HELLS. YES. (Also, I just really needed to post something bitchy because damn it felt good.)
Some exciting gaming news: XSEED and Falcom have made a deal and the former is publishing the Sora No Kiseki trilogy! They are apparently quite popular in Japan because Falcom did a fantastic job on the worldbuilding and character development for these games. I've wanted these to come overseas for a long time now (tried the PSP ports a long time ago, but couldn't get past all the unvoiced kanji and the tiny text), and with XSEED localizing them, we who don't know Japanese can finally play them and have a reasonably high chance of them not screwing up like other publishers! My experiences with XSEED's translations are restricted to Shadow Hearts: From the New World and Brave Story, but from what I've seen, they're just about as good as Atlus. All I do know about Sora no Kiseki from first-hand experience is that the music is mindblowingly good.
So yaaaay, finally some more good PSP JRPGs in the States!
Other stuff: just got my copy of Mizu no Senritsu 2 in the mail, and will probably be playing that for a while. It's surprisingly hard to find otome games that feature awesome badass heroines, and you can forget about ever getting a good protagonist in R18+ games (though I hear Sakurako/"Yoshitsune" isn't terrible). :/ Now to save up for those Quinrose games...
Internet (including myself), shut up already about FFXIII. Go wank in private and burn the disc or something, don't post a snarky, unfunny, shallow comic or review two months after its release whining about it. Move on, find a game you actually like and play the shit out of it; it shouldn't be so hard. Yeesh. Also, to those who are whining about the low difficulty: try taking your ass off the Auto-Battle command and set the speed to high. You cannot select Easy Mode for Newborn Babies That Chooses Moves For You and then whine about it being too easy or not having enough control. (Honestly, if S-E releases an "International" version, they should remove the Auto-Battle command, because it is stupid, add more character interactions and open up maps a bit more. I would import the shit out of that.) If you find it too easy even then, which is fair, I think Atlus has a title for you (which I should totally pick up too, actually).
I've figured out why I like FFXIII better than P3, actually: Paradigms set characters to very specific roles, so no more spamming Tentarafoo against something immune to all status effects. If you screw up, it's generally your own damn fault, which means it's eminently fixable. Thank the heavens also for no "aw well you should have picked not to pet the dog fifty loving hours ago because OOPS you don't get the best weapon in the game" moments. Just because it's totally socially awesome to like open-ended games doesn't mean it's not okay that some people just don't care that much about choice. Maybe not too many of us are out there, but not every game needs to be a sandbox because different people play different games to have fun in different ways. A game isn't necessarily *bad* because one doesn't like it.
Bioware, I'm completely serious about both agreeing on the need for renaming the "JRPG" genre and that Chewbot-makes-an-Oregon-Trail-RPG suggestion. I would pay serious money for a hilarious, well-written death-sim like that. Also, since I can be just as picky and bitchy as you guys: when you can replicate the experience of playing a Real Live RPG With Friends and/or not force the main character to be a human, then we'll talk about defining RPGs. (Seriously; I'd play the hell outta Mass Effect were it not for the whole SHOOTER-focused gameplay and the restrictions on the main character.) I don't hate you guys or your games, 'cause you're amazing writers, I just don't enjoy playing in the systems you create. What I DO hate is your whining about other companies' games and an entire GENRE, spitting in the faces of those who like it by telling them that what they enjoy is shit, and that then you expect we'll all follow you wherever you go. (I have this problem with commercials and political campaigns, too.) It's not a damn personal defect if one likes different games, for the love of heaven.
Revised List of Final Fantasy Standings: FFXIII=FFVIII=FFVII>FFX-2=FFIX=FFV>FFVI>FFX>>>>>>FFXII=FFXI because fuck that MMORPG shit and yay I love the terrible FFs!
So yaaaay, finally some more good PSP JRPGs in the States!
Other stuff: just got my copy of Mizu no Senritsu 2 in the mail, and will probably be playing that for a while. It's surprisingly hard to find otome games that feature awesome badass heroines, and you can forget about ever getting a good protagonist in R18+ games (though I hear Sakurako/"Yoshitsune" isn't terrible). :/ Now to save up for those Quinrose games...
Internet (including myself), shut up already about FFXIII. Go wank in private and burn the disc or something, don't post a snarky, unfunny, shallow comic or review two months after its release whining about it. Move on, find a game you actually like and play the shit out of it; it shouldn't be so hard. Yeesh. Also, to those who are whining about the low difficulty: try taking your ass off the Auto-Battle command and set the speed to high. You cannot select Easy Mode for Newborn Babies That Chooses Moves For You and then whine about it being too easy or not having enough control. (Honestly, if S-E releases an "International" version, they should remove the Auto-Battle command, because it is stupid, add more character interactions and open up maps a bit more. I would import the shit out of that.) If you find it too easy even then, which is fair, I think Atlus has a title for you (which I should totally pick up too, actually).
I've figured out why I like FFXIII better than P3, actually: Paradigms set characters to very specific roles, so no more spamming Tentarafoo against something immune to all status effects. If you screw up, it's generally your own damn fault, which means it's eminently fixable. Thank the heavens also for no "aw well you should have picked not to pet the dog fifty loving hours ago because OOPS you don't get the best weapon in the game" moments. Just because it's totally socially awesome to like open-ended games doesn't mean it's not okay that some people just don't care that much about choice. Maybe not too many of us are out there, but not every game needs to be a sandbox because different people play different games to have fun in different ways. A game isn't necessarily *bad* because one doesn't like it.
Bioware, I'm completely serious about both agreeing on the need for renaming the "JRPG" genre and that Chewbot-makes-an-Oregon-Trail-RPG suggestion. I would pay serious money for a hilarious, well-written death-sim like that. Also, since I can be just as picky and bitchy as you guys: when you can replicate the experience of playing a Real Live RPG With Friends and/or not force the main character to be a human, then we'll talk about defining RPGs. (Seriously; I'd play the hell outta Mass Effect were it not for the whole SHOOTER-focused gameplay and the restrictions on the main character.) I don't hate you guys or your games, 'cause you're amazing writers, I just don't enjoy playing in the systems you create. What I DO hate is your whining about other companies' games and an entire GENRE, spitting in the faces of those who like it by telling them that what they enjoy is shit, and that then you expect we'll all follow you wherever you go. (I have this problem with commercials and political campaigns, too.) It's not a damn personal defect if one likes different games, for the love of heaven.
Revised List of Final Fantasy Standings: FFXIII=FFVIII=FFVII>FFX-2=FFIX=FFV>FFVI>FFX>>>>>>FFXII=FFXI because fuck that MMORPG shit and yay I love the terrible FFs!