You didn’t think I was going to let this one slip
away, did you? Please. Even though I’m not “the Final Fantasy guy”, I’m gonna go ahead and be “the Final Fantasy guy” for a hot
minute. I’ve even got my hat ready.
But before I go into the demo, there’s some
Square-Enix stuff and news worth staring in the face. By extension, there’s a question I need to
ask. It’s a very important question, and
one that I’m surprised I never directly asked before now. So brace yourselves.
Okay, so this is the question. You ready?
Ready?
Seriously, are you ready? Okay, here it is:
Why does
Square-Enix keep fucking up?
I mean, seriously.
The writing’s on the wall -- on every
wall. I’m not just talking about Final Fantasy (for once); it’s a company
that’s consistently invited scorn and derision in the pursuit of money…which
may or may not be going well. Off the
top of my head, there was:
1) Deeming a trio of AAA games -- Hitman, Sleeping Dogs, and Tomb Raider 2013 -- as financial
failures, even though TR2013 sold at
least three million copies
2) PR bungles by way of controversial ads for Hitman and spokesmen claiming that
players would want to “protect Lara Croft” (presumably from sexual assault)
3) A forward march with preorder culture,
including the
nutty “Augment Your Preorder” scheme for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
4) Splitting up the latest Hitman game into episodic installments even though there’s been no
guarantee of its quality or even continuation
5) Kingdom
Hearts III being MIA, despite the second main game in the franchise
celebrating its 10-year anniversary
6) Only turning a profit on big-budget games (like
TR2013) by pushing out an updated
rerelease for the latest consoles
7) Making Rise
of the Tomb Raider, the sequel to a game that underperformed despite
appearing on all the available consoles, into a temporary console exclusive
(for a console that’s lagging behind the main competition) and expecting
success
8) Putting out the mobile game Final Fantasy: All the Bravest, the
mechanics of which make it hard to even call a game -- save for its
cash-grabbing incentives
9) Launching an MMO so bad that it needed a
complete overhaul -- AFTER an apology from the company figureheads
In all fairness, it’s not as if Squeenix is the
only company out there that you can almost count
on to fuck up. As long as EA,
Ubisoft, Activision, and the like still draw breath, then the house that Fnal Fantasy built is going to stay
comparatively clean. That doesn’t make
the company harder to mock, though; every bit of anger and scorn thrown their
way is entirely deserved. It’s not just
because of business practices, even though those definitely factor in. They’re purveyors of games -- of products,
but forms of artistic expression nonetheless -- that should speak volumes about
why we should put our trust in them.
I don’t think I need to tell you that they managed
to fuck that up, too. Even without the
third game in our midst, Kingdom Hearts has
turned into a baffling mess that rightfully gets made fun of all the time. Dragon
Quest has barely left an impact in the west, and (barring the Musou
spinoffs) people are lucky to get a glimpse of the next major installment in
the franchise before the heat death of the universe. One franchise after another has been ignored,
forgotten, or run into the ground; Star
Ocean: The Last Hope was a good game twisted into a disaster, and even if
Squeenix is only acting as the publisher, I’m about ready to give up on it by
default.
I have problems accepting a situation where the
best the company can do is release a spruced-up version of a twenty-year-old
game, least of all because the company itself is on record of saying that it
has yet to top FF7 in terms of
quality. That’s before you take into
account the fact that A) there are only fragments of concrete information, with
a release date once again in the netherworld, and B) people are expecting the
company that can barely make a competent RPG or story to successfully revive a
marquis title in gaming history. Also,
why are they diverting attention away from Final
Fantasy 15 when that’s the game coming first, the game they need to push
into relevancy once more, and the game people have basically waited a decade
for?
