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(04/06/20 2:55pm)
Welcome back podcasters! In a galaxy far far away, Input 2 is discussing what makes Star Wars so addictive to watch- especially during a time of isolation. What projects do we want to see produced now that the Skywalker story is over? How could the overall franchise become more entertaining in general? All that and more on this week's "out of this world" episode of Input2!
Hosts: Tanner Kinney, Kellyn Harrison, and Nick Black
(03/27/20 3:24pm)
(02/26/20 7:03pm)
(02/19/20 7:24pm)
(02/19/20 5:26pm)
(02/14/20 7:56pm)
by Tanner Kinney
(02/13/20 5:28pm)
Hello, movie fanatics and welcome to a new season of InPut2! With the upcoming release of 'Sonic the Hedgehog' we're going to talk about modern video game movies. What does it take to make a great video game movie? How do our thoughts compare to what we've already seen? Get your answers to these questions and more in this season premiere of InPut2!
(02/11/20 5:30pm)
by Tanner Kinney
At the tail end of 2019, critically-acclaimed film studio A24 released their last film of year with Uncut Gems, an insane piece of entertainment that follows Adam Sandler as Howard Ratner, a diamond dealer and big-time gambler that gets into some real sorts of messes. It was a shocking move and something that critics and audiences weren’t entirely sure about, but a lot of people came out loving. If you’re curious in reading more about this film, check out our review here.
Uncut Gems ended up becoming a bit of an Oscar contender in a few categories, particularly that for Lead Actor. In a year where many people considered Joaquin Phoenix’s portrayal of the Joker in Joker to be the big front-runner, Adam Sandler was going to potentially be his toughest opponent. And, for the record, Sandler deserves the recognition for his quality work. Sandler was ready to pull out all the stops, and he wasn’t afraid to make threats. While promoting Uncut Gems on the The Howard Stern Show, Sandler said he’d be “there to win.” Additionally, he said if he didn’t win, he’d “come back and do one again that is so bad on purpose just to make you all pay.” Which, from the mind behind legendary dumpster fire Jack and Jill and my absolute favorite piece of cinema in “Dunkaccino,” is the greatest threat to modern cinema.
So, now that the Oscars are over and done with, Sandler’s Uncut Gems didn’t just not get nominated for Best Picture, it didn’t get nominated for anything. The film got, as they say, “snubbed”. Which means we are in the timeline where Sandler is going to craft the worst Adam Sandler film possible. If he’s reading this right now, I’m going to offer some of the greatest terrible Adam Sandler film ideas I can come up with. All I ask is a little bit of credit as a treat, and some royalty checks. It’s a fair exchange for these high quality films, trust me.
I’m Not Your Buddy, Cop!
Adam Sandler plays Max Barley, a pudgy, soft-hearted, soft-bellied Hollywood cop—a pillar of the community and always the man you want pulling you over in his new Toyota Prius™. However, when his own precinct comes under scrutiny from a slimy, opportunistic millionaire politician named Alexander Pike (played by Stephen Merchant, no stranger to horrifically bad comedies), Barley needs backup that isn’t so weak. Enter British private investigator Richard Thorne (played by Ricky Gervais): a cynical, tough, and brutal Dirty Harry type who is fed up with the “liberal elite cops” that handle serious crimes with “kid gloves.” With Thorne’s misunderstood genius and Barley’s big heart, they reluctantly join forces to solve crimes and clear the good name of Barley’s precinct. A laugh-out-loud classic and definitely not a mouthpiece for Ricky Gervais to do the same shtick he’s been doing for years despite it being apparently “not what people want to hear.”
A Ballad for America
In this musical feel-good drama with original songwriting all by Adam Sandler, retired musician Alan “Alaskan Dog” Bradsworth (played by famous musical performer Jeremy Renner) is living off of royalty checks and advertising jingles, specifically for “the most wonderful woman, Wendy’s™”. Despite his relative comfort in beautiful Alaska™, his life remains unfulfilled and his occasional performances don’t draw the audiences they used to. He gets a second chance at fame when older music producer James Jameson (Adam Sandler) needs a vehicle for his label to compete with up-and-coming—but ultimately “absolutely vapid and empty”—Big City Music. The competition in question is rapper “Major L” (played by Jake Paul), a detestable human whose direction during filming is just “be yourself, Jake!”. Bradsworth helps the music industry, the country, and himself learn how to love again in a world of music drowning in drugs, depression, and dangerous behavior, bringing music back to “the good ol’ days.” Taylor Swift will play Renner’s love interest. Why? So we can get those Tay-Tay stan bucks.
