
Platforms: PS4 Western release date: TBA 2016
The first Nier game was released in 2010 and while it may have passed unnoticed for some, it gained quite a following and had a good reception between those who played it. Now Square Enix joins up with Platinum Games and they are going full force with it's sequel, side named "Automata". This new Nier game seems to be featuring the same action rpg mechanics and open world of the last one, but this time it looks like the game will be a lot more focused and solid. It is also worth noting that this time, the game will jump a little into the futuristic side where the main character has to deal with all sorts of robots and machines in an earth that has been invaded by a mysterious race of mechanical based life forms. No official release date has been announced, but we could try to guess and say this one could be on shelves by late Summer or early Autumn 2016 although we could be surprised with an earlier date as new announcements are made.
Bravely Second: End Layer
Platforms: 3DS Western release date: Spring 2016
Called by some "the Final Fantasy of these modern times", Bravely Default is known to be the game that brought Square back to the JRPG scene and it's sequel will come to the west in 2016 to the delight of all jrpg fans in this part of the planet. The game promises to have the same goodies that the first one delivered, but a lot of new and awesome things to add up. I expect another epic story and a bigger world than the previous game so this is definitely the one Japanese rpg to have on a handheld console, mostly because real classic JRPG experiences are kind of scarce on that type of platform.
Persona 5
Platforms: PS3/PS4 Western release date: Summer 2016
This one needs no introduction to any JRPG fan and it will (hopefully) be released on Summer 2016. Last thing we knew was that the game had been delayed (again) and while we got a few nice trailers, most of us felt like this was the jrpg to have this Christmas. From what we have seen from the game since it was first announced, it will feature the same mood and atmosphere that the Persona games are famous for, but it will also have an added layer of exploration where you will have to actually run and even jump on things in order to get ahead in certain areas. This one seems pretty strong, so I'm sure that all this waiting game was actually worth it.
Wrapping things up
Well ppl, there you have 5 Japanese RPGs to keep you busy in 2016. It is important to state that this is just the tip of the iceberg, as there are many other games like these coming in 2016 and if I had kept going, the list would had been bigger than planet Mira on Xenoblade Chronicles X, so yeah that's quite big. If you want to see a full list of the JRPG games coming on 2016 you can check it HERE. I know I've been ranting a lot about the lack of this genre in the past, but I think this is it. 2016 is the year of the JRPG and the future looks awesome!
I have always stated that legendary developers of the past should not go into the mobile "simple game" market because it would seem like a lot of wasted potential, considering their past masterpieces. This is why I got curious about Terra Battle when I read that it was made by the people at Mistwalker (especially Hironobu Sakaguchi) who are the creators of great JRPG games like Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey and The Last Story. Out of curiosity I tried the game and while I must say that I stand firm in my stance that they should make more AAA Japanese RPG games, I really like this one even though it is not what most of us would expect from Mistwalker.
The game itself has the inner workings of your "run of the mill" mobile rpg, but it feels a lot more fresh and fun. On this game, you are the leader of a group of mercenaries, some kind of adventurer that goes around the world looking for "The Maker" so it becomes necessary to recruit warriors to help you in your travels. This is the part where the game plays like many others because you can get new warriors (at random) to join you by using coins for common and some "magical" currency for rare ones (sort of like cards or creatures featured in other similar games).
You also have to play through chapters consisting of stages where you have to win several fights in order to clear them (all of these spending "stamina" in order to play them). The story on each of these stages and chapters is simple and to the point as it gives you a little background of what is happening and why you are heading into that place, but at the same time, these little bits of storyline feel rather clever and interesting, like reading a synopsis from or a book's chapter and just filling all the details by using your imagination.
Now, all the similarities to other games end when you actually play the stages. The fights are not simulated and not even turn based. In Terra Battle, you fight enemies by placing your warriors all around a board, sort of like a strategy game. The stage presents you with a grid where there will be monsters, traps and power-ups and you must think strategically to place your units in a way where they can attack while receiving the less damage possible. In order to attack you have to surround an enemy on 2 sides or have it against a corner.
