...this new picture from FF12.com. That guy in the middle looks like he could be the new main villian, and if http://www.ff12.com/main.html says anything about it, I'd wager he goes by the name Judge Master Gabranth.

http://www.ff12.com/downloads/desktop/FFXII_judge_s.jpg

Lately, I've been getting more and more excited about FFXII. Here's how my general mood has been...

1. Announcement of FF XII.

Mood: Meh. I still have to finish VIII and X, and don't have broadband or money to pay for XI. Plus the lead guy looks very effeminate, and the soft glow on his picture makes it look like he's posing for GlamourShots or something.

2. A few more pictures released. Announcements of a newer more real-time battle system with weird arc lines connecting people.

Mood: Still fairly meh. I know the series is due for a change, but I'm still not very interested.

3. I read that it takes place in Ivalice, and the designer of FFT is involved.

Mood: My ears perk up, but I'm still skeptical. Ivalice has been everything from incredible (FFT) to blah (FFTA) to me, and I see pictures of bunnies (Viera) and the lizard guys, so I'm afraid it means the FFTA version of Ivalice.

4. The demo is released, I see more pictures, some actual gameplay video, read some articles, etc.

Mood: Growing excitement...

And that pretty much brings me to right now. I now think that this game is in a lot of ways about conflict. It's old vs. new (traditional rpg meets new styles), East meets West (interviewees from Square mention taking influences from Turkey, Greece, and New York City to add to the Japanese RPG flavor), FFT vs. FFTA (multiple races like FFTA with political intrigue and ominous-looking characters [i.e. the judges] like FFT), etc. Plus, it's all about a war setting, and seems to have a lot of themes (from interviews & articles) of racism, inter-class conflict, etc.

Thinking about the battle system, a lot of articles mention the influence of FF XI. I've generally never been a huge fan of MMORPGs for two reasons - the endless Grind and the click and hack combat, which seemed rather weak and boring. But now, I'm recognizing another influence to the game, one I haven't yet seen brought up - Kingdom Hearts! Kingdom Hearts is a bit like a more action-based version of FF, and it has AI-controlled allied characters... sound familiar? And although I was originally skeptical of the changes made to the battle system, I'm not as worried now. Kingdom Hearts was a bit awkward at times, but it *did* work. In the battle system, anyway, this is starting to look to me like less of a revolution of the FF series and more like a evolution of the KH series.

Of course, I'm very glad to see that this version of Ivalice seems to be a new version that blends some of the cooler features of each older version.

On an unrelated note, Balfear looks like the new Mustadio, or maybe even Vincent. A cool, stylish, gunslinging guy - just what ever FF game needs! I like his charater design a lot. Even if he's not the main character, I'm liking at least one of the characters now. One of the reasons I never finished FF VIII (other than some depressing save-game issues involving two brothers sharing one memory card) was that Squall seemed like a jerk to me.

(Yes, before you reply and tell me that I'm just not perceptive enough to see his hidden angst and that I have to play through the whole game to notice the real, deep, character development that Squall displays by the end... I'm currently playing through the game again, giving Squall another shot, and am really loving it. If I ever leave Balamb Garden is another issue altogether... I could easily play cards and level up my 3 GFs forever at Balamb and forget all about saving the world.)

But I digress. My point is that a likeble character is important to me. I need to like *something* about my character if I'm going to feel like I want to spend time exploring his/her life.

Back to FF XII's gameplay ideas, the "license system" (note the judicial connotations) for abilities seems simple, yet from the screenshots and descriptions I've seen, it looks like it has a lot of potential to be cool. It looks like a sphere grid minus the spheres. Which is a good thing, since FFX had enough spheres to make the world go round - Spira, sphere grid, blitzball... it was all about the sphere. Now, the world looks flat, and I like it. My guess it that choosing one point on the grid will open up the new adjacent areas around it. It may have a great balance for broadness/depth, allowing players to specialize in a certain direction or to broaden out in all areas a bit.

