My Review- Parasite Eve (PS1)

“They don’t make them like they used to” is a phrase that is becoming more and more relevant as far as gaming as concerned. Looking at a company like Square Enix, it might be difficult to realize that, once upon a time, their non-Final Fantasy titles weren’t relegated to pointless mobile titles and blatant cash grabs, but were instead considered to be some of their best work. In between Final Fantasy titles, gamers were treated to unique games such as Chrono Trigger, Xenogears, and the subject of this review, Parasite Eve. Originally based on a Japanese horror novel, Parasite Eve blended concepts from the newly popularized Survival Horror genre with Square’s well-known style of quality RPG, creating one of the most unique games of the PS1 era. But is this ‘Cinematic RPG’ worth revisiting like other Squaresoft classics?

My Review- Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (PSP)

I’d just like to get this out of the way; I like Final Fantasy VII. No, it’s not my favorite game in the series by a long shot, but even without taking into account its massive role in gaming history as the game that not only changed RPGs forever but also brought the genre into mainstream consciousness, Final Fantasy VII is a game that has what every higher-echelon Final Fantasy game should have. It doesn’t have any of the questionable design decisions or critical flaws of entries such as VIII and XIII, but rather stands alongside IV, VI, IX, and X as one of the best games in the series. But this isn’t about Final Fantasy VII; this is a review of Crisis Core, part of a series of spinoffs known as the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII. A prequel to the original game, does Crisis Core add a worthy new chapter to the Midgar mythos, or is it another mediocre side story?

Crisis Core: First Impressions, and Updates

SUCCESS!!!

The school year is done, graduation is imminent, and this senior project scored 19 points out of a possible 20! I think it's safe to say that PG's Game Room was more than sufficient as a senior project. Now it's time to see how well I can manage it on my own. >_<

Anyways, I recently started playing Crisis Core, the PSP prequel to Square's legendary PS1 classic Final Fantasy VII. Crisis Core was released in 2007 as part of the 'Compilation of Final Fantasy VII', a series of spinoffs and side stories to Final Fantasy VII that had mixed results. The gorgeous yet bland CGI film Advent Children, and the terrible shooter Dirge of Cerberus, certainly didn't live up to expectations, but Crisis Core is easily the best of the Compilation project, and, if first impressions are anything to go by, one of the best games Square Enix has put out in a long time.

For those who don't know, Crisis Core is an action-RPG akin to Kingdom Hearts, where the player controls Zack Fair, Cloud's mentor in SOLDIER, as he performs missions for the Shinra Corporation. Thus far, the story has managed to be engaging; there's a large amount of winks and nudges to the original game, which is to be expected of a prequel, but the main story has, for the most part, stood on its own well, with Zack and cohorts tracking down a rogue SOLDIER 1st Class named Genesis, who is raising an army to take down Shinra.

I'm still playing Xenogears at the moment, and I'll aim to have that done within a week or two, although I can't guarantee anything. Afterwards, I'm going to start a PS2 game. After Xenogears, I'm not sure I want to play anything incredibly long or slow-paced (Persona 3: FES and Dragon Quest VIII being two backlogged games that come to mind), so Rogue Galaxy is probably next on the agenda. Level 5's PS2 action-RPG has been on my to-do list for quite some time, and I'm looking forward to finally playing it. What little I've seen of the game is absolutely stunning.

Old Review: Kingdom Hearts RE: Chain of Memories (PS2)

My Review- Kingdom Hearts: RE:Chain of Memories (PS2)

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories was a Game Boy Advance game that served to bridge Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2. The original game is largely known for it’s card-based battle system, a departure from the pure action-RPG style of the other games in the series. Square decided in 2006 to remake Chain of Memories for the PS2 and bundle it with Kingdom Hearts II- Final Mix +. For some reason, they decided to only localize Re:Chain of Memories as a stand-alone game, instead of the whole KH2-FM+ package, which I am definitely NOT bitter over at all, but RE:CoM is still a fun, if slightly strange, addition to the Kingdom Hearts series.

STORY

RE:Chain of Memories’ story takes place in Castle Oblivion, a mysterious place run by Organization XIII. Series protagonist Sora ends up wandering inside the castle and is told by one of the Organization members that something dear to him is inside, but in order to find it, he must give up something in return. Using the mysterious powers of the castle, Sora must navigate the various Disney worlds from the first game in order to re-discover his memories. Sora and his friends discover that the further they go into the castle, the more memories they lose, while other memories are remembered. However, the Organization has sinister plans for Sora, and he may not be able to trust his newfound memories.

