A Link Between Worlds- First Impressions

Confession time- Outside of a few minutes at the beginning, I've never played A Link to the Past.

Now that I have your attention, let me explain. I got into Zelda during the pre-release hype for Twilight Princess, and as a result I've always been more into the 3D Zeldas than the top-down ones. That’s not to say that I didn't enjoy them- the Nintendo DS Zelda games, Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks, remain two of my favorite games from the past generation- but the reason I was excited for A Link Between Worlds was more for the prospect of playing a brand-new handheld Zelda game than it was to revisit a classic.

Still, after my initial hours with Link’s latest adventure, the drive to go back and see what I've been missing out on is stronger than ever. The newest Zelda game seems poised to address many of the criticisms longtime fans have had for the more recent entries. Link’s adventure starts out humble, but within the first ten minutes he is given a sword and thrown into the introductory dungeon, a far cry from the notoriously lengthy prologue of, say, Twilight Princess. New items are acquired, monsters are slain, and before long Link is on a quest to track down a sinister man who is trapping the descendants of the Seven Sages inside paintings. The pacing, so far, is much faster.

Peter's 2013 Gaming Awards

Well, it’s been a while since I put anything up on PG’s Game Room, but it seems to me like it’s that time of year again!

As per usual, this article only covers games I have played this year, not specifically brand-new games from this year. I will also throw up a mild Spoiler Warning for a couple games on this list. Enjoy!

Best Game Overall: Persona 4

Remember how last year I awarded this spot to the magnificent Persona 3, that game with a killer soundtrack, likeable characters, and a unique blend of traditional RPG mechanics and dungeon crawling with high school student life? Well, all the praise I heaped on that game can also be awarded to its sequel, the magnificent Persona 4. The Shin Megami Tensei series as a whole is quickly becoming one of my all-time favorite game series, and I can’t wait to see what Atlus has in store for us in the future.

Most Under-Appreciated: Nier

Twilight Princess: First (or third) Impressions

I can't really do a 'first impressions' post about one of my all-time favorite games that I've played through at least twice before, but since I decided to replay Twilight Princess to blow off some steam between now and the RPG release juggernauts of the coming year. The game's an incredibly fun action-adventure title- the world is beautiful and fun to explore, the puzzles are clever and imaginative, and the story is great. 

Playing through it again a few years later (I got the Gamecube version when I was 12), I can't quite say the game is perfect. The game starts off rather slow, the mandatory wolf sections aren't as fun now as they used to be (I loved the unsettling atmosphere of the Twilight Realm when I was younger, but the "tears of light" hunts haven't gotten any better with age), and the story cribs a lot from it's predecessors, especially near the end. I wrote a review after my last playthrough of the game, which I'll probably post sometime soon.

Despite my minor criticisms, Twilight Princess is still one of my favorite games, and one of the best games in an excellent series. It's definetly one of the best Gamecube games, and if you own a Wii it's also a must-play.

Dark Cloud: First Impressions

Like I said earlier, I haven't decided if I'm going to play Dark Cloud for review, but I've been revisiting this old favorite for a few days, so I might as well say what I think of it so far.

The game is fun. Really, really fun. It's kind of simple- the story is pretty bland, the music is cheery and the atmosphere is generally lighthearted and upbeat. What the game is, essentially, is a combination of Zelda, Sim City, and Mystery Dungeon. You play as Toan, a young boy whose villiage is destroyed by an evil genie. Toan is told that he can rebuild the world by finding the scattered pieces of it sealed inside stones called 'Atlamilia'. By traversing randomly generated dungeons, you open the Atla and claim something from the old world, which you can then use to rebuild the town you're in.

I'm only on the second dungeon, but so far the game is pretty fun. Because the layout of each floor is always different, each dungeon entry becomes an enjoyable puzzle- you have to find the Atla, any treasure on the floor, and the key to the next floor, all while battling whatever monsters ended up spawning on the floor. Combing the dungeons makes for an enjoyable enough timesink as it is, but the 'Georama' townbuilding feature seems to be where the majority of the game is. You use the parts you find in the dungeons to rebuild the town you're in however you like. You're rewarded, however, for following the requests of the NPCs.

