Topic: FF:CC needs more than one GBA?

[mouse_clicker]

boggy: Either read my first post or read IGN's roundtable discussion on the game- it doesn't REQUIRE 3 or 4 GBA's to play. If you want to play by yourself a GC controller is fine. It's if you want to play with friends when you need a GBA, and they can each provide their own.

[Uglydot]

I suspect that this "secret" info as some have termed it, is meant to make the party talk, not hide, yeesh.  Just because it doesn't show all 4 screens on the tv, doesn't mean it isn't meant for everyone to know.  I, for one, will buy the cable and play with my friend, and actually use this stuff to work as a team.

[MysticGohan]

That's the problem, what if somebody wants to play, but doesn't have a GBA. To find 4 people with GBA'S is abit hard to do, especially when you don't know anyone with a GBA but yourself.

I hope the GC controllers will be use instead of actually needing multiple GBA's.

[EggyToast]

Right.  It means you can play a multiplayer RPG without having to stop every 30 seconds for someone to check their stats, use an item, or change weapons/armor/magic.  They do it on their own time on their own little screen, while other people fight, change their own stuff, or whatever.

It's a great idea -- there's no other way you could do a good co-op RPG without some seriously annoying menu thingies going on, or a very cluttered screen.

[mouse_clicker]

Mystic: You can't that exact question was asked in the roundtable. You need to have a GBA to play with multiple people.

[MysticGohan]

will that sucks, that's one expensive controller just for one game. Are there any subsitutes?

[mouse_clicker]

It's not an expensive controller, man- it's a superb gaming console that can be used as a controller. Seriously, I've dropped countless horus into my GBA over numerous games. If anyone doesn't have one already, I seriously urge them to go out and buy one now.

[Bloodworth]

It's not that bad folks.  A racing wheel with pedals costs $80 or so.  You can pick up 2 used GBAs for that price (and unlike the wheel, a GBA is more than just a fancy controller).  We already have 3 in our house so I'm not worried.  Far more people have GBAs than GCs, and Nintendo/Square-Enix is betting on that.  They're not looking for people to buy GBAs so much as they presume most people already have them.

What EggyToast brought up is the biggest advantage.  Think of it like PSO in a sense.  You can all be on the move, and if someone needs to stop and heal, they can do it without obstructing your view of the screen.  I'm not sure how well this style of game could work without extra screens honestly.  

And to add some speculation, I wonder if they're holding their cards on LAN play.  It's possible, but on the other hand, this could have the same advantages without having to hook up extra TVs and cables.
 

[MysticGohan]

I guess that makes sense Bloodworth, But not only would I need more GBA's But also link cables. That's $10 a pop, if I could get two used GBA's like you said for $80, then it would be $20 for link cables the equals $100.

that's steep, Unless they also sell used GC-GBA link cables.

[Bloodworth]

Well, if it's cooperative multiplayer and they want to play, make them pay for it of course.

[mouse_clicker]

Alnog the same lines of what Dan was saying, (quality) dance pads for DDR can be in upwards of $50. True they're not required to play the game, but anyone who actually uses a controller to play DDR must've had a frontal lobotomy.

Mystic- Again, in the roundtable with Kawazu, someone asked if Square had considered packaging a link cable with FF:CC (much the same way Animal Crossing included a memory card). Kawazu said they were thinking about the possibility, so it's not definite you will have to buy a link cable (besides, they're only 10 bucks and you can use them with many other games, too).

[MysticGohan]

Bloodworth I can't, no one here would pay for something like that. They would be intrested in playing but not paying.

True Mouse but I already have onle GC-GBA cable, But I would need another one even if there was one packaged with FF:CC. I know the benefeits I have done it with MP and MF.

But the fact is I don't have that kind of income "no job" I have reasons.

It just makes it hard, since I was very much anticipating this game.

What's the lowest price anyone has seen on the GBA as of recently?

[mouse_clicker]

Oh, I'm sure you could find real cheap GBA's on EBay. Speaking of dance pads, I bought two top quality pads (retail at about $100 each) for $25 combined on EBay.