The West of West Virginia
In this hootin’ and hollerin’ comedy, Adam Sandler plays Kenney Cramlin, a comedian who made it big in New York and has sold out shows frequently. As he’s just getting his career rolling with a new sponsorship with PepsiCo™, he’s called back to his home in West Hamlin, West Virginia to take care of his sick mother (also played by Adam Sandler). His trip home after so long brings back his old crew of comedians who struck gold back home: “Fiddle” (Ron White), “Banjo” (Jeff Foxworthy), and “Big Ol’ Bass” (Larry the Cable Guy). Now, having to compete with his old companions and deal with his “treasonous behavior”, Cramlim has to bust out a little bit of the old “Harmonica” magic to work the hyuckin’, knee-slappin’ West Virginian crowds. Also stars Todd Howard in his first major theatrical role as Cramlin’s nerdy side-kick, Rodd “Rodd Coward” Howard, who gets Cramlin’s friends into a little known game called Fallout 76. And yes, “Take Me Home, Country Roads” plays during the opening. And credits. And multiple times during the movie itself. It’s actually the only song we bought the rights for.
Board Stiff
In our big totally-not-a-marketing-scheme that’s definitely not a knock-off of a dozen other films, Adam Sandler plays Mr. Monopoly™ himself. Old Moneybags Monopoly, with riches beyond compare, can no longer have fun running competitors out of business and making money off of Boardwalk and Park Place. His wife has become distant and his kids are rebelling, and Mr. Monopoly feels he’s lost control. In an attempt to find his place in the world, Mr. Monopoly leaves his world and enters the worlds of other famous board games. Unfortunately, on his trip to the Oujia™ board, he unleashes a great evil upon the connected board game universe. Monopoly teams up with the sweet, newly orphaned girl Princess Lolly of Candy Land™ (played by Lexi Rabe, who played Tony Stark’s daughter in Endgame), the femme fatale temptress Miss Scarlet of Clue™ (played by Alexandra Daddario), and a lost Orc Warrior from Dungeons and Dragons™ (played by Seth Rogan. And yes, D&D is apparently a Hasbro property). Together, they need to save the collective board game worlds and help Mr. Monopoly find the meaning to The Game of Life™.
Note: we were originally going to have Scarlett Johansson in the role of Miss Scarlet. However, after reading the script, she demanded a different role entirely. As such, we will be adding Mamma Ginger Tree into the story as a mentor and motherly figure for Princess Lolly, with said Tree being played by Johansson. She says she can finally achieve her dreams this way, and we approve that.
Three’s a Crowd: A Madea Story
In a spin-off of the world-famous Madea franchise, Tyler Perry teams up with Adam Sandler and Eddie Murphy to play the entire ensemble cast (minus Kevin James) of a road trip movie. In a wacky money-making scheme to end all wacky money-making schemes, Madea ends up on a roadtrip across America, making sure to hit all of the tourist spots for maximum marketing. On her trip, she picks up Jill of Jack and Jill (Adam Sandler), and Norbit Alan Rice of Norbit (Eddie Murphy), along with legendary character Paul Blart of Paul Blart: Mall Cop (Kevin James). The quartet’s zany adventure leads them to be chased by ex-lovers, business tycoons, and Domino’s™ Pizza delivery drivers. The leads’ shenanigans and playing off of themselves will certainly be the laugh-a-minute event of January and not a money laundering scheme/paid vacation for the lead actors.
