A Final Fantasy for the smartphone generation…
Square Enix To Include Micro-Transaction in Western Release of Bravely Default
Because of course they fucking are. Because of course all fucking Square Enix games, and especially the portable ones, have been mandated to carry the rotten things. But of course Square Enix has not done this out of greed, no, they have done this out of concern for players, as they feel they will not be able to complete Bravely Default otherwise. Square Enix has raised player damage, sped up battles, and lowered the encounter rate. Now on top of this Square Enix has decided to sell real money SP drinks, each one of which will imbue the player with three skill points, which allow players to stop time and beat on their opponents with complete impunity. Players are also able to generate one SP for every eight hours that the game is left in the 3DS’ sleep state.
“Bravely Second isn’t a de-merit, but a system that gives players an advantage. It’s convenient, and very powerful, with that said, since it requires putting the Nintendo 3DS in sleep-mode to accumulate SP, players will most likely only be able to use it twice or three times a day. I expect people to use it after asking themselves ‘should I use that trump card?’
There’s a chance that all the players could end up disliking it, so we really put a lot of thought into this one, with that in mind, the reason we decided to go through with the plan is because of our wish to have as many people possible beat the game. Some players might want to continue with the story but might not be able to beat the boss no matter how hard they try, and eventually give up on the game, which is the last thing we’d want.”
Right… Because not being able to beat bosses and progress through the storyline is something traditionally associated with Final Fantasy games – wait, no it absolutely is not. And because of this completely unfounded concern Square Enix simply must charge players top dollar in order to use this game breaking mechanic!
“It’s for this reason that we also included the difficulty and encounter rate adjustments. Ultimately, it will be an item that will allow you to beat bosses, simply by drinking it—although we didn’t make it into some item that’s like a ‘bomb that instantly blows up bosses’ because we still want you to have fun with the game. Just to be clear, the game will allow you to still use the Bravely Second up to two or three times a day, without having to purchase SP Drinks.
If it’s too cheap, then players will get to use it as much as they want, and that would ruin the balance. I think it’d be good to have a price that stays true to the value of a special trump card.”
The reason that many people have been looking forward to Bravely Default is that the game looked to have been a pleasing mish-mash of some of the more innocent and charming aspects of the Final Fantasy series throughout the SNES and PSX eras – and now that vision is being blatantly compromised by a cynical grab for money, and the dumbing down of game mechanics. Ultimately, the existence of micro-transactions does not really stand to ruin one’s game, as real players will have a far better time by simply not using this SP cheat, but it does certainly stand to cheapen the game experience nonetheless. Moreover, the worst thing about this is that if micro-transactions prove to make for a lucrative revenue stream for Square Enix, then we are virtually assured of seeing them in most of Square Enix’s other forthcoming titles, possibly even Final Fantasy XV.
The eSRAM is too small to be satisfying.
[Rumour]: Call of Duty: Ghosts is 720p on Xbox One
One is of the increasing opinion that the Xbox One, or Xbone if one prefers, really should have been named the Xbox 720, seeing as that is the resolution that it keeps wanting to output its visuals in. There are a lot of unknowns as to the resolutions of a whole bunch of third party next-gen titles, yet the visual composition of all console exclusives are a known quantity, and while the PS4 line-up is almost uniformly 1080p, Forza Motorsport 5 is the only Xbone game that has been able to achieve a Full HD resolution. For the sake of context it is useful to point out that Gran Turismo 6 also runs at full 1080p and 60 FPS, seeing as racing games are a lot less performance intensive than other genres to produce.
Now it would seem that we can add Call of Duty: Ghosts to this list of low resolution Xbone titles; a fact that is shocking not just because it is a predominantly current generation title, but also because its graphics have been widely remarked upon as being completely rubbish. At this point in time Call of Duty: Ghosts‘ 720p status still firmly resides within rumour territory, yet it has been confirmed by two verified NeoGAF industry insiders [famousmortimer, thuway], and has had its veracity ascertained by NeoGAF moderator, bishoptl. famousmortimer initially began sounding out NeoGAF members on whether any of them could verify what he had been told, seeing as he only had one source and would have liked two. thuway then came out in support of the 720p rumour, which prompted bishoptl to ask that he check his personal messages, seeing as NeoGAF are very assiduous in quashing the accounts of people spreading unfounded rumours. Following this, bishoptl briefly returned to the thread in order to state:
“…oboy. Fuck it, I’m out. See y’all later. It’s been real.
*closes fallout shelter door, locks it firmly*”
If the rumour proves to be true then it would support the idea that the limiting factor for resolution on the Xbox One is the 32mb of eSRAM included to increase the console’s bandwidth, seeing as resolution appears to have been impacted irrespective of graphical quality. On one final note, the week also yielded the rumour that Titanfall will be displayed at a 720p resolution, yet this rumour appeared to be much less substantiated than the one about Call of Duty: Ghosts.
Little does this gentleman realise that the North has taken control of his Google glasses!
North Korea Attacks the South with Free Games
North Korea might be one of the world’s most comically wretched states, but you have to hand it to them – they can be crafty little buggers when they want to be. Case in point: what is South Korea’s largest vulnerability in the country’s IT make-up? Is it with the technology available to the citizenry? Is it the online infrastructure underpinning it? Or is it the people who use said technology? Obviously it is not the first two characteristics, as South Korea is an affluent country with a blazing fast internet. No, South Korea’s largest digital vulnerability resides in the people who use the nation’s technology, or more specifically Korean young people who cannot resist playing free Korean style MMORPGs.
North Korea, in a move that verges on brilliance [and hilarity] in its simplicity, has decided to use South Korea’s youth population against it by developing free video games which, when installed, open up vulnerabilities in the user’s computer which allow them to be used in DDoS attacks against South Korean targets. South Koreans have since been advised by the police against downloading free software, for all the good that will do. If ever there were an attack perfectly designed to exploit a nation’s national character, then this is it!
