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Thursday, July 17, 2008

Final Fantasy XIII

I called it. But that doesn't lessen the hurt. At least I know half the internet is bleeding together with me.

Oh and the fact that Eternal Sonata PS3 will be translated after all? I've already gotten my hands on a cheap copy of the Xbox version, so that was kind of like Namco Bandai shooting me in the back. Ah well, I can live without optional extras. And the copy I got really was very cheap.

Labels: games

[ 15:40 ] :: [ 0 have commented ]

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Gushing over Crisis Core *chock full of spoilers!*





Did I mention that Square Enix is the King of RPG? I've just finished Crisis Core, one of the games in the compilation of Final Fantasy VII. Crisis Core is the direct prequel to Final Fantasy VII, my first RPG, which will always retain a special place in my heart - I still remember the awe that I felt when I saw the world map for the first time, the thrill of realization that the world of FF VII extended beyond the confines of Midgar... I didn't realize my naive sentiments were shared, but apparently this reviewer agrees with me:

That you spent a good few hours running around in what at first appeared to be a rather expansive, oppressive, dirty ubercity, only to have that pulled away with a triumphant, "nono, you get to explore the whole planet" gesture was something no game had really done before

Well, personal bias aside, FF VII is certainly the most famous RPG of all time. Crisis Core tells the story of Zack Fair, the guy Cloud thought he was at the beginning of FF VII.

Of course, by the end of Crisis Core, Zack is so much more than a passing plot point. I don't care if Square Enix decided to make this game because it would make money. I really don't care if it was a massive grab for cash that motivated production. I'm just so glad to have seen this side of Cloud and Zack's (and surprisingly, Sephiroth's) story. This game is so well done, not only was I sad to see the ending, I was so sad to see it end at all. If this is a gift for fans of FF VII, it is the most incredible 10th birthday gift ever. I was deliriously happy with plotless eye-candy of Advent Children, but Zack's story is one that really does bear telling. The whole trouble with Genesis I really didn't understand- it seemed like the writers were trying to force a "quest" into the story- but Zack's sweet relationships with Aerith and Cloud (wuss noob Cloud is priceless, and possibly has a man-crush on Zack), and quiet respect of Sephiroth and Angeal, I totally got. Zack is such a likeable, open, friendly and headstrong character, and it helps that he's about 1000x manlier than Cloud. Such beautiful storytelling too! Videogames are such a flexible and engaging mode of storytelling, I'm surprised more people haven't recognized it for what it is: art.

The music... Well, a lot of it is rehash of FF VII music. Which is fine by me, of course... I cannot even begin to describe the wave of nostalgia that rushed through me when I heard that familiar battle theme, and that timeless victory jingle. Rewatching the now un-canonized OVA Last Order made me realize that some tracks come from there, most notably the battle music! Well, of course, since Last Order and Crisis Core share a composer, this isn't much of a surprise, but it certainly made revisiting the OVA quite pleasant. For the new tracks, there was an emphasis on rock, which admittedly is the right choice for Zack. By far my favourite new track is "The Burdened One". It played in the church in the slums, with elegant strings which just twisted at my heart, knowing the way Zack and Aerith's story would end. The voice acting was also top-notch; although it does make me a little sad to know that Maaya Sakamoto voicing Aerith is something I can listen to only in Advent Children.

In terms of gameplay, Crisis Core is fun once you get used to it. Unlike the turn-based Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core is an action-RPG at heart, meaning that Zack couldn't leisurely imbibe Elixirs while enemies waited for their turn to attack. No, all of it is real-time attacking, casting magic, dodging, blocking and running around like a ninny with 3 killer ostriches tailing you. Some missions (like the ones with the killer ostriches) are devilishly hard, so much that my heart was pounding and my hands were trembling as I went through, hugging the walls to avoid enemy encounters. Eventually I got to a point where I could easily abuse the system, after which the final boss was a pushover. Even Minerva.... Because I had my handy SP Master materia on, she literally didn't do any damage to me as I Costly Punched her to oblivion.

