Bup Plays Greenlight Games

Bloodborne w/ Blitzmage & Guest Part 3

LusiPlays: Final Fantasy VII Part 3

Bloodborne w/ Blitzmage & Guest Part 4

Bloodborne: The Old Hunters w/ Blitzmage & Guest Part 2

LusiPlays: Final Fantasy VII Part 1

Adeki Attempts: DuckTales: Remastered (WiiU) Complete Playlist

LusiPlays: Castlevania Lament of Innocence Part 1

LusiPlays: Castlevania Lament of Innocence Part 2

LusiPlays: Castlevania Lament of Innocence Part 3

LusiPlays: Castlevania Lament of Innocence Part 4

Final Fantasy XIII Part 9

Final Fantasy XIII Part 10

Final Fantasy XIII Part 11

Final Fantasy XIII Part 12

Final Fantasy XIII Part 13

Final Fantasy XIII Part 14

Final Fantasy XIII Part 15

Final Fantasy XIII Part 16

Final Fantasy XIII Part 17

Final Fantasy XIII Part 18

Final Fantasy XIII Final

Final Fantasy XIII Part 4

Final Fantasy XIII Part 5

Final Fantasy XIII Part 6

Final Fantasy XIII Part 7

LusiPlays: Final Fantasy XIII Part 1A

LusiPlays: Final Fantasy XIII Part 1B

LusiPlays: Final Fantasy XIII Part 1C

LusiPlays: Final Fantasy XIII Part 2

LusiPlays: Final Fantasy XIII Part 3

The Greater Peaks (Streamed Oct. 30th 2015)

Blitzmage Like Ribs, Adeki Throws a Controller (Streamed Oct. 29th 2015)

Lusipurr vs Super Mario Sunshine (Streamed Oct. 29th 2015)

I bet he told a fucking great second act.

Most big wig executives seem to think that the second act is useless, forcing writers to go straight from grand openings to epic battles scenes without giving the proper time for characters and themes to develop. Think about if Final Fantasy VI went from the opening sequence at Narshe straight into the last fight before the World of Ruin segment and then right after that came the final boss fight. The player would learn little to nothing about Terra, Locke, Sabin, or any of the other Returners; he would only experience big grand epic moments. I mean nobody cares about the characters and character development, do they? Who cares about plot and themes, right? Everybody just wants to see some epic shit, right!? That is the thought process of these executives. They think audiences of all kinds just want to see things blow up and see epic moments happen before their eyes. But for those epic moments to have any meaning to a player, there NEEDS to be a strong second act. Without that there is no connection from the player to the characters, he has not gone through their journey or experienced their change from the first act.

The recent Final Fantasy VI feature has got me thinking about how much a strong second act adds to a story. But, with FFVI this does not seem to be the case seeing as the second half of the game is largely considered to be the weaker half. Now the World of Ruin segments of FFVI lend themselves more to being a third act than a second act but it is somewhat strange for a video game that had an amazing first and second act to completely drop off with the story in the third act. I know that many people think that players are supposed to go on their own journey with Celes and find everyone on their own, but I think that was a HUGE cop out by Square. The third act of FFVI could have been a great climax for an already fantastic RPG, even the bits that are a bit more linear, such as finding the “required” characters for Kefka’s tower, were fantastic. One of the most memorable segments for me in the World of Ruin is finding the last surviving airship and Setzer’s flashbacks. I believe that if the majority of the world of ruin was linear, like the rest of the game, FFVI could have a definitive place over FFVII as “The Best Final Fantasy“.

No matter what anyone says, the World of Ruin looks great for 16-bit

In terms of games with weak or nonexistent second acts we must look at the Call of Duty franchise. With the early titles in the franchise Activision was able to pull from historical events, mainly World War II, to give players some connection to the story. That is fine and all but they still did not have any real character development nor do players feel connected to their nameless comrades and the journey they are on as well. If any one CoD fan could tell me any of the characters names, besides historical figures and ones that reappear in other games, I would be surprised. Most gamers only remember the respective CoD game because of the epic moments they cause or witness during the story mode. But at the end of the day the player only remembers these couple of bit moments, half the time they do not even know why these things are happening. However, I have heard with Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Activision is trying to change that, if they are I guess good on them… although I do not think they are going to do a good job of it.

In conclusion, however it is sliced, the second act is important to a story.. Yes, it may be slow and sometimes mundane to get through but it will almost always lead to a better and more memorable ending. With a strong second act, players will feel more connected with the characters they have watched grow over the course of the game and they will see the characters make choices and do things that affect the story in small or large ways. With a strong second act, gamers will be able to draw out a story’s theme and message. What do you think readers? Do you think that the second act should just be looked over and we should just get on with the “epic shit”? Let me know in the comments.

Speaking of exclusive characters….

The Good

Exclusivity can be a good thing, and before you go blasting me in the comments here me out. Let us use the example of many fighting games having console character exclusives, in Soul Calibur IV gamers on the XBox 360 were given the console exclusive character Yoda, while PlayStation 3 owners were given Darth Vader. This idea at the time seemed really cool. It gave console owners a feeling of being in an exclusive club only other similar console owners could be in. It gave them pride to own a 360/PS3. The choices even fit the console design as well with Yoda’s color plate of white/green and Darth Vaders being red/black. Exclusivity gives some gamers a better reason to pick one game system over the other. But that idea, while very nice and good looking on paper, can turn very bad and sour.

The Bad, and The Ugly

Continuing with the Soul Calibur IV example, after about a year or so of Yoda/Darth Vader being console exclusive Namco finally did away with the exclusivity and put Yoda on the PS3 and Vader on the 360. This made all the unhappy Soul Calibur fanboys, it also sparked a lot of talk in the industry about timed exclusivity. For those who do not know, timed exclusivity is when one company is paid by a first party developer ie. Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, to have content exclusive to their console, otherwise known as exclusive DLC. Now the way Namco handled the Yoda/Vader exclusivity was not the best, but they are not the worst at dealing with it, a couple other companies are. As much as I love The Elder Scrolls and Fallout series Bethesda is one of those companies that just handles exclusive DLC completely wrong.

