General gaming

General gaming

Hitting the Ground Running: Final Fantasy VII's Amazing Opening

Posted: 06 Sep 2012 05:30 PM PDT

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1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 4 | FINAL FANTASY VII'S QUINCEAÑERA

Hitting the Ground Running: Final Fantasy VII's Amazing Opening

Cover Story: How Square's love of spectacle created one unforgettable prologue.

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PGs typically start with the action set to a simmer. You slowly get to know a handful of characters and the world around them, and -- BOOM! -- some earth-shattering event sends your party on their epic quest. And it should be noted that this trope doesn't just exist in RPGs; Joseph Campbell's monomyth -- the foundation of nearly every fictional adventure -- dictates that stories begin with a "call to action," in which the hero is plucked from humble roots and thrown into mortal danger. Since RPGs largely focus themselves on story, it often takes more than a half-dozen hours before all of the key elements fall into place. Those not used to such leaden pacing often find themselves searching for a game that doesn't make you wade through hours of prologue before diving into action and excitement.

If Final Fantasy VII planned on reinventing RPGs for the PlayStation generation, it would have to ditch the standard RPG opening for something much more "Hollywood." And it's not like the series had been a stranger to action-packed beginnings in the past; the trilogy of SNES games each started with an exciting and ominous scene, rather than the portrayal of an idyllic town unaware of its impending doom. Still, a boost in technology and production values meant that Square had the potential to wow players -- and not just RPG fans -- from minute one, and Final Fantasy VII's opening set out to do just that. This brief bit of game play lasts less than an hour, but it presents constant mysteries without stopping to ponder them. And most importantly, it keeps moving -- even 15 years later, modern RPGs often let pacing fall by the wayside in lieu of unnecessary exposition.

Ubisoft Prepares to Do Right By PC Gamers

Posted: 06 Sep 2012 04:33 PM PDT

Ubisoft DRM

Ubisoft is not held in the highest esteem among PC gamers. There are a variety of reasons for that, the most prominent being the manner in which the publisher has handled DRM. Its games have been saddled with what is perceived by many as being unacceptable forms of digital rights management, the technology used to combat piracy. The company has now declared it is changing the way it handles things, and while it hasn't given us the satisfaction of admitting it was wrong, the important thing is one of the world's biggest biggest publishers now appears to be taking computer gaming much more seriously.

To be fair, Ubisoft had already taken some steps to further capitalize on the PC gaming market recently. It announced several new free-to-play titles last month and then launched Uplay PC, a digital distribution platform for its PC games that operates like Origin or Steam. Whom this was targeted at was unclear; with Ubisoft having the reputation it does, many hardcore PC gamers shy away from buying PC versions of Ubisoft's games in the first place. (I count myself among this group; I think Anno 2070 looks great, and even though it has been discounted numerous times on Steam, tales of its DRM were enough for me to take a stand and not buy it.) The odds that these people would not only support its games despite the way they are treated, but do so directly through its own distribution service were not high.

Five Things that (Probably) Influenced Final Fantasy VII and Five Things it (Probably) Influenced

Posted: 06 Sep 2012 04:15 PM PDT

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1UP COVER STORY

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1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 4 | FINAL FANTASY VII'S QUINCEAÑERA

Five Things that (Probably) Influenced Final Fantasy VII and Five Things it (Probably) Influenced

Cover Story: A look back at a Final Fantasy game that looked forward.

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ulture: culture is a perpetual yin-yang dance of serial burglary.

. . . Mmm, cereal.

Make Your Own Damn Diablo Game in Mighty Quest for Epic Loot

Posted: 06 Sep 2012 10:30 AM PDT

mighty quest

Call me sadistic, but anytime I wander through a digital dungeon trying to survive the intricate traps and deceptive layout that the developers meticulously planned out, I can't help but wonder if I could create a better death-den. Games like Diablo and Dark Souls have such a perfect sense of geography, enemy placement, and trap variety that keep players always guessing as to what's around the next corner. Tecmo's Deception series for the PS1 brought interesting ideas to the table by focusing on passive combat and tasking the players with taking out their adversaries using a variety of environmental traps and hazards, but since then, this type of game has been few and far between. This gap will hopefully be filled with Ubisoft Montreal's upcoming free-to-play PC title Mighty Quest for Epic Loot.

The silly title perfectly fits the tone of the game. Drawing obvious inspirations from tongue-in-cheek fantasy tales like Monty Python, The Princess Bride, and Time Bandits, the game presents a magical world with a healthy dose of humor. It knows that over-sized knights and flame-spewing demons are a bit silly, but it still treats that silliness with love and affection. But while the decidedly non-wet blanket atmosphere is welcoming, the real reason to get interested in Mighty Quest is because of the sheer amount of freedom and creativity that it gives the player.

Posted by Shri Krishna

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