Chrono Trigger

Toma, the Adventurer “If I don’t return, come to my grave and pour this on my headstone.”

The group arrives, some 400 years later, on an unnamed isle at the West Cape. There was a sole gravestone.

“The Great Adventurer, Toma Levine rests here… 3/6/634″

The group took out the pop and honoured the man the way he wished. A shining soul rose to the sky, pointing them the direction to the Giant’s Claw. It was where the Rainbow Shell was kept, his last adventure.

It is romantic sequences like this which makes Chrono Trigger such a wonderful and emotionally-charged video game, but not before long the depressing after thoughts that they just don’t make games like this anymore.

Filed under: Games

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones Review

Platform: Game Boy Advance

Genre: Strategy Role Playing

The Good: A lot of characters to choose from.

The Bad: Too many characters to choose from.

Axes: Are effective against lances, but weak against swords

Strategy Role Playing (SRPG) games are not a prominent feature in today’s gaming menus for good reasons. Most are slow, require too much planning, and too prone to trial and error- enough reasons to turn away for most. Perhaps because of the sheer lack of alternatives, the Fire Emblem series managed to shrug off the shackles of the aforementioned- its simple yet polished game play a difficult invitation to decline.

The Sacred Stones is the second Fire Emblem game that made it to the now defunct Game Boy Advance.

Fans of the series will find Sacred Stones right up their alley. The convenient excuse of terming rock-paper-scissors game play as strategic options are your usual made-to-order, while the much celebrated “If characters die, they are gone for good” feature needs no introduction. Bold, italic, and underlined.

Sacred Stones, though, could help with a little better balance. For a title that is supposedly heavy on strategies game play, there are too many battles, too many enemy units and too many expendable allies to focus on; while the lack of variety in characters, graphics and music undermined its production values. Yet for the starved, The Sacred Stones remains one of the better ones around.

Bad game? No. But I seem to have played better ones. [7.5]

Filed under: Games, Review

Slave to Atlus

The news.

I swear they can release the same thing over and over again, call it new, and I will still buy every single one of them.

Filed under: Games

My Reviewing Process

Followers of this blog, not many probably, would be acquainted by now that I love video games.  It has been a hobby I have picked up when I was 5 (maybe?), and couldn’t part since then, not that I would ever remotely think of doing that. Incredulously, gaming spawned another interest of mine in recent years: reviewing them.

There are certain rules that I follow when doing a review. First, I would have to beat the game before I feel I have any right to say anything about them. Since role playing games are almost the only games I play, it may take 20 to even 100s of hours just to reach the ending credits. Second, I would try my best to write in impeccable English. This oftens means spending a lot of time in Dictionary.com. And third, I would always write in 3rd persons, which isn’t always easy to do. I don’t know why, it just feels more professional. Fourth, and perhaps the hardest, is in deciding a score. Numbers are meaningful only when compared- I can’t warrant a game a perfect score of 10 if I didn’t significantly enjoy it more than a game I score 8.0.

As a result, each review typically takes me 3-4 hours to write. The most recent one on Persona 3: Fes probably took me 6 to write/rewrite/edit and even at the end I wasn’t 100% pleased. Yeah, it’s serious business for an amateurish hobby.

So with employment in the picture, there is no way I can devote that much time. I have since came up with a second format, a quick fix whenever I feel like writing something and which can be done within an hour or so. It’s actually stolen from the now defunct EGM megazine, with the Good/Bad points and a Quirk listed out from the rest of the review being its main feature.

I don’t see how any of this is of consequences to you non aficionados. I guess I just love explaining things.

Filed under: Games, Life

Star Ocean: Second Evolution Review

Platform: Playstation Portable

Genre: Role Playing

Good: Well orchestrated anime cutscenes and character voice acting

Bad: They can’t be stopped

Loves barrels: Ashton, a swordsman who carries dragons on his back

Originally published by Tri-Ace as The Second Story for the psone, Second Evolution did the desirable job of remaining almost exactly the same, repackaged in a neater, portable (and possibly more expensive) UMD format. Square Enix is a video game company that holds no barrel in milking its cash cows, and the Star Ocean series escapes no such fate.

