Clover's Last Bloom

This was probably one of the things that infuriated me the most about Capcom. It wasn't enough that they destroyed one of my favorite RPG series (Breath of Fire), bastardized one of my favorite action series (Megaman), now they went and axed one of the finest production studios they had under them. Clover Studios scored a massive hit gameplay-wise, art-wise, and music-wise with their title, Okami. Interesting fun fact is that pronounced differently, the name can mean "Great God (ookami) or wolf (okami), which the main character is in this title.

To quote Yahtzee (though this was used for a different game), "If you find the Japanese offensive, then you'll find this game offensively Japanese." Okami is a very stylized version of Japanese mythology, taking unabashedly from its roots and shaping it into a beautiful, innovative title. It takes place in an undisclosed time period of Japanese history, weaving in myths and folklore to tell a new story about the sun goddess, Amaterasu and her journey in the shape of the white wolf, Shiranui to destroy the dark curses placed across the land of Nippon. Having lost the praise of the Nippon people as well as a multitude of her celestial powers as a result, Amaterasu battles the forces of the demon Orochi. Along the way, she rescues the Brush Gods, which grant her the ability to create various effects by literally painting them on the world. For example, Amaterasu herself is the Sun Goddess, and therefore discovers her own ability of Sunrise to change night into day (by drawing a circle in the sky). Another example is Gekigami, the God of Thunder, who's brush power allows Amaterasu to create lightning by drawing a lightning bolt with her Celestial Brush (interestingly enough, this is shaped like Shiranui's tail).
The characters are vivid and interesting, and the subplots of each area rarely interfere with the actual story, and if they do it usually grants a new God power to more than make up for it. The story posesses a few intriguing plot twists, as well as trainable skills and upgrades to your already potent brush abilities as you progress. The controls are very intuitive, and the three different types of weapons helps cater to different styles of play.
The three weapon types are all based on the Imperial Regalia of Japan. The reflectors (based on the Yata no Kagami) are balanced weapons with moderate attack speed, power, and knockback. Beads (based on the Yasakani no Magatama) are weaker powered weapons with incredible attack speed and multiple hits per swing. Glaives (based on the sword Kusanagi) are slow weapons with great power, and the ability to charge up attacks. You can equip a main weapon used with the X button as well as a subweapon that can be used with the square button, allowing a myriad of different combinations. Brush powers are intuitive enough, though some take some practice to get used to. Upgrades often allow you to perform an elemental move without a source of that element nearby to draw from, such as Moegami's Fireburst power that allows you to incinerate foes and obstacles. The combat system becomes interesting in that many enemies only have weaknesses to certain brush powers or abilities, and once you damage them you can perform a coup de'tat with that particular brush power to create a spectacular 'floral finish'. Each battle, which occurs in a pseudo real-time format by walking into moving demon scrolls on the field, is graded and grants money used to purchase items and upgrades.
By far one of the strongest points of this game is its art style. The entire game is made in pseudo sumi-e, japanese watercolor and ink style that was intended to further drive home the point that players have a great deal of interactivity with the world of Okami via the brush powers of the same sumi-e style. While the original 3D photo-realistic version was nearly incompatible with the PS2's processing power, it is this reviewer's belief that the game works better in this distinctively japanese stylization. The game is truly a work of art.
The music for the game is derivative of classical Japanese, with a few modern twists for the more dramatic songs. One such is "Reset" by Ayaka Hirahara, and has become one of my most favorite video game songs ever. The music generally and genuinely fits the mood for wherever the game happens to be, and rarely gets annoying or monotonous to listen to (if you like classical Japanese music, at least).
These facts are all what made it heartrending when Capcom closed Clover Studios a year after Okami's release, subsequently leaving no chance of a possible sequel. I honestly don't understand why they would do such a thing, the game was a gorgeous, innovative, and genuinely fun product. I just wish they'd stop fucking things up. Words fail to describe the spectacle of this game, and it even comes with a New Game+ mode to enjoy with costumes for Amaterasu, including the photo-realistic model they were originally going to use and a bead rosary that makes you invincible.
Why, Capcom? Why did you destroy one of the greatest studios you've had?

Out of Bounds

Decided to go in a totally different direction this time, turning back to an old ROM I found. Normally anything involving sports seems boring to me unless they have a legitimately fun gimmick (Mario Kart, Mutant League Football, etc), but since this was an action/adventure game, I decided to give it a try if only for the absurdity factor.

