So, this was initially started as a game blog to discuss and share my interests in gaming, but I do venture off into other fields every now and then. As you can see from the list below, my interest is primarily over video games, but this isn't to say that I don't find interest in other things, such as watching movies or television shows or in reading completed works by other people. Often, I don't see the ability to share what I think of the subject as fitting more than a paragraph or two, and that would make this seem like Tumblr or something else if I just did that repeatedly.
Games:
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
Mixed-Up Mother Goose
Citizens of Earth
Laura Bow: The Colonel's Bequest
Chibi-Robo!
Lost Odyssey
Child of Light
Laura Bow: The Dagger of Amon Ra
Tales of Monkey Island, episodes 1 through 4
Dead Rising
Infinite Undiscovery
Broken Age
.hack
.hack//G.U.
The Blackwell Legacy
Blackwell Unbound
Blackwell Convergence
Blackwell Deception
Blackwell Epiphany
The Guided Fate Paradox
Ar Tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel
One Piece: Pirate Warriors (series)
Rule of Rose
Movies:
Big Hero 6
Writing:
The Demon Tower
Hanna's Departure
This list isn't actually something to brag about, because I've got plenty of games that I've yet to cover and I want to try and make the information a bit more diverse. That being said, it is rather hard to think of different things to venture into some times. This is more of an update than anything else, but I will at least make sure I keep back up on my idea of making this more frequent. I might need to flag that there will be spoilers somewhere in the common part of the page so I don't have to worry about writing it later.
Thursday, September 17, 2015
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
Turn the Page: Lost Odyssey
Lost Odyssey, one of the exclusive games for the XBox 360, had this nifty little side feature called the Thousand Years of Dreams. I did a review for it for April 9th (see here), but I think this deserves a bit of a mention on its own.
Title: He Who Journeys Eternity: Lost Odyssey
Author: Kiyoshi Shigematsu
Let me just start by saying that many of these will tug at your heart, should you have one and can find the depth in the words. The stories were initially written in Japanese for the original release of the game, so Jay Rubin handled translating it for the localized release here in North America. I cannot speak of the quality of the original version, but there is emotion detailed in each of the stories, a moral to many in similar ways to Aesop's Fables. In fact, I think you would do well to read/hear the first: Hanna's Departure.
Video: https://youtu.be/ArPH1YGhV1g
Transcript:
~~
The family members have tears in their eyes when they welcome Kaim back to the inn from his long journey.
"Thank you so much for coming."
He understands the situation immediately.
The time for departure is drawing near.
Too soon, too soon.
But still, he knows, this day would have come sometime, and not in the distant future.
"I might never see you again," she said to him with a sad smile when he left on this journey, her smiling face almost transparent in its whiteness, so fragile—and therefore indescribably beautiful—as she lay in bed.
"May I see Hanna now?" he asks.
The innkeeper gives him a tiny nod and says, "I don't think she'll know who you are, though."
"She hasn't opened her eyes since last night," he warns Kaim. You can tell from the slight movement of her chest that she is clinging to a frail thread of life, but it could snap at any moment.
"It's such a shame. I know you made a special point to come here for her..."
Another tear glides down the wife's cheek.
"Never mind, it's fine." Kaim says.
He has been present at innumerable deaths, and his experience has taught him much.
Death takes away the power of speech first of all. Then the ability to see.
What remains alive to the very end, however, is the power to hear. Even though the person has lost consciousness, it is by no means unusual for the voices of the family to bring forth smiles or tears.
Kaim puts his arm around the woman's shoulder and says, "I have lots of travel stories to tell her. I've been looking forward to this my whole time on the road."
Instead of smiling, the woman releases another large tear and nods to Kaim, "And Hanna was so looking forward to hear your stories."
Her sobs almost drown out her words.
The innkeeper says, "I wish I could urge you to rest up from your travels before you see her, but..."
Kaim interrupts his apologies, "Of course I'll see her right away."
There is very little time left.
Hanna, the only daughter of the innkeeper and his wife, will probably breathe her last before the sun comes up.
Kaim lowers his pack to the floor and quietly opens the door to Hanna's room.
Hanna was frail from birth. Far from enjoying the opportunity to travel, she rarely left the town or even the neighborhood in which she was born and raised.
This child will probably not live to adulthood, the doctor told her parents.
This tiny girl, with extraordinarily beautiful doll-like features, the gods had dealt an all-too-sad destiny.
That they had allowed her to be born the only daughter of the keepers of a small inn by the highway was perhaps one small act of atonement for such iniquity.
Hanna was unable to go anywhere, but the guests who stayed at her parent’s inn would tell her stories of the countries and towns and landscapes and people that she would never know.
Whenever new guests arrived at the inn, Hanna would ask them,
"Where are you from?" "Where are you going?"
"Can you tell me a story?"
She would sit and listen to their stories with sparkling eyes, urging them on to new episodes with "And then? And then?" When they left the inn, she would beg them, "Please come back, and tell me lots and lots of stories about faraway countries!"
She would stand there waving until the person disappeared far down the highway, give one lonely sigh, and go back to bed.
Hanna is sound asleep.
No one else is in the room, perhaps an indication that she has long since passed the stage when the doctors can do anything for her.
Kaim sits down in the chair next to the bed and says with a smile.
"Hello, Hanna, I’m back."
She does not respond. Her little chest, still without the swelling of a grown woman, rises and falls almost imperceptibly.
"I went far across the ocean this time," he tells her. "The ocean on the side where the sun comes up. I took a boat from the harbor way way way far beyond the mountains you can see from this window, and I was on the sea from the time the moon was perfectly round till it got smaller and smaller then bigger and bigger until it was full again. There was nothing but ocean as far as the eye could see. Just the sea and the sky. Can you imagine it, Hanna? You’ve never seen the ocean, but I’m sure people have told you about it. It’s like a huge, big endless puddle."
Kaim chuckles to himself, and it seems to him that Hanna’s pale white cheek moves slightly.
She can hear him. Even if she cannot speak or see, her ears are still alive.
Believing and hoping this to be true, Kaim continues with the story of his travels.
He speaks no words of parting.
As always with Hanna, Kaim smiles with a special gentleness he has never shown to anyone else, and he goes on telling his tales with a bright voice, sometimes even accompanying his story with exaggerated gestures.
He tells her about the blue ocean.
He tells her about the blue sky.
He says nothing about the violent sea battle that stained the ocean red.
He never tells her about those things.
Hanna was still a tiny girl when Kaim first visited the inn.
When she asked him "Where are you from?" and "Will you tell me some stories?" with her childish pronunciation and innocent smile, Kaim felt soft glow in his chest.
At the time, he was returning from a battle.
More precisely, he had ended one battle and was on his way to the next.
His life consisted of traveling from one battlefield to another, and nothing about that has changed to this day.
He has taken the lives of countless enemy troops, and witnessed the deaths of countless comrades on the battlefield. Moreover, the only thing separating enemies from comrades is the slightest stroke of fortune. Had the gears of destiny turned in a slightly different way, his enemies would have been comrades and his comrades enemies, This is the fate of the mercenary.
He was spiritually worn down back then and feeling unbearably lonely. As a possessor of eternal life, Kaim had no fear of death, which was precisely why each of the soldier’s faces distorted in fear, and why each face of a man who died in agony was burned permanently into his brain.
Ordinarily, he would spend nights on the road drinking. Immersing himself in an alcoholic stupor—or pretending to. He was trying to make himself forget the unforgettable.
When, however, he saw Hanna’s smile and begged him for stories about his long journey, he felt a far warmer and deeper comfort then he could even obtain from liquor.
He told her many things...
About the beautiful flower he discovered on the battlefield.
About the bewitching beauty of the mist filling the forest the night before the final battle.
About the marvelous taste of the spring water in a ravine where he and his men had fled after losing the battle.
About a vast, bottomless blue sky he saw after battle.
He never told her anything sad. He kept his mouth shut about the human ugliness and stupidity he witnessed endlessly on the battlefield. He concealed his position as a mercenary for her, kept silent regarding his reasons for traveling constantly, and spoke only of things that were beautiful and sweet and lovely. He sees now that he told Hanna only beautiful stories of the road like this not so much out of concern for her purity, but for his own sake.
Staying in the inn where Hanna waited to see him turned out to be one of Kaim’s small pleasures in life. Telling her about the memories he brought back from his journeys, he felt some degree of salvation, however slight. Five years, ten years, his friendship with the girl continued. Little by little, she neared adulthood, which meant that, as the doctors had predicted, each day brought her that much closer to death.
And now, Kaim ends the last travel story he will share with her.
He can never see her again, can never tell her stories again.
Before dawn, when the darkness of night is at its deepest, long pauses enter into Hanna’s breathing.
The frail thread of her life is about to snap as Kaim and her parents watch over her.
The tiny light that has lodged in Kaim’s breast will be extinguished.
His lonely travels will begin again tomorrow—his long, long travels without end.
"You’ll be leaving on travels of your own soon, Hanna." Kaim tells her gently.
"You’ll be leaving for a world that no one knows, a world that has never entered into any of the stories you have heard so far. Finally, you will be able to leave your bed and walk anywhere you want to go. You’ll be free."
He wants her to know that death is not sorrow but a joy mixed with tears.
"It’s your turn now. Be sure and tell everyone about the memories of your journey."
Her parents will make that same journey someday. And someday Hanna will be able to meet all the guests she has known at the inn, far beyond the sky.
I, however, can never go there.
I can never escape this world.
I can never see you again.
"This is not goodbye. It’s just the start of your journey."
He speaks his final words to her.
"We’ll meet again."
His final lie to her.
Hanna makes her departure.
Her face is transfused with a tranquil smile as if she has just said,
"See you soon."
Her eyes will never open again. A single tear glides slowly down her cheek.
End
~~
Title: He Who Journeys Eternity: Lost Odyssey
Author: Kiyoshi Shigematsu
Let me just start by saying that many of these will tug at your heart, should you have one and can find the depth in the words. The stories were initially written in Japanese for the original release of the game, so Jay Rubin handled translating it for the localized release here in North America. I cannot speak of the quality of the original version, but there is emotion detailed in each of the stories, a moral to many in similar ways to Aesop's Fables. In fact, I think you would do well to read/hear the first: Hanna's Departure.
Video: https://youtu.be/ArPH1YGhV1g
Transcript:
~~
The family members have tears in their eyes when they welcome Kaim back to the inn from his long journey.
"Thank you so much for coming."
He understands the situation immediately.
The time for departure is drawing near.
Too soon, too soon.
But still, he knows, this day would have come sometime, and not in the distant future.
"I might never see you again," she said to him with a sad smile when he left on this journey, her smiling face almost transparent in its whiteness, so fragile—and therefore indescribably beautiful—as she lay in bed.
"May I see Hanna now?" he asks.
The innkeeper gives him a tiny nod and says, "I don't think she'll know who you are, though."
"She hasn't opened her eyes since last night," he warns Kaim. You can tell from the slight movement of her chest that she is clinging to a frail thread of life, but it could snap at any moment.
"It's such a shame. I know you made a special point to come here for her..."
Another tear glides down the wife's cheek.
"Never mind, it's fine." Kaim says.
He has been present at innumerable deaths, and his experience has taught him much.
Death takes away the power of speech first of all. Then the ability to see.
What remains alive to the very end, however, is the power to hear. Even though the person has lost consciousness, it is by no means unusual for the voices of the family to bring forth smiles or tears.
Kaim puts his arm around the woman's shoulder and says, "I have lots of travel stories to tell her. I've been looking forward to this my whole time on the road."
Instead of smiling, the woman releases another large tear and nods to Kaim, "And Hanna was so looking forward to hear your stories."
Her sobs almost drown out her words.
The innkeeper says, "I wish I could urge you to rest up from your travels before you see her, but..."
Kaim interrupts his apologies, "Of course I'll see her right away."
There is very little time left.
Hanna, the only daughter of the innkeeper and his wife, will probably breathe her last before the sun comes up.
Kaim lowers his pack to the floor and quietly opens the door to Hanna's room.
Hanna was frail from birth. Far from enjoying the opportunity to travel, she rarely left the town or even the neighborhood in which she was born and raised.
This child will probably not live to adulthood, the doctor told her parents.
This tiny girl, with extraordinarily beautiful doll-like features, the gods had dealt an all-too-sad destiny.
That they had allowed her to be born the only daughter of the keepers of a small inn by the highway was perhaps one small act of atonement for such iniquity.
Hanna was unable to go anywhere, but the guests who stayed at her parent’s inn would tell her stories of the countries and towns and landscapes and people that she would never know.
Whenever new guests arrived at the inn, Hanna would ask them,
"Where are you from?" "Where are you going?"
"Can you tell me a story?"
She would sit and listen to their stories with sparkling eyes, urging them on to new episodes with "And then? And then?" When they left the inn, she would beg them, "Please come back, and tell me lots and lots of stories about faraway countries!"
She would stand there waving until the person disappeared far down the highway, give one lonely sigh, and go back to bed.
Hanna is sound asleep.
No one else is in the room, perhaps an indication that she has long since passed the stage when the doctors can do anything for her.
Kaim sits down in the chair next to the bed and says with a smile.
"Hello, Hanna, I’m back."
She does not respond. Her little chest, still without the swelling of a grown woman, rises and falls almost imperceptibly.
"I went far across the ocean this time," he tells her. "The ocean on the side where the sun comes up. I took a boat from the harbor way way way far beyond the mountains you can see from this window, and I was on the sea from the time the moon was perfectly round till it got smaller and smaller then bigger and bigger until it was full again. There was nothing but ocean as far as the eye could see. Just the sea and the sky. Can you imagine it, Hanna? You’ve never seen the ocean, but I’m sure people have told you about it. It’s like a huge, big endless puddle."
Kaim chuckles to himself, and it seems to him that Hanna’s pale white cheek moves slightly.
She can hear him. Even if she cannot speak or see, her ears are still alive.
Believing and hoping this to be true, Kaim continues with the story of his travels.
He speaks no words of parting.
As always with Hanna, Kaim smiles with a special gentleness he has never shown to anyone else, and he goes on telling his tales with a bright voice, sometimes even accompanying his story with exaggerated gestures.
He tells her about the blue ocean.
He tells her about the blue sky.
He says nothing about the violent sea battle that stained the ocean red.
He never tells her about those things.
Hanna was still a tiny girl when Kaim first visited the inn.
When she asked him "Where are you from?" and "Will you tell me some stories?" with her childish pronunciation and innocent smile, Kaim felt soft glow in his chest.
At the time, he was returning from a battle.
More precisely, he had ended one battle and was on his way to the next.
His life consisted of traveling from one battlefield to another, and nothing about that has changed to this day.
He has taken the lives of countless enemy troops, and witnessed the deaths of countless comrades on the battlefield. Moreover, the only thing separating enemies from comrades is the slightest stroke of fortune. Had the gears of destiny turned in a slightly different way, his enemies would have been comrades and his comrades enemies, This is the fate of the mercenary.
He was spiritually worn down back then and feeling unbearably lonely. As a possessor of eternal life, Kaim had no fear of death, which was precisely why each of the soldier’s faces distorted in fear, and why each face of a man who died in agony was burned permanently into his brain.
Ordinarily, he would spend nights on the road drinking. Immersing himself in an alcoholic stupor—or pretending to. He was trying to make himself forget the unforgettable.
When, however, he saw Hanna’s smile and begged him for stories about his long journey, he felt a far warmer and deeper comfort then he could even obtain from liquor.
He told her many things...
About the beautiful flower he discovered on the battlefield.
About the bewitching beauty of the mist filling the forest the night before the final battle.
About the marvelous taste of the spring water in a ravine where he and his men had fled after losing the battle.
About a vast, bottomless blue sky he saw after battle.
He never told her anything sad. He kept his mouth shut about the human ugliness and stupidity he witnessed endlessly on the battlefield. He concealed his position as a mercenary for her, kept silent regarding his reasons for traveling constantly, and spoke only of things that were beautiful and sweet and lovely. He sees now that he told Hanna only beautiful stories of the road like this not so much out of concern for her purity, but for his own sake.
Staying in the inn where Hanna waited to see him turned out to be one of Kaim’s small pleasures in life. Telling her about the memories he brought back from his journeys, he felt some degree of salvation, however slight. Five years, ten years, his friendship with the girl continued. Little by little, she neared adulthood, which meant that, as the doctors had predicted, each day brought her that much closer to death.
And now, Kaim ends the last travel story he will share with her.
He can never see her again, can never tell her stories again.
Before dawn, when the darkness of night is at its deepest, long pauses enter into Hanna’s breathing.
The frail thread of her life is about to snap as Kaim and her parents watch over her.
The tiny light that has lodged in Kaim’s breast will be extinguished.
His lonely travels will begin again tomorrow—his long, long travels without end.
"You’ll be leaving on travels of your own soon, Hanna." Kaim tells her gently.
"You’ll be leaving for a world that no one knows, a world that has never entered into any of the stories you have heard so far. Finally, you will be able to leave your bed and walk anywhere you want to go. You’ll be free."
He wants her to know that death is not sorrow but a joy mixed with tears.
"It’s your turn now. Be sure and tell everyone about the memories of your journey."
Her parents will make that same journey someday. And someday Hanna will be able to meet all the guests she has known at the inn, far beyond the sky.
I, however, can never go there.
I can never escape this world.
I can never see you again.
"This is not goodbye. It’s just the start of your journey."
He speaks his final words to her.
"We’ll meet again."
His final lie to her.
Hanna makes her departure.
Her face is transfused with a tranquil smile as if she has just said,
"See you soon."
Her eyes will never open again. A single tear glides slowly down her cheek.
End
~~
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Press Start: September 2nd, 2015
Title: Rule of Rose
Released: 2006 (January 19th)
https://youtu.be/okABK7DS2aY
So, from the opening video, what would you say this game is about? Young love? A game about orphans trying to make do with what's around them to have a good time? What if I was to tell you that this game is about a girl's descent into a tragic time in her life, filled with nightmarish creatures that bark and lunge at you out for blood, and that who you think should be your friends are your worst enemies in all of this? That is, my friend, what Rule of Rose boils down to.