But at least it’s a game worth playing. This role playing series, famed for its sorcery/sci-fi settings, exhilarating battle system and wide customisation, is at its best in Second Evolution. It has a great heart and some very endearing characters, something it’s more pretentious predecessors failed in. The excellent anime cutscenes, exclusive to this version, give Second Evolution a more refreshed look.

The game offers a choice for its main character: Claude, a young space explorer; or Rena, a mystical magic user. While the remake suffers from some problems such as overtly long voiced dialogues/battle sequences that can not be stopped, Second Evolution is still one of the better role playing titles for the deprived Playstation Portable system. Fans of this acquired genre, particularly those who did not play the original, may want to check this out. [8.5]

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Persona 3: Fes Review

Platform: Playstation 2

Genre: Role Playing

School is about juggling studies, friends and fighting monsters

There is a thing to fault Persona 3. What is the game exactly? While it can be loosely acknowledged as a role playing game, equally focal are the dungeon crawling and dating simulation aspects. So eloquently these disparate elements tell the story of a group of high school students’ daily worries, relationships problems, and monster fighting antics it makes us wonder: why hasn’t all these been done before? Persona 3’s refusal to be contained within the modern classifications of video games is what makes it so unique. Packed with some outrageously stylish presentation, stamped and approved with an appropriate dose of Japanese influence, Persona 3 is a gift that fans of video games should relish and enjoy.

Persona 3: Fes puts the festive mood in Persona 3. It arrives with a cheaper price point, some new features, and an additional story segment known as the ‘The Answer’, a 30 hours plus additional game play which explains the aftermath of the main story (known as ‘The Journey’ in this version). If an invitation to experience this excellent game is ever warranted, there couldn’t have been one greater.

Players will spend a good number of hours exploring the realms of Tarturus

Players take the role of a mysterious student who was recently transferred to Gekkoukan High School in a region where there is a heightened fear of the Apathy Syndrome, an illness which renders people into lifeless souls. Upon realising he possesses a far superior ability to command the powers of the Persona (an alternate being which lies within the deepest souls of certain people), the main character was quickly enlisted into SEES, a student-run group adamant on finding the truth behind this wide-spread disease. The source of their information is believed to lie in the depths of Tarturus, a mysterious tower that appears during the fine hour of between 12 o’clock and the beginning of each day.

Tarturus is where the dungeon crawling aspect takes place. Battles are trademark Shin Megami Tensei affair, demanding exploitation of enemies’ weaknesses (while protecting the players’). It is a turn based mechanism with a twist. Party members are controlled entirely by A.I, although there are general directions that can be given out. While this reduces the commands to be made and thus make for fast-paced battles, the A.I is at times unreliable. This makes it even more punishing as the already difficult game will be over should the main character dies. With more than 200 floors to explore, it will take some time to fully exhaust the entire dungeon.

The fast paced AI-controlled turn based battle system may take some time getting used to

The calendar therefore plays an important role in the unique Persona 3 setting. The entire game takes place in one full academic year, where important dates such as exams and the all-important school vacation are carefully highlighted and thoroughly reminded of. Players will be free to make use of the time to their discretion, be it in studying or in boosting their popularity meter (it matters in school!). It has an element of “make your own adventure”, although pockets of story lines are consistently inserted to provide some sense of directed progression.

Summoning the Personas requires a very deliberate action: shooting point blank in the head with a pistol (known as an ‘Evoker’). Any fear of unwanted controversies such a sequence may create is ultimately unfounded, for it is more symbolic than it is realistic. The subtle message here could be that in deriving life’s greatest strengths, death may well be the strongest catalyst, which is an element the story thoroughly explored. The main character has access of up to 12 Personas, many of which can be fused and improved in a secretive area known as the Velvet Room.

