Project Phoenix

[The Twilight Mexican]

Now I'm not sure what to think. While it still looks like a great concept, Hiroaki Yura seems like an incredibly opinionated and close-minded person.

While he's apparently trying to reinvent/refresh/whatever the genre, he's also got some very strict, well-defined ideas about what's 'fun', what's 'more important' and what's 'terrible'. Maybe it's just due to the brevity of the interview, but there seem to be a shitload of sweeping generalisations and opinions in his design thought process.

I dunno. Was going to throw some money in but now I'm going to hold back a little, see where he's going with this.

Reading the interview actually made me want to back them more. Funny ol' world, huh?

 

[Lex]

^I was the same actually. They have a very clear vision and are determined to make it happen, and I like that.

One other thing I found interesting is that someone who did work on Valkyria Chronicles is in on this. I want to back them

 

[X-SOLDIER]

For all you gameplay hungry people, this bit from the latest update should please you.

We're preparing a video on gameplay and we think we might be able to release it on Monday. We don't really know yet for sure, as we may just look at it after the edit and squirm and whinge... but we promise you to do our best since this is the most important update as we need to address the most important issue, what will the gameplay be like?

The video will basically have myself trying very hard to explain what it is going to be like and some illustrations to embellish on my point. The actual gameplay footage... is very far from ready so please understand that that won't be out for a while.

There's more than just that, so go check out the whole thing.


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[Hisako]

Well I don't mind clarity of vision, I just think that Yura has a very narrow vision.

EDIT: Don't get me wrong, though, in all likelihood I will end up shelling out money for this. I'm just considering exactly how much I will be shelling out. If it really looks like the bee's knees, I will shell out as much as is sensible (and probably then some )

 

[Lex]

Well I can see that I suppose, but I see it more as specific rather than narrow. He's trying to revive the JRPG genre after-all, and most people have a very clear-cut view of what makes JRPG's what they are combat and story-wise.

I suppose beyond that it's a matter of taste. I like his vision for the battle system and for the way he wants the story to be told - more nuanced, less obvious and Americanised/ western. He seems very driven to create something that's new, fresh and interesting while retaining the elements from JRPG's that are just completely missing in the recent mainstream efforts re: FF and other games. I really like the way he's approaching it.

 

[Hisako]

I think what bugs me the most is that in the interview he basically puts in sweeping generalisations about the state of Japanese gaming - that they "try to satisfy the otaku" or something or other, and then handwaves voice dubbing, calls Nintendo hardware "not exciting", etc. in a way that supposes it to be fact.
I don't actually mind his vision - it's a decent one and I think it has the potential to have great gameplay and story - but the way he talks about it makes it seem like he believes his project to be the grand shining example for JRPGs to follow, or that most JRPGs these days are crap, for lack of a better word.

 

[Lex]

Project leaders do tend to do that though. On Kickstarter specifically, they're just not humble. They have to be very "here's what's missing and this is why we're doing this, and this is why it's going to be the best thing you've ever seen" IMO. It's not always likeable, but it's sometimes necessary. I understand what you mean now though, when I was reading it I did find him a bit above-it-all with regard to FF and Nintendo and the like, but that's become such a popular opinion these days that it kind of just glided over me.

And honestly, I'm not sure what the otaku is but from his explanation (female characters with huge knockers) moving away from that kind of guideline seems to be a good thing

 

[Hisako]

Well it basically implies that JRPGs tend to pander to the most hardcore of hardcore fans (otaku being social recluses), which I think is over-generalizing things a bit.

Also, re: Nintendo, "not a lot of people buy it"? lolwat

 

[X-SOLDIER]

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[X-SOLDIER]

OFFICIAL PS4 / PS VITA RELEASE!!!!


AW HELL YEAH!!!



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[Telcontar]

Despite not being a fan of JRPG's these days, I pledged 35 bucks simply as a "screw you" to the big publishers.

Just read the PS4/Vita update. This is crazy man. A japanese indie title's gonna compete against the big boys now!

 

[Hisako]

Yay I can get a Kickstarter-exclusive poster when it hits 800k :3

 

[Telcontar]

800k!

They'll need to release price info for the PlayStation versions to get that extra money for the overworld stretch goal, in my opinion.

 

[X-SOLDIER]

And they closed out hitting barely the $1.025 M for their initial second-to-last stretch goal of fighting in the Kraken, but shy of Uematsu's full orchestral collaboration.



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[Hisako]

I was honestly not expecting them to hit the 1 mil mark! about 40 hours out they were barely still past the 800k mark.

 

[X-SOLDIER]

Some pretty friggin' rad news:

The Kickstarter is over, but the journey has just begun. You can still support!

If you missed out on supporting us during this Kickstarter period, please be aware that you can still back the project and receive all relevant goodies via our Paypal store located here: http://projectphoenix.info/store/. More importantly, they’ll still count for stretch goals, so we’ll be sure to continually update on the total amounts we’ve received and what that means for us being able to broaden your gameplay experience!

We might get Uematsu & the orchestra after all!



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[Lex]

Oh crap, I really hate PayPal with a fiery vengeance :/

 

[Hisako]

Whyfore?

 

[Lex]

Because every time I've signed up some unknown internet person has requested money from my account that has then been taken out without my authorisation. I made a thread about it the last time it happened. It's happened 3 times. I've used 3 different e-mail addresses and it was on 3 different computers at a total of 2 different addresses (and two seperate bank accounts). I'm never signing up to them again.

 

[X-SOLDIER]

O_o

Eff.

That.




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[Hisako]

I use Paypal as an in-between link to my direct debit card, so I don't tend to have any issues there o-O