General gaming

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• An Oral History of Final Fantasy VII
• Harold Melted My Brain, and I Love It For That
• Final Fantasy XIV: A Franchise Reborn
• Watch Us Discuss Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes
• OP-ED: Everyone Should Want Dark Souls to Have an Easy Mode
• The Secrets of Final Fantasy VII's Success
• Cover Story: Final Fantasy VII's Quinceañera

An Oral History of Final Fantasy VII Posted: 04 Sep 2012 05:21 PM PDT Feature Share it: Tweet 1UP COVER STORY 1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 4 | FINAL FANTASY VII'S QUINCEAÑERA An Oral History of Final Fantasy VII Cover Story: The legacy of FFVII, as told by those who played it. I n three days, we'll be 15 years beyond the official U.S. release date of Final Fantasy VII. A decade and a half later, fans still adore the game, debate its intricacies, and clamor for the remake that Square Enix has been teasing for years. So what's the big deal? Rather than simply tell you what we think, we've asked Final Fantasy VII fans and detractors alike for their thoughts on the game. What makes it great? What makes it imperfect? Does it deserve its legacy? Read on.... Aujang Abadi: Final Fantasy VII wasn't really a game of "firsts." None of its individual elements were new to the series. FFVII's "first" was its unprecedented combination of all of those individual pieces in a stunning 3D world. Calling its release revolutionary feels like an understatement. When FFVII launched, it didn't just change the playing field; it created an entirely new field to play on. The game looked unbelievably fantastic: There were other 3D RPGs at the time, but the difference in graphical fidelity is staggering. It had mind-blowing FMV that made its world come alive, and used them to deliver the biggest emotional suckerpunch in the history of RPGs.

Harold Melted My Brain, and I Love It For That Posted: 04 Sep 2012 04:53 PM PDT During the madness of PAX (or any expo show, for that matter), it's tough for a single unknown title to snatch your attention away from the sensory overload of the show floor. And yet, that's exactly what Harold did. The booth, tucked along a wall near a much louder and much larger Sega area, seemed to become a magnet to all of those who walked in its proximity. I hadn't even heard of Harold, much less have any sort of interest in it. But within moments of seeing the game in action, I understood that it was something special, and was compelled to find out more. Harold is the simple tale of a bumbling scarecrow of a man who has plenty of heart, but is as blind as a bat and lacks any sort of physical prowess whatsoever, which is a bummer considering that he keeps finding himself engaged in obstacle course races against much better athletes. Lucky for Harold, he has a guardian angel, which is where the player comes in. At no point will you ever control Harold, but rather you'll act as his magical counterpart. Your goal is to help guide Harold to the front of the pack by manipulating the environment to insure not only his success, but his opponent's failure. So in short, this is a platformer where you control the platforms.

Final Fantasy XIV: A Franchise Reborn Posted: 04 Sep 2012 04:34 PM PDT Feature Share it: Tweet 1UP COVER STORY 1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 4 | FINAL FANTASY VII'S QUINCEAÑERA Final Fantasy XIV: A Franchise Reborn Cover Story: How Square Enix is turning to its past in FFVII to ensure a future for FFXIV. I t takes less than two minutes after setting a polygonal foot into Eorzea before the game greets me with a dream sequence featuring fiery death raining from the skies. This omen is more nostalgic than grim. My first act after entering the open game world is to tilt the camera towards the heavens. A bright red orb hangs suspended there, a celestial monarch attended by an aurora and shooting stars. This is what I have come to see. The game itself, after all, still lies well short of its potential. Trying to get started with Final Fantasy XIV in its current state is an exercise in patience. The combat system is unintuitive, other newcomers are few and far between, and the world feels restrictive and forbids you from jumping over so much as a pebble. However, things are not all bad at first glance. The attention to presentation, a hallmark of the franchise, is manifest in the game's elaborate cutscenes. The graphics are beautiful--if your system can handle them. This juxtaposition of quality with carelessness characterizes FFXIV and tells the story of a franchise in transition, one that has seen better days.

