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Reading people's thoughts on this thread actually made me decide to pipe up on a topic I'd normally let lie.
I, for one, do not follow the video game industry closely. The only way I knew about FF XII was that my roommate was into it. I got a lot of second-hand info. Having a quick 2 page spread to inform me about the game is not something I needed, but it is something I enjoyed.
I do not even begin to pretend that I am going to use much of anything from Dragon. I use the magazine as a source of inspriation and pull the odd bit of gaming content from it. I've used maybe one spell/feat out every 4 issues of Dragon I've read.
This means that something like this Preview are actually just as handy to me as many of the other articles in Dragon (things like new races, laundry lists of Feats, all that stuff...)
Now, if they cut into the Demonomicons, Core Beliefs or anything like that, I may change my tune...
My husband was quite tickled to see the article, and upon reading it, chatted with me a bit (I'm not much of a video-gamer) and talked me into nipping over to the Future Shop after work on his behalf. Since then, "we've" been playing the game most evenings after dinner. By "we," I of course mean "he" - I get to sit there and watch.
Which, strangely, I actually enjoy doing when someone is playing a video RPG.
Anyway, that was my roundabout way of saying you folks at Dragon had at least two positive reads of that article. I know that you rarely get to hear the "rah-rah"s, but we liked it well enough.
As an aside, I liked the treatment that The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Pox Nora got much better than the spread for FFXII. This is how I would like to see video games covered in Dragon, and probably not more than two per month (1/2 page each). This was my "just right" amount.
Sean Mahoney
I am not a big fan of FF; I have not played since FF7 or 8. But I didn't mind. I know alot of people like FF and D&D, and so it seemed like there was good/understandable crossover. It is just like stuff printed for FR. I do not run FR, but I know others readers do, and I don't mind.
That being said, I will say:
1. I love the First Watch section. There is always non D&D stuff, and I like to see it. It is a nice way to keep me informed. In that way, this article was ok, because fans of FF probably need/want more detail. And I guarantee a good 50-75 percent of D&D fans play/have played FF games, so I am sure that area grabbed some readers.
2. I don't get any gaming material out of the comics, the letters ot the editor, first watch and any other number of sections, but that does not make them worthless. I like things other than "crunch" now and again; in fact, I prefer a balance.
3. Someone said that FF is Scifi/Fantasy, so it should not be in. I say that is a damn shame. Past articles in Dragon have covered Alternity, Gamma World, Boot Hill, etc. I don't think it ALWAYS has ot be fantasy. In fact, I would love to see d20 Modern/Future stuff now and again.
Furthermore, FF is more like Space Fantasy (think Star Wars), otherwise known as Fantasy-in-SF-clothing.
it's not a stretch.
Anyways, this reminds me of the countless "Wil save/Class Acts/Article X sucks" threads that say since something is not useful to everyone, it shouldn't be printed. Simulataneously, these people lament that their pet settings are nto covered.
It's two pages people. Treat it like I treat the fiction: skim or skip it.
I believe in the mantra that Dungeon is for DMs, and Dragon is for Players. I don't like Forgotten Realms content in general, but I love articles like "Cities of the Realms".
This seems like a contradiction. What does a player get out of "Cities of the Realms?"
I don't think your Mantra is very accurate. I think Dungeon is for Adventures/Campaigns, and Dragon is for everything else. Dungeon is support for Modules and running campaigns, Dragon is like a rules expansion.
One of the most praised recent works have been The Demonomicon. Players really only get the Thralls out fo that? Does it belong in Dungeon? No. Because then there'd be complaints about how non-Adventures were showing up there.
I think this is a relatively minor issue that everyone is up in arms about, and I don't think Paizo was intentionally misleading.
I am not a big fan of FF; I have not played since FF7 or 8. But I didn't mind. I know alot of people like FF and D&D, and so it seemed like there was good/understandable crossover. It is just like stuff printed for FR. I do not run FR, but I know others readers do, and I don't mind.
FR is D&D, FF is not. I don't particularly want FR content as I haven't liked the setting for about five years, yet I am willing to forget my disdain for it if I can get Eberron content. I don't want Ravenloft, Mystara, or Hollow World content, but will accept it if I can get Dark Sun, Planescape, Birthright, or Spelljammer content.