Alive 2025
In this Blumhouse-produced horror film, Adam Sandler plays Guy Smalls, a security guard at a small-town pizza place called Monty’s Madhouse. For years, this was the arcade spot for kids to come in and enjoy some mascot-costumed fun in a safe, inviting place. Citing financial struggles, the Madhouse is bought out by a major restaurant chain: Fazbear Entertainment. Replacing the traditional mascots with animatronics as a cost-saving measure, Smalls has his doubts when he believes to see the animatronics moving on their own, harassing kids and parents alike. Stuck with the night shift, Smalls finds his fears aren’t just paranoia when the animatronics go to hunt him at night, along with late night gamer and hacker Summer Biggs (played by Zooey Daschenel). Biggs is a survivor from a previous Fazbear Entertainment scandal in 1987, and will stop at nothing to prevent another tragedy from happening. However, Smalls and Biggs only have five nights to solve the mystery before the killings begin. Yes, this is a pitch for a Five Nights at Freddy’s movie, and no, I’m not sorry.
Happy Madison’s Inferno
In a story inspired by Dante’s Inferno—like many other stories—Adam Sandler plays Adam Sandler in his own life. After a tragic accident, the older, wiser Adam Sandler wakes up in the roles of his various movies. Starting with the classics like Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore, as he descends through the circles of Hell the films get worse. We go into The Cobbler, Eight Crazy Nights, Click, and even Jack and Jill as Sandler starts to go mad, reliving some of the worst pieces of art he’s created (including the Dunkaccino scene in full). Finally, in the ninth circle of Hell, he encounters his worst movie: a movie he had never created before. The cameras pan out to reveal a crew creating the movie he’s currently in: the final circle of hell IS Happy Madison’s Inferno. The movie loops and Sandler stars as Adam Sandler starring as Adam Sandler, descending through his film catalog in the circles of hell forevermore. And thus, we achieve the lost circle of Hell: purgatory. Roll credits, the audience applauds. It’s a standing ovation.
Sources: Business Insider, Byte BSU, YouTube
Images: Byte Graphic Design Staff
Featured Image: Business Insider
(02/05/20 3:15am)
Following this year’s edition of The Game Awards, there were a lot of questions asked. How did Disco Elysium win the most awards? Well, because Disco Elysium is very good and everyone should play it. Or, why did Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice win Game of the Year over both Death Stranding and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate? Because Sekiro deserved it over the other two for being a real video game and not, say, a walking sim or a cheap party game. Or perhaps you were wondering: Why are there so many Google Stadia ads when, judging by the numbers on certain titles, no one will care about the platform by this time next year? Now, that…that’s a valid question.
(02/05/20 2:19am)
by Blake Chapman and Tanner Kinney
(02/04/20 9:02pm)
It’s often tough judging Wii U games, particularly ones released toward the latter end of the console’s life. These titles, despite relative critical acclaim, were ultimately left in the dust. Titles like Xenoblade Chronicles X are genuinely wonderful and make great use of the Wii U’s gimmicks, particularly its bulky-but-comfy Gamepad, but being on the Wii U is both a blessing and a curse. A good Wii U game is a rare breed, considering how few great games were released for the console. So, there’s always the chance that a mediocre title on this system looks better because options are so limited. As a big fan of RPGs (Role-playing games), the Wii U was lacking in some of the better RPGs that released during its lifetime. But it did have Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE, a game released by Atlus in the final year of the Wii U. I remember fondly finishing the game twice; it was a wonderful time and one of my favorite Wii U games.
(02/04/20 5:00pm)
by Tanner Kinney
It’s often tough judging Wii U games, particularly ones released toward the latter end of the console’s life. These titles, despite relative critical acclaim, were ultimately left in the dust. Titles like Xenoblade Chronicles X are genuinely wonderful and make great use of the Wii U’s gimmicks, particularly its bulky-but-comfy Gamepad, but being on the Wii U is both a blessing and a curse. A good Wii U game is a rare breed, considering how few great games were released for the console. So, there’s always the chance that a mediocre title on this system looks better because options are so limited. As a big fan of RPGs (Role-playing games), the Wii U was lacking in some of the better RPGs that released during its lifetime. But it did have Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE, a game released by Atlus in the final year of the Wii U. I remember fondly finishing the game twice; it was a wonderful time and one of my favorite Wii U games.
