Author Topic: 2020 Miscellaneous Links: Untitled Moose Game  (Read 170421 times)

Anthony Edward Stark

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Re: 2014 Miscellaneous Links You Won't Believe
« Reply #150 on: March 31, 2014, 08:12:28 PM »
I'd like to think this means they'll stop blaming Eidos for not making sufficiently large profits to offset the repeated failure of the Japanese branch, but if they're willing to keep Toriyama around then they're never going to accept blame for anything.

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Re: 2014 Miscellaneous Links You Won't Believe
« Reply #151 on: April 01, 2014, 01:22:04 AM »
I'd like to think this means they'll stop blaming Eidos for not making sufficiently large profits to offset the repeated failure of the Japanese branch, but if they're willing to keep Toriyama around then they're never going to accept blame for anything.

To be fair Toriyama is basically a tenured professor at this point riding off the inexplicable success he had with his projects in the 80s and 90s and can't really be fired, no matter how shit he is at his job.

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Re: 2014 Miscellaneous Links You Won't Believe
« Reply #152 on: April 01, 2014, 01:54:21 AM »
What? I know you personally don't like them, but the FF13 games (the first two, anyway; no clue on LR) raked in massive amounts of money (FF13 is literally the second-best selling non-Pokemon JRPG of this century, while 13-2 still managed comparable sales to the Eidos titles with an obviously low budget by AAA standards). The big failure of the Japanese SE of recent years is the original FF14, which if Wikipedia is correct, Toriyama wasn't even involved in.

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Meeplelard

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Re: 2014 Miscellaneous Links You Won't Believe
« Reply #153 on: April 01, 2014, 02:19:34 AM »
The issue with FF13, in terms of sales, success, etc. is less so how much it brought in but rather the game didn't receive the kind of reaction he had hopes.  Actually reading stuff on the development, he legitimately wanted the game to be the next FF7/10 in the genre (the major game changes that completely changed the way people viewed jRPGs, IOWs).  This didn't work out; we can get into reasons why, but not worth it, as the point is that while FF13 was clearly successful commercially, it wasn't as big critically given how the reactions were so split among the fanbase.

The main thrust of the article, in any event, is that all this "look at things globally!" aspect is in fact destructive, and that's kind of true.  They were trying to appeal to too many gamers at once with their games, rather than appeasing the fans first, then adding in some extra things that would grab more gamers.

Bravely Default is basically the game that kicked them back into gear because it showed that everything they were doing is wrong.  All Bravely Default tries to be is a well jRPG, and nothing more, from my understanding.  I'm not saying it's generic or anything, just that it's mission statement was "Make a strong jRPG for fans of the genre, particularly classic Final Fantasy fans!"  The game wasn't a KILLER SUCCESS, but it sure beat expectations in the west commercially while being a significant critical success.  It really demonstrates that the viewpoint has to be changed from "Appease all gamers!" to "Appease the people who are likely to buy this game!"


A good line that fits here, which is something Square-enix seems to finally be acknowledging is "I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to appease everyone."
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Dark Holy Elf

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Re: 2014 Miscellaneous Links You Won't Believe
« Reply #154 on: April 01, 2014, 03:02:44 AM »
Oh, no question. And I think they're basically right, and have no issue with the article. (Although I'll point out that the game that is cited as trying to appeal to too many people and suffering for it is Hitman Absolution.) I'm just setting the record straight on Rob's comments, since he seems to think SE should fire someone whose games have made them lots of money.

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Anthony Edward Stark

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Re: 2014 Miscellaneous Links You Won't Believe
« Reply #155 on: April 01, 2014, 03:50:52 AM »
Toriyama could literally shit gold and that wouldn't change that they should fire him. The guy made Parasite Eve 3.  In a just world that would be not only grounds for firing, it would be grounds for the police to break into your basement to free the girls you obviously have locked up in there.  That said, there is no goddamn way FF13 recouped its costs considering it was in development for ten years and has been repeatedly noted for poor management of time and talent.

Also "second best-selling non-Pokemon jRPG of this decade" is like calling NFL Blitz the best-selling download-only pro football simulation of the Seventh Generation.  The more qualifiers you gotta put on there the less something means.

e:  Also I should point out the Eidos sales are artificially deflated by the fact that Square-Enix doesn't count digital sales, because they are fucked in the head.  This is all the more amusing because Sleeping Dogs PC was given a digital-only release.
« Last Edit: April 01, 2014, 03:55:16 AM by Anthony Edward Stark »

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Re: 2014 Miscellaneous Links You Won't Believe
« Reply #156 on: April 01, 2014, 04:27:26 AM »
Wikipedia says 2005-2009. A long time, to be sure, but not egregiously so. The game was also cited as the main reason that the 2009-2010 fiscal year was SE's most profitable in the company's history (caveat: that may just mean since the merger), and in general games that sell 6.6M aren't going to fail to recoup their losses. I've never seen any figures for FF13's production/marketing costs, but GTA5 is widely recognised as the most expensive game ever made, and even if FF13 had that cost, it would have turned a (slim) profit based on its revenue.