Also, just a thought I had in response to Dan's question on how well the game would work without seperate screens for seperate players to do spells. Obviously the game won't require anymore than 4 buttons since that's all the GBA has to offer. Yet the GCN controller has 3 more face buttons plus the D-pad and C-Stick, which makes for essentially 11 different hot keys for spells if the GCN controller is used.

[Moonwatcher]

If the game requires multiple GBAs to  be properly played, it will sell like crap.  Dosn't matter how good it is, tha'ts just way too expensive.  I'm relly dissapointed by this news.

[Ian Sane]

"someone asked if Square had considered packaging a link cable with FF:CC (much the same way Animal Crossing included a memory card). Kawazu said they were thinking about the possibility, so it's not definite you will have to buy a link cable (besides, they're only 10 bucks and you can use them with many other games, too)"

Packing in the cable would be awesome and I really hope they do it.  At my house we have one Gamecube, one GBA/GC link cable, and two GBAs.  True the cable is cheap but aside from this game there is absolutely no need for me to have two of them.  I don't really want to buy another cable for ONE game so including a pack in would really help.  Plus it just makes sense.  The idea is that your friends will bring their GBAs but they might not have a link cable.

[mouse_clicker]

It most definitely won't sell like crap, at least in Japan- do you realise how well the GBA has sold? There's gotta be something like 3 GBA's out there for every Gamecube, maybe more. Chances are you'll know at least 2 people who own one. I know 6 people right off the top of my head who own GBA's, 3 of which also own a Gamecube, excluding myself. And considering how huge FF is in Japan, I'm sure people would actually BUY a GBA for the sole purpouse of playing FF:CC, if everyone in Japan doesn't already own one.

[Grey Ninja]

Quote
Uh, not really, I doubt he's doing that much.

Let's put it this way.  I would rather have Miyamoto overseeing the project than Sakaguchi.  It reminds me very much of Square's golden era in the SNES age.  They got a lot of help from Nintendo, and their games from that period were the best.

Quote
uh... fmv looks a lot nicer so I'd rather have FMV. OMFG IT'S A MOVIE IF IT'S NOT REAL TIME!!!!!!!11111111111 What's so terrible about FMV? I don't care whether it has fmv or not but hating FMV just because it's FMV is dumb.

I don't hate it because it's FMV.  That is dumb.  What I hate is that Final Fantasy has become all FMV and no substance.  I greatly prefer cinematics, as they don't break up the atmosphere when they happen.  Cut scenes ala Eternal Darkness are also good though, where the FMV was used sparingly.  Resident Evil style FMV is the best though, as you could barely tell when it started and ended, and was only really used for the shots with too many polys.

Play Final Fantasy VIII or IX, or X sometime.  You will find that the FMV is NOT helpful to the game at all.

[mouse_clicker]

Stop trying to form a link between cut-scenes in general and FMV in particular in this case, guys- you're debating two completely different arguments.  What people *didn't* like about FF7-10 was that they had a whole lot of long cut-scenes that you just sat and watched, taking time away from actually playing the game, not that the cut-scenes were done in FMV rather than real time. But when there IS a cut-scene, FMV, or CG, is a much more appealing option because generally it looks a lot better than what the actual console can produce. I'd much rather look at FMV than some blocky, ill-textured graphics (not saying FF:CC is like that, just in general).

So hate the frequency of the cut-scenes, not the quality of them.

[Grey Ninja]

Think about if Metal Gear Solid had FMV rather than cinematics.  Think about how that would have changed the game.  It's not that I hate FMV, I just prefer well done cinematics.

[AlphaDragoon2002]

The hell with packaging a GC/GBA Link Cable with it, if they're retarded enough to expect everyone to have a GBA then they better include a free GBA with the damn game...this REALLY makes me mad.

I can't afford a second GBA, and so as a result my twin brother gets screwed outta playing it with me, or I get screwed outta playing with him.  

They better say you only need one GBA, otherwise I won't be able to really enjoy it.  I just don't have the kind of cash to go and blow on a GBA just to use it for a second controller.

[Aussiedude]

The other thing is you really need 4 GBA-SP's. GBA would be useless due to battery life and the fact you cant even read the screen indoors. So this game obviously has hidden marketing agenda's.