The Pitt is for lovers…

First they release the DLC on the 360, ok timed exclusives that is ok for now, then it takes them between three to six months to bring DLC to the PC, then it takes over a YEAR to bring it to the PlayStation 3.I understand taking time to fix bugs or whatever you need to do, but over a year! The amount of time a console gets to have exclusive content makes no sense at all, especially when it is major story DLC which happens in the case of the Fallout and Elder Scrolls series. A third of the player base is missing out on story content because of one or two companies paying another to keep it off the other console. What is the point in that, the company behind the DLC could be making even more money if they would come out on all three consoles simultaneously. Along the same lines as timed exclusives, day one DLC seems to be a horrible love child of exclusives and money mongering. Day one DLC is almost a slap in the face to every gamer who purchases a game on the day it releases.

In conclusion, exclusivity is probably not the best idea the industry has come up with in the most recent console cycle. With fractured player bases and timed exclusivity deals what could have been an interesting and innovative way of playing games was quickly and far too easily corrupted by wealth and greed. However there are companies that do the exclusivity and simultaneous release dance quite well. Square Enix had a lot of exclusive in game content for Final Fantasy XIII-2 when it launched, and none of it was story content. All FFXIII-2 DLC story content was released on the same day for both consoles, and then over a short period of time the non-story exclusive content was released on all consoles. For once this generation Square Enix gets something right. Why cannot all companies do that? Why does it have to be a Japanese company setting the example for the west? EA, Bethesda, and Activision could learn a thing or two if they took a leaf from Square’s book.

But what do you think readers? Is this exclusivity truly a bad thing? Is there something to be gained by exclusivity? Should there be more or less exclusivity? Let me know in the comments.

Game Grumps Logo

Before we get into the problems with current day Let’s Plays let us look at what started all of this. Really it was Google Video and YouTube that brought the rise of Let’s Plays. With people able to record and upload home made videos with ease it was only a matter of time before people started to upload their video walkthroughs. With the use of capture cards and other such devices the common gamer could now easily record gameplay to upload to the internet. No longer did you have to own a website that could host your video files. Conveniently, YouTube/Google Video took care of the hosting and playback for you. Just select your video, type in some information, and wait for it to upload. The process is easy as pie and anyone can do it. This was great and terrible all at once, just about anyone could upload their Let’s Play. Stupid, uninformed, boring people could upload videos as well as really entertaining, funny, and informed people. This brought in a great divide among LPers. You had many who were just plain boring and dull, and very few who were truly entertaining or informative. This is how it stayed for many, many years, until about mid-July of 2012 when the channel “Game Grumps” started uploading videos.

Game Grumps is a YouTube channel operated by Arin “Egoraptor” Hanson and John “JonTron” Jafari. It seemed at first that these guys were just going to be a comedy Let’s Play channel, but thankfully it was much more than that. Their videos were hilarious and well informed about the games they were playing, and if one of those elements was lacking then the other element would seemingly pick up the slack. In almost a single month these two internet sensations seemed to completely change how YouTubers did Let’s Plays. Additionally, the two were able to just fart around in a game they knew absolutely nothing about and make it really entertaining. Even when they take the somewhat serious route and try to be informative their videos are still entertaining. The one thing that is annoying about Game Grumps is that they very rarely beat games. For example, they were playing Banjo Kazooie for many weeks and then suddenly, with no explanation why, they stopped uploading videos in that series and moved on to other games. Besides that though these guys are a stellar example about how Let’s Plays should be. If you are thinking about starting a LP channel, watch some of their earlier videos and take notes.

Twitch.tv Logo

In the same vein as LPing, another way of watching video games being played has started to gain steam with Twitch.tv and live streams. Live streams come into a lot of the same problems that LP videos do. If the person live streaming is neither funny nor informative the stream is boring. An advantage that live streamers have over LPers is that you can give real time comments to the streamer, thus effecting how the stream could advance. If a streamer has a really strong and supportive community the stream is usually very entertaining or if the streamer is new or does not have a great community it usually just turns into some asshat from Oregon twiddling his dick for a couple hours. But overall, live streaming is a good thing for people who may not have the time or money to play a certain game and can join in on a community experience of playing said game.

In closing, I would like to say that I am a huge supporter of LPs and Streamers. When done well they are truly entertaining and a great experience to have on the internet. However, as stated before if they are missing the elements of being informative or funny their stream/video usually does not go well. Be a LPer or a live streamer is truly a performance art and if poorly done said commentator will not gain any popularity. We should have great respect for those who have worked up from practically nothing with their LP/Steam career. Readers have you ever LPed or live streamed? Have you thought about doing it and do not know where to start? Do you hate them all together and wish they never happened? Will you be doing a LP or live stream of Final Fantasy VI next month? Let me know in the comments.

Everybody has got to hate something.

Ads

Yeah, much like everyone else on the site I really hate advertisements in the gaming culture sphere. The first target of this hate fest is the Xbox 360 Dashboard. This thing is an ad infested turd. If you have not seen this thing it is truly horrible. Every other box is an advertisement for something stupid. Half the time it is for things like Mountain Dew, Doritos, “The Big Bang Theory”, sporting events, shit bands, or the newest flavor of FPS. These ads are aimed at what advertisement companies see as the “average” gamer, more commonly known as the Dude Bros. Seriously Micro$oft you do not need MORE money. Besides dashboard ads another type of ad that is really stupid are the in game ads. For example, I was in my living room making some dinner while my roommate played the newest Madden Football game and during the matches “half time” the “commentators” read off an ad for PaPa Johns and about how good their pizza is and some shit. I turned to him and said “Fucking really? Are they seriously advertising fucking PaPa John’s pizza in a video game?” It is stupid that a company would pay EA to put their product advertisement in their game. Why is this a thing? The only time in game advertising is ok is when development companies create fake ads, like in the Grand Theft Auto series.

Bro Gamers and the First Person Shooter

We are know the type. The dudes who line up at midnight for the recent releases of Halo and Call of Duty, they drink tons of red bull, they love to call people a “fag” on PSN/Xbox Live, and they give all real hardcore gamers a horrible name. They think that the games they play are what “real” gamers play and they are the loudest idiots to ever join the gaming community. They are so fair weather when it comes to company and game loyalty. Using the current example watch what happens with Black Ops 2. For the next few months all the Dude Bro Gamers will cream themselves over this game. By mid February to early March the first wave of Dude Bros will start to knock the game and go back to older CoD‘s. Then in May we will hear about the new Call of Duty and the cycle of hype and Dude Bros creaming themselves starts all over again. It seriously sickens me how far this genre of game has fallen when it comes to the fan base. I see no possible way to save this lost genre. In my opinion the genre has reached it’s peak. Never again will the genre see revolutionary games such as Doom or Wolfenstein. What once was great has fallen, I only ask for a moment of silence for this fallen genre.

