Old Review: Final Fantasy III (DS)

I had a couple more of my older game reviews lying around, so I thought I'd finally get around to putting this one up. The next new review I'll be doing is Xenogears; it takes me a while to play through games, and Xenogears is slower than most.

Almost every RPG fan has a game that introduced them to the wonderful world of level ups and healing potions. Not counting Pokemon, Final Fantasy III for the DS was the first serious RPG I ever played through. In addition, it was also my introduction to the Final Fantasy series. FF3 was one of the three games in the early (first six) installments that never saw a US release when they initially came out, along with Final Fantasies II and V. A full 3D remake of the game, just how enjoyable is this lost fantasy?

The Fire Still Burns: My Philosophy of Life

 This is the final paper we wrote for our English 12 class this semester. It's not perfect, but I thought I'd share it here. It's nice to get a piece of writing out every so often, and this one is a little different from my usual fare. So, here we go.

Loss of empathy might well be the most enduring and deep-cutting scar of all, the silent blade of an unseen enemy, tearing at our hearts and stealing more than our strength~ Drizzt Do'Urden, The Silent Blade.

            On my honor, I will do my best, to do my duty, to God and my country, to obey the Scout Law, to help other people at all times, and to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight. A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent~ Scout Oath and Law.

           

           When I was asked to concoct a Philosophy of Life, two questions immediately sprang to mind. The first was, “How am I going to do that?” The second was, “Do I even have a Philosophy of Life?” The first question was easily answered, as I write papers all the time and have proven to be at least semi-capable of farting out something legible in the span of a half hour or so. The answer to the second question proves to be more difficult, because I certainly do not want to just crap this paper out without putting any thought into it, and it provides an interesting point of introspection. Of course, everyone should have some sort of philosophy by which they guide their actions, even if that philosophy is not immediately apparent. So what moral code do I, then, live by?

A Fresh Start and Future Plans

Well, it’s been a fun year for me. A few lows here and there, but overall I think this year has gone splendidly. This is easily the best time I’ve had at school, both because of my newfound privileges as a senior and a newfound work ethic that has enabled me to become a far better student than I was during my morose early teen years. I’m currently trying to find a job and plan for college, the next major step in my life, on the path to adulthood.

            It’s strange. I really don’t feel like an adult. It’s easy to look back and wonder where all the time went, but the truth is that I’ve sort of been dreading this moment. I’m deciding what college to go to this afternoon (between Aquinas College and Grand Valley State University), I still have to get my driver’s license, try to find work and earn some money, wrap up the projects my teachers decided to spring on us for the end of the year, study for exams… it’s a lot to take in.

            Fortunately, nobody said I had to grow up entirely. I’m planning on writing a young adult novel over the next couple of years. How well this turns out, I don’t know, but the story I’m hoping to tell is one that myself and a very good friend of mine, Alex, came up with when we were kids, and since then has sort of ‘grown up’ with me. This story defined the play of my childhood, morphed and changed as I did, and now I hope to actually turn it into a clear narrative, one that will (hopefully) span five parts. Then called ‘Mujara’ (some gobbledygook Alex and I came up with), the first book is tentatively called ‘The Paths Between’. The story follows a group of teenage kids who become embroiled in the ancient conflict of Heaven and Hell, and through their proximity to this battle begin to develop magical powers, and eventually are forced to choose a side. It was, and is, heavily inspired by the kinds of fiction I read growing up, and hopefully I can make it into a worthwhile story. I’m not sure if it will ever be good enough for publishing- the story is, technically, about fantastic versions of my friends and I- but at the very least I hope to have it somewhere on the Internet (who knows, maybe even on PG’s Game Room!), and possibly self-publish it.

            Speaking of PG’s Game Room, I apologize for the lack of productivity, but there’s really not much I’m going to be able to do about that. With the ‘Blog As My Senior Project’ thing out of the way, I need to focus on other things, and as I mentioned earlier I simply can’t keep a reliable schedule for new material. Of course, the blog is far from done. New reviews will still be written and posted as I continue to play games (I’m about eight hours into Xenogears at the time of this writing, and I should have a review up sometime in May), and as I work on my story I’ll post some material related to that as well. It may be the start of a new chapter in my life, but I don’t plan on cutting loose the old anytime soon.   

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:

My Review: Pokemon Black Version (DS)

Note: While this review is based on Black Version, it is by extent also a review of Pokémon White Version. Outside of a few version-specific Pokémon, a different mascot Legendary, and a couple minor location differences, they are the same game.

I’m always going to have a soft spot in my heart for the Pokémon series.  Granted, having skipped the entire last generation of the games (Diamond, Pearl, Platinum), I haven’t really been keeping up with them, but it’s hard not to look fondly on the series that introduced me to RPGs, and was probably the first video game series I ever got really in to as a kid. It doesn’t hurt that the Pokémon series is one of the most long-running in the history of gaming. The games have been incredibly successful ever since their 1998 debut for the original Game Boy, and over the years have introduced millions of children to the wonders of monster collecting and battling, and to gaming in general. With Pokémon Black (and White), Nintendo begins the fifth generation of Pokémon with a customary new region to explore and a bevy of new collectable critters; but is it enough to make a lapsed fan such as myself want to catch them all again?