The GBA-SP is selling extremely well in all markets, particuarly Japan. What this game is really about is encouraging GBA-SP owners to get a cube, and to a lesser extent GCN owners to buy a second GBA-SP. Still this would have a big impact on sales of the game (unless the game is absolutely unreal in terms of gameplay) so Nintendo may be offering SQUARE-ENRIX some incentive (eg No royalties to be paid for the game, Nintendo supplying a free GBA link up cable, even paying $$ to Square -Enrix for each game sold).

Also by the time the game is relased the GBA-SP will most likely have come down by a good margin.

Obviosly this is good for Nintendo as it will increase hardware sales of both systems with no financial outlay. Nintendo needs to force the issue of GBA connectivity in terms of REAL benefit as this is the major difference between the consoles, and this is obviously a good starting point. This will allow more games to rely on the GBA-SP as GCN owners would all have at least one GBA-SP.

[Zeth]

Quote
Play Final Fantasy VIII or IX, or X sometime. You will find that the FMV is NOT helpful to the game at all.

I love FFIX and FFX. But it's not because of the FMV. If the cut scenes were real time rather than FMV I'd still like the games just as much.

[Grey Ninja]

Man, I can't believe how many people are up in arms about this.  You don't need a GBA to play the game, but each of your friends needs a GBA to play with you.  From my experience with Seiken Densetsu, there's no problem with playing single player, and it's both addictive and fun.  Nobody is forcing you to play multi player, and nobody is forcing you to buy a GBA if you don't have one, as single player games will play fine with a single GameCube controller.

I didn't even see this much whining when Perfect Dark, Zelda: Majora's Mask, and Conker's Bad Fur Day required expansion packs to play.  

[mouse_clicker]

Gery Ninja: What's the difference between FMV scenes and cinematic scenes? *Absolutely nothing*. FMV refers to the quality of the cut-scene, meaning it's generate by a computer rather than the console and hence looks very good. There's nothing wrong with that- if someone has a problem with a higher quality cut scene, I'm surprise they're a Nintendo fan. What YOU'RE referring to is the *frequency* of the cut-scenes- Final Fantasy games generally have a lot of cut-scenes and THAT'S what people didn't like. Not the *quality* of the cut-scenes, but the *quantity* of the cut scenes. I'd rather have FF:CC utilize CG/FMV cut-scenes rather than real time cut-scenes because the former would look much better. However, I don't want there to be so many cut-scenes of any time that it detracts from the gameplay. Don't equate FMV with a lot of cut-scenes- it just means they look better. I think MGS would be great with FMV cut-scenes rather than real time because it looks a whole lot better.

"The other thing is you really need 4 GBA-SP's. GBA would be useless due to battery life and the fact you cant even read the screen indoors. So this game obviously has hidden marketing agenda's."

Oh jesus, since when did the normal GBA suddennly became the qualitative equivalent of crap? A GBA is perfectly fine- contrary to popular belief, it has an extremely long battery life and looks fine in most lighting conditions. I've never had a problem with either situations through the 1 1/2 years I've owned by GBA. An SP would be nice, but it is nowhere near necessary.

[AlphaDragoon2002]

Quote
Originally posted by: Grey Ninja
Man, I can't believe how many people are up in arms about this.  You don't need a GBA to play the game, but each of your friends needs a GBA to play with you.  From my experience with Seiken Densetsu, there's no problem with playing single player, and it's both addictive and fun.  Nobody is forcing you to play multi player, and nobody is forcing you to buy a GBA if you don't have one, as single player games will play fine with a single GameCube controller.

That's the point.  My friends don't have GBAs, and my brother and sister (who I planned on playing it with) don't have GBAs.  Why would they, we have one already...

The point is, most people wanted to play this multiplayer, like it's been advertised for months on end.  But I'm guessing that like me, most people don't have the cash or want to spend the cash to buy GBAs just to use as controllers, or have friends that have GBAs to play.  Why can't they just have the option to use (shock and awe) NORMAL CONTROLLERS?!  

And besides, anyone who's ever played Secret of Mana on SNES knows that the true essence of the game is found in multiplayer.  And seeing as the producer of SOM made this game, I have a feeling it's gonna be very similar.  So basically, people are just getting screwed through this "everyone must have a GBA" thing.  It's just plain stupid...using one GBA while the rest have GC controllers makes a LOT more sense.