But while Xenoblade is truly their finest masterpiece, developer MonolithSoft has already delivered two fantastic role playing games before. Both Baten Kaitos and Baten Kaitos: Origins gave a glimpse into the skill set and creativity of the now Nintendo-exclusive development studio. Where Baten Kaitos gave us a first look into an unique fantasy-world and an innovative card battle-system, Origins one-upped that and offered detailed insight into the politics of that same universe, succeeding in telling a story that Square Enix´ Final Fantasy 12 failed at.

What is most astounding is the consequent improvement in MonolithSoft´s game design philosophy. To make this not an overly long and in-depth article, let´s just look at the evolution of surficial changes between their three games. Baten Kaitos offered a creative, original combat system that relied on cards, but also used these cards outside of battle to transport any kind of item. Each character in your active party had his own card deck. Health could only be regenerated during combat, by rare, expensive healing items or at save points. Said save points weren´t always put fairly and defeat meant re-starting from the last save point. This brings us to Baten Kaitos: Origins, where not only save points were always within close reach, but the player was freed from having to pay attention for healing, too. Health was automatically filled to max when not fighting some monsters. The addictive card battle system got an overhaul as well, removing character-exclusive card decks and having the whole party share a single one, which really helped the micromanagement process. However, just like its predecessor, traveling the world was still rather slow. And thus we arrive at Xenoblade, where fast travel means lighting fast travel. Once reached a new check point on the ginormous world map, players need to simply click the minus-button, choose their destination, confirm with the a-button and … are wherever they intended to be. It is only between completely different areas when load times take a several seconds wait, but looking at how big just one single area is, that is still an unfathomable achievement in game design. As for the masterpiece´s combat system … it could be said that it is some kind of evolution of the previous games´ card battle, but I guess that would be a little too far-fetched without proper evidence. However, disregarding the cards-or-not topic, Xenoblade made sure to proceed the mission of BKO, creating a most comfortable, user-friendly environment. Health regenerating outside of battle was a given, but not only has you Xenoblade forget all your worries about unnecessary item management (while still offering plenty of customization), it also features stuff like granting experience points for individually beaten enemies. So even if you fail to beat a group of enemies, you get the points for the ones you actually did. And what happens should you fail? Restart from last save point? Watch a lengthy cutscene over and over again? Of course, not! Being wiped out means that you´ll restart at the last map check point. No loss of experience, no loss of anything. And cutscenes cannot only be skipped, they won´t even start a second time when re-approaching the “bitch that kicked your ass“.

MonolithSoft seems to have researched each and every complaint JRPG-fans had with various games in the past and put all of that to heart, resulting in the most user-friendly, frustration-free experience ever. With the exception of a little quick grinding here and there, should you grow tired of doing the endless amount of sidequests, Xenoblade is as smooth of a progression as is possible in terms of game design. Which leads me to the most exciting part of it all and the reason why I wanted to share these thoughts with you: The next game.

With the Wii U entering the HD-era and MonolithSoft being one of Nintendo´s technically most capable teams (as was found out, they even helped with Zelda: Skyward Sword), whatever their next project is gonna be, it´s an instant Most Wanted-title for anyone that enjoys great video games. The big question remains: Is it is even possible to surpass the magnificence of Xenoblade? Well, yes it is (sorry). While many of those that played Xenoblade agree that it is one of the best JRPGs ever and THE best JRPG of the current generation, it´s easy to find room for improvement. Not the kind of improvements that were missing due to incompetence, but because at some point, something just cannot be implemented anymore due to the sheer vastness of content. Having finished Xenoblade in 91 hours only means that I´ve beaten its main story. I could probably put in another 90 hours to do and see everything – it´s that much content. Now, if I had to pick just one aspect of the game that I would love to improve on, it´s character dynamics and detail surrounding them. Xenoblade puts our heroes in this grand adventure and we grow to love them, but maybe with the exception of hero Shulk, none of them is ever fleshed-out particularly well. Which, again, isn´t a huge fault here, since we´d be looking at a 150 hour-campaign otherwise. But the point stands and is reason why I´d like for MonolithSoft to take the opposite approach for the next project: An adventure and story small in scale, but featuring an enormous, fearsome amount of care for detail. A story that is character-driven, rather than following the limits of some almighty villain. A combat-system that completely makes away with grinding and introduces an intelligent mix of strategy, puzzle and attentiveness. Maybe to the point where losing a fight not only doesn´t just put you right in front of it for another try, but actually incorporates the loss into the further progression of the game, thus never leading the flow to a halt. MonolithSoft has shown how they love to put some real-world tangents into their fantasy worlds – maybe they should turn around that approach and make a JRPG that is set in our current, modern world and whatever fantasy is only creeping in an ominous, far away background, slowly coming closer as the plot unfolds. I´m having Death Note or Durararara on my mind right now, if you happen to know these anime shows. But anyway, I have no doubt that the game after Xenoblade will be devoid of frustration, feature an even more motivating combat system and present another rich, creative universe. If it´s me, I´d like to see MonolithSoft´s fine skills used in a small scale-character driven title, but I´d lie if I claimed that I wouldn´t also love another big, epic journey.

