Spoiler!




I dont know how many of you watched Angel through its 5 year run , I was desapointed and sad that the show was canceld despite its great ratings and fan base .I guess those corporate exes needed more money to wipe their asses with 100 dollar bills.

The last episode "fade away" will be apearing next wednesday, Angel ,Spike,Wes,Gun,Lorien,Illoria will be taking on the blackthorn order in the final cataclysmic episode of the series.

Quest characters

Lindsay
Connor

the order of Blackthorn.

http://ps2.gamespy.com/playstation-2/fin...676p1.html

Quote:Final Fantasy XII was the game I was looking forward to the most at E3 2004. Its development is being headed up by Yasumi Matsuno, the man behind Final Fantasy Tactics, Vagrant Story, Tactics Ogre, and most recently, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. While his games have an ardent following, he's never had the chance to work on anything as huge as a Final Fantasy game. After seeing it unveiled last November and getting to play it a bit today, it's clear that Matsuno and his team are working hard to make this the most successful title they've ever worked on.

GameSpy has already served information on the games world, art direction, and characters. What was unknown until now was how the game would play. The demo on the E3 show floor revealed a handful of scenes to give gamers an idea of what to expect in Final Fantasy XII.

The combat system is very different from previous Final Fantasy games. You won't see random enemy attacks or quick transitions from the level to combat. Skirmishes in FFXII are seamless. If you see an enemy, you can choose to run away like a coward or engage. Unlike past games, the environment plays a significant part of combat. Choosing the best place to attack and defend from can mean the difference between victory and defeat.


When you attack an enemy, a blue arc is displayed between you and your target. The same goes for your party, so you can see who your team is going after. As for your foes, red arcs represent their chosen prey. If you see four red lines pointed at you, then you sure as hell better run to a more advantageous spot in the environment.

Now, there are still some commonalities between the fighting system in this game and the ones found in its predecessors. Though you can let battles play out in real time, it's smarter to take pauses in the action to coordinate optimal strategies.

When you're not in battle, you can use the d-pad to select which character in your party you control, as well as any non-player characters you want to target for actions. Overall, the new navigation and fighting system took a few minutes to get used to, but felt quite natural after a short while.

At any given time, you can adventure with three characters. You can swap others from your roster. Control freaks can choose to select every single move their team members make. The more adventurous types can control the main character, while using "gambit" commands for the others. These are general orders, such as attack, heal, defend, etc. The characters AI kicks in under gambit mode and the character acts fairly independently. The system worked in the few battles I played, but how effective it is in the long haul has yet to be determined.

The display screen is relatively clean. The map is in the upper-right corner of the screen. The main character's menu is on the bottom-left corner. Basic commands occupy the top portion of the screen.

Now that you've got more of on understanding on how the game actually plays, I'll fill you in on more background information on the Final Fantasy XII's version of Ivalice. Matsuno said that even though there are races like Viera and Bangaa in Ivalice, the racial tensions are more cultural. He equated it to America, where there are people of all different ethnic make ups and skin colors, but the conflicts are often economic or religious.


Matsuno also shed some information on Vann and Pennelo. He said they have a very close relationship that isn't necessarily romantic. Both characters have lost their families to war and have turned to each for survival and support. He used the war children in Afghanistan as an example. In that country there are bands of kids that have grouped up to survive.

Overall, he said that the main theme of the game is about a young boy growing up to be a man. Vaan will get caught up in events and experiences that are much larger than his dreams of becoming a sky pirate. His adventure becomes one that could change the fate of the world.

Final Fantasy XII looks like it will be one of the most distinct games in the series. I love the art and story direction Matsuno's team is taking the game in. That said, I doubt it will measure up to how insanely popular FFVII was, but artistically the game might mean more for the series. The graphics look fantastic and the developers are trying several new things in the game. Whether they succeed or not, it's cool to see Square giving the new kids a chance to take its key franchise in a new direction.

IT HAS BEEN CALCULATED THAT IF EVERYONE IN THE UNITED STATES DID NOT PURCHASE A DROP OF GASOLINE FOR ONE DAY AND ALL AT THE SAME TIME, THE OIL COMPANIES WOULD CHOKE ON THEIR STOCKPILES. AT THE SAME TIME IT WOULD HIT THE ENTIRE INDUSTRY WITH A NET LOSS OF OVER 4.6 BILLION DOLLARS WHICH AFFECTS THE BOTTOM LINES OF THE OIL COMPANIES. THEREFORE MAY 19TH HAS BEEN FORMALLY DECLARED THE DAY THAT PEOPLE OF THIS NATION SHOULD NOT BUY A SINGLE DROP OF GASOLINE. THE ONLY WAY THIS CAN BE DONE IS IF YOU FORWARD THIS E-MAIL TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN AND AS QUICKLY AS YOU CAN TO GET THE WORD OUT. WAITING ON THIS ADMINISTRATION TO STEP IN AND CONTROL THE PRICES IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE REDUCTION AND CONTROL IN PRICES THAT THE ARAB NATIONS PROMISED TWO WEEKS AGO? REMEMBER ONE THING, NOT ONLY IS THE PRICE OF GASOLINE GOING UP BUT AT THE SAME TIME AIRLINES ARE FORCED TO RAISE THEIR PRICES, TRUCKING COMPANIES ARE FORCED TO RAISE THEIR PRICES WHICH EFFECTS PRICES ON EVERYTHING THAT IS SHIPPED. THINGS LIKE FOOD, CLOTHING, BUILDING MATERIALS, MEDICAL SUPPLIES ETC. WHO PAYS IN THE END? WE DO! WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. IF THEY DON'T GET THE MESSAGE AFTER ONE DAY, WE WILL DO IT AGAIN AND AGAIN. SO DO YOUR PART AND SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW. MARK YOUR CALENDARS AND MAKE MAY 19TH A DAY THAT THE CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES SAY "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH"

Quote: General
- The game is more serious than the others, but the elements of comedy are still there.
- A full staff of reasearch personnel at Rockstar have been studying Las Vegas, San Diego, and Los Angeles for months to ensure that they truly capture the feelings of these cities.


