It takes some giant, Square Enix-sized balls to release a demo to the sequel of a game that most fans hated.  If said demo received even remotely similar criticisms, that could mean a second, more embarrassing failure before the sequel even touched shelves.  But someone at the top had enough faith in the game to say, “We’ll show ‘em.  We’ll win ‘em back.”  And in my opinion, Square Enix’s gamble was wise: I’m sold.  What follows is a list of complaints surrounding Final Fantasy XIII, and my personal accounts of the improvements made in Final Fantasy XIII-2.

Is the game still a straight hallway lolololz?

Far from it.  Once I could explore, there were a variety of different paths stretched out before me.  Enticing me to get out there and explore were 2 sub-quests I adopted early on — one of which required I find two misplaced items.  Returning them to the NPC who initiated the quests awarded me with some EXP and treasure.  The other sub-quest was a simple mini-boss.  Not only does the game feature expansive maps, but I’m relieved to find that they’re filled with rewarding content for the player.

Is that battle system still a snooze-fest?

For the most part the battle system is unchanged.  That means the occasional Paradigm Shift between spamming Auto-Battle like a mad man.  You’re welcome, of course, to take the time to individually select your actions — but there is really no point.  One new system I took note of is wounding.  It is possible for enemies to inflict “wound damage” on your party.  This shortens the afflicted character’s maximum health equal to the amount of wound damage dealt.  The enemies in the demo did very little wound damage, when they did, but I can imagine this system could become interesting down the road — possibly as a determining factor in how quickly the player must slay an enemy.  Other than that, everything outside of battle sequences, has been touched up.  That brings me to the next question, wherein the improvements largely exist:

Wound damage. Wound damage everywhere.

I heard there are pokemon in the game .  I HATE pokemon — so much.

Calm down, dude.  The monster-ally system, as I choose to call it, is easily the game’s biggest improvement.  After defeating any normal enemy (i.e met via a random battle) it’s possible that the monster will drop an item allowing you to use it as a 3rd party member in battle.  Getting the monster’s drop isn’t a guarantee, but performing admirably in battle heightens your chances.  Once acquired, the player has a ton they can do with their monster:

• Level them up using battle spoils, similar to the Final Fantasy XIII weapon enhancement system.
• Give them a name, either random or from a few different preset lists.
• Adorn them with different goofy accessories.
• Fuse monsters together to transfer inherent skills.

Monsters have the same roles in battle as your human members, like Ravager or Sentinel.  This allows for a lot of party customization as you’re not only able to change your formations, but you have a lot of control over the third character you bring into battle.  You can adjust situationally or just pick a monster you think looks cool.  Now I may be biased here, because I have an affinity for games where you raise your favorite critter and give it a name and a funny hat, but this system really opens doors for party customization in a fun new way.

What about the quick time events? My expert gaming skills are wasted on such lame mechanics!

OK, I will agree that this system is lame.  It pulls my consciousness out of the game and forces it onto where my fingers are on my controller.  Also, most of the event scenes are overly dramatic without contributing much to the story with any real substance.  Rather it’s usually some Matrix-esque back-flipping or bending with the occasional large obstacle avoiding.  What I can say in favor of the Cinematic Action system is that if you succeed in executing every QTE for a scene, you’re given a nice reward afterwards.  I don’t care who you are, that feels good.

Cinematic Action System

What about the story? I went to Fal’cie University and I STILL don’t get what was going on in Final Fantasy XIII…

As I played the demo, which took place somewhere after the game’s real beginning, there wasn’t much story development.  For that reason I will reserve judgement until I can play the full version!  What I can say is that the straight paths are gone both on maps and structurally.  What I mean by that is I was given an option as to how I’d like to solve a problem rather than told what to do.  This made me more interested in the events happening around me, since now I could make an impact.  That being said, I would have appreciated the new cast being highlighted more, as I don’t know what makes them different from any other masculine sword-dude and feminine bow-wielder duo out there.

I want to talk to people, make it rain Gil, and shop until I DROP.  Where my towns at?!

Err, well the one town in the demo wasn’t very impressive.  It was literally a bunch of people dumbly standing in the rain.  Some had conversations as I passed by, some I could directly interact with.  Since the story was largely a mystery to me, their dialog wasn’t very engaging.  As for Gil, well I was relieved to see I earned it after battles.  There was also a merchant who would appear in a few different locations throughout the map.  This was a welcome change, despite the grating voice of the shop character and her affinity for rhyming and puns.  Yea, I’m gonna go ahead and say I hate Chocolina based on the little I know about her.

