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[Kintaro]

You know SquarEnix, not all DS gamers are kids..

But the majority of the market is and/or casuals. So, catering to the market? Anyways, this sounds ok. I shall rent this. I didn't expect SE to provide anything equal to the console RPG, and looks like that assumption is correct thus far. I expect them to continue with things like this on the DS though. Why wouldn't they? Fits right in with the DS market.

 

[Y2Kev]

Kuso-ge avoided then, ducky? :lol

 

[ethelred]

Very disappointing, Square Enix.

They remade FFIII which is one of the more hardcore RPGs around and it sold over a million copies in Japan alone. So I'd like a balance of both contents at the very least. There's a market for people who want their RPGs with depth, too.

Yep.

 

[Magicpaint]

But the majority of the market is and/or casuals. So, catering to the market? Anyways, this sounds ok. I shall rent this. I didn't expect SE to provide anything equal to the console RPG, and looks like that assumption is correct thus far. I expect them to continue with things like this on the DS though. Why wouldn't they? Fits right in with the DS market.

They remade FFIII which is one of the more hardcore RPGs around and it sold over a million copies in Japan alone. So I'd like a balance of both contents at the very least. There's a market for people who want their RPGs with depth, too.

 

[Cioran]

Considering that SquareEnix said FFXII RW was going to be targeted at casuals and introduce new players to the Final Fantasy Franchise, I can't say I'm surprised. I don't mind simple if it's well-done.

 

[Kintaro]

They remade FFIII which is one of the more hardcore RPGs around and it sold over a million copies in Japan alone. So I'd like a balance of both contents at the very least. There's a market for people who want their RPGs with depth, too.

They remade it with an engine they will use for the lifetime of the system. If they didn't remake it like they did, it wouldn't have had a chance in hell. Good investment, and it paid off. I wouldn't put "depth" together with FFIII though. It's a very simple RPG.

That was a remake, this is a spinoff/sequel built for the DS market. No biggie. People will eat this up. Like some others have mentioned, didn't SE say themselves this was targeted to casual as an intro to FF? Why are people surprised?

 

[Magicpaint]

They remade it with an engine they will use for the lifetime of the system. If they didn't remake it like they did, it wouldn't have had a chance in hell. Good investment, and it paid off. I wouldn't put "depth" together with FFIII though. It's a very simple RPG.

Very simple as in what? Having a very in depth job system with battles that actually require strategy (you don't have to actually grind, believe it or not) and provide a healthy dose of challenge equates to "very simple"? If you're talking story, then I didn't mean depth in the way of narrative.

And believe it or not, most remakes actually use brand new engines. And it's no surprise that Square-Enix actually reuses engines, what does that have to do with anything?

That was a remake, this is a spinoff/sequel built for the DS market. No biggie. People will eat this up.

Yeah, like people ate up FFIII. No biggie indeed as long as Square-Enix takes into consideration the fact that there's a market for both styles.

 

[Saitou]

They remade it with an engine they will use for the lifetime of the system. If they didn't remake it like they did, it wouldn't have had a chance in hell. Good investment, and it paid off. I wouldn't put "depth" together with FFIII though. It's a very simple RPG.

Simple != shallow

FF3DS is simple, but not shallow at all.

And I'm willing to put forth an argument taht FF3DS's story was, in fact, quite deep and moving despite the simple presentation.

 

[Diablos54]

Bleh, not as good as I was hoping from the gameplay side. But, I liked X-2, so I have a feeling the story won't bother me, and the gameplay still seems solid enough to warrent a purchase.

 

[mint]

i knew this game is gonna be pretty bland...why oh why can't they bring back the good old times..chrono trigger, ff6..heck even mario rpg..

 

[Diablos54]

i knew this game is gonna be pretty bland...why oh why can't they bring back the good old times..chrono trigger, ff6..heck even mario rpg..

Yea, I still like S-E and all, but it really does seem they're just not as talented as they used to be...