I don't know if this will be the next game I play all the way through, but so far Dark Cloud is a really fun roguelike/zelda clone. Hopefully it doesn't wear out it's welcome later in the game.

October 28, 2011: What Next?

So I finally beat Final Fantasy VIII, and my review is up. Overall, it was a very enjoyable RPG. The final boss was absolutely pathetic (I didn't even have to use Squall- Irvine's limit break took her out), but the ending was nice.

For now, I'll probably work on finishing up Final Fantasy V is my spare time, but I'm trying to decide what my next console playthrough will be. I already decided that I don't want to start the next game on my backlog, what with the school semester growing more hectic and the upcoming holiday season, so I've been deciding on an older title to replay. I was fiddling around with Dark Cloud today, which was a game I've never actually beaten. It's Level 5's debut title, and it's a fun little game with randomly generated dungeons and a town building minigame, sort of like Zelda mixed with Harvest Moon. I found a new copy for $3 at a CD Exchange, so I might try to actually beat and review the game. If I don't do that, I'll probably replay The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, since lack of a Wii means I'll have to wait a while to play Skyward Sword (not that I'm bitter or anything).

As far as upcoming titles go, I probably won't get War in the North or Skyrim as soon as they come out (hopefully I'll have the chance to try them soon enough, though). I plan on preordering Final Fantasy XIII-2 at some point, though.

Right now, Dark Cloud is in the 'Now Playing' header, that might change in the coming week.

Upcoming Games I'm Looking Forward To.

In case you don't know, the next year is going to be AMAZING for RPG fans such as myself. Without further ado, let me list the upcoming games that make me really excited for the coming years.

EDIT: Added a couple of games to the bottom of the list!

Chrono Cross: Technically, this isn't a new game, but the ESRB recently rated this PS1 classic, meaning it will probably be re-released soon. Chrono Trigger is probably my all-time favorite game, so I'm looking forward to finally playing the sequel.

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: This is probably the biggest RPG released this year. While I wasn't Oblivion's biggest fan, I enjoy a good fantasy yarn, and Skyrim's gorgeous looking open world already has my interest piqued. 11/11/11 can't come soon enough.

Final Fantasy XIII-2: I've said my piece on this before. I really enjoyed XIII, despite it's little flaws, and any opportunity to play a Final Fantasy game on a modern console is great. It looks like they've improved on XIII's biggest problem (lack of exploration), and I'm all set for the next Final Fantasy. Besides, it'll be a nice appetizer before Versus XIII.

Skyrim and Dragon Age

I won't lie- I really hate Oblivion. To me, Oblivion is probably the most overrated game this generation. Sure, it has a big open world, but it's ridiculously buggy, the NPCs and characters look stupid, the voice acting is terrible, and the gameplay is clunky.

But this? This I'm excited for.

I've been trying to ignore Skyrim ever since it was announced. I honestly didn't care about it, because I hadn't liked Oblivion, and I couldn't fathom what the big deal was. Now that I've finally seen the game in action, though, I'm definetly excited. From the looks of things, they've improved on everything I hated about Oblivion, as well as crafted a beautiful world to explore. Truth be told, from third person it reminds me a bit of Zelda: Twilight Princess, one of my favorite games, simply because the world looks so fun to experience. I know it's not quite the same thing, but still.

On a side note, I finally might get around to playing Dragon Age: Origins soon. It's really the only Bioware game I'm interested in (KOTOR was fun because of the Star Wars connection, but Jade Empire was lame and Mass Effect isn't on PS3). It looks like they put a lot of time and effort into the game's creation, something I always appreciate. The best games are ones created with the intent of creating a great experience. So, looking forward to that as well.

Skyrim is released on 11/11/11. And less than a month away, I'm finally excited to play it.