The "Sell-out" Mentality

by Rufus Moe

The "Sell-out" Mentality How many times have you heard recent RPGs (or CDs, or Movies, or just about anything else) been bashed as "sell-outs?" And don't bother answering that question, because it's rhe- torical (you idiot!). Final Fantasy VII (not to speak of VIII, ooh that game sends shivers down my spine!) is a bad game. Why? Because it's a sell-out. How so? It made lots of money and I don't like it. Also, it's different. Why, back in the day, they made RPGs right! They didn't give you these wussy FMVs and nice-looking graphics. You had to stare at blocky, s***y graphics and figure out what the f*** was going on for yourself, dammit! Loser!

Wow, if that doesn't convince you that Final Fantasy VII was bad game, then you might not be a f***ing retard. I have vision of a better tomorrow, one where people realize that an RPG's quality is independent of the number of copies it sells. Also, in this future, people might discover a new concept, called personal opinion. With this awesome new knowledge, we will be able to understand that things can actually have merit even if you don't like them. Until, of course, the old-school gamers take us to task for not denouncing people who think differently as heretics and burning them alive like we did in the good old days of FF IV.

But what about how Square is now releasing games to make a profit? Too bad they've already been doing it for a decade or so, but that was almost a valid point (imbecile!). They've been sell-outs from day one, and the purpose of every one of their games was to make Square money. Even your beloved FF I, IV, or VI. In fact, I was pretty sure FF VI sold pretty well. Also, you'll note that the graphics steadily improved pre-FF VII. But, wait, I forgot, cut-scenes are okay as they're not FMV. Why? Because these people are very, very, stupid (offense intended).

None of this is to say you can't think FFs VII and VIII are bad games. Just don't write about how much they suck without a real argument, like "sQuARe iZ a seL-OUt!!!!" or "They're called moogles, not mogs, you Squaresoft fags!" Feel free to make the eye-candy argument, but only if you have some sort of convincing reasoning as to why good graphics make a game bad. And try to remember it's your personal opinion, and not divine truth.