E3 2013 Reaction To The Games
I’ve recently been more of a casual gamer… buying a handful of games a year and only playing most of them (if I’m lucky). In the past year I’ve taken a larger interest in keeping up with the news as I feel that it’s somehow important now that I’m making games. Previously, I was somehow charmed into the notion that PAX is better than E3 since PAX is for “the people”, while E3 is for “the press”. And for booth babes. But here’s a look at this year’s E3.
The Games:
Square-Enix:
I remember going to a friend’s house early in my developmental stages, and he had Dragon Warrior on his NES by a company called Enix. At that point I actually didn’t care at all. But I later played Final Fantasy, a Squaresoft title, and that made me love RPGs. Dragon Warrior IV on the NES is still one of my favourite games of all time as are Final Fantasy IV and VI. So I always hold a soft spot in my heart for Square-Enix, even though a lot of what I’ve played from them since the PS1 has disappointed me.
That said, I like more than half of what I’ve played of Kingdom Hearts. I loved the first one; I loved the second one. Chain of memories and 358/2 days were both shitty terrible boring games. I’m currently working through Birth by Sleep and I think it’s really good. I hear Dream Drop Distance was good and I look forward to playing it after I finish Birth by Sleep.
I’m really hoping that they’re not just fucking with us here. Because they’re sure trying to give us the impression at the end that that’s in-game graphics. I suspect it’s some sort of active-time event or something where it’s actually a cut-scene but you get to interact with it… but I would be delighted if that is what the game looks like. I like the lighting, and the round corners. It’s better handling of polygons in a game than I’m used to seeing. Kingdom Hearts has an insanely obfuscated story. I don’t think they actually had any sort of plan when making it, and they’re just constantly winging trippy shit that makes no sense. But I still like it.
And then of course there’s Final Fantasy Versus XIII.
I loved Final Fantasy IV, VI, VII, Tactics, IX and XII… all things considered 6 games that I’ve loved out of 35 (they’re so cute trying to rebrand “Versus XIII” to “XV”) isn’t the best track record, which is why there’s a lot that I just plain and simple haven’t bothered with. So I don’t really get their insistence on using the Final Fantasy brand name… they could just as easily make a new brand… except then I guess they’d be forced to come up with some new enemy designs and retired the old “crystals” trope. This game doesn’t really resemble the Final Fantasies of yesteryear… so mentally I can’t really think of it as Final Fantasy. No Sakaguchi, no Amano, no Uematsu? Come on… this isn’t Final Fantasy. But that said, it looks like it’s got great potential. Between the gameplay, the designs, and the music it all screams Kingdom Hearts to me… it seems like it could work quite well. I’ve liked the atmosphere of it since the original tease of it in… what… 1998 or something? I can see this as being a great game, but I wish they’d pushed it into having more of it’s own unique flavour rather than having Behemoths and Leviathan around because Final Fantasy.
Interestingly these titles will both be available for XBone. Nothing else that Squenix has on it’s agenda right now is interesting me. They’re making HD remakes of stuff, and another sequel to a Final Fantasy that I didn’t play… so onto the next company.
Konami:
I’ve never played the NES Metal Gears. But I love Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 3. Metal Gear Solid 2 was a game that I remember making me palpably angry, but I’ve mostly forgotten why. Was a little confused in their decision to make Metal Gear Solid 4 a movie instead of a game… but even then it was a rather sub-par. I really got bored of watching eggs fry, and didn’t understand the monkey thing. Outside those four I still haven’t given the rest of the series a shot. MGS5 though looks kind of tight. (And also beware: it looks a little graphic)
The Fox Engine looks pretty ace. The music, as always, is pretty killer I could see myself getting into the game. The open world aspect makes me think it will have a similar feel to MGS3’s jungle… so I’m not particularly concerned with it going open world… though honestly it had a little too much of an Assassin’s Creed 2 feel to me … and I’m not sure how I feel about that.
Everyone else seems pretty broken up about David Hayter losing his role as Snake. I felt that his voice was definitely unique… but… well… I’ve never been a fan of Konami’s choice in voice acting. Whether we find out later in E3 that Kojima and co. were trolling us and Hayter is in fact going to be in the game or not, I have to say that I’m not against the idea of improving the acting in games.
As for Lords of Shadow 2?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7Ujh-8iqiY#!
The trailer seems nifty. I have the first one for PS3, but haven’t found time to try it yet. I loved all the 2D Casltevanias… I hated Lament of Innocence, and haven’t played any of the other 3D games. So… I guess I’m not sold on any excitement until I get a chance to play through Lords of Shadow. Maybe if they’d given us some gamepley in their trailer?
Nintendo:
I’ve ignored Nintendo a lot. I made the decision to go to the Playstation back in 1997, and that means that I missed out on N64. Then I went with the Playstation 2. My room mate in my first year of college introduced me to Smash Bros on the Gamecube, so I eventually was forced to buy one of those, but I think I spent more time using the Gameboy Player attachment than the actual Gamecube. I then skipped out on the Wii, and have only briefly tried Mario Kart Wii, and Boom Blox. I have a few Nintendo DS games, but… well I’ve pretty much only used my 3DS for Street Pass and 3D photos. Sad, innit?
There’s some neat looking Nintendo Games that have been announced, but as Stephen Totilo points out… I’m not really seeing anything new here. Yoshi’s Island looks like Yoshi’s Island, Donkey Kong looks like Donkey Kong, Smash Bros looks like Smash Bros (that said, I <3 Megaman), and Mario Kart looks like Mario Kart. It’s what Nintendoes. I guess it’s a pretty good bet if you’ve been a Nintendo fan all these years and want to continue to see revisions on tried and true formulas. Unless you want to try Super Mario 3d World… which actually looks like Sonic 3D Blast (shudder).
I am actually semi-excited for Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.
The Rest:
So far there’s not many other games that are catching my eyes. I hate to admit it, but I just haven’t had time to play as many games as I did in my youth. This means that when there’s a huge line-up of sequels being advertised, I’m just not that intrigued given that I haven’t played the originals. I’m sure many feel the same way about the games I mentioned above.
I think that’s what’s appealing to me right now in the world of Indie Games. There are so many new properties that it’s easier to feel like I can dive in and get started. Maybe that’s what I really loved about the NES, SNES and my youth? The fact that everything was new? I’m glad that Sony is making it easy for Indies to self publish.
Assassin’s Creed IV looks like it could be interesting, but I didn’t have time to finish the second one… and so never played the rest. I’m not going to dive in now when it would mean not having any idea what the lore is in the world. I never tried Bayonetta, so I probably won’t give Bayonetta 2 a shot. Maybe I’ll take a stab at Mirror’s Edge and give that sequel a shot at some point. The original seemed cool to me, and the new one looks promising.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fB4ZZ-2xVWE
But honestly… Watch Dogs, Call of Doggy, The Division, GTA… I know I’m guilty of finding MGS5 appealing… but this onslaught of guys with guns… or Forza/Gran Turismo/Drive Club… maybe it’s realism in general… I’m not finding myself terribly excited. There’s too many properties doing not enough different things. I’m really not sure what to think of Beyond: Two Souls (E3 Trailer)… it looks kind of interesting… and yet I absolutely hate quick time events. And creepy motion capture of celebrities.
Please just hurry up and let me play The Last Guardian.
Anyways, it looks like it will be a good year for the console games. But I still need to peer a little more closely at what each system will offer/restrict.