Location
- The game will not take place in Los Angeles, San Francisco, or Las Vegas. It will take place IN ALL THREE as well as the countryside in between.
- Los Angeles will be called Los Santos, San Francisco will be called San Fieero, and Las Vegas will be called Las Venturra.
- Each city is about the same size as Vice City.
- Not all cities will be open at the start of the game.
- The entire game will be about four to six times as large as Vice City.
- San Fierro (San Francisco) will have hills. This city is more driving based.
- You can drive from LA, through the countryside, up a mountain, into San Fran, and onto Las Vegas.
- Driving through the desert won’t be empty and plain with a couple cacti...it will be vibrant and alive with weird things to see.
- There will be a lot more buildings with open interiors.


Graphics
- The graphics engine has been tweaked. Smog will be present in LA, and real-time reflections on cars, windows, and mirrors, as well as new techniques like radial lighting, which allows for more realistic shadowing, and soft-shadow lighting for interior levels will be present.
- Everything in the game now has independent models for day and night to give better lighting and shadowing.
- The game will have ragdoll physics, or “impact animation” in Rockstar’s words.


Vehicles
- As for vehicles, there will be pimped-out lowriders, and 90’s versions of some GTA3/VC cars will return.
- There will be bicycles.


Story
- Characters from the past will return.


Gameplay
- In the Las Vegas city, you will be able to buy and build a casino - and then run it.
- You can then gamble your money in the casino.
- Your character can dual wield pistols and potentially other weapons.
- You need to eat to retain your stamina. If you eat too much fast food, you become fat and pedestrians mock you for being fat. You also run slower. To remedy this, you can go to a gym to exercise.
- You can now rob homes. The robberies will require skill and planning, however.
- You can recruit gang members and use them to do four person drive-by’s. (seen here)


Weapons
- The choice of weapons will match the time in which the era of the early 90's.


Artificial Intelligence
- Enemy/pedestrian AI will be greatly revamped and they will think more logically. You can't beat someone to death in broad daylight and not have people notice and react.
- Your enemies will be smarter, which will make robbing houses take a lot of skill.


Music
- There will be a rap station, but there will be a variety of other stations as always.

The screens look pretty good, just not "the best-looking XBox game ever" like Ken Lobb said.

However... this new video is absolutely stunning. They show the single-player mode at the end of the video and it rivals even Halo 2 in terms of graphical prowess. See for yourself by right-clicking here.

Most of the E3 stuff won't be out until 2005, but the the lineup is still good. Just crappy for most of the summer, as usual.

Gamecube

June 7th: The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures

July: Not one single game

August 30th: Pikmin 2

September 27th: Donkey Konga

October 11th: Paper Mario 2

November 15th: Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

November 29th: Star Fox

Q4 (my guess is December): Geist


Fire Emblem, Advance Wars, Zelda, etc. are all 2005 releases. Still, it's a good lineup. I'll be getting Pikmin 2, Paper Mario 2, MP2, Star Fox, and possibly Geist and DK. So not bad at all.


Gameboy Advance

May 24th: Mario vs. Donkey Kong

June 7th: Classic NES series

June 21st: Mario Golf: Advance Tour

July 26th: Hamtaro: Ham-Ham Games

September 7th: Pokémon FireRed and Pokémon LeafGreen

September 14th: F-Zero GP Legend

October 4th: Mario Pinball

October 18th: Kirby & The Amazing Mirror

November 15th: Donkey Kong Country 2

December 6th: Mario Party Advance


The GBA lineup is pretty good, but with the absense of Zelda it's lacking that one killer app.

Then of course there is the DS stuff, but none of those games have been given solid release dates.

Wow, check out the videos Nintendo has up. The game looks insane, but the release date is 2005! Argh!

http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/rpg/phantasy...index.html

For all consoles.

Just FMV, but if they fixed the combat and the monthly fee is low enough, perhaps I'll return to the online world of PS...

Well!!

What the hell? This looks like one of those crappy third-party Men in Black games for the GBA!

From GAF:

Quote:Final Fantasy VII: Before Crisis Announced
Posted by Andrew McClure at 05:55:40 PM EST on 5.11.2004.

When rumors of a Final Fantasy VII sequal first surfaced (which was probably about five minutes after Final Fantasy VII was released) there was always talk of a game staring the Shinra G-men, The Turks. After Advent Children was announced most have given up on hopes for a game starring the Tarentino-esque hatchet men (and woman) but fear not for Square Enix has just announced Final Fantasy VII: Before Crisis.





The game is a cellphone exclusive and it takes place six years before the events of Final Fantasy VII. The game will be about the Turks rise in the Shinra company. It appears to be an Action RPG with some turn-based elements. Also up to three players can join in if they all have the game installed on their cell phones.

It is unknown at this time if and when US players will get a chance to play this title. The cellphone platform has yet to be announced but all the other Square Enix cellphone titles have been for the Japan exclusive NTT DoCoMo. But keep those hopes up: Square Enix has stated that they want to support the cellphone videogame market on both sides of the pacific.

Source: 1UP.com