Two races into ModNation Racers and I'm already regretting this game; Also, Darksiders is fun

So almost a couple of months after finishing Final Fantasy XIII, I decided to finally buy a couple of "new" games for myself - one was Darksiders, and the other was ModNation Racers.

First off, let me say that I didn't get these games solely because of the hype (was there even any for Darksiders?). I played the ModNation Racers demo for a day last January (someone gave me a download code literally a day before the timed demo ended), and I played it for a while. I loved ever moment of it. Creating my racer and my kart, limited as the options were, was really fun. I didn't know if you could create tracks because I jumped straight to races after creating karts. It was all great.

I decided I would buy the game.

Weeks later, I downloaded the demo for Darksiders. They said the demo was the first level of the game, so why not? I thought I should try it out to see if I'd like it before buying the game, and boy DID I LIKE IT. The gameplay reminded me of God of War somehow, albeit with a lot less enemies to kill, and it was actually very fun. I decided to buy Darksiders as well.

I like how they give out demos for games now. If it were me, I'd prefer that they make demos mandatory rather than trophies. I can see how demos are double-edged swords, though, as some games run the risk of boring potential consumers, as was the case for me with Fuel and Just Cause 2 - I would never buy those games at full price.

Now, fast forward to the end of May. I find myself with a copy of Darksiders and a copy ModNation Racers in a small, yellow DataBlitz plastic bag. I pop in ModNation Racers on my PS3 and get greeted by an install screen. Okay, sure, a lot of games have installations, and I don't really get bothered by it - I have a PC after all. It would be nice to minimize these, though, or at least do them in the background.

What do I notice first when I played ModNation Racers? The initial loading time after the installation. It wasn't as severe as what I've read on the net (like taking more than a minute for some people), but it was still very, very long. Okay sure, whatever. Take your time.

Then I played through the first race and find out how frustrating the game really is.

The AI is as merciless as the fury of hell.

Let me say that I am not, in any way, good in simulation racers. I always spinned out in Gran Turismo. I preferred Need for Speed until I played Race Driver GRiD. With that, I am more used to arcade racers with wonky physics. Yet ModNation Racers still wouldn't let me get first place even in the first race. Every. Single. Time.

When I played the demo, I was immediately reminded of Crash Team Racing, my favorite racer ever. I spent most of the time in CTR powersliding and driving sideways.

In this game, that itself is a chore. The AI is unforgiving, there is no difficulty adjustment, and the game does not ease you into it in any way.

Then there's the controls - they are not configurable. You are forever stuck to the horrible "R2 is accelerate" controls until United Front Games decides to grow a brain and let you choose your own configuration. I'm sure I'm not the the only one who uses the right stick to accelerate and decelerate. This has been my default ever since I discovered it.

In the end, I quit the game and decided to play the first level of Darksiders instead (which wasn't actually the level featured in the demo). Unlike ModNation Racers, this game was even more fun than the demo I played, and even though I'm on my last sliver of life right before the level boss, I wasn't frustrated at all. I'm playing on Apocalyptic and getting my ass kicked by angels but this game is still fun as heck.

I'll give ModNation Racers another chance later, but I doubt I'll play it more than Darksiders.

Final Fantasy XIII - the actual post

(Note: I am only up to the fourth part of Chapter 12)

Final Fantasy XIII is a first in the series of sorts - like Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy X, it is the first original Final Fantasy game for the generation of consoles it debuted in. Unlike the two, it's also the first Final Fantasy ever to be multiplatform on a localized release, as it came out on the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360 in NA (it was Playstation 3-exclusive in Japan, though). It's also the first numbered Final Fantasy game, in my memory, to garner so much negative response – I don’t think Final Fantasy X-2 was subject to this amount of wrath.

The story revolves around a group of people branded as l'Cie... okay, let's use semi-normal terms. The story revolves around a group of people branded as monsters (l'Cie) by inhuman beings known as Fal'Cie. When this happens, they are given a task, called Focus, through vague visions and dreams. They must either complete this task and become a crystal, which "grants eternal life", or fail it and become a Cie'th, which is sort of a shambling zombie, by not doing their Focus in an arbitrary amount of time. Now in the world of Cocoon, being a l'Cie is considered a curse - the people see it as contagious, and no one wants to have a random, vague task wherein his or her life depends on. They are hunted down mercilessly and killed (though publicly the government says they're being sent away to Pulse, the world below). The game stretches and twists this concept into 13 chapters by adding a lot of travelling and intrigue. It seems simple, but remember: Final Fantasy X's story is defeating an age-old monster by summoning the Final Aeon. If you didn't know better it could be defeating a giant T-Rexaur by summoning a pallet-swapped Bite Bug.

The character you could consider as the "main" character in this game is Lightning, a female version of Cloud who holds Squall's gunblade. Her sister, Serah, was branded a l'Cie, and so she carries out a plan to rescue her. However, she accidentally gets branded as a l'Cie in the process, along with five other people. And so the journey starts.