I also noted that NPC’s dialog changes based on my accomplishments.  For instance, after beating that mini-boss I mentioned earlier, wandering military types thanked me for helping out.  Towns and NPCs are definitely in place and more engaging, but the demo didn’t show this feature off as much as some may have hoped.

Chocolina, the game’s roaming Chocobo-loving merchant.

Conclusions

I was sad when the Final Fantasy XIII-2 demo came to an end.  I wanted to keep finding and raising monsters, I wanted to keep exploring, and I even wanted to keep getting into random battles.  Having so much to do aside from advancing down a corridor was a welcome return to form.  While I don’t think the demo did a good job selling the new cast to me, it certainly succeeded in showing off the new mechanics which really separate Final Fantasy XIII from its evolved predecessor.

**POSSIBLE SPOILERS WITHIN**

This weekend Sarah was struck with a sudden urge to replay Kingdom Hearts, and as I generally monopolize the television with gaming, I had to oblige.   Her main reason for wanting to revisit the game was being able to watch her favorite Disney characters interact in new ways with the modern characters unique to Kingdom Hearts.  We were chatting and having some drinks while she played — classic weekend time killing.

It didn’t take long before she remembered that you need to work your way up to watching Donald and Goofy fall off of something to a canned “boing” sound effect.  No, that is a privilege that must be earned.  Thus I became the gopher, assigned with the annoying tasks in between the fun bits.  I groaned as I set out to gather mushrooms and other sundries Kairi demanded for our impending journey aboard a shoddy raft.

FFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

I swore through the cumbersome race against Riku, and worst of all, I didn’t even get to name our Gummi Ship raft.  I was annoyed, and yet I began to remember the depth of things to do on the island.  Beating the snot out of Wakka was always one of my favorite activities.  I remember first learning that I could maximize EXP by deflecting his Blitzballs but not actually defeating him.  Yea, this island used to be a beloved starting point, now it was feeling like a chore thrust onto me by a Disney starved lunatic.

Then I got to Traverse Town.  I heard the town’s theme song and was swept away in a nostalgia undertow.  The game’s iconic menus and sounds helped as well.  Soon I was facing off against Leon.  With my heart racing and my fingers recalling the game’s button layout I narrowly defeated him.  I still had it!  This was where Kingdom Hearts’s appeal was for me.  It wasn’t in the cameo appearance of antiquated characters penned before I was born.  It wasn’t in the cliched antics of Donald and Goofy.  No, it was in the game’s exhilarating and simple action-based battle system, it’s charming design, and unique cast of original characters.

This battle system, like nearly all aspects of Kingdom Hearts, contains hidden depth for those who seek it.  Casual players wanting only to gape at the credits will do fine to mash through most battles.  But those wanting more can rack up tech points by parrying Sephiroth’s Masamune in the colosseum.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The game’s designers clearly understood their audience would no doubt span a range of gaming talents, and appealed to them all quite well.  I could say the same leading right into the game’s sequel, Kingdom Hearts 2.  The story may have been extremely obtuse and surreal, but as long as the basics were all there, I was on board for the ride.  The franchise’s most recent installments on the other hand… may have broken the mold and with it any faith I had in the series.  I forced my way through half of Kingdom Hearts 365/2 Days, a game whose ridiculous title easily betrays an equally ridiculous story.  By Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep, I had learned my lesson.  If the title is nonsense and I can’t recognize a single character then the game isn’t for me.  Thus Square Enix alienated what could have been a huge fan of the series.

It’s clear that Square Enix saw great potential in the franchise after the first title.  I did as well.  I imagine they saw big dollar signs on the horizon in putting as many titles between players and the ultimate conclusion of the series.  That meant distancing us from the game’s main cast shortly after falling in love with them.  I daresay my connection to Sora and the gang helped in Kingdom Hearts 2 when I formed a genuine attachment to some of the parallel characters such as Roxas.  But then the series gave us another set of parallels, and another, until the characters we loved were a distant, yet fond memory.

This is Namine, AKA Kairi’s Nobody created when she became a Heartless. Got that?

Perhaps this bizarre treatment of the franchise stems from the already schizophrenic treatment of the Final Fantasy series.  Despite all the games being under the same IP-roof, their setting and characters change each time (spin-offs aside).  Several years ago, one could easily explain what makes a Final Fantasy a Final Fantasy.  Now, well, that would be a bit more challenging — and the same could be said for Kingdom Hearts.  An even bigger challenge still, would be to begin to grasp just what the heck is going on in the Kingdom Hearts series and what other gimmicks Square Enix plans to force into an ever shrinking package.