Named one of the top ten worst games by Nintendo Power magazine, Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City is definitely one of the most craptastical games I've ever played. You play as MJ himself, with strange new powers as he tries to rescue his teammates from an undescribed threat so that they can perform a charity show (hurrrr). These powers take the form of different kinds of basketballs; for example, the Freeze Ball can damage enemies and create ice patches on the floor, the Bomb Ball creates explosions, etc. He can also perform a slam dunk attack, which is used to activate some power up and open new areas with basket switches. Most of the game revolves around the repetitive task of finding keys, then using them to unlock the prisons Michael's teammates are locked in.
Most of the enemies as far as I played ended up being wierd basketball player zombies with balls for heads, along with critter things like bats and rats. Altogether the game seemed pretty lackluster, as if cobbled together to feed off the tetes of, at that point, Michael's incredible popularity. For a platforming title, there was very little challenge involved in this game; yet another title aimed at children most likely, though seeing zombies walking around with basketballs for heads is so absurd it might be scary. Might be.

I Herd U Liek Card Games

One of the most irritating thing I've noticed lately is games that abuse the use of card games or similar systems where it doesn't belong, or just the overuse of card-based concepts in general. It sucked for Pokemon, it sucked for Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, it even sucks for all the excessive Yu-Gi-Oh video games save a few of the GBA titles.

I don't know what this obsession with cards is that the Japanese have, but at least one game got it right, and became one of my favorite Gamecube titles. Lost Kingdoms II, or Rune II in Japan, was an action/RPG title that had elements similar to other action RPGs like Zelda, but with a card game twist on it. The heroine, Tara Grimface, uses magic granted through her True Runestone to bring cards to life, and uses them to battle in realtime fights with monsters that roam free (in other words, no random battles).
The card system usually becomes too convoluted in many card-based games, but Lost Kingdoms II made it simple by dividing the cards into four different types; weapons deliver single strikes (sword slash, beam spell, etc), summons deliver a single attack or effect before disappearing (like a summon monster in most final fantasy games), assists walk with you and perform their effects or attack, traps (proximity explosions and such), and transformations change you into various shapes to access other areas (birdman to fly over gaps, golem to break down walls, hellhound to jump high walls).
Cards are collected by throwing Blank Cards, purchased from town, at sufficiently weakened creatures, or by finding them in treasure chests. When entering an area, cards from your assembled deck are picked four at a time and assigned to a button (Y, X, A, B). Many cards possess multiple "charges", meaning they can be used multiple times or stay activated for prolonged periods of time before the magic is depleted. The myriad of cards in this game ensures you can make a variety of different decks, completely customizable to your needs or play style.
Battles occur in real time, with monsters roaming about. As objectives are completed in areas, or new cards or obtained, other areas of a level open up or new monsters appear. The levels are designed interestingly enough, however the game suffers from short play time and mediocre story. The other issue that I have with this game is the music -- it's not so great, and gets monotonous quickly (especially the overworld music). Monsters are interesting enough, though some of them borrow a bit excessively from real world lore. Of course, this is made up for by having a cthulu-wannabe card that has a useful effect.

Lost Kingdoms II was a pleasant play, and the innovative play style more than made up for its shortcomings. I only wish it had been longer.

Words cannot express my disgust.

I loved Capcom. I loved it to death, till they destroyed so many beautiful and great series in a few fell swoops. Breath of Fire,
Bastardization of good series seems to be a reoccuring theme in my blog, and Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter is no exception.

I love the Breath of Fire series to death. 1-4 are probably all very high on my "Favorite Games of All Time" list. This is why Dragon Quarter cuts so deep into my nerve that I can hardly even think of properly express my sense of betrayal by Capcom.

One of the great things about Breath of Fire was it's expansive world, full of places to explore and people to meet. Capcom said fuck that, sticks you in an underground tower with two really bastardized iterations of Nina and Ryu (the Breath of Fire version of Zelda and Link). The whole task is to reach the surface from this underground hellhole, which has a very post-apocalyptic type feel which is VERY much non-canon for the series. I can understand trying to make something different, but turning the whole series on its ear is just retarded.
The only redeeming quality I can find in this game is the ability to set traps and run in real time during combat -- the problem with this is that your actions and movement are limited by your activity; walking and doing something both take up your "activity" gauge, and it's irritating to end up right next to an enemy and not be able to do anything. Your party is boring, the characters are difficult to empathize with, and the most interesting character is your rival, Bosch.
Perhaps the most infuriating thing is that in some cases, you HAVE to die in order to become strong enough to progress. You can die and keep all the experience you gained between save points, and they abuse this system to a bloody pulp by making you literally suicide until you're strong enough to kill bosses. Your most powerful abilities are limited by a countdown that still goes up, EVEN IF YOU DON'T USE THE ABILITIES. If the countdown reaches zero (sped up by using the dragon abilities), it's an instant gameover, which fucks over the save system and the EXP system that only appeals to masochists.
I honestly couldn't play more than a few hours of this. I was too infuriated to continue.

