TGWTG The Spoony One / Spoony / Noah Antwiler and Rachel Baker / @RaeAngel07 - The touching romance between a washed-up videogame reviewer throwing a decade-long pity party and his delusional Canuck stalker. #weaknotsick #donttellmehowtosulk

[LORD IMPERATOR]

Since everyone is talking about Final Fantasy all of a sudden, here's my personal experience with Spoony and Final Fantasy.

As a Spoony fan in the late 2000s-early 2010s, I bought into every word of what he said about the FF games. Especially his review of FF13 where he criticized the story and the characters. Then I bought FF13 myself, since I had some extra cash at the time and I wanted to see if I can get as shitfaced as Spoony was when I play the game.

I played the game. Not too shabby, by my account. It's no KOTOR or Paper Mario, but it's a different beast altogether; more of a strategy game than an RPG. It's enjoyable, to say the least. I enjoyed it so much, that I bought the sequels to the game just to get more fun out of it. But then I paid specific attention to what Spoony said about the plot, and my own observations.

Not only are some dead L'Cie fully aware of their focus, especially the ones who are petrified and you have to finish their quest to let their souls rest in peace, but Fang and Vanille knew what their focus was from the start, and they decided not to do it, which throws a big wrench in Spoony going nuts over the Fal'Cie talking or not talking and the L'Cie not knowing about their focus. The ones who were supposed to become Ragnarok and destroy Cocoon knew their focus, and many other L'Cie who were petrified also knew what their focus was.

That was the day when I lost faith in Spoony; because if he could be wrong about that, he could easily be wrong about FF8, FFX, and every time he opens his big fat mouth to bitch about Final Fantasy and other games. How much of it is his incompetence or lack of memory talking?

Also, him bitching about the L'Cie robes. I mean, yes, they look kind of tacky and over-designed, but they fit the sci-fi anime aspect of the game, and it's easy to spot them from a distance. They're well-designed for their purpose; if you have a bunch of people who are quarantined because of possible magic shenanigans that can be detrimental to the health of society, wrapping them in glowing robes that can allow someone to tell who they are from a distance is a valid solution, so the average schmuck can see who they are from afar and keep away.

 

[Flexo]

Those numbers aren't including the FFIX-HD sales, while they are including 6 million copies from the FFX/X-2 HD combo remaster that had both games.

Ok that's fair enough - but then that's not disproving my point either but rather again proves it in establishing that FF9 had a down turn in sales because of the previous game - salvaged many years later by a reexamination and turn-around of opinions.

As a Spoony fan in the late 2000s-early 2010s, I bought into every word of what he said about the FF games. Especially his review of FF13 where he criticized the story and the characters. Then I bought FF13 myself, since I had some extra cash at the time and I wanted to see if I can get as shitfaced as Spoony was when I play the game.

Does anybody remember the quick little video Marzgurl did as an addendum to spoony's FF13 review? She basically pointed out the entire game was basically just a hallway?

I think it's vanished now. Will take some archive digging to locate.

 

[p1138]

Ok that's fair enough - but then that's not disproving my point either but rather again proves it in establishing that FF9 had a down turn in sales because of the previous game - salvaged many years later by a reexamination and turn-around of opinions.

Sure? But 9 also got fucked with it's launch in July of 2000, when the ps2 was already out that year in Japan in March, and then people seeing footage of ps2 games waiting on the release of the system for months in NA and EU.
Even the FFX trailer had been out before the launch of 9(with 10 having been announced in 1999)

With beta footage shown off in January 2000(as well as what would become FFXI)

FF9 was fucked from the start by FFX and the ps2.

edit: And even worse, ff9 launched in the US a week and a half before the ps2 so they got fucked on holiday sales for that as well(the ps2 hardware wasn't hard to get, and it didn't only launch with 2 games like the n64 had), in addition to people knowing FFX was coming in a year.

 

[LORD IMPERATOR]

Does anybody remember the quick little video Marzgurl did as an addendum to spoony's FF13 review? She basically pointed out the entire game was basically just a hallway?

That's what I thought when I bought the game. Then I played the game and found out otherwise.

It's a tactical hallway. Then it opens up to Gran Pulse.

 

[p1138]

That's what I thought when I bought the game. Then I played the game and found out otherwise.

It's a tactical hallway. Then it opens up to Gran Pulse.

3/4 of the game is still a hallway. Halfway through the game, it opens up. Then once you continue on a bit further in the main quest it's right back to being in a hallway.

Also, the bosses with their enrage timers that basically enforce specific tactics, the game itself being more of a team manager, spending most of the game not even being able to pick your party... the game was crap.

 

[LORD IMPERATOR]

Also, the bosses with their enrage timers that basically enforce specific tactics, the game itself being more of a team manager, spending most of the game not even being able to pick your party... the game was crap.

If you want a classic DnD RPG, then yes, the game is crap. But as a strategy game, which is what DnD originally was supposed to be.......it was fine enough for me. Especially since being a team manager comes naturally to me since I've had to do that in RTS games and Mass Effect for quite some time.