Story: Jennifer is a young adult traveling by bus at night to some unknown destination. Dozing off in the back, she is approached by a young boy asking her to read a story to her. The story seems incomplete, and when she looks back up for the boy, he's already dashed off the bus that has stopped. In chasing after the boy, she comes across an orphanage that seems empty and is left to investigate as her only ride has driven off without her. But there's more to the orphanage than cobwebs and shadows on this dark night, and Jennifer soon comes to realize this after meeting the building's denizens, masked with paper bags and holding strange ceremonies. They're just kids, but their intentions are far more sinister than you might think as they force Jennifer into a coffin and transport her away from the orphanage.
When she awakens, she finds herself in a zeppelin and finds a comrade in a dog she names Brown. The two of them have to stick together to fend off the pale imps that appear to stalk her through the halls and rooms of the zeppelin, all while adhering to the rules of the "Red Crayon Aristocracy" and uncovering tidbits of Jennifer's past. The game tries its hardest not to give you straight answers to anything that is going on, but Jennifer once dwelt within the walls of the orphanage with these same girls, being treated the exact same way, and it all comes down to her former interactions with the Princess of the Red Rose.
Gameplay: This game came out after Haunting Ground, so you might see some similarities to it in terms of gameplay. One thing that sets the two apart is that Jennifer, unlike Fiona, can equip weapons that she might find throughout the airship to protect herself against the hordes of imps that will come at her. These pale, sickly children with distorted facial features (or sometimes even animal qualities) will stop at hardly nothing to make sure Jennifer succumbs to despair, so sometimes it might be better to run through them. There's no real interface to obscure your view of the game, so you're left to wander in the shadows with Brown, searching for items using the dog's sense of smell. The game is stretched out through requiring the use of Brown to actually do anything in regards to story progression at times, such as finding one item to lead you to another.
Music: One of the haunting features of the game lies in the music. The song that plays during the opening, "A Love Suicide", is one such example trying to capture the time period while still lightly hinting at the story's idea. You won't get to hear much in regards to music while playing, though, other than when you come across a story event (such as fighting some of the special imps that come up), so don't get too used to the atmosphere brought out by the songs and listen more closely to any imps yelling out at you in the distance. You'll be making your home out of the airship, so you best learn as much as you can of the surroundings.
Overall: This game is one of the lesser known gems of the Playstation 2 era. If you like Silent Hill or other survival horror games, you would've done well to have checked this game out. It plays similar to Haunting Ground, as I stated before, but you have less to worry about the stalkers and more about surviving the implings that hop about and cling to you like little kids. If you successfully survive your stay within the airship and back on land in the orphanage, you're treated with a little closure, depending on the ending you get of course.
Released: 2006 (January 19th)
https://youtu.be/okABK7DS2aY
So, from the opening video, what would you say this game is about? Young love? A game about orphans trying to make do with what's around them to have a good time? What if I was to tell you that this game is about a girl's descent into a tragic time in her life, filled with nightmarish creatures that bark and lunge at you out for blood, and that who you think should be your friends are your worst enemies in all of this? That is, my friend, what Rule of Rose boils down to.
Story: Jennifer is a young adult traveling by bus at night to some unknown destination. Dozing off in the back, she is approached by a young boy asking her to read a story to her. The story seems incomplete, and when she looks back up for the boy, he's already dashed off the bus that has stopped. In chasing after the boy, she comes across an orphanage that seems empty and is left to investigate as her only ride has driven off without her. But there's more to the orphanage than cobwebs and shadows on this dark night, and Jennifer soon comes to realize this after meeting the building's denizens, masked with paper bags and holding strange ceremonies. They're just kids, but their intentions are far more sinister than you might think as they force Jennifer into a coffin and transport her away from the orphanage.
When she awakens, she finds herself in a zeppelin and finds a comrade in a dog she names Brown. The two of them have to stick together to fend off the pale imps that appear to stalk her through the halls and rooms of the zeppelin, all while adhering to the rules of the "Red Crayon Aristocracy" and uncovering tidbits of Jennifer's past. The game tries its hardest not to give you straight answers to anything that is going on, but Jennifer once dwelt within the walls of the orphanage with these same girls, being treated the exact same way, and it all comes down to her former interactions with the Princess of the Red Rose.
Gameplay: This game came out after Haunting Ground, so you might see some similarities to it in terms of gameplay. One thing that sets the two apart is that Jennifer, unlike Fiona, can equip weapons that she might find throughout the airship to protect herself against the hordes of imps that will come at her. These pale, sickly children with distorted facial features (or sometimes even animal qualities) will stop at hardly nothing to make sure Jennifer succumbs to despair, so sometimes it might be better to run through them. There's no real interface to obscure your view of the game, so you're left to wander in the shadows with Brown, searching for items using the dog's sense of smell. The game is stretched out through requiring the use of Brown to actually do anything in regards to story progression at times, such as finding one item to lead you to another.
Music: One of the haunting features of the game lies in the music. The song that plays during the opening, "A Love Suicide", is one such example trying to capture the time period while still lightly hinting at the story's idea. You won't get to hear much in regards to music while playing, though, other than when you come across a story event (such as fighting some of the special imps that come up), so don't get too used to the atmosphere brought out by the songs and listen more closely to any imps yelling out at you in the distance. You'll be making your home out of the airship, so you best learn as much as you can of the surroundings.
Overall: This game is one of the lesser known gems of the Playstation 2 era. If you like Silent Hill or other survival horror games, you would've done well to have checked this game out. It plays similar to Haunting Ground, as I stated before, but you have less to worry about the stalkers and more about surviving the implings that hop about and cling to you like little kids. If you successfully survive your stay within the airship and back on land in the orphanage, you're treated with a little closure, depending on the ending you get of course.
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Press Start: August 26th, 2015
Title: One Piece: Pirate Warriors (series includes: the titular One Piece: Pirate Warriors, One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2, and the most recently released One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3)
Released: 2012, 2013, 2015 (respectively)
I'm going to try and find an element that's good and one that's bad for each of the three primary fields so this isn't entirely based on my good thoughts of the game.
(1) Here we have the first entry into the franchise. If you like Dynasty Warriors games by the Koei/Tecmo and Omega-Force team, and/or if you like One Piece, then this game may very well be for you. The first of the series ends up playing off of some of the story itself, leading from the very beginning of Luffy setting out on his journey to become the Pirate King up to Marineford and Sabaody. Of course, by the time you finish the game, you might already have the events ingrained into your mind for having to play them several times for each character's Main Log. It doesn't provide much in terms of replay value once you've completed the Main Log, however you must repeat this process of running through the logs for some of the trophies.
(2) This is where it starts to get all shades of f'd up. Instead of following along with the prime material, this game introduces it as a Dream Scenario. All of the characters you may come to know through the main setting of the anime and manga are thrown out of order. While their roles may still be the same, such as Eneru being the Logia god of Skypiea, or Gecko Moria being the ruler of Thriller Bark, we throw in a dash of craziness when some dials found in a military facility changes things up for Luffy, thrusting him into a power struggle between the Pirates, the Warlords, and the Marines that encompasses familiar stages to the previous game such as Orange Town and Marineford and throws in a few new places such as Thriller Bark, Punk Hazard, and Skypiea.
The story does have a bit of flaws to it as you can't necessarily take it at face value as being something random. If anything, it is on a random flight from the Marines that the Straw Hats are then thrust into visiting Skypiea once more and starts them down this spiral into darkness. I'm a bit lost, personally, as to how this would even fit into the actual timeline, other than knowing that it would be somewhere past the time skip at Sabaody Archipelago because of the character differences. I do enjoy the different choices of stages this time around, but it does sometime seem a bit overwhelming to have so much to do in one stage early on that you might miss out on some of the conversations when having to stop an officer or two from killing an objective officer of your own.
(3) At the time of writing this, I haven't had much time to play this entry. It just came out yesterday, after all, for the English audience. However, I must say, everything that was slightly problematic about the previous versions are refined and added on to in this entry. Sure, it starts out following the main scenario given from the anime/manga, but it extends it to encompass the entire stage with the epic battles. I've played through the Prologue and Chapter One of the Main Log and I am definitely enjoying the effort they've put in to this game, with the increase in enemies surrounding you, the objectives and "treasure events" in each stage, and getting to beat familiar foes like Buggy and including new old faces like Kuro, Axe-hand Morgan, and Alvida.
That being said, the coin interface for upgrading your character stats does seem a bit misleading and unfortunate. Compared to the previous games, the coin listing for this game is very short. Due to this, you acquire several numbers of coins during a single stage and must spend them by socketing them into the character's stat sheet. Once all of the coins being requested for one stat has been satisfied, you get the desired increase and a new set is given to you. To me, it is taking the primary setting from OP:PW1, complicating it a little, and then giving it the guise of the coin set-up from PW2, where you had to chain coins together to get an increase in the main stats (attack, defense, and life). In this one, you actually have to spend the coins to unlock special gauge, limit break, and skill slots, which does make it a lot more tedious than I first expected.
(1) (2) (3) Meanwhile, the music stays consist and rather mis-matching to the One Piece franchise, yet makes perfect sense in the theme of Dynasty Warriors using rock themes. That's not saying that it isn't catchy, but it definitely doesn't match what you would normally expect for the One Piece anime/manga (especially when you compare it TO the anime music). I'd have to say that the series as a whole definitely does a good job of keeping me personally entertained. As a whole, you can at least play as some of your favorite OP characters and whop on a few others, Dynasty Warriors style, and enjoy yourself. Just don't burn yourself out too much, as is possible when you get around to playing it repeatedly for some of the more elusive trophies. If you don't play for trophies, then you have nothing to worry about!
Released: 2012, 2013, 2015 (respectively)
I'm going to try and find an element that's good and one that's bad for each of the three primary fields so this isn't entirely based on my good thoughts of the game.
(1) Here we have the first entry into the franchise. If you like Dynasty Warriors games by the Koei/Tecmo and Omega-Force team, and/or if you like One Piece, then this game may very well be for you. The first of the series ends up playing off of some of the story itself, leading from the very beginning of Luffy setting out on his journey to become the Pirate King up to Marineford and Sabaody. Of course, by the time you finish the game, you might already have the events ingrained into your mind for having to play them several times for each character's Main Log. It doesn't provide much in terms of replay value once you've completed the Main Log, however you must repeat this process of running through the logs for some of the trophies.
(2) This is where it starts to get all shades of f'd up. Instead of following along with the prime material, this game introduces it as a Dream Scenario. All of the characters you may come to know through the main setting of the anime and manga are thrown out of order. While their roles may still be the same, such as Eneru being the Logia god of Skypiea, or Gecko Moria being the ruler of Thriller Bark, we throw in a dash of craziness when some dials found in a military facility changes things up for Luffy, thrusting him into a power struggle between the Pirates, the Warlords, and the Marines that encompasses familiar stages to the previous game such as Orange Town and Marineford and throws in a few new places such as Thriller Bark, Punk Hazard, and Skypiea.
The story does have a bit of flaws to it as you can't necessarily take it at face value as being something random. If anything, it is on a random flight from the Marines that the Straw Hats are then thrust into visiting Skypiea once more and starts them down this spiral into darkness. I'm a bit lost, personally, as to how this would even fit into the actual timeline, other than knowing that it would be somewhere past the time skip at Sabaody Archipelago because of the character differences. I do enjoy the different choices of stages this time around, but it does sometime seem a bit overwhelming to have so much to do in one stage early on that you might miss out on some of the conversations when having to stop an officer or two from killing an objective officer of your own.
(3) At the time of writing this, I haven't had much time to play this entry. It just came out yesterday, after all, for the English audience. However, I must say, everything that was slightly problematic about the previous versions are refined and added on to in this entry. Sure, it starts out following the main scenario given from the anime/manga, but it extends it to encompass the entire stage with the epic battles. I've played through the Prologue and Chapter One of the Main Log and I am definitely enjoying the effort they've put in to this game, with the increase in enemies surrounding you, the objectives and "treasure events" in each stage, and getting to beat familiar foes like Buggy and including new old faces like Kuro, Axe-hand Morgan, and Alvida.
That being said, the coin interface for upgrading your character stats does seem a bit misleading and unfortunate. Compared to the previous games, the coin listing for this game is very short. Due to this, you acquire several numbers of coins during a single stage and must spend them by socketing them into the character's stat sheet. Once all of the coins being requested for one stat has been satisfied, you get the desired increase and a new set is given to you. To me, it is taking the primary setting from OP:PW1, complicating it a little, and then giving it the guise of the coin set-up from PW2, where you had to chain coins together to get an increase in the main stats (attack, defense, and life). In this one, you actually have to spend the coins to unlock special gauge, limit break, and skill slots, which does make it a lot more tedious than I first expected.
(1) (2) (3) Meanwhile, the music stays consist and rather mis-matching to the One Piece franchise, yet makes perfect sense in the theme of Dynasty Warriors using rock themes. That's not saying that it isn't catchy, but it definitely doesn't match what you would normally expect for the One Piece anime/manga (especially when you compare it TO the anime music). I'd have to say that the series as a whole definitely does a good job of keeping me personally entertained. As a whole, you can at least play as some of your favorite OP characters and whop on a few others, Dynasty Warriors style, and enjoy yourself. Just don't burn yourself out too much, as is possible when you get around to playing it repeatedly for some of the more elusive trophies. If you don't play for trophies, then you have nothing to worry about!
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Press Start: August 19th, 2015
Title: Ar Tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel
Released: 2011
Let me start by saying this was one of the primary reasons for getting a Playstation 3, for me. This and Ni no Kuni were exclusive to the Sony console, and given my interest in them well before they were completed, I had to get them. I am not disappointed one bit by the choice, either!
Story: Sol Cluster is the home of the third tower, the Tower of Tyria, and is under constant control of the Clustanian Army, an all-Reyvateil force that feels themselves superior to the humans and exerts their ideals on them. Aoto, a young man, rescues a girl named Saki from the Clustanian forces and finds himself embroiled within the war not solely over the two factions, but for the world itself. The sub-title "Knell of Ar Ciel" alludes to the final vestiges of life for the planet below the three towers of this world and that this is the conclusion of the trilogy. The Reyvateil Saki is also joined in their group with another by the name of Finnel, and throughout Aoto's journey, he comes to find that there are other Reyvateils working in the shadows to aid and, equally, impede him.
As with the previous games, there are gap points where your actions can either stop the story abruptly or let you continue through all four phases, which is where the real story lies. Through the phases, we come to see Aoto overcome the hardships placed before him and his comrades and make all of the Sol Cluster better for Reyvateils and humans alike, all while facing the antibody/virus threat from the world beneath the Sea of Death.
Gameplay: This is the first in the trilogy for the PS3, and also the first in a 3D style. As such, the battle system has been reworked into something similar to the roaming arena style that you'd find in a Star Ocean game (definitely much more similar to the PS2 entry Till the End of Time, as reference). Despite this, the combat is still rather lax, and you will spend more of your time mashing the square button for basic attacks than anything else. The magic in the battle lies in the Reyvateils and their Song Magic, which you can amplify through your strikes to synchronize her heart beat. The beauty of this is that, in order to increase the potency of the song and add additional effects, you must Purge her clothing in three different layers. Yeah, I know, it's weird to read that bit, but when you take into account that this is also a dating simulation game as well as an RPG, it makes a bit more sense (not a whole lot, but a bit). When they are ready to Purge, you hold one of the four shoulder buttons and then give the Six-Axis controller a shake.
Grathmelding (crafting) and Cosmosphere Dives (dating sim stories) return as staples to the series. Instead of installing Grathnode crystals into the Reyvateils to power up their abilities, you are only allowed to install Hyumas (the little Song Magic chibis from the previous games) based on the Install level you've gotten each Reyvateil up to. In this way, you can install higher level Hyuma to them, increasing their capabilities when you Purge that specific element.
Music: One thing that really makes this series stand out even further in the RPG library is the use of songs in the story. Reyvateils are what I would classify as modified female humans, and while the story goes more in-depth for the Reyvateils in the Sol Cluster to state that they're bred and incubated in tubes, the fact remains that they are modified to be able to share their feelings through physical form by singing. The magic that they unleash through their songs convey their feelings as well as exhibit such a strong destructive force that they shouldn't be taken lightly. Examples of the power of emotion can be heard in the following songs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUPO1rXQcZs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeSUaKHRz44
Overall: It is a fitting end to the trilogy, but it still feels like there are some parts that they could've at least done a bit differently. For one, Grathmelding is still a nuisance as ever, but I think that's also if you understand that this is coming from the same concept as the Atelier serial, where alchemy is the primary focus and everything else secondary. I did like the characters, and only after watching Madoka Magica and then resuming the game with three-quarters of it complete did I realize that they used one of the voice actresses for both Kyubey in MM and Harvestasha for this game. That was definitely a surprise to me, but I should be used to this with the common voices in the English dub community. Now, to re-play it for the remaining endings and trophies before I move on to the prequel game, Ar nosurge: Ode to a Newborn Star (also for the PS3).
Released: 2011
Let me start by saying this was one of the primary reasons for getting a Playstation 3, for me. This and Ni no Kuni were exclusive to the Sony console, and given my interest in them well before they were completed, I had to get them. I am not disappointed one bit by the choice, either!
Story: Sol Cluster is the home of the third tower, the Tower of Tyria, and is under constant control of the Clustanian Army, an all-Reyvateil force that feels themselves superior to the humans and exerts their ideals on them. Aoto, a young man, rescues a girl named Saki from the Clustanian forces and finds himself embroiled within the war not solely over the two factions, but for the world itself. The sub-title "Knell of Ar Ciel" alludes to the final vestiges of life for the planet below the three towers of this world and that this is the conclusion of the trilogy. The Reyvateil Saki is also joined in their group with another by the name of Finnel, and throughout Aoto's journey, he comes to find that there are other Reyvateils working in the shadows to aid and, equally, impede him.
