Industrial Toy’s Midnight Star (Free), the F2P first-person shooter from Alex Seropian, one of Bungie’s founders, Paul Bertonethe, one of Halo‘s designers, and with a story written by John Scalzi, is getting a big 1.1 update soon that will mainly focus on improving the game’s multiplayer experience. For those who aren’t familiar with the game, it’s a first-person on-rails shooter with a multiplayer component focused around a variety of challenges where players go for highest score, most headshots, quickest time, etc. The devs have said that among other features, this update will add new weapons, sharing of video highlights, and giving more Challenge timer options.
The most important change, though, is already live, and it really alters the way multiplayer challenges are played. Originally, a player’s best score was determined by his or her last attempt (usually there are three attempts to complete a challenge). The result of that rule was that most players wouldn’t use up all of their three attempts, fearing that a bad run would diminish the good work they’d already done. Although this rule allowed for some strategy in the way a player took on the challenge, the most common result was that most players would stop at one or two attempts. The developers felt that players should be free to go all out throughout the challenge, so the victor of a challenge will now be determined by the best rather than last score. I’m glad they’ve changed the rule, because I often found myself hesitating to use all of my attempts in fear of messing up an earlier good run.
It’s good to see the developers willing to continue fine-tuning an already well-designed game to improve the player experience. Work on the update is well under way and 1.1 should be coming out soon (no date announced yet). In the meantime, be sure to read our original review of Midnight Star.
I already own the DS version of this so won't be buying it personally, but I do recommend it highly.
I just wanted to comment that are incredibly ballsy to drop "Best FF Ever" on V. I don't so much entirely disagree (some days it's V, some days it's VI) but I'm just waiting for the inevitable explosion in the comments. :)
Personally it would be 6 for me. I'll get crucified for this but 5 felt a little generic compared to 4 and 6. Someone give me armor!
Nope. I totally agree. But I played IV and VI in grade school and didn't play V til the GBA version so that might be part of it. :)
IV is my favorite, and I think VI is the best. I don't like the graphics of the remake of IV though. Yuck. Even doing it on PSP would have been a big improvement.
I can't choose between 4 6 7 8 9 X 12 13-2 and 14 Crisis Core Dissidia Tactics...I love them all
No way it's 5. No fucking way it's 5.
Shaun, Final Fantasy VI is on sale for $7.99, is it the best in the series? I remember playing them back in the day but the numbering of the series has me confused. I absolutely loved one of them, I believe it was VI...
Was it on the SNES? If so (assuming you're not Japanese), it was either this game or FF6. Either way, FF6 is pretty awesome. For $8, it's hard to go wrong.
Yes, definitely on the SNES back my younger days here in the USA. One of my fondest gaming memories right up there with NES games: Legend of Zelda, Baseball Stars, Adventures of Lolo, Bubble Bobble and Dragon Warrior to name a few... Even though now I have everything I could possibly want (in life and gaming wise) nothing will beat rushing home from school to play games like that. When you waited for weeks for that next issue of EGM, GamePro, etc. to come in the mail to get tips, see new games!
FF4 was the first real RPG I was totally obsessed with. Sure it was linear and the plot twists were kind of obvious and killing off everyone was a bit melodramatic but at the time each death was heart wrenching and each turn kept me hungry for more. To me FF4 nailed everything a classic JRPG should be. While 5,6, and 7 expanded on this game and improved on some areas there's something about 4 that will always have a really special spot in my heart because it just nails everything a solid JRPG should. I'll never forget the rage I felt that first time I didn't go back and save after beating scarmiglione/milon and he came back from behind and ruined me a few minutes later. Thanks for this solid write up. I always look forward to RPG reloads.
Shaun once again you completely nailed your review, Ye olde shakespeare of RPG reviews. My very first RPG I had ever played was the original Phantasy Star for the Sega Master System. Oh Alis, Myua, Odin and Noah how I miss you. I would love more than anything to be able to play it again on my phone. Have you ever played it? And do you think it will ever get released on IOS. I have been hooked on RPG's ever since. Keep up the great reviews!
