I'd reccomend trying out the Devil Survivor games first. It's a good way to get introduced to the series. The Devil Survivor games give you a lot of information that's head knowledge for long time fans. Take notes too! Things like demon combinations and elemental weaknesses are not handed to you in regular Shin Megami Tense games like they are in Devil Survivor.
This game just looks cool. I really want to like it, but it sounds way too complex. I'm gonna go on the advice you gave Julian and bargain bin hunt for it later.
Despite knowing that Happy Action Theater, and probably the Star Wars games would entertain my kids, I don't really see the need for Kinnect. Even as a baseball fan, this does little to intrigue me on the hardware yet. After having some hands on time with it, it still feels more like a prototype than an actual final product.
The thought of him and Yamauchi having it out in a board room meeting kind of makes me smile a bit. Does that make me a bad person?
I have dipped my toe in the SMT universe with Devil Survivor and Strange Journey. I like what I've seen so far. I'll probably pick up the PSP version though. I like being able to control my entire party, and I don't have a PS2 or PS3.
Really the only thing I want to see change about how Japan developed RPGs are handled is I don't want to see publishers throw out the baby with the bathwater. We could have potentially missed out on several innovative, well devoloped games because the vast majority people are just plain sick of the same old RPG's they've been playing since the 90's (see my over-saturation argument in the article.) I can completely understand that. If you're a bean counter, you would just lump everything in the genre togeather and decide it's not popular enough to invest in. In reality, these games need to be investigated individually and judged on their own merits. I can't say for sure that this isn't happening, but it sure looks that way.
Update on the advertising fail: I picket up my pre-ordered game a the local Gamestop, put on my reporter hat, and asked a few questions. The manager informed me that there were a grand total fo 4 copies of Xenoblade Chronicles pre-ordered at the Amsterdam store, including employees. They also received no propaganda (posters, other advertising to display) for the game at all. He actually went so far as to make his own using empty game boxes and magic marker. I'm very serous about that. In front of the register was an empty box on black backer board with the release date on a white sticker in marker. That was literally the only marketing the game received.
When you said Balloon Fight, I almost jumped right through the roof of my car. That is one of my all time favorite NES games, and I have been racking my brains for years now for a way to bring it back.
I think the best idea I had was in the later part of the N64 era. It was basically just an idea for the original Balloon Fight, but in a slice of urban 3d space using the (then revolutionary) Z Targeting system to lock on to your foes. The urban environment would have all the rooftop perches you would need to replace the platforms on the original title, traffic below could replace the sea monster (but would obviously be no where near as awesome!) and you could have some low flying aircraft replace the balls of lightning that would chase your around if you took too long on a particular level in the original. Maybe the original sea monster could make an 'Easter Egg' style appearance if you flew too close to an in game body of water, like a pond or river or something, complete with the chip tune melody that played when a critter got snagged in the original game.
Red White and Blue huh? Very patriotic!
They also seem to have moved away from the monochromatic buttons on the original transforming D-Pad controllers.
Speaking of the transforming D-Pad, it's not all that great. I used a friends and it's not a whole lot better than the standard one. There's gotta be a 3rd party solution with a real D pad out there somewhere besides the air-flows, which I can't get hands on with enough to try out.
My thoughts so far (I'll update this once I finish the podcast.)
Patrick - I want to play a good Cowboy Beebop game so bad. I thought you were going to mention Neon Genesis Evangelion when you said obvious anime choices, but then I remembered we already had Xenogears...
Rob: So you want Mass Effect: The real world huh?
Julian - Man you took me right back to my childhood with this one. Funny thing is, I had a very similar idea when I was a kid. Well similar in that it was a GI Joe game, but my dream was for the SNES. Basically, it was a Contra style shooter developed by Rare using the Donkey Kong Country tech. Just imagine how sweet that would have been!
I just wanted to comment on this. I'm probably the other huge JRPG fan here. I'm currently playing through Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier on my DS, having just finished Etrian Odyssey 3. I completely understand where Jon is coming from here, specifically when it comes to Tales games.
Further nerd cred: My first Tales experience was on a hacked rom using DeJap's translation patch to play Tales of Phantasia on an emulator sometime around 2000, and I loved every second of it. I would consider myself a fan of the franchise.
Frankly, I'm Talesd out. I just finished playing Vesperia on my 360, and we JUST got Tales of the Abyss on 3ds, which I picked up. The games are visually striking and constantly make me stop and just stare at the artwork. The characters hold my interest. The problem is that the actual gameplay feels very samey from release to release. I want to play Tales games, and I do, but I personally need space between trips to Tales worlds.
I strongly feel that both the issues the reviewer makes, and his score are appropriate and match what I would score this game had I reviewed it. His comments, both positive and negative are accurate, and his rating is flush with what our review policy dictates. I have nothing more to say on the subject that hasn't already been said, except to point out that now two big JRPG fans have made the same observations and have parallel opinion on the game. He and I both love the games, but can't award a super high score because there's a lack of innovation causing combat fatigue. Being a fan does not justify bumping up a score.