Aesthetically, FFXIII is like every other Final Fantasy game. It looks breathtaking in its generation. FFXIII particularly is very much like FFX in this sense - it's colorful, it's a giant leap above its predecessors, and it makes you say "holy crap this was a CG movie last gen". The difference in the CG cutscenes and the in-game cutscenes are really negligible, too.

The music, likewise, is superb. It doesn't get drilled into your brain like Uematsu music, but I would have to say it's a fresh and welcome deviation. I like Snow's Theme in particular, and the normal battle music, Blinded By Light, is worthy enough of being the boss battle theme.

Who am I kidding? You already know of those. A Final Fantasy with bad graphics and horrible music? No way! Let’s get to the point(s).

In my previous post, I gave descriptions and opinions on the numbered Final Fantasy games I’ve completed (basically those from the PS1 generation onwards). While I didn’t put all of details for each game, I think everything we’ll use that I said can be grouped into the following:

1.) The freedom/linearity

2.) The battle system

3.) The leveling system

4.) The characters

5.) The summons

6.) The world

I did neglect to mention some factors, like the PS1 FF’s all using the ATB, but I didn’t feel the need to mention them, as those are minor changes from past FFs. Let’s do a quick recap using the above items for each game.

Final Fantasy VII

The freedom/linearity: Linear in the beginning, slowly shifting to freedom; travel by walking and a variety of vehicles, plus chocobo

The battle system: Uses ATB gauge, “Materia System” provides all non-attack/Limit Break commands, Limit Breaks require charging;random battles

The leveling system: Character Levels and Materia Levels used – Materia provide better stats and spells when levelled

The characters: Cloud is the clear main protagonist, and cannot be removed from party unless separated; several points of “party separation” exist

The summons: In the form of material; cast as spells anyone can use

The world: Many NPCs; shops in towns; save in save points; mini-games concentrated in a single area

Final Fantasy VIII

The freedom/linearity: Semi-linear in the beginning, quickly shifting to freedom; travel by walking, cars, or trains, and airships, and chocobos

The battle system: Uses ATB guage; Spells drawn from enemies; Guardian Forces, or GFs, provide all non-attack Limit Break commands; Limit Breaks are perpetually accessible (barring status effects);random battles

The leveling system: Character Levels and GF Levels used – GF have better HP when leveled, and can also learn abilities to augment their growth; Characters need to junction spells to improve stats and resistances

The characters: Squall is the clear main protagonist, and cannot be removed from party unless separated, using the secondary party, or in the final dungeon; several points of “party separation” exists; secondary party of outside character also exist

The summons: Summoning replaces the summoner’s HP with the GF’s HP, and all actions done to that summoner is done to the GF instead. Summoning is cancelled when GF’s HP reaches zero (summoner unaffected). Characters can only summon GFs junctioned to them.

The world: Many NPCs; shops and upgrades in towns or through GF abilities; saves in save points and overworld;Triple Triad card game available literally minutes into the game

Final Fantasy IX

The freedom/linearity: Semi-linear in the beginning, slowly shifting to freedom; travel by walking, water and air vehicles, or chocobo (land/water/air)

The battle system: Uses ATB; Spells and abilities are restricted to specific characters; Limit Breaks/Trance require recharging but are usable multiple times;random battles

The leveling system: Character levels used for everything; abilties learned from items, requires mastering to be independent from equipping item;

The characters: While each character has his or her different story, Zidane’s tale is arguably the one tied most to the story, and he cannot be removed from the party unless separated; character separation happens often early in the game and in long sequences, then rarely later on

The summons: Cast as spells; Limited to two characters

The world: Many NPCs; shops and forgers in towns; saves in moogles and save points; an absurd amount of mini-games available, both location-specific and otherwise

Final Fantasy X

The freedom/linearity: As linear as linear can be – There is no overworld, only a world map that dictates where the airship can bring the characters

The battle system: Conditional Turn-Based System, or CTB, lets characters take turns without interruption; Limit Breaks, or Overdrives, need recharging, are single-use, and can be transferred (the charge, that is) to others using abilities; abilities are restricted in the beginning, but all characters eventually gain the ability to learn everything later on;random battles

The leveling system: Sphere Grid System gives characters a linear but branching way of learning abilities and improving their statistics.

The characters: Tidus and Yuna are the main protagonists; all characters can be replaced in combat and even during combat

The summons: Only usable by one character; replaces all party members when summoned; can also use overdrives

The world: Many NPCs; shops in towns and some dungeons, saves in save points; Blitzball accessible in a town or in save points; all other mini-games and quests are location-specific (except capturing monsters)

Final Fantasy X-2

The freedom/linearity: Same “world” as FFX; game broken down by mission, but side-missions can be taken at any time the game permits, giving a sense of faux-freedom

The battle system: Uses ATB gauge; spells and abilities are restricted to jobs, or Dresspheres, which can be changed during battle; actions can be interrupted;random battles

The leveling system: Uses character levels; spells and abilities learned from Dresspheres

The characters: Yuna is the clear main protagonist;No switching of party members

The summons: There are no summons, although each charcter has a special Dressphere that, when used, removes all other party members for the duration

