I thought it was June 31st..,

but that doesn't exist. So it's July 1st.

Here's some more news on FFXIV. http://ffxiv.zam.com/story.html?story=18628

Well, it's more like elaboration on old news... Actually, it's more like reiteration of old news but said more eloquently.

A couple things about it disturbed me, though:

According to Koumoto, battles in FFXIV will involve more thinking and strategy than FFXI. While FFXI was about timing and quick action

I'm all for strategy. I just could have sworn they said the same thing about FFXI, initially. I'm wondering what changed and also if SE is just filling my head with false promises. That concern has more to do with my paranoia than anything. What really bothers me is this:

The keyword is "growth" and FFXIV will be sold as a game that allows improvement without unnecessary hardship. Koumoto references FFXI, saying it is a game that relies too exclusively on defeating enemies over and over to advance, and that FFXIV will bring new avenues of facilitating character growth, such as quests.

It's great that SE is borrowing concepts from other games, but that raised a red WoW flag. I know I shouldn't jump to the WoW-clone conclusion. It's not like that was the first MMORPG to employ quest experience, but SE has cited WoW specifically as a source of inspiration in their last interview.

I'm just worried the atmosphere will no longer feel Final Fantasy. SE has already said that the world FFXIV takes place in will have a very different feel from Vana'diel and they're still throwing around phrases like 'solo play.' I'm glad they're making FFXIV less of a time sink, but the more I hear, the more it sounds like WoW.

Hopefully, it's just my paranoia talking again. That's enough splitting hairs and over analyzing though. The "new" information released hasn't shed enough light on anything to start drawing any real conclusions. So let's move onto another game: Devil Survivor.

I'm not too far into it, and I hate to say this so off the cuff, but it's shaping up to be one of the best MegaTen games thus far. At the very least, it more than lives up to the MegaTen name.

For a handheld game, Devil Survivor throws a lot of things at you. What's amazing is how seamlessly the game eases you into each of them. Digital Devil Saga 1 and 2 were supposed to be the more jRPG traditional games of the MegaTen franchise, making them easier to get into while still maintaining the unique MegaTen difficulty. They succeed, but Devil Survivor improves on the formula even further, combining new concepts with all the familiar elements of the MegaTen series: the press turn system, demon fusion, and skill learning/copying and simplifying them enough so that they aren't overwhelming. Add that to the challenging tactical gameplay and the minimalist yet strangely immersive environment, and it makes for a unique experience. Add a DS to your wishlist along with that PSP I told you to buy.