Kingdom Hearts will be 10 years old next March.  I don’t know if I will ever play another game in the series again, or attempt to wrap my mind around the multi-lateral and longitudinal mess that has become the over-arching story.  All I know is, this weekend I played the first Kingdom Hearts, and it made me remember what I loved about a series I’ve more or less given up on.  I hope that someday, someone picks the franchise up, dusts if off, and trims away the fat, because I know deep down, it’s got a lot of heart.

Yesterday 4Gamer posted a slew of new Final Fantasy Type-0 information.  The most interesting bit to come out of it is easily Shiva’s new design, pictured above.  According to several screenshots (1,2,3,4) of the sultry eidolan in action, she figure-skates around enemies looking all shiny and presumably doing oodles of ice damage.

I am all for this redesign — it feels new and fresh.  Much more simple than the Shiva sisters of Final Fantasy XIII, possibly showing some restraint on Square’s part.  But what does my opinion matter? Let’s have a look at what the Internet has to say.  Share with us your wisdom, o Internet!

Looks like the fans approve.

In other Type-0 news, still more characters are being introduced, including a girl named Seven who looks oddly like someone else I know:

Oh, how I miss the days when RPG character names were only a suggestion and you could name them whatever you wanted.  I could just name her Lightning and everyone else Sephiroth — how awesome would that be?  But alas, those were the days before voice acting came knocking on our doors to leave flaming bags of cringe-inducing one liners.

If we can all get serious for a moment, Final Fantasy Type-0 is looking quite unique.  What started as the underdog of the Fabula Nova Crystallis series now has me the most excited.  I suppose my awesome new PSP Go setup has something to do with that…  Still, Square has tricked me into buying enough full priced games to give into the hype too much, so I remain cautious.

This past Saturday was Free Comic Book Day, and I spent the day alone, indoors, playing video games.  Hey, we all have different ways to celebrate, right?  And besides, taking free comic books feels wrong to me.  It’s a medium which already doesn’t see the money it deserves, unless it’s in the form of a shitty Hollywood film. (Oh, Thor is good, you say?  Don’t care.)

Anyway, Sarah took a trip to Massachusetts with some friends for a convention of sorts.  Massachusetts is easily my most hated of the lower 48.  I would sooner carve a life for myself on the streets of Detroit than spend a day in the bosom of New England’s infected shank wound.  Thus, I repeat, I spent the day alone playing video games.

Somehow, among the constant construction efforts, numerous chain eateries, and the worst drivers you will ever meet in your life, Sarah stumbled upon a decent comic store by the name of Outer Limits.  There she got a very old but free comic of some nature (it’s not important), and within it was an ad that will probably make you sad.  It made me sad, at least:

That’s right, an ad from a simpler time. A time when the “Enix” in Square Enix was spelled S-O-F-T.  Look at that lineup…

• Parasite Eve
• Xenogears
• Bushido Blade 2
• Brave Fencer Musashi
• Final Fantasy Tactics
• SaGa Frontier
• Einhänder

Just typing that out brought waves of nostalgia.  Seeing this, one can’t help but consider where Square Enix is today.  Namely, the recent announcement that the company experienced “extraordinary losses” in the last fiscal year.  I can’t claim to be able to outline what is currently plaguing the company, but it certainly has fallen far from grace, and the above ad was a big reminder of that.

Sarah also got me a souvenir from a shop called AniMadness, one which is certainly less thought provoking but much more awesome.  That’s right, a Persona mini strap figure:

Click to see which character I got

This figure actually had me consider planning a trip to Massachusetts to buy any and all remaining boxes.  I would, of course, wear a full suit of lead dental gear, make my car airtight with duct tape, and bring my own supply of drinking water.  Expect a post on my adventure if I decide to do so — just know that it may be my last.

I was cruising through Parasite Eve at a decent pace when, on the final chapter, one of my strongest RPG compulsions hit me: I had to have a better weapon.  Up to that point I had been equipping any gun I found so I could stockpile all the items which could be used to make a weapon stronger, and then dump them all on one chosen weapon.

That is actually a second RPG compulsion of mine: hoarding items beyond the point of absurdity.  I can recall battling Ruby Weapon, the toughest boss in Final Fantasy VII, as a friend watched over my shoulder.  When I was in a pinch, he suggested using a mega-elixer, a rare item that would fully replenish my teams HP and MP.  I looked at him as if he were the physical manifestation of a terrible idea.

Right, back to Parasite Eve:

“No, I will wait until I find a better gun”, I thought.  “I must be close to one, right?”

A bit of research online quickly proved that I was in a position to not only attain a strong weapon, but arguably (oh, and believe me, it’s argued) the best weapon in the game.