BRO HULK SMASH!

Movie Video Games

The majority suck. Period. Very few movie games are received well by the reviewing community and none are held to high standards. They are the straight to DVD releases of video games. Most movie games feel rushed, incomplete, and never fully fleshed out in terms of game mechanics. Movie games have found new life however in the Wii console. With so many casual gamers the Wii video game market is easily flooded with sub par waggle motion games. Hopefully the WiiU will not see the same fate of that the Wii has endured. Fewer things would disappoint me more than seeing that happen, especially since Nintendo wants to try and break back into the hardcore market and take back what they lost so long ago. Nintendo I wish you the best, but I do not think it is going to happen anytime soon. Sorry!

in conclusion, I would like to state that I think that the video game industry is probably one of the most immersive and creative that has ever existed. But much like any industry it has it’s fair share of problems, three of which I listed above. What do you think reader? Did I miss a vital point about the industry that you think should have taken a spot on this list? let me know in the comments.

Tetris, the king of the piecemeal gaming sessions.

So with that out of the way I would like to go over which games I find to be the best for this type of gaming style and why. At the top of this list has got to be the king of piecemeal gaming, Tetris. Most gamers have played it at work or school when they needed to kill some time. Tetris is probably the easiest pick up and play game I have on my iPhone. The great thing about Tetris is that the game is never-ending so players can keep progressing and easily track their line making skills. The sessions save themselves so I can pick them back up literally at any time ever. I remember I started playing a Tetris session in January 2012 and picked it back up again a couple months later. Another portable game that is great for piecemeal gamers is any game from the Pokémon series. With the challenge of catching all six hundred some Pokemon, a piecemeal gamer can really go to town on this one. I can just pick up the game for a few minutes to catch, train or breed some Pokemon and get closer to having them all. I do have to say that if potential piecemeal gamers are going to play Final Fantasy VI on a portable console, they can have a great time with the game. In short bursts, gamers can level their Esper abilities so that playable characters can quickly become over powered and be able to get through the game when the player so chooses.

For piecemeal gamers this is a perfect game. But for people who are more interested in a more hardcore RPG experience I would recommend the Nintendo Wii RPG, Xenoblade Chronicles. With tons of small quests in each town and the ability to save anywhere at any time, this game lends itself greatly to the piecemeal gamer. I can pick up the game, do a few quests, save, and turn the Wii off and feel like I have accomplished something. Also the story is set up with frequent breaks and “system saves” so one can continue the story in little bits as well. In terms of the quest aspect, they all add to the story and culture of the different cities or dungeons in the game. A second console game that I would recommend to piecemeal gamers is Fallout 3 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC. The game has so many things to do with discovering new towns, monster caves, survivor settlements, and tons of story and side quests. A piecemeal gamer can spend many, many sessions doing tons of things in the Fallout universe and much like Xenoblade Chronicles there is the ability to save anywhere and at any time.

The Pitt is for piecemeal gamers…

If one is looking for a massively multiplayer experience I am sure many of the staff would agree that World of Warcraft is the best MMO for the piecemeal gamer. With the daily quests a piecemeal gamer can quickly level their professions and if one has a bit more time then usual they can also do quests to level up their characters quite easily. I am sure Imitanis and Lusi will agree that the game has become much more casual friendly in the past couple of years so that gamers with less time can achieve as much as a gamer with tons of playing time. Even some of the raids can be done in an hour or so with a half-way decent group. Apart from WoW, I can not really recommend any other MMO for piecemeal gamers to try out. As many will know, besides WoW, I have played Final Fantasy XI Online and Final Fantasy XIV Online neither of which a piecemeal gamer should try out.

In conclusion, the games I would recommend are Tetris, Pokémon, Final Fantasy VI, Xenoblade Chronicles, Fallout 3, and World of Warcraft. Is there another game that you like to pick up and play? Do you agree/disagree with my list? Let me know in the comments.

Not My Girlfriend

Relationships are a complex entity that come in many different forms. No one relationship is the same as any other. The way relationships are crafted is much like clay, you have to work the clay from a formless blob to something of beauty. Assuming your relationship is a functional one. You can be in a relationship where two individuals are just in a complete state of lust and feel nothing but lust towards each other. Then you have the people who do truly love each other and want their relationship to work. As humans I believe we need relationships to keep going, if you be gay, straight, lesbian, bi-sexual, or transsexual you will always need someone to share your life with.

What does this have to do with gaming you may ask? Well, quite a lot actually. Last August, I wrote an editorial about relationships in games. I listed my top three relationships, each being from a different era in gaming history. Now I am back once again talking about relationships. As many of the readers and staff know, I am in a relationship right now. For those who care, know it is going well and I am really happy with the girl I am currently going out with. But there is one thing, it is kind of long distance. Please, spare me from your comments of “It will not work out” or “It is doomed to fail”. I know the record of long distance relationships is not the best one. So, with that being said I do tend to spend A LOT of time on Skype just talking to her. Sometimes, when we both have school off, entire days will be spent just talking and looking at each other on Skype.

Now, instead of playing games on my days off, I am talking to her all day. This can be a bit of a problem when you work at a site that is centered around writing and talking about video games. But, being the somewhat clever guy I think myself to be, I came up with a plan – and by “came up with a plan” I mean I did what Lusipurr told me what to do. You see back in the day my girlfriend and her parents used to all play World of Warcraft together, but she quit when her parents stopped playing shortly after Wrath of the Lich King content was completed. Thus began a month long process of trying to get her to reactivate her WoW account. Finally, about two weeks ago, I sent her a scroll of resurrection and we both rolled Pandarens. Myself a Monk and my girlfriend a Hunter and we are having a blast. I have to say it is fun to have someone you really, really like playing an MMO with you.

World of Warcraft Bringing Couples Together Since 2004

But what about my console games? The console games I play are usually heavily single player based with large amounts of play time needed to beat them. I have tried playing games while we are on Skype together, but that is kind of awkward seeing as I am commenting on the game and she cannot see what I am playing, also it seems kind of rude to not be paying attention to her. This is the problem I ran into with the Final Fantasy XII playthrough. So I would finish talking to her on Skype at about 9:00 PM my time and then would sit down to try and play FFXII, but I would be so done with the day I would give up about half way through my session and just go to bed.

