Goodbye Blog.

If there was anyone reading this, I'm not making the blog anymore. You can follow me on my new youtube channel, RPGgamerVII. So bye.

The History of Final Fantasy Part 1

Well I've only been playing Final Fantasy since 2002, but I really like the series, so I figured I'd do a history of the games. I will cover a paragraph or so on each game, and have two games per part.

Final Fantasy has been around since 1987. 1987! But that wasn't the American release date. But let's get back to the discussion! Final Fantasy is what established the RPG series, and is considered by many to be the greatest  game series ever, let alone the best RPG series. Players have played through many protagonists throughout the series. The Warrior of Light all the way up to Lightning. Well all the way up to Lightning if you don't count the MMO's. Players have hated, loved, and attached themselves to these characters since the beginning of Final Fantasy, and as long as the series continues, that is something that won't change.

Final Fantasy was a life saver for Square (now known as Square-Enix), because the company was dying. They had no good games, and they had no money. However, a man named Hironobu Sakaguchi, figured that this would be their last game. The name FF derives from the fact that Sakaguchi wanted Square's final game to be a fantasy. Thus creating a Final Fantasy. Sakaguchi saved the company, and started what would become an empire.

When the first game was released, there were many games that were RPG's, but nothing compared to Final Fantasy. It was open world gameplay, and the battle system was different. Most RPG battles at the time were first person or third person narrative. Final Fantasy, however, showed the players, and the foe they were facing. This would let players see the attacks they had chose for their players to act out on the screen. Throughout the open world in the first game, there were towns and item shops. All these things have become commonplace in Final Fantasy since the first game. Another thing that was notable about the original was the soundtrack. With more than 20 songs, this was impressive. Nobuo Uematsu composed the score. Since then he has become extremely well known with fans. He has composed the score for a lot of the Final Fantasy games, and gamers always found themselves humming his iconic songs. Final Fantasy has seen a great amount of remakes on a variety of systems.

The game was a financial success, so of course, a sequel was spawned. Final Fantasy II was released. It followed the story of Firion, Maria, Guy, and Leon. The plot was a little bit more advanced than that of the original. The four main characters go on a journey to stop the evil Palamecian Empire. The gameplay was similar to the original, as was the open world enviroment, which included towns and item shops, and inns, as did the first. Nobuo Uematsu had returned to do the score. The game was also highly successful, but came to America in 2003 for the gameboy. Final Fantasy II's American release, was actually Final Fantasy IV, but was called Final Fantasy II to prevent confusion among players. The game has been remade many times, for many systems since it's original release.

Why the music genre in gaming is dying.

Activision did a great thing in 2005. Guitar Hero came out, revolutionizing the music genre in gaming. It was the first good music game, and everyone was talking about it. I didn't get into the series until Guitar Hero 2 came out, and eventually I became a pro at it. I loved the game so much. Activision realized they could make some money off of it, so they released Guitar Hero Encore: Rock's the 80's and the first next generation Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero 3. Harmonix had left Activision after Guitar Hero 2, to make Rock Band. Rock Band was the first music game that had all four instruments, and was good. Rock Band was a huge success so they made a sequel with improved features, new songs, and all that stuff. Activision thought they could milk the series for all it's worth. GH: World Tour was announced. It was Rock Band, but had a different title and more features. That was a success, so for no apparent reason Activision really started milking the series. Three DS games were released, Guitar Hero Metallica, GH Aerosmith came out, DJ Hero, and Band Hero. Over a two year span. Rock Band, however decided not to totally ruin their series. The Beatles Rock Band was announced, and was also a huge success. After all that hype died down, Activision decided to not troll their GH fans and only release a few games in 2010. Guitar Hero 5 came out and so did DJ Hero 2. Harmonix decided to release Rock Band 3 this year. It had so many good features, it blew GH5 out of the water. Nobody plays these games anymore because they've milked it for all it's worth, and the games are uninteresting. Activision actually released a Greatest Hits title that had the best songs from GH1, GH2, Encore Rocks the 80's, and GH3. That's milking if I ever saw it. In otherwords, maybe if Activision wouldn't have been such greedy bastards, this wouldn't have happened.

Gaming in 2010, a summary.