Let me start by saying that, despite basically admitting that I put myself in the wrong camp, I still think that changes are necessary. But when I say “changes”, what I really mean is evolution, progression, new-stuff-anything-really. Which is what we´ll get anyways, I´m pretty sure about it. What is not needed are above mentioned “drastic changes” (unless the hardware allows for it, virtual reality and such, haha). We don´t need a Zelda that throws away this or that, copies a different genre or changes from third- to first-person camera. I would never be opposed to such changes, however, since seeing what has become of Skyward Sword, I´m confident that the Zelda-team at Nintendo knows exactly what can and what can´t be done with this maybe most important franchise.

The argument still stands, though: “The Zelda-formula has gotten stale“. Since I already stated this to be false, I guess I should proceed with an explanation. Typically, those Zelda-fans (of which I was part, too) argue that ever since the original OoT, maybe even since Alttp, all Zelda-games offered more of the same, failing to evolve into something better. Without the “better”, the series remained to be “good”, but that´s about it. Majora´s Mask-fans would argue that their favorite series-entry didn´t follow that formula, but I would disagree. It had a slightly different focus, but the overall game featured all the “stale” elements that other installments are criticized for. Personally, I like all home console-Zeldas, not a single one is even close to being a bad game, far from it actually. But to this very day, I keep waiting for *that* Zelda-game that tops OoT, that succeeds in becoming just as mind-blowing, breath-taking, industry-changing. This game hasn´t been released, yet. But is changing the formula the only way to bring this unimaginable Leviathan into existence? Of course, not, otherwise I wouldn´t be typing this article!

The reason for why hardcore Zelda-fans think the series has gotten stale is that in reality, the series has been dumbed down. That is drastically different from the apparent reason. If you think about it, the “Zelda-formula” has always been there. Always to a different degree. Zelda NES had the overworld and dungeons, the small keys, the classic items, the heart containers, Ganon, and so on. A link to the Past had it, Link´s Awakening had it, Ocarina of Time had it, and then the following Zelda-games as well. Sure, TWW and TP may have followed OoT´s basic structure a little too closely, but that wasn´t the reason why these entries felt lacking. What those modern Zelda-games are lacking is symptomatic for the whole of our today´s gaming industry: True tension, challenge, mercilessness, real exploration, a sense of wonder.

All of these are characteristics of a lot of older video games and I realize that it would be easy to tap into the nostalgia-trap. But luckily, I´ve got evidence, and so do all of you. Ocarina of Time 3D, the remake of the, for a lot of gamers, “best game ever”, was released last week in Europe and THIS is it. This is evidence for why I think I´m right and for why I was wrong. OoT always had a strong following, but gamers that weren´t much of a Zelda-fan would smile at the notions of praise and state that OoT might have been great back then, but wouldn´t be today. Not only are impressions all over the internet proving these doubters wrong. I am, as well, since I´ve already played the remake up to the forest temple and can confirm how absolutely great this game still is, how it holds up effortlessly. If you disagree and think that there are a lot of games with more clever puzzles, a better, richer atmosphere and a more engaging combat-system, then please make a list. Because I must have missed all these games. More importantly, though, the fact that OoT is so much fun even now proves that the Zelda-formula hasn´t gotten stale. Hell, I don´t think I had this much fun with a video game in a long, long time. If the formula had really gotten stale, shouldn´t I, previously a supporter of drastic changes, find it boring to play this game? I admit that there´s a lot of nostalgia involved when it comes to Oot, but when I bought it for Wii´s Virtual Console, I played it for a few minutes and didn´t touch it again. But graphics surely weren´t the problem. Just a few days ago, I finished Baten Kaitos Origins for GameCube, and believe me, it doesn´t look nice on a HDTV. But it was a great game, nonetheless. So why am I having such a great time with OoT 3D? Because it isn´t a dumbed down casual experience.

