Final Fantasy VIII Demo Disc

 In which I partake in one of Square's fabled demo discs.

 Back in the 90s/early 00s, Square devised a fantastic idea to sell their more... monetarily risky games, y'know, their one-off all-new IPs like Brave Fencer Musashi, Parasite Eve, Tobal, etc. While these game turned out great on their own right, Square just wanted to make sure that they would recoup the budget they spent, by coupling these releases with demos for their hottest upcoming games. Fast forward to the present day, and these demo discs have become somewhat of a collector's item, many times ending up being more expensive than the complete games they came bundled with!

 Unsurprisingly, these discs have eluded me, not that I care since I'm not into demos... but not this time! The Brave Fencer Musashi copy I tracked down came with FF VIII's demo disc! And having just played it... it's surprisingly unsurprising! I was expecting some interesting changes, but it's mostly minutiae:

 - NORMAL CLOTHES: The demo takes place during Seifer, Squall and Zell's first mission in Dollet. However, Squall and Zell are wearing their casual clothes instead of their SeeD duds.

 - MUTE RINOA, NO SELPHIE: Your party is made up of Squall, Zell and... Rinoa. All she says is '...', but it's rather interesting getting to play as Rinoa on a sequence where she is unavailable in the full game! Selphie is missing from the entire ordeal, not even making an appearance near the satellite tower.

 - HARDCORE BOSS BATTLE: This was rather surprising, the game's first boss, the creature that does in Wedge and Biggs at the top of the tower is really tough. It took me a rather long while to take down, whether it's due to the fact that you only get Leviathan or because he got buffed is beyond me. Still, ultimately it was fun, it would've been interesting to get a 'hard mode' on Final Fantasy games back in the day.

 - SQUALL AND SEIFER SEEM FRIENDLY?: I might be remembering things wrong, but Seifer and Squall seemed rather... friendly. I recognized a few lines from the final release, and Seifer even mentioned his 'romantic dream', but a lot of the dialogue felt different, and I didn't notice much antagonistic banter between these two. Their talk near the Radio Tower with Squall talking about 'a subject I don't like' doesn't seem to ring a bell at all, for example, and there's a few added lines about the characters ages too.

 - ALTERED CG SCENES: The Dollet CG scenes have been entirely remade to feature Squall and Zell on their casual wear as well as Rinoa. Plus, Quistis' scene at the end has her replaced by a generic high-poly soldier.

- LIMIT BREAKS - DIFFERENT NAME. FUNCTION AND ACTIVATION: I only managed to trigger Zell and Squall's Limit Breaks, they seem to activate veeery rarely. They have different names and work differently than in the final fame. Zell's just a single special move while Squall's R1 trigger function rhythm bar has been changed.

 - THE OBVIOUS: The magic you can draw from enemies is different than the one features in the full game, there's no Draw Points or Save Points, which is to be expected.

 All in all... it was rather unimpressive. I was expecting different enemies in these places and maybe some tweaks to the objectives. It's easy to tell that the game's development was progressing smoothly when the demo was made.

Month Overview: November 2016

 Tally:
Tony Hawk's Project 8           6.0
Silent Hill - Homecoming                                7.5


 November came and went. It was a rather eventful academic month, yet rather uneventful as far as my gaming went.


Game of November 2016:

 Interestingly, while I think I liked Homecoming more than Downpour... when I think about it, I think Downpour was one of the most memorable games I've played this year, and I think it has to do with theming. Downpour went for two themes: Prison and Jail as well as Water and Rain. Everything around the environment, and even the monsters, reflected on these two themes. Sure, the monster design was lackluster, but when you judge the game as a whole, it was fantastically designed around those two concepts. The streets of Silent Hill felt wet, the walls of the buildings looked humid, monsters either looked as if they were soaked or as prison escapees. The we had the Otherworld's environments, which had jails and cages allover, while looking very damp

 I do feel like Homecoming is a better game, but, but it lacks the same focus. Monster design is fantastic, but in a franchise that prides itself behind adding meaning to the monsters, it falls rather short. The Otherworld environments were scary, yes, but they lacked the same level of personality that Downpour had overall. Regardless, Homecoming was my favorite game this month(Not like there was much to choose from!)