As with the previous games, there are gap points where your actions can either stop the story abruptly or let you continue through all four phases, which is where the real story lies. Through the phases, we come to see Aoto overcome the hardships placed before him and his comrades and make all of the Sol Cluster better for Reyvateils and humans alike, all while facing the antibody/virus threat from the world beneath the Sea of Death.
Gameplay: This is the first in the trilogy for the PS3, and also the first in a 3D style. As such, the battle system has been reworked into something similar to the roaming arena style that you'd find in a Star Ocean game (definitely much more similar to the PS2 entry Till the End of Time, as reference). Despite this, the combat is still rather lax, and you will spend more of your time mashing the square button for basic attacks than anything else. The magic in the battle lies in the Reyvateils and their Song Magic, which you can amplify through your strikes to synchronize her heart beat. The beauty of this is that, in order to increase the potency of the song and add additional effects, you must Purge her clothing in three different layers. Yeah, I know, it's weird to read that bit, but when you take into account that this is also a dating simulation game as well as an RPG, it makes a bit more sense (not a whole lot, but a bit). When they are ready to Purge, you hold one of the four shoulder buttons and then give the Six-Axis controller a shake.
Grathmelding (crafting) and Cosmosphere Dives (dating sim stories) return as staples to the series. Instead of installing Grathnode crystals into the Reyvateils to power up their abilities, you are only allowed to install Hyumas (the little Song Magic chibis from the previous games) based on the Install level you've gotten each Reyvateil up to. In this way, you can install higher level Hyuma to them, increasing their capabilities when you Purge that specific element.
Music: One thing that really makes this series stand out even further in the RPG library is the use of songs in the story. Reyvateils are what I would classify as modified female humans, and while the story goes more in-depth for the Reyvateils in the Sol Cluster to state that they're bred and incubated in tubes, the fact remains that they are modified to be able to share their feelings through physical form by singing. The magic that they unleash through their songs convey their feelings as well as exhibit such a strong destructive force that they shouldn't be taken lightly. Examples of the power of emotion can be heard in the following songs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUPO1rXQcZs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeSUaKHRz44
Overall: It is a fitting end to the trilogy, but it still feels like there are some parts that they could've at least done a bit differently. For one, Grathmelding is still a nuisance as ever, but I think that's also if you understand that this is coming from the same concept as the Atelier serial, where alchemy is the primary focus and everything else secondary. I did like the characters, and only after watching Madoka Magica and then resuming the game with three-quarters of it complete did I realize that they used one of the voice actresses for both Kyubey in MM and Harvestasha for this game. That was definitely a surprise to me, but I should be used to this with the common voices in the English dub community. Now, to re-play it for the remaining endings and trophies before I move on to the prequel game, Ar nosurge: Ode to a Newborn Star (also for the PS3).
Press Start: August 12th, 2015
Summer is drawing to a close for me, but hopefully I shan't neglect my gaming. That's my hope, but who is to really say such a thing until I find out how brutal my classes will be. For now, let's focus on the games, though!
Title: The Guided Fate Paradox
Released: 2013
Story: Renya is an unlucky high school student. He's never won anything in his life and is known for unfortunate things happening to him. This all changed one day when, thanks to a lottery, he won the ultimate prize: to be God. Kidnapped by the angel posing at the lottery attendant, Renya is whisked away to Celestia and given the task of regulating the Fate Revolution Circuit (FRC), a massive machine made by a previous angel to help God handle the numerous wishes and prayers sent to the heavens.
Wow. Just wow. Right off the bat, the main character is given an immense burden, despite how it may seem. We are introduced to the other angels besides the primary assistant, Lilliel; there is Galtion, Rakiel, Kuroiel, Cheriel, Lanael, and the recluse Neliel. Renya's job is to dive into the FRC into the Copy World, a data version of the real world (or Original World) surrounding the person he's granting the wish of. In this way, Renya can defeat enemies in a strategy rpg combat system (similar to a dungeon crawling game like Digimon World 3 or Chocobo's Dungeon) and alter the fate of the believer in the Original World.
Graphics: There's not much of a change between this and other Nippon Ichi games in terms fo character designs. Traditional anime-style characters act as the cast, and while every Copy World is unique, the amount of times you have to dive into one for the Lessons (the game is divided into these much like most of the other games are, like the different maps in Disgaea) can lessen the unique look each world has. The maps of each floor are randomly generated and put together, loaded with items, traps, and monsters and retain the imagery of the Original World's theme.
What I do like is that, in the cutscenes where conversations take place, the portraits of the characters talking gradually change to convey the body language when they're speaking their specific lines. This is something that I usually see with an entirely different image being placed up instead, but this game goes about actually having the character change their pose visually before starting their lines.
Music: While most of the game does have decent music, the one song that really starts to grate on my nerves would be the music you hear when handling the shopkeepers. As with most strategy games handled by NIS, you have the chance to change music, but this only alters what songs are playing while you are in the home base. The main theme, God and the Illusory Garden, which is shown in the beginning video was very nice to listen to, though, so I'll let the other bit slip.
Overall: As you can expect with Nippon Ichi, the game is very underrated by the majority of the American market due to low advertising. But this isn't necessarily something that NIS suffers under: instead, it makes itself known as a niche game developer over here and those who enjoy RPGs or have previously enjoyed other NIS games can be comforted with the fact that it combines mechanics of its previous games while making each stand out. I'm unfortunately only up to the sixth lesson, and it's starting to whip my butt. I was never that great at Chocobo's Dungeon for the Wii because of it resetting everything, so guess I'll see how well I can do when I venture back into it. I do like that the dungeons each have their own theme AND a thematic danger to them. The world of the first lesson is straightforward, and then when you get to the second, it takes on a different approach to the scenery and its mechanics. When you move to the third, the entire map gets a different layout, and this pattern repeats. This definitely makes each map memorable.
Title: The Guided Fate Paradox
Released: 2013
Story: Renya is an unlucky high school student. He's never won anything in his life and is known for unfortunate things happening to him. This all changed one day when, thanks to a lottery, he won the ultimate prize: to be God. Kidnapped by the angel posing at the lottery attendant, Renya is whisked away to Celestia and given the task of regulating the Fate Revolution Circuit (FRC), a massive machine made by a previous angel to help God handle the numerous wishes and prayers sent to the heavens.
Wow. Just wow. Right off the bat, the main character is given an immense burden, despite how it may seem. We are introduced to the other angels besides the primary assistant, Lilliel; there is Galtion, Rakiel, Kuroiel, Cheriel, Lanael, and the recluse Neliel. Renya's job is to dive into the FRC into the Copy World, a data version of the real world (or Original World) surrounding the person he's granting the wish of. In this way, Renya can defeat enemies in a strategy rpg combat system (similar to a dungeon crawling game like Digimon World 3 or Chocobo's Dungeon) and alter the fate of the believer in the Original World.
Graphics: There's not much of a change between this and other Nippon Ichi games in terms fo character designs. Traditional anime-style characters act as the cast, and while every Copy World is unique, the amount of times you have to dive into one for the Lessons (the game is divided into these much like most of the other games are, like the different maps in Disgaea) can lessen the unique look each world has. The maps of each floor are randomly generated and put together, loaded with items, traps, and monsters and retain the imagery of the Original World's theme.
What I do like is that, in the cutscenes where conversations take place, the portraits of the characters talking gradually change to convey the body language when they're speaking their specific lines. This is something that I usually see with an entirely different image being placed up instead, but this game goes about actually having the character change their pose visually before starting their lines.
Music: While most of the game does have decent music, the one song that really starts to grate on my nerves would be the music you hear when handling the shopkeepers. As with most strategy games handled by NIS, you have the chance to change music, but this only alters what songs are playing while you are in the home base. The main theme, God and the Illusory Garden, which is shown in the beginning video was very nice to listen to, though, so I'll let the other bit slip.
Overall: As you can expect with Nippon Ichi, the game is very underrated by the majority of the American market due to low advertising. But this isn't necessarily something that NIS suffers under: instead, it makes itself known as a niche game developer over here and those who enjoy RPGs or have previously enjoyed other NIS games can be comforted with the fact that it combines mechanics of its previous games while making each stand out. I'm unfortunately only up to the sixth lesson, and it's starting to whip my butt. I was never that great at Chocobo's Dungeon for the Wii because of it resetting everything, so guess I'll see how well I can do when I venture back into it. I do like that the dungeons each have their own theme AND a thematic danger to them. The world of the first lesson is straightforward, and then when you get to the second, it takes on a different approach to the scenery and its mechanics. When you move to the third, the entire map gets a different layout, and this pattern repeats. This definitely makes each map memorable.
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Turn the Page: August 5th, 2015
So, time for a new type of blog posting, of sorts. I mean, I have wanted to write something like this for a time, but I've just not had the time to sit down and actually write it for this platform. This, of course, is about writing, whether it be in a graphical form (manga, visual novels) or just a pure text format (whether it's an actual book, a short story on a website, or anything else that might fit this). I might not have a whole lot to say, but I want to at least put down my thoughts before I forget them!
Title: The Demon Tower
Author: Gaelin Kyle Adkins
Ok, so this is a bit of a bragging post with the inaugural post, but who cares? So, I'll start with a bit of introduction behind the story. The prologue starts off introducing the town of Nazris in the middle of the night. Five individuals are introduced lightly, each going through their own things that are keeping them up. A strange occurrence envelopes the town, and by the following morning, the entire town is noted as "missing".
The story itself revolves around the location where Nazris once stood and the efforts of a group of adventurers, calling themselves Etude, as they attempt to stop whatever dark magic is being used at the spot. So far, I've only released the prologue and the first three chapters, but I have more planned and I have quite the inspirational drive to see it finished.
The idea behind the story came from a friend's work on a game, by himself, using RPGMaker VX Ace. The game is/was called "Tower of 1000 Floors", but it really didn't have much of a story to it. I asked him why and he couldn't really give me much of a reason other than not having the need for one. The game itself worked off of you exploring each floor, gathering gold and items, to better yourself before facing off the big bad boss on the top floor (the end of the game). The game offered the chance to just jump right up to the last floor, since apparently the more floors you conquer, the harder the boss gets. I told him I wanted to do a fan-fiction of sorts for the game and just went along with using everything given to me to make it the best I could. I haven't got much feedback from him so far, so I'm hoping it turns out well enough to be enjoyed by the initial inspiration.
I've asked for express permission to use his intellectual property as I see fit in the story, but the only real items of that field would pertain to the final boss and the tower itself. Everything else is separate from that and, so, I am writing it with that in mind and it is keeping my interest strong. I'm currently (I'd say) about halfway with the fifth chapter, and it should start rolling down-hill (progressively) in interest from there as I start to fill in the characters as they appear. So far, the likes of Etude have only just started to scratch the lower floors of the tower!
It'd be classified as a work of fantasy fiction with fan-fiction slightly added in there (I mean, technically, it is fan-fiction but so long as the game is never released, it would still be a work of fantasy more-so). It's being released on Tablo when the chapters are completed, so if you want to give it a look and read some of it, by all means, please do so:
https://tablo.io/ktkarona/the-demon-tower
You may find that I have some other works on there as well, not to mention the fact that it is a writing site in general so you might find other things of interest there to read instead or afterwards. Either way, I think I'm done gushing about this. Thanks for reading, until next time! (Turn the page. >)
Title: The Demon Tower
Author: Gaelin Kyle Adkins
Ok, so this is a bit of a bragging post with the inaugural post, but who cares? So, I'll start with a bit of introduction behind the story. The prologue starts off introducing the town of Nazris in the middle of the night. Five individuals are introduced lightly, each going through their own things that are keeping them up. A strange occurrence envelopes the town, and by the following morning, the entire town is noted as "missing".
The story itself revolves around the location where Nazris once stood and the efforts of a group of adventurers, calling themselves Etude, as they attempt to stop whatever dark magic is being used at the spot. So far, I've only released the prologue and the first three chapters, but I have more planned and I have quite the inspirational drive to see it finished.
The idea behind the story came from a friend's work on a game, by himself, using RPGMaker VX Ace. The game is/was called "Tower of 1000 Floors", but it really didn't have much of a story to it. I asked him why and he couldn't really give me much of a reason other than not having the need for one. The game itself worked off of you exploring each floor, gathering gold and items, to better yourself before facing off the big bad boss on the top floor (the end of the game). The game offered the chance to just jump right up to the last floor, since apparently the more floors you conquer, the harder the boss gets. I told him I wanted to do a fan-fiction of sorts for the game and just went along with using everything given to me to make it the best I could. I haven't got much feedback from him so far, so I'm hoping it turns out well enough to be enjoyed by the initial inspiration.
I've asked for express permission to use his intellectual property as I see fit in the story, but the only real items of that field would pertain to the final boss and the tower itself. Everything else is separate from that and, so, I am writing it with that in mind and it is keeping my interest strong. I'm currently (I'd say) about halfway with the fifth chapter, and it should start rolling down-hill (progressively) in interest from there as I start to fill in the characters as they appear. So far, the likes of Etude have only just started to scratch the lower floors of the tower!
It'd be classified as a work of fantasy fiction with fan-fiction slightly added in there (I mean, technically, it is fan-fiction but so long as the game is never released, it would still be a work of fantasy more-so). It's being released on Tablo when the chapters are completed, so if you want to give it a look and read some of it, by all means, please do so:
https://tablo.io/ktkarona/the-demon-tower
You may find that I have some other works on there as well, not to mention the fact that it is a writing site in general so you might find other things of interest there to read instead or afterwards. Either way, I think I'm done gushing about this. Thanks for reading, until next time! (Turn the page. >)
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Press Start: July 29th, 2015
Title: Blackwell Epiphany
Released: 2014
Story: The final game of the series, and by far the longest. It takes place a very short time after the previous and we see Rosa's involvement with the police extending after meeting Detective Durkin in Blackwell Deception. What appears to be a normal job of freeing a lost soul winds up with someone getting shot right before Rosa's eyes, and the soul right after that being torn apart. This leads the Bestower, Rosa, and her spirit guide Joey on a chase to find out more before the same happens to others. The conclusion is heart-breaking and definitely seems to be a cop out, but at the same time, it is also a fitting end for the series as a whole.
Included with this is also a look into the past, as we finally uncover more about Joey's early moments in the afterlife and more about the Countess and Madeline, two characters introduced partially in the middle games and expanded upon, one game after the other. The Countess was actually a human well before she lost her mind, but we also see how madness befell her and the earlier Blackwell women.
One thing that I fail to see more of in this is the involvement of Police Chief Alex Silva, who was actually a vocal member at the end of the last game, but her involvement now is non-existent aside from a photo in the police station. There is also the inclusion of the Epiphany Experiment, which is only revealed to be named such at the end but spoken of throughout the entire game. One of the final ghosts that we interact with mentions this, but the reason behind it and the information of his prior life seems... like there could have been more there, but they decided against it over this other story. I do wish Dave Gilbert would have made the overall series a bit longer until the end, but there's nothing that can be done about it now.
Graphics: Everything's black, gray, and white in New York during the first month of 2014. Rosa has taken to bundling up for this blizzard weather, and while the character sprites haven't changed, the portraits have once more gone through a shift, though not as drastic as the change from the third (Convergence) and the fourth (Deception). There's not much to say about the differences overall, as it looks as best as it can for it being a retro pixel art form (think Laura Bow: Dagger of Amon-Ra).
Music: The theme this time makes a repeating process through all of the dramatic parts of the game. With the several areas to comb through, you can actually find that some of the music does convey the idea of the location quite well this time around. The emotions are released when it comes to the music for the final moments of the game, though.
Overall: I'd love to talk about the ending, but it's not necessarily something I'd prefer to do and spoil the experience of the game. Dave Gilbert and the rest of those involved completed the series acceptably within their powers without extending it over another game, and the experiences they learned from while making the previous games definitely shows off in this one. We see the conclusions of so many stories coming together, and at the same time, the way it ends also leaves it open should they ever decide to revisit it and make a new series off of it. In some way, I do hope they decide on this, as Abe Goldfarb (the voice of Joey Mallone) definitely made the game a pleasant experience throughout.
Released: 2014
Story: The final game of the series, and by far the longest. It takes place a very short time after the previous and we see Rosa's involvement with the police extending after meeting Detective Durkin in Blackwell Deception. What appears to be a normal job of freeing a lost soul winds up with someone getting shot right before Rosa's eyes, and the soul right after that being torn apart. This leads the Bestower, Rosa, and her spirit guide Joey on a chase to find out more before the same happens to others. The conclusion is heart-breaking and definitely seems to be a cop out, but at the same time, it is also a fitting end for the series as a whole.
Included with this is also a look into the past, as we finally uncover more about Joey's early moments in the afterlife and more about the Countess and Madeline, two characters introduced partially in the middle games and expanded upon, one game after the other. The Countess was actually a human well before she lost her mind, but we also see how madness befell her and the earlier Blackwell women.
One thing that I fail to see more of in this is the involvement of Police Chief Alex Silva, who was actually a vocal member at the end of the last game, but her involvement now is non-existent aside from a photo in the police station. There is also the inclusion of the Epiphany Experiment, which is only revealed to be named such at the end but spoken of throughout the entire game. One of the final ghosts that we interact with mentions this, but the reason behind it and the information of his prior life seems... like there could have been more there, but they decided against it over this other story. I do wish Dave Gilbert would have made the overall series a bit longer until the end, but there's nothing that can be done about it now.
Graphics: Everything's black, gray, and white in New York during the first month of 2014. Rosa has taken to bundling up for this blizzard weather, and while the character sprites haven't changed, the portraits have once more gone through a shift, though not as drastic as the change from the third (Convergence) and the fourth (Deception). There's not much to say about the differences overall, as it looks as best as it can for it being a retro pixel art form (think Laura Bow: Dagger of Amon-Ra).
Music: The theme this time makes a repeating process through all of the dramatic parts of the game. With the several areas to comb through, you can actually find that some of the music does convey the idea of the location quite well this time around. The emotions are released when it comes to the music for the final moments of the game, though.