I guess they’re pushing FF15 now, though. And I mean pushing it. They recently had a big whompin’ event to
announce the release date -- which in itself isn’t all that impressive, but it
came with plenty of other news. It’s
getting a tie-in anime…from the studio that brought you the modern classic, Sword Art Online. It’s getting a CG movie…from the team that
brought you FF7: Advent Children. It’s bringing in major actors like Sean Bean
and Lena Headey…because I’m sure they won’t come with a hefty price tag. It’s getting a mobile game…because this is the company you want
to trust with that. It’s
collaborating with Audi and ROEN to deliver goods in-universe
and
out of it…because if there’s one thing gamers associate themselves with,
it’s luxury cars and leather outfits.
How is any of that stuff supposed to make the game
better? How are designer clothes
supposed to help Squeenix reach its lofty goal of 10
million copies sold?
Squeenix officials caught wind of that news making
the rounds, and opted to clarify: they don’t need to sell 10 million to break even, but they want to.
Well, that’s what they say, but who knows? Ten years of working on the game -- off and
on, presumably, but working nonetheless -- must come with a hefty price tag. Come this September, it’ll be time for them
to cash out; it’s not hard to imagine them wanting as much money as possible
for what’s by nature a major AAA release.
Even if this wasn’t in the oven for a decade, it’s hard to imagine the
company being satisfied with the paltry 3 million that TR2013 earned in its first run, or the roughly 6 million that Resident Evil 6 pulled in.
As a reminder, both of those games were deemed
financial failures. And given that the
company behind one of those games has long since established itself as a big
spender on lavish productions -- like engines and CG tech demos that become
useless/go nowhere after a few years -- I don’t think it’s too much of a
stretch to fear the worst. And why
wouldn’t you? FF13 sold really well (about 6.7
million copies), but the sheer level of “satisfaction” it imparted led to FF13-2 selling half of that. And then Lightning
Returns basically sold half of that.
I’d look up the sales for Type-0,
but no one seems to acknowledge its existence besides me (which to be fair is
kind of a godsend).
The brand name has been tarnished. The prestige has been lost. And now Squeenix thinks that it can jump
right back to the top with big sales and a multimedia push -- which itself must
have emptied plenty of wallets -- for a game we don’t even know is good? It’s like they’re trying to fuck up preemptively.
Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if there were more
concrete details to go by. Maybe if
there was indisputable proof that we were in for a good game -- not even a
stellar 10/10, but just something adequate -- then they could justify the
blitz. But there isn’t. Granted that’s hard to know for sure, because
finding out if the story is good means playing through the full game upon
release. But even with the trailers and
even with the news, I’m not convinced. I
don’t need to know every detail, but I need to know why I should care when I’m
dealing with a company that can, has, and will burn me if given the chance.
And maybe that would be forgivable if the gameplay
was anything spectacular. But that’s
extremely hard to gauge right now. The
trailers show a lot of epic action, but so did The Lightning Saga (*nervous
twitch*) once upon a time. The gameplay
featured in Episode Duscae, conversely, was passable at best -- but as a whole,
I found it to be a slog with only a couple of bright moments, and whatever
potential it might have in danger of being squandered (if it hasn’t
already). Imagine my surprise when
Squeenix announces and subsequently drops a new demo right into our laps --
with gameplay much closer to, if not a representation of, the final product.
You know what I’m going to say next, right?
Yeah. Time
to start worrying.
The Platinum Demo is not good. It’s not a good demo to be viewed and judged
on its own terms. It’s not a good way to
prepare for what you can expect in the full game. It’s not a good piece of promotional material
to get players excited for “the future of Final
Fantasy”. It’s a bunch of fluff
that’s not only non-indicative of the final product, but also just plain boring
when played and “enjoyed” as a separate entity.
True, there are some little flourishes and injections of life here and
there, but it’s about as worthwhile as it is substantial.
To wit: a timer in the main menu tells you how
long you’ve played the Platinum Demo; I clocked in at about 38 minutes, but
only because I opted to do the demo’s boss twice (albeit by accident). From what I’ve heard, you can play Episode
Duscae for hours and still have stuff to do (the Best Friends did a couple of
videos that weighed in at about 50 minutes each). It’s entirely possible that there’s more to
do in the Platinum Demo, since there are locked platforms throughout, but I
told my brother -- who was watching me play the demo at the time -- that I
wasn’t very eager to hunt for that extra content. And as far as I know, he hasn’t summoned the
willpower to even try it. I can’t say I blame him; one of the demo’s
deal-breakers is that it’s slower than cold molasses.
