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takunomistudio-blog · 8 years

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Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 3 for Switch?

An almost trope-like part of FF games is the fan craving for more and more of the that is, as well as Square Enix giving that, with just enough innovation to both stay stale and fresh, simultaneously seem unoriginal and being at the forefront. The structure changes to gameplay, change of narrative focus, new systems and change of platform focus (to handheld and mobile) are all aspects of this in the Final Fantasy Tactics series.

It's hard to scry whether we'll ever get a new Tactics game, but seeing as I really want that, I can at least speak to some of the important signs and potentials that might be in store for a Nintendo Switch release.

The Switch is an optimal platform, both for reasons noted earlier, and because it fits the current target platform for SQ (staying stale and fresh)

While FFT got kinda more famous for its PS1 release, it was at heart a new Tactics Ogre, a SNES game, seen by the return to all 2d gameplay on the GBA. The core as a 2d game (graphics don't dictate gameplay) was alright for the PS1, a machine that really didn't do 3d well.

The Switch though, is both a true 3d capable platform, and a touch screen device. This affords and requires rethinking input and perspective. Nintendo and Intelligent Systems observed the same with Code Name Steam.

The question then becomes: How does the small, tactical, chess slash miniature skirmish transition to the world of dual analog sticks, touch screens and capable 3d graphics?

None of this speak to any system that might be implemented or people who are gonna work on it and add their flavor (Yuichi Murasawa, the return of Matsuno?).

Skulls of the Shogun of course showed a more fluidly continues world, where the analog sticks mattered for controls, and the reimagining of XCOM from 2012 did a lot of what I'm talking about here, it truly feels more like a game rooted in the series own history and the preferences of western board games. Even a game like Lord of Magna: Maiden Heaven felt more like a continuation of the ideas of Nippon Ichi and their Phantom Brave or Disgaea series.

In fact, this train of thought is making me think of how fighting games haven't really been able to transition into 3d (gameplay) either, and keep their roots, as sort of overview and area-control-based gameplay becomes hard do an equivalent of in 3d.

A few different possible paths are beginning to become apparent

A traditional continuation, using something akin to modern versions of the graphics from Crystal Chronicles series. XCOM could be an inspiration source.

Taking inspiration from another already 3d capable genre, like how Code Name Steam takes the Gears of War-like direction.

Enter a more fluid, perhaps action-focused gameplay. This could even go as far as to make the series real-time like Little King's Story or Pikmin.

The quite Final Fantsy-like and yet super unorthodox: Develop a new system, perhaps looking at a different metaphor. The tactics games are clearly chess-like, and FFXII's gambit system was inspired by American Football. Perhaps there is a designer at Square Enix right now, thinking of sports and passtimes, looking for something with a tactical element in 3d space, that has yet to inspire a video game.

#final fantasy tactics #nintendo switch #final fantasy #little king's story #crystal chronicles #xcom #code name steam #tactics ogre #phantom brave #lord of magna

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takunomistudio-blog · 7 years

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Takunomi Coffee Reveries, Vol. I

Contents

1 - Introduction

2 - Revitalizing the Ancients {Breath of the Wild, Final Fantasy XV}

3 - Coding for Your Own Sake {Coding, Python}

4 - LoFi Hip Hop Radio {Musical Interlude}

5 - Enticing for Computer Science {YouTube, Shōgi}

1 - Introduction

So a break for the better part of March apparently extends to most of April. That's fine. It gives time to reflect, struggle with exams, play some video games, all that good Jazz. In regards to reflection, it became apparent that daily updates was a noble goal, but a bit demanding, and my favorite posts were the Saturday recap posts, so why not try to make irregular but meatier Saturday posts only? As the content above shows, I thought it better if a bunch of good content was gathered for some relaxing perusal, coffee in hand.

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2 - Revitalizing the Ancients

I would be remise not to talk Breath of the Wild. The only problem is, the game pretty much speaks for itself, quality and qualities wise, doesn't it? Yet, since last I posted, I completed Final Fantasy XV, so it's not a bad idea to talk abot how these two ancient giants deal with awakening in today's gaming world.

I wasn't immediately floored by FFXV, but the sort of chill, super-realistic setting of magical pretty-boys and roadtripping in hostile territory quickly won me over. Talking abot it's story is both a laughably sort excercise and a maddingly long one, so I'm going to simply say: It's quite good, and quite incomplete. If you haven't played FFXV, just wait till all the updates and DLC are out, you'll get the full experience.

What FFXV truly was to me, was a fantasy of travelling around a lush green environment and mowing down wildlife and roaming weaponized armor troupes. The open world element, I realized, was simply a part of the mood. I could hardly go wherever I liked, and trying to explore, rarely revealed anything surprising. FFXV was, like so many earlier entried in the series, about it's combat. I'll get to why that's more than ok.

