The Wednesday Inbox discusses the environmental message of Final Fantasy 7, as one reader looks forward to the Lego Nintendo sets.
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The movie of Zelda
With that Lego Nintendo reveal, whatever it is, I’d completely forgotten about the whole animated movie idea, I just assumed it got canned ages ago. But whether it comes out or not I’m not sure I really see the point. The Super Mario games don’t really have a story and even the ones that do, like Paper Mario, are really weird and not something I can see adapting very well. I mean it could work, especially if it’s a side story or more like Luigi’s Mansion but really it’s only being done because it’s the most popular game not because it’s the best suited to be a film.
There was a really good Reader’s Feature recently about video game movies and it made the point that Zelda was a much better idea, not because it’s a fairly sane fantasy world, but because there’d be an actual point to making a film of it. Uncharted makes no sense because the games were just knock-offs for Indiana Jones anyway, but Zelda doesn’t have much story and very little voice acting and a lot of fans don’t want it either. But in a movie you can have it and it makes sense, so everyone gets what they want.
Link doesn’t even have that funny hat anymore (although I’d love it to feature somehow) and Breath Of The Wild was the most successful entry yet so Zelda has become much more high profile lately. I think it really should happen. I know there was some talk of a Netflix series but this feels like some thing that would be better as a film. There’s not much story to go around and it deserves to be a big event blockbuster. I hope it happens And that we get some Zelda Lego sets too!
Crispo
Good reasons
Sony publishing games on the PC is just wild to me. I cannot think of one single good reason for them to do it and plenty of really bad things that could result. Obviously they’ll sell a few more copies of a game, but would these be new customers or just people that would’ve bought it on PlayStation but are now going to get it on PC? I mean, really, why do I need to speed £500 on a PlayStation 5 if I can get the games on my PC and they’ll probably look better too.
Doesn’t make any sense to me. Then you’ll have all the mods and the piracy, that Sony has no experience of dealing with, and yet gamers will love and will demand becomes the new standard. I just don’t see what Sony gets out of any of this.
I also don’t believe for a second that it’s not going to be all games. Microsoft used to say that too once and look where we are now. Not a good look for the new PlayStation boss to be being so economical with the truth on his first announcement. I mean… whatever. I have a good PC so it doesn’t matter to me but I really think Sony are going to regret this.
Dunston
Too busy
Has anyone else noticed that with graphical improvements in games, developers have started to go very overboard with certain details? I was watching footage of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake and although the combat looks decent, there were so many sparks and flames shooting everywhere it was kinda hard to see what was happening (Final Fantasy 15 was way worse for this though).
God Of War had the ability to summon dozens of magical crow-things to defeat enemies and I usually had to pause the game to give my eyes a break because of all the visual info on screen. Fighting games are notorious for this now (Streets Of Rage 4 has ridiculous levels of flames, sparks, etc. firing everywhere) but the worst is first person shooters as they take place mostly in wide, open areas its often difficult to focus due to screen business and is incredibly disorienting.
YouTuber videogamedunkey showed one of the older, Xbox Halo games running alongside the newest title and the difference is staggering. I guess it’s only going to get worse though, so I guess I’m just going to have to put up with it.
Blehp
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Like minds
Lego Nintendo sets? I am so there. I hope they do more than just Mario, although I have to admit a giant Princess Peach castle would very quickly find it on my birthday list. Not sure what’s going on with the Mario thing they show in the teaser though? Looks like it’s interactive in some way? Who knows, but I like the idea that they haven’t just done the obvious.
It strikes me that Lego and Nintendo are quite similar: very secretive but very creative and unique within their own industries. I’m not sure there’s much to be gained from making a standard Lego game with Nintendo characters but I would love to see Nintendo make a Lego game. Something that was their own take on Lego in general and not another cookie cutter tie-in game.
Not sure it would happen, Nintendo don’t really make other people’s games anymore but I think that’s the only real hope of Lego games being good again.