 Runner-up:

 I'm not gonna lie, Project 8, if judged on its own inside a vacuum, is a really good game. Skating around felt great, there's dozens of different mechanics and trick as well as a decent amount of missions to complete.
 But I just can't ignore previous games in the franchise that I've played. I can't ignore how much I preferred the more arcadey physics from the previous games, the more creative objectives from previous games, but above all else, the fantastic, creative and ridiculous skate parks that made it a joy to skate around. In Project 8 you get different types of skate parks or similar looking streets, with only the Factory and the Fun Park standing out from the rest.
 Overall, I'd call it a successful jump into the HD generation, but far from the best that the franchise could over.

Now Playing: Pokemon Sun

  Pokemon goes tropical.

 First things first, I'm almost three hours into the game and I'm already tired of the pace. Let's face it, most people playing this entry will be returning players, I know how to capture a goddamn Pokemon, I've been doing it for over 15 years already. Remember the classics? Back then an NPC would ask you if you wanted to see how to catch a Pokemon. Why not ASK me, Gamefreak, why? Just friggin' ask so I can friggin' deny you and your stupid tutorial. For what it's worth, at least this time around it went rather swiftly. This ties into the pacing because the game starts off, and hopefully this is only a thing for the early beginning of the game veeeeeery slowly and in a veeeeeeeery cinematic way.

 It worked for X and Y because by the time the cutscenes started making their appearance I had already started to like the cast. Plus, tiny details like running around with your chums added personality to the game and made me care for these kids. I don't care for this blonde chick who is running away from these mysterious chumps, I just wanted to play the goddamn game. Older Pokemon games didn't need these fancy set-ups, you were a kid on an adventure, the less it was said, the better. Right now I'm up to the Trainer School, and they keep directing me where to go. 'No, Scion, don't go that way', 'The lab is this way, Scion', 'There's a Tauros on the Road'. Like, chill, THESE GAMES ARE ABOUT A 10 YEAR OLD GOING ON AN ADVENTURE, I CAN'T ADVENTURE IF YOU KEEP ORDERING ME AROUND. And what's up with forcing me into the Trainer School? This has always been an optional detour, why force me into it now? I KNOW HOW FLIPPING POKEMON WORKS, GODDAMN, AND I WANT TO FLIPPIN' PLAY THE GODDAMN GAME.

 And what's up with the Festival Plaza?! The online features in X/Y/OR/AS were very streamlined, simple, to the point, easy to navigate, etc. This.... pseudo hubtown is a needless addition that makes it more of a chore to go online and try trading Pokemon.

 All that aside, at least GameFreak has learned a bit from previous games, almost as if they have been taking the criticisms and took them into consideration. One of my biggest issues with the modern games was the fact that now we had over 800 creatures and it was impossible to remember every Pokemon's type as well as the weaknesses charts... so now not only can you check the type of the Pokemon during a battle, but you'll also know if your attacks are super effective or not. That's a fantastic addition. It also seems like customization is back, although I haven't gotten so far yet, so that's definitely a plus, customization was one of the best parts about X and Y and it was a shame to see it gone in ORAS. And from what I could gather, as hard as I tried to avoid spoilers, HM slaves seem to be a thing of the past. About time!

 It needs to be said: The presentation is nothing short of spectacular. There's not a single 3DS game that looks better than Pokemon Sun and Moon. Heck, I'm pretty sure some of the graphics for the attacks have been given a make over and look much better than before. And it seems to run relatively well on the old 3DS. Relatively, because I've noticed a few frame drops during battles and even while exploring some areas with a lot of objects, like rocks, trees and grass.

 To sum up, what I did like:
 - Graphics
 - Return of customizing your character(?)
 - Removal of HM Slaves(?)
 - Added information during battles

What I didn't like:
 - Being treated like an idiot by GameFreak and Nintendo. I KNOW HOW TO CAPTURE A GODDAMN POKEMON.
 - The slow pace, at least so far.
 - The handholding. I WILL EXPLORE THE TOWN BY MYSELF, YOU'VE ALREADY TOLD ME WHERE TO GO, I WILL GO THERE WHENEVER THE **** I FEEL LIKE GOING THERE.
 - The Festival Plaza.

Archile's Grab-bag: Last one o'the year Edition.

 It's that time of the year again...

  Dragon Quest VIII: A game I've been meaning to play for a while now. I could've waited for the 3DS port, which added new characters... but I felt like the 3DS was a bit underpowered to run the game as smoothly as the PS2, and I didn't much care for the new characters, so might as well get this version!

  Brave Fencer Musashi: When I was younger I ached to play this game for a loooong while before finally being able to satiate that need, and when I finally did, for one reason or another, I didn't finish it. Regardless, it was a neat little game that I want to play now, so that, I will.