At least that's how it looks to me. I haven't played it. This post is titled "half-baked" for a reason. :-)

I posted this in reply to SS2Dante:

Any time two genres or niches are combined, there is a tension there that gives the potential for a hybrid that is more than the sum of the parts. Certain elements of each battle the other, and it can be difficult and painful, but in the end, the results can be good.

We see this all the time in modern music, where country and blues gave birth to rock, something distinctly different than either parent. Lately, the trends have been a combining of rock and techno (to mixed results of good and bad) and rock and hip hop (to also mixed but occassionally sublime results), in my humble opinion.

Creating a hybrid can be very risky. In fact, it often produces monsters, hideous mutations with the strength of neither parent. Take, for example, the time Homer Simpson tried to breed the dog and cat. "Soon I will have the perfect hybrid. The loyalty of a cat with the cleanliness of a dog!" But when it's the other way around, it can be very cool indeed. Some of the most successful hybrids are now established and common subgenres of their own.

Consider:

Strategy/RPG:
The character depth/development/specialization and plot of an RPG with a battle system that's more involved than mashing the "attack" button over and over on random encounters.

Action/Stealth:
Life's more fun when you have options. Instead of forcing you to take one path and gameplay style, you can mix it up. Consider MGS, Deus Ex, Mercenaries, etc.

Action/Adventure:
It may be common, but it's still a hybrid. An adventure game can be more than trying to find the right item to solve the puzzle. It can be combat and platforming too.

A few hybrids I'd love to see someday:

RPG/2d or 3d shooter: Customization options and depth of an RPG, but with furious shooting action like old-school (or new school) shooters. The closest I've seen is in mech shooters like the Armored Core series.

Stealth/Strategy/RPG: It looks like MGS Ac!d may already fill this void, but I haven't played it yet. Plus I'd like to see one without needing cards.

Vehicle/Platformer: Perhaps the closest are games like TrackMania or Diddy Kong Racing, but I see a lot of untapped potential here.

Multiplayer Shooter (1st or 3rd person)/RPG: Action-packed team or DM with different classes of characters and roles to play. A bit like Heretic or Rune with healers and summoners or an MMORPG with real-time battles (not slash/hack with damage/second).

Pokemon/Platformer: I realize that Pokemon is already a hybrid variety of RPG, but consider if you had a game that played a bit like Mario 64 but with the monster collecting of Pokemon. You could have your monsters fight for you in real time, give them commands, ride on some of them to get to certain places, etc. I think it would be a must-have game, but I'm surprised Nintendo hasn't even tried it yet.

I've already mentioned a few games that could be close to these hybrids I've thought of, but if anyone can think of more great hybrids or existing games I might enjoy because they fill one of these and I may not know of them, then please post away!

It's almost as great as the power of CHEESE!

What am I babbling about this time? Well, I was recently playing Mercenaries and got myself a NK Hind helicopter (actually called a Mi-35 or something like that within the game)...and oh, is it cool.

Why?

1: NK means NK disguise. I can easily sneak into NK territory without any NK forces batting an eye. Great for sneaking up on SAM launchers or gathering collectables stashed in the middle of a lot of tanks and SAMs.
2: Not 2, but *8* anti-tank missiles. Great against tanks and other ground vehicles, and not bad against bunkers or buildings, either.
3: Lots of rockets/dumbfire missiles, *64* to be exact. Great against jeeps (watch them fly!) or infantry. Excellent for certain challenges (take out the drug dealers, snipers, etc.) too. And a vehicle ammo supply drop means another 64 (and 8 more AT missiles).
4: Lots of armor. It can take around 3-5 SAMs before it goes down. Although I usually perfer light and fast vehicles, like the Jajus, jeeps, and scout choppers, it's actually worth the trade-off in speed and maneuverability. And anything less than tank shells, RPGs, and SAMs will just bounce right off.
5. It can hold at least 4 passengers. Great for carting around those fragile WMD inspectors.
Bonus: It makes me think of the Hind that Liquid flies in MGS1. That cool scene where a bunch of rockets hit the sattelite dish... you can do something like that over and over whenever you want to whatever you want. It almost makes some missions too easy.