Having other characters near the battle is also useful as they cause damage bonuses and extra effects like healing or any sort of skill that gives extra damage. The first time I saw this battle system I thought it was some sort of puzzle game, but as I got the game and actually played it I realized how wrong I was. In fact, while I moved my characters around and made my own strategies, my imagination started to wonder and I kind of visualized the battle happening in my mind, tying it well with the small bits of storyline that happen before and after.
That is what I mostly appreciate about this game. Somehow they managed to compress part of the feeling of their AAA games into a mobile one, all while been fun and not making you feel like you are indeed playing what some people call a "time waster" game. As an extra I must also mention that most the nice music included in the game is composed by Nobuo Uematsu featuring all sorts of melodies that will surely take you back to the Final Fantasy games of the 90's, coupled with beautiful game art like places, warriors and enemies that is very similar to the ones found in Final Fantasy Tactics. All of this points out that as far as details go, Mistwalker really delivered with this one.
Wrapping it up
Like I said before, I still think that Mistwalker should give another try to the AAA Japanese RPG market, but this little game called Terra Battle is something that really deserves a chance. It is very light to play, fun and somewhat addicting, giving off this strange old school vibe in it that makes it a good game to play every now and then. If you like strategy, the Mistwalker style of making games or you just appreciate good video game art, try out Terra Battle and see how it goes. Who knows? Maybe supporting Mistwalker with small games like this will bring us one step closer to Lost Odyssey 2... Yeah I know that is some hardcore wishful thinking, but hey... It could happen.
If you have played any of the "Souls" games (Demon Souls, Dark Souls), you know they are one of the cool surprises of the previous generation and one of the few gaming franchises that made the old school style of gaming new again with all its challenge and deep game play elements. Now, you know that these games are very good, but did you know that they are not a completely new thing? By "not new" I don't exactly mean that their style has been used before because that is pretty obvious. What I mean is that the "Souls" games are a spiritual sequel to a gaming franchise of the past in the same way that Bio Shock is a spiritual sequel to System Shock.
That franchise from the past is called King's Field. It was one of those rare RPG games that appeared on the 32 and 128 bit eras and was one of those games that you used to find on game stores and asked yourself "what the hell is this about?" as you held the jewel case in your hands and saw that it was something different to what you were used to see at the time, a 3D first person RPG on a time where the Elder Scrolls saga was not as popular as it is now. The curious thing about this is that some of the creative minds behind the "Souls" franchise are also the ones that worked on King's Field back in the day and they managed to keep their "high difficulty - great reward" mindset even to this day. This series spawned 4 games, the first 3 of them releasing on the PS ONE and the fourth one on the PlayStation 2 with the name of King's Field: The Ancient City.
One mistake and our hero ends up joining the mummy club.
As stated before, King's Field was a first person RPG that focused its game play on exploration and puzzle solving with a really steep learning curve and hardcore difficulty. The games had a back story, but most of the time you were alone, exploring various dungeons and towns with certain death just looking at you from around the corner and NPC characters that talked to you in cryptic ways. The King's Field games were really hard and building up your character was even harder at least through the first 10 levels or so, mostly because attacking was so slow that most of the enemies could pretty easily hit you more times that you could hit them unless you used magic or ranged weapons and that just made it a little easier. All these things made up for a game that was so challenging, that gamers were divided into those who loved it and those who hated it, without any middle ground at all.
King's Field: The Ancient City addressed some of the issues of the previous games.
All of these hardcore game play elements may seem may seem familiar to you and this is because King's Field was the predecessor to the "Souls" (Bloodborne in a near future) line of games. All of the elements are there from the very beginning: a dark story line developing on a desolated and twisted world, enemies that can instantly kill you if you stray too far, lots of secrets and treasures to find, cryptic NPC characters that you can kill and lose for the rest of the playthrough, lots of mini stories within the main story, a defensive style of battle (which is going to change to an offensive one in Bloodborne) and even the classic bonfires appear on both franchises although they are not that useful in King's Field. In fact the game atmospheres on these two franchises are so similar, that you could just take any of the "Souls" games, put it on a first person perspective and there you go, King's Field V.