Crisis Core has two key sequences which are astounding. The first is the Nibelheim incident. I gasped while watching it - I certainly don't remember all of THAT happening. The second, and easily the best part of Crisis Core, comes after defeating the last boss. To anyone who has played Final Fantasy VII, what happens to Zack should be obvious. But actually having seen events through Zack's eyes, to have bonded with Zack, no, to have truly BEEN Zack in all those situations, it was utterly tragic to know what fate had in store for him. Trying to prevent the inevitable, I put a lot of time into perfecting my battle technique, maxing Zack's level, getting fantastic stats and every piece of Genji equipment (thankfully I got the notorious Magic Pot one on my first try!), but it was still impossible in the end... Although it was annoying at times during the game, I was so moved by the way the DMW was incorporated into the ending. Normally, the small cutscenes shown by the DMW are cute or poignant (I especially love the one with Zack fighting off Shinra troops as he lugs Cloud around. Poorly quoted: "Looks like it's time for another rest" Zack says, putting Cloud down, then turning to face the Shinra troops as he draws the Buster Sword, "As you can see, my friend is sick. Let's get this over with"; also the cutscene that shows why Aerith always dresses in pink - oh and in the cutscenes, Zack invites everyone to dinner/lunch with him, including Cloud- he's such a player ^^; though his heart is in the right place), but the way the DMW was used in the final battle against Shinra blew my mind. The ending sequence itself was epic, a testament to the power of games as a medium for storytelling, and it had the perfect closing line, delivered in the most perfect way. I watched it twice and cried both times: yes, Zack, you are such a hero. It was kind of bittersweet when his spirit passed by Cloud, still weakly dragging the Buster Sword behind him- oh there was no end of supremely touching moments. The post-credits sequence was likewise the best possible choice; and it startled me when I immediately recognized the place (THAT PLACE!!) as LOVELESS Avenue, where that Genesis Study Group fan used to hang out seven years prior...

Alright, I'll stop ranting here. As is quite evident, I love love love love this game. It builds on, adds to, and sometimes surpasses the RPG masterpiece it is based on. Zack's character fully fleshed out is an extraordinary addition to the FF VII universe. I have no trouble believing that had Zack not died, it would have been him facing off against Sephiroth in FF VII proper. Oh, remake Final Fantasy VII. Please. My PS3 begs for it.

Labels: games

[ 17:27 ] :: [ 0 have commented ]

Friday, June 20, 2008

Escaflowne-fan Ego Massage


ESCAFLOWNE PWNS ALL OTHER ANIMES!1!!111111!! ANSWERMAN SAYS SO!1!!

quote: 4. Even after all these years, I still hold up Escaflowne as the best anime TV series I've ever seen.

*kekeke*

Labels: anime/manga

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Tuesday, June 17, 2008

The World Ends With You

Just finished this game which has been eating up my life. By finished I mean I got the secret ending and everything. This is really a fantastic game! It's the full Square-Enix RPG experience on the DS, with angsty protagonist, interesting message, funky music and all. Props to Jyongri for the excellent ending, sung in perfect English (it's apparent she's fluent in both English and Japanese ^_^).

And the battle system is a lot faster-paced and exciting, than say, FFXII Revenant Wings (which was good in its own way I guess, but my battle strategies often seemed to involve overpowered enemies chasing my party around the map all the time...). I really enjoyed the battle system, so much that I grossly overleveled quite early and always played at least 20 levels below my maximum. Some battle commands I could never get to work though, like the "scratching" thing, and the "shout into the microphone" thing. The "blow into the microphone" pins were quite fun and powerful though.


Okay, spoilers follow.

...

About the ending, at first I was confused. Was Neku back in the game or not? Frantically searching the message boards gave me an answer, which on hindsight was quite obvious. The picture of when Neku wakes up in the middle of the scramble is different in the ending. Usually, like in weeks 1-3, people are walking past him, passing him by as he lies there looking up. But in the ending, people are actually standing in a ring around him. So I guess at that point he really did return to life (and immediately embarassed himself by yelling "what the hell" in the middle of a crowd >_<), and 7 days later (after the cops were through with interrogating him), he just happened to meet up with Beat, Rhyme and Shiki.

The secret ending wasn't really much; just some eye-candy I guess, of the Composer's true form and of Hanekoma's wings. I still think unfeathered Reaper wings look better though.


////// END Spoilers.


All in all, a very well-done game which fully utilizes the DS. I would heartily recommend this to any RPG fan. Recently I've been playing lots of DS games, since it's so convenient and I don't need to hog the tv/disturb everyone when I'm playing. A few weeks ago I got myself a PSP as well, so now another handheld console can vie for my attention. I guess my next conquest will be Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core on the PSP (another Square-Enix RPG!!! They really are the king of RPG), which I plan to start once I've done some reading. Some of the library books in my room I've had for close to six months now...

Labels: games

[ 19:59 ] :: [ 0 have commented ]

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Sad day for PS3 owners...

... Who also happen to be RPG fans (at this point I'm going to equate the two). Though Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII are purportedly being released sometime this century for the PS3, mostly it is the Xbox 360 which has had all the RPG love. Blue Dragon doesn't look like something I want to attempt, but Lost Odyssey. Oh, I was all over the trailers for that and I still listen to the lovely soundtrack composed by Nobuo Uematsu, but my lack of a 360 stings badly. And now Namco and Square Enix are primed to head into 360-exclusive territory.