Stinky
On message
I’ve never played a Final Fantasy for more than a couple of hours (just can’t stand the random battles) but I’m vaguely aware of the story of Final Fantasy 7 being about saving the planet; I wonder just how much more relevant in today’s climate the story will be and if it will perceived differently now than it was when it was originally released?
What other games can GC think of that have an environmentalist message? The Oddworld games and maybe Metal Gear?
Sven Kirby
GC: Environmental messages are common in video games, from Horizon Zero Dawn and Flower to Eco Fighters.
Making the list
Very interested to read (and admire!) your reasons for not getting a review out on Tuesday for Ori And The Will Of The Wisps. This is why I love GameCentral. Sometimes it is about ethics in video game journalism, who knew.
Also, quickly rushed to Metacritic to make a list of all the review sites who published on Tuesday. May they never be trusted again.
As George Bush so famously said, ‘Fool me once shame on… shame on you. Fool me… you can’t get fooled again.’
Anyway, 15-year-old jokes aside. Really excited for this. Loved the original, bought an Xbox specifically for it. I’ll even put up with a little bit of slowdown too. I’ve just finished 50 hours of Subnautica on a vanilla Xbox One. Sure I can put it with this too… huh. Maybe I can be fooled again.
Dan
Last minute fix
I know day one patches are basically standard now but what I don’t get is how a game can be so broken right up until the day it’s released. Ori And The Will Of The Wisps looks amazing in the videos but apparently it was running like a dog on Xbox One S right up until the last minute? That seems weird to me. I’m not a developer, so what do I know, but seems like leaving things very late.
Anyway, I support GC’s decision to wait until the patch is out to post the review. Shame on those sites that ran theirs straight away and didn’t even mention the problems, assuming they’d be fixed. Even with a relatively trustworthy company like Microsoft I’m not wasting £25 on the trust that they’ll do the right thing.
Bran
Catch up on every previous Games Inbox here
Impossible company
Nice review of Black Mesa/Half-Life, GC. I know what you mean about not being sure of how well known it really is. None of my mates had ever heard of it, when I started getting excited about Half-Life: Alyx, and they’re fairly keen gamers and not just your usual Call Of Duty/FIFA only crowd. I know nowadays Valve are invested in Steam and the PC but they weren’t when Half-Life started and yet they’ve always largely ignored consoles.
And then you get into the whole, ‘Why did they stop making games?’ thing which they’ve never answered and it’s impossible to even guess at. In the build up to the release of Alyx they’ve been saying that they’ve still got plenty of people working there that were on the original Half-Life, but if that’s true what on earth have they been doing for the last two decades?
Were they put in cryosleep for all that time? Or have they all just been answering customer support for Steam? Companies make odd decisions and you still can make a guess at the reasons behind them. With Valve I just have no clue why they do anything. If Alyx ends up being as good as I hope it is though I’m sure all will be forgiven. Until they doing something else odd again and stop being a game developer for another decade.
Baba Yaga
Inbox also-rans
When 2K says their new American football game is going to be non-simulation maybe they mean it’s just going to be 100% microtransaction driven casino? It’d help cut out the middleman with NBA 2K20.
Eronite
The only Panzer Dragoon games I will ever care about is either a brand new one or a remaster/remake of Panzer Dragoon Saga. After all these years I don’t think I’m any closer to either.
Gifford
This week’s Hot Topic
Last week was the 20th anniversary of the PlayStation 2’s first release, so for this weekend’s Inbox we want to hear your memories of Sony’s second console.
Did you own a PlayStation 2 at the time and if so what did you think of it? What games did you own and play, and which were your favourites? Have you played any of them recently and how do you think they hold up?
What do you think is the legacy of the PlayStation 2 and what should it be best remembered for? How would you rate it compared to other PlayStation consoles and do you think it deserves to be the best-selling format of all time?
E-mail your comments to: [email protected]
The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length.
You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word 4Player viewer features at any time, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.
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