How is said weapon acquired, you may ask?  Well, by doing some menial task over and over, of course.  In this case, said menial task is collecting 300 pieces of junk.  Now these items are called junk because they have no purpose other than to take up space in your limited inventory and be annoying.  Little do most players notice, that a certain NPC in the game gives you the option of “discarding junk”.  After discarding 300 pieces of junk in this method, the NPC rewards you with one of several very powerful weapons.

Leave it to Square Enix of the past to sneak such a clever feature under most people’s noses.  With the aid of the Internet, however, this secret was quickly discovered by yours truly.

I may only have a few hours left in Parasite Eve, but the promise of doing some grinding for the purpose of getting the absolute ceiling of weapons is too good to pass up.  I love grinding, and aside from Pokémon and Disgaea titles, it’s a luxury I am rarely afforded.  In modern games, most everything is dynamic and evolving to remove the feeling of scripting.  It’s also rare that a game actually requires you to take the time to level up for fear of breaking the pace of the story.

I assure you, after the first hundred or so junk, nothing is dynamic about Central Park Zoo (the best spot to gather junk).  I know the best places to encounter the enemies that drop it, and each battle is the same in its respective location.  I own Central Park Zoo.  In a way, I have become Central Park Zoo.  This feels good: this comfort that comes with familiarity and repetition.  Add a clear goal on the horizon, and this is exactly where I want to be.

So there you have it: I find security in routine and stockpiling in video games.  Now, to ponder what this says about me as a person.  Well, I appreciate routine in real life.  Having too many uncertain variables drastically reduces the likelihood that I will take part in an activity or event.  Once I do manage to dive in to a new situation, I tend to construct a “safehouse”; something or someone that is familiar to gravitate around.  This could be a familiar block, street or a person who I’ve known the longest.  I suppose in gaming, I do the same thing.  You could say I turned Central Park Zoo into my safehouse.  Hell, we could probably extend the scope even further — perhaps gaming in general is my safehouse?

The Western Scrub Jay is a notorious hoarder

Stockpiling, on the other hand, is something I am definitely better at in gaming.  In games, my philosophy is to keep everything, because you never know when it may be useful.  I suppose it’s planning for the worst, a scenario which generally never comes.  In real life, this is harder for me to practice, especially when it comes to money.  I suck at saving it, as though I refuse to believe anything bad is on the horizon.  Perhaps I am more used to bad things happening to me in games than in real life.  I admit my life has had its ups and downs, but apparently none jarring enough to kick me into stockpiling-squirrel-mode.  Perhaps it’s time that IRL Roy take a note from gaming-Roy.

Gazing into the void of worthless junk, I saw myself years ago, engrossed in grinding.  I saw the compulsions I exercise in games and began to understand why they make me feel safe. Now, thanks to junk, I have a better understanding of who I am.  I should get the weapon I want soon, but I think this lesson will be far more valuable.

Since the site’s creation I have felt obligated to keep up with the most recent titles or suffer from an inability to produce relevant content.  I think this practice has taken its toll, and lately I have felt a strong desire to take a step out of the swift moving stream of modern gaming and play an old classic.

The 3rd Birthday has, in a way, allowed me this opportunity.  Going into the game without having played its predecessors meant I had no clue who Aya Brea was, or frankly what was going on in tentacle-filled New York City.  Several people on Twitter encouraged me to take the time to play Parasite Eve so that I could appreciate The 3rd Birthday.  And so, at the risk of my eventual review of the game being less timely, I decided to opt for the optimal Parasite Eve experience and downloaded the original from the PSN.

It’s always a little scary taking a technological jump backwards for a game.  My main concern is generally whether or not the game’s outdated appearance will turn me off.  This wasn’t a problem with Parasite Eve, thankfully, and I was soon quite engrossed with the game.  More engrossed than I can recall being in a while in fact.

In retrospect, a few factors helped:

• No Voice Acting: I don’t know what it is, but when I have to actually read dialog, it slows me down.  It allows me to construct this imaginary world in my mind at my pace, rather than gawk at it all happening before me through a window.  Also, the voices I apply to a character in my head are always better than what a voice actor is capable of.
• Originality: I was instantly struck by how original nearly everything about Parasite Eve was.  First off, it isn’t a sequel — crazy, I know.  Also it’s a game by a Japanese company taking place in the US — and other than a complete lack of understanding traffic in Manhattan, it captures the city quite well.  Next, the game has a female protagonist who is believable, relatable, and best of all: they don’t pound it into your head.  In contrast, it wasn’t more than an hour into The 3rd Birthday before my immersion was broken by recognizing numerous parallels between the game and Kingdom Hearts.  I suppose we have Nomura to thank for that.
• Simplicity/Restraint: So help me Jeebus, you just don’t see these practiced anymore.  A good idea becomes so muddled under a million different “OK, I guess” ideas until all you have is a pile of crap with that good idea having suffocated long ago.  Allow me to back up: it’s been too long since I played a game with a simple battle and equipment system like in Parasite Eve.  I am all for a challenge, but if you cannot create challenge in the confines of simplicity, than the answer is not to throw on more gauges, meld genres, or show more cleavage, which seems to be the practice of late.

