I've always been a huge Final Fantasy fan. It was the RPG series, along with Chrono Cross and Secret of Mana that got me into RPGs. This game was originally a PSP game but was ported to the PS4 when it finally came to the US. I remember watching trailers for this game when it was first announced for PSP.
When I finally got to play this when the PS4 remake came out it was alright. Nowhere near as much fun as it looked but still a solid title in the series. It definitely felt like playing a PSP title though. Very little was done with the port and to call it a remake is definitely a misuse of the term.
The story is key here. It is about a class of military students that you grow to know and learn more about as they learn about the terrors of war and just what it means. Each character feels unique and has their own personality, abilities, and skills. It delves a bit into the crystal stuff that Final Fantasy XIII had and there is mention of several terms across both games. Which makes sense since this game and Final Fantasy XIII were released as part of a set, kind of.
The combat is fun at times and learning how to dodge is really the best way to win. Once you learn to trigger deathstrikes, that is all you go for because fighting normally quickly leads to death. In fact, some enemies are only killable with these special strikes. Luckily, it isn't super difficult to trigger them and the player learns very quickly how to perform them.
The biggest drawback is the heavy reliance on a special minigame that takes place on the world map. I can't recall the name of them but they were so boring and I was very happy that you can in fact skip all of them past the first one. They do add a lot to the experience but I found them to be so tedious it was sucking the fun out of the game. They are a kind of RTS aspect that I just couldn't get into.
The wait for this game to be released in the US was definitely long. It was worth it though for the story alone. Learning more about your fellow classmates and the ending of the game make it worth playing. Sure there were some aspects of the game that were rough and having to redo the whole ending section because of a non-clear choice at the end is a big slap to the face of the player but if you enjoy Final Fantasy. Give this a go. It is quite fun.
Monday, November 12, 2018
Saturday, August 4, 2018
Injustice: Gods Among Us (PS3)
Growing up as a kid, I never really got into comic books and didn't really know much about the DC characters. Sure I watched the Batman and Superman cartoons from the '90s but that was about it. I stopped really caring about the DC heroes around the time the Justice League cartoon was towards the end of its run. I bought this game on a whim and it was fun.
The story behind this game is similar to the Injustice comics from what I've been told. Having never read them, I didn't know what to expect. All in all, it was a pretty typical comic fair with certain characters acting like they should and some characters that I don't like just being there. I'll say this now, I have never been a fan of The Flash. Learning that he is now one of the most important heroes in the DC pantheon kind of makes me sad but whatever. I'll live.
The gameplay is the best thing about this game for me. It is a solid fighting game similar to the recent outings of the Mortal Kombat series. It is a 1-on-1 fight to the end with some stage hazards. The difference is how the life meters work. Essentially each player has two life bars. If one player does well, they could win without losing a bar. Bars really are just a way to split the bouts into different rounds with a round ending when a player loses a life bar.
This was a pretty fun game and I definitely felt a little nostalgia playing as some of my old favorites like Batman. If you are a comic fan, this is definitely worth picking up. Sure it isn't as fluid as some of the anime fighters I have played but it is a solid experience. I do want to play the second one but I have been waiting for a version with all the DLC. Maybe someday I will pick it up.
The story behind this game is similar to the Injustice comics from what I've been told. Having never read them, I didn't know what to expect. All in all, it was a pretty typical comic fair with certain characters acting like they should and some characters that I don't like just being there. I'll say this now, I have never been a fan of The Flash. Learning that he is now one of the most important heroes in the DC pantheon kind of makes me sad but whatever. I'll live.
The gameplay is the best thing about this game for me. It is a solid fighting game similar to the recent outings of the Mortal Kombat series. It is a 1-on-1 fight to the end with some stage hazards. The difference is how the life meters work. Essentially each player has two life bars. If one player does well, they could win without losing a bar. Bars really are just a way to split the bouts into different rounds with a round ending when a player loses a life bar.
This was a pretty fun game and I definitely felt a little nostalgia playing as some of my old favorites like Batman. If you are a comic fan, this is definitely worth picking up. Sure it isn't as fluid as some of the anime fighters I have played but it is a solid experience. I do want to play the second one but I have been waiting for a version with all the DLC. Maybe someday I will pick it up.
