Gaming Front Mission 4

[Zidargh]

[center][img]http://www.angelfire.com/ab7/zeldabanners/clubman_fm4.jpg[/img][/center]



The Front Mission series. In my opinion, one of Square's finest creations they ever made, possibly even surpassing the quality of the Final Fantasy series.

I'll do a little introduction to what every Front Mission game revolves around. I have not played any of the other two games, but I have played Front Mission 3 (Which may I say is a fantastic game, depth, replayablity and over 150 hours long.) Each game focuses on the world we live in, but in the future. Some 20 - 60 years into the future, I'm not quite sure. And basically, the military is formed up of infantry and new mech-like vehicles named, Wanzers. These are used my the police force, up to the military. And you pretty much pilot wanzers and so on and so forth and in each game you're thrown into a new tale of conspiracies and twists between allies and enemies.

The Battle System is similar to Final Fantasy Tactics in a sense of the way you control units in chess-board type ways but there's much more depth in the Front Mission series. Basically it's an uber-cool game series.

After doing some research I have uncovered some information about Front Mission [b]4[/b]. To emphasise the impact I'm going to say it again, [b]Front Mission 4[/b].

Considering I dont understand Japanese, I have tried to dig up information out of pictures, but it seems they are keeping the same battle system which is excellent and there seems to be an insane amount of playable characters, each with their own personalities and backgrounds, so I'm definitely anticipating this game.

As far as graphics go, they seem excellent compared to the other three games on the PSX, but we shall have to wait and see. Anyway, here's some shots of the game.


Well there we have it, some very knowledgable stuff. I just made this thread to appeal to any Front Mission fans and perhaps create a discussion as the Kingdom Hearts 2 thread did. I apologise for the vagueness but I will update you all when I get some new info.


[center][img]http://www.angelfire.com/ab7/zeldabanners/clubman_fm4.jpg[/img]

This friendly looking Wanzer sports one of the many melee weapons you can buy and equip in the game... a club. I find this effective as things that are so simple, make sense.




[img]http://www.angelfire.com/ab7/zeldabanners/barrage_fm4.jpg[/img]

A great looking FMV, typical of Square Enix. This organisation didn't overdo it in firepower it seems, o_0.




[img]http://www.angelfire.com/ab7/zeldabanners/overview_fm4.jpg[/img]

This shows you what the battles look like at the start. The camera zooms in when an action like an attack is taking place though. Square Enix's interpretation of Japan in the future is quite an ambitious one, yet similar to the one now, a realistic approach.





[img]http://www.angelfire.com/ab7/zeldabanners/systemmenu_fm4.jpg[/img]

I think this is the most exciting image as it's a... [b]system menu[/b]. Oh yes. This must be how it looks when customisations to your Wanzer are taking place.[/center]



So anyway, even if you've never played any of the games, I hope you are now posing some interest in this game, I know I'm highly anticipating it.

----
Image problem, I'll sort it out soon.

[Semjaza]

Pictures aren't showing up for me.

Pending good reviews, though, I plan on picking this up. I really enjoyed the third one on the Playstation. It's quite a bit of fun and one of Square's better properties. It's a shame not more people play it.

[Arkadyz]

[color=royalblue][font= comic sans ms]Well I loved FM3...I actually still have it for my PSOne and play it every now and then (God do I love that secret mech you get later in the game with the nuetron rifle...mmm)

I do agree that FM3 was alot better to me then FF: tactics. While tactics is a solid strategy game FM3 is head and shoulders above it to me. I love the fact that you can customize your wanzer to such a high extent and also that indivdual parts grant different skills and abilities.

I saw the movie for this game awhile back and cant wait...I really wish square had imported over the first 2 games, because id sure love to play them. The gfx for FM4 look really sharp though and I cant wait to play this one.

Oh and also I heard rumors about an online Front Mission game...I havent heard much about it but I guess I can do alittle digging and see whats going on with it. :cool: [/color][/font]

[Gelgoog Pilot]

YAY! someone made a thread for this! Im soo happy, and yeah man your pics aren't working. Anyway I loved 2 and 3........and now with the coming of four I'm getting hyper. Love the mech battleing and was always happy to play a good old turn based game. Sadly I hope I'll finish drakenguard soon. Very good game and Im maxing out each wepon heh.