To progress the game, fusing Personas is an essential skill to master

The occult influence is thoroughly reverberated in the entire game. Unlike the other Shin Megami Tensei titles however, Persona 3 relies on its acute sense of humour and cheerful demeanour to assuage the impact of such heavy and dark content. In strengthening the power of the Personas, it is necessarily to create what are known as the Social Links. By talking and spending time with others, relationships can be built. Peculiarly, this would have a direct impact on battles.

The dating simulation element is the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle that ultimately makes Persona 3 ticks. There is a fascinating variation of relationships that can be formed, built and maintained, helped only by the sheer believability of its many endearing characters. Belying the pixelated anime-inspired graphics are characters who players will immediately relate. It could be the class clown whom deep down suffers from an inferior complex, or the confident valedictorian who maintains her strong facets only as a barrier to protect her fragile personality; many of these encounters may just remind the player of someone he or she has once came across in life.

Persona 3 is a story about love, friendship and death

While many games attempt to tell the story of how friendship would triumph difficulties (and ultimately failed to convince), Persona 3 lived by it. The repetitive nature of how the game progresses may pose a problem to some, but those are worthy efforts to unveiling the game’s innate message. On a medium that is widely regarded as the anti-thesis to the personal touch that is readily losing its grips in today’s society, Persona 3 succeeds in telling a moving story of love and friendships, yet remaining exceedingly relevant in its game play. [9.0]

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Wild ARMs 4 Review

Platform: Playstation 2

Genre: Role Playing

When it comes to video game franchises, few are as collected as the Wild Arms series. One can be assured that a Wild Arms game will definitely take place in Filgaia, a decayed world that is often found tittering on destruction. Players will be damned not to expect ARMs (guns to the uninformed) taking central stage in this western-themed, anime-inspired series.  And when fans pop their discs into their consoles, there is always the consolation that should the game fall short of their expectations, there are always the devilishly addictive sound tracks to look forward to. Those are the few strings left that tie Wild Arms 4 to its predecessors.

Wild Arms, if indicated by the third game in its series, has grown stale, survived only by its niche group of fervid fans. Its persistence to keeping things strictly within Role Playing 101 makes it unable to keep up with the current generation of gamers, whose needs are readily served by the adrenaline action/graphical behemoths rivals such as Final Fantasy furiously introduces. It needed a cup of reinvigoration, and in Wild Arms 4 it saw what it needed. The cup, however, was left half-filled.

While in-game cut scenes are nice, the boundaries of the Playstation 2 hardware are hardly challenged.

Players follow the footsteps of Jude Maverick, a young boy whose definition of the world is the Ciel Village that envelops his 13 years of existence. A chain of unexpected events occurred, and Jude suddenly realised he possesses the power to control ARMs, a forsaken weapon sealed for its destructive power. The main tale of Wild Arms 4 did nothing to seek for the change the series desperately needed. Largely derivative of other Japanese Role Playing game, it carries with it an air of “seen it before” from start to finish. Whether it is the cast of stereotypical characters, their insipid dialogues, or the ill-conceived graphics, there is hardly anything to make this game any more memorable outside of the short 30 hours of game play.

Introducing cross-genre elements is never a bad first step to revitalising this stoic series. Exchanging dexterity for brains, Wild Arms 4 shifts its focus on Platforming instead of the Puzzle Solving elements featured heavily in prior games. In exploring the many excellent dungeon designs found in Filgaia, Jude will need to jump over barriers, slide under trenches, and occasionally rely on the ‘Accelerator’, a tool which temporally slows down time for these stunts to be performed. The occasional let down caused by the system’s overly demanding precision do not soil the overall Platforming experience, but it may be a source of frustration for some.

Brain work takes a back seat in many of these action-inclined puzzle challenges, a notable difference from previous Wild ARMs games.

The unique Hex system is perhaps the greatest reason to experience Wild Arms 4. All battles take place on a board with 7 grids, where characters and enemies are randomly positioned. Commands are issued upon grids, and all characters/enemies in the targeted grid will be affected by that decision. This provides a tactical twists to battles, as players would need to move the characters around to best make use of the territorial advantages. Certain grids are also imbued with elemental effects e.g. wind and fire, offering more room for strategic planning.