The world: Many NPCs; shops in towns; saves in save points; Most mini-games available only later on in the game

Final Fantasy XII

The freedom/linearity: While the story is fairly linear, the world is basically a “single-player MMORPG”; dungeons are linear but the outside world is vast and teeming with life

The battle system: Uses ATB gauge and Gambit System, which provides for prioritized actions as determined by the player;Only one character can be controlled at a time, with everyone else following their set Gambits; enemies are fought on the field; Limit Breaks, or Quickenings, eat up MP “nodes” and can be chained

The leveling system: Uses character levels; abilities and equipment usable only if the corresponding license from the License Grid, a chessboard version of the Sphere Grid, is learned;

The characters: There is no clear main protagonist; no specific character’s story is tied to the overall plot

The summons: Like quickenings in terms of cost; replaces other party members except for the summoner when used; moves independently in the initial version of the game; need to be learned from the License Grid, and only one character may learn a specific summon;

The world: Exactly like an MMORPG, with the ability to quickly travel using special save crystals or airships; shops in towns; saves in save points; the few mini-games are location-specific

Let's see how Final Fantasy XIII fits in.

The freedom/linearity:

This game is just as linear as Final Fantasy X, except for one big difference –you will not be able to backtrack to any area at all save for one. Right before and after the endgame, you will be able to return to FFXIII’s equivalent of FFX’s Calm Lands – Gran Pulse, which is first available in Chapter 11 (out of 13 chapters). For the most part, though, enjoy the scenery while you can – you won’t be seeing it again.

Luckily, the game gives you ample time to enjoy the multitude of environments, ranging from ancient ruins to technological forests to futuristic metropolises and ruined towns (don’t get your hopes up). To reach Gran Pulse, it will take you at least 15 hours to do so (it took me around 29 – I think the consensus is that the average is 15-25). And since there are no actual tows, those hours will be completely spent on fighting and watching cutscenes. You can expect the general flow of the game to be “Cutscene -> Battles -> Cutscene -> Battles -> Cutscene -> Boss -> Cutscene -> Game-Offered Save -> Repeat”. Keep your energy drinks handy.

The battle system:

The battle system is very similar to Final Fantasy X-2's - instead of Dresspheres, you have six unique roles to work with: the Commando, this game's DPS role; the Ravager, which increases the Stagger meter (more on that later) faster than the others and is key to dealing punishment; the Medic which, as its name suggests, is a healer; the Sentinel, which serves as a damage sponge; the Synergist, which provides for positive buffs; and the Saboteur, the antithesis of the Synergist, specializing in negative buffs. Each character initially specializes in three primary roles, but later on you get to learn the other roles as well - just not in the same capacity as the main ones. The combinations of these Roles are called Paradigms. Unlike FFX-2, you don't change a specific character's role per se - you change the roles of all party members. Of course, you can set two Paradigms to be completely identical save for one character and call it "changing one member's role", but it's a waste of space more often than not, as you only have six Paradigm slots to work with. Also, the Paradigm List is reset whenever you change your party's composition, so you better keep your favorite Paradigms handy as the game does not record them.

Combat is done by giving your party leader a set of commands to perform. You have a limited number of slots with which to work with every turn, similar to Legend of Legaia, and some actions use up more than one slot. When the ATB gauge fills up (regardless of whether you used up all the slots or not), the characters will perform the indicated actions – dictated by the player for the party leader, and predetermined by the AI for the other party members. Yes, that's right, like Final Fantasy XII, you only control the party leader. Unlike FFXII, though, you don’t determine how the other members act. There is also no MP – Abilties and Magic are the same.

You also can't change members of the battle team mid-fight, and when your party leader dies, it's game over. If you’ve played Persona 3 or 4, you’ll be familiar with this.

Here's another similarity with Final Fantasy XII - you see the enemies on the field, and bumping into them starts the battle. You can consider it like FFX-2 plus FFXII in this sense. If a battle proves to be difficult, you can choose to retry and be sent back moments before you bump into the monster (or in cases of boss battles, in the safe area right before the battle starts). You can then choose to change your party layout and Paradigms (in case you "forget" to do so before reattempting a boss fight, the game automatically opens the menu for you prior to the rematch) to improve your chances of surviving. Sounds like the game is a cakewalk, right? Wait till you see bosses with HPs in the hundred thousands around a fourth into the game. Oh, and the game also offers the choice to retry when you die in battle, so there is actual “Game Over” in the game.