Overall: I'd love to talk about the ending, but it's not necessarily something I'd prefer to do and spoil the experience of the game. Dave Gilbert and the rest of those involved completed the series acceptably within their powers without extending it over another game, and the experiences they learned from while making the previous games definitely shows off in this one. We see the conclusions of so many stories coming together, and at the same time, the way it ends also leaves it open should they ever decide to revisit it and make a new series off of it. In some way, I do hope they decide on this, as Abe Goldfarb (the voice of Joey Mallone) definitely made the game a pleasant experience throughout.
Thursday, July 23, 2015
Press Start: July 22nd, 2015
Title: Blackwell Deception
Released: 2011
Story: Continuing with the present team of Rosa and Joey, we start knee-deep in one of their cases. It is introduced through a letter asking for Rosa's help to investigate a yacht supposedly possessed. While the introduction doesn't serve any real purpose for the later part of the story. When you get past the credits and Rosa gets a phone call from a former colleague of hers, a reporter by the name of Jeremy Sams, this is when we actually get into the focus of the game. Jeremy asks for her assistance in a story he's working on, and it is through this line of work that Rosa starts to uncover something much deeper than she initially thought, involving her abilities as the medium connected to Joey.
Honestly, while the story of the previous two games were nice, I do wish they would've touched more on this topic back then as well. In a way, I guess they did, as you start to understand what happened to the Countess to make her the way she was, but it isn't properly noticed until you get to the end of this game. In this game, we also see some story starting to develop about Joey's background, but again, it's only hinted at lightly and doesn't satisfy entirely.
Graphics: Another game, another change in sprites and character portraits. Rosangela has resorted to a smart phone now, which seems interesting enough, but when you come to realize that it's nothing more than her computer and notepad in one, it does lose some novelty. She does acquire some numbers to call, but their use is very limited. More than anything, the change in character portraits really threw me off, as you continue to see this as a trend with the games, not in a positive way either. The features previously displayed for the characters get modified or twisted about, making it seem less like it was a proper sequel developed by the same people.
Music: One thing that the Blackwell series does is try to make the music memorable. For some instances, this is true, as there is one song in particular that does stand out to me, the theme that now stands out more. There is a dance club within the game, Munray's, that turns this theme into a techno dance song, and that's when it really started to stand out for me. Other areas, such as visiting Jamie's room at Columbia U really had a strange "suspicious" theme playing despite it not necessarily needing such. Some of the choices of music were questionable, but not too bad.
Overall: Coming close to the end is indeed not something I want, but at the same time I'm excited for. At the time of writing this, I have only started Blackwell Epiphany, but it is coming out to be quite gripping and is definitely expanding the story quite a bit from what the previous games have set up. More than anything, this is setting up the story for Epiphany and is establishing reasons for what happened before, while setting something new up.
Released: 2011
Story: Continuing with the present team of Rosa and Joey, we start knee-deep in one of their cases. It is introduced through a letter asking for Rosa's help to investigate a yacht supposedly possessed. While the introduction doesn't serve any real purpose for the later part of the story. When you get past the credits and Rosa gets a phone call from a former colleague of hers, a reporter by the name of Jeremy Sams, this is when we actually get into the focus of the game. Jeremy asks for her assistance in a story he's working on, and it is through this line of work that Rosa starts to uncover something much deeper than she initially thought, involving her abilities as the medium connected to Joey.
Honestly, while the story of the previous two games were nice, I do wish they would've touched more on this topic back then as well. In a way, I guess they did, as you start to understand what happened to the Countess to make her the way she was, but it isn't properly noticed until you get to the end of this game. In this game, we also see some story starting to develop about Joey's background, but again, it's only hinted at lightly and doesn't satisfy entirely.
Graphics: Another game, another change in sprites and character portraits. Rosangela has resorted to a smart phone now, which seems interesting enough, but when you come to realize that it's nothing more than her computer and notepad in one, it does lose some novelty. She does acquire some numbers to call, but their use is very limited. More than anything, the change in character portraits really threw me off, as you continue to see this as a trend with the games, not in a positive way either. The features previously displayed for the characters get modified or twisted about, making it seem less like it was a proper sequel developed by the same people.
Music: One thing that the Blackwell series does is try to make the music memorable. For some instances, this is true, as there is one song in particular that does stand out to me, the theme that now stands out more. There is a dance club within the game, Munray's, that turns this theme into a techno dance song, and that's when it really started to stand out for me. Other areas, such as visiting Jamie's room at Columbia U really had a strange "suspicious" theme playing despite it not necessarily needing such. Some of the choices of music were questionable, but not too bad.
Overall: Coming close to the end is indeed not something I want, but at the same time I'm excited for. At the time of writing this, I have only started Blackwell Epiphany, but it is coming out to be quite gripping and is definitely expanding the story quite a bit from what the previous games have set up. More than anything, this is setting up the story for Epiphany and is establishing reasons for what happened before, while setting something new up.
Press Start: July 15th, 2015
Title: Blackwell Convergence
Released: 2009
Story: We return to the present, a short time after The Blackwell Legacy. Rosa seems to have adjusted well to her new-found responsibility as a medium, and she just returned with Joey from saving another lost soul. What turns out to be a rather hectic night for her, catching back up with Nishanthi and making new acquaintances, ends up blending the past and the present together as the re-emergence of a character from the past starts to cause trouble. We see some previously established characters from Blackwell Unbound such as Joseph Mitchell being addressed in topic, as well as introducing Joe Gould. Due to this being based in New York, these characters are actual people from history. Inclusion of these characters lend a bit more of a historical anchor to the games and, at the same time, uses their involvement with the characters in such spirited ways that you can almost believe them.
Graphics: The style of the game has changed yet again. We can see the number one change being Rosangela's model, with the conversation portraits being changed too. The character portraits are slightly animated again, a throwback to the first game at least. While it is a bit disorienting to be playing the same series with so many changes to the classic features, it isn't that drastic to throw players of the series off. If anything, some of the sprites are actually much more animated, such as Joey and the antagonist, but there are still some slip-ups with the sprites shifting from the foreground to the background. Thankfully, there aren't many locations where this happens. Another thing of note is that they changed the notebook system again. One thing that I liked in The Blackwell Legacy was making connections between two different subjects. They changed this with the second game, and retained that change with the third. Sometimes, some of the connections made after discussing topics with people aren't that obvious, so when you go to leave your notebook, you find that there are new topics to directly speak about.
Music: Still slightly memorable, but not memorable enough to warrant recommendation. It does get better, but I had come across several instances where the map screen's music would carry over when I chose places to visit, which ruined the atmosphere I would come to expect from the separate areas.
Overall: The game still felt rather short, like the previous two, but thankfully it did stretch it out some. The locales were rather nice despite their small one-room locations, and the comments that the characters have on several items of interest continue to brighten up the stops we take. I just wish there were more puzzles and cases involving the spiritual duo, as that's what I'm coming to enjoy more and more with these games. Getting closer to the end, though, so this is a bittersweet idea.
Released: 2009
Story: We return to the present, a short time after The Blackwell Legacy. Rosa seems to have adjusted well to her new-found responsibility as a medium, and she just returned with Joey from saving another lost soul. What turns out to be a rather hectic night for her, catching back up with Nishanthi and making new acquaintances, ends up blending the past and the present together as the re-emergence of a character from the past starts to cause trouble. We see some previously established characters from Blackwell Unbound such as Joseph Mitchell being addressed in topic, as well as introducing Joe Gould. Due to this being based in New York, these characters are actual people from history. Inclusion of these characters lend a bit more of a historical anchor to the games and, at the same time, uses their involvement with the characters in such spirited ways that you can almost believe them.
Graphics: The style of the game has changed yet again. We can see the number one change being Rosangela's model, with the conversation portraits being changed too. The character portraits are slightly animated again, a throwback to the first game at least. While it is a bit disorienting to be playing the same series with so many changes to the classic features, it isn't that drastic to throw players of the series off. If anything, some of the sprites are actually much more animated, such as Joey and the antagonist, but there are still some slip-ups with the sprites shifting from the foreground to the background. Thankfully, there aren't many locations where this happens. Another thing of note is that they changed the notebook system again. One thing that I liked in The Blackwell Legacy was making connections between two different subjects. They changed this with the second game, and retained that change with the third. Sometimes, some of the connections made after discussing topics with people aren't that obvious, so when you go to leave your notebook, you find that there are new topics to directly speak about.
Music: Still slightly memorable, but not memorable enough to warrant recommendation. It does get better, but I had come across several instances where the map screen's music would carry over when I chose places to visit, which ruined the atmosphere I would come to expect from the separate areas.
Overall: The game still felt rather short, like the previous two, but thankfully it did stretch it out some. The locales were rather nice despite their small one-room locations, and the comments that the characters have on several items of interest continue to brighten up the stops we take. I just wish there were more puzzles and cases involving the spiritual duo, as that's what I'm coming to enjoy more and more with these games. Getting closer to the end, though, so this is a bittersweet idea.
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Press Start: July 8th, 2015
Title: Blackwell Unbound
Released: 2007
The second in a series of five games, Blackwell Unbound ends up showing more of the past in the Blackwell lineage. Not long after completing the first, I dove right into this, having some slight knowledge on the character, but I wasn't expecting this.
Story: In The Blackwell Legacy, we come to know of Lauren Blackwell's fate in some sense. I mean, she's dead by the time the first game takes place. But this game is a prequel to the series, serving to show us what life was like for her in the 70s with Joey Mallone at her side. Despite what Dr. Quinten spoke of in the first game, you don't see any of her lunacy. Instead, her dry wit is quite the match for Joey's own sass. She's taken to aiding the ghosts of New York as much as she can with her guide beside her, and we are to address two in general.
In what doesn't necessarily seem entirely connected, we come to instead find that some of what Lauren has been tasked with doing one night comes together with a strange thread. Her night has been nothing but dead leads in finding spirits to help pass on, but two cases near the end, a ghostly song near the water and horrific accidents at a construction site, bring Lauren and Joey face to face with one of their own kind. I was not expecting this kind of twist when helping either, but slowly, the pieces began to fall in place and make this a much darker night than I had first anticipated.
Graphics: Once again, this game utilizes the same as before, only it doesn't rely on the facial portraits like the first one to help stylize who is speaking. Instead, we see the voices lend the difference. New characters lie before Joey and the chosen Blackwell. I think their way of handling the two poor souls this time around definitely lends more creativity to what can be in store as they try more things, so perhaps by the time I get around to the fourth or final installments, I will see some length to the story as well as a noticeable change in the graphics. But for what it's worth, it is nice to see how only a light touch was used in changing the scheme of things between time periods.
Music: One of the poor souls that Lauren and Joey encounter is a sax player, and a lot of the music definitely seems to fit properly to this theme. From the Johnny Ivory's club to the rustic charm of Lauren's apartment, the music really does stand out this time around with a blues theme. It fits quite well with the time period and doesn't detract any from the characters this time around.
Overall: The story is fragmented at best, giving you two different directions that converge, and thus why I think that the third game, Blackwell Convergence, is quite fitting. I am definitely interested in more about Joey's life, what happened between this point and time and when she... finally snapped, and so many other things that have gone on and will continue on for the Blackwell line. Only time can tell, but two games down and I'm hooked. I hope I don't feel too bummed out when I get to the end of the line.
Released: 2007
The second in a series of five games, Blackwell Unbound ends up showing more of the past in the Blackwell lineage. Not long after completing the first, I dove right into this, having some slight knowledge on the character, but I wasn't expecting this.
Story: In The Blackwell Legacy, we come to know of Lauren Blackwell's fate in some sense. I mean, she's dead by the time the first game takes place. But this game is a prequel to the series, serving to show us what life was like for her in the 70s with Joey Mallone at her side. Despite what Dr. Quinten spoke of in the first game, you don't see any of her lunacy. Instead, her dry wit is quite the match for Joey's own sass. She's taken to aiding the ghosts of New York as much as she can with her guide beside her, and we are to address two in general.
In what doesn't necessarily seem entirely connected, we come to instead find that some of what Lauren has been tasked with doing one night comes together with a strange thread. Her night has been nothing but dead leads in finding spirits to help pass on, but two cases near the end, a ghostly song near the water and horrific accidents at a construction site, bring Lauren and Joey face to face with one of their own kind. I was not expecting this kind of twist when helping either, but slowly, the pieces began to fall in place and make this a much darker night than I had first anticipated.
Graphics: Once again, this game utilizes the same as before, only it doesn't rely on the facial portraits like the first one to help stylize who is speaking. Instead, we see the voices lend the difference. New characters lie before Joey and the chosen Blackwell. I think their way of handling the two poor souls this time around definitely lends more creativity to what can be in store as they try more things, so perhaps by the time I get around to the fourth or final installments, I will see some length to the story as well as a noticeable change in the graphics. But for what it's worth, it is nice to see how only a light touch was used in changing the scheme of things between time periods.
Music: One of the poor souls that Lauren and Joey encounter is a sax player, and a lot of the music definitely seems to fit properly to this theme. From the Johnny Ivory's club to the rustic charm of Lauren's apartment, the music really does stand out this time around with a blues theme. It fits quite well with the time period and doesn't detract any from the characters this time around.
Overall: The story is fragmented at best, giving you two different directions that converge, and thus why I think that the third game, Blackwell Convergence, is quite fitting. I am definitely interested in more about Joey's life, what happened between this point and time and when she... finally snapped, and so many other things that have gone on and will continue on for the Blackwell line. Only time can tell, but two games down and I'm hooked. I hope I don't feel too bummed out when I get to the end of the line.
Press Start: July 1st, 2015
I'm going to try and make this as professional as possible, but I can't be entirely perfect. You have been warned.
Title: The Blackwell Legacy
Released: 2006
Blackwell Legacy has been under my radar for a bit now for its nostalgic appearance to the point-and-click adventure games I grew up with on the computer in the 90s. So, when I managed to get hold of a copy to play for myself, I was probably going in a bit biased as to what to expect. The introduction itself took a bit longer than I expected, but it was after I got to actually control and solve things on my own, in a familiar setting, that everything started falling in place.
Story: Welcome to the Blackwell family. Shortly after the game is booted up and a new game is started, we are introduced loosely to Rosangela Blackwell. The first stretch of the game, a minor bump on the road of its story, introduces us to this character and what she has recently gone through, that being of her Aunt Lauren passing away and being cremated. But there are underlying threads that slip through the cracks as you continue to learn more about this young woman and her late aunt, and it revolves around one word: Joey.
Paying no heed to this at the time, we see Rosa take up pen and paper as a part of her freelance gig with the Village Eye, a little niche of a newspaper that she writes book reviews for. "Bob", some strange character thrust down upon us, tells Rosa to take up her paper and investigate the suicide of a girl at NYU. There's not much we can uncover, but this does lead us to wrapping the night up with the introduction of the name from earlier. Joey Mallone, the so-called "Blackwell Legacy", appears before Rosangela and causes her to have quite the momentary mental breakdown.
"You're a medium," is force-fed to Rosa as she is dragged by the ghost to perform the duties of her late Aunt. She must help ghosts pass on from this world to the next. What better place to start than an area previously introduced in the form of the park, and it is through cycling around the map that Rosa and Joey uncover a much larger story than one girl's suicide. The story does drag a bit at first, and some of the points do make it hard to understand what you're supposed to do, but that's the beauty of these games, where you get rewarded for trying absolutely everything in your repertoire.
The light interaction with specific characters did kind of take away from the sleuthing, but as a whole, the story was decent for its length. Thankfully, there are four more games to go through, so I will be able to get a better sense of the whole thing soon enough.
Graphics: True to what I said before, the 90s was a time for point-and-click video games. Monkey Island and other LucasArts games were making their name known at the time, and there was also the efforts of Sierra with King's Quest, Space Quest, Police Quest, and probably others that I can't think of or name right now. So, to see this game adapt the same pixelation for their characters definitely does make it match right up with those big-name titles. In a sense, it does help to match it next to the others by having something in common with the difference in time.
Music: The music, on the other hand, really didn't make much of an impression on me. It could've been because of the fact that it had voice-acting that I just tuned out the music in place of listening/reading to what the characters had to say to my questions, but when you have to go to the same place several times just to make sure you have done everything you can just to move on, it blends and blurs into a inconsequential blur. That isn't to say that what I can reflect on was a negative experience; just not memorable to listen to it on repeat.
Overall: While the Blackwell Legacy does well to put its foot in the door, it definitely has me wanting more. Perhaps it was because the overall length of it wasn't quite what I was expecting. About halfway through, I could already sense that I was nearing the end of the game by the revelation brought out by some of the characters. I wanted to get to anchor my feelings and thoughts about these characters a bit more, but it just didn't give me a lot to work with after the initial introductions and brief back-and-forth throwarounds between Joey and Rosa. But I will say that the game does an excellent job in STARTING something, so I'll have to see if it can finish it as the other games are dealt with in the series. Next up: Blackwell Unbound.
Title: The Blackwell Legacy
Released: 2006
Blackwell Legacy has been under my radar for a bit now for its nostalgic appearance to the point-and-click adventure games I grew up with on the computer in the 90s. So, when I managed to get hold of a copy to play for myself, I was probably going in a bit biased as to what to expect. The introduction itself took a bit longer than I expected, but it was after I got to actually control and solve things on my own, in a familiar setting, that everything started falling in place.
Story: Welcome to the Blackwell family. Shortly after the game is booted up and a new game is started, we are introduced loosely to Rosangela Blackwell. The first stretch of the game, a minor bump on the road of its story, introduces us to this character and what she has recently gone through, that being of her Aunt Lauren passing away and being cremated. But there are underlying threads that slip through the cracks as you continue to learn more about this young woman and her late aunt, and it revolves around one word: Joey.