The only offline FF I've ever heard cited for financial problems is FF9, and even then (a) I'm pretty sure it still made a profit, just a far smaller one than its predecessors, and (b) that was primarily due to the PlayOnline debacle (as much as I'd prefer to attribute it to the consumer rightfully rejecting a game which gave us Zidane).

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Re: 2014 Miscellaneous Links You Won't Believe
« Reply #157 on: April 01, 2014, 05:08:57 AM »
I think FF 12 was the one that had that longer development cycle (and probably sold worse than 13, too?) that supposed had several mid scraps (although depending on when 15 started, that may be longer soon).
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Re: 2014 Miscellaneous Links You Won't Believe
« Reply #158 on: April 01, 2014, 03:28:11 PM »
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pit9pe-Et-s Would watch the fuck out of this movie.
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Re: 2014 Miscellaneous Links You Won't Believe
« Reply #159 on: April 01, 2014, 04:05:58 PM »
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YMD6xELI_k
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Luther Lansfeld

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Re: 2014 Miscellaneous Links You Won't Believe
« Reply #160 on: April 01, 2014, 07:27:19 PM »
http://tashagolden.wordpress.com/2014/03/17/the-31-number-one-female-country-songs-since-2004-summed-up-by-yours-truly/

10% of number one country songs in the last ten years were by female artists and most of them were boring and derivative. Can't imagine why I stopped listening to it...
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Cotigo

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Re: 2014 Miscellaneous Links You Won't Believe
« Reply #161 on: April 02, 2014, 02:16:46 AM »
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/shooting-dead-of-homeless-camper-sparks-outrage-again-albuquerque-police--the-department-who-kill-more-people-than-the-nypd-9226733.html?utm_source=indynewsletter&utm_medium=email01042014

So, in case I needed more reasons to not go back home. I hope some reform comes out of this outrage and it doesn't just impotently peter out as most things tend to do.

In hindsight, all this makes me feel incredibly lucky to be alive right now. Back when I was still a student, living at the Melrose apartment complex with Mark (some of you played SC2 and TF2 with him), I was walking back after having had several drinks at Monte Vista in Nob Hill. I was having a bad night of it, a bunch of pent up frustrations and worries got the best of me and while cutting through UNM's campus on my way home I was kicking trees, yelling, and taking out my pent up problems on inanimate objects on my way home. Not my brightest moment, but nothing harmful either. I didn't damage anything. Not other people's property, not public property, and the trees were gonna take more than my feet and fists to get scuffed up.

The police stopped me. That's good, I needed something to get me to check myself and calm down.

The police stopped me with a gun pointed right at my face. That's less good. Nothing sobers you up more than staring down the barrel of a gun.

I am fortunate that I could regain my prescience of mind and cooperate, make it clear that I was a threat to nobody but myself. Given recent events, there's a chance I may have gotten dragged off to the morgue instead of the University's psyche ward, all because of a bad night and and a police force all too comfortable with shooting first and covering up later.

In my 5 years of living in Albuquerque, a city that certainly has it's share of violent crime in addition to police violence, this is the only time I've ever had a gun pulled on me.

When an officer's first reaction to a loud, crying drunk is to pull out a gun, something is wrong. When, in the two weeks since the killing of James Boyd there have been no less than two other fatal shootings by the police, something is wrong. When a citizen has to be more afraid of the police than a potential mugger, something is wrong.

I hope actual reform comes from this public outrage. It is desperately needed.
« Last Edit: April 02, 2014, 02:22:21 AM by Makkotah »

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Re: 2014 Miscellaneous Links You Won't Believe
« Reply #162 on: April 02, 2014, 02:48:56 AM »
http://tashagolden.wordpress.com/2014/03/17/the-31-number-one-female-country-songs-since-2004-summed-up-by-yours-truly/

10% of number one country songs in the last ten years were by female artists and most of them were boring and derivative. Can't imagine why I stopped listening to it...

More disturbing is four years straight of nothing but Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift.  At least pop music changes which female gets 20 #1s each year.

Luther Lansfeld

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Re: 2014 Miscellaneous Links You Won't Believe
« Reply #163 on: April 02, 2014, 03:04:16 AM »
Country's a pretty static genre, I think. Feels like I still hear the same names from years ago when I stopped listening.
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Captain K.

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Re: 2014 Miscellaneous Links You Won't Believe
« Reply #164 on: April 02, 2014, 03:29:50 AM »
Square-Enix is *really* getting back to their roots.


http://www.thiefgame.jp/af/


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Re: 2014 Miscellaneous Links You Won't Believe
« Reply #165 on: April 02, 2014, 09:02:26 AM »
http://tashagolden.wordpress.com/2014/03/17/the-31-number-one-female-country-songs-since-2004-summed-up-by-yours-truly/

10% of number one country songs in the last ten years were by female artists and most of them were boring and derivative. Can't imagine why I stopped listening to it...

I don't know how I feel about a list that criticizes the lyrics of "The House That Built Me" while simultaneously praising the lyrics of "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together."