My Review: Kingdom Hearts- Birth by Sleep (PSP)

My Review: Kingdom Hearts- Birth by Sleep (PSP)

I’ve mentioned it before, but it bears mentioning again: I don’t think anyone could have predicted exactly how dense the Kingdom Hearts series has become. Squaresoft’s little Disney crossover game has spawned one of the most popular video game franchises in the world, and with each game the overarching narrative has only grown more complex and, at times, convoluted. Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, a game that was teased at the end of Kingdom Hearts II, plays an integral role in the Kingdom Hearts saga: as a prequel to the original Kingdom Hearts, as well as an establishment of where the series will go in the future. Is this portable adventure up to the task?

STORY

Destiny is never left to chance.

As mentioned earlier, Birth by Sleep is a prequel, set ten years before the original Kingdom Hearts. The game focuses on the adventures of three protagonists, Terra, Aqua, and Ventus, who are apprentices to Keyblade Master Eraqus. After a series of events drive the heroes apart, they each set out on their own journey across the myriad worlds, dealing with their own internal conflicts and struggling to maintain their friendship in light of newfound revelations concerning themselves and their Masters, all while combating the evil Unversed, monsters that are born from negative emotion. Ventus is attempting to uncover the truth about his origins and his connection to a mysterious masked boy named Vanitas, who appears to lead the Unversed. . Aqua attempts to bring Ventus back home and watch over Terra, while questioning the morality of the orders from her Master. Meanwhile, Terra is struggling with the dark power inside him, trying to discover its place in him under the tutelage of Master Xehanort, who may have other, more sinister objectives…

Old Review: Twilight Princess (GCN)

This is one of the first reviews I ever wrote, waaaaaay back in 2012. Looking at it now, there are a few things I would change or wouldn't completely agree with now, but I do have a great fondness for Twilight Princess. The game was my very first Zelda game, and remains a milestone in my development as a gamer. So, here's my review.

My Review- The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (GC)

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is, at the time of this writing, the most recent console Zelda game. It is also another favorite of mine, as it was the first game of its kind that I ever played, and made me realize that video games could be a storytelling medium. Twilight Princess is a fantastic game, arguably the best console Zelda title- timeless gameplay, great graphics, an intriguing story, and a level of polish rarely seen in games. Please note that this review is of the Gamecube version and not the Wii.

Christmas party! And BBS update

Going to be in Chicago for the next three days to celebrate the holidays with my extended family. Wishing everybody happy gaming in this post-Christmas season. ;D

Also, I beat the first campaign of Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, Terra's, and I'd like to share something I noticed. Remember how everybody complained Kingdom Hearts 2 was too easy? Well, Square listened.

Oh, boy, did they listen.

The difficulty of the game is actually very fair, up to a point. The difficulty spike of Terra's final boss (not going to spoil much here) is ludicrous. He's basically a copy of you, and has all of the abilities you had prior to entering the fight. In this regard, whatever preperations you had for the boss can be used right back at you, including your limit breaks, shotlocks, and healing spells. The ONLY way to do serious damage against him is to block and counter his attacks (which, by the way, if you get caught in one of his combos, you are DONE), deflect his ranged attacks back at him, or abuse your own shotlock and constantly recharge it with Elixers. Now, it's only natural that a final boss would be hard, but this one seemed overly so, especially compared to everything we'd fought prior to him.

Terra's story, at least, was interesting. I'll be starting Ventus' campaign next.

Old Review: Kingdom Hearts RE:Coded (DS)

My Review- Kingdom Hearts RE:Coded (DS)

It’s been more than five years since Kingdom Hearts II, the last installment in what could be called the ‘main’ Kingdom Hearts series. In that time, Square has made several side games in order to flesh in the Kingdom Hearts story, as well as to tie up loose ends and set up for what seems to be the series’ big conclusion in the ever-awaited Kingdom Hearts III. With 358/2 Days having covered the events in between Kingdom Hearts I and II, and prequel Birth by Sleep having set up the events of the entire series, it falls to RE:Coded, a remake of the Japanese cell phone game, to explain events in the immediate aftermath of Kingdom Hearts II. Does RE:Coded have a place in the series’ surprisingly expansive story, or is this one spin-off too many?

STORY

WARNING: In order to properly critique RE:Coded’s story, I have to talk about the ending of the game, so SPOILER ALERT.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep- First Impressions

Well, I got a PSP for Christmas! With the Vita just around the corner, it's an ideal time to get a PSP, since there's lots of good games for it and the system is reasonably cheap. In addition to Birth by Sleep, I also got the first two Final Fantasies, and Crisis Core.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep is a game I was very excited for since it was announced. It's a prequel to the other Kingdom Hearts games, and fills in a number of plot holes while at the same time establishing the core plotline of future games (such as the much hoped-for Kingdom Hearts III).

