Adventures of a Canadian Gamer #15 -- A PlayStation Fan's Diary, Part 2: The Future

When Final Fantasy XIII was announced for the PS3, I knew right then that I would buy myself a PS3 when the game came out.  I didn't care of the console still possessed a high price tag.  At the time, I thought to myself, "I will somehow acquire this console and this game."  At the time, I didn't have a steady job, and so I didn't have the income necessary to support a current generation gaming habit.  Previous generation games seemed the best I could hope for at the time.

I began making a list of games that I wanted to get for the PS3, and as they continued to release, my list grew longer.  I liked the first two Disgaea games, so Disgaea 3 was added to my list rather quickly.  Valkyria Chronicles was highly recommended, and I've heard good things about Eternal Sonata.  Not only that, but Star Ocean: The Last Hope's been ported to the PS3.  I may not want as many games for the PS3 as I own for the PS2, but I'm still working through my PS2 library anyway.

Then the price drops started happening.  It was definitely the right way for Sony to go, after arrogantly declaring that the console would be something that you would want to save up for, work harder for.*  But while the price was being lowered, features were being dropped, and one of the first features dropped was the backwards compatibility that Sony was famous for.  Nintendo is notorious for being spotty at best when it comes to backwards compatibility in their consoles.  Microsoft blatantly broke their promise when it came to backwards compatibility in the 360.  In fact, they broke it twice.  But Sony's always supported their older titles.  With the PS2 still on the market, it's not as much of a blow as it could've been, but still, you can't claim that the PS3 does everything when it doesn't do some of the things it used to do.

When Final Fantasy XIII was suddenly announced as being cross-platform, all of the Sony fans suddenly cried foul and all but demanded that everyone at Square-Enix commit seppuku, and also demanded that the 360 version be canceled.  Microsoft fans crowed about their victory.  Considering that no 360 version is being released in Japan, it kind of negates both sides' arguments in a way.  Besides, FF XIII is not the only game in the series to appear on a Microsoft console.  Final Fantasy XI has appeared on the original Xbox.  And way back when, Final Fantasy VII was cross-platform, as well as Final Fantasy VIII.  It appeared on Sony PlayStation... and MICROSOFT Windows.  Final Fantasy VII on a Microsoft platform.  Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, Sony fanboys.

But the latest thing that's given me pause is the way Sony handled their release of some of their latest firmware versions (notably, 3.0 and 3.15, but others seem to have the same issues).  When they first began to brick consoles, Sony decided that they would charge money to replace the consoles, which is kind of like a doctor punching you in the face with brass knuckles, then expecting you to pay him for the surgery.  It takes dogged determination for even one customer to get their hardware repaired.  Most, if not all of the bricked consoles are the old models that contain PS2 backwards compatibility.

Firmware 3.15 used to be optional, you didn't need it if you wanted to run stuff on your console.  Then, the middle of last month, they decided that this firmware that renders consoles inoperable was to be a required update, and this subsequently caused my co-worker's PS3 to brick.

Final Fantasy VII is largely credited as having sold the PS1 and killed the N64, ending Nintendo's dominance in the video game market.  Sega may have done what Nintendon't, but Sony did what Sega couldn't.  With the Wii currently dominating the market and Final Fantasy XIII cross-platform outside of Japan, Sony doesn't need the kinds of problems that they're having right now, especially considering the number of people who bought the old, backwards compatible PS3s back when Final Fantasy XIII was announced.  Now that their beloved game is near release, suddenly Sony's breaking their consoles and charging a substantial sum of money to fix them.  The last thing Sony needs is for FF13 to sell the 360 instead of the PS3.

It's enough to give me pause, and despite my history of supporting Sony (I even bought their PSP), seeds of doubt have been planted in my mind.  I may just buy a PS3 anyway, but I wouldn't be surprised if my PS2 outlives it.