From what I’ve heard, FF15 is aiming for 30 frames per second in the final version --
although they’re still trying to work out the kinks to make that number
consistent. Far be it from me to
complain about framerate, since it is basically the standard for a huge percentage of games out there. But as I’ve said before and discovered for
myself, there’s a major difference between games that run at 30fps and games
that run at 60. To put it another way,
there’s a difference between DmC and Metal Gear Rising; 60fps aren’t a
necessity for every game, but there are still some times when you need that
faster, smoother action.
Is that a necessity for FF15? Not really. Tales
of Zestiria (for whatever reason) doesn’t have 60fps during its combat, and
you know what? It’s still fine. It’s a departure from the games that came
before it -- which is baffling, since it’s running at half the speed on the
latest and “greatest” console -- but the core mechanics help keep things
exciting and eager for more…barring some nasty camera issues in multiplayer,
but whatever. It’s an active system that
compensates for the inherent lack of speed.
I can’t really say the same for the Platinum
Demo. Some of the mechanics have changed
from the Duscae outing, which take some getting used to if you’ve got that
muscle memory at work. Hold down Circle
to attack, and hold down Square to defend.
X is to jump, which is typical for games, but not FF15; if I remember right, that’s what used to control the
Warpstrike, which in Platinum is now assigned to Triangle (and even then only
usable near the very end).
One of the biggest wrinkles is that they changed
the weapon mechanics. In Duscae, Noctis’
combo string was dependent on which weapons you put into each slot, a la God Hand; you could have a spear as your
opening attack, which gave you a thrust for an attack animation as well as the
passive bonuses built in. The Platinum
Demo subs that out for not-quite (but pretty close) real-time weapon change; you
can switch between weapons and magic, even in mid-combo, using the d-pad. That means there’s real depth to the combat
now, right?
Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…
I’m not saying that there isn’t depth, because it’s just a demo and only the most basic of
the basics are explained (and not even that; I had to find out I could
Warpstrike on my own). But even the
basics feel limited. You hold down
Circle to do some slashes with your sword, heavy swings with your greatsword,
and ground pounds with your hammer. I’d
bet that you can do different attacks by holding a direction and Circle, as you
could in Type-0, but I wouldn’t be
surprised if they were saving that for the main game/level-ups. Besides, I wonder if that would change
anything substantially.
Even with the basic sword, Noctis’ slashes are
stunningly slow. They’re slow, and
clumsy-looking, and unwieldy; there’s no impact factor to them, so everything
feels floaty and unresponsive. Even the
greatsword and hammer don’t have a fraction of the power that they should;
sure, higher numbers will pop up, and the latter will leave fissures in the
ground, but it doesn’t feel like I’m battling monsters or anything. It just feels like I’m swinging -- or holding
Circle until all the enemies are gone. I
can’t even say that it looks cool, which is a far cry from what the trailers
promised.
I get the idea behind the game. You’re supposed to balance offense and
defense so that you can pick your shots -- hit and fade, and stay alive even in
the most desperate of battles. But the
Platinum Demo -- and FF15 in general,
I fear -- makes that so polarized and simplified that it sours the
experience. Hold Circle to attack until
everything dies. If it doesn’t die, then
hold Square to enter auto-dodge mode.
It’s an action game on auto-pilot.
I’m not asking for Bayonetta levels
of craftsmanship, but if you’re going to make an action RPG, make it
responsive. Make it strategic. Make it fun to play.