The result, however, is a mixed bag. Because characters/enemies positions are randomised, battles may range from incredibly easy (all enemies in the same grid makes for easy defeating) to impossibly difficult (characters surrounded right at the start may never recover from that disadvantage). The game reconciles this by allowing each battle to be replayed infinitely upon defeat, but that in itself eliminates any form of difficulty or urgency. Random encounters can be switched off in certain areas after an optional boss is defeated, which is another neat feature introduced by Wild Arms 4.

Signature to Wild ARMs 4, the Hex battle system is fun, although it could have helped with better polish.

Wild Arms 4 feels like a lightweight role playing game that is unpolished in certain parts and is thus best played as such. While many of the new features pave the way to the right direction, it just didn’t go far enough to break the shackles of being “yet another JRPG”. Despite its merits, it is therefore difficult to recommend the game- it didn’t do enough to charm the crowd outside of the series fans, and having made so many changes to the recipe, it might have distant itself from those people who would have otherwise considered it [7.0].

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Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth Review

Platform: Playstation Portable

Genre: Role Playing

Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth is an exemplary example of why a game should be remade. The original, which first graced the psone 9 years ago, immediately became a cIassic, a bell weather sign that would soon make the game both rare and exorbitant to acquire. The reason is obvious. With its premise based loosely on the Norse Mythology, this role playing game rewrote the rules of the genre by borrowing elements atypical of it, furnished by a uniquely driven story and an intuitive battle system. Valkyrie Profile was thus different, perhaps unashamedly, and this PSP port has done the best favour in retaining such unique appeal with its minimal tempering of the original formula. Notwithstanding the colon and the inclusion of the lead character’s name in this revamped title, Lenneth is essentially the same game, peppered with some re-orchestrated cut-scenes. This is a tale that simply needs to be retold, whether you are a first time listener, and whether or not it is on a smaller screen.

Some of the most beautifully crafted cut-scenes to grace the PSP yet

A Valkyrie’s existence is important- to gather heroic souls from the Human world and prepare the deemed useful to fight along the Gods for the imminent battle known as the Ragnarok. As Lenneth, that is the basic premise players will be ushered to do. Through a ritual known as the Spiritual Concentration, Lenneth is able answer to the cries of the dying ones, each with his/her telling stories. It would then be in the players’ discretion whether these collected souls, otherwise known as the Einherjars, would be sent to the Gods.

Lenneth’s empty facade as a mere tool for the Gods makes her a character difficult to relate to, and therein lies the greatest pity with Valkyrie Profile. The game offers 3 endings, the best of which, and the only one of which that provides a cohesive back story for the lead character can be attained only by unlocking and doing specific stuffs that is simply impossible to ‘just stumble across’. For something that is so well-crafted and thought-out, the barricades Tri-Ace places in the way is just incomprehensible.

Listen to the cries of the dying souls

The urgency of the Valkyrie’s duties is well articulated by the time progression system. No matter the process, curtains are drawn strictly in 8 Chapters, each chunked into 24 Time Periods which would be slowly chipped away at anything Lenneth does, such as in battling or rescuing the Einherjars. This clever blend of freedom and inhibition is a key characteristic of Valkyrie Profile- while players have the discretion to do whatever they want, but with the clock ticking, decisions have to be made on how best to utilise the time. It is thus ironic how time then rears its ugly head. In later chapters, things may become increasingly formulaic and tedious, losing the lustre of that initial shine.

In its battle system developer Tri-Ace attempts another quirk. Turn-based at its most basic, each character (4 in total) on the battle field is mapped to each of the 4 face buttons on the PSP, and the pressing of which would issue an attack command for that particular character. By issuing these commands in the right order, a combo-meter can be built up to make way for powerful special attacks, a necessity for tearing down the toughest defences. The action-oriented and menu-less interface is extremely intuitive, and with more than 20 characters acquirable, each which his/her personal fighting techniques, plenty of time would be spent in experimenting the best fighting styIe the player desires.

