In all of these years, I’ve never once hit the level cap.

Oh sure, I came close on World of Warcraft (67 priest I think) and I often wonder why I’ve never once accomplished this dubious honor. Well, after much meditation on this subject (minutes and minutes, in fact) I think I came to the conclusion. Instead of blaming my own resolve, I think I’ll do instead what comes instinctively to humans as a species: I’ll blame someone else. MMORPG developers, all of you, pull the old bait and switch on your consumers. At first you mask grinding with quests and other shit but by the time you’re painfully close to the level cap all pretext of distraction is removed. Fuck you, you’re grinding. I suspect the reason they do this is because they reason they already have you paying, and you’re already that close, so you’ll surely endure those last few levels of pain because the glory of a maxed character is forever.

Well they’d be dead wrong. I can appreciate trying to mask the grind, which all MMORPGs do to at least a degree of success. Games like World of Warcraft mask the grind well in theory, because it takes relatively little time to grind your character from 1-70 and I assume to 80 now, but the fact that with every expansion your previous achievement is immediately negated by the crap you find floating around in the first 5 minutes of the new content pretty much makes all you just did meaningless.

I suppose one might argue  that the point of video games and all games in general is to have fun, but there you’d be dead wrong. Tell me, what was the best part of leveling in World of Warcraft? Final Fantasy XI? Yeah, let’s talk about Final Fantasy XI’s leveling. What was the best part of that? Was it killing the snippers, clippers, or one of their ten thousand reskinned cousins? Or perhaps it was the worker crawlers and their reskinned brethren. I challenge, nay, dare, anyone to name one objectively good thing about grinding in MMORPGs.

At this point some might be wondering why I play these games at all when I clearly don’t have fun with them, and there you have a good point. I suppose what I enjoy most is the odd sense of accomplishment at finally hitting a new level, getting a new piece of equipment, et cetera. Games that convince (lie) most effectively that what I did was indeed challenging and worthwhile I tend to stick with the most. Final Fantasy XI’s tedious grind scheme meant each level actually felt like it had meaning, compared to World of Warcraft’s smooth, easy clip. However, the illusion of progress is shattered in Final Fantasy XI when I’m level 41 and still can’t effectively solo enemies 15 levels below me, and in World of Warcraft it’s shattered when everything I had collected previous is immediately rendered meaningless by Blizzard’s latest expansion.

So, to make an already TL;DR post even more TL;DR: MMORPG developers, please learn how to lie to me better. Blizzard, you don’t have to throw new shit my way the second I step into the new expansion’s first zone. My gear can keep until, say, 73. Square, let me solo the banshee. It’s okay. I guarantee I won’t figure out a totally awesome, game shattering scam by being able to kill it without back up. Trust me, I’m not that smart.

With all the Japanese RPGs for the PS2 such as Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 and 4, Final Fantasy XII, Dragon Quest VIII, Kingdom Hearts, and a multitude of others by Square-Enix™ and Atlus™, the question on most gamers’ minds is “how did Square-Enix™ play into this from the PS2’s birth?” Square™ is responsible for the creation of Final Fantasy X, the tenth installment in the Final Fantasy series (if you were to go only by the Roman Numerals). Square™ previous Final Fantasys have mostly received critical acclaim from reviewers such as Gamespot™ and IGN™. This Final Fantasy does not stray from this pattern. Final Fantasy X’s graphics contain stunningly beautiful CG and the slightly weaker graphics the player gets when they control the characters.

Sin in all his beauty

Final Fantasy X’s protagonists consists of Tidus (pronounced Tee-dus), the main protagonist; Yuna, the heroine; Lulu, the motherly figure with magic; Wakka, the racist sports player; Auron, the intelligent swordsman who knows nearly everything about the plot before you do; Rikku, the quick energetic girl; and Kimahri, the silent guardian. They are placed within the fictional world of Spira, which has been technologically torn apart by a creature known as “Sin.” Sin was created 1000 years before the end of Final Fantasy X to stop the machina (machine) intensive city-state of Bevelle from destroying the magical city of Zanarkand, where Tidus originates from. Sin is the main antagonist of the story and was summoned by Zanarkand to stop their destruction. You travel around Spira on a quest to talk to the Fayth to get new “Aeons” which are the summons for this game.