Although oddly enough I can play Xenoblade Chronicles and not feel super rude when we are on Skype together. I find this really odd seeing that my girlfriend is a video game fan but, has not really been into current video game culture until I started bringing her back into it with introducing her to this site and other sites like Lusipurr.com. So maybe I just need to let her borrow some of my games so she gets the type of games I am into. Would things be easier if we lived closer together? We could play single player games together, with trading off the controller when the other one dies. Have you ever been in this sort of situation readers? Do you have some favoriate games to play with your loved one? Are you going to be playing Final Fantasy VI with your boyfriend or girlfriend? Let me know in the comments and I hope you had a safe Halloween.

The “Other” Mount

To give some context, Kontrol Freek has a large line of joystick mounts for both the FPS and Sports game genres, Lusipurr.com received the Havoc and Infinity mounts which are meant for first person shooters. This review will primarily focus on the Havoc mount since it was the one most used by this reviewer. On their website, Kontrol Freek describes Havoc as “developed for the competitive Call of Duty player who demands the ultimate in precision and control match after match” and “perfect for your right or left thumb stick and is optimized for medium to long-range armaments like the SIG556, MSMC and SVU-AS”. So with that in mind I decided to do a small experiment with the Havoc. So I whipped out my roommate’s copy of Battlefield 3 and played a match online without the use of the joystick mount. It is best to say that I did horribly with a final kill to death ratio of two kills and fourteen deaths. At that point there was nowhere to go but up.

So in the second match I pulled out the Havoc mounts and attached it to the PlayStation 3 controller, which took a few tries and sometimes the mounts would come off in the middle of the match. Instantly I noticed two things; one positive and one negative. The first being that my thumbs felt more comfortable being slightly elevated and the second that the mounts felt way too close together, giving my thumbs an almost claustrophobic sensation. Right away I could tell that these would probably be better on a 360 controller, but since I did not have a first person shooter on the Xbox 360 the PS3 controller had to do. So I played a second match of Battlefield 3 and did a little bit better with a ratio of four kills and six deaths. At this point I was more comfortable with Battlefield 3 and felt that I had a better handle of the game. But was this because of the Havoc mount? I was not fully convinced it was so I played a third match.

FPS Freek Havoc Mounts on the PS3 Controller

In my third and final match I went ten kills to seven deaths. I continued to play for a bit but the scores did not really differ from being a few kills above how many deaths I had. Would I continue to use these for my FPS gaming sessions? Sure, it makes control a bit easier but I could see them becoming a bit annoying after an hour or so of game play. Do I think they improved my performance in Battlefield 3? Well, yes and no. I feel a bit of it was luck, a bit getting over the learning curve, and a dash of using the Havoc mounts.

In conclusion, the Havoc mount was slightly more comfortable on the thumbs than just using the regular PS3 joysticks. Although it may have been better for Kontrol Freek to make PS3 and 360 exclusive mounts with the problems of “thumb claustrophobia” I had. Additionally, the mounts could be better fit to the controller seeing as one of the mounts kept coming off in the middle of game play, which felt counter-intuitive for a product that advertises itself for gamers who “demand the ultimate in precision and control match after match”.

The look on his face when he thought he could kill whore out Blizzard.

Hello LusiReaders! Being original in anything is hard. In July, our very own Ethan ‘Ethos’ Pipher quoted Ecclesiastes 1:9 which states that “there is nothing new under the sun”. How can anyone hope to be original when even the bible, a text which many base how they live their lives, is saying that nothing is new. As a filmmaker we are told a saying, “Good filmmakers borrow, great filmmakers steal”. Looking at these two examples there is very little to no originality in anything any more, which I believe we have gone over in the podcast quite a few times. My question to this is, where is the great amazing work that EVERYTHING seems to have based themselves or ripped off of?

This thought process comes from a conversation I had with Lusipurr the other night in which we talked about the originality of games developed recently. The two of us talked over which side of development had more individuality. Japan or the West? The answer we came up with was neither. It is the indie developers of both regions that are coming up with more original video game material. If you look at the video game industry and the big companies, the only two that are putting out quality and original material are Valve and Blizzard. Unlike EA or, Blizzard’s other half, Activision, Valve and Blizzard are not putting out sequel after sequel each year for their huge money making series’. Even when Emperor Kotick tried to force Blizzard to come out with the new StarCraft II every six months. Of course Blizzard, being a tad more caring of their consumer, did what Emperor Kotick wanted but a slightly twisted, for the benefit of Blizzard.

Instead of making one game that is broken into three, which is what Kotick wanted, Blizzard is making three full length epics. Kotick will still get all the money he wants and it would not have been the demise of a beloved Blizzard franchise. Valve is much the same why with the production of their games. Yes there are the jokes that Gaben does not like the number three and yes we will probably never see Half-Life 2 Episode 3, but let us put all that aside and look at the games that they make. Yes, they take forever but they are quality games. Their games periodically receive high marks and rave reviews. As an added bonus Valve will periodically put games on sale so everyone has a chance to try and get their hands on everything from indie titles to triple A products.

A bastion of hope.

But what of the other companies in the western gaming market? How can Valve and Blizzard be the ONLY two putting out something of true quality that is a big budget game? Well I will compare it to the film industry. Back in the 1920’s through 1940’s all the big film production companies were owned and run by artists. Sure they did not have big budgets, but they had talent and the artists behind these films knew that they had a box to work within and were able to be very creative in the restriction of their budget. With a small budget they did not have to try and appeal to everyone watching their films. They could quite easily make their money back through that niche audience. Then in the 1950’s the business and lawyers started to take over head positions in the film studios. With this filmmakers were able to get bigger and bigger budgets for their creative works. But to make their money back these films had to appeal to the widest possible audience. Thus become diluted and bland.

This is what has happened to video games in the present day. This is what Japan is trying and failing at, this is what the big Western development companies have been doing for the past couple of generations. Gone are the days when gaming was a niche market and Japan ran things and got all the money. Gone are the days of the Super Nintendo golden age. the video game industry is the top grossing entertainment industry, it makes the most money out of all the other current industries. To get more money and to get that money back, the sacrifice is originality. Thankfully, Valve/Steam is keeping a vast part of the indie genre alive. Indie games have never needed millions of dollars back, hell I think some developers in the indie sphere would just like people to play their game and talk about it than make money back.

