Frank Glasser

"He added that with the company's average development time of two years, one of these flagship games could be released every quarter."

yup.

Amen.

but... good song?

WOW. I am shocked that they're going for the 100% traditional DQ combat system in multiplayer (except of course that you only control one person.) If they can make it fun, I will be amazed and very happy, but the first thing that comes to mind is this:

Remember those parts toward the beginning in most turn based RPGs, when you control one character? And remember how combat basically boils down to watching your hit points while selecting the attack button every turn, until finally you have to use a potion, and then going back to selecting the attack button?

This does not initially seem like a winning formula. I hope they manage to make it exciting. At least it's still going to be unique.

It seems to me the guy says what he thinks and makes sure he explains himself very clearly and straightforwardly. Even when he's writing on a blog. Maybe he's mentally insane?

Personally I think it might be a corporate move. They had a bad year last year, and are worried about the stock going down, so they told their stock holders they have this game (the name of which has huge clout in Japan) that is going to sell a bajillion copies. Then they hold off on releasing it, to buy themselves time before they have to make announcements like "we're delaying the final fantasy 13s to next fiscal year" (which starts next spring in Japan).

There's also that press release from a looong time ago by Wada, I think, that hints they're going to release a bunch of classic DQ games leading up to the big new one. Could just be that.

But yes, it's getting a bit annoying knowing they've probably got level 5 under a vow of silence, for whatever reason. No press on the actual game for almost a year now? I'd at least like to know how the four player mode is going to be good, now that they've changed the battle system. Hopefully they've figured out something interesting.

Alex

Only one person so far makes up names for games with a big cast of characters? (Like Final Fantasy?) Making up names used to be my favorite part of RPGs as a kid -- they were the only console games that let you customize anything!

I use lots of names I've gotten used to over the years for fantasy games, like Talis, Arren, Alic (I used to think Alec was spelled that way), Derek, Dren (usually for orc characters), and Gareth.

Some of my favorite names though come from recently replaying a lot of the Final Fantasies with my girlfriend. She gets to come up with the names, for the most part.

In Final Fantasy 9,
The little black mage boy was Yulio,
The main character with the tail was Palique,
the princess was Coralyn,
and the little girl was Illium.
and I might have to check the save game for more.

I can't remember the names for 6 because we stopped a little before the floating continent, so we didn't play it as much. God I love that game. Still have to convince her to play Chrono Trigger.

I'd like to see a new mana game which is exactly like Secret of Mana in several ways:
Several characters in the party at once, even in single player.
A story that feels a bit retro -- no twenty minute introductions before you get control of your character. There should be some action no more than 2 minutes after you hit the new game button.
Similar combat system, with cooperative multiplayer for several players. Internet play if at all possible (how is there not a single RPG/hack and slash on the market for the most popular game system ever that does internet play?

So, I want a game like Secret of Mana for DS, but with new characters and a new story, and internet play.

Remaking final fantasy IV made sense. A lot of people don't play square's first really great story based game because the graphics are dated and the writing comes from an era when standards were lower in many ways. Apparently the new game even has more plot and side story than the original, because square had to cut a lot out of the over-ambitious original game concept!

Remaking Chrono Trigger only makes sense so that people can buy it again, and play it on a hand held system. If I were remaking chrono trigger, I'd hate to do it on the DS in simplified 3d, and I'm not sure I'd want to do it in sleek looking high res 3d either. It probably would lose the totally unique art style of the original game. . . maybe a cel shaded game would work? Also, the music would never be as full sounding on the DS as it is on the SNES or on an emulator. I would definitely buy it, however. Especially if they added a few more side stories and quests.

Ok, I never post on forums when things have started to explode (I rarely post on forums at all) but the posts here were pretty interesting to me and I just wanted to say really quick, that it seems obvious that this is a very emotional issue. My personal feeling is that while all video games can be addictive, world of warcraft is potentially worse than a lot of other games. (Of course, recent games in general are more addictive than games from ten years ago, so maybe WOW is just where games are going. The question I ask myself is, is this really where I want computer/video games to go in the future?)
I thought Spongebob was right on with the amount of time WOW takes. Whereas I can play warcraft 3, final fantasy whatever or Medieval 2 for forty or even sixty hours before I'm done with it (usually forever) I've played world of warcraft for probably about 15 days, maybe more, and I have friends who have played for at least three or four times that.
Maybe it's a pointless comparison to make. What makes WOW so different is the social interaction: if it isn't the point of the game, it's at least integrated into the game in a way to make it part of the essential point. When I play WOW I step into another world, a place with its own real people -- it's the true beginning of virtual reality. (Well, I guess ultima online and Meridian 59 were the real first MMORPGs.) Anyway, you have to make sacrifices to take part in another world like that, don't you? Sacrifices that affect the energy you are able to put into the rest of your life.
When I was playing WOW, I definitely felt addicted. I would head home for the day saying to myself "I'm not going to play today" and then I'd inevitably end up sweating at the computer seat, trying to figure out how I'd gotten there for the next five or six hours while chatting with old and new friends with names like "Uldan" and "Tassidaru." What eventually started to dawn on me was this: Maybe how much something makes me want to play it and how much I actually enjoy playing it are two different things.
What do you guys think? Assuming WOW does take maybe ten times as much time as other games, maybe more, and has generally repetitive gameplay (like many other games), is there really a payoff for all the time? I can see how playing with a spouse or good friend (from real life) might make the game much more rewarding. Has anyone else who has played regularly found themselves wondering whether it's really worth the opportunity cost of all that time, whether it would go into some other silly hobby or not?


p.s.
I apologize for such a long, rambling post. Sorry if there were any misspellings -- it's five in the morning here. Hopefully no one will see fit to mock me for it, especially not with the kind of spite that seems to surround discussions like these, discussions which I think have every right to exist out here in the perhaps much-more-full-of-possibility piece of virtual reality we call the internet. Don't get me wrong, I think people are serving selfish emotional needs by posting angrily on what you could call "both sides" of this discussion. But when you get someone who is probably older and (at least posturing as) wiser, making fun of someone else for putting an extra d in college, and using that as the predominant strain in a post which closes by saying "You are just mad because your friend prefers WoW than hanging out and playing video games with you" I find myself wondering why someone would care so much about a game basically being called something that "takes your life." And then I realize -- if someone called the world I choose to live in pathetic and not worthy of existence, I'd be pretty pissed myself.
Another interesting question: Why do people get so pissed of at WOW?