Purple Haze

This is a forum thread topic, not a column about J-RPGs. Sorry if I seem bitter, but I feel like Jason Schreier did, and continues to do, a better job at analysing this genre in ways that are more interesting than the ways I've seen it approached in this column since. Now it feels like a bunch of filler because the column happens to be there, in which case it should've died when Jason left.

I bitched about your last column, but this is pitch perfect. I couldn't agree more, and I actually realised the other day that, more than any other genre, JRPGs rely on suspension of disbelief, in every sense of the term. In no other genre would I put up with the sort of melodramatic 'crap' that seems synonymous with JRPGs, let alone enjoy it to the extent that I do.

@Roto13 But if the Last Story has a translation that isn't complete shit then it will have a huge advantage :) Not to mention, while I'm enjoying Xenoblade, the Last Story is much more my style of game. Xenoblade feels much too MMO-ish to me.

I've found all of the previous entries in this column to be quite interesting, but this one just seems silly. So a year and a half after Final Fantasy XIII came out, when the sequel is just a couple of months away, you have a platform and can final get off your chest how much you dislike the game? This isn't a unique perspective, nor is it one that really has much relevance at this point when they seem to have pretty much taken all of this criticism on board already. You could've just waited a couple of months to see if Final Fantasy XIII-2 actually does address these issues, and if it didn't you could write a nice and timely column about what you think should be done... If it does? Then you just wasted everyones time :) Anyway, I still look forward to seeing what you write about in the next couple of weeks, the column's been mostly very good so far and I really like being able to read these (usually) thoughtful articles about my favorite genre.

@sammo21

I'm not a huge fan of his either, but I think what he may mean is that it isn't worth the 'time' for him to make it work on consoles and go through the approval process. If I remember correctly, it was basically him, other than the art and licensed music, he made Braid on his own, and I think it took him something like 3 or 4 years. The ports to PS 3 and iOS were done by Hothead though, and I'm sure the same thing will happen with this in the end.

Jonah Lomu barely has any pull left here in New Zealand, let alone anywhere else after not playing for so long. Weird that they still choose to use him as a selling point. They should use Sebastian Chavel instead; Who wouldn't want to play a game with a giant cave man on the cover?

@Barry Burton

So long as they open it up much earlier and don't hold your hand so much then I think they're pretty much set. There was already more town exploration in that trailer than all of Final Fantasy XIII, so to me they seem to be on the right track. I loved XIII anyway though, but there are couple of things that I agree could improve.

I was about ask why the hole wouldn't be pink, but... Yeah...

@Jack Kevorkian Yeah man, I just looked at it and new it was the best game of all time.

This game is strangely enticing. I have no idea why I'm so fascinated by it, but I blindly feel like I need it as soon as possible.