Upon finishing a battle, you are given a rating of one to five starts depending on how fast you finish the battle relative to the target time. This determines whether you get items from the fight or which items you get for it, and also somewhat determines the amount of Technical Points or TP (for special skills and summons) you get – to be specific, the actual score determines the TP. The target time is dictated by your current strength (particularly the level of your weapons) and the enemy composition. You also get CP (no, not the illegal kind of CP… Crystogen Points), which is unaffected by the ranking you get, which you use to improve your characters. This leads us to:

The leveling system:

The CP you earn is used on the game’s Crystarium, which is very similar to FFX’s Sphere Grid – at least, in terms of appearance. What it really works like is FFXII’s License Grid –instead of levels, each node is either an HP, an MP, a Magic, a Strength, or an Ability node, is worth a set amount of CP. In structure, though, it’s more like a Fishbone instead of a grid – there is only one main path, with some nodes branching out up to three levels, but it never splits to more than two paths. This system is more linear than the Sphere Grid in the sense that it really is impossible to deviate from the growth the game intended you to take. The closes you can get to “defying” this is to get stats and abilities from the secondary roles, but this can prove to be a waste as the Crystariums for the secondary roles tend to be very expensive with minimal returns. Since the time I’ve gotten access to these, I’ve only done this for one character, and only to get Cure so I can use a specific Paradigm.

If you think the system isn’t bad at all since you can just grind, well… in truth, you can’t. The game limits your growth at specified points in the game, so you will never be overpowered at any point in the game. While this can be an annoyance (I have seen many people give up on certain bosses), it can also be seen as a challenge.

What did I forget to mention? Oh yeah – there are no Limit Break-esque attacks for the characters, unless you consider the special moves you get near the end of the game (Army of One for Lightning, Death for Vanille, etc).

The characters:

In the characters I see a vague reflection of Final Fantasy IX. Each character has his or her own story to tell and the game provides arcs for each of them, but the main characters for me are Lightning and Snow. I believe this to be true solely because they are related to the main focus of the first part of the game, though I probably should reserve my opinions, as I haven’t actually completed the game yet. In a sense, this again is reminiscent of FFX and FFXII combined.

The summons:

Summons, or Eidolons, are called upon in a similar fashion as in FFXII. When you call an Eidolon (which consumes 3 TP), all party members except for the summoner are removed from the battle temporarily. Rather than a bar of life, though, the Eidolons have SP gauges, which get depleted over time, whenever they attack, and whenever they get attacked; and a separate Gestalt Gauge, which replaces the summoner’s TP bar display, and gets filled over time. This gauge determines how long your Eidolon can spend in Gestalt Mode.

In Gestalt Mode, the Eidolons transform into their secondary forms (Alexander becomes a fortress, for example). In this form they are free to perform various moves that cost a varying number of points to perform. The total number of points available is determined by how much the Gestalt Gauge was filled. When these points are depleted, the Eidolon can then perform one final finishing move before leaving and returning the normal battle team.

Eidolons have two actual uses - One is to shield you from attacks that would otherwise kill you outright. Two is to refresh your entire party after contributing some considerable damage against the enemy.

When you summon an Eidolon during mid-animation of an attack, you will notice that it is immediately cut off. Congratulations, your Eidolon just saved you from death. This is doubly useful as only your Party Leader can summon an Eidolon, and only the death of the Party Leader is needed for the game over screen. Also, when you die while your Eidolon is out, you will be healed to full, along with your entire party. At the worst, summing your Eidolon is like a better Renew (a Technique that revives and heals your party considerably) that's more expensive by just 1 TP. At best, it's a full Renew that dishes out a decent amount of damage for 1 TP more. I believe that, overall, the Eidolon System of FFXIII is relatively more useful than in other games.

The world:

There are no towns and barely any NPCs. The shops and blacksmiths are in save points. This, coupled with the linear nature of the game, is the reason why Final Fantasy XIII receives so many negative comments. The only towns you see in the game are either 1.) small areas in flashbacks and cutscenes, or 2.) War towns where all you do is fight. You will not find any place to take a break here, and all you need to do, you will do in save points. You will shop for items in savepoints. You will upgrade your equipment in save points. For all intents and purposes the save points are basically towns without people.

As the game doesn’t allow you to backtrack much, the mini-games (if you can call them mini-games) are concentrated on Gran Pulse. Digging with chocobos, hunting down Marks a-la FFXII’s are this game’s choice of sidequests. Again, there might be some that I haven’t reached yet given my current completion level of the game, but can you guess what’s fundamentally wrong with this system?

It’s time.

When were you able to play in the Gold Saucer? Disc 1. When were you able to start playing Triple Triad? Literally within minutes of playing the game. Chocobo Hot and Cold? You make good progress in Disc 1 as well. Blitzball? Not so early, but you get to play it almost all the time. This is the problem with Final Fantasy XIII – not just with its mini-games, but also with the actual gameplay.

It takes a lot of time for you to get to the good part, and during that time the game will torture you to the point that it makes you want to just stop playing completely.

I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one with this problem – to put it bluntly, the parts where you can only use Vanille and Sazh are the parts that completely and utterly suck. Neither can completely support the team like Lightning, Snow, or Fang can, and their combination is just horrible. Is it a placebo effect, since they can almost do the same things Lightning and Hope can? No. Both of their normal attacks have horribly long animations. As a Commando, Sazh doesn’t have Launch so you lose half of the rewards for staggering an enemy, which is not getting hit by it. This part makes you long to have Lightning back, but at the same time this is also an exercise in frustration.

