Careless Whisper - FF14 Version

I've never felt so sure

As I round up my friends

And lead us to Amdapor

But as the healer dies

I tried to close my eyes

To erase the image of the scene

One where my friends died

 

(Chorus)

 

I'm never gonna tank again

Guilty heals has got much aggro

Though it's easy to pretend

That Flash's a tool for fools

 

I should have know better than to DPS

And waste the shield that I've been given

So I'm never gonna tank again

Then I won't look like a noob to you

 

I hear around the bend

The careless whispers of a bad tank

Was I supposed to know?

Get Iron Giant's aggro?

I tried to say it's all a lie

As the alliance fries

 

(Chorus)

 

Tonight we'll make it through somehow

I think I can control this crowd

Maybe it's better this way

Think of this as practice c'mon what do you say?

We're gonna be so good together

Can run this dungeon near forever

Let's do Halitali

Please stay!

 

(Chorus)

 

Now that you're gone

Now that you're gone

Now that you're gone

Was what I did so wrong

So wrong that you had to leave me alone

 

P.S.  Hope you enjoyed!  This is something new for me.  Oh, and that last part after the last chorus was lifted straight from the original song with no changes.  I couldn't think of anything to change, and it's appropriate enough as it is.  Thanks for reading!

Watch Out, or the Titan Just Might Fall... on You!

For about a month before the launch of Titanfall, the Xbox One exclusive, there was hardly a day gone by without some sort of news on the subject.  It's almost like Microsoft gave explicit orders to it's PR staff to hold off on info and dole them out on a day by day basis.  Maybe it's screen shots, gameplay details, frame rate or resolution, it seems that each new day brings forth a nugget of info about the game.  Either that, or sites like Gamespot are just taking advantage of all the Titanfall hype.  But one of the most important news in the week before the launch of the game was the price.  No, it wasn't as obvious as $60.

 

Most people think sales of the Xbone is lagging the PS4 is because the latter is $100 cheaper.  That may be why, about a week before the release of Titanfall, an announcement was made that the European release would get a sweet deal.  I believe it was $500 for both the system and the game, effectively putting the game up for free.  It's all confusing now that I'm trying to recall it, but shortly after that announcement, American chains like Walmart began announcing the Titanfall bundle for about $450 US.  Then, a bit after that, Microsoft themselves posted the price officially on their webstore.  Yes, it's $450 for the Titanfall/Xbox One bundle.  I think.  I barely remember, but that's not really the point.

 

The point is Microsoft is clearly betting on the game being a success.  That's why there's so much hype and that's why there's such a steep discount on the system mere months after the system's launch.  MS knew it had a great thing and knowing that they went all the way.  The result?  In the month of March, the Xbox One dramatically closed the gap with the PS4.  At least, for that month.  Total sales numbers are still pending.  The point is, the hype worked.  The game sold like hot pancakes and moved systems.  In terms of sales, I believe the game lived up to the hype.  

 

As expected, a few weeks after the game's launch, the news died down.  After the reviews and the early discussions out of the way, Titanfall coverage dropped to a level of any game post release.  Then, a couple days ago, I saw something a bit odd.  It seems that the major chain Target is selling the Xbox One/Titanfall bundle for $450 and includes a free 12 months subscription to Xbox Live Gold.  This is worth about $60 make the effective price of this bundle much lower than the PS4. 

 

No, I'm not tempted to write that the Xbone is failing, or that sales are lagging, or that noone wants the machine or all that negative jazz.  This may or may not be the case but what struck me as most odd about this news is….  that it just might be too much.  Not just the Target sale, but the whole thing.  I get the feeling that retailers and the public in general still can't really get over Titanfall as an Xbox seller.  What I'm trying to say is, maybe Titanfall just got a little bit TOO much hype.  By itself!

 

It's pretty obvious that the game was hyped to the gills and that's no mistake.  Sales numbers speak for themselves.  But what is the opportunity cost of all this hype?  That's what struck me.  To me, there's a danger to succeeding too much with a game like Titanfall.  Now, after months of talk, it's possible that in the eyes of gamers and the overall public, that Titanfall = Xbox One!  And that's not good!  The Xbox One already made the misstep earlier when it chose to highlight it's TV watching potential over gaming.  It's just now starting to reverse that trend (with the new guy in charage of the Xbox division for one thing).  Now it's backed itself into another trend.  A Titanfall trend.

 

See, Titanfall is a very specialized game.  It's multiplayer only and it's competitive.  It's also a first person shooter.  So in hyping the game to the Nth degree, Microsoft is essentially saying 'Multiplayer competitive shooters are what you will be getting if you get an Xbox One'.  This works great for the male 18-30 crowd but not much beyond that. 