What do you think about this part of the state of gaming readers? Do you feel that you would rather just stick with the originality of indie games or does that small child in you still believe that EA and the Kotick Empire are able to put something out into the industry that is truly original? Let me know in the comments.

The Mascot of These Addicting Japanese Demons!

Addictions are something that many people have to deal with everyday, from alcohol, to drugs, to the oft speculated porn addiction many of us know someone or are related someone who has been addicted to something. In recent years, with the major boom of video games, we hear more and more about video game addictions. We have heard the stories on the news about someone playing too much StarCraft and forgetting to feed themselves or their children, or someone who plays video games till they literally pass out, the list goes on and on. We see the media completely jump all over these events and then they proceed to completely blow them out of proportion, making accusations that video games are taking over the youth of the world and that they are going to drive society into the ground, like Snooki and Honey Boo Boo Child have not already hijacked that plane.

This whole topic of gaming addiction came to mind with the release of Pokemon Black/White 2. The Pokemon series is the first series I remember hearing the word “gaming addiction” tied to. Seeing headlines about kids feverishly trying to “collect ’em all” and becoming hopelessly addicted to the Japanese pocketmonster demons and that was when there were only one hundred fifty of them. Presently, we now have over six hundred Pokemon and it is quite hard to try and “catch ’em all” as our own Scott Mundy will attest to. Personally, I have never gone into a Pokemon with the goal of catching them all, I am more the type of Pokemon trainer that will get all eight badges, beat the elite four, do the post game story, see the new features, and call it a day with whichever version I happened to pick up. I do not really care about collecting Pokemon beyond the ones I need to beat the game. Sure I will catch some of the newer ones or the ones that are version specific but I have gotten it down to where I know what types I want for my party and which Pokemon fit those best. Honestly, I would not consider Pokemon too addictive of a game series; it is more of the gateway drug to other games. Before I move on, can someone tell me how are kids these days supposed to get all six hundred something if most of them do not have access to the old games like Fire Red and Leaf Green?

The Land of My Addiction.

The next time I came across a type of video game addiction was when I start playing Final Fantasy XI Online. I have perviously gone over my FFXI story and will not bore you with another retelling, if you do not know, the too long did not read version is I was hopelessly addicted for about two full years before I stopped play completely. If there ever is such a thing as gaming addiction here it was. I was playing four to six hours on the weekdays and eight to twelve hours on weekends. While this may sound a bit tame for some of you readers, I assure you at fourteen this headlong dive into the world of a hardcore MMO was quite worrying to my parents and friends. For some reason I did not get as far as some of the other players I knew, but that is probably more the problem I had with leveling different job classes instead of focusing on just one until it was at the level cap. Did I go through FFXI withdrawal when I was not playing it for long periods of time? No. I would miss it for a day or two and then find another way to entertain myself, either by reading a book, doing my schoolwork, or by playing another game. The second I was able to get back into the game though I would dive back in at full force.

In conclusion, I do not think that gaming addiction is an actual addiction that should be paired with addictions to drugs and alcohol. I think that gamers who say they are addicted to games are not really addicted at they are just over enjoying their game of choice; squeezing everything they can out of it. Much like myself with FFXI, these gamers dive head first into these games and for some reason seclude themselves off from other games or gaming experiences. Could these people live without that game and not suffer physical withdrawal effects? Yes, I believe they can. Unless you are from South Korea then you may have a real problem, but more on that another time. What are your thoughts on gaming addiction readers? Also donate to the PunchBeginner, seriously just do it.

Judge Vader

I know that many of you think that I am just saying these things to get out of giving the game an honest chance, truth is I really tried. I got about twenty hours into the game. I was got up to the trek to some mountain temple place, fought a boss, lost a couple times, looked at the calendar, 29th September, threw the PS2 controller on the ground, and said “Fuck it, I am not finishing this game by the end of the month”. In all honesty, I find the Ivalice games in the Final Fantasy series to be lacking something that I feel could make the games truly great, except Final Fantasy Tactics that game is amazing and anyone who says different should die and go to a hell where they have to talk with Reetin all day and night.

You know when people talk about the “it factor” of something, I feel that the Ivalice games are missing that something. Maybe it is because the other games do not even hold a candle to Final Fantasy Tactics, with the exception of FFXII, or could it be that the games barley resemble the masterpiece that they stem from. There are no Viera, Bangaa, Rev, or those fucking Nu Mou rabbit people, all we saw were humes and it all was good in the world. If that makes me an Ivalice racists then sign me up for the Ivalice KKK because seriously these races suck. The Viera are just bunny elves, Nu Mou are just the worlds old and retarded put into one race, the Bangaa are just lizard knuckle Joe’s, and the Rev… what the fuck are they even four… you only see like three in the entire series and only one is really good for something but, he is in the shittiest game the Ivalice alliance put out, Final Fantasy Tactics: A2. The only good race that they added post FFT were the Moogles, but Moogles should be a playable race in every game ever in my opinion.

Better off dead

Do not even get me started on the originality of FFXII‘s story. FFXII is seriously just “Star Wars Episode IV”. While that is a tried and true story, Square literally did NOTHING to change it at all. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is only a little bit better and has aged pretty well from when it first came out. The struggle of realizing ones self and what you really want in life and realizing what you have is a story that I will always find endearing. I have not played Vagrant Story so I can not comment on it’s story apart from the fact that it takes place just south of Ivalice. FFXII: Revenant Wings and Final Fantasy Tactics: A2 were just shit, no real inspiration, and shit stories.

I think my problem with all the Ivalice games is that very few connected to each other to make a greater plot. Sure they were set in the same place, sometimes having the same characters ie. FFXII to FFXII:RW and to a point FFTA and FFTA2, but they still were not that well connected. They others sometimes had allusions to the others, like having Luso and Balthier unlockable in the PSP remake of FFT. However, after you unlocked them they just became another party member with a special skin and class. That is just boring. This series is just boring and I am glad we are not going to be wasting our time there anymore. I would rather spend my time with FFXIII-2 and it’s multitude of unwanted DLC.

At the end of the day, I am not a big fan of Ivalice and the many games set there. Early in my gaming carrier I did like them, but over time the taste of them has grown stale in my mouth. It is time for something new Square. Agree or disagree? Let me know in the comments.

A MMO done WRONG!