  Tony Hawk's Underground 2: Oh, yeah! My favorite Tony Hawk game!... which isn't saying much, actually, considering that I had only played Pro Skater 3, 4 and a demo of 2. Regardless, while I spent much, much more time playing Pro Skater 4, Underground 2 was the most memorable to me. It had the best mechanics, the most memorable levels and skaters and a ridiculous story tying it all together. I've longed to play this one again ever since I decided to get back into Tony Hawk, so I'm stoked to revisit it.

  Pokemon Sun: It's frigging Pokemon. I've tried to avoid as much information as possible, something which was impossible with Facebook vomiting the new reveals on my face, as well as videogame news outlets putting explicit thumbnails next to their titles. Why? Because I wanted to replicate the feeling of newness I felt when playing Ruby and Pearl for the first time, two generations that took me by surprise, since Internet wasn't such a big deal and I stopped reading videgoame magazines for Ruby's release and I didn't care much for the fourth generation and bought Pearl on a whim.
 Regardless, I watched a single trailer, and man, oh man, I wish they would use this game's engine for a proper, teen or adult-themed JRPG. It looks SO beautiful, I feel it's somewhat of a waste on a Pokemon game. Shin Megami Tensei 3D's games could definitely use a facelift.....

 Pandemonium 2: I kinda bought this on accident, since I actually wanted to get the first one first... While I've known about the Pandemonium games for a while now, I never really cared about them, but for whatever reason they piqued my interest this year, so I decided to take them for a whirl!

Review #354: Silent Hill - Homecoming

 I'm coming home alright... to Silent Hill.

 I was wary when I first approach Homecoming, after all, it's probably got the worst reputation out of the non-Japanese Silent Hill games. While it's mostly considered an average game, it's also been called buggy, wonky, out of place and a few other less fancy adjectives. Before starting the game, I was already pretty sure that I was gonna like Downpour more. I was wrong.

 In this installment of this revered Survival Horror franchise, you play as Alex Shepherd, coming home after spending a few years as a soldier abroad. But things have changed at Silent Hill's neighboring town, Shepherd's Glen, people are missing, smog covers the air and Alex's younger brother, Joshua, has gone missing. Spanning a trip that will take Alex into Silent Hills, Alex will find out much more than what he bargained for, unearthing the secrets behind Shepherd's Glen and its connection to the Order. One thing to take into account when playing Homecoming is that it kinda borrows more from the movies than from the previous games, which is a bit of a rather huge mistake. Sexy(?) bobble-head nurses return here, for the third time, because they are the popular incarnations of the monster, and Pyramid Head returns as the 'Boogeyman'. To be fair, you can sorta explain the Boogeyman as Pyramid Head being more of a 'monster type'. Y'see, kinda like how most SH games have a Nurse-monster or a dog-monster, well, Pyramid Head and the Boogeyman could belong to the same family.

 One of the beautiful things about the Japanese Tetralogy of SH games is the amount of care and detail that goes into designing monsters and how they relate to whichever character's psyche brought them forth. Here, while I will praise the monster designs, most of them anyways, they are just here to be here without them representing anything, which is kinda disappointing. Regardless, this repertoire of monsters is much, much better than Downpour's stiff humanoid-esque enemies. The Atmosphere also took a hit with this game. Silent Hill has always been about implying horror without making it overtly-explicit, not so here, it feels more like an American Horror movie than anything, filled with gore and blood inflicted upon human victims. Not that the game's atmosphere is bad, au contraire, the game manages to be creepy and unsettling. making the player feel tense and jumpy, which is fantastic, but it's an undeniable different tone than what came before.

 The gameplay has been subject to much debate. At face value, this is your average Silent Hill game, equipped with a Flashlight, which aids in exploring but alerts enemies, and a Radio, which alerts you about enemies, you are to traverse the foggy(Smoggy in this case!) streets of Silent Hill, as you fight or avoid monsters and solve puzzles. But as soon as you dig deeper you'll begin to notice that the game has a rather heavy focus on combat. Alex, being a Soldier, is skilled in battle, being able to dodge in four directions, jump back on his feet after a knockdown, perform weak and strong attacks and even charge them! It received a lot of flak for it, but, me, personally, found the combat to be rather fun, if repetitive, once you get the hang of it. And the sooner you learn that the Knife is the best weapon in the game the better. Damage might be pitiful but its speed is so fast that most enemies rarely get a chance to get a hit in!