*I can't seem to find a quote where Ken, or someone at Sony, declared that the PlayStation 3 is something the whole family will save up for, and it's possible that I may be imagining it.  There's not many family friendly games on the PS3 anyway as there are on the Wii.  Nintendo seems to have had a lot more success in selling their console to entire families, but that is a story for another time.  Instead, the PS3 has remained well within the realm of the hardcore gamer.  I doubt that Grand Theft Auto 4, Metal Gear Solid 4, Call of Duty: World At War and MAG would be considered family friendly games, but that's just me.

Video of the Week:

This is why I wish I understood Japanese:



Yes, he's going all Yahoo! and seems one step away from going like this as well:



All I know is, if I knew Japanese, I'd have played this already and laughed at Sazh's silly summon animation.  Bonus video:



His summon animation again!  ^^  Yahoo!  Yo.

WRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!

Currently Playing: Tales of Symphonia (GC)

You know, I bought my GameCube back in late 2007, and I have yet to beat a single game for it.  I own seven.  Anyway, I finally decided to give this game a go because I'd just beaten Puzzle Quest and needed to play another game right away, but no other PlayStation 2 games were calling out to me.  The game seems much better than the release of Tales of Phantasia that we got in North America on the GBA.  Whatever they did wrong there, they did right here.

The story is fantastic so far and I'm liking the synopsis option in the menu that keeps track of the story.  Only Xenosaga comes close, of the games I've played, to having something like that.  It makes things a lot simpler for reminding the gamer where he needs to go,and what he was last doing, especially since the plot points are time stamped in real time.  For instance, I made it to Lake Umacy on the 4th of February, this year, while at level 16.  Then again, I only started the game on the 4th of February, so that's amazing.

I wouldn't mind seeing the original version of Tales of Phantasia ported to the Virtual Console, but that's just me.  The GBA version sucked.  Now I should see if I can get the PS1 Tales games without having to pay an arm and a leg.

And Operation Kill The Backlog continues...

Looking Forward To: Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (DS)

I didn't mind the portion of Eragon on the GBA that I played, and the graphics don't seem to bother me too much in the screen shots, so I figure, what could it harm to try this thing out?  Besides, RPGamer's been kinda dropping the ball lately on DS games (we reviewed Sands of Destruction a week and a half sooner than they did), but then again, this blog does cover all games and ideally anime as well, and they did have a review of Mass Effect 2 posted a couple days after that game was released (heh, they probably had a head start and a review copy).

The biggest things that fascinate me about this game:

-this is a video game based on a movie based on a book, so there has to be things lost in the translation.  If the book wasn't super popular at the local library, I'd borrow it, read it first, then either watch the video or play the game, whichever gets to Revelstoke first, and see what's been left out of each.
-the last game that the developer, 20th Century Fox, released (according to GameFAQs) was back in 1983, probably right before the video game crash.  It was called The Earth Dies Screaming.  Twenty seven years later, they finally release their next game.  Hey, maybe there's hope for Duke Nukem Forever after all.
-this is probably one of the few things that reference the Olympians and anything olympic that VANOC and/or the IOC hasn't tried to sue into the ground.  Did you know that the Olympics are a brand name, and that if you have, say, a pizza joint that has existed long before VANOC got formed, you're still fair game?  Also, did you know that VANOC won't allow anyone else in Canada to make anything related to the Olympic brand until the end of the Mayan calendar?  It makes me wish that all the disasters that happen in the movie 2012 happen to VANOC.  Preferably during the games.

Oh no, I said something bad about the games!  VANOC is going to sue me!  Bell Canada's going to try to have me fired from whatever job I hold!**  No one in British Columbia would allow this kind of thing in a blog!***

**This is a claim I cannot back up with an article on the Internet, despite diligent Google usage, but I have found an article about other insane Olympic-related restrictions.
***It's a good thing we're not an accredited blog at the 2010 games, then.  It seems that if your blog is too negative, you can face consequences.  ...Damn it!  I wanted to link to the scene in Babar: The Movie where Babar tells Rataxes that the loud trumpeting he hears is the consequences, but it's not on YouTube!