01/15/02

Carlman's News For January 2-5

Uh.... Hey. So like... We’re back, and stuff. Not too much going on, with the New Year and all last week. So with that being said, might as well jump right in head first, eh? Here’s what happened between January 2 and 5. Yeah, 3 days. What’s it to ya?!

-First, some Final Fantasy 11 news. A lot of Final Fantasy 11 news. First off, it's been revealed that players will be able to select a ton of new and "classic" character classes like Fighter, Thief, Monk, White Mage, and Red Mage along with the previously announced Humes, Elvarns, and Taru-Taru races. On top of that, the Weekly Fumitsu announced that there would be even more classes to add to that list. The two newly announced classes are the female-only feline race, the Misura, and the male-only brutes, the Garuga. Plus, a little on the battle system was also spoken of. Thankfully, there will be no random encounters, but the fighting system isn't your typical real time combat, a la Diablo or Phantasy Star Online. Players scout the land for monsters wandering about and the fights take place in basically a "real-time strategy type situation". The player attacks continuously, except while selecting items and actions or casting spells. A little window (kind of like what you would see in Baldur's Gate) pops up displaying all of the actions that are taking place during battle. Ok, now moving onto the new "Regions System". The Region System lets players pick one of the three kingdoms featured in FF11 to call home. Your job is go out and try to conquer each of these different kingdoms (which could fuel the story line, depend on where you start from, but that's only speculation on my part). But once a week, the servers at PlayOnline will distribute points to each kingdom, which are used for an unknown purpose at the moment. Think that sounds exciting? Well, apparently the Japanese don't think so. When the Fumitsu asked retailers what they thought about Final Fantasy 11, 35% said it should be a hit, 4% said there was no way to tell yet, while 65% (!) said it will not be a hit. When Fumitsu readers were asked the same question, 18% of readers said they'd definitely play it, 30% were taking the "wait and see" attitude, while 52% (!) said they won't even bother playing it. A few reasons given by the last group there were because they "Don't want to pay that much money.", "It looks too American.", and "That it's something that was something that would most likely sell well in America (like Metal Gear Solid 2).". Hmmm... Well, I guess we'll have to see what Square's gonna do for the American release... (Gaming Intelligence Agency)

-Hey, Square isn't gonna charge any fees to use their PlayOnline server after all! But the fine prints says that fees will be charged depending on which games you'll want to play online using PlayOnline. And yes, that does include Final Fantasy 11. But think of it this way, you'll get access to thing like e-mail, chat rooms, and the Tetra Master game. You're still not convinced?! Oh, ok. Neither am I, really... (Videogames.com)

-Croteam is bringing the way bitchin' PC FPS, Serious Sam, to the X-Box! The X-Box version of the game is basically a compilation of the first SS game and the upcoming sequel, Serious Sam: The Second Encounter. Some of the features, like network support, haven't been announced yet, so we may have to wait for a while to see if they're even put in the game at all. If we're lucky though, we may see the game release by the end of the year... (Videogames.com)

-Koei has announced plans to bring a new game called Fengshen Yanyi to the GameCube and Playstation 2. Fengshen Yanyi is based on old Chinese legends and has been described as being "Dynasty Warriors with super-deformed characters" (Ugh). Also, the Game Boy Advance is getting Magical Fengshen. This one happens to be an RPG and features all sorts of stuff, like link cable support. Both titles hit each system in Spring (in Japan, that is). No word on any kind of American release yet, though. (Videogames.com)

                                         
-Carlman