This chopper is so cool it makes me forget about the NK scout and the other light choppers I used to love.

Shocked and awed,
Z

P.S. I'm sorry that this is not a deep philisophical exploration into art and culture and games, but rather just an excited fanboy rant. But sometimes, you just have to blow stuff up.

There's an intersting new article at the game devoloper site Gamasutra. It deals with the lessons that World of Warcraft teaches. It's very insightful and interesting. The rules that are built into game designs (or slapped on top via "Terms of Service") say a lot about what the developers value and what players learn from the game itself.

Granted, there probably should be rules, to ensure that the majority of players feel like they have a fair and fun play experience, but a lot of those rules, it seems, could be coded into the game.

http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20060222/sirlin_01.shtml

Games are an art form, just like music, movies, visual arts, dance, etc. In fact, though they incorporate bits and pieces from all these other realms of arts, they are a separate art form in themself.

Now, I've heard detractors that claim that video games are no more an art than a game of baseball, (and I've even read that Hideo Kojima is hesitant to call his own very artful games the A-word), but I'd generally disagree. First off, video games as a category are a different game than sports games (though some video games are sports games).

Secondly, intent is important. Art is in the intentions and the decision-making process, from the high-level design ideas to the nitty-gritty "which texture should we use for this wall" decisions. Games that tell a story can be artful and artistic. MGS is a great example of this. Games that carry a message are artful. And various games do, in one way or another have a subtext, whether good, true, moral, immoral, amoral, etc.

Here's some possible subtexts into various games and their worlds. These are not official ideas given by the creators, but subjective subtexts that I infer (possibly quite badly) from the games:

Super Mario Brothers:
The world is a magical place.
You can change yourself to adapt to different hardships and situations.
Getting money is good, and you should get as much as you can.
Save those that are in need, and don't get discouraged by setbacks and dissapointments (like when your princess in in another castle.)

Metal Gear Solid:
One person has the ability to shape the fate of mankind.
Collect lots of stuff - even if you don't need it now, you'll never know when you'll need it later.
Take responsibility for your decisions and manage your risk carefully. If you make a poor decision or a misjudgement (like alerting guards or building a weapon of mass destruction), you and those you care about may have to suffer the consequences.

Final Fantasy VII:
Be yourself, and don't try to live up to anyone else's legacy.
Collect a barge full of stuff - practical things like ultimate weapons and even useless items like Tissues and decorative 1/35 Soldiers.
The planet is in danger, and you can help to protect it.

Mercenaries:
Money is important.
Friends and relationships are also important.
Money can buy friends, so money is more important.
You have the freedom and the ability to manipulate any situation to your advantage.
Trust can take time to build once destroyed.
Betray anyone you want, as much as you want, as long as you save the world at the end of the day.

Final Fantasy Tactics:
Defend the weak and defenseless.
If someone betrays you, kill them.
To save who you care about, sacrifices must sometimes be made.

GTA3, etc.:
You have the freedom and right to do whatever you want, even to whoever you want.
Crime can pay, but the law generally catches up with you eventually.

Driver:
If you have an accident with a cop, you better drive away ASAP, since he won't want to swap insurance information with you.

Now, some of these messages we recognize as good (e.g. justice and defense of the weak), some as wrong (even for games that are quite fun), some as questionable (unbridled materialism, anyone?), and some are just funny (like the aggressiveness of cops in Driver, for example). But all are messages, either overt or subtle, either intentional or unintentional, that can be gathered from these games. Tell me, why this is different than a protest song or a movie that deals with racism? Games, even when not trying to be artistic, are a work of art!