Ben-DutkaI just can't believe that both Final Fantasy XIII and God of War III are only weeks away… Time flies.
Who will follow in Quantic Dream's footsteps?
When I heard David Cage say Quantic Dream's latest masterpiece was the final entry in his own "personal trilogy," , I felt a little disheartened. The team has said they wish to experiment with other technologies, like 3D and the new motion sensing systems coming this year, and that sort of implies they may leave the "interactive drama" behind. We already know they have absolutely no intention of making a sequel to Heavy Rain – which I certainly respect – but they pushed the industry so far forward with this latest one, it seems tragic to abandon the path they've blazed. At the same time, though, I also have to recognize that for this game to be a true storytelling revolution for gaming, other designers need to build upon it. The only problem I have with that is, who ? The first person that springs to mind is Hideo Kojima, of course, but I'm not so sure he's interested in the idea of an "interactive drama."
I'm afraid that the new intellectually-driven genre forged by Heavy Rain will die out before it ever really gets going. It's great that the game has received such fantastic reviews (even Cage admitted he didn't expect it; he thought the critics would be more split, as I anticipated) and the pre-order numbers continue to rise, but what about the future…? Who will carry the torch now? Why do I get the feeling Quantic Dream can't really give me the same experience with anything that centers on motion sensing or 3D? I'd hate to see Heavy Rain become a "first and last" type thing…
If you don't want to make a FFVII remake, just SAY so
Really. Nobody buys your ridiculous explanation as to why such a project is out of the question. There's no way on earth any game project would take that long; gamers and journalists aren't totally ignorant, you know. I'll believe you if you simply say you don't have the time and/or resources; I'll believe you if you say you don't believe there's enough interest; I will not believe that a HD remake of Final Fantasy VII will somehow take "3-4 times as long" as it took to make Final Fantasy XIII . I think it's abundantly clear that Square-Enix simply has no intention of undertaking such a project, so why not just say that? Why make up insanely illogical and irrational estimates? You know, through all the years when this rumor survived, S-E never once said, "nah, we don't feel like doing that." No, it's always some vague, obscure, "well, maybe…who knows…it's hard to say…" blah blah blah. And now, they're quite literally inventing excuses. What is so hard about coming clean?
You don't want to do it. Fine. Just come out and say so. Please .
Personal gaming update
I'm playing Bioshock 2 now, which is great. There's no better word to describe it. The review will be up soon but I'll say this: if you enjoyed the original, I can't think of a reason why you wouldn't like the sequel. I've also played a lot of Aliens vs. Predator ; you'll be seeing that review late Monday night (I think), and although it's a fun game, I wouldn't expect too much in the way of overwhelming praise. I've had to put aside Heavy Rain while I've moved on with work, but I'll go back and finish my fourth play-through well before FFXIII gets here. Oh, and Sony sent me the actual retail copy, too, so I don't have to buy it; that silly silver test disk for the review comes in a clear plastic case and looks like hell in my collection. I needed the actual game so I'm glad I got it. I didn't really need to know that the real-life Madison was quite that hot, but oh well, gotta take the bad with the good.
I'm almost happy Gran Turismo 5 is a long ways off. March is crazy with those two huge games and in all honesty, the games have been coming hard since January. I need a break. LOL