Paying no heed to this at the time, we see Rosa take up pen and paper as a part of her freelance gig with the Village Eye, a little niche of a newspaper that she writes book reviews for. "Bob", some strange character thrust down upon us, tells Rosa to take up her paper and investigate the suicide of a girl at NYU. There's not much we can uncover, but this does lead us to wrapping the night up with the introduction of the name from earlier. Joey Mallone, the so-called "Blackwell Legacy", appears before Rosangela and causes her to have quite the momentary mental breakdown.
"You're a medium," is force-fed to Rosa as she is dragged by the ghost to perform the duties of her late Aunt. She must help ghosts pass on from this world to the next. What better place to start than an area previously introduced in the form of the park, and it is through cycling around the map that Rosa and Joey uncover a much larger story than one girl's suicide. The story does drag a bit at first, and some of the points do make it hard to understand what you're supposed to do, but that's the beauty of these games, where you get rewarded for trying absolutely everything in your repertoire.
The light interaction with specific characters did kind of take away from the sleuthing, but as a whole, the story was decent for its length. Thankfully, there are four more games to go through, so I will be able to get a better sense of the whole thing soon enough.
Graphics: True to what I said before, the 90s was a time for point-and-click video games. Monkey Island and other LucasArts games were making their name known at the time, and there was also the efforts of Sierra with King's Quest, Space Quest, Police Quest, and probably others that I can't think of or name right now. So, to see this game adapt the same pixelation for their characters definitely does make it match right up with those big-name titles. In a sense, it does help to match it next to the others by having something in common with the difference in time.
Music: The music, on the other hand, really didn't make much of an impression on me. It could've been because of the fact that it had voice-acting that I just tuned out the music in place of listening/reading to what the characters had to say to my questions, but when you have to go to the same place several times just to make sure you have done everything you can just to move on, it blends and blurs into a inconsequential blur. That isn't to say that what I can reflect on was a negative experience; just not memorable to listen to it on repeat.
Overall: While the Blackwell Legacy does well to put its foot in the door, it definitely has me wanting more. Perhaps it was because the overall length of it wasn't quite what I was expecting. About halfway through, I could already sense that I was nearing the end of the game by the revelation brought out by some of the characters. I wanted to get to anchor my feelings and thoughts about these characters a bit more, but it just didn't give me a lot to work with after the initial introductions and brief back-and-forth throwarounds between Joey and Rosa. But I will say that the game does an excellent job in STARTING something, so I'll have to see if it can finish it as the other games are dealt with in the series. Next up: Blackwell Unbound.
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
Press Start: June 24th, 2015
And here we are with the last of the backlogged items I had saved from the past. Now, all you'll see are more recent postings with more information, hopefully something a bit more inspirational to play the games too.
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Title: .hack//G.U. (3 games)
Released: 2006-2007
A sequel to the .hack series for the same console, .hack//G.U. is a series of three discs for the Playstation 2. The games are:
.hack//G.U. Rebirth (Part 1)
.hack//G.U. Reminisce (Part 2)
.hack//G.U. Redemption (Part 3)
As you can probably guess, this game strings the story across all three, and it does it so well, even including small animated shorts within the game, that are unlocked through the course of the game, that explains what goes on in the real world while the game is slowly deteriorating. The entire story takes place, in fact, after the events of the anime series, .hack//ROOTS, where Haseo's background story and involvement with the Twilight Brigade is cemented.
To those that would rather not watch the series, the game makes a good attempt in recreating the key scenes, from Haseo's first day in The World: V2, to Haseo's time as the Terror of Death, a PKK, or a Player-Killer Killer. His reputation as the Terror of Death is cut short as he runs in with the vagrant AI known as Tri-Edge, and attempts to get revenge on it for taking a friend of his away some time ago, turning her into a Lost One, or someone who has slipped into a coma in the real world.
Haseo's fight with Tri-Edge shows no sign of flinching on the opponent's part. Haseo pulls out all of the stops, trying his hardest to land a hit on his enemy. However, Tri-Edge simply holds his hand out as a digital bracelet becomes visible around his wrist. Streams of data shoot through Haseo, stripping him of his information, and eventually turning his screen off. Having gone through the same events that countless others before him, Haseo is seemingly unharmed in the real world. When he logs into The World: v2, though, he finds that his character has been deleted! His Lv.122 Adept Rogue no longer exists, and he has to recreate his character once again.
The story, from then on, has Haseo attempting to hunt down Tri-Edge and beat him once again, all the while becoming involved with strange characters. The game presents itself much better than its predecessor, and it does show that more effort was put into arranging every little detail, from the dungeon design, the differences in characters, as well as the Root Towns.
One of the additions in this series is the Arena, which you will come to rely on heavily throughout all three of the games. PKK is looked down upon, but within the Arena, people can freely attack one another without loss, which is why there are Tournaments held constantly. Through these, however, Haseo comes to learn of many problems that threaten this version of The World, similar to the instances from the first. Although the combat basics are generally the same, you play as an Adept Rogue this time, rather than a Twin Blade, so the differences in the class vary now.
Throughout the three games, the Adept Rogue class has two additional upgrades it can go through, allowing for more abilities and more weapons/armor to be usable. To attempt each class change, an Adept Rogue must reach certain conditions, which are mostly story-based, and there is hardly anything you can miss if you generally stick to the story. Side-missions, such as the Mecha-Grunty, Bike Races, and more will be unlocked as you get around to it. Furthermore, your guild's specific Grunty will carry with it the Book of 1000, which is filled with many different requirements. Should you meet the requirements for each stage in each game, you'll be rewarded with wallpapers to customize your desktop, new music, and many other pieces that'll be helpful on your Desktop.
There's not that much that's different between this and the first series, and while it is certainly grander in some of the things they've designed, it actually seems shorter, due to the Arena being a major part of the story. The game is definitely worth playing if you're into this sort of thing, as they have put quite a lot of time into making sure you have lots of things to do, from the Crimson Vs. card game to the item collections, affection system, and filling out the Book of 1000.
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Title: .hack//G.U. (3 games)
Released: 2006-2007
A sequel to the .hack series for the same console, .hack//G.U. is a series of three discs for the Playstation 2. The games are:
.hack//G.U. Rebirth (Part 1)
.hack//G.U. Reminisce (Part 2)
.hack//G.U. Redemption (Part 3)
As you can probably guess, this game strings the story across all three, and it does it so well, even including small animated shorts within the game, that are unlocked through the course of the game, that explains what goes on in the real world while the game is slowly deteriorating. The entire story takes place, in fact, after the events of the anime series, .hack//ROOTS, where Haseo's background story and involvement with the Twilight Brigade is cemented.
To those that would rather not watch the series, the game makes a good attempt in recreating the key scenes, from Haseo's first day in The World: V2, to Haseo's time as the Terror of Death, a PKK, or a Player-Killer Killer. His reputation as the Terror of Death is cut short as he runs in with the vagrant AI known as Tri-Edge, and attempts to get revenge on it for taking a friend of his away some time ago, turning her into a Lost One, or someone who has slipped into a coma in the real world.
Haseo's fight with Tri-Edge shows no sign of flinching on the opponent's part. Haseo pulls out all of the stops, trying his hardest to land a hit on his enemy. However, Tri-Edge simply holds his hand out as a digital bracelet becomes visible around his wrist. Streams of data shoot through Haseo, stripping him of his information, and eventually turning his screen off. Having gone through the same events that countless others before him, Haseo is seemingly unharmed in the real world. When he logs into The World: v2, though, he finds that his character has been deleted! His Lv.122 Adept Rogue no longer exists, and he has to recreate his character once again.
The story, from then on, has Haseo attempting to hunt down Tri-Edge and beat him once again, all the while becoming involved with strange characters. The game presents itself much better than its predecessor, and it does show that more effort was put into arranging every little detail, from the dungeon design, the differences in characters, as well as the Root Towns.
One of the additions in this series is the Arena, which you will come to rely on heavily throughout all three of the games. PKK is looked down upon, but within the Arena, people can freely attack one another without loss, which is why there are Tournaments held constantly. Through these, however, Haseo comes to learn of many problems that threaten this version of The World, similar to the instances from the first. Although the combat basics are generally the same, you play as an Adept Rogue this time, rather than a Twin Blade, so the differences in the class vary now.
Throughout the three games, the Adept Rogue class has two additional upgrades it can go through, allowing for more abilities and more weapons/armor to be usable. To attempt each class change, an Adept Rogue must reach certain conditions, which are mostly story-based, and there is hardly anything you can miss if you generally stick to the story. Side-missions, such as the Mecha-Grunty, Bike Races, and more will be unlocked as you get around to it. Furthermore, your guild's specific Grunty will carry with it the Book of 1000, which is filled with many different requirements. Should you meet the requirements for each stage in each game, you'll be rewarded with wallpapers to customize your desktop, new music, and many other pieces that'll be helpful on your Desktop.
There's not that much that's different between this and the first series, and while it is certainly grander in some of the things they've designed, it actually seems shorter, due to the Arena being a major part of the story. The game is definitely worth playing if you're into this sort of thing, as they have put quite a lot of time into making sure you have lots of things to do, from the Crimson Vs. card game to the item collections, affection system, and filling out the Book of 1000.
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Press Start: June 18th, 2015
Another one from the vault, but this is close to the last I'll have to rely on. You can definitely see the difference between the past and the present, but not by much I'm sure.
---
Title: .hack (4 part game series)
Released: 2002-2004
The title is actually to cover the four .hack games in a series for the PS2. The games are:
.hack//INFECTION
.hack//MUTATION
.hack//OUTBREAK
.hack//QUARANTINE
These four games follow the adventures of Kite, a Twin-Blade character within the CC Corporation's famous game, The World. The first day that Kite starts to play, he is invited by his friend to a beginner's field, which he is going to help him get used to it all. Of course, during their lesson, they see a girl in white flying by them in the dungeon, being chased by a strange creature with a red wand. As they attempt to save the poor, defenseless girl, Kite's friend is defeated, and suspiciously he is thrown into a coma in the real world from it. Before Kite is affected in the same way, the girl sacrifices herself to save him.
Now, Kite is determined to find the strange creature with the red wand, as well as the girl in white, in the hopes of figuring out why his friend, and many others, are in a coma due to the game. What he eventually finds out is that he will be fighting to protect more than just The World, as the internet itself suffers from the same problems, as shown through the many events in the game, and the OVA CDs that come with each game.
If you've seen the .hack//SIGN anime series, this series of games picks up only a few months after the events of the end episode, if I remember correctly. A handful of characters from the series will make an appearance randomly, but for the most part, you will have quite a list of new characters to choose from. Kite befriends BlackRose, a young Blademaster, that lost her brother in the same way that Kite lost his friend, and they work together to unravel the mysteries that The World holds.
It is a simple hack-and-slash game that does its best to resemble an online game without actually being online. Each of the servers hold a Root Town, which is the center of resupplying and hanging out with other players. Here, you can transfer to different Fields by the use of three different keywords, which will generate areas randomly through the combination of words working together. Of course, when you start off with the first game, you won't have access to the other servers, but as you progress through the story across these four discs, you will come to gain access to many other features besides the new servers: Grunty Racing, the Ryu Books, and Data Drain.
Data Drain is the act of draining the information off of an opponent, stripping them of viruses often times, and turning it into useful items. For the most part, if used on a random creature, it will devolve them to a lower form, decreasing the experience you may receive from them as well as giving you an item for draining them. However, throughout the game, and they get more frequent near the end of the last disc, there are specially-coated enemies that have been infected with a virus, giving them bugged stats. You must whittle away their health until they acquire Protect Break status, which allows you to data drain them and receive a Virus Core, which is involved in Gate Hacking (explained later). The problem with Data Drain lies in your Infection Rate, which gradually goes up when you use the ability, as opposed to going down from killing creatures regularly, and letting it decrease on its own. Should you drain too much, the infection will affect Kite and, ultimately, Kite's player, causing you to have a Game Over.
Gate Hacking, which is something that, I believe, you start to get near the middle of the series itself, involves collecting a bunch of Virus Cores from the different servers and using them to break into Protected Areas, or fields that have been sealed off from the general public by the administrators of The World. This is generally for the sake of the story, and you'll never come across these when trying to level up. It simply requires you to drain specific types of creatures (small, medium, or large-sized creatures each give different cores per server) and then using them to break the gates. Certain cores will also only appear from story-specific dungeons, so if there are certain cores you have yet to get, but come across a field that requires it, then wait for a new field to be required, or data-drain it off of a random enemy.
The story itself is epically stringed through the four discs, and picking up in the middle means you miss out on the main information stream. Sure, it gives you a brush-up when you start each new game, but you miss out on carrying over everything you may've acquired, including stat bonuses and specific weapons, if you decide to start from any other part. To top it off, the included OVA discs help you understand just what is going on in the real world while the games show you what is happening inside, which is well thought-out. If you're into MMOs, or into RPGs in general, then you could always try and pick this up and try it for yourself. It doesn't come with a monthly fee, and you're guaranteed to enjoy it if you like these sorts of games.
---
Title: .hack (4 part game series)
Released: 2002-2004
The title is actually to cover the four .hack games in a series for the PS2. The games are:
.hack//INFECTION
.hack//MUTATION
.hack//OUTBREAK
.hack//QUARANTINE
These four games follow the adventures of Kite, a Twin-Blade character within the CC Corporation's famous game, The World. The first day that Kite starts to play, he is invited by his friend to a beginner's field, which he is going to help him get used to it all. Of course, during their lesson, they see a girl in white flying by them in the dungeon, being chased by a strange creature with a red wand. As they attempt to save the poor, defenseless girl, Kite's friend is defeated, and suspiciously he is thrown into a coma in the real world from it. Before Kite is affected in the same way, the girl sacrifices herself to save him.
Now, Kite is determined to find the strange creature with the red wand, as well as the girl in white, in the hopes of figuring out why his friend, and many others, are in a coma due to the game. What he eventually finds out is that he will be fighting to protect more than just The World, as the internet itself suffers from the same problems, as shown through the many events in the game, and the OVA CDs that come with each game.
If you've seen the .hack//SIGN anime series, this series of games picks up only a few months after the events of the end episode, if I remember correctly. A handful of characters from the series will make an appearance randomly, but for the most part, you will have quite a list of new characters to choose from. Kite befriends BlackRose, a young Blademaster, that lost her brother in the same way that Kite lost his friend, and they work together to unravel the mysteries that The World holds.
It is a simple hack-and-slash game that does its best to resemble an online game without actually being online. Each of the servers hold a Root Town, which is the center of resupplying and hanging out with other players. Here, you can transfer to different Fields by the use of three different keywords, which will generate areas randomly through the combination of words working together. Of course, when you start off with the first game, you won't have access to the other servers, but as you progress through the story across these four discs, you will come to gain access to many other features besides the new servers: Grunty Racing, the Ryu Books, and Data Drain.
Data Drain is the act of draining the information off of an opponent, stripping them of viruses often times, and turning it into useful items. For the most part, if used on a random creature, it will devolve them to a lower form, decreasing the experience you may receive from them as well as giving you an item for draining them. However, throughout the game, and they get more frequent near the end of the last disc, there are specially-coated enemies that have been infected with a virus, giving them bugged stats. You must whittle away their health until they acquire Protect Break status, which allows you to data drain them and receive a Virus Core, which is involved in Gate Hacking (explained later). The problem with Data Drain lies in your Infection Rate, which gradually goes up when you use the ability, as opposed to going down from killing creatures regularly, and letting it decrease on its own. Should you drain too much, the infection will affect Kite and, ultimately, Kite's player, causing you to have a Game Over.
Gate Hacking, which is something that, I believe, you start to get near the middle of the series itself, involves collecting a bunch of Virus Cores from the different servers and using them to break into Protected Areas, or fields that have been sealed off from the general public by the administrators of The World. This is generally for the sake of the story, and you'll never come across these when trying to level up. It simply requires you to drain specific types of creatures (small, medium, or large-sized creatures each give different cores per server) and then using them to break the gates. Certain cores will also only appear from story-specific dungeons, so if there are certain cores you have yet to get, but come across a field that requires it, then wait for a new field to be required, or data-drain it off of a random enemy.
The story itself is epically stringed through the four discs, and picking up in the middle means you miss out on the main information stream. Sure, it gives you a brush-up when you start each new game, but you miss out on carrying over everything you may've acquired, including stat bonuses and specific weapons, if you decide to start from any other part. To top it off, the included OVA discs help you understand just what is going on in the real world while the games show you what is happening inside, which is well thought-out. If you're into MMOs, or into RPGs in general, then you could always try and pick this up and try it for yourself. It doesn't come with a monthly fee, and you're guaranteed to enjoy it if you like these sorts of games.
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Press Start: June 10th, 2015
Let me take a moment and first say how much I value Double Fine for their fair repertoire of video games, and I'd love to merit that solely to just Tim Schaffer but I think it's as a whole that they manage to pull together such amazing games like Psychonauts, Stacking, Costume Quest, Brutal Legend, and their most recent title, Broken Age.
Title: Broken Age
Released: 2014-2015
Broken Age was initially started as a Kickstarter project by Double Fine, called the Double Fine Adventure at first. The reason the release date is such a wide form is because Act 1, the first half of the game, was released in 2014. They partitioned the game off for some marketing reason, perhaps to give the backers a taste of what they had put their money towards. While it could really take you a brief amount of time to finish all the first act had provided at the time, the real way to play the game involves going through all of the dialogue options and seeing how the characters interact with one another.
We have Vella Tartine and Shay Volta, two seemingly opposite individuals in two distinctly different locations, separated at the very beginning with a choice to play either one. Vella lies resting beside a tree, enjoying the sun on the day of the Maidens Feast, a ceremony that each village celebrates independently. This celebration is not meant for the maidens taking part, but more for appeasing the beast that is summoned. Mog Chothra, the most recent of a long line of Grand Mogs, makes its way from one village to the next and takes the offered maidens as sacrifices to spare the village. Vella does not feel this is an acceptable means and feels resisted by her family, trying to encourage them and everyone around her to take up arms to defeat the threat. She resigns to her fate, though, since her family is so adamant and happy for her chosen sacrifice. Determined to prove her family's beliefs wrong, she shakes up the entire festival and escapes, seeking another alternative to the sacrifice of maidens every Festival.