Battles are fun, intuitive, and extremely addictive

The excellent presentation harmonises all these different elements into a cohesive package. The beautiful 2D graphics is worthy enough of this epic tale, while character portraits are sufficiently detailed as make-believes. The Platforming elements (Lenneth would need to jump and fire crystals to navigate across the dungeons) blend surprisingly well in a role playing game, although controls can be a little clunky for the PSP interface at times. Like many of Square-Enix titles, music selection is impeccable, shining most brightly in the many sorrowful moments the Valkyrie inevitably comes across. Of the impressive voice acting, Lenneth’s deserves applause, capturing the cold hard demeanour her thankless job requires in the best possible fashion.

Valkyrie Profile’s commercial and critical success is well justified, and is definitely a title deserving to be seen as one of Tri-Ace/Square-Enix’s finest. While the serious premise and the unusual game play may not exactly be what fans of the genre would expect, Valkyrie Profile nonetheless delivers a satisfying story unlike others, albeit one that can be attained only (probably) with the use of a trusty strategy guide. [8.5]

Filed under: Games, Review

Too Human Review

Platform: Xbox 360

Genre: Action/Adventure

The biggest gripe with Too Human is that it was too ambitious. An action game by nature helplessly forced with elements of the role playing genre, the lack of focus and refinement on either fails to bring out some of the interesting ideas that are buried under this mess of a presentation. The result is a game that is broken, taken far too long to produce (10 years!), yet at the same time, strangely addicting. Playing Too Human is best described as a contradictory experience. 

The excellent premise set down by the Norse Mythology, Cyberspace-version no less, was touched yet rarely caressed. Stingy with narratives, its story is incoherent, meshing love, courage and revenge in the least inspired fashion. Before players have the chance to know more about Baldur, the main character with an interesting past, Too Human abruptly ends, shamelessly leading us the way to an unnecessary sequel. Despite the excellent dialogues, it is clear story-telling isn’t one of Silicon Knights’ strengths.

Combat is a combination of occassional fun and consistent frustration

With the innovative use of the right stick as the main attack button, combat is definitely Too Human’s distinguishable factor. The plan works well on paper- with hordes of enemies, players can move the right stick to bounce off and attack enemies from one to another swiftly and quickly. In reality it didn’t- combat is clunky, requiring too much directional precision that is consistently let down by the fickle camera angle. Players will too often find themselves lunging in nothingness, an easy target to the overpowered and copious enemies.

Ranged and elemental attacks offer something different to the depressingly lack of monster variety (4 or 5 in total) but it easily unbalances the game, resulting in frequent deaths, itself presenting yet another flaw. While deaths incur no penalty except for the wear and tear of the equipments’ durability, players are forced to watch through a 15 seconds cut scene that unexplainably cannot be skipped. Such is but one illustration of the game’s poor presentation. Killing enemies result in large number of loots, but the strange naming mechanism of the items and the unintuitive menu interface ensure that any such fun is unwarranted.

Emptiness characterises the environments of Too Human

The large world in Too Human tempts player with the promise of good o’ exploration fun, but it is essentially fleeting- the lifeless environment and the lack of a map for navigation makes doing so a chore. Although voice acting has been done well, the utterly forgettable music makes it even more difficult for players to get into this Norse-inspired world that Too Human desperately crafts.  

