Final Fantasy: Dirge of Cerberus is probably a result of what happens when people blend ingredients that should not go together. Yes, you can take pickles, vanilla ice cream, orange juice and fry the mixture, but I wouldn’t recommend it. In fact, I advise against it. It’s probably a crime in some parts of the universe.
I’ve heard consistently from Ling that the part that made him finally give up on Dirge was the key-carded laser gate. Understandable, if you have to deal with these barriers every five minutes. They can get annoying. But let’s say you encounter a laser gate in the fucking desert, in a canyon, blocking nothing but your progression through the game. What is the key holder? A Goddamn dog. You have to kill some fucking dogs for your keycard so you can unlock the laser gate. At that point, the system goes off, and hatred replaces a disc that was once inserted with love.
Genre bending is responsible for innovation and evolution into the gaming industry. BioShock, Crysis, Team Fortress 2, and Battlefield Whatever-the-fuck-number-they’re-on, all owe many aspects of their gameplay to role playing games. This genre has nothing to do with first person shooters. Interactive story elements, class options, and merchant screens used to be alien concepts to an FPS. Now they’re practically a requirement. There were definitely some failed attempts before the industry forged these wonderful games.
I guess I can at least appreciate Square Enix trying something new with Final Fantasy. Unfortunately, it was a failure, carried by nothing but the franchise name. Crisis Core is undeniably a much better game. Square just needs to remember to make a game fun while trying to innovate. Blizzard, Valve, and Nintendo are just some outstanding examples of game companies that know fun is the most important aspect of a game.
It’s a lesson all game developers need to keep at heart.
- Leo