Shay dwells within the Bossa Nostra, a spacecraft that he has been in since as far back as he can remember. He is watched under the caring gaze of two programs called Mom and Dad. The normal routines that he has gone through, day in, day out, have started to drag his spirits down. He is disconnected from anyone physically and feels that there is nothing exciting in his life. The only things that seem to help him are his living yarn buddies and the very vocal silverware. In trying to make his life on the spaceship more eventful, Mom has set up several mission protocols for him to run through, but even those have become so predictable and boring to him. So, when he changes up his routine during one of the missions, he comes to meet a suspicious individual that has been living on the ship this entire time. This fateful encounter begins to unravel Shay's normal life on the spaceship.
These are two sides of the same coin, though, as you will start to see it play off of this as the story continues. Shay's boring life on the spaceship gets gradually more exciting and dangerous, while Vella comes one step closer to realizing her wish of destroying Mog Chothra and saving future maidens from being sacrificed. I won't say too much simply for the true enjoyment that can come from playing the game. One thing I want to establish though is the choice of the name.
From simply playing the first act, you can kind of understand a bit of what the inspiration behind the title may come from. Shay and Vella are teenagers and live in broken relationships from their parents (or parental figures in Shay's case). Add this with the two scenario settings that they are both in and it shows a greater rift that forms between them. While Vella's given an exterior and the freedom of the open sky, we see how Shay's confinement to the interior of the spaceship drive their differences, and their similarities, together. But it is when you include the surprises both at the end of the first act and the entirety of the second act that you understand the titular choice and what it means for the characters involved.
Title: Broken Age
Released: 2014-2015
Broken Age was initially started as a Kickstarter project by Double Fine, called the Double Fine Adventure at first. The reason the release date is such a wide form is because Act 1, the first half of the game, was released in 2014. They partitioned the game off for some marketing reason, perhaps to give the backers a taste of what they had put their money towards. While it could really take you a brief amount of time to finish all the first act had provided at the time, the real way to play the game involves going through all of the dialogue options and seeing how the characters interact with one another.
We have Vella Tartine and Shay Volta, two seemingly opposite individuals in two distinctly different locations, separated at the very beginning with a choice to play either one. Vella lies resting beside a tree, enjoying the sun on the day of the Maidens Feast, a ceremony that each village celebrates independently. This celebration is not meant for the maidens taking part, but more for appeasing the beast that is summoned. Mog Chothra, the most recent of a long line of Grand Mogs, makes its way from one village to the next and takes the offered maidens as sacrifices to spare the village. Vella does not feel this is an acceptable means and feels resisted by her family, trying to encourage them and everyone around her to take up arms to defeat the threat. She resigns to her fate, though, since her family is so adamant and happy for her chosen sacrifice. Determined to prove her family's beliefs wrong, she shakes up the entire festival and escapes, seeking another alternative to the sacrifice of maidens every Festival.
Shay dwells within the Bossa Nostra, a spacecraft that he has been in since as far back as he can remember. He is watched under the caring gaze of two programs called Mom and Dad. The normal routines that he has gone through, day in, day out, have started to drag his spirits down. He is disconnected from anyone physically and feels that there is nothing exciting in his life. The only things that seem to help him are his living yarn buddies and the very vocal silverware. In trying to make his life on the spaceship more eventful, Mom has set up several mission protocols for him to run through, but even those have become so predictable and boring to him. So, when he changes up his routine during one of the missions, he comes to meet a suspicious individual that has been living on the ship this entire time. This fateful encounter begins to unravel Shay's normal life on the spaceship.
These are two sides of the same coin, though, as you will start to see it play off of this as the story continues. Shay's boring life on the spaceship gets gradually more exciting and dangerous, while Vella comes one step closer to realizing her wish of destroying Mog Chothra and saving future maidens from being sacrificed. I won't say too much simply for the true enjoyment that can come from playing the game. One thing I want to establish though is the choice of the name.
From simply playing the first act, you can kind of understand a bit of what the inspiration behind the title may come from. Shay and Vella are teenagers and live in broken relationships from their parents (or parental figures in Shay's case). Add this with the two scenario settings that they are both in and it shows a greater rift that forms between them. While Vella's given an exterior and the freedom of the open sky, we see how Shay's confinement to the interior of the spaceship drive their differences, and their similarities, together. But it is when you include the surprises both at the end of the first act and the entirety of the second act that you understand the titular choice and what it means for the characters involved.
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
Update: June 9th, 2015
As you could probably tell, there are some instances where I forget/neglect to make a post for the Wednesday. I will make sure to change this, as I need this as a sort of mental focus now and then to prove to myself, more than anyone, that I can follow through with something to the very end. So while I am also going to try and make sure that I have the Wednesday posts done beforehand (sort of like homework), I'm going to start trying to write up some extra pieces to make it so, by the end week of the year, there will be at least fifty-two posts, minimum. This may also include some minor writing excerpts for projects I am doing as well, so there is that as well as I am going to continue with Press Play and start on some other things.
Summer has been fun and not-so fun at the same time. It's been fun because, with the anticipation of Final Fantasy XIV's first actual expansion, Heavensward, coming out in two weeks, there is also the added hype of some early release games in Steam and having an entire library of games open for me. This also pushes back my ability to play other games at the same time. I may be skilled, but I'm not THAT skilled. With the reminiscing gameplay of Psychonauts, the idle clicking of Clicker Heroes, and now trying out ARK: Survival Evolved with friends, I don't have as much time as I'd like to play Final Fantasy XIV or games on my PS3 such as finishing up Survivor+ on Last of Us.
Speaking of Last of Us, though, you can probably expect to see a post on that eventually, but expect spoilers. I am probably going to include that somewhere in the title of the main page so people, whomever may actually be reading this s', won't have as much of an excuse to complain about such a thing. There is that, Psychonauts, and maybe some other games that I have access to like the Blackwell games and Night of the Rabbit that I will look into elaborating upon to give a sense of what it is and why it can be pleasurable to play.
I'm attempting to write and put together a game with a friend of mine on RPGMaker VX Ace. The script is currently... maybe 33% complete? It's near halfway, but there is some finer touch-ups I'd want to go through before I continue on too. The game itself is dark and depressing; it could probably make a few tear up and cry, but that's the goal. I only hope that it comes off as touching as it is supposed to be, but only time can tell. I'm aiming to try and get it voiced through most of the game, with the interactions between the party and between the other NPCs, but that may be too lofty of a goal right now. Only time can tell as I start to put things together.
Summer has been fun and not-so fun at the same time. It's been fun because, with the anticipation of Final Fantasy XIV's first actual expansion, Heavensward, coming out in two weeks, there is also the added hype of some early release games in Steam and having an entire library of games open for me. This also pushes back my ability to play other games at the same time. I may be skilled, but I'm not THAT skilled. With the reminiscing gameplay of Psychonauts, the idle clicking of Clicker Heroes, and now trying out ARK: Survival Evolved with friends, I don't have as much time as I'd like to play Final Fantasy XIV or games on my PS3 such as finishing up Survivor+ on Last of Us.
Speaking of Last of Us, though, you can probably expect to see a post on that eventually, but expect spoilers. I am probably going to include that somewhere in the title of the main page so people, whomever may actually be reading this s', won't have as much of an excuse to complain about such a thing. There is that, Psychonauts, and maybe some other games that I have access to like the Blackwell games and Night of the Rabbit that I will look into elaborating upon to give a sense of what it is and why it can be pleasurable to play.
I'm attempting to write and put together a game with a friend of mine on RPGMaker VX Ace. The script is currently... maybe 33% complete? It's near halfway, but there is some finer touch-ups I'd want to go through before I continue on too. The game itself is dark and depressing; it could probably make a few tear up and cry, but that's the goal. I only hope that it comes off as touching as it is supposed to be, but only time can tell. I'm aiming to try and get it voiced through most of the game, with the interactions between the party and between the other NPCs, but that may be too lofty of a goal right now. Only time can tell as I start to put things together.
Press Start: June 9th, 2015
I will get into the groove of this for the summer, sooner or later. For now, nearing the last of my backlog.
---
Title: Infinite Undiscovery
Released: September 2008
More like a side-project to Square-Enix and tri-Ace, Infinite Undiscovery is not one of the greater-liked roleplaying games, I'd feel, for the XBox360. It was released in September of last year and, although it's a good game in itself, it does try a bit too hard in giving the player a challenge, sometimes.
The moon is a sign of power in the world. As such, a group called the Order of Chains has set down chains all over the world, anchoring the moon closer to the surface and causing problems for those that end up near them. Monster attacks increase greatly, and natural occurences happen unnaturally. However, a resistance force led by Sigmund, the Liberator, is on the rise, and rumor has it that Sigmund can sever the chains that tie the moon down.
You are Capell, an innocent musician thrown into Graad Prison for your... appearance. It just so happens that Capell shares similar facial features to Sigmund, and although he pleads and says he isn't, the guards don't listen. Shortly afterwards, you meet your first party member: Aya. Aya sneaks into Graad Prison upon a rumor that Sigmund had been captured. However, she soon realizes you aren't him, and begins to just leave you there. As events shift everyone's views of Capell, from being a coward to being more like a hero, he'll come to realize that there is more to the world than living for oneself, such as living to protect something dear.
The game is a free-roam live-action hack-and-slash roleplaying game. You control one character and the numerous buttons perform different features, from playing the flute, or teaming up with another character and ordering them to perform different abilities at their disposal. Of course, in certain instances of gameplay, you may be rewarded for doing such things as collecting all of the apples, destroying every barrier, defeating characters within a certain amount of time, avoiding damage when you should, and quite a few more. These are called "Situation Bonuses", and some of the achievements are actually tied to you performing them to the letter.
If you're not so big with achievements, then I guess it wouldn't be a problem for you, and that is really the only problem I had with it myself. That aside, the combat is face-paced, with the later ability of having two, or even three parties simultaneously running around, slaying creatures together on the battlefield, as well as working together to solve puzzles. As stated before, you can cooperate with another member of your party and perform different abilities that only they know, and this works for outside of battle too. If you're in town, there are certain quests or scenes that can only be witnessed with the right character cooperating with you, or "Connecting", as they call it in the game.
To mix in something different, many of the characters you have with you in your adventure have specific item creation specialties, from cooking, smithing, alchemy, writing, and enchanting. Most of the characters start at a lower level, but with work, and a lot of fol, you can accomplish a godly status of the craft, and have access to almost every recipe possible within the field. Certain conditions apply to recipes given, where different characters may have the same craft, but some of them have recipes that others in the craft may not. This is where they specialize, and information on that can be found in their Personal window.
The scenes and story follow through well enough, but there are certain characters that, in spirit, would've been much better if they didn't have attitude problems. *coughEdwardcough* But, beyond my obvious dislike with the character, in battle, every character has their use. It's just a shame that some characters come to you as a Secondary party member, meaning that you can ONLY use them when the area or objective actually requires you to make numerous parties. Other than item creation, these characters don't see much use at all, which is slightly sad. The game itself is fun, although sometimes a bit demanding of certain things to be done, which I just can't seem to do too well. Haha!
---
Title: Infinite Undiscovery
Released: September 2008
More like a side-project to Square-Enix and tri-Ace, Infinite Undiscovery is not one of the greater-liked roleplaying games, I'd feel, for the XBox360. It was released in September of last year and, although it's a good game in itself, it does try a bit too hard in giving the player a challenge, sometimes.
The moon is a sign of power in the world. As such, a group called the Order of Chains has set down chains all over the world, anchoring the moon closer to the surface and causing problems for those that end up near them. Monster attacks increase greatly, and natural occurences happen unnaturally. However, a resistance force led by Sigmund, the Liberator, is on the rise, and rumor has it that Sigmund can sever the chains that tie the moon down.
You are Capell, an innocent musician thrown into Graad Prison for your... appearance. It just so happens that Capell shares similar facial features to Sigmund, and although he pleads and says he isn't, the guards don't listen. Shortly afterwards, you meet your first party member: Aya. Aya sneaks into Graad Prison upon a rumor that Sigmund had been captured. However, she soon realizes you aren't him, and begins to just leave you there. As events shift everyone's views of Capell, from being a coward to being more like a hero, he'll come to realize that there is more to the world than living for oneself, such as living to protect something dear.
The game is a free-roam live-action hack-and-slash roleplaying game. You control one character and the numerous buttons perform different features, from playing the flute, or teaming up with another character and ordering them to perform different abilities at their disposal. Of course, in certain instances of gameplay, you may be rewarded for doing such things as collecting all of the apples, destroying every barrier, defeating characters within a certain amount of time, avoiding damage when you should, and quite a few more. These are called "Situation Bonuses", and some of the achievements are actually tied to you performing them to the letter.
If you're not so big with achievements, then I guess it wouldn't be a problem for you, and that is really the only problem I had with it myself. That aside, the combat is face-paced, with the later ability of having two, or even three parties simultaneously running around, slaying creatures together on the battlefield, as well as working together to solve puzzles. As stated before, you can cooperate with another member of your party and perform different abilities that only they know, and this works for outside of battle too. If you're in town, there are certain quests or scenes that can only be witnessed with the right character cooperating with you, or "Connecting", as they call it in the game.
To mix in something different, many of the characters you have with you in your adventure have specific item creation specialties, from cooking, smithing, alchemy, writing, and enchanting. Most of the characters start at a lower level, but with work, and a lot of fol, you can accomplish a godly status of the craft, and have access to almost every recipe possible within the field. Certain conditions apply to recipes given, where different characters may have the same craft, but some of them have recipes that others in the craft may not. This is where they specialize, and information on that can be found in their Personal window.
The scenes and story follow through well enough, but there are certain characters that, in spirit, would've been much better if they didn't have attitude problems. *coughEdwardcough* But, beyond my obvious dislike with the character, in battle, every character has their use. It's just a shame that some characters come to you as a Secondary party member, meaning that you can ONLY use them when the area or objective actually requires you to make numerous parties. Other than item creation, these characters don't see much use at all, which is slightly sad. The game itself is fun, although sometimes a bit demanding of certain things to be done, which I just can't seem to do too well. Haha!
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Press Start: May 27th, 2015
Time for an archive, since I nearly forgot until it was too late. I need to start writing backlogs of these games, especially since I've been going through quite a few lately.
----
Title: Dead Rising (XBox 360)
Released: August - September 2006
One of the earlier titles released for the XBox360, Dead Rising was made by Capcom, I believe, in an attempt to also display the XBox360's processing power. It really does show, when you play the game anyway. The cinematics leave much to desire out of the game, and they try their hardest when it comes to that.
You play as Frank West throughout the entire game. Word on the street was that something was going on in Willamette, Colorado, so Frank hires a private helicopter to take him over the town. Frank's task from there is to collect photos of the chaos that is going down within the city, which was much more than he originally expected. With the military quarantining the entire city off, he smells something suspicious going on, and intends to investigate by dropping into the super mall. A deal he struck with the helicopter pilot gives him three days to investigate the strange events around the city and meet up with his ride to civilization, or he will suffer the same fate as the city's citizens.
Thrown into a large mall for three whole days may sound like an ideal time-spender, but if you were in Frank's shoes, you'd have something else to worry about than money: zombies. That's right... We're talking the brain-eating, slow-moving, flesh-rotting zombies that plague many horror games and movies. For some reason, the entire population of Willamette, CO has turned into zombies and are congregating in the local mall, attempting to feast on the survivors that hide within.
The game really does throw you into a massive feast-frenzy with zombies in the beginning. Basicl controls are: you move around with the control stick, no real way to go faster than by doing this; the X button is your attack command, and many of the items you will come to pick up (using B to interact with doors and items, among anything else) will use the same button as well. You can jump using the A button, but it's not very high, or far if you're moving while pressing it. If you press Y, Frank will attempt to see if there is anyone around he can help. If he has some survivors following him, he'll attempt to catch their attention and make them come towards him.
By holding the right trigger, Frank can bring up a target reticule to be either used for throwing items (Right Trigger + X) or by informing the survivor team he has to head to a specific point he's looking at (Right Trigger + Y). Meanwhile, by holding the left trigger, you can aim with your camera and attempt to take some pictures of the unkempt models that dredge through the mall's interior and exterior. X takes a picture, while A and B zooms the camera in and out. Other than wasting film for sweet action shots, or taking photographs of specific survivors, taking pictures is one of many ways that Frank can level up.
Photo Points (PP) are obtained from taking photos, killing a certain amount of zombies, meeting up with and rescuing survivors, or defeating specific boss-like enemies throughout the mall. You'd think it'd be easy to level up, if all you had to do was kill zombies, but the amount of PP that they give you for doing this really doesn't make it any easier. In fact, the best ways to go about leveling are rescuing the survivors or killing the bosses that you will learn of through the story itself, as well as specific scoops that Otis, the security guard, will phone you up to give you.
It's simple enough to just sit around idly with your game turned on and pass through all of the days, but Capcom thought of such a thing, and made it to where you had to do a storyline throughout the long time. 72-Hour Mode, the one mentioned throughout most of this post, is the only mode that you have access to until you actually beat the game. All of the optional survivor scoops are... well, optional, but there is one specific line of scoops that you HAVE to complete, I believe. It involves the mystery surrounding the mall and all of Willamette's citizens being zombies. Every single scoop is time crucial, meaning you have from a specific time to another time to complete it, or else it's lost, and this does place you in some sticky situations, such as rushing from one part of the mall clear across to another, getting something, and running all the way back to the only safe haven in the entire mall: the security room. With only one entrance into the security room, it makes the entire process of rescuing the survivors also a bit crunch-worthy, as you had better plan your escapades out in the mall beforehand, or you may end up running around with a full squad of survivors, and getting munched at the elevator.