In the Nintendo Switch rerelease, Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore, the game has hardly changed, which in itself isn’t such a bad thing. In a market full of incredible JRPGs, though, this isn’t a game I’m going to have on replay.
The same old “save the world” song and dance
Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore follows a trio of high schoolers: Itsuki, Tsubasa, and Touma, as they are thrust into combat against deadly supernatural forces and, even more dangerously, the Japanese entertainment industry. Although Touma is already a stunt man, Itsuki and Tsubasa are newbies at Fortuna Entertainment after getting scouted for their talents in combat and performance, which go hand-in-hand in this world. Over the course of their adventures, they team up with more performers to try and solve the mystery behind the Mirage incidents in Tokyo.
But to take down Mirages, they team up with Mirages. This is where the first main crossover comes into play: your party has beloved Fire Emblem characters as partners and Stands/Personas. Each character has traces of their original personality, and interacts directly with the cast during various scenes in the game. However, they are fairly shallow in their depiction, boiled down to the bare essentials of their characters that are already flimsy to begin with. The most personality comes from Draug and Tharja, but the rest of the Fire Emblem representatives that aren’t villains feel underwritten. The villains from Fire Emblem are a bit more interesting and creatively written, but they don’t stick around for long enough to make much of an impression.
The writing overall is incredibly bland and sterile. Compared to other recent RPGs that have been tackling deeper social and political issues, Tokyo Mirage Sessions has a very cheesy “save-the-world” story without much in the way of variety and depth. There aren’t any crazy twists and turns, and it often just feels like a rehashing of similar beats from Persona 4. For a setting that has as much potential commentary as a game about the entertainment industry, Atlus definitely plays it safe here. The overarching narrative just doesn’t keep a player engaged in the world.
The story outside of the main narrative deals primarily in the personal growth of the cast as performers, particularly Tsubasa. There are a number of side stories that follow the cast as they take on new jobs and work to improve themselves in a cutthroat industry (not that the cutthroat nature is ever shown; the cast succeeds in everything they do and gets inexplicably popular). To their credit, the characters are all fairly likeable, even if they aren’t as complex as what you’d see in Atlus’s other main titles. Touma is probably my favorite character in the game, mostly because he’s the only one that actually fulfills the “zero-to-hero” narrative that makes the characters fun to root for. The side characters of Maiko, Barry Goodman, and Tiki also have some engaging backstories and character growth, but they could’ve definitely used some new content in the rerelease.
As for the rerelease’s new content, the most it does for the story is establishes that Tsubasa and Kiria are super in love with Itsuki, which was already blatantly obvious. However, watching them develop as equals instead of Tsubasa being a permanent fangirl was a nice touch. I just wish they had given more screen time to other characters.
Sleek, stylish, popping presentation
The presentation is easily the best and most consistent part of the game. The visuals are still beautiful eye-candy. The characters are distinct and colorful, and the world itself uses bright, poppy silhouettes instead of the traditional black silhouettes that you’d see. The dungeons all have their own unique aesthetic, much like the palaces in Persona 5. They don’t really represent the bosses you’ll fight, but there’s likely some sort of cultural significance that just doesn’t translate well. The animation during the song sequences is incredibly well-done too, featuring a good mix of 2D and 3D styles. The lip-sync during the fully 3D versions of these songs isn’t great, but it’s easy to ignore since many of these segments are fairly short. Animations during battle are also fairly elaborate, which can be both a good and bad thing in terms of the speed of fights. The newly added costumes are also a welcome addition for longtime fans of both franchises, and fit in perfectly during combat. In fact, Itsuki dressed up as Joker fits a little too well at times.
The music is consistently great, which is unsurprising for a game about the music and entertainment industry. There are a ton of unique musical styles that are explored through the various dungeons, pop tracks, and battle themes. The different types of boss fights have appropriate music to fit the scenario, and can really make some moments especially powerful. The best moment in the game happens during Touma’s third side story, which uses the corrupted Mirage battle music flawlessly within its narrative to create something that really leaves an impact. The pop songs are also bangers in their own rights, with Yashiro’s song “Black Rain” being a personal favorite of mine, particularly the instrumental version.
