(originally posted on GameAxis Unwired)

For those who played computer Role Playing Games back in the early 90s, you've had your hands filled and time spent on one of these non-linear, multiple endings, and dialogue/story-driven wonders. Lord knows I have. With the return to form thanks to how awesome Dragon Age: Origins is (it really is, even with the generic fantasy background), it also got me wondering whether the timeless genre can make a mainstream-level comeback in a form of a new iteration or even a direct sequel.

Then again, I shouldn't be too hopeful: this is a generation which profits from FPSs, music rhythm games and bald space marines. But I digress: here are the top five CRPG franchises that should make a comeback. The only criteria here is that it's got to be on the PC (duh).


5) Might & Magic (1986-2002)



Technically, Might & Magic did make a comeback last year, but in a form of an FPS with stats. You can imagine how pissed off some hardcore M&M fans are upon hearing Ubisoft & co. not sticking true to form. The last good M&M game that stuck true to its real-time-like, non-linear and detailed setting, and difficulty curve is Might & Magic VII. Yes, I am aware that the graphics haven't aged well (as with the case of pre-rendered 3D graphics), but like Elder Scrolls, you were thrown in a huge world with multiple quests for the taking filled with loot and treasure. What more do you need?

How Should It Come Back: Keep the first-person perspective and ditch the action game mentality established by Dark Messiah of Might & Magic. Include the same four-player party system with their own set of tweakable A.I and tactics. Keep the Grand Master expertise system to give players the incentive to participate in more sidequests and power up their characters to obscene numbers.



4) Lands of Lore (1993 - 1999)




Believe it or not, the company that was known as Westwood weren't confined to just making Command & Conquer games back then: they also made adventure games (Legend of Kyrandia series) and CRPGs. The Lands of Lore trilogy was known for being expansive and well-written, with the added benefit of being user-friendly thanks to how easy it is to scroll through spells and the game's point-and-click interface (back then, anyway). Personally, Lands of Lore: Guardians of Destiny stood out since you're controlling the son of the big bad and can morph into all different sorts of things, with the possibilities of seven different endings to ensue multiple playthroughs.

How Should It Come Back: Keep the first-person perspective, but add in a V.A.T.S-like system ala Fallout 3 to keep the combat strategic and turn-based. Make the protagonist a shape-shifting neutral son/daughter of a renown overlord in the Lands of Lore chronology and give players the opportunity to either be a badass or a kind saint. Make sure each of these morality paths give specific benefits to your main character. For instance, being bad powers up your accursed shape-shifting powers, while being good removes its potency, but bolsters your holy-aligned spells and weapons.



3) Ultima (1980 - 1999)




The Ultima Online series help shape the likes of Everquest and WoW, but it wasn't always like this. The Ultima series (specifically part IV) introduced a different kind of way to finish the game: not by killing the big bad, but by preaching good values to a nation under conflict. You play as the Avatar who had to uphold the Eight Virtues of the world of Britannia and protect it from corruption (Ultima V and Blackthorne), from another race of beings whom you ended up parlaying with and not needlessly slaughtering them (Ultima VI and the gargoyles), and from an evil god that uses his power to influence the people of Britannia to form a cult (Ultima VII and so forth with The Guardian). It also didn't come off as too preachy with its messages of racism, genocide, and religion. Plus, you had an expansive world to explore and dungeon-trek as well, with Ultima VII being the pinnacle of interactivity and non-linearity.

How Should It Come Back: Just don't pull of an Ultima IX. Please.

Ultima IV felt unique in its approach to completing the game: perhaps the writers can pull off some cataclysm where Britannia is in array again and the Eight Virtues needed to be restored by a new Avatar. Or how about a twist where the original Avatar from I-IX turns power-mad and you had to face him/her off near the end after restoring said Virtues?




2) Albion (1995)



Give yourself a pat on the back if you actually heard AND played this hidden German gem. Albion places you in the shoes of a space pilot of a huge mining corporation who develops a conscience and tries to stop his corporation from mining and destroying the world of Albion he was set out to explore. Battles are grid-and-turn-based, and the navigation system comes in either an overhead view or a first-person view. The setting itself is unique; you're on a weird alien planet filled with anorexic cat-people, spellcasting humans, and a s***-ton of weird monsters to fight against that don't resemble the conventional fantasy/space monsters one would usually deal with.