I guess I was optimistic at first, when Namco said they were porting Eternal Sonata (Trusty Bell - Chopin no Yume) to the PS3. Added content and streamlined gameplay ftw. BUT then Namco had to rain on my parade by correcting themselves. Apparently the PS3 version of Eternal Sonata is Japan-only. Well fine. No Chopin for me.

More trouble came with Namco's annoucement of Tales of Vesperia, which is going 360-exclusive. For now. I'm not that big a fan of the Tales series ( by which I mean I have only played, oh, Phantasia, Destiny, Eternia, Legendia and Abyss, which is a long list but still misses some spinoffs/entries like Symphonia >_< ). And even if Vesperia does get ported to the PS3, which it likely will, it may end up a Japan-only release like Eternal Sonata. Namco does seem to be overly fond of Japan-only Playstation ports - it seems Tales of Symphonia set a trend.

But the final nail in the battered PS3 coffin came today, with the annoucement of not one, but THREE 360 exclusive/timed-exclusive Square-Enix RPGs, namely Infinite Undiscovery, The Last Remnant and Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope. While none of these are Final Fantasies, still, I need something to do before I can try my hand at this or that. And come to think of it, even the FF13s may end up being ported to the 360.

Let's talk through them one by one. Infinite Undiscovery was announced quite a while back, and thus I've been able to accept that it will never run on a PS3, in Japan or otherwise. The trailer for IU doesn't really look all that groundbreaking. Actually, it looks quite like a watered-down Last Remnant. It's a bit sad when the hero has to do the same attack twice in, what, 3 battle sequences? So not too sad about passing this one up.

Next though, is the promising Last Remnant, which is slated for simultaneous worldwide release on 360 only. So maybe a few months later it will meekly pop out on the PS3. Again, not so sad about this one. If I can wait X number of years for FF XIII, I can wait a few months for the PS3 version of this game. Although the possibility that it might run choppily on the PS3 due to compatibility issues with the Unreal Engine 3 does somewhat concern me. Hopefully there won't be any game-breaking problems.

But Star Ocean 4? Despite the quite horrendous character designs, I badly want to play this game. I quite enjoyed Star Ocean 2 and thoroughly loved combo-ing my way through Star Ocean 3. And the lovely trailer! The stunning screenshots (though probably pre-rendered)! The heady mix of sci-fi and fantasy is just right up my alley. But apparently SO4 is only going to the 360 - for now. Tri-Ace "may or may not" port it to the PS3.

So, as much as it pains me and my wallet, sometime later this year I will likely be forking over some cash to get myself a 360, which I will break in with Lost Odyssey. Final Fantasy aside, it seems many more big-name RPGs will come out on the 360 than on the PS3. And well, FF is probably not even coming out till 2-3 years in the future. The thing is, I'm not really a 360 hater. I didn't buy a 360 mainly because Final Fantasy XIII is really the be-all and end-all of my console-purchasing decision, and at the time it seemed FF XIII would only be on the PS3. Also, I've heard terrible things about the hardware: loud machine noises, a tacky white box and the infamous "red ring" problem. Not to mention anal region-locking of games, which the PS3 doesn't have. I'm also a bit of a cheapskate, so I will not be forking over for the Gold subscription after the free pass(es) expire. I mean, excuse me, but I require money for other things too >_<.

In related news, I've finished blazing through the four Gyakuten Saiban games. I have to say I really enjoyed the last two the most (being Phoenix's last game and the introduction of Apollo). Spoilers follow behind the link:

Phoenix Wright and Apollo Justice ranting


Phoenix Wright 3 seemed to be one big treat for fans of the the first two games. It was refreshing to play as Mia, and for the first time the different cases seemed to tie into each other. And that section with Edgeworth and his "psycholocks" was priceless!

Apollo Justice, on the other hand... At first glance there seemed to be something rather off about the game. Well, Apollo's hairdo reminds me of a cross between a rabbit and a rooster. The new prosecutor holds not a candle to Edgey-poo, and Phoenix Wright is a piano-playing wino (grape juice my foot)! Yet by the time the bad guy got his comeuppance in the final case, somehow I'd gotten used to seeing Phoenix in his Papa cap. I also rather liked the way, like in Trials and Tribulations, most of the cases turned out to be related to each other, in quite surprising ways. Apollo's kinetic vision is also quite fun, though the difficulty was uneven - although for one case I needed to consult a FAQ, the rest were all dead easy. All in all, I was impressed by the upgrade in graphics quality and in music. The new cast is promising, but at the same time it was heartwarming to see familiar faces again. I guess the series really did need to move on - although I hope Edgeworth gets a cameo in the next entry. *crosses fingers*

Labels: games

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