Ps1 game would be cool to play on them... So, you just need the disc to start it?

Anyway, when your done give it to Scizzoman or w/e or Death Seraph can give it to me by just poping into Scizzoman... I'll be there on March 13th Scizzoman wants me and him to beat RE5... on co-op.

Yeah. Stuff.

Anyway I checked the intarwebs. Again. Seeing as you seem to want me to do it without the battery And I <b>can't</b> mod my PSP without a Pandora. And the only way to make one myself is to open up my battery and remove part of it. Which I won't do.

Come on. I wanna play some Goddamn ISOs. Mostly Dissidia. My PSP is so lonely... It hasn't been touched in months.

Anyway, in response to Seraph's post (and continuing our conversation from earlier today), I wouldn't really care if they ended the Final Fantasy series. I mean, it's not like they have all that much in common. Some monsters, summons, magic names, chocobos, moogles, and guys named Cid.

Take away that stuff and the Final Fantasy title and it could be anything. Like you said, they could likely release FFXIV under a completely different name and nobody would know the difference. Of course that works the other way as well. Would there really be a point in ending the series? I'm willing to bet that the major FF teams would still be working on similar games, sans the FF titles and minor cameos.

Really they might as well just keep calling them Final Fantasy, and keep getting the extra profit from the people that buy it just 'cause of the name. And avoid the massive explosion of fanboy bullshit that would inevitably occur if they announced the end of the series.

But whatever the title, Square has always produced quality games, and I'm sure they'll keep producing quality games no matter what they decide to call them. Whether it's called FF or not I'll buy it and I'm sure I'll enjoy it.

True enough, and to avoid fan boy bullshit would be the most sanitary (yes, sanitary) course of action, however, if the FF series is to continue, then I'm hoping that, following some of Squeenix's more recent releases, the envelope is pushed ever so slightly more. FFXII did it with it's unique battle system, characters that remind you of classics in the series, among other things. However, while these things are nice, the game still featured the standard storyline that, while presented well, haunts the jRPG to this day. I'm looking forward to FFXIII in this respect, as I hope that, ironically, my hopes aren't dashed.

It seems, however, that jRPGs can be further divided amongst themselves into the games that have public appeal, those that seem to be enjoyed by cult players and those enjoyed by both. My hope is that the FF series can stay in the gray area lying between the former two, without becoming so mainstream that it hurts my eyes. Some could argue, however, that it has already begun. Gamers, likewise, can also be divided into similar categories. I, for one, lean more towards the cult games (in my recent years, with series like SMT and the like creeping up on me slowly), while I can still enjoy the mainstream games just for the sake of enjoying a good jRPG. However, for some, like myself, the lackluster shine of the mainstream jRPG is rapidly fading, and while some fall back the Western counterparts, I stick with the mainstream games, hoping that they're brought back up to snuff.

That isn't to say that jRPGs - or any game for that matter - simply exists for the amusement of a single person. I will continue to play the FF games, and, likely, most of the games Squeenix produces; not because of Squeenix itself, like many, but because of the games, and my hope that the FF series continues on the path it is on.

Funny thing is, while I enjoyed the battle system of FFXII, it goes without saying that I highly prefer a turn based battle system. However, the way that it, along with everything else in the game, is presented, is what will determine whether or not it is a game I will buy. This same formula will be used, by me, on the FF series.

/endrant

EDIT: <i>Dear God I just noticed this was a freaking essay. Have fun reading that.</i>

You sound like you've been reading Tycho. So I shall endeavour to sound the same. Though I'll undoubtedly fail at some point.

But I digress. I'll have to agree with pretty much all of that. FFXII was a huge step backwards story-wise in my opinion. For all the hype about it being "deep and political" it still came down to the standard noble oppressed kingdom VS corrupt evil empire storyline that shows up in hundreds or JRPGs.

Aside from that, the characters were decidedly less compelling than previous installments in the series. All craziness and annoying character traits aside, I genuinely liked the cast of earlier FF titles. Cloud and co. were all fairly well developed and it was fun seeing them interact. Same goes for the casts of almost every other FF title. Even Tidus - who I wanted to punch in the mouth on more than one occasion - turned out to be a fairly interesting character.

XII has... Balthier and Basch. And that's pretty much it. Vaan is a metrosexual idiot with the attitude of a less mature Luke Skywalker. Which is <i>not</i> a good thing. Fran is your standard sky-pirate sidekick, about as important to the overall plot as Chewbacca and with half the personality. I could go on with this. None of the characters had particularly interesting personalities.

I could look past that for once simply because I loved the gameplay. It was one of the most addicting and fun JRPGs I had played in a long time. But the story definitely didn't help, and I can only hope that FFXIII remedies that. At the same time I'm hoping that they once again try to change up the battle system. Keep pushing the series forward.

Well, thus ends my FFXII semi-rant. On to the enxt point of discussion.

I won't go too deeply into this part as the whole mainstream/cult thing is rather complex and largely based on opinion. I'd have to say I'm in the gray area. I really don't lean one way or the other specifically. I wouldn't have even considered the Persona series if it wasn't for your almost frightening infatuation with it. But either way they can all be excellent games. But the mainstream has to make sacrifices in order to appeal to the masses.

