|
Post by Xeogred on Apr 25, 2024 22:23:32 GMT -5
Gotta love how weird of a character strange bosses can be out there. Have had plenty myself. Working in a small company nowadays is such a different world. Only about 50 within the company I believe. I can pretty much do whatever I want with my work laptop. One annoying thing though, one of the newer younger guys who took up a desk besides me likes to watch sports on the side, with the volume up a bit. Three of us around that area were joking about it tonight after he left. For starters, it's crazy this guy finds sports to watch 24/7, but then just yeah it's dumb in 2024 he's not using headphones/earplugs. I guess one guy thinks it's so he can hear the project managers talk to him from afar if needed. But it's weird. He's like 25 and in a "get off my lawn" moment I just wonder if it's that generation not realizing the lack of common sense/decency there. It does and doesn't bug me, I don't like awkward silence in an office either. But yeah I'm not really going to complain or say anything since I'm moving next month and he won't be in the new building with us. So it'll be the other guys problem. lol
Anyways, I watched the video. Doesn't really fit the retro forum? haha. But it was an amusing watch. Making goofy characters out of some of the staff. The whole back half QA section with RE4R was funny stuff. I can see how this is a blend of "play" and work. But watching this, just makes me feel glad I didn't pursue game design after high school. I probably would have beaten 1,000 games less by now and maybe would have fallen out of love with the hobby. And probably would have lost my sanity. The long grueling hours, crunch, and the deluge of layoffs in the 8-9th generations? Yikes...
|
|
|
Post by Ex on Apr 25, 2024 22:38:10 GMT -5
one guy thinks it's so he can hear the project managers talk to him from afar if needed So in that case, he should wear an earbud in one ear, and not in the other. The guy's just being an inconsiderate ass. If I were his boss I would not put up with it. >glad I didn't pursue game design after high school The surest way to ruin a hobby is to make a career out of it.
|
|
|
Post by Xeogred on Apr 25, 2024 23:57:34 GMT -5
Haha yeah. I know I can be awkward myself when I'm new to a job or something like that. He's a few months in now. But he just seems like a bit of a strange dude, doesn't seem very personable at all. Which is ironic, since he's in a more client-focused role working alongside some project managers.
|
|
|
Post by toei on May 1, 2024 2:25:32 GMT -5
New FFIX interview translation from shmuplations, with Sakaguchi, Ito, the art directors and others. Good stuff. Uematsu, too. There's an unused "main theme" for FFIX I didn't know about that is linked in the interview: Pretty nice. Apparently it's the first track he composed but there was no place to use it in the end.
|
|
|
Post by Ex on May 1, 2024 10:34:13 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Sarge on May 1, 2024 16:34:41 GMT -5
FFIX is one I feel like I should revisit some day. I didn't love it when I played through it back in the day - it wasn't bad, but I ended up enjoying FFVIII a lot more. But a lot of how we end up receiving games goes beyond even quality - who knows what kind of mood I was in then, and just wasn't feeling it at the time? I can see the quality, regardless.
|
|
|
Post by Xeogred on May 1, 2024 18:14:48 GMT -5
I think FF9 was my third or fourth FF. I probably played 4, 6, and 7 prior. I 100%'d FF9. Even bought the horrible PlayOnline strategy guide, simply to collect all the cards. If you guys don't know about that strategy guide look it up haha, for every super "secret" thing or tip against bosses and whatever, the printed guide told you to go sign up for PlayOnline's online subscription service. Awful. Anyways, 20 years later and I feel like FF9's been a punching bag to me. I didn't love it at the time but I was just devouring JRPG's then, so it was easy to 100% it. I liked both FF7-FF8 a lot more and still do. Now that I'm neck deep in the world of DQ, I feel like that entire series is a better alternative to FF9. That's always my issue when I think of replaying it, I immediately think there's probably better things I can play or even replay. But yeah... I gotta give it a second look someday. The music and graphics are amazing of course and I'm ranting about the game while listening to that nice unused track haha. But yeah I doubt I'd report back saying much about the characters or whatever.
I was watching someone play some FF6 Pixel Remaster the other night. I still don't like how they smoothed over some of the graphics in FF6 mainly, or the weird diagonal running that the original games never had. I also think they rebalanced all the games to be 10x easier. But... the remixed music sounds so freaking cool. Maybe it'll be nice that they're easy to burn through, if only to hear the OST's. I am excited to hit up those versions of FF3 and FF5 though, but I kind of suspect FF4 and FF6 are lesser versions of other ports. I'll probably grab FF1 for old times sake. It's an easy 10 hour romp outside of the NES version. FF2? I beat that on the PSP... one and done for me.
|
|
|
Post by toei on May 1, 2024 18:49:59 GMT -5
I loved FF9's first disc. It felt like the one true next-generation realization of the fantasy RPG stuff I liked in previous gens. Most PSX RPGs weren't even really trying to accomplish that. A beautiful, imaginative world. The later stuff wasn't as good - I think because it got into the crisis mode all Squaresoft games eventually end up in and I didn't find that stuff as interesting. But it's still good. Very underrated FF.
|
|
|
Post by Xeogred on May 1, 2024 19:28:16 GMT -5
Better when it was more focused on smaller story arcs? I could totally see that. I remember liking Beatrix at least and the heavy focus on summons again in that world was cool. But yeah kind of a drawing a blank on the rest.
|
|
|
Post by toei on May 1, 2024 19:57:24 GMT -5
For me the main appeal of old-school RPGs is gathering up a party and exploring the entire world. That's always it was. When I first saw an RPG on the SNES, almost every other game was a side-scroller where you would go from left to right. Bits of the world might appear as background art. But that was it. Move forward and beat things up. Or move forward and jump. And suddenly you had games that were exponentially more vast, with entire worlds filled with different areas and towns with people living there, and you could visit it all. That's what I loved. The dungeons were secondary to me. I liked the boss battles, mostly, where you got to go all out with your spells and items, and I like finding treasure. Eventually I saw more interesting dungeon designs. The story mattered, but more in its moment-to-moment events. The great lines of the plot were no big deal. Just what gets you on that journey. I enjoyed the peaceful hometown and the low-stakes quests every RPG used to begin with. I didn't need the big drama. That's how 16-bit RPGs worked for me. It began to change with the PSX era, though some games were still doing the old style. A lot of it got lost. On the plus side, battle systems improved, and so did core plots. Eventually core plots ceased to improve, and then began to worsen. Battle systems kept improving, though. The worst part became the best part. FF9, at its best, which is the first disc, is the ethos of a 16-bit RPG, but fully taking advantage of late PSX-era tech to show you this world you're exploring in more details. That's why I think it's great.
Generally FF loves to be all like "the Splittening! It's happening earlier than expected!" (NPCs running around in a panic) "now we won't be able to stop the world from splitting in half!" "Run!" (half the party falls into a gap in the ground.) "No!" (another party member is carried away by a storm). And once they start, it just keeps escalating. Now the two halves are splitting in half. That's the true nature of the Splittening. And the main love interest is actually Living Land through descent from some ancient people, so she's going to split in half soon! I used to hate that stuff. That's not true anymore, I can get into those scenarios, depending. But that's Crisis Mode.
|
|