Two rpg game franchises united by bonfires.
Wrapping it up
There you go people, if you are a "Souls" fan, now you know the deep roots of the game you like so much. If you feel a little adventurous and you can't wait for Bloodborne to come out, you can give the King's Field games a try. Of course they are not as comfortable and good looking as the "Souls" series, but if you manage to get the hang of them, they can become very good experiences as their emphasis on exploration is something pretty rare nowadays that only survived on the "Souls" series.
Bonus stage!
If you like to make mods or would like to make your own hardcore first person RPG, you can try King's Field: Sword of the Moonlight, which is a design tool that lets you create your own stand alone King's Field style games while also including the complete remake of the first title in the franchise. This was only released in Japan, but there is an unofficial English patch you could use.
If you like to try it, you can get Sword of Moonlight HERE with all the tools you need including the English patch. This sparks my curiosity so I will try it too, maybe later on we can compare some of our Moonlight sword made games.
Although it is a niche market, role playing videogames (rpg) have
always captivated the minds of many gamers around the world. Be it, because of
their epic stories, likable characters, secrets to unlock or a deep sense of
strategy, this genre is one that may never die. Still, not everything is peachy as Japanese rpg games are still having problems getting into the home console market. This side of the genre has not experienced any type of console boom since the beginning of the previous generation when Microsoft got a lot of j-rpg exclusives for the Xbox 360. Nowadays big scale console j-rpg games can be counted with one hand mostly because most of the fan favorite franchises that rpg gamers would love to see in the current generation have been abandoned, changed completely or downsized to a handheld or casual mobile game. These are 5 of
those sagas that we may never see again unless some kind of miracle happens.
Note:This list focuses on the games that are very unlikely to make it to a home console. I know that some handheld titles are superb, but the focus here will be big scale console experiences like Nino Kuni, Tales of Xillia or the Persona series.
Some will say that turn based battles are slow, but I think that the ATB system makes them fun.
1) Final Fantasy Games (Turn based - Classic Style)
Final Fantasy can basically be called the banner flag of the
entire genre. The problem is that the franchise has changed in such a drastic
way that many fans won't even recognize it as the saga they knew and loved. Evidence
of this change came with the creation of Final Fantasy XIII. That was a time when the
creators themselves admitted that they had been influenced by games like Call
of Duty a, thing that is still daunting to many players out there. Another thing been that infamous
moment in 2008 when the president of Square Enix gave a warning to all
employees about the company focusing on mainstream experiences or "facing the
consequences". All of this became a wave of change that basically washed off an
entire saga away. Up to this day even though Square Enix has pledged to go back to their roots, it is very unlikely to see a full scale turn based FF game ever again on consoles as we did on previous generations.
The Koudelka/Shadow Hearts franchise sort of gave a new face to the genre at the time.
2) Shadow Hearts
Shadow Hearts is an j-rpg series that started with Koudelka
which was an horror styled rpg (PS1) then, the game got its name changed to Shadow Hearts
and spawned 3 games (keeping the dark undertones that identified it) and making it
a series. This is another one of those j-rpg franchises that died off with the
PS2 and basically disappeared. Reasons why don't see it nowadays are that its
main publisher Midway, went bankrupt and was bought by Warner Bros. Also to put a little more salt in the wound, Shadow
Hearts developer, a company called Sacnoth (later known as Nautilus) doesn't
exist anymore as it was dissolved by its owner Azure (a pachinko machine
company).
Grandia 2 was one of the games that helped the Dreamcast have the initial success it did.
3) Grandia
Grandia was one of those j-rpg games with great visuals, an intuitive
and fun battle system and stylish game play. The first Grandia game was made in
order to compete to the rpg giant Final Fantasy VII (appearing on both the Sega Saturn and the PS1) and later on, it became one
of the most cherished franchises on the genre. The first two Grandia games are
considered classics, but many fans believe that from that point on the series
went into a downward spiral that killed the franchise popularity as gamers felt
that Game Arts was stepping away from the original formula that made the game
so popular. Another heavy blow was that the series original creator died in
2011 so the basic essence of the game may had died with him. Up until now there have been no announcements or even comments regarding the revival of this great series. It is important to mention that even though the first 2 Grandia games were the ones that people see as classics, the third one was not bad and it was just a casualty of the decrease in popularity that the series was suffering.
