Picture caption: "You lookin at my ass?"

I'd mash...

I'm kind of disappointed with the graphics so far. They're nice, but don't really scream next-gen. Seem to have a lot of low quality textures and undue aliasing. Some nice special effects, but I was hoping for a little more polish considering the FF and DQ games are renowned for pushing the graphical envelope.

Oh well, there's always Blue Dragon 2. :p

-Colin

Saggy boobs FTW!

Finally a decent looking linear RPG for 360.

Enchanted arms was a disappointment of epic proportions. Maybe it's the nostalgia peeking out, but DAMN I miss decent turnbased RPGs.

@ctorretta

Be wary not to confuse low quality textures with clean solid textures. One is a result of shotty artists, the other the quality of a very explicit art direction and style.

Also, I dont see this aliasing you're talking about. It appears these screenshots are 1280x768 native and artifacts become present due to the scaling process - not the rendering.

Not that I am arguing your opinion. Just figured I'd share mine.

blue_dragon_02.jpg

looks like someone was trying to look down her blouse.

PS: obligatory BOOBIES!!! and CLEAVAGE!!! comment.

pic #3-

Bleeding Stone: Stone that looks like it's bleeding.

Well, I'm glad we cleared that up.

@ctorretta: FF and DQ games are renowned for pushing the graphical envelope

Heh, DQ definitely isn't quite as reknowned for pushing graphics as FF. As beautiful of a game DQ8 was, 7 was almost universally panned graphically. Don't get me wrong, I took individual pleasure out of the game's graphics, but they were nothing groundbreaking.

Basically, no other Japanese RPG studio has the kind of resources Square Enix does as far as graphics/audio go. No other RPG company right now is going to produce comparable graphics to SE at this stage. It's a David-vs-Goliath type thing. That doesn't mean we won't get nice-looking RPGs, which may well be better than FF/DQ in other ways.

My horse wasn't fast enough, so I painted flames on it. Awesome, I can't wait!

It's a little hard to say that Mistwalker is in a David vs. Goliath situation. As well known and large as Square-Enix is, they're nothing compared to Microsoft, who was writing the checks for the studeio, and even creating a new studio simply to do the coding for Mistwalker.

@RedRedSuit: Sorry, but that is pure fanboyish RedRedSuit. I hate the way if something has a Final Fantasy name on it, then it is the best jRPG out on the market. Why bother even putting out anymore jRPGs if this is the case?

Seriously, is Square Enix even coming out with a next-gen RPG in 2008?

Back to teh story...These are pretty gorgeous pics. I can't wait for this game.

@Essonse: Microsoft does not have unlimited resources to give to Japanese studios, even if it does publish their games. No RPG maker in Japan, and this includes Mistwalker, has the kinds of resources Squeenix does. Only they can afford to make films (and lose hundreds of millions in doing so) and develop flagship RPGs for 4-5 years at a time. They're really just on another level to the point where very few in Japan can compete.

Let me correct myself. Microsoft DOES have nearly unlimited resources to give to whomever they want... but Japanese studios for whom they publish games are not the recipient of such resources.

Is McWhertor serious when he says he doesn't have a 360? He's the one that actually likes Motorstorm, right? How can we take anything he says seriously?

these are pretty bad...

Come on. Have you ever seen a more appealing breast on a cartoon character? So natural, yet so big. And such a cute hat!

I am not a big fan of Akira Toriyama either. It seems like he designed some decent character a few decades ago and has since just been photo copying them into whatever project he is currently working on. The 360 does need some RPG's and specifically some classic Japanese RPG's.

I wish M$ could get SquareEnix a little more excited about making 360 games. If they were to announce an enhanced version of FFXII, FFVII, or best of all FFVI for the 360 I would probably need to change my pants.

This game seems to capture Toriyama's designs more fully throughout the entire game more than I have seen. I just hope the jubblies don't get all crazy with their own physics.

I already know the game looks good, I want to know if the voice acting will make or break the experience. So far I only heard the chic that voiced Rikku is in the cast. The import is fun, but the whole Mr. Obvious announcer that chimes in everytime you open a chest or break in/out of gameplay needs removed... it was annoying.

No way the Mr. Obvious? I thought it was a chick? Anyways, he/she/it still needs to be in there just so that it can turn into an internet fad for bashing. Hahahahaha

Seriously though, yeah that voice was irritating, but still to this day my friend and I cant stop cracking jokes about it. Like opening the fridge at my friends place then saying "Nothing" just like in the bloody game. It does grind on ones nerves after the 1000th stone checked in game. hehe

Not a fan of Toriyama?? The man gave us those infernal slimes (the ones that take all my money)!

@Redredsuit.

I don't think it was Square-Enix that could afford to lose hundreds of millions off of a shitty FF movie, but Sony.

Correct me if im wrong, but i believe it was a Sony animation studio they closed down due to Spirits Within doing so horribly.

And these shots look great. Not every 360 game needs to push the graphical envelope. A great looking game is a great looking game, and this my fellow kotaku-ites, is a great looking game.

@ArmyofJuan: It was, in fact, Square and not Sony. They had to close down their film division, and they lost so much money that this accelerated the merger with Enix.

I'd have to disagree with you about no other Japanese RPG company being able to match Square-Enix in terms of graphics quality as Lost Odyssey looks to be catching up fairly quickly. In terms of sheer size yeah Square-Enix can afford to spend the money on getting the graphics that high, Mistwalker may be able to compete with them in a few years hopefully. But to be honest though it doesn't really bother me as the other companies tend to take a more stylised approach to design which I've always preferred over photorealism myself.

Re: Blue Dragon's graphics
They're intentionally cartoonish. If you want to see fantastic graphics in a Mistwalker RPG, then buy Lost Odyssey when it comes out this year.

@RedRedSuit: It was, in fact, Square and not Sony. They had to close down their film division, and they lost so much money that this accelerated the merger with Enix.

Wow, that really illustrates those "infinite resources.

If you write for any sort of game blog/magazine shouldn't you own every system? Hell, I bet half the people here are more qualified to write for Kotaku than someone that doesn't own every system. Seems kind of lame.

@rluzinski: Yes, it does. Very few game companies can bankroll a major world theater release in the first place. It's not like it bankrupted them. Like I said, it's another level from other RPG houses. It must be damn frustrating to be someone like Monolith with Xenosaga trying to compete with that.

As for Lost Odyssey catching up -- I highly doubt it. We haven't seen what Squeenix will do this generation. They always exceed expectations. Again, though, that's just production values. Much more goes into a game than that.

@Roroco:

Didn't notice this earlier:

"Sorry, but that is pure fanboyish RedRedSuit. I hate the way if something has a Final Fantasy name on it, then it is the best jRPG out on the market. Why bother even putting out anymore jRPGs if this is the case?"

It's not fanboyish in the slightest. As I said several times, just because no other JRPG maker can match SE in terms of budgets doesn't mean they can't produce better games than them (as they often do). This is much like the fact the big Hollywood blockbusters aren't necessarily the best movies around -- they're definitely have the prettiest CGI, though.