2010. A great year for gaming. Great titles were released, and announced. Red Dead Redemption, Halo: Reach, Black Ops, AC Brotherhood, Final Fantasy XIII, etc. Another great thing that made 2010 a good year for the gaming industry was the introduction of motion gaming from Microsoft and Sony. First I'll start with E3 2010. Nintendo had the best conference, with the unveiling of the 3DS, Sony close behind with the unveiling of Move and Playstation Plus. Microsoft, was sadly last in my opinion, because the best thing they had going for them at their conference was Kinect, and even so, the conference was still terrible. Sony announced various Move deals. PS3 320GB Move Bundle, Move Starter Pack, and various other items related to the Move released separately (i.e.: Navigation Controller, Charging Station, etc.) A lot of gamers have said some things about Move. It looks like a girl's sex toy, it's a Wii rip off, blah blah blah. Okay first of all, learn to be mature. Second of all, the only thing it resembles with the Wii is the controllers. The Playstation Eye is a lot more accurate and precise with motion tracking than compared to the Wii sensor that goes on your TV. Sony also announced that 3D games and blu-ray would now be playable on the PS3, with a 3DHDTV. Now onto Kinect. Originally called Project Natal, it was renamed Kinect and completely unveiled at E3 2010. Kinect does offer some great opportunities, however, I think Kinect will just be casual gaming. Not much else. Although, I've yet to try Move or Kinect, I know I would probably love both. Finally, the 3DS. I expected this to be the worst handheld of all time, but wow. Honestly, this was one of the biggest gaming surprises ever. Just about no details were in the air on the 3DS before E3. As Nintendo unveiled the 3DS and had their conference, there were some other great things. A lot of great games were announced for the 3DS, specifically the Ocarina of Time 3D Remake, and the sequel to Kid Icarus, previously nicknamed Project Sora (I thought it was another Kingdom Hearts game to be honest, but a KH game for the 3DS was announced though), Kid Icarus: Uprising. Another huge announcement Nintendo showed off at the conference was the unveiling of the new Zelda title called tLoZ: Skyward Sword. However, it's not just Twilight Princess's Wii controls all over again. This is the Zelda game Wii fans have been waiting for. Skyward Sword was announced to be able to work with Wii Motion Plus. Around the time E3 was going on, the Supreme Court was debating on whether or not to pass a law to make selling mature rated games to minors illegal. Much controversy from gamers, and politicians a like has risen from this, and a decision still has not been made. After the E3 hype died down, some rumors spread about a possible Android Playstation Phone. Then, Gamescom came around the corner, and the best thing that happened was when Resistance 3 was announced. Resistance: Fall of Man was the PS3's best launch game. I hate shooters, but regardless, I will be buying this game. After Gamescom ended, in September, Sony's Playstation Move went public. Reviews were generally positive, and the Move had some good launch games, but the one people are most looking forward to is Little Big Planet 2 or Killzone 3. Tokyo Game Show went down around the same time Move launched, and more 3DS details were announced and such. A sequel to Dissidia: Final Fantasy was announced, as well as some other Square-Enix titles. Versus XIII and Agito XIII also finally got trailers and more details. Then, Nintendo's 3DS conference happened, and the 3DS was given a price and release date. The 3DS will launch in Japan in February, and in North America sometime in March for around $250-300. Tokyo Game Show came and went, and then rumors and pictures of the PSP2 and the Playstation Phone had surfaced. The PSP2 has been speculated to release around Q4 2011, same goes for the Playstation Phone. This is just about everything you'll find interesting that happened in the gaming world in 2010, in case anyone somehow managed to miss the whole year.

Human, Human, Human, Human, Human, After All!

Why I like Daft Punk so much.

A lot of my friends think I'm strange for not liking the modern music we have now. I've never really liked rap, or girls pretending to be guys (Justin Beiber), some seven year old whipping her hair back and forth, which until recently, I had no idea that was an actual song. The only modern artist in the rap category I like is The Lonely Island. Their new album comes out 2011 so yeah. But anyway, back to the point! I first learned of the french electronic duo that is Daft Punk when Kanye remixed Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger in 2008. At that time I liked rap. But then my brother picked up a Daft Punk CD, and I've loved them ever since. Granted, I've been a little obsessive with them as of lately (see: TRON: Legacy), but I think I've stumbled upon something I will never stop liking. Some of the rap songs I really listened to a lot do not have the same feeling. However, any Daft Punk song wants me to get up and dance, or just feel energized altogether. I do hope Daft Punk makes a few more albums and goes alive once more before they retire. I would really like to see them one day. I do hate myself a little bit for discovering Daft Punk via a douchebag, but hey, that's life. I have had some ideas to write a book about them too. And maybe one day, I could actually meet them. Maybe one day. From now on I will end all my blogs with the lyrics you see below.

Human, Human, Human, Human, Human, After All!