C2B

Yeah. Not exactly arguing that. Also I agree that everything surrounding 13 and the Crystallis is a mess from several standpoints. I still don't agree that FF13 was a "mess". It's nowhere near what I would call a "mess". I've seen "messes". We're currently on the forum of a company (no offense guys ) that makes messes. (Nearly) every WRPG I've played was more of a "mess" than FF13 (And way more enjoyable despite beeing "messes") It's a specific, tightly directed, polished game. That doesn't mean it's good, it doesn't have problems with its narrative or it isn't INSANLY restricted.

? The Fabula Nova Crystallis isn't in-the-same-universe. They are based on some of the same lore though IIRC.

Ok, then its the same. I still don't understand what that has to do with any of your points and how in FFXII the directing was a "mess". Bad Direction? I'd personally agree (not fully since I like several parts of XIII still) but even that would be arguable since its really opinion related (A colleague of mine for example has 13 as his favorite FF. He's not really THAT deep into gaming though but plays popular games.) A "mess" though? No way in hell. A "mess" in the direction department implies to me that the project wasn't lead tightly enough. If the "direction" was a "mess" every designer/artist/programmer/whatever on the project would have done what they wanted or for example not enough time would have been spent on feature X. (Of course there would be probably a few other people like producers involved in that too) In XIII's case. It was. Too much so, actually as I've seen several sources indicating that Toryiama (The Director) took too much creative control of the project interfering in the writing and design departements and rewriting a LOT of stuff to fit his own "vision". (Thats based on rumors though so....) Of course you can also call that a "mess" in the end. But that has less to do with "directional" ablities than it has to do with the Director beeing able to "write" a coherent story. He wanted to have a linear experience. He wanted a cutscene simulator (And he made related comments before release too) So when it comes down to it I'm just arguing your use of the word "mess". Its a complete mess in the narrative sense I agree with you. I just don't see how its in a "directional" (in the Leadership sense) a mess.

What? I began to write something but I don't get remotly what you are saying or what your point is. We are probably thinking of completly different thing when we think about the "direction" of a Final Fantasy Game. No sense in continuing that discussion. Also that whole thing with meandering plot and so on has at least as much to do with the ability of the people involved as it has to do with "direction".

Can't really follow that thought. If anything XIII was TOO directed. I don't really remember anything about the game that I would consider a "mess". Bad, restrictive design decisions and pacing problems of course, but nothing that wasn't polished to all hell.

Not really. New IP's seem to be kept just as much a secret by publishers as licensed products if not more.

Might be. There's also that Josh went to Eidos Montreal last year and they talked with SQE about that project before too. Not to mention Josh's grim dialouge tweet.

If we take this comment by Feargus to be the same one. Yes. Anthony Davis

I've heard that it may be a new WoD game - Vampire the Requiem. Can someone at least refute these rumors? That was South Park.

Section has now been added

We'll see. It's only been half a year since III's release and it could go either way from what we know so far about Square's intention. Sales seem to be ok/well considering the game had a rather low/tight budget (compared to other major releases) Of course, that also means that DS doesn't seem to be considered an important franchise by Square. Furthermore they are launching with several new IP's in the coming years. So that's worrysome. We just have to wait.

I read it as such and never as a negative considering context.

Thats pretty clearly meant in the sense of "Blizzard will make this the best possible ("killing it") that can be) http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Killing%20It He already said so in a follow-up tweet too.

...? Judging by his profile Aaron M. is still at Obsidian.. or am I missing something? Yep, just that he is looking for other work

Problem is the amnesia is well used both as a plot and a role-play in PS:T's case and more than justifies the element. And you can't really make a "Nostalgia" and "This has been done to death" argument at the same time. Kinda contrary. Even assuming that time is a linear, they have been writing stories for a couple of thousand years already and soaps populated with people with amnesia since the 60s. We're speaking about games here (though it happened before here too but imo wasn't overused at the time.) And my main point was the "Nostalgia" bit. Because it expresses that nothing ever was not "clichee" since it retroactivly would be a clichee "nostalgia". I agree with you that "Amnesia" is clichee. But if you actually would start researching and breaking plotpoints down (thereby ignoring what gives them "depth") so is a LOT (if not the entirty) of Planescape. As I pointed out before. The amnesia in this case is not just a gimmick for cheap "drama" but a vital plotpoint that also influences and is important for its gameplay (role-play). It's all in the execution, and Planescape's execution is excellent.

Another Black Isle Vet.

Problem is the amnesia is well used both as a plot and a role-play in PS:T's case and more than justifies the element. And you can't really make a "Nostalgia" and "This has been done to death" argument at the same time. Kinda contrary.

The comments. The comments.....

Crap, didn't see this.

On Avellone's Blog http://forums.obsidian.net/index.php?autom...p;showentry=155

There is a hungarian article about Avellone here http://ipon.hu/elemzesek/a_jatekvilag_nagy...a_meselo/1090/1

Thats not the problem. SEGA doesn't want to do an AP sequel (with Obs) and they hold the IP. Not more and not less than that.

This is the most generic thing I've ever played. That said nothing about it seemed to be outright bad and the game mechanics are fun and the side quests were interesting enough. It's pretty much what I expected it to be.

Dungeon Siege III won the "cult" award in MCC's GOTY vote and made it overall to #42 in the ranking. http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/...poll-results/p1 Overall Results: http://vote.grumpybumpers.com/2011/

Probably the least affected of all their games. THQ is more of a distrubuter only on that project. Big thing will be to find another publisher.