Another point I’d like to raise, and one I don’t completely agree with, is the single button combat. In the early parts of the game and during most random encounters, you can win battles just by letting the computer choose the best move for whatever role you currently are using. This doesn’t always lead to the best results, but if you’re already tired and stressed out and you just want to get this part over with, why bother? To me, this part is what separates the people who want to play and the people who just want to play. If you take the time to enjoy the intricacies of combat, chances are your action button presses will be a good combination of confirm, and L1. L1 is the button for Paradigm Shift, which lets you switch roles in mid-combat as stated earlier. This is imperative in order to survive in latter boss fights, as well as to maximize the rewards for battle.

To be fair, let’s see the most efficient combat tactics for the other games. I have ordered it from the most “single button combat-ness” to the least:

FFXII - Actually you just have to press whatever direction points to the next area

FFVIII - There is nothing worth doing in combat other than using the Lionheart you got in Disc 1 or Armageddon Fist that Zell has from the start

FFX - You press confirm and do 99999 for every two button presses

FFVII – Use Materia to do multi-hit attacks

FFXIII - Have fun killing bosses with Relentless Assault alone

FFIX - You either use long animations to abuse Regen or use the plethora of 9999 abilities to finish the game fast

Short Actual Review:

Did I sound negative in that last part? I guess. Do I think the game is bad? No, but I think that's my very forgiving side.

Yes, the game is as linear as a straight edge. Do I think this is a fault? No. You have to consider the premise of the game. You are fugitives. The government is out to get you. How do you expect to take a break in a peaceful town in this futuristic setting where the government has a complete grasp of everything in the world? You just can’t. This was shown to you in Palumpolum if you just pay attention to the story.

The game did have a chance to give you one, though – once you reach Gran Pulse, everything could have been undone, but no. The creators still didn’t give you the town you wanted. I don’t know if this was a story decision (which actually makes half-sense) or if they just went “Oh, we didn’t have towns until this part of the game, let’s not break our streak”. Personally I think it could’ve gone either way – problem was they chose the way that was worse.

I actually like the combat in this game. Final Fantasy X-2’s was my favorite because it was fast-paced, active, and fun. You weren’t stuck with six people whose only differences are their Limit Breaks. While having the same Dresspheres in FFX-2 isn’t exactly a disadvantage, in FFXIII it is not advisable to stay in the same roles all the time. Yes, having three Ravagers and doing preemptive attacks all the time can work well, but for stronger enemies that can’t be taken down in a single round or those that take and give a lot of punishment, you will be forced to switch Paradigms frequently to match the situation. I’ve died in some boss battles more times than I’ve died against Yunalesca, and admittedly it’s because of my lack of understanding of the Paradigm System (while some bosses just are hard).

I also like the story in this game, especially the specific character arcs. The story is just what you’d expect from a Final Fantasy game. My only gripe about this is how it’s actually told. The first chapter of the game is full of bad writing, and to completely understand how the story goes, you have to read the Datalog. Imagine Mass Effect – you can go through the entire game without reading the Codex and you’ll still have a good idea what’s going on. In FFXIII, there are times when this simply isn’t the case.

If you don’t understand where I’m getting at, here’s an example from Chapter 1.

Cutscenes:Hope is whiny and is a coward, complete with facial expression

Datalog: Hope is seething with anger

I swear, it seriously happened.

So what’s my rating for this game? The story is intriguing, sure. The combat is up there with FFX-2, I know. But for its components of this game being built around each other to the point that they’re strangling and limiting each other, I can’t give this game any higher than an 8. Some reviewers seem to consider this game as an experiment in the series. I think it’s more of a “we’re in here too deep, let’s just get on with it and fix Versus XIII” situation. The story limited the gameplay, the gameplay limited the storytelling, the storytelling provided ways to save up on the story, it’s a circle of mess.

In all honesty I probably would have passed over this game if it didn’t have “Final Fantasy” in the name – which would have been a mistake, I know. But brand loyalty is part of what keeps this game considerable for those that don’t know any better.

I give it an 8/10.

Final Fantasy XIII - or rather, a look at the games before it

Just realized my last (real) post was done almost two months ago, so... I think it's time I post this even though I haven't finished the game yet. Read this first before reading the eventual FFXIII post.

First of all, I'd like to say I am a big Final Fantasy fan (both literally and figuratively) - my first Final Fantasy game was Final Fantasy Tactics, which I maintain is the best Final Fantasy game ever made. I first played it in 1998, but wasn't to advance past the first real fight until two or three years ago (when I had either played through the majority of or finished Final Fantasy VIII), when I realized I could click L1 and R1 to add more characters to my party. Maybe I should've RTFM, I don't know. Basically I hated the game for a couple of years before I dedicated a good chunk of my gaming life to it.

As I've already hinted at above, Final Fantasy VIII was my next Final Fantasy game, and my first actual jRPG (and RPG actually). The graphics wowed me (for all you young'uns out there, they were very impressive at the time), the music was superb, and all the travelling and free-roaming was a newfound freedom, before that I mostly played Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, Tomba, and Twisted Metal 2. The towns were all great to roam around in, especially with the great music. The card game, Triple Triad, is tied with Blitzball as my favorite mini-game ever. What I really hated was the group of characters you had - I hate Squall and his gang of dimwitted prepubescents.