Playing it for the first time, I am very impressed. While not quite on the level of the PS2 games, Birth by Sleep animated fluidly and the game looks very good. The environments aren't huge, but they get the job done, and the music is still (so far) fantastic. In Birth by Sleep, you play as three different Keyblade Masters in their seperate storylines. So far, I've only played as Terra, a character who focuses on physical attacks. The game's combat is also much improved over prior entries in the series. You still select commands from a menu, but rather than having to scroll through menus and submenus in order to select an action, all normal attacks are mapped to the X button. Special abilities, spells, and items can be slotted into a customizable menu, and are executed with the Triangle button. This makes combat a lot more fluid than previous games, and allows a greater degree of character customization.

I'm only a couple hours into Birth by Sleep, but so far the game is excellent fun. We'll see if this will last through the game's three storylines.

Also, I started Final Fantasy IX this morning. I haven't played enough to do a full post about it, but so far, the game is very good.

Old Review: Fire Emblem- The Sacred Stones (GBA)

My Review- Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (GBA)

I have a confession to make- up until now, I had never played a Fire Emblem game. The Fire Emblem series is noteworthy in that they were the very first Strategy RPGs, although we only recently started seeing localizations of the games. The Sacred Stones is only the second game released in the US, despite being the 8th in the series. As my introduction to the series, how does it fare?

STORY

As is typical for the genre, Fire Emblem’s story is steeped in the political and military situation between multiple kingdoms. When the kingdom of Renais is attacked by their former ally, the Grado Empire, Renais’s prince Ephraim goes to fight the invaders, but goes missing. His sister, Eirika, manages to escape Ranais with the aid of a loyal knight, and attempts to gain the support of other nations while attempting to find her brother. Along the way, Eirika and Ephraim discover that the Empire is attempting to destroy the Sacred Stones that protect the land from a malevolent demon sealed away long ago.

Sacred Stones won’t win any awards for originality. It’s story is filled with clichés. However, despite this, the simple story is very well told, and the characters, despite their generic roles, are quite endearing. One staple of the Fire Emblem franchise is that the death of a character in battle means that they are lost forever, and because every unit in your army is a fully fleshed out character, you quickly grow attached to them, and losing them can be a saddening experience. I cannot tell you how many times I replayed a difficult mission so that a character could live to fight another day. Sacred Stones is unoriginal, but it’s tale has enough heart to be engaging.

Old Review: Final Fantasy VI (GBA)

I finished this game in September, and wrote this review immediately after. Without a doubt, Final Fantasy VI is one of the best RPGs in existence, and arguably Square's finest work. Also, seeing as the game is out this Tuesday on PSN, I figure this was timely. ;P

My Review- Final Fantasy VI (GBA)

            Every series has a game which pretty much every other installment is compared too, a game which embodies the creative ideas behind the franchise. For example, Zelda has Ocarina of Time, a game which many consider to be one of the best video games ever made. For Square’s venerable Final Fantasy series, that game is arguably Final Fantasy VI. Originally released on the SNES as Final Fantasy III, the sixth fantasy is one of Square’s most famous RPGs ever, and remains to this day an excellent installment in this great series.

            STORY

            Could anyone be so foolish as to repeat that deadly mistake?

Xenoblade Chronicles Is Coming!

It's been a really good week for much-hoped for localizations. The other day, Final Fantasy Type 0 was seemingly confirmed, and today, the much sought after Wii RPG Xenoblade Chronicles was announced for a US release in April 2012. There are details all over the Internet, but here's a link anyway: http://www.rpgfan.com/news/2011/2497.html

Xenoblade Chronicles is one of the three games petitioned for by Operation Rainfall, and is considered by many to be the best JRPG released in years. My anticipation for this title is quite high- not only is it a superb game, it also implements many of the elements I feel will improve the overall standing of Japanese Role-playing games in general. If this game does well, who knows what will happen.

Also, it seems that they'll be keeping the excellent European voice acting. :D

Anyways, it's due out in April. Time to buy a Wii...

EDIT: Apparently Xenoblade Chronicles has already become the fifth best-selling Wii title of all time based on pre-orders alone, and is the second most anticipated game for Gamestop. This is excellent news- the more sales and popularity, the more likely these types of games will see US releases. It would appear that Nintendo vastly underestimated the demand for a quality JRPG. Like I've been saying before- there is a void, and now that a quality game is to be made available, it sells well.

Square Enix's New RPG

Recently, Square Enix liscenced use of the Unreal Engine for use in several unnamed projects. All we knew about the end result was that it would be an action RPG for consoles. Today, on a website asking for new programmers, we see our first piece of art for the still-unnamed game.

Color me intrigued. :D