How Should It Come Back: The general idea for Albion would actually work in this day and age; it just needs better graphics.



1) Planescape: Torment (1999)



How this game got high praises and came out with less-than-mediocre sales and no word of a sequel is beyond understanding. Not only does Planescape: Torment's universe defies standard convention of how a fantasy world works, but its story of redemption and conflicting philosophies is second to none. What other game lets you kill off your main character multiple times to solve a puzzle, let you have a talking floating skull for a party member who happens to be one of the better fighters in the game, and a non-violent way to resolve the climatic final battle? It’s also rather ironic that a game plot that starts off with amnesia turns out to be an adventure many PC gamers will never forget.

How Should It Come Back: While Planescape: Torment is pretty, the chances of it using the same brown-grey-lighter brown color palette used in most next-gen games are high and could soil what could have been an inventive take on a fantasy multiverse. Would using concept-art style ala Borderlands make things livelier? I would not change the core concept of the game though; it's perfect enough as it is.

So, which CRPGs do you wish to see come back from the dead?

(originally written in GameAxis Unwired January 2010. Title stolen from a GameAxis Online post I did which was a 30+ hour preview of the game)

Not Your Father’s Final Fantasy

There comes a time when one has to accept that videogame companies will not always tailor-make games for you no matter how much you whine about it. Barring a few retro-flavored exceptions, a franchise that has endured for 20 or so years will have to evolve and gain new fans to keep up with the times, and earn its keep. The Final Fantasy franchise has always been the poster child for staying relevant, it is a pioneer in the Japanese RPG field after all.

This brings me to one question: Who are these new gamers that the thirteenth iteration of this revered series is trying to attract? For those wishing for a Second Coming ala Final Fantasy VI, keep waiting.


Out With The Old



Let’s get on the good points first. The new Optima Change system used in combat is a must to learn and perfect if you want to make it out of the game alive. Think of it as a “new age” version of Final Fantasy’s patented Job System. Each of your party members has up to three main roles that they can switch at any time in the game. These Optima roles can be powered up by putting in Crystal Points (FFXIII’s version of experience) in a leveling tree called the Crystalium System, with each tree set up differently for each individual. People initially complained from the previews shown on gaming websites that you can only use one party member; FFXIII’s blazing fast combat wouldn’t work as such if you actually have control of all three characters at the same time.

Your battles require thought, patience, and the ability to switch between Optima configurations. Enemies eventually get harder to kill and figure out, but you will never die due to the enemies being cheap or your party not being at a higher level. The game’s path is made in a way that you can go from point A all the way to the end without any need for tireless grinding.

Speaking of path, there aren’t any of the traditional RPG towns or monster-free zones. There also aren’t any time-wasting puzzles in labyrinths that make you backtrack copious number of times to complete. Think of these exclusions as trimming the fat off of a fabulous Wagyu steak; you just want to get to the really good stuff quick and fast. FFXIII is streamlined so that you can just focus on the great combat system, doing aerial juggles and firing off area-wide elemental blasts to your heart’s content.

Even better, the ill prepared can quit out of a battle (with your equipment intact) and readjust your Optimas as they see fit. Save points are abundant, and open up the options for you to either buy new gear or upgrade your weapons and accessories. When you get to the large outdoor areas, after 30 hours or so of game time, you get the chance to do some constricted world exploring if you’re the sort who loves grinding and dicking around with optional missions.

Have I mentioned yet how frickin’ gorgeous this game looks? Just watching it in motion will make you be a believer that Square Enix is (still) a master in their craft.


The Left Side of My Brain Now Speaks...



One, however, can bring in the argument that “streamlined” is a nicer substitute for “dumbed down”. Why does Square Enix need to put an exclamation mark to where my party is going when the path is more or less a straight line? Why do they show me all of these cool things the main characters can do, yet all I can do is watch them do it? Why does the camera get all wonky whenever I try to outflank an enemy? Is there anything more to do than following the main story and hunting missions that FFXII already did four years ago? Where the hell are the rest of my Final Fantasy staples like the battle & victory fanfare, moogles, and airship driving?