 

[Flexo]

Sure? But 9 also got fucked with it's launch in July of 2000, when the ps2 was already out that year in Japan in March, and then people seeing footage of ps2 games waiting on the release of the system for months in NA and EU.
Even the FFX trailer had been out before the launch of 9(with 10 having been announced in 1999)

With beta footage shown off in January 2000(as well as what would become FFXI)

FF9 was fucked from the start by FFX and the ps2.

edit: And even worse, ff9 launched in the US a week and a half before the ps2 so they got fucked on holiday sales for that as well(the ps2 hardware wasn't hard to get, and it didn't only launch with 2 games like the n64 had), in addition to people knowing FFX was coming in a year.

Now that's a fair point, though I wonder how much PS2 sales impacted PS1 games since we were told backwards compatibility would be a thing. (The FFX trailer I would bet was the stronger influence.) Heck I didn't have a PS1 myself but did get a PS2 and remember hunting and picking up a lot of PS1 games I hadn't gotten now that I could play them.

 

[Oliver Onions]

Now that's a fair point, though I wonder how much PS2 sales impacted PS1 games since we were told backwards compatibility would be a thing

It's less backwards compatibility and more people want the new thing more. BC was great for playing the PS1 games you already had, but I doubt most people were keeping up to date with new PS1 releases once they had a PS2. Not when they had The Bouncer to play!

 

[p1138]

Now that's a fair point, though I wonder how much PS2 sales impacted PS1 games since we were told backwards compatibility would be a thing. (The FFX trailer I would bet was the stronger influence.) Heck I didn't have a PS1 myself but did get a PS2 and remember hunting and picking up a lot of PS1 games I hadn't gotten now that I could play them.

Ignoring the already divisive art style of FF9, a lot of it boiled down to it just being "old". The graphics jump between the ps1 and ps2 was pretty significant(nevermind the memory card jump... jfc the ps1 memory cards were fucking annoying), knowing the game was going to be voice acted(not all of it, but a lot more than none of it), no having to swap discs, and so on.

And yes, the backwards compatibility was a thing, but that was also the first system with it and most people didn't care. Yes it meant you could find and play ps1 games for cheap on it, but most people just weren't doing that initially and it isn't like the ps2 did anything to enhance the ps1 games. It's as simple as FF9 being old news before it was even released and knowing the new one was coming very shortly. That would hinder sales of most things. The market then isn't like it is now where the jump from a ps4 to ps5 wasn't as big of a deal, the ps5 hardware being hard to get for a year, "pro/plus/whatever" variants of the system coming out later, resolution scaling and performance modes, etc.

Like I said, the ps2 didn't launch with a shortage of games like the n64 did, and if you look up games released between 2000 and 2001 for it.. holy shit there were multiple highly rated games for basically every genre, and not just because game journos liked them either. https://www.metacritic.com/browse/g...=2000&releaseYearMax=2001&platform=ps2&page=1

THPS3, GTA 3, Devil May Cry, SSX, Twisted Metal, Jak and Daxter, Ace Combat, Red Faction, Ico, Silent Hill 2, and that's just on the first page. Onimusha, Tekken Tag, FIFA and Madden games before they became mtx gambling dumpster fires, Dynasty Warriors 3, Burnout, Guilty Gear X, Soul Reaver 2, Armored Core 2, there were dozens of them. Now when you look up top rated ps5 games from even 2020-2025 rather than just the first year, a lot of them are just ports from ps4 or remakes and even from the first year of the ps5 games drop out of having scores in the 90 range real fast(basically within the top 5 instead of toward the end of the top 20).

 

[Stornoway]

Ahem!... So, about that Spoony rapscallion, i wonder what he is up to these days?

 

[p1138]

Ahem!... So, about that Spoony rapscallion, i wonder what he is up to these days?

Hasn't streamed on youtube or posted on bluesky in 2 weeks.
And this is the only thing he's said on twitter in 2 weeks.

Apparently he hates Balatro?

 

[Hybrid Icing]

I'd give him that one. Balatro goes from "totally addicting" to "I never want to play this again" on the turn of a dime. Not sure why but it happened to me and some of my friends too.

 

[Flexo]

I'd give him that one. Balatro goes from "totally addicting" to "I never want to play this again" on the turn of a dime. Not sure why but it happened to me and some of my friends too.

Same issue with a lot of roguelikes - eventually when you "master" it, they start putting in more challenges. (like trying to climb the difficulties, increasing stats, etc)

Which ok fine, but then it eventually reaches the point that it is no longer player skill or tactics that is influencing the game, it's entirely what you pull during the run. i.e. in Balatro's case, if you don't get X, Y or Z joker in the first two ante, you won't make it. This ends up turning the game from a skill issue into a basic coin flip - a freakin' delayed coin flip. Thus the players are reduced to "well I logged into the game, does it let me win today? [long beat] Nope."

After that, why would anyone bother playing?

 

[Oliver Onions]

I'd give him that one. Balatro goes from "totally addicting" to "I never want to play this again" on the turn of a dime. Not sure why but it happened to me and some of my friends too.

This is how I felt about Inscryption. Wonderful art style and atmosphere, but sitting through the boring ass map transitions and conversations just to get back to the last fight I lost and hoping this time RNG doesn't fuck me over quickly soured the experience for me.