I haven't finished Breath of the Wild yet, but it's not trying to hide where it'll end up, so it doesn't require a lot of confidence to say that I see the bigger picture by now. BotW gets open world design. It gets it like no game before it. Everything is traversable and though there isn't a purpose to going all places, neither does it ever feel like a time waste. The level of detail in both the big picture and the smallest iota, is astounding. To be fair, BotW doesn't play much different from so many other games. Instead, it seems to say "This is how you should do open world", drops a mic and let's you play.

Both FFXV and BotW initially appear to be entering the modern world by seemingly accepting how Western developers design games: Real-time combat, ultra realistic graphics (FFXV) and go-where-ever-you-like, play-how-you-feel-like (BotW). Instead they both end up adhering to their roots in decidedly new ways. The Zelda puzzles, space-comprehension-requiring dungeons, grunting NPCs, tangible environments. It's all there, but in a far greater and smoother scale.

In many ways, it would be easy to call BotW the greater success, but I don't want to seem like I don't appreciate the technology behind FFXV. Consider the first time I entered the wood and monster infested Duscae area. I saw a creature I had a mark for. Me and my bodyguards flung into the fray and started hacking away. As the melee rolled around, we entered the vicinity of nearby monsters who happily obliged and suddenly the brawl was blooming into a war-like scenario. At that moment, a flying tank filled with soldiers came by to have a chat. I realize now, that this is crazy. The number of characters that FFXV supports at one point is mind blowing. No slow-downs, just more and more beasts. BotW on the other hand, nearly cracky my Wii U when I engaged five hulking moblins and a small batch of ice-bats in freezing tree-house. Perhaps BotW could achieve something like FFXV, but it's not the point. To these games, open world means different things. To BotW it's external: Go everywhere, always, whenever. To FFXV it's local: The immediate space is open to the battle system, now, to everyone.

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3 - Coding for Your Own Sake

Why would you want to learn programming? Maybe the idea just appeals to you, or you have some greater goal in mind for the future. Right now, you just don't have a clue what to code.

Here's a way to find a small project: Just recreate another program, in the simplest way possible, and maybe add a tiny spin on it to give yourself a challenge. Cut out visuals, complicated functionality or even user friendliness. Just make it run.

So recently I thought, how about a music player? I'd like to try my hand at Python, that seemed like a pleasant langauge to code in.

Reading around a bit, I discovered that Python is all about importing so-called modules that do a lot of the complicated stuff for you. I simply googled various key words and started copy-pasting something together. I learned stuff about how mp3 files being a bit more complicated than I expected, and so I scaled the project back to simply playing .wav files. Currently doing a course about distributed systems, I thought, maybe I should make it a small radio program? This was bit more complicated, but no more than it all resulted in the following tiny program. Simply start the program with

python3 server.py [name of song].wav

in one terminal window, and start a client in another terminal window with

python3 client.py

and hear the music play. It even works across computers on the same network.

server.py

client.py

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4 - LoFi Hip Hop Radio

Hiphop-like music coupled with looping images from amazingly relaxing anime is apparently a thing, and I see no reason not to endorse it one hundred percent. Below you see Shizuku Tsukishima from Whisper of the Heart feeling as relaxed as I hope you do. The image links to one of those previously mentioned hiphop radios.

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5 - Enticing for Computer Science

The video above is one of toco toco tv's fantastic interviews with interesting and creative Japanese people. Manao Kagawa is a professional Shogi player, and, as far as I can understand, apparently somewhat uncommon, being female.

Besides being a wonderfully relaxing interview, it features a great part in the beginning where Kagawa-san goes to browse the Shirataki Gofukuten kimono shop. It seems that being a Shogi player requires you to wear somewhat formal wear, and the result is that the players looks insanely dashing.

What's even better though, is the mentioning of the Shirataku Ayumi Hai, a yearly Shogi tournament for female players to win beautiful and (I assume) quite expensive kimono.

A quite well-discussed subject, is how the rate of women joining Computer Science and the IT work force in general, is too low. I won't get into politics here, but what is a fact, is that Computer Scientists are in short supply everywhere in the world. At the same time, it seems the education world is mainly drawing from one of two pools of potential students (men). In other words, there is a whole other, quite untapped, pool of with potential students to draw from.

I've seen some really good initiatives to reverse the current trend, but I think the one seen in the video is a wonderfully aesthetic idea. I don't know if it manages to draw in new Shogi players Japan, but having some sort of algorithm competition aimed at high school age (or younger) girl, with very sought-after, classically feminine prizes1, seems like it could draw in a segment that normally has no interest in this branch of science, despite engaging in similar ones (mathematics, medicine, biology).

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Big IT companies sponsor lots of things with huge amounts of money. Winning a Chanel handbag for solving algorithmic problems in high school, seems like quite a carrot. ↩︎

#Breath of the Wild #Final Fantasy XV #Whisper of the Heart #toco toco tv #shogi #python

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