 

[Fady K]

Man, duckroll's impressions sound an awful lot like what I was expecting. Im glad that not for a single second I had hopes for this, and this was a rare instance where i was so so so sure that a game will disappoint me even though almost every DS-owning NEOgaffer seemed to be in love with it all.

Way to go Square-Enix, way to go. Lets hope that at least ONE of those FFXIII games will be decent. Oh, and I wont be surprised in the slighest bit when the May 12th party reveals 4 new DS games and 3 new Wii games - most definitely including Nomura's new game with Disney - and if Sony fans are lucky - maybe maaaaaaaaybe a PSP port of Threads of Fate with a new CG intro.

 

[Kintaro]

Very simple as in what? Having a very in depth job system with battles that actually require strategy (you don't have to actually grind, believe it or not) and provide a healthy dose of challenge equates to "very simple"? If you're talking story, then I didn't mean depth in the way of narrative.

Are...you serious? I wasn't talking story either. The job system opened up options to put together jobs how you wanted, but the game was in no way challenging or difficult.

Yeah, like people ate up FFIII. No biggie indeed as long as Square-Enix takes into consideration the fact that there's a market for both styles.

FFIII just recently hit over a million. Was a long slow burn for the game. Still an accomplishment though of course. We'll see how these newer FF titles do compared to that one. If they sell much more than FFIII, SE is on to something. If not, then it's up in the air. However, their approach makes sense. And come on, right now from SquareEnix, I just wouldn't expect anything "hardcore" from them anymore on any system.

 

[smartestpersonever]

I hate serious stories anyway, they take themselves too serious.

Well said. It is unclear whether your power of observation or analysis rank higher.

 

[fresquito]

The story elements sound like FFTA, and that's god awful :-/

 

[Magicpaint]

Are...you serious? I wasn't talking story either. The job system opened up options to put together jobs how you wanted, but the game was in no way challenging or difficult.

I guess this is where we have to disagree. The first three FFs are the only FFs I consider to be quite challenging in the entrie series.

Which FF games do YOU consider to be challenging or difficult?

FFIII just recently hit over a million. Was a long slow burn for the game. Still an accomplishment though of course. We'll see how these newer FF titles do compared to that one. If they sell much more than FFIII, SE is on to something. If not, then it's up in the air. However, their approach makes sense. And come on, right now from SquareEnix, I just wouldn't expect anything "hardcore" from them anymore on any system.

Slower than expected because of shortages. But like you said, still an accomplishment and so there's no point trying to downplay it.

And I'm not necessarily expecting anything "hardcore" from Square-enix, I'm expecting RPGs with some depth; ones that don't treat me like I'm new to the genre; the kind that they've been putting out for years and have sold in vast quantities. I want more of those.

 

[Kintaro]

Which FF games do YOU consider to be challenging or difficult?

None of them really, unless you count optional bosses or arena type extra hard battles. Those are nice. FFXI is the most challenging Final Fantasy ever created to tell the truth, and even then, good group of players rip through that game like a hot knife through butter.

And I'm not necessarily expecting anything "hardcore" from Square-enix, I'm expecting RPGs with some depth; ones that don't treat me like I'm new to the genre; the kind that they've been putting out for years and have sold in vast quantities. I want more of those.

Welcome to the new age. Welcome to the new SE. Wait for FFXIII I guess. None of the upcoming SE games really look to match what I'm personally looking for. FFTA2 (bleh), FF:CC (either of them, blah), etc etc. I wonder how DQ9 will turn out.

Man, I miss the PS1 SE. :lol

 

[Pureauthor]

Game has dropped from 'must buy' to 'if there's nothing else worth looking at'.

Bleh, SE. Did relatively poor sales of FFXII just make you think you could muck around with this?

 

[Zweisy1]

- Gameplay's rather simplistic, there aren't a lot of options, so it doesn't really feel very engaging but it isn't offensive or boring.

