I love the Chinese. Leave it to them to take extremely popular and commercially successful video games and make inferior bootleg versions. When I heard about the Chinese Final Fantasy rom hacks, I was really excited about them. Being able to play as some of my favorite FF characters on a first gen system is very appealing to me. Not only because I could play them on my DS, it is the complete opposite of what Square Enix is doing with their IP currently.
However, after playing the Final Fantasy 7 NES rom I have very little faith that Final Fantasy X will live up to my expectations. Not because of the graphics (which is what most gamers seem to be most concerned with) but because the story will be handicapped due to the limited nature of NES system.
I just can’t imagine how some of the scenes will be recreated and have the same amount of psychological impact on the player as the original had. Since Final Fantasy 6, the series has been more focused on the storyline than the gameplay. No one plays JRPGs because they are tactical or skill based (like a FPS), they play them for the characters and the story. The driving force (and sell factor) on FF games are pretty graphics and insanely complex plots (i.e. normal Japanese stories). Without the graphics, will the story hold? If the story is hurt, will the game be as rewarding to play?
Having said all that, I am really impressed at the details the Chinese developers put into this rom. They sought out to recreate the game completely on a NES rom. Everything from menus, scenery, and even limit breaks. Maybe that is why I respect Chinese bootleggers so much. They actually put work into their thievery. If anything Square Enix should be flattered and realize that this rom hack will generate interest in their old properties.
It’s marketing via illegal pirating. If it can help 20th Century Fox sell tickets to the monumental comic abortion known as X-Men Origins: Wolverine (I actually like the movie btw), then why can’t it help a game company that is surviving on rereleases and a single franchise?
Besides, who doesn’t need more marketing in these tough economic times?
Filed under: video games | Tagged: final fantasy VII, final fantasy x, nes, nintendo, rom |
I truly believe that we have reached the point where technology has become one with our society, and I am 99% certain that we have passed the point of no return in our relationship with technology.I don’t mean this in a bad way, of course! Societal concerns aside… I just hope that as the price of memory drops, the possibility of copying our brains onto a digital medium becomes a true reality. It’s a fantasy that I dream about all the time.(Posted from Nintendo DS running R4i SDHC FFOpera)
where can i download the game