THPS3, GTA 3, Devil May Cry, SSX, Twisted Metal, Jak and Daxter, Ace Combat, Red Faction, Ico, Silent Hill 2, and that's just on the first page.

God damn I miss the PS2 generation. We will never eat that good ever again.

 

[3deadniggers]

THPS3, GTA 3, Devil May Cry, SSX, Twisted Metal, Jak and Daxter, Ace Combat, Red Faction, Ico, Silent Hill 2, and that's just on the first page

A lot of these games weren't system sellers and are more niche titles that grew big from youtubers years later. The PS2 shouldn't impact FF9's sales until a year after it's release. It takes a while for consoles to get into the public's hands and the PS1 didn't drop off instantly.

 

[demicolon]

C'mon dude - THPS3, GTA 3, Devil May Cry, Silent Hill 2, niche titles?

Red Faction I remember being BIG in late 2001 with the glass house demo that existed only to showcase the engine's capability of blasting the windows off a high-rise building with a rocket launcher. It was certainly not a niche title, every gaming newspaper from early 00s couldn't shut the fuck up about it. If anything the GeoMod was overhyped.

 

[p1138]

A lot of these games weren't system sellers and are more niche titles that grew big from youtubers years later. The PS2 shouldn't impact FF9's sales until a year after it's release. It takes a while for consoles to get into the public's hands and the PS1 didn't drop off instantly.

I'm sorry, what? Niche titles? First of all, no those were not "niche titles". Most of them were either sequels to already established series, or what became the starting point for long established series.

And no, it did not take a year for people to be getting ps2 hardware. FF9's release and the ps2 were right before Christmas, and like I explained had a pretty big library at launch. Of all of the games I mentioned that you could try to claim were a "niche" maybe Ico. But to claim Silent Hill 2, Twisted Metal Black, THPS3, etc relied on youtubers to promote those later? Come on.

 

[Diet Coke 4 Life]

A lot of these games weren't system sellers and are more niche titles that grew big from youtubers years later.

GTA 3...

Silent Hill 2...

Please, tell me how much crack you smoked through the '90s and early '00s to think that the motherfuckin' Silent Hill franchise is niche in any damned fashion. Or Grand Theft Auto. Even non-gaming twatwaffles like me knew of fucking SILENT HILL before SILENT HILL 2 came out.

Sorry to pummel the drum, but holy shit.

 

[3deadniggers]

C'mon dude - THPS3, GTA 3, Devil May Cry, Silent Hill 2, niche titles?

Red Faction I remember being BIG in late 2001 with the glass house demo that existed only to showcase the engine's capability of blasting the windows off a high-rise building with a rocket launcher. It was certainly not a niche title, every gaming newspaper from early 00s couldn't shut the fuck up about it. If anything the GeoMod was overhyped.

Silent Hill 2...

Please, tell me how much crack you smoked through the '90s and early '00s to think that the motherfuckin' Silent Hill franchise is niche in any damned fashion. Or Grand Theft Auto. Even non-gaming twatwaffles like me knew of fucking SILENT HILL before SILENT HILL 2 came out.

Silent Hill sold 5 mil copies across all games (SH2 sold 1 mil copies). It was not a big deal. at the time. According to VGsales figures wiki Resident evil 1 PS1/Saturn and it's directors cut sold as much on it's own as Silent Hill did between 1-4. They have decent sales figures over time but the immediate releases weren't topping the charts and most the sales are in the US only.

Games like ICO and Silent Hill aren't in the same realm as GTA3. Which is still a year after the PS2 launches and shouldn't impact FF9's sales. FF was at it's peak popularity during the PS1 era and the PS2 shouldn't have cooled it off. There was a lot of hype around The Bouncer because Square had built up a strong reputation on the PS1 and it looked amazing for the time. If anything harmed FF9's sales it's that FF10 is coming out a year later and returns to the FF8 art style of realistic humans making FF9 look childish.

It's easy to look back at retro and forget the release dates of games and the impact they would have on each other and the hype games later got. Silent Hill was in a dying genre for most of it's active life span. The PS1 drove survival horror into the ground and the PS2 moved away from it. RE4 is the best selling survival horror game and it's debatable if it's survival horror any more.

 

[p1138]

Games like ICO and Silent Hill aren't in the same realm as GTA3. Which is still a year after the PS2 launches and shouldn't impact FF9's sales. FF was at it's peak popularity during the PS1 era and the PS2 shouldn't have cooled it off. There was a lot of hype around The Bouncer because Square had built up a strong reputation on the PS1 and it looked amazing for the time. If anything harmed FF9's sales it's that FF10 is coming out a year later and returns to the FF8 art style of realistic humans making FF9 look childish.

It was at it's peak for except as I pointed out, by the time FF9 launched it was not only already on an old system, X already had trailers and screenshots out with people knowing it was coming soon.

You're also talking about a time when selling 1 million copies was still good, compared to today when it doesn't make up for development costs due to the 20+ years of inflation with little to no change in MSRP of games. Even the "Greatest Hits" on the ps2 only needed to sell 400k copies.