Welcome back to Q&A! While I was away, a
remake of the NES Duck Tales game
was announced and I get explain how excited
I am for that. I'm also working on a review
of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. I'm
moving steadily through single player so I
hope to have that ready soon. Also, be sure
to check out our PAX
East covereage! Anyway, on to the
letters as we have one big topic to
discuss...
The Letters
The Fix is In
@AskWheels How would you fix Square Enix?
@FinalMacstorm
Wheels
Well the company has a lot of
issues so a lot of different
approaches would be required!
For starters, I'd get the
company to set some
realistic expectations. Tomb
Raider sold a cool 3.4
million, and although
there's some lower than
expected sales in North
America involved there
that's almost double the
previous game. There should
be no disappointment with
that! I don't know if Square
Enix spent too much on
marketing or the pointless,
tacked-on multiplayer
contributed to the
disappointment, but they
need to get this in order.
Expectations for Deus Ex
seemed to be just right
so I'm not sure what
happened
Foster the growth of Eidos
Montreal. This studio showed
a ton of promise with Deus
Ex: Human Revolution
and it needs to give them
the resources to continue to
deliver on that promise.
Having Eidos Montreal do a
multiplayer mode for Tomb
Raider is not the
right use of its talent. How
about you put them on a Final
Fantasy game?
Move most console
development to Western
studios. I'll probably take
some flak for this, but
Square Enix's internal
studios have had a lot of
trouble with the current HD
console generation. Though
they've been able to pump
out two Final Fantasy
XIII sequels quickly,
most projects have
languished. In this regard,
Square Enix should let its
Japanese studios do more
lower budget portable titles
and have Western studios do
most console releases, or at
least have them co-develop
big console titles with
their Japanese studios. This
isn't a Japanese vs. Western
development thing, this is
solely based on the issues
its Japanese studios have
faced. If that issue changes
Square Enix could revisit
this issue.
Hire Level-5 to make Dragon
Quest XI on HD
consoles. Ni No Kuni
showed that kind of game
could still sell very well
in the West, so Square Enix
should jump on this.
Let Kawazu continue the SaGa
series on 3DS. The Maestro
himself should be allowed to
continue his series, and by
doing it on 3DS Square Enix
can make it a low risk with
potentially high reward.
This will of course come
with the stipulation that he
not do something crazy like
Unlimited Saga again.
Localize Dragon Quest
VII 3DS - OK this one
doesn't help, I just want
it!
Finally, Square Enix
should stop making
pre-rendered cut scenes once
and for all. They probably
cost a lot to make and as Final
Fantasy XIII has shown
us they add very little to
the game. It's time to hang
up this aging process and
stick to in-engine cut
scenes.
There you have it! Feel free to
send me in your own ideas
readers.
Fixing EA and SE
@AskWheels Will Riccitiello's departure from
EA help BioWare return to form in the
future?
Wheels
I think
BioWare would return to form
regardless. It seemed to me
that after Dragon Age II
was a bit bungled , EA
learned its lesson and
wouldn't force BioWare to rush
out a game again. We could
talk about Mass Effect 3
coming out quickly to some
extent, but that kept the
engine of the previous game so
it naturally was going to have
a shorter gap to its release
than there was between 1
and 2. The multiplayer
portion was needed of course.
So, long story short I think
EA was headed in the right
direction with BioWare anyway
so I don't think Riccitiello's
departure will have much
effect here.
@AskWheels will Wada's departure from Square
Enix fix anything?
@FowlSorcerous
Wheels
That all depends on the
direction his replacement takes
the company. Given the many
issues at Square Enix a change
in leadership was way overdue.
So just by his leaving it seems
to me that it makes it much more
likely the company will go about
trying to fix these issues.
We'll see who replaces him!
I Did Say I'd Answer ALL
His Questions
Question the First: Why do you hate gays?
Wheels
The only people I hate are
whoever decided SaGa 2
and SaGa 3 for DS
weren't worth localizing.
Question the Second: Why are you a Nazi?