The game's great, and I'm all for mindlessly beating up zombies. However, if your XBox360 hasn't been updated, or come with, the NXE update for the dashboard, chances are your XBox360 will have some trouble with some of the areas. That's why I'd suggest having the NXE and installing the game itself onto a hard drive, that way it doesn't work as hard to load the massive amount of zombies that you'll have in one section of the mall. I've heard that the game itself, although originally made near the launch of the XBox360, was the cause of many "Red Ring of Death" incidents, and I wouldn't want that to happen to others.
----
Suffice to say, the game had rough edges to it, and they did their best when releasing the sequel, Dead Rising 2, to take care of many of the problems the first game had. They succeeded, let's just end it with that.
----
Title: Dead Rising (XBox 360)
Released: August - September 2006
One of the earlier titles released for the XBox360, Dead Rising was made by Capcom, I believe, in an attempt to also display the XBox360's processing power. It really does show, when you play the game anyway. The cinematics leave much to desire out of the game, and they try their hardest when it comes to that.
You play as Frank West throughout the entire game. Word on the street was that something was going on in Willamette, Colorado, so Frank hires a private helicopter to take him over the town. Frank's task from there is to collect photos of the chaos that is going down within the city, which was much more than he originally expected. With the military quarantining the entire city off, he smells something suspicious going on, and intends to investigate by dropping into the super mall. A deal he struck with the helicopter pilot gives him three days to investigate the strange events around the city and meet up with his ride to civilization, or he will suffer the same fate as the city's citizens.
Thrown into a large mall for three whole days may sound like an ideal time-spender, but if you were in Frank's shoes, you'd have something else to worry about than money: zombies. That's right... We're talking the brain-eating, slow-moving, flesh-rotting zombies that plague many horror games and movies. For some reason, the entire population of Willamette, CO has turned into zombies and are congregating in the local mall, attempting to feast on the survivors that hide within.
The game really does throw you into a massive feast-frenzy with zombies in the beginning. Basicl controls are: you move around with the control stick, no real way to go faster than by doing this; the X button is your attack command, and many of the items you will come to pick up (using B to interact with doors and items, among anything else) will use the same button as well. You can jump using the A button, but it's not very high, or far if you're moving while pressing it. If you press Y, Frank will attempt to see if there is anyone around he can help. If he has some survivors following him, he'll attempt to catch their attention and make them come towards him.
By holding the right trigger, Frank can bring up a target reticule to be either used for throwing items (Right Trigger + X) or by informing the survivor team he has to head to a specific point he's looking at (Right Trigger + Y). Meanwhile, by holding the left trigger, you can aim with your camera and attempt to take some pictures of the unkempt models that dredge through the mall's interior and exterior. X takes a picture, while A and B zooms the camera in and out. Other than wasting film for sweet action shots, or taking photographs of specific survivors, taking pictures is one of many ways that Frank can level up.
Photo Points (PP) are obtained from taking photos, killing a certain amount of zombies, meeting up with and rescuing survivors, or defeating specific boss-like enemies throughout the mall. You'd think it'd be easy to level up, if all you had to do was kill zombies, but the amount of PP that they give you for doing this really doesn't make it any easier. In fact, the best ways to go about leveling are rescuing the survivors or killing the bosses that you will learn of through the story itself, as well as specific scoops that Otis, the security guard, will phone you up to give you.
It's simple enough to just sit around idly with your game turned on and pass through all of the days, but Capcom thought of such a thing, and made it to where you had to do a storyline throughout the long time. 72-Hour Mode, the one mentioned throughout most of this post, is the only mode that you have access to until you actually beat the game. All of the optional survivor scoops are... well, optional, but there is one specific line of scoops that you HAVE to complete, I believe. It involves the mystery surrounding the mall and all of Willamette's citizens being zombies. Every single scoop is time crucial, meaning you have from a specific time to another time to complete it, or else it's lost, and this does place you in some sticky situations, such as rushing from one part of the mall clear across to another, getting something, and running all the way back to the only safe haven in the entire mall: the security room. With only one entrance into the security room, it makes the entire process of rescuing the survivors also a bit crunch-worthy, as you had better plan your escapades out in the mall beforehand, or you may end up running around with a full squad of survivors, and getting munched at the elevator.
The game's great, and I'm all for mindlessly beating up zombies. However, if your XBox360 hasn't been updated, or come with, the NXE update for the dashboard, chances are your XBox360 will have some trouble with some of the areas. That's why I'd suggest having the NXE and installing the game itself onto a hard drive, that way it doesn't work as hard to load the massive amount of zombies that you'll have in one section of the mall. I've heard that the game itself, although originally made near the launch of the XBox360, was the cause of many "Red Ring of Death" incidents, and I wouldn't want that to happen to others.
----
Suffice to say, the game had rough edges to it, and they did their best when releasing the sequel, Dead Rising 2, to take care of many of the problems the first game had. They succeeded, let's just end it with that.
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Press Start: May 20th, 2015
I'll just get down to the nitty gritty of this episode.
Title: Tales of Monkey Island: Episode 4 (The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood)
Released: October 2009
Spoiler lie ahead, arr. You be warned!
So, if you've been keeping up with what I've been writing, Morgan le Flay double-crosses Guybrush after they elude Coronado with the sponge. She's been working for the Marquise de Singe, after all, and she does her job as she is paid for. So she brings him to Flotsam Island once more, only to be handed off not to the Marquise but the Pox-blighted Pirates of Flotsam, charging him with several crimes that he may or may not have done.
This episode may seem rather lengthy in the course of clearing Guybrush's name and setting things right. Now that he has the sponge, he has to see to using it to clearing Elaine and the rest of the pirates on the Caribbean from LeChuck's voodoo pox. Divided into two larger chunks of the episode, we go from flipping back and forth in the courtroom (closed in the first episode) to exploring the greater part of Flotsam Island once more to seek a way to activate La Esponja Pequeno and make it grow back to its normal size.
We see former characters from the previous episodes such as those of Episode 1 (D'Oro, Crimpdigit, and a few others) to some more recent (Hardtack, for instance). Using his wits, his sass, and whatever isn't nailed to the floor, Guybrush tackles the several accusations one at a time to prove that he is indeed the Mighty Pirate(TM) that he believes he is. But when you throw the pox-stricken Elaine into the picture, he starts to see how grim the situation has become for the Caribbean itself.
I won't give away the twist for this at the end, simply because it is definitely something to play the game for. What I will say is that I did love trying to figure out the second half of the episode, where you were given the tasks to increase La Esponja to its full size with the Feast for the Senses. Puzzles like that are grand and rather far and few between nowadays, and I do wish that they would bring Monkey Island back for a reawakening. But, near the end, when it comes to finally bringing the sponge to fruition, the surprise after that shocked me. After all that?!
To be continued... arr...
Title: Tales of Monkey Island: Episode 4 (The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood)
Released: October 2009
Spoiler lie ahead, arr. You be warned!
So, if you've been keeping up with what I've been writing, Morgan le Flay double-crosses Guybrush after they elude Coronado with the sponge. She's been working for the Marquise de Singe, after all, and she does her job as she is paid for. So she brings him to Flotsam Island once more, only to be handed off not to the Marquise but the Pox-blighted Pirates of Flotsam, charging him with several crimes that he may or may not have done.
This episode may seem rather lengthy in the course of clearing Guybrush's name and setting things right. Now that he has the sponge, he has to see to using it to clearing Elaine and the rest of the pirates on the Caribbean from LeChuck's voodoo pox. Divided into two larger chunks of the episode, we go from flipping back and forth in the courtroom (closed in the first episode) to exploring the greater part of Flotsam Island once more to seek a way to activate La Esponja Pequeno and make it grow back to its normal size.
We see former characters from the previous episodes such as those of Episode 1 (D'Oro, Crimpdigit, and a few others) to some more recent (Hardtack, for instance). Using his wits, his sass, and whatever isn't nailed to the floor, Guybrush tackles the several accusations one at a time to prove that he is indeed the Mighty Pirate(TM) that he believes he is. But when you throw the pox-stricken Elaine into the picture, he starts to see how grim the situation has become for the Caribbean itself.
I won't give away the twist for this at the end, simply because it is definitely something to play the game for. What I will say is that I did love trying to figure out the second half of the episode, where you were given the tasks to increase La Esponja to its full size with the Feast for the Senses. Puzzles like that are grand and rather far and few between nowadays, and I do wish that they would bring Monkey Island back for a reawakening. But, near the end, when it comes to finally bringing the sponge to fruition, the surprise after that shocked me. After all that?!
To be continued... arr...
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
Press Start: May 6th, 2015
When we last left Guybrush Threepwood at the end of Episode 2, he met back up with Morgan Le Flay and was about to find La Esponja Grande. What he didn't expect was to be swallowed up by a giant manatee!
Title: Tales of Monkey Island: Episode 3 (Lair of the Leviathan)
Released: September 2009
Spoiler lie ahead, arr. You be warned!
I'll say it now: this is already my favorite episode, and I've yet to play the fourth or fifth so far. But when you include Murray the Demonic Talking Skull, things are definitely going to be more lively. So Guybrush, Morgan, and Winslow are left within the gullet of the giant manatee and discover not only their first goal of Coronado de Cava, but that they are partially on their way to their second goal of La Esponja Grande! The problem lies with the manatee itself, and this starts the first half of the episode.
Morgan is placated into being Guybrush's pretend wife, disarmed of her sword and left to idle her time in the digestive tract of their captor. Coronado has lost his mind over the years he has spent in the manatee, and his crew were lost to the depths further in. We continue to see many of the puzzles that make the Monkey Island saga unique to the point-and-click adventure pool (which isn't as deep as I'd prefer). His continued sass gets him in trouble time and again, but it also serves as getting his butt out of the frying pan after it landed him in it in the first place.
One of the interesting bits that comes in play is the pirate face-off that he ends up performing against one of Coronado's crew, Bugeye. In order to obtain the cochlea, he must unanimously be voted into the Brotherhood (with a long title having to do with the manatee's stomach), but Bugeye is a fuddy-duddy spoilsport and easily finds fault in the blonde pirate. So they have to make original facial contortions to try and spook one another. The combinations you are able to pull together are rather limited, but amusing to see at the same time.
And I did mention Murray earlier. He was brought into the Monkey Island lifestyle during the much more animated Curse of Monkey Island and has appeared through that and Escape from Monkey Island, the fourth in the series and the first made in 3D. His mannerisms and quirks made him a hit from the third game and, to see him in this, it really brightened my day playing the game. He is so bent on causing chaos and instilling evil into the world around him, but he is only a skull. So Guybrush ends up utilizing him for his own means and manipulates him. Who's the real evil mastermind here, huh?
As I said, the interior of the manatee is only the first half of the game. Once you manage to solve the ultimate puzzle there, you are jettisoned out onto the ocean surface once more, this time with the remainder of what you found inside, and your goal is to dive down and get your prize. But now you have to help court the manatee! What is this world coming to when you have to actually work for your rewards?! But this is where you also end up bringing together items from earlier in the episodes, being the locket from the first episode in fact.
While this episode focuses exclusively on Guybrush, we are still given some light glimpses into what Elaine and LeChuck are doing, and this sets it up splendidly for a "What happens next" with the last two episodes. With the way this episode ends, it leaves you expecting something grim, because after all the time you spent learning some of the characters, it gets twisted and you're like, "What?!" Or that could've just been me.
To be continued... arr...
Title: Tales of Monkey Island: Episode 3 (Lair of the Leviathan)
Released: September 2009
Spoiler lie ahead, arr. You be warned!
I'll say it now: this is already my favorite episode, and I've yet to play the fourth or fifth so far. But when you include Murray the Demonic Talking Skull, things are definitely going to be more lively. So Guybrush, Morgan, and Winslow are left within the gullet of the giant manatee and discover not only their first goal of Coronado de Cava, but that they are partially on their way to their second goal of La Esponja Grande! The problem lies with the manatee itself, and this starts the first half of the episode.
Morgan is placated into being Guybrush's pretend wife, disarmed of her sword and left to idle her time in the digestive tract of their captor. Coronado has lost his mind over the years he has spent in the manatee, and his crew were lost to the depths further in. We continue to see many of the puzzles that make the Monkey Island saga unique to the point-and-click adventure pool (which isn't as deep as I'd prefer). His continued sass gets him in trouble time and again, but it also serves as getting his butt out of the frying pan after it landed him in it in the first place.
One of the interesting bits that comes in play is the pirate face-off that he ends up performing against one of Coronado's crew, Bugeye. In order to obtain the cochlea, he must unanimously be voted into the Brotherhood (with a long title having to do with the manatee's stomach), but Bugeye is a fuddy-duddy spoilsport and easily finds fault in the blonde pirate. So they have to make original facial contortions to try and spook one another. The combinations you are able to pull together are rather limited, but amusing to see at the same time.
And I did mention Murray earlier. He was brought into the Monkey Island lifestyle during the much more animated Curse of Monkey Island and has appeared through that and Escape from Monkey Island, the fourth in the series and the first made in 3D. His mannerisms and quirks made him a hit from the third game and, to see him in this, it really brightened my day playing the game. He is so bent on causing chaos and instilling evil into the world around him, but he is only a skull. So Guybrush ends up utilizing him for his own means and manipulates him. Who's the real evil mastermind here, huh?
As I said, the interior of the manatee is only the first half of the game. Once you manage to solve the ultimate puzzle there, you are jettisoned out onto the ocean surface once more, this time with the remainder of what you found inside, and your goal is to dive down and get your prize. But now you have to help court the manatee! What is this world coming to when you have to actually work for your rewards?! But this is where you also end up bringing together items from earlier in the episodes, being the locket from the first episode in fact.
While this episode focuses exclusively on Guybrush, we are still given some light glimpses into what Elaine and LeChuck are doing, and this sets it up splendidly for a "What happens next" with the last two episodes. With the way this episode ends, it leaves you expecting something grim, because after all the time you spent learning some of the characters, it gets twisted and you're like, "What?!" Or that could've just been me.
To be continued... arr...
Sunday, May 3, 2015
Press Play: May 3rd, 2015
Time to continue on, from one episode to the other.
Title: Tales of Monkey Island: Episode 2 (Siege on Spinner Car)
Released: August 2009
Spoiler lie ahead, arr. You be warned!
When we last left our dashing pirate Guybrush Threepwood in the end of the first game, he had finally fled from Flotsam Island. However, upon finding his one true love Elaine in the presence of the now-human pirate LeChuck and enjoying herself, Guybrush ends up finding a closer threat to home. The dreaded pirate hunter Morgan le Flay was recruited by the sinister Marquise de Singe to hunt down Guybrush, and she is a woman of her word.
The second episode continues directly from the end of the first, and while it is kind of a disappointment that they are stand-alone in the execution of each game, the story itself at least leads on as if you continued from the same game. Thrown into the fire, you have to think on your feet to solve your current situation and proceed after Elaine, in which you lose something and gain something else. But at least in solving the current situation, you are able to proceed on to the Jerkbait Islands, the scene for the entirety of the second episode.
You have several different goals you have to complete in no specific order during the first half of this episode. Of course, your primary concern is that of Elaine and LeChuck, but you were also tasked from Flotsam Island to find Coronado de Cava and La Esponja Grande. Coming to the Jerkbait Islands, you find that the latter objectives, Coronado and the sponge, are closely related to your ultimate goal here on the islands, while Elaine is acting as a mediator between a pox-ridden pirate and the chief of the Merfolk that live on the islands.
The music doesn't change much between the two episodes, though the scenery does end up giving different musical situations. The relationship between Elaine, LeChuck, and Guybrush is further stressed now that the enemy of the entire series is human and good-natured. Due to the fact that the Pox of LeChuck has spread to more than Flotsam Island, it is definitely going to be a difficult ride for Guybrush and his second-in-command, Winslow (who he previously removed from the head of the Narwhal in the first episode).
What makes this an interesting episode is the concept of the Merfolk, or the Vacaylians as they're known. They were alluded to in the first episode as the creators of the artifacts on Flotsam, and in this, they're the denizens of the deep. At one time, they were Merfolk who decided to shed their tails for legs and crawl upon land. After doing this for some time, they changed their minds and adapted to tails once more. This doesn't help in trying to determine their gender though, and as they hit on Guybrush, he is both uncomfortable in responding as well as greeting these strange individuals.
Solving the problems on the Jerkbait Islands, Guybrush is finally on his way to start locating La Esponja Grande. A problem persists in the form of Morgan once more showing herself to not only correct the mistake she made at the beginning, but to this time make sure it ends in her favor. She would probably succeed if it wasn't for...
To be continued... arr...
Title: Tales of Monkey Island: Episode 2 (Siege on Spinner Car)
Released: August 2009
Spoiler lie ahead, arr. You be warned!
When we last left our dashing pirate Guybrush Threepwood in the end of the first game, he had finally fled from Flotsam Island. However, upon finding his one true love Elaine in the presence of the now-human pirate LeChuck and enjoying herself, Guybrush ends up finding a closer threat to home. The dreaded pirate hunter Morgan le Flay was recruited by the sinister Marquise de Singe to hunt down Guybrush, and she is a woman of her word.
The second episode continues directly from the end of the first, and while it is kind of a disappointment that they are stand-alone in the execution of each game, the story itself at least leads on as if you continued from the same game. Thrown into the fire, you have to think on your feet to solve your current situation and proceed after Elaine, in which you lose something and gain something else. But at least in solving the current situation, you are able to proceed on to the Jerkbait Islands, the scene for the entirety of the second episode.
You have several different goals you have to complete in no specific order during the first half of this episode. Of course, your primary concern is that of Elaine and LeChuck, but you were also tasked from Flotsam Island to find Coronado de Cava and La Esponja Grande. Coming to the Jerkbait Islands, you find that the latter objectives, Coronado and the sponge, are closely related to your ultimate goal here on the islands, while Elaine is acting as a mediator between a pox-ridden pirate and the chief of the Merfolk that live on the islands.