This got me thinking of an article Leigh Alexander wrote recently, which appeared on Kotaku, the best site in the whole world.  If you don’t feel like reading it all, her main argument is that “in the march toward realism, we’ve lost immersion.”  I agreed with her when the article was published, but with this experience fresh in my mind, it feels all the more relevant.  The article also does a great job further pondering why modern games fail to engage the same way as those of a generation or two ago.

Lately I have felt conflicted about what’s been happening in gaming, and maybe I am starting to see why. Or it could be that after three years I need a break from the hustle and bustle of release days, press announcements, fan speculation and all that.  I’m not sure.  For now, I am going to crawl into this time capsule I’ve stumbled upon and maybe things will look a little brighter when I come out.

This would be a review, but for reasons soon to be detailed, I did not finish Tactics Ogre.  I wanted to — at least, I think I did.  It’s an SRPG from Square Enix, which immediately conjures up fond memories of Final Fantasy Tactics.  Historically, Tactics Ogre came first, and is considered to be the origin of SRPGs.  The PSP port features updates sprites and improvements to a number of mechanics.

And yet I have a hard time getting into this classic.  The whole experience feels slow.  Normally I don’t mind slogging through menus; it’s kind of my thing, actually.  I have no problem booting up a game and eating lunch while simply moving numbers around.  But I spent a great deal of time sifting through the numerous skills any character can learn, and deciding what was best for them.  That strategy needed to be coupled of course with appropriate gear, and support units.  The length of battles made me think that spending more time organizing in menus would benefit me, but generally battles were quite drawn out regardless.

Aside from the speed of battle there were other aspects which felt dated or awkward.  For instance, the camera angle in battle is fixed.  Why?  How is a “revamped” PSP game not capable of allowing you to rotate the camera?  Seeing all the characters on a map certainly allows for more tactical decisions.  Changing classes requires a job card.  Why?  I suppose to only allow access to certain jobs at certain points; a goal accomplished much less awkwardly by nearly every other SRPG I can think of.  Enemy levels were set, meaning if you mistakenly leveled up a bit (as I did) any challenge would dissolve rather quickly — I should also add even being a few levels higher than enemies did not cause battles to go much quicker.

That left the story as a redeeming quality, and it does have its moments.  There are some profound scenes which, if you can peer through the flowery language of yore, could be quite memorable.  But the main character is bland; in fact, nearly every other character outshines him in every way.  Especially the newly added Dame Ravness, who stands out not only in design but in her character as well.  Something about her brief, standoffish attitude makes me want to know more.  She feels like a modern character, one who hooks you, but most others are very forgettable.

Don’t mind me, just someone way more interesting than you.

The player makes important decisions as the hero, making him feel like a cross between a silent and voiced protagonist.  Some decisions you can choose to make feel dramatically out of character.  At one point I was asked to slay a town of innocents, and in true black and whiteness, my options were essentially “OK”, or “No thanks”.  Really?  This decision seems important enough that a character with a mind of their own would be able to make.  I am all for different endings and sculpting your experience, but not at the cost of character development.

As I put the game down, I couldn’t help but wonder if my tastes have changed in favor of quicker paced titles, and if that is a bad thing.  I don’t doubt that a lack of time has had some effect on my preferences, but I still feel like the same gamer who replayed Final Fantasy VII ad nauseam for years.  So whether I am the gamer who wants something quick and fun or the gamer who wants a profound classic, Tactics Ogre did not resonate with me.

Today is the three year anniversary of Kotowari, so I wanted to do something special to celebrate.  Something fun for me, relevant to the site’s roots, and something that would also involve you, fair reader.  I think I nailed it.

I managed to set up an interview with Mega Ran and Lost Perception concerning their recent hip hop album, Black Materia: Final Fantasy VII.  The album takes the original music from Final Fantasy VII and mixes it with the duo’s own beats and lyrics to form something altogether new and unique.  If you are a fan of Final Fantasy VII you should definitely check it out, which you can do for free here.  A limited sample is available online; purchasing the album however is the only way to get all the tracks.