 

In Microsoft's defense, a bigger installed base can only be a good thing.  Sell the machines now, then sell the different games later.  They also have a Forza bundle, but it's not nearly as hyped and car racing games still fall firmly into the 'brogamer' category.  Finally, MS is doing a great job with their self publishing system, the ID@Xbox LIve program.  Developers are saying it's a move in the right direction and they've got a few Japanese indie creators on board already for it's Xbone launch in Japan.  Clearly, MS is looking beyond the 'brogamer' demographic to make sure they have a well rounded machine.

 

Yet, with all their tooting of the Titanfall horn, I'm wondering if it might not backfire in some way.  Gamers and retailers alike are already equating the Xbone with shooters.  If they want to switch directions, MS will have to fight another tidal wave of opinion, one which they themsleves created.  My question is…  when the indie games are ready, when the Japanese ports are ready, would the Xbox owners be?

P.S.  Yes, I wrote this weeks ago.  The March results from NPD are in.  For the month of March, the number one retail sales belong to Titanfall.  Number two was Infamous Second Son.  However, the number one console sold that month was the PS4.  So the Xbox One still fell behind the competition despite Titanfall having the biggest software sales.  I think this somewhat proves what I wrote above.  Sure, Titanfall sold well, but perhaps the reason the Xbox One still lags behind the PS4 is because the game only appeals to a limited (but large, by numbers) demographics.  I think people who play a variety of games, or the people who don't like shooters, or people who like single player might be getting turned off by the Xbone, and so, did not buy one.  Not if it's used to 'only' play a game like Titanfall.

A Rift in the Occulus Rift

The biggest news in gaming last week (Edit:  I wrote this two weeks ago):  Facebook bought Occulus VR, the makers of the Occulus Rift virtual reality headset, for $2 billion in combined cash and stocks.  If you read some of the internet comments regarding this move, you'd think the world is ending.  What is the Occulus Rift?  It's a crowdfunded organization responsible for develping one of the most advanced virtual reality headset around and the initial purpose of such a device is to play games with it.  Their first headset was made purely for development purposes and it's reception was an immediate success.  Just about everyone who's tried one says great things about it.  Developers who tried it can't wait to start making games for it.  And then, one day, last week, all that was sold to Facebook.  Why is it such a big deal?

 

I'll answer that in a bit, but first, I want to get own personal views out of the way.  When I first joined Facebook (which wasn't that long ago, actually), the site almost immediately recommended me a bunch of people I can 'friend' with.  Shockingly, I actually know some of these people!  As a newly minted account, how does the site know who I could possibly be friends with?  Of course, it read my address book.  Without my permission.  I remember another shocking incident, also very recently.  I was doing searches on the net tyring to find a hotel for our Japan trip.  After looking up a bunch, I went onto Facebook.  Lo and behold, the very first advertisiment on the site wast the very last hotel I just looked up!  How does Facebook possibly know this?  Of course, it read my browser history.  Again, without my permission.  When I use Facebook, I give only the most necessary information and to be honest, I don't even use my real name.  Why?  Because of behavior like this.  This is called spying and it's not appreicated.  If so many of my friends weren't on the thing, I wouldn't be either.

 

And that's partially why the Facebook acquisition of Occulus VR is such a big deal.  Because A LOT of people online feel the same way about Facebook I do.  Trust for Facebook, as a company, isn't very high.  And of course, there's Occulus VR themselves.  The owners of Occulus VR sold out.  It had to be.  There's probably only a dozen people in the entire world who can turn down a share of 2 billion dollars and the folks at Occulus aren't those people. 

 

I think that, in a nutshell, is why people are up in arms over this deal.  The people who love Occulus enough to crowdfund them feel ripped off because the owners sold out, and every body else hates the deal because they also don't like Facebook.  The thing to understand here is that the company had the unanimous support of probably every single developer who've heard of the machine.  They all fell in love with the concept and the possibilities.  The people who chipped in some cash felt pride at having done so.  Occulus VR had nothing but positive PR prior to this news.  Now, they have mostly the opposite.  I think anyone with such a strong commitment to Occulus would feel betrayed by the move.

 

Normally, this will do in a company.  When the people who love you now mostly hate you, you have problems.  But Occulus VR isn't actually selling anything.  They don't have a device on the market, all they have are prototype units/development kits.  Yes, they sell them, but no, they can't be making that much money off them.  Truly brining the device out to market - that is where the money's at.  Therefore, as sad as it is for me to say, in the long run, Occulus VR, now part of Facebook, will do just fine.  Even if the entire development community turns against them.  Why?

 

Marc Ecko.  Okay, not really, but yes, really, because this reminds me of what happened at E3 once in the early 2000s.  Marc Ecko… yes, THAT Marc Ecko (I don't even know if I spelt the name right) was a keynote speaker at E3.  Here was there to promote his video game (yes, he has one).  Then, the second he opened his mouth, he made big news.  Imagine, right there, in the middle of thousands of developers, he said, to their faces, that they don't matter.  He said to the developers that they don't matter.  Just like that.  Why?  Because nobody cares about them.  Noone knows who they are and so, noone cares.  They care about the games they are making yes, and since 2000, many developers have become semi celebrities but for the most part, developers are just part of the faceless crowd. 