Final Fatality X-2

For a series with the word "final" in it, these games don't seem to end anywhere. Even more surprising is when Square-Enix start making actual sequels and spin-offs of their own "final" games.
I've had Final Fantasy X-2 for a while, but I hadn't played it much till now. Now, I'm a big fan of Final Fantasy, and I loved the prequel to this game to death; this was the reason that I felt both elation and irritation at Square-Enix for FFX-2.

Final Fantasy X had such a finality to it's ending that I saw no possible way that they could continue the storyline. The story seems a bit frayed, in that to begin, you're searching for evidence of something that no longer exists -- the whole reason that Yuna, the female protagonist from the last game, became a Sphere Hunter was to find possible clues to another character's whereabouts. In the process, she gets involved with a totally new storyline not altogether involved with Final Fantasy X, which is kind of nice but at the same time it feels like a bastardization of something that was great.
The fact that a reserved girl like Yuna is running around in skimpy short-shorts even at the very beginning of the game heralds another issue I have with this game. It appears to be a blatant attempt to milk one of Square-Enix's most popular Playstation 2 and the reach to the fanboy base who likes skimpy outfits. They try to reach to the girls with a "girl power" type message, the three female heroines forming "YRP" (Yuna-Rikku-Paine) and the Gullwing crew. Think of the anime version of Charlie's Angels, minus Bosley. Yep. This doesn't belong in a Final Fantasy game. Sorry.
This part I'm kind of on the fence about. The Dressphere system, which lets you switch between jobs (Warrior, Gunner, White Mage, etc) on the fly, is a great idea, and very flashy. However, it's just like playing dress-up with your characters. It has a shamefully effeminate feel that, while it doesn't bother me, probably killed a lot of male interest in the game -- or would have, if the outfits weren't so skimpy. It's kind of interesting to be able to switch jobs even during combat though, to be fair, and the Garment Grids (cards that you set Dresspheres into) give useful buffs and abilities. It's a fresh idea, but considering FFX didn't even have defined "jobs" (any character could do anything you wanted them too, if you had the proper items for the Sphere Grid system), it doesn't seem to fit well in the scope of the series. Hell, no Final Fantasy game since 5 had a defined job system except for Tactics, XI, and the GBA games.
The other problem I have with this is the Story % completion -- for each event in the game, you get a certain amount of story percentage completed, even for some of the most mundane stuff like talking to someone. If you miss any of these before progressing to the next chapter or sometimes even just to the next area, you're screwed out of that story %. You can't even get 100% in one play through, but they at least had the decency to put in a New Game+, which lets you start over with your levels, money, items, story %, and garment grids intact.

It's not that bad of a game if you treat it as it's own entity, instead of comparing it to other Final Fantasy titles. It's challenging, but doesn't feel like you have to grind for experience points like you would have in most RPGs. It was kind of nice to revisit old areas in FFX and see what's changed, although some of the plot points in the post-FFX era in the world seem rather off in context with how characters were in the previous game. Meeting new characters while finding old ones has a strange nostalgic feel, and at some points, it feels like the whole game is meant to celebrate one of the most interesting worlds Square-Enix has made in their games.
FFX-2 just feels like a giant side-quest to FFX, an extended epilogue milking the spent udders of a good game. It's not bad, but it just doesn't live up to it's prequel storywise. It tries to be too gimmicky with the girl power and skimpy outfits.

Turnabout Blog

To get the bad taste of Lufia: The Ruins of Lore out of my blog, I'll review one of my favorite games this time.