As you may know, Final Fantasy VII is a big part of who I am today.  Spending my middle school days in the basement playing that game on repeat was the incubation process which led to the writer and gamer you see before you.  That is why this album is especially dear to me. I want it to be dear to you as well.  I will pick three random commentors from this post, and send them each a signed copy of Black Materia: Final Fantasy VII (cue video of frenzied Oprah audience). Also, I don’t care what country you’re in (I sent some dude in Australia a Junpei hat), so if you live in Madagascar, I can get a copy to you — it just may take a while.

There is one important thing to note to be entered into this contest: be sure to give your real e-mail address or I will have no way to get your address from you if you win.  I will announce the winners in one week.

Now, on with the interview:

1. The lyrics for Black Materia: Final Fantasy VII do a great job summing up not only specifics of the story, but the emotions that fuel the events in the game.  What can you tell us about the research that went into the lyrics?  Was it hard to compress so much into the album?

MR: Extremely. I had originally planned to only make 7 songs, but after playing through the game again, I came across more and more moments that just had to be included in the game. Research was simply playing the game again, exploring every nook and cranny and totally immersing myself back into the characters and story.

2. Final Fantasy VII was probably one of the most important games to me growing up, and I think a lot of people would say the same thing.  Was it daunting to tackle a game which so many people hold in such high esteem?

MR: Absolutely. That was my biggest fear, to complete the project and have ‘true’ fans complain that it didn’t accurately reflect the game or the feeling of playing it again. I have to apologize to fans of Yuffie and Cait Sith particularly, because those guys didn’t make the cut, haha. I would’ve wound up with a 4 disc album if I had included every scene, event and theme song that I wanted to include. I hope the fans of the game can appreciate the effort that went into attempting to recreate something in a new and daring way.

3. It’s clear that you really got into the minds of each character to write and compose their respective songs.  What characters from Final Fantasy VII do you each identify with the most?  Who did you use in your party?

MR: I really felt like Cloud’s story was one that anyone could relate to, being a kid who thinks he knows everything, then finding out that you really know nothing. I tried my best to stick with Cloud, Tifa and Barret most of the way, but I have a fondness for Cid as well.

4. One of our crew at Kotowari is a real audiophile, so naturally he is interested in the process of mixing the original music of Final Fantasy 7 as well as creating your own.  What can you tell us about this process?  Be as specific as you would like!

LP: Well my main thing here was that I wanted to make a record that  a non final fantasy fan could enjoy, but at the same time keep it true to the music of the game.  So for the majority of the the songs I opted to use parts of the actual songs from the soundtrack and layer my own synths on top of it and give everything a fresh new feel.  Some of the original composistions were so fast BPM wise that I could not manipulate the sample how I wanted so thats when I would go back and recreate the song from scratch. Thats when I turned to FFVII sheet music. “Cloud Strife” is the perfect example of this. “Cloud Strife” is an interpolation of “Still More Fighting”.  I wanted to make all the beats sound like you would hear them on a normal Hip-Hop record. I used FL Studio 9, Native Instruments Maschine, Native Instrumentals Komplete, Adobe Audition, Ableton Live 8.1.  Fl Studio and Maschine I used for the creation of the actual beats. Audition I use to cut up a lot of my samples. I’ve been using that for years and I know it like the back of my hand. Ableton Live is use for the manipulation and warping of my samples. I also used Ableton for the major pitch change that occurrs between “The Turks” and “On That Day 5 Years Ago.”

5. What can we expect from you both in the future?  Will you be working together on another project or do you have individual plans?

MR: We have individual plans, but I have a feeling you’ll be seeing more of Random and Lost Perception in the near future. There are so many tracks from FF7 that we didn’t get to use, so hopefully one day we can revisit the franchise…but for now I need to step away to make sure it remains fresh. So my next project will be an original concept record called “Language Arts,” loosely based on my own life, but continuing the storytelling aspect of “Black Materia.”

LP: Yeah like Random said, you will definately be seeing more from us. Random is one of my favorite artists to work with ever. He just needs to tell me when he is ready to give it another go.
As far as my own projects, I’m working on compilation project called “All That Is LOST.” Its something that Ive been taking my time with and hold close to my heart. Just keep an eye out for it. I also just wrapped up a project with Judgement (of The Society of Invisbles), entitled “Joseph Stalin Stories.” That will be out later this year. If you like raw hip-hop, I would keep checking for this record.  I also started work on a new video game based project but I dont want to give out too many details on that yet. Keep checking bandcamp for updates!

6. The artwork from Rodrigo Pradel nicely complements the album.  How did you hook up with Rodrigo and does he have any plans to release Black Materia art?