Too Human may be fun at parts, but the frustration that comes with it makes this a title to be skipped, or at least until a better looting/dungeon crawler comes along. While the use of the right stick is an innovative take on the combat system, its greatest contribution may ultimately unintended- reminding us of how a game’s greatness and the amount of time that went into producing it are not quite correlated. [6.0]

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The Last Remnant Review

Platform: Xbox 360 (Also in PC)

Genre: Role Playing

From the onset, The Last Remnant is justifiably a broken game. For something that has been in development for such a long period of time, by acclaimed RPG producers Square-Enix no less, the glaring technical problem is an immediate reason why one should not bother. The eagerness to please gamers from both sides of the world, whom with such inherently different needs and preferences, at times forced the game to be caught in a limbo, losing any niche identity it desperately crafts. In our ever enthusiasm to rate a game based on what we have known or have not known about a genre, it easily draws flak from the concerned players. But for the few adventurous souls who dare venture into the unknown, they will be rather pleased to find out- The Last Remnant is actually a very good game.

Like a broken piece of a gem, The Last Remnant needs refinement, often at the interest of the players’ personal artistry and judgment. It is an acquired taste, for the hardcore Japanese setting isn’t easy to stomach, while the decidedly Western game play may alienate the staunchest of fans of the former. For the courted target crowd though, The Last Remnant offers plenty of intrigue, challenge and rewarding game play, which is something that cannot be said of the replicas of Role Playing Games that have littered the market since the genre gained its immense popularity. Having an open mind is essential to fully appreciate this unique blend of irreconcilable East-meet-West interchange.

Impressive graphics are marked down by technical glitches

The unmistakably Japanese setting first rear its ugly yet familiar head in its story. Rush Sykes, having his sister abducted, went on a rescue mission only to realise he is in the midst of a catastrophic event. As if conscientious about the “we know we need to save the world!” chants from the crowd, The Last Remnant became extremely restraint in its story-telling, instead allowing players to fill the gaps on what is the obvious themselves. Narratives, as a result, borderlines on being incoherent, a problem solved by the right amount of impressive cut-scenes (though let down by the technical incapability). The story of The Last Remnant is nothing to write home about, but ironic to its constraint manner of story-telling, it lingers long after one beats the game.

Game play is where this broken gem first flashes its shine. It forms an uncomfortable zone to the loyal RPG fans, for the each and every familiarity they spot, there seems to be an all-too-eager conflict to shatter any of such undue conceptions. Battles are effectively turn-based, but instead of controlling individual characters, they are arranged in unions commanded by collective directions. Dictated by the genre, players do grow in stature as the game progresses. But instead of ‘levelling up’ in the traditional sense, each unit improves its individual stats in a manner out of control of the helpless players. Yes, one also can customise and equip the characters with new items, but no, the game decides that one should not have complete control over doing so. It is this counter-intuitive game play, meshed with the complete lack of tutorials and directions that somehow allowed The Last Remnant to succeed in being both an incorrigible mess to some, yet impossibly endearing to others.

As if affection from the Japanese crowd is not sufficient, The Last Remnant charms the West with its comforting amount of constraint customisation and freedom. Unions can be built by recruiting individual characters of varied races and classes from the abundant side quests that players have the discretion of choosing. However, missing out on these side quests is akin to rejecting a huge chunk of what The Last Remnant has for offer. Most of them are designed with the intention of exposing players to the glorious large-scaled battles with minimal fuss. It does not matter that the quests themselves do not make much sense, for the satisfying game play is the only thing The Last Remnant preaches- everything else is really of no consequences. 

Game play is a unique blend of traditional JRPG with Western elements

The dramatic game play is easily matched by a fantastic selection of music. From the calmness of the peaceful towns to the pulsating turn-of-tides battles, each tune is extremely capable in amplifying the mood that the game seeks to create. While most of what construe The Last Remnant, such as game play and graphics, are subjected to personal tastes, the music and sound in this game is of no such contention- it is definitely one of the best that the genre has for offer. 

The Last Remnant, if judged by the technicalities of what makes a game good or bad, definitely deserves no merit. Its awkwardness shouts for the need of a different set of lens for looking at, and for those who could do it; it is a gem, albeit broken, in the making. In times when the gap between heightened players’ demand and the supply of RPGs that remains desperately formulaic is increasing, The Last Remnant’s risky attempt in throwing something different into the mix should be congratulated, not met with disdain. [8.5]

Filed under: Games, Review