When I first heard of a game revolving around litigation, I was understandably skeptical. How could a game involving one of the most hated and suicide-inducing careers in the world be interesting, albeit fun? Capcom answered that question with Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. The game starts out with a bang (you'll be empathizing with characters from case 2 onwards, at least) and keeps the ball rolling through all 5 cases.
The qualities that I like in this game include interesting stories involving each case, some interwoven between each other and all containing more plot twists and guesstimation than you can shake an index finger at. You play as Phoenix Wright, a rookie defense attorney under the tutelage of Mia Fey, a well-known and established attorney. All of your cases appear to be murder trials, and the way The system revolves around two forms of play: the Investigation, where you gather clues for a case before taking them to the Trial, where you lock intellectual horns with the prosecuting prodigy, Miles Edgeworth. While I'm sure none of the stuff you can do in this game is really within the bounds of legality for a defense attorney, you'll feel more intelligent as you play and solve harder riddles.
The difficulty curve staggers at some points, within and through cases. It's a refreshing intellectual challenge, and one that the characters and story make you want to meet. Capcom's translation team did an excellent job with localizing a lot of the cultural differences, which are important in a text based point-and-click like Phoenix Wright.
In reality, only 4 of the cases are from the actual game; since Phoenix Wright was originally a Gameboy Advance game in Japan, they upped the ante on the US version and added a preview for the next installment of the series in the form of Case 5. While this might confuse players, with the release of Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney recently, it all comes together.
I enjoy this series very much, but then again, I'm a sucker for a good, convoluted story. It only lasts for 3 games before handing the reigns to Apollo Justice, but it's a wild ride that gets all loose ends tied up in a neat little bow in the end.
Give it a shot. You won't be disappointed.

Atlus shrugged

Oh my, that title makes me feel witty.

In any case, the subject of this blog will be one of the worst bastardizations of one of my favorite series ever -- Lufia: The Ruins of Lore.
Lufia was once a proud and beautiful series on the consoles, but this foray into handheld tanked so hard that Maxim felt it from the prequel to the first game. This was published by Atlus, the same people that gave us such gems as Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, Shin Megami Tensei, Tactics Ogre, and Trauma Center. Having received this series from Natsume, however, seems to have given them license to kill [an incredible series].
The game suffers from graphic degradation where it was very much unnecessary. The series, made popular on the Super Nintendo with Lufia: The Fortress of Doom and Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals were not necessarily intense in the graphics area, but at least they didn't look like bizarre rip-offs of Harvest Moon characters (that's not a knock at Harvest Moon, I actually like that series a lot). The music and graphics feel like they were put through a meat grinder and fed to sick cows before reaching the consumer.
The other beef I have with this game is the blatant ripping off of both Pokemon and Monster Rancher in a game where it should have been unnecessary. Buying special Discs (cave, grass, etc) lets you capture monsters you have weakened and add them to your party to aid you in combat. While Lufia II had a pet system as well, it was at least somewhat original; there were only six assisting monsters, one of each element, and were discovered like treasures throughout the world. You raised them by feeding them items and equipment of various types, and they leveled up with you. What was so bad about that that Atlus decided to change it?
The story is boring as well. While previous games in the series kept me riveted for hours, I was able to put this down without any qualms about finishing it after about 4 hours into playing. The characters are bland and uninteresting, and I found myself unable to empathize with any of them.
I was very disappointed in a company that I have so much respect for. I wasn't expecting a graphical powerhouse on the GBA, but I wasn't expecting one of my favorite series to be put through the shitblender either.