To be fair, the game thankfully adds in a manual
Dodge Roll (renamed the Roll-Dodge for whatever reason), but it’s a pale
imitation of the roll Kingdom Hearts 1 had
down more than a decade ago. It takes
time to start up, and time to recover -- and I have to wonder what the point of
roll-dodging is when you can hold one button to dodge everything perfectly and
potentially remain in an advantageous position.
Like, I thought that
auto-dodging was supposed to take MP or something (considering the sparkle
effects that it entails), but either it doesn’t (in this demo, at least), or it’s
such a negligible amount that it doesn’t matter if you’re on-point. And the demo implies that there are certain
attacks you can’t dodge, but good luck figuring out what those are.
Given that most attacks in the full game likely won’t be immune to auto-dodging, I have
to ask: what’s the treat supposed to be when you have a “you can’t touch me
button”?
It’s a system that’s more frustrating than
clever. You have no choice but to switch between
absolute offense or absolute defense (unless you use the roll-dodge, maybe, but you increase your likelihood
of getting clipped). If you try to
squeeze in an extra hit, you’ll end up getting whacked. But the alternative is that you wobble around
while holding Square, and waiting for an attack to go through so you can get
back to the action. How is it that the
company that at the very least put out Kingdom
Hearts managed to miss the mark? Why
is there such a clumsy divide between player states? Why does it take so long to accomplish
anything, up to and including a basic sword combo?
I’m also seriously worried about the magic system. It’s been up in the air for a while now, and
now the Platinum Demo gives an insight as to how it’ll work. It’ll take up one of your four d-pad/weapon
slots, and let you hold a magic spell -- in this case, Fire -- in the palm of
your hand. Functionally, it’s not that
different from a grenade; it even has a projected arc and radius for you to use
as a way to scorch enemies for big damage.
The downside? It’s literally a grenade -- which means not
only does it have all the pomp and circumstance of one (and the fluidity in
mid-combat), but also comes with the drawback of stocks. So if you’re like me and decide to give magic
a whirl as soon as you gain it, you’ll lose your ONE Fire spell for the rest of
the fight. If not the whole demo.
I’m sure (or at least hope) there’s a way to
restock on magic in either the demo or the full game. If it isn’t, then that strikes me as a huge
problem. It’s like Kingdom Hearts II all over again; there’s magic, but the
circumstances around it are so obtuse that it’s like you’re penalized for doing
anything besides wailing on an opponent.
Throw one fire grenade, and that’s all.
You’re stuck. That’s a problem
when, presumably, a potential strategy is to let players use Warpstrike to jump
to an advantageous position and let them snipe from afar. Why would you limit the opportunity to mix
things up?
Duscae let players pick items like potions out of
a menu, so presumably the final game will allow for some reliable healing (if
not the Platinum demo itself). But that
begs the question: is healing magic like Cure or Esuna going to take one of
your four slots? How big of a stock will
you have? Will you be able to heal your
team quickly and efficiently in the heat of battle? If you need to patch up the entire group at
once, will the AI be cooperative enough to gather around in case you have to
throw a healing grenade? Will it even be a healing grenade?
There are a crapload of questions that need
answering, and time is running out for Squeenix. In the event that the story ends up dead on
arrival, I can only hope that the gameplay is up to the task. But I need proof of that first, and right now
I’m not seeing the substantive evidence that tells me I’ll enjoy spending 40-50
hours with the game. Maybe I’d feel
better if the Platinum Demo was built on a stronger foundation -- if the
context within offered something to help me sleep at night -- but it isn’t.
The
“Reclaim Your Throne” trailer starts off with the sound and fury you’d
expect from the usual round of marketing and hype-mongering. Lots of setpieces, lots of intense action,
and lots of bombastic music (since this is a FF game, they’re trotting out the Latin chorus again). I tuned most of it out, but I got interested
once the music switched to a cover of “Stand by Me” -- and even if there was
still action, it showed Noctis and his crew actually being a crew. They ate food,
they wheeled their busted car down the road, and even got hyped over a pinball
game. The one thing Squeenix is trying
to sell us on is the strength and bond of these four guys; their journey and
synergy are apparently something worth celebrating.