 But the game's biggest offense has got to be the menu system, which is all kinds of bad. For starters, in order to toggle on and off your flashlight, you've got to go through a menu. Seriously. Secondly, L1 access the Healing/Key Items menus and R1 opens up your armament menus. Having two inventories is one inventory too many already. But the menu is so clunky that it's pretty easy to accidentally unequip whatever weapon you were using. I sorta understand why they came up with this idea, since they expected players to switch weapons depending on the opponent, I mean, at first, it makes sense, tackling a Nurse with an axe will prove to be tough, but the axe works wonders on the Needler, a creature that is hard to fight with the knife.... Until you learn that spamming the knife's four hit combo is a surefire way of killing most enemies, since their AI's can't deal with the spam!

 I also noticed that sometimes Alex wouldn't dodge in the direction I was push, which became unnerving at times. Plus, it's not uncommon for the camera to get obstructed by scenery when fighting enemies. Lastly, this might be a nitpick, but I absolutely abhor having ammo capacity on my guns. I understand that the focus was on melee weapons, but seriously? An ammo cap!??

 It may seem like I hated Homecoming, but nothing is further from the truth. I had a blast playing the game. As a horror game it succeeds in being scary, it succeeded in keeping me tense and worrying about what could be around the corner, so bonus points for that. Sadly, it falls a bit short when it comes to living up to Silent Hill's legacy... but it's something I can live with. Combat might be repetitive, but I liked it. The environments arrested my attention and the story kept me entertained the whole way through, even if the voice acting left a bit to be desired.

 If you are against non-Japanese Silent Hill games, then you're better off avoiding this game, as this game does nothing to change your mind, as a matter of fact, it will probably make you hate them even more due to how careless they were with a few of SH's concepts. That said, if you can forgive them for that, the game is relatively fun and scary... as least until you learn how to spam the knife.
 7.5 out of 10

Now Playing: Silent Hill - Homecoming

 Am I even in Silent Hill?

 First and foremost, this is a list of all the games I've started without finishing(yet):

 Ain't pretty right? Not only that, I'm in the middle of my Guardian's Crusade playthrough.... but, dammit, Silent Hill comes first! And sure, I might have one of my toughest academic tests yet this Friday... but, dammit, Silent Hill comes first!

 Anyways, I just cleared the hospital level-thing and... Movie Nurses, which are a variation Silent Hill 2's nurses... No bueno. And Alex gets impaled by Pyramid Head's giant cleaver. No. Flipping. Bueno. At all.

 Leaving these tiny-but-not-that-tiny details aside, the game's been doing a good job of setting up an unsettling, creepy atmosphere. Just like the slightly off-putting voice acting from the second game, the robotic, inexpressive character models help make the characters feel... uncanny, which really helps set a creepy tone. So bonus points for that unintended effect! Then there's the gameplay itself which works relatively fine all things considered. Having a dodge-counterattack mechanic feels slightly fresh for a survival horror, and I'm not against having more options when fighting. Clunky controls and mechanics should never be part of how a survival horror game works.

 To sum up, I'm liking the game, and I've little to complain about besides how little care they took when borrowing creatures from previous games.

Now Playing: Guardian's Crusade

 And here we go again, tests be damned!

 There's something to be said for my sense of good timing, or lack there of. Y'see, the academic semester is coming to a close, which means I'm gonna be kinda swamped having to study for both tests and exams. So I decided to begin another game, a time-consuming JRPG at that! Making good decisions feels good.

 Anyways, onto Guardian's Crusade! This is a game I've longed to play ever since I could remember. I think I first heard about it on an 'Xpert Gamer' magazine which also covered Legend of Legaia(A fantastic JRPG, by the by), and I was captivated by the image of Knight and Baby. So a decade goes by and lo and behold, here I am playing said game!

 What can I say? There's something about these old PS1-era JRPGs that I just adore. The simple, blocky graphics, the melodic tunes, the simple-but-effective turn-based combat systems... I just love them. Guardian's Crusade might just be a tad to simple for its own good, but considering I've only sunk one hour... I'm remaining hopeful.

 One random tidbit to end this entry with: You actually start at level 1! I hate it when RPGs have you starting of at level 5 or whatever, I LIKE LEVELING UP, DO NOT TAKE LEVELS AWAY FROM ME! Even Final Fantasy VII, my favorite RPG ever, starts you off on a higher level. So yeah, the game gets bonus points for that,