I will not go over the finer points of the expansion, partly because I have not experienced it for myself yet and partly because you should know by now the major add-ons it has. What I will go over however are my thoughts on expansions. If any of you read the editorial I posted when I first started playing World of Warcraft you will know that I was an avid Final Fantasy XI player back short before Wings of the Goddess was released. When it was released, it was a physical release, meaning that I had to first find a place that was stocking the expansion and then second of all go to the store and get it. This was a problem seeing as only one store in my area was going to stock the game.

I remember having to go into the store and explain to the twenty something working the counter what Final Fantasy XI was and that I had pre ordered the game, and that yes, it was being stocked in the store and that no I am not “punking” him. I finally got my game soon after when the mail man came in with the new shipment of games. I had a completely different experience when it came to getting Mists of Pandaria, I woke up, went to battle.net, logged in, payed for the expansion, applied it to my account, and started playing. Took all of ten minutes and then I was playing Mists of Pandaria. It is that simple! Thank you Blizzard, thank you for being just the best company ever.

A MMO done RIGHT!

I am be behind the times when it comes to MMO’s and digital distribution but I highly doubt that anyone is doing it as right as Blizzard is. When was the last time activating an expansion was this easy? Thankfully, Blizzard had the foresight to do a massive update weeks before MoP came out. What other companies do the day of release Blizzard put into the game early and made sure that everything was workable so it made the day of release as smooth as possible for people who just wanted to jump in and experience Pandaria. You all remember the time when Square Enix updates went on for days at a time, and it took weeks to fix all the pervious fixes, was that shit not tested enough or something? With WoW everything seems to work and when it does not work Blizzard updates the game as fast as possible and the fixes usually do not take months to download. Hell the game sometimes updates when you are in game. What other MMO before WoW did that? No game!

I know I am a few years behind the curve with MMO’s, having not really played one since 2009 but why could Square not do something like this back in the day? Was it because we did not have the technology? Was it because we did not have better internet connections? Why Square, why did you make us all do nineteen hour updates? The Blizzard ones are not anything to marvel at, but at least we can play other games on our battle.net accounts, sometimes for FFXI we could not even play Tetramaster. Did anyone really play that shit when the game was not updating?

All in all Blizzard still proves that they want to keep putting the effort into making a quality MMO and that they are welling to put the connivence of the consumer before the connivence of the company. I feel like my money is worth it when I pay my subscription fee every couple of months. I feel that my money is going to a product that I will enjoy instead of a product that I have to fight with to find the smallest bit of accomplishment. Even with the most recent updates simplifying the game even more I feel that Blizzard is still knows what is best for the player base and still has their hand on the pulse of the MMO market and still be the dominant factor in the genre for years to come.

Why is this here? Because Portal

“The White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy has put a Portal gun on display in its offices, according to some Imgur pictures that popped up on Reddit. The pictures originated from a Twitter account by someone living in Washington D.C.The gun appears to be located in a lobby or waiting room of some kind. The object next to is the gun is part the “Allende Meteroite” that fell to Earth in 1969 and recently led to the discovery of the oldest known mineral in the Solar System called “Panguite” that actually predate the age of Earth, according to LiveScience”.

In addition to the portal gun, yesterday Valve posted a video on their facebook which showed an unboxing of a full operational talking turret from the Portal series, this then got me thinking about other Video Game memorabilia and collectors of Video Game memorabilia. In my personal opinion, the collecting of memorabilia is something that only sports fans did, buying the newest bobble-head or signed rookie card, never really for basement dwelling nerds who are excited about the newest episode of (insert weeaboo bullshit show name here). But as I have come to find out over the past year or so, video game nerds love to collect a ton of shit.

From action figures to love pillows, gamers have sunk thousands to tens of thousands of dollars in collecting video game memorabilia. We buy special editions of games just so we can get an action figure, art book, or original soundtrack. We go to conventions, sometimes traveling hundreds of miles, spending thousands of dollars, to get more action figure, more t shirts, more soundtracks, and more games. What is it about collecting shit that gives gamers a little fan boy boner? Is it just an overall “who has the bigger dick contest” with you wallets? Person A: “Oh I was able to get ‘X’ figure from Japan, what do you have?” Person B: “I was able to get a signed love doll from voice actress ‘Y’.” I mean seriously guys, no one gives two shits about your “My Little Pony” love doll, that is a real thing by the way, for those of you who do not believe me ask former staff member RootBeerKing.

Why would you buy this? Just get a real girlfriend.

I will not lie to you readers, I have some memorabilia of my own, a couple figures, collectors edition DVDs, art books, replica props from movies, but most of my stuff was because of free collectors edition stuff or gifts for holidays or birthdays. As you can probably tell, I am not a huge buyer or collector of things, unless it is video games or books, and I do not really like comparing what I have to another person. I feel if I but a figure I am support the franchising of properties that I will one day regret being a fan of. Look at Star Wars fans, thirty years ago they were buying toys, books, t shirts, and the like. Now, they resent the fact that they are even considered Star Wars fans because of the awful things that has been done to those movies. In the movie industry it is very hard to sell a script without the screen writer convincing the studio that the script can be turned into a franchise, the movie itself can sell toys, books, shoes, you name it they need to try and sell it. This is happening now more and more with video games. What game can you name that was not successful that got a sequel?

Look back on what I have written I would not disagree if someone came right now and said that some of my ideals about marketing/memorabilia/franchising are “hipster” like but really the vast majority of people who buy these toys and shit do not even realize this is even happening. The whole media and marketing world is based off of selling memorabilia and that the more they sell the more they make money and the more diluted these IPs become. In many ways I would say if you truly love some sort of entertainment media, game, book, show, movie, etc. do not buy anything that is not expressly the product that contains that bit of entertainment.

What are your thoughts on video game memorabilia readers? Let me know in the comments.

Bobby Kotick Money Sledding

Well, anyway, according to the Forbes article we used for the podcast, “NPD reports that mobile gamers and digital gamers grew in the period. But all other segments, defined by NPD as Core Gamers, Family and Kid Gamers, Light PC Gamers and Avid PC Games, shrank. The biggest drop came in the Family and Kid category.The research firm says there are now more Mobile Gamers than Core Gamers, the largest segment last year. NPD estimates that gamers on average spent $48 on physical games and $16 on digital games in the past three months.” Let us break this quote down and deal with the rise of mobile and digital gamers first.