Wheels
Question the Third: When will there be a
good new Castlevania game in the 2d
style?
Wheels
Do
you mean 2D art style, or 2D
gameplay style? Lords of
Shadow: Mirror of Fate is
a pretty good 2D gameplay style
game, but doesn't exactly follow
the classic formula. That said,
given how "in" retro games are
I'd be shocked if we don't see
another 2D Castlevania in
the near future. I mean Konami
doesn't really have IGA working
on anything else does it?
Question the Fourth: Why do you kick
puppies?
Wheels
They bit my ankles!
Question the Fifth: Why won't you admit that
lumpy, meowing sack you threw into the river
was full of kittens and not, as you said, a
rogue Cat AI?
Wheels
I
would never hurt cats man,
they're scary!
Question the Sixth: When was the last time
you called your Grandma and told her you
love her?
Wheels
When was the last time YOU
called your Grandma and told her
you love her?
Question the Seventh: Has there ever been a
video game that captures the coolness of
cyperpunk the way Neuromancer (the
book) did?
Wheels
Not quite as far as I know, but
I guess the Shadowrun
games might come close? I think
the best bet might be the Cyberpunk
2077 game that we'll see
in the near future. Maybe keep
an eye on that?
Question the Eighth: Do you prefer being
high or drunk while answering these
questions?
Wheels
I
don't do drugs man, so drunk
obviously.
Question the Ninth: Do your employers know
that you are drunk and/or high while on the
job?
Wheels
Of
course!
Question the Tenth: How long is your penis?
Wheels
Question the Eleventh: What RPGs, other than
Persona, are you interested in seeing
this year? Any of them indie titles?
Wheels
Several are indie titles in
fact! I'm looking forward to
checking out both Dragon
Fantasy Book II and Penny
Arcade AdventuresII,
both indie RPGs that use a
16-bit art style. As for the
non-indie titles, I'm looking
forward to the new Ys on
Vita and Soul Hackers
for 3DS. Ys I already
imported so I know it's a
fantastic action RPG.
Question the Twelfth: New Wizardry
game. Exciting? Or too little too late? Or
what's Wizardry?
Wheels
Was there a new game announced?
If you're talking about the
online game, I've heard that's
not like Wizardry in the
slightest. If you're talking
about the game released by
XSEED, that was OK but the Etrian
Odyssey series already
revived that kind of game and
did better things with it. If
this is some other game I
haven't heard then, then maybe
it could be exciting!
Question the Thirteenth: Is the lyric in the
DuckTales theme "Watch behind you,"
or "lurks behind you?"
Wheels
Clearly it's watch behind you,
but here's the song for anyone
that doubts this:
Question the Fourteenth: Outside of Uplink
are there any other games where hacking is
the central form of gameplay? Also, how
awesome *still* is Uplink?
Wheels
There are no games outside of Uplink
with hacking as the central
gameplay that I am aware of. Uplink
was amazing, which I
thankfully was able to play due
to a Mac port from Ambrosia
Software (the makers of Escape
Velocity). The tension
that game was able to create was
incredible. I wish they had done
a proper sequel to it and not
the weird game they ended up
making.
Question the Fifteenth: What are the chances
you will answer all of these questions
honestly?
Wheels
50-50
Question the Sixteenth: How many of your
readers and pedantic, stinky, neckbeards?
Love,
Falselogic
Wheels
At
least one!
ZING
Fixing Square Enix Some
More
@AskWheels Whoops! Been stuck in test
mode for school... Thoughts re: Wada
stpping down and selling of mobile freemium
assets for SE?
@MHRelias
Wheels
No
worries! I've been there so I
know how insane school can get.
I already shared thoughts on
Wada previously but I wanted to
touch on the freemium assets
sale as I don't really get it.
If those freemium properties
were making money, why sell
them? If they weren't making
money, did Square Enix even get
fair value? Those types of
properties seem to be a great
source of income for many
companies so I just don't see
why Square Enix would do it
unless it desperately needed to
get cash into its coffers or
something.
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