- Tons of FMV.

Damn. There goes my interest..

It being RTS-like is what got me interested in the first place.. Wish someone managed to make a good RTS for the DS.

 

[Kintaro]

Game has dropped from 'must buy' to 'if there's nothing else worth looking at'.

Bleh, SE. Did relatively poor sales of FFXII just make you think you could muck around with this?

Wait, wha? Poor sales for FFXII?

 

[Magicpaint]

Welcome to the new age. Welcome to the new SE. Wait for FFXIII I guess. None of the upcoming SE games really look to match what I'm personally looking for. FFTA2 (bleh), FF:CC (either of them, blah), etc etc. I wonder how DQ9 will turn out.

Man, I miss the PS1 SE. :lol

Now now, let's see how well RW performs before even coming remotely close to declaring a new age for Square-Enix altogether.

 

[vareon]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I should get this game if I accept :

- A non-serious style of storyline with FFXII characters
- Simple (and rather shallow) gameplay
- Mission-based system, where you can only explore the airship and walking from point A to B on the world map

Anything to add or remove? I concluded this from duckroll's impressions only so far, so I might be wrong .

 

[Pureauthor]

Wait, wha? Poor sales for FFXII?

Relatively (in Japan).

'Course, it had a fair number of things working against it (huge shift in battle system, extremely delayed launch that wasted mindshare, released in twilight of the PS2), but if I recall correctly, it still sold 25% less than FFX.

 

[tanasten]

I think the structure at SquareEnix must be like:

a) Engine development groups.
b) Visual art group.
c) Sound art group.
d)Story art group.

I can see easily a 10 persons group getting and engine and putting art in, with one or two coders in. No more. That must be why their games are that much simplistic.

All in all, Square Enix is dead.

 

[Kintaro]

Now now, let's see how well RW performs before even coming remotely close to declaring a new age for Square-Enix altogether.

No, I can declare that now. I think it's pretty obvious. Not to use ducky's thread as a rant, but I'm just waiting for more variety from SE now. Recently, it's either "Final Fantasy" or "Something of Mana" and SE has destroyed the Mana series beyond all repair. However, I'm mainly a console gamer, not a handheld one. So, if you're down with the handheld stuff mainly, you might be in heaven.

Anyways, I look forward to more impressions from Ducky to see how his opinion changes or doesn't, and how the game unfolds.

 

[Y2Kev]

Relatively (in Japan).

'Course, it had a fair number of things working against it (huge shift in battle system, extremely delayed launch that wasted mindshare, released in twilight of the PS2), but if I recall correctly, it still sold 25% less than FFX.

FFX also had an International release version.

 

[Magicpaint]

No, I can declare that now. I think it's pretty obvious. Not to use ducky's thread as a rant, but I'm just waiting for more variety from SE now. Recently, it's either "Final Fantasy" or "Something of Mana" and SE has destroyed the Mana series beyond all repair. However, I'm mainly a console gamer, not a handheld one. So, if you're down with the handheld stuff mainly, you might be in heaven.

Not quite obvious then. It depends on what taste and perspective you're coming from, which from what I can deduce is quite a bit different from mine. If you choose to see Square-Enix in such manner, that's fine. I enjoy their offerings and there's quite a lot I look forward to from them as well.

 

[Kurosaki Ichigo]

FFX also had an International release version.

Plus a few other ones like Ultimate Hits and such...In fact, original edition of FFX did just like FFXII, 2.3m.

It'll be interesting to see RW sales. I remember we were saying that 500k first shipment (if that still holds up) was small for such a (usually) front-loaded franchise and when talking about a sequel to a main entry. In other words, FFX-2 sold nearly 1.5m first week and FFXIIRW looks like its going to have just a third of that shipped.

 

[Kintaro]

Not quite obvious then. It depends on what taste and perspective you're coming from, which from what I can deduce is quite a bit different from mine. If you choose to see Square-Enix in such manner, that's fine. I enjoy their offerings and there's quite a lot I look forward to from them as well.