There aren't many fans of Mystic Quest but that game had some of the best video game music ever.
i remember it. watched a friend play through tons of it and played it myself afterwards. it was great.
Yep awesome soundtrack. I don't mind the game itself either honestly. It's not great, but it's fun.
I actually prefer having job classes hard-coded to each character!
- It allows character abilities to be tied to the game's plot. The plot bit early in the game where Rydia needs to cast the Fire spell to overcome an obstacle wouldn't have made as much sense if the player was able to spec other party members with black mage abilities. Also, one of my favorite lines in the game is when Rubicant says to Edge "Was it fire? Let me show you how!"
- It allows combat encounters to be tailored and balanced to the active party's abilities. That Milon encounter might be too hard or too easy (both of which make things less fun) if the player were allowed to determine which characters had access to fire and/or holy magic.
- It gives each character a real "identity" tied to their job. If you say "Rosa" I immediately think "white mage". If you say "Bartz"... well, let's just say I'm curious to see how Final Fantasy Record Keeper assigns him usable abilities once FFV characters start getting released in North America!
I think my issue is that it makes the game almost exactly the same every time you play it. I'm still learning new tricks in FF5, whereas FF4 spilled all of its secrets almost 25 years ago. I agree that it does have its advantages (for balancing especially), but I think you can gate certain abilities and still give the player some choice at some point. Though it's not the best example, see FF6, where magic is treated as a rarity for most of the world of balance but completely opens up in the world of ruin. Plus, even in the world of balance, you can sometimes choose your party members.
As for the FF5 characters in RK, they're assigned jobs. Lenna is a white mage, for example.
I agree that replayability does benefit when the player can customize individual characters and/or the active party members.
I'd like to see a Final Fantasy game where each character does have a defined job that makes that character special, but the player is given some control over selecting and customizing the abilities of the character within that job.
Actually, going all the way back to FF1, a primitive version of that system was in the game (at least in the original NES release): For the spellcasting characters, at each spell level, you could select only 3 spells out of an available 4 (or a few more for the red mage) for the character. So my level 1 black mage might know the fire spell but not the lightning spell, whereas yours might be the opposite.
That would still allow for character abilities to be used during plot events in a realistic fashion, too. For example, the party's white mage healing (or trying to heal) a character that has just been wounded during a cutscene. (Assuming characters would always know certain "core" skills such as the Cure line for white mages, regardless of customization.)
Great article! Thank you. I agree on IV being a nice teaching rpg game. It has helped me as a rpg beginner. Very good point, I didn't even realize that until you made it in your article. Thanks again.
I have to say this one is one of my favorites of all time. Is a game you should play, a must have"
FF4 is on my iPad 2, and I've played a few hours. But I'm not drawn to it as much mainly because it is so linear. But I've enjoyed it so far! Personally, I've enjoyed FF3 much longer. Can't wait to read the Re-Load on FF3!
The first FF game I ever saw was VII, when I watched my friend play it. However, my favorite remains IX, because that was the first one I ever dove into on my own. And I LOVE the art style of IX. I've put it on my iPhone quite a few times just to play a few parts.
Played this for the first time semi recently. I didn't notice too much in the way of frame rate issues but that could just be my lack of actually being bothered by that sort of thing.
I do wish I'd known that "hard" mode was actually the default difficulty as I would have probably played it that way, as things stand I didn't find it too hard, probably on the easier side of "just right".
Even though I knew the ATB system from subsequent FF titles I found it annoying in FF4 as I'd played through FF1 - 3 prior and in pretty close succession, not being able to leisurely take my turn all of a sudden was kind of jarring. Don't get me wrong I love a good real time action RPG but when it comes to turn based I just want to relax, procrastinate and think about my moves, sometimes I just want to stare at the screen absorbing the backgrounds, taking in the music etc and FF4 just wouldn't let me with it's constant hassling, oh well.