MR: Rodrigo is an amazing artist from Canada who did work on (frequent collaborator K-Murdock’s group) Panacea’s album cover.. when I saw what he had done on their “12 Step Program” album:

I was floored. I said “I want that guy.” but not like that… and K hooked us up, I gave him a few ideas, and he let it rip, without even hearing the album.

7. A lot of people are featured in different tracks on the album.  Was it hard to have so many minds working toward the same goal?

MR: Yes, it was difficult, but since most were huge FF7 nuts, it wasn’t hard to have them help. I gave them each a theme or character, and they let it rip. I thought about doing it all myself, adjusting voices like I did on “Avalanche,” but Cloud couldn’t save the Planet alone, he needed a team.. so I put together a team of artists who not only were talented, but who knew the story and wanted to contribute. We had a few close calls on people that I feared wouldn’t make the album because of the deadline (the album released on 1/31 which is 14 years to the date of FF7’s Japan release), but somehow, they made it happen.

8. Mega Ran, as a middle school teacher, how do you feel about parental concerns regarding violence in video games and hip hop?  Has your career as a hip hop artist caused any conflicts at school?  Has your love of gaming helped connect you with your students?

MR: Wow, that’s a doozy! I really feel that it’s up to parents to observe and monitor their kids usage of video games, TV, music and social media. I seriously think an episode of “Jersey Shore” is worse for a child’s mind than 10 hours of Grand Theft Auto 4. The text messages I see on my student’s cellphones are far worse than anything they’d learn from a Lil Wayne song…I can’t stress enough, parents have to watch these kids. If you have kids, GET IN THEIR BUSINESS! I teach middle school and my 6th graders come in talking about things that blow my mind.  I try to give anyone an alternative. If you want sex, drugs and violence in your hip-hop, I’m sure you can find that without looking hard. We need an alternative that isn’t Will Smith.. No offense to Will, he’s like one of my heroes…but yaknow.

I haven’t had any conflicts at school because of it, but it’s a constant struggle to keep the two separate but together… I rap in class and give my students my CDs when they’re well-behaved.. but they try to add me on Facebook and I have to shut that down… it’s easier to tell it’s them there, but Twitter and Youtube, they can get in because they don’t have to use their real name… so constant police work is needed. I have parents tell me that their kids play my music all day at home, and that brings a smile to my face… I figured they’d use the CDs for drink coasters.

Gaming has been a great bridge in connecting me with my students. Although most of my gaming subject matter is too old for them to remember, just the fact that they have a teacher who plays games and makes music helps them to feel like I’m not quite as out of touch, and that goes a long way in gaining trust from students.

9. What are your thoughts on releasing the album exclusively on the web?  Most artists probably wouldn’t offer so much of their album for free, do you think doing so increased your exposure?

MR: I don’t mind. Our fans know how to get music for free. So, I like to offer people a bit of an incentive to listen, so giving out 8 tracks for free, then selling 16 tracks if you like it, is a great way to rope people in. As I make music in this digital age, I learn new tricks each time out. This has been a great approach, and has led to some success in the past. My friend always says “exposure can’t pay the bills,” but exposure can make the bills a little cheaper next time out.

10. Lastly, is there anything else you would like to say to your fans?

MR: Thank you! Keep telling friends about Black Materia.. and friends don’t let friends bootleg, haha.

LP: Yes! THANK YOU to everyone who has supported the record. That’s exactly why Random and I make music. Its very fulfilling to see fans post pictures of themselves with your CD. That alone is well worth it. Spread the word, keep checking our respective bandcamps for updates and to piggy back off of Random…Don’t Bootleg! lol

• Mega Ran’s Bandcamp
• Lost Perception’s Bandcamp (you can listen to/buy the instrumental version of the album here!)

If you have any further questions for Mega Ran he can be reached via Formspring and Twitter.  I also found Lost Perception on Twitter.

Thanks so much to Mega Ran and Lost Perception for agreeing to the interview and taking the time to answer my questions.  Also, thanks to all of you for your support over the years — it is what keeps me going.  Good luck, and don’t forget to leave a comment!  I will update this post next Tuesday with the names of the winners.

***UPDATE***

And the winners are…

1. Flip
2. justin
3. jetsetnick

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As this week’s Dengeki and Famitsu magazines begin to leak, some facts about Square Enix’s Final Fantasy titles showcased at last week’s 1st Production Department Premiere are becoming available.  Here is what we know at this time:

Final Fantasy XIII Versus

From an interview with Tetusya Nomura:

The following details concern the game’s system

• The battle screen will feature character names, although they were absent from the recent trailer.
• Magic will have different effects based on the character who uses it.
• The blonde-haired gun-wielder is able to target weak points in enemies (other characters simply “lock-on”)
• Noctis can use any weapon — allies, however, have a fixed weapon type.
• You can steal military vehicles and ride chocobos and airships.
• Parties can consist of 3 people.  Those not in the main party will still participate in story scenes.
• When on the field, the day will transition from morning to night.

