Top Ten Pieces of Game Music

Whether you are watching a film or playing a game, music can play a large role in defining the experience. Those memorable pieces stick with us long after we’ve shut our systems off or walked out of the theater, and they’re a large part of what makes visual media so engaging. Being a fan of RPGs, I have heard many wonderful pieces of music from many talented composers. What follows are ten pieces of non-battle music from games I have played. A list of battle music might come somewhere down the road.

10- The Poem for Everyone’s Souls (Persona 3)

Xenogears: First Impressions

So, Xenoblade Chronicles recently saw its US release to great critical acclaim and (so far) success. But, while I did preorder and receive a copy of this wonderful RPG, and play a little bit of it, I simply do not have enough access to a Wii in order to properly sink the required time into a massive title such as Xenoblade. You see, the Wii in our house belongs to my sister, and me being the ever-so-gracious person that I am, I decided not to impose upon her belongings and will wait to play Xenoblade and The Last Story for when I get my own Wii somewhere down the road.

That said, I wanted to start something. So, in the spirit of all things Xeno, I started playing Tetsuya Takahashi’s original masterpiece, the 1998 Squaresoft classic Xenogears. I’ve always admired Takahashi for being such an ambitious storyteller in his games, but I’ve never actually played Xenogears, despite having bought it on PSN shortly after it was rereleased.  So, what are my initial thoughts on this classic? Well, after playing the game for a couple hours this morning, I have come to a few conclusions:

Peter's 2011 Gaming Awards

Hello, and welcome to Peter’s (extremely belated) 2011 Awards! Now, I’ve been meaning to get around to this for some time. Instead of making awards for games that came out in 2011, I’m talking about games that I played in 2011. I might make this an annual thing if I’m still doing this next year.

Anyways, here we go!

Best Game I Played In 2011: Final Fantasy X (PS2)

I played a lot of great games last year, there’s no denying. And among those great games, I played the majority of the Final Fantasy series. Still, Final Fantasy X proved itself to be my favorite of the series, and I really can’t say why. Was it the imaginative art style and gorgeous visuals? Was it the epic story and well-developed characters? Was it the excellent combat system and open-ended character development? It certainly wasn’t the voice acting… but for whatever reason, I beat this game in a record (for me) two weeks, with forty or so hours sunk into it. I just didn’t want to stop playing, and that for me is the mark of an amazing game.

Top Five Favorite Games

I wanted to do a top ten list at some point, but unfortunatly, it's been more difficult than I thought to compile a list of ten favorite games. What I could figure out, though, was my top 5 favorites. Consider this a 'preview' of a top ten list to come somewhere down the road. When I actually make the list in question, I'll describe each entry in detail.

My rules for making a list such as this are simple: I can only have one game per series of games that I like on the list (otherwise, Final Fantasy would completely dominate it). The only exception to this rule is if the games are different enough to warrant their own spot, or if I like them for different reasons.

5

4

3

2

1



Where I'm Going To Be

Well, it's that time of year again. Midterm exams. >_>

To be fair, they aren't all that difficult, and my grades have been pretty good this year, but still, I need to study a lot, so don't expect much new content here. I'll do my best to start posting regularly again over break.

While I'm here, after writing my Chrono Cross review, it seems like I've been leaving important details out of my reviews. I'm trying to improve my writing process accordingly.

If there's anything you'd like to see from this blog, email me or comment.

See ya in a week or so!

My Review: Chrono Cross (PS1)

My Review: Chrono Cross (PS1)

            If you were to ask me what the definition of a ‘perfect’ video game was, I’d probably show you my copy of Chrono Trigger and answer, “This”.  Squaresoft’s Super Nintendo classic combined the talents of prominent developers from both Squaresoft and then-rival Enix, and this mixture of developer talent created one of the most beloved RPGs of all time, featuring a cast of lovable characters, gorgeous graphics, and a fantastic soundtrack composed by Yasunori Mitsuda and Final Fantasy standby Nobuo Uematsu. To this day, there hasn’t been an RPG quite like Chrono Trigger- it’s a one-of-a-kind masterpiece. Needless to say, when Squaresoft began working on a sequel for the Playstation, expectations were justifiably high. Chrono Cross, released in 2000, distances itself a bit from its predecessor, featuring several new gameplay and storyline features. This was, I fell, a wise decision, because once it steps out of its predecessor’s shadow, Chrono Cross is just as ahead of its time and imaginative as Chrono Trigger.

            STORY

            Fate has no forgiveness for those who dare stand against it.

Chrono Cross Delayed, and Future Plans.

I'm really loving Chrono Cross. The game is one of the best Playstation RPGs I've played, with a really interesting storyline, great music, and a fun combat system. Unfortunatly, I have exams coming up, so I won't be able to play as much as I would like for the next week or so.