It’s a step down in game design as a whole. Previous titles gave you some semblance of freedom when handholding you down a path weaved, but FFXIII just forces you in that direction. Cut scenes feel like interruptions than something that naturally flows with the game (ironic, since the majority of the scenes are in-game graphics). I am aware that it’s an imperative feature in a JRPG, but when they start showing off segments in excess that could have been set up as an interactive portion, taking away what scraps of non-linearity the franchise imposed on past games, you forget that you’re playing a videogame.

Let me clarify that I get JRPGs. I get the fact that in a JRPG, I have my hand being led on by the storytellers and directors and follow their path of the story and kill lots of fantasy things in the way. But what I don’t get is that you would think that Square Enix, after years of making these games, would have it down to a science and expand their formula further. They did that with FFXII, they did that with even FFX-2. Even some parts of FFVII and FFVI with its huge central story lets you deviate from the path and let you include not-essential-to-the-story characters (Yuffie pre-FFVII-whore-out-bonanza, Gogo, etc.). One would think that FFXIII would evolve beyond that.


In With The New?

Throughout this analysis of sorts, I have yet to answer the simple question: Is this game fun? Yes, because it’s easily the most graphically impressive game on the block. Its deceptively-simple-but-complex-in-nature battle system, intriguing plot, likeable cast, and intuitive features also help make the experience go by as smooth as possible. Is it an evolution of the genre? Lord no, because it’s a step backwards in emphasizing the “role-playing” part of a role-playing game. With titles like Dragon Age: Origins showing new and invigorating things that can be done with the genre, FFXIII feels like it’s resting on its laurels.

Square Enix have been at the top of their game for many years, and the Final Fantasy franchise is by far the most recognizable property in digital fantasy story telling. However, in an effort to create a game that’s more accessible to a wider range of gamers, Final Fantasy XIII marks a turning point away from RPG trappings. How much YOU like the game will really depend on your taste for a linear action-adventure instead.

(on a side note, I won't be surprised if gaming mags and websites gave the game the equivalent of 7s or 8s)

(This article's from the site I work for: Gameaxis.com. This is my essay for the 1up.com special that happened a while ago)



A while ago in the midst of churning out articles and posts, I came across two rather stimulating articles online, one from MTV Multiplayer's Stephen DiTillo concerning context in videogames and the characters we play, and a recent 1up.com feature Are We What We Play? Both bring up one big question that probably has been discussed idly (or not) among cliques of people and gamers; what roles do we, as individuals, want to take when playing a videogame? And what do we want to avoid?

We here at GameAxis ponder at these set of questions, and we would like to share our experiences with you, dear readers. I’ll start with my short essay.


A Game Of Yourself



If my videogaming background serves me well, I could either be a white-clad ninja running atop subway trains fighting Godzilla or Spiderman, or I could be a blue hedgehog speeding through impossibly-constructed loops, or I could be …….well, you get the picture. Concerning the characters I masquerade as, my digital lifestyle has been a little schizophrenic, to put it mildly.

However, the one iconic person that I care about is, above all else, myself. If that statement seems a little too metaphysical to digest, take a look at the Ultima series. When you load up that floppy disk for the first time, a gypsy will start asking you questions based on the eight virtues you have to adopt throughout the game. There is no penalty to giving amoral answers; your answers will only result in a varying stats change. It took me about half an hour to go through each and every one of those questions, searching through the core of what defines me as, well, me. Rather than using a sliding bar and plus/minus signs to adjust your increments, this was an effective way of starting the game off; defining who you are first before entering the realm of Britannia, Faerun, or any plane of your choosing.

Have you ever thought about the ramifications of your actions when you have your newly-created alter ego in Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, or even Baldur’s Gate? I felt a slight tinge of guilt whenever I sucker punch a peasant or just rob his house at night; sure, the rewards are there (new loot!) and any chance at relieving stress after failing a quest is always welcome, but it makes it a little hard to sleep at night. Killing off mushrooms and turtles with the power of your weight or blowing up buildings in Liberty City? Not a problem, since I’m controlling a totally different avatar. But once you have yourself trapped into the Mushroom Kingdom, you start contemplating on genocide. The situation itself seems more profound when it’s you.

Then again, it’s probably just me.