What happened at 38 Studios is sad

Just watching what is happening with 38 Studios, the team behind "Kingdom of Amalur: Reckoning" is a shame to the business of video games.
After being coaxed to Rhode Island with a sweetheart loan deal, the studio had to close its doors yesterday and lay off all the employees.
What's the saddest part is the future of a very interesting franchise is pretty much dead.



I will admit that I didn't buy the game or play it, but with names like R.A. Salvatore and Todd McFarlane involved in the world creation you have to think that there is a lot of depth in that world.
Then on Friday Salvatore comes out and talks about what happened on a political website that was hounding on the situation. The whole situation is getting light because 38 Studios is owned by former MLB pitcher Curt Schilling.
Here are Salvatore's comments. 

"I shouldn't even be commenting here. Reckoning sold over 1.2 million units, which is pretty amazing for a new IP on an entirely new engine. I'm not going into the details of the publishing contract with EA (don't really know them), but let me just say that the economics of the video game business are a lot more convoluted than multiplying the MSRP * Units and coming up with a cash/cash-flow number. Caveat: I am not an employee, an officer, a stockholder or on the BoD for 38 Studios. I've worked with them since 2006 on a consulting basis and believed in the project (and still do) - so much so that all of my compensation is on the back end. Maybe I'll never see a dime for those hundreds of hours, but I got the chance to work in the most incredible creative environment you can imagine. So be it. And...38 didn't go begging for a handout from Rhode Island...Rhode Island offered to secure a bond for them when the credit crunch reigned, trying to lure them out of Massachusetts. Say what you want about the rest of it - I'm not going to comment - but I have to tell you that this was an amazing team of designers, engineers, artists, animators, writers, audio team and all the rest, all chasing a common dream - all pushing the envelope in their respective fields. And this game is much further along than is being reported - I wish I could show you some if it! - and the environments, the animations and the game-play would blow you away. The MMO market is very different now than it was 6 years ago. Star Wars is aching, by all reports, and it's a solid game with groundbreaking voice-over work. EA bought Mythic, and Warhammer crashed. Bioware's MMO is hurting (they just laid off a bunch of people in their Austin Studio). Curt and I never agreed on politics, but that didn't define our time together. We'd argue, laugh, shake our heads behind each others' back, and carry on. And if this means anything to any of you, let me assure you that the vast majority of the employees of 38 make ME look like a rabid right-winger, the bunch of anarchists! And lord, I love 'em all and miss them already."

 I don't know who to believe or what really happened in this mess, I just know that a studio that was putting together something really nice is dead now and a lot of talented people are out of a job. You just hope when the dust clears we get to see what really happened at the core of the issue and the world of Amalur isn't extinct forever.

Retro Review: Final Fantasy IV

I had never played Final Fantasy IV in my life. I started the PS1 version which comes bundled with Chrono Trigger (I got it for Chrono Trigger) and started it. After an hour, I stopped because the graphics were just horrific looking. A lot of SNES games still hold up graphically to this day (many more than the PS1/N64 era), but FFIV isn't one of those. I was expecting it to look like FFVI which still looks great (and is one of my favorite games). When I made the decision that at some point I was going to get a Playstation Vita, I knew I had to buy Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection. It just happened that at around the same time I made the decision to buy a Vita, all of the Final Fantasy games on Playstation Network went on sale. I had been debating on whether or not to join Playstation Plus, but once I saw those members got an even steeper price drop, I was in. I bought The Complete Collection and FFVI. About a month later, I got my Vita. Let's just say it was a great decision.

Final Fantasy IV marks the first time in Final Fantasy (and consoles for that matter) told a deep and engrossing story. The story still holds up very well. I constantly wanted to keep playing to see the next scene or the next twist. I was hooked. The game does a great job of making you care about each of the playable characters (and there are a bunch of them). It's quite rare for a game to make each character memorable (only other games to have done this for me: FFVI and Metal Gear Solid), but FFIV easily achieved it.

Cecil's struggle with being thrown out of his kingdom and trying to redeem himself is definitely a story that has been told countless times, by Square Enix was able to make it engrossing. Cecil's best friend Kain is a wonderfully mysterious character that adds a lot to Cecil's journey. Rosa, the love interest, isn't your usual damsel in distress (though she is for a little bit), she wants and knows she can help Cecil. Rydia is the obligatory coming-of-age character. Edge and Cid provide the laughs while Yang provides the stoicism. All of the characters play well off of each other while going through the 30-hour long story.

There's no reason to talk about gameplay, if you've ever played a pre-Final Fantasy XII installment, you knew how it works. It can get frustrating at times, but it's also part of the game's charm. The graphics on the Complete Collection look amazing. They have been touched up a lot so it would look good on a PSP. It made it much easier to get through than the PS1 release.

Throughout the entire game, Square Enix plays with your emotions by keeping you guessing on who you will have in your party at any one time (you can't change party members like in other FF's which shocked me!). The story of redemption, friendship and love is certainly worth the price of admission. It's easy to see why this game continues to show up "All-Time Greatest Games" lists. It is worthy of such praise. I'm embarrassed I waited so long to play it, but I'm glad I did.

Score: 9.6/10 (Highly recommended for Vita owners)