 

I have to day that this is harsh, but true.  My bet is that the mainstream haven't even heard of the Rift until the deal came out and some of them are probably still scratching their heads as to why this is such a big deal.  The developers who loved the Rift so much barely registered in the scheme of things.  If Facebook manages the deal to the end and brings out a market version of the Rift, then firms like EA, Activision and all the others would make games for it.  It doesn't matter if individual developers within these firms don't like Facebook.  If the boss says 'make a game' the employess make a game.

 

So while the majority of the development community hate the idea of Facebook owning something they so cherish, my bet is that most of them don't have the power to do anything about it.  In the long run, if Occulus succeeds with Facebook, then they will just have to fall in line.  It is a very sobering thought, and my sympathies lie with the game developers but the success of Occulus VR has almost been guarenteed by this deal and that is something everyone will just have to live with.

Stuck Between a Rock and a Not So Final Fantasy

It was easy in the beginning.  From December to Febuary, new gaming releases were like an endangered species.  So it was easy in that environment to focus my spare gaming moments to Final Fantasy 14.  Months passed, and I was hooked.  The game is pure magic and I even made it my number one pick for game of the year 2013.

 

Then March came and the flood gates opened.  Dangan Rompa, Professor Layton, Grounds Zero, Dynasty Warrors Extreme 8 and of course, Infamous Second son.  Yet even then, it was easy.  I simply didn't play these new games.  Sure, I started Dangan and am loving it, but since it's a hand held it's easy to play in small chunks.  However, with each passing day, the urge to start something besides Final Fantasy grew.  One day, it would be impossible to ignore.

 

That day came two days ago, when FF14 had to undergoe maintenance in preparation for a huge content patch (EDIT:  I wrote this two weeks ago, but only posting it now).  For one whole day we simply could not play.  I took advantage of that one day and opened up Infamous.  And I was hooked.  Re-hooked, that is.  After months of FF14 cooperating with strangers and friends I had forgotten what it was like to play a good single player game.  Infamous is that good single player game and it brought back all my repressed memories.  That's right, all of a sudden, I didn't want to play Final Fantasy anymore.  I wanted to play Infamous.  If not that, I wanted to play Dangan Rompa.

 

So I did just that.  The next day, when I should be diving head first into the new FF content, I was playing Dangan instead.  For the second day in a row I did not touch Final Fantasy.  And it felt GREAT!  No longer was I bound to do things dependent on others (such as waiting for a party, for example).  I could play Dangan at my own pace.  There was no pressure and no wasted time.  It was just me, my Vita, and a great single player experience.

 

Yes, I'm in trouble.  I always knew this day would come.  There wasn't a chance in hell I'd be able to stick exclusively with one game.  Simply coming this far in FF was a first for me and practically a miracle.  Now the day of reckoning has come.  Do I stop playing FF to start other games?  Do I put yet even more games on hold for FF?  Or can I strike some sort of balance?  Quitting games have never been a problem for me.  In fact, there was already one casualty.  Bravely Default.  I played over 25 hours of the thing and stopped.  Yes, it was the game's fault for being such a needy grind but it was ultimately my conscious decision to stop playing.  It was an easy decision.  But dropping FF?  That's not.

 

And it's because of my friends.  I still have a couple of good friends playing FF and I want to take advantage of that.  There's nothing better than playing the same MMO as your friends.  You can play with them or just chat with them but having people you know playing the same game makes the game that much better to play.  If I don't log on now, while they are still on, I will regret it when they are no longer.  Good memories are to be made now while there is still that chance.  And so it is that I cannot give up on Final Fantasy 14.  I did it once already, in September, and I don't want to do it again.  Because when I did it the last time, I let a friend of mine get so far ahead of me that, to this day, means I'm still unable to party with him for high level content.  Do I want to make the same mistake now?

 

I'm really, really pressed for a good solution here.  I know what must be done.  There must be a balance.  But I simply do not know how to do this.  Should I make FF14 a venture once every other day?  Every other week?  Only when I feel like it?  What if I don't?  There's just no easy choice.

 

I'll have  to get back to you on this.

P.S.  Since I wrote this blog, it's been off and on Final Fantasy for me.  It's actually not been so painful provided I can let that game go.  Every time I'm not logged on I'm worried.  Will my friends get ahead of me?  Am I wasting my monthly subscription by not playing the game?   If I can forget about these questions then It's fine for me to play something else for a while.  It's working out.  By the time I want to play FF, I'm all revved up.  When I get tired of it, I'm excited about playing other games.