Disappointingly, the rerelease only seems to have added a couple new mixes of previous songs and a new duet song for Kiria and Tsubasa. I would’ve liked to see some music for the underrepresented cast members (especially since Kiria and Tsubasa are the least interesting characters in the game,) but I understand why Atlus did it. This is borderline a waifu game, minus the dating sim aspect since Itsuki radiates absolutely no sexual energy.
Gameplay that has been relegated to an opening act
Tokyo Mirage Sessions’ biggest claim to fame is for being a crossover between Shin Megami Tensei and Fire Emblem. More accurately, Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE is a crossover of Persona and Fire Emblem, with the latter game being more of a backup dancer than a leading act. Nearly every aspect of the game is lifted from the Persona series, minus some character names, the weapon triangle, and certain character/enemy classes. The rest of the game is one part turn-based RPG, designed around exploiting elemental weaknesses for extra combos and damage, one part dungeon exploration of larger-than-life locals, which is loosely tied to different parts of the entertainment industry (one Idolasphere is a TV studio gone mad, one is a photo shoot come to life, etc). Along with this, side stories follow your main character interacting directly with their party members and building personal relationships a la social links, except less interesting and with with less worthwhile rewards to gain.
The dungeons, named Idolaspheres, while visually very interesting, have puzzles that range from “mildly inconvenient” to “pointless busywork.” Not a single one of the dungeon puzzles really feels engaging to solve, and they aren’t particularly challenging either. The best puzzle comes in the form of Daiba Studio’s LCD panels, but it requires a lot of running back and forth that becomes tedious after enough time. Other than subpar puzzles, the pacing within dungeons is often broken up due to having to make trips back to craft new weapons and fulfill story requirements. The lack of a run button through these dungeons is something you wouldn’t think you’d miss--until your fourth trip through the same group of corridors.
The combat itself is heavily inspired by Shin Megami Tensei and its spin-off Persona. The party of characters have their own Mirage, based on a Fire Emblem class. New skills, passives, and Session abilities can be unlocked through crafting weapons with materials gained from beating the snot out of enemies in the Idolaspheres. These classes can also rank up later in the game using a Master Seal, which mostly just ends up with flat stat bonuses and some specialized weapon types to allow a bit of customization. The customization aspect of these characters is actually fairly varied, since each character has stuff that they inherently prioritize (a weapon and an element), but also extra elemental skills, buffs, and debuffs that allow them to fill a unique role in combat. It allows for a lot of variety in how you build your party members and makes playing through the game again to experiment with some different party compositions and styles very satisfying.
Cracking into the combat, it’s a turn-based RPG, with turn-order being a constant thing the players can monitor and even affect using certain abilities. Like Shin Megami Tensei, the player has to use elemental/weapon advantages to swiftly dispatch enemies. However, unlike the more recent Shin Megami Tensei games, it uses a system similar to a follow-up attack from Strange Journey, with the other cast members jumping in using their own attacks in a combo chain, called Sessions. However, this combat really only shines during boss fights, as regular fights tend to just be fodder for your party to grind money and resources off of. During boss fights, planning proper strategy around set enemy patterns can create some real close fights, even if the rest of the game isn’t too challenging.
The problem is that Sessions are fairly slow and enemies can have an absurd amount of health, especially on higher difficulties. Even the easiest bosses you can be wailing on for a long time, and that’s with proper management of buffs and debuffs to maximize damage. The Quick Session feature helps speed things along, but it still makes one turn take way longer than it would in a regular Shin Megami Tensei game. Granted, it’s hard to beat the Press-Turn or Once More systems in creating fast-paced, strategic turn-based combat, but the lack of it in this game definitely makes it feel like a slog at parts.
TMS: Map of the Mediocre
Playing through the rerelease made me realize something that really accentuates the slowness and other problems, which is that, in hindsight, the game really just feels like a prototype for Persona 5. The Idolaspheres are very similar to Palaces, minus the story impact and creativity in relating the Palaces to the bosses. The combat has a similar stylish flair, minus the wonderful incorporation of UI and Once More to make things flow perfectly. The characters even at times feel like underdeveloped party members for a Persona title. While this game certainly isn’t bad, there are definitely better titles on the Switch, and this rerelease didn’t do enough to help improve the experience. While not really a condemnation of the game in a vacuum, it just doesn’t stack up as well in the Nintendo Switch’s much more robust library.