On the plus side, I'm on the part where you got back to Fort Dragonia and get Serge's body back, so I'll hopefully be able to play for a couple hours this weekend. After exams, I'll try to beat the game and have my review up before Christmas.

After Chrono Cross, my next game will depend on what games I end up getting for Christmas. I will hopefully be playing and reviewing both Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Xenoblade Chronicles as soon as they come out, and there are quite a few other new games coming out soon that I am eager to play. I'm hoping to find and play the Digital Devil Saga games for PS2, but I want to finish the games in my backlog before buying any older releases (I need to play Xenogears, Vagrant Story, and Final Fantasy IX). I'm also planning on obtaining the Xenosaga trilogy and the .hack games (the original series and .hack// G.U.) when I'm in college and have a bit of income from whatever work I can find.

Anyways, that's all for todays update. I've got a lot of great gaming to look forward to in the future. Any games you're planning on playing soon? Post them in the comments.

                                                   Easily the game I'm most looking forward to purchasing once I have time.

Chrono Cross- Dragons!

High time for another Chrono Cross update, isn't it?

Anyways, my current party is Lynx, Norris, and Fargo. Lynx is fully outfitted with Stone Armor, while the others have a mix of Mythril and Stone equipment (the required materials to forge Stone equipment have so far been hard to come by). I've defeated the Blue and Yellow Dragons, and am in the process of finishing the Mastermune side quest (which will nab me Serge/Lynx's ultimate weapon).

One thing I like about Chrono Cross is the number of different perspectives on the story you can get. Despite having so many potential party members, the story remains cohesive- plot-centric characters will be at important events wether you have them in your party or now, and having certain party members can trigger different scenes (If Norris is in your party at The Dead Sea, for instance, you can find information about Lavos, the parasitic monstrosity from Chrono Trigger). It adds a bit of personality to the game, as the party members you've chosen change the overall feel of the story just enough to develop their characters, but the story as a whole doesn't change. I like this.

As a side note, the scene at the end of The Dead Sea (and the accompanying music, 'Prisoners of Fate') has got to be one of the most haunting moments I've seen in an RPG. The entire Dead Sea section, as a matter of fact, was excellent. Chrono trigger never stopped to wonder if there would be negative repurcussions because of the player's action, and Chrono Cross dives into some pretty deep territory here. Also, Norris is a surprisingly awesome party member. His special attacks are great.

I'll hopefully have Cross wrapped up in a week or two. With exams coming up, I probably won't be playing much next week, but I'll do my best to finish the game and have a review up before Christmas and 2012-RPG release-geddon (XIII-2, Type-0, Xenoblade Chronicles, Ni no Kuni, and Tales of Graces F have been confirmed, and Im holding out hope for The Last Story and Versus XIII as well. I'm going to be a busy gamer).

Chrono Cross: The Dead Sea!

Just a quick Chrono Cross update, I'm on the section where you play as Lynx instead of Serge, which takes up a surprisingly large portion of the game. I just finished the S.S. Zelbess portion of the game, which means it's on to the Isle of the Dead and The Dead Sea next. This is a part of the game I've been looking forward too for a long time, because it sets up a lot of the connections between Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross.

Cross is still an excellent game, and playing as Lynx allows a number of new techniques and party members to be experimented with (FeralCats FTW). My current party is Lynx, Harle, and Norris, all outfitted with Mithril equipment.

11/21/2011 Chrono Cross Update

I'm about ten hours into Chrono Cross right now, and I'm surprised that I'm actually a bit further along than I thought I was. I'm ready to head to Mt. Pyre, which is right before the second encounter with Lynx (and a rather important story moment). Chrono Trigger wasn't an incredible long game, so I guess it's no surprise that Cross follows suit.

My current party is Serge, Kid, and Glenn, and I use Guile whenever Kid isn't in the party. Serge and Glenn can use a Dual Tech called X-strike, a very powerful ability that also references Crono and Frog's Dual Tech in Trigger. Everyone has a full set of Iron armor and whatever accessories are necessary.

I'm also getting used to Chrono Cross's level up system. Essentially, every boss fight earns the party a new star, which usually adds a new Element Slot for each character and provides a large stat bonus. From there, characters occasionally gain HP and other stat bonuses after normal battles.

Chrono Cross remains an excellent game, and I'm looking forward to playing more of it over Thanksgiving break. Look for a review in a few weeks.

Chrono Cross Update

I'm still not particularly far into the game, but I wanted to mention something.