In modern Zelda-games, dying or proceeding the main story aren´t problems anymore. Firstly, you have to actively screw up to die. Secondly, the games guide you from event-scene to event-scene. You will never feel lost, never find yourself thinking about where to go next. While Zelda-games still aren´t as dumbed down as the majority of nowadays blockbuster-titles on all systems, they certainly grew a lot closer to the “fast food style” that games like Call of Duty perfected. The game will tell you where to go, how to tackle a problem and reward you with plenty of cutscenes. For a lack of a better expression, Zelda-games became casual experiences. Now, if you think OoT is piss easy, stop reading here because you won´t agree with me. But where OoT and older Zelda-titles differ from the newer ones, is how they don´t hold the players hand. They don´t spell out the solution of puzzles before you, they throw you into tough battles. If you talk to every NPC in OoT, you will get a lot of hints, but first of all, you will only get “hints”, and secondly, you will really have to talk to these people. There won´t be ingame-messages, informing you of what to do. There won´t be cutscenes doing that either. The game really forces you to explore your environment, both the living and non-living part of it. Also, it manages to raise your interest for side stuff. One great and well-known example? The Lon Lon-farm. Some Zelda-fans didn´t even know that, but Epona, the famous horse-friend, is 100% optional in OoT. Moreover, the Lon Lon-farm as a whole is totally optional. I´m sorry if I´m wrong, but as far as I know, there is no inherent reason to enter the farm ever at all to finish the main story of the game. But here´s the catch: The game introduces Malon and Talon, residents of the Lon Lon-farm, prior to meeting princess Zelda for the first time, and thus imperatively introduces them to the player, thus raising interest. But that´s only one more obvious example, really. The whole world of Hyrule in OoT invites the player to explore its various areas. Modern Zelda-games fail at this, because the player will quickly realize that it is best to wait until the end of the game before exploring the world, because you´ll always find yourself in situations where you need a very specific item to proceed. Such scenes happen in OoT as well, but at the same time, the game makes sure to reward you with some kind of interaction no matter at what point in the story you are.  The game acknowledges the player´s wish for exploration and is designed accordingly.

To summarize, modern Zelda-games are still fun, but they´re just fun games, without a deeper connection to the player. Adding a tiny bit of hyperbole, TWW and TP are hardly more than a Tetris-games that you start playing when you feel like wasting a bit of your time. You always know that it is no problem to stop playing, that it is also no problem to start the game at any point. Just hop in and fool around. That IS fun, definitely, but it is also not memorable in any way. Older Zelda-games, instead, succeeded in creating a true adventure-experience. They were challenging, involving, immersive. They let the player figure out stuff by himself. They rewarded straying off the main path in many, various ways. And most importantly, they separated themselves from the “rest”. Take this as elitism if you have to, but a Zelda NES, AlttP, LA, OoT and MM are all experiences that were so far ahead of the competition at their time that it is brain-breaking to even think about it. One may say that it is simply not possible to invent the wheel anew all the time, but as a matter of fact, the Zelda-series managed to do exactly THAT with every series-entry till Majora´s Mask. It is after that one that the Zelda-series became a “game amongst games“.  How I can say this with such unshakeable confidence? Because I´m playing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D right now, a game that was originally released in 1998, thirteen years ago. And in terms of gameplay, it is still more than up to par to ANY game out there. As for the franchise´s future, Skyward Sword seems to feature a lot of ideas that could replicate all the factors that made past Zelda-games outstanding. What I can say for sure, though, is that the inclusion of dungeons, small keys and such will not make or break this game. Because the Zelda-formula has not gotten stale. 