This was one of those with tightly packed towns where you had to play with the camera at all times.
4) Breath of Fire
Breath of Fire was Capcom's contender to the crown back
in the j-rpg days, having its own best titles through the 16 to 32 bit eras. It had good anime styled graphics, an excellent story and well
developed characters that made us feel like they had a very deep sense of purpose, all in an environment that had a kind of Celtic mystical mood. The series took a
dive in Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter (which was praised in Japan, but shunned in America because it went too far from the original formula) and after that, gamers never heard of a new
classic Breath of Fire game again. Capcom announced that they would be
releasing Breath of Fire 6 in 2014, but the game looks nothing like the
original and many fans fear that it will just be a casual mobile game with the
Breath of Fire name on it. Right now, as half of Capcom is at sale, there is a slight possibility that an rpg-focused studio could get the rights to the game and make it right again, but it is still a very long shot.
A game that looked beautiful back in the days where pre-rendered backgrounds were still the rage.
5) Legend of the Dragoon
Legend of the Dragoon was one of the most acclaimed j-rpg games on
the PS One. It had very advanced visuals for its time (exploiting the pre-rendered background trend), a long and interesting
storyline and quality aspects that rivaled those of the Final Fantasy games of
the time. The game was supposed to turn into a series and get a sequel, but for
undisclosed reasons, Sony broke up the group and just cancelled the project in order to relocate resources. Now at our present day and after almost 15 years since it was first released, Sony hasn't shown any interest in reviving the franchise other than a PSN re-hash of the original game. Even Shuhei Yoshida has expressed that the game is one of his best memories in the time he has been working at Sony as he was part of the original team, but not even Yoshida seems to be able to bring this great j-rpg back from the grave.
My hat is of to Namco, because they have never given up on their Tales saga.
Wrapping it up:
Even though this list looks very pessimistic, I have to tell you people that this list was much larger. This article began with 10 j-rpg games that we may never see on consoles, but was later on reduced to 5 because half of them got at least mentioned or referenced meaning they could still come back, like Wild Arms for example. The j-rpg side of the genre is slowly gaining its strength back and it may be just a matter of time before we see it blooming again. Let's just make sure that we put our money where our mouths are and support the games when they come out.
This time, we will have a little change of mood, I think you had enough about industry criticism so let's go with something a little more optimistic. This week, we have all heard/read a lot about Nintendo and how they are trying to take the Wii U away from the edge of the precipice and turn it into a force to be reckoned with. Right now they had their first step in the right direction with the success they are having with Mario Kart 8, a game that has put the Wii U back in the gaming community as a cool thing to have. Now been things as they are, many people are still skeptic about Nintendo's machine and those are the gamers that Nintendo has to get back in order to return into the console race at full strength.
Nintendo can still pack a punch, we all know that.
Most probably you people have seen how in some pay per view boxing bouts, before the fight starts, they show what are the "keys to victory" for each of the boxers. These "keys" are the things that they should do to maximize the possibilities of winning. Now, we are going to do the same thing and Nintendo will be our "boxer", so let's begin:
Nintendo keys to victory
If you remember this box art, you live through Nintendo's best moments.
1) Revival of dead (or snoozing) important Nintendo franchises.
This is something that has been talked about many times and expressed by gamers all around the world through various forums and media channels. Nintendo has basically forgotten about some of the games that actually made them what they are. Sure, we have our fair share of Mario with the occasional appearance of a Kirby game, but we need some more of that quality content that Nintendo is capable of. It would be very good to see a new Metroid game (possibly of the prime series), a Star Fox game with an emphasis of fighting enemies in the skies or even an F-Zero game with good customization features, lots of unlockables and an online multiplayer mode. There are ways on each of these franchises to make them look fresh, while keeping the good stuff from previous games. It is just a matter of creativity and we all know that Nintendo has that and more.