That being said, I will say:
1. I love the First Watch section. There is always non D&D stuff, and I like to see it. It is a nice way to keep me informed. In that way, this article was ok, because fans of FF probably need/want more detail. And I guarantee a good 50-75 percent of D&D fans play/have played FF games, so I am sure that area grabbed some readers.
Those that like FF (or video games in particular) know there are better sources to get the information they want. The D&D content in Dragon is only in Dragon. I mentioned before that I don't want non-D&D material that interests me in Dragon magazine because it is strictly a source of D&D content, "the official D&D magazine."
2. I don't get any gaming material out of the comics, the letters ot the editor, first watch and any other number of sections, but that does not make them worthless. I like things other than "crunch" now and again; in fact, I prefer a balance.
Crunch and fluff as refered to roleplaying are, respectively, new rules and world development. The ad-article for FF falls into neither catagory as it has nothing to do with D&D.
Pages reserved for the editor's letter, letters to the magazine, product reviews, etc. are staples of all popular magazines (and most scholarly and opinion journals). For the most part, the ones in Dragon directly pertain to D&D.
3. Someone said that FF is Scifi/Fantasy, so it should not be in. I say that is a damn shame. Past articles in Dragon have covered Alternity, Gamma World, Boot Hill, etc. I don't think it ALWAYS has ot be fantasy. In fact, I would love to see d20 Modern/Future stuff now and again.
I made that comment and I stand by it. As for the games you mentioned, where are they now? There are no new articles on them. Why is that? Because they were not D&D. D20 Modern/Future used to have a place in Polyhedron (RIP), which was the right place for it (in my opinion).
Furthermore, FF is more like Space Fantasy (think Star Wars), otherwise known as Fantasy-in-SF-clothing.
it's not a stretch.
It's a stretch calling it Fantasy-in-SF-clothing. Star Wars and FF are definitely SF. There is nothing about Star Wars that is Fantasy. The closest thing is the Force, but is is more like psionics (which is originally a SF ideal) than magic. Even though I like psionics in D&D, it is quite foreign to the fantasy genre.
Anyways, this reminds me of the countless "Wil save/Class Acts/Article X sucks" threads that say since something is not useful to everyone, it shouldn't be printed. Simulataneously, these people lament that their pet settings are nto covered.
Nobody can please everybody all of the time. Yet those articles you mentioned are about D&D, therefore thtey have a place in a D&D magazine.
It's two pages people. Treat it like I treat the fiction: skim or skip it.
That's two pages of missed D&D content (whatever it could be). It's sad that instead of the makers of FF purchasing ad space, Paizo paid someone to write a biased article on a non-D&D product.
This month's First Watch was better to stomach. Instead of 2 pages for one product, we have 1 page for two products. I would still rather have that page be filled with D&D content, though. Also, there have been ads for Pax Nora in Dragon for several months already, so we already know about it. They just got some free advertising from Paizo.
There are a number of reasons, but let's go with the big one: You'll note that near the end almost all the Silicon Sorceries we ran coincided with the game's release. The only way to make that happen is to commission someone and send him the game several months before the scheduled release date.
That's actually feasible in a handful of situations. One, the writer is a beta tester on the game (open betas are increasingly common nowadays for MMOs). Two, the game has previously been released in Japan and the writer, who speaks Japanese, has played it on import. Three, the writer is intimately familiar with the game lore, such as playing previous games in the series or knowing the book/movie that the game was based on.
This is somewhat a limited set of factors, to be fair, and I imagine there's still the issue of obtaining the rights to print material based on someone's video game.
On a related note, have the writers' guidelines been updated recently?
It's a stretch calling it Fantasy-in-SF-clothing. Star Wars and FF are definitely SF. There is nothing about Star Wars that is Fantasy. The closest thing is the Force, but is is more like psionics (which is originally a SF ideal) than magic. Even though I like psionics in D&D, it is quite foreign to the fantasy genre.
Star Wars is definitely Sci Fi? Please explain. What aspects of it make it such a Science Fiction setting; just because it is "futuristic?" Because there are ships? If Star Wars is science fiction, so is Eberron.
Star Wars is, definitely, Science Fantasy aka Space Opera. Few people, if anyone, would be able to put together a coherent defense of how Star Wars fits the Science Fiction genre. It is Science Fantasy, in the tradition of stories like Dune. I think you may be arguing the semantics of genre in this instance.
For some perspective, I offer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_wars