One of Chrono Cross's hooks is that the playable cast is MASSIVE. There are more than forty playable characters. A few of them join you as you progress through the story, but the vast majority of them are optional, and require you to talk to them at a specific point, make a certain decision, or do a small sidequest. Chrono Cross has a great deal of variety in it's playable cast, which is great for any RPG.

The problem? I've already missed three of them, and I'm only on the Viper Manor. Darn it. I did recruit Guile, and Glenn is my next target, which means I miss out on Katcha. The point in Cross is to use New Game + to recruit characters you missed, because it's impossible to get all the characters the first time through.

I'm still enjoying Chrono Cross very much, minor setbacks aside. The combat and character growth systems are interesting, the game looks and sounds great, and it provides a lot for players to discover for themselves.

Note to self: if the NPC has a picture and a name, it can be recruited...

Chrono Cross: First Impressions

It's impossible to say just how excited I am to be finally playing this game. Chrono Cross, the sequel to Square's SNES classic Chrono Trigger, was released on the PSN this past Tuedsay. Trigger remains one of the best role-playing games ever made, and Chrono Cross has a lot to live up too.

It was perhaps wise of the developers to not try to capture lightning in a bottle again. Chrono Cross is technically a direct sequel to Trigger, but features enough changes to make it stand out on its own. It bears a few stylistic and gameplay similarities to it's predecessor, but as a whole Chrono Cross is it's own beast.

While the game does feature some of the time-travel that served as Trigger's main element, Chrono Cross instead focuses primarily on parallel worlds, with two similar-yet-different worlds that the player sqitches between. This mechanic is quite similar to the Time Gates from Trigger. I haven't played enough of the story to write about it yet, but the game features an entirely new cast in the world many years after Trigger ended. From what I can gather, there have been many changes in this time, so it'll be interesting to see exactly what happened. There have been a few references to Trigger already, including in the way we meet the main character (being woken up by his mom).

Gameplay-wise, Cross retains it's forbear's lack of random encounters- all enemies are in the field and can be avoided. There are also no enemies in the Overworld, which makes getting to your next destination much easier. Combat, however, is quite different from Trigger. Battles transition to a seperate field instead of seamlessly occuring in the area you were exploring, and the combat is a more traditional turn-based system rather than the active-time battles from Trigger. That's not to say Cross doesn't have it's share of innovations. I don't have a full grasp on the mechanics, but characters are allowed to attack multiple times a turn until their 'stamina' depletes. Character attacks have three levels- weak, strong, and fierce- and by successfully landing blows, the odds of landing another attack increase. Also, by successfully landing blows, you become able to use more powerful special skills known as Elements, which are similar to the Techs from Chrono Trigger. Speaking of things I haven't figured out yet, characters don't seem to 'level up'- sometimes characters earn stat bonuses after battle, and every so often they gain a new Element Slot to equip Elements with, and gain several stat bonuses, which is sort of like leveling up, but I'm not sure what triggers it. Hopefully I'll figure out more about how Cross plays quickly.

From what little I've played so far, Chrono Cross is a very enjoyable RPG. I can't quite say whether it lives up to the timeless classic that preceded it, but we'll see.

Chrono Cross is Out Today

In case you haven't heard, Square's 2000 classic Chrono Cross was rereleased on the PSN today for $9.99.

I just downloaded it and played the first five minutes, and I am very excited. Chrono Trigger remains one of my favorite games, and is perhaps the perfect 16 bit RPG (I like it even more than Final Fantasy VI). Needless to say, Chrono Cross has a high pedigree of excellence to live up to.

With classic Square games, one can expect quality. When a game is a sequel to a masterpiece like Chrono Trigger, quality is essential. I'll have a first impression of the game up once I've played more if it, and I sincerely hope Chrono Cross ends up appealing to me as much as it's predecessor did.

Chrono Cross! and Update.

So some new PS1 classics are coming out soon, including a game I've been waiting to play for a long time.

Chrono Cross, the sequel to my all-time favorite RPG Chrono Trigger, comes out on PSN this week. I've already got the money to purchase it in my account, so that'll probably be the next game I play for review. Classic Squaresoft games are some of the best games in history, so I'm very excited to start playing it.

Square, this is why I love you guys. Thanks. :D

Check out the upcoming PSN releases here: http://www.rpgfan.com/news/2011/2388.html

Also, just as an update on what I've been doing, I've mostly been screwing around with a couple of my old favorite games. I played Twilight Princess up to the Forest Temple with the intent of plowing through to the Goron Mines (easily my favorite Zelda dungeon), but with the Chrono Cross anouncement I put that on hold. So in my free time I've been doing some of the hunts on Gran Pulse in Final Fantasy XIII. It's still very impressive just how expansive that area is- it can sustain days of level grinding and monster hunting.

Hopefully I'll start Chrono Cross next weekend.