Project X is one of the most anticipated games on the Wii U.
2) Tap into the JRPG gamer niche
JRPG games are a niche, but a very powerful one. Role playing game enthusiasts are the type of gamer that is very loyal to the games they like and although they have been receiving some love in the form of some few new games, it is not nearly enough. For instance PS4 owners are still waiting for a definitive JRPG to come to their machine while the people behind the Xbox One haven't shown much interest for the genre. This is a great chance for the Wii U to become "the jrpg gamers machine of choice" just like the PS ONE did in the 90's. The Wii already started this trend with games like The Last Story, Arc Rise Phantasia and Xenoblade Chronicles, so it wouldn't be that hard to continue that effort on the Wii U, specially knowing that Nintendo has bought some good rpg game studios that they haven't been using at all. A good start for this would be to present a little more about X and the Shin Megami Tensei / Fire Emblem crossover because these games even with a moderate success can very easily open the door on the Wii U for this kind of genre.
3) Aggressive advertising like the Nintendo of old.
Ever since the Wii released, back in 2006, Nintendo has taken an all too passive stance on advertising. Their adverts look too white and clean and there is no "over the top" factor to make gamers feel like they really want to buy their product (you know...Something called hype?). Right now they are relying mostly on relaxed talking and corny sitcom-like jokes to give a more "mature and family oriented" image, but what they really need to do is to go back to the style they had with the Super Nintendo. At that time, their advertising was radical. It was like they were shoving the message to our faces, a message that said "we are the best, our machine will make your head spin with great gaming experiences, you will have so much fun that you will not be able to turn it off". That sort of thing was a hype machine that made people line up to buy the SNES and made Nintendo look bad-ass and cool which is one thing they need, because skeptic gamers still believe in the nonsensical old notion that Nintendo is for kids (Yeah, go give a toddler some Mario Kart 8 and see how "kiddy" Nintendo is).
Any one who plays zombie you for more than an hour knows that the game grows on you.
4) Shoot down the criticism over the Wii U game pad.
The Wii U tablet styled game pad is something that many gamers have shunned since the Wii U was released, but none of that criticism has any facts to back it up. The game pad, is not as big and clunky as people believe it to be, it is very comfortable to play with and the touch screen is very useful when developers actually use it, so there is no reason for it to be a let down. Nintendo must look for a way to make those skeptics know that the game pad is good and not just a gimmick. One of the ways that Nintendo can do that is by enforcing the use of it on games. For example, on Mario Kart 8, while you are having a race, you can see all sorts of helpful things on the touch screen, things that would be otherwise taking unnecessary space on the big screen. Another example is Zombie U, which is a very good game that makes use of the game pad in very efficient and fun ways that add up to the overall experience and even Pikmin 3 has an excellent menu on the touch screen, full with tools that work wonders when playing the game. In a sense, the Wii U game pad doesn't have to become the next big thing, it just has to be accepted.
It cool and all, but be smart, work it separately.
5) Keep "quality of life" far away from the Wii U.
As Mr. Iwata once said, Nintendo can do other things beside been focused on gaming and he is totally right, because Nintendo has done a lot of other things like trading card games and mini (tiger electronics like) handhelds. So, in Nintendo's search for a next big thing the phrase "quality of life" is one that has been mentioned a lot of times and it can bring a whole new audience to the Nintendo platform... Just not on the Wii U. This is because the Wii U even on its limited marketing, was presented as a hardcore gamer console, sort of like a resurrection of the Game Cube concept in terms of games and mixing it with another concept that is not about gaming, may make things worse for the console, as skeptics will have even less respect than they already have. Let's face it. The machine needs to build a better reputation and that will not happen with balance boards and vital sign peripherals. Don't take me wrong, it is a good idea to tap into the quality of life trend, but it will be best to do it on a separate platform.
Here we hope that the Wii U Zelda game still looks this good.
6) Show the Legend of Zelda game for the Wii U on this year E3.
