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!
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
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. >)
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)