Deadline Approaching

Alright, so I'm approaching the last weeks of this semester, and the end of my senior year. It's getting kind of hectic, what with projects, papers, studying, and college searching. It also means something that effects this blog, too. As several of my friends will know, I started this blog as part of my senior project, and soon I'm going to be presenting it. I think I've done a good amount of work with this project, and I have a lot of material to present. However, as my time grows more and more pressed and I no longer have the project looming over me, I'm free to take a more liesurely approach to writing for this blog.

Don't get me wrong. I've had a lot of fun doing this, and I don't plan on stopping. What this means for you, if you're reading this, is just that I won't be keeping a schedule for new posts here. I'll just be writing whenever I have time. I'll still be doing game reviews, of course, and if I have a good idea for an article, we'll see what we can do. Obviously I'll still be on Twitter, so there'll be plenty of updates from there. There may be a slight dropoff in activity for the next couple of weeks, as I'm gearing up for a spring break trip to DC, but after that I hope to have my review of Pokemon Black Version up, and I'll get my copy of Xenoblade in the mail by then.

A very heartfelt thank you to everyone who has supported me in my first attempt at putting my writing on the Internet. I'll see you all in April!

~reteP out.

                                                  Thank You!!!

My Review: Ico HD (PS3)

In conversations regarding the artistic merit of video games, Ico is bound to be brought up eventually. This action-adventure game was originally released in 2001 for the Playstation 2 by the same team that would later go on to make Shadow of the Colossus, and was recently rereleased with said game in a collection for the Playstation 3. With a new sheen of high definition polish, Ico is ready to make sure that gamers get a chance to experience the unique and emotional journey it has to offer.

Choice VS Narrative: Why Didn’t I Ever Get Into WRPGs?

One question I’ve asked myself a lot, and that some of my fellow gamers have been simply incredulous about, is why I don’t enjoy playing the Western Role Playing Games that have become increasingly popular over the years. And, honestly, I really didn’t have an answer for a while. It’s true that I do enjoy the gameplay style of the Japanese variety, but that’s largely because I grew up playing games like Pokemon and Final Fantasy, and that’s no real reason as to why I couldn’t enjoy this particular type of game. It was while reading about the recent fan backlash against Mass Effect 3 that I started to put together what it is about WRPGs that just doesn’t appeal to me. It got me thinking, and in order to figure it out, I looked back to the first WRPG I ever played: Knights of the Old Republic 2.

My Review: Radiant Historia (DS)

One of the sad truths of the current generation of gaming is that there has been a noticeable lack of truly great traditional roleplaying games. That’s not to say there haven’t been good ones, but as good as Lost Odyssey, Dark Souls, and Tales of Vesperia are, this generation has been marked by disappointment. Final Fantasy XIII wasn’t what everyone hoped it would be, Eternal Sonata was kind of preachy, and Hyperdimension Neptunia is absolute shite and I’m sorry for anyone who spent money on that travesty (I kid, I kid). While the blame for this may or may not be placed on these games developers, or on shifting perceptions among the gaming community, and the situation actually seems to be looking up as of late with great titles such as Xenoblade Chronicles just around the corner, there just doesn’t seem to be many modern RPGs that live up to their predecessors. Enter Radiant Historia, a game released in 2011 by Atlus, which clearly draws inspiration from the classics of old, such as Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI. Does it succeed as a great RPG experience, or is Radiant Historia a doomed pretender? Well, let it be known here and now- Radiant Historia is one of the best games to be released in a long time.

My Review: The Legend of Zelda- Phantom Hourglass (DS)

For me, the defining moment (and often moment of purchase) of a new system is when a game in one of my favorite franchises gets an installment on it. In fact, you can probably track all of my console purchases to the proximity of available Kingdom Hearts games, but that’s a story for another time. In the case of Nintendo, the arrival of a new Zelda game pretty much cements my purchase of their latest gadget. Usually, it’s worth it. Phantom Hourglass, the first Zelda game for the Nintendo DS, uses many of the DS’ unique features, while also providing one of the best portable adventure gaming experiences I’ve ever had.

STORY

Phantom Hourglass is a rare direct sequel to a prior game in the Zelda series; in this case, The Wind Waker for the Gamecube. Zelda games do tend to be self-contained, however, and the main story of Phantom Hourglass doesn’t really have too much to do with The Wind Waker, outside of a few references at the beginning and the presence of some minor comic relief from Tetra’s pirate crew. For all intents and purposes, Phantom Hourglass is a similar game to The Wind Waker, but it’s not necessary to have any experience with the prior title.