[Chocobo Gene]

Well, I played Front Mission 3, I've only had it about 10 months, and I think it is most likely the most brilliant game I ever played, I love the Final Fantasy series, so I'm sure I would love playing this, and I did, and I never regreted it.
Well anyway, onto subject, I never heard about a forth edition of the game, I'll have to have a look for it, It sounds brilliant though, and hopefully it will keep up the high standards that FM3 did, and I hope I enjoy it just as much

[BlueYoshi]

[COLOR=Teal]The game should be in its final stages of development around now since its set for an early June release in the US, yes, next month.

On with it, FM4 takes place 20 years after the first game where you take control of two new characters, Elsa and Darril. But there is a lot more than that in terms of gameplay, there have been some major changes made as well as lots of cool new features.

Square-Enix have taken the liberty of making FM4 much more user-friendly, so you won't need to customize your Wanzer before every set mission, unless you choose to, you just simply buy existing ones that suit the mission needs. Plus there's a new job system that diverges from customisation; so if a mission requires a Sniper, then just set your Wanzer to job mode Sniper. Simple.

FM4 will probably lack the complexity it contained in previous titles, which is bad for us existing FM fans, but I can understand why since Square-Enix are trying to attract new buyers to the market. In any case, I'm looking forward to trying out the new systems and all.

Oh and, for the first time in FM history, the game will cast English voiceovers, which are reportedly good, heh.[/COLOR]

[img]http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/article/513/513195/e3-2004-front-mission-4-screens-200405101000251.jpg[/img]

[COLOR=Teal]Nice office. Looks similar too any trashable one you'd expect in a FPS.[/COLOR]

[img]http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/article/513/513195/e3-2004-front-mission-4-screens-200405101000892.jpg[/img]

[COLOR=Teal]I've gathered that the images of Wanzers close up are usually poor. But it's not graphics that matter with tactical war sims like FM so[/COLOR] :p

[img]http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/article/513/513195/e3-2004-front-mission-4-screens-200405101000595.jpg[/img]

[COLOR=Teal]Looking good[/COLOR]

[img]http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/article/513/513195/e3-2004-front-mission-4-screens-200405101000470.jpg[/img]

[COLOR=Teal]Not too sure about this one... seems pretty blocky.[/COLOR]

[size=1][color=blue]Merged the two Front Mission 4 threads. Next time, just do a quick search of the forum before making a thread. Thanks. I understand if there was a bit of confusion if this game was not on the list, though. - Shinmaru[/size][/color]

[satan665]

Hm, for such fans none of you have played the FM4 demo? Square was (is?) mailing out demo copies of FM4 and I got my hands on one.

Its a pretty fun game, I haven't really played any of the others of the series ever, but I had a lot of fun with the demo. It had 6 or 7 levels on it, and in the game you play out scenarios with two different groups. Basically the blonde woman is one, and the black-haired guy is the other. I can imagine that their stories coincide somehow in the end.

I was suprised at the dpeth the demo had, you could customize your Wanzer and they give you unlimited $ to do so. After that it was all blowing off arms and destroying helicopters and such. One thing that I really liked is that if you have an enemy surrounded your allies will give support fire on your target even when its not your turn. It adds a little more strategy comapred to just exchanging blows. Other things I thought were cool was that one character had an EMP backpack that could disable the attack systems of other Wanzers or their movement. Another guy had a radar backpack that could call in and let you fire really long distance missles, even from way outside the normal range.

The voice acting is good, and the CG video opening was amazing. I can imagine getting a lot of gameplay out of this game.

[BlueYoshi]

[url]http://www.square-enix-usa.com/seui/index.htm?/seui/registerFM4.html[/url]

[COLOR=Teal]Yup. They still are my friend. Just follow that link to get to the registration form, you need to be a member though. I should be receiving mine in a couple of days, heh. Can't wait.[/COLOR]

[SpikeSpiegel]

I just wanna start off by saying my not-so-little bro thinks ur tha "man", a feat not easily accomplished, for two reasons. (1) your avatar rocks an (2) you started this thread.
Back to me...well i played FM3 an loved it. Never thought they had enough brains to whip out a 4th one...till now. Now since my car has taken full control of my paychecks i dont get games very often, but you can bet ima be down to the nearest EB to get this one when it comes out. Those screenshots bring back all those fond memories of the 3rd one. If it is going to be anything like the others, with a great story line an some awesome play. ROCK ON!!