From rumors to shy announcements and short interviews on the most known gaming websites, The Wii U Legend of Zelda game is something that has been present all along and something that everybody is waiting for since the tech demo they showed when they presented the Wii U for the first time. Right now, the game has built up so much hype that many gamers believe that Nintendo would easily win the E3 battle this year if they just show it. Now with the momentum that Mario Kart 8 has given to the console, it would be perfect to top it off with a killer app and by killer app is the Legend of Zelda console game that Nintendo fans have dreamed about since Ocarina of time and Majora's Mask. There is absolutely no reason to pass on this, because it is in all its right, a golden opportunity. Sort of like been backed to a corner in the heat of battle and suddenly finding a fully loaded rocket launcher just lying beside you, waiting for you to blast away your path and even the odds.
A mystery game that could be anything at all. That would spark our curiosity.
7) Show a new mysterious new IP as work in progress.
One thing that Nintendo can do to keep our minds wondering is to show us a new IP (intellectual property or also known as a completely new game). This would keep faith and interest in the console from suddenly dropping as it has happened before and still gives us a reason to believe that the Wii U is far from out. It would be even better if they could get a respected developer to do it, like Mr. Miyamoto if it is a first party game or any other like Kojima or even one of the developers that has gone independent like Shinji Mikami (Resident Evil, The Evil Within) or Koji Igarashi (Castlevania). This new game has to be barely shown, in a kind of secretive fashion so it looks so mysterious that our curiosity as gamers is poked and the hype train begins to move.
To wrap things up
The momentum is there, Nintendo has a great chance here and those 7 keys to victory are part of what can make the magic happen. There have been a lot of rumors about games and concepts, but in the end what will matter is if Nintendo is capable of changing their image of a defeated old company into a winner in the eyes of those who still don't believe and that can only be done with good content and smart company decisions. Now only one question remains.Will Nintendo deliver the goods? Let's just wait and see.
Some weird topic that just popped into my head and I thought was good enough to start the blog. it begins with a simple question, Has the gaming industry forgotten about the so called millennials? Take into account that this comes from a "millennial" point of view since I was born in 1984, so let's go ahead and dig deep into this idea.
One of the great rpg franchises that deserve to come back.
The end of the millennial:
First of all, it would be a good thing to define what a "millennial" is. As they say, a millennial (or generation Y) is a person born in the time span from 1980 to the early 2000's. It is the generation that ranges from the styles of the 80's, the easy going abundance of the 90's and the shock of the early 2000's. From a gaming perspective, millennials have been there from the very beginning of gaming as an industry up to the point where everything changed. As a generation we are criticized for many things, most of that criticism coming without any facts, but if there is one thing in which we never faltered it is our taste for gaming.
It is not as exaggerated as path-cutscene-path, but it doesn't even come close to the designs of old.
Change for the sake of change:
When we talk about change, we mean the ways in which the industry has managed to change from one business model to another. At one point, some people used to say that the video game industry was immune to the effects of the economical crisis and we as gamers were totally believing it, because quality standards were still high regardless of the monetary turmoil. So imagine what a shock it was to see it all change and basically leave hanging a whole generation that grew accustomed to a gaming style that nowadays is called "niche", "core" or worst of all "not feasible". It can't be denied that great games have been released in these newer generations, but the change in style is very noticeable. Let's start by comparing these two styles as past and present and see which characteristics make them differ.
Past:
Complex game design based on exploration.
Vast use of various types of resources (graphic, sound and user interaction).
Strong emphasis on story line.
Gameplay over graphics.
Games made to make you think hard in order to progress or develop skills over time.
Medium to high learning curve.
Product was almost every time a full game.
Development cycles ranging from 2-4 years at minimum.
Fiction topped reality in game content.
Present:
Simple game design based on presentation.
Recycling of game resources.
Strong emphasis on making the player addicted to the game.
Graphics over gameplay.
Games made in a way that it doesn't annoy or frustrate gamers in any way (a.k.a easier difficulties).
Low learning curve.
Semi-complete product followed by tons of updates and downloadable content.
Development trend of making games in 1 year.
Reality tops fiction as visual artists make visual material closer to real life.