Images: Gamestop
Featured Image: Gamestop
(01/23/20 3:48am)
(01/01/20 7:00pm)
Following this year’s edition of The Game Awards, there were a lot of questions asked. How did Disco Elysium win the most awards? Well, because Disco Elysium is very good and everyone should play it. Or, why did Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice win Game of the Year over both Death Stranding and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate? Because Sekiro deserved it over the other two for being a real video game and not, say, a walking sim or a cheap party game. Or perhaps you were wondering: Why are there so many Google Stadia ads when, judging by the numbers on certain titles, no one will care about the platform by this time next year? Now, that…that’s a valid question.
But the one question I have is: How did Final Fantasy XIV lose in every single category it was nominated in, despite having one of the best years of any massively-multiplayer online game? Its new expansion, Shadowbringers, is widely considered to be one of the best MMO expansions—if Metacritic scores are anything to judge by—if not the best role-playing games on its own, following its accolades in previous years for best MMO and best expansion. Time and time again, this game receives praise, but on the biggest awards stage, FFXIV is pushed aside so a talking condiment with a bad haircut could talk about Fortnite announcements. Naoki Yoshida, the game’s lead producer and director, was even there in person, but just got to watch as Apex Legends holds their own glorified advertisement mid-show before winning best multiplayer, which FFXIV wasn’t even nominated for.
And so, this leads me to talk about how Naoki Yoshida, referred to by fans as “Yoshi-P,” is an under-appreciated game director, designer, producer, and overall cool guy.
Who is “Yoshi-P”?
For those who aren’t plugged into the world of Eorzea and the development of FFXIV, Yoshi-P is the director and producer of FFXIV since A Realm Reborn; however, he has been in the industry for some time now. In a delightful interview with RPGSite back in 2011, he shares his development history with the interviewer. The man worked for Hudson Soft on a few titles before bouncing between development studios, eventually ending up at Square Enix and working on Dragon Quest X. He states in the interview that he always wanted to work behind the scenes, since he always tends to get hyped up in interviews.
[embed]https://twitter.com/lesbianterra/status/1205708066571902976?s=20[/embed]
If you’ve seen any of the live letters and appearances from Yoshi-P, you know that this is 100% true. The man is passion incarnate, and even if sometimes he and his design team have some boneheaded ideas, you can tell that he puts a lot of love into the game. He has dressed up in costumes, has asked a cosplayer to “step on me, please,” and generally has a very goofy but professional tone when working with the community. This community also recognizes who he is and how important he is…but the general population certainly has not—even the people who play the game and watch the live presentations he does.
[embed]https://twitter.com/eniphinafalhi/status/1205707965191409664?s=20[/embed]
These sorts of community interactions are what makes FFXIV run so well now. Even the smallest of complaints, when fielded enough times, get to Yoshi-P and he does respond to them. He is even apparently in-tune with the Reddit community, as in a recent event where that community complained that their character’s butts weren’t big enough (which is a great injustice, as we know). Now, if he could get onto making Blue Mage a real job and not a gimmick, I’d certainly appreciate it. The guy is exactly who you want in charge of your game: someone driven to do a great job and work for the long-time fans, even if it means gambling on a reboot of a project.
The man who saved Eorzea
So, what makes Yoshi-P such a great director and producer? Well, the obvious answer is to look at the success of Final Fantasy XIV. While an outsider can look at its success and say, “Hey, this game seems to be doing well, I guess he’s good,” there’s more to the story. If you’ve watched the NoClip documentary on the game’s development (which I highly recommend), then you know that there’s a whole lot more that Yoshi-P had to do to save the game from the abyss.
