Topic: Two New Wii RPGs Revealed

[NeoStar9X]

Someone has edited in the new Xenoblade music with the original trailer for Monado. The music makes all the difference I think. What do you think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNvFp4jVU6U&feature=player_embedded

[NWR_Lindy]

If Last Story is a bonafide hit it will destroy Final Fantasy in sales because the Wii just has so many more systems out there.  It would essentially destroy the idea Square has about spending who knows how much on FF as well as letting the former creator rub it in their faces.  Obviously a big if since we don't know jack about the game yet.

The cynic in me believes that it will be a super-generic JRPG that will be poorly marketed to a Wii audience that's pretty iffy on RPGs to begin with, and as a result it will sell abysmally.

I'd love to be proved wrong, however.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I hope you are proved wrong.

[Stratos]

John Lindemann: Cynic, Troll and beloved Director of NWR.

[vudu]

If Last Story is a bonafide hit it will destroy Final Fantasy in sales because the Wii just has so many more systems out there.  It would essentially destroy the idea Square has about spending who knows how much on FF as well as letting the former creator rub it in their faces. 

Never happening.  It doesn't matter how good the game is, FF XIII will sell better because of the name alone.

[Stratos]

I would expect Last Story will need several different titles in its lineup before it can truly challenge Final Fantasy in any way. And they all have to be pretty good.

There are people who grew up with Final Fantasy who will never abandon it.

[BlackNMild2k1]

The Last Story 2: End of Tales

The Last Story 3: Final Fantasy

Lets make it happen Nintendo.

[Chozo Ghost]

For some reason I've never been a fan of modern RPG's, they just don''t seem to have the same magic as the ones on the Super NES

I agree. The Super NES RPGs were set in a magical fantasy world of Myths and Magic, which was really cool. Then came the PS1 era and the RPGs for that system and every system thereafter were an enormous disappointment to me. Instead of being medieval myth and magic rpgs, we had steampunk JRPG crap. So I really lost interest in RPGs at that point...

[broodwars]

For some reason I've never been a fan of modern RPG's, they just don''t seem to have the same magic as the ones on the Super NES

I agree. The Super NES RPGs were set in a magical fantasy world of Myths and Magic, which was really cool. Then came the PS1 era and the RPGs for that system and every system thereafter were an enormous disappointment to me. Instead of being medieval myth and magic rpgs, we had steampunk JRPG crap. So I really lost interest in RPGs at that point...

I'm quite on the flipside (yeah, big surprise...I know): Medieval Fantasy is played to ****ing DEATH in RPGs.  I like seeing steampunk/futuristic/modern-style RPGs, as I haven't been playing them for over 20 years.  Stuff like Personas 3-4 and Valkyria Chronicles (which is a WW1-style RPG) are a real breath of fresh air in the RPG genre, and I'll be quite content if we see that become the standard for many years to give the Medieval Fantasy time to become interesting again.

[Ymeegod]

Can't wait for VC2--I know I kept that damn PSP for something.  In case you missed VC it was made by Overworks the developer for Skies of Arcadia so it has the "warm" feel to it when it comes to game characters.

And I just loved Persona 4 (not so much 3 but that's because I played them out of order).

Kinda wish more RPG's took the "bad" route instead of being always leaning on being "good".  Wouldn't mind buring down the villages instead of being the poor sad who just had a bon-fire start to his adventure.

[Mop it up]

I don't think it is necessarily the themes which made Super NES RPGs more engaging. There's... another quality to them, but I'm not quite sure what.

[Stogi]

Why do all RPG's need to have swords?

[Mop it up]

Because if there's a gun involved then it is considered a shooter.

[Stratos]

Wasn't VC on the PS3? Why is the sequel coming to PSP? VC was one of the incentives I had for eventually getting a PS3 so it will be a bummer that the sequel isn't on it.

[KDR_11k]

Because if there's a gun involved then it is considered a shooter.

Mass Effect says hello.

[Ian Sane]

For me to like an RPG I have to like the story, the setting and the characters.  The problem is a lot of RPGs star whiny teenagers that I don't relate to while the stories are cliche and make really DUMB attempts at drama that come across as the sort of thing a 14 year old would write.

In Skies or Arcadia I liked the characters and the whole pirate theme so it worked.  I've got to get Valkyria Chronicles.  Super Mario RPG is also one of my favourite games because I like Mario and like the world in that game.  Mario isn't some brooding emo teenager.  Actually the best RPGs usually star outright HEROES who want to do the right thing instead of spineless pussies who only think of themselves.

[NWR_insanolord]

Because if there's a gun involved then it is considered a shooter.

Mass Effect says hello.

That's not exactly the best example, as many would argue that Mass Effect is, in large part, a shooter. The Fallout games would probably be better to point out. But this whole discussion seems to be ignoring Western RPGs and focusing solely on JRPGs.

[Mop it up]

Ian Sane's post made me realize something: in my three favourite RPGs (Earthbound, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG), the protagonist never speaks a word. I wonder if this has something to do with the charm that I find missing from most recent RPGs...

[broodwars]

Because if there's a gun involved then it is considered a shooter.

Mass Effect says hello.

Resonnance of Fate (End of Eternity) and Valkyria Chronicles also say "hello".  Granted, those are tactical strategy RPGs but whatever.

[Mop it up]

It's funny how my facetious remarks tend to get more responses than anything else I say...

[Stogi]

I'd love an RPG that mimic the business world. Pen is mightier than the sword, indeed.

[Mop it up]

Have you heard of a Super NES game titled AeroBiz? You operate an airport in that game, so some might call it a "business RPG."

[Stogi]

I was thinking more like you start as a small business and try to transform it into a multinational conglomerate.

[Stratos]

I'm pretty sure there are a few of those surrounding different businesses on the PC. There is a mall sim and a pizza/restaurant one I can recall but their names escape me. I think they had Tycoon in the name so I'd check out that line of games.

Also there was that Harvest Moon game on WiiWare that was a store-sim.

[Armak88]

The more I read about these two games the more excited I am for them. It has been some time since I've really been into RPG's. I used to love them during the SNES era, and with Mario RPG, Chrono Trigger, Earthbound and FF4 things were good. I went through a little bit of a return to RPG's with FF9 which I followed up by playing 7 and 8, but FF4 stayed my favourite FF. I'm actually playing through FF10 right now, but I have a lot of the same problems with it that Ian has indicated.

I think that part my problem with RPG's is that the main character seems to always wonder whether or not they should do the right thing, but their never seems to be any question about what the right thing is. I would like to see a story where the main character isn't debating whether or not they should be the hero, but facing choices that are morally ambiguous and not being sure about what the "right" course of action is. There was a little bit of that idea in FF4, and I think that is why I find it to be the most compelling FF.

The video for xenoblade looks pretty neat, and I'm interested to see what this previous creator of FF can come up with for The Last Story. With a name like "The Last Story" they are clearly setting the game up as a competitor for final fantasy, and I think that competition breeds the best innovations and most exciting games. I look forward to getting sucked back into the RPG genre again, I hope that these games turn out to be good and I'm not excited for nothing.