Watch Us Discuss Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes Posted: 04 Sep 2012 03:41 PM PDT After a special showing at the Metal Gear 25th Anniversary event in Japan, we could't wait to see Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes. At special PAX '12 Saturday panel, 1UP editors Jeremy Parish and Jose Otero finally saw what all the hubbub was about, and the duo lined up outside the Paramount Theatre to record their impressions of developer Kojima Productions' ten-minute demo.

OP-ED: Everyone Should Want Dark Souls to Have an Easy Mode Posted: 04 Sep 2012 03:30 PM PDT Dark Souls, like Demon's Souls before it, is a game that is perhaps best known for its ruthless difficulty. In a sea of games where making it through to the end is all but assured for one reason or another, the Souls titles are almost completely devoid of any handholding. From the limited tutorial to the countless number of times players will die, it's clear from the outset that players are in for something unlike the norm. The game cleverly does things to mitigate potential frustration, though by no means are you likely to find anyone who would consider the experience an easy one. Dark Souls director Hidetaka Miyazaki has been pondering the possibility of adding an additional difficulty level, and, as you'd expect, fans are having quite the reaction to that. "I personally want my games to be described as satisfying rather than difficult," Miyazaki told GameCentral. "As a matter of fact, I am aiming at giving players sense of accomplishment in the use of difficulty. Having said that, however, it is true that Dark Souls is rather difficult and a number of people may hesitate to play. This fact is really sad to me and I am thinking about whether I should prepare another difficulty that everyone can complete or carefully send all gamers the messages behind our difficult games."

The Secrets of Final Fantasy VII's Success Posted: 04 Sep 2012 11:44 AM PDT Feature Share it: Tweet 1UP COVER STORY 1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 4 | FINAL FANTASY VII'S QUINCEAÑERA The Secrets of Final Fantasy VII's Success Cover Story: We look at the history of Final Fantasy VII's biggest successes. F inal Fantasy VII's achievements are well-documented. When it arrived in 1997, Square's behemoth of a PlayStation RPG set many standards. It brought a cinematic panache to video games. It left players dumbstruck at the death of an endearing major character. It introduced its genre to mainstream American gamers. It was, in effect, the first international RPG blockbuster. That's how the rigmarole usually proceeds, at least. Yet Final Fantasy VII's numerous innovations didn't materialize overnight. They're all the results of gradually accreted inspirations that ran through many older games. Final Fantasy VII brought many of these things together with a budget and marketing never seen before among Japanese RPGs, but it stood upon the accomplishments of various inventive predecessors.

Cover Story: Final Fantasy VII's Quinceañera Posted: 04 Sep 2012 11:42 AM PDT Feature Share it: Tweet 1UP COVER STORY 1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 4 | FINAL FANTASY VII'S QUINCEAÑERA Cover Story: Final Fantasy VII's Quinceañera The game that popularized the RPG hits an important milestone. For anyone playing video games in 1997, you just couldn't ignore Final Fantasy VII. The game's marketing somehow managed the impossible feat of being everywhere gamer's would look. Quick 30-second ads invaded your television with boastful phrases like, "More than 200 hundred animators and programmers... a multi-million dollar production... over two years in the making." The cast graced the cover of your favorite video game magazine months after the initial release. From demos to in-store cardboard standees, it was difficult to escape FFVII's presence. Everyone was talking about FFVII, and the fact that the experience lasted over 60 hours meant you could squeeze a lot of conversation out of it. The hype for Square's lauded cinematic masterpiece felt massive at the time, and the simple act of owning a PlayStation (and a memory card) served as the gateway to an experience hyped like no other. This wasn't simply another game launch for Squaresoft -- six years before the company would join forces with their fiercest rival Enix -- and Sony, FFVII would stand up as a major event in the history of entertainment.

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