A Gilded Glory

That title sucked.
But this game didn't. In a market where I thought RPGs were getting run into the ground with similar story elements and hackneyed mechanics, I found this beauty on the GBA.
Golden Sun is a unique game in its approach, handling, story -- well, anything, although the equipment system could be likened to other RPGs (I'll knife anyone who says the Djinn system is anything like Materia, though).
The land of Weyard once experienced a golden age of Alchemy -- that is, the power of the elements -- in which civilizations grew to incredible heights of achievement (amazing, an RPG that actually gives reasons for the existence of its ruins). However, the power of Alchemy lead to world conflict that eventually caused the desire to seal the power away to avoid its corruption. The powers of Alchemy (and in subsequent explanations, Psynergy) are divided into four elements represented through the game by Earth [Venus], Fire [Mars], Wind [Jupiter], and Water [Mercury]. I'm not quite sure why the chose those particular names for each element, but it seems to work for poetic effect. The power of Alchemy is harnessed by "adepts" of the given element, in the form of Psynergy -- essentially, magic in this game. The keys to Alchemy are 4 jewels each representing an aforementioned element, locking away the wellsprings of Alchemic power in the four elemental Lighthouses that the ancient cultures constructed throughout the world to house the power.
These jewels, the Elemental Stars (Mars Star, Jupiter Star, etc) are where our heroes enter the game. The jewels were hidden in Mt. Aleph, a mountain shrine that sits atop the town of Vale, which has been charged with protecting the jewels from those that would seek to unlock Alchemy again. Two of the main characters, Isaac and Garet, and a more minor story character in Jenna, hail from the village of Vale, along with the scholar Kraden. In the prologue, the village is attacked by two of the Mars tribe named Saturos and Menardi, in order to steal the elemental stars; however they failed to solve the puzzles of Mt. Aleph and were forced to flee. At the beginning of the game proper, they have returned with two accomplices -- one of which happens to be a former resident of Vale and Jenna's brother. Thus the plot thickens as Saturos and Menardi force you to hand over 3 of the 4 elemental stars before escaping the now pissed off Mt. Aleph with Jenna and Kraden as hostages to ensure you bring the fourth star to them.
The basic premise of the game is to travel to the lighthouses and stop them from being lit with the stars (thus freeing Alchemy once more, considered to be catastrophic now), and along the way you run into various problems in each town. They aren't quite as distracting as side quests and exposition usually are, and often give more background into the world. Along the way you meet your other party members, a Jupiter adept named Ivan and a Mercury adept named Mia, giving you a nice, well-rounded group.
The "gimmicks" of this game include the Psynergy you use to do damage in battle, heal, and solve puzzles with. The puzzle-solving aspect is the most interesting -- as you progress, you gain different psynergies that can open up other paths. For example, you initially start with "Move", which is just as it sounds. It extends a psycho-kinetic force that moves an object one space at a time. Further down the road you get other spells such as Force to knock down broken things or Frost to freeze puddles of water into pillars you can then hop on top of or push to switches. It's probably not -completely- innovative, but it feels new and fresh and adds a good spin on a genre that, admittedly, was feeling stale at the time. The other gimmick is the Djinn system. You have to collect little spirits of each element (the Djinn themselves), sometimes having to solve puzzles or battle them before they will join you. They can then be unleashed in battle after equipping them to yourself, causing various effects (critical attack, defense up, etcetera). After they've been unleashed, they can then be used to summon powerful creatures, but you lose the buffing to your stats without the Djinn equipped. After a summon, the djinn need to recharge and will automatically reequip themselves after recharging, forming a rather well-crafted battle flow. A third gimmick is weapon unleashing, which occurs with rare equipment -- essentially, it's a critical hit with added effects and nice visuals, such as lowering enemy's attack or causing paralysis.
Another interesting part is the artifact system, in which you find or are able to buy valuable strong equipment. Should you sell them, you can buy them again at a raised price from any weapon or armor dealer in the world.
The difficulty curve jumps around a lot throughout the game, but it's at understandable intervals. The dungeons (like the Lighthouses) are long, but feel like you're accomplishing stuff along the way.
However, when you reach the end, you'll be wondering "what, that's it?" The game itself seems unfinished, but it leads to an incredible sequel that juxtaposes everything you learn in this game. Essentially, each game is half of the full story, and the writers at Camelot showed incredible vision in how they planned out everything that occurred in both games.
The only major complaint I could have would be the nonbattle artwork. The 3D rendered models are cute, but I think it could have been more successful as 2D sprites. The 3D effect makes characters and enemies look pixelated and choppy, whereas a much smoother effect could be more effectively utilized with 2D. Although, since the world itself is rendered in isometric 3D, it does work reasonably well.
All in all, this game is an amazing RPG that I was happy to see featured in SSBB, although I wish they had made one of the heroes of the series a character instead of an assist trophy. This series is a gem for the GBA, and a favorite of mine on par with many Final Fantasy games with longer stories and better graphics. I think that really speaks to Camelot's ability as creators. Unfortunately, the series seemed to have a great deal of closure at the end of the second game, which leads me to believe there's little chance of a third Golden Sun.

Regardless, give the series a try. If you like RPGs with a puzzle twist, you won't be dissapointed.

A Soggy Interlude

I realize I've been doing a lot of games that I like, but now it's time for something I don't like but played anyway like the masochistic bastard I am. (Am I channeling Yahtzee here?)