So of course, the Platinum Demo has you playing
exclusively as Noctis, in a dream sequence far removed from any context or
interaction with the game world.
Apparently, Noctis gets knocked out for some
reason, and wakes up in a random set of environments a dream world where
he’s reverted back to his child form.
The good news is that Carbuncle is there to guide him back into
consciousness; the bad news is that he’ll have to fight off a slew of monsters
on the way there, up to a big brawl with a Blue Giant. The rules of reality don’t apply so strictly,
though; if you step on the pads littered throughout the dream, you’ll trigger
various effects. They range from
speeding up time and changing the weather to transforming Noctis into a
crocodile, a giraffe, or a truck.
It’s worth a laugh, seeing Noctis do his best
impression of Optimus Prime while wandering through a house better suited for
the Colossal Titan. But again, it’s
hardly substantive, and it wasn’t enough to mask the sheer boredom I felt on
the way to the end of the demo. I think
part of it has to do with the sheer lack of stakes; I can ultimately deal
without knowing every detail of Noctis’ journey up to that point, but the
bigger problem is that as far as I can tell, he can’t die. He can’t gain EXP. You can snag items and weapons by stepping on
hidden pads, but why would you want to indulge in the slow-ass combat even more
than you already have?
Also, if the Platinum Demo is supposed to
represent dreams, then Noctis must be a really boring person. I get that he’s basically (or presumably)
going through areas plucked from his memories, but come on. The most exciting locale he can imagine is a
big dining room? That could have been an
amazing showcase of the game engine, but they most they used it for in that
area was to topple some blocks.
Riveting. No game has ever tried
to do so much with physics. Except for
every third game since the release of Half-Life
2.
I also find it troubling that the world has known
about Noctis for basically a decade, but there’s still so much that’s unknown
about him -- and this demo doesn’t help matters. There’s
apparently a soccer ball or something that’ll reveal a few story details,
and Carbuncle can give some insights into our hero, but I don’t feel like I’ve
gained a greater understanding here. I
already knew that he’s a sleepyhead, I could’ve already guessed that he loves
his dad, and…his “safe place” is a luxury car?
Goddamn, that’s more grating than endearing. (Should I blame Squeenix or that, or
Audi? Who knows?)
You know, I can’t help but think back to Metal Gear Rising’s demo. It didn’t give me all of the details, but it
gave me enough. I met Raiden all over
again, as well as his crew. I learned
the circumstances of the mission. I
basically played through the first main level of the game, and experienced the
pulse-pounding gameplay for myself -- up to and including a boss battle with
Bladewolf that, at the time, was practically a revelation. I don’t know how long that demo lasted, but
it could’ve ended at the five minute mark and I would’ve been sold.
Comparatively, the Platinum Demo for Final Fantasy 15 makes me feel worry
instead of excitement, and dread instead of hope. Assuming there aren’t any delays, the game is
roughly half a year away from release.
There’s a lot that needs to be accomplished, and set up, and proven in
order to repair the damage Lightning has done to the franchise. Will it succeed? I don’t know.
I have my doubts, to the point where I’m starting to miss the Duscae
build…even though that demo wasn’t
exactly thrilling.
I hate this feeling. I hate having to take shots at a game (and a
demo, even) instead of being able to look forward to some genuine thrills. I hate having to know that FF15, the dedicated shot at breathing
life into the brand, is struggling just to run in just a couple of vertical
slices of gameplay. I want to like FF again without any qualifiers, and I
want to believe in Squeenix without suspecting the worst. But they
just keep fucking up.
Supposedly, FF15 won’t be getting any more demos, which means this might be
the last the gaming community -- those on the bottom rungs, at least -- will
see of it until release day. There’s a
part of me that’s relieved by that notion.
If they can’t or won’t prove
why this is the great revival we’ve all been waiting for, then so be it. At this stage, I’d rather have nothing.
I’ll just sit here and wait -- and see what the
future holds.
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