One trend that I've noticed - and you'll have to forgive me from bringing this tired point up, but it had to be brought into the conversation sometime - is that "mainstream" RPGs in the last couple generations have had an uncommon focus on flash and high production values. This is likely meant to appeal to the "ZoMg GRAPHIX!" crowd that has been steadily growing in numbers, especially during the current generation, and I think it's distracting people from some of the more important points. People are being drawn to them because of the flash, not the substance.

A high budget mainstream title like Final Fantasy isn't necessarily better or worse than a lesser known game like Persona, yet it's almost always these games that are hyped the most, and consequentially sell the most copies. They are the games that people associate with the entire genre, whether or not they are necessarily the best examples of it. And this is essentially what prompts gamers to classify them as mainstream.

Now this wouldn't be a bad thing on its own, but when you consider the state of mainstream gaming in recent years it becomes a tad worrying. Mainstream audiences today don't want a traditional JRPG or even a more unique one. It's a no-win situation. A traditional JRPG is likely to be called archaic or dated, while a unique one is often considered just "weird." They don't immediately gain interest in it because they just aren't entirely sure what to make of it, and they don't know or care enough to look deeper.

The fact that Final Fantasy and certain similar games are labelled as mainstream doesn't just affect the way people look at them, but the games themselves. They grow into their role as more mainstream titles, but they do it at the cost of some of the depth and traditional elements that JRPG fans have come to expect. The genre faces the same problems as films often do, where they have to find the perfect balance between mainstream and artistic/deep/what have you, in order to be considered good by (almost) everyone. The Dark Knight managed to do it for film, combining a truly good story with the kind of instant gratification action that it seems much of the mainstream crowd wants. It has to be possible for JRPGs as well

Now Final Fantasy hasn't gotten to that yet, but it could. Depending on the direction the series takes it could easily became "so mainstream it hurts [your] eyes." In pandering to today's mainstream video game audience - the audience that doesn't even seem to want them in the first place - they could risk alienating the JRPG fans, what some would call the hardcore crowd. And some of those fans will turn to the cult titles to get their JRPG fix.

But there could be so much more.

There are plenty of "gray area" fans. And while many of them like myself slowly slide towards being more cult fans (I'm kind of the middle of that slope at the moment) there are mass numbers of them that stay in the gray area. They aren't quite the total mainstram crowd but they don't really look beyond the bigger titles. They wouldn't look twice at most cult/niche games.

The thing is, a lot of that number is almost solely dependant on Square and similar more mainstream companies for their JRPGs, and as Square moves into the mainstream, these people begin to lose interest. They don't notice the niche titles because they choose not to. They just see the big titles slowly drifting away from their roots. And these are the people that proclaim the genre "dead."

But if Square makes a less mainstream, less high profile title it works. They proved with games like TWEWY that a niche game can still be somewhat popular. But it isn't the game that gets these people's immediate attention, it's the fact that Square made it. The Square name and its association with the bigger franchises that they know prompts them to give the game a chance. And oftentimes they find they enjoy it.

Square can use that. They can use it to bring more classic and/or unique games into the spotlight. If they keep themselves from being pulled into the mainstream, and keep releasing JRPGs for the fans, they have the potential to show people a side of the genre they never knew existed.

JRPGs aren't dead or dying. They've just begun moving into the shadowy reaches of "Cult" gaming, the way shmups have done. For the Final Fantasy series, and indeed some of the genre to keep going strong, they need to first show that they haven't forgotten the fans. Then they need to introduce the slightly less "cult" fans to the parts of the genre they've been missing out on.

It comes down to what Square is planning to do with the series. There's a rich genre there somewhere, and Square can act as a type of gateway if they wish, a small point on the scale of cult/mainstram, close enough to the mainstream to bring in the less hardcore players, but not yet too mainstream for the diehard fans to enjoy. Personally I hope they do want that, for the sake of al fans of their games.

</endmyownrant>

Christ that was long. And biased and opinionated. And often getting a bit off topic. A kind of more carefully worded Stream of Consciousness if you will. Seems fitting for me, doesn't it? But I'd say that's my honest opinion of Final Fantasy, the genre, and the medium in general, as plain as I can say it. Of course reality isn't that black and white, but who cares? This is a discussion about video games. They're entertainment, not something to get all Freudian about.

I won't even bring up Western RPGs and their influence on the genre or the audience. because I just don't know enough about them. Taking them into account would just end with me saying something idiotic. Which, who knows, maybe I already have. What with the stream of consciousness and whatnot.

I have to say, reading that Stream of Consciousness was fairly enjoyable. However, uh, lets hold off on rants for a while. I think we're clogging up ÞLä§м@ $σµl™'s topic >.>

He gave up trying to read that thing.

Hell, <i>I</i> gave up trying to read that thing. And I wrote it.

LOL! Yeah... It's really long... Like come on Scizzoman edit it and make a summery or something! MAKE IT SO IT'S POSSIBLE TO UNDERSTAND!

In other news, FFIX is getting good... Well it was good just getting more good... If that's possible. Just the fact of me wanted to grind. Found an awesome place to grind just the fact the enemy is like hard as hell sometimes he's easy.

There Talked about FF so... topic is back on track... I guess.

Well you see, making a sumary would require <i>me</i> to reread it. And that would require far too much effort.

Off track again. HA!

Hm... Gotta say something about Final Fantasy...

So when the whole Compilation of FFXIII comes out are you gonna be getting all of them? I am.

I'm still curious as to what exactly is going on with the battle system though. And I'd like to know more about the levelling. Since I'm sure it'll have some odd levelling system. X and XII did, no reason to break the trend now.