The following details concern the game’s story

• Noctis is not “cool”, he is an normal young man who is perhaps a little hot-blooded and thinks he is stronger than he is.
• The character shown wearing glasses is Noctis’s strategist.
• Two support characters are childhood friends of Noctis.
• The scene in which Noctic is running up a collapsing building, cutting enemies and such is important.
• We know of 4 characters (pictured above) and although there are others who will join the party, the cast is not huge.

Nomura concludes by asking for our patience as this year will be more about Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Type-0.

Final Fantasy XIII-2
From an interview with Yoshinori Kitase and Motmomu Toriyama:

• The goddess Etro will be at the heart of the events in the game.
• The game will play off of the manual included with the Xbox 360 International release (released only in Japan. IRONY).
• The events take place after Final Fantasy XIII and you will start in Grand Pulse.
• The myth of Fabula Nova Crystallis and Buniberuze will also be important to the story.
• There is a gate to an invisible world, shown at the end of Final Fantasy XIII which is also tied in with XIII-2.
• You will be surprised at how other characters make a return and how they may have changed.
• A darker and more mysterious story is promised.
• Do not expect the “pop” aesthetic of Final Fantasy X-2
• An evolved ATB system is once again promised.
• Criticism from outside the company and all over the world was considered in regards to the characters and story development.
• There may be different difficulty settings.

I didn’t feel inclined to translate the information on Type-0 and Dissidia Duodecim, but if you are interested, Anoop over at Andriasang has an excellent translation up.

From this information I maintain a positive feeling about Final Fantasy XIII-2.  Hearing that world-wide criticism is being taken seriously is promising; I can only hope it’s true. When it comes to Versus I remain somewhat apathetic since most of these details I thought I already knew (it’s been so long it’s hard to know for sure). Still, at least the battle system sounds more interesting. As more information leaks, I will either update this post, or make a new post if necessary.

Source:  FFシリーズ『ヴェルサスXIII』『XIII-2』『零式』『ディシディア デュオデシム』の最新情報をまとめて

Last night Square Enix held their 1st Production Department Premiere.  As expected the event was surrounded by rumors of sequels and exaggerated fan expectations, some of which came true. (Me? I slept through it. Hey, I have a job, man.) Let’s get to the announcement roll-call:

Final Fantasy XIII-2

Haters be damned: it’s real.  As expected there are hardly any details about the game, but we do have a vague trailer, one screen and a logo to go on:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Note Lightning’s very different outfit at the end of the trailer?  Could this mean it’s the prequel as I suspected it may be?  Who is the mystery man (woman?) shown at the end behind Lightning?

According to the trailer, the game will be out in 2011 in Japan.  The official press release says that the game will be coming to Western markets this winter, suggesting a simultaneous release.  This shows me that Square Enix has a fire under their butt and want to really hustle for their fans.  The press release also explains that the game will feature an “evolved” battle system.  The more I hear, the more it sounds like Square Enix knows what they did wrong, like a dog rapped in the face with a newspaper.

Final Fantasy Versus XIII

Not much in the way of important details were released about Versus — namely, a release date.  We did get a nearly seven minute trailer showing cutscenes, combat (mech and otherwise), and Noctis’s voice acting for the first time ever:

Click here to view the embedded video.

It looks good, but the mind-numbingly slow progress of Versus’s development is making me care less and less about the game.  I am sure my grandchildren will love playing it.

Final Fantasy Type-0

Do you remember a little game for the PSP called Final Fantasy Agito XIII?  That’s right, the bastard child of the Nova Crystallis series.  Well, it has been renamed for some reason to Final Fantasy Type-0.  Here is the first trailer of the game with its snazzy new nonsensical title:

Click here to view the embedded video.

I have a hard time being excited for this double UMD goliath.  It really all hinges on the multiplayer mechanics which, if ad-hoc, would be a real disappointment.

Other

There is also a new trailer for Kingdom Hearts 3D and Dissidia Duodecim.  Neither of which I am very interested in or have much to say about, but they are both worth watching.

The star of the show was definitely Final Fantasy XIII-2, which will be a pivotal title for Square Enix considering their poor performance and fan reception in 2010.  Personally, I liked Final Fantasy XIII, but believe that Square Enix did drop the ball in their quest for innovation.  Maybe this winter will show a new side to the world of Gran Pulse — one which more fans can get behind.