• 14Jul 09

  Returning with Xenogears Impressions

  First off, I apologize for missing anyone's blogs during my absence. I don't think I will be going back to them...unless someone really wants me to.

  Anyway, where was I all this time? Well, our basement got water...twice >.> And we also lost Internet connection for a couple of days. It's still going extremely slow, and I don't know why, but at least it works.

  I suppose it's been a bit over a month since I was last here, huh? I have been doing a ton of gaming in the meantime. I finished:

  Grandia III (PS2)
  Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES (PS2)
  Operation Darkness (X360)
  Halo (Xbox)
  Yggdra Union: We'll Never Fight Alone (PSP)
  Metal Gear Acid 2 (PSP)
  Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World (Wii)
  Medal Of Honor: Rising Sun (Xbox)
  Professor Layton and the Curious Village (DS)
  Golden Sun (GBA)
  Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 (PS2)
  Klonoa (wii)
  Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil (PS2) - replayed, I just had to
  Ninja Blade (X360)
  Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)

  I'm honestly shocked at how much I got done, heh. I guess it's because I had a lot of things in progress and it was time to just get focused and wrap it all up. I'm not working on that much now, except for one game in particular, which I will explain in just a sec.

  

  Xenogears is no less than a masterpiece. Rarely do I get addicted to RPGs, but Xenogears has me hooked; it's amazing. They just don't make games like this anymore, and it's a shame it was overshadowed by the Final Fantasy series (although it could easily pass for being in the FF series if it had the name). I have about 37 hours on it.

  I can't believe I doubted it; it's so much better than I expected. Right now it appears to be following the "perfect RPG" path. Everything Xenogears does, it does it right and excels. I don't think it will make a wrong turn somewhere, but Vesperia and P4 did, so who knows.?

  I guess that's it. Just felt like I had to express the love I have for my new favorite RPG

  Time to catch up on some things
  ~Vari
  -I'm back for good

  • Posted Jul 14, 2009 5:41 am PT
  • Category: Games
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• 5Jun 09

  Arc the Lad Review

  

  Name - Arc the Lad
  Platform - PlayStation
  Publisher -Sony Computer Entertainment, Working Designs
  Developer - ARC Entertainment, G-Craft
  Release Date - June 30, 1995
  Genre - Role Playing Game/Turn Based Strategy
  ESRB -T (Teen)
  
  Note ~ This is a review of Arc the Lad bundled into Arc the Lad Collection on the PlayStation.

  Working Designs is an amazing company. Actually, was an amazing company (RIP Working Designs). They pretty much startedthe localizationprocess of bringing obscure Japanese games to the west, bundled with some nice extras such as soundtracks, art books, behind the scenes features, Ghaleon puppets, etc. If it wasn't for them, I doubt Atlus and NIS would be doing that today. I was able to play the Arc the Lad series through the collection that Working Designsreleased.Each game in this collection is basically a translated and improved port of the original and I couldn't be happier with the localization. Arc the Lad was actually one very large game at first, but because of some problems with releasing it, they split the game in two. Not two even parts though, as the first game is about 10 hours long, and the second about 50 hours long. Despite being so small, Arc the Lad proves that length does not measure quality.

  
  ^Are you prepared to fight the slime army? No, this isn't Dragon Quest -.-^

  The story is sort of an introduction to Arc the Lad II, but it's not that bad alone. It revolves around the general theme of destiny and starts off with a young man named Arc, who is doing anything he can to find his father. However, by the end of the game you're still asking questions. The ending is very sloppy and this is probably due to the fact that they had to split the game in two and make the story into two intertwined quests, instead of theone story they had planned out. But when not analyzing the ending, I feel the story is quite good. The cast of characters is great and the chemistry between them will definitely have you laughing out loud. The only thing that really brings it down is the length of the game itself. Arc the Lad will take about 10-15 hours to do everything that it has to offer (that includes sidequests), so that feeling of accomplishment isn't really there. You're not going to feel like you just went on a long and epic journey, even though you virtually did. While it takes hours to meet new characters in other RPGs, you'll see themwithin minutesof Arc the Lad. It's just a very fast paced RPG that will probably catch you off guard if you weren't expecting it (I watched the "making of feature" beforehand so I knew how long it would take).

  
  ^The oldguy in this picture is over 3000 years old O_O^

  I was surprised to see how fluent the battle system is compared to other turn based strategy games. The mechanics are the same as the others, however the control is much better. Instead of having to open up a menu and selecting "attack", all you have to do is face who you want to attack and press the "x" button. Also, to perform a skill, all you have to do it press the "o" button and a ring pops out, surrounding the character and showing what skills can be used. It's instant and so efficient, it shocks me that other games have not utilized this system. The control is excellent,however, the strategy is not. My biggest concern is that levels are everything. For a character to be strong, they just need to be at a high level. This is similar to other games of course, but there just isn't a lot of depth here. Gaining levels is not that easy either. I think it's cool that you get experience for practically everything (seriously, everything except moving gives you experience), but some characters will rapidly grow levels while other characters are left in the dust. These are just minor problems with Arc the Lad's well rounded experience though. It's a very small game, and there isn't a lot to it, but Arc the Lad is good. Not mind-blowing, or the next masterpiece, but just plain "good".