Also...hold on, "Mama's Broken Heart" didn't make it to number 1?  How the fuck did that not make it to number 1?  Seriously, what?


In other news, this song is getting plenty of radio play recently on my local country station:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZfj2Ir3GgQ

For all that sure, it doesn't surprise me that this song hasn't reached number 1, since it is more or less literally a fuck you to the pretty picture a lot of country songs try to paint.

Luther Lansfeld

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Re: 2014 Miscellaneous Links You Won't Believe
« Reply #166 on: April 02, 2014, 04:52:29 PM »
Another article I read on the subject(more long-winded, decided not to link it, dunno where it is now) cited her as refreshingly rebellious of country ideals and that is why she wasn't #1.
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Re: 2014 Miscellaneous Links You Won't Believe
« Reply #167 on: April 03, 2014, 12:22:27 AM »
http://www.beepboopbitcoin.com/

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Re: 2014 Miscellaneous Links You Won't Believe
« Reply #168 on: April 03, 2014, 12:56:14 AM »
>eat washington fatcat

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Re: 2014 Miscellaneous Links You Won't Believe
« Reply #169 on: April 04, 2014, 06:52:45 AM »
Hm, I got to the BitHole and had the pork.  Is this the end, or is there a way to advance the game from here?

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Re: 2014 Miscellaneous Links You Won't Believe
« Reply #170 on: April 04, 2014, 08:11:50 AM »
Eat the pork
That's pretty much the very end though

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Re: 2014 Miscellaneous Links You Won't Believe
« Reply #171 on: April 05, 2014, 03:44:18 PM »
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3546224&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=1

Not one of the big LP readers here, but figured I'd mention this due to all the SRPG fans here - the Rondo of Swords LP on SA finally finished up and will eventually head to the archives.  Check it out now before it's too late, the forums are even free right now if you're not a member.  (Been reading this LP off and on since January 2013, finally I'm halfway through the thread & finished the route B ending).  Rondo of Swords is an *awful* game but it's awful in the best way: magnificent ambition and courage to try out new & different ideas, with various key mechanics designed by marmots and key enemy threat data unclear without investigation in a game with nasty penalties for character death.  Fear its terrible power.  In other words, just about the perfect kind of game to read an LP of rather than play.  The runner has done various busted things only someone who played the game repeatedly would know that are entirely obtuse (know that certain characters are secretly useless for non-obvious reasons, know certain characters should keep their level low before a promotion which increases stat growth, know what skills to save precious skill points for, know which accessories are useful and which are useless in a game with limited money / shopping, win rigged/optional fights to get special items), and STILL wipes a decent amount.  All the hidden information makes RoS a brutally challenging SRPG ("I forgot to check how much MP the enemy spell took after inciting him to cast it once, so I underestimated their spell range by 1, then got pinpoint nuked"), but at least brutally challenging in a more interesting way than usual since "grind moar" isn't really a good option.

The plot is also more interesting than I gave it credit for from playing the first ~3 stages.  I think the LPer overhypes / reads into a few parts as having more subtext than is really there, but there clearly exist some solidly done plot points & character arcs.  Moreover, while the plot / characters are extremely anime in parts (14-year old girl pope who shoots lasers and wants to get married), somehow the tone remains "mature" on a number of the arcs anyway, which is goddamn amazing.  e.g. compare with Wild Arms XF - Our Hero in RoS is a body double of the dead Prince, but he does not have amazing powers (aside from having the Prince's cool sword), and he is not secretly the Prince anyway.  And the dead Prince really is dead.  This makes the position for our little imposter so much more interesting than usual, and the game does some cool things with it.  I also rather like one of the alternate ending options.  Neat stuff, anyways.

Have been reading through this over the last week or so, been reading through the Route A section of it recently. I have to agree, it's actually a lot better than I was anticipating, and the game very much qualifies as a game that is way more fun to read about than it would be to play. The writers do get a lot of stuff right, and there's a lot of good character work post-chapter 20, though you only really get to see the thought put into it after seeing playing both routes.

That said the stuff you hyped about it about the Prince's secret identity has absolutely nothing to do with it. All the gold is in how the Chapter 20 decision completely changes Serdic's personality, and the themes the game touches on at the end of B route. The Prince's identity issues are only barely interesting, though maybe that will change on the A route.
« Last Edit: April 05, 2014, 08:08:01 PM by Makkotah »

Luther Lansfeld

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Re: 2014 Miscellaneous Links You Won't Believe
« Reply #172 on: April 06, 2014, 08:05:06 PM »
http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/10738559/mark-emmert-ncaa-president-says-unionization-attempt-grossly-inappropriate

no sir, what is grossly inappropriate is you using teenagers to make millions of dollars while paying them little
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Re: 2014 Miscellaneous Links You Won't Believe
« Reply #173 on: April 06, 2014, 08:17:40 PM »
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XEq6XYtMVU

Probably the most appropriate response to the NCAA ever.
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Luther Lansfeld

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Re: 2014 Miscellaneous Links You Won't Believe
« Reply #174 on: April 06, 2014, 09:21:12 PM »
You made my day good sir.
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