The Best of E3
Nintendo stole the show at the expo this year. To say that they’ve been catering too much to the casual gamer these last few years would be an understatement, but at the show they brought their A-game. The new Zelda trailer looks sick; I’m loving the art style there. You can keep pushing graphical engines closer and closer towards photo-realism, but when a game steps away from that and goes in a more artistic approach, sometimes it can pay off big. Wind Waker… wasn’t an example of that. But this game, which blends cel-shading in with the more realistic Twilight Princess style came off looking really smooth. And of course, it’s a Zelda game. So expect nothing less than Triple A+ quality as far as gameplay goes. I’m pumped.
In other news, we got a glimpse of Metroid Other M, as well as something for Metal Gear Solid Rising. Where to begin… Other M looks like a pretty typical action adventure type gameplay. But I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again. I trust Team Ninja. Much like Google, I’d follow them to the ends of the Earth, and then leap over the edge if they told me it would be a good idea to do so. On the opposite side of the spectrum, is the Metal Gear Solid franchise… they lost all my trust with MGS4, which I found to be one of the most overrated games in recent years. It now seems they’ve completely given up on story and stealth… but in the process come up with something that looks like fucking awesome-fun. I’m really looking forward to seeing out how that slicing gameplay is in action. I’m wondering if it will make use of the sixaxis for the PS3… looks subtle enough to get away with it, even though I usually hate motion controls that are tacked on. These games, along with Dead Rising 2 are all day-one purchases for me… though the new Dead Rising gameplay video — focusing just on a small mini-game — was underwelming.
The Worst of E3
Kinnect. Playstation Move. Fuck you both. This casual gamer wet-dream of motion controls need to be shut down. It’s bad enough that we have one console based around it, and that these sheep have somehow propelled it to the top of the sales chart. We don’t need more of this… on the bright side, however, it doesn’t seem that many big name titles have been announced. At least on the Microsoft side of things, lots of companies have signed on, but shown nothing… they might be starting to get cold feet about that.
Oh and that new Kirby game. I’m sure it will be fun. Kirby games are always fun. But I remember a little trailer shown back in… ohh… 2005? For the Gamecube? THAT Kirby game looked to be amazing. The helper system and the animal systems were both in full force. You replace that with… this? I don’t think so, Nintendo. That’s not going to cut it. I better see that other game re-surface on the 3D DS.
WRPGs vs JRPGs
Lately, it seems at least one out of every two Western RPGs gets absolutely jizzed upon. You can take that as disturbing hyperbole, but it’s not meant that way. I do believe that half the people who purchased Dragon Age or Mass Effect 2 took the disc out, placed it on the ground, grouped up, and had a big circle jerk before ever playing the game. Don’t get me wrong, there are some awesome Western RPGs. Fallout 3 is one of the best games I’ve ever played. But because of this current trend of gamers — which is bordering on a frightening paraphilia, if you ask me — lots of great JRPGs are overlooked.
Think about it. What’s the last truly acclaimed JRPG on a console you can think of. Final Fantasy X maybe? There’s been lots of amazing ones since then: Dragon Quest VIII, Mana Khemia, Lost Odyssey, Resonance of Fate… and from what I hear, the Tales games are superb too. None of these games got bad reviews, but none of them caught on like WRPGs tend to. And while not all of them may be on the level of Fallout 3, I’ll guarantee you this. They’re all leaps and bounds better than Dragon Age. Yes, I said it.
The big problem with Western RPGs, is that they try too hard to give you a sense of “choice.” They offer branching storylines. They offer dialogue trees. That’s kind of cool in theory, I suppose. In effect, it just causes a quality drop. Western RPGs never have the emotionally captivating storylines or developed characters of their Japanese counterparts. You’ll find lots of cool and likable ones along the way — sure — but they won’t be as good. There’s no Western equivalent to the tearjerking ending of Final Fantasy X; And there’s no western equivalent to the cast of Final Fantasy VII, which seemed like your friends by the end of the game.
And for that matter, there’s not even a comparison in quality as far as combat gameplay goes. Because for every game that somehow gets it right (Fallout 3, Jade Empire), there are fifty that get it wrong (Neverwinter Nights, Dragon Age, Morrowind…) Whereas, on the JRPG side of things, it’s really hard to fuck up the combat. Things rage from the simple and effective (Lost Odyssey), to the over-the-top crazy and complex (Cross Edge), to the whimsical and fun (Super Mario RPG), to the downright peculiar (Baten Kaitos). But guess what? It usually works. It’s fun — and that’s why I play games.