The music doesn't change much between the two episodes, though the scenery does end up giving different musical situations. The relationship between Elaine, LeChuck, and Guybrush is further stressed now that the enemy of the entire series is human and good-natured. Due to the fact that the Pox of LeChuck has spread to more than Flotsam Island, it is definitely going to be a difficult ride for Guybrush and his second-in-command, Winslow (who he previously removed from the head of the Narwhal in the first episode).
What makes this an interesting episode is the concept of the Merfolk, or the Vacaylians as they're known. They were alluded to in the first episode as the creators of the artifacts on Flotsam, and in this, they're the denizens of the deep. At one time, they were Merfolk who decided to shed their tails for legs and crawl upon land. After doing this for some time, they changed their minds and adapted to tails once more. This doesn't help in trying to determine their gender though, and as they hit on Guybrush, he is both uncomfortable in responding as well as greeting these strange individuals.
Solving the problems on the Jerkbait Islands, Guybrush is finally on his way to start locating La Esponja Grande. A problem persists in the form of Morgan once more showing herself to not only correct the mistake she made at the beginning, but to this time make sure it ends in her favor. She would probably succeed if it wasn't for...
To be continued... arr...
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Press Start: April 29th, 2015
First things first: happy birthday to me! I didn't realize it when I started this back up that my birthday would've fallen on a Wednesday, but oh well! Another funny thing to realize about today: seven years ago, Grand Theft Auto IV came out on the XBox 360 and Playstation 3. I did not know this until earlier yesterday. But that's not what I'm going to talk about today. Instead, it'll be about the 2009 release of Tales of Monkey Island, Episode 1.
Title: Tales of Monkey Island: Episode 1 (Launch of the Screaming Narwhal)
Released: July 2009
Spoiler lie ahead, arr. You be warned!
For those who may not know Monkey Island is a point-and-click adventure game made by LucasArts for the PC during the Age of Adventure that came out around 1990. It is the misadventures of a lovable pirate wannabe by the name of Guybrush Threepwood and his rise to fame, or infamy as his friends and enemies would both consider. He meets his future wife Elaine Marley and his future rival LeChuck through the trials of becoming a pirate, and from there his future is set to always be intertwined around the two of them (sounds like a triad scheme similar to Nintendo, huh?).
Tales of Monkey Island was not actually made by LucasArts, though, or at least solely developed by them. Instead, this was another of the early titles that Telltale Games had their hand in, and I would have to say that it ended up helping them refine their tool for future games. You still follow Guybrush on his adventures across the oceans, but this time, it is an adventure so grand that it spans over five episodic content games (sound familiar to what Telltale is always doing?).
The brand of humor for this game series is still very much the backbone of the interactions between Guybrush and practically anything else in the environment, and being a point-and-click environment, there is often some seemingly inconspicuous items that can give you much humor in interacting with. This episode alone is quite amusing as it takes place on one sole location, the island of Flotsam. In trying to stop the pirate LeChuck from his recent voodoo plot, Guybrush ends up turning him human and exploding the boat that him, LeChuck, and Elaine were on. Washed up on the shore of Flotsam Island, the adventure lies in trying to get off the island and return to his beloved, or to deal with his arch nemesis, potentially both.
Dominic Armato is THE voice of Guybrush Threepwood. Since the third title took a leap towards a different graphic style and included voice acting, he has been at the front lending his unique voice to the series. There is something about his snappy quips towards everyone else that shows Guybrush's "Don't Care" attitude that I've grown to love, and I'm sure many others have found solace in that too. The way the game proceeds, the only way for him to leave the island leads him through a typical checklist of tasks. Sooner or later, he discovers that in turning LeChuck human, he has unleashed an evil voodoo pox on all pirates, and his hand is the most potent form of this infection. Not only does he still have to worry about leaving the island, but he has to focus on curing the ailments of his fellow pirates that he ended up causing.
I wasn't able to play it when it first started coming out, nor was I aware it was actually coming out around the same time (or a few weeks later) on the Wii. I know they ended up releasing it on the Playstation 3 later, but that's about it as far as my knowledge of it. In fact, I didn't even know about this game itself until last year, when I started watching some of it on YouTube through a longplay channel. It's so cinematic that I ended up watching most of it (skipping large chunks sometimes so I didn't ruin the entire game). I can safely say that, playing now, I am enjoying every twist and turn that I ended up skipping over, making the game all the more surprising. C'mon now. Tell me you wouldn't find it amusing that Guybrush attempts to call the Treasure Hunter D'Oro "D'Oro the Explorer"? Or that he plays around with an ill-gotten Porcelain Power Pirate by sacrificing it on an altar?
To be continued... arr...
Title: Tales of Monkey Island: Episode 1 (Launch of the Screaming Narwhal)
Released: July 2009
Spoiler lie ahead, arr. You be warned!
For those who may not know Monkey Island is a point-and-click adventure game made by LucasArts for the PC during the Age of Adventure that came out around 1990. It is the misadventures of a lovable pirate wannabe by the name of Guybrush Threepwood and his rise to fame, or infamy as his friends and enemies would both consider. He meets his future wife Elaine Marley and his future rival LeChuck through the trials of becoming a pirate, and from there his future is set to always be intertwined around the two of them (sounds like a triad scheme similar to Nintendo, huh?).
Tales of Monkey Island was not actually made by LucasArts, though, or at least solely developed by them. Instead, this was another of the early titles that Telltale Games had their hand in, and I would have to say that it ended up helping them refine their tool for future games. You still follow Guybrush on his adventures across the oceans, but this time, it is an adventure so grand that it spans over five episodic content games (sound familiar to what Telltale is always doing?).
The brand of humor for this game series is still very much the backbone of the interactions between Guybrush and practically anything else in the environment, and being a point-and-click environment, there is often some seemingly inconspicuous items that can give you much humor in interacting with. This episode alone is quite amusing as it takes place on one sole location, the island of Flotsam. In trying to stop the pirate LeChuck from his recent voodoo plot, Guybrush ends up turning him human and exploding the boat that him, LeChuck, and Elaine were on. Washed up on the shore of Flotsam Island, the adventure lies in trying to get off the island and return to his beloved, or to deal with his arch nemesis, potentially both.
Dominic Armato is THE voice of Guybrush Threepwood. Since the third title took a leap towards a different graphic style and included voice acting, he has been at the front lending his unique voice to the series. There is something about his snappy quips towards everyone else that shows Guybrush's "Don't Care" attitude that I've grown to love, and I'm sure many others have found solace in that too. The way the game proceeds, the only way for him to leave the island leads him through a typical checklist of tasks. Sooner or later, he discovers that in turning LeChuck human, he has unleashed an evil voodoo pox on all pirates, and his hand is the most potent form of this infection. Not only does he still have to worry about leaving the island, but he has to focus on curing the ailments of his fellow pirates that he ended up causing.
I wasn't able to play it when it first started coming out, nor was I aware it was actually coming out around the same time (or a few weeks later) on the Wii. I know they ended up releasing it on the Playstation 3 later, but that's about it as far as my knowledge of it. In fact, I didn't even know about this game itself until last year, when I started watching some of it on YouTube through a longplay channel. It's so cinematic that I ended up watching most of it (skipping large chunks sometimes so I didn't ruin the entire game). I can safely say that, playing now, I am enjoying every twist and turn that I ended up skipping over, making the game all the more surprising. C'mon now. Tell me you wouldn't find it amusing that Guybrush attempts to call the Treasure Hunter D'Oro "D'Oro the Explorer"? Or that he plays around with an ill-gotten Porcelain Power Pirate by sacrificing it on an altar?
To be continued... arr...
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Press Start: April 22nd, 2015
Another release from my vault of the past, this one is a sequel to the Laura Bow point-and-click adventure game released by Sierra. Introducing: Laura Bow and the Dagger of Amon-Ra!
Title: The Dagger of Amon Ra
Released: 1992
~
Created three years after the first, this sequel has you controlling Laura Bow after she finishes college. Thanks to her father, she has a job waiting for her in New York, and she travels by train up to the Big Apple. All the way, mischief is brewing aboard the Andrea Doria, where an egyptian exhibit is being carefully unloaded for the Leyendecker Museum.
Laura Bow starts her job at the New York Tribune, who's Chief Editor, Sam Augustini, is real close with her father. Doubting her abilities as a reporter due to being a woman, he gives her a simple assignment to start: cover the opening of the new Egyptian Exhibit later that night at the Leyendecker. He also sends her off to her desk, where she can begin her story. This is how it all starts for the snooping sleuth now turned reporter.
The events of the first game don't make an appearance in this, however, she does make mention she's seen her share of death. Upon arriving at the museum, a dead body turns up, and it is from there that Laura's snooping lessons come into practice. With a large cast of colorful characters, and plenty of motive from all of them, it is up to you to browse through the museum and work up your article.
Sierra had done away with text prompts by the time this game came out, using the icon sets that many other adventure games used during this time. You had the Walk icon, which you used to get around; the Look icon, which is sometimes helpful for getting a closer look at certain things; the Touch icon, which was used to pick up items; the Greet icon, which merely started up a conversation with the person you used it on; and the Question icon, which allowed you to ask about anything you've learned. You'd come to use the Question icon a lot, in order to learn more about people or items you may have collected.
Originally, the game was released on a floppy, and due to this, it didn't have as much room as it did later on the CD. Therefore, the difference between the two versions is that the floppy had no voices (except for one song, still in the first act). The CD version gave Laura a country accent, which went along well for where she came from, and it was amusing to hear some of the other characters when they talked. Furthermore, the CD version threw away the copy-protection that worked its way in from time to time on the floppy version.
This was a major improvement over the first, but I can't help but realize it as a stand-alone game on its own. Laura Bow was quite a sleuth in those days, and it'd be much nicer if Vivendi picked up the series and actually continued onto it. I'm sure she'd have plenty more adventures, as well as fans, if they did. However, I'll leave this post with a link to the song in question from the earlier paragraph. The song's called "I Want to Marry an Archaeologist", and it was hilarious to hear this song randomly go on in the speakeasy of the first act.
Title: The Dagger of Amon Ra
Released: 1992
~
Created three years after the first, this sequel has you controlling Laura Bow after she finishes college. Thanks to her father, she has a job waiting for her in New York, and she travels by train up to the Big Apple. All the way, mischief is brewing aboard the Andrea Doria, where an egyptian exhibit is being carefully unloaded for the Leyendecker Museum.
Laura Bow starts her job at the New York Tribune, who's Chief Editor, Sam Augustini, is real close with her father. Doubting her abilities as a reporter due to being a woman, he gives her a simple assignment to start: cover the opening of the new Egyptian Exhibit later that night at the Leyendecker. He also sends her off to her desk, where she can begin her story. This is how it all starts for the snooping sleuth now turned reporter.
The events of the first game don't make an appearance in this, however, she does make mention she's seen her share of death. Upon arriving at the museum, a dead body turns up, and it is from there that Laura's snooping lessons come into practice. With a large cast of colorful characters, and plenty of motive from all of them, it is up to you to browse through the museum and work up your article.
Sierra had done away with text prompts by the time this game came out, using the icon sets that many other adventure games used during this time. You had the Walk icon, which you used to get around; the Look icon, which is sometimes helpful for getting a closer look at certain things; the Touch icon, which was used to pick up items; the Greet icon, which merely started up a conversation with the person you used it on; and the Question icon, which allowed you to ask about anything you've learned. You'd come to use the Question icon a lot, in order to learn more about people or items you may have collected.
Originally, the game was released on a floppy, and due to this, it didn't have as much room as it did later on the CD. Therefore, the difference between the two versions is that the floppy had no voices (except for one song, still in the first act). The CD version gave Laura a country accent, which went along well for where she came from, and it was amusing to hear some of the other characters when they talked. Furthermore, the CD version threw away the copy-protection that worked its way in from time to time on the floppy version.
This was a major improvement over the first, but I can't help but realize it as a stand-alone game on its own. Laura Bow was quite a sleuth in those days, and it'd be much nicer if Vivendi picked up the series and actually continued onto it. I'm sure she'd have plenty more adventures, as well as fans, if they did. However, I'll leave this post with a link to the song in question from the earlier paragraph. The song's called "I Want to Marry an Archaeologist", and it was hilarious to hear this song randomly go on in the speakeasy of the first act.
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Press Start: April 15th, 2015
For anyone who hasn't heard, Child of Light is an active time battle role-playing game from the likes of Ubisoft. People may already be aware of the fact that Ubisoft is rather infamous with some things, but let's put that aside for right now and talk about this title.
Title: Child of Light
Released: between April to September of 2014
Story: You play Aurora, a little girl that has fallen ill. Apparently, the story itself supposedly leads you to believe that Aurora died, but it deviates in saying that, instead of dying, she ends up in Lemuria, a fantastical land different from the realistic world in which she came from. She is scared and afraid, unsure of where she is and how she got here, yet she is compelled to venture into the nearby forest. It is through here that she learns of a plight on the land and her immediate involvement. She has to recover the stars, the moon, and the sun of Lemuria if she wants to return back to her father, who has become bedridden with grief over the loss of his fair Aurora.
As Aurora journeys through the land of Lemuria, she encounters dark creatures, servants of the Queen of Night, who was the one that took the sun, stars, and moon out of the sky in the first place. In undoing what has been done on the land, she befriends the citizens and fights alongside them. What is unique is that most of the phrasing and script is written in a rhyming prose akin to traditional poetry. Of course, there are some characters that break that flow, but it adds some hilarity to the otherwise tense atmosphere that Aurora finds herself in.
Gameplay: The game plays out on a traditional 2D side-scrolling stage across several different locations. Once you interact with any of the shadow creatures, you are drawn into a battle with Aurora and, should you be far enough, your companions. It is a battle of two versus one to four enemies in an active time battle bar system. By ATB bar system, I mean that everyone's speed is gauged appropriately, and as they progress across the single bar to a specific point, it allows people to choose commands and plan accordingly. In fact, this is where battle strategy comes up, as it makes it so you have to plan your skills and their casting time accordingly to make the most of the battle in your favor.
Many of the battles and elements of combat are extremely repetitive at times, and it can be rather easy to level up. You might find that, even on lower difficulties, some of the bosses may still kick your butt around without proper planning and strategies, though. But from levelling, you're also given skill points to invest in stat increases, skills, and upgrades to those skills. You will have to rotate through your sidekicks as certain abilities can only be used by specific individuals, and the culmination of these abilities really makes the system that much more encompassing. Everyone gets equal time in a proper fight.
Sound: There really isn't a long list of music to think of with the game. The bits that are given music is very soft, very mystical and exotic, almost in a classical sense. If anything, classical music lends to this a more realistic approach to the ties it has in the real world, with Aurora able to glance upon her father repeatedly throughout the game. I actually liked this as opposed to some other type of music being played. The battle track does kind of get a bit repetitive though, especially when you're clearing the scenes out to try and level up. But the boss music is definitely epic and worth a listen every now and then.
Additional: The rhyming of dialogue and the story is definitely worth taking the time to read it, as it's not voice-acted, and the battle system is definitely taking an old-time formula and adding in a unique flair to the game itself. It does seem rather short, and you could easily breeze through the game and do everything within a few good hours, but I'd stress the importance of exploring everything, finishing every request, and just taking it slowly so you can truly appreciate this little gem. Child of Light is definitely something that is very promising, and perhaps we can see more games like this, if not from Ubisoft then from some other company. Give it a try if you can, and make sure you give it a long enough try before writing it off.
I've included a link to the soundtrack on YouTube, so you can take in the classical feel of the music that plays throughout the world of Lemuria for Aurora and her comrades.
Child of Light (Original Soundtrack)
As Aurora journeys through the land of Lemuria, she encounters dark creatures, servants of the Queen of Night, who was the one that took the sun, stars, and moon out of the sky in the first place. In undoing what has been done on the land, she befriends the citizens and fights alongside them. What is unique is that most of the phrasing and script is written in a rhyming prose akin to traditional poetry. Of course, there are some characters that break that flow, but it adds some hilarity to the otherwise tense atmosphere that Aurora finds herself in.
Gameplay: The game plays out on a traditional 2D side-scrolling stage across several different locations. Once you interact with any of the shadow creatures, you are drawn into a battle with Aurora and, should you be far enough, your companions. It is a battle of two versus one to four enemies in an active time battle bar system. By ATB bar system, I mean that everyone's speed is gauged appropriately, and as they progress across the single bar to a specific point, it allows people to choose commands and plan accordingly. In fact, this is where battle strategy comes up, as it makes it so you have to plan your skills and their casting time accordingly to make the most of the battle in your favor.
Many of the battles and elements of combat are extremely repetitive at times, and it can be rather easy to level up. You might find that, even on lower difficulties, some of the bosses may still kick your butt around without proper planning and strategies, though. But from levelling, you're also given skill points to invest in stat increases, skills, and upgrades to those skills. You will have to rotate through your sidekicks as certain abilities can only be used by specific individuals, and the culmination of these abilities really makes the system that much more encompassing. Everyone gets equal time in a proper fight.
Sound: There really isn't a long list of music to think of with the game. The bits that are given music is very soft, very mystical and exotic, almost in a classical sense. If anything, classical music lends to this a more realistic approach to the ties it has in the real world, with Aurora able to glance upon her father repeatedly throughout the game. I actually liked this as opposed to some other type of music being played. The battle track does kind of get a bit repetitive though, especially when you're clearing the scenes out to try and level up. But the boss music is definitely epic and worth a listen every now and then.
Additional: The rhyming of dialogue and the story is definitely worth taking the time to read it, as it's not voice-acted, and the battle system is definitely taking an old-time formula and adding in a unique flair to the game itself. It does seem rather short, and you could easily breeze through the game and do everything within a few good hours, but I'd stress the importance of exploring everything, finishing every request, and just taking it slowly so you can truly appreciate this little gem. Child of Light is definitely something that is very promising, and perhaps we can see more games like this, if not from Ubisoft then from some other company. Give it a try if you can, and make sure you give it a long enough try before writing it off.
I've included a link to the soundtrack on YouTube, so you can take in the classical feel of the music that plays throughout the world of Lemuria for Aurora and her comrades.
Child of Light (Original Soundtrack)
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