E3 2011-Hype-Trailer 

1.) Changeable Moves

A huge difference to the past three games, but the more I think about it, the less of a problem I see. Changing the moves of a character isn´t unprecedent, even fairly typical in a lot of anime-based fighting-games, such as Narutimate Hero for PS2 or the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi-series. These games let you decide what move is executed by what button-press. As big in content Brawl was, the freshness in terms of controlling all these characters was lost. Smash Bros. 64 was a great first entry, Melee improved vastly on that by adding the directional-B-moves as well as the ability to defend yourself in midair. Brawl added … tripping. Lol, no, of course, Brawl added a bunch of new gameplay as well, but it was more about environmental improvement. The characters had pretty much the same variety of moves as before.

I could see this being the big new feature of Smash Bros Café/3DS. All characters start out with a standard set of moves, but as you play the game, you unlock new moves, represented by some sort of trophy-like collectible. There would be unlockable moves of different categories, one category for each button-combination. At the end of unlocking all the content, there would be character-specific moves, moves that can only be used on a certain character. Maybe have three such moves for each category of each character. And then there´d be general moves that can be chosen for all characters. This wouldn´t only allow for a f***ton of classic, recognizable moves to be included (imagine choosing between Samus´ normal Beam, Plasma Beam, Ice Beam and Wave Beam for the B-button, or choosing between Link´s boomering, hammer or  bombchus for the B+right/left-move), it´d also solve the problem of giving all fans what they want. For example, many fans want Ganondorf to have moves that he actually used in the games. Like using a sword, proper magic and stuff. But then there are long-time Smash Bros.-fans that want Ganondorf to stay exactly the way the grew to love fighting as him. Peace, baby!

2. New Characters

That is obvious, yeah. The two number one missing characters that I fully expect to see in the next Smash Bros.-game are Ridley (Metroid-series) and Krystal (Star Fox-series). Metroid really got shafted so far, with Samus Aran being the only playable character from the franchise. Yeah, we got Zero Suit Samus, but that´s hardly a new character per se. I mean, give us at least one enemy from each franchise so we have someone to fight, Nintendo. And Krystal would add both one more female character, not much of those, as well as introduce the first staff-fighter to the game. Speaking of staff-fighters, Nintendo could also add some Fire Emblem-character with a spear or such, and hopefully a series-villain, too. Other than those, the sky is the limit. There´s so many video game characters out there that would be tons of fun to have in Smash Bros.. I guess the most popular third-party-wish would be Megaman. But really, more important than adding new characters, Nintendo should concentrate on make the ones they already have as unique as possible.

3.) Trim down the Fat

Brawl has often been called “the ultimate Nintendo collection” or similar names, and it is true: The Wii-entry featured an encyclopedia´s richness of information, both in text and graphics and music. It also featured a singleplayer-adventure that by itself took around eight hours to beat a single time. And then we had a million of other game-modes. To be honest, I didn´t need all that. Especially the adventure-mode. The cutscenes were truly fantastic, but the mode itself was rather annoying and bland. And really, any true Smash Bros.-fan buys the game because of the fighting, not because of some sucky platforming.

Get rid of this hour-long adventure-mode and if it has to be there in some form, get it back to Melee-proportions. And while I hope to see a big soundtrack and wealth of information about characters again, do we really need all these small modes? I admit that I sucked at it, but stuff like the boss-run-mode or cruel Melee (whatever it was called in Brawl) didn´t really capture my heart. Same goes for repeating the All-Star-mode with all of the characters. And event-mode was fun in Melee, but really sucked in Brawl. I finished it because I´m addicted to finishing my games, but it was more of an annoyance than a “yay, I´m so happy to play this right now!”. And guess what, there´s two modes that Brawl was even missing. I want the “Finish the platforms” from the N64-game and the “Reach the Goal” from Melee back. Those modes offered a truly different experience. Oh, and either get rid of Target-mode or give every character his own level. Target-Test in Brawl sucked hard. Anyways, sometimes, less is better. More focus on the fighting and the truly fun bonus-modes, less “it´s there because it was easy to implement”.