I played through Final Fantasy VII as well, which wasn't as impressive in my opinion (flame me all you want, fanboys) - it was graphically a mess with the cast and their fried chicken wings, the sound effects were still kind of 16-bit-ish, and translation was more annoying than hilarious. The first few hours of the game didn't help, as running around in a cramped city of Midgar was very, very different stressful. I was so annoyed that when I got out, I didn't do the history lesson with Sephiroth immediately - I just ran around levelling up and essentially trolling Midgar Zolom. As I didn't like this game much back then, I don't have a lot of fond memories of it - just that Tifa had a very, very nice snacktray. I plan on buying this game from the PSN Store as soon as Square Enix promises to not release a remake this generation.

Final Fantasy IX is better than the two in some ways, and worse in others. My worst memory of this game is the Oeilvert quest, when you had to split your characters. As Oeilvert had an anti-magic barrier of sorts, I brought Zidane, Steiner, Freya, and Amarant. Big mistake - the Desert Castle forced me to level the others beyond my imagination. This was the first time I really raged at being forced to split my party. Other than that and the slow-as-molasses battle system (which made Regen very useful), I really don't have any qualms with this game. The towns, in my opinion, are way better than those in previous games overall. I love walking around Lindblum and Treno even though I'm not really doing anything much to advance the story. Chocobo Hot and Cold is my top two (third) favorite mini-game, and the character development is really, really, REALLY good. You're not human if you don't have a soft spot for Vivi.

In between these games, I played Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy VI, but I wasn't able to finish them as the memory card I used for them got corrupted. I have to say, though - Final Fantasy VI is very good as well. The World of Ruin, basically made the game a possible 100% bigger (my memory card got corrupted right after I got Sabin back) by adding ruined versions of towns. Final Fantasy V is up there as well - the problem is that it came in the same packaging as Final Fantasy VI, which was better. I can't say any more about these two, other than I'd buy a Final Fantasy VI rerelease again, PSN Store or otherwise.

Let's move on to the PS2 generation, starting with Final Fantasy X. Let's get this straight - Final Fantasy X is my favorite numbered FF by the PS2 season. The story was very good, the world was colorful as skittles, and the main character, like Zidane from FFIX, was very likable. Tee-dus, Tie-dus, however you pronounce it, I don't care - I maintain my stance that up to this point in the series, he was the best, most realistic main Final Fantasy protagonist I'd seen yet. I especially like his display of frustration in Home (Bikanel Island). Just play through the game and you'll know what I mean. This is also one of my favorite cutscenes. Then there's Blitzball which, as I said before, is tied with FFVIII's Triple Triad as my favorite mini-game ever. It alone is responsible for probably half my six hundred hours of FFX spread accross six playthroughs.

So what did I leave behind? Oh yeah - linear as hell world with no actual overworld to explore. Later in the game (like, right before it actually ends), you basically get a map and choose which dungeon or town to go to with your "airship". Was it an annoyance? With the random battles, it was until you got your No Encounters equipment (easiest was the weapon from that dude that dealt damage equal to half your HP in the beginning) which was, like the airship, only obtainable right before the end of the game. When you do reach that point, though, it's like the desert you could only eat after wading through eight courses of sautéed broccoli (no offense t those who like that dish). This pain is also alleviated by the fact that the game holds your hand halfway through - until your first battle with Seymour, the entire game is a cakewalk.

While FFVII introduced crazy ass bosses, the Weapons, FFX was the first to introduce really crazy ass bosses ( to my knowledge - let's assume that I use FFVII onwards as reference), and not just a few - there are literally dozens of them in the game's Monster Arena, it's biggest "mini-game". Fortunately, this is the first FF game where you could do "crazy" damage constantly with no limitations (the enemies even help you do them), which balances everything out. If you equate this to Final Fantasy VIII, it's like beating Omega Weapon with Lionheart and Armageddon Fist (some reading required) before it even makes a move on your non-Holy War'd party.

In a related topic, the way you strengthen your characters in this game is through the Sphere Grid system, which was very different to the previous games. Instead of numbering your character's levels, the Sphere Grid numbered your Sphere Levels, which was a superficial way of marking your progress in the sphere grid. It is basically a semi-linear, semi-maze-like map of nodes that determine how you improve your character - some have stats, some have spells and abilties, and some are blockades that prevent you from branching out unless you have the required Key Sphere to unlock it. This kind of node is what initially makes the Sphere Grid linear - the Key Spheres don't appear until quite late into the game. The International version of the game, which was a rerelease with lets you choose a different Sphere Grid removes the first "locks" in the game by letting everyone start near each other in the middle of the board, all with access to the starting paths of all characters - this basically makes Kimahri around 218% better than in the first game around, and gives you the option to make Auron a spellcasting pansy.