I'm talking, of course, about Super Mario Sunshine for the Gamecube. In theory, this game should have been great, as it was treading the same launch title Mario game path as Mario 64 -- unfortunately, it does not tread the path. It stumbles, cries, and wets itself.
The game looks very pretty and boasts great water physics for it's time, but why the hell would you bastardize the series by giving Mario a squirt gun? It was an innovative idea, but the best part of the game was when they took its gimmick away and made you do platforming. You know, the thing Mario games are supposed to be. They were excruciatingly hard at some points, but in a good, challenging kind of way, instead of the simpering preschooler sort of way that the rest of the game is.
The story is convoluted far beyond what a non-RPG Mario game requires, with a "shadow Mario" that frames you for polluting the sunny pianta capital of Delfino Island with wierd goop that sometimes resembles what Mario should clean up if he were doing what his real job was instead of rescuing a blonde with ADHD and stockholm syndrome. It gets even more bizarre by insinuating a lovechild between Peach and Bowser, who doesn't even show up beyond mechanical likenesses till exceptionally late in the game, leaving you wondering just who the hell you're up against and wandering around from point A to point phi.
It was a bad gimmick in the time when Nintendo was pushing the envelope by changing their star characters' games around so much, but it doesn't hold a candle to its peers of the age like Metroid Prime or Zelda: Wind Waker, or even Star Fox Adventures or Kirby's Air Ride. It's certainly not the second coming of Mario 64, simply because they tried to do something dumb with something that didn't need tweaking to be great and sell.
What's worse is that it's legacy continues as possibly the most useless Down-B move in Super Smash Brothers Brawl.

A gem from the past

Haven't been keeping up with this very well, so progressively this week, I'm going to try to ante up and make up for the lost time.

Tonight I bring you the tale of a game that experienced little love, a treasure by Treasure during the somewhat lackluster years of post-launch Nintendo 64. I speak of Mischief Makers, a the faux-3D 2-D side-scrolling platform gem buried amongst the burgeoning 3-D market.
This game tells the story of Professor Theo and his robotic maid, Ultra-Intergalactic-Cybot G Marina Liteyears during their visit to the planet Clancer. During their stay, the professor is kidnapped in a very Princess Peach-like fashion, whisked away by the evil empire ruling the planet Clancer. It's up to Marina to save her creator, and she does so with a rather unorthodox style of gameplay in a bizarre world where everything has a similar face.
The side-scrolling adventure's actions revolve mostly around Marina's grabbing move, after which she can shake, toss, or use objects. Objects shaken can activate other effects or shake loose Crystals or other items. Marina can use her jetpack to double-jump or jet sideways to avoid enemies, but mostly you'll want to be grabbing and tossing your foes as much as possible. Not every enemy is as easily defeated as that, and some levels and bosses can require fast reflexes, especially if you desire the Gold Gem that exists in every level.
The whimsy of this game comes in it's simplistic but frantic play style along with it's bizarre world and graphics. There are few shortcomings that come to mind -- the difficulty is adequately challenging, and each level offers a different type of obstacle or puzzle for you to overcome. If anything, the only complaint I'd have is that it does not have any sort of sequel or remake yet. If I could, I'd petition Nintendo to put this little gem on the Virtual Console.

Tim Schafer is my hero (Psychonauts)

I know Tim's worked on many other games, including the infamous Grim Fandango and some of the Monkey Island games, but I think his talent truly shined in his more recent creation for Playstation 2.

Of course, I'm referring to Psychonauts. I played this game a while back, but it's too good to pass up plugging here. The platforming genre felt like it was getting stale till I picked up this gem, with Super Mario Sunshine being a super let-down and Sly 3 apparently ending one of my favorite espionage-slash-playful playformer series. Granted, by that time Psychonauts had aged a bit compared to some of the other games in my PS2 library, but when I started playing it, I almost couldn't put it down till the end. A platformer hasn't kept me that enthralled since Super Mario World (with Sly 2 being a close second).
The gameplay mechanics are relatively good, and the ingenious way they implemented Razputin's various psychic tools was interesting to see play out in the actual mechanics of the game. However, I believe the strongest points of the game are the character designs and even moreso the level designs. You would expect that visiting the interior of people's minds would be a pretty surreal experience, and Mr. Schafer does NOT disappoint in this respect. Every level is a treat for the eyes and a euphoric explosion for the psychadelic side of your psyche: Coach Oliander's war-torn mind, Agent Nein's organized brain, Mia's perpetual party, Edgar's black velvet and neon Madrid (particularly beautiful level), and especially Boyd's paranoia-induced twisted neighborhood in The Milkman Conspiracy. The art of the game is unique and just as warped as the game itself, which only adds to the whole motif of the bent nature of the human mind.
The whole premise of the game screams epic, in that you're a camper at a summer camp for gifted children with psychic abilities. The slightly bent humor of the game makes itself apparent mostly in your fellow campers, including one who must wear an aluminum hat to keep the "voices" out, and constantly has to avoid the influence of the evil squirrels that inhabit the camp and chuckle maniacally when you walk past. Once you get the appropriate badges (certification for psychic abilities), you can blow the little bastards up yourself. The most fun powers to use are likely Levitation (which takes the form of a "thought bubble" you roll around on top of and float from) and Pyrokinesis, which lets you make things spontaneously combust, explode, and damage other things around that object (effectively turning your enemies into bombs). Powers are upgraded as your collect your Psychonaut rankings.
The one downside I see right now is that it doesn't appear that there's going to be a sequel, as badly as this game needs one. If anything, the game feels a bit too short. Like this blog entry.