4.) Against the CPU-cooperative modes and 4 vs. 4-battles

The former would feature a few different missions where up to four players are fighting against CPU-enemies, but not in the usual arenas, but specially designed mission-levels. And the goal here wouldn´t be to simply kill other characters, but to pursue real taks, like protecting a ship that is sailing on an ocean, trying to conquer a castle, trying to build a tower by using certain items to reach a high up point while simultaneously defending against attacking enemies. There could even be boss battles, like when you´re sailing mentioned ship, a giant sea monster appears that you have to fend off by using the ship´s own cannon.

The latter would introduce a whole new level of multiplayer-action to the franchise, while at the same time not overdoing it. Four players during battle should remain the standard battle-mode, but for adding a lot of new potential, I´d love to see a raised player-count. I don´t know, if that was possible offline, but at least online, it should be doable.

5.) Return to a mix of 64/Melee-gameplay

This is a hardcore-fan´s wish, so I kept it for last. The main reason why Super Smash Bros. Brawl didn´t captivate myself for not even close to as long as Melee, was not only the lack of available offline-friends. It was also because of the floaty, party-game-like gameplay. Yeah, yeah, some ignorant gamers laugh about the Smash Bros.-series, “fighting game, lulz”, but for all those of us that put a lot of time and effort into the franchise, the depth was obvious and extremely motivating. What I loved about 64´s gameplay was how impactful each and every move felt. Hitting another character with Link´s sword really made you feel the contact between sword and character, even without rumble pak. This got worse in Melee, but then again, Melee introduced a speed and dynamic to all the fighting that made it just as engaging. Combine the two styles and I´m sure we would experience the best Smash Bros.-game of all times.

And a small 6.), because I´m too lazy to edit this article´s title: Different costumes for every character, not just color swaps. Seriously, that´s not demanded too much, is it.

And small 7.), lol, because I just searched for a nice image for the top of this text: Maybe change the artstyle from the realistic one we have right now to a more cartoony style, resembling the original game´s boxart. As can be seen above.

The rumors about Café´s power go from “a little bit better than 360/PS3” all the way to “significantly more powerful (than the current HD-systems)”. Basically, will we face a repetition of the Wii-strategy, or are we going to relive a PS2-like situation? Both would put the Café in the third rank, compared to the expected power of Xbox 720/PS4, but the latter would enable Nintendo´s new system to enjoy long-lasting third party-support, while the former might give them superior versions of current gen-titles, and then suddenly support drops off like a cliff. Both is realistic, but I´m not going to talk about the likeliness of one over the other. I want to express how it just doesn´t matter. At all.

Right off the bat: The reason why I´m kinda tired of my 360 is not its visual shortcomings. I have a (still) modern gaming-PC that can run multiplatform-titles in higher resolution and with much more details than Microsoft´s system is capable of. Yet, I´d gladly play more often on my 360. The reason I don´t, is that there´s nothing of interest. To me, I will consciously add. There´s Mass Effect 3 that I´ll buy, so I can use my game saves from ME1 and ME2. And there´s Deus Ex: Human Revolution, though I might buy that for my PC instead. Other than that, nothing. And I´m not saying that there aren´t well-made, high quality games still coming out on the system. But only to me, they´re boring. They´re always the same. They´re … shooters.

People are waiting for a Halo: CE-remake. They´re waiting for Modern Warfare 3. For Gears of War 3. For GTA5 (which could turn out positively different, but …). But it´s not only shooters, sure. They´re also waiting for the cool MGS: Rising. For Dead Island. For Skyrim. For whatever. But even if you fail to see it: To me, these games appear oh so un-special. Maybe you can see what I mean when I put it like this: The reason why you are waiting for these games is because of their new setting, their new story, their gruesomeness, even. However, it is not because of they offer new in terms of gameplay. So it isn´t used in a too ominous way, let me explain what I mean by claiming such a seemingly bold thing. The two HD-console games that made me feel like I´m playing something that wasn´t possible in the same way on GameCube/Xbox/PS2 are Dead Rising and Assassin´s Creed. Dead Rising had all these zombies, all that interaction, all these objects – what happens when you try to recreate that on a power-lacking hardware can be witnessed in the Wii-port of the game. Assassin´s Creed similarly featured a high count of npcs, but more importantly raised the bar of environment interaction close to the limit of what is creatively doable. Climb up almost everywhere, freedom total. And they´re adding a grappling hook in AC: Revelations, “oh my god” is what I said out aloud. These two games actually felt like an effort to break the barriers of last generation and introduce gaming to a new world. And then that stopped.

