If that’s the reason, it doesn’t paint MS in a good light. Bullying small indie devs out of spite. Especially considering that, after saying that in March, Jyamma spent time and money to release the game on Xbox the same day as the other platforms.
But I honestly doubt it. Corporations are NOT people (even if the law would like to pretend otherwise) and they don’t think the same way as people. They don’t play favourites, they don’t play nice or bully others because they feel like to. They chase money, and that’s it. A game releasing on their platform is literally free money. This is just a fuck up on their part. If I had to guess, MS cut jobs and replaced them with AI and left a skeleton crew working on this.
The beauty of Final Fantasy is that, with each entry being different from the others, every game of the series ends up resonating differently with different people.
The “best” Final Fantasy varies greatly depending on who you ask, for a combination of factors, including nostalgia and subjective opinions on the different aspects of the game (story, characters, gameplay).
It’s what I love about this series. You may play ten games, but the eleventh will still surprise you in some way. Even if I don’t like a specific entry, I can still appreciate that they tried something new and unique, and I always look forward to playing the next one.
I started playing during the PS1 era when tank controls were the norm. I have no qualms with tank controls in other kind of games. To use your example, I genuinely think that REmake is a lot better with tank controls; modern controls conflict with fixed camera angles, because you may turn a corner and suddenly left becomes right, and the control scheme is clearly not designed with that in mind.
But in a platform game with very precise platforming sequences, tank controls and unresponsive camera were horrible. It made playing it frustrating to the point that, despite playing it a lot, I never actually finished the game, because I would always give up somewhere through the game. The farthest I went into Croc 2 was the fourth world (still don’t know how many there are), and iirc third world in Croc 1. As opposed to Spyro and Crash which I replayed dozens of times from beginning to end.
I won’t say that my experience is universal and I can definitely see people enjoying the control scheme, but I gave it a lot more than a fair shake and it never convinced me. I always had the impression that the game was fighting me and genuinely wanted me to fail.
I played the original countless of times as a kid! It was a great platformer hindered by the tank controls, which unfortunately led me to prefer Spyro. If there ever was a game in need of a remaster (as opposed to a remake), it’s this one. Update the controls, and the game itself is still a lot of fun.
Honestly, the true ending is nothing to write home about. Sea of Stars is probably one of my favourite JRPG ever, but the entire last arc and both endings were a huge letdown.
Because he is. The person he is speaking to is a Nazi. there are other Nazis behind him. They probably dug a hole a left him there to die or something (we lack context for the scene, but it’s believable). Full scene: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e17p2IVDUU
I burned myself out of many a game as a kid attempting (and usually succeeding at) 100% them, so I learned my lesson. Nowadays I just play for fun and maybe go after the platinum if I liked the game enough. My time has value and I’m not going to squander it to “look at the minimap, go to waypoint/marked location, collect random collectible, rinse and repeat for 10-15 hours”, nor am I spending dozens of hours grinding some random activity.
For example, I did almost 100% all Yakuza Kiwami. Did all side quests and enjoyed most of the random activities! Iirc those I had most trouble with were karaoke and billiards, but I still had tons of fun learning them and gradually getting better at them. But fuck me I’m NOT going to grind the coliseum for hours just to buy random weapons that I don’t need but are arbitrarily required for the 100% completion.
I’ve also learned not to rush it. I frequently replay games that I like, so if I miss an achievement, that’s fine. Maybe in five years I’ll pick the game up again and grab the random achievement I missed the first time around. There’s no need to sweat it, no need to read guides before/while playing the game and potentially spoiling me some major story events, and no need to immediately replay the game just to reach that random achievement.
That being said, the game I had the most fun with was CrossCode. Movement is fluid, combat is snappy, story and characters are fun and puzzles are actually challenging. It’s the most charming experience I’ve ever had playing a game, and it’s why it immediately jumped straight into my top favourite games ever. There is technically a “completionist list” within the game with some abdurd and missable requests, but it’s not required to 100% the game and it’s basically just a pile of challenges that you can tackle on if you feel like it. If you don’t, you can just play the story, do the side quests and collect all the treasures, which is a lot of fun. The platinum only requires you to beat the story iirc, so you don’t even need to do any of that; I did it because I liked the game and wanted to do it. Twice! I bought the game on PC and console and 100% it both times.
Most other games that I enjoy completing are platformers/collect-a-thons, such as Spyro, Crash (except Crash 1, never managed to finish it, but had tons of fun nevertheless), Ori, Celeste, PS1 Oddworld games, etc… and metroidvanias, if they are not overly long (basically every one I’ve played except for Hollow Knight).
The longest run I had was Final Fantasy XIII. I liked the game so much that I kept going back to it over the years, slowly chipping at the side content and grinding my way to max level. I got the platinum almost ten years after starting my save file, and I wouldn’t have enjoyed it nearly as much if I attempted to rush it all in one sitting.
The fact that MS spent an entire decade fumbling the ball, and when it finally got it right and released a game people actually liked, immediately shut down the studio and sold the IP, is still highly amusing to me.
You can’t convince me that it wasn’t an inside job from someone who either secretly works for the competition, or who actively hates MS and wants it to fail.
I found the puzzles refreshing in CrossCode. It was nice having a game that actually had the guts of challenging your wits, instead of spoiling all your fun with the characters telling the solution before you even manage to look at the damn puzzle. They were my favourite aspect of the game for sure.
A bit sad they decided to tone down on that aspect, but hopefully they’ll strike a balance that makes both of us happy.
Pollution and nuclear war destroyed the environment.
The economy is in shambles, big corporations rule over the world and exploit the powerless working class.
Crime has overtaken the country. It doesn’t matter who you are: you are either one of them, or on the receiving end.
Breathable air is a subscription service, and price hikes happen every other month to please shareholders.
Game devs are still releasing games for the PS4 and XOne consoles. Nobody has yet understood the purpose of the next gen consoles. Every other day, someone screams “but muh exclusives!” to the sky. But no one answers back. God remains silent.