Lastly, you control your summons (called Aeons) this time around. Before, they were one-shot summons. Now, you play them as if they were actual party members. When played, all other party members are set aside and you directly control the Aeon only (with the exception of a couple of them). You don't directly improve their stats like the others, as they are affected by a character in your party (Yuna), but you can buy them abilities to use. Still, for the most part their main use is as meat shields and one-shot cannons, and by the late game your characters will have grown far more powerful that their only use would be to see the beautiful summoning sequences (which you can also shorten by toggling an option if you wish).

Final Fantasy X-2 is a direct sequel of this game, which is a first for the series. I wasn't really a fan of this game, except for one of its most important components - the battle system. Now this is the best battle system of any Final Fantasy game yet. Switching around the diverse set of jobs (Dresspheres) mid-battle with the Garment Grid system was very fresh and (gasp!) fun. Your characters also had specific Dresspheres for themselves, which removed the other characters (similar to using Aeons in FFX) from the game until you reverted to a normal Dressphere (which for most people probably happened when your character died). The game also brought back character levels, which was kind of an annoyance, really. The game recycled (and in most cases, abbreviated) most of the areas in FFX, and the game is structured in missions, which was semi-linear - unless you finished a predetermined set of missions, you won't be able to advance in the story. One can argue that this is true for all of the FF games, but separating the story into missions removes the illusion of having a flowing story. Speaking of story, don't play it without playing FFX first - you'll be more annoyed.

Oh, and they butchered Blitzball.

I didn't play Final Fantasy XI. Let's move on to the next one.

Final Fantasy XII - the first Final Fantasy game to get a perfect 40 from Famitsu, and the Final Fantasy game notorious for "playing itself". The combat system is like an MMORPG, wherein you roam around vast areas and performed predetermined actions using the game's Gambit System. You basically set cause-and-effect commands in order of priority, which the AI-controlled characters perform. Wait, did I say AI-controlled? Yes, this time around, you only control the party leader, and the other two members of the party will move independently. You can change party leaders on the fly, though, so with enough patience you can set the commands of everyone. You can also change characters mid-game, so if your three characters die (or even just one of them), you can switch them with your other three waiting characters as you see fit.

The game uses the character level system like most of its predecessors, but also includes the The License Board system, which is similar to the Sphere Grid in some ways - to let your characters use different weapons, equipment, or even ablities and magick, as well as improve your stats like HP and MP, and other augments like speeding up and gaining MP while attacking. you have to buy licenses for them first. The License Board is arranged in a chess-like plane, and you can move to an adjacent panel by "buying" the respective license for it. This opens up all adjacent panels. Lather, rinse, repeat. Summons (Espers) are like in FFX, except you still control the summoner (and the Esper as well, in the International version of the game).

Arguably, what sets the characters in this game apart from the others is that there is no clear main character. Everyone has his story to tell, like in FFIX, but no one's story is really the central one. It really is like an MMORPG in a sense. The problem with this is that I never got to relate with any single one of them at all. Fran is sexy, okay. Balthier is cool, sure. I'm Basch fon Ronsenburg of Dalmasca! Whatever you say, dude. You're all generics to me.

Now where does this get us, behemothzero? I thought you were posting about Final Fantasy XIII? In the next post, you'll see how all of this rolls into the series' first official foray in the seventh generation of consoles. That's right - everything discussed here (maybe except the mini-games) has some sort of connection to Final Fantasy XIII in one way or another. See you next time (maybe in a few minutes, if I feel diligent enough).

PSN Trophy Card!

Just added my PSN Trophy Card to the site - as you can see it's on the upper right.

No updates on the reviews, though - I'm in procrastination mode. Actually the Demon's Souls review is already typed up and proofread - I'm just lazy to proofread it again and post it.

Planning on reviewing ever game I have/have played.

Yeah, maybe when I get the time, I'll gradually start reviewing those games I've got. Sucks that I don't have a decent capture card so I probably won't be able to post any pics at all.

All scores will be sober scores, so games I'd have just finished by the time I start (possible Dante's Inferno, Bioshock 2, maybe Star Ocean 4 International and White Knight Chronicles) will have to wait until later.

I'm also still thinking of the actual format for each review - paragraph format might turn out stale for those games I have barely anything to say about (i.e. GRiD - there's not much to say other than this is an awesome arcade racer), but bulleted format might end up looking like crap for those games I'd rant about (Demon's Souls, see Mass Effect 2).

Oh well. I'll start with Demon's Souls, maybe. It's still fresh in my mind, and it's a great game.

You can take a peek at what games to expect by going to my backloggery: http://www.backloggery.com/behemothzero

Finished Mass Effect 2 (*MAJOR SPOILERS*)

Okay, so I just finished Mass Effect 2, thanks partly to me playing it 13 almost-straight hours last Saturday, and partly to my 360 for not giving up that day. I managed to not get anyone killed (well, on the second try at least... On the first try Tali died while holding the line). As a person whose main console is a PlayStation 3, I'd have to say Mass Effect is one of the few series I'd like to have been a console multiplatform game. Prices should be the same, but I'm pretty sure there would be no disc-changing shenanigans. That's about the only thing I hate about the 360 game - everything else are bugs I assume would be in all versions.