Friday, May 18, 2018
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch)
A new Nintendo console and a new Legend of Zelda. I'm not saying I specifically purchased a Switch for this game but it was the first game I had purchased for said console. I've always been a huge fan of the series and I do enjoy running around the world of Hyrule. This game was different in a lot of good ways and there were some things in it that I definitely did not like.
To start off, this is the first truly open world Zelda game. From the time you leave the first little area that serves as a basic training ground, you can pretty much go anywhere and do anything you want. See an interesting tree up on a mountain? Go up there and see what is up there. Find a shrine hidden in a canyon? There is nothing stopping the player from getting to it.
There is a lot of freedom in this game and at times it is great. But sometimes it can be really daunting. There is a basic guidance through the story but sometimes the game can feel unstructured. This isn't a terrible thing, too many games hold the player's hand and this game does not.
With all that said, I did have some minor complaints. Climbing and stamina were often times a hindrance. I do understand that having stamina is a necessary thing but when they add in things like rain, it is more frustrating than fun. Often times I would be trekking somewhere and simply have to stop because the random weather effect had changed to rain making it impossible to climb what I needed to. Just simply stop and wait out the rain.
Also, this brings up the other weather effects. I know they were used to make each area feel unique and having to switch armor was a nice idea but often times the armor you needed to wear just to survive was terrible and would leave the player incredibly weak in areas with some very dangerous foes. This often lead me to just run away from things instead of killing them. I will simply just keep a Lionel at the spawn distance away from me because these foes were often just too hardy and not worth the effort to kill.
I also did not really like the weapon degradation mechanic. I understand it is necessary because having a weapon that is too good would have broken the game but it also makes any rewards you get feel really worthless. Make it through a difficult shrine and get a neat weapon, ultimately to never use it because it will break sooner than expected. Weapons just break way too easily.
Even with these minor things, the game is fantastic. It is a wonderful adventure and just so beautiful that wandering around was a favorite past-time of mine. Sure, I didn't do everything and I was definitely missing quite a few shrines but I enjoyed what I played. It was my journey and that is why I liked it. Nobody else played the game like I did. Nobody made the same choices and did things the same way I did. Even some of the puzzles have multiple solutions, which definitely is one the best things they have done in a long time. Sure the story was really fragmented and kind of weak compared to past titles. The fun is there and this is definitely an entry into this series that just can't be missed.
To start off, this is the first truly open world Zelda game. From the time you leave the first little area that serves as a basic training ground, you can pretty much go anywhere and do anything you want. See an interesting tree up on a mountain? Go up there and see what is up there. Find a shrine hidden in a canyon? There is nothing stopping the player from getting to it.
There is a lot of freedom in this game and at times it is great. But sometimes it can be really daunting. There is a basic guidance through the story but sometimes the game can feel unstructured. This isn't a terrible thing, too many games hold the player's hand and this game does not.
With all that said, I did have some minor complaints. Climbing and stamina were often times a hindrance. I do understand that having stamina is a necessary thing but when they add in things like rain, it is more frustrating than fun. Often times I would be trekking somewhere and simply have to stop because the random weather effect had changed to rain making it impossible to climb what I needed to. Just simply stop and wait out the rain.
Also, this brings up the other weather effects. I know they were used to make each area feel unique and having to switch armor was a nice idea but often times the armor you needed to wear just to survive was terrible and would leave the player incredibly weak in areas with some very dangerous foes. This often lead me to just run away from things instead of killing them. I will simply just keep a Lionel at the spawn distance away from me because these foes were often just too hardy and not worth the effort to kill.
I also did not really like the weapon degradation mechanic. I understand it is necessary because having a weapon that is too good would have broken the game but it also makes any rewards you get feel really worthless. Make it through a difficult shrine and get a neat weapon, ultimately to never use it because it will break sooner than expected. Weapons just break way too easily.
Even with these minor things, the game is fantastic. It is a wonderful adventure and just so beautiful that wandering around was a favorite past-time of mine. Sure, I didn't do everything and I was definitely missing quite a few shrines but I enjoyed what I played. It was my journey and that is why I liked it. Nobody else played the game like I did. Nobody made the same choices and did things the same way I did. Even some of the puzzles have multiple solutions, which definitely is one the best things they have done in a long time. Sure the story was really fragmented and kind of weak compared to past titles. The fun is there and this is definitely an entry into this series that just can't be missed.
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