Every gaming company has their own Warios, screwing things up for the rest of us.
Change for the sake of money:
Each of the reasons why these two styles are complete opposites come from the same principle which is cheap production costs and maximum profits. Don't get me wrong, I am well aware that gaming in within itself is a business, but if we had to describe these two styles with a phrase, the past one would be "Make a kickass game so it sells well" while in the present it would be something like "Make a game that sells and somehow convince people that it is badass".
This is where millennials exit the scene as the ones who were dropped out as the prime customers of the gaming industry. Millennials lived through the many gaming eras that came to pass starting from the early Atari days and if one thing is to be expected from seen how gaming evolved through time is for games to get better; meaning longer, more challenging and more engaging. Millenials are a generation of gamers that have big expectations about gaming productions and will never forget the growth that the industry had, taking big leaps into better gaming experiences. This kind of thinking did not sounded so well to publishers and company investors because it meant more expenses and high risks.
This is when the people in business suits made the change and took power out of the artists hands and gave it to their "market analysts" or "mechandising people". The result of all this is the refusal to evolve and the embrace of a system that began simplifying games to a point that they mostly resemble a bad game from the 8 bit era, but with nice graphics. All this just because it is cheaper, faster and low risk. It is quite ironic for them to keep treating games like simple toys while at the same time saying that gaming has become a full fledged entertainment media with something for everyone. It just doesn't make sense.
Broken down Zero = how our gaming intelligence is treated.
I have the little theory about how things should had been compared to how they are now. If we look into how the gaming industry was evolving, it would seem that people born in the mid 80's would have the industry at their feet from a content perspective. People who became gamers at that time would grow at the same pace as the industry does. So when they were kids the content of games would be mostly directed toward kids, then when going through their pre-teenage and teenage years the content would still be directed at them, then in early adulthood they would still be the poster children of the industry because now they would be the ones with money to spend and have the bigger enthusiasm toward games.
I apologize for the crappy style point chart he he. Just wanted to show the theory in some visual way.
If you see the small chart above, you can see that the emphasis in gaming content grew as people grew if you were a gamer in the 80's. Proof of this come in the games that were smashing successes at the time for each point on the time spans. In the 80's you could picture Mario, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Ninja Gaiden, Mega Man, Loony Tunes games, etc. As soon as the 90's came, more serious and beat them up/fighting/violent games became the norm, and at that time it captivated pre-teens and teens quite nicely. After that it all turned into a cinematic experience with a ton of JRPGs, survival horror and action games, now directed towards the teen-early adults age range. After that when the new millennium came, games became even more serious and adults were able to experience great experiences while still giving good stuff to the teens.
Now after that, as gaming became entertainment media, it should had kept on the early adults/adults zone but instead it went back to the teens and got stuck there (with the occasional treat to adults over 40 which are points off the chart). Why did this happen? Because those age ranges meant cheaper development and lower risk. Please have in mind that this is just a theory.
Where could all the good stuff be? (btw Child of Light IS good stuff)
To wrap things up:
My conclusion is that millennials were taken out of the gaming scene as the biggest gaming market, because we grew accustomed to excellence and excellence costs more money, money they do not want to spend. So they trained newer generations to love watered down experiences and phased out everything that would resemble the gaming industry standard that lived up for almost 30 years. Don't get me wrong, I am not implying that we should still have games that look and feel exactly like in the past. What would be healthy for the industry is to mix up both old and new, past and present styles of development and come up with games that can show how much we have technically evolved, but without degrading the overall experience.
Currently, that mix between old and new is something that is mostly been done by indie developers, but big time companies are taking the hint like Square Enix, that have learned their lesson with Bravely Default, the people at Capcom who already promised that Resident Evil 7 will return to its "survival horror roots", after seen the franchise's value plunge drastically after Operation Racoon City and Resident Evil 6 or even games like Call of Duty or Titan Fall with new gameplay interactions that resemble the crazy first person shooter experiences of the past. The millennials may be out of the scene, but big chunks of our gaming taste are washing ashore and it is a matter of time until game companies are forced to do something about it.
