Geek Stink Breath

Hey, do you like RPGs? No? What are you, popular and good-looking?

Well, if you do like RPGs, first of all, you should get a PSP. Once you have a PSP, you should definitely get Crimson Gem Saga. It's been out for a month now, but I only just got to playing it a few days ago. If you're thinking about buying it, don't wait too long. Atlus games disappear fast.

If you're a fan of Chrono Trigger at all, look into this game. It shares the humor and lightheartedness of Chrono Trigger's characters as well as the uniqueness of its battle system, namely, the ability to perform double and triple techs. The artwork and cutscenes are pretty mind blowing, too.

Another interesting part of the battle system is the Critical Combo System, allowing you to use timed button presses after to critical hits to perform combos. I've not been able to experiment much with this yet. Seems like something that could become extremely useful once mastered but infinitely annoying to learn to do well. More on that another time. I just got Devil Survivor a couple days ago, and I've got to check that out.

Rapture

In case you didn't know, SquareEnix's new super, secret, totally un-Final-Fantasy-related MMORPG is "Final Fantasy XIV." I think they should have chosen a different name for it...

I can tell you two definite things regarding the game from that trailer. 1. That the game is Final Fantasy related. 2. That I will have to buy a PS3 sometime in the near future if I want to play it. SE is hinting at some fairly high-end specs. If that and the trailer are any indication, my typewriter-attached-to-an-etch-a-sketch of a computer will not run the game. I play, mostly, older PC games. The newest PC game I own that I can actually play is Gothic 3. I attempted to play Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine; it wasn't pretty, and I mean that quite literally. Besides, SE has also said the game will only run on the most current OS. That means upgrading to Vista, for me. Pass.

Despite all that, I'm pretty excited about the game. I was an FFXI player for some time(on Titan. Name was "Enrich," if you were at all interested.). Though SquareEnix is only dropping vague information about their upcoming game, I'm very interested in what I'm hearing. Mostly, that FFXIV will be "COMPLETELY DIFFERENT" from FFXI. I guess that means Mithra will be a male dominated race, Galka will be hemaphrodites, Taru-tarus will be gargantuan, Hume males will actually look masculine(if only).

Apparently, leveling up will be a thing of the past. Weapons will be the significant means of improving one's character. When I first heard this, my brain screamed in horror because they tried this once before, and it didn't work out:

When I came to, I considered the possibility of that statement instead meaning we'd learn skills from weapons as in the Tactics games. Then again, they could have just meant outfitting one's character with uber equipment is the way to get stronger. Hm, perplexing. Hey, SE said the FFXIV logo was designed with the "weapons" theme in mind. Let's take a look:

... Well, anyway, color me intrigued.

The final cryptic detail SE has made public is that the game will be far less of a timesink than FFXI. Since FFXI is not going to be discontinued(though you wouldn't know it by observing the overdramatics of most FFXI boards), SE is taking into account that many players may want to play both. Hopefully, in addition to realizing we have only so much time, SE will also realize we have only so much money and will cut the subscription cost of at least one of the games. Something tells me that won't happen. SE has likely created the image of a company concerned about their fanbase because they are in the position to do so, and their generousity doesn't extend as far as they'd like you to think. Sigh, a man can dream.