So...SE has announced more lately than just FF stuff and Mana crap? Not counting DQ9 (lord help this forum if that's dumbed down), and DQS?

 

[Kintaro]

Plus a few other ones like Ultimate Hits and such...In fact, original edition of FFX did just like FFXII, 2.3m.

It'll be interesting to see RW sales. I remember we were saying that 500k first shipment (if that still holds up) was small for such a (usually) front-loaded franchise and when talking about a sequel to a main entry. In other words, FFX-2 sold nearly 1.5m first week and FFXIIRW looks like its going to have just a third of that shipped.

So, FFXII did 2.3m? Weak sales?

I wonder why SE would only ship 500k to start. Doesn't make much sense to me. FF traditionally blows up like a nuclear explosion then tapers off rather quickly. FFIII probably would have hit better numbers if supply wasn't all ****ed at the start.

btw, whenever I see you post, I hear your username spoken by Byukuya like, every time.

 

[Hcoregamer00]

i knew this game is gonna be pretty bland...why oh why can't they bring back the good old times..chrono trigger, ff6..heck even mario rpg..

Most of the talent back then either quit, were fired, or left because they spent forever and a day to make a game and had to release it unfinished (Xenogears Team).

 

[Vyse The Legend]

Day 1 purchase. I want a US release date, Square!

 

[Magicpaint]

So...SE has announced more lately than just FF stuff and Mana crap? Not counting DQ9 (lord help this forum if that's dumbed down), and DQS?

Their FF "stuff" is actually something I consider varied and interesting. FFCC DS looks nice; it's an action RPG, FFTA2 is looking good (psst, I enjoyed FFTA) and that's an sRPG, IAWW is a new IP and even though I'm not hot on the art, it's still an intriguing and a fresh take on the genre, FFCC Wii is using the Wii remote and I'm curious about its implementation, FFXIII is a no brainer (then there's stuff you already talked about -- DQIX and DQS). Basically one man's trash is another man's treasure? These to me are a collection varied games with very different focuses, but are only really sharing the same brand name, but I can look past names.

I know you previously hinted that a majority of these games do not have what you want, but then again, that's where we differ and why our tastes appear to be nothing alike, and so we obviously see Square-Enix as a whole differently.

 

[Kintaro]

Their FF "stuff" is actually something I consider varied and interesting. FFCC DS looks nice; it's an action RPG, FFTA2 is looking good (psst, I enjoyed FFTA) and that's an sRPG, IAWW is a new IP and even though I'm not hot on the art, it's still an intriguing and a fresh take on the genre, FFCC Wii is using the Wii remote and I'm curious about its implementation, FFXIII is a no brainer (then there's stuff you already talked about -- DQIX and DQS). Basically one man's trash is another man's treasure? These to me are a collection varied games with very different focuses, but are only really sharing the same brand name, but I can look past names.

I know you previously hinted that a majority of these games do not have what you want, but then again, that's where we differ and why our tastes appear to be nothing alike, and so we obviously see Square-Enix as a whole differently.

While I may disagree with your opinion, I'll fight to the death to defend it.

j/k. That's cool. I usually end up playing all this shit anyways, but buying it is different for me. So, it's all good.

 

[Chris Michael]

Ever since it was announced I seriously had a feeling it would suck and/or feel like a kiddy fangame. I remained cautiously optimistic though. The screens & videos looked amazing.

There's... no exploration at all? Not even towns? WTF? That has to be the worst news for me.

I'm sure any future SE game on the DS will follow the same route... tailored to children and beginners, as most of their games have done thus far anyway.

Stick to the ports, Square.

On the other hand, Enix seems to be the side of SE that actually takes the DS more seriously.

 

[Vic]

duckroll, did you finished the game?