  
  ^Whether the spell is at level 1, 2, or 3, it will always look the same O_o^

  What I liked:
  +wonderful cast of characters
  +witty dialogue
  +efficient controls
  +easy to pick up battle system
  +old-school look
  +most of the tunes in the soundtrack
  +short but sweet experience
  
  What I disliked:
  -sloppy ending
  -"levels are everything" idea
  -having to grind because Arc was 20 levels higher than everybody else
  -travelling to each world just to find a specific area
  -lack of depth

  Random Comments
  ~So is this where Blizzard got the idea to have level 60 be the max in World of Warcraft?
  ~Tosh reminds me of Auron from FFX if he was in the anime Bleach

  Obligatory (?) Score - 7.5/10

  If you have any questions, feel free to send me a message.
  Thank you for reading,
  ~Vari

  
  [Fun fact: Arc the Lad was one of the first games to use CGI cutscenes, and also one of the first to have a real orchestra play the music. Both were an experimentation to see how it would turn out.]

  • Posted Jun 5, 2009 10:37 am PT
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• 4Jun 09

  Project Sylpheed Review

  NOTE ~ I will bemaking reviews like this from now on (a little like mini reviews). Partially because they're easier to make (and read) but also because they're nice and quick. I've noticed that many people don't really care about reviews, since they have their own opinions anyway. So, the goal of these mini reviews is just to quickly say what the game has, and what I think about it. Let me know what you think.

  ---

  

  Name - Project Sylpheed: Arc of Deception
  Platform -Xbox 360
  Publisher - Square Enix
  Developer - Game Arts
  Release Date -July 10, 2007
  Genre -3D Space Shooter
  ESRB -T (Teen)
  
  The 3D space shooter genre is pretty much dead in this generation. Star Wars is always there, but it's just not the same as playing an original space shooter (and Rogue Squadron III is the most recent one I can remember). The genre has never been huge, but I feel it's slowly drifting away from us.It's a real shame because it's an underrated genre. While plane simulators focus on flying a plane and having a slight change of vertical direction, 3D space shooters focus on all directions, so there's a lot going on simultaneously (and a lot to handle as well). While Project Sylpheed isn't going to blow anyone away, or revive the genre, it's still an enjoyable experience nonetheless.

  
  ^Chaotic? Of course^

  I flew through Project Sylpheed in 2 or 3 days, so don't expect a ton of value here. Something I found odd was that I always felt like I was playing an RPG. The combat is far from what to expect in an RPG, but with the cutscenes and Square Enix's usual approach to their games, this very well could have been an RPG and I wouldn't mind. Speaking of cutscenes, they're very good, and a reason to stay intact with the story. The story is a somewhat typical sci-fi story, but I was entertained. It has a good cast of characters and some nice plot twists to keep you interested. I think the game's biggest strength is that everything is strung together nicely. As long as you view the concise briefings for every mission, you'll never get that feeling of "did I miss something". Some of the music is surprisingly strong and fitting as well.

  
  ^The main character. The visual look is what to expect from SE^

  As for the gameplay, it's pretty much the same as every past space shooter. There are some new things that I noticed, like the speed match, but it's more or less identical to previous experiences. The difficulty is all over the place though, and this can be a cruel flaw at times. Missions have no variety in objectives too. It's either destroy this, or protect that. Also, the control scheme is awkward for some commands, and could use some tweaking. However, it's easy to overlook Project Sylpheed's flaws when you're engrossed into the story, enjoying the pretty sights, and blasting your way through the enemy. In the end, it turns out to be a satisfying and memorable experience that's worth taking a look at.

  
  ^Not best graphics we have seen on the 360, but it's still pretty^

  What I liked:
  +cast of characters
  +nostalgia of playing a space shooter
  +solid sci-fi story
  +nice variety of environments
  +destroying a huge battleship and then flying through the explosion
  +teammates actually do something
  +good, if somewhat overly dramatic voice acting
  +epic and touching pieces of the soundtrack
  +clean blue interfaces
  +flat-out awesome cutscenes
  
  What I disliked:
  -roller coaster difficulty
  -having to tell everyone to attack after each target is destroyed
  -unbalanced rankings
  -time limits for every mission
  -lack of variety in objectives
  -small amount of weapons to make in your arsenal
  -getting used to the control scheme
  -little value (my time was around 4 hours according to the game, but that might not include losses and cutscenes)
  -feel that there isn't much here (not bad, but not amazing)
  
  Random Comments
  ~The ending is a little too predictable
  ~

  ***SPOILER***

  Are we really supposed to believe that Margras would join us that easily?

  
  ~I don't know if having the main character's name as Katana is awesome or totally lame O_o
  
  Obligatory (?) Score - 7.7/10

  If you have any questions, feel free to send me a message.
  Thank you for reading,
  ~Vari

  
  It's not as good as Colony Wars, but then again, what is?

  • Posted Jun 4, 2009 10:12 am PT
  • Category: Games
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