As we all know, the iPhone and Android have completely changed the portable gaming market. The difference between mobile gaming and portable gaming it seems is the face that apps from iOS and Android OS are readily available to the consumer straight from each ones respective “market place”, unlike the majority of Nintendo and Sony’s handhelds. This is more appealing to a mass consumer base who do not have to leave their house so they can get their gaming fix. These games are also aimed at a demographic of people that will play the game once or twice and then never play it again. Additionally, the digital market places give consumers assurance that the product they want is available to them 24/7, unlike having to go to the game shop hoping that the game you want is there. At the end of the day the mobile and digital gamers have the best chance of getting the product they want for as cheap as possible, unless you are buying a Square Enix mobile game.

DS Prints Money

“But all other segments, defined by NPD as Core Gamers, Family and Kid Gamers, Light PC Gamers and Avid PC Games, shrank. The biggest drop came in the Family and Kid category.” The main focus of this statement for me is the Family and Kid category. In my opinion, what we are seeing is the drop of the mom Wii and the kids who are no longer interested in playing games to one day be a part of the Hardcore group. In all honesty, this drop comes from the fad of the Wii being done and the announcement of the WiiU. I think that these “Family and Kid” demographics are done with the Wii and will not be picking up the WiiU since, allegedly, Nintendo is trying to bring back the “Hardcore” gamers. In all honesty, I think that Nintendo has lost the “Hardcore” and will have to depend on the crazy Nintendo fans to keep them afloat.

Finally, the last part of the quote which deals with the price gamers are paying for games. I think it is really clear that the cost of digital games is on the raise. Earlier, I made a wise crack about Sqaure Enix’s price of mobile games, which ranges from seventeen to thirty dollars, and how they just seems to get away with crappy games and crappy ports. But the numbers seem to suggest that people are continuing to buy their overpriced RPG ports and their flavor of the month apps.

How does this overall affect the game industry and will we see another crash? Not very much and probably not. This is just a flux of people leaving and we will get another flux of people to replace the ones who left. It does seem that there is a shift in what gamers are more likely to but and that the future of games is in digitally downloaded media. Of course there are problems with digital distribution services and DRM but at the end of the day these companies are going to move toward where the money is. Like Lusipurr, and many other staff members, have said that if you do not want this to happen then do not buy games from places like Origin or Steam. At the end of the day it all comes down to money and the demographics these companies are sell their products to.

These are books. They’re like the video games, but on paper.

With the start of the school year I have found myself looking back on previous years and how I managed my time between playing video games and school, personally, it has been a constant struggle. As far back as I can remember I have known that having a portable video game console during school hours was a huge “no-no”. I remember Game Boy Colors being taken away from small, tearful eyed, children as a teacher told them that the child’s parent would have to come and pick it up for them at the end of the day, I also remember watching other students trade Pokemon in the back cubbies before school started and the thrill they got out of using their Game Boys in school. However, I was spared these painful and thrilling experiences because I never had to worry about my Game Boy getting confiscated. You see, my mother was teaching fourth grade at the elementary school I attended. In the mornings before class, I would hand over my Game Boy to my mother who would then put it in her desk until recess when I was allowed to hang out in her room, since her class had recess at in the same time black, with a couple of friends. We would all play Pokemon RedPokemon in the seclusion of her room but instead had to venture forth into the wildness of recess. After that time, the only time that I remember that teachers gave us permission to play only when we had indoor recess. Then once we were free from the oppressive chains of school I remember heading into my mother’s classroom, finishing my homework as fast as possible, and then continuing to play Pokemon. These times were of prue entertainment, fun and joy. No time before and no time after could replace the experiences of gaming during the elementary school years.

But middle school was a whole different beast though. Without the protection of my mother, I rarely brought my Game Boy for fear of it being stolen or taken by a teacher. Yet still the black and twisted spirit that is middle school seemed to reach out it’s black hand and affect my playing of video games. Middle school was the first time I found myself being punished for poor grades and my “video game privileges”, a term my mother coined and used for many more years to come, being taken away. I was ultimately unprepared for the difference in work load between elementary and middle, which then negatively affected my grades, which then pissed my mother off forcing her to take action. This began what I call “The Age of Hidden Gaming”.

No child plays games like this.

I literally had to hide whilst I played video games during the week days. The hidden gaming process had a few rules and step ups to it. The rules I had self imposed were things like, never do a hidden game night two nights in a row, if possible during the hour period take a nap, if a test is that week do not game for the two nights leading to said test. The process itself started the afternoon on the day of the hidden game night. After the lunch bell rang, I would quickly scarf down my lunch and find the least occupied computer lap to take a nap for the remaining forty-five minutes. This usually resulted in me being late to my next class seeing as I was relying on the end of lunch bell to wake me up, if this did not happen however I would usually be woken up by the computer science teacher(s). After school, I would then be transported to my mother’s school and take another hour long nap. This would then give me roughly two hours of sleep I would not need that night. Then finally, once my mother and I had retired for the evening, I would get under my covers and start to play. These night time gaming sessions lasted between two and two and a half hours. Even now I am surprised that I was never caught doing this.

Then came the final leg of my public school journey, high school. At the high school I went to none of the staff really cared if you had your Nintendo DS or PSP on you, they just did not want to see it during school hours. However, many of the teachers would allow us to use our phones, listen to our iPods, and play games during the lunch hour. So, even though I sometimes had my “video game privileges” taken away I was still able to sneak my DS or PSP out and play before school and during lunch.

In retrospect, if I had spent as much time in middle school on my homework instead of coming up with a way to play video games without my mother finding out, I probably would have been able to get out of my punishment and not have to hide. So readers did you ever have any of these issues during your school years as a gamer? Did you have any of these problems when you first played Final Fantasy XII in 2006? Were you even in school in 2006? Let me know in the comments below.

Pac-Man and Ms.Pac-Man

Romantic relationships, most of us have been involved or part of one. In story telling, a romantic relationship is a convenient mechanic for having characters be relatable to your audience. Over the past couple of days I have been thinking about the development of relationships in video games and where the industry started and are presently with the convention. Specifically, I am looking at three relationships in three different eras of gaming.

The first era we will start with is..