The original version of FFXIV was, to put it lightly, a slow-moving trainwreck. Panned by critics, hated by fans, and lagging behind what people expected in a next-gen MMO, FFXIV was a cycle of apologizing from the producers with slow-moving changes being made. The game’s development, combined with Square’s other projects, ate into Square Enix’s bottom line to the point where Square’s CEO at the time, Yoichi Wada, claimed it was “ruining the brand.” I hadn’t personally played during 1.0, but I do know that it wasn’t pretty. And as a huge Final Fantasy fan, hearing those sorts of comments was…unsettling, to say the least. Yet, the game went from that to being one of the most acclaimed MMOs. Just look at this fun tweet a fan made:
[embed]https://twitter.com/MoogleKupoCake/status/1206534645468160001?s=20[/embed]
The game is crazy successful, almost entirely due to Yoshi-P taking the reins. From the NoClip documentary, we know that there were two options: make the current game stable, but still deeply flawed, or create a whole new game while still continuing development on the old game as if nothing was happening. Yoshi-P decided to take the gamble, and it paid off tremendously. He and the writing team even managed to incorporate the destruction of 1.0 into the lore of the game itself, which is pure genius. Yoshi-P comes from a background of playing games like World of Warcraft or Ultima Online, so it’s no surprise that he understands how to make an MMO work, and work well. And it’s widely suspected that Yoshi-P didn’t only just save FFXIV, but FF as a whole, and perhaps even Square Enix. One man, who loves goofy outfits and definitely needs more sleep, saved a long-standing franchise. An absolute legend he is.
What is he planning?
Even with FFXIV, Yoshida still has other projects he’s working on. For example, it was rumored in April of this year that he was put on the team for a future mainline Final Fantasy game as the lead director and producer, which he’s talked about in the past as something he’d be interested in doing. If the rumors are true, we should be expecting a more high-fantasy focused game, with less mechs and robots, going back to some of the earlier games for inspiration. This is very promising and definitely enticing. A Yoshi-P directed Final Fantasy that sticks to traditional fantasy? That’s a dream come true, for sure. I just hope it doesn’t get in the way of his up-and-coming rap career:
[embed]https://twitter.com/star7xxx/status/1205840479654277120?s=20[/embed]
Yoshida has also talked about wanting to work with the Blizzard franchises, particularly Diablo 4. Considering Diablo 4 is very real, I’m actually kind of interested to see if Blizzard won’t at least bring him in for some kind of crossover event. There have certainly been stranger crossovers for FFXIV or FF in general (I will never forget when Lightning moved to Paris and became a Louis Vuitton model and it was in the lore of the game), so I’d love to see it.
Overall, Yoshi-P is one of the great game directors and producers of the modern gaming era, and hasn’t received any recognition for it. Perhaps we simply need to see more of his work, but with four wildly successful MMO expansions under his belt and the credit of saving a dying franchise, he certainly deserves more recognition than he gets. Naoki Yoshida is underappreciated, and I hope that people can start to fix that by really getting to know his work and who he is. He deserves a Game Award; get it done Geoff “Dorito Pope” Keighley!
Sources: Forbes, Metacritic, RPG Site, Twitch, Polygon, YouTube, Andriasang, Game Revolution, Siliconera, PC Games N, Louis Vuitton
Featured Image: Evan Williamson
(11/13/19 5:00am)
Welcome to this week’s episode of How it’s Played! This week, we discuss the latest in the Call of Duty series. How does Modern Warfare take inspiration from real-world events? Is the series ethical in using controversial war weapons? Find out all of this and more on this week’s episode of How It’s Played!
(11/07/19 9:07pm)
(11/02/19 2:58pm)
(10/31/19 4:00am)
Welcome to this week’s episode of How It’s Played! This week, we discuss the recent release of Ring Fit Adventure on the Switch. How does this game compare to the Wii Fit series? Are fitness games still popular, especially with the rise of VR? Find out this and more on this week’s episode of How It’s Played!
(10/25/19 1:11pm)
(10/24/19 4:00am)
Welcome to this week’s episode of Input 2! This week, we talked about the Disney Vault and the sheer amount of content coming to Disney+. What sort of incredible movies are going to be available? Are there any trends that can be discovered by looking at their full catalog? And what even is 'Operation Dumbo Drop'? Find out these and more in this week’s episode of Input 2!