Fun fact: This game is NOW backwards compatible with XBox 360, is available in PC format and PS2, Xbox, and also on Gametap. Go try it now. You won't be disappointed.

later!

Of Raccoons and Priests

This week it's a blast from the near past. A fairly rare game for the Super Nintendo, Pocky and Rocky wasn't exactly The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, but it took an arcade twist to an easy-to-follow adventure set in a mystical alternate Japanese past.
This game is steeped in Japanese folklore and mythology, so the creatures probably seem very weird to those of us on the other side of the Pacific. You play as one of two beings: Pocky, a young female priest who fights with a charm and throws talismans, and Rocky, a tanuki (raccoon dog) that fights using its tail and throws magic leaves. There's really not much beyond aesthetics between which character you pick. The game plays more similarly to Galaga or Ikaruga, or some space shooter like that, in that enemies constantly stream from the top or side within an given instance of an area -- areas are divided into screens, and each screen has a certain amount of enemies along its path. Power-ups come in the form of mystic talismans, which power up your throwing items to new levels (either a multi-spray or larger thrown items), and if enemies get too close to shoot, Pocky and Rocky can repel them with their charm or tail respectively.
The cutesy nature of this game can be deceptive, as it sometimes requires some twitch reflexes. The controls are pretty responsive, but the enemy movement patterns can be hard to hit, and bosses can take a while to wear down. It doesn't feel quite as mindless as the game I previously blogged about. I enjoy the simplistic yet still slightly challenging nature of the game, and the distinctly Japanese flair of the game reminds me of another old favorite, Legend of the Mystical Ninja. The graphics are neither good nor bad, being a SNES game. Just be prepared for some odd enemies.
It's good for a rom or to own, and I recommend playing through it at least once.

Children of Nada

I picked up Children of Mana for the DS recently.



And I wish I hadn't. I didn't think that Square-Enix could completely screw up a good premise for such a good franchise, but hey, they did create FFX-2 and Drakengard.
The plot seems structurally sound, with a damsel in distress and underlying lore -- though it is not as involved as Seiken Densetsu 3. The atrocious part, however, is in the gameplay factor. The randomly created dungeons with waves of mindless AI enemies, and a character who starts out and stays fairly weak and ineffectual throughout the game, since enemies scale with your character to make him/her/it feel even more inadequate. You only get one Elemental Spirit, which means only a few different spells, and since only 2 of them can do anything remotely resembling healing, you're usually stuck relying on the light or lunar spirit. It's definitely a dungeon crawler, but I played many with much better, more interesting dungeons and exceptionally more interesting fights. Progression through areas of a dungeon probably seemed like a good idea in theory, but finding the Gleamdrop (the key to go to the next part of the dungeon) quickly becomes a tedious chore.
The one saving grace of this might be the mission system, which at least rewards you for returning to previously completed dungeons and trudging through the same puzzles that exist in every other map of every other game. The other moderately refreshing thing is the use of different weapon types (sword, flail, bow, and hammer). However, the upgrades to these come far more frequently than your wallet can usually buy, which forces you to inevitably do more town missions.
One of the more interesting effects is the uses of the spirits; releasing the elemental spirit with you will have it float nearby. If you leave it alone, it will unleash a damaging spell, with areas of effect being different for each one. The casting time is so long and the effect fairly weak, however, and more often than not it is just far more efficient to rely on your own weapon. If you touch it, you activate another spell/effect, usually healing or enchanting your weapon with the spirit's element. The spirits themselves can be raised to higher levels and attain stronger magic with the equipping of Gems, which players find in dungeons or buy from town. Again, however, your wallet and needs will limit what gems you can or should use, and many good ones seem to come with detrimental effects as well.
All in all, the game turned out to be a really boring hack-and-slash dungeon crawler. It's a poor excuse for a Mana game, especially when compared to the original Secret of Mana, Seiken Densetsu 3, and Legend of Mana. I would really have much rather seen a translated port of SD3 than this atrocity.

Extending the Neverending

Hopefully this will count for the assignment. Even if it doesn't, I've been wanting to put in my two cents on this one anyway.

I've been playing Final Fantasy XI off and on for a long time, usually moving over to World of Warcraft when I get tired of the utter lack of independence in FFXI; you need at least five other people to do the most mundane of tasks, barring tradeskills, unless you're a masochist who has completely leveled up Ninja (biggest money sink in the whole game, in my opinion).