Anyway, here's the "drunk" rating - I consider all first ratings as drunk ratings. You do this when the game's taste is still in your mouth. Afterwards, there's the sober rating, which you give when you are more impartial.

My drunk rating for this game is 9. It's overall a solid game, as its good points far outnumber the bad ones.

Good:

The dialog system and the conversations- It may seem redundant since this is a feature from the first game, but you can't deny that the almost seamless flow of conversation in this game adds to the immersion (especially if you turn off the subtitles - please do, unless you're talking with Thane Krios). Most Paragon/Renegade actions are also done outside of dialog options now - shoot someone or make him regain his senses. On a related note:

The voice acting - Naomi from Metal Gear Solid voices the female Shepard (which I played as - I've read some people on forums say the male Shepard's VA sucks). What is there to say? That the dialog conveys the proper emotion the characters are showing?

The characters - You have around 67% more party members to choose from now (from six to 10, lol), and the skills they have are easier to manage - every non-Shepard character pretty much has four skills (one locked until they become loyal, which we'll get to later), but you won't notice the difference unless you really were into stat-tracking in the first game - everyone still pretty much kills everything fast. The stories are also much more fleshed out now, and with some exceptions the overall quality of the character-specific sidequests are well done.

The inventory system - Or, to be precise, the lack thereof. Yup, the horrible inventory system in the first game is gone. Instead of Katana VII's, Katana VIII's and Katana IX's, you get your upgrades by buying them from shops or scavenging the surroundings. You even get to upgrade your ship, which actually affects how the characters end up.

The battle system - There's no more "infinite ammo" - you pick them up normally. You actually kill people faster this time around, in my opinion - deplete your ammo, move on to the next gun, finish the fight, pick up ammo, and repeat. The sniper rifle is also easier to use this time around.

Travelling around - Travelling has a lot less cutscenes, and the game isn't Space Elevator 2050 anymore.

The story - I don't know why I put this last, but the story is so good you'd want Mass Effect 3 to be released by the time you finish the game. You shouldn't be playing this one without playing the first one anyway.

Mass Effect - Decisions you make on the first game carry over into this one. You romance Ashley, her picture is displayed on your desk. You spare Wrex, he ends up leading Clan Urdnot.

Bad:

The dialog system and the conversations- Most unmarked Paragon dialog options involve choosing the top option, while most Renegade ones the bottom. Knowing that will help when you see that the lower option sounds nice, then ends up with you punching someone in the face.

The voice acting - Some people need to speak more clear. That's my only gripe.

The characters - The members feel like two-trick ponies - since everyone has only a few skills each, you're bound to see the same moves and hear the same dialog during battles over and over again.

The inventory system - Since you don't pick up equipment anymore, it's up to you to actually look for the upgrades instead of just getting the ones lying in front of you after a firefight. It's easy to screw it up. There are also Omni-Gel boxes in geth bases. Thanks for the immersion!

The battle system - Not being able to buy ammo at all is somewhat ridiculous. Your allies having a lot less abilities is ridiculous - did Tali or Garrus suddenly forget how we killed things before? Why are non-story enemies soft and squishy? Seriously, you can do all the sidequests you want, and everyone will die to two bursts. You fight the Collectors and you unload the entire clip on three enemies. Then you fight squishies again. Then you fight Collectors again. This goes on at least once more in the game. The "open" gameplay destroys the difficulty curve - its less like a curve and more like ..l..l..l

Travelling around - Needing to buy gas is stupid. Contrary to popular opinion, I actually found the elevator scenes enjoyable - I miss the discussions you and your teammates do during cutscenes. I hope they could've at least had the option to enable that - things like this constantly remind me of the Next-Gen Filter in Uncharted 2.

The story - Here's what I hate most about the game (besides the disc-changing) - the fact that you become paranoid in every action you make, thinking of how it will affect Mass Effect 3. Do I kill this guy? Do I spare this group of people? Do I pick heads or tails? It can get frustrating.

There you have it. I said this when I finished the first Mass Effect, and I'll say it again: I can't freaking wait for the next Mass Effect game.

Bioware, please stop doing Dragon Age crap and do ME3 as soon as possible.

First post!

I've never made a decent first post before (always half-assed "new post, I don't know what to say" things or such), but since I've done this post so close to the beginning of the current year, I thought, "What better thing to do as a first post than to do something similar to what you do for a year?" So now, as first post, I've thought of posting my objectives for this year.

Sadly (or maybe not?), it's mostly about games...

Finish the following games:

Okami (I'm just before the door of no return, for crying out loud)

Front Mission 4 (two missions left... from 2008, WTF)

Legaia 2: Duel Saga

Final Fantasy XIII

White Knight Chronicles

I don't think I need to point out the non-RPGs I've yet to play since they probably won't take a couple of weeks to finish.

Also, I'd like to have some major improvement in my Final Fantasy Tactics simulator thing. There's probably already something like it out there, but I still feel the urge to do it myself.

For work-related stuff, well... I'm not entirely sure I can say anything. Everything's up in the air, so it's all generic things like "improve myself". Oh well.

Back to coding FFT!