All in all I think I preferred FF3, nicer music for one (though I can take or leave the job system, just give me a fixed class and have done with it) though there's not a lot in it really between the two.
I'm on a real FF kick at the moment, playing through every title I've missed in rough chronological order, currently playing FF Legends on Gameboy, they'd make for some cracking iOS titles, surprisingly fun but will sadly never happen probably.
Yeah I love those FF Legend games. They aren't actually Final Fantasy though. They're part of the Saga series and were just rebranded (as was FF Adventure which is the game that Secret of Mana is a sequel to).
SaGa's having a bit of a revival right now. I'd love if the DS remakes of SaGa 2/3 (aka FF Legend 2/3) would get iOS ports as part of that, but even if they did, they'd probably be Japan-only just like the DS versions were. :/
FF Adventure is actually kind of complicated. It spun out of FF4's planning when they ditched the real-time combat idea, was known for most of its development as "Final Fantasy Gaiden", and indeed the Japanese box has the title as "Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden" or "Legend Of The Holy Sword: Final Fantasy Side-Story". But the title screen only says "Seiken Densetsu", and of course it ended up launching a series that became unaffiliated with FF.
I actually consider FF Adventure to be a legit FF spin-off. SaGa in its own weird way is, too, I suppose. SaGa 1/2 are basically FF2 (the *real* FF2)'s sequels.
Interesting! Didn't know that about FF Adventure, and yeah, that's quite true that SaGa came from FF2 really... Gosh I'd even be happy with the Wonderswan Color version of SaGa 1 on iOS!
Yeah I knew that FF legends and adventure weren't pure bred FF games going in but as they were branded FF my gaming OCD wouldn't let me ignore them. I need to tick them off that chronological list I compiled of every English language FF game to date. Finished FFL2 over the weekend and am about half way through adventure (interestingly over here in the UK adventure was just called Mystic Quest, which is only half FF branding I suppose, I don't think we ever got Legends, yup I'm emulating, for what it's worth I checked eShop for Virtual Console releases but no dice). Regardless of heritage the games do sort of fit with the FF aesthetic though, the 8 bit titles especially, though the mechanics are for the most part very different. Adventure has a very Zelda vibe, in some ways it actually feels tighter than the original Zelda, once I'm done with that I need to beat FF 5, Mystic Quest, FFL3 in that order and I will have done every game up to 9. From there I've played none of the titles though I have HD FFX / X2, Dirge of Cerberus and FF12 waiting in the wings, will skip 11 for obvious reasons, my OCD is fine with that. From what I hear things take a new direction after 9 though.
Actually, I would say X keeps it pretty solid and that it's 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 that really change things up (and not necessarily in a good way, in my opinion). X is different, but it's pretty neat, fun story, and actually my favorite FF battle system of all (takes it back to the true turn-based combat of FF 1-3 but with some fun twists).
SaGa was a game i was so excited to play and so dissapointed by back on PS1 I thought both games on ps1 dissapointed idk why the franchise would have a comeback
I think most of Japan's fondness for the series comes from the SNES Romancing SaGa games, which weren't released in English. They're probably the best of the SaGa games, though the Game Boy ones (named Final Fantasy Legend in English) are pretty good too.
The ones you're talking about, SaGa Frontier 1/2, well. They had their moments, but I don't think they were all that great either, outside of some gorgeous art and interesting themes. Of course, the series found a deeper basement with Unlimited SaGa on the PS2, which pretty much killed SaGa dead for 10 years, haha.
Just thought I'd comment here that English translations for Final Fantasy Legend 2 and 3 remakes for DS exist. They are remade in the 3D form that FFIV was remade on DS and combat is a bit different but the story remains the same!
Wish they would have just released it with Snes graphics ..