The Wii 2/Café might turn out to be just a slightly more powerful 360, but I´d happily buy that system. Why? Well, because I feel like there´s currently two scouting ships sailing within the vastness of an unknown ocean of possibilities, obviously unable to explore it all alone. All that while the other ship-manufacturers  keep investing their money into adding fancy, shiny decoration to their big, slow ferry boats that keep driving between point A and point B, because it´s making them enough money to be content with, or because they´re too scared to enter the realm of unknown depths.

I am not claiming that it is safe to say that Nintendo´s entering the HD-era of gaming and instantly finding out about those unexplored possibilities. But I feel a strong disagreement for those people that beat down the Café already, only because of the potential that it might just be on par with the 360 and not introduce the next jump in power.  So much creativity went missing in-between all those shooters and “mature” aka kiddy “cool games” or games that tried to mimic Hollywood-movies instead of pursuing the medium of the video game (in before “but why has it to be either or?” Don´t ask me, ask the industry´s reality). Since I know that it is a favorite amongst a lot of gamers (not my favorite, teehee), I´ll end this opinion (and you´re free to disagree) by  throwing The Legend of Zelda: Majora´s Mask into this debate. Majora´s Mask was released towards the end of the Nintendo 64´s lifetime, yet it introduced a shockingly fresh gameplay-concept. And it was a smaller game than Ocarina of Time. It didn´t pursue the mantra of “bigger, prettier, better“. It dared to take an unexplored idea and that would later turn it into one of the fans´most beloved Zelda-games. It was released at the end of 2000. The same time when Sony´s Ps2 launched.

PS: I admit that I myself would be a bit disappointed if Café was just a slightly improved 360 in terms of power. You simply expect big things from a next generation console, and no matter the power, that´s what the Wii 2 is going to be in type. But not only is the above article my true view on the relevancy of processing power, it is also backed up by my current gaming reality. A superior gaming PC, a 360, a Wii, a N64 – all connected to a screen and still in use. Starfox 64 still rocks. Baten Kaitos Origins still wants me to finish it. And I´m not playing these games because of their looks, haha. Power is important. But power only can do so much. That´s what is the truth for me, when talking about whatever power range Nintendo shows up with their new system.

Microsoft: Monday/June 6th/10 a.m. PST (7 p.m. for Europe)

Sony: Monday/June 6th/ 5 p.m. PST (2 a.m. for Europe)

Nintendo:   Tuesday/June 7th/ 9 a.m. PST (6 p.m. for Europe)

Nintendo also published their own stream´s website already, which you can find here: Nintendo Press Conference Stream

I don´t have much to say, really, since I´m just grateful to all of you who decided to read one of my articles on video games, game design and everything that somehow relates to our beloved entertainment industry.

As for fact time, other than my nostalgia trip on Pokémon, the reports about Monster Hunter Tri have been some of the most read blog entries. And another one is coming, I promise! As a little bit of a sneak preview (lol): I killed Deviljho. More than just once.

So, that is it. FlyingFisch reaching 100,000 visitors is a big feat for this blog, since it has absolutely no advertisement or constant place of attention.  However way you found this website, I hope you enjoyed reading it. As for the future, I have no intention to stop writing about games until I stop playing them. And with the 3DS I just recently got and the Wii 2 coming up, I doubt I´ll run out of topics worth debating. Of course, I won´t post a story when there just isn´t one worth it (imo), so the amount of monthly entries can vary. Better than going for filler-stuff, right?

Next party will be when we reach our 1,000,000th visitor. Could take some time