 

[duckroll]

Here are some more impressions:

- Game is entirely missions based. The only times you visit "towns" is event driven and you only get to walk around a small area and you can't go back.

- You create and select a "deck" of 5 summon types before going into missions. When a mission starts you get 2 random summons per character (when there's a 5 person party, you get more if there are less characters) from the deck.

- You can summon more from summoning circles if there are any. You can also level up your summons during missions using AP at summoning circiles. You can only do this in missions.

- Game's okay, it's fun but it's really shallow. If you were to compare the game with Slime Morimori or Chocobo DS it stakes up really well. It's basically a FF monsters battle royale fanservice game. If you were to compare it with a real FF game, it doesn't compare all. Knowing what to expect is important.

- I've completed 1 story mission in Chapter 4 and all the available optional missions at the moment and the mission clear % is at 29%. Clock is around 4+ hours. I hope the game isn't as short as it's looking to be.... ^^;

 

[Y2Kev]

Sounds like "My First Final Fantasy."

 

[duckroll]

Sounds like "My First Final Fantasy."

Baby Shiva! :lol

 

[RevenantKioku]

Sounds like "My First Final Fantasy."

Well shit, Mystic Quest is better than FF12, so maybe we're onto something here!

 

[Jamesfrom818]

Why can't either SE side games, or DS games have serious stories? (if you can give me an example of an JRPG on the DS with a serious story, please let me know so I can go buy it)

Xenosaga I & II

 

[ethelred]

Sounds like "My First Final Fantasy."

Yeah. Really, was anyone aside from RK asking for Mystic Quest 2?

Xenosaga I & II

My First Final Fantasy, My First Xenosaga, My First Dragon Quest, My First Surgical Operation... anyone noticing a trend here? :/

 

[Pureauthor]

Sounds like "My First Final Fantasy."

Excuse me? My first Final Fantasy had Garland mutilating my party within three combat rounds.

So it's more like DQH:RS and FFF:CT? Well, if I switch my expectations, it shouldn't be too bad...

 

[Yama]

- Let's get this out of the way first: S-E, next time you try making a RTS-ish game, know that it's a retarded idea to deselect all units everytime a command is issued! It's annoying and stupid!

FFXII:RW International Version (JP) confirmed.

 

[Bebpo]

My First Final Fantasy, My First Xenosaga, My First Dragon Quest, My First Surgical Operation... anyone noticing a trend here? :/

Hey, it's a new audience of people who never played games before! You've got to slowly introduce them to the big franchises!

 

[ethelred]

Hey, it's a new audience of people who never played games before! You've got to slowly introduce them to the big franchises!

But if you're just going to introduce them to games that suck, we might as well go dig up that E.T. landfill.

 

[Bebpo]

But if you're just going to introduce them to games that suck, we might as well go dig up that E.T. landfill.

They suck to us because they're shallow and simple to hardcore gamers.

To the 68 year old grandmother or the 4 year old boy, they might be just right.

 

[grandjedi6]

Yeah. Really, was anyone aside from RK asking for Mystic Quest 2?



My First Final Fantasy, My First Xenosaga, My First Dragon Quest, My First Surgical Operation... anyone noticing a trend here? :/

My First Super Mario Bros., My First Legend of Zelda, My First Pokemon.....

 

[ethelred]

My First Super Mario Bros., My First Legend of Zelda, My First Pokemon.....

Ninja Gaiden, Mana, Lunar, Chibi Robo... it's almost impossible to count the number of once awesome franchises the DS has ruined. :/

 

[Jonnyram]

Well I'm still interested, so keep the spoiler-free impressions coming duckroll.
Thanks for all you've said so far.

How's the music by the way? Are they using a lot of lower quality versions of the original FFXII music or are they mostly new tunes?

Ninja Gaiden, Mana, Lunar, Chibi Robo... it's almost impossible to count the number of once awesome franchises the DS has ruined. :/

These were already dead on the GBA, or would have been if they'd been given chance to get released.