While the story is deep and convoluted, the gameplay is somewhat more simple if you are only looking to complete the main quest. The gameplay consists of Tidus and friends (you only use Tidus for traveling and Yuna in one special part of the game) traveling on a linear pathway to the end of the game in which you are allowed to partake in side quests such as monster catching or Blitzball, a soccer like game played underwater. The combat is like any other JRPG, you are given a menu with with Attack, Skill, Magic, Item, Special, and a few others. The game uses something called Conditional Turn-based Battle(CTB) which is completely turn-based based on conditions. The Attack button can be replaced by “Overdrive” when the Overdrive meter is full. Overdrive is the replacement for “Limit Breaks” and “Trance” in previous games. It allows for a slightly overpowered attack which deals at least thrice the damage of normal attack. The game’s leveling system isn’t based on forcing you to follow pathways and keeping a character to one standard. For example, the heavy damage hitter Auron can be transformed into the healing slave and the healing slave Yuna can be transformed into a heavy damage hitter.

For a person who has never played a JRPG once in their life, they will see this game as a fresh exciting game with a great story. For addicts like me, they’ll see that there is only some variation in this new game, but the amazing story will still keep us going. For what it’s worth, Final Fantasy X is definitely worth picking up if you’re a fan of JRPGs and story.

Final Fantasy XIII Versus

The grahics are breathtaking: It’s like you’re watching a live-action movie. The shadows, the reflections, it’s amazing. But really, Square-Enix, can’t you tell us something about the actual game?

This trailer is similar to your average action-movie trailer. There’s a lot of flashing pictures, a hint at romance, the main character looking cool, and a lot of spectacular special effects. But you still don’t know anything about the movie. You have no idea whether it’s good or not. You have a slight idea what the plot is about, but nothing more than that. And you have no idea whether the movie is good or not.

What did we learn from this extended trailer? Well, the cutscenes look amazing. And we have four guys very much in touch with their feminine side. And a car. Oh, and some random girl shows up.

But we still don’t know anything about the actual gameplay. And that is what a game is about, not how pretty the graphics are. The fighting scene is obviously not how the actual gameplay works,  so we’re still absolutely clueless.

Will there be party members? Will there be spells, or mechanics similar to them, like in the regular Final Fantasy series? Will the gameplay be button mashing?

Please, Square Enix. Don’t just throw some pretty graphics at us. Tell us about the actual game. The thing that will keep most players busy, not the pretty graphics.

You can download the trailer here

Square Enix have done quite a pretty admirable job of milking the Final Fantasy series for all its worth – and while their efforts have been nothing short of rage-inducing, it’s nice to know that they’re not above tossing us a fanservice-laced bone once in a while. This bone is the latest Final Fantasy title for the PlayStation Portable, namely Dissidia: Final Fantasy, a fighting title that lets us pit the protagonists and villains of the series in awesome-looking battles. The what-if possibilities, as well as the epic rematches made conceivable with Dissidia are enormous, and we see one of the latter being played out in a fresh gameplay trailer. Yes, you guessed it, it’s Sephiroth versus Cloud, fighting in the lifestream. Definitely something to watch.

The graphics are amazing, the action fluid, and the sound nothing short of intense. Make no mistake, we’re still a bit iffy about the 3D movement – this often leads to a cat-and-mouse chasing sequence that makes play not only annoying but frustrating – but from th e looks of things, you’ll be able to continuously dash and jump towards your opponent, making combat the fast-and-furious affair it should be. And the limit breaks are pretty awesome to watch, too.

You can view the trailer here.