So I was a little skeptical when I picked up the latest expansion -- Final Fantasy: Wings of the Goddess is the third expansion (fourth for Japanese players) for this love-it-or-hate-it MMO. Wings of the Goddess (WotG for future reference) gives the players the opportunity to travel into the past and experience the Crystal War in which the Beastmen hordes banded together under the Shadow Lord to crush the fledgling nations of Windurst and Bastok, as well as the kingdom of San d'Oria.
The way that players return to the past is through strange Cavernous Maws stationed around the world in various locations (only in original zones). People who played Final Fantasy 9 might recognize the resemblance between these maws and a particularly fun summon beast, though that isn't the first time they've used the gaping demon mouth things.
WotG introduced a few new aspects to the game, including a new battle system called Campaign and the accompanying medal system that gives players benefits as they aid the forces of Altana (the armies of Windurst, Bastok, and San d'Oria). Campaign battles take place in the outdoor maps all around the world of the Past, and can occur at any time. It is comprised of waves of monsters attacking the Fortification of the zone, and the army of non-player characters (NPCs) with the aid of players fighting them off. To participate, you talk to a Campaign Arbiter at the fortification, who gives you a special buff that will let you accrue Allied Notes ("currency" for purchasing equipment or items from the armies) as well as experience points, which are given at the end of the campaign battle. This allows a slow, but reliable way to gain experience points that does not require a party of five other people, and anyone can participate at any level assuming you can get to the past. However, the amount of experience and Allied Notes is based on your performance during the battle -- if you're just standing around or not able to contribute a lot, your campaign assessment will suffer.
Aside from and intertwining with the story of the Crystal War, Wings of the Goddess introduces a new storyline to explain the temporal rifts (the aforementioned Cavernous Maws) and brings in a few familiar names from the Final Fantasy series with fairly drastic makeovers. The expansion also introduced two new playable classes, Dancer and Scholar -- both of which, at first, seemed greatly out of place in the clear-cut job distinctions of FFXI (support, tank, mage, healer). Previous experiments in mixing and matching party dynamics are still lacking (Summoner, Puppetmaster), yet it seems they hit the mark with these. Dancer, despite the initial dismay at prancing around on the screen, is probably the most entertaining class I've ever played in the game. It is the only job capable of healing without the use of magic, and is good blend of support and damage -- it can even tank in smaller parties, though lacks the lasting strength and holding power of Paladins or Ninjas. Scholar, on the other hand, feels like a rehash of old magic that we've gotten used to over the years with a twist of being able to augment mana cost, cast times, cast delays, and possessing the capability to heal very effectively while still having only a slightly lower magic damage potential than Black Mages. The fact that both of these jobs make incredible subjobs as well as main jobs (though Scholar is lacking in defensive capability) is a testament to the careful attention the development crew has taken.

To be honest, though, I wish I had not bought the expansion before the first version update for it. It may seem like there's a lot to do at first, but it quickly runs dry as the story halts at the third mission. Campaign and the new jobs are greatly entertaining, but for someone who likes continuing storylines like I do, not being able to progress is frustrating. All in all though, it's shaping up to be a good expansion, with a few much needed additions to the game play. New jobs always offer a fresh start, and it's exciting to experiment with them and explore the expanded world. It just needed more content on launch. On this subject I can't help but compare it to the only World of Warcraft expansion, The Burning Crusade -- there was a VAST amount of new subject matter to explore, levels to gain, skills to experiment with, and it did what an expansion should do: completely revolutionize the game and make it feel fresh. It even continued the warcraft lore, which was already rich from the RTS games. FFXI expansions, however, are encapsulated with their own storylines, which are admittedly interesting, but the lack of connections between them make the whole game seem fractured into segments rather than a continuous journey.

Running out of steam for this post, but I'll provide updates as they come along in my next few posts.

Treble - 75 Bard, 75 Black Mage - Caitsith Server

Blogging for a n00b

Having to create a blog for a class is certainly something new to me. Usually I have trouble keeping up with these things, but if a grade is hinged on it, might as well.
For now, this will simply be the blog for ruminations on my Game Design class, MART 590E at the University of South Carolina. Part of the assignment for the class is a weekly synopsis of a new game we've taken the opportunity to play. I haven't decided what game will be the first target.

As for the title of my blog, I know it might sound a bit campy. I've been reading too many fantasy novels and playing too much Zelda: Twilight Princess lately.