The Arcade Era

The first relationship many gamers were introduced to was the relationship of Mr. and Ms. Pac-Man. Pac-Man was an arcade game developed by Namco and licensed for distribution in the United States by Midway, first released in Japan on May 22, 1980. Immensely popular from its original release to the present day, Pac-Man is considered one of the classics of the medium, virtually synonymous with video games, and an icon of 1980s popular culture. Upon its release, the game became a social phenomenon that sold a bevy of merchandise and also inspired, among other things, an animated television series and a top-ten hit single. With the massive success of Pac-Man a sequel was quickly put into the works and what started out as a hack of the original Pac-Man became the most successful arcade game ever entitled Ms. Pac-Man. Released in 1981, this game introduces a female protagonist, new maze designs and several minor gameplay changes over the original game. It became the most successful American-produced arcade game, selling 115,000 arcade cabinets. Ms.Pac-Man‘s story is one of a couple either looking for each other or they are on the fucking run, honestly I do not remember a whole lot of detail put into the story of the meeting of the Pac-Mans but it does not really matter in the end because you get what is going on. The couple meets, they fall in love, they have baby. Simple, clean, classic. Nothing more needs to be said.

Mario Saves Peach

We now move onto the era commonly known as…

The Bit Wars Era

Mario and Peach. What more needs to be said about these two. They are the video game power couple. Although Mario and Peach were not always together as we know them now, first there was Pauline. Pauline is the girl Mario, known only at that point as “Jumpman”, is trying to save in the original 1982 arcade game Donkey Kong. It was not until 1985 that, the soon to be famous, Princess Toadstool was even introduced to gamers. Boy, let me tell you, when she was introduced it was like when peanut butter met jelly. In Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Mario’s quest is to Princess Toadstool (later known as Princess Peach) of the Mushroom Kingdom from King Koopa. To save Princess Toadstool, Mario conquers the eight worlds of the Mushroom Kingdom by going to the castle in each to defeat a minion of King Koopa. To reach each castle, Mario battles through three sub-worlds by defeating King Koopa’s henchmen. If Mario successfully fights his way through the castle and defeats the minion, he frees a Mushroom Retainer. Inside the eighth castle, Mario has a final fight with King Koopa and frees Princess Toadstool. The one thing I really do not like about this relationship is that Peach in most of the core games in the Super Mario franchise she is rather useless. She gets kidnapped and does nothing to escape, at least Ms.Pac-Man fought back against the ghosts. Although, in the first two Paper Mario games Princess Peach does break the mold and tries to escape from King Koopa’s Castle. Additionally, in 2006 Peach got her own game entitled Super Princess Peach, where she was the one doing the saving.

Mass Effect DAT ASS Dialogue

Finally we come to…

The Modern Era

With the boom in popularity of western video games in the past generation, gamers have seen less and less of the predetermined character relationships and more of the choose your own relationship. Unlike the previously mentioned relationships, the relationships in the current era feel less like true relationships and more like a series of empty compliments and mini quests to get to the shitty sex scene. Do not get me wrong though I think these relationships have brought something interesting to the table it is just, since these are somewhat in its infancy, I think many of the interactions could be better scripted. Although I do like the introduction of same sex relationships in many Western RPGs, I believe it gives players more of the true role-playing experience when they can even choose what gender they are attracted to. For examples I would have to point the Bioware franchises of Mass Effect and Dragon Age. Although I do not believe these two series are the first to have these types of relationships in a game, they are however the first financially successful games that have these options in them.

In conclusion, these relationships still are affecting how we tell love stories in the modern era. Break down almost any video game love story to the bare bones and you will find the same elements that made the Mr. and Ms. Pac-Man love story so successful, but what about you readers? What do you think about relationships in video games? Like them? Hate them? Wish they were not really there like in Final Fantasy XII? Let me know in the comments.

Wii U Controller

Hello Lusislaves! This week, I have been playing through the Nintendo 3DS game, Kingdom Hearts: Dream, Drop, Distance, 3D. While playing the game I noticed I was increasingly having trouble with the camera controls. This normally would not bother me that much… until the camera controls were the reason I kept dying over and over again in multiple boss fights. I am not joking here. By not having full control of the camera it somehow locked itself in the corner I was in and because of that I was unable to see the on coming attack that killed poor little Sora. This happened to me about, oh, seven or eight times until I said “Fuck it!” and put my 3DS away for a couple of hours.

I stormed away with accusations quickly flying out of my mouth about how “retarded” and “cheap” the fight was. Instantly I blamed the game for my misfortune. A few hours later, I came back to the game, leveled up a couple of times, and tried my hand at the boss fight again. While I still had problems with the camera controls and not being able to avoid many of the attacks thrown at me, I was able to beat the boss after a couple of tries. Thankfully that boss was the last one for that world and I was able to move on with the game. But as I was going between worlds a thought stuck me, is it the game that is at fault or is it the player? Frequently I hear about how game play makes certain segments of a game, or sometimes an entire game, unplayable. Could it be that we, as players, are unable to adapt to the controls?

For example, my friend and I were playing Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past and while we were playing it, both of us had a really hard time with just the beginning enemies. But by the time we got to the first couple of bosses we were able to get back into the groove of how the controls operated. So after, we switched to playing Super Metroid and once again we had the same problem and solution. With this observations I wonder if we could take a game with “poor controls”, like Deadly Towers, and have someone play it continuously until the controls become second nature. If this is able to happen, could it be possible that the game itself would then be less difficult because the obstacle of difficult controls is now removed from the game play equation?

Controller Hack

If this is possible then there is no reason to say that any game has “bad controls” because we as humans have not adapted to them. So with that line of thought one could say that games like Superman 64, Deadly Towers, or Ghosts and Goblins were never bad games they just required more time to adapt to them. What if one day we are able to pass these adaptations down to are children and they to their children, so that one day games are no longer judged on how grand the story is or how well the graphics are, but by how long it takes them to adapt to the controls and if, once adapted, the game provides an adequate challenge.

After reading this you might be asking yourself “Do we not already judge games on how good or bad the controls are?”. My answer, well, yes we do, but only if they are really, REALLY bad. Honestly, when was the last time you read a review that praised the controls? The only time I can think of a review praising controls is when the game being praised is a sequel and the previous one had bad controls whilst the new one fixed the problems, sort of like Resident Evil 3 to Resident Evil 4.

You would think that humans, being the most advanced being on the planet, would be able to develop controls for a video game that do not make it difficult or unplayable, I am looking at you Superman 64. Could it have something to do with how they programed the game? If so, why could they have not caught these issues in play testing? Was there not enough time to go back and change the problems? Could it have been because the game was just meant to be farted out to get a quick buck?

What do you think reader? Do you think you will